There is no real transformation without the discomfort of exposing the raw, messy underbelly of our reality. It's why I love rock bottom... at least, my own rock bottoms.

One of my awakenings this year, was that I had been trying to play Superwoman and hold up the ​world to protect others from the pain of their own transformation and the impact of their decisions. The truth is, I wasn't protecting them as much as I was protecting myself from the discomfort of the renovation. So, now I'm a superwoman in recovery and am inviting other women with me for the journey.

For me, 2016 was a year of renovation and recalibration: looking even deeper within to grow and explore my truth. I'm stronger for it. I'm grateful for it. And, rather than hold on to the hard that got me there, I'm choosing to embrace the strength and fierce determination is has awakened within me. My vision is clear and I'm ready to trust the master plan. 

That is my wish for you as we close out this year. That you find gifts to embrace, lessons to lean-on, and connections to fortify. 2016, wasn't pretty, but we're getting somewhere. Count me in on the re-construction for 2017. Cheers!

1. Courage is critical right now, as the systems and structures in our world are crumbling. 
2. Courage is about exploring our insides. 
3. Your voice is so important - speak your truth even when it's not what the world wants/expects you to say. 
4. Courage isn't necessarily about the big moments in our lives. It's the baby steps where we can practice and persist.
5. Creativity is a fantastic way to practice courage. We are all creative beings. 
6. Fearlessness isn't a thing. Courage is moving forward through the fear: acknowledging it and deciding what's on the other side matters more. 

Questions for you:
What questions do you have about courage? What gets in the way for you? Where do you struggle with it the most?

I want to call attention to everyday courage and change makers who are making waves in this world. Who do you want to hear from? 

I was introduced to the idea of proclaiming a word for the year a couple years back. In 2015, my word was open. There were a number of areas of my life that I'd closed off and armed my defenses to protect myself from hurt. This year, with open as my guide, I've tried new experiences and new ways of being. I have gained new friendships and risked losing some as well. I've explored more fully what it means to feel whole and have stayed open to the lessons I've needed to learn. 

This year, my word is UNSTOPPABLE. At first it wasn't, but a friend suggested it probably was when it turned out I had two unstoppables cut out for my vision board (see below). I'm seriously so excited to hold myself accountable to this word! I know for a fact that I'm usually the one standing in my own way so I feel so empowered by the prospect of asking myself:

What would unstoppable look like right now?
What would it feel like? 
What can I do in this moment to take an unstoppable action?

Want to pick a word to guide you for the year? Here are a couple tips:

1. Pay attention to how the word makes you feel. Is it alive with energy or heavy with obligation? ALWAYS OPT FOR ALIVENESS!
2. There are a thousand words entering our lived experience everyday. If one of them keeps showing up, it's worth exploring. 
3. Your word should challenge you toward growth. Be open to the fact that the Universe might have some lessons in store for you. I experienced my first lesson today when I was feeling a little blue and had to kick my butt out of the house and into nature to activate my unstoppable inertia.

Have you picked your word? I'd love to hear what it is in the comments below!

I love vision boarding! It's an opportunity to fall in love with your future and what could be better than that!

There are all kinds of tips out there for creating a vision board for your year or even for a specific project. Here are the one's that guide me:

1. Flip through magazines and other images with a focus on how you feel rather than what you think. Don't edit yourself in the pulling phase.
2. Once you feel full of images and words, you might decide to group them or look for overlapping ideas that you can eliminate. Or you might just get out your glue stick and start gluing- trusting that your true vision will reveal itself. 
3. Cut and glue until your heart feels content.

You might have noticed some changes to my website. One of the ways I'm living out my unstoppable year is to proclaim my resilience with the tagline, The Resilient Soul. I've struggled to acknowledge how hard I've worked and how far I've come. The Resilient Soul is the bridge I've needed to capture where I've been and where I'm going. I am a resilient soul, and I'm called to be a source of light and guidance for all the other souls yet to believe in and proclaim their own resilience. I'll be announcing my free Facebook community The Resilient Soul Sanctuary in the coming weeks - I just need to do some fine tuning on the guidelines for this safe haven. 

Also, I've been working on some new e-courses through my online school, WaveMaker Academy. My FREE mini-course, The Soul Code, is available and if you sign now you'll get a discount code on future offerings.

Cheers to a bright and shiny 2016!

Dear MPD:

I get that being a police officer is hard work - I'm pretty sure we can all agree on that. I also believe that most officers do the best they can with what they have. I think that is true for all of us. 

Here's the thing:
You make mistakes, just like the rest of us. 
You have implicit bias, just like the rest of us.
You are trying to survive, just like the rest of us.

My intention was to get this posted yesterday, but technology got the better of me! I'm so, so excited to let you know about the goodness coming into the world today and over the next few months:

​Liv Lane and Lori Portka have produced a gem in Infinite Purpose. It can be purchase through Amazon or check out their IP website. If you want to join the party, join us on Thursday from 7-9pm at the Parkway Theater. I'd love to see you!

Wonder Anew is the brain child of a special heart named Susan Michael Barrett. Today she re-launched her site with renewed purpose. I love it, and think you will too! Her focus on naming what happens in our lives and exploring how we respond to it is so important. I can't wait to see what emerges!

Back in 2009, I had the opportunity to attend a 4-day training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Since then, I've challenged myself to use the skills offered by Dr. Marsha Linehan in both my work and my life.

This past weekend, while attending the Center for Courage and Renewal's Academy for Leaders, I had the opportunity to integrate my understanding of her work with the work of Parker Palmer.

Dialectical thinking creates space for opposites to be true. It's shifting our minds from either/or to both/and. Parker Palmer uses the language of paradox to describe this same phenomenon as a "tragic gap" between what is and what could be. 

Here's the simple word that can make all the difference in how we create space for paradox in our lives:

The poem below speaks deeply to my own inner knowing about paradox and how it has shown up in my life. I hope it inspires you to consider the places where you can more fully live into the "ands" of life.

This year on August 1, I sat with a group of women who I adore as we celebrated the upcoming release of Infinite Purpose: Care Instructions for Your True Calling, a book that has provided me with profound spiritual guidance. It also happens to feature a snippet of my story and the stories of 15 other women, many of whom I have the privilege to know and call friends. At the event, we were asked to write an intention connected to our purpose (which was quickly turned into an AMAZING song by singer-songwriter,Lynn O'Brien.) Here's what I wrote: 

In today's video, I wanted to share with you a little more about what aliveness means to me:

For the rest of the weekend, I'll be attending the Academy for Leaders, a retreat program from the Center for Courage and Renewal which was founded by Parker Palmer. He has spent his life exploring wholeness and how to live an undivided life. I have been profoundly moved and guided by his wisdom and encourage you to explore his writings and contributions both on the Center's website, as well as his columns for On Being. I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to continue exploring my own wholeness.

I'd love to hear what aliveness means to you! Let me know in the comments below.