Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a waiting quietly for my first baby to reach double digits and hoping that the day feels like the vision in her head, super excited to give hugs to some virtual friends in the real live world tomorrow and entering the two weeks of my monthly rhythm that feel like walking on air and gratitude kisses kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

Connection is the most important thing to me in my business. I love that Kate is opening up this conversation. She does so beautifully.

These moments can make you feel so alone until someone full of bravery talks about them. We are so not alone here mamas.

These are two of most favorite women, together on one page, smiles, hungers, gorgeous.

Jenn lines it all up for us here, and so honored she included me! xo

Have it. Adore it. Goes so beautifully with my tattoo love.

I am smitten with this prompt. Will be sitting with it, for now I'll just take the beauty of words from Liz.

Sometimes I wish I had found her all those years ago. But no matter, love that I have her now.

The nude.

Yes to turning waste into beauty.

Still obsessing.

***

Don't forget the Making Space Cleanse has a BOGO for the month of September!!!

And on September 20th I will be offering a FREE 30 day surprise so make sure to sign up for the weekly love letter (that cute little sign up box on the right) or pop on FB to see what it is!!!

September Space

Patrick, my husband, and I have the same birthday.

When he told me that 19 years ago I thought he was kidding. His flirtations started with me just a few days after I turned 19. Here was this big guy who had a big crush on me and I thought, "Oh, cute pick up line!" Well, he really does. And we really do, September 20th. We would go on to have Chloe on September 15th and then Lucas on September 9th. Huge birthday month for us. (Eli gets June all to himself!)

What I most wanted for my birthday was space. I've been making a whole lot of space in my life for my own heart, home and mind and I want to share it with you.

In September, in honor of space, start the 10 day cleanse any time you are ready, get a big discount AND give away a spot in the cleanse for FREE! What? Totally, karma, birthday month, give something away and feel the joy that is returned to you.

This is the cleanse that has very little to do with food (but you get two new recipes a day) and is not about restriction. It is about expanding space. It is magical. I know because I have lived it. This cleanse grew from the work I was doing in my own life, clearing the clutter from my home which opened up the space inside my heart and mind to truly access my essence.

Click here for more information...

These are the 10 days that allow you to be still and take action in beautiful harmony. It is the cleanse that women write to me after and say, "Yeah, I thought I was just clearing out clutter and being present, I had no idea I was actually reconnecting to myself each time I let more go."

Magic. 10 days. Will you?

What will you choose?

Joy is a sparkle inside. It tickles, it tingles, it plays. It is like the breeze blowing through your hair, and the sun shining down on you. It is dancing or a calm breath.

Joy can live inside of you, at all times. It is your option. Joy draws others to you, they are attracted to your sparkle. Joy does not mean you do not feel sadness or fear or pain or disappointment. Joy means that you feel extra, joy cushions you through the tough times.
It's time. For whatever you want. How are you going to get there?

By choosing joy.

The Universe is responding, but it takes doing the work and feeling the stuff and moving into the joy. I want you to set an intention. Saying I want more joy is beautiful, but we need to be specific.

We need to tell the Universe we know exactly what we are going for.

***

First email went out this morning, you can continue to sign up throughout the week and then we will be closing up the sign ups. All previous emails will be archived and available to you.

The tribe gathered is beyond my wildest expectations of women to have the honor of guiding.

What will you choose?

Behind the Scenes of Not Knowing

Munching cookies and strawberries the other night with this beauty I found myself talking about the importance of not knowing. Not knowing that kale is not just a garnish on the side of a plate, you can eat it. Not knowing how to re-size a picture or publish a post.

Not knowing how to use your voice, stuck.

Not knowing how to take your dreams and turn them into a business. That jittery, exciting time full of fear and magical potential.

And remembering all the things that once we didn't know.

The women of The Joy Up Tribe Alumni Group are making my heart soar right now. They are offering to sponsor other women in the tribe who don't have $45 to join the program. I'll tell you more about this as I tell you about not knowing and then knowing, really knowing.

A year ago the joy up was born. It was an idea that over a few months went from simply a name into a program that would bring over 200 women together. While it wasn't for everyone, it was available to any woman. I was positioning my business to go from Health Coaching into Holistic Life and Business Coaching and I wanted to grow my tribe.

Big dreams are great, but if you don't take the actions to support them, you still only have dreams.

I found it really hard to tag a price on a program about joy. The fears too, maybe no one will resonate with it, maybe this is a silly idea.

In my heart, I knew that not knowing was where I needed to be. Just like learning to move kale from garnish to salad, a world was opening up to me. A large community of women, taking my programs from 30 or so into the hundreds. I was ready to do the work.

The Joy Up started as 10 days, pay-what-you-can. A core group of women formed around the soulwork and my life hit crazy. I had no idea what holding the energy of that many women would be like. I was not prepared for emails telling me that their lives had changed because of 10 days. I knew I could explain joy and why we must choose it, even in the face of sadness or lack, but I had no idea.

