Keep Peeling the Layers Back

I want to tell you all a story, not to stir up sympathy for me, but to instead stir up inspiration and self-confidence for you. I’ll admit, that sharing this story is a challenge that I don’t know that I would have taken had it not been for someone prompting me to be less afraid and more vulnerable. It’s just beautiful how it fits right in with my word for the year COURAGE.

So here it goes :-).

Some of you may know that I lived in North Carolina for a year or so about 8 years ago. I can probably count that as one of the worst years of my life. Hands down :-). In that year, I had so many loses, particularly at a time where I couldn’t really afford loses, mentally or literally.

I moved there to pursue my dance dreams of performing with a partner and finally making a distinguishable name for myself as a separate entity from my dance team. I’d tried to pursue these dreams in my hometown of Chicago but never quite achieved what I wanted. I felt like moving was the only option I hadn’t tried.

I did my best to make the decision of where to move in the smartest way. I looked for a job first and when I found one, I thought everything would run smoothly from there.

Wow was I wrong. The downhill spiral started with the job. I was an esthetician at the time and what I thought was going to be a steady hourly rate of pay, turned out to be fully commission based. Imagine sitting at the spa for 7 hours in the hopes that you get some walk-ins. The only guaranteed money you see is a 30% split from the one booked client of the day and that’s if she/he doesn’t cancel. And with most days like this, it was tough to say the least.

At the same time, the dance dreams that I moved there for were quickly falling apart. I realized that I didn’t really know my new partner and we inevitably did not end up getting along well enough for the partnership to last. Then I found myself in the middle of a long-standing feud between two other teams, eagerly wanting to dance with someone, but not really gung-ho about joining a team again anyway. On top of that fact, I had friends in both courts, so choosing was that much more difficult.

And all this time, I was STRUGGLING to make ends meet and often falling way way way short. For instance, for months I didn’t have a reliable car in an area where you absolutely have to have a car and then I lost my license because of a friend, a ticket, and my own fear-based inactivity. Too many months went by where I couldn’t pay my $200 rent, let alone buy food. I spent many a Wednesday at the local food shelter gathering groceries for the week.

And there were tons of things that looked like they would work out and then just dramatically didn’t. For example, I was almost a regional rep for Eminence, my absolute favorite skincare line at the time. I spent a weekend shadowing the PRESIDENT of the COMPANY and do you know what he told my recruiter afterwards – that he didn’t believe that I actually had a chemical engineering degree – that he was sure I was lying. Maybe he doubted that a black girl could have a Chem E degree. Or maybe it was because I was too shy and too quiet to make the kind of impact he expected. Who really knows. All I know is that it was one more thing that didn’t happen.

North Carolina was a string of disappointments and setbacks. I lost so much in that year and a half and hit absolute rock bottom to the point that I didn’t feel like trying anymore. And I could have given up then but I chose not to. All the dreams that are coming true now though, I had back then. I just had a lot of things to work through to stop blocking those dreams and those blessings from coming through. If I had given up in that time when everything seemed impossible, I wouldn’t be here today, figuratively or literally.

What I’ve come to realize is that all of that struggle was necessary for the walls of my resistance to my blessings to be broken down. You never know how many layers there are for you to work through to ‘get out of your own way’. The thing to do is to keep working. Keep peeling off layers. Keep rooting for yourself, even if no one else is and even if you can only muster a small rah rah. My life is testimony to the fact that you can be buried in resistance and you can absolutely peel your way to freedom. I’m getting closer and closer and everyday (just like I know you are too) I’m getting to somewhere better. 

:).

#7daysforme Challenge Day 3

I guess being able to be your authentic self and stand in your truth despite fear of anything. ~ Karen C.

Today I was able to do DAY 3 of my #7daysforme Challenge.

My Day 3 task was to ask a good friend what they thought about my word Courage.

The interesting thing is that it took me most of the day to build up the COURAGE to ask someone. Surprising right? That’s precisely why I put this challenge in I believe. Often times it’s easy to keep things in our mind and profess and share them only with ourselves. However, I know that we gain so much more when we share it with others. And I also know that it can be scary to share it with others. At least for myself, I know there’s a tendency for a fear of ridicule to pop in. And precisely because that fear is so far from probable reality, this year is about working consistently to challenge that fear every chance I get :-).

So my good friend’s words above are even more insightful. Being able to be my authentic self and stand in my truth, despite fear of anything. YES!

#7daysforme Challenge Day 2

I just completed my 5 minute meditation for Day 2 of my #7daysforme Challenge :).

