Category: Love & Fear

Categories
Divine Feminine Intuition Love & Fear Mindset

What childbirth has taught me about the power of surrendering

Have you ever looked back at how you have grown in life, as if flipping through a well loved album, and can pin point the moments of radical change? Those moments where you may not have known it at the time, but looking back it is very clear that they would becoming tipping points into new growth.

I make no secret that I am in recovery from destructive perfectionism, productive and control. Learning and practising how to just surrender has been essential in not only my personal growth, but how I approach business and tune into my intuition.

Today I had a moment where I looked back and thought, oh yes, childbirth was very much trial by fire into the art of surrender. It was the first time in my life where I entered an altered state of consciousness, and in that time wholly trusted and surrendered to my body and it’s knowledge. I remember looking at my daughter in my arms as my logical brain came back online, and being wholly blown away by how deeply I knew what to do. My feminine intuition had kicked in when I needed to act on innate knowing instead of logic, and it knew exactly what had to be done.

It was such a profound experience in fact, that I would eventually go on to train as a doula and birth educator, and teach my own classes about the psychology of childbirth and the effect fear has on our psychical bodies. And here I am again examining fear from a female perspective, but this time how it effects how we put ourselves out into the world as entrepreneurs.

Surrender has a beautiful way of bringing unlikely gifts into our lives, don’t you think?

Categories
Intuition Love & Fear Mindset

Are you sabotaging yourself with self-doubt?

Nothing can tank your entrepreneurial dreams quicker than doubt- in yourself, in your ideas, in your abilities… Sound familiar? If you are nodding your head ‘yes’ that is because you are not alone in your worries. I have never met an entrepreneur who hasn’t had thoughts of doubt no matter what stage of the game they are at. Me included.

I feel this is because as an entrepreneur, your business and its success is so closely tied to you personally. Personal development IS business development. You and your business are intertwined.

Think of it as birthing a baby. You spend so much time nurturing and growing your ideas, and it is such an intimate experience that no one else is a part of. But what use are your ideas if you keep them to yourself? Eventually, you have to birth what has been so close to you for so long, but all the hard work to get that idea out into the world in concrete form is not nearly as stressful as once it is born. Because if you are growing a business that is an authentic expression of your passions and purpose, that newly born idea, which is a very intimate part of you, is all of a sudden out on display and is subject to everyone else’s thoughts and options.

Why I am sharing all of this with you? Because I want you to know you are not alone. As I prepare to launch my new Intuition Activation workshop, I have been on an emotional roller coaster. From the highest ‘yes this is what I am meant to do’ moments, to the lowest ‘who are you to be doing this’ moments. And because I believe so fiercely that what I am creating has the ability to make a positive impact, all those low moments are so much more personal and it feels much safer to keep my ideas in utero instead of giving birth.

This is what I needed to hear and do this week, and I hope sharing my experience will help you get over some of those humps of doubt too:

1. You know that thing that lights you up and sends tingles down your spine? You were meant to do it not only for yourself, but for it to send ripples out into the world. Elizabeth Gilbert says it so well- following your passion is a community service.

2. Don’t be scared to lean on your community. Surround yourself with people that truly believe in you and that will act as that sidekick in your story to help boost your confidence. Hearing others say they have confidence in you and your vision is highly infectious (in the best kind of way).

3. Stop pushing so hard, and stop for a moment. Make room in your day to sit with yourself and pay attention to what you are feeling (both emotionally and physically) instead of letting your head rule every second of your day (aka tuning into your intuition!). Do these feelings feel aligned with what you are currently pushing through in your business? Or do they feel at odds with each other? Course correct as you go instead of waking up one day wondering, ‘how did I get here’?

Categories
Divine Feminine Intuition Love & Fear Mindset

Intuition in business – A conversation with Debbie Adams

It’s Nova Scotia Small Business week, and I want to introduce you to your entrepreneurial superpower… your intuition!

I am grateful to have chatted with money guru, Debbie Adams, all about intuition on Facebook LIVE.

We touched on:
⁘ What is intuition? Why is it important?
⁘ How do you tune into your intuition?
⁘ What intuition has to do with your business.
⁘ Finding a balance between intuition and strategy in your business.

You can watch the replay over here. I would love to hear any questions or insights you have on the topic- just leave a comment on the replay!