I couldn't eat. I cried a lot. (I did this in quiet mostly because while you can share this a year later once you've learned to hold that kind of energy, you can't talk about it while you are in it.)

We think that those little tastes of growth and success will taste sweet, but usually they are more like unsweetened dark chocolate. You know somewhere inside of it all you like the taste, but don't know how to get to it. My husband and I had the 'opportunity' in all of the emotion to work on our stuff.

Each time The Joy Up program ran after that, I followed my intuition. I kept it pay-what-feels-good, built my tribe even more and the emails from the tribe became more intense. From making decisions to leave abusive marriages to pursuing a new career. All on the basis of 'Joy is a Choice.'

Letters would come in the mail with feathers falling out of them, I have now had about 6 or 7 of these. These women who knew how much I loved feathers were forming a community based on joy and love and support.

During one of the program runs I received $100 from a woman in the tribe. I sent her an email that told her she took my breath away, and asked if she meant to send that? She replied, "Now you know how I feel each morning with your Joy Up emails."

A sweet online friend sent $200 as her contribution to the program and my work. Knowing.

The year of building this community was beyond amazing. The first Joy Up was shared over 600 times on social media. It was humbling and intense.

The Joy Up continues after the (now) 30 days. A private community on FB allows women to stay connected and I pop in and out as I need to. A true community inside of a somewhat crazy online world.

After a year I wasn't sure what to do with this program. Do I turn it into an ebook, offer something new and different, keep going? Could I keep creating new material or do I re-purpose? I let my intuition play around and talking with husband he said, "I just don't think it is over yet."

While I agreed I knew that I would need to allow it to evolve.

I needed to finally price it, close the tribe a bit in numbers while increasing its value, and still allow women who wanted access a way to do so regardless of their financial situation. There have been times in my life when $45 meant feeding my family or buying gas. I also really wanted women to value this work they were doing and invest in themselves. The Joy Up is about changing your life, sparkling with the butterflies and stepping into abundance.

We have watched women who started the program go from broke to abundant. Who are now sponsoring other women to join.

The program this time is priced with an option to join with a soul-sister. Many women are inviting their best friends or sisters to journey with them.

I wrote a little note on the tribe's alumni page. There are scholarships available if you are not able to afford the program but wish to continue on the journey with us.

From then on women in the tribe have been asking me about sponsoring a soul-sister on the journey. The outpouring has been incredible. We have had about 10 women sponsored and more sponsors waiting to help.

There is all sorts of magic inside the not knowing if we trust enough to allow ourselves to know.

***

We start August 1st. Join us.

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a rethinking some choices, feeling oh-so much, packing for a camping trip with my mom squad families -without Patrick (yikes), post panic attack chilling, bacon for breakfast and grateful for summer camp for two out of the three of the kiddos kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

This is the World Domination Summit version. My final post on an amazing weekend in Portland. I share so much of this with you because I am consumed with thinking about how we must create our own communities. We did that with Mamacoach Circle and I strive to do that here on Mama Space. But I want more. I have big dreams for inviting what I want to be surrounded by into my life. I want you to dream this way. Create what you long for. Thank you for being here and part of this community. My heart is so happy you are here.

I take terrible notes, luckily some people take beautiful ones. By the way Kate is actually more gorgeous in real life than online. Just so you know.

Look at those beautiful faces. In magical places. Right?

Being with people who make us feel loved, whole and beautiful is kind of exactly what I'm going for in this life of mine.

The post is awesome, but the way her site is looking is giving me so much inspiration for how we keep evolving. Liz, it is gorgeous.

This moment. Yes.

The most amazing thing is that we all have our own experience and I want to honor that it is different for each of us.

The hardest part of this conference for me was saying the name to other people who don't know what it is about. What she said.

Um, hell yes.

My dinner partner for many nights, she is filled with inspiration for all of us.

A highlight of my trip, finally got my Chris hug. So much of where I am I owe to this man.

And from the man where all of this came from, in his own words.

There were so many posts from the weekend, please share a link if you have one for all of us! xo

Those First Moments

The first moments alone I cried.

I needed to process the being alone part. In a gorgeous hotel, that I paid for from my business, allowing me to travel, dine, flow around at my will.

I feel different. For the last two years I've been trying to integrate that difference into how I feel when I'm at home, in my small space with noise levels that only three kids can make.

I stood up at my very first business/change your life conference two years ago, with tears in my eyes, and asked, "How do we integrate who we are in our work with who we are at home, because they feel like two very different people who are always mad at the other one."

What I didn't realize then was that this would become such a huge part of my work. My talks and emails with clients talking about how we often feel like fakes, as though what we talk and write about is off from how we live. Usually those of us with families, children or a whole lot of overwhelm.