5 minutes may feel like nothing at first thought, as though there’s no benefit that can be had from just 5 minutes. However, I believe that any amount of focused, quiet time listening for your answers can benefit you. 5 minutes is a good place to start.

So our task today was to focus on our word for the year for just 5 minutes of quiet reflection. Since my word is Courage, I spent my time with that word. Out of my reflection, I received beautiful insight. The phrase that kept coming to mind throughout the time was “I have the Courage to be the vision I see of myself.”

In reflecting on this, I believe I know what it means for me. It means that I want to have the Courage to move *into* the visions I see of myself living the life I want to live, doing things I’ve wanted to do, and having the impact on others that I want to have. It’s me believing that the vision of myself that I see is me seeing the future, not just me seeing something intangible and improbable. The reason why Courage is so important here is because it’s so easy to become afraid when I begin to think of all the steps towards the vision of myself that I see. It’s easy to let the nagging naysayer in my mind chide in and say things like 'oh that’s too much to do and will never work anyway. It’s just going to take too much energy to even try.'

And I'm done with letting the naysayer win. I’m done with letting it throw molasses in my path and slow me down with doubt and indecisiveness.

It’s my time to step fully into myself even more.

With Courage, I will.

:).

And how about you? What has your meditation brought you by way of insight?

#7daysforme Challenge Day 1

Day 1 in my #7daysforme Challenge starts today and it begins with choosing my word for 2016!

So I've thought a lot about my word for this year and I've finally settled upon COURAGE (to be a Catalyst). I chose this word and this phrase because when I look back on my life, the one thing that has always held me back from the biggest blessings is fear. Fear to try something and not have it go the way I want it to. That may sound strange and unbelieveable coming from me, but it is 100% true! So this year, I'm going to place COURAGE where there is fear :-). 

What's your word?

Heading into the New Year

And so we are a few hours away from the New Year and I’m sitting down to write you all. I’ve been trying to write this newsletter for 3 days now :-). However everytime I sat down to write, no ‘right’ words would come out. Every beginning felt contrived, not the right thing to say, lacking of soething. And since I’m a believer in divine timing and wisdom, I decided to let the shoulds go and just write what comes through when it comes through. And now, I’m sitting in my favorite spot, in a lull of the day and the time feels right. So be forewarned, this is a bit stream of conscious and I’m just going for it :-).  

I think it’s because it’s ‘this’ time of year. Our minds are tuned to the frequency of reflection, shedding, and renewal. We are winded down with the expectant energy of a new start, ready to jump forward into the newness, the rebirth, the doover of a new year.

I always am excited about this time. Particularly the feeling that I get to doover what I didn’t get to do exactly how I wanted to this year. What I mean is that I get to try again. Everybody wants a rockin’ year. Everybody wants to look back on it and say, man, I really rocked it out this year. I blazed through all of my goals. I was the me I wanted to be and I embraced happiness 99% of the time. I am 100% rockstar!

But the truth is that often times, we may make it to only 85% rockstar, maybe 75%, sometimes barely 30%. And all I’m saying is that it’s ok, because you know what, a new year gives you a new chance (actually a bunch of new chances) to do it over again – to get just a little bit closer to rockstar status :-).

New Tradition

I want to encourage you to take on a new tradition this new year. You may have already heard of this and if so, I hope you are doing it. If not, go for it, this is a great time to start. For the next 365, create a memories jar. Every time something awesome happens, big or small, write it out on a small piece of paper and drop it in your memories jar. You can get fancy and buy a cute little tin from the dollar store or you can go straight utilitarian and rinse out an old glass food jar for your memory keeper. I suggest keeping it somewhere that you can easily see, 1. to remind yourself to keep up the habit and 2. To remind yourself that good things happen :-).

#7daysforme Challenge 

So remember in last week’s newsletter, I said that I wanted to invite you all to do a very easy, very impactful ritual/challenge with me to set off our new year right? Well over the next 7 days I will be posting my challenge over on Instagram and sending you a quick daily email reminder about it. Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of sending you daily emails :-D .I just really want our new year to start with a good burst of rah rah energy. And intentional focus is a good way to do that ;-).

Simply, we’ll be answer 1 question a day to help us reflect on what we want for this new year. I encourage you to share your answers on Instagram with a picture and the tag #7daysforme or leave a comment here. Participating makes the mental work that much more powerful ;-). You can find me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/leahrpatterson. Look out for my posts :)!

Best blessings lovely people!

Short and Sweet

Today’s message is going to be short and sweet :). I’m sitting here with my warm cup of tea, relaxing on my way too big but super comfy new couch (that I finally bought after almost a YEAR without one!), writing my weekly newsletter to a tribe of lovely beings that really want to receive what I have to give. My Christmas tree is all lit up to the side of me and my doggies are happily playing in the next room. I just finished a beautiful, empowering Tarot Reading for a dear soul and delivered it in a new (for me), more impactful and authentic format.