Categories
Branding Content Marketing Love & Fear Mindset

When fear gets in the way of feeling fulfilled in your business

As someone who spent a good decade of her life paralyzed by fear, it is very easy to resent it. One of the biggest things I have learned from this time in my life, is that fear isn’t the enemy and I am not broken because it is in my life. To me, being brave means leaning into fear to hear what it has to say despite wanting to run away. It is keeping fear in front of you and embracing it, instead of letting it lurk in the shadows playing you as a puppet from behind.⠀
⠀
Fear is messy and complicated, and our personal fears easily get thrown into the mix when we are talking about entrepreneurship and how you show up in your business. It is really hard to let the authentic, real you show up when fear is calling the shots. ⠀
⠀
These are some fears around business that creep up for me:⠀
⁘ Fear of not being good enough/ smart enough/ worthy enough to share my voice⠀
⁘ Fear of being judged by those who feel my way of doing business is ‘fluffy’ ⠀
⁘ Fear of feeling safe when I am vulnerable in a vast online space⠀
⁘ Fear of being thought of as lazy if I am not constantly doing and producing⠀
⁘ Fear of loss of control by trusting my intuition to guide me⠀
⠀
I’m sure I could go on, because like every other human I have my own set of fears that challenge me to grow. I feel it is important to have this conversation, because on the outside don’t we all have a pretty polished business, but how many of us are feeling these fears gnaw away at us? How many of us are hindering our own potential for fulfillment, because we choose to shove these fears into a dark corner instead of talking about them?⠀
⠀
So ask yourself, what is getting in the way of feeling fulfilled in your business? What would happen if you examined your fears with curiosity, instead of running away?⠀
⠀
If you are reading these words, I want you to know that you are brave. Sitting with the feelings that make us uncomfortable is brave. And the world needs more of your flavour of bravery.

Categories
Intuition Love & Fear Mindset

How storytelling gives you permission to work on your shadows

I’ve always thought of my love of reading fiction as an escape. An escape from the mundane, the routine, the hustle of life. But what if it wasn’t an escape at all, but a means of survival?

When I slow down, I realize that it is in the NOT doing that I discover more about myself. All the little things I am drawn towards are like bursts of confirmation that my
intuition is guiding me in the right direction. Including what I am reading.

Think about what you have been drawn towards reading recently:
⁘ What kinds of stories capture your emotions?
⁘ What are the themes of these stories?
⁘ What types of characters are you drawn towards?
⁘ Can you make connections between what your mind is craving and what is going on in your life?

I’ve recently realized that my fascination with the villain or anti-hero in the story has been a way to examine my own shadows. The turmoil, the forbidden, the darkness of these characters gave me a safe place to look at my own darkness. And now the craving to bring to life my own experiences through my own characters.

In my conscious state, I have been burying my shadows deep for a a long time… and even planting deceivingly pretty flowers on to. When you label a hobby as just an escape, it actually gives you permission to dig into the parts of yourself that you don’t want to bring into the light. The things you can only avoid for so long until until they start to scream at you like a raging toddler, demanding attention in exchange for soul growth.

Categories
Intuition Love & Fear Mindset

Are you stifling your own potential by ignoring your intuition?

For so long I pushed my femininity aside. The rules of my corporate past were simple, and masculine, and there was no place for intuition in the world of business. I relished in productivity. My worth became centred around my perfectionism and efficiency. The rules made me feel safe and in control.


But I felt trapped in a body that I thought was working against me. It would leave me secretly shoving pills under my tongue in an unoccupied boardroom, in order to also shove my anxiety deeper where it couldn’t interfere with my productivity.

I look back now and wonder how long the universe was sending me signs. How many times did I ignore my intuition in the pursuit of following the rules? How long did I ignore the signs until they progressively grew louder and louder?

Years later, I grew to learn that your business is an extension of who you are as an individual. They are both intertwined. But it is only recently that I have realized how intertwined your personal journey and business are. Your ability to trust your own intuition and cast off the rules that don’t resonate with you, have a direct impact on the success of your business and your feeling of fulfillment.

So I am learning to lean into my intuition so it doesn’t have to scream to be heard. I am learning to trust and surrender. And I feel called to embrace my femininity. It is exhilarating and terrifying, and like a reflex, the rules like to show up in an attempt to try and keep me safe.

“Thank-you,” I tell the rules, “for your concern about my safety. But I am ready to surrender and discover my potential.”

Categories
Content Marketing Love & Fear Mindset Storytelling

How showing up imperfectly connects you to your audience

Can we talk about showing up imperfectly?
⠀
As a recovering perfectionist, this has been a hard one for me to come to terms with. ⠀
⠀
I started my career as a graphic designer, at a time when brands (and people) were perfectly polished. But as time went on, audiences wanted more- they were tired of the air brushed models, the sleek layouts, the perfection. People started to crave something that was real and relatable to themselves, instead of an imagined reality that was not attainable.⠀
⠀
Over time I have had to let go of the artificial shine, and dig into what an audience really desired- authentic connection. And yes, how you choose your visuals, how you write your content and aligning all of these components is still essential for a powerful brand. But instead of an artificial sheen, these pieces are now chosen to paint a picture of our reality.⠀
⠀
I know what you are thinking, these are all great ideals, but how do I apply it to my personal brand? It’s simple- your audience wants to know the real you, not a polished version that they can’t relate to.⠀
⠀
Think about the heroes and heroines in the stories that capture us. Are we magnetized to someone who has the perfect body, the perfect childhood, the perfect day in their perfect life? Or are we drawn towards the underdog, the one who faces obstacles, the one who has the most to lose?⠀
⠀
When you feel those fears popping into your mind of showing up imperfectly and being judged, just remember- who will your audience connect with more, an artificially polished version of you or the imperfect version that is real?