Holiday bounty and my sweet friends.

With The Holiday Joy Up launched out into the world I am always humbled as the women start to gather together and form a community, a tribe, weeks before we even begin. Not everyone chooses to go through their days in group support, for some it is a chance to be quiet with their own thoughts and goals and dreams. I do love Soulwork in tribe though, there is something about going through an experience together that feels like magic.

We will be dancing in the magic together.

The Holiday Joy Up started as 10 days, as did all the Joy Ups (this was the video that started them all)! When it felt time to change things up the days were extended and now all of my programs are getting little make-overs to extend them so we have more time together and can travel together at a relaxed pace.

One woman said to me that at the end of December she will have had an email from me almost every morning for 3 months! I love this, showing up each morning with you and being part of the process of joy, change, heart-based purpose and learning more about who you are is my gorgeous life's work. I am truly grateful.

Please know that each joy up there are scholarships available if money is an issue for you in this moment. Women from past joy tribes who have gifted spots waiting for someone to fill them, if that is you, send an email to hello@hannahmarcotti.com to be matched up with a sponsor. One of the most magical parts is that often it is the women who started a joy up journey on scholarship are now gifting spots. The Joy Ups are that powerful, bringing us into places of abundance as we work through the tough stuff that brings us into our light.

My sweet friends are spreading their own magic.

I want to share with you some of the other Holiday offerings that some of my dearest friends have planned. I know that something on this list may resonate for you and be just what you were looking for in your own heart or for someone you love. I feel abundantly blessed to share their heart-based work with you. If you don't know these women you are in for a treat, pure delicious treat.

(Please note I am not an affiliate, just a loving friend to these women.)

Water your soul. ~ Liz Lamoreux

Wisdom Notes. ~ Rachel Cole

Santa Pause. ~ Kristin Noelle

30 Day Social Media Rehab. ~ Tiffany Han

Breathe Peace. ~ Jenn Gibson

New Mama Recharge. (In January) ~ Michelle Pfennighaus

In Community Grace we are doing some work around finding our feeling mantra. Mine is to feel inspired to create magic. Whether it is with my communities, the connections I make with clients, in my cozy family, with my book coach, long talks with my mastermind group, moments of clarity and joy from those I am deeply connected to, making space in my home and heart or simply as I sit down to write; I feel inspired to create magic.

Attaching my intentions with that feeling is what moves me forward, helps me dig deep into my own personal magic. I'll be sharing some stories from the Community Grace group as I know you will be as moved as I am by their personal grace.

The Holiday Joy Up 2012

Join us for Holiday Joy Up 2013 over here!!!!

When you dance in the magic something opens up inside and the desire for more joy, dreams and passion becomes the mission of the heart.

December 1st to the 22nd

As we approach the Holidays it is easy to lose focus on joy, we want magic and sparkly nights, not stress and fights! Pressures arise and we are faced with decisions to make and food indulgences on every table.

These 22 days are about connecting to daily gratitude, creating everyday magic, feeling filled with connection (rather than sugar), truthfulness, radiating love and that twinkle of inspiration for creating a season of joy.

Gratitude + Love + Magic = Holiday Joy

 22 days of holiday letters holding inside of them:

• Inspiration towards making more daily magical moments
• Reminders of what truly matters to us through holiday joy affirmations
• Gratitude makers - think noise makers full of gratitude - through soulwork assignments
  
• Recipes that make your taste buds joyful and your body gorgeous
  
• Daily sparkles, tingles, twinkles, fluttering...magic of the season

Reminders to dance in the magic of the season:

• Support from your joy tribe
• Inspirations for sharing the love of the season
• Twinkles of gratitude
• Joyful giving and receiving
  
• Gorgeous holiday living

Shifting into joy for the present moments:

• Feeling love for who we are now, yes, now
  
• Simple ways of showing love through the sharing and receiving of gifts and gestures
• Mindfulness and joy that come from the simple, ordinary tasks of our life
• Transforming the everyday into joyful holiday magic through Soulwork
  
• Fully being inside of the joy of the season

Magical guests contributing their sparkle and gratitude:

• Tanya Geisler
• Kelly Rae Roberts
• Kristin Noelle
• Alana Sheeren
• Bari Tessler

Recipes to connect you deeper to your health:

• Grain-free and mostly dairy free, like me!

Here is how we move into the magic:

• A letter each morning delivered to your email, like a daily gift of gratitude
• 22 days of inspiration
• A Facebook Joy Tribe Group to chat in, share inspiration, pictures and the magic of the season
• Watch your holiday joy start to sparkle as you dance in the magic
•  I celebrate Christmas but this is for celebrating the season, not a specific holiday
• Share the magic we will be dancing in, sign up with a soulsister
• $22.00 for 22 days
• Or join and gift to a soulsister for $38.00
• December 1st to the 22nd
  

I always smell joy and the excitement in the air, see it in the lights that start to sparkle and taste it in the homemade applesauce simmering away on the stove. This time together is about focusing on those special moments and making memories. Taking the stress and pressures and flipping them into gratitude, love and joy! Let's discover the magic of the twinkle together.

