Does this happen to you too?
Every day’s headlines make me tear up. And some days it’s more than just tearing up; it’s a full out big cry that, if I actually wore mascara, would make it stream down my face.
The fires. The hurricanes. The pandemic. The needless and unjust killings. And beyond.
It’s a lot. (This is an understatement). READ MORE
Birthdays are an important moment – they can become a potent marker of time and of your personal evolution.
So, every year on my birthday I make time for this sacred and soulful ritual. It helps me make meaningful time and space on my special day just for ME. It connects me to my truest self and desires and helps me celebrate in deep ways. It also allows me to gracefully and joyfully let go of one year and powerfully move on to the next.
The ritual is simple, but really quite profound. Here is what I do: READ MORE
Happy Autumn Equinox! (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere)
I love, love, love this time of year – I love the smell of Autumn, the crispness in the air, delicious apples, and getting to wear sweaters. Yay!
And this week, the week of the Autumn Equinox, is an especially powerful time. It’s the moment where we cross the threshold from Summer to Fall, from the long days of socializing and being outdoors to the shorter days and drawing inwards. Many healers, shamans, astrologers and spiritual leaders believe that this week is a magical time for connecting more deeply to your dreams, your insights, and your intuition. So – keep a dream journal by your bed over the weeks to come!
I enjoy tapping into the elevated energy at this time of year, and I spend time in ritual, working on creating a powerful transition from Summer to Autumn and on letting go of whatever is standing in my way of moving forward. I’ll be sharing this energy with the women who are beginning Soul-Centered Leadership 2 this week; so excited for that.
And we’ve got just a couple spots left in the Wise Woman Leadership Program that begins next month. This 8-month training is for women who are ready to learn the foundational principles of launching a successful soul-centered project, from getting clear on exactly how and who you serve to visibility and marketing strategies.
If you’ve been curious about the program, but have been wanting to learn more, I’m excited to invite you to a special Preview Teleclass where I’ll be sharing some of the secrets you will learn in the program. The teleclass is my gift to you, and you can register HERE.
Big hug to you,
Joanna
Autumn is the perfect time to clean out and let go of what no longer serves you in your life. And letting go through ritual can be very powerful!
Look around and notice that the days are getting shorter and the leaves are falling from the trees. Soon, there will be less bounty and abundance being offered from the flowers and plants. Nature is letting go of excess and stripping down to the essentials – to what is really necessary to get through the long, dark winter. These cues from nature are beautiful invitations to help you in identifying, releasing, and letting go of the excess. Nature is signaling that it’s time to let go of the things that are perhaps weighing you down in your life.
It’s important to “clean house” on an inner level every now and again, and take stock of what you’re holding onto.
So often, you hold on to old fears, resentments, habits, patterns, limiting beliefs, and ways of being because they FEEL comfortable, but that’s only because you’ve been holding on to them for so long. However, when you take a closer look, you can begin to see that these things no longer serve you, and in fact are standing in the way of your moving forward.
The tree metaphor applies here: imagine what might happen if trees never shed their leaves? Yes, they might not ever look bare, and there is comfort in always looking full and abundant. However, if the trees never shed their leaves, they would never have a chance to grow new leaves – new ideas, new projects, new beliefs, new opportunities. See where I’m going with this?
I’ve created a simple and special autumn ritual to be able to identify and let go of the things in your life that are ready to be released for you:
Autumn Ritual for Release
First, reserve some special time for yourself. Go to an outdoor place that feels sacred to you: a park, a stream, a path in the woods. Any place that feels safe and supportive for you. Bring paper and a pen.
In sacred outdoor space, sit down in a comfortable place. Connect with nature. Feel your seat on the ground, and take a couple of nice, deep breaths in – taking in the autumn air and feeling the energy of releasing and letting go.
Next, use your paper and pen and answer the following questions. Take some time to really feel into these questions:
Review your answers, and create a list of 3 things that you know you are really ready to let go of. This list should be things that you know in your heart are no longer serving you, even though they might feel comfortable for you.
