A 30 Day Journey
/Learn more about the journey here...
Highly Sensitive Packing
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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.
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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.
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While I'm away registration is happening for The Joy Up, A 30 Day Journey. It is going to be beautiful.
And They Say {10 Quotes for my Kind of Joy}
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Coming Soon...
"You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings."
- Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)
"Each day I do the dirty work, the effort that attracts no notice but my own, and in this very place I find the ordinary ingredients for genuine fulfillment. It starts the moment my eyes open, as I rise with the sun to sort and stack the dishes, appreciating this simple task as the essential start to a healthy day."
- Karen Maezen Miller (Hand Wash Cold)
“I do it for the joy it brings, cause I'm a joyful girl. 'Cause the world owes us nothing, we owe each other the world.”
- Ani Defranco (Joyful Girl)
"When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness ... all the good things."
- Maya Angelou
"I looked a hundred times and all I saw was dust. The sun broke through and flecks of gold filled the air."
- Mark Nepo (The Book of Awakening)
"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves."
- Guatama Buddha
"Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts."
- Thich Nhat Hanh
"Joy is a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace - a connection to what matters."
- Oprah
"Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, grow."
-Talmud
"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."
- Lao Tzu
Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.
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I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a loving the no pressure-ness of Friday mornings, watching the kids ride bikes and then run inside from the rain and somehow between frozen blueberries, cereal, mangoes and granola bars didn't make one single breakfast kind of mama. I'm also blown away from all the love that has come my way this week. I must be doing something right.
These are my pay-it-forward lists.
This is what I mean when I say 'your voice' and it moved me to tears.
I love a good confession.
Well now I don't have to write this.
Finally got my hug from this woman. And she inspired me to new places I didn't know I was searching for.
Gorgeous from gorgeous.
I am heading to this conference on Thursday, and already have my HSPP (highly sensitive person plan) in action.
I'm reading this and it is all me.
I have the black short sleeve and this on its way. Never have I ever worn anything more comfortable.
And drumroll...here is a tease! Will be released soon...
He Marks Time
/Eli turned 7. I started to blog when he turned 3.
I had intentions to write about it, share pictures of the day, I saw it all.
The day was rough, edges and middles. I asked for help. He ended the day saying it was one of the best birthdays ever.
And so he marks time for me. For the transition into the woman I am becoming, am, was.
I watch him grow, feel his need for my love above all else.
And I am simply struck by the passage of time. And where I stand. And what I see.
Instead of birthday candle pictures taken with me behind the camera saying, "get off the table, stop sticking out your tongue" and all the other things exhausted moms say, instead I made you a little gift.
To mark your time with simplicity, ritual and the joy of making space.
What matters most, is how we feel when we lay our heads down at the end of the day.
As I read the boys to sleep tonight, both snuggled up in one bed together, feet to feet, I knew that to be true.
Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.
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I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a stuck in the chaos of a technical world I can't control but have two programs depending on, feeling the lack of sleep of the new mama variety yet without a baby, making eggs for supper but I'll be damned if I don't get this post done before midnight kind of mama. There may have been a decaf in there somewhere.
These are my pay-it-forward lists.
She is magic.
Andrea posted this link on Facebook and the theme of I Am Enough is one I work with my clients on all the time. This was my first introduction to Vivienne. (I totally just did 3 links in one, how do you like that?)
I have no idea what Britta is talking about. ;) You are going to love her as much as I do. And she is only just warming up.
Every word of this became more exciting and touching. Totally moved.
Julie asked if I was an Erotic Visionary. I answered, "I so want to be one!" How about you?
From Connie, this melted my heart.
I've been thinking about courage these last few nights, I love that it is on Jen's list to heal the hurt. I think that is where my path is going...
Full of so much joy to see Stacy bring this nakedness to the world.
You are so going to want to splash around in yellow and make these.
The day the exact post shows up and sings to you. Karen often sings to me.
Chloe is part of this and Leah has offered all of my beautiful community a little discount. Use the code JOY.
I am highly sensitive with a belly and jeans have never been comfortable. Until now. They feel like leggings. I will need every color.
Don't forget Bootcamp of the soulful spiritual kind starts July 1st. Free to all circle members. Love our circle.
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.