Teach what you are learning, passionate about, heart soaring excited for.

I feel the most like myself when I'm writing, sitting and listening to someone, snuggled up with Patrick or reading quietly to one of my kids. I feel at peace and calm on the beach alone or with all the kids running loose. In the car driving, long and far, I connect to me. Skyping with a client or on the other end of Instagram. Cooking anything in a clean kitchen. Alone in my home. In the sun. My feet dirty in the garden. Here, writing. Surrounded by my favorite women.

I feel in the truth of how I need to be.

When I write, I forget about all else, I just let my feelings integrate onto paper. As close as I can figure, this is when I feel safe and calm.

But I get angry. I fight with Patrick, lose my patience 134 times a day with my kids, hold old baggage with family and friends that I'm learning to accept as simply part of being human.  I question if marriages really can last, if I'll ever be 130 pounds again or if anyone really likes me. My feelings get hurt and I have a hard time releasing it and moving back into a space where it feels safe to be there.

I get panicked when I think how much more I could be doing and all that I am doing. Those moments of not being present leading us into sabotage. I forget to tag my posts, have no clue about SEO and feel a deep desire to rebrand all of me.

I also look at all I'm doing and think, holy crap, look at all I'm doing. But not laundry.

Telling the truth is fucking hard. I rarely swear when I write but my three old uses the word damnit perfectly.

Walking into new places is one of my highest anxiety points and I'm afraid of how much I miss out on when I don't do because of it. Part of my beautiful work is learning ways to find the softness inside of that truth. Find a way to embrace the fear.

 And be so proud of all of this.

This beautiful woman whispered words into my ear that I'll keep in my heart, but remember always as why we take a chance on those first moments. For the connection, the deep gaze into someone's eyes, the way their hug feels, the door we walk through that changes our lives.

Those first moments, the kiss, the dance, the walk, the run, the breath, the song.

Those first moments: can I tell you what is in my heart? Those first moments: of truth. Those first moments: we need this.

WDS Magic - Images

* This bed was my most delightful friend. I was beyond proud of myself that my business paid for my trip and hosted me in this gorgeous room on a pillow that felt like a cloud must feel to the angels. That bed was my healing, my softness, my joy.

* Surrounded by a thousand people who already know you and believe in you is magic. This is community, tribe, joy.

* I was really nervous to show up by myself and was wrapped in the arms of Portland and women who let me be me. Completely. Nerves and all. They let me see my own magic in a fresh way.

* Andrea asked us about our superpowers. One of mine is that I get shit done. Our story is just beginning and I adore the time I spent in her energy. Her workshop started a little dream of what I might be able to bring to WDS in years ahead.

* From the balloon hat and ukelele you can see this wasn't just any old conference. Michelle's story is heart-centered magic. Do you know what my degree is in? Theatre Arts. In my heart I love being on stage and also watching those who stand before me. Shining.

* Love this woman. Time with Rachel was so on my to-do list.

* Green juice under the bamboo. How I started and how I ended my time in Portland. If you go, have the Melody juice and anything in a bowl.

 * The first gathering of the weekend brought me this gal, Tiffany. We had on our heart shaped name tags and our connection was instant magic.

* A thousand people up and singing with Brené and Chris. And dancing. And tears.

* I was all nerves as I headed to an intimate gathering that I was honored to be invited to. As I started out these hearts met my feet. Thank you Universe. When I showed up at Kelly's studio I understood why I was there and how my purpose was deepening. Kelly slipped right into my heart and I feel as if we've been together before. Sometimes it is that easy. Magic.

Magic. And damn how I love heart-centered business.

Highly Sensitive Unpacking

I return with vintage cowgirl boots, memories of hugs and laughter, magical moments in auditoriums and holding a glass of wine, chipped nail polish, frizzy hair and the deep desire to start something brand new.

Traveling light was not learned this trip, though now I know you really don't need heels in Oregon. Weird to this East Coast girl being at a conference with the most casual footwear ever. I eventually ended up in my walking shoes. Doing lots of walking. Only one blister.

The conference was one where I could tweet, cried my way through the conference, and have people tweet back, me too - there should be a HSP section in the seating to share kleenex. This is where we connect. Every now and then you need to be in a place where you don't once have to explain yourself or your work because 1,000 people know and get you. Just because you are standing in that hallway with them.

I am unpacking thoughts and inspiration of how to create more of this in my work. More community, unity, that sense that you are understood just by showing up.

Brené Brown will do her part to make the tears roll down. If you think she is awesome, she is actually a million times more awesome than that. Her story telling is where I will spend time studying because it is magic.

Sitting in a room next to Michelle Ward and Rachel Cole we listened to Danielle LaPorte do a Q&A session. She talked about how standing on stage was her persona, how her writing and her work were all part of that. In her kitchen she is different. I needed to hear this. You need to hear this.

