Life is an accumulation of moments. The moments of our lives that shape us, create us, make us choose which cliff to

either soar from or fall off OF

There are no rights or wrongs,

Each experience brings with it something to teach us

Something beautiful to

help us grow and evolve and

DECIDE what it is we truly WANT

Every single one of these moments

has brought us here.

right here to this breath.

To this amazing unique person standing in front of the mirror.

A one of kind superb

reflection of

joy

experience and wisdom

just waiting for us to begin believing in it.

These significant moments

They are the building blocks of our lives. We CAN allow them to shape us and teach us and we can choose to lean into the message each one brings with our hearts and minds open and willing.

Sometimes it takes us months to choose the path we want to take after those

pivotal moments show up…for others its years or decades or for some people it happens in those final few breaths before we close our eyes forever

and that’s ok.

There is no time limit on change.

When we are ready for it
we will begin and if we are

80 years old when we finally get it -

that’s not wrong.

Its just the path we took. When we begin to understand that there are endless different ROADS and journeys we COULD take, and that each direction we head in or out of

is all perfectly ok…

that is when true peace settles in.

My journey was filled with pivotal moments that I chose to ignore until

I was well into my 30s.

There was a voice that came from within when I was a young woman that could have changed my life many years in advance- had I chosen to listen to it.

I did not listen to much other than my own whiny thoughts back then so instead I ignored the voice that tried to tell me to move forward. Go within. Reach deep for more. The voice in my thoughts was soft and caring and it snuck in while I was daydreaming filling my heart with inspiration and ideas…with encouragement. But I said I had no time to listen. I think I knew that if I listened to what the voice was trying to get across to me I would have to actually do something drastic to change my life. When you know better you gotta do better and I was stuck in a story I had invented for myself that enjoyed the chaos. I was too wrapped up in all the mini dramas that were always unfolding. I was entranced by drama and I craved it like water.

so. I was 24. I was waiting in line for welfare.

I had quit my job to start a business and it had failed miserably. I was a single mom with rent payments piling up and creditors threatening me daily. I was on the verge of eviction from a crappy place I was renting.

and I cried on the day I entered the welfare office to apply. I completely broke down in front of the lady who was taking my application and made her feel really uncomfortable. She had asked me coldly if I should come back when I was a little more together. Little did she know that I was rarely if ever TOGETHER.

I was a mess all the time.

I waited in line on Wednesdays for my welfare check…holding the hand of my little boy drew It was winter and it was freezing out. I had no money for a good winter coat so I was always cold. I barely ate so I didn’t even have extra body fat. At that time I weighed just 110 pounds and I am close to five foot eight. I just couldn’t afford to feed us both so I ate bread and butter and ramen noodles most days. People accused me of an eating disorder but in truth I was fucking starving all the time and I hid it from even my family that I could not afford good food for myself.

They called it welfare Wednesday. People in my town would talk and laugh about how Wednesdays were the busy day at the stores because all the welfare bums got their checks on welfare Wednesdays and as I stood there with my son, I remembered being one of those people who laughed too - and now….i was one of the welfare bums.

And I was just filled with so much shame and I was so scared someone I knew would drive by and see me out there.

That they’d know I was a loser.

The shame I felt snaked through

my entire being.

My son drew looked up at me this one day and said “mom why do we keep coming here to wait in this long line I’m so cold” and his little face was so innocent and even through his mitts I could feel his cold hand. And he deserved so much more than I was giving him.

I felt at that moment as though I wished I could die

and leave him in the hands of someone more qualified…more decent…with more money and more time and more patience…just more.

Someone more than me.

It was shortly after that moment when I met my ex husband. I was at that fork in the road and I chose the path that meant having someone take care of me…someone to lead so I did not have to. I chose that because I was just so damn tired. I was tired of struggling so hard and even though I could have chosen to rise up and do what I needed to do for MYSELF and my son - I chose to marry someone I barely knew and did not love because it was just what I thought I needed. At that moment in time I just

wanted to rest.

I was tired of being hungry. So I chose.

When we look back upon our moments we can clearly see how making those choices brought us to this place. How we would not have become what we are now without those experiences. I could have gone so many different ways but that is the way I went and this is where I am and I am here to tell you that the path you have taken and the cliffs you have soared from or fallen off of…ALL OF that is perfectly ok. Because no matter where you are today…TODAY can be your day. This moment right now can be your own PIVOTAL MOMENT. You just have to choose.

