Cease Striving

January 17, 2012 By 6 Comments

Last Saturday I attended an intuitive vision board retreat. I wasn’t quite sure what was drawing me to attend, but I soon found out.

Part of the process was just pulling images and words that I was drawn to. As I was busy tearing out and sorting my images, the Skeptic showed up. (You have one too, don’t you? You know…like Mr. Monkey Mind, Ms. Seriously?, or Mr. Nay Sayer.)

He screamed at me, “You mean this isn’t directed towards any particular goal? Hmmm? Is this activity worth your time? What have you gotten yourself into, Lee? You’ve got to be kidding…images your heart is drawn to?”

While this dialogue stopped me momentarily, I quickly jumped over the chatter and continued to listen to my heart and put my vision board together. Remarkably I was now able to see what I needed. It spoke to me—all of it.

Relax. Easy! Love. Contentment. Amazing. Fun. Have fun. Breathe. All about ease. Peace. Heart. Happiness. Life is about moments. Calm. Simple.

Powerful, huh? Check out the images. They had their own messages. And yes, that is Tom Selleck in the corner.

The retreat closed with a quite time of listening to Spirit Guide. My Spirit Guide is God. He spoke to me as clear as a bell and said:

“Be still [cease striving, let go, relax] and know that I am God.” ~Psalms

An immediate peace flooded my body. My heart was full.

The truth is that I had been striving in every aspect of my life. I was pushing and trying to make things happen—with my business, my hubby, my family and myself.

Attending the retreat Saturday was a directive. It was self-care. And I needed to hear from God. I listened. The results? I am clear. I am at peace. I am still.

My Soul breathed in life-sustaining jewels that are my thriving place.

  • Living in the moment is wild and mysterious.
  • Listening for and hearing the voice of God is amazing and encouraging and as necessary as oxygen.
  • Relaxing into “what’s so” creates an easier path.

If you identify with me at all, I’d invite you to ask yourself where you might be striving? Where are you trying hard and not getting anywhere? Where might you need to be still?

If you’re interested in doing an intuitive vision board retreat or a personal retreat, please contact me. This is a real game changer.

Filed Under: life-coaching, retreats, self-care

The 5 “Sabbatical Over” Signals

December 6, 2011 By 6 Comments

Did you ever think you’d hear from me again?

My last post was written in April–time flies! I thought I just needed to cool my jets for a month or two.

So what changed my timing and direction?

I listened to my inner knower and let it guide me back to a place of fullness. Now there’s a concept. Just wait. I don’t know about you, but this was uncharted territory for me.

And who showed up to cheer me on? Monkey Mind–mister chatter. Here are some of the comments he’d make:

  • You’re really lazy, Lee.
  • You’re losing touch with everyone–and your relationships are down the tubes.
  • You’re life is so easy, why can’t you just get cranking–again…like now?

I set the chatter aside. And…I stayed the course. I let the discomfort of not knowing be my guide. I got support when I needed it. I lived in the place of What’s So for a year–with gratitude. I chose to give myself grace–and space. High five, Lee!

5 amazing things showed up–and I knew I could leave Sabbaticalville.

  1. My creativity blossomed.
  2. I re-embraced–and deepened–my passion to serve women through relationships, coaching and retreats.
  3. My curiosity skyrocketed.
  4. I relaxed into “what’s so” as a lifestyle.
  5. My fingers had to write to amazing women–like you.

So…I’m Back! I have my party pants on and I’m ready to rock n’ roll.

What’s been moving and shaking in my heart lately?

I’ve got two things cooking already:

  • The ClutterFasting Program: A dynamic program that will help you clear clutter–over time–and support you to make room for what matters to you. We clear clutter–but mostly…we change lives, beliefs and space–together. I’ve done it. You can too. Consider joining us–it starts January 21.
  • Soul-Full Women’s River Retreat: June 24-29, 2012 we’ll be going down the spectacular San Juan River for a 5 day/4 night adventure that will knock your socks off. We had a blast last year on the Colorado River. See what some of the wise and wild women have to say. Life changing stuff.

A retreat in the works:

  • The HER-O’s Journey Retreat: A four day retreat at the Horseshoe Lodge in Colorado. We’ll be building your personal “life vehicle” from the ground up so you can create a Treasure Map to get you to where you most want to be. This one’s going to be fun. Dancing. Yoga. Treasure Mapping. Journaling. Walking. Space to yourself. Delicious meals. Gorgeous accommodations. Much more soon…stay tuned.

See…I told you my creativity blossomed. Can’t wait to spend time with you!

How about you? What have you been up too? Leave a comment and re-connect. I’ve missed you!

Blessings, Coach Lee

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Filed Under: clutter-clearing, life-coaching, retreats, self-care

Calling All Wild Souls

March 12, 2011 By 1 Comment

The River is calling…
…and I must go.

The Majestic Upper Colorado River

A group of wise, wonderful and adventurous women will be gathering in Grand Junction, Colorado August 1-5, 2011 for a Magnificent River Retreat.