Here is my love note to you:

• I believe you are amazing
• I believe in you connecting to the special
• I believe in the magic of all you are
• I believe in you

 

"To feel that connection that exists between all of us, everywhere, is so refreshing and joyful." - Emily

"This time has been wonderful. I met Joy like an old friend coming back into my life. I am really enjoying the visit and hope that she stays." - Laura

"This has been the most precious of days ♥ !" - Stacy

"Thank you for these days, they will ripple into many more days to come." - Jenn

"Focusing on joy has allowed me to encourage and old friend and totally change the way I think about situations. I'm usually negative but these past days I have learned to speak the truth in my head out loud instead of letting the negative situations take over. It has been really amazing." - Rachel

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a make hot soup to simmer away on the stove early, make the bed, call back the potential babysitter, cross things off that funky list next to me by noon (yes, this is a challenge) and "mama please can we go to the playground before we pick up the big kids" kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

Jamie and Me. xo

Oh Pam, I love this. ~via Susannah C

Dream. Come. True.

I have not cross stitched since I was a little girl. I am so feeling like making a little basket and going back in.

Shame. Know this one? A beautiful sharing of the process of moving through, not pushing against.

This is how I plan my programs. All of it with sticky notes, right here. And then I spontaneously get things like this for my daughter, shhh!

Catching up on my reading. Blogs, just yes.

The storm has brought waves of emotion to us on the East Coast.

***

Catch up with my news from my world, Would they notice?

Monthly intentions. Or, walking with grace.

Found this on the top of my to-do list. My girl does appreciate a good party, she always has.

I give each month a name. Sometimes they are clever and other times just a word. They help me set a strong and feeling guided intention for my month. The work I'm guiding for the month will often match up to my personal monthly intention.

This month as I am walking with grace inside of a program that I'm adoring creating, I was sure that would be my monthly intention.

Never be sure. Always stay open. Grace will teach you this. As I am talking in my community often I find words that want to linger back to me. They won't be ignored.

Opening to Receiving.

This is November's intention. Strong and soft. And you?

Full moon fever.

I find myself desperate for words. To type them, search for them, or rather let them fall into place like flakes of snow piling onto one another.

A full moon fever has come to visit me, alternating between hot and cold, clammy and shivering. A strange place to be setting down words.

Today I finish a program with women who brought me to a new place of truth and belief in the simple, the ordinary. Taking out the complicated so we may return to what we know deep inside.

I don't use big words, I would have to look them up to find them. My memory holds onto so little.

I see words piling onto multiple pages and then my jaw clenches wondering where the time will be found for their arrival.

My back aches as I remember I feel in the physical sense when I'm working through to a new place, a new knowing or time. Or simply releasing what has been.

Full moon fever.

Words longing to find their way.

Tonight, they rest here.

This calm before.

Candles on the windowsills. Coffee in my mug. Turkey soup simmering away on the stove.

A view from above.

Last night we took a walk and I couldn't believe how bright the sky was. Since I was little I have loved storms, the sound of wind and rain and thunder can relax my energy which is normally extremely tight and tense. These last few days of this eery magical calm before the storm has kicked my anxiety up. Lying in bed at 4am with my mind racing like it used to after Eli was born. The boys running across the street and I can't get to them as the car is coming. Those thoughts that you want to wish away but can't control in the noise of your head.

This still happens.

The house feels so cozy, the smell of soup and the anticipation of wind and rain on its way. I opened up an email today from a woman thanking me for changing her life, helping her find herself. After courses and classes that she has tried, nothing had ever worked. Until now.

And that happens, expanding me. I am learning, slowly, to hold this truth.

My heart is full and excited for all that will be. After the storm, after the soup, after the new Lego set is built by candle light. (We'll just turn out the lights if we don't lose power!) The rhythm of nature, cycles of the moon, all of it; I believe that we can use the energy to go that one layer deeper into ourselves.

Every time I step my feet into the sand on a beach I feel layers shed. I feel at home. I feel peace.

Inside this calm I am guided towards preparation, flames flickering, blankets snuggling, looking ahead and being fully present. The calm teaching us to really be here, now, keeping time while watching the leaves float down.

***

(This post inspired by a conversation in Mamacoach Circle from the amazing Erin Goodman.)

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

(Writing this blog post, sipping that coffee, wearing something I made with my hands. Joy.)

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am  a sinking into bed, creating things with my hands while sipping coffee, can't believe it is almost noon and I've got some deadlines to go play with kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

I love most things with sensitive in the title.