I don’t have a business degree . I never attended fashion school. I taught myself to sew on a 15 year old junky sewing machine by watching You Tube videos and nine years ago - I started a business on my old rickety dining room table that has brought in a revenue of over 1.2 million dollars in these past two years.

I have not had a business mentor or been part of a fancy mastermind. I haven’t done any of the things all the people tell you that you’re SUPPOSED to do to be successful

For years I was locked inside my mind feeding on drama, my negative thought patterns and all the stories I told about how awful life was treating me. I lived in a constant state of anxiety, fear and self loathing for most of my life. I was disconnected from others, myself and even my kids. There was a black cloud of negative energy that seeped out from my every thought, word and action. I look back now at the person I was and its unrecognizable. I didn’t experience any real trauma and I grew up middle class with a nice family. The thing is that I was a normal every day woman just like a lot of other people out there. Living a life that seemed just fine from the outside but on the inside I was tormented and sad and I had no idea why. I actually remember praying to God one night when I was about 28 years - just crying out to God and asking

“please help me see what I am meant for”

I had spent my entire life up until that point just searching for that thing that was going to lift me up and make me fulfilled. I didn’t even have the language to describe what I was longing for but it was just this real emptiness…this constant yearning to be someone better. Up until that point in my life I never felt pretty enough, smart enough, witty enough…good enough.

I had this dream the night before I enrolled in nursing college when I was 28 and it was me walking down a long hospital corridor. In my dream this golden light was shining over me and through me and I felt the most content and happy that I had ever been. I was encompassed by purpose. I woke up and decided to become a nurse. Before that I had not considered health care.i was squeamish and did not like poop or blood

It was that dream message that pushed me forward. It was like divine guidance pointing me in the direction of my souls delight.

There is always an answer for us

if we just ask and listen. Its there waiting for us to finally start acting on our intuition and to stop asking for permission to be

I enrolled in college the very next day.

I knew I needed to FEEL what I had felt in that dream- I was more scared than I had ever been in my life but something had awoken inside of me. And she felt like a warrior.

She felt like truth.

Being with my patients was like this salve on my soul - it was heart medicine

When you sit with someone who is dying and taking their final breaths and you are just there truly with them in that moment stroking their hand, listening to their story…watching their chest rise and fall until it doesn’t any longer.

Feeling the essence of them leave their body.

When you have the honour of that experience

it is purely life affirming. It changes you. It makes you realize what a gift it is to live and breath and love. The simple act of just brushing someones hair when they are too sick to do it themselves, of washing and cleaning another human being so that they can feel better. There is no comparison feeling. The acts of service are so raw, so real and pure that it is not something that can even be easily explained. The pride I felt doing that Job has surpassed all else, even now.

The service and empathy one shares with others as a nurse . To our coworkers and our patients…it goes beyond all I could have imagined. How much that unconditional love for someone I barely knew could become literally engraved upon my heart and soul. I needed it so much.

It propelled me forward

in a time when I felt I would never BE the me I was meant to be.

I NEEDED to change and to evolve and to become a person who serves others and understands the true meaning of empathy. To realize the GIFT that comes once you choose to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand their experience on a deeper level

After a life time of just serving myself and living so self absorbed I felt like I

had been washed by joy.

The pure and Simple act of service had created this feeling in me of purpose. I feel that same feeling today as I speak to you. It is that intention to come from a place of service and compassion that has helped me create the life and business I have today.

When we find meaning and purpose in helping others, being there for them.… and DOING for other humans…when our thoughts

are of the :

“How can I help how can I serve what can I do to make life better for you”….that is the key. That will always be the key. I found love in acts of service through nursing and caring for my patients and about my colleagues. It became ingrained in me and I believe it was a training for something bigger…maybe for this

work I am meant to do now.

If I had not spent those years as a nurse I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you.

