Why I've always hated mattes and why you should too...

Ook ok ok..that’s harsh. I haven’t always hated mattes and truth be told, I don’t hate them now. BUT I admit that they are colors that I’ve had to grow into. My default for mattes had always been - why bother? If you can barely see it, what the heck is the point??

I’m particularly referring to eyeshadow here. I actually love a nude lip because it looks refined and interesting - not dull and like lip balm. Which is kind of what I would equate browns and beiges and other neutral matte tones to if I’m being honest. Super dull, lip balm like eye color. Again, I would say to myself and everyone else - why bother.

I’ve grown a bit since those times and now I can appreciate a sweet neutral eyeshadow in a muted tone, but I will be honest, the shimmery brown is almost always going to win out over the basic brown if I’m given a choice. I sparkle. Period.

So you can imagine my initial chagrin when I realized that OMG, my people like mattes. They actually adore mattes, even aghast prefer mattes. And neutral barely there eyeshadows.

Just recently I posted two new eyeshadow set hopefuls for the upcoming MOVE Makeup #BohoFit collection and what I found was that I got more thumbs up for the neutral pallette than for the bold one. After I cried a little inside, I became fascinated with the possibilities of what this might mean.  And I saw a great opportunity for growth blooming from something seemingly random.

Why are some women more attracted to neutral, muted tones than they are to bright bold ones?

I’m going to step out on a limb here and say that this has something to do with

1. Our conditioning and
2. Our uncomfortableness with proclaiming our innate beauty.
 

Now you might try to stop me right here and say no Leah - this is about not looking like a clown.

I’m going to challenge you though and say really? Is that really what it’s about? Because we have countless examples these days of how bold color can be worn in classy, professional, ‘I am an adult boss babe and I command respect’ ways.

So no, I don’t believe it’s really about that.

This is what I believe is really going on.

We are afraid.

We are afraid to be seen because being seen means possibly being judged. And being judged means possibly being confronted with deciding for yourself whether you accept or reject the judgement.

And sheesh, that’s just work.

Much easier to just to go on wearing those barely there, acceptable sparkle-absent blahs and not making any waves. Not nearly as fun or vibrant or life inspiring. But easier? Yes, definitely easier.

 So of course, you know I must challenge you. The new collection will be released towards the end of the next 3 weeks. There will be a beautiful neutral eyeshadow set reminiscent of the regal royalty of Queen Pharaohs. But there will also be a phenomenally fabulous bold pallete created for the Gypsy Queen of her own domain.

My challenge to you is to challenge your own default. If you are inclined to think you like the neutrals more than the bolds, bring a little gypsy into your life this go around. Even if you just choose one Gypsy Queen Color - embrace it and wear it with aplumb and audacity. (Don’t worry, I will be giving you lots of assistance in pulling this off!). See how you feel. Pay attention. Embrace the awkward phase and ride it out to the confident one.

While you are waiting for the collection to be available, go check your makeup bag. I’m sure you have one or two bold colors that you’ve never attempted to wear. Take a tiny risk and apply it to your wrist. Notice how you can’t take your eyes away from it. Leave it on just for a bit and imagine all of that attention being on you. And welcome it in.

Big changes happen when you aren’t hiding anymore ;-).

If you are feeling super inspired to be bolder but you don’t know where to start, check out my new guide, 3 Beauty Rituals to Phenomenal Self Care. Confidence is a big deal and it can start with something simple. Get access to the guide here!

Beauty Rituals as Self Care?

Just recently I was asked to be a guest on my mentor’s podcast. The topic was what I do and why I do it. That should have been easy right?

I felt some anxiety though.

Was there a way to talk about all the components of what I do in a way that the listeners could easily see the beautiful synergy? Was there a way to make my philosophy, mission, and offerings succinct and complete and understandable? Maybe even inspiring?

As I began talking though, the fear around that worry completely dissipated.

I know that all the components of what I do equal total transformation and I understood even more clearly how to explain how I’ve come to my conclusions. The guidance I give is a true and doable path to thriving in life (not just getting by).

