Courage to create

Please enjoy this excerpt from Braving It, one of my absolute favorite books. You gotta read the whole thing…there’s so much in here about living boldly and freely! This post is from the chapter: “Create your joy”

“Creativity takes courage,” said master French painter Henri Matisse. It definitely does take courage to dance and sing and paint when we feel like we can’t. We don’t know how, and even if we do, we’re not “good” at it. One look at the stores on Etsy, at what people are creating, or anyone whose work is on display at a gallery or museum, or dancers online or on stage is enough to stop us. We could never…

But, beautiful someone, we can.

Yeah, we can

We can move our feet to music. We can open our mouths and make sounds to musical notes. We can put pencil to paper and draw lines. We can look through the lens of a camera, find a gritty urban scene, and capture it in a compelling composition. Read More

“I am beautiful”

Please enjoy this excerpt from my new book,
You, Beautiful: Getting gorgeous from the inside out…Coming Soon!

“I am beautiful.”

What would it feel like to say this to yourself — and really mean it?

Most of us would feel silly or even cringe looking in the mirror and saying these words. We’d think first, not true. (Says who?) Second, that’s so vain. (Again, says who?)

Valuing ourselves this way — as inherently beautiful and by implication, worthy of love and respect — is a radical act Read More

We teach people how to treat us

Enjoy this excerpt from the Unstoppable Confidence Booknip. Then click here to download your copy today! 

 

It’s true. We really do.

Through our actions, especially what we choose to overlook or confront, we teach people how they are allowed treat us. When we let them talk to us a certain way or when we look the other way as they take advantage of us — when we go along to get along — we are actually teaching people what’s okay with us.

At the same time (and to look at it more positively), this works the other way Read More

Invite joy: Yes Changes Everything!

Yes Changes Everything!Picture a buffet filled with freshly-made food: crisp veggies, grilled chicken and fish, salad, and whole grain bread, but also creamy pasta salads, saucy wings, fried everything, and buttery garlic bread. Self-serve! We get to spoon whatever we want onto our plates. We’re choosing what we want, what we say yes to.

This is life itself, beautiful someone. When we say yes to something, what we’re really saying is, “I’m going to let that in,” whether that’s mouth food, brain food (thoughts, information, advice, inspiration), or whole body food (the experiences that shape our lives and who we become)…all of which we “consume.”

Saying yes to anything, including ideas, relationships, opinions, jobs, and even vacation plans is saying, “I believe this is worthy of space in my one precious head, heart, and body. I invite it in.” Read More

YES changes everything!

Yes Changes Everything!Please enjoy this excerpt from
the opening of Yes Changes Everything!

There is this amazing story about the day John Lennon and Yoko Ono met: in the Fall of 1966, Yoko was in London for an art exhibition. Already an accomplished avant-garde artist, Yoko was displaying her works at the Indica Gallery as part of an exhibition called Unfinished Paintings and Objects.

John visited the gallery the day before the show was scheduled to open. He was skeptical about the displays, and the artist herself, who greeted him with a card that read, literally, “Breathe.”

One piece got his attention, though…

Read More