Let's just know this and really pay attention. And also believe that our world must start to change and that we are that change.

I have a huge crush on succulents.

Beautiful. Photography dreams I have.

Hello, mama will be going into the kitchen.

I wish I was in CA so I could be part of this magic.

Vivienne is rocking my world with everything she does and is.

Via Stefanie Renee on FB this beautiful kickstarter. Can you feel the energy around this one. Buy a gorgeously loving bag for yourself or a gift for someone you love and know that this is supporting real art.

I'm committed to talking more about healing our marriages and our own selves. This from Kelly, this will guide you.

I'm starting to make things again. I'll write about it soon, but for now, what she said. Gorgeousness from Andrea.

"Big heart love." Yes, that is Jenny. Her telling of truth is awe inspiring. I am blessed to have her on my team.

Speaking of awe, hello!!! Inspired, intimidated and admitting I think we have one printed picture of our third child in the house. I hung a frame up in the kitchen and it is still empty. He's four.

In nude. Just saying.

How we make this little thing called magic.

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” ~ Roald Dahl

Here is your soulwork for today. Pick a word or a color or an object. Think about it, hold it inside your mind and your heart. Focus on it for at least 10 minutes in silence.

As you go through the next few days keep your camera or your iphone handy and take a picture every time you see the word, color or object. Watch how what you focus on and believe in shows up.

This is the first step to magic making. Focus and belief.

For added fun a hashtag on instagram #magicmaking if you want to share your magic. (Find me at @hannahmarcotti on Instagram.)

“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” ~ Terry Pratchett

I have two spots open for November Magic Making Sessions. If you are being called deeper into understanding yourself and your creative work life, let's make some magic together. xo

***

"Hannah Marcotti is my secret weapon.  As a mom & a coach, I was struggling a bit to find balance.  Hannah met me exactly where I was & guided me toward a healthier lifestyle.  Through her intuitive coaching style & her unique business savvy, I was able to completely take Soul Carrot to the next level!"

 http://www.soulcarrot.com

 

 

"I let go of three of the four services I was offering and wow, do I feel so much better!"

http://sagelifeconsulting.com/

Essay from the bathroom.

Connection to home is my form of balance. When I'm off scrubbing the bathroom it will slowly rock me back into rhythm. My friend calls doing such things 'making home.' Gorgeous, yes?

I have the moment where I still can't believe we have lived here almost 8 years and still have the baby blue sink, one of the first things I dreamt of changing. I scrub it with a magic eraser every few months to wash off the scum from five bodies sharing one tiny bathroom. And it glows. When I was a child I loved cleaning the bathroom sinks. I used that powered comet and I loved seeing it go from scummy to clean under my hands.

My mind comes to life. Ideas flow, lists that only a right-brained, highly sensitive would understand start to form; which means a list that will be forgotten too. I write in my mind as I scrub. On my hands and knees, grateful for having paper towels (rare in this house) so I don't have to use a hundred little cleaning towels. I'm sure I'll remember the words later. I'm always sure. It is sometimes as though I haven't been introduced to parts of myself.

No, I won't really remember I later remember.

I remember being pregnant on these same hands and knees which now feel almost like a different body, scrubbing this space for the first time. I am a mama of three kids now. This house is full. We use so much toilet paper now. I have two boys; did I ever think I would have two boys?

Stepping into the shower to use my own power to wipe the walls and clear the stains, more memories; the shower I would stand in after Eli was born and relive his birth, every time, every shower. My voice screaming. Then remembering he is safe. Still the child I worry about the most, the one my body can almost feel every time he is hurt, connected somehow deep in our senses.

The bathroom felt bigger 8 years ago. My life was tinier. There are seven toothbrushes I count as I wipe off the shelves. Toothpaste and fingerprints on the walls.

I imagine stretching it out, first the bathroom and then my visions of my life. My dreams. How can I expand this bathroom? How can I expand my path.

The match strikes and I light the candle. Every sparkling bathroom must end with the flicker of a candle smelling of frankincense or sandalwood or jasmine.

The sink is still blue.

We are still here.

Somehow I am bigger now.

Exhaling the truth.

You may not believe me when I say my mornings are really tough until you realize that I wake up just like you. I have three kids under 10 and if you have children you may understand waking up to more expectations of you then you feel capable of meeting. Yes, there are giggles and there is joy but it is hard work. Often exhausting.

And I wonder where I fit into that puzzle. I wonder where my marriage fits into all of it. Maybe you wonder too.

Recently Patrick spent the week at home with me and I realized how deeply, deeply I miss him. Our lives are so separate from what were once lives in constant rhythm.

And I wonder how to heal that now, not in 5 years when the kids are older. Maybe you wonder too.