Next, find 3 rocks or pebbles. Each of these rocks will represent one thing that you are ready to release, surrender, and let go of. Be clear for yourself what each rock represents. Take a moment as you pick up each rock or pebble from the ground, close your eyes, feel the rock in your hand and say to yourself, “this rock represents my fear of success,” or “this rock represents my addiction to sugar” or “this rock represents my relationship with my boyfriend.” Allow each rock to truly take on the energy of each thing you want to release.
Then, go on a mindful walk with your three rocks. On this walk, observe all the ways that each of your “rocks” have hindered your happiness and success. Then, as you are ready, let each rock go, one by one. Drop them to the ground, really feeling that you are symbolically letting go of each. If you are near water, you can throw each rock into the water, listening to the splash each rock makes as it hits the surface and sinks down. Then take a moment to notice how it feels in your body to commit to releasing each of these things.
Finally, write down a next action step for each of your items. For example, if one of your items is your addiction to sugar, a next action step might be to cut sugar out after 7pm. Bring your action sheet home, and keep it somewhere convenient, where you’ll be reminded of these steps often.
Action follows intention. This autumn ritual is a great way to partner your inner and outer energy to create positive change in your life!
Over the next few days, I’ll be spending sacred time with family and friends for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.
This month is considered the holiest time of the year because it’s a time of assessing where you’ve gotten off track over the year, re-setting intentions to step into your biggest most aligned self, and focusing deeply on up-leveling your commitment to yourself, to spirit, and to supporting others in your circles and communities.
I love this time of year because it reminds me that I have not just an opportunity, but a sacred invitation, to be a better person, a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter, a better friend, a better leader and a better coach. It reminds me that I can always start again, that there is no need to harp on what hasn’t worked out, but rather to focus on what can happen next, and that who I am counts very much.
I apply all of these principles to my business each and every day, and I’d like to teach you to do the same. These principles have helped me to joyfully grow my business way beyond my expectations, and to feel aligned with my work consistently.
Join me on October 4th for a very special and complimentary teleclass – “6 Essential Strategies for New and Emerging Entrepreneurs”, and I’ll share with you my “new year planning process” that I use for my business each year. It’s nearly 75-minutes of pure content, and you’ll want to take lots and lots of notes!
I’m still settling into my new home in NC, but wanted to give you a heads up on a gift in honor of my birthday, which is TODAY. (Any other Virgos in the house?)
I love my birthday, and love to give to others on it, so I always gift the Soulful Coaching community with a special something this time of year.
This gift is designed to move you OUT of:
And move you into:
Here’s what one graduate of the program said:
“If you have your burning dream and are just starting out with it, not quite sure where to begin, how to focus or how to get your message out there, this program is the vital first step in helping you to clarify and put steps into place to make this happen. You WILL move forward on this program, there is no way not to. We cover so much ground corresponding to the main areas that need to be put in place to create a successful business.
Taking the time to look back over what I have accomplished as a result of the program reveals layer upon layer which doesn’t cease to amaze me! On an inner level my confidence in myself, my knowledge, education and what I want to share with the world has hugely increased. On an outer level I have put in place a solid foundation on which to build and market my programs and business.” –Caroline Cain, CarolineCain.dk
If you’re ready, NOW is the time. We’re over 50% full, and this special discount will last only until Friday at midnight.
If the program is right for you, but you want to talk about it to make sure, go ahead and reserve your spot at the discounted rate, and then let us know you’d like to talk. If after we speak, you feel the program isn’t for you, we’ll refund you in full right away.
Again, the link to register is: http://www.soulfulcoach.com/wwlp-birthday.php
With love,
Joanna
p.s. – My team manager, Sophie, shares the same birthday with me! So it’s a double birthday special!
