A quick how-to guide to putting together your very own digital vision board.
My morning routine is my secret weapon! This simple routine packs a massive punch to my day. And, it is what I continually use to transform my life in dramatic ways.
As a life coach, I understand how important it is to bring awareness to our thoughts. More importantly, we need to give our minds intentionality to help overcome some of those not so helpful & unintentional thoughts. This free morning routine template is an amalgamation of visualizations and affirmations. These tools, when used daily as part of your morning routine, keeps your brain focused on your intentions.
Learning to align our thoughts with our feelings, and consequently our actions — will ultimately guide us in creating our dream lives. I know this first hand, because this routine has unwittingly manifested more into my life than I had ever consciously planned.
Utilize this free template to create the future you want. Add quotes that inspire you, images that move you, habits you want to embody, and goals you continually dream about. Set the presentation to a timer, turn on some music, and press play on the slide show. Repeat daily, every morning.
Question: So, what’s love got to do with it — it being our goals? Answer: Well, when we romanticize our goals we tend to fall in love with them. And I have found that as I continue to coach on goals, habits, and resistance, when romancing is part of the equation, love then becomes the key to success.
According to Britannica Dictionary, it defines romanticize as — romanticize, v. (romanticizes; romanticized: romanticizing): to think about or describe something as being better or more attractive or interesting than it really is : to show, describe, or think about something in a romantic way.
Romanticizing your life (and your goals) will help add context, texture, color, beauty, and ultimately emotion to your desired outcome. Think about it, why do we want anything out of life? On the other side of every experience is a feeling we want to feel? So when you are setting a goal, ask yourself — what am I wanting to feel when I reach success of this desired goal? How can I feel this desired emotion while I am pursuing my goal?
Do you love the goal you are aiming for? If not — attempt to romanticize your goal so that you do love it. If you do love your goal — do you love the process required for success? If not — start to romanticize the process. Do you love the daily habits carry you on your path to success? Do you love the tasks required to move you closer to your goal?
What I have learned for myself is that the more I romanticize my life, my future goals, my daily habits, and all of those seemingly small tasks, the more I fall in love with it all. When romanticizing my life, and my future, I feel a sense of passion, mingled with excitement & even bliss. It is a slow and steady seduction where I get to dance with the dirty dishes, flirt with fear as it creeps up, and inevitably romance resistance — all in an attempt to stay focused and moving forward.
Side-effect, when I love my life, I don’t require others to love it. I put all the responsibility, all of the requirements, and all of the validation on me and me alone. That being said, I also get to decide exactly what I want that end vision to look like, as well as what success looks like for me.
Getting to choose what we want, means getting to dream up whatever we want. We get to decide on what success is for us. We get to establish what we think is beautiful. We get to choose what we want to think, and believe about our pasts, our present, and our futures.
So now I’m curious …
What do you want? Do you love that you want this?
Why do you want it? Do you love your reason why?
What are you hoping to feel when you get it? Is love at the core?
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it? How can you fall in love with the process?
Do you believe you are worthy and capable of it? How are you loving yourself?
Are you ready to fall head over heels in love with your life?
When I asked myself why I constantly seek beauty in what I am doing, or seek to make what I am doing beautiful. I realized it was so that I could fall in love — in love with the idea, the goal, the habit, the process., and ultimately my life. Because when I am in love, I show up, and I show up huge!
This is the work I do, in how I assist others. We dive into the wants, goals, and subsequent habits. We get real with the why of what is truly desired. We then plot the course, before diving into the practice. Getting you to fall in love with your life is where the magic lies. At the end of the day it is romanticizing the journey that makes getting to the destination easier, not easy, but easier.
February’s theme is a bit of a cliché, because it’s all about LOVE. Yes, love. But, why is February the month of love? Well, aside from Valentine’s Day, it has something to do with saints, martyrs, and a feast — honestly, it doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad that I get a month to focus solely on the subject of love.
However, I want to focus on unconditional love. Unconditional love is a very distinct intention of mine this year, first to love myself without condition, and then to love others in kind. That is why unconditional love is the theme for February 2023.
Can we just address that love is an extremely nuanced idea, and that trying to define it is as equally complex. Is it a feeling? Is it an action? Is it about giving, or receiving? Can I love my husband, and love baked goods? (Ah-hem, yes!)
Well, I decided to look to the Google’s for some answers. Thank you Greek philosophers for defining and simplifying love within these seven different categories.
Eros – Romantic, Passionate Love (Of the Body) …
Philia – Affectionate, Friendly Love. …
Storge – Unconditional, Familial Love. …
Agape – Selfless, Universal Love. …
Ludus – Playful, Flirtatious Love. …
Pragma – Committed, Long-Lasting Love. …
Philautia – Self Love.