My heart felt very broken for many years when I could not work as a nurse any longer. Nothing I did could fill it. I was trying to fill a void that could not be stitched up with people or things or hobbies. It was a LONGING to be me again. I did not understand that my identity is not a job.

and that I am always me no matter where I am or what I do. I was searching for a FEELING. The emotion I felt so deeply when I touched the lives of others and let my compassion flow freely towards their heart. I was only able to see myself as me when I had the word nurse behind my name and without it I felt lost and incomplete. It was when I began creating and using the act of creating to go deep to that place where we have no identity that I discovered I am always that LIGHT. I am always the strong empathetic carer who has the power to uplift and shine bright for people.

That was when my longing to be something from the past turning into a DESIRE to bring forth all I had learned into my every day - no matter what job title I hold.

Everything we need to learn comes from the experiences we have throughout our lives. From those pivotal moments…

From ALL OF THOSE forkS in the road

It is When we intentionally look for the message, the gift, the meaning behind those pivotal moments…those forks in the road that

we truly begin to grow and learn how to use that growth for good in our own lives and the lives of others.

When I am serving my buyers and my following now I often think back to my moments as a nurse and let the compassion, empathy and kindness that I learned in that

career shine bright today in my business.

And THRU my relationships with this community

I started reclamation from my dining room table in a rented townhouse with zero money or skill. People ask me what design school I went to and if I have a business degree and I just laugh and tell them the truth. That I learned to sew by watching you tube videos and that my business degree is just a compilation of the hundreds of audio books I listen to every day.

I decided to become an entrepreneur before I even knew what that word meant

simply because I felt unfulfilled and stagnant as a stay at home mom on maternity leave. I started out making baby frocks and women up cycled dresses from old clothing almost ten years ago. I would sell them for mere pennies on the dollar just to FEEL the sweet pleasure of doing a “thing”.

.just so I could feel the joy of creating. I’d go to the little boutiques to pick up my money from my consigned pieces and 200$ bucks a month felt like the lottery. We had no money and I would feel so grateful to have that extra income to buy groceries or

clothes for my kids.

Last month my company made close to 80K in revenue. We are on track for almost a million dollars for 2020 and I still don’t have a business degree. I still have never taken a class in fashion design. I work from my heart and I run my business from that deep place we all have…that little corner in the deepest part of our soul that yearns to create and serve.

Sue asked me recently what my bias for action is and I said “ummm I don’t understand what you mean”

“what is your reason” she asked ME

and it clicked

oh yes -my reason

I definitely know the answer to that.

Why did I grow this company into something that employs six of us, including my 19 year old daughter Chloe And now also my husband Chris -

into a comnpany which allowed us to buy the 4 acre forest property we had always dreamed of and has dressed stars like Jessica Simpson and Pamela Anderson and Kara Kilmer..and very soon Gabrielle union.

I did it simply so that my husband could leave one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

He was a helicopter logger for almost nine years which is so dangerous the life insurance costs nearly triple that of average life insurance. My little girl Gracie would leave him long voice messages begging him to come home from his 3 -4 week shifts away. She would see help wanted signs at fast food restaurants and say “look look they’re hiring! Dad can just work there . She would “cry dad why cant you just work at a bank like other dads”

It seemed like a few times a year someone working in the same industry or even the same company would be killed by a falling tree. My husband was the first aid attendant and retold the traumatic event of having to dig out a young man of just 19 from a monstrous hole when the helicopter dropped a massive log right on top of him. My husband had to long line via helicopter his already lifeless and torn body out to the ambulance but it was way too late for that boy.

These stories weighed so heavy on me for years and I prayed for a solution but never felt like there was one that would provide the income we needed. Reclamation was working hard and doing OK but at that point we were making 70k a year and had an employee to pay and it just was not enough to sustain us

It was not my intention at that point to grow this big or to work this hard. I was a stay at home mom who gradually grew a little business that made 2000 a year to 10k a year to 100 k a year and I was elated.

My husband was working on the very remote Haida gwaii island living for weeks on end in a run down apartment that he had to take a float plane to get into. He was sad and lonely and tired of the danger…wondering if he would still be doing this back breaking labor

until he was 70 years old

when one day I said

“just quit”

“what” he said

“just come home and we will figure it out. Some way we will be ok and figure it out”

So he did.

And we did.

