Life Lessons from Espn

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” -Roger Caras

For the past couple of weeks I have spent a ton of time alone with our dog Espn. Being present with her provided me with the following insight. She charges through her life with childlike simplicity, expectant faith, and unconditional love,

I noticed each time we went for a walk, Espn, had a childlike simplicity in her behavior. To be childlike is to be curious, wanting to explore, and have an imagination. What is so simple about watching her is that even though we go on the same walk twice a day she goes at it as if it was the first time. Where in your life do you have a childlike simplicity?

Truly one of my favorite lessons showed up each time I would leave the house and come back. Even if I only left the house to put the mail in the mailbox, when I returned it was as if it was the first time Espn had seen me. The way she welcomes you is the definition of being expectant. Expectant, having or showing an excited feeling that something is about to happen. What would your life be like if you embraced expectant faith?

The life lesson that I feel encompasses them all, unconditional love. For anyone who has a pet I imagine you have experienced this feeling. It’s amazing how she just looks at you, sits next to you, and shows you love unconditionally. Would your loved ones say that you are a model of unconditional love?

Trust me when I say, 2 years ago when my daughter Megan rescued this little puppy, I was the first to say no way are we keeping her. Now, I certainly can’t imagine life without her. I love what she’s brought to our family, I love the life lessons she continues to teach me. I encourage you to live like Espn and charge into your life with childlike simplicity, expectant faith, and unconditional love and watch what blessings it will bring.

Really… All These Journals?

Yes, it’s true, I write in all of these. Why you might ask? Well each has a special purpose.

My Daily Clarity- is the process and tool I use to anchor my day in my purpose (connect) where I then set the intention of what I will DO (create) then I claim who I will BE, how I will show up (communicate) last, but certainly not least, I claim what I will celebrate or how I will celebrate.

Start Today Journal- is where I declare 5 simple, fun things I am grateful for and I declare the same 10 goals that I made happen in the next 10 years, followed by the one thing I will take action on to get me closer to achieving those goals.

Passion Planner- is my current planner of choice. Of course I’m old school and put pen to paper.

The floral journal I carry with me everywhere and write down the divine downloads, ideas, and teachings I learn throughout the day.

The celebrate journal is used to formulate the next book I plan to publish, The Beauty of Simplicity.

I share this with you because I absolutely believe in and know the power of putting pen to paper.

You get to choose what works best for you. My way is extra I know that and I don’t apologize for it. And I certainly do not share it to shame you. Quite the opposite I share it with you to encourage you to make the time.

You have about 60,000 thoughts a day. Most of them are thoughts you had yesterday. One way to effectively put them down is to write them out. Release them. There are times I take out a piece of paper, let it flow, then I tear up the piece of paper. Feels so good!

Where are you at with your journey of putting pen to paper?

MAKE Every Day A Day Worth Celebrating…

For the record, this is not only a tagline I use at the end of my articles, my emails or my videos. This is something I truly embrace day in and day out.

I’m not the first to encourage you to be grateful and I know I will not be the last. What I know to be true, is the more I make time to celebrate the big and the small, the more I find to celebrate.

This past week I am celebrating BEing fully present for people I know and for people who were complete strangers. I am celebrating completing my 10th “My Daily Clarity” book, which equals 2 1/2 years of staying committed to a process that has brought me Clarity, Confidence and a level of Commitment I honestly did not know was possible. I am celebrating looking in the mirror and knowing only I have the ability to change my life and relationships. I can not make anyone do anything.

What I can do, is focus on who I am BEing. From a place of BEing, from listening to my intuition, my God within, I can take the next right step with a level of trust and surrender. The having part is always in alignment because I’m fully open to give and receive. From a place of knowing it is done and #WhatIfItsBetter

Be-Do-Have that is the path of the Victor. I truly believe you can’t go wrong when you are BEing present, confident, aligned, calm, joyful, loving, connected, disciplined, clear, certain, disciplined, fill in the blank.

MAKE Every Day A Day Worth Celebrating! Connect.Create.Communicate

Clarity On Paper

I’m all about sharing the power of Clarity, Confidence & Commitment.

Here’s the thing, if you are solely relying on “getting it right” which is totally your head leading the way. I believe you won’t truly experience clarity.

The desires of your heart are where all the answers are. When you allow it to flow out of you ON PAPER you will have your next right step in front of you.

I offer you the opportunity to confidently commit to a process, the My Daily Clarity process or another one, that serves you to become the best version of you.

21 days to form a habit, 90 days to focused results.

How fabulous will you feel if you commit to the ONE thing that will give you the greatest momentum going into a new decade?

Pick one, share it, and let’s cheer you on for the next 90 days.

If your heart is screaming the you are ready to commit to My Daily Clarity, go ahead and pick up your totally FREE copy of the book at bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

Until next time… MAKE Every Day A Day Worth Celebrating! Connect, Create, Communicate.

