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10-minute Creative Heroine mp3 INSIDE!

This last month I led the Creative Heroine facebook community towards one new creative endeavor. A creative endeavor that was going to support them in more fully expressing themselves in all areas of their lives.

Ah, connecting to our juicy, creative nature! It's like going back home…

Scratch that, it IS going back home.

During the month of January, we called the creative endeavor our "soul food”. It consisted of one thing that equally excited and unnerved us, that was the challenge.

The "soul food" we chose was to bleed us to our edges and, in doing so, speak to the soulful core of who we are (all passion and possibility!). It would also, as an added bonus, of course, feed all other parts of our lives and all of our titles too (mom, friend, business owner, nurturer, boss, manager, wife, etc.).

It's true, when we re-engage with our creativity, our life force, everyone wins…

What's ONE thing that equally excites and unnerves you — AND is it time to take it on so that you make happiness and expression your business?

I chose singing lessons as my "soul food" (honest report: I have no natural talent but getting a little better every Friday) while other ladies chose meditation, playing an instrument, running, writing their first song, you name it!

It was a fun time of going within (and watching others do the same) and tuning into just what creativity and being a Creative heroine is all about:

creativity = your soul's voice. The unlimited resource deep inside that helps you move from problem to solution, more quickly each time, in hopes of expressing more of who you really are.

Creative Heroine = you. A soulful woman filled with depth and daring. You could call her "beauty rising up from the chaos" (don't we all have "chaos" that we've re-branded as "experience" or "wisdom"?). It's this light you have on inside (see photo below) that lights the way, moving you from problem to solution, in hopes of expressing more of who you really are.

"Expansion" by sculptor Paige Bradley

Because I think it will support you in this conversation, I invite you to listen to the following 10-minute clip of the Creative Heroine talk I gave in England last November. It covers some of the "Creative Blocks" we may experience on our way from problem to solution. (note: devouring new "soul food" is the cure to creative blocks…find a "problem" you want to solve and then solve it!)

Listen to the clip below not to judge yourself but to simply take note and usher in a mindfulness that will eventually lead you beautifully to a solution in life or business: https://soundcloud.com/michelle-ghilotti-mandel/creative-blocks-creative-heroine-talk-at-ignite-in-england-2014

IGNITE 2014, Birmingham England

See if any of the blocks I mention in this short clip ring true for you. And if none do, ask yourself what is normally blocking your creativity, flow or ability to move from problem to solution quickly in life or business?

Lastly and most importantly, what are you in the practice of to move through those blocks? Could it be that moving on your version of "soul food" will help you do this with more ease? (My singing lessons this last month have helped me in a big way find creative solutions to so many things in my life)

I'll be sharing another clip on Three Ways to Nurture Your Creativity soon so stay tuned.

All this said, this year is a year of going in for that "soul food" for both MGI and Walking Momtra. It's a year of getting to know our work better, getting to know you better and ultimately reaching unique ways to serve and support you more fully, more creatively.

That said, this year we will be serving up a lot more free trainings, helpful worksheets as well as bringing groups like the Creative Heroine community together that will all be focused on dancing with all things expression and with creating the brand of woman we know ourselves to be.

Ultimately, working on ourselves is what creates successful relationships in both business and life.

The 10-minute "Creative Heroine" clip is just the first of many topics and soundbites to be shared with you, with love.

I hope 2015, a powerful "8" year in numerology, is off to a passionate start, Creative Heroine.

Life is good,

p.s. Toasting to your light with my green tea this morning.

The spiral staircase (a new visual tool for you)

The spiral staircase has always intrigued the yogi-designer in me. The visual draw, similarity to DNA, and cosmic patterns, as well as its mathematical genius could be enough, but the structure can also mean more.

Picture yourself tripping up in work, life, or love. You’ve made a mistake, said the wrong thing, or didn’t come through with your end of the bargain.

You think: How did I let that happen? What a (fill in the blank) I am. I can’t believe I did that, AGAIN. If only I could rewind.

These aren’t the greatest feelings—it’s true. However, we live our lives in irony. Though we dislike how we feel having just tripped-up, we continue to beat ourselves up way after the fact.

We cause our own suffering. Furthermore, we seem to forget that when we make mistakes, we grow. An atmosphere of growth is integral to happiness. So create happiness by seeing mistakes as true growth opportunities.

Although yoga, psychology, and conventional wisdom scream at us to live in the moment, I say we are not just the present moment.

We are very much our past in the most rich and helpful way. We can use past mistakes to yield a shiny new perspective and, in turn, create a new outcome.

If we allow them, our mistakes can fuel our awareness. In helping us decide how to act and react in a fresh and fruitful way, they can bring us closer to happiness and further away from (causing our own) suffering.

Picture a most beautiful spiral staircase in Rome, Paris, London, NYC, or Barcelona. Visualize its ample room.