I retired my husband at age 43 with my little dress company that I started on my old wooden dining table with a 15 year old sewing machine. He has been retired for two years now and our roles have entirely reversed. For nine years I stayed home with the kids while Chris would go away to work. He missed beach days, school performances, birthdays, injuries and special occasions because he had to go away and work so hard. Now, he is able to be home with our kids and do all those things he missed for so long.

I think of it as a gift that I can give to him and to my children. It fills me with pride and love that I am able to give this to my little boy beckett. That he can now have his best friend dad home all the time to play with, to teach him stuff. TO TEACH HIM HOW TO BE A MAN. We experience so much joy spending all of this time together and our life is so rich and full and beautiful. MY DAUGHTERS NOW HAVE THEIR DAD HOME TO SHOW THEM HOW TO DRIVE to inspect their boyfriends …to be that dad that takes them shopping for back to school clothes .We are living the life we have always always dreamed of. My husband is a big part of our business now and it gives me such joy that he is so proud of what we have built in such a small period of time.

How did I achieve this?

I just got out of my own way.

I showed up every single day.

I did the work

and I focused on my feelings

and

I understand that I can do anything and I can achieve anything

if I just believe in myself.

If I just feel it

as if it has already happened.

That when I have a clear vision about what I want in life I also have

A DIRECT PATHWAY TO IT

If I just understand that I can achieve anything I desire and that I GET TO DECIDE WHAT THAT IS.

AND that I am in charge of finding the connection to my deepest truth. Nobody else. Just me. Once I stopped putting my happiness upon the shoulders of others and took control of my own joy…that is when I discovered my lifting off place. That is when I ROSE UP and stayed up.

I want to share with you how I learned to grow a business from a revenue of 10k a year to close to a million dollars a year in just over three years. You can do it too. Anyone can if they set their intention,

do the work and

focus on mastering your thoughts.

You know this.. You don’t need to find it. Its already inside of you just waiting patiently for you to relax into it and allow.

Life is just waiting for you to begin living in the light of your own illumination.

And just waiting for you to realize that well being and joy are the very BASIS for your existence.

You can either allow it or deny it. That’s your choice but I’m here to tell you that you DESERVE to feel joy.

We can’t control all of the experiences that make their way into our lives but we sure as hell can control how we react to them and FEEL about them

AND we can decide that no matter what life brings us we will always find a way to reach for more joy, More understanding and to CHOOSE to discover the lesson and the gift in every detail of life. Every single one.

Abundance and joy are meant to flow directly to us. Those things do not pick and choose who to land on…who to absorb into. So UNLESS WE ARE DISALLOWING THEM

And resisting all that abundance….

Then well being and joy will be our natural experience. We all flick off the switch now and then. Thats just being human.

It is about learning how to REACTIVATE all of that natural resilience and the allowing of happiness.

I’m going to share with you in a separate worksheet how to practice doing this daily.

In the worksheet you’ll learn easy ways to switch your habits from ones of disallowing to instead the practices of allowing. By using the ladder of emotions to guide us into feeling better we can learn to recognize how feeling bad or off or negative settles into our bodies and where we feel it first so we can head it off and replace it with better

feeling thoughts and emotions.

We can begin to understand

the feeling of sweet relief

and where that settles softly in our bodies. How the gentle hand of calm ,joy and anticipation have physical feelings just like anxiety and fear.

Its once we become an expert at guiding our emotions and feelings towards feeling MORE joy and less of the emotions which hold us back. We are in control of this. Nobody else just us. When you finally realize fully that YOU ARE THE MASTER CREATOR of your own reality and life experience you will make the attempt to STOP the influx of garbage thoughts that creep into your head on a daily basis.

You will understand that what you feel and think and believe about yourself and your life will always become what is true in your experience and you will DECIDE finally to begin sculpting a life that feels exciting beautiful and amazing.

We can decide what lights us up and makes us feel good and then spend time doing those things more often. Think of it as a daily multivitamin for your emotions. When we become really good at recognizing how we are feeling in any given moment, we can more easily direct our emotions into those places and instead of digging into a big rut of feeling yucky we can instead decide to reach for a better feeling and a better feeling until in no time at all we are back to that good feeling place where productivity, helpful habits and beautiful relationships exist.

There is no special university you need to attend to learn this.

You just have to get quiet and question finally everything you tell yourself every single day that IS NOT HELPFUL

to your evolution as a human.