Choose Joy

“Choose Joy! Don’t wait for things to get easier, simpler, better. Life will always be complicated. Learn to be happy right now. Otherwise, you’ll run out of time.”

I share this with you because recently I attended a funeral of a woman whose motto was “Don’t let anyone steal your joy.” Trust me she didn’t just say the words she fully embraced it. All the time, even as she battled cancer for the second time.

This is your reminder that everything is a choice.

My Daily Clarity certainly helps me choose joy. There is such power in these simple steps. (I choose the word simple, because honestly, it’s not always easy)

I am committed to the system. When you are committed to something you make it happen, right? When you’re interested not so much.

I offer you the opportunity to commit to:

Drink the Water 💦
Do the Walk/movement 🦶🏻
Be mindful of the Word 📚
Write, put pen to paper ✏️

Ready to commit to My Daily Clarity? Pick up your totally FREE copy of the book at bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

Until next time… MAKE Every Day A Day Worth Celebrating! Connect, Create, Communicate

My Daily Clarity

What would having clarity mean to you? For me, it’s everything. Do you ever have a foggy feeling? Or a feeling of overwhelm because you have too much going on in your head? Or too many things to do?

This simple yet powerful tool, My Daily Clarity, can be integrated into your life daily.

It encourages you to do some sort of braindump or journaling every day. From your findings you can then pick out the “big things” (like Steven Covey suggests in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People- The Big Rocks)

You take your findings and focus on 4 areas every single day, Connect, Create, Communicate, Celebrate. These areas will mean something different for each of us.

I also include a daily reminder of the simple formula, Water-Walk-Word-Write that I integrate into my life every single day so that I set the stage to BE the best me for myself and others. It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3… 4

1. Water, Walk, Word, Write
2. Get the ideas out of your head. Braindump. Let It Flow!
3. Focus on 4 key areas: Connect, Create, Communicate, Celebrate
4. Step into your brilliance! Every.Single.Day

I realized that this system based on the clarity strategy I’ve just shared is a gift, a game changing solution for my clients and myself, that I had been holding onto for no good reason.

That is why I made the decision to shout it from the roof tops and share it all day long. If it feels good, go grab your totally FREE My Daily Clarity Book (the full version, the same one that is being sold on Amazon)

bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

Grab your FREE copy and join us on this journey of My Daily Clarity- 90 Days to Connect.Create.Communicate.Celebrate to finish the year strong. 90 days is a powerful timeframe. Make a commitment to you and your life! BE who you were designed and created to be, DO the next right step- every single day, HAVE the results of your dreams!

Write it Down

The final part of my formula, the practice that I do every day, which adds to the goal of clarity and me BEing the best me, WRITE.

Honestly, I am known for encouraging people to put pen to paper as the answer to almost everything in life. I did a ton of research about writing.

Here are 3 benefits:

1.  An exercise for true introspection
2. It enhances your learning
3. It enhances your creative expression

Those are three of the benefits of writing there are many, many more. Honestly, as I look back at my life, I’ve always loved to take notes, doodle, see my written word. I am blessed (from my dad) to have very neat handwriting. I digress. More recently, I’d say in the past six years I carry a notebook with me everywhere.

My go to method for writing is letting go and letting it flow. It helps in so many ways. It has the power to help release things that are holding you back. Better yet it has the power to make you feel good. It’s a choice. I choose to (thank you Dana Wilde) write down what’s going right? I tap into my intuition, my God within. By writing it down I am effectively putting it down to either use it for a later day or to release it from my mind.

Love when I can get more support for the power of putting pen to paper. While doing research online I found an article by Sarah Cy. “How to Use the Ridiculous Magic Power of Writing To Massively Change Your Life”

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn”  Anne Frank

Writing has the power to change lives, including yours, when used correctly.

Not only is it a great way to start the day and capture the interesting ideas you have while you dream or the inspiration that often strikes when you are in that waking-up morning phase, journaling can perform a variety of other positive functions, including:

-working through negative feelings and events
-clarifying your goals for the day or year or even longer
-recalling blessings and things you are grateful for

I created a system based on the clarity strategy that has been a game changing solution for my clients and myself. I recently realized that it is a gift that I had been holding onto for no good reason.

That is why I made the decision to shout it from the roof tops and share it all day long. If it feels good, go grab your totally FREE My Daily Clarity Book (the full version, the same one that is being sold on Amazon)

bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

Keep in mind we’ve been building upon the system:

1. Drink the Water
2. Do the Walk/movement
3. Be mindful of the Word
4. Write, put pen to paper

Share your successes. Cheering you on all the way to YOUR top!

#mydailyclarity
#bedohave
#whatifitsbetter
#purposedrivenlife
#spunky
#thebeautyofsimplicity
#loveyoumore
#slowdown2revup

Power of Words

Water, Walk, WORD… What I mean by this is what are you reading? Spend some time with the word. I choose the word to be something inspirational, motivational. It could come from a book, an article, a magazine (do they still print those) or from the Bible.