WHAT DID WE TALK ABOUT?

We mostly talked about beauty rituals and why they are an ultimate form of self care.

There were so many gems in that conversation and truly it’s too much to write about in one post; so be on the lookout for future posts where I expound and wax philosophical about the things our conversation brought up.

However, let’s start today here at the beginning and explore the emotional charge that comes up when you say or hear “beauty rituals are an ultimate form of self care”. Did you feel the charge? I know I still feel it.

Where does your mind automatically go?

My mind defaults to judgement. If you do too let’s look deeper into that judgement and define it even further. Is there a sense of frivolousness, shallowness, baseness, simple-mindedness (and not in a good way) when you think about engaging in beauty rituals with this intent? Does it feel like you’re cheating yourself out of some possible evolution/enlightenment - taking the easy way out or dumbing it down for yourself?

Maybe you are the one that is on the other side of this - feeling like you dare not indulge yourself that way. You find yourself feeling like it would supremely selfish to take the time to care for yourself, especially through pampering and activities solely created to enhance your beauty and make you feel good..

And of course, there are those of us that are somewhere in between.

There’s so much resistance around this right? Which means there’s so much room for growth. There’s so much room to find your sweet spot. There’s such a potential to make a big statement to yourself and thereby to the universe that you matter enough to be a priority.

How awesome would that be?

Let’s actually look at that. How awesome would it be to proclaim you are a priority. Not to ask *if* you are a priority. But to proclaim it and bask in it and live in it as a quiet, powerful, steadying truth?

How would that affect your life?

How would that change what you allowed yourself to accept from people. How would that change how you interacted with everyone from your coworker to the delivery guy? How strongly would that put you in a place of no longer reacting on auto-pilot, being swayed by random, unchecked emotions and energetic whims from others.

Wow, that sounds like a life on purpose right? That sounds like a life where you could actually have some say-so in the joy you feel and -wait for it- even in the experiences that you get to have.

The beginning of a life like that CAN start simply - and it can start simply with a few beauty rituals that you partake in with intent. You can move the needle and start churning the wheels in your favor with just a few tiny but meaningful shifts. It really can be easy. It doesn’t have to be an ordeal and you don’t have to feel like you must change drastically in an instant in order for your change to be valid.

What it’s really about is taking one small, meaningful action and then another and another until those become commonplace. All of a sudden, you’ll be living a life infused with all the things that you want instead of most of what you don’t want.

If you’d like help figuring out what your first small meaningful action should be, I’m your woman. Let’s hop on the phone for a complimentary “Get on Track” session and I’ll help you choose a self care beauty ritual guaranteed to jumpstart your transformation. Click here to see my schedule and choose a time that's best for you. 

Free Teleseminar! - Self Care for Busy Women

Hey dear!

Have you seen my announcement around on social media about the free teleseminar I’m giving this Thursday? I’m really looking forward to it and I don’t think you should miss it. I’m going to be sharing 3 ways to reel yourself back in from stress, worry, and the dreaded A word – anxiety. The point is to show you how I get my balance back and encourage you to try out some of my tactics for yourself.

As you probably know by now, I am a fellow busy woman. Even though I’ve made a huge effort over the past 12 months to release that identity, it still creeps up from time to time. I constantly teeter the balancing edge of knowing that I must be a Firestarter and remembering that the flames can’t spark off if I have no fuel to give them. I’ve struggled with making time to replenish myself for years. Only because of my stripped-bare year, have I catapulted into enough of a sense that I must preserve myself to be able to do that with a disinterested shrug and oh well to the rest of my supposed to-do list. As I’ve said a couple of times, I was ready to let it all go if need be.

And that was not a particularly fun time, so if I can help keep you from having to take yourself to that brink, I’m all for it. This is why my focus is on self-care for the beginning of this year and why I’ve decided to offer this free teleseminar.

Registering for it is simple – all you need to do is text selfcare to 87365. That will get you set up so that the day before, you’ll receive a text with all of the listening details and a reminder text the day of to tune in.