Our online world is persona no matter how hard we strive for transparency or truth. The people who have been at the birth of one of my children or the neighbors who hear me lose my cool when the dog tears up my meditation garden know this. Persona is part of our gifts. Use it beautifully.

As Chris Brogan said on stage, we all poop, there is a book to prove it.

I was humbled by the people who came up to me, excited for my hug. I was there for them, how did I step into bizzaro land? I will never forget how incredibly gorgeous it feels to be noticed, admired and loved.

My travel wings have spread. After years and years of having babies and nursing, years that hold so much love and nurture and whole lot of exhaustion, I am flying off into a new world. One where I know how to spend time with myself. Where I acknowledge that I am allowed to because it makes me better.

To make my way on 5 modes of transportation in one day from coast to coast. Dream of the retreats I will someday guide. Feel space in new ways.

Each year I feel like a better person, growing more into how I want to show up. (This is where I get to insert that I got carded in Oregon for a glass of wine. Yep. Love that place.)

I am unpacking the lights, story and joy from my conference. I'm feeling the growing pains of re-entry after having been gone for more than a week. I'm planning outfits around my boots.

Yes, I rearranged the living room when I got back, Patrick patiently helped me, knowing that this was how I process, how I unpack, how I rejoin the pack.

Thank you Oregon for your beauty and grace. I can't wait to meet you again.

***

To all my new friends - thank you for the honor of knowing you, squeezing you and sharing time with you. Thank you for how much you truly wanted to be with me.

The conference was The World Domination Summit, in its second year, sold out each year with thousands on the waiting list. I am blessed to have attended.

Photo credit on second photo: Armosa Studios

A 30 Day Journey

Learn more about the journey here...

Highly Sensitive Packing

I am going to a conference on the other side of this gorgeous country of ours. I will be gone for 8 days. (Eli, my 7 year old will come with me and for 4 of the days will be at my father's house, while I conference.)

I have been dreaming about this time away, or as I'm guessing it will feel like, in deep connection.

With my self. My spirit. My fears. My growth. My desires. My tribe. My thoughts. My space.

Even before children I was never alone. Not really. Alone was scary. It still is.

Not alone in my home, that is divine, that is when I am with myself, but alone in a new space, adventuring, traveling.

A community I have found myself inside of full of introverted, highly sensitive, gorgeous beings will be there. I will not be alone.

I will be with.

Leaving the tantrums and fights of the last few weeks, I will not sugar coat it, will be a breath of fresh air that I need so badly.

Moms need that space to remember who they are.

I have visions of sitting in a coffee shop, working on my first chapter, once the conference is over.

I will more divinely know women who have come into my life for reasons yet understood, but completely felt inside my heart.

The chance to miss my man and the other two kiddos is a blessing. That feeling of knowing that you are so meant to be together when you are apart.

I will be stepping into a light that has been carried inside of me since I can remember, and even further back.

Jumping out of a plane or bunging jumping is not how I get my high. It comes from following my path, to going where I am called.

The hugs, smiles, wine toasts, listening with all of me, feeling present is how I soar.

Packing my soft shirts, dansko heels, anxiety drops and tinctures and tonics.

Pulling my hair up into a scarf, bag full of notebooks to capture the freedom of words that will flow once I start to fly.

Knowing that not only will I be stepping out, giddy with pleasure to wrap my arms around these women who are joy to me, but that they are waiting for me.

Packing that red suitcase full of wonder to be standing on the coast that I hold so dear in my heart.

Standing on her soil, remembering her warmly, like the days of the embrace of your first love.

I'm packing.

*** *** ***

I will be attending the World Domination Summit this year, a huge, huge thank you to my friend and tech support knight, Michael Marinelli, for introducing me to the man behind the conference which forever changes the way I see myself in this world.

Huge thank you to Patrick for taking a week off of work so that I can journey to pursue my dreams more deeply and return home rested and joyful.

Thank you to myself for taking a huge chance and pressing the buy now button on my ticket.

Let others believe in you fiercely and then join in.

*** *** ***

While I'm away registration is happening for The Joy Up, A 30 Day Journey. It is going to be beautiful.

In stillness (A peek into The Making Space Cleanse)

"Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself."- Hermann Hesse

Today during Summer Solstice we dance and play and welcome this night full of light and joy. At lunch time today I am going to play music and have the kids grab an instrument and dance and play in the yard.

After the dance and play I always crave stillness. I like to lie inside of soft space and feel, observe, be present.

As part of The Making Space Cleanse we will take our first day to observe stillness. To be present to our homes.

I'm sharing a piece of day 1 with you. My solstice gift to you.

After the dance and the celebration of light, allow yourself to start the preparation into cleansing your home, hearts and minds for the summer.