Now visualize yourself on this staircase, midway up. You’re accomplished. You’ve come all this way. Look up at where you’re going and down at where you’ve come from. Peek around and up at the spirals of stair above; over and down at the spirals below.

Now comes the part that we don’t like that’s part of being human.

You’ve suddenly tripped up and missed a step, and you’ve probably done something similar before. Look down at your feet. Yes, you are here, right now, and it’s close to before—but, not exactly.

You are wiser today than yesterday.Though you might feel bad because you’re encountering the same or similar problem, this time it’s with a different view and varied perspective.

Accept where you are. You will immediately suffer less. Remember this is merely one moment in time. It only defines you and your worth if you choose to make it a defining moment.

Look down the middle of the staircase at what you’ve ascended. Keep hold on this view of yourself and see where you are now in comparison.

Yes, this human moment has come to find you again, but you’re now higher up and can respond from a different place, literally, figuratively, emotionally, and intellectually.

Ask yourself: How can I respond from this higher place instead of causing myself pain?

Welcome to your new spiral staircase-inspired mantra: I have a view. I hold wisdom. I use both.

Think it. Say it. Act on it. Let it create your new character.

I’ve practiced this mantra and used the visual of a staircase for a long time.

In sports and yoga I have always asked a lot of myself. I’ve competed with myself and, for years, failed to listen to my body.

I journeyed close to one year+ with a sports hernia, then chronic SI / low back issues, and a tear of my adductor during a restorative yoga pose (of all times). I could go on about my wrists, my left shoulder, my neck, and the running injuries.

I did an A+ job beating myself up, which only added to the sadness of not being active each time. I made myself suffer.

But that was then and this is now. I now have wisdom that has changed the way I treat my body. I have proven that I can be gentle (to myself) but still strong.

Also, I have learned an insane amount about the human body. Though I still like to push when I know it is “healthy” to do so, I assess from that higher place. I assess where I’ve been, where I am, where I really want to go, and how I want to feel.

On that next spiral up I remind myself there’s no final or “perfect” destination off the staircase of life. It is merely a journey with many similar situations. However, with growing wisdom and a richer perspective, we are better able to deal, enjoy ourselves, and suffer less.

It’s freeing to know that we are acting from a more intelligent place today versus yesterday.

Woe is not you. Wisdom is.

Here are five ways to change your perspective:

1. Find strength in the visual of a staircase.

Make it your new BFF. Yes, you’re confronting something similar again, but this time it’s higher up the staircase. Trust and respond from this place. Ask yourself: How can I react differently this time given the learning from last time?

2. Remember that everything transforms.

Connect with the fact that with up comes down, with light comes darkness. With down comes up, with darkness comes light.

When you find yourself smack in the middle of a day filled with disequilibrium, remember that your equilibrium must be right around the corner.Trust in the flow of your life and that of the universe.

3. Adopt a growth mindset.

Accept the idea of a failure en route to your goals. In essence, plan for some roadblocks, nod when they come (you knew they were coming), and move on as quickly as possible.

If you Google more on a growth mindset, you’ll see the myriad of benefits it has for your continued success in all aspects of life. Exhibit the mindset in your thoughts, words, and actions, and teach it your kids.
4. Practice saying “I’m sorry,” especially to those you wouldn’t normally say it to.

Saying these words filled with meaning forces you to move from your comfort zone and look at things from a different side. Healthy, yes, but more importantly, it also brings you closer to the people who make life worth living.

5. Do a headstand or down dog.

It’s difficult to feel and see things the same way if you’re upside down.

As originally seen on Tiny Buddha's site and in the Guide to Loving Yourself: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-grow-from-mistakes-and-stop-beating-yourself-up/

The greatest marketing “tactic” is not a tactic, it’s real and takes being real.

The biggest gift and greatest branding/marketing "tactic" lies in the seamless connection between the you in life and the you in business…

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The blurring of where YOU (the personal you) ends and the business begins or the business ends and YOU (the personal you) begins —> that's where we want to dance.

My invitation is to do just that, to blur the lines a little more. This is how we continue to create and build our most authentic brands AND where we awaken our greatest happiness, without apology.

Your fullness is waiting.

Internal riches await.

At MGI, we aim to support your fullness, your dance in the rain tendencies, your silliness, your bravery…your boldness. #creativeheroine

It's the expressions and businesses that come from visionaries and founders that don't hold back who they really are that not only inspire others but move them to be more fully expressed, to dance, be silly, be brave and bold.

Tell your visual, photographic story from this perspective.

Tell us and show us…

What you believe.

What you're passionate about.

What you're moved by.

What you envision for the world.

Where you're you taking your business turned movement.

Sharing of yourself is personally and lovingly professional. If you were waiting to hear any version of that or get permission in your business to be more of who you really are, then you have it.

PERMISSION GRANTED.

A little more each time goes a long way.