We all experience fear differently. It rears its ugly head in many creative ways. When you are trying to bring your Soul-Centered Project into the world, that fear is often about visibility. You’re afraid of being seen because someone might think you’re a fraud. Or that you’re too old. Or too young and inexperienced. Or the fear is that you’ll be rejected. It’s easy to let that fear take over and hide away!
Yet, one thing is true about fear across the board: If you fail to address the fear when it comes up, your chances of achieving those juicy goals that you set out for yourself decrease drastically.
So how do I take on my fears?
I’m going to share with you three of my top ways to deal with fear, and avoid its paralyzing effects:
1) Identify How Your Fear Expresses Itself in Your Life
Fear takes you hostage because you often do not recognize that you are afraid! These “fear-based expressions” are much trickier than you first realize, yet so important to identify and pay attention to because they can cause pain and anxiety in your life.
There are three main ways in which our fears become expressed in our lives. I call them “fear-based expressions.” They are:
a) Body-based Expressions: These are fear-based symptoms that are expressed distinctly in your body. Perhaps you get a stomachache, your head begins to throb, or that old knee injury comes back for a painful visit.
b) Self-doubt and Criticism Expressions: Fear often expresses itself through self-doubt and self-criticism. You tell yourself things like, “You don’t look right!” or “You don’t present well” or “Who do you think you are? You aren’t good enough.”
c) Self-Sabotage Expressions: Self-sabotage symptoms are obstacles you put in your own way. We often soothe fears by sabotaging ourselves and our goals: by becoming indecisive, by “losing” documents, by forgetting to set the alarm, by deciding to do the laundry instead of writing the cover letter, on and on. Many people sabotage themselves by not making themselves and their Soul-Centered Project known in the world. Sound familiar?
Take Action: Think: what are your fear-based expressions? Take a few minutes and make a list of all the body based, self-doubt based, and self-sabotage based ways fear plays out in your life.
2) Identify What’s at Risk
It is my firm belief that fear always arises as a “red-alert” when something is at risk if you pursue a particular goal. For example, if you were to promote your business, perhaps what’s at risk is that people won’t sign up for your program. Or, that they won’t pay attention to what you have to say. Perhaps what’s at risk is the salary or connections you’ve made in your current position.
It’s important to ask the question, “What’s at risk for me if I were to really make myself visible?” because the risk IS what you are scared of.
Action Step: Journal on the following question: What’s at risk for you if you were to get visibility and be seen?
3) Name Your Fear and Embrace It
Now that you know what your REAL fear is (what’s at risk), it’s time to name it, feel it in your body, and embrace it. Yup, I’m serious. If fear is the big elephant in the room, and it’s not named or welcomed, then you can never really get to know it well enough to ask it to go away. Don’t be embarrassed about it; we ALL have fears, even the most successful or the most confident of us. It’s part of our human nature. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t get scared sometimes.
Action Step A: Name Your Fear. Simply name it in a word or two or three. “I am scared of failing,” or “I am scared of being ignored,” or “I am scared that I don’t look right.”
Action Step B: Feel the fear in your body. Take a few moments. Slow down. Close your eyes and notice where the fear lives in your body. Do you feel it in your shoulders, in your stomach? How does your fear affect you physically?
Action Step C: Embrace Your Fear. Perhaps you want to write it on a big piece of paper and hang it up on your refrigerator or your bathroom mirror. Perhaps you want to carry it around in your purse for a few days. Perhaps you want to write it in an email that you send to yourself or your best friend. However you do it, make it a point of embracing the thing that you are scared of. This simple act will take some of the emotional charge out of the fear and allow you to see it for what it really is.
Congratulations! After these first three steps, you probably know much more now about the nature of your fear and how it affects your life. These are great strides toward releasing this particular fear from your life, and gaining the visibility that you and your Soul-Centered project need to thrive!
Don’t Hide!
Years ago, Audre Lorde wrote: “We fear the visibility without which we cannot truly live.”