The upper Colorado River stretch will take us from Colorado to Utah. Gorgeous scenery. Amazing nature. Personal unfolding. Connections. Fun. Nature stretch. Hikes. Journaling. A spectacular space to discover, to enjoy, to relax into the rhythm of the River.

Morning Nature Stretch

Step into the River Retreat. Imagine being there. The River soothes, fills, comforts, challenges and meets you where you’re at.

I like to invite you to take the space and the time for you. Come. Retreat with us. Space is limited.

Rivers
Rivers hardly ever run in a straight line.
Rivers are willing to take ten thousand meanders
and enjoy every one
and grow from every one.
When they leave a meander,
they are always more
than when they entered it.
When rivers meet an obstacle,
they do not try to run over it.
They merely go around
but they always get to the other side.
Rivers accept things as they are,
conform to the shape they find the world in,
yet nothing changes things more than rivers.
Rivers move even mountains into the sea.
Rivers hardly ever are in a hurry
yet is there anything more likely
to reach the point it sets out for
than a river?
~James Dillet Freeman

Sacred space. For you. For new friends and old friends. For being in flow. For learning. For enjoying. For being. For great food. And…and little walk of the wild side. Our friend, nature, will have a amazing surprises. As your retreat coach, I will too.

It’s your Space. Your self-care Retreat. A Space for whatever you need it to be each moment of each day.

New Connections

Come as you are. Join us. Put down a deposit to reserve your space or get information for the Women’s River Retreat here. We welcome you to come!

Blessings,
Coach Lee

Filed Under: life-coaching, retreats, self-care

The Love Letters Project

February 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

February is the “Love” month when we celebrate Valentine’s Day. It would seem that launching “The Love Letters Project” is prompted by that. Nope…not so!

What’s been brewing in my heart for sometime is that Love is the center of life. Love is a big word that encompasses big stuff and little stuff. Hard stuff and easy stuff.

The magnitude of this for me is that I want to live my life fully in the broadest sense of Love. In gratitude. In appreciation. In finding innocence. In celebration. In acknowledgment. In deep thankfulness. In acceptance. In forgiveness. In however that loving-ness shows up.

You might just think I’ve lost it, but one of my first Love Letters will be to our house’s plumbing. Odd? Yes. Necessary to live in a place of loving gratitude? Yes. Let me give you some context here.

We live in a dear, small house in northern Wisconsin. My hubby and I “trusted” a builder, but we didn’t do our homework. When push came to shove and he apparently underbid the project, he chose to be the plumber even though he didn’t have a clue. Get the picture? This has been a point of disharmony for me for seven years. I want to find the Love here. I want to find the innocence here. I want to genuinely be grateful the pipes in our house. I want to have an inner change to an outward circumstance. Now and forevermore.

This may sound grandiose, but I believe in the transforming power of Love–so I’m going for it!

I plan to write my Love Letters over a 42 day period. Why 42? Well, research says that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. I really, really want this to be a way of life. Of breathing. Of thinking. Of believing. Of doing. Of being. So I want a double shot of this “habit espresso!”

I’ll be sharing some of my Love Letters along the way. No structure. No expectations. Just what comes naturally and lovingly! That’s the easy peasy road–my favorite place to be!

Join me. I know this can be life changing. Just birthing this Project in my heart has transformed the way I think about many things.

So I  invite you to take a journey with me of writing Love Letters to or about anything that your heart or intuition brings to you. Write anything. Gratitude. Appreciation. Relationship. Money. Pets. God. Earth. Quiet. Apparent bad things. Good things. Write as much or as little as you wish. Do it in your journal. Do it in your heart. Do it how you wish.

Imagine the possibilities for our Love Letters. Let’s be outrageous. Let’s be bold. Let’s dig deep. For sure, let’s be loving to ourselves. Let’s unclutter, shed and re-frame stuff…it’s mighty food for our Souls.

Leave comments on my website. Comment on Facebook. Twitter about it using #LoveLetters at the end of your Tweet so I can find you! It’ll be a joy to hear from you!

Calling All Women To The River

Next August 1-5, some mighty women will be shoving off the shore of the Upper Colorado River for a premier River Retreat that spans both Colorado and Utah. The River will lead you on a journey with nature and its majesty. As your retreat leader, I will provide a retreat experience that will bring an inner-journey. And, of course, there’s the joy of experiencing the fun with other adventurous and awesome women.

Let’s shove off together! Check out the details and register soon!

Listen in on a the conversation I had with Coach Helene Van Manen in her series called Conversations With Wise Women. We talked about my upcoming Women’s River Retreat. Enjoy!

Wise Women Conversation-Coach Helene & Coach Lee

Transforming with you,
Coach Lee

Filed Under: clutter-clearing, life-coaching, retreats, self-care Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Adventures For Your Soul

February 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Who needs to go on Retreat?

