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I aim for concise, compassionate and properly hyperlinked.
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Read. Listen. Contemplate.
Time is not the healer. You are.
Contrary to popular belief, time is not the healer. We all know people who have gone decades holding a grudge. And we’ve all (hopefully) been blessed by someone who just chose to forgive and moved ON.
Love is a choice. And we can choose it any time.
Redefining your availability for expansion
I’m bringing you one of the most dynamic high-energy conversations I’ve ever had in an interview. Craig Siegal is a sweetheart, a Jersey boy, a former Wall Street guy who found his heart. And we had a really beautiful connection.
Agreeing to Disagree? We can do better.
Tolerance. Acceptance. Celebration. 3° of loving awareness that take us from slightly seething resentment… To an inner spaciousness that’s very kind. In other words… “agreeing to disagree” can either be total ego bullsh*t because we want to carry on with things, or it can be truly inclusive.
A little more good leads to a lot more good.
A little more good in our conversations, in our relationship to spirit, our bodies, our food.
6 reasons “Inner Child” is a powerful phrase for healing
Your Inner Child is not you in this lifetime when you were 8 or 10 years old. It’s got nothing to do with age or timelines—it’s a SYMBOL.
How to lead with Love
How to choose higher quality thoughts and shift your creativity
5 insights on spiritual bypassing
Spiritual bypassing is when you put a spiritual spin on a “negative” experience to avoid uncomfortable feelings…
Desire is out, Virtue is in.
Mark Groves and I throw DOWN on Love, intimacy, and the pulse of freedom + corruption.
A fresh take on Karma: you’re not being punished.
Karma is based on the Universal Law of balance: EVERYTHING must return to balance. Ignorance and wisdom, darkness and light. Karma is the calling forth of your creative energy, of your Love, to get everything back on track.
Navigating an awakening?
Virtue signalling, spiritual bypassing, and inner child healing.
Pour it to the Mama
Every single relationship that you have—everything you eat, the car you drive… is because of Mother Earth. Have friends, a job, shoes on your feet? It’s all because of MOTHER EARTH.
3 phases from rejection to freedom
What’s still sitting in the basement of your psyche waiting to be freed up and healed? Evolution is about integrating all parts of ourselves. No fragmented self left behind.
How do you speak about your pain?
I’m not suggesting that we never talk about our past again (though that’s not an entirely bad idea). But what if we: Only speak about our pain with the intention to heal it.
AUTHENTICITY is a relief. ESPECIALLY in business.
Don’t let old structures or dynamics clamp down your love and life force. Bring conversations about kindness, and self love, and TRUE INCLUSIVENESS to your team, and your clients, and your neighbours, and students, and strangers.
Your Radiance is guaranteed
Whatever challenge you’re in right now, wherever you are stuck… not only are you going to get through to the other side—because all things pass, you’re going to be radiant when you get to the other side.
Take a break
Here’s the most powerful life changing advice I’ve ever been given, by the wisest person I’ve ever known. You will go so much farther when you follow this simple piece of advice: take a break.
The most powerful possible yes to women
To women… to the dark, the spacious, the sweet, the jaded, the women who live as certain as light rays… A poem for International Women’s Day.
2 choices to make when you’re in pain
What’s your pain theme these days (this lifetime). Is it begging for love? Or screaming for it? Or is it just annoying? Pain is just your woundedness saying, “See me? Love me?” So see it. And Love it. You have two choices, and the deeper you go the freer you get.
You can be exhausted AND grateful at the same time
What helped me tap happiness even in the midst of body aches and mental fog? I suspended judgment for my fatigue. I didn’t tell myself to push through. I didn’t critique the ways I got to an empty tank. I looked at exhaustion after challenges and hard work as… natural. (Duh.)
8 questions to see how your beliefs are healing you
The newest episode of this podcast series is devoted to one of my favorite topics: Devotion. We’re shining light on our prayers, our beliefs, our teachers… and whether they’re actually getting us closer to what we really want—liberation.
7 ways to be sincere in business
Sincerity is a form of power. And it builds precious, precious TRUST. In this episode, I’m walking you through 7 tips that can foster a business of understanding, deeper bonds, and solutions you couldn’t see when you were hiding out. Sincerity trumps a coverup any day.
1 way to improve your relationship with your (unseen) spiritual support system
Consistency in relationships is powerful. Showing up for our humans is with steady love—it’s everything, really.
But what about our relationship with the DIVINE, our non-human family?
How do you withhold love?
Conceptually, we know that “giving more Love” is a more harmonious way to live. But since we are actually made of Love––it’s our true nature–– how about this approach: What if we promised ourselves to never withhold love?
Words can make you sick. Or healed. Here’s an experiment that might prove it.
We have to choose our words with care—as if each phrase was a seed for a reality… because it is. Words incant, invoke, destroy, and create. When we speak with high intention, we live in Higher Love. I have an experiment for you that might prove it.
Healing is not one size fits all. What fits YOU?
Choose your healing methodologies… like you Love yourself.
The dance of Manifestation
The science, the art—and the heart of Desire.
The simplest, most difficult, most profound little spiritual practice there is.
Fear feeds on fear. Darkness wants you scared.
Love wants you to know that you are protected by Love itself.
But how do we hold on to that perspective? How do we DISSOLVE FEAR?
24 intentional comforts for body + home
Simplicity as a sacred practice. I’m all for it these days. My luxuries and practicalities are chosen with deference to Nature and integrity of the maker.
Radiance is the gift that suffering brings
If we criticize ourselves for suffering or slipping into self-pity, then we unnecessarily compound the suffering. If we resist the pain, we delay the healing. Eventually, we start meeting our pain with kindness. And this embrace is a kind of alchemy. The honoring of the pain transforms the pain itself. And that’s when pain becomes power and the virtue of Radiance begins to glimmer.
The difference between being “detached” and “non-attachment.” And why it matters for getting what you want.
Detachment is hard on your heart — and it actually creates blocks to what you want. Non-attachment, on the other hand, is actually nourishing, and much easier to put into practice.
Bless + Release: 4 practices to let go of the past
When we stay attached to our experiences, we can create suffering. So the healing inquiry is: Are you willing to give over one painful experience—and the suffering that came with it—to your heart for healing?
3 NOTES FOR OPENING YOUR HEART (my first date story!)
Courageous heart, over judgey head. Humans are layered. Love is worth going beyond first impressions.
Wounded or Healer? 1 question to ask yourself when you’re in pain
When you’re in a painful spot, are you seeing yourself as the wound or the healer? In this episode of WITH LOVE, DANIELLE, we’re unpacking how we each limit, expand, and identify ourselves + the events of our lives.
Tyrant time vs. POWER TIME. What’s your paradigm?
Time management can be like dieting. We portion out our time like food, so we have optimal energy and results. Some people diet obsessively. Others manage their time obsessively. And both obsessions can be driven by a lack of self worth—a constant striving to be more acceptable, more productive… better.
Is personality typing holding you back?
Manifestation happens in the mind. So, how we label ourselves, which leads to all kinds of self-talk and behaviors, is really important. We’re going to shake up your personal label-maker and set you free.
Have you outgrown your “personality”?
32 personality labels… and how to let most of them go.
A simple, daily metaphysical practice for manifesting.
Learn how to work with “visualization vignettes” + colour frequencies to nurture your visions, daily. AND! I’ll help you avoid the one mistake I see people make most often… WITH, LOVE.
Your HEART’s desire vs. ego-driven goals
What if next to photos of dream homes and hot bods on our vision boards, we also glued on images of lush forests and happy neighbours?
Receptivity is the new Power
I’ve got a new power move for you: becoming receptive to Higher Guidance. Learn a simple reflection practice for letting wisdom flow into you—because you can’t chase that kind of deep knowing.
3 ways to uncondition your mind
Think with Love and you create a very powerful, beautiful life. This conversation is designed to help you tap your greatest power: your genius heart.
Forgiving your upbringing.
It’s a big one to unpack and you know I love a good unpacking.
7 ways to transmute trauma into healing
Everything can be an opportunity for healing. A radiant perspective to build on.
Desire Higher. How to want what’s best for you—and let go of the rest.
Even though some Buddhist thinking proposes that desire is the root of suffering… we will desire, and that’s that.
Where do your thoughts come from? Change your life with your thinking.
LIFE CHANGING NEWS: we can choose the QUALITY of our thoughts. This episode should help you raise your thoughts UPWARD. PLUS! We’ll explore where most of our thoughts come from.
Your MIND FOOD and what you manifest. They are very related.
Feeling more is not the aim of spiritual growth. It’s about feeling more accurately—perceiving everything with more Love.
What it really means when we say, “I Love You”
WHAT IS LOVE? REALLY? (And why do I often use the term “Divine Love” rather than “Love”?)
Everything you wanted to know about virtues—but religion made you afraid to ask.
Being virtuous is where ALL the happiness is. No signaling, no punishing systems, and dogma-free. We’re taking virtues back.
What resilience is NOT. A reframe on toughing it out.
What do you think of when you consider “being resilient”? Hold that thought.
A simple daily practice for inclusive healing.
In Buddhist terminology, metta = Loving Kindness and bhavana = practice. Who’s in for a Loving Kindness Practice?
Spirituality, ego, and the beauty of being way less botherable
Self-helpers and spiritual seekers really know how to strive, and striving is classic ego-ing.
The gift your ego is trying to give you (it’s a big one)
Simple: the ego is the unhealed part of us. Or more succinctly, the ego is the way our unhealed self acts.
How your Soul steers your body. A metaphor for making sense of it all.
How do your emotions relate to your Soul? What does the furniture in your “house” symbolize?
A new question to guide your life (and my first new book in 5 years!)
Turns out temporary unhappiness doesn’t hold us back from helping a friend or feeling close to The Divine.
How not to take the hook to defend yourself, AND…good news about karma.
A suggestion: DON’T TAKE THE HOOK TO DEFEND YOURSELF. Walking away from embroiled conflict isn’t necessarily weak… it can be an incredible act of self respect.
Navigating rage, with Love.
Rage is part of the human experience. And like all of our light and shadows aspects, it deserves to be honoured. And If we look at it with compassion, it won’t blind us.
Agreeing to disagree is not the end result
It’s a huge stretch when we’re frustrated with other people’s choices… but the basic commonality we all have is CHOICE.
The courage to know. Shock and hope for protecting kids from human trafficking. My conversation with Randy Watson, founder of Ally Global Foundation.
A request: please learn with me.
Energy body + nervous system
Explanations of astral body, mental body, emotional body, and… What hangs out in your auric field anyway?
Love yourself enough to not take the hook
There are times to go to the mat for what you believe in. In my experience, MOST of the time, disengaging from duking it out is a very very good idea.
Nothing leaves until you love it
There’s so much that we want good n’ GONE. But here’s the thing: nothing is leaving your life or your thought patterns until you give it the light of your consciousness—your love.
MY NEW BOOK! Repeat: NEW NEW NEWNESS!
What would change if you saw yourself––and others, through a Loving gaze? Everything.
Our Connection to the Sun + Moon
Why do we do meditations on the Full Moon? What’s the “dark of the moon?” Does… it have anything to do with Pink Floyd?
The most simple definition of “Inner Child” + a take on spiritual consistency.
“Inner Child” is a very useful term for our healing. But it’s so often misunderstood.
I hope you will forgive me
In the personal development realm, discussion around Forgiveness tends to focus on us Forgiving the other person for what they apparently did. But what about asking for Forgiveness?
Doing New Things for the RIGHT REASONS
There are times in our lives when we bust out of habits and we do something new. Sometimes it’s the ego pushing us to prove ourselves.
Your Beautiful Role in the Collective Shadow
It’s fairly easy to conceive of a collective consciousness that is loving. Essentially, people who are compassionate, kind, uplifting to the world.
Speaking Tips that Translate Everywhere You Show Up
Let’s take a break from shadow work and relationship healing to tawk about tawkin’––in public.
15 Water-honouring ways to create more energy flow in our lives
I’ve been focusing on my relationship with the 5 elements, moving into my capacity to offer healing as the Earth heals me. A mutually supportive relationship. It’s been really nourishing to approach each element as a relationship that I have something to bring to––and what I can bring is reverence.
Harmlessness and Speaking Truth
Harmlessness as a virtue––as an embodied energy, may be one of our most demanding calls as a species. It’s a commitment to the Universal Truth that can be hard to uphold.
A Prayer for Protectors: The Shantideva Prayer
When we pray for the strength to protect others, I believe that we magnetize more Light into our lives. Because it’s universal law–to give is to receive.
Shift from “protection mode” to being THE CHANGE
What if we didn’t expend so much energy being in “protection mode”? What would that free up?
4 questions to generate love in your relationships
Tell me everything. How’s your heart? What can I do to help? What’s good for us? These 4 VERY SIMPLE, VERY DIRECT QUESTIONS will nourish every kind of relationship.
Teachers, clothes, candles + tunes. 28 things I kept after epic letting go.
I’ve done heaps of letting go over the last two years. [You can hear how I radically simplified in my Podcast + this post HERE.]
Does “Inner Peace” sound boring to you? (Part 2 of 2)
“Who is this ego that is always against me? Who is this a**hole?” asked Mary. (Name changed for privacy.) THIS is why I adore our Heart Centered Members. Deep, curious, no holding back.
Does “Inner Peace” sound boring to you? (Part 1 of 2)
I used to think that Inner Peace was a boring proposition. If I was to transcend my ego-needs, what would I have to leave behind? Where would excitement come from? And passion, and the thrill of accomplishment? (The ego-mind lives for being productive. And if you’re not highly productive, the ego guilts you out for it.)
18 questions for team check-ins or starting your workday
Team D is fully virtual, with the team in five cities (and 3 countries).
We’re business, we’re heart, we’re productive, we’re in close touch. Here’s a bit of how we do it…
Patience is not about waiting. It’s about LIFE FORCE.
Patience is not a form of endurance. Patience is a form of life force. It’s a daily practice of accessing Divine Power.
A prayer for ALL of us. Pray it loud this holiday (or anytime).
Your family members are going to be who they are most of the time. There’s so much sanity to just letting yourself flow with someone else’s predictability—their norm, their nature. Accept it. Forgive it. Just tolerate it; or peace out if you don’t want it in your life. But don’t waste too much time wishing you could change it. Bless it.
Healing anxiety. Trusting God. And Music. My conversation with LeAnn Rimes.
We talk about healing anxiety, creativity, a bit of romantic relationships, and of course… music. This one goes deep. Here’s to healing!
Is it a wise choice? How to tell.
Imagine deeply loving someone (a partner, child, friend). Feel that love. Wise decisions are always based in love and have nothing to prove to anyone.
How to heal strained relationships (and save humanity…)
We need to heal.
We need each other.
We need each other to heal.
Furthermore…
Relationships are vehicles for healing.
And that’s my thesis on love in these times.
One very liberating question
Instead of: How do I want to feel?
Ask: WHAT DO I WANT TO EMBODY?
What do you do with pain? A simple practice to breathe space into it.
The most powerful thing I can do for the world is to heal myself. When I heal my own inner conflicts, immune system, and polarizations, two beautiful things occur…
4 practices + 4 teas to lower stress levels and RELAX your nervous system
I’ve heard it from so many women this past year: can’t sleep through the night. Waking up at weird hours. Anxiety that’s never been there is showing up… Interrupted sleep can be created by excess cortisol, which then impacts our insulin levels and our physical energy. It’s a stress loop.
Respect for your shame + awe for your doubt… treating our feelings with dignity.
If you were to look at yourself with a loving gaze, what would shift?
What old, limiting stories would start to dissolve? What tightness would loosen? What would be forgiven, relaxed, diminished, celebrated, more cherished?
That loving gaze is Reverence.
Do your past lives matter that much?
Use your energy to process current time reality. It’s all we know for sure that we have.
Live fully now. The soul reveals all information on a need-to-know basis.
How I’ve radically simplified my life in the last year.
The practice of simplifying has consumed me in the best way possible. I’ve simplified every area of my life. It’s become a magnetic pull in my cells.
Is your personality social programming?
Introvert, extrovert, Gemini, Virgo. Like it cold, like it hot. It’s all a label. And it can limit us in a lot of ways.
A Dedication of Merit. Making it ALL count… for everyone.
A prayer to say before you pray, making ALL we do an offering for ALL.
The hard questions to ask for committed relationships: a conversation about love with Susan Piver
What is the difference between a love affair and a relationship?
Forcing opinions or earning wisdom
We can soapbox, we can motivate, we can even convince people to see and do things our way. But even if someone chooses the more “evolved action” you’re suggesting, it doesn’t mean that they’ve just taken an evolutionary leap.
Rest to become wiser
At the end of a big cycle of output, you’ll probably be pulled with equal force in three directions: cleaning up, stillness, and newness.
Being discerning vs. being judgemental
Keeping it “positive” does not preclude having strong opinions… Opinions used for uplifting humanity are sacred.
Strategies for CALM power
Your Heart is GENIUS. But she’s hard to hear when we’re shouting out goals, looping in comparison thinking, striving to be more spiritual… and… and… and… Slow down, love—your Wisdom has a message for you.
success is a surprise party
Give it your all. Give it away. Your desires are being held in the hand of the cosmos with incredibly sturdy care. Life is not testing you. She is rooting for you.
3 skills for empowering youth… and ALL OF US.