She was right about visibility in so many ways, and especially when it comes to making your dreams a reality. You need visibility to thrive and to create success. Yet being seen in the world can sometimes be scary or overwhelming.
It certainly was for me.
Be visible!!
Two years ago, I presented at a conference to over 200 women. It was my job to inspire the women to a place where they could love themselves deeply to reveal their soul and spirit to themselves and the world. The problem was that I wasn’t loving myself that day. Post-baby, I looked exhausted because I was nursing. I couldn’t get my hair to do anything I wanted. I didn’t fit in any of my clothes. The morning of the event, I wanted so much to hide from the world that I put makeup on in the dark and avoided the mirror at all costs.
Fortunately, I managed to inspire and deeply transform the women that day, but the truth is that I almost didn’t make it on stage! I almost backed out at the last minute because I didn’t want a single person to see me. Sadly, the fear of being seen – whether it’s because you don’t like the way that you look or you’re scared of being rejected or you don’t have enough confidence in your message – rears its head often for many soul-centered visionaries out there. The result is often self-sabotage, or hiding out or quitting … or simply feeling tortured with each marketing or PR step you take.
I don’t want you to miss out on the visibility you want any longer.
To help you learn how to create visibility for yourself and your Soul-Centered project, I’m going to teach you what I’ve learned about visibility since that conference 2 years ago.
At BE SEEN, we’ll be together in–person for a powerful and groundbreaking afternoon. You’ll receive:
Part content-rich business workshop, part internal excavation & transformation, this totally unique event is not to be missed!
Register NOW at http://soulfulcoach.com/be-seen.php.
We’re already 50% full, and it’s so important that you be there. I don’t want you to go another month or year hiding out from the world and keeping your message a secret.
Wishing you wild success and joy,
Joanna
p.s. I’ve overcome so many of my struggles with visibility … AND as I evolve, sometimes new visibility fears come up. The latest has been a huge block to creating videos of myself & a message to share with others. In honor of BE SEEN, I blew that fear out of the water and created a video just for you. Check it out here: http://soulfulcoach.com/be-seen.php
Here in Brooklyn, there’s no mistaking that it’s summer time. The heat is on. The sun is strong. The sprinklers are running, and the bathing-suits are out.
As many of you know, I am very conscious of living my life attuned to the earth and the seasons. And for me, summertime is all about investigating and getting to the next level of VISIBILITY. Why? Well, in the summer, the Sun is Queen. It’s all about the Sun. And traditionally, the sun represents being at the center of things, being visible, being seen and heard. Make sense?
So, in honor of the sun and summertime, I’ve prepared a very, very special opportunity just for you – a workshop and women’s circle all about visibility and bringing your sacred message to the world in big ways! I am over-the-moon excited about this event that’s taking place in NYC
on July 19th. It’s called BE SEEN, and it’s 3-hours of jam-packed visibility tools + experiential processes and ritual that will support you in being seen and heard and valued for your work in the world.
Here’s all the skinny on it: http://soulfulcoach.com/be-seen.php
There are lots of reasons why you don’t want to miss this event, and here’s one of the biggest reasons: I’m MOVING!!! Yup, it’s official; Jon, Penina and I will be packing up and moving to Charlotte, North Carolina later this month. So – if you’ve been wanting and waiting to work with me LIVE, here is your last chance for a while. I’m pulling out all the stops to make this a rock-the-house, not-to-be-forgotten event.
Will I see you there? I hope so! http://soulfulcoach.com/be-seen.php
And in the spirit of visibility, take a look at my article from Friday that’s all about creating effective, successful, and soul-centered presentations and talks.
Enjoy!
Presentations are an important tool that provides you and your business an opportunity to connect with multiple prospects in a powerful & authentic way. If done correctly, presentations are one of the most effective ways to help you attract clients and income easily and quickly.
Typically they are either no cost or low cost – an easy investment for the audience – and for you. They can include Preview Teleclasses, Community Talks, Free or low cost workshops, or Open Houses – any scenario where you give the audience valuable content, and also a taste of what they can expect when working with you.