Busy women.
Women who are stressed, out of juice, giving out to everyone….their families, their clients, the world.
Women who are tired.
Women buried under too many commitments and working too hard.
Women who don’t have enough time for themselves.
Women who don’t feel inspired, have lost their creative juices.
Women who don’t know what they want in life.
Women with a lot of responsibility.
Women who want more confidence in themselves.
Women who want more time to process.
Women worried about others: family members, their children, their jobs.
Women wanting more connection with others.
Women who have financial trials, broken hearts, relationships in which they don’t feel cherished and valued.
Women who want to be wild, tapping into the part of themselves that wants to be free.
Women who want to celebrate passages in time: birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, transitions.
Women who everyone expects something of them.
Women who have a hard time saying no.
Women who take on too much.
Women who don’t trust themselves.
~ Jo Hatcher

If any of this describes you, think about taking some space, some time just for you. Retreats are especially designed to create an opportunity for radical self-care. Two custom retreats are calling your name!

Wise & Wild Women River Retreat

August 1-5, 2011, eight awesome women will join me on a unique adventure on the upper Colorado River. This retreat is for nature lovers and women who know the value of River’s flow. Wildlife, hiking, kayaking, play, delicious food, nature yoga, new connections and personal discoveries. We will spend 3 nights and 4 days on the River of Discovery!

As a professional Life Coach and Certified Retreat Coach, I will provide will give you a chance to process your experience, grow from where you are, help you find answers to your heart longings and enhance your experience. This allows you to unearth a new, fresh way of looking at life, making it possible to hear what your heart says, to understand what you really want, and to be able to invoke the changes for which you yearn.

Get complete details on my website. Sign up today…only two spots left! Deadline for registration February 28, 2011.

Women’s Retreat In Italy

My friend and colleague, professional Life Coach and Master Certified Retreat Coach Jo Hatcher, is offering an awesome Tuscany adventure August 27-September 1, 2011.

The retreat will take place at Selva, a lovingly restored 15th century farmhouse located on a 400 hectare working estate, a uniquely preserved property in the Lucca hills in Tuscany. You will have 5 nights, 6 days to soak up the beauty of Tuscany, devour fresh, home cooked Italian meals, enjoy creating healthy, local recipes, explore the ancient Renaissance town of Lucca, dance and laugh together, relax, restore, and rediscover where you are and where you want to be in your life . . . in other words, have the time of your life.

Restful and carefree, you will rediscover the magic of living as you clarify and restore your life’s vision for wholeness and well-being. I highly recommend any retreat that Jo offers, but this one will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For complete details, go to Jo’s website. Deadline for registration is February 15, 2011.

Both these retreats only have a few spots left. Act now to reserve your spot!

Blessings,

Coach Lee


Filed Under: life-coaching, retreats, self-care

Seven-Day Clutter Challenge

January 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Detoxifying from clutter has been a priority for me for 2010. Detoxifying? You’ve got to be kidding, right?

Nope. I seem to have (and I think most of us have) this inherent need for stuff. Things. Tangibles. All of which are killing me. Well, not literally.

When I started my 365 day Simplify Journey in 2010, I thought that if I would just get rid of the stuff, that would be that. Bingo, the stuff goes and all is well. Ahhh…not so much; it just didn’t work that way.

What I didn’t bank on was that there’s more, much more, to clutter than I once thought. Consider these other less than obvious areas of clutter!

  • Physical clutter (stuff)
  • Virtual clutter (email, computer files, digital photo files)
  • Time clutter (activities that are time wasters)
  • Relationship clutter (people that either drain or bring surplus to our lives)
  • Body clutter (things that have a negative impact on our bodies)
  • Mind clutter (negative talk or judgment in our thoughts)

All these sources of clutter drain our energy—pure and simple.

The Challenge Invitation

Day One

Look at the six sources of clutter. Journal about what they are or might be for you.

Day Two

Pick the one area that seems to drain your energy the most. Consider some step or steps you can do to reduce that clutter.

Day Three

Take the action(s) to reduce the clutter in the first area. Pick something you can complete in an hour or two.

Day Four

Pick the second area that drains your energy. Think about what high impact action you can take to reduce that clutter.

Day Five

Take the action to reduce the clutter in the second area. Pick something you can finish in a couple hours.

Day Six

Journal about what happened. What did it feel like in your body to let go? What difference did it make in how you felt about you? Your surroundings? Your energy?

Journal about what’s possible. What additional actions will support you in reclaiming your energy, space and peace?

Day Seven

Reward yourself with something special. You’ve done amazing work!

The goal is to simplify. It’s an inside out job that will bring you huge results.

When we throw out the physical clutter, we clear our minds. When we throw out the mental clutter, we clear our souls. ~ Gail Blanke

I invite you to begin your seven-day challenge today. Leave comments about what happened, how you felt and how you can consider carrying this practice on in your life.

Six areas of clutter source: Sue Rasmussen

Filed Under: clutter-clearing, retreats, self-care
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