"Create before you Consume."

“Create before you consume.” ~ Marie Forleo

These words inspired me in December to re-order my early morning routine and remind me that we are all here to be creative artists. Whether or not we paint or make music or write, we are artists of life. We each continually create with our choices and how we spend our time and our mental and emotional energy.

On any day we can create miracles and we can create misery, with our thoughts and our focus and our actions.

We are creative artists living in a culture that is dangerously tilted toward consumerism.

Each morning, as soon as I turn on my computer up pops an enormous banquet of ideas, recipes, articles, books, perspectives (and cute shoes) vying for my attention. I love gathering ideas and stories, being informed and getting inspired - and yes, finding the rare combination of cute and super comfortable shoes!

And the over-abundance of all of this easily distracts me.

Consuming is seductive and may pull us away from the most true and unique gifts we are each here to bring to the world.

So for the last two months, every morning I commit my best, most productive hours to meditation, prayer and writing, to diving deeply into my creative projects before I check email, read other people’s articles or the news, or look at ads.

Create before you consume.

Several of my clients have taken this concept to heart and found their own ways to honor their creativity. One recently told me, “I feel more alive and more on-purpose and amazingly I have less need to over-eat or to spend money when I remember I am primary a creator, not a consumer!”

What is your relationship with creating and consuming?

What are you creating today?

Rush less. Achieve more.

“I’ve quit rushing.”

Years ago I was struck by this statement from my teacher Jalaja Bonheim. From her I learned the power and pleasure of achieving without rushing. No slacker, Jalaja is the author of eight books, the founder of Circlework International and leads workshops and women's healing and wisdom circles all over the world.

Feeling the power of her non-rushing presence, I realized, Ahh, I want to embody that more fully too.

This practice of not rushing - or at least rushing less! - is deeply nourishing to me.

When I rush less I feel more, enjoy more, appreciate more, and am more fun to be around. Rushing less I accomplish more of what i really care about. Not rushing means in my classes and talks and workshops I cram in a little less in and participants walk away with more.

What happens when you play with letting go of rushing while you are working on projects, and achieving your goals?

What do you feel in your body, your breath, your heart and the room around you?

I’d love to hear from you.

He survived by powering through.

A few years ago a friend of mine got caught in a sudden, blinding snowstorm.

Carrying a heavy backpack, he was hiking into a cabin on a small unmarked trail. Alone. In the wilderness. No cell phone reception. Nightfall was approaching.

For the next two hours he pushed and pushed more and powered his way through until finally, in the dark, he reached the cabin.

This kind of short term emergency survival situation is perfect for rallying the Push More -Power Through Mode.

It was smart of him to override his body's signals of being tired or hungry or in pain.

It was smart of him not to sit down in the snow and gaze in wonderment at the beautiful white trees.

He survived because as soon as he realized the danger, his inner emergency response system went into high gear.

That mobilized his stress hormones and made him super-strong and super-focused on a very specific goal: getting to the cabin alive.

When he reached his cabin, he collapsed, ate a little, drank some water and slept all night and most of the next day.

He woke up feeling very grateful, exhausted, depleted and very, very sore.

Pushing and powering through is a brilliant response your nervous system can quickly mobilize when it perceives serious danger. It is the perfect response for very specific and very rare situations. Like running from a tiger or making it through a storm to safety. It is meant to be activated for a short period, followed by deep, complete rest to replenish your inner reserves.

It is not meant to be used constantly or to achieve long term success.

Constant pushing and powering through is not sustainable. It leads to burnout and exhaustion and has toxic effects on your health, your happiness and your relationships. It is not a good strategy for running a business, raising a family, creating loving relationships or going after your biggest goals and dreams.

And yet this Push More - Power Through Mode is so common in our culture that most of us over-rely on it. We often rally it as it as our #1 way of getting things done.

There is a more enjoyable, and more productive way! Get into your Creative Flow and create like the miracle maker you really are!

CLICK HERE NOW to get my FREE Report: The Miracle Maker’s Quick Shift Formula: 5 Simple Steps to get out of the Push More - Power Through Mode and get into your Creative Flow!

Related post: Read about my client who succeeded her whole life by pushing herself and then began longing for another way…

Surrendering, Synchronicity and Salal Tea

This week I’ve been laid low by a head cold and sinus infection.

When I stop arguing with the experience and thinking it should be different, it’s not so bad.

Surrendering my ideas of what I should be feeling and what should be happening, I discover many pleasures and gifts. Right here. Right now.

Giving in to what my body really needs in this moment leads me to a rather blurry, yet creative, hibernatory space that feels in tune with the natural wisdom of this time of year. Wild animals, and even our house kittens, are quieter and sleep more in these dark months. Many plants are dormant, turning their energy inward to gather energy for spring growth.