What if the educational system got an overhaul with… loving kindness and enthusiasm? We know it needs it. Here it is, embodied. Please meet Mr. Donovan Taylor Hall (@donofriend on Instagram). He’s a youth (and parent) coach helping kids build a positive relationship with themselves through 3 key skills: gratitude, growth mindset, and self talk.
Can’t stop scrolling? You’re not alone. Here are my thoughts…
I think our Souls know how to do real intimacy. No veils, no games, all courage. But we have to slowwww down to meet that level of truth. And sometimes, slowing down can bring fairly fast results. It’s a divine irony.
What if you looked at setbacks like this…
What if every obstacle in your path was a gift of Loving Kindness from your Higher Self? An opportunity to transform a wound into Divine Power. Fractured awareness into wisdom. Contraction into openness…
Suddenly setbacks become love notes, inviting us into deeper exploration of our True Nature.
What happens when you stop arguing with yourself… Loving kindness.
True self love is to accept ALL parts of ourselves. Our neediness, delights, pains, talents… Light and shadows. ALL of us. Without criticism.
True self love steers us away from seeking signs from the Universe that we’re “worthy.” Self love is a remembrance of our Divinity. We are Love itself.
Will you be John Proctor or Galileo? Your heart will know.
In these factious times, will you lay it on the line in the name of integrity? Or will you stay rooted in your dominion… and find workarounds to serve in a magnificent way?
I still struggle with this myself… let’s unpack it together.
Enlightened or insane? How we judge our choices.
Who’s to say what’s insane and what’s enlightened? Where does our judgement crowd out the sacred mystery? Why do humans choose to suffer? Come with me…
THIS hidden ego motivation causes overwork + burnout (solution inside).
Imagine waking up tomorrow, not needing to prove your value to anyone. Not your boss, your partner, your mom, or the landlord of the building you want to live in… how might your aspirations and energy management change?
Be brave, go slow: Our collective reorientation.
We are in a collective reorientation. Spirit is asking us to slow down and pay attention to our breathing.
Been burned? Betrayal, denial, and the bloody beauty of it all.
I’ve been betrayed — severely. Thank God. Betrayal is such a defining experience — it lays your heart bare, and that’s a bloody, good thing. Bloody good.
Being betrayed by another person is often (not always,) a reflection of how you were betraying yourself. It’s a lie looking back at you.
The union. The bliss. The bind…Friendship is EVERYthing.
I want to go deep into this conversation about creating Fulfilling Friendships. I’ve got lots to say about engaged listening, self respect, breaking up (when necessary), and celebrating our friend-loves. I’ve also got plenty of opinions and practices for self-compassion, deep spiritual devotion, healthier relationships with our damn phones, and better quality sleep.
For when it’s hard to get going, and harder to stop… this.
Choose your medicine, press play, and I’ll keep the pace for you. These audiograms can be your guided meditation on a walk, some mantra vibe on repeat in the background, or a zen ritual while you shut down your day. For when it’s hard to get going, and even harder to stop… press play on Sacred Word Sets.
Why is forgiveness so hard?
Why is forgiveness so hard? One reason: we aren’t taught to be forgiving.
The Manifesto of Encouragement
Right now, there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness. Someone you haven’t met yet is already dreaming of adoring you. Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life…
Defining “Spiritual bypassing.” Overused and misused but still… very useful.
Taking planetary alignments into consideration, bringing love into politics, and nature consciousness into commerce is not spiritual bypassing. That’s spiritual practice.
See you Thursday ✨
We talk WORTH—“worthiness” is working overtime to cover up a big, egoic lie. We’ll shine a bright light on it, and steady ourselves in Divine Wholeness. This is a BIG, DEEP, GORGEOUS TOPIC. LIFE STUFF.
Inadequacy is a sham.
The Lie of Inadequacy says, “You were born defective, not good enough, flawed.” Ha ha! Not even close.
Inadequacy is an ego sham—an exhausting lie. If we buy it, we can get stuck in the worthy/unworthiness loop.
Cognitive dissonance and our luminosity
If you’re paying attention to your choices, you’ll cognitive dissonance pang once in a while. And it can be a smidge shamey. But when you apply compassion to that sensation it shows itself as your conscience. And it’s a signal to get into alignment with your higher nature. Either examine and change your perspective, or shift your actions.
Aim for transmutation. Not improvement, not incremental change… TRANSMUTATION.
Transmutation isn’t a slow burn; it’s a wildfire. Our inner fires are being reflected on the outer landscape.
Self respect is a spiritual practice.
We fight for causes, for relationships, for our children, for our co-workers… but it can be terrifying to fight for ourselves. This is where sisterhood is particularly powerful. When our girlfriends see us over-extending, and they look us in the eye and say, “Stop. You don’t need to do this.”
What it really means to go with the flow
Going with the flow isn’t about being passive or laissez faire. It’s not about just letting things happen “to you.” It’s not aimless wandering. Going with the Flow is a co-creative act.
Quizzy: What’s your planning personality?
The 2021 Desire Map Planner is a gratitude journal, meets calendar, meets your Higher Self. Next to your schedule are prompts and practices to remind you of the bigger picture: your heart. First time with this planner? Take this quiz…
How to hone your BS-detector and recognize the complex, beautiful TRUTH—and stand for it.
Our topic is DISCERNMENT. As in: how to hone your BS-detector and recognize the complex, beautiful TRUTH—and stand for it.
Is that true? Practicing DISCERNMENT…
The ability to discern isn’t a purely intellectual faculty—it’s the benefit of being more identified with your soul nature. And it isn’t a narrowing of focus. It’s actually a wider, more inclusive point of view—as if our hearts were open apertures. When we see more of our whole selves—shadow/light, pain/power, then we can see more of the whole truth around us.
12 prayers for invoking higher guidance
I always have a prayer or two on my fridge, I tuck them into my day planner, and I like one on my altar. I’ve also folded them into a bunch of rosemary sprigs that I left on a friend’s porch. Easier access for divine connection. Having prayers in view makes a difference to your heart-mindset.
Unmet longings and the Bride of Fire
I used to believe that my unmet longings were a punishment. The longings pushed downward to a small loneliness.
I healed some. I learned how to grieve career paths, friendships, partnerships, and children I wouldn’t be having. And, amazingly, grief brought me so much closer to being alive. Grieving for my faded dreams woke me up.
Self doubt. Self agency. And burning your journals.
I’ve tried recapitulation and obsessive, neurotic over-attachment as a means to self-improvement. Funnily enough, it doesn’t seem to work.
The Stone-Hearted. The Half-Hearted. And the Full-Hearted.
The Full-Hearteds will be called crazy, idealistic, rebellious, too soft, too New Age, irrational, impractical, so angry, disloyal, righteous, moralistic, idealistic, unrealistic, unreasonable… and (gasp!)… utopian. It won’t be the first time, it will not be the last. That’s more than alright. This moment was made for the Full-Hearteds to let love rule. We see the beautiful ideal and we know that we’re all a part of its unfolding.
Nudge: RESILIENCE starts tmrw. Are you in?
Resilience isn’t about toughening up—it’s about adaptation. And adaptation is about inclusiveness. And inclusiveness is the natural state of the heart.
The Initiated Woman
The Initiated Woman has bled. She’s bled from blind decisions that sliced her esteem; she’s bled from unguarded boundaries being obliterated; and she’s bled willingly, with love, because that’s what you do when people you adore are anemic or they’ve been punctured by life—you give them some of your blood. Here, I have lots, it’s fresh and warm. I’ll make more.
My salt baths are spiritual experiences (+ other things I do for RESILIENCE)
I’ve decided I’m going to be a Hope Detective. I’m going to track, study, broadcast it. Because nihilism sure won’t turn things ‘round. I believe: Heart people are everywhere. New worlds are underway. The solution is seeded in every problem—we just have to… detect it.
What we can—and can’t—control.
What you can’t control:
The weather. Mean people. How people interpret history. How people interpret you.
What people think about anything and everything. What people say to you. What people say to anyone else. Who or what anyone loves. How anyone feels about anything.
A prayer for transmutation
The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
EMPATHY = “I want to understand how you feel—and why.”
Solid conclusions only come from an inclusive point of view.
The most powerful possible Yes to women
…to the dark, the spacious, the sweet, the jaded, the women who live as certain as light rays, who renovate broken boardrooms and policies with justified anger and overwhelming Love—
Love of inclusion, of ecology, of bone solid Truth—Love of Love.
Shedding even more. Can you feel it?
Shadow work, Faith, rebirth, and shedding—#GraceforImpact is a plea to make 2020 change us for the better.
Art is now a matter of urgency. #unityconsciousness
“You know what’s going to come of this moment in history?” asked Lauryn Hill. What?! Injustice, division, collusion?
“Beautiful art,” she said. “It’s happened before, and it will happen again. People’re going to make things. Artists make art from struggle.”
Her gift to everyone that night was firm Faith.
She alchemized fear into a higher vision. Like artists do.
Make this change you
Why do some of us change as a result of suffering and some of us don’t? What creates revolutions?
“My way of being is changing…”
Some Heart Centered members have been working with these devotional practices for a few months now. Our collective practice has settled into a trustable rhythm. There’s room for all of you to be carried on the momentum.
Scenario planning—with Faith.
Faith is believing that the Light exists, even when it’s dark.
Lighten your load so we can make it to the other side
Binding identities, grievances, expired dreams, regrets, possessions. Can you feel the pressure to let go?
Your higher purpose for doing business. A heart centered perspective.
Our survival is directly related to the emergence of heart centered commerce. It’s the new imperative that business must play a healing role in society. It’s going to look like a miraculous shift in contrast to the destructive greed of capitalism.
Pay What You Wish… always and forever?
It’s a wild time to be alive. Bold choices are in order.
My birthday week is complete. Usually, we’d be packing up the Pay What You Wish banners. But that was the old way. I’m daring myself to take this further. We’ll see what happens. So! I’m leaving the Pay What You Wish doors open through the summer. (And hopefully always.)
Things to do when you’re in pain
60+ things to do when we’re in pain. Wise, devotional tools and practices I use to heal.
Pay What You Wish! The experiment is ON…
Good Humans,
It’s the sometimes annual Pay What You Wish Week for my digital situations: devotions, meditation kits, ebooks, audios.
Your suffering is a holy event
Our deepest pain is the entry point to our authentic power. That’s why we do shadow work.
A social experiment in generous, trusting humans (and product pricing as a revolution)
I want to co-create a world in which everybody has the essentials: nutrient-rich food and water, education and art, (actual) healthcare, and spiritual support.
Feral Together
Everyone foraging for the happiness that was always right there to be had.
With unlimited stillness we are all feral, finding home.
Sacred reprioritization
If the majority of the world slowed down because of one unifying singular crisis event… would THAT be enough for you to give yourself a break?
Remedies for inner energy stagnation. Immunity from the inside out.
Very philosophically speaking: things stick to stuff that’s stuck. The more freely energy circulates, the healthier a system is.
Your initiation into Grace
Grace holds tension. Between joy and sorrow; sanity and falling apart; the past you’ve outgrown and your radiant future. Grace balances “bothness.” She is spiritually mature. She turns pain into power.
Dying for Love
This is the call in our global pause: to let go of old ways so that a beautiful ideal can emerge––from each self to our social systems.
Grace for Impact. My new podcast series. (Trailer inside.)
Grace for Impact is the best of my love, my training in scenario planning and future studies, and my Faith. I was intending to write a book next year called, Things I Do When I’m In Pain. Here it is. This poured out of me in a week. It’s not perfect, but it’s on time.
Hope on a cellular level: an interview with Dr. Zach Bush
Deep wisdom that spans from the microbiome to farming activism to hospice care. I asked Zach Bush to talk to us about the foundational grace of biology so that I could connect the dots to the human spirit. Why does a cell and a human choose to live more vibrantly or choose its demise?
What it feels like to be held by Life
I feel like everything in my life was training for the times we are in. All of the practices, the dark nights, the devotion. And, not-so-ironically, this is the time when everything I’ve been creating—practices for staying centered and tapping into Spirit—are coming in verrry handy. We all have medicine to offer.
HEART CENTERED membership is open now
Many of us are riding multiple waves of emotion a day. I’m inviting you to keep bringing it all to your heart space. When I’m swimming in uncertainty, bringing EVERYTHING into my heart space is how I get steady. The heart is THE ISLAND we want to live on.
Gratitude unites us. Say it—sing it—give it. (A thank you video.)
Gratitude is a form of MEDICINE. It helps us connect to the power of the present and to each other’s hearts. And there is so much to give (and receive) right now…
6 things I know about active letting go
I have a RELATIONSHIP RELEASING Guided Reflection. You’ll receive visualization and reflection practices to create a sacred relationship container that can be blessed—all parties are honoured, and then offered up to be set free. This is for full letting go, by which we mean: forgiveness.
This is why we practice
Looking so hard to find our passion, but the best self-help is… self-compassion. It’s not HOW we practice—it’s WHY.
Building a sacred container for our relationships—an esoteric approach
Bonding, laughter. Support, healing. Comfort. Solidarity. Union. Care. Mercy. Joy. Friendship in romantic partnership, and with family, teams, classmates, neighbours. Sisterhood, brotherhood, humanhood. Becoming a better friend to yourself.
Healing for every kind of relationship.
When fear or frustration blocks the flow of Love and connection, it’s time to pause and work from the heart space—bring it ALL into the heart for guidance and deepening.
Words heal or create chaos. Here’s an experiment to test your power.
Words incant, invoke, destroy, and create. When we speak with high intention, we live in Higher Love.
The Mother Wound and Father Wound
The “Mother Wound” and the “Father Wound.” Loaded labels floating around the self-help circles. I have a suggestion… Let’s go deeper with this while respecting our experience, and not causing unnecessary harm to others.
Retreat. Restore. Re-set. Please.
What an opportunity to know our strength and love! These powerful happenings are calling us to fill out all of our capacities as communitarians, humanitarians, caregivers, creatives, leaders, children, and beloveds of The Infinite.
Gentleness as a high-performance tool. Really.
Here’s the thing, if you take care of your most tender and essential needs—you’re stabilized. If you protect your gentle nature, listen to its powerful cues—you’re good to go.
Oh hello, Inner Child. I see you. And I’ve got you.
Your Inner Child wants to be protected—to know that you will stand up for your Deep Sensitivity every single time. It takes a grown-up to love that fiercely.
How your relationship with your Inner Child affects every part of your life.
I had a hard time seeing how my “inner child” was having an effect on my grown-up life. I didn’t get it, didn’t want to get it. Now I really get it—so glad I get it. My interaction with my Inner Child has become one of the most important—and empowering—relationships of my life.
How to hold your suffering friend: the components of hope.
This could serve as a thank you note for the people who gave you their hope when you needed it…
New podcast ep! Heart + Head Leadership with Marie Forleo
I’m back in podcast mode—and I brought a friend! Marie Forleo. Forleo and I have huddled many a time about creative conundrums and opportunities. I trust her smarts. Her book, Everything is Figureoutable, entered the NYT bestseller list at #1. Because that’s how Forleo does things—impeccably. And her yearly marketing and business development program, B-School is about to roll out.
What you’re attracted to will change as you heal.
As you heal (read: apply compassion to your pain; forgive some people; turn anxiety into insight), what you’re attracted to is going to change.
“This is what I’d do if I were you,” I said…
Before I was a working author, I did one-on-one strategy sessions with (mostly female) entrepreneurs. “Fire Starter Sessions.” It was $1000 for a 90 minute session and I think, on the whole, people got what they came for and a bit more: idea clarity, a sequenced path, and pragmatic encouragement. I was very clear, “I’m not a coach, I’m a strategist.” I gave people what *I* wanted in terms of business council—straight up advice. Seasoned, sincere wisdom.
Growth phases—for conscious entrepreneurs.
Exploitative capitalism is tapping our life force. Conscious enterprise is one of the most powerful vehicles for restoring our vitality.
If you want your work to matter… If you want to get more money in the door so you can live more—and give more… Then you have to learn to leverage online tools. And connect with people who know this terrain and take its high roads.
This is not a course. This is a nourishment system.
I know that your heart burns with sacred love.
I know you. Because I’ve been you. I am you. I also know how to turn procrastination into a power move. And I know how to keep waking up without beating ourselves up. (Steady devotion. Deep compassion. Joy leaning.)
Stay with me.
THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT YOURSELF (partial list only, please spend the rest of your life adding to this)
Love your: Resistance desires Godliness abandonment issues fire-in-your-belly vision simple happiness preferences. And other things.
My “give it up” list. Feel free to make it yours.
It’s always a good time to let go of whatever is holding you back. Here are some micro monumental suggestions.
Creating money wellness—do this exercise today
Money resentments can jam the flow of abundance. Here’s an exercise to clear the energy…
3 very big lies we fall for on the way to waking up.
We’ve got to fall for some lies to get to our truth… These are the lies that dogma, false power, and all kinds of commercial industries are built on. And many of us have built our spiritual lives on one of these shaky foundations. This is a wake up call.
Body image, boundaries, divorce. Holy Q&A.
Divorce? Balance and striving? Longing to help? Your questions are multi-layered and beautifully articulated.
When (not) to give up
This episode is full of contradictions, so if you’re looking for a straight shot—it’s better to look within. As always. I start in the realm of general life stuff, then we move into the deepest possible query: choosing to stay alive.