You just have to become good at understanding how YOU are feeling. Nobody else. Just you. And learning to recognize in any given moment when that feeling begins to show up so you can either make it into something better feeling or give thanks because its awesome. Once you begin practicing this way of life

you will notice a shift.

It will start with how you feel

when you wake up in the morning

and you will notice anticipation and the desire to feel grateful all of the time. Once you begin questioning your thoughts and replacing the ones which do not serve you with ones that do

You will begin to see how powerful and deliberate a creator you truly are

Start seeing the contrast in life as a gift instead of scary and uncertain. Without the dark we would not even have the ability to see the flame in all its glory.

I want you to understand that wherever you are right now -it’s perfect.

If you are a part time entrepreneur and a stay at home mom or dad. If you are a hobbyist or working a fulll time job with a business on the side. If you are working 60 hours a week as a full time photographer

That is all perfectly perfect and it just means you are ON YOUR WAY.

when I did decide to begin really focusing on dresses and building a brand I was quite lost. There were no how tos…at least none that I could find - and I really had no idea where to even look. You might be feeling that as well and that might even have been the catalyst for you to purchase this conference. And what I want you to know is that I have been exactly where you are and I am proud of you for deciding.

When I was first starting up my business I asked myself this question and it was

“WHAT PATH WILL YOU CHOOSE”

Robert frost wrote:

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

We need to ask this question of ourselves in every area of our lives. What path will we choose? Do we wish to become the trail blazer, the innovator, the early adopter ? Or do we wish to go along with the crowd…take the more certain way that we know must work …right ?because others have taken it as well? Isn’t that how it works??

And why why why why are we even contemplating going with the crowd?

Because we fear that we aren’t qualified enough, creative enough,…. just enough. We aren’t innovative or able to make the right decision? Because we don’t trust ourselves to be successful? To choose right? Perhaps we tell ourselves and have been telling ourselves our entire lives that we are not risk takers, that we like the safe and calm way…we seek others approval, suggestions for a plan…a safer way to live and do business. it maybe just feels easier.

But let me tell you this.

Nothing worth having is easy.

I know that feeling too -I do. When we feel uncertain we tend to look to others for all the things.

Calling a friend to run an idea by them or a drama that had happened and needing their input. Never feeling like I could trust my gut to guide me. And god forbid I actually take a risk. What if people laugh? What If I fail.

But.

What .if .I .don’t?

Until

I got out of my own head and

my own way,

allowed myself to JUST BE MYSELF and discovered that the perceived dangers of being “different” were ALL IN MY OWN brain. I was making them up

And the road less travelled was where I always wanted to be. That risk felt good when I trusted myself and my intuitions.

When I believed in my abilities and my creativity and the JOY I COULD BRING THIS WORLD

when I had faith

that no matter what happens

I AM ALWAYS OK -

ALWAYS.

When I uncovered from deep within myself the knowledge that I INVITE belief into my own experience and that even if I really WANT more and long for more if I don’t sincerely BELIEVE that I deserve it and am worthy of it…i will never allow these longings to manifest in my life.

There is nothing we cannot BE HAVE CREATE and achieve but here is the secret sauce to this recipe.

WE MUST learn to enjoy the entire journey.

We don’t move backward. It’s always forward. We are meant to become the light of

our truest longings.

When I said yes to this.

That is when I gave birth to my vision.

For a long time I had to practically beg photographers to shoot my dresses. I would scour the internet for local photographers and beg to be part of their shoots. Most of them didn’t even bother to reply and many of them said a hard "no, stop asking". I had no idea how to reach the people who would value my creations or even what to say. I did not know my worth …i did not think I HAD worth. I had such a hard time that I even considered becoming a photographer just so I could get pictures of my dresses. It wasn’t until I finally discovered Instagram four years ago and the power of social media to connect people across the globe that my brand began to unfold like a beautiful pair of wings.

I started reaching out to photographers around the world who had lovely feeds and a decent following. I saw the value in collaboration and although I had no experience and virtually no following, there were photographers who also saw the value in borrowing a gown from me and many times I even gifted the Dress to them out of utter gratitude. In the past four years I have gifted over 40 k dollars worth of gowns to photographers and influencers. And it has been worth

every single penny.

