Be Wondering “What to Wear!” NO MORE!

Today is another epic day…. as I head into the second autumn season of life without my mom, I am stretching myself to do things I have never done and I am asking for a ton of help.

On my knees, humbled, baking cakes and asking for help.

Most people don’t know this, but my mom was the force behind my wardrobe for most of my life.  Every Christmas and birthday, I was very, very excited to see what my mom had picked out for me.  (Well, maybe I wasn’t so excited during those teen years!)  For the last two years, my wardrobe has been floundering a little bit.  When you open the bottom drawer of your dresser and wonder, “How did all those black yoga pants and tights get in there?”, you know that you need an intervention.   You know when Sexy Neck dawns the doors of Lulu to buy some undies, that things are getting a bitter tattered and worn.

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Today, I am getting a wardrobe intervention.

I have hired a professional!

A person who comes into your home.

Flings open the closet and dresser drawers.

And takes a close look at what is going on in there!

I have done a whole garbage truck full of inner work and now I am very humbled to have Michelle from “What to Wear” come to help me create a matching outside.   I want a suit of armour to wear as I venture into new realms of possibility and begin living my amazing dreams as an author, professional network marketer and present Mama, always and forever.  I am not sure how Michelle is going to get this six foot frame into something other than jeans, summer skirts and black yoga pants, but I am very open to see what she has in store.

Plus, I am excited to never have to ask “What to wear” again?

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She even asked me to fill out a form ahead of time… you know that we are off to a great start because I do love my forms!

Be Slaying Cake Demons

Two years of buying cakes.  

Ice cream. 

Fondant. 

Chocolate.  

Vanilla. 

Cakes. 

Made by professionals.  

Two years ago was the first time that my boys did not have a birthday cake made by my mom.  

Elmo. 

Bert. 

Pirate.  

Digger.  

Cakes.  

Whatever the boys requested, my mom would lovingly and happily create.  

My boys most memorable birthday moments have been their cakes. 

Tonight, I slayed some cake demons.  Often the hardest things create the most freedom within us and around us.  

Tonight, I made my newly four year old’s request for a fire truck cake.  

Tears in my eyes.  

Heart racing.  

Knees trembling.  

Pink icing and all. 

(Who knew red icing was so hard to make?) 

I MADE A FIRE TRUCK CAKE! 

Soul cleansing.  

Mind moving.  

New habits.  

Overcoming.  

Triumphing. 

Cake making.  

Happy Birthday OC. 

(My mom’s namesake.) 

  
What hard stuff will you push through today?   What freedom will you create? 

Be Tweaking My Neck 

Yessiree Bob, I tweaked my neck.  

No idea how.  

I wasn’t twerking.

Just living life.  

I am so grateful for this time of tweaking.  

Time to slow down.  

Time to look at the clear blue skies.  

An opportunity to be grateful.  

No matter the circumstances.  

I have work where I choose my daily rhythm.   

I can put my health first.   

I can lie flat on my back if I need to.  

No day shall pass where I will not spend time in gratitude.  

Even with a pain in my neck!

Look at this view:



Even in the midst of physical and emotional pain, we can find gratitude.  

We just need to choose to look.  

(From whatever position we may be in!) 

 

Be Having a House Concert with RvZ

We are living our dreams right now.

Our why is clear.

Our how and what is not.

We love it!

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For almost twenty years, Sexy Neck and I have dreamed about Rachelle Van Zanten playing live in our home or yard.  Last night it happened!  We had heard she was playing at a festival a few hours away and we asked, yup, just asked, if it was possible for her to play poolside in our yard.  Thirty of our greatest new and old friends, came to enjoy this over two hour private show with one of Canada’s best slide guitar players, either female or male.

National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Wade Davis, has said, “Rachelle Van Zanten is our voice, the muse of the north, a woman as strong and beautiful as the mountains, as fluid as the sea.  She writes songs to inspire the wind, give voice to thunder and fire the hearts of all sentient beings fighting to protect the land she loves so dearly.”

What an incredible memory it now is.

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Music.

Guitar.

Hand-crafted songs.

HIlarious stories.

Talented musician.

Gobsmacked with joy!

What an incredible night!

Be in Massive ‘Inaction’! 

I had a breakthrough weekend at a business conference last Saturday.  It was truly incredible for the inspiration for action that it provided.  I realized that when you go to conferences, you need to create an action plan to help follow through and to stop from becoming adrenal junkie conference hoppers. Just hopping from conference to conference looking for that next ‘high’ or breakthrough.  

Conferences in Las Vegas.  

90 Day Game Plans. 

Massive Action.  