You may think that the me you see here, in these spaces is me until you realize I am just like you, everyone of us who have online personalities are more than what we ever show here. This is our persona, no matter how hard we try to bring you the truth, it will always be limited.

And I wonder how to align the different parts of myself, so that there is less of a gap between the me that shows up here and the me that lives in real time. Maybe you wonder too.

You may think I have patience and never eat just a small bag of potato chips I grabbed at the gas station for lunch until you realize that we all have so many unseen unspoken moments. We are going at a pace towards the change we long for and sometimes baked lays just taste so freaking good when we are too tired to make a salad.

And I wonder what it would be like if we could share more of those moments and start to bridge the gaps of perception and reality. Maybe you wonder too.

You may think you see me. I may think I see you.

And we do. We see pieces of each other. Part of the work we are doing is learning how to fit these pieces together, make them flow together even when they don't fit. Even when they make us angry or wanting to be something entirely transformed.

What I love about this life is that at any moment I can change. I can make a choice to feel differently. I can drop the anger. I can find new words. I can cut my hair or grow it longer than its ever been. I can wear feathers, get a tattoo, sell everything I own and move across the country. Somehow. There is always the somehow. There is always a way to change, to choose, to grow, to evolve.

And I wonder if you feel the gap closing in your own world and if you can see me more clearly each time we exhale the truth.

The way I see community.

Four years ago I was a stay at home mama, pregnant with my third baby, wondering what more there was for me. I felt lost. I knew that I had something special to give this world. I had tried so many careers and I couldn't make anything stick. What I felt deep down was that I wanted something that was mine, that I could control, design, create, develop.

I wanted to tap into my gifts, my light.

Four years later I have a business that is flowing in abundance, beauty and grace. I also have a new budding business with a most amazing woman and a circle of women who believe in each other. I haven't been 'lucky' (though I'll take any luck that wants to flow my way). I've been working hard, doing the beautiful work; creating connection, building community and trying to show up with a combination of truth and grace.

Somewhere along the line I fell in love with the joy of building community around my work. Partly it came intuitively for me and the rest I had to learn. I combined reading, studying and a whole lot of playing around to see what worked and what didn't work.

Our community is not me talking/writing and you just listening. It is also me listening and hearing you back. It is the flow of our energy and the sharing of our gifts together. I set the table and you bring the wine. Community is shared purpose, goals and explorations. The communities I am part of are warm and cozy, sunshine through the windows warming us when we need it most, lifting and truth telling. Lots of truth telling.

Community Grace is a way to play with community building and creating connections to bring energy behind your words and offerings. Gathering those around you that you want to talk and share with and those that you learn from and could listen to for hours as they share their stories or guidance with you.

What I know is that our words are powerful, our story is where we connect. We make choices in how to use our words to connect, to grow, to show up. There is no formula and once you realize that you can fully step into your light and start to use your words to gather energy around you and your work.

Your community is forming, they are a vibrant gorgeous community, ready to spread out the picnic blanket, uncork the wine, serve the food while the music is played and come together inside of your own special magic.

What will you bring? How will you share? What passion do you bring to this community table? How do you show up as you, in your truth and flowing with your passions?

Gathering is ceremony, celebration. Knowing your own special gift, voice and compassion and setting them free sets you free.

We all have a story to be told. We have a community to gather with. We have joy unfolding before us, compassion spilling.

And so we continue. We build. We play.

***

Learn more about Community Grace, my group program for November.

In real time. The giveaway that became my gift.

What started as a giveaway became story whispers from women in my community. I want to have 105 Malas around my neck to give to each one of the women who shared a piece of their story or offered encouragement or just said thank you. To me. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself. I hope that those of you who joined Spirits of Joy are holding onto it, wearing it, in just the way you might if I could send you each a beautiful Mala. You each touched my heart so deeply. So truthfully.

 Here are some of the whispers:::

Hannah…the pure way in which you express your passion for your family, your work and life is beautiful. Although our paths crossed only a few days ago through your kind offer of Spirits of Joy, I feel honored to know you. What you have created is magical and I’m proud and grateful to be a part of it. I own a Mala, gifted by a treasured friend, so I’m not posting here hoping to be a recipient of your kind offer, but to simply express my gratitude for the gift that is you! I’m certain your Mala already knows where it needs to go next.

Your lovely gesture- and all the beautiful comments that follow- are making me cry. I am so, so happy that 600 women are blessed to experience what I felt in that sweet little office space on Wayland. That Awakening Mala looks beautiful on you, friend.

I love the idea of this ‘give away’ as to me, it feels really special, as it has been so important for you and your family: as a symbol and as a part of daily rituals, which add so much to how we experience our daily lives.

Hannah, the short answer is yes! your Mala speaks to me. Shouts to me. At times, whispers intimately in my ear. Only really because it is yours, and you speak to me.