The days for those who join us on this journey will also include soulwork, videos, recipes and books that I love.

The video is a peek into our soulwork for Day 1.

Registration ends tomorrow, and there is a very special summer price this round. Check it all out over here...

Making Space Soulwork 1 from Hannah Marcotti on Vimeo.

The most important part of making more space in our life is to spend time in stillness. Meditation, soft space (time spent doing nothing but being) and daydreaming are ways of being still. For today I’d like for you to sit in stillness and observe. Look at the walls and windows of your home. Spend 5 minutes looking at the books on a book shelf that you see every day, without ever really seeing them at all. Watch a plant in its stillness as you sit and see the way the light shines off of it. Notice the textures of a pillow or the patterns on a rug.

Be still in your space in a new way. Sit somewhere new. Pull up a chair to a spot you’ve never spent time sitting and be still.

Tomorrow’s work will be based around what you observed today, so make some time to be still.

What are your first thoughts when I ask you to sit in stillness?

Does it sound too easy, or sound silly, or does stillness feel a bit scary or impossible to get to?

Be still.
Look at what you have chosen (or perhaps not) to be around in your space.
Just notice.
And really look.
Take the time to be present to lights, sounds, textures, colors.
Stillness.

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a decaf coffee but bummed I can't find my favorite mug, kind of forgot breakfast and just realized I'm starving, know this morning why I can only have one margarita --not two even if they are tiny, oy-oy-oy kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists. This one is bursting.

Crush on this site and Lisa. Make a mug of your favorite, if you haven't seen her photographs yet, you are going to get lost.

Another crush. If you asked me to pick a topic to sit around the fire pit and talk about I would choose voice. I'm cool like that.

Facebook conversations led me to this one. My twenties were an incredible time of growth and a whole lot of fight. I am so loving the wisdom of starting my flow into late thirties.

Number 8 is a tough one for me and got me into needless fights with my love this week. We get to learn these gifts over and over and over until we master the lesson.

A-ha moments like wow reading this one. Yep.

I had these glasses in 8th grade, a little more peach than pink. I want them again. Great lighting tips in this video.

Patti's honesty and raw love brought me to tears. Those of us raising kids molded and born with a magical uniqueness understand how vital discovering each of them can be.

This video I've watched 3 times now makes me want to be a better me each time.

Love Tanya's video because she is gorgeous and I am called to explore prosperity and what it looks like for myself. Maybe I'll write about it when I'm in the know.

Butter and softness. I'm going to make some millet toast and soften even more today.

Daydreaming is getting lost. I'm sad. I will be going offline even more to reconnect to my own practice because I used to be a kick-ass daydreamer.

All of these and I haven't even done my weekly Roots of She reading. Start here and just continue on.

Loving this wrist adornment. I'm a Virgo. Yes.

I launched a summer encore of The Making Space Cleanse. This is about space, spirit and thought. No rules, no diet plan. It isn't about food, but it includes fresh gorgeous summer recipes. The fact that women in the last round are signing up again makes me joyous.

Feeling Venus-y?

Venus marks the sun. We sat at the table tonight eating our bowls of rice noodles, broth, chicken and kale while listening to the scientists talk in amazed joy.

The energy or events of 2004 are coming to a complete cycle. What was beginning in your world in 2004?

I was pregnant with the baby that would be born in a car. Fast and furiously. I will say that it was terrifying, hearing my own screams echo in my head. I didn't feel the terror of it again for many months. Once it hit I was inside of PTSD for a rocky stretch of time that eventually led me to take zoloft to ease the pains. I eventually would spend 4 months numbed on an extremely high dose but the waking dreams went away. The waking dreams were the worst.

We walked through the house that would become ours in 2004. A tiny bungalow that needed lots of loving. We saw it as a rare opportunity to buy a house for $200,000 that was actually liveable. Most we had seen had holes in the floors or owners who didn't care about removing their enormous snake tanks from the rooms as you viewed them. It was a seller's market and we were amazed that anyone would even give us a loan.

Pretty sure you all know how that story goes. Our house is now valued for about $120,000 despite the time spent making it much more lovely and our family has grown from 3 to 5 and a dog since.

900 square feet has been my tiny dwelling with these munchkins, and I am proud for how we have made it work. I still dream about renovating the upstairs, the part of the house that called me to it when we first climbed those stairs 8ish years ago.

I am feeling Venus-y. Those completions of energy and experiences that I felt bound to are the birth of Eli and the belief that we would live in this house for 5 years, sell at a profit and move on.

I have a feeling inside of me like I feel when I see a synchronized gathering of birds in the sky, soaring, soft and united. I know that something larger than me is overhead. This is the quietness of magic.

The last few days Patrick and I have been fighting about the house. Silly fights. I'm dreaming and he's being realistic and doesn't that always drive both of us a bit wonky. I've had so many moments of wondering if I wouldn't just be a better mother back on the medication.