Goal setting and vision creating.  

I was so inspired that I decided to create a plan of ‘Inaction’! 

Less action.  

More Focus. 

Less doing.  

More being.  

My phone now sits on the fridge between 2:30pm and 7:00pm EVERY day.  

My computer is off unless I decide to sit down for 15 minutes and give ‘er with focused, concrete goals to be achieved.  

My ‘work’ is done in chunks of time lumped  together and spread throughout  the day when it works for me.  

My life is back in balance and MASSIVE action is coming from my ‘Inaction’. 

I am connecting with people on a deeper, less interrupted level. 

My boys and I are reading more, hanging out more and I am more present.  

I own my own schedule again. 

My calendar doesn’t run me and my technology doesn’t suck my time away into a vortex of nothingness. 

And the most ironic thing, my business is flourishing! 

Stop.  

Look at your time.  

Do you need to create some space for some massive ‘inaction’? 

Stop doing.  

Just be.  

You. 

Be Restored

Have you ever had a weekend experience that created such a personal breakthrough that you knew your life nor anyone you loved lives would ever be the same again?  

  
I was at a business event, but it was more like a personal development course personally for me and my business partner, ‘Ned’. 

The truths that poured into me went a little something like this:

Be a professional encourager whose hands can drip hope.  

Create a culture of honour.  

Be ‘unreasonable’.  Do NOT let anyone or anything reason you out of your core values or vision. 

Successful people have healthy boundaries.  They know time is valuable.  

Lies make us shrink.  

It is time to shine like a diamond in your own way. 

Be vulnerable.  

Be open.  

Be learning.  

And growing.  

The best investments is ourselves, our health and our personal growth.  This is even better than real estate. 

Hope.  

Freedom.  

Favour.  

Let go of your expectations.  They don’t serve you.  

Redemption.  

Sevenfold.  

Restored.  

A river rushes to the lowest point. This is the place to be.  

Unforced rhythms of grace.  

Follow the fruit.  

Joy and judgement can’t live on the same street.  

You only earn what you are.  Income rarely exceeds personal growth. 

You get what you give.  

Have gratitude.  

Don’t blame.  

Nor  justify.  

Just lie humbly on the ground and see who stumbles by.  

Offer hope.  

And encouragement. 

And be.  

Just be.  

Me.  

(What words or sentences resonated or popped of the blog reel for you? 

Notice. 

Ponder. 

Be.) 

Be Breakingdown to Breakthrough 

There is a great myth in this world that hard stuff is bad stuff. 
A myth that makes us perseverate on the bad and prohibits us from realizing the greater changes that could occur through this hard stuff. 

Like working out physically hard at the gym, our bodies are capable of great changes by adding resistance and effort to breakdown our muscles so they can be built up stronger.  

When dealing with the hard stuff that comes up in our life, our minds are capable of using these difficult times to create breakthrough and change our lives. 

This story is just surfacing to share and bring freedom that is created when a breakdown can create a breakthrough.  

Hindsight is 20/20 and there is nothing like watching death unfold to provide hindsight.  
Two months after my mom died, it was the season of winter, outside and inside my soul.  The cold had settled in.  It was dark.    
Two months after my mom died, I sat down and made a decision.  

Would I allow her life and death fill me with bitterness or anger or would incredible good come from a life well-lived?

I chose finding the greater good, trusting God’s goodness and greater plan.   It was an easy choice as a wise counsellor had been teaching me about not judging things as either good or bad, but just noticing them.   In this choice, I daily looked for good while still rowing my boat of grief in the waves of sadness.  Every day, great goodness kept unfolding in front of us.  

For this breakthrough moment in that cold, wintery day, I am incredibly grateful.  It has not only provided trips of our dreams, a business that uses all my gifts, amazing nutritional products to fuel our bodies, but an incredible opportunity to grow personally. 

  
With gratitude.  

For all we can do.  

For the ways we can be.  

With intention. 

With daily discipline. 

And grace.  

And humility from the lessons of life 

Breakdown creating breakthrough.  


Be Counting Time?

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We are fortunate to have four, well-rounded seasons in our part of the world.

They flow easily and gently through beautiful hot summers, into a cool, colourful autumn, then a crisp, snowy winter and a mild, life-giving spring.

Can you feel the change in the air right now during this season?

It is almost as though now should be the new year.

The greatest gift of these seasons we are given each and every year, consistently without question is that we are all given the gift of the same amount of time.

No less than another and no more.

What will you do with this gift of your time during this new season?

Will you make your time count or just count the time?

You can choose.

No excuses.

It is your gift.

The seasons come.

Time goes.

Be enough.