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I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a scheduling this post on Thursday night because the big kids' first day of summer vacation is tomorrow and I'm kinda freaking out and I'm out of decaf for the morning bumming, but we are going strawberry picking with a picnic and I'll just do more work at night now and go find a coffee drive thru kind of mama.
These are my pay-it-forward lists.
My pleasure to announce to you that Jenn Gibson's Self- Love Warriors E-Course opens today. Today! I am proud to be a guide, but that is not why I want you to go check it out. This is heart centered work that will fill your soul, ease your fight and show you how loving up yourself will turn your whole life around. I adore this woman and her work with women that is life changing, no exaggeration.
Currently there are 118 comments on this post. Because telling the truth is so freaking beautiful and craved by our souls. Also, because Andrea is just that beautiful and loved.
I am an interview junkie. Amanda kindly fed my addiction.
From my sweet girl Rachel. And this simply gorgeous interview and words shared from both of them.
Moo Cards is having a free special on FB cards! I just connected my account and boom, the gorgeous timeline Michelle made is now part of my pocket cards for my conference!
Super cool, my sister has predicted this will be my next project...somewhere.
I will be seeing this in July in Portland, and they only have a small amount left to raise, crowd funding, community building...yes, yes, yes!
These two men are among my favorites and together, such shining! Bernardo's smile lights the screen.
So cute is my favorite, we also have honey fox that Lucas and I are sporting on our toes right now (pictured above both colors). But oh my, look at stoned! That is my new favorite!!!
I don't knit, thankfully Etsy people do. And my favorite color is gray! And mocha. I would like to knit someday.
The Making Space Cleanse starts June 21st, summer encore special price. Soulwork and recipes, making space in the body, mind and spirit!
Right Now Your Future
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I have this well earned ability to compare myself to others down to the way they organize their Pinterest boards. Clever titles and things all neatly grouped. Mine are just a big jumble of beauty and inspiration. I finally pulled out all of my tattoo pins and made a board just for them. That felt like an achievement. No type A in this body, completely none. I'm like Z or Q or X.
I run with this mixture of wanting to be a stand out for my uniqueness and expressions and longing to blend into the pack just a bit more. I can lose site of my special in the world. Deep core needs created as a child blur the scene.
The magic is the deep core belief I also held as a child that I was going to serve and heal and make sure others knew how special they were.
Slightly frightening integrating all of this when creating a heart centered business, marketing inside of this New Economy we are reading about. Stand out, blend in, market with a formula, buck the system.
The very first program I created led to 1 and 1/2 (discount offered) people paying me. I asked a few others to join for free. I had a group. I had a program. I had a place to practice what I wanted to build. Those 1 and 1/2 people had enough faith in me to support my vision and want to be guided by me. And yes, things have grown.
They are the reason I kept going. That small amount of faith, those first 'yeses' were momentum and joy.
Your tiny numbers that get you down are actually your future about to stretch out before you if you let them. They are faith from the Universe that you can do this. Your now is creating your future.
Thank them. Honor them. Adore them.
Adore yourself while you are there.
I woke up with a fire in my belly this morning (hello FB status of the day!) wanting to call bullshit on labeling how people price their products and services. Pricing is an exploration, a practice. How many times I was told I was undervaluing myself when all I was doing was simply exploring, practicing, playing, creating.
There are plenty of ways to undervalue ourselves, it isn't just with money. And my prices don't tell you how I'm valuing myself, my actions do. The way I show up in the world.
My business has doubled in earnings every year since I started. As a mom who has been home with all three of my kids, currently still hanging out daily with the three year old, I am crazy proud of what I'm building. I love that my clients can email me when they are nursing their babies to sleep and I can email back when Lucas is watching a show or playing with cars and power rangers. I've raised and lowered my prices. I give a lot of it away for free. (I fully intend to free my husband from a job he hates.)
I connect, because that is one of my mad-hot qualities.
Our businesses need breathing room to grow. They also require us to tap into, fully, our gorgeous selves. The more I honor and talk about my sensitive constitution the more my business and life expand.
Today's email with a highly-sensitive client was all about her hair. How she could find someone to honor the natural flow of her hair and cut it in a way that felt good to her and was less of a fuss to style. The Joy Up Tribe chat was all about unruly, or what I love to call wildly gorgeous hair, for days. Pictures were taken, hair was left natural and we loved each other up.
My client hired me to coach her business. We talk about hair. And the flow of being sensitive. There are more ways to undervalue ourselves than just money.