Inside of those moments I find the energy of what was started in 2004 simply wanting to find a way to settle and release.

Inspired actions can help us complete this energy cycle. 

And a surrender.

I will be painting my shutters bright orange.

And perhaps it is time to make a little more space?

The Making Space Cleanse - Summer Solstice Edition

No Longer Defined By His Curls

Let go mama. Let him spread his wings and fly. Allow him to discover who he is, without the weight of his curls, or his mistakes or his past story. At three and half he has a story and he wants more than anything to start writing his own chapters.

And so I surrendered.

Watched the curls fall. Cried at the thought, smiled in the moment.

Reminded myself he is a HSP too.

Remembered all the times I had long flowing blonde hair and when I felt defined by it, would cut it all off. Pixie cut.

When Chloe was four she also asked to shave her head and without any hesitation we let her. There is such freedom in being able to fly as yourself. Removed from definitions of beauty, you start to see your wings.

Yep, looking at those pictures from this morning and then seeing the now, there is my baby turning into a little boy.

Winners. Beauty. Gratitude.

Thank you to everyone for making Beauty Week so much fun and I am so inspired by all of the comments. I will try to highlight some in the next week. Here are our winners, let's do beauty week again soon!!!!

Monday with Lori Portka - AnaLisa Rutstein

Tuesday with Dyamond Robinson-Patlyek - Brandi Yee

Wednesday with me and Surrender - Lacey Wright and The Spot from our angel donor - Ruth Clark

Thursday with Jenn Gibson - Heather Day

Friday with Vapour Organic Beauty - Tahirih

Saturday with Chelsea Biggs - Geordan Montalvo

What is Beautiful Through Your Eyes?

(Visiting my beautiful friend and partner Michelle in Virginia.)

Winners for Beauty Week's giveaways will all be announced tomorrow on the blog. Thank you from my heart to yours for leaving such gorgeous comments all week. If you missed any of the posts, here they all are again:

Monday with Lori Portka

Tuesday with Dyamond Robinson-Patlyek

Wednesday with me and Surrender

Thursday with Jenn Gibson

Friday with Vapour Organic Beauty

Saturday with Chelsea Biggs

What is beautiful through your eyes?

Growing, birthing, and then watching my child bloom into an amazing little girl.  That's beauty to me.  Watching as my belly grew over 9 months, feeling her kicks and watching her squirm.  What joy.  Finding a power I never knew I had as I helped her make her transition from the darkness and comfort of my womb, out into the world so new.  Watching her yesterday, now 2, so eager to run and play with the ocean waves, as if they beckoned her to a place she already knows.  She is my beauty. ~ Xandra

The heart's ability to hurt and heal,
To forget and love,
To remember and trust,
To grow and stretch in places unknown and at once feel at home. ~ Stephanie

Beauty is the stillness that comes after walking through a storm. That's where the quiet wisdom emerges. ~ Britta

Willow trees... I can't explain it, but I can stop and stare at a willow tree for hours.~ Nicole

My 12 year old daughter who shares her secrets with me, for I know that all too soon I might no longer be the confidante of choice
My 92 year old grandmother, afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease, who showed me what pure, true, unconditional love looked like
Our aging dog who looks at me with such love and adoration in her eyes
My tribe of women
True and honest forgiveness
A heart full of gratitude
My ability to love deeply and really mean it ... Big, huge love I like to call it
Thunderstorms
Our garden, beginning to tease us with luscious, not quite ripe enough to pick fruit
The perfect green smoothie ~ Jenny.

For those of you who haven't met Jenny yet, she has graciously been helping me with the back end of my business. She takes care of my week, keeps me settled and calm and does a whole lot of busy work. If you've been in my tribe for a while, you already know and love this woman. She is beauty.

What is Beautiful Through Your Eyes? ~ Chelsea Biggs

This week on the blog I am hosting beauty week. What is beautiful through your eyes?

I want us to talk about beauty, to feel beauty, to be inspired by beauty. Beauty is something that we enjoy with all of our senses. With our hearts. I’ll be asking you to join the conversation over on FB and Twitter. I want to know what is beautiful through your eyes. Each day there will be a giveaway, simply leave a comment to enter to win.

Want to know two of the things that I think are most beautiful? Dreaming and action. Together they are secret sauce, butterfly magic, manifest beauty.

Dreaming felt impossible for me until I realized that my dreams were just that, my own to hold and cradle and nurture. Just like comparing my kids to yours, comparing my dreams to yours was the surest way to blow them out. Ignite and extinguish.

As I watch and guide women around me to start to dream and move, move, move, I know that I have found my beautiful work.

Today Chelsea Biggs from The Utopian Collection shares beauty through her eyes. Chelsea and I met at a party. I was drawn to her first from her immense beauty (this girl shines) and then from the way she talked about her business. I could talk about new businesses for hours. It took us about a year to finally meet for dinner!