Grief, memory loss, and the purpose of life… it’s a Q&A Palooza.
I receive so many substantive, well-written, messy, articulate, deep, precise questions. Gives me hope in humanity, actually. In this eps: grief, enlightenment, whether or not we should indoctrinate our children, the meaning of life… you know. Regular stuff.
The Principles of Flow. And how to ride it.
When we say, “We’re going with the flow,” what we’re really saying is that we’re riding The Creative Principle. The stuff of LIFE FORCE. Flow isn’t New Age chillaxin’—it is alert relaxation. Wide awake trust. When you’re in the flow, you’re constantly responding to the subtle cues that Life is giving you.
When “safe distances” restrict our love.
“I’ve gone through my entire life holding everyone at a safe distance… how do I make friends now?” Our fear of judgment prevents us from getting the love that we’re longing for. Twisted, no? But being a stranger to someone doesn’t have to be an impediment to intimacy. This is where courage comes in.
Naked prayer
How do you “give it over to God”? It starts with knowing this: your pain is what God is most urgently interested in—like any parent with their child. “Let’s get this healed so you can go out and play.” When we’re brave enough to bring our pain to the surface, The Divine can take it from there.
On psychics + clairvoyants. To call or not to call?
I think external psychic input can be extremely valuable for navigating. I’ve had seers on my payroll. And… We can often sense what’s coming ourselves—we just don’t recognize our own power. Free will, free will, free will. And PS: free will.
Suffering. And the radiance you’ll find on the other side.
We can’t instantly LEAP from pain to joy, from suffering to radiance. There are steps—a healing sequence.
Keeping it real and keeping the peace: A few tips for family visits
My fellow grown up, let’s get you centered in your truth and prepped for family gatherings… so you don’t end up in the bathroom drunk-dialing your therapist. I have some ideas for staying sane (and ideally: being your most loving self), even if you want to get the hell out of there.
The narcissist + the empath. How to have compassion AND healthy standards.
Pulling off the New Age blinders and getting out of toxic situations…
The dance of self-forgiveness
So many of us grip our mistakes because we never want to make them (and hurt anybody) again. But the moving forward can only happen when you can really forgive yourself. It’s possible. And there’s a sequence to it.
How to be classy when things don’t work out as expected
Loss brings out our truest self. And while grace doesn’t come naturally to all of us—especially when we lose—it can be cultivated… if you go out of your way to be grateful. Let me tell you a story. It all starts in the ladies room, in a snowy city, five minutes before my curtain call…
When you feel like you have nothing to offer. (And our obsession with productivity.)
When you feel like you have nothing to offer—TRUST your rhythms. Rest. Regenerate. Do what it takes to be well. Our culture confuses productivity-output-achievement with self-worth.
When you can’t have a direct conversation, go for the Higher Self.
When things are brutally difficult with somebody, sometimes the healthiest thing is to have a non-verbal, encouragement convo. When you can’t safely/bravely express yourself in this material realm, then use an esoteric channel—speak to the other person’s Higher Self.
Create a “What I Trust” list. And exhale.
I’ve gotten in the habit of creating a “What I Trust” list before a big gig, or when any situation feels a bit wobbly. Often we’re so fixated on firing up endorphins, we forget that feeling assured and comforted is where the real power is. Calm and centered is magnetic. So… what do you trust?
Heart-centered manifesting: plans that also serve the collective.
It’s too late in the day, and too hot, crowded, and a little too painful on the planet, to be focused solely on personal attainment. Reach for the dream job, healthy bod’, love of your life—AND incorporate other people’s wellness in your vision. This is a heart-centered how-to.
You have to be fully in your body to create things
The idea is to begin shifting your pleasure priorities, so you start doing less of what you don’t like to do, and more of what you love.
Arguing with your inner critic? There’s a much better way.
The first thing to do with that inner critic voice is to have compassion for it. (This is counterintuitive because we live in a performance-based culture that thrives on judgement.) Approach with love—then instead of creating further separation from your heart, you’re building a bridge.
Shadow work: bringing it into the light.
Self-compassion is the most powerful light source on the inner shadow. Shine it on the full spectrum of your pain (from the ancient to the recent) and keep loving what you find in the dark. This is good parenting for your soul. Keep looking, keep listening, keep loving your wounds… and your radiance—your inherent, never-leaving, second nature radiance—will astound you.
Making new friends as an adult: Tenderness and expansion.
Making new friends—it’s never, EVER too late…
What’s your relationship to mornings?
Menus of morning habits are easy to come by (harder to practice). But habits are only bandaids unless we get beneath the surface of our behavior and relating. That’s what most productivity methods fail to ask. What were mornings like for you growing up? What does your ideal morning *feel* like?
Are we each other’s reflection? Yes. And No.
Are you attracting jerks because you’re a jerk? Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes the jerk is there to show you how you do NOT want to feel or be treated—because contrast is one of our most powerful teachers. The flipside: what they may be here to illuminate is how you DO want to feel and who you truly are.
“Tyrant Time” vs. “Power Time.” What’s your paradigm?
When you’re clear on what activates your joy, time management becomes a means to self-expression, not self-policing.
Loving yourself (and others) any way you can
Can you love yourself when you hate yourself?
“Don’t get caught up in the despair.” Sacred activism council from Charles Eisenstein. We all need this. Now.
Please pause and absorb this as an act of social and ecological service. And from this paradigm of interbeingness, more deeply consider how we can—and will—create, as Charles is known to say, “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”
Q&A One-night Stands
Where do I stand on one-night stands? Are they soul satisfying… or just a distraction in your pants? In this episode, I open up about holding out and putting out.
Our language around “busyness.” And why it matters so much.
Whatever is on your plate got there because you said yes to it—in the fullness of ambition and desire and wanting to eat life whole.
Spirituality for grown-ups
In “Spirituality for grown-ups” (Eps 1), we’re exploring the definition of spirituality… one that’s more rock ‘n’ roll than religious. More liberating than dogmatic. A definition of spirituality that allows us to be more gentle with ourselves; that embraces duality and nuance; that promotes self-agency, Real Love, and inclusiveness, and JOY.
This episode is especially for globally concerned deep-feelers. If you’re a worrier… you’re not alone. I have my own frets… Am I making myself accessible enough, but still boundaried in a healthy way? Am I effective enough? (I think about this daily.) Have I done no harm? Have I shook shit up sufficiently? The list goes on… because the more of a deep-feeler you are, the longer the list of things you feel. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The upside of procrastination
Amazing grace can happen when you choose inner rhythms over external pressure.
A few things I Had to Learn On My Own About Birth and Motherhood
I’m passionate about birth wellness—all stages, all options. Creating an educational program on conscious birth has been on my to-do list, but now that Schuyler Grant has created Empowered Birth, I can chill. This is a beautiful offering that the world will be better for.
Our whole lives are relationships. Love accordingly.
A treatise on the power of connection…
Some simple tools for best results
This question came up in a meeting with Desire Map Facilitators + Coaches: “As a creative with so many ideas coming through all the time, how do you stay organized?” My current tools, habits, rituals…
Don’t freak the f*ck out about Mercury Retrograde—just be conscious of it.
Here’s a supercrash astro course, should you care: Mercury is the planet that governs all types of Communication, as master astrologer Susan Miller elaborates, this includes, “listening, speaking, learning, reading, editing, researching, negotiating, selling, and buying.
Perspective. Sanity. Rest. How to approach a finish line.
A peek into the inner workings of a big launch…
Let the Love in. Because, “It’s an honour to help you.”
When you need back-up on your divine petitions, give someone the honour of lending you their faith.
A Manifesting Practice that takes your whole self into consideration. Virtues + Clarity + Steadiness.
Manifesting is an art and a science—and you have to leave a lot of room for mystery, while upholding your Faith. No one has THE way. Life is complex. But here’s everything I’ve been given from masterful teachers over the years, and practiced myself with some exquisite results.
The “comfort zoning” exercise
In service of your true comfort, and creating from that centered space, get clear on what’s good for you. Some Qs for that…
You do not need to feel “worthy” of what you want in order to manifest it.
Manifestation is a technology. And like all technologies, I pray we’ll use it appropriately: to generate more loving realities for ourselves and each other. All the material stuff can be fun, and we deserve comfort and ease—without question. But let’s get on with manifesting fresh air, and clean water, and relationships that nourish and heal. And on the way to doing that, self-worth will unfold. We will be manifesting love.
The first time I’ve spoken about the “living death” I experienced last year—may this help your own heart
This is the first time I’ve publicly spoken about the “living death” I experienced in the Fall of 2018. I went to the darkest place of my being—panic attacks, identity crisis, loss, disillusionment and… incredible awe. GRACE.
How present can you be to “negative” feelings?
To deny the negative feelings is to resist the power of our presence—we miss out on LIFE. We have to lean in, embrace it, even.
Find your future in your present—so you can grow it.
Here’s a beautiful notion to consider: You already have a lot of what you want, in places you may have overlooked, in different packaging than you may have expected, and hidden in plain sight.
A NEW Desire Map. Deeper, brighter, freer.
The Desire Map 2.0. Enhanced + deeply fresh content. More… MINDFUL. HEARTFUL. POWERFUL. And for 10 days only, it’s free.
SPIRITUALITY IS… Dirty. Obsessive. Deeply concerned. Scabs, shame, transmutation, wet kisses, the holy cross, desperation. Presence. The birth canal. Time bender…
Anxiety and fear, mercy and bliss.
It’s lying to yourself until the needle of Truth pierces your life and stitches you whole.
Spirituality is doing the dishes and looking for your phone.
THIS is the (r)evolution that we need. Open up.
We live in trying times. Our attention spans, bodies, and spirits are getting stretched out of proportion. It’s not sustainable. As a collective, many have strayed from the wisdom of the heart-brain.
The in-between place you’re in. It’s real.
The in-between is uncomfortable and agitating. And slightly erotic—creative tension is like that. The polarities of what was and what could be, of holding your breath while you long to exhale.
Try this when you’re unclear about what you want. (Your invite is inside.)
We all want to know our true power, to make clear decisions. You can’t over-think your way out of confusion and into clarity (that’s called spinning your wheels). You have to feel your way into it. Your intelligence is in your heart center.
When you get through the big pain, this is what happens: Near-blinding radiance.
You will have more to give—and you will LOVE giving it. You will seek to give. It will be the most incredible feeling. Someone is going to come to you with a broken wing, or low on reserves and you are going to have so much love and insight to offer them.
What to do after you have a breakthrough. (You’re going to shrink after you expand, so, listen closely.)
Threshold, crossed. You got there. After the grinding, the repetitive strain, the cord-cutting, the release, the bliss of relief—the training paid off. Muscle burn got you across the finish line. Soul fire resurrected you. BREAKTHROUGH.
What “shadow work” really is. (Calling all wounded warriors.)
Your shadow is where your wounds hide, waiting for the light of your attention. It’s the stuff beneath the distractions of workaholism and comparison and bravado.
Mistakes, hurts, fiascos, and major fails
Are you holding on to past failures, mistakes, tanks? Time to spring clean them out of your system, so you can move forward.
The problem with manifestation techniques and what that psychic told you. (Plus 9 principles for predicting and manifesting.)
The problem with a lot of prediction + manifestation techniques is that we tend to forget that other humans are involved in our manifesting. And we can’t control other humans — as much as we’d LOVVVE to.
To trust in your goodness is the ultimate success.
At the end of an interview, it’s common to be asked the big finale question: “Tell our listeners how to get unstuck. Give us three secrets to happiness. What’s THE most useful thing you’ve learned?” No pressure.
make it happen
When you enter into the deal-making phase—from real estate to intellectual property, gigs to partnerships—it can be like heading into a dark tunnel. The Deal Tunnel. Everyone’s opinions are echoing. Time pressure is on. You reeeeally want to get to the final deal, the light, at the end of the tunnel.
How to wish someone well—in a way that will blow your life wide open.
Converting bitter resentment into blessings…
the goddess of grief: getting to the other side. (and there is always another side.)
Grief is one of the most powerful Goddesses. She swallows your agony and lets it tear her apart. Beautiful birds fly from her belly – each one an insight into life and your power. Grief brings the whole flock to your window and she waits and waits to reveal universal truths to you. She goes to the depths with you. She rises with you…
Spiritual practice won’t stop shitty things from happening to you. However…
Yoga isn’t going to make you impervious to criticism — because criticism bites. Meditation doesn’t make divorce less brutal — because divorce is rough no matter how it goes down. Green juice won’t keep the creep at work away — creeps like to creep. And prayer will not make your illness less intense to deal with — physical burdens are…burdensome.
The Principles of Active Waiting vs. feeling-like-a-loser, losing-your-mind kind of waiting…
Regard the waiting period as an opportunity.
What would Oprah do? 8 (fun!) strategic planning questions.
What would Oprah do? 8 (fun!) strategic planning questions. Your answers can be loose and pie in the sky—let your imagination run.
Build strength
Build strength through: reflection.
Build strength through: joy.
Build strength through: stillness.
Build strength through: action.
Naked prayer.
I’ve always prayed. To heal. To have. I pray for people I love and people I have a hard time liking. I’ve sat in prayer circles petitioning rain and for someone’s cancer to dissolve. I know dozens of prayers from various faiths. I’ve published prayers. Danced them. Sang them. Sweat them. In reverence, in shock, in exquisite thanks.
I pray differently now.
5 Q’s for a LUMINOUS new year in business
On Team D we think of September as the new January, so a few months ago we dove into business-related retrospection and visioning to get free & clear for 2019. Whenever you’re ready to start fresh, I just posted a short how-to for doing a yearly retrospective on the blog. Five laser-focused questions to prep you for a LUMINOUS 2019!
Comparison. Resiliency. True Love.
Comparison. Resiliency. True Love. If you’re in WTF Bootcamp right now—you will get through it. You’re in it because your Soul is up for it.
Are you at peace with it?
A choice you make that came with some struggle. To let go. To jump in. To shift your perspective. You did it. You made the call.
How do you know if you’re at peace with it?
Light & Resilience (a holiday or anytime prayer)
Here’s a gentle, inclusive prayer for our gatherings.
A (free) holiday survival kit for family (dys)functions
Get centered and prepped for choice gatherings…
New holiday traditions, to sweeten the chaos
There’s a lot about the holidays I look forward to. The beautiful rituals, and being with people I love, and Jesus (one of my true loves). But… there’s a lot about the holidays in North America that I could do without. So I try to keep this season as gentle as possible. Here’s my way of sweetening the chaos and creating beauty that doesn’t weigh heavy on Mother Earth…
Soulful, with a side of sassy: Free greeting cards & gift tags
I like my holidays to be easy on the over-consumption, big on the real love, with plenty of laughs. In that spirit, we designed these printable greeting cards & gift tags so your holidays can match YOUR spirit. Deep, light, and looking on the bright side. Take your pick, print, trim, and give give give!
Thank you for your exquisite suffering (How to show gratitude for being saved by someone.)
How can you thank another human for that Holy showing?
Your life is beyond words.
But now that you are stronger, reach deep into the natural order of things
and with your hewn respect
thank them for their own exquisite suffering.
I’m in awe of your heart-work.
Dear Coaches, Teachers, Counselors… People who serve. If you’re in the business of Soul-work and service, how do take care of yourself?
Burn your journals. Maybe. Either way, here’s some inspiration on letting go.
I burned about 20 years of journals. Pages and pages of gut-red poetry and angst; cosmic gorgeousness and tender prayers; lists of wants, boyfriends (a loose term), and favourite perfumes. With every page I fed into the fireplace, I smiled. Thank you. Goodbye. Hellohhh here & now…
How our business gives back
When I started my own business, I made a decision to be public about our charitable giving. It was a practice I learned from Anita Roddick and the Canadian-based leaders (all women) of The Body Shop. The Body Shop was my first job-job and it baked the concept of a triple bottom line into my happily bleeding heart. The idea of sharing this is to inspire giving through business. I think we’re all gifters at heart. The flow of allowing and aiding is our natural way of being.
Alleluia, What A F*cking Year (a holiday or anytime prayer)
For the love of God,
what.a.f*cking.year.
The truth crusading! The justice making!
The fires, the floods, the impact.
And the undeniable RISING of… us.
Show Me How to Love Myself—a Devotion
Show me how to love myself truly and entirely. Show me how to eat, sleep and move my body for nourishment, restoration, celebration. Show me how to embody everything that is my joy.
Wishes for our American friends
As our American friends head to the polls today, I wanted to offer this to all of us: Look for Light with more intensity than ever… and vote for it.
The beautiful terror of going slower. (I highly recommend it.)
My nervous system has been jacked for years, so less than “go-more-now-now” has been slightly confusing to my system. And actual stillness… well that’s been just… disorienting.
Hey, Fire Starter! Is your time management system starving your Soul?
When you’re clear on what activates the joy within you, time management becomes a means to self-expression, not self-policing. And “making time” becomes an act of service so that you can be your best for those around you.
Before you give up, read this…
Thirty days of wisdom + art, for more courage, conviction, and hopefulness. You received one letter a day from a different writer to help you keep going.
If you loathe self promotion, here’s something to cheer on your shine…
RADIATE your passion + STATE THE FACTS of what that passion generates (the results it brings for you and your customers) = HAPPIER SELF PROMOTION
Taking Root: On dissolving resistance + getting grounded into a new rhythm.