Weeping here. Hard. I’m telling you that I think that gratitude and gifting is The Answer. I feel like you have just lifted another veil for me. There's so much pain and dis-ease in grasping and holding expectations and “I’m owed that-ness“, and its just so hard to let go of because I’m scared. You, know?

This is such a beautiful outpouring of generosity, Hannah, cocooned inside that deep knowing you always seem to possess of when it’s time to shift the energy. As I learn to be still in my own life and to claim those blessings that manifest themselves in my everyday, I am so glad to have you as one of my “spirit guides in human form.” Thank you.

I sit here crying not only at your generosity…but also because I too am on a similar path…one speckled with obstacles at nearly every turn, and yet, I am trying to find the message in this journey, instead of being defeated by it. I have spent years wishing and hoping, and am now moving on to embrace those dreams you talk about.

***

The only word that keeps coming to mind is humbled. Every time I think it is about me giving I am given an opportunity to practice receiving in deeper ways. From my monkey mind saying, um, who would want a Mala that has been yours, to moving into the truth that this community that has gathered around is full of such love, truth and (here is my lesson) gratitude for this space and this work.

I breathe it in. I am in the truth of this. In real time.

As I have been wanting to launch a program all about community but talking myself out of it at every turn, who shows up to reinforce my work? My beautiful community. You. And you. And yes, you.

I read every comment multiple times and felt all of you, with me, infusing your stories into this Mala.

Christina W. writes, "Ahhh, just reading this post now and all the comments of Joy. As I sit already in a seat of gratitude from you, my smile is big thinking of what a wonderful gesture of spirit this is, moving through you to another. May the receiver be open to all its gifts and may your imprint be passed on through all wearers in the future chain. love. xo"

The Mala will be going to visit Christina on its next stop in this chain. It will carry a story, all of these story whispers. And a new story will start.

And we can all hold onto this mantra of receiving, this is what I am learning how to do, be truly open to all of the gifts when we learn how to accept as gracefully as we can give. Amen to that.

May the receiver be open to all its gifts.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am so honored you are here.

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a red lipstick, hot mocha with almond milk, sitting with the sun shining down on my face, loving my husband being home with me all week which is like vacation from the school and feeding duties for me kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

OK, this is my own link but I have to tell you that reading the comments this week has been one of the most amazing gifts that I have ever received. Thank you, thank and thank you.

I love when words can create a buzz, a social media sharing frenzy.

OK, so I've been under a rock, it takes me about 3 years to catch up on music. Love.

I am guessing this will make it to every Friday link list there is. Amen gorgeous, what needs to go on your list?

When people I adore take time to show the people they adore, I adore them even more. And I adore all three of these beauties.

I have been having some silly crazy fun with these two schemers and dreamers. I can't wait to share it. And I will tell you, these are my favorite underwear (I mean panties.

My sweet friend's father. Listening to him made me realize that I have found my art. Writing is the thing that I feel I was born to do. Without question.

She is positively divine and this is a gorgeous way to know in your heart.

This chic rocks in big ways. Meet her and love her.

I am utterly in love with everything about this.

In real time. And a Tiny Devotions Mala Giveaway.

Art by Cheryn from the August Joy Up, now resting in my kitchen!

A dive into gratitude this year, beginning with my 38th birthday. I offered my newest program, Spirits of Joy, just for that one day as my gift. Not even two hours after I announced my birthday gift there were 200 sign ups and the calm of birthday morning was quickly turned into rushing to find a new way to give out this gift. The system I set up was not able to allow more than 200 'free' things out in a day.

I fixed the problem after a few panicked phone calls to my support team, thank goodness they love me! By the end of the night over 500 sign ups. A huge silent and not so silent blessing to Susannah - xoxoxo - who writes one sentence about it and more sign up. And so many of you in this beautiful community shared this program not because of me and my little, um big, birthday but because you believe so deeply in this work.

After the day of giving I tucked a nice low price on it and by last night 600 women, exactly, were signed up.

This is freaking awesome and it scared the shit out of me. I felt a bit paralyzed by the truth of that.

It was magic.

And scary. I am beyond proud of the way I've created and dreamt my business. I love the way my work is unfolding because it is so completely me, not a formula, just my intuition and my love of heart-centered marketing. It never occurred to me to ask my friends to help me spread the word (now I know I could lovingly do so). So many of you did. This is about the journey but it is also about me learning to be where I am.

To accept the fear that came with 600 gorgeous souls being a part of this. Behind the scenes of this blog are a lot of hours, manifesting deep, real connections, saying to the kids "give me one more minute" and late, late nights. It is a part of me that keeps me pulsing now.