I really hope you will join me. You won’t regret it and in fact you’ll feel so extra rejuvenated and refreshed because you did :-). 

Remember, registering is simple - just text selfcare to 87365!

Vision Boards are Self Care

I’ve been on the vision board band wagon for a much longer time than most. Back in 2006 when the Secret first came out, I was introduced to the idea of the law of attraction, the law of abundance, and the fact that thoughts become things.

Just like everyone else, I got excited about ‘how easy’ it would be to create the life I wanted now that I knew the Secret. And just like everyone else, I quickly realized that though the Secret was absolute truth, getting my mind to cooperate fully was a journey of layers and layers of uncovering – and not as easy as I naively thought it would be :-).

The pure essence of the truth that feelings attract like feelings (and therefore the things that are associated with triggering those feelings) is simple, complex, and profound. Sometimes our brains need an equally seemingly simple yet complex and profound way to harness that truth. This is what vision boards are.

A vision board creates a gateway to feelings we want to have by placing the things you associate with those feelings in plain sight, jazzed up in a way that delights on its own. Its whole purpose is to ignite what it feels like having this or that thing. In that way, you create the energetic pull that brings that thing out of ‘maybe’ into reality. It really is that simple.

However, it does create a chicken/egg type of conundrum. Does the elatedness come first and then the thing? Does the thought of the thing coming cause the elatedness? Must you get ridiculously and randomly happy first and then start making your orders of the Universe?

In my experience, these are the thoughts that can potentially kill the entire experience. Within these thoughts are doubt, judgement, and fear – all negative feelings that move you away from an intrinsic appreciation of the activity itself. Vision Boards don’t have to be about the outcome and in their essence aren’t about ‘doing it right’. That stress is unwanted and counter-productive. Instead I’ve come to realize that vision boards are much more about ‘doing right by yourself’ and taking a massive step forward in your own self care.

This is what I mean. When you set aside time to create a vision board, this is what you are saying:

1.       you are firstly affirming to yourself that you are important enough to make time for and to plan for.

2.       You are affirming that you have goals and desires that are important.

3.       You are affirming that you believe enough in yourself that these are worth thinking about in a positive way.

4.       You are putting a concrete belief forward that your future could be brighter and more fulfilling than your present.

This is radical self care. This is what self care really is – the supporting of yourself in a way that reminds you constantly that you are worthy, important, and favored by the Universe.

This is why creating a Vision Board can be a very powerful form of self care, especially when you create it with a conscious awareness of the intentions you are setting in place – not just for the things that you want to see manifest – but also for the way you see and care for yourself.

There are many reasons to decide to make the time to create a Vision Board - when you need a reboot and a rebalance, when you need to remember the possibilities in life, when you need to refocus yourself and employ the three Rs – refreshment, renewal, rejuvenation. One of the most impactful reasons to be conscious of though is to remember your own worth and light! <3!

I'll be hosting the first ever CREATE YOUR LIFE VISION BOARD Workshop on March 13th from 9am - 1pm. If you are ready to step forward and claim a vision for your life, I invite you to watch the video below where I tell you all about it and visit here to register!

The Link between Reproductive Health and Your 2nd Chakra

Initially, when we think of our reproductive system health, the idea that it might have anything at all to do with our level of fulfillment in life may seem a far fetch. However, stay with me for a bit and I’ll explain the connection.

In the world of energy work, your reproductive system is in the area of your 2nd Chakra. If you aren’t familiar with Chakras, you can think of them as energy centers in your body that have influence over various aspects of your emotions, actions, and life in general. The 2nd Chakra has to do with your creativity, passions, and sexuality – the things that inspire you and give you a zest for life.

So when your 2nd Chakra is balanced, you are generally fully in touch with your creativity and your passions and your ability to do great work is maximized. This intact inspirational energy is vital to living a vibrant and fulfilled life.

When this Chakra is out of balance however, doubts creep in and we begin living a diminished version of ourselves. This can translate into not voicing our opinions, stifling our anger or frustration, and leaving emotions pent up and unexpressed.