If you’re looking for a way to give your new routine more attention + Love… look over HERE. The Desire Map Planner helps seekers + creatives design lives that align with their true desires…
How to offer support for someone feeling suicidal (…and hope for anyone in that painful place)
May our suffering transform into liberating strength, and our despair into an incredible beauty that carries us to joy over and over again. And with deepest humility and respect for each person’s path I say: May these words save lives, and may those lives be well lived and wildly loved.
Comparing your pain to others?
Sometimes pain comparison is an act of consciousness. It’s an empowering way to refine your thoughts and create your reality and practiced gratitude. And sometimes…pain comparison only numbs out our truth.And sometimes…pain comparison only numbs out our truth. And when we numb out, we dumb down. We become less conscious, and less useful to those around us. Denying your personal pain won’t lessen other people’s suffering…
My favourite rituals for protection, clarity, grounding, and manifesting…
September is about rising into The New. It’s my favourite time to refresh and set goals + intentions. And that requires some ritual. Rituals to anchor and nourish your intentions.
I hope you’re insatiable.
If you’re on your creative edge, you will continuously want more. True desire is full and insatiable. She is appreciative and ceaseless. She is present and she sees possibility everywhere. This is the divine paradox of intentional creating. You’ll love what you’ve got with all your heart today, and you will be ready for more tomorrow… and the next day.
21 promo ideas. Simple, grand, + the tried n’ true.
Promo ideas! Simple, grand, + the tried n’ true. Here’s a few…
#1. When you post client testimonials on your blog, include a reply of gratitude.
#6. Join forces with a local artist to make some beautiful stuff.
#11. Start an advice column. Make it slightly hilarious.
#15. Say thank you. Mean it…
The Begging Bowl: a poem for love
Eventually, we will all beg for love—proudly.
Imagine being better than ever. For reals.
A healer gave me this medicine when I was crawling back to health: You’ll forget it was this bad. I had to stretch to believe her, but I imagined the future that I most deeply and wildly desired. I dared myself to go beyond the baseline of “well” and “recovered” and into the quantum field of truly better than ever.
10 positive consequences of NOT improving yourself
When you get off of your own case, you tend to ease up on everyone else around you. Which makes you way more fun to be around.
When “pushing through it” isn’t working for you anymore. This is how to rally…
I was down for the count. Making time to heal became my Soul focus. I had to make some changes. The end of your rope may be a beautiful turning point.
Say this prayer, until all beings are free.
I adore this prayer. I think it sums up relentless compassion—it covers all the bases of service and protection.
Love, transactionality, and the “5 people” you hang with
We hear this from motivators: “You are the average of the 5 people that you surround yourself with.”
Canadian roots. Global love.
In case you didn’t know, we have GLOBAL love for our readers and workshop attendees. Like, three-books-translated-into-TEN-languages kind of love…
How to Heal a Fractured Society. Guest post by Hiro Boga.
After I read this sage offering from my beloved friend, Hiro Boga, I emailed her immediately and said: “This is INCREDIBLE. This diamond wisdom gave me deep comfort. It feels like an Answer. So beautiful and clear and right.”
So, is this a gift, or a transaction? Because…your entire life is not a business deal.
I’ve been thinking a lot about transactional giving these days. I’ll tweet about you if you tweet about me. They owe me a favour. You listen for five minutes to them so they’ll listen when it’s your turn to talk. Even Stevens. Transactional giving can be a beautiful commerce of support, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that interplay. But if all of our giving is to secure our getting…then, well, it’s gross.
Morality, deep beauty and Faith: How you coping these days?
I am examining where in my life I can be more impeccable in linking desire to deed. CARE-FULL. I am making space to breathe more deliberately. These times call for deep breathing so you can hitch your passion to mindful action. So breathe.
A few growth pointers from Team D
Here are some field notes for growth from the two amazing women who run our business.
I made something new for you. For US.
The LIGHT WORK series will unfold over six episodes. These are girlfriend-style sermons on serving the world while staying sane, cosmic connectedness over tech addiction, self compassion and more fulfilling friendships. Poetry. Hilarity. Peeks into the personal.
Friends, Lovers, and Therapy
Friends, lovers and therapy…
Sweet like honey, and sledgehammer-hard: lessons from my year.
After one more trip around the sun, here are a few of my learnings (some of which came down like honey, others, like a sledgehammer. #reallife ):
Everyone on #TeamD takes these personality tests
One of our best investments of time is in understanding each other: what our strengths and talents are, how we show love + appreciation, and how we respond to stress. We’re working to be even more thoughtful and diligent around these practices in our culture, but we’ve got some great tools in hand.
The upside of suffering… sort of.
You see, there is suffering in the sensitivity. It hurts to feel. And we’re raised to strive—to desensitize—and it’s killing us. I think the strength is in opening. That opening to feel is where resiliency is born.
We can’t get to the light, until we understand the suffering.
I’ve struggled for a long time with wondering if pain and suffering were essential to growth. Are they essential to me being a more expanded, clear minded, loving, joyous, sexy human being? Do I have to hurt to get there? Well, I fucking hope not… but I haven’t figured out a way around suffering yet.
The service of joy, especially in these times
I’ve talked to rabbis, and priests, and monks, and people who I consider to be high esoteric practitioners. I’ve figured out a few things about joy… and I’ve woven them into this week’s episode of LIGHT WORK.
Beliefs, Movies & Man Crushes
In a nutshell: I’m hot for hot man feminists who work (in their own way) to make the world a better place. Service is a huge turn on for me.
An intimate Q&A episode. It’s deep, it’s lite, I hope it’s alllll right.
If God is in the details, then the Soul is in a good Q&A. And that’s the substance of Podcast #4: Beliefs, Movies & Man Crushes. Your questions make it so easy for me to rant and offer some (hopefully) useful how-to’s and tricks of the trade. The “trade” being discernment and devotion. It’s deep, it’s lite, I hope it’s alllll right.
How to be a revolutionary for just love
This episode is about our personal activism. I’m talking about how we can get justice, without incurring too much karma. I’m talking about how to be a revolutionary for just love.
On Sacred Activism
I’m interested in how we work as individuals and how we come together as a society—to create justice. To be in right action. To balance the scales. To transmute darkness into light. How do we hold people accountable? How do we speak out with fire and clarity about our ideals? How do we call people on their destructive shit without creating harm or incurring karma?
The Why behind my refund policy, and how small acts of kindness can mean so much.
50% of people don’t even open the digital product they purchased. We want mindful folks who really want to be involved with the product offering. And, refunds are exposing in the digital world. It’s not like returning a chair that the retailer can re-sell… people HAVE the stuff in their possession and could spread it around if they wanted to.
THAT SAID… KINDNESS trumps policy every time.
Do not doubt the wisdom of your rage. (inspired by recent events)
Popularity isn’t always true power. Money isn’t always success. Experience does not guarantee wisdom. Question it all. And do not doubt the wisdom of your rage.
Humans (and some technology) that we love working with.
We on #TeamD are discerning. We search far, we dig deep, and if we have to…we wait for the best to show up. We only recommend people and systems we have worked with directly and come to adore. I love and respect these humans.
GOOD MANNERS and some wuv. We could all use more of them.
There are still some basic good manners that should prevail no matter our generation, station, or affiliation. Here’s what it might mean to be classy, kind, and considerate whenever you are able (and we are almost always able).
Hopefully Devoted
This is the last episode of this podcast series. It’s devoted to one of my favourite topics: Devotion. We’re shining light on our prayers, our beliefs, our teachers… and whether they’re actually getting us closer to what we really want—liberation. We’re talking about the real work of light work.
Examining our devotion: If we don’t feel free… what’s the point?
I know that countless mystics throughout time agree that the reason for our spiritual endeavoring—our devotion—is liberation, and only liberation. The “work” in our light work creates a freedom from afflictive states: anxiety, selfishness, shallowness, insecurity, always comparing ourselves to other people, restlessness, fear… If the whole point of our devotion is liberation, then here’s the question…
Team D’s Manifesto for Conscious Business (C’mon and get it.)
Team D’s Manifesto for Conscious Business. This is the third revision in the course of six years. Every single word is intentional and in order of priority.
Loving your problems, the courageous act of stillness, and my Love + Radiance Meditation. My first Roundup of 2018 is here!
Loving your problems, the courageous act of stillness, and my Love + Radiance Meditation. My first Roundup of 2018 is here!
3 habits for dissolving envy.
Can you wish the best for those you envy?
What if your jealousy is a sign that you need to get your ass in gear?
Because, what’s wrong with wanting what you want?
Hint: Nothin’…
Addicted to productivity, and the courageous act of…stillness.
Wisdom is so underrated these days, but never mind that. Courage up. Wise people pause. Because they know that when you can be still, you become more real. Deeper. And that’s where the value is.
Come on, get app-y. Team D’s favourite apps for work & play.
Our creativity and productivity flow has got to be A+ to back up our dreams. Here’s a roundup of our favourite apps for work and play.
Can you love the problems that come with your good choices? (Because there will always be problems.)
Can you love the problems inherent in your industry? The challenges that come with the goals you’ve set? The hoops you have to jump through to get what you want the most?
17 things I did to make the MOST of the year + 4-day workweeks and a poem for loving your life. My December Roundup is here!
17 things I did to make the MOST of the year + 4-day workweeks and a poem for loving your life. My December Roundup is here!
I know the colour of your eyes (A poem for loving your life while you’re aware of eternity.)
I know the colour of your eyes (A poem for loving your life while you’re aware of eternity.)
On giving feedback (don’t) and a somewhat shamanic approach to business.
On giving feedback (don’t) and a somewhat shamanic approach to business.
Shitty. Amazing. Resilient. Action. 17 Things I Did to Make the Most of This Year.
Went one whole year with no psychic or astro readings, channellings, or workshops. I call it an input fast. And I lost a lot of psychic weight.
Our 4-day work week. Don’t be jealous. Just do it.
I want to start a revolution: The 4 day work week. Too many of us are overworked with undernourished spirits. Burnout has become a badge of honour. It’s just…gross. I can’t put it more poetically than that.
Summoning all cosmic beings for support? It’s better if you just focus.
You know how when you’re really messed up and you reach out to EVERY friend? You text them ALL at once in case the one person you really want to talk to isn’t responding IMMEDIATELY. And then you feel kind of dirty after because you got all frantic and spread your nuttiness around when really, you could have just connected with your one friend who tells you the truth every single time? I think it works the same way with angels and cosmic guides.
Loss happens. It’s THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS. And life.
Money loss can be brutal. I’ve spent years digging myself out of some sideways business debt. I’ve thought about making voodoo dolls of some bamboozlers I signed bad contracts with. But I never look at lost or wasted money as a waste.
Recommitting to sisterly love, dealing with emotional trauma, and the launch of Free & Clear…My October Roundup is here!
Recommitting to sisterly love, dealing with emotional trauma, and the launch of Free & Clear…My October Roundup is here!
Recommitting to sisterly love. (Because women wounding other women won’t get us where we need to go.)
Good things come to those who… hold out. Holding out requires a sacred, almost superhuman degree of focus—mystical muther freaking prowess.
The Daily Ritual Worksheet to keep your Core Desired Feelings close to your heart. Every day.
The Daily Ritual Worksheet is a printable planner companion to sync your to-do list with your Core Desired Feelings. Because intention guides everything.
Resources for emotional trauma support for you and people you love.
Resources for emotional trauma support for you and people you love.
Rally people around your paradigm.
It’s your prerogative to rally people around your paradigm. That’s what leadership is. That’s how revolutions happen.
Your self-esteem + money connection, how to improve your truth detector, and a prayer you might have written yourself… My September Roundup is here!
Your self-esteem + money connection, how to improve your truth detector, and a prayer you might have written yourself…My September Roundup is here!
Dear God, help me out with the basics, would you?
Show me how to love the ones that are like, really hard to love. The misogynists and boundary bullies, the fake leaders and land-rapers. Actually, for the sake of efficiency, just show me how to love the most greedy. That should cover it. (But while we’re at it, help me out with the Mean Girls, ‘cause like, whoa.)
Your esteem and your money.
Your esteem and your money. Here’s a money-saving tip that also happens to be a radical counter-cultural act of defiance.
Conscious career-generators! I’m starting something new. For you.
Conscious career-generators! I’m starting something new. For you.
How to hone your truth detector.
There’s so much faking it to make it and deception happening in every sector of life — from politics to self-improvement. So how can we hone our truth detectors?
Self acceptance (it’s a journey), getting through your personal hell, and when it’s time to give UP… My August D Digest is here!
Self acceptance (it’s a journey), getting through your personal hell, and when it’s time to give UP… My August Digest is here!
Women, boundaries, and spirituality. The perfect storm.
In my experience, boundary obliviousness is part of the initiation into wholeness. I don’t think you have to warrior your whole life for it, but it’s a passage to self-agency that most women seem to have to go through. Boundaries help us expand our consciousness.
MEDITATIONS + PRAYERS you can offer up to Texas and Bangladesh
“OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA” Nature is begging us to make fast, respectful changes to how we consume and care for the earth…and each other.
A call to Create: Our Bodies are Made to Do This
A Call to Create. This is such a beautiful offering from Rochelle Schiek. She sent it to me at just the right time. I’m using it to dig deeper so I can fly higher. You may want to do the same.
What becomes possible when you say No?
What would open up? Shift. Lighten. Crumble. Dissolve. Melt.
How would you become more free?
What’s on your List of Things to Give Up? Here’s a peek at mine.
It’s always a good time to let go of whatever is holding you back.
Did you get interrupted on the way to “ideal”?
Every “image” I had of my “ideal” life has been interrupted, derailed, splattered on the road to this sometimes way too fucking complicated, patience-of-Job, deeply deep and BEAUTIFUL life that I find myself in. CORRECTION: I didn’t “find” myself here. I made choices to be here –– right where I am. One choice at a time. Every time you choose to go for a “feeling” instead of an “image”, you’re making a courageous choice.
The first step to take when you’re in hell.
It feels interminable. Like you’ll never get out. Like it’s never…going…to…end. That’s the nature of hell. It’s not the pain that drives you insane, it’s the fear that the pain could go on and on.
Self-sabotage, the false story that keeps us from our power, and 2018 Planners are ready for you NOW! My July D Digest is here!
Self-sabotage, the false story that keeps us from our power, and 2018 Planners are ready for you NOW! My July D Digest is here!
But what’s the MOTIVE? (And BTW, pure motives RULE).
But what’s the MOTIVE? (And BTW, pure motives RULE). Same gesture. Same joke. Same service. Same policy. How can you spot the selfish intention when the branding is so glorious? Or how can you sense the true wisdom when the delivery is so 2000-and tacky? How can you really hear someone when your judgement is clouded by…judgement?
It’s not always self-sabotage. It’s just…what it takes.
Lightwork can be a fight. If you think being on the “spiritual” side of progress guarantees you harmony, then either you haven’t been at it long enough or you’ve been playing it safe. Harmonizing, healing, serving, shining…it’s messy work. Beautiful. Worth it. But messy.
Are you tired? Or just really (justifiably) angry?
Of course there are times — perhaps entire years, when we are bone-baked exhausted. But being fed up is not the same as being fatigued. In the seasons when we are vivacious and brimming with life, we can’t let ourselves slip into the reflex of heaviness.
How to love yourself when you hate yourself, and the hottest truth of all: you are your own guru…My June D Digest is here!
How to love yourself when you hate yourself, and the hottest truth of all: you are your own guru…My June D Digest is here!
A question for your growth (that has nothing to do with quick, easy or “proven.”)
Here’s the most powerful question (that we too often forget) to ask ourselves when we’re on the hunt for solutions: “But… what suits me?”
“Deep positivity” vs. “positive thinking”
If there could be a slogan for manifestation theory, this would be it: Energy follows thought. Energy follows thought. Energy follows thought. And by the way…energy follows thought. Manifestation happens from the mind.
The Ultimate and Immediate Why
The Ultimate and Immediate Why:
Swallowing fresh water,
inhaling
clean air
through our mouths,
speaking
words of adoration, and
kissing.
The lie of inadequacy.
We’ve got to fall for some lies to get to our truth. The Lie of Inadequacy. It goes like this…“You were born defective, not good enough, flawed.” nooo! Erase erase. Blow it UP.
Loving yourself…when you hate yourself.
Being compassionate with ourselves is what DEEP self-love is about. The kind of love that’s bigger than self-care Fridays or a nap.
![[VIDEO] You are the Guru](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Danielle-LaPorte-you-are-the-guru-400x250.jpg)
[VIDEO] You are the Guru
NOBODY knows better than you what’s right for you. NOBODY. Let me say what I really mean: NOBODY.Advice? Get some. Oracles? Consult them. Friends? Worship them. Actual gurus? Honour them. Final say? YOU. All you. No matter what.
The best self-help is self-compassion.
The best self-help is self-compassion. When you give yourself credit for making it this far in life—and still being a Gentle Soul—then you’ll know the Truth of Love. When, in a courageously still moment you hear yourself say, “I have everything I need right now,” then you’ll know the Truth of Faith.
The Courageous Minority vs. the road to mediocrity (which is always really…safe.)