Each time the business grows I learn how to hold that new amount of energy, that is what we are doing when we create community, bringing our energy together. As a coach you learn how to guide without being drained and giving away your energy, this is a tender process that takes time to learn and develop.

I had a teary hour with my coach where she helped me find the space to shift back into my flow of writing. That is where the magic is, in this shift, making space to return to the words. The messages. The truths.

Day 1 started today. I'm sitting on the porch, markers and gluten-free pretzels that the kids abandoned for bikes. And I type. In real time.

Mala from me to you. My African Jade Mala, that has been with me for the last year, that I gifted to myself after last summer's joy up. I want to give it a new home, with one of you in this community that keeps me honest and reaching towards deeper grace in all I do.

My new Mala, Awakening, was a birthday present from sweet Jenny (The Biz Doula). From dreaming and learning to hold energy to discovering the possibilities inside of myself. My journey. The Jade Mala is ready to share energy with a new person. I love the idea of passing it forward. (And there might be a few more goodies to find their way into that package!)

I've wanted to do this for a while since my new Mala arrived. I thought maybe you all would think I was crazy giving away my necklace. But in real time. Doing it today. Just leave a comment if this Mala speaks to you. xo

IMG 3255 from Hannah Marcotti on Vimeo.

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a well at least I have dog food for the dog and frozen pizza for dinner, drinking more water, manifesting the most amazing babysitter for me and Lucas (please oh please), driving a minivan with a piece of plastic falling off from underneath, so crazy happy my husband has a whole week off next week kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

So, let's just start with this.

Amazing find. (This woman I adore linked it up on FB.)

Julie starts this post acknowledging how blessed she is and my eyes start to water. This truth... and openness.

I have enjoyed pastries from this bakery so many times and her story, wow. My Aunt and a dear friend live in Hastings.

Because sometimes we feel like this. Yes, I know you know.

Writers. This.

The beautiful Jennifer Louden posted this book link today on FB and with it a beautiful conversation, "A HUGE danger for me of social media & blogging is focusing on short term pats on the back rather than the work itself."

Time Sensitive, it is the birthday of one of my sweetest friends and a kick-ass coach/mama/woman.

How sweet is this? I love being able to connect the dots from the work I do with the stories behind it.

I really love this guy.

Obsessed with recreating something like this.

And if I lived alone I would probably do this.

Yes, my antlers are on their way. Can't wait to welcome them in. And re-arrange the furniture when they arrive. Of course. No, my husband has no idea, unless he is reading my blog right now. ;)

Goodnight beautiful day.

Nightly blessing:: Goodnight beautiful day.

Like the owl gliding silently in the night, I am wise.

Just as the blue heron stands, wait-full, I am stillness.

With my hands placed together at heart center, touching and silent, I am love.

“We all shine on...like the moon and the stars and the sun...we all shine on...come on and on and on...”  ~ John Lennon

***

Blessing 1

Blessing 2

This Tiny Life ~ Part 2, The Living Room

It is the unexpected moments, market crashes, losses, diagnoses or stuck places that bring about beautiful gifts to our lives via the struggles and the challenges that guide and allow us to find our magic. If we choose.

Welcome to my living room.

I am an obsessive furniture re-arranger. It is lovely to know I am not alone in my shifting of stuff to make space. For years I was certain no one else ever moved a couch or table once, let alone every season. Now I know there are so many others who must move things around to shift energy and create space in their homes, hearts and minds.

I crave space with every breath I take.

Living life inside of a highly sensitive body that belongs to a highly sensitive soul has been a life of practice and knowing. It has taken me years to forgive myself such things as moving furniture around, forgetting that I own a black tank top and buying a new one 5 times, not knowing how to sit in a group of people talking with no one leading the discussion, waking up and just feeling so off that I must find a way to cry and inducing exhaustion after scheduling something to do out of the house every day for weeks and needing days and days of stillness to recover.

I've had to learn to forgive the guilt and the feelings of 'being too sensitive' as a negative. This is part of the beautiful work.

The living room is long and skinny, with 6 windows plus the glass door, 2 radiators and 3 doorways. As someone who must constantly move space, make space, feel space:: a challenge. Every time I'm certain I've found every possible way of moving the furniture another one presents itself. And move it all I do. And then I can breathe. The kids are calmer, play longer.

Change is scary but also brings with it opportunity for feeling new. Moving things in my space does this for me.

I've shifted furniture around even when we had big apartments. I used to re-arrange my dorm rooms and my memories of shifting go back to doll collections. My mom once suggested I look into staging houses for people wanting to sell because I can find space! Tiny house living was not a dream of mine, in fact we owe more on the house than at the moment we could ever, ever sell it for, so it isn't something that has saved us money. This is the challenge life has brought (among gobs of others) to see if I would follow it towards my magic.

