Blog
Back to the Basics
Marianne Elliott is my friend. I am proud to call her that. She's a wonderful writer, passionate human rights advocate, and fab yoga teacher who I've invited to my Taos writing retreat three times. Our mutual friend Brené Brown called her “One of the best teachers...
My Writing Ritual
My writing altar I'm writing. A lot. Maybe a book. For sure a way home to myself. I'm headed out next week to Taos to teach our annual writer's retreat. (Next year's dates will be the same). I thought it might be helpful to share my writing ritual because it is...
How to Practice the Art of Choosing
One of my fab TeachNow students wrote me after Sunday's post: Could you explain what you mean when you wrote, "to serve clients and students more fully rather than, as self-care sometimes has, given me an excuse to collapse and hide, to give up?" Because I've been...
Savoring & Serving in June
I woke up a couple of mornings ago hearing the words, "Don't be afraid of rigor." There is a growing love in me for showing up as fully as I can through presence and choice, rather than rules and comparison (by comparison I mean seeing that someone else is doing a...
What world do you want to shape?
1. I'm choosing to write this post because I'm afraid to. I'm fearful Amazon could get wind of it and yank the buy buttons from my books. Staying silent about what bothers me so I won't get hassled -- that hit me hard. That is not the world I want to contribute to...
Maybe you need to go backwards to flow forward?
I found an old email file this last weekend. Okay, truth: I found several. I'm not saying how many. These were email files filled with advice and instructions from coaches and consultants I hired in the past. As I read some of these emails, I blushed. There were so...
Ending the “I can’t, so I’m going to quit” epidemic
Stepping in mud is never the issue... I'm writing a lot of words that I hope will someday become a book. Yesterday, I wrote about a time when I tried to do something big, something that was a huge stretch. It didn't work out the way I wanted, the way I had vision...
How to Be Determined
I'm writing. Something like 600 to 1,000 words a day. I'm spending each morning lashed to the mast of listening - what is this story that wants to be told? Alternating between shaping and spewing. Mostly trusting. Lots of spewing. Here is a fragment: "I used to have a...
Savor & Serving It Up in May
This month was all about seeing a behavior of mine I do not like at all. Mom had an infection in her colon (enough said) and Bob spent a few weeks really, really sick. When the people I love are sick, I get brusque. A little cold. I know, not very becoming or womanly....
What are you devoted to?
About two years ago, I asked my friend and writing mentor, Jeffrey Davis, a question that I recently learned has bore precious fruit for him, and is starting to inspire his tribe in wonderful ways. Here is what Jeffrey said about our exchange during our TeachNow call...
Getting my brain right with the fab Jenn Lee + book giveaway
Jennifer Lee is a bright spirit, an artist, able to think strategically while being wildly creative. She's the founder of Artizen Coaching, the bestselling author of The Right-Brain Business Plan, and the proud mama of the brand-new, super amazing Building Your...
You Are Abandon-Proof
You've been abandoned. I've been abandoned. It's scarred us, of course. Made us timid to devote ourselves to our desires, perhaps more apt to believe the voice of resignation that insists, "Everybody else can have what they most desire, everybody else can be...
How to Get a Creative Project off the Ground
Ever start a creative project - a poem, a painting, a business, even a new relationship - all gung-ho and focused...and then get distracted by new different ideas (oh, wait that one is so much better, I should do that instead!) or research (...first I need to order a...
Tips for beginning a project & bonus video of me crying
When my sweet publisher brought out the paperback version of The Life Organizer, it was partially to nudge me to write another book, which made me feel both wanted and panicked - because for what feels like eons, I've struggled to write my next book. I have one novel...
Savoring & Serving in April
I savored big time on my honeymoon in Bali - the trip of lifetime for us. It was all about devotion - devoting ourselves to the culture, to love, to yoga, to living outdoors. It blew much gunky old stories and sadness out of my heart. These are the distilled insights...
13 Ways to Savor & Serve
1. Write down what you love. My list includes creating anything, lying on the earth, helping people see something new. Linger over your list. Share it on the bus, at work, on Facebook. When you own what you love, you are fueled by the highest vibration. 2. Talk to a...
What I’ve Been Learning or Confessions by Jen
I haven't recorded a video in ages and, although I know it's not logical, I feel like that means we aren't seeing each other. I start to feel like I'm showing up too polished here, hidden behind neatly edited words and curated images. So I rolled the camera - as we...
To be a writer or a teacher or a creator of your life is to be a translator
Think about it: when creating anything, you attempt to translate the shadowy bits that dart and loop around your brain, that whistle for your attention and then immediately hide — you attempt to render them into something others can partake of. Black marks on white...
What you want is not who you are
Desire is not identity. You are not what you pine to create. You are the witness that watches all your desires arise. You wish to write like Elizabeth Gilbert, to start a social movement like Eve Ensler, to raise your kids and grandkids to be compassionate, to create...
How I do my business + why
I was so chuffed Racheal from The Yogipreneur asked me to join the ❤ Your Community Blog Tour. I don’t write enough about my business, and that kind of knowledge is so useful, both for those of you signing up for TeachNow and for anyone who wants to serve by sharing...
Savoring & Serving in March
Hey Lovely, I'm still wavering on how to do this monthly "glance back" in a way that feels juicy and of use, and I'm showing up anyway. Because waiting to get things figured out is such a waste and I'm actively letting go of my desire for certainty. It squelches my...
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