The Courageous Minority vs. the road to mediocrity (which is always really…safe.) Safe. The road to mediocre is always really…safe. And in terms of fulfillment, “safe” is really, really dangerous.
Real devotion, the gritty path to forgiveness, and White Hot Truth LAUNCHING!…My May D Digest is here!
Real devotion, the gritty path to forgiveness, and White Hot Truth LAUNCHING!…My May D Digest is here!
Reframe your wisdom.
Your breakthroughs have more to do with your own power than that of the expert or the authority. Wisdom is built, not bestowed.
It only gets more painful. But it’s good news.
It only gets more painful. But it’s good news. I thought that the ability to feel more deeply would give me access to solace, that special area reserved for The Feelers. But as it turns out, I just get more adept at crying and then carrying on.
Look for the Light everywhere
Look for Light with more intensity than ever. In all the density and confusion that’s swirling on the planet, this is what it means to have Faith—Faith that you’ll keep finding Light. But you have to keep looking.
Look for the Light everywhere
If you’re being your whole, real, true, GENUINE, “authentic” self…you are going to be a walking, talking, tweeting, PARADOX. This is a good thing. Because WISDOM is paradoxical.
Your devotion. Like, real devotion.
Devotion to Truth seeking goes something like this: You’re going to risk being disliked (actually, it’s not a risk, it’s inevitable).
ARE YOU READY TO FORGIVE? The complicated, gritty path to grace.
ARE YOU READY TO FORGIVE? The complicated, gritty path to grace. It’s complex. It’s confusing. It’s deeply particular. It’s the through-line of most mystical teachings: Forgiveness.
Signs that you love yourself, thoughts on sacred sex, and how to rock your paradoxes…My April D Digest is here!
Signs that you love yourself, thoughts on sacred sex, and how to rock your paradoxes…My April D Digest is here!
Going on an “input” fast… For self-help addicts.
Start with going on an “input fast.” Give yourself three months, maybe six months of, say, no “readings” of any kind (unless they’re poetry readings).
Why positive thinking might be leading us in the wrong direction.
Deep positivity.
If there could be a slogan for manifestation theory, this would be it:
Energy follows thought. Energy follows thought. Energy follows thought. And by the way…energy follows thought.
Manifestation happens from the mind.
For it to work effectively, you must achieve clarity of desire, root into the depths of positivity, fend off doubts with Faith, and repeat. Every minute of every day, give or take.
![[VIDEO] The difference between boundaries vs. creating barriers.](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Danielle-LaPorte-boundaries-barriers-400x250.gif)
[VIDEO] The difference between boundaries vs. creating barriers.
It’s not very peaceful. Being on guard all the time is anxiety-inducing. Protect your heart so that you can keep it wide open.
Antidepressants, meditation, the Goddess, and antibiotics. Making up your healing path.
Antidepressants, meditation, the Goddess, and antibiotics. Making up your healing path. There’s a time and place for everything. Knowing the right time and the right place is how you become your own healer.
Less plastic. More mindfulness. An Earth Day #Truthbomb
We’re choking our bodies and the planet with plastic, chemicals and gross over-consumption. She’s struggling under our neglect and greed.
![[VIDEO] Feeling helpless about the state of the world?](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Danielle-LaPorte-state-of-the-world-400x250.gif)
[VIDEO] Feeling helpless about the state of the world?
You have a golden heart, and you want to help the world. Where do you start when the world is so messed up and you are feeling messed up because of it?
How to be truly wise? Rock your paradoxes.
True wisdom usually holds and transcends opposing points of view. Wisdom knows that there is always an exception to the rule, that there is a time and place, and that a case-by-case approach is divine protocol.
![[VIDEO] 5 signs that you love yourself](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/danielle-laporte-love-yourself.png)
[VIDEO] 5 signs that you love yourself
Love yourself enough to know that every commitment you make—from the time you say you’ll show up, to lifetime vows—is sacred.
When “sacred” sex goes south. Freeing our bodies…messing with our minds.
Groupthink is difficult to detect in the self-help space because it’s often spun as progressive and undogmatic. It shimmers with a counter-culture glow.
![[VIDEO] A warning about shady lightworkers…](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/danielle-laporte-lightworkers.png)
[VIDEO] A warning about shady lightworkers…
A warning about shady lightworkers… Healers, magicians, followers…so much can go wrong. There are spiritual superhumans and TRULY luminous leaders. Some people DO work for the Light, others…others do their work in the shadows and make it look shiny.
THE LIE OF AFFILIATION. Or…why group-think can really suck.
THE LIE OF AFFILIATION. The Lie of Affiliation says, “Groupthink is good think.” We could also call this The Lie of Being Cool. Join me for lunch on Facebook Live tomorrow [12pm PST/ 3pm EST] and we’ll bite into the dynamics of group-think (it can really suck) and I’ll do Q&A!
How we misunderstand the “Divine Feminine”, a few things I think we’re too obsessed with, and WHITE. HOT. TRUTH…My March D Digest is here…
How we misunderstand the “Divine Feminine”, a few things I think we’re too obsessed with, and WHITE. HOT. TRUTH…My March D Digest is here…
I want you to love and trust yourself more intensely.
So White Hot Truth is about questioning our quest. Not so that we can get all debaucherous (tho’ that might be exactly what your spiritual evolution requires at the moment. In which case, go for it.) so we can craft a spirituality for ourselves that feels inspired and liberating — instead of a checklist for getting holistic and moral approval ratings.
Lies. Truth. Porn. Friendship. Sickness. Motherhood. And softness. One of the truest conversations I’ve had.
Like most humans, on the deepest level, I crave to be known. This conversation is a knowing — one of the truest recorded conversations that I’ve had. Being with my friend Jono Fisher, The Wakeup Project founder, is just…so…deeply comforting.
I think we’re obsessed with protein, and sunscreen, and sameness. A few things I believe…
I think we’re obsessed with protein, and sunscreen, and sameness. And we forget, more tragically than most can understand, that consuming LIGHT is how we grow — in union, and with distinction.
Misunderstanding the “Divine Feminine.” And Masculine. And the love between them.
The “divine” in Divine Feminine is about wholeness. It’s where The Great Father and The Great Mother are unified. And that divinity then expresses itself through a feminine energy vehicle, upholding and emphasizing the key qualities and interests of the feminine.
Energy parasites, My Very Personal List of Suffering, Naïve vulnerability vs. Awake vulnerability… My February D Digest is here…
Energy parasites, My Very Personal List of Suffering, Naïve vulnerability vs. Awake vulnerability…My February D Digest is here…
Is your Inner Motivational Speaker, like, nice to you? Because interior tone matters so very much.
Like all communication, it’s THE TONE that makes the difference. And the tone that you take with yourself is the most important.
Naïve vulnerability vs. Awake vulnerability
Naïve vulnerability vs. Awake vulnerability. Naïve vulnerability wants to be saved. Awake vulnerability is saving herself by respecting her Truth.
Energy parasites and addiction to chaos…and other things to weed out of your life.
Women and feminine-identified types specialize in beginnings, not endings. We prefer to nurture, not exclude. This of course is spectacular and divine and… challenging. Because destruction is essential to creation. Something has to die for your dream to be born. And by that I mean… you may need to cut off it’s life/lie supply and send it down the river to die.
I saw a Muslim man roll out his prayer carpet…
I saw a Muslim man roll out his prayer carpet in Union Square park
to prostrate to his god.
People, dogs, pigeons, were passing by his intimacy.
My Very Personal Hurt, Suffered, Cried, Tanked, Flopped, Crawled, Begged for Mercy List. May it bring you comfort.
My very personal hurt, suffered, cried, tanked, flopped, crawled, begged for mercy list. May it bring you comfort. Because here’s what I know for SURE: You are never the only one. And there’s always a way through. Always.
Your failures and your silence; How to deal with Faith & doubt; a free Fire Starter audio and more Love…My January D Digest is here…
D Digest: Your failures and your silence; How to deal with Faith & doubt; a free Fire Starter audio and more Love…My January D Digest is here…
Are you feeling the “collective pain”? Here’s how to manage that…
A lot of us are experiencing our own personal pain AND tapping into global, collective pain at the same time. We’re marching, or emphatically not marching. We’re crying in the kitchen, out of the blue. We’re heavy with emotion by noon.
My loves, it’s critical that you let the pain move through you. You have to keep letting it go. And like, there’s no need to worry about being too detached from what’s going on. Because there’s new pain arriving daily. If you’re awake you will hurt. I’m with you…in profound agony over the state of the world. And, my faith and resolve are brighter than my doubt and stronger than my grief. It’s an hourly practice to find that balance.
How to be yourself…when you can’t really be yourself.
“Just be yourself.” Most common self-help sermon ever. I’ve been preaching it for years. Except…being yourself doesn’t always work. Sometimes it’s dangerous. Sometimes it’s not worth the frustration or the futility.
There is nothing passive about “having Faith.” (And how to deal with doubt).
Faith is the “work” in “Light work”. It scrubs and rinses and steadily erases doubt. Faith stays on doubt’s ass: I see you. I dissolve you. I replace you with Faith. And then doubt will pop up again. And Faith is right there: Yep, I heard you. I choose faith. Yep, I know the odds, I choose Faith. And because Faith knows the natural order of things, she says to doubt: You’ll probably be back later this week. And you might even distract me. But I’ll still choose Faith. No anger, just clarity. No complaints, just pure, fiery resolve.
All of my failures can be traced to my silence.
Truthing isn’t necessarily easier to do, but it brings incredible ease to your life. And the more you do it, the easier it becomes. The courage, the classy delivery, the compassionate humour, it all becomes more accessible when you’re using your voice everyday.
Will you do as much as it takes, as long as it takes? 2017 is asking.
Listen. It’s time. This is it. 2017. New. Year. Now. I for one am going deeper and higher. I’m reaching inward for my strength, facing my Soul, and I’m going to pour my devotion to the Light all over every word I speak, and every human I encounter and adore and hold, and every cause I’m working for.
Holding out. The most underrated spiritual act there is.
New and different are not the same as resonant and deeper. You have to hold out for that kind of realness.
The “royal practice” of overcoming distraction.
Most of us approach distraction as a time management issue—how we wrangle our to-do list and hit our goals. But when you zoom out and look at it esoterically, it snaps your priorities into place. Keep Reading…
This is what healing looks like—from cancer to politics, and our bleeding, blazing hearts.
Healing is as ugly as “healed” is gorgeous. If we don’t judge the mess of it, we’re more likely to get to the other side of it sooner—and more deeply healed and stronger than we ever imagined possible. Scars and all. Healed.
Love the egg you’re in; transactional giving; The Soulful Habit Worksheet; and hey, What are you doing this New Year? My November D Digest is here…
Love the egg you’re in; transactional giving; The Soulful Habit Worksheet; and hey, What are you doing this New Year? My November D Digest is here…
Cataclysmic Evolutionary Catalysts. (AKA: The times we live in). A guest appearance from Guru Singh.
For the first time ever on my site, I’m bringing you a guest feature. Because these times call for collaboration. And radical wisdom. So here it is: Guru Singh is a luminous and direct Truth teller. It’s an immense honour to share his insights—and prayerful plea. Please listen in.
How you listen is how you live. (A poem for being of service.)
You may hear this as an order, an invitation, or as the opportunity of lifetimes.
How you listen is how you live.
Can you hear the women crying?
Can you hear the soil gasping for clean air?
And did you hear that? That’s the sound of a good man asking, How can I serve?
How do you serve?
D Digest: How to deliver your truth with love, and analyzing your wishful thinking. And my newest Sonic Collection! My October D Digest is here…
D Digest: What to do after you have a breakthrough, letting people help you, and new #Truthbomb decks! My September roundup is ready!
Love the egg you’re in. (This is not a sermon on patience. But…)
Savour the simplicity of your pre-dreams-come-true time. Love the egg you’re in. Because not too long from now–and right on time, you’ll be spreading your wings and life will never be the same again.
Rock your emptiness
But what if we rocked our emptiness? Felt the perimeter of ourselves. Relished the silence. Made friends with the peace that’s always waiting for us. What if we got off on the discomfort of our emptiness and let it be creative tension?
What’s underneath wishful thinking?
Wishful thinking is tangled up with craving. We want what we want. So we ignore the evidence that we’re very likely not going to get what we want out of a situation. Craving… wishing. Craving… denial. Craving… tolerating. It’s a wishous cycle.
Don’t worry about being invited back. My Manifesto for Creativity.
Meaningfulness. Reveal myself. Be compassionate. Don’t worry about being invited back. Go there. xo. I jotted this down when I began writing my book. I wanted a manifesto and it had to happen quickly because…I had a book to write.
Go outside. Grow inside. A revolution of the heart… plus paddle boarding.
This past Spring, Courtney hosted a workshop at the Northern Edge Algonquin Retreat where she combined her passions for personal development and paddle-boarding into one incredible Desire Map Retreat.
Life is what happens on the way to the finish line.
If you’re not loving what it feels like between your various life destinations, then get off the ride. Burn the itinerary. Fuck “motivation” and be still long enough to find your inspiration.
D Digest: What to do after you have a breakthrough, letting people help you, and new #Truthbomb decks! My September roundup is ready!
D Digest: What to do after you have a breakthrough, letting people help you, and new #Truthbomb decks! My September roundup is ready!
Why jerks show up in your life.
We attract jerks to burn karma — old agreements to be broken in current time, vows to be rescinded, slates to be wiped clean. We attract jerks for contrast — jerks show us what deception and manipulation feels like. They show us how we DON’T want to feel — which is excellent intel for knowing how we DO want to feel.
The epidemic of the brittle woman and the salvation of softness
You know her. Maybe you are her. Or you were. Sisters, please don’t become her. Sisters (and brothers), let’s heal her. She’s giving up on love and life. Sometime, as a result of having to try too hard to get her very essential Soul needs met she… just… got… worn…down. She had no choice but to stiffen. Then she realized that she had a choice.
D Digest: Brunch with Oprah, top creativity tips and the 2017 Desire Map Planner collection! My August roundup.
ON SALE NOW. The 2017 Desire Map Planner Collection. Get your soul on the agenda. The Desire Map Planner is a holistic way to plan your day and...
5 pointers for developing freedom-based creativity & work habits. Which is to say, you’ve got to dissolve guilt and rock your own rhythm.
A note on CREATIVE FLOW…. I’m “working” today. Wasn’t planning on it. It’s a sunny, gorgeous Vancouver Sunday. But since my kid is running around the block with his neighbour buddies, I’m using this time to write, respond, vision.
Are you hanging by a thread?
It’s going to be okay. More than okay.
in praise of women: magnificent, spacious, fiery witnesses
I often hear “women are our own worst enemies” in terms of our culture. I’m tired of that argument. I think everyone is their own worst enemy, and I don’t think it’s about something women have specifically against each other.
![[VIDEO] Deep creativity and the jitters. Feel the doubt…and be of service anyway.](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Danielle-LaPorte-deep-creativity.png)
[VIDEO] Deep creativity and the jitters. Feel the doubt…and be of service anyway.
There’s a difference between the definition of happiness and the definition of joy. It’s valuable to be aware of this because when things get tough, logic might want you to default to despair, or utter sadness or worse, you might think you have to choose between hardship and joy, or support and separation, or light and dark…
My SuperSoul100 brunch with Oprah (yep!) and support notes for all of you Lightworkers and generally progressive humans…
There’s a difference between the definition of happiness and the definition of joy. It’s valuable to be aware of this because when things get tough, logic might want you to default to despair, or utter sadness or worse, you might think you have to choose between hardship and joy, or support and separation, or light and dark…
The difference between happiness & joy. And why it helps to know.
Inspiration is a completely different force of creativity.
When you’re done fighting for it. The upside of finally giving up.
Do you know the story of the man who was hitting himself over the head with a hammer? “Why do you keep hitting yourself with that hammer?” a shocked passerby asked him. “Because,” the man replied, “it’s going to feel so good when I stop.”
You will be called on to expand. And this is why we practice.
When we’re healthy and happy we make sure to dance, we pick up the phone to check in, we drop by with something in hand.
D Digest: Refuse to worry. Try loving your sadness. Here’s my June roundup.
What to do when things suck. (hint: don't gloss over it.) Don’t deny what’s occurring. The power to change what's happening comes from accepting it...
You’re going to feel guilty
The guilty feeling associated with desire, with going after what you want, with transforming….you know that feeling? It’s like tar on your mojo. Maybe you were raised in an environment where desire was considered a negative thing. Or your social circle constantly reinforces the message that you shouldn’t dare to bust out. And maybe you frequently feel guilty for wanting what you want — and you know that it’s causing blocks in your life…
Love your sadness. It won’t last.
I was feeling it. Pure sadness—the inescapability of it plowing through the softest part of me. When you’re in that kind of painful place you’ll try to climb the walls to get away from it. You want it over with.
refuse to worry (and how to be more useful for your friends)
Every fearful expectation has a big “story” behind it. The trauma, the drama, the pain, the plot. Worry feeds on the gruesome details. It replays the potential saga in your head. It validates all the reasons things could go wrong by drudging up the past again and again. Worry is cleverly building a case as to why you should worry…
What to do when things suck. (hint: don’t gloss over it.)