If I could move today, get out from this mortgage, forget about the dream of turning the attic into our master suite and meditation/work space would I? Yep. In a second. I would love to be released and start fresh from who I am now, with the knowing I hold and the growth that I have discovered as I've surrendered to ease. Part of the reason I am who I am today, a gift of my house. Every room has its own stories to tell, to whisper, to shout, to hum.

What feels like failure is actually the clouds over our sun. Both full of beauty.

Patrick and I often get to a moment where we look at our choices and wish we could go back and choose again, as the people we have become. But it is these choices that have designed our next choices for who we want to be now. Just as I design my living room to flow with what is happening in our family, now.

When the boys need more open space or the season pushes us outdoors, each placement of furniture changes. As Chloe started to express the desire for her own room, we moved the table into the living room and put our bed in the little dining room. My shins are banged up because at night when I get up to pee there is very little room to walk around the bed. I dream of that attic space some day and know that giving Chloe her room was making space for her to grow up.

Baskets are sorted. Pillows are bursting with pattern and color. Furniture is soft and only sort of nice, I have two boys and a dog and they will beat up your stuff. Patrick walks through the front door each night and I get to decide how I will greet him. With the gratitude for what I have or the exhaustion from what I struggle with. I want to open the door with a kiss and acceptance the most. To meet him with grace. Often the tired lady opens the door and forgets to smile.

Grace is a way of living, it is a shift into living with elegance, softness, ease, love, kindness and flow.

This tiny life can make it hard for me to show up inside of that gratitude for what is.

This is why we make space. This is why we connect to our heart center. This is why we have to find moments to snuggle and cuddle even in the smallest of living rooms. My joy is my now. My now gets to dream of what is next.

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Part 1 ~ This Tiny Life, The Kitchen

There is a story behind every program, every offer, every blog post, newsletter or picture of mine. Or of yours. I live for the story. I breathe the story. Story is my muse. The Making Space Cleanse is one such story. A story of falling in love with the life we have so that we can live the life of our dreams. This little 10 day program is the heart of how I strive to live, to create, to guide.

On the equinox.

I am embracing a new feeling of sexy. (Please know how terrifying it is to write that on my blog which I'm fairly certain more than 3 people read now!!!)

After my first pelvic floor therapy appointment I started to feel a release. My therapist told me that she couldn't believe how tight my pelvic floor muscles were and she spent about half an hour working to release them, which she will continue to do once a week for a month or so. I don't really know what she was doing, but I do know she used the word trigger points. It was a combination of pain and release.

I was not surprised at how tight those muscles are. I have a jaw that I clench almost always. I am a hyper-flexible body and I hold it as tight as I can. Always. My contradiction. My female story.

Part of my beautiful work for myself has been learning to release as I am a self taught holder. Often in the release there is a whole lot of pain that I'd rather not feel. And feel I am.

The night of my first appointment I was so tired. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I fell asleep with Lucas in his bed and then came up to bed. As a night owl I felt really thrown. Confused.

I climbed into bed and sobbed. Like buckets. Then I slept. I wasn't crying about anything but no amount of holding was going to stop those tears. It felt special to let them flow.

My dreams have been wild. I've been exhausted. My doctor told me I need to be careful about combining too much energy work while I am going through these appointments because I tend to be on the intense side. I understand now what he was saying.

My new desired feeling is sexy. To welcome back the knowing that my body, despite leaking and flare ups, can be and feel sexy. I've always been slightly afraid of being that. Feeling that. For some reason at 38, sitting here in the equinox I am ready.

Fall's arrival combined with my newest year always brings a rebirth of something. This year I am giving birth to feeling sexy. To the woman that is emerging as I work through the release. As I embrace what is next on my list of dreams.

Tattoos, truthful conversations, soft skin, deep release, bangles adorning, stories of abundance and sexy.

On the equinox.

What are you embracing on your equinox? Is there a story you are done with and ready to release? Where do you find yourself today?

***

The bladder story, for those who need to know they aren't alone.

Prayer. Feet. And the beauty.

As our body cries out.

The pain of the present.

Beautiful Faces. Magical Places.

I am eager for the lists that make their way out on sleepy Friday mornings. Today I am a went to an appointment I didn't have and waited 1/2 an hour, birthday love hangover bliss/crabby, staring at my pile of dishes and grateful for the pot of leftover chicken soup kind of mama.

These are my pay-it-forward lists.

I love this woman and her challenge and the challenge inside the challenge! I have actually found myself returning to my jewelry after feeling so lost to who I was for a long time. I love my reconnection to self.

When mamas go deep and honest, my heart says 'amen.'

Britta just showed me this and I'm in love.

I am working on my own superhero list of powers. Do you know yours?

From my gorgeous client and friend. When we share our tears and vulnerability we connect.

Stunning poetry.