No matter how large or small your audience, no matter how formal or casual or intimate your presentation is, you want it to be Soul-Centered. What is a Soul-Centered presentation? It’s a talk or presentation that is authentic, of high-content, and of high value. It’s true to your soul-centered mission, your soul-centered vision, and speaks directly to your ideal client with confidence, gracefulness, and total integrity.
This may seem simple – just be true to yourself, right? – but creating presentations can become a minefield of potential mistakes and lost opportunities if you don’t have the right strategy. Here are five of my top tips that I share with my clients to help them create presentations that are effective, powerful, and Soul-Centered.
1. Give at least 4 presentations a year: This may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how many people go out of their way to avoid presenting at all. So I want you to be honest with yourself: Have you been staying far away from invitations you’ve received to speak, or from reaching out to set up presentations? Are you operating under a fear of giving talks or presentations because you’re scared of being seen or not being good enough? If yes, I encourage you to work through your obstacles so that you can get in front of your target audience and show them what you’ve got (‘cause you KNOW it’s good!).
If you recognize you’re not really showing up to give presentations, my coach’s request is that you set a goal of setting up at least 4 for the following twelve months…and more if you’re already giving presentations!
2. Script out a powerful and effective Call to Action: Probably the #1 mistake I see folks make when they give presentations is that they do a beautiful job of giving valuable content to their participants, and then….they don’t tell their audience how to take the next steps with them! Or maybe you mention your services, but it’s super-brief and beside the point. My recommendation is to spend a full 10% of your presentation time on your call to action. Don’t rush it. Script it out (even if you don’t read from it). Speak passionately about how your prospects can take the next steps with you. Stand up for the powerful service you provide, let your audience know about it, and create a super-duper easy invitation for them to connect with you further.
3. Don’t give away too much: Your presentation should be high-value and chock-full of content – ALWAYS – however beware of over-giving. Don’t give so much information that your prospects’ experience is so complete that they don’t feel the need to take the next steps to buy your service or product. Let me be clear: This is absolutely not a business trick. This is about really serving your prospects: if you give away so much in a presentation that people leave feeling like they don’t need anything further from you, you’re doing them a disservice. They may feel complete in that moment, but we know the value of ongoing support. Whatever your service or project is, your work is more valuable when it is in a deep ongoing experience rather than a stand-alone half hour or 60 minute interaction.
4. Be authentic & make a personal connection: When giving presentations, it’s common to feel that you “have to” use a certain voice or language or energy or style. Sometimes a big audience feels scary, or sometimes the intimacy of a small group can be worrisome. But please remember: Don’t try to be anyone else other than yourself. If you’re not being authentic to who you are, your presentation, content, and call to action probably isn’t going to connect deeply with your audience. Remember: your audience is there to hear YOU. Speak from your heart, speak what you know to be true, reveal yourself.
5. Follow-up with your participants:The presentation doesn’t end when the actual talk is over. Always remember to follow-up with your participants within 24-48 hours to let them know how much you enjoyed being with them and to remind them of your call to action. Follow-up is KEY.
Your Soulful Coaching Call to Action
1) What is your biggest block or fear when it comes to making presentations? Maybe there are two; write them down. Awareness is so important here.
2) Make a list of 5 local or virtual venues, communities or associations that you could speak at and send out inquiry letters.
3) Script out your presentation and make sure to include a powerful call to action, an authentic and personal connection, and plans to follow-up afterwards.
Do you want to learn more about soul-centered marketing strategies, visibility and being seen in the world in a BIG way? I invite you to register for BE SEEN! We’ll spend a full 3-hours together at this live workshop. If you are in the NYC area on July 19th, please join me for a transformative experience that will radically change your approach to visibility and to being seen for your message. Register today (it’s my LAST live event in NYC before I move)! http://soulfulcoach.com/be-seen.php