When you’re feeling out of your soul zone and something crap is happening…accept that it’s happening. I know. Believe me, I know. This may sound super flaky and totally impossible. And yet…this counsel is at the heart of most Eastern mysticism. Don’t deny what’s occurring. The power to change what’s happening comes from accepting it first.
![D Digest: Sisterhood, thoughts on infidelity [VIDEO] and admitting when it sucks. My May roundup!](https://daniellelaporte.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/danielle-laporte-d-digest-sisterhood.png)
D Digest: Sisterhood, thoughts on infidelity [VIDEO] and admitting when it sucks. My May roundup!
Infidelity, sisterhood, and self-respect either way. #Lemonade and Love. I’ve got a lot of thoughts about infidelity in particular — which is at the...
what’s the ‘big real’ of what you’re doing?
There is a Big Real behind everything we do. Sometimes it’s a negative Big Real. Sometimes it’s a positive Big Real.
the euphoria of admitting when it sucks
I hear this time and again, “If I just hang in longer… Maybe she’ll come up to speed. It might sell in the summer. If I dig deeper, I’ll learn to love Excel.” Fess up – it ain’t workin’. You’re smart to see it. You’re brilliant if you move on…
Infidelity, sisterhood, and self-respect either way. #Lemonade and Love.
My feelings about infidelity, monogamy and commitment — and how they’ve evolved over time. How I define Divine Fidelity a la David Deida’s 3 stages of relationships. And my deep respect for Beyonce’s art and every woman’s choice of devotion.
The Fire Starter Sessions Audio Course is LIVE in my shop!
…to the dark, the spacious, the sweet, the jaded, the women who live as certain as light rays,who renovate broken boardrooms and policies with justified anger and overwhelming Love —
Love of inclusion, of ecology, of bone solid Truth — Love of Love.
Comparison is a killer. Cut it out.
From the shape of our cells to the swirl of our fingerprints, each human is profoundly, almost incomprehensibly unique. In all the eons of time, amongst trillions of human eggs that have been fertilized and hatched…there is only one you: microscopically remarkable, positively unrepeatable, original, and…beyond compare.
D Digest: Feminism is consciousness, and 9 of the best things I ever did. My April roundup!
Use your wings #Truthbomb elaborations You’re cosmic. You are winged with light. And that means you have the power to get where you want to go, to...
You are worthy of your desires
To say no.
To say yes.
To have your deepest needs met.
To be seen.
To be loved for what is seen.
Less plastic. More mindfulness. An Earth Day #Truthbomb
Get educated and then make some good decisions at the grocery store and in your home…your life…the planet’s life…our lives.
Pressed against a star (a poem for longing to be home.)
You are worth waiting for,
tall beam of Light.
And I will open the door for you like our lives depend on it.
Feminism is consciousness. Lessons for my imaginary daughter & women — including Kim Kardashian.
All communication begins with intention. A loving word, or flipping someone the bird. A treatise on feminism, or an ageist tweet out to your peers.
Use your wings
You’re cosmic. You are winged with light. And that means you have the power to get where you want to go, to see what’s really going on in a situation, to make excellent decisions.
Walking away, music history, and not trying to heal other people. 9 of the Best Things I Ever Did (Volume 2)
I walked away. I held out. I weathered the craving to compromise. And wow, guys, having heart-centered high standards pays off. Big time. Life meets you where you honour yourself.
D Digest: Recovering from self-help exhaustion, crazy expectations of others, and how being gentle creates very big breakthroughs. The March roundup!
How gentleness creates the big breakthrough The most powerful pain remedy, elixir, solution, galvanizer, waker-upper, injection of strength...
Recovering from self-help exhaustion? Join the club.
My friend Jess Ortner and I had a great conversation about the downer of always trying to be up. Perfect for her podcast called Adventures in Happiness. This is one of my favourite, truly useful conversations for being on the so-called “Path”.
Self help + helpful cynicism. A very real conversation about modern spirituality between girlfriends.
Emelia and I go about things from different ends and get close to the same bright center — real, no bullshit compassion. Put on the kettle and listen in.
Just don’t expect crazy people to be sane (cause that’s crazy).
There’s so much sanity to just flowing with someone’s predictability— their norm, their nature. Accept it. Forgive it. Just tolerate it; or peace out if you don’t want it in your life. But don’t waste too much time trying to change it.
6 opinions on having a creative opinion. (But only my opinions. Because…opinionated.)
May your heart be sweet. May your mind be clear. May your opinions be strong.
D Digest: Feelings as fuel, fighting for joy + breaking through pain. February roundup is in!
How to not give a shit (even though you really do) and be kind about it all. Not easy. But really, totally necessary. What I know for sure is that...
How gentleness creates the big breakthrough
The most powerful practice of all has nothing to do with motivation or endurance. The most powerful pain remedy, elixir, solution, galvanizer, waker-upper, injection of strength is…gentleness.
Fighting for your joy.
Now that I’m at the most joyful I’ve ever been, (there’s a difference between happiness and joy,) I’m asking: Will I have to fight for my joy again?
Criticising your creative process? No baby, no.
This is how I see my creative process now: Focused. Swift. Centered. Turned on. What changed? Nothing. Just my perspective. So, everything.
Do you think being called “Too emotional” is an act of oppression? Maybe you should think about it.
Stop thinking and start feeling — a lot more. And start talking about how you feel — a lot more. And you know what will happen? You will start to be more aware of how you feel, more of the time — the tenderness, the rage, the genius, the sorrow, the Love. You will feel your power, and you will direct it into the world.
How to not give a shit (even though you really do) and be kind about it all.
Love from the inside outward. Some people will take offense to your healthy priorities. Others will take your loving example and love themselves even more.
D Digest: How to soul cleanse. Audios for Creatives. All the things that softly kill me. AND…my new site is ALIVE!
Create success on your own terms: A free audio course from Danielle to light up your 2016 Use your dreams as fuel to move you forward. For...
Perpetually cleansing? That’s about right. The 80/20 rule of living your life and cleaning it up.
Deep living is dirty, sweaty, gorgeous work. We will accumulate things. But your Soul wants to be mobile, unencumbered — in touch with all the parts of your life.
All the things that softly kill me.
The hate. All the hate. It makes me fume and spin. The light. Oh the light! The light that is powerful enough to transmute hate into Love. “T’was blind, but now I see.” That kind of light.
A slight twist on reviewing your year (or life) that could be very, very…illuminating
We’re cozied in the corner booth of the pub with tacos and no one else around. It’s been a doozer of a business week and I have some Very Big Decisions to make. Wait. In case you’re not the story-type, I’ll give you the quick take-away: A short how-to on doing a yearly retrospective.
Self Love and why we’re all effed up about it.
Celebrate yourself no matter what — even if they think you’re tacky, terrible, too much of this, too little of that. Make how you move through the world an homage to your beautiful, luminous, powerful, magnificent, righteous, sacred…self.
That same self who may fuck up tomorrow, but will still be made of LOVE. THAT Self. Love.
Thoroughness (a poem for devotion)
I have expressed from my longing and obstacles
the balm of thoroughness,
rare as rose oil,
nothing cures like devotion.
I stroke it on wounds and desires
Easing someone’s suffering…without suffering. Is it possible?
Do I have to feel your pain in order to help ease your pain?
And, if I guard myself against your suffering, am I less useful? If I want to detach from your pain, am I less loving? If I think, “I’m glad I’m not going through that”, am I cold hearted? If I’m grateful for my strength or good fortune in comparison to your so-called weakness or misfortune, does that make me…just secretly horrible?
You girlfriend, YOU. The things women friends do.
I can be my most very very softest self with you. There isn’t a word in the English language that can convey my gratitude for that.
You have never once made me feel wrong, or wicked, or insane, or not hot — even when I felt all of those things. You always make me feel righteous, and loving, and strong, and totally hot.
How to be generous.
Let go of things you think you cherish. A waitress at dinner complimented my friend on her earrings. My very cool friend left the earrings with the tab. I bet that small act rocked the waitress’ world. How much do you really need your stuff? Sometimes we hold onto things for the “principle”. Like say, your bestie loves all things owls but you’re holding on to that owl-embroidered smock that you never wear because your aunt made it. Give it.
Online etiquette, the Golden Rule, and calling bullshit when you need to.
The internet is a democratic space. (For most of us. Not all of us. Hello, China.) So rock your Instagram however you want. Here in, I’m stating how I personally prefer to operate on the interwebs.
Manners matter. More than clicks and endorsements and being all fucking boss about your positioning.
Why we relive the painful times over again. (For a good reason.)
You can see ten more reasons it was a blessing. Or the REAL reason you were hurt. Or, best yet, you can now see how truly powerful, loving, loveable, immaculate, and awake you really are.
Feeling old wounds is the soul’s way of looking for what else can be healed. You’re not a loser for feeling it again, you’re…soulfully thorough.
D Digest: Your joy, your pain, and how to know when your work is done. October Roundup.
Is your Inner Motivational Speaker, like, nice to you? Interior tone matters the most.Like all communication, it’s THE TONE that makes the...
Integrity first, then hustle + 10 fresh lessons on money
On Team D we ask two questions: #1: Are we in integrity, doing something good and useful? Yes? Great! Then we proceed to question #2: How do we move boatloads of our goodness?
Serving up a fresh batch of money nuggets, from random theories to daily habits.
Do it for the love
Money, approval, association — those are each healthy components to pulling off good stuff, but only if they’re rooted in the true love of what you’re doing. First, integrity, then hustle.
No matter what you do in life, whether it’s truly noble or expedient BS, you’re going to sweat for it, you’re going to lose a few battles, get criticised, hit the wall.
There aren’t many shortcuts to greatness, so really, just #doitforthelove.
Purification. Pain. Passion. And marrying your soul. Or…How to tap your deep creativity.
If you want to tap into your deep creativity — the profound, unbridled, genius, life-infusing, widely useful and healing kind of creativity, then purification is essential.
Now, to get through such purification, you’ll need passion. You already know what that is. Fire, heart, big vision.
How do you know when your creation is finished? Like, you’re done working on it and it’s time to let it go.
Hey! AIM for perfection, but it’s out of reach. And hey! That’s okay, because you’ll probably land on something beautiful…maybe your work is really finished. It’s time.
Let your joy rise to the surface
LET IT UP AND LET IT OUT. It’s real. Look, if someone can’t handle your enthusiasm, or thinks you’re clingy…well, they just probably won’t — most people drink it up. And if they get all weirded out or guarded, don’t worry about it. Just because someone can’t handle extra love doesn’t mean that your love doesn’t get into them.
D Digest: Freedom, flaming hearts & the Divine Feminine. A month o’ letting the love out. September Roundup!
Spiritual practice won’t make you super human. But it will help you fall in love with your humanity.
Some fame, too much coolness, and the kindness that makes everything okay.
If you’ve been around any PFP’s for any length of time you’ll notice (and yes this is an overgeneralization but, not really), that almost everybody wants something from them.
Freedom worships inquiry
If you want to live according to the pulse of your soul, to the depth of your desires — to be FULLY ALIVE THIS LIFETIME…then you must devote yourself to be a QUESTIONER.
Why these rules? Why am I feeling this way? WHAT am I feeling? Why did they do it that way? Why can’t I? Why are we doing it this way? Where are we going? Where else has this been? Where does it go when I’m done with it? Why not?
There was a time when You lived to protect Me. (A poem attending to the oppression of women and the universal longing for communion. For starters.)
There was a time when You lived to protect Me.
Self care is a divine responsibility
…and by that I mean…If you believe that you are a child of the universe, or a product of Love, and/or a global citizen, then it’s common sense that you care well for yourself. In fact, you’re honour bound to love yourself.
Staying fluid, jealousy, and are women too hard on themselves? A Q&A on Womanhood
Well, WE ARE SOCIETY, so it’s not an “us against them” scenario. Women are setting and managing their own expectations to a huge degree. So let’s start by looking at how we treat ourselves — how women treat themselves as private individuals, and how women treat women. Let’s start with us.
The German magazine Allegria, asked me some good questions about WOMANHOOD. We could have talked for days…
No makes way for Yes
Imagine being excited by EVERYTHING that you’re up to. Imagine looking at your day planner and thinking, “My life is so obviously great. OBVIOUSLY.” Imagine feeling incredibly free and empowered.
You want that, right?
Then here’s the password to all that spaciousness and power. One word: No.
D Digest: Manifestation tips, best things I’ve done for my bod’ and life, and my very cool new Day Planner COLLECTION. August Roundup!
A Course In Miracles defines a miracle as “a shift in perception.” I love that, because that definition covers a lot of bases. You can choose to believe in spontaneous healing and create a physiological miracle.
Authenticity is magnetic
…and by that I mean…being “real” is attractive, compelling, shiny — respectable. That said, being you doesn’t mean EVERYONE will dig you — we all have different flavours and tastes. But it does mean that your tribe will be able to see you. And the people who are ready to have what you offer will hear you. And the universe will get a very clear signal about what makes you more…YOU. And it will deliver more YOU-affirming things into your life.
Spill your desire to love and be loved everywhere
I’ve had thousands of conversations with people about desire and this is what I’ve learned from them (and from my own fiercely tender fierce heart): Desire is simple.
You can crave it, distill it, and peel back every kind of wish and most get to this: Everyone desires to love and be loved.
Leave room for mystery
…and by that I mean…there isn’t an explanation for every situation or a solution for every problem. But some of us seekers love to dig dig dig until we find the reason— the past life, the astrological alignment, karma, the energetic pattern.
All those forces weave their way into any manifestation — wins and heartbreaks, illnesses, and miracles.
You’re free to go.
…and by that I mean…stay if you love it. Leave if you don’t.
Honour your life by honouring your time. Start with the easy stuff. YOUR LIFE and YOUR HAPPINESS. Bum them out temporarily or be FULFILLED and FREE? Hmmmm.
Your body knows before your mind does
The body just feels. It doesn’t have a filter of judgements or worry. Something happens and then wham-boom-woosh, INSTANT feeling. INSTANT. Hits your gut, makes you blush, hairs stand on end, heart races, flush.
This could be good. This could be bad. Fact is: You are free to choose.
Believe what you want — because what you believe will influence your future.
Lovevolve Lovevolve Lovevolve
Find out precisely how your people want to be loved and then…just love them that way. (Take the Love Languages test if you want to dig in to this psychology.) Bend to give the person in your gaze exactly what they need, the way they need it — and guaranteed, you’ll be a better person for that kind of giving.
28 of the best things I ever did — from my bedroom to my business
1. Started treating my office like it was a real room that was worthy of my best treasures, not the “spare room made into an office”.
2. Drinking hot lemon water in the morning. Great for digestion, skin, alkalinizing.
3. Admitted that I don’t like managing people, and therefore I am not excellent at managing people. Good news is, I’m an excellent leader.
D Digest: Prosperity, Pain & Conscious Optimism. Another month o’ blinding radiance on my site. The July Roundup is here.
A Course In Miracles defines a miracle as “a shift in perception.” I love that, because that definition covers a lot of bases. You can choose to believe in spontaneous healing and create a physiological miracle.
You’re on the verge of a miracle.
A Course In Miracles defines a miracle as “a shift in perception.” I love that, because that definition covers a lot of bases. You can choose to believe in spontaneous healing and create a physiological miracle.
Procrastination can be a form of intuition.
…and by that I mean: Even type-A personalities and wildly productive grown-ups put things off. But what we might critique as procrastination can be a misdiagnosis for instinct. One of the effects of living in a hyper-productive society is that intuitive resistance can get labeled as procrastination. But…
Get your halo dirty.
My favourite monks are the ones who sneak a smoke behind the commissary. “Don’t take it too seriously, Danielle.” I’m a vegetarian who LOVES bacon. Sometimes, some trash talk goes grrrreat with yoga. Lighten up. Live.
Adjusting to your prosperity. (And how I stopped my habit of “getting by”.)
I’m at my first meeting with my Financial Planner: “So, I looked at your numbers,” she eased in. I felt like I was waiting for a diagnosis. “I think you’re working for your business instead of your business working for you.” Hunh?!
Be Your Own Guru.
Final say? YOU. All you. No matter what. Your body knows. Your heart knows. Your mind will help you act on what you know.
Will there be times when you should have heeded external advice? Yep. Plenty of them. But your Soul had a plan. And nobody else knows your Soul’s plan. But you, oh guru.
Conscious optimism vs. lazy, pseudo-spiritual optimism. Please make a choice.
I posted a #truthbomb a while back: “If you’re not a feminist, you’re missing the point.” That got a lot of Yesses! and Yeahs! And then this kind of stuff: “Wouldn’t it be better if we were all humanists?” … “How about all being spiritualists?” … “We’re all in this together.”
D Digest: Pain, Betrayal, Healers and Business. Just another month o’ intensity on my site. The June Roundup is here.
Shamans, intuitives, channellers, mediums, clairvoyants, seers, priestesses, ministers, healers, crystal workers, alchemists, and energy workers. I know them. I started reading books of channelled material when I was thirteen. Went to my first psychic at fifteen. Currently, I have an energy worker on my business payroll. Really.
Don’t take any shit. (And a few handy phrases.)
…and by that I mean: Your week is filled with a few opportunities to put up and shut up. And where does that get you? Repressed, suppressed, officially oppressed. Not taking any shit doesn’t mean you’ve got to fight or get scrappy — though sometimes, that’s exactly what you need to do — loudly.
