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The Power of Words

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Words are one of the most potent forms of practical magic we possess.

With simple word choice, we can either buoy our brain and body or quite literally flood ourselves with anxiety-inducing hormones. It turns out that self-talk really does matter and that the words we choose affect how we experience our reality.

Using intentional affirmations and mantras has been a go-to practice for me for over 20 years. Long before I knew the neuroscience of word choice, I took refuge in positive sayings simply because it made me feel better. When I consciously center myself in high-frequency phrases, I notice that I’m better able to manage anxiety, stress, depression and the general overwhelm of being human.

Muse: A Writing and Meditation Retreat

It's been a while since we talked. 

I'm sitting in my office gazing out the window where my petite ceramic Spanish dove is perched on the windowsill. I've been home a week from my 12-day sojourn to Spain, and it's wild how much percolated and transformed in that short time away. 

My sister Lacy and I led a writing and meditation retreat called Muse, and as usual my girl Spain did not disappoint. I gloriously "PLOOP-ed" in her sparkling mar (iykyk), joyously explored her majestic castle walls, and consumed as much of her tortilla española as I could cram into my boca. 

And that was just in the first three days!

If Your Life Was a Book

I'm working with a new writing client helping her finish her memoir.  

Memoir is deeply meaningful to me, as it was the first genre that captured my own writer's heart. I was a senior in high school when I feverishly scrawled a story about my uncle's death and shared it with my family declaring myself a "writer." And in the 25 years since, I've penned blog post after blog post in that same earnest spirit of truth-telling and sharing.

So I was reading my client's draft this week, and I found myself embroiled in the details of her story, nodding along, gasping at times. She was building to this particularly big moment in her life when suddenly the story shifted forward a few years without warning. 

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Charting the Map to Your Heart

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I ripped open the box like a kid tearing through their presents on Christmas morning. As I peeled back the cardboard, I gasped in delight. Running my hand across the cover I felt tears puddle in my eyes.

The book opened with a crack, and that fresh-from-the-printer smell whooshed across my face. I flipped through the table of contents and lingered on the first few paragraphs of the introduction. I knew the words by heart, but seeing it bound hit differently. 

By the time I found the acknowledgements, tears were sliding down my cheeks. With my hand pressed against my heart, I read the words out loud: 

"Wondrous You" Wins Silver Medal in Moonbeam Children's Book Award

I'm so excited to share the news that my debut book released last year has just won its first award.

Wondrous You earned the Silver Medal for children's poetry in the 2021 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards!

The purpose of the Moonbeam Awards is to highlight books that encourage children to be generous, compassionate, and to stand up for the rights of themselves and others. Over 1500 books from both traditional and indie publishers were submitted.

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Feel Good As Hell in Your Body...Right Now

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So, I literally just danced around my living room to Lizzo’s song Good As Hell on repeat three times because, for the love of cheese, I’m feeling fucking good as hell. I just had two smashingly great calls with my e-course students, I’m headed to Chicago tomorrow for a weekend retreat (where I’m the student, not the teacher - Holla!!!!!), and I’m wearing my new favorite underwear from Aerie.

I mean, does life get any better?

And as I was booty shaking on the back of my sofa and slapping my own ass, I wasn’t thinking about how my thighs could be firmer or my waist could be smaller. I was laughing out loud and thinking how great it felt to be jumping and singing at the top of my lungs for the motherfucking JOY OF IT.

The Secret to Life: How to Give Less Fucks and Feel Better

Okay, with a title like that, I feel the need to cut right to the chase. Because for fuck’s sake, there’s nothing worse than being strung along while you’re waiting for someone to just. get. to. the. point.

(That was me yesterday watching one of those ridiculous free webinars and yelling at the lady on my screen to just tell me the motherflippin’ content already.)

So here it goes….

Your Personal Responsibility Backpack

When my husband, my daughter and I go on outings that my daughter isn’t particularly excited about, I always tell her she can pack whatever will bring her joy in her backpack.

Sometimes she crams her backpack full of markers and paper and fidget spinners and random doodads. Other times she grabs a single book or some music and her headphones. Every now and then she brings nothing at all and decides to try giving life a go without outside entertainment.

The point is that each time she asks herself what she needs, takes the time to pack it up, and then pulls it out at just the right moment.