Today I woke up  with the luxury of my morning being clear on my schedule.

I had a thought come in.

“Take a bath this morning”, the thought said.

Quickly, my rational mind (specifically, LG aka Logistics Girl) shut that idea down, real fast.

“What about your workout, what about how soft and relaxed you’ll feel afterward (shouldn’t that be a night-time thing, and why would you want to feel soft and relaxed at the beginning of your day?  And on, and on, she droned).

After a short morning ritual of meditation and writing down a few thoughts, LG took over quickly, and I took some time to return email, make a few calls, and look at my schedule for the rest of the day. I had appointments and an evening writing workshop. I knew my morning was clear.

The idea came back and reminded me that it would be REALLY nurturing for me to take a bath. Today. This morning.

I’d had a stressful, emotional few days. My body felt tense, already, this morning. I decided, before committing to the bath concept, and to pull an Angel card (Dorreen Virtues are beautiful), and see what SHE had to say about things.  (Isn’t it crazy that we ache for free time, for NEW, and then when we have it, if it’s not spent doing our familiar down-time routines – if we even have any besides TV and Tabloids – we (I) still doubt our intuitive nudges?)

‘Sulis’ – the Goddess governing Bodys of Water – was the card I pulled.  ’Take an epsom salt bath to clear your body and emotions”, was one of the actions that Sulis recommended.   Well, wouldn’t you know it.  The bath I had wanted to take was to be an epsom salt and baking soda bath (very healing and clearing combination – 1lb. each). Wouldn’t you know?

So off I went – giving in. (Lol!)  I added a few drops of a beautiful blended oil from www.evanstarspa.com, and soaked for 20.  It felt odd, being off my weekday morning routine, but it was divine.  And I’ve had the best day since.

Taking new loving actions towards ourselves can sometimes be met with LOTS of resistance.  Our mind and ego knows how to put up a really good fight to keep us the same.  Our Intuition knows EXACTLY what we need, what is the Truth, if we will only listen to it. I’m learning more and more how big the pay off is when I do.  But what a mentor reminds me of is this :  We don’t listen to it, because it will require CHANGE. It requires taking action.

How do you listen to your intuition, and what you need to love yourself more?  If you don’t know how to answer this, but you want to – I highly recommend creating a space to listen.  If you don’t, the guidance can’t come in and reach you.  And it’s instant – it’s quick – it’s right there. To journal, you’ll want to carve out a few minutes each morning or evening, and write down reflections, thoughts, yearnings. Keep it simple, and consistent, for a week or two.  I guarantee that you’ll receive messages on how to love yourself more…which always leads to more expansion… in love and life.

With love!

Leslie

I’m excited to do a few New Year’s Rituals today – firsts for me. What I usually do is reflect the last few weeks of the year and get clear on some new intentions and goals for myself for the upcoming New Year.  Writing a letter to yourself as if you are at the end of that next year – and what you are grateful for – is a powerful way to seal in your vision.

In that process, I also chose one word (an idea that floated around on Facebook this month that I thought was so simple yet powerful) to capture what I want to embody more of in 2011.  It will be my foundation. I chose ‘Responsibility’.  I’ve realized that as much as I say I want to take on and create for myself in life, I still shy away from taking 100% ownership. (Yikes- not easy to admit to myself! )My journey this year has led me to understand how essential it is to be completely responsible for every thought, feeling, emotion, intention, action, calling, desire, etc that I have.  Be responsible for ME, for my actions and re-actions, and what I create. No one else!

It’s a little un-sexy of a word, I know – it feels kind of heavy from one vantage point at least – but it excites me! And that’s because I know that with this truth and focus, 2011 will be a year unlike any I’ve every experienced. I’m already feeling the ‘fire-walking’ energy of it, and yet I know my soul is on board. Writing this I’m reminded of a fabulous card that I recently found,  with a little girl and a dog sitting side by side in chairs, and it reads, “Life is tough. I recommend getting a manicure, and a really cute helmet.”

What’s your word for 2011?

The rituals I’ll be doing today were suggested by a friend who is so full of gorgeous Goddess-energy and very wise beyond her years. She handed them to me, and so I trusted that this is what I am meant to do today! Mostly because they felt right to me.