Of course, this doesn’t serve anyone, least of all ourselves. When we are living in this diminished state, our contributions to the world are suppressed and watered down. We can find ourselves feeling as though we aren’t cut out for handling the strains and stressors of life positively and as if that weren’t enough, these issues can begin to manifest on a physical level as well. 

This is where the connection to reproductive system health comes into play.

On the physical plane, these issues of stifled creativity and expression show up as ailments like debilitating PMS and cramps, fibroids, endometriosis, and PCOS.

One way to see all of these problems is as ways that your body is showing you how much you are stifling and suppressing yourself. They give you a great opportunity to explore where you need to process old feelings, resolve old hurts, and muster the courage to live more on your own terms.

Think about this – when we experience reproductive health issues, most all of them slow us down and require us to ‘be still and present’. I know for myself, when my period cramps are raging, all I have energy to do is to sit or lie down. I come to an almost meditative state where there is little space for much else other than thinking and allowing.

Within this state, I experience so much peace and clarity. I'm able to see clearly where I'm holding myself back and where I need to actually take a step back. It's one of the many gifts that this time brings.

The next time that you experience this, take it as an opportunity to do some meditative journaling about where you are holding yourself in. Ask yourself how you might be allowing your creativity and expression to be silenced.

Here are a few questions to help you in the process of discovering where the imbalances lie and how to begin righting them.

1.       What creative activity did I love to do as a child? Why haven’t I done it lately? What’s stopping me?

2.       What haven’t I told someone that I’ve wanted to tell someone?

3.       What idea haven’t I acted on because it’s scary and I don’t think I can do it?

Start off with these questions and let them carry you to your answers and then make a promise to yourself to act on them.

Understanding the links your reproductive system has to your ultimate happiness is a great gift. It is connected to so many concerns that are important to us as women - from having clear skin to our sense of well being. Beyond what I've talked about here, there is much more to healing your reproductive system and having it function optimally. An in-depth look at your hormones and how well-balanced they are will tell you a lot. Out of whack hormones can cause all types of ailments and inconveniences including the most common ones stated above, PCOS, fibroids, early menopause, etc. 

If you find yourself dealing with hormonal imbalances (telltale signs are monthly breakouts that don't respond to treatment, hair loss or hair gain, painful periods), I invite you to download my new Ebook Back to Balance: Hormonal Health by entering your email address below! It will teach you simple mental and physical adjustments you can make right now to begin balancing your hormones and experiencing true relief! 

Enter your email address to receive your Ebook!

Self Care for Busy Women: 90 Days to Restoring Your Spirit!

Hello love!

Happy Valentine's Day! It's so interesting the way the Universe and serendipity works. Interesting isn't the right word - it's magical and awe-inspiring. Because I believe in serendipity, serendipity happens around me all of the time. And so the serendipity of my plans to write this message ending me on sending this message on Valentine's Day - how appropriate :-). 

Today I want to tell you about the new offerings I've put together. I've thought about what's been the most needed thing I've been asked to teach (not just the most fun ;-)). What thing is it that people gravitate to me for and ask me about? What wisdom do I have to share that you ask me for time and time again.

I've discovered two and these are what I've decided to lead with this year.

One is Hormonal Health which I call Wise Woman Womb Ways. I've found that so many women are at a loss about how to be in balance with their body after a certain age. It's something I've practiced for years - I know my body really well and I'm tuned in to what it needs and most of the time, I'm good at complying. This is what keeps my skin clear, gives me boundless energy to do so much and choose to do only what I want, and keeps me - as a friend just recently told me -  "the most gorgeous, vivacious, fit, healthy and young spirited 40 year old I know".  Am I blushing?? You know I am :-D. 

And so I've created as a starting point for you, my guide to Wise Woman Hormonal Health. It's free and I made it out of love and real care about helping you set out on the right path if you are floundering looking for direction. Please tap in and download it here.

