Dear Savvy Woman,

I was working with my coach yesterday (I have one too - we all need to walk our talk…) and she asked me how often I check in with my Vision (in this case, my career Vision) these days.

My answer = not much.

Admittedly, I can find myself off-track, and the thought of dedicating some time to connect to my Vision feels like - UGH.

Just like exercising, eating well, or other self-care, if I get off-track, it takes a little wake-up to stretch and get back into the game.   It might feel more comfortable to sit it out, but it’s no fun not playing.

I discovered in talking with Karin, my Fabulous Coach (www.mmmaven.com), that the best way for me to tap into my Vision regularly and effectively is by playing a mind movie.   

A mind movie is simply a Vision you hold in your mind, playing out the future scenario that you are desiring.   I first did this when I anxiously anticipated delivering a presentation to executives in a former job.  I pictured myself confident, calm and equiped to handle anything that came my way.   Sure enough, we oddly lost electricity during the event, and I later received praise from my boss for how unaffected I appeared.  

Mind movies work.  I’ve played them preparing for various events that caused me temporary anxiety (dates, interviews, key meetings, challenging conversations).  It never fails to work.

I committed to Karin yesterday to play my mind movie , at minimum, every day if just for a few minutes.  The key is to really feel into the movie, capturing the energy and vibration of your Vision.  Press pause and hold that space as long as you can in your mind, and feel that energy in your body.  

So, my savvy friend, I encourage you to try this.  You will be amazed.

First, get clear on a Vision.  What are you desiring?   Then, create a future image of you having this in your life, being this Future Self.  Add in details and feeling-tones that make the movie rich and fulfilling - you’re enjoying the fruits of your success.  

Play this movie regularly!

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Woman,

I often coach my clients to journal.  This is not an easy task if you’re not accustomed to doing so - I know.   One thing that I always find is a help - both for myself and for my clients - is to begin with a Gratitude List.  I got this idea from a book that Oprah made famous, Simple Abundance, by Sara Ban Breathnach. 

The idea is to give thanks to what you have, what you enjoy, what is true.   Small and big.  Simple pleasures. 

Taking time to list these things can shift our perspecitve dramatically.   Suddenly, we realize that we have many things to take pleasure and comfort in.   We don’t need to keep our mental focus on what we seemingly lack or don’t have.

For example, my list today:

1.  Feeling the sun on my face and the warm air.

2. Laughing and making it through 6am bootcamp this morning.

3.  A sweet email from a friend I don’t get to see much.

4.  The ability to do work that I love today.

5.  A sweet kiss from my husband.

Writing this list drops me in to how I’m feeling, and slows me down to take notice of all that I am able to do and to experience.   Especially if I’m feeling uninspired or in negative thinking, writing 5 things to be grateful for always helps turn me around.  

Try it out!

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Woman,

What if you knew that…..

• you are right where you are suppose to be , right this minute
• you can’t make a mistake, because there are none -life is comprised of continual lessons
• you only have control over yourself, and your reactions
• you are absolutely, purely, completely loved, as you are - always

Would you date differently?

Might you feel ….

• lighter, looser, and more accepting of YOU?
• more courageous to show up on dates and in relationship in a very true, bright and bold version of YOU?
• safe to explore desires, honor and develop boundaries, and express YOURSELF?
• LOVED?

Read this over again.  Feel into this.  Then, step into this on your next date, or if in relationship, your next interaction with your sweetie.  Slip into this mental state.  This is pure TRUTH.  This is WHAT IS.  We just forget.   And then we remember.   When we ACT from this place, it is pure BEAUTY and STRENGTH.   Soooooo LOVELY.   You get to  RELAX.   Watch what happens.

Ahhh…..

With love,

From my savvy heart to yours ~

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Stones & colors: Iridescent shades; metallic; light blue; light green stones of clear and dense properties

Oils & incenses: Patchouli; comfrey; dill; thyme; bay laurel; berries

Mercury and Neptune combined in retrograde motion calls for looking, not just back, but deep within, and, also beyond the mundane. Finding a link to the greater consciousness and a common denominator within humanity will help to open doors of evolution during these times.

Be reaching back and journeying, maybe through astral travel, you will find original intents and purposes of your spirit and collective soul groups. You are in a time now to have revealed to you the answers to many mysteries that have been veiled in time for centuries.

The truth and the wisdom are there and the time for it to emerge is now. Let this be your guiding force to a safer and more abundant and secure lifestyle.

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Woman,

I want to share a fun and savvy, not to mention sassy, resource with you :  www.jillianbisinger.com.

Jill is a fabulous photographer here in San Francisco.  I used her for my photos on my website www.BeLoveSavvy.com.   If you peruse her website you’ll see she also takes amazing pregnancy photos, family photos, and events.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your online profile or just celebrating the New You, you’ll have a great time listening to blues and chatting with Jill like an old friend as she clicks away - complete with outfit changes and hair checks to expand your options, and confidence.  Not only do you walk away with tons of photos to choose from at a reasonable price, but you feel like a Star for a couple of hours! 