1) Write down all the things you are choosing to let go of as you head into 2011 (I know for me these live much more in the land of outworn thoughts & beliefs, behaviors, habits, patterns that no longer serve who I am becoming).

2) Burn that list.

3) Cast 2011 intentions into the ocean at sunset today (a special method she shared that’s too compex for this blog, but you can lay a rock on top of a list of intentions and then throw the rock into the ocean (or place it on an altar or special holding place). Sunset is a time of fertility (who knew?). A time to ‘birth’ these intentions.

No matter what you choose to do as far as goal-setting, my wish is for you to release. Release anything that you know in your heart isn’t serving the YOU that is bursting to be born. The YOU that yearns for more love, new love, less baggage, less drama, more peace, more success.  We always have to move through whatever blocks our path, yet it can be tricky to see and painful to admit. So be very, very gentle with yourself, yet brave.

When we want new love, yet we are not being the love we so long for, we must release something.  When we want new success, yet we are not embodying and acting from that new feeling and place of success, we must release something.  A full glass can’t hold new water. And often, even if ‘He’ isn’t in your life,  you have old beliefs, thoughts and feelings that would probably equal a loooonng line of men out the door.  How is he going to get to your doorstep? Or that new business, or body?

Go with your gut on what those are, write them out, and burn them.  Let 2011 be the year that you step into more of YOU, creating much more of what you want to experience.

I write this for myself as I write this for you.

Happy New Year !!!  I am so grateful to connect here with you.

To your love, success and abundance ~

Leslie

Dear Savvy Woman,

Let’s be grateful for what is and what matters most to us,  as we enter the holidays and soon say hello to 2010.

I’ll go first by sharing that I am so grateful for:

YOU, for the opportunity to connect with you in this way.

My health and Being: body, mind, spirit, and soul.  

My clients, and all the women who trust – and have trusted – me in guiding them to find their true love.  

All the brilliance, beauty and opportunity that exist on the planet in my lifetime.

My friends and family for their love and support,  and for being who they are in my life (or were), and teaching me what I most need to learn, sometimes to my great dis-comfort! 

The expansiveness and shiny-new experiences that emerge on the other side of the above dis-comfort!

And I’m grateful  - more with each passing day – to my husband Larry for being more than I could have ever imagined as a friend and husband – and teacher.  Last Thanksgiving we did not spend  together (that’s for another blog post or maybe even a book!).  I’m learning so much about myself and about life being in this relationship.  It’s both life-giving and humbling.

All the people that have paved the road for me and you, including my beloved mom who passed away 15 years ago.  I love you Mom, and miss you. 

And as I end this blog, I look inside the book cover of a book I read in the mid-9o’s after my mother passed, that her sister, my Aunt Margo, sent to me “Simple Abundance”, by Sarah Ban Breathnach.  This is syncronistic.  I read on this inside cover what I  know I am to share with you, a prayer that I learned from an Oprah show back then that John Gray shared with the audience, and that helped me to connect to my higher self, to the Universe and to more abundance.

“Oh glorious future, come sit in my heart.  My heart is open to you.

Oh glorious G*d, come sit in my heart.  My heart is open to you.”

Happy Thanksgiving from me to you ~

Leslie

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Friend,

Discomfort is a signal to us that we’re on to something…

“Your discomfort is actually a gift from G*d.  The Universe is reminding you that there is something you believe in more than what you are currently doing, and it is steering you to your right place.  Your Higher Self is giving you clues toward the prize that awaits you when you remember your worth.  There is something that you believe in, and that is the direction in which you need to move to find real happiness.  In contrast to the sense of struggle that you experience when you deny your gifts, you will be amazed at how effortlessly and joyfully success comes to you when you step toward your heart‘s chosen field.  We never have to deny our self in order to win.”

- Alan Cohen, Dare to Be Yourself

I’ve been more and more uncomfortable recently as I’ve been in a deeper place of personal and professional growth.  I decided to become more aware of when I eat sugar, and to modify that behavior (it’s rough but rewarding! ;-), and a little won’t kill me…).  I’ve been uncomfortable as I take steps to honor my needs, despite how those around me may respond.  I’ve been uncomfortable as I step into new-to-me actions leading me toward my desires.

If we aren’t growing, we’re not fully living.  And growth is uncomfortable at times.