Chelsea is multi-passionate. Not quite sure what she can't do. For the last 102ish days she has made a bag a day. I'm completely in awe of this. From the dream to the action. This is how you rock beautiful work. Surrendering to the dream and making it happen.

What is beautiful through your eyes?

Through my eyes beauty is confidence
to be who you are and where you are today

Beauty is compassion for those you love
for all those who you pass in your day

Beauty is the simple things
a piece of a robin's egg on a walk
a smile from your lover
flower petals in the streets
a morning storm

Beauty is not something to strive for
it is a state of mind.

Live in Beauty.
You are Beautiful.

Chelsea is offering one beautiful person a gorgeous feather hair clip. I have two, no three, of these. Sometimes we just have to wear a feather in our hair. To enter to win, simply leave a comment below with an answer to this question:

How do you make space to dream your beautiful dreams?

(Winners from the week will be announced on Monday 5-21-2012!)

What is Beautiful Through Your Eyes? ~ Vapour Organic Beauty

This week on the blog I am hosting beauty week. What is beautiful through your eyes?

I want us to talk about beauty, to feel beauty, to be inspired by beauty. Beauty is something that we enjoy with all of our senses. With our hearts. I’ll be asking you to join the conversation over on FB and Twitter. I want to know what is beautiful through your eyes. Each day there will be a giveaway, simply leave a comment to enter to win.

I discovered Vapour and fell happily for every product they have. Gluten-free and cruelty free, so no worries about safety. My dog ate my favorite product from them and he seemed to want more.

I feel beautiful in make-up and I feel beautiful without it. I have found that if I do my hair and put on make-up I am more productive. I say nicer things to myself in my chattering mind. I feel like being seen.

Our outside reflects what is happening on the inside. Ever see a women who has gone through a break up go out and cut all her hair off? Or watch as someone becomes crazy joyful and they start to drop weight and dress with a tad of sparkle? Do you notice that on days you wear jewelry that you carry yourself in a more beautiful fashion?

Beauty is in our soul, our spirit and our physical world. I give you permission to want to look and feel beautifully and dress in a way that shows it off.

If you were part of the summer Joy Up you'll remember one day's soulwork was all about reconnecting to the person you used to be. The one that wore red cowgirl boots or feathers in her hair. The girl who used to put scarves around her neck and collected big earrings. The red lipstick wearing woman who traded her color for chapstick in her diaper bag.

Beauty feels good. When we wear beauty on the outside it transforms our insides.

So if you haven't put on lipstick for a while, hear is a dare to go out and find an outrageously lovely color and smear it on. And take a picture. And love yourself up a bit. Yes, mamas and friends, you are hot!!!!

What is beautiful through your eyes? (from comments on the blog or FB page)

Foggy days, love them! - Liz

The world around me when I am laying in my hammock. - Michelle

Sunlight streaming in the windows and lighting up the fur flying about. - Melissa

Everything I see right now...I can't choose one. My daughter howling and laughing with her monster movie. My houseplants soaking up the last bits of indirect sunlight. The contrast of the tree leaves against the blue blue sky interspersed with cotton clouds. The love and fox bracelets on my wrists, which I've always been fond of. The kindergarten writing on the chalkboard. The table full of family things. The clean kitchen, which I'm about to go cook in. And how GOOD it feels to sit here in this space that reflects me back to me and soak it all in. - Anna

Today beauty is coming across photos of myself from two years ago, taken by someone I don’t know, and thinking, “Oh. Hey. I look beautiful.” I could not have seen that back then. Today is knowing I recognize both my inner AND outer beauty. - Jennifer

today beauty through my eyes is the shit path. the muck and the poo and the dank and dark places. seeing them now, as i am able, from this side of peace, joy, more clarity and love than i’ve ever known, they now possess a certain beauty to me. one wrapped up in surrender. as once i did, surrender that is, it seemed to begin clearing away. - Latisha

For me… today, in this moment… beauty is allowing myself to admit that I’ve lost the beauty I used to find in myself and allowing myself to begin the search for her again. - Amber

Today's giveaway is two shades of lipstick from Vapour Organic Beauty. Thank you Vapour! Hint and Restraint. I love how smooth and silky the lipstick is. It might make giving out a few kisses today much more fun.To enter to win, simply leave a comment below with an answer to this question:

What do you feel called to do to reconnect with the sparkly real-you?

(Winners from the week will be announced on Monday 5-21-2012!)

What is Beautiful Through Your Eyes ~ Jenn Gibson

This week on the blog I am hosting beauty week. What is beautiful through your eyes?