What Savvy gal couldn’t use a dose of that once in a while??

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

Dear Savvy Woman,

 I’m a little exhausted today. Yesterday, yours truly celebrated her 37th birthday.  Sure, why not, I’ll throw out the number.  I’m not afraid.  After all, it’s just a number.  It’s all of my life experiences rolled up into a big-small-in between number, whatever your perspective happens to be at the time that you look at it - right?

I had a wonderful day.  It was perfect. It was a combination of family and friends, pampering and purpose, with celebration weaved throughout.  Spoken - or written - like a true Taurus.  = )

Birthday = Birth Day, is marked annually, however I want to share with you an important reminder: EVERY DAY we are given a NEW DAY -  each day we have an opportunity to begin a-new, to start again, and  so,  we are truly living our BIRTH DAY every day.   I’ve just reached my 37th year, and that means that I have really celebrated  13, 505 birth days.

13, 505

Yowza.  That’s a lot of days!  Hmmm….I might like the 37 number a bit better = ).

But, back to the reason for this post.  Every day is our BIRTH DAY.   Every day we are at CHOICE to begin a-new.  How fabulous is that?   Can you feel into the truth of that?  Truly?  

Because it’s the fact, jack.  We don’t have to wait for our official birthday to come around.  We can celebrate ourselves every day.  We can choose to honor ourselves every day.  We can consciously make choices that support our desires and vision, we can infuse fun and celebration into our days, and we can take inventory of all that we are grateful for and for all that we are. 

Wait a second.  As I write this, I’m thinking about the reality that each day is a birth day.  Each day is a day to begin a-new.  So, scratch the 13, 505 number for me, would you?    I’m acutally at 1.

Happy Birth Day.

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

I’ll never forget the day. I walked out of my then boyfriend’s place, who lived 3,000 miles from me, calling the airline and catching a flight days earlier than I was scheduled to travel home.  The customer representative must have been whispered to by an angel.  I hear her on the other end of the line say, ‘Yes, Ms. Stewart, it’s your lucky day. I can get you on this flight. And …it looks like there is a gentleman sitting next to you.  Hopefully he’s available and attractive…(giggle).”  How did she know that I had just learned (unverified at that time, but I knew) that my boyfriend had been cheating on me and that I was feeling all of an inch tall??  I took this as a sign, a sign that despite walking out with no notice (like he deserved any!?) which I was sadly questioning at that moment, and feeling like my heart and soul had gone bankrupt overnight, there was a Greater Plan. I’m certain that it was the reassuring tone in her voice that helped me to move on and fly home that day, rather than collapse in fear and despair, and denial.

Why am I sharing this with you?  Well, I heard Christina Agluiera’s, “Fighter”, on the radio the other day, and it took me back to this time and particular experience in my life, and the learning that resulted. After all of that went down, she would come on the radio, singing this song, and I would turn it up and sing along, feeling her anger, her resolve and her strength.  It was the injection that I needed at the time; a ‘surface’ ointment to help my healing wound.

 After all of the stealing and cheating you probably think that I hold resentment for you
But uh uh, oh no, you’re wrong
Cause if it wasnt for all that you tried to do, I wouldn’t know
Just how capable I am to pull through
So I wanna say thank you
Cause it [Chorus:]
Makes me that much stonger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for makin me a fighter

I am always a sucker for silver linings, this is for sure. I didn’t see one at the time, but years later, I revel in the absolute sterling quality of it.  At the time, this song helped me to feel my anger, both at him and at myself, and to acknowledge that there was a hard line now being drawn: no more hiding behind someone else and settling for less than I deserved.  The song reminds me of all the Greater Plans of life. I don’t get the same charge that I did even several years afterward, when I would hear it come on the radio. Today when I hear it, it’s as if my wiser self lovingly nudges my old, younger self (an oxymoron, but accurate) and says, “See Les, I told you the Greater Plan would present itself.”  

For all of you Savvy women who are questioning the ‘WHY?’ around a failed relationship, or event, that is leaving you feeling great loss, anger, despair – please know that I feel your pain - I truly empathize. I hope you find solace in the cliché and Truth: things happen for a reason. There always is a Greater Plan.

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Woman,

What beliefs are you walking around with? 

I’m a good person

Life is unlimited abundance

I’m not worthy

I’m so lovable

I can do this

I’m ugly

I’m fat

I don’t know how to ‘do relationships’ very well

I make stupid mistakes 

Beliefs are like the food of our minds, and therefore, they make up our emotional and physical health and realities. 

Recognizing unhealthy,false beliefs and replacing them with healthy, abundant and true beliefs -which propel my clients forward to living bigger, bolder and deeper lives - is part of my coaching work.

Debbie Ford writes, in “Why Good People Do Bad Things”, “We participate in the killing off of our spirits by perpetuating the lies that have been delivered to us in so many ways - the lies being the beliefs we hold about ourselves.  But it’s now time to break free from denial and start telling the truth.  Your beliefs, even the ones deeply ingrained in your psyche, are not the truth, they are a truth - and they can also be a lie.…It’s time to recognize these lies for what they are and acknowledge the deeper truth: beliefs are just that - beliefs.  These lies that we tell ourselves shame us, confirming the untruth that we are really the bad ones who should go without love, money, health , or happiness.”