I know you want, you want it. You can see it, taste it, you dream about it with tears in your eyes.
It is now.
Not in 5 years.
Now.
Those 1 and 1/2 clients.
The two words in your Ebook.
The kiss on the lips of the man you've loved for 14 years.
Wearing your stunning heels.
It is now. Prayers for tomorrow are created today.
Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.
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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?
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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?
Sexy Edges
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This dream was an answered unasked question. Those questions we hold deep inside, too scared to know they are there.
This dream was of me, one year later.
This dream makes me realize what I am stepping into.
This dream tells me why I feel like a snake about to shed its skin.
This dream is about embracing, accepting, flourishing. And how gentle this can be.
This dream isn't about being bold or fearless.
This dream holds a softness, the truth.
This dream is of me.
This dream is of me one year later.
***
A client of mine said that when asked about her business (which is starting to ignite) from a friend, she shyly replied that it was doing OK. She didn't say that she couldn't believe herself how amazing things were starting to become. She didn't say that she was becoming aware of just how beautiful creating a soulful, heart-centered biz was. She didn't say that she was about to raise her rates, a lot, because of demand.
She didn't say those things because it feels to a sensitive soul so strange to talk about ourselves in that way. It makes us worry we are bragging or that as soon as we admit how great things are, they will swing the opposite way, and we'll start to fail. I can imagine her in one year, and what I see is a soft edge to her confidence.
What if --when asked how our business is doing, we said, "There is an intense joy that designing your own beautiful work can bring. That is where I'm headed." Even if we are struggling. Even if we haven't yet made a dime.
Because if that can be true, if that intense joy in designing our own beautiful work can be true NOW, we can step into that confidence.
No one can give confidence to you. Living with confidence can be modeled and tools can be shared. The rest is up to you.
That is part of the work, not just creating and marketing, but confidence manifesting. It isn't that someone has a shinier website or more design knowledge, it is that they are cultivating their confidence, they are tending it softly, with truth. They take what you call risk, what they call a must-do.
A soft edge to confidence is pretty damn sexy.
In that dream I see how in this coming year I've settled into my new skin and this retreat into myself I've been on for a year has brought me such truth and joy.
I own my confidence, its softness is my glider.
I see in this dream where that has allowed me to go, and yes it is joyful.
***
Close your eyes. It is one year later. What do you see...
Prayer. Feet. And the beauty.
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When things are turned upside down and my insides are confused, knotted, these feet seek out the sand. The grains of time that set my body clock ticking again. A sanctuary that means no fighting kids, no internet, no decisions. Picnic packed and sun hat blowing in the breeze. The roughness of my edges softened, if only for these few moments.
And the beauty.
Rocks stuffed in our pockets, sand dripping from our toes. The prayer of the ocean. Remembering for a moment... almost feeling the butterflies of the first time we kissed.
Under the sheet. The wait. The reason I miss most appointments and am kicked out of practices. Sitting there, half naked waiting for another person to walk in fully clothed and talk to you as though this is normal. My feet go numb. I twist them and lift them until the blood moves again, matching the blood pounding in my heart. I leave with a urethra sore and aching, tests that try to discover why this loved 37 year old body is incontinent and often full of pain. I can heal. I will heal. I am healing.
And the beauty.
Looking in the mirror, silently remembering the prayers and blessings sent from this gorgeous community to my bladder and my spirit. Forgiving myself the slight ache of seeing the scale higher than previous comfort zones allowed.
The meditation circle in my little backyard. Needs dirt. Plants. A statue. My summer altar to sit at and sip coffee or calm my body. An early birthday gift to myself. A place to think of others. To send silent blessings, yes, I'm talking to you. Living in 900 square feet with three children and a dog creates a most desired longing for warm months. To extend living space and in a sense, my spiritual space. And yes, I so want to rearrange my living room around, something new for the summer solstice.
And the beauty.
Each day I walk closer to my spirit's calling. Prayers found in tea bags. Rocks from those beaches, lined up outside of my little bungalow. An introverts words, steps, breaths, time, silence, meditations while holding steaming mugs with painted nails.
And the beauty under your feet? Where are your prayers found?
Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.
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I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a Decaf Coffee (not sure why I feel that must be capitalized), grilled cheese on millet bread for breakfast and they all ate it, no fighting morning -I swear it, holy moly do I need a shower and some yoga kind of mama.