12 Things I know about real deal healers
And by “necessary hard work” I do not mean: slogging on something you don’t really want to be doing in the first place. This is not about sucking it up or faking it.
By “necessary hard work” I mean: FIRST you commit to something that lights you up, pulls you forward, truly inspires you — the career, a relationship, a project (and YOU can be that improvement project, by the way.)
You’ll do it when you’re ready.
There’s a lot of pressure to be ready now, yesterday, ASAP. Grow achieve push plow crank rank. But you’re ready when you’re ready. Think of all the times you pushed your friends to dump the fool they were with…for years…
The risky business of being sincere in business
I just moved the closing date of a major business deal for astrological reasons. Our lawyers had already dealt with a lot of back n’ forthing and a last minute twist/untwist. The finish line was in sight, but I was about to yank it. People might be understandably flummoxed. I could have made an excuse for the switch that sounded more, you know, biz legit….
#TellThemNow. The intimacy of gratitude will blow your life wide open. (+ a Father’s Day video that will have you weeping)
One of my least favourite behaviours of mine is withholding love. I’m hugely proud to say that it rarely happens. (If you’re going to boast about anything, let it be your capacity for loving.) But it still happens. It’s a reservedness that creeps over my usually boundless heart. I tell myself that staying quiet will give me shelter (from what?*), but it isn’t shelter at all.
Current Pain or Departing Pain? How to assess your agony.
There is the pain you feel because it’s deep in your being, in real time, working on you. And there is the pain you feel when it’s ready to be released. Just when you thought you’d purged it all, your body lurches with one more hurl to make sure the toxins are good an’ gone. That last lurch can catch you off guard. Where did that come from?
What an Appy Birthday for me last month: Seeing the light choice as the right choice, unlocking the password for Beloved and an Appy #Truthbomb Breakthrough! May Roundup.
Appy Birthday to me! The #Truthbomb App launches today. Candles! Champagne! Truth! I know. #Truthbombs would make a great app. Easy breezy on your...
Your Inner Child. (I know, I know. GROAN. But hear me out…)
I’m hanging with my shrink and he brings up some inner child stuff. My general response: “Really? Come on. You’re gonna pull the Inner Child card on me? That is SO 1994.” And then we laugh, hard, like we do, and he gives his best exaggerated Jew-Bu shrug, “Well, that’s when the wound happens, so it’s like, hard to get around.”
The password for Beloved
There is that place you cannot reach within your singular self on your very own body inside your human person. No matter how you bend or try to scratch it, there is That Place you cannot reach alone.
The light choice is the right choice. Don’t say yes until it feels … light.
Does it feel light, or does it feel heavy? An idea surfaces. An opportunity. A fork in the road. A big decision. Little decisions that make up your...
My most-read posts EVER happened last month: The apple experiment, calling back your power and morning rituals. April Roundup.
Soul Truth Declarations -- yours for the declaring. Take what you want. Leave the rest. Stretch to believe if it feels good to do so. My true nature...
Soul Truth Declarations — yours for the declaring.
Take what you want. Leave the rest. Stretch to believe if it feels good to do so. My true nature is luminous. I have everything that I need...
How to start your day. Mantras, oracles, coconut oil, and desire. (+ 20 product and resources recommendations.)
Good habits feel good. So if it doesn’t feel good, I don’t do it, ‘cause the whole point is to feel good. Right? Right. Here's a list of morning...
The dark side of big goals.
I should probably tell you now that I’m the kind of person who has very big goals. And if we had tea to jam on your life, and if you had even an iota of ambition, I would probably take that iota and get alchemical with it and blow it sky high. So, I’m the last person to be down on big goals. But I am usually the first person to ask, “So…Why do you want what you want?” Because…
I call all of my power back to me now. I am whole and complete. (Say it with me now.)
I was moving out of a house recently and told a friend I was going to smudge the place. (You know, “smudge” — you burn some sage and clean the energy out. Stay with me, this is going to get more logical for some of you. Actually…it will probably get weirder.)
8 sure ways to block positivity
#2: Ambivalence and indifference. When you’re in touch with your truth, you can make a clear choice. (Personally, I’m always leery of collaborating with someone who doesn’t know what they want. Hell, I’m leery of having lunch with someone who doesn’t know what they want.)
May my suffering be of service.
When the suffering is almost intolerable.When you’ve had all you think you can take. When you can’t comprehend what the “gift” in the pain might be. When it’s not making any sense. When you’re asking, God, Life, WHY?
Words can make you sick. Or healed. Heavy or light. Here’s an experiment that might prove it.
Each half of the same apple sat in its own sealed jar on our windowsill. Throughout the day, we’d walk by and say to The Apple of Positivity, “You are so awesome! You’re a winner! You are perfect, gorgeous, useful. We love you apple! Apple! You rock!” As for The Apple of Negativity…
How to burn your patterns… and accidentally belong with Zen Buddhists.
I felt that centering rush when I walked on fire for the first time. And when I cliff dove and swam with dolphins in Kona. The first time I got on stage and instead of launching into my talk, I just stood there and looked everyone in the eye.
How do you set your standards and ethics? With one simple question.
The style of delivery was wildly different for each person. Some of us were very matter of fact and detailed. Some of us were more big picture about it. When we each shared our statements, it gave everyone else on the team an opportunity to fill in some gaps of perception, like…
The inevitable panic that sets in when you let go of expectations. (And why it’s good.)
Absolutely everything is a divine message because life is always calling you. I’m leaning against the fridge in a soul sister’s Brooklyn kitchen. “So Megg, Crocodiles are showing up EVERYWHERE for me lately. Like, everywhere. I’ve got to figure out what the Crocodile totem means. Do you know?” And Meggan gives me her classic eye twinkle and says, “Turn around.” Taped to the fridge door is her boy’s drawing of the day… “Shai’s Crocodile Shadow.” Alright cosmos, you have my attention…
A What’s Hot / What’s Not list for your business or career
If you want to get awesome results, you’ve got to get real about what’s currently not-so-awesome. In the Desire Map process you begin by going through a gratitude exercise, followed by a dissatisfaction review. It’s the whole picture, with a ton of love and no-sugar coating.
In our business, we just started doing a What’s Hot/What’s Not check-in. Our Chief of Staff & People Potential, Steph Corker, officially kicked this off on our last big check-in.
Resentment. And how to (un)block your prosperity.
We hold on. Because Love does that. Embracing, rocking, reserving space. Love holds, it treasures, it tucks away for safe keeping, it loyally protects. Holding on is one of the many great powers of Love. To people. To relationships with people. To ideas we had about the people we relate to. We hold on to our bad habits of relating. I’ll be weak so you can feel strong. I’ll be strong so you won’t see me weak. I’ll do it so you don’t have to. I’ll confuse things because if clarity happens, things will have to change.
How to create a Declaration of Clarity for your business or career — and the heartbeat of my own lil’ empire.
At our most recent #TeamDanielle retreat we got clear on our core values. I was a smidge resistant. I’m usually focused on what I wanna make-create-and-by what date…
The Bright Privilege
Sometimes, my heart is so openI can’t tell if it is a gaping wound or a portal for everything that ever was and ever will be…
Please don’t punish yourself.
It’s hard enough to make your way in a world where you will be judged, daily. To overcome the intentional punishments inflicted by dark mongers; to find the right concoction for emotional wounds; and to rise from the simply deep heartache of not getting what you want — it’s anything but easy.
Want more and be kind… and 10 other points on success.
1. Want more*. (Inner peace, greater clarity, outer beauty, awesome stuff — want anything you want.)2. Have an idea, or two or three, about how to get more. Act on that idea over and over again. 3. Hang out with people you can easily adore, or at least respect.
Swallowing your words, paying rent in hell, and maintaining appearances. Why we make (unhealthy) compromises.
There are two kinds of compromise: the kind that heals you by expanding you — it’s the healthy kind that stems from real love and grace. And because it usually brings some delight with it, then doesn’t feel much like a compromise after all. And then there’s the kind of compromise that bruises your soul…
Destroy before you create. So scary. Sooo effective.
Half truths piled on top of half truths do not add up to the whole truth. It’s a just a heap of “not-quite-there-ness.” Grey. Cluttery. If you want satisfaction you have to do the good, hard work of burning down the little lies and resistances. Tear it DOWN.
Here’s scientific proof that we need each other to shine.
CREATIVITY. CADENCE. CORE DESIRED FEELINGS. What it takes to make good stuff in the world. Notice when your dream has come true. If you’re addicted to accomplishing things, you might miss the fact that you’ve actually accomplished something pretty awesome.
You probably have notebooks of ideas. You may have ideas you haven’t told anyone about. There are ideas that the cosmos is waiting to tell YOU about it. Stop. Shhh. Did you hear that? It’s your next big idea. Stay still long enough and you’ll hear how to make it happen.
I implore you: Do not dumb down.
You have a gift. It’s your truth. Honour it and it will honour you — with every kind of fulfillment.
I’ve been asked to dumb down. More than once. By bosses. By advisors. By magazine editors. And I have one line for that…
Just Love. (My most epic declaration of desires and demands, inspired by Eve Ensler.)
You know what I want? I want JUST LOVE. Something so pure it transmutes my terror of not getting what I want into what I want the most: JUST LOVE…
Unconscious acceptance. Which is to say, What shit are you putting up with?
We do it for “love,” we do it for spirituality, we do it to polish our halos. We do it because some relationship books tell us to. We do it to look good…
focus (a poem for sacred prioritizing)
We dance ’round fires
to pray for others to change,
and we change our names
so that a reality we don’t truly want
will let us in the door…
Write this sentence down where you can see it: I am devoted to dreaming about my ideal life.
Dreaming is a solution, a soul elixir for so many emotional ailments. The mere act of dreaming is a life-affirming endeavour. Dream. Envision. Fantasize. Imagine…
A testimony to the future
I bless the path that showed itself to me
astute, blind, courageous, clever, faithfully
I forged and floated
to now.
Coming out of the closet about following your intuition
We work so courageously to hear and heed our intuition, and yet sometimes we lie about following it. We make up “reasons” for our choice that sound more logical and acceptable.
A hunch can be hard to justify to others when the hunch is telling you to choose something other than them.
You have no jurisdiction here (a poem for boundary-making)
The outline of my being
shines brighter than
agreements I made before now…
Here’s what to do when you’re feeling small. Reframe your power.
What I love the most is truth, and if I’m going to be of service — and I’m devoted to being of service, then I have to tell you: I feel so small today. I see the pain. I see the joy. I see the beauty. I feel the global scope of what’s happening, and… I feel really, really… small…
The Chorus (A poem for those of us always trying to get ahead.)
Chorus:
The long time of loud striving
the symbols of success
keeping time in my head
always a quarter b-b-beat behind…
A big, luscious life comes from small, daily actions
A desire is the interface between you and the future. No desire is meaningless or inconsequential. If it pulls you, even a little bit, it will take everyone higher…
Kundalini rising (A poem for your fire)
I am looking
for a place
to put this fire…
Being each a star
If I ever tell you
that I long for my
Star Home
don’t back away…
Random notes on my writing process
I have 167 draft articles in Evernote. Evernote has changed how we run the entire business. If I write about someone directly, I have their...
Do you feel guilty for your dreams? Don’t.
You are capable of holding two states of consciousness at once: presence and longing, gratitude and desire, contentment and hunger. This is what it means to become whole.
Do you believe that life wants you to have what you truly want? Your relationship to prayer, to God, to desire.
I used to pray to sweat blood as a little girl. Dramatic, I know. I was a Catholic schoolgirl, an only child. We rented a small house in a small town, and my parents were young and hip and generally let me do anything I wanted to. The liberal headspace at home, acres of wheat fields to explore alone, and daily Jesus, Mary, ‘n’ Joseph at school made for the perfect environment for me to become the quietly intense mini holy roller that I was. At one point, I used the nooks of my bookcase to create a home for Barbie, and for the Virgin Mary. A leopard-print chaise and a rosary. Heavenly, really.
The Shiva Playlist. In Praise of Good, Strong Men.
A strong sense of purpose, holding space for unfolding, takes no shit, lion-hearted Masculinity in sweet devotion to the Divine Feminine…
Females trash-talking males (and why it’s holding us all back)
“Successful” Female is at the podium. She’s giving a talk on how to be “successful” as a woman in business.
I’ve been to a goodly amount of women’s conferences. So much life and power at those events — and sometimes, unfortunately, a big dose of density. It goes like this…
8 questions to ask yourself before committing to a goal (or a person, or anything for that matter).
Think about something you really want. A desired thing, experience, person or place. A goal. Hold that longing in your mind and run through these questions…
Dream death and the real reason you’re in pain
Dreams that don’t come true need to be grieved. The dream itself needs to be honoured and buried and mourned. It’s not just about dealing with the pain of not getting what you wanted, it’s about going deeper to look closely at what the dream was actually for. This is a subtle concept we often miss in the healing process when something ends. You see, we’re not always sad for the reasons we think we are…
Dive into your psyche. 3 personality tests for introspection.
A good personality test can help reveal the innermost workings of your psyche. Anyone who applies for a job with Team D takes these three tests. And, they’re kind of… fun…
choosing feral
That tired beautiful animal in me needed to die,but not like a sacrificial offering…
New, little big deals. Is this the week you do what you’ve been scared of?
My friend Robindra promised he’d show me some DJ ropes (because I wanna spin and mix and stuff when I grow up). He got a gig in North Van and said I could tag along for the night. So I Facebook’d about it, mentioned the locale, said it was a great way to kick off my birthday week, and I put on my black high tops to head out…
Skin, joy, boobs, and the right hair colour: My random & rarely dispensed beauty notes
From the incidental to the possibly profound, here are my tips for chicks who want to look even hotter (’cause you’re already hot, sister)…
Comfort zones, truth telling — and by the way, I’m no guru
Here’s what happens when I do a speaking gig. Every time. I try to dispense some luminous #truthbomb and how-to advice — because that’s what I’m there to do…
My travel tips: Rose water, keyboards, peppermint, and mantras
I’m on a few airplanes every year. “Few” is a relative term. Maybe a lot of airplanes. And, having five planets in Virgo (tho’ my Sun is in Gemini, FYI), I like things just “so.” I love my systems, my best finds, my compartments, and my comforting things. (This is way less neurotic than it sounds.) Here’s how I keep it all together and cozy on the road…
A righteous conclusion about easing up on righteousness…
Shakti — the force that animates, tenderly fierce, the wild mother girl crone wonder woman. It’s one of my Core Desired Feelings. Calling on the Divine Feminine. For you… Tap into this playlist and let your SHAKTI rise…
Kali’s fire, my life, my love.
Kali came to me on a morning that felt like night. She said, “It gets dark so you can see the fire burn more clearly. Throw it all in. And by ‘all,’ I mean yourself.” Into the fire I put a habit of sadness I was married to. And so then I put in my own singular and true sadness, but not so it would be obliterated, rather transmuted, because I wanted to honour the utility of my delusions, the lies that made for density so that I could see the fire burn more clearly.
Want to get unstuck? Maybe it’s time to stop analyzing it.
You can work out your family of origin issues, and neuroses, and past life traumas with your shrink or your shaman. You can talk talk talk it out all day long (I know, I’ve done it.) You can trace the cause of your wounds and why you’re so stuck. But at some point, eventually, who cares WHY you’re stuck…
Come Closer
Desire enchants you to the woods
and has you push through the muck
with the patience of a Lotus.
Come closer.
Search everywhere for your keys.
And then she makes you drive all night, desire,
With no map or insurance.
One night stands and other sacred containers not always meant to be breached.
We visualize to manifest. Vision boards, motivational quotes on your desk. Ideas on sticky notes to inspire. At the root of desire mapping is this notion: Knowing how you want to feel is the most powerful form of clarity you can have. And…being reminded of your core desired feelings is part of the practice. Like so…
My recent confessions on writing, and a word of advice: Keep going.
1. At the moment I have 225 notes in my “Blog – DRAFTS” notebook in Evernote. At least half of them will never see the light of day. 2. I read some of my shitty first drafts and…
Empty your belly.
Empty your belly of rage and striving Create! Create! Create! and all the while, be still so you can hear the code of The Beginning.
“Open, gentle heart. Big fucking fence.” The advice I give on Love that took the longest time to learn.
Protect your heart so that you can keep it wide open.
Does playing the victim have an upside? Well, kind of. PART 2: Making new mind grooves.
Here’s PART 2 of the two-part series: Making New Mind Grooves, A Discussion About the Neuropathways That Are Steering Your Life with Terri Cole and me.
My New Life In Golden
Small things. Teeny tiny gentle things. Just one small analogue choice a week can silence, soothe, and interrupt patterns that need positive interruptions. You can do it. You must.
Light-Scanning Contemplation. Pause. Scan. Glow.
Give yourself the gift of 15 minutes to run light through your system. Here’s a full-body visualization for using Light — one of the most powerful forces in the universe.
Playlist: Friends Forever
New Friends Forever playlist. Heart melter.
One of the most helpful things you can do for your friends: Be a witness to what’s working.
I N C L U D E S A U D I O • Most of us don’t need more advice or constructive criticism. We need to be witnessed in what’s working, in what we’re doing “right” to create our ideal life.
Yo’ mama wants a gift card for her desires. (And you can Mother’s Day shop in one click.)