Giving in to what is, I can enjoy not getting into my car for 8 days, and spending cave-time reading, envisioning, writing and napping.

Giving in to slowing down, I am more open to the magic of synchronicity that is always present in our lives, but easy to overlook in daily busyness.

Yesterday in our local paper I read an article about a raid on salal poachers in the
Siusilaw National Forest.

Salal is a beautiful, native evergreen shrub that grows in these woods. It gets poached because it is valued commercially as greenery for floral arrangements. Then it usually called Lemon Leaf.

The article also said that due to its anti-inflammatory properties salal is helpful for sinus infections.

Hmmm…!

Although I’ve lived for 26 years here the edge of our forest that has thickets of salal, and although I tend to get a sinus infection once a year, I’ve never worked with salal for medicine.

Googling medicinal properties of salal I learned that First Nation people relied on it as a healing food and medicine for many conditions including inflammation, infection, digestive issues and burns.

“Sometimes our most common plants, the ones we barely notice, are our best everyday medicines.” Elise Krohn, Wild Foods and Medicines blog.

When the sun came out this morning, I meandered in the woods, talked to the plants, savored the earth under my feet, the light sparkling through tree tops and the sound of rushing creek and - after asking the plants for permission- I gathered a few leaves, brewed them up and am now sipping my first mugful. It’s earthy and pleasant.

Will it cure my sinus infection?

I don’t know.

But I felt healing in just going into the woods and connecting with this hardy, lush plant. The process of gathering and preparing the tea was itself a healing meditation and prayer.

Plant medicine experts say salal carries the quality of perseverance and forgiveness. Soundsgood to me.

And you?

Have you worked with salal or other wild plants for healing?

Are there challenging situations in your life that, when you stop resisting, begin to reveal deeper gifts and pleasures?

Please leave a comment below!

Going deeper:

Want to learn more about the healing power of wild plants? Check out the book The Wild Wisdom of Weeds, 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival by Katrina Blair

Want to learn more about the power of synchronicity? Check out the book, Sidewalk Oracles, Playing with Signs, Symbols and Synchronicity in Everyday Life by Robert Moss

Want support in discovering healing gifts and pleasures within your challenges? Send me an email Lea@LeaBayles.com and we’ll set up a time to talk about the best way I can support you.

join us! RhythmAsana retreat at Breitenbush Hotsprings Jan 25- 27!

I LOVE this weekend. It is deep and fun and heart-opening. Teaching and Facilitating in this forest setting to the accompaniment of five amazing musjhinca is a dream come true.

Description from the Bb site:

RhythmAsana is a unique, joyous blend of yoga, movement meditation, dance and heart-opening live music from around the planet. RhyhmAsana employs movement and rhythm to open pathways into deep joy. In this workshop, we’ll use a harmonious blend of yoga, movement, meditation, dance, drumming, singing and chanting to deepen connections with our inner selves and with our global community. Lea will serve as movement guide and facilitator with a soundscape provided by Johanna, George and friends.

A few raves from past attendees:

~ “I feel so much more connected to myself and to my joy and can feel my body so much more. Thank you! The depth of space Lea, George and Johanna hold is so beautiful. I felt safe to “be” and to deeply connect to myself.”

~ “It has been an amazing, magical weekend between the soaking, nature and the space that is created by this group. It really helped me get out of my head, where I had a lot of stress, anxiety and worry about letting loose and being myself. It has really felt like safe space where I can be free to do whatever without judgment.”

~ “This was an excellent blend. I loved the eloquence of explanations and the way the music brought the words and movement to life.”

~ “I feel tremendous gratitude for the love of the presenters and musicians. Felt incredible release of anxiousness and feeling I am good enough and have the right to feel joy. I loved the teachings, experiencing new things and the music - it all was just perfect.”

~ “ I loved the many different pieces put together, especially the understanding of how movements affect the body's energy systems.The music was top rate; Johnna’s voice was so soulful.”
 
~ “ This was releasing, fun, freely expressive and inspirational. I loved the excellent teacher guiding us with her gentle caring expressive voice plus the amazing musical accompaniment.”

~ “My experience was phenomenal! The space that was created is beautiful and peaceful and beautifully harmonic. I enjoyed the rhythm flow of the whole workshop. It felt fully nourishing and educational in a group dynamic that was sweet!”

We have a limited number of partial tuition waivers available for people on tight budgets who'd like to help us with some of the details of the event. If you're interested, email george@rhythmasana.com .

Call Breitenbush (503-854-3320) today to choose your cabin and reserve your spot.