We can get to these plateaus and rest for a while, taking in the vistas.  But then we realize the person we’re dating or in relationship with isn’t perhaps one we should continue to be with.  We decide that we can’t stomach one more toxic conversation with someone.  Or, we listen to that inner knowing enough that’s nudging us to interview in an entirely new field –  one that’s lighting us up.

Life can get a bit uncomfortable as we listen to ourselves, honor what we’re hearing, and take actions based on faith, not fear.

So, here is to loving ourselves through the discomfort.

On the other side is peace. And *bliss*.

With love,

Leslie

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Friend,

Recently I’ve had a few reminders of the importance of this Truth when it comes to going for your dreams; whether it’s to have a loving, reciprocal relationship – build a business around a vision-  or simply to live a rich life with lots of FUN and reward.

You must be willing to take your own journey.  And by this, I mean wake up to YOU, what YOU need, and what’s in your heart. Despite being perhaps a very independent woman in the world, are you honoring your needs and desires-  in what you want to create for yourself both in relationship and in life?

When you do, when you step out into the true unknown, and you ‘burn the ships’ (your safety nets of old, outworn patterns, and sometimes things, like a relationship if it’s not going to work, job or friendships) – this is when you truly are ‘carried’. You’re carried out of the ‘unwanted’ and ‘outgrown’, and into a new land of your dreams.

Taking our own journey means keeping our eye on ‘our prize’. 

I remember when I was single and feeling ‘less-than’ because the man I was dating wasn’t showing up for me the way I needed him to (as in letting down his guards, planning more for the future, etc) and how, rather than honor my needs, my heart and my vision, I would continue to look at how I could be different – sexier, more confident, more beautiful, more witty, more successful.  All I needed to do was love myself enough to admit, ‘Yikes. This doesn’t feel so great’, and then step out on faith and belief that my desire wanted me just as much as I wanted it. (You can replace this relationship desire with anything: health, finances, new employment, entrepreneurship).  

Once those two click in, loving myself enough and stepping out into my own journey on faith, the steps to show myself and the Universe that I was serious about my desire became much easier, despite including sometimes painful choices that would scare the hell out of me.  And still do, as I am applying this to the creation of my business and working for myself now.

Often I notice that if we don’t love our selves enough (self-worth) and/or are clear on what our desire is (we’re not slowing down enough to know but rather are responding to life so we don’t have clarity OR we’re doing the ‘who am i?’ thing  which is also self-worth, because often when we vision and dream, or listen to the calling we still don’t dream big enough), nor believe it’s possible – we simply stay stuck.  And then, when things fall out with the relationship that we were settling in, we wonder what happened and analyze it to death and often blame ourselves.  Or, we stay in the job that we can’t stand but pays the bills and yet shrivel up so much inside that we’re assuaging our pain and stuckness with everything under the sun, and long for a different way to live but as the days click on our belief, dreams, and action steps get more and more suppressed.

When things were hitting rock-bottom with an ex-boyfriend, I finally decided that was it. It took rock-bottom, however. Then, I simply changed my mind and decided.  This was it! The work came then in healing my heart, developing my faith & belief even further, and stepping out.  Living and having fun in new ways. And as soon as I loved myself enough to do things differently and follow that bliss, I met my husband Larry. I hope that we’re blessed with a long, sweet, rich life – living and loving together.  AND, I know that I’m ultimately on my own journey – as each of us are.

To yours,

With love ~

Leslie

www.BeLoveSavvy.com

Dear Savvy Friend,

It’s the beginning of April – the start of Spring.

I know that despite the sun and the spring air,  my mind and heart felt the need this morning for some purifying words from Louise Hay.

I wanted to share with you this:

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

There is no beginning and no end, only a constant cycling and recycling of substance and experiences.

Life is never stuck, static or stale, for each moment is ever new and fresh.

I am one with the very Power that created me, and this Power has given me the power to create my own circumstances.

I rejoice in the knowledge that I have the power of my own mind to use in any way I choose.

Every moment of life is a new beginning point as we move from the old.

This moment is a new point of beginning for me right here and right now.

All is well in my world.

From my savvy heart  – and mind – to yours ~

Leslie

www.BeLoveSavvy.com