I love my new couch :D. 

And I feel good, really good. It’s in moments like this that I remember when I wished my life looked like this and I am thankful. I remember having so much less and striving for so much. I remember being painfully unhappy and unsatisfied and unclear about why. I remember wondering how things could get any better. And then, in moments like this, I look up and I realize better has come :-).

The lesson here is that better does come, if we let it. And if we recognize it and soak up the goodness of it, it can’t help but continue to flow. It’s just the way it is, lucky for us ;-).

Happy Holidays!

And if you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas!

 

Detoxing for the New Year

Hey dears!

How is all the prep for the holiday season going? How are you feeling? Are you making sure you get some #refreshme time in everyday? If so, awesome :-). If not, no worries – I’ve got another great suggestion for you on where to start.

This week I want to talk about herbal teas – specifically two that are perfect for this season of bustle, delicious food, and healthy doses of ‘run around’ stress.

These are also two of my favorite herbs, some of the first ones I learned about during my herbal medicine apprenticeship many years ago now :-). They are Burdock root and Dandelion root.

The  often hated Dandelion :-(.

Have you heard these names before? Dandelion surely. This tenacious little plant isn’t generally looked favorably upon since it’s considered an annoying weed.  Burdock too is a common weed, mostly considered annoying. Ever walked through a field and found sticky ‘burrs’ on your pants and such? Those are the seed pods of burdock. Annoying right?!

Well in today’s post, I’m going to challenge that view of these plants and hopefully get you to appreciate them as much as I do.

The Burrs of Burdock. Recognize these?

Two things prompted my choosing this topic – one, I’ve decided that I want to be more active with toning my body and getting back to a more optimal weight. Even us dancers and naturalistas can struggle dearies ;-).  And two, since it is the end of the year, thinking about old things to shed to make space for new things to come through is a perfectly fitting theme. These herbs work in this sort of way.

When you see Dandelion root and Burdock root, especially together, there will usually be some focus on detoxing. That’s because both of these herbs work with the liver. Your liver is one of the most important organs for your overall health. When I taught my herbal medicine classes, we spent an entire session on this organ and the herbs that help it function healthfully. In Chinese Medicine, your liver is considered the General, orquestrating the movements of all the ‘troops’. It is responsible for the balanced flow of qi through the body. The liver performs hundreds of tasks to keep your body healthy and basically processes everything that you eat – either sending it off to be used by your body or eliminated by your body. So it’s very important to keep it operating smoothly and this is one of the ways that Dandelion root and Burdock root work their magic. They provide a gentle cleansing and optimizing action on the liver.  

Dandelion root for instance, contains bitter constituents and fiber that stimulate the digestive system, filter toxins from the blood stream and out for elimination, balances intestinal flora, and soothes the digestive tract.

Burdock root is considered a blood purifier – this is how it helps liver functioning. It aids the liver in metabolizing fats and proteins and encourages the removal of waste products. Also, its high concentration of antioxidants is thought to heal and protect the liver as well when it’s been damaged by heavy consumption.

And this isn’t even the whole of what they do. In short, these are two of my favorite wonder herbs.  I promise I will tell you more about them soon!

So how do you get them into your life?

Well luckily the world has caught on to the fact that these herbs are pretty awesome and now you can find them pretty much in any local grocery store. You still want to buy a reputable brand however – I would suggest Traditional Medicinals or Alvita. Also, you might want to experiment with steeping two tea bags instead of one because the amount in teabags in general aren’t enough for real therapeutic benefit. The last important thing is that you must steep your tea with something capping your tea cup or else you will lose all of the beneficial components of the herb in the steam ;-). Oh and the last last thing, steep it for 10 minutes – at least! Especially because these are roots, it takes some time for the heat to fuse through the herbs and release the ‘good medicine’ into the water.

These herbs are tonics (we’ll talk about what a tonic is more later) and so they work over time. Because their action is so gentle, you can take both of these together as a tea 3xs a day for at least a month, preferably 3. That may seem like a lot, but trust me, after drinking this herbal mix consistently for a month, you won’t want to stop ;-). You’ll be feeling so much better – more energy, clearer skin, less bloating, even a little slimmer ;-). 3 months is good amount of time to give a tonic to make a difference and then you can start drinking it whenever you feel the need for a detoxifying boost.

So what’s on your grocery list for this week? That’s right – Dandelion root and Burdock root baby!

Get some!

And as always, any questions, ask away in the comments or via email – I’d love to answer them!