Check your beliefs.  How might they be limiting you - keeping you in denial, playing small, and simply not expressing the full, true self that is you?

Create new beliefs.  If you struggle with this, ask a trusted (and enlightened) friend to help you.

Post them.  Read them morning and night.

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Woman,

We want to hear whispers of sweet nothings in our ears (nothings? scratch that, sweet Somethings).  Let us read this affirmation from Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life) as a reminder of where it all begins and ends. With ourselves.

Print this. Post it. Read it morning and night. Notice what happens.

In the infinity of life where I am, all is perfect, whole and complete.

I live in harmony and balance with everyone I know.

Deep at the center of my being, there is an infinite well of love.

I now allow this love to flow to the surface.

It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness, my very being, and radiates out from me in all directions and returns to me multiplied.

The more love I use and give, the more I have to give.

The supply is endless.

The use of love makes me feel good; it is an expression of my inner joy. I love myself; therefore, I take loving care of my body. I lovingly feed it nourishing foods and beverages, I lovingly groom it and dress it, and my body lovingly responds to me with vibrant health and energy.

I love myself; therefore, I provide myself a comfortable home, one that fills all my needs and is a pleasure to be in.  I fill the rooms with the vibration of love so that all who enter, myself included, will feel this love and be nourished by it.

I love myself; therefore, I work at a job I truly enjoy doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities, working with and for people I love and who love me, and earning a good income.

I love myself; therefore, I behave and think in a loving way to all people for I know that which I give out returns to me multiplied.

I only attract loving people into my world, for they are a mirror of what I am.

I love myself; therefore, I forgive and totally release the past and all past experiences, and I am free.

I love myself; therefore, I live totally in the now, experiencing each moment as good and knowing that my future is bright and joyous and secure, for I am a beloved child of the Universe, and the Universe lovingly takes care of me now and forever more.  All is well in my world.

From my savvy heart to yours,

Leslie

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com 

Can you decide to be happy… NOW?  Can you make the choice that if this moment is all that we truly have, that despite how the picture of your life looks to you today, this month, this year as you turn ____,( insert age), you are going to be Happy?

What does that truly mean, anyway - being Happy? 

Is it a ’state of being’?   If so, is it fleeting, is it permanent?  I don’t know about you, but I am guilty of walking around with thoughts that point to many things defining my happiness - I might do this a lot less than I use to, but I am still guilty.  Unless we are all closer to the self-actualization of Buddha, Ghandi, and the like - we can probably relate to this, right?

“When I get to here ______(insert phase of life:  that relationship/amount in the bank/state of a relationship/ ‘landing spot’ of whatever),  then I’ll *really* be Happy.

My clients come to me with the desire to find love.  We take a look at things that are getting in their way - from limiting thoughts, lost belief in that it’s even possible, and also things like negative habits/attachments that deplete their energy and creativity - leaving them living ’small’.

You know what I hear more and more?  “Well, I know that when I meet ________ (him - a great guy/my boyfriend/my husband), THEN I’ll be happy.”   I nod my internal head, relating to this woman’s thoughts, as I use to subscribe to the same belief.   And it kept me living small, when I wanted to live BIG.  

 When I met my husband, it was after I decided that I wanted to live BIG, regardless of whether of not I had a guy  that I was crazy about in my life.  I simply decided to live life without him. For now.  Finally.  I ended things with the guy who I was currently miserable with (a nice, funny, successful, attractive and very unavailable man), and  I moved forward with a career change, trips and treats for myself, and a succession of daily small, simple choices to support my values of FUN and EASE.  All that rolled up into me feeling pretty good - I was satisfied with my life as it was. Sure, I was desiring him, and I kept that desire tucked in my back pocket, like a little shiny pebble of rose quartz.   I knew it was there, and I kept it close.

What I witness is a lot of women contintuing to walk around, living with this huge boulder that’s landed in their living room.  It’s impossible not to see it -it’s there - kerplunk.  And it gets in the way of everything. It’s the “He’s not here, so I can’t even begin to decorate, or even walk or live comfortably in here, until he is.”  That boulder is all of the negative thoughts and beliefs,  held resentments and regrets, and dissappointments that have formed into rock - a boulder - and it’s sitting in the living rooms of many women.  It’s serving as this huge paperweight - holding down the precious lives of beautiful women everywhere. 

If you are one of the millions tuning into the Eckert Tolle/Oprah online classroom on the book ‘A New Earth’, you might be looking at what this means.  I’m not actually following this book on Oprah.com, but I have read it.  Tolle writes, “Don’t seek happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness.  Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing what is rather than making up stories about it.  Unhappiness covers up your natural state of well-being and inner peace, the source of true happiness.”

 (Stay tuned for Part 2….)

From my savvy heart to yours,

with love ~

Leslie 

The Savvy Woman’s Love Coach

www.BeLoveSavvy.com