We so want to get to know you, the real you, more. It's so much more than know, like and trust too.

It's about human connection.

We want to see ourselves in you and through your sharing…

Share yourself in story (each day, more and more, without leaving anything out) and watch engagement, connection and business relationships shine like the sequin dress I'm wearing below.

Make happiness your business and express more of who you really are in 2015.

The greatest marketing tactic is not a tactic at all, it's real and takes being real.

You're invited to join a group of us from the MGI community in the private Creative Heroine facebook group where you can claim one creative endeavor (what I call "soul food") that will help you express more fully in your business and brand communication this year. See why here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1582874648592822/.

My soul food for the month and for the year is singing. I had my first lesson Saturday! I share more in the group, while also guiding and motivating the rest of the ladies to their soul food every day with new direction, inspiration or guidance:

Creative Heroine January Soul Food Challenge

We'd love to be real together and create joy through the sharing of our soul food 😉

Here's to your creativity, realness, wildness…here's to your FULLNESS.

Life is good,

p.s. Be wild + dance in the rain.

What it means to self-fish (+ my wish for our families)

I promised yesterday to share one of the other pieces I wrote while in the Caribbean and Miami.

I love that it's a little over a day to the beginning of the year too as I'm sharing this. It feels so right and so what I wish for all of us to create more of in the coming year: inner growth (that contributes to external growth), self-empowerment and more authentic transparency that connects.

Welcome to what it means to self-fish (+ my wish for our families).

Happy new year of life!

Through the good and tender tragic times of loss, true love is defined by finding new ways to be and bend together.

I've found that to bend in family, however, one must tend to the soil known as Self first.

The arms of our tree of life can break going for the embrace if we haven't yet embraced
the personal growth opportunity that comes when a new normal, gradually or rather abruptly, presents itself.

Enjoy soothing yourself. Swim in this selfish practice, madly and deeply. (I like the visual of self-fishing ~> fishing for the ultimate expression of the soul, for the healing of our hearts so we may love others, madly, deeply, and, as if by mere accident, aid in their healing too.)

I have found, especially after losing my 22-year-old brother Dino a year and a half ago, that everything around us works much better when we self-fish first.

Stay curious and ask lots and lots of questions to all parts of the genius inside you.

Make it your life's play to understand yet another (and another and another) corner of your brain [how and why he normally puts things together as he does], and another (and another and another) nook of your heart [the way she connects past wounds to the different emotions she’s currently feeling] and, with as little judgment as possible, decide how to chip away at what isn't in alignment with your ultimate vision of life, family, motherhood and of your loving leadership.

Picture taking mindful time to build a new wing off that section of your mind or heart…or, like a martini, straight up shake it up and evolve it.

Two, three or five percent will do. Next time, another two, three or five. Simple math says it all adds up to the ability of being observer rather than sufferer.

Keep going, keep saying yes to a life of love, of internal riches.

The more we do, the more energy we'll find to love, to forgive, yet a level deeper and live brighter than we thought possible, despite our heartbreak or brand of temporary loss.

Life is sweet. She has no problem waiting for us to finally sink our roots deeper into her tall, leggy truth, but, why wait:

~~> Happiness, the kind that sticks around, way longer than that yoga class, will always depend on you.

No one can/will make you happy. Others simply contribute to what's already there, so we want to make sure that reserve is close to full.

Meet the teachers and get the tools you need (that you don't even know you also *want*) to do the work before you're forced into it.

And the leggy truth continues, and you've heard it many times before, everything will continue to happen for us, not to us.

What will you learn about Self that you already knew or knew too little of?

Swim deep, do more: dissect your tendencies, hear what your habits are attempting to show you, understand the ways you show love and wish to be loved. Learn to love up on your patience and the act of letting go.

Survey it all, asking, do I wish to keep this as a part of who I am or do I desire to release it now?

And we can't forget to make a date with acceptance.

True growth can't make its way through to the gorgeous green leaves of your branches without it.

When we accept what's happened, no matter how excruciatingly difficult, we also accept ourselves as the raw, richly complex and imperfect beings we are. The dirt we grow up from holds the true fertile wisdom of self-love.

Acceptance has been most real (difficult) for me this year. Acceptance that Dino's not coming back and acceptance that, as a family, we've changed.

But everything changes, I whisper to myself, wiping wetness from my cheeks, everything.

My wish for all families as we head into 2015 (and, really, where I was meant to land with this sharing all along) is this:

I wish for you what I've wished for my beautiful family since that May day: let us not deal with change but heal with change. It's the only constant.

(((All my love and a New Year's hug)))

As I said at the beginning, happy new year of LIFE.

Life is good,

p.s. The Creative Heroine soul food challenge starts January 1st (but you can start anytime). Join the MGI community in our private Facebook group and get after that one thing that both excites us AND unnerves us. Come learn more, Creative Heroine. We would love to have you: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1582874648592822/