I want us to talk about beauty, to feel beauty, to be inspired by beauty. Beauty is something that we enjoy with all of our senses. With our hearts. I’ll be asking you to join the conversation over on FB and Twitter. I want to know what is beautiful through your eyes. Each day there will be a giveaway, simply leave a comment to enter to win.

Beauty is often elusive to us because our minds are so busy. Busy can include comparisons and trying to keep up with what we think we should be doing and how we think we should be looking. The ever fascinating loop of I am not good enough.

In stillness we learn love and compassion, we quiet our racing competitive minds. Beauty is everywhere inside of stillness.

Jenn Gibson from the popular and adored site Roots of She shares beauty through her eyes today. She is love, love, love.

Her site is sacred space shared by women everywhere. It is my favorite place to go and read and let myself be lost in words and thoughts and prompts. Recently Jenn became a life coach and is feeling the joy and beauty of that expansion into deeper purpose.

Watching her grow into her truth, guided by her mission --which is for you to know you are never alone, reminds us that we are all here for a unique and beautiful purpose.

What is beautiful through your eyes?

Beauty looks like wrinkled hands, bifocal glasses and white hair. Beauty looks like a momma nursing her child, and the wonder in a child's eyes.

Beauty looks like the sunrise and sunset and the knowledge that the moon will be rising soon, that the stars are about to come out and play.

Beauty looks like tears and bravery and surrender and joy and reveling in the sacredness that is you.

What I know to be true about beauty is this: We are all beautiful.

With our scars or hair that's growing out, with our round bellies or knobby knees, we are beautiful. With our vulnerable eyes and heart, with our hope and beliefs and dreams, we are beautiful.

Because it's our hearts and minds, our souls and dreams, our desires and hopes that makes us beautiful. It's when we are living our Truths, sinking deep into our integrity and values, acknowledging that yes, we are not only worth this, but so much more.

Jenn is offering one beautiful person a copy of her Metta in Mantras kit: a guided meditation kit includes a 20 minute meditation, a 15 page mini e-book filled with tips and hints on starting out with guided meditation and a set of six printable affirmations. To enter to win, simply leave a comment below with an answer to this question:

How do you find sacred space?

(Winners from the week will be announced on Monday 5-21-2012!)

What is Beautiful Through Your Eyes? ~ Surrendering

This week on the blog I am hosting beauty week. What is beautiful through your eyes?

I want us to talk about beauty, to feel beauty, to be inspired by beauty. Beauty is something that we enjoy with all of our senses. With our hearts. I’ll be asking you to join the conversation over on FB and Twitter. I want to know what is beautiful through your eyes. Each day there will be a giveaway, simply leave a comment to enter to win.

I wondered, would anyone answer yesterday's question (What is beautiful about you?) with a physical attribute?  And some of you did. I felt blissed out about that!

I had a realization last year, that I continue to have about once a week about my belly. When I get dressed I look at my belly. Does the shirt cling and show my wiggly middle? Should I put a scarf or sweater on to hide it?

I never, ever looked at my face. Shirt on --belly. Pants on --belly. Makeup on --belly. (Yes, I could even pull that one off, does this mascara make my belly look big?)

So I started to look at my face. And my legs. And my butt. And my arms. And my ears. I moved my gaze around my entire self. I started to wear bigger earrings and necklaces so I would focus my eyes up around my face. I found shoes I loved so as to glance at my feet.

I surrendered to a new way of viewing beauty. Beauty is not based on my stomach. I repeat, my beauty is not based on my stomach.

Fighting with my body is exhausting. I was doing it for so many years, years where there was very little to actually fight over!

I surrender to my beauty. Yes, my beauty.

Can you imagine your world if you did the same, let your beauty lead you, speak for you, let you be seen? No fight, just pure love.

Surrendering.

What is beautiful through my eyes?

Today beauty looked like my six year old making me tea.

My new striped skirt and tunic with a hot pink, sparkly necklace...beauty!

It looked like a face without makeup.

A moment of remembering my feet in the sand as I look at the gorgeous beach rocks we carried home with us.

It was words from others filling me with love. Wrapping me in love.

Today beauty was sitting in a chair at my Dr.'s and knowing that I was not alone.

Beauty was the way the strawberries sunk into my white sour yogurt.

Watching my little fall to sleep next to me, his chest rising and falling under the cozy blanket.

Drops falling on the roses, this was beauty.

Beauty was peeling off my clothes at the end of the day and breathing into the places where I feel judgement for my body.

Beauty. Yes, I surrender to beauty. The beauty I am. The beauty around me. The beauty I dream of. The beauty yet to come.

Today two spots in Making Space for Surrender are being offered. One from me, one from an angel who is sponsoring one beautiful woman to take the course. To enter to win, simply leave a comment below with an answer to this question, and if your name is drawn and you already paid for the course you will be reimbursed:

 

Do you hear an echo of surrender?

(Winners from the week will be announced on Monday 5-21-2012!)