Even today, when photographers purchase our dresses for their own client closets and we have so much content we can’t possibly share it all. Even now, when we don’t need to give anything away, I still do…because it feels so damn good and it builds amazing relationships. It is a way for me to express my gratitude. Which is the backbone of this company. It is the community we have created world wide with some of the most amazing photographers across the globe. We now even offer dress rentals which my daughter manages herself and the content we receive from this has increased our exposure more than I ever could have imagined. We have built this amazing business from creating A culture and a COMMUNITY. The images we receive to feature on our social media help us to sell our dresses and have enabled us to create this truly magical body of work that leaves me breathless sometimes when I look upon it. Reclamation could not have become what it is today without our photography community. I have immersed myself in this industry and it has in part made my company what it is today. The love I feel for my photographer friends all around the world…the gratitude I experience every day when I receive their images using my dresses…it is so immense. It fills me up in ways that are difficult to explain. It is like a continual wave of yessssses that travels down my spine and shoots out of my head. The gratitude attitude…

its where I want to be.

The emotion I enjoy the most.

It is easy to become locked into a “me” mentality. Especially when we work from home or work alone…but when we come from a place of COMMUNITY and relationships…building friendships with the people we work with and serve…THAT is the key to a lasting brand and business.

Customers become family.

Become someone people want to know and someone they feel they CAN know and trust and your business will flourish.

Create opportunities for your people to see you for who you truly are and what you represent and if your intentions are good and loving THEY WILL see and recognize that and it will carry you very far in business and IN ALL ASPECTS OF your life.

It is about making people

who are not your customer

WISH THEY WERE

All of our power lays

in shifting our perspective and understanding that life is just life.

Life just simply BECOMES the story that we attach to it.

We so often tell the story of our life that we believe others want to hear. We are masters of retelling those old stories that got a laugh or some kind of reaction and we tell it so many times that we just one day

BECOME IT.

Its hard to step away from our stories. We become attached to them.

they become our friends They become our identity and it can feel so very hard to move away from that and to choose more.

We have to DARE OURSELVES to leave those old stories behind and become

story-less.

We must DARE OURSELVES

to stop asking permission from ourselves and others to be the true us. To stop EXPLAINING why we seek more.

You don’t have to explain to ANYONE- even YOURSELF.

START RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE . RIGHT NOW

And instead of describing how you hope to live your life -

just get out there and do it

Take action now on your

hearts desire

TODAY.

STOP WAITING for the epiphany that tells you - you are finally ready.

You’ve been ready since the moment you took your very first breath.

And you are NOT THE THINGS YOU DO THAT YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS

You are not those things.

You are so much more .

you are infinite intelligence

You are perfection wrapped in skin and bone.

Stop putting all of these identities on yourself and please stop asking for permission to begin living.

Life will always bring us what we need, when we need it. Realizing this has helped me to grow as a human being because I have faith that the experiences I need to be fulfilled and happy will always come to me when they are ready to and when I truly need them. I now open myself up to all the wonders of the world as well as the challenges because each and every one holds purpose for

the evolution of my soul.

I began to shift my perspective from one of negativity, stress and anxiety, fear and worry…from a place of judgement and gossip to a new place where wonder and joy exist.

It wasn’t a fast process.

It took me many years to get to this place but that’s ok. Because

I am here now and that is all that matters.

when we finally start allowing our shift in perspective to absorb into our very being…when we allow faith and belief to just take the wheel

than things

magically begin to fall into place.

How have I continued to shift my perspective from one of constant worry and drama to one of peace, anticipation excitement and gratitude?

I have made the choice to

never play the victim again

WE ARE NOT VICTIMS

Life is not something that just happens to us,

we are not dealt a crap hand and have to just make do.

The power to create the life we want rests inside us always. Once we start seeing the uncertainty and challenges of our

life experience as a GIFT- we can start living from a place of

wild abandon.

Once we let go of the need for certainty and just live to be alive and feel the sweet taste of just being PRESENT in our lives

versus having to have it all figured out….that is when we understand that we are

Truly victimless.

Everything we experience is a gift

enabling us to grow and expand as human beings. Even the scary and uncertain stuff.

Growing and evolving is painful. Why do we think we have to avoid it,

push it down and away? To stop feeling pain at all costs?