#tubeku is pure brilliance.

Saw this from Kelly's post, thinking this would be so perfect for my daughter who needs something special, all her own as she is starting her own self care routines.

Gold.

Spirits of Joy ~ Explore, Create, Expand

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What:: 30 Days of Joy Up Soulwork Prompts for Creating A Vision Book and transforming your life!
When:: September 1st, 2013
How:: An email each day for 30 days with a Vision Book prompt and some story telling from me (a few videos added this time)

Will open for registration August 15th.

During the April Joy Up we created Joy Books. We got out our markers and glue and cut up magazines and allowed our creative side to flow through as a way to dive into our Soulwork.

Soulwork is about connection to self, to the now and that future woman we see and want to flow into.

Allowing ourselves to make what became vision books, was powerful. Women were coming alive as they found a part of themselves that had been lost or longing to come out. These prompts become part of their books, their daily thoughts and their writing.

Take a prompt further by exploring it through story or art. Allow each day to guide you towards living joyously, even when things are hard or challenges arise.

Know yourself. Use these prompts to spend time with yourself. To light up in a new way.

Learn how to find your desires and then create pages filled with the words and visions and feelings that surround them. As you do this you harness the true magic of the Universe. You vibrate in a new way. These books become a way for you to align what you want with what you have. They create manifesting magic in your life.

Visioning allows you to love this life now while creating a future of your dreams.

Soulwork will prompt you into new places and ideas, it will ask you to push beyond that safe place and dip into seeing truth, beauty, connection, love, joy, dreams and ritual.

• 30 days of prompts.
• 30 days of soulwork.
• 30 days of creative exploration.
• 30 days of you.
• 30 days to creating a vision book.
• 30 days of connection to spirit.
• 30 days of the gift of joy.

"I am missing Hannah's daily emails, it had become part of my morning ritual. I would read them on my cell phone before getting out of bed every morning. Then lay here quietly reflecting on them before beginning anything else."

"I have had so many little insights into me & my joy. I appreciate you and the tribe more than I can say ~ Namaste ~ Love to all " ♥

"Hannah, this beautiful journey has grown through love. Your love, that you share with all of us."

"I have included reading my prompts and taking the time to process your beautiful words in my ritual. So inspiring and a lovely way with a cup of tea to start my day. Please don't let me miss the next Joy Up. Thank you for changing my mornings. xxx"

"It is my turn to thank you (and everyone) for the tasks and gracious love that is here in this tribe."

"Thank you, dear soul...this month has been life changing for me."

There is a closed Facebook group just for those of you working through these 30 days. You can share pictures, thoughts, aha moments and see the daily journey of soulwork from others who have gone or are going through the days. Totally optional but a beautiful way to connect.

I've been visioning since I was young. As a highly-senstive child (who never knew that term) I had a brutal time dealing with my feelings. I felt overun by sensations and sadness and joy and every possible feeling you could have. One of the ways I learned to 'see' those feelings was to cut and paste. To go into a magazine and let the words and images talk to me.

Now I find it is the way I center. It is how I allow myself to know my dreams. It is how I manifest from a feeling into reality. It is a safe space to receive messages and words from the Universe through these magazines and let myself feel without fear.

Each time I complete a new page I want to stare at it for hours, sometimes I make free pages and hang them on the wall.

Vision books help us write new stories, chapters and pages for our lives. We don't have to stay stuck or in fear. We can step into our light. Maybe it seems crazy that a little book full of magazine cut outs can help us heal and create beauty in our lives. A little crazy never hurt! Let's play...

Spirits of Joy - 30 Days of Prompts

Questions you might have::

Is this a journaling course? Nope, I've never been good at kepping a journal so I wouldn't be the one to guide you to that. But I do love prompts, writing exploration, vision board work and art books. I love cutting and pasting and exploring. This is about creativity and using our right brain to deepen our joy.

What if I'm not creative? What if? Hm, I think you might surprise yourself.

I've never been able to fully participate in long e-courses. What if I can't keep up? I don't keep up with the pace of others either. I do things at my own pace. You'll have all the emails that come to save and use for any time you'd like. Take your time, read the first 5, join in at the end. Whatever works for you. It is your 30 days.

Can I participate without keeping a book? Sure thing. Sometimes just being present to the thoughts and prompts is all you need. This is about you. Not me or them. What feels good to you? You can also create a vision board, a big huge poster of your thoughts and cut outs, a piece of art to hang on the wall. The beauty of creation is all yours.

What will I need? A blank book, I like this one and they come in many different sizes, scissors, a glue stick and lots of magazines and old cards, quotes, etc. A little time and space that you can carve out for you. If you have kids have them be part of this, get them each a book so that if you are short on alone, time you can still do some visioning each day.

Spirits of Joy - 30 Days of Prompts