The second area is self care. Oh self care. Self care is more than a simple word for me. It's what has saved my life. Yes, I know that at first glance, sounds melodramatic. But rest assured, it is the honest truth. Had I not learned to care for myself, prioritize myself, learn myself, and ultimately love myself - I would not be here. I mean that literally. You may know my story of depression and attempted suicide. Believe me when I say that no one else can convince you that life is worth living except yourself. To get out of that space YOU have to decide that it's worth it and that you are worth it. 

And so you see, self care is sacred for me. I believe it is THE KEY to unlocking the rest of the joy in your life. And I believe that self care is more than just a massage or a mantra or an essential oil diffuser. It begins so much deeper than that. It's multi-faceted and spans across all the areas of your life. It's a practice much more than an act  - self care is a lifestyle.

And when I thought about what work I wanted to do this year that would fill me up and simultaneously fill up my clients and customers, empowering them to create self care plans that reached to their essence and restored their very core continued to float to the surface.

And so I listened and in response I created Self Care for Busy Women: 90 Days to Restoring Your Spirit (because part of our problem is that we are so busy right?). It's a 90 Day Program that brings together all that I have learned in the journey of becoming the most important person to me. This program does a lot. In the immediate, it frees you from dragging through every day in zombie mode. But more than that, I designed it help you discover how to feel restored, renewed, and ultimately truly able to handle all that life presents you - with ease, grace, joy, and a knowing that things are always working out in your favor. Because they always are and wouldn't it be nice to just have peace with knowing that's true?

I'll be honest with you. This program is intensive and extensive. It's only for the woman that is ready for a change - a change that might take you through some unpleasant moments and make you look at some uncomfortable things. With love, I'm telling you that it's not for you yet if you find yourself creating excuses for your life. It's not quite yet for you if everything is always everyone else's fault. It's not for you if you are just looking for someone to commiserate with and agree on how bad it all is.

But if you know that your spirit needs restoring and you are ready to do the work - some of it hard, some of it fun and joy-filled, all of it necessary - then I would love to talk to you because I believe that Self Care for Busy Women might be what you are seeking. I want to talk with you and see if the program I've created is your next step of renewal on your path. 

I invite you to schedule a Rebalance Session with me where we'll take a look at some of the reasons that you feel like your wheels are spinning, create some solutions that you can immediately put into play and then assess if Self Care for Busy Women is a good match for you. Click here for my calendar - let's talk soon! 

My Tarot Card of the Year

The end of the year is mostly about processing and evaluating for me. This is the time when I gather up the pieces of myself that may have been scattered by the year and decidely put myself back to gether the way I want to be. One practice I always engage in is self-reflection. I've been really drawn to my Tarot cards since the middle of this year and as you know, I've started to read a lot more and even opened back up to reading for the public(->my Etsy Shop!) and making it an integral part of my coaching sessions. 

So when I happened upon Lisa Frideborg's Tarot Card of the Year analysis, I immediately jumped on figuring out what my tarot card year will be for 2017. I'm a big fan of numerology and use it in almost everything I do. It’s become second nature to think about the numerology of things as I make choices and plans. So of course, combining tarot and numerology are right up my alley.

But I can’t say that I was ecstatic when I figured out what my year was lol. This coming year, 2017 is a Death year for me, as in correlating with the Death Tarot Card #13. Yes, lol on first appearances this did not cause me to leap with joy. I honestly feel like I just went through a Death Year where so many things ended and had to be let go of. The Death card in the Tarot is rarely about actual Death but is more about things ending and transforming in order for new growth to happen. It’s the ultimate stop/no more/don’t pass go/get off this train card. And there was a lot of that this year. Tarot wise, this year was a Hanged Man year though and when I thought about that, it did make sense.

The Hanged Man card in the Tarot is about making the ultimate sacrifice. It’s about doing things that don’t feel good at all for the good of all and for the ultimate best good for yourself. In the process though, it feels like you are being stretched absolutely thin and pushed to your most extreme limits. Being the Hanged Man is tough to say the least.