“My whole life I succeeded by pushing myself.” And then…

In her first coaching session, my client who owns a successful consulting business, told me she had succeeded though her whole life by pushing herself. She pushed to get great grades in high school, college and grad school, pushed to build and grow her business, pushed herself at the gym to stay the perfect weight and to keep up with guys 20 years younger. In every part of her life she worked hard and rarely let up. It began to take a toll. When she came to me about coaching, she realized this constant pushing just wasn’t working any more. It was taking a toll on her health, her love life, all of her relationships, her happiness and sometimes she wanted to quit her business altogether.

“I used to accept that pushing hard was normal. I thought that's what I had to do to be my best. But lately I’ve gotten so tired of it and I keep thinking there must be a better way.”

After a few weeks of working together she told me, “I’m letting go of that constant pushing and I now have a sense of working with flow and ease and joy. It’s such a relief and it feels so good! And I can’t believe how much more I am getting done with way less effort. What i am learning from working you feels like magic!”

My client, like most of us who have big dreams for ourselves and the world, had been taught that pushing was the best way to grow into her potential and to achieve her dreams

She was in what I call the Push More - Power Through Mode. Although she got lots of approval for it, and she didn’t know an alternative, she was so wise to realize that something was out of balance, and that if she was going to take her business and her life to the next level she really want- if she was goin g to scale up- she needed a new way,

How wise she was to get support before she pushed herself into a breakdown or illness (like i had in my early 30’s!) .

Next: When does the Push More Power-Through Mode work and when is it toxic? Read the post: He survived by powering through.

3 Rs for a Year That Delights Your Soul

I love taking time at the beginning of each year to Reflect, Release and Re-set to help me create more of what I really want in the next 12 months.

Below are my favorite questions for these Three Rs, along with my personal answers for this year and the practical steps I am putting into place to make them real.

REFLECT:

What are you grateful for in 2018?

Beginning with gratitude primes your pump for positive change and puts you in a zone to receive even more blessings in 2019.

My 2018 Gratitudes:

A few of my many blessings from this year:

• Loving, rich, fun time with family and friends, including the joyful and magical wedding of our daughter Emily and Gabe here on our land.

• We Are More Radio Show which I launched in February. I loved the big learning curve and opportunity to grow, the positive feedback and the fascinating, generous guests.( We Are More Radio Show is on brief hiatus right now and will return soon.)

• The five-week old kittens we adopted from Heaven. (Literally! Really. More on that in an upcoming post.)

• My new Speaking Business coach who is helping me get clear and stay focused.

• My amazing coaching clients who are smart, creative, fun, honest and willing to go deep, to let go, to laugh and to step into bright new possibilities.

• My husband and daughters and friends who supported me through some tough moments and big challenges,

• The Miracle Project (more on this soon) that is helping me bring long- buried shame and fears into the healing light of love.

Action step: First thing each morning I journal my gratitude, for little miracles and success and, even for the yuckiest emotions and situations. Then, in mediation, I bathe them all in love.

RELEASE:

What are you ready to be done with?

For years, this simple question has been a jump-start for powerful transformation and healing for me and for my students and clients.

This year I am ready to be done with second guessing myself and my creative expression and I am ready to be done with stuff I have accumulated.

In ways I can’t quite yet explain, these two are intertwined.

Action steps:

1. Yesterday I had a bonfire and burned two big boxes of old journals. It brought up a lot of memories and emotiona and felt liberating to my creative power.

2. Each day in January I will allot 15 minutes to clear old stuff out of closets and boxes and files. (Have you ever noticed how much you can accomplish in 15 focused minutes? Amazing!)

RE-SET:

What do you want more of this year?

Variations of this same question:

What wants more room in your life?

What does your heart (or your soul or your body) really want?

Answering this question can lead you to creating the space and time for what really matters most to you now.

My 2018 Re-set: i want to finish more of my writing projects.

Action Step:

I have restructured my morning routine to devote the first 2-3 hours for writing. Last week I had an epiphany about a few little changes I could make would that free up lots more time. I’ve been doing my new morning routine for three days now and am thrilled with it and eager to see the results. I’ll keep you posted.

Your Turn:

~Play with the Three Rs and these questions -or, of course, make up your own- to discover what may have been holding you back and and what you really want to experience and create.

~ Commit to action steps and habits that will help the insights become part of each day.

~ 2019 can be a year that delights your deepest, most true, self.

Want support or guidance in this New Year’s process? I’d love to help. Email me Lea@LeaBayles.com with Let’s Talk in the subject line. You’ll get a free 45 minute Create Your Soul’s Delight in 2019 Breakthrough Session. If you want more after that, we'll talk options.

Coaching with me you get: Unconditional Big Mama Love that celebrates you just as you are + Clear Vision of your highest potential and biggest dreams + Practical Strategies to create the life, the impact and the success you really want.

Here's to creating a 2019 that delights your soul!