For me, the idea of unconditional love is a lovely notion. For starters, it allows for a judgement free zone, everywhere and in everything. It eliminates the need to harbor the past, or unproductive assumptions, and external circumstances, along with unproductive expectations. It allows for all of life to be what it will be. I believe that unconditional love it one of the purest forms of acceptance.
To genuinely love oneself, one’s story, and one’s journey thus far, is to be fully aware, fully accepting, and fully willing to take ownership for not only what is, but what’s to come. Unconditional love trusts that whatever is next, is exactly what it is supposed to be.
The thing about unconditional love is that it seems to challenge or contrast all the other loves. It questions expectations that we put on love. It demystifies what love “should” look like, “should” feel like, and “should” be like. To genuinely love without conditions is to love without any judgements. Which ironically makes unconditional love so challenging, as we all seem to live in a pre-conditioned subjective consciousness.
I don’t really have any answers to what love should be, just a clear desire — to love fully, to seek acceptance (not understanding), to love freely (without requirements), and to practice loving myself first, ant then pour that love onto others.
Better late than never, and/ or better done than perfect. Regardless of whether or not this newsletter was supposed to be put in motion in January (eh-hem, which it was), here we are, with our maiden launch February 1st 2023. Welcome to the first ever Rendezvous editorial.
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Here is a small snippet of what you can expect with February’s upcoming newsletter/ editorial. The month’s will be themed, and I plan on sharing a snippet from the month prior. January’s mood board and focus will definitely be included with February, and I will most likely have it follow suit moving forward.
A Word Of The Year is generally a word that you are either wanting to accomplish or aspire to grow into. In short, a word of the year is meant to provide one with focus. I’ve heard it described as an umbrella word that every decision made should fall underneath, as a means of staying on course. It is meant to provide clarity with your goals & intentions. It is used as a way of intentionally focusing your energy in the direction you desire, or focusing on who you are wanting to become.
Basically your word should be your overarching consideration before decisions are made, especially when you are allocating your time towards your goal. Some WOTY examples that I have seen used are CEO, Energetic, Audacious, Glamorous, Confident, Inspired, Dreamer, and Driven. Some of my own past words have been Intentional, Transformation, and Rendezvous.
How to choose a word of the year?
As I stated above, the word can be who you want to become, who you want to embody, or what you want to accomplish. I’ve heard compelling reason for both, regardless, I say pick a word that will keep you moving forward. Who do you want to be at the end of the year? What do you want to accomplish by the end of the year? What do you want to do, or practice, for the year?
When picking my word I asked myself — what is my intention this year, or this quarter? What goal(s) am I attempting to achieve? What habits would I. like to create to meet my desired intentions. Or, what habits do I want to rewire or replace to get me to where I want to go? Only I could answer these questions for me, and only you can answer them for you. Just remember that there is no right or wrong way to choose a word of the year.
So – what is my word of the year?
When I read the definition for heroine, I knew this was my word for the year (or maybe decade). I love this word heroine — a legendary woman of divine descent, having great ability, emulated for her achievements, a principal female character, central female figure. Yes, heroine party of one please!
So, why did I choose heroine as my WOTY?
I was looking for a word that gets me out of the stands as an observer in my own life. And instead, puts me in the game as a starter, as the leading lady in my own movie, or player ready one in lieu of a NPC. I no longer want to unconsciously bench myself, I want to show up big time in this life, especially while establishing this new career path. I toyed around with words like solopreneur, entrepreneur, lead, and principal character. None of them quite felt right. However, when I saw the word heroine I knew that was the word for me.
How do I plan to use my WOTY?
The word heroine will be used as a barometer, a standard, or a guide in which future decisions will be measured against — for me & by me. Basically, when I sit down to plot my week, my month, or my quarter, I will reflect on how I will show up as the heroine throughout the plotting & cultivating process.
Here are just a handful of questions I will ask as I move forward with my word.
By saying yes-or-no to this, am I playing small?
Am I settling for someone else’s narrative?
Am I mapping my future from unlimited possibilities?
Am I limiting myself by referencing to the past?
How would I, as a heroine of my life, handle this — plan this — or execute this?
I understand that the word heroine is a very lofty word. But, who am I kidding, what I want out of my life is lofty. I have dream, goals, and lofty ambitions for my future. I also want to trust myself when I say I’ll do something. I want to follow through on the plans for my future, and for the results I’ve scheduled on my calendar, even if they feel risky. I want to take such complete responsibility of my time that external circumstance outside of my control, remain outside of my focus, my energy, my calendar, and my mind.
Let's Rendezvous 