And that also applies to this past year. In fact, it probably does apply more than Death does because honestly, I wasn’t ready to make those changes. If I could have had my way, I would have held on tightly and continued on with every single thing I had to let go of this year. I would have continued to try to make them work somehow. But being the Hanged Man requires that you let go and let yourself, your desires, and your wants become less important. And this year was definitely about that.  

So when I think about the coming year, it leaves me thinking about what else needs shedding, stopping, or transforming. What I do know is that life will show me. The universe will most definitely bring it up for me to look at and act accordingly. What I’m thinking this being a Death Year means though is that it won’t nearly be as hard. I’ll be ready to let things go if they aren’t serving me anymore. It will be easy to choose the routes that lead to enlightenment and fulfillment instead of holding on to patterns that are only spiraling down or nowhere at best.

Can we say amen to that?! So I can actually say that I’m not afraid of this year bringing on more endings and transformations. I’m ready for it. It truly is time for some patterns of which I’ve just grown accustomed to end. I’m ready for a transformation in key areas of my life and I’m willing to go through the uncomfortable patches to get to the other side of it. And what’s the most comforting is that on the other side of Death is the Star – jubilation, renewal, celebration, and living in purpose. I’m all for a 2018 full of that ;-).

To find out your Tarot card of the Year, you can check out Lisa’s post here. I’ve designed a Tarot spread similar to hers to help me make the best start into the new year and fully explore my word/theme for 2017 ‘BE BIG’. I’m offering a $20 reading special for a mini-coaching session and Tarot exploration of your word for the year that you can take advantage of by grabbing a spot on my calendar ->(www.calendly.com/leahpatterson).

Here’s to fully stepping into the new year, eyes wide open saying yes please to all of the abundance we can receive! 

End of the Year Slow Down...

So I’ve been wondering what to write to you about. There’s been a lot going on but most of it’s been internal – me in planning and allowing mode. I’ve purposely taken a step back from everything at the end of this year. Part of it has been practical. I took on a temp job to help me through transitioning out of dance work into more coaching and mentoring work. But the practical has made an easy excuse for the real reason – the need to get out of doing energy and get more into feeling energy. Another way to say it is setting the masculine energy on the shelf for a bit and getting cozy with my feminine energy.
 
I came upon this necessity after a few different talks with various mentors and guides. It became clear that I was too focused on productivity and listening to my urges to get things done . I wasn’t however listening to my intuition that was telling me to rest and relax. And so with the start of this temp job, I began the process of slowing down and just “being”.
 
It’s remarkable how something so simple can result in such profound shifts. First off, I feel so much more in tune. My worry nerve is almost none existent. I have a sense of peace and knowing and calm coupled with giddy expectancy when thinking of the future. The things that would normally bother me are rolling off of me without much effort. I’m enjoying myself. I’m feeling rested. I’m smiling more and more. I’m finding myself with *more* time even though technically I have *less* time.
 
The blessings abound and with that the *right* and most exciting ideas and certainties are surfacing.
 
I have some dear to me goals for the new year for instance. I’m going to begin work on my tarot/oracle deck for depression and anxiety overcomers. I will start a new web-show project with my dear friend Shamelle Reveter of Destiny’s Talent (We refer to it as our own Super Soul Sunday :-D). And I will be taking on my first one on one clients into my signature program created with the goal of teaching you how to access your divine feminine confidence from within yourself and live out of it every day. I actually have some exciting news coming up about a way to experience a taste of this that I’ll be sharing in the Facebook Group Inner Goddess, Outer Glow. Join us over there so that you don’t miss out on hearing about it!
 
I’ve been doing a lot of sharing there – just recently I chatted about the Full Moon and how to use that energy to our advantage. It’s still relevant so, especially if you have been feeling out of sorts and overstressed, be sure to check it out.
 
So dear, I am delighted that we are almost done with 2016 and headed into 2017. 2017 is going to be amazing. Let’s claim it together <3!
 
Be on the lookout at the beginning of the year – we are going to start off the same way we did last year – choosing our word for the year and setting our intentions for what we want to bring into existence. Until next time, have beautiful days and a Merry Christmas (if you celebrate)!

Much love and bright blessings!