Here is my barometer, does it lift me up? I choose every day to pick something up to speak to me or teach me. I have a little booklet entitled one-minute inspiration for women. I’ll say a little prayer over it, and I’ll open it up to whatever page and it will speak to me. Another book is “Believe You Can” by John Mason. With the same practice of opening to a random page, I read the two or three pages, somehow it is the perfect message that I need to hear.

As drinking water and “walking” (movement) are a choice, I also believe the “word”, what you read is a choice. Do you fill your mind, your heart with negativity or with things that don’t serve you? How’s that working for you?

If you don’t have a choice in your job of what you are reading than this practice is even more important to counter the thoughts that might creep in from feeding your mind with negativity. I encourage you to include something inspirational or something that gets you to think, to help give you clarity. I choose every day, even if it’s just a sentence that I can ponder on and think about, to read some kind of positive inspiration for direction.

I created a system based on the clarity strategy that has been a game changing solution for my clients and myself. I recently realized that it is a gift that I had been holding onto for no good reason.

That is why I made the decision to shout it from the roof tops and share it all day long. If it feels good, go grab your totally FREE My Daily Clarity Book (the full version, the same one that is being sold on Amazon)

bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

For today, drink the Water, Walk it out, be mindful of the Word

Share your successes!

#mydailyclarity
#bedohave
#whatifitsbetter
#purposedrivenlife
#spunky
#thebeautyofsimplicity
#loveyoumore
#slowdown2revup

Walk it Out

Here we grow into a new week! We will be adding step 1 (b) (notice I said adding)

Keep drinking the water.

AND next move your body. I choose to Walk. So WATER, WALK…. if you can. If you are capable of forward movement, I’m here to encourage you to move. Every single day.

Walking or movement can change everything, and I am NOT talking about you need to walk a marathon or half- marathon every day, actually some research says seven minutes of movement can make a difference.

Here are three of the benefits of walking/movement.
1. It will give you energy
2. It will help you improve your mood
3. It helps you do more, longer

I have an online business which means I’m on my butt for most of the day. I realize it doesn’t serve me to stay sedentary. What works for me is having reminders all day long to get up and move. Unable to get up and walk? Move in your seat. Throw your hands up in the air, wave them like you just don’t care… (isn’t that a song)

Are you willing to commit to movement, every single day, all day long? Raise your hand.

This past week we took a road trip to South Carolina which meant we were in the car 11 hours each way.

Here’s the deal, I moved my body on purpose at every stop. And we stopped to pee because as you know I’m drinking the water.

When I got home, I made the “route” in my living room. I use my living room as an indoor track.

Why do I tell you this? Movement matters. It helps with clarity.

Here’s a fun idea, walk in place at home in front of your TV. As you’re sitting on the couch at night watching TV, get up during commercial breaks and march in place until your favorite TV show comes back on. If you’re using a service like Netflix, make yourself walk in place for 10 minutes in between episodes. Or turn on the TV and challenge yourself to march in place during the entire show. Time will fly while you’re having fun watching TV and moving.

The main thing is that you move around and get some exercise in a way that’s gentle on your joints, your heart, and the rest of your body and that’s what walking will do for you. Just give it a try and see if you don’t start to feel better, have more clarity, are happier, and stronger after a few weeks of regular walks/movement.

By the way don’t make a big deal about it. Walk around the house on purpose. Walk in place on purpose. Walk outside on purpose. Start.

I created a system based on the clarity strategy that has been a game changing solution for my clients and myself. I recently realized that it is a gift that I had been holding onto for no good reason.

That is why I made the decision to shout it from the roof tops and share it all day long. If it feels good, go grab your totally FREE My Daily Clarity Book (the full version, the same one that is being sold on Amazon)

bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

For today, drink the water, walk it out.

Share your successes!

Simple Way to Gain Clarity

Drink the Water…

Yes, that’s the secret. You’ve heard it. Don’t act like I’m the first to say it.

It is the number one way I gain clarity and stay in the flow (figuratively and literally)

True story- I started strong with the water. Tracking it. Feeling the difference. My business became abdunantly blessed. Doing more coaching, speaking, traveling. I noticed I was feeling sluggish. It was getting harder and harder to perform. To show up as my best self.

It dawned on me; I wasn’t tracking my water. I re-committed  to make it a habit, a routine. Put the structure back into my life. Almost immediately I felt a shift. I was going for 8-10 hours full throttle and I still didn’t collapse at the end of the day. I get to thank my friend Stephanie, she’s the one who originally challenged me to track it. It has totally changed my life.

I created a system based on the clarity strategy that has been a game changing solution for my clients and myself. I recently realized that it is a gift that I had been holding onto for no good reason.

That is why I made the decision to shout it from the roof tops and share it all day long. If it feels good, go grab your totally FREE My Daily Clarity Book (the full version, the same one that is being sold on Amazon)

bit.ly/freemydailyclarity

For today, drink the water, over and over, again and again. Please and thank you.