These are my pay-it-forward lists.
Stacy has the most beautiful, helpful, clever opt-in offer on her site. This is how you do it.
Beautiful story from Bridget.
Have you met my newest online crush, Sunni? She wrote about surrender which means I'm loving her even more...
When you let your heart lead your truth, the outpouring of love that follows is amazing. Liz is a friend and I share her story in many ways. This truth is so powerful.
Amazing things going on...
A press release!!! Lori that is just so cooooool!
Wild Sister is out! I wrote about love, superheroes and soup.
Click here to visit Wild Sister
I love this idea for a course. (I think Nathan is offering a two for one deal for you all too!)
Now I must, must, must go take that shower. And figure out summer camp for the kids. And get garbage bags and bird food. And make my to-do list for tomorrow's work day. Or just go sit in the sun while Lucas rides his bike!
Tattoos Kind of Like Babies
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Three babies. Maybe three tattoos. We'll see. I've been playing around with a sharpie until I find just the right one.
I have three ideas in mind. They are permanent, yes. So are my babies, and I like them that way.
Here is a secret. I've tended to hide behind a fear of judgement. When my life rather abruptly looked me in the face a few years ago and I had to learn trust and faith, I got my nose pierced. I felt so brave and as though I was finally starting to become myself.
I had always wanted my nose pierced. Always.
I made a decision for myself without needing approval or being afraid of what anyone would say or think. That decision marked time for me. When I see my nose ring I think about that year of transformation which has led me to who I am now.
Last year was all about joy. I have been taking a journey through ritual, trust and magic and all along feathers have followed my journey. One of our beautiful joy up tribe members even sent me an envelope stuffed with feathers. I wore feather earrings, feathers in my hair. My mantra was I am love. My highly sensitive self is all about sharing that love and creating and working from a place of love.
So feathers and love and anchors and birds are visions dancing in my head. (You can go peek at my Pinterest board of Inspired Tats!) Maybe obvious, perhaps discreetly placed. Time will tell. No impulsive tattoos for me, I've been thinking and planning for a long time.
Each year I feel like I have stepped into my own skin that much more.
Wanna talk tattoos or the marking of time?
P.S. Surrender has begun with prep week, there is still time to join us! Would love to move through time with you.
No Longer Defined By His Curls
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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.
Tales of an HSP - Baby Bangs and Retreats
/I may have mentioned before that I am a Highly Sensitive Person. I attract other HSPeople because it feels so freaking awesome to be understood. So here are some behind the scenes notes from my world.
I've had these baby bangs for about a year now. When you are sensitive, it is important to feel deliciously beautiful in your skin. When my bangs would touch my eyes or my face I couldn't breathe. I wore lots of scarfs in my hair for the longest time just to keep all the hair off my face. I had the idea to make my bangs really short and my love affair with the baby bang was born.
All the reasons not to get them: You have a cowlick, they are hard to style, they so wouldn't fit your face. Well, I heard all of those and I did it anyway. Love these bangs. And I love Instagram, come find me @hannahmarcotti
Sensitive is beautiful and has its unique challenges. I like to think of them as my growth chart. Just like a child uses a pencil to mark how tall they are getting on the wall, I mark my awakening to the joys of being HSP. Realizing what is actually the gift inside of it all.
I take things really personally, meaning I feel what may not be intended. A small comment said in jest or otherwise can leave me feeling raw and emotional for days. It allows me to learn that it isn't all about me. It gives me a chance to practice speaking the truth, asking questions, digging a little bit deeper. And sometimes it just leaves me in a panic. PANIC! I am feeling my way through this and my number one fear, that people won't like me. Oh my, can I just let go of that one already? Almost.
When I'm going through stuff, I retreat. It might be for a few days or a few months. I'm coming off of a whole lot of months where I have needed to do some healing, thinking, learning, stretching and surrendering. I feel strong, like I am coming out of a deep winter hibernation. I am letting the sun shine down on my face. I have unending gratitude for being able to run a business online, it is a blessing for a HSP.
So I went and had my bangs trimmed and my eyebrows waxed. I'm feeling a strong need to start doing more connecting in person, to move through the world being seen.
Bangs and all.
(And while we are on the topic of retreats, I have on my manifesting list, To be asked to teach at a retreat where I can wear yoga pants.)
Winners. Beauty. Gratitude.
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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?
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(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!)