(And you can Mother’s Day shop in one click.) Give the gift of experience. Of creation, and discovery, and joy.
Playlist: Divine & Spiraling Outward
Longing to be lifted by love… into the slip stream… to the white light… and back to the elemental truth? Then get THIS playlist going. I’m starting to compile mixes according to Core Desire Feelings. This one’s all for DIVINE.
The (All New!) Ask-A-Friend Survey… and my bestie & me getting cozy
You can download the all new Ask-A-Friend Survey here! And then, go ahead. Send it and get closer.
Can’t decide which idea to pursue? Here’s THE key question + 10 more to help you choose.
All the ideas, the seemingly competing goals, the various opportunities, and the compelling projects…What to do, which to choose, where to start? Right here.
The Cold Kind of Darkness
A poem, with audio. I never feared the darkness, only the cold that can come with it.
New audio: Trust Is Crucial. (aka, the whole effing gorgeous point of Desire Mapping)
Here’s a personal story for you about a mid-course correction with myself and my goals, my core desired feelings, and intentions.
The Higher Purpose of Conflict
There’s no way around conflict, you can only go through it.
Music Playlist: Stand on the edge of light.
Music is sonic light. I worship at the altar of lyric and rhythm. And light. So this playlist gives me particular pleasure to present to you. More to come.
Daily Desire Integration. A practical how-to on generating your CDFs.
Here’s an uber practical how-to and pep talk about generating your core desired feelings.
Your True Nature is Luminous
Light is the most efficient force in the universe. And it’s your very core. Through the chaos, through the darkness, the broken heartedness, we will always circle back to light.
This week is the Week of Luminosity over here. I’m releasing a piece of art in a few days… all for light.
What does “Your True Nature Is Luminous” make you think of?
I asked, you answered.
Part 2 of Leaving the Church of Self Improvement… for the Temple of Me
Where did I leave off from? Right here with Part 1: Leaving the Church of Self Improvement for the Temple of Me.
New audio: An Exercise in Extreme Visualization
Say hello to a reality with more possibility. Limber up your intentions with this extreme visualization exercise. You can do this in 5 or 10 minutes.
Leaving the Church of Self Improvement – A Special Feature
Leaving the Church of Self Improvement for the Temple of Me. The lies that spur us on. Rooting in love. Pleasure rules. And more.
Put on the kettle, or bring your iPad to bed with you. We’re going in.
An audio reflection for stirring up & clarifying your feelings
My voice, your speakers, your knowing unfolding. How do you want to feel when….? I want you to think and sink into that question. Over and over again.
The 3 Spectacularly Simple Questions to Ask for Planning Anything & Everything
When Team Danielle jams on long term vision we use these 3 spectacularly simple questions to get the planning party started.
A Celebration of The Stop Doing List.
On the path to defining your own version of success, what you stop doing is just as important as the things you start doing. Read that twice, please. Because this concept could change everything for you — if you let it.
The credo for making it happen. And flame-fanning (and free) audios and posters.
In celebration of the release of The Fire Starter Sessions paperback edition, here are some multimedia motivationals.
How to Let Go of A Dream (and why I’m not starting a magazine)
What I’m campaigning for is that you embrace the potential genius of the last minute knowings (because they’re natural).
The one part of the plan that isn’t changing? The plan to always give your very best.
Busting limitations, and, my new hot tub. They’re related.
Pace Smith is so good at asking the deeper questions about what it means to do meaningful work in the world. Unlike most “business” interviews, here we talk a lot about deep desire, hit on The Enneagram, make our way to The 99 Divine Qualities of Sufism and slide into the first base of grace.
The moments that make for burning gratitude.
My gratitude for all of this burns in my solar plexus. Sometimes I push against it. I have to consciously breathe it in — choose to expand rather than contract, choose to let it melt any illusions of lack. Mostly, I breathe, and smile deeply, and say Thank you. And then I detach a bit. Because you know, I don’t think I have much to do with anyone else’s a-ha’s. And I just get on with being expressive…grateful…expressive…grateful.
Conscious conversations. So much beauty. Boise. London. Brazil… wow.
Last week over 500 Desire Map Book Clubs gathered in cafes and living rooms and book stores. Boise. London. Brazil. And one group in LA that I surprised!
One of my favourite interviews. If you haven’t “gotten” Desire Mapping yet — this is where I lay out the key steps.
This is one of my favourite interviews with one of my favourite people. Marie Forleo and I get all Jersey Girl, definitely deep, and as always, real, on goal setting and Desire….
The Book Club Guide is ready! Desire Mappers…UNITE!
“You know gentlemen,” Miten said as he strummed his guitar, “I think this lyric speaks to the masculine, to the heart of our sexuality. It’s what we’re here to give the world, you know. So it’s a bit radical, but would all the men in the audience please stand up.” Silence. All the men in the concert hall rise. The women started looking around, behind our seats, next to us, taking it in, softly smiling, nodding to each other, like, “Well THIS should be interesting.” …
The journey has to feel the way you want the destination to feel.
Freedom does not come from a checklist, and a ‘zero inbox’ is not a life aspiration.If liberation is a chore, it’s not really liberation. You can’t contract your way to freedom. You can’t punish your way to joy. You can’t fight your way to inner peace. The journey has to feel the way you want the destination to feel…
Remember, you said Yes to this.
You’re choosing – all the time. If you’re slogging away at a job you don’t love, look at it this way: you’re choosing to make a living to pay your rent, support your kids, fuel your dreams. Be in the choice of it — that’s where your power is. You’re in a relationship that’s causing you pain — you’re choosing to be in it. Maybe staying will lead to essential growth, or a break through, or deeper love. Or not. But you’re choosing to be in or out. Be in the choice of it — that’s where your power is.
Name your god
Listen to me
I am one of you
desirous broken open perpetual…
Your Most Precious Thing. Shaking up your attachments.
This contemplation is about getting to the bottom of your heart, and gasping for air while you’re down there, only to see how empty and full you are. Empty. Full. Same time. You’re up for it.
Behind the scenes: Sounds True + the making of new Desire…
It takes a village. And Throat Coat Tea. And velcro rollers. And producers who listen with their heart and soul. And so began my journey with Sounds True Publishing to bring The Desire Map book to bookstores and to create a new series of audio programs.
Examine your envy
You just never can know the machinations of someones else’s Soul — their karma, their dharma, their story. Maybe they’re learning precisely what they need to learn in this lifetime to become self-actualized, maybe they’re struggling to get free, maybe they’re an enlightened being who’s come to stir shit up so we can learn compassion. Life only knows.
Strong, vulnerable men.
Deep and medium tones. Tall, short, fat, fit, straight, gay, brown, white, grey, tattooed. Alone and in chorus. All men. Now the women were catching each other’s eyes in a shared “Like, holy wow,” kind of knowing. And we weren’t just misty-eyed, many of us were weeping — that kind of big-tear cry that you try to muffle by holding your breath because it’s so deep and true, and it’s been living in your body for a long time. Ya, that cry. The women were melting into a puddle of gratitude and respect.
Use your dissatisfaction to start a personal revolution
Gratitude, joy, anticipation … all powerful forces for positive mind-states and manifesting goodness in your life. And then there’s dissatisfaction, heartache, resentment. And guess what… those are also powerful forces for positive mind-states and manifesting goodness in your life. Yep. Because those emotions are real. They are part of your wholeness. They count.
Gorgeous, gritty, vibrant, black & white, four colour, luminous …. joy. What’s it look like to you?
Capture an image of joy. Your version of it. Whatever trips the joy circuits in your psyche and body. Show us. Grab your iPhone and snap it now, or pull it from your Pinterest board, or reach into your archives. Post a joy visual, tag it with #DesireMap — and help us see with our hearts how to rise to life.
Do you love your problems? Because that would be helpful.
Do you love the kind of problems that you have in your relationship? Like, can you love the fact that your “work” as a couple is to deepen intimacy? That’s some hard work. But can you honour that that’s your work to do?
So vast
My love for you
is larger
than any compass could map.
But like a Queen
with the luxury of time and resources…
Actually, you’re the guru. Notes on resonance and respect.
It’s all about resonance. Teachers (and they come in all forms) hold up a mirror for you in just the right light, at just the right moment, and you just happen to catch YOUR reflection in it. They are strumming chords that are strung in your heart.
Break the law, bag the contract, ignore your lawyer, be yourself
For even the most assured and self-referencing person, legalities and money matters are major character testers.
What do you trust? An exercise for strength and mind-cooling.
Before a big gig or a super-charged opportunity I do a trust ritual with myself. I started doing it on airplanes to cool my mind down after my strategic wheels had been in overdrive. Often we’re so busy trying to get our endorphins fired up to go get ‘em!, we can forget that simply feeling comforted is a very powerful — and useful state of being.
3 habits for dissolving envy
Can you wish the best for those you envy?
What if your jealousy is a sign that you need to get your ass in gear?
Because, what’s wrong with wanting what you want?
Hint: Nothin’…
Be your own dictionary of fulfillment. One feeling. Your world. Go.
Usually, I try to avoid watching/listening to my own interviews or speaking gigs. But he talked me into watching this. We cover a lot of ground — ambition, systems design, cowboys, and of course… love. Tune in.
Your relationship to destruction & Goddess Kali.
You know — right this very minute — what’s not working in your life. You don’t have to think about it for too long. The question is: How do you feel about destroying what must be destroyed in your life?
We give what we can, when we can. A very simple story.
I’ve been meeting every month with the same five women for seven years. Goddess Night, we call it. Of course it’s a divine lifeline. And of course, we bring food. When we first started meeting my boy was a newborn and my first company was taking off, and I was five kinds of exhausted. I’d usually show up late to Goddess Night. My contribution to a beautiful potluck spread would be like, a bag of chips. Or half a sack of store bought cookies…
My Upper Limit Problem and how we resist joy
When the stakes are high or when the success is more than you’ve experienced before, Upper Limit Problems can strike. You rain on your own parade. You make a windfall of cash and you get into a car accident. You fall in love and you pick a silly fight. You come down with something before a big moment…
Truth telling. (The daringly happy and ebullient kind.)
What about the purely positive truths that make you shy to share? They’re so bright and electrically charged that you fear they might blind their receiver, or you’ll just look all gushy and soft and love foolish. …
A few thoughts & actions that will help you open up more.
Look at how your beliefs have shifted. How do you see the world differently now? What do you trust in more? Where did you used to scrimp where now you luxuriate?
What if forgiveness isn’t about forgiving? Thoughts on consciously relating to people who have hurt you.
When I approach forgiveness as a goal, it actually blocks me from my truth and love. In the past, when I’ve set out to forgive someone I just get all twisted up with who did what and why, and I start looking to validate my rightness. …
How I revolutionized my relationship to “doing”: Meet The Divine Medicine Woman & The Impeccable Street Sweeper
I began to create the inner — and outer — conditions that helped me make “my medicine”, my art, my best work… I had to sledgehammer some mental structures. I unstrapped years of “shoulds” off my back — and I found wings – massive wings.
Your friends, your freedom, and getting off your ass for Love.
I don’t have many regrets in this life. But of the few that linger, it’s distinctly the times that I missed out on time with friends. The two weddings I didn’t go to because I was too broke for the airfare. (Being late on rent wouldn’t have gotten me evicted. Maxing out a credit card would have done the trick. I could have borrowed the money from … a friend.) The friend I didn’t visit in the hospital because I was on a book deadline. The birthday party I didn’t get to because of a minor inconvenience…
The story of Freddy & the iPhone — and 4 questions for Creatives
I’ve been thinking on behalf of Creatives everywhere. I have some questions for us: What have you got in your archive that can be turned into art today? We’re so occupied with creating new and innovative that we can forget our past experiments or the ideas whose time hasn’t come yet. Remember that one idea you had…? Dust it off now and see if it’s got some glimmer to it….
A few guidelines for innovating
When it comes to innovating… Be willing to start over. Be willing to make other people uncomfortable. Be willing to lose money. Be willing to…
We need to know about your joy. (And other conversations of fulfillment.)
We need you to tell us your good news. Tell us how deeply in love you are. Tell us how your life is rocking. How free you are these days. Tell us how wonderful your family is. We need you to light up our realities. Don’t shrink from sharing the story of your good fortune. Give us examples of well-loved living. Give us evidence of the rewards of courage, that it pays to hold out, or to go wild, or to burn prayer candles…
Permission to NOT network. (And to wear gold pants).
Hey hustlers! I’m a hustler, too. Hustling my ideas. I like connections. I like ink. I like open doors. Networking? Loathe it. And unless there’s a dance floor, I always leave the party early. Consider this permission (not that you need it) to not network. We’re going to replace the concept of networking with trust and resonance…
July Roundup: Cosmic guidance, brittle women & a million dollars. Notes on my writing process. Stop giving 100%.
July 2013 roundup: Desire, orgasm and shakti power. Random notes on my writing. Guidance from the cosmos, plus a million dollars ain’t a million dollars.
Desire. Orgasm. Shakti power. An interview for women and the men who love them.
Lisa Schrader and I jammed on all kinds of power questions and concepts for her Shakti Summit. Deep bow to the Shakti love. Listen in here…
How you can ask for—and receive—cosmic guidance
Guidance doesn’t have to come as a lightning strike or as a white dove on your fire escape, looking you in the eye. Guidance can be (and I think it usually is), those notions that you can’t get out of your mind. Persistent wonderings, recurring names, places, things—gentle heart cues…
the Dalai Lama looked me in the eye and said, women rule! (in so many words)
A little story to start the weekend… TO INDIA WE GO Just about to turn thirty, I was given a rare opportunity to have a private audience with His...
Validating your pain is the first step to getting stronger.
I N C L U D E S A U D I O • As inevitable as emotional and physical pain is, it doesn’t always serve to make us stronger — sometimes it just wears you right down…
Why I burned my journals & celebrate my insignificance.
I burned about 20 years of journals. Pages and pages of gut-red poetry and angst; cosmic gorgeousness and tender prayers; lists of wants, boyfriends (a loose term), and favourite perfumes. With every page I fed into the fireplace, I smiled. Thank you. Goodbye. Hellohhh here & now…
The real you is waiting. In here. Not out there.
You can’t patch your Soul’s truth together with workshops, and a wardrobe, and identity choices. You’ll likely spend half of your life trying to do just that. Composing. Polishing. Packaging. Facing outward, even though it’s all inward. Eventually, you’ll stop looking out there. In the middle of the noise and the obligations it will dawn on you (maybe right now) that the real you emerges…
Do you want to be right, or do you want to be free? (Choose “free.”)
I was in court over a sour business deal. I walked into that boardroom certain of two things: I was right about who owed who what, and I was not caving in.
May Roundup: Listening, giving & comparing. Notice your energy. Love your sadness.
May 2013 Roundup: What I know about working with people, listening, giving and loving sadness—plus getting to know your creativity pattern.
Be The Giver.
Sometimes it can feel like dreaming of more than what we’ve got betrays our current reality. As if to wish for something different means that we’re unappreciative of what we have. As if to long for a little less of this, or a brighter shade of that denigrates what stands in front of us.
Affirmations, Accomplishments, and a Dose of Desire: The November Roundup
In November we got real clear on the messiness of affirmations, the guilt we feel towards our dreams, and the promising liberation of the forthcoming Desire Map program.
But will it be worth it when you get there? The feeling of success. (+ a free chapter!)
Epidemically often, we go for the external win at the cost of our internal wellness. Because we don’t value our inner attunement as much as we value outer attainment.
Do it like a maverick. Backing up Tim Ferris and The 4 Hour Chef.
The 4 Hour Chef by Tim Ferris is THE hippest encyclopaedia of life hacking, cooking and adventuring there is. Tim raised the bar on this. I opened my Amazon box and said, “Holy shit, he DID it.” I was blown away.
Your creative highlights and lowlights are your biography.
Your inspired flights and flops, and the art that makes your heart flutter, says more about you than any ol’ resume. Here’s my journey, through inspiration, awe and courage…
Why affirmations can mess you right up (and what to say to yourself instead.)
Contrived affirmations take you out of the present. Rather than facing what’s real, we try to plaster over the difficult truths with happy thoughts. This is false optimism and it’s damaging. It undermines our capacity to be with what is, and to access our real strength and spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity includes the capacity to acknowledge our fears while maintaining our confidence and faith…
A love letter with autumn soundtrack.
Leaves are falling and it’s time for a letter. I’m in that creative place where the lion’s share of my new work is done, but there’s still much to do. Metaphorically speaking, it’s like the baby could come at anytime, but there’s still the LABOUR about to happen.
Normal amazing.
I have not known Shams or oil wells in my living room.No inheritance, nor near death experiences.
The bird reminds me that Joy is worth dying for.
And that in my house there is so very much to worship…
Worst-case scenarios. You gotta love ’em.
I can sum up my worst-case scenario in one phrase: “I can always sling beer.”
Ease, Self-Expression, and Soul Soup: The October Roundup
October 2012 Roundup: Brewing with the art of “ease,” the divinity of procrastination, and the essential of sincerity in communication…
Soul soup. (Keep this in mind when you’re falling apart.)
There will be a time, a passage when you don’t really know who you were, or are, or can be. It’s natural, it’s divine, and it’s the chemistry of beautiful, awesome change. This passage can happen in big dramatic swells, as years of not quite knowing what you want to do; or seasons of co