Life hurts.

It hurts for everyone sometimes.

Thats just life.

Instead of writing your “poor me” memoirs why not think of pain as a tool that will propel you forward. Something that is a teacher. And Accept the gift, feel the pain, say thanks. Do the work and absorb the growth.

You’ll never move on or grow without understanding that pain is not something meant just for you as a means to torment.

It is just life and we all experience it.

So Start understanding the F words

Fear says “you will never be good enough. So Why even try. Life is a series of painful events meant to crush you”

Faith says “you have everything you need right in this moment and you will always be ok”

Every day I get out of bed at 5 am and I say

“today is a gift. So Use me God.

Please use me”

Theres this illness that I like to call

“The what about ME DISEASE”

We can so easily become locked into a thought process that asks

What about me? what did I do to deserve this shit sandwich? What about my riches?I want the glitter sandwich or the magical puff of unicorn smoke sandwich not this disgusting shit sandwich that keeps me up at night and drains my bank account

The what about me disease plagues us with uncertainty and a gnawing burning

stomach ache. You’ve felt it right?

It feeds the comparison fatigue that we experience when we go scrolling through other ig accounts or Facebook profiles. Feeling like everyone else but us has their shit together.

So how can we get out of this perpetual cycle.

For starters stop talking incessantly about your flaws.

Stop using social media and your friends as a sounding board for validation and to complain. The more we bring attention to the things we believe are our flaws, the bigger they become.

You can still be raw real authentic and genuine without yelling to the rooftops about how inherently flawed you are. You are not flawed. You are perfect. Stop talking about it.

Minimize the drama and start looking for active solutions instead of more and more problems.

Become and expert at what you preach and live it.

Nobody is out to get you.

And honestly even if they were or are….who cares. Let them live in their own world of BS and stay in your world of sunsets, puppies and dandelion fluff. Turn away from thoughts of why or how others don’t like you and start focusing on the people who make you feel damn good. The more you make yourself out to be that person people dislike or attack…well guess what? The more you will bring that garbage into your own life experience.

Be clear about what it is you want out of life. Not what it is you DONT WANT. Sure, you need to first understand those things you do not want in your life to then get to the place of understanding what truly lights you up but constantly focusing on the negative will only bring more of that to you. When we set out clear and purposeful intentions about what we want and we are not afraid to ASK FOR IT we become REALLY SURE ABOUT THE LIFE WE WANT TO LIVE.

Most people live in a place of constant indecision. Unsure about what it is they really desire and confused about how to ask or how to even long for SOMETHING ELSE

BECOME SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING MORE.

Whether you are happy or unfulfilled you did not just magically arrive at this place. You’ve worked dang hard all your life to create this identity and this feeling for yourself about who you think you are. Your identity is not just a pimple on your chin that appeared overnight and it takes time to shift it…you can’t just pop pop it and it’s gone.

You’re going to have to practice being the YOU you’ve always known was in there and you are going to need to be patient and kind and so loving with yourself.

Stop comparing yourself. Stop allowing yourself to be less just because you’ve thought it all your life. You don’t compare your kids to other kids right? You don’t compare your precious dog to other dogs right? You love them unconditionally and without pause and that dear friends is how we also must love ourselves.

Elenor rosevalt once said “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

We are here to be MORE.

Love more

Accept more

Serve more

Be kinder

More gracious

More empathetic and compassionate

This is our purpose as humans.

To discover how to BE more to the world and others and in turn connect to our true and deepest self.

There has NEVER been a

YOU like this before.

You are CREATING a you that is a one of a kind never before created version of perfection.

You are. pure positive potential .

Feel the potential that courses through your veins.

You are a

masterpiece in constant creation.

The time is always NOW. Start right

where you are.

We tend to long for the past and yearn for a future that we have yet to create.

And we distract ourselves with all this STUFF so we don’t have to actually begin.

Ask yourself this question:

WHAT WOULD I DO IF I WASNT SCARED

Start now.

Right where you are, wherever you are.

Just begin Living in this present moment, creating what you love, living with vitality and purpose,

start now even if you don’t feel ready because YOU ARE.

Or guess what? You would not even be here listening to me unless somewhere

deep inside of yourself you were ready to start.