Self Love, Self Sabotage, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg

Do you ever have that feeling that things are starting to flow. Kind of like you’ve stepped into the river and for once, you are swimming with the tide instead of against it. And it’s Flowing, like a warm caress carrying you along. You’re not even exerting a lot of energy per say, mostly just gloating along in the ebb and flow of the currents warm embrace. And as you go along, you take in more beauty, more fortunate sights, more one of a kind moments, all the while moving forward with intention (for the river is taking you somewhere).

Do you have a good picture? It feels peaceful doesn’t it. Even joy filled right? Well sheesh, that’s how life has been feeling lately. Like things are coming together. Ebbs and flows and all in my favor, some giving me the gumption to go go go, others giving me the cue to take a step back, get my mind right, evaluate, and open my eyes to the next fortunate occurrence.

But I realize that there is a fear cropping up – a fear that some other figurative shoe is going to drop. That something out of my control will happen and smack, dab, bomb – back to the setbacks I’d gotten used to. Back to the complacent thoughts about certains things just not ever changing.

Does that happen to you ever?  You know what it can cause?

Self sabotage.

Yep, that uncanny ability to shoot your own foot in the effort to shoot the villain that you can’t see.  Self sabotage makes you do silly things that the unafraid you would never do. Self sabotage makes you doubt every single action until you’re crippled into no action. Self sabotage takes your sense of control and scatters it all over the place into tiny little pieces that now only resemble franticness.

That’s why self-love and ACTIVE practices of self appreciation are so valuable to me. That’s why this space even exists.

Lip service has never really been strong enough to combat self-sabotage. Thinking good thoughts sometimes just doesn’t cut it. Self sabotage is active even in its ability to shut down activity. We’ve got to be just as active to counter it.  

So I’d like to challenge you to think of all the things I suggest here for you as acts of self love and appreciation. Carve out time for them so that over time, you’ll have a memory file of how much you mean to you. And how much You are in control of you. And how much your active energy devoted to you has made an impact and a difference. Because it will – trust me. Do this and look back even 3 months from now. You will be different and better for it ;-).

And how does this relate to the fear of the other shoe dropping above?

Because it will show you how much is within your control. And it will show you that YOU are the important piece. Not the elusive “what if”. It will show you that YOU being an active participant is what was really moving that river’s current along all that time ;).

Today’s Mini LOVE Fest :-)

Christmas-y sweet mask anyone? How about with nutmeg, cinnamon, and honey?

Alrighty so Nutmeg and Cinnamon invariably remind me of Christmas – those smells drum up images of warm fireplaces, cozy oversized sweaters, hot tea and cocoa and a healthy cup of spiced eggnog :).

Cinnamon and Nutmeg - YUM!

So it’s a perfect time to realize some other ways to experience these lovely spices! Nutmeg and Cinnamon make excellent components of an acne scar healing mask. This mask is super simple to make and can be stored in your refrigerator for about a week or so. I would use it once a week at least and give it a month’s time to work its magic. Remember, skin cells take about 28 days to turn over, so that month is important! Curb your impatience dears ;-).

Why this mask is as awesome as it is simple:

1.       Cinnamon is a natural anti-microbial agent. It’s been used for centuries to fight viruses and bacteria. It also contains powerful antioxidants that help keep healthy skin cells from breaking down prematurely.   

2.       Nutmeg is also a natural anti-microbial agent as well as an anti-inflammatory. It has been used to heal many skin diseases and helps to reduce acne scarring and clear up infections and redness. It contains a number of vitamins that your skin needs for optimal health also.  

3.       Honey is a natural moisturizer that also has powerful anti-bacterial properties. It helps to heal current breakouts faster and also reduces the occurrence of more breakouts.

As an extra benefit, you can also add lemon juice to this mask. It will give an extra dose of anti-microbial activity and also will serve as a natural astringent to brighten the complexion, balance pH, and tighten pores. It also contains tons of vitamin C, a necessary component to building collagen in the skin.

This is one of those mask that you don’t have to worry about using exact measurements. Below is a good rule of thumb.

Cinnamon, Nutmeg & Honey Mask

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp honey

1-2 tsp lemon juice

Mix all of these together in a small glass bowl (glass is best if you are planning to store it).  Apply for 10 to 15 minutes and then rinse with warm water. Your skin should be glowing almost immediately :-)!

I encourage you to spend those 10 to 15 minutes of mask time meditating, reading something soul-nurturing, or painting your nails (my go to "love me" quick activity :-)). Just something to reaffirm that You are in control of YOUR time and that YOU are important enough to spend it on YOU ;-). 

Enjoy!