So CHOOSE TO BEGIN.

And tell yourself every single day when it seems hard or feels scary…tell yourself

“I CHOOSE TO BEGIN”

“I CHOOSE THIS MOMENT”

And If today was your last day on earth how would you use it? What words would you use when you talked to those you cherish? What places would you go to and what thoughts would you hold onto in your final moments?

Act every single day - as if today

is your last day.

Become a watcher of your thoughts and emotions and words.

There is immense power in the words we use to describe ourselves, others and our experiences with them.

I believe words have great power to hurt or heal and it is no different when they run rampant inside our heads. When we become watchers of our thoughts and word we give ourselves great power at creating the life we yearn for. Our negative self talk and gossip can become habitual but

it’s something we can CHOOSE TO change.

Some really big massive change shifted in me when I finally DECIDED to

Choose abundance instead of lack.

We spend so much time stuck in indecision? What are we waiting for and what are we afraid of?

Change? That we won’t measure up, that the idea will fail…

Maybe that when we know better now we for sure have TO DO BETTER. And thats a lot of pressure. We wait and we wait. And we say I’ll do that next month or next year

but the time never arrives and we become more and more pissed off at ourselves for not following through.

It actually solidifies within us that we are right about ourselves and no we aren’t ready to be successful or not worthy

When all it really takes is to just take

that step forward

into the light of our own magic

and say I CHOOSE TO BE

and I DECIDE TO RISE UP

And in that moment of decision

You can shift your life

Celebrating our achievements and recognizing the masterpieces that we truly are is vital to moving forward out of this

pity party of self doubt.

When we come to the realization that our inner fulfillment has everything to do with what is happening on the outside of our lives…

THAT IS when true

and lasting change can occur.

You will ALWAYS ACT like the person you REALLY BELIEVE that you are deep inside. That is important to remember

You’ve most likely been acting this way

all your life

But remember

YOU ARE THE ONE WHO GETS TO DECIDE who you truly are.

You’ll always live who you think you are but the best part is you can change that

identity any time you want.

Its never too late

Figure out what it is you

TRULY believe about yourself. And take action on those beliefs to change your life.

Carl young said

You are what you do

Not what you say you’ll do

The privelege of a lifetime is to become who

you truly are.

We cannot change anything until we accept it.

Questioning your beliefs about how you feel about yourself is the first step to changing those thoughts and creating new belief structures that will enable us to live the life we deserve and really WANT.

You are not defined

by the mistakes you’ve made

or the events that have

held you down in the past.

You don’t have to be the very best

You don’t have to be the most qualified

Best looking

Fittest or strongest

Most skilled parent, photographer or entrepreneur

You just need to decide to show up for yourself today and decide that are ready to stop making excuses

You deserve more than what you think you do

So if you feel stuck.

If you feel lost

or it seems like that dial is not moving forward

start where you are

AND START CHANGING YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT YOURSELF.

When you have belief in yourself

you will believe in the good intentions and feel the love of others.

We see in others

all that we see in ourselves -

Thats important to remember

Ask yourself this question if you want to get to the root of your beliefs about yourself

What is the Most powerful belief about myself that I would NEED to change in order to change my life for the better?

And how would my life be different without this belief?

For years and years I was a flashlight without the batteries. Yearning to shine bright but no idea how to turn on my switch.

It wasn’t even all that long ago that I CHOSE to see the negative beliefs about myself for what they truly were and instead of allowing my old stories and dramas to be ME I chose to instead become an

ILLUMINATOR.

I finally decided that I just cant afford to have negative thoughts or beliefs any longer and I now focus my thoughts on shining brighter than I ever have before.

Become the master of your thoughts.

Every single day I create new standards for myself so I am always growing and reaching for more.

And I’m in competition with nobody.

But I have a need,

a yearning to exceed

MY OWN STANDARDS.

I DARE

myself to reach for more.

To live more.

To love more.

To feel more joy and

to create more abundance in my life.

Life will ALWAYS become whatever story you tell about it.

But Life has been waiting for you to ARRIVE.

For you to FINALLY choose to unfold your own beautiful wings and soar powerfully from that cliffs edge.

You just have to dare yourself to lift off.

To finally make the choice

to live from now on in the light of your own illumination.

And Become

the flashlight.