Best Seattle Life Coach - Adrenal Fatigue and Stress

Powerful Questions Pt. 1

This week I wanted to do something a little special.

Have you ever found that asking powerful questions can help clarify thoughts and feelings? They certainly have for me, and with the New Moon in Leo (first of two!) I wanted to honor this new energy by asking a few powerful questions everyday this week.

These questions will relate to how you honor your own creative forces, and how you show up in the world. I don’t know about you but my own creative energies have been on FIRE lately!

Most importantly, with deep reflection it may even reveal how you actually WANT to show up in the world. Make sure you spend at least 5 minutes asking your deeper self to show you your most authentic and honest answers. Center the mind and allow time for self reflection.

Are you ready?

? Where have I been neglecting my creative outlets?
? When have I noticed my pulse racing a little thinking of doing something new?
? If I have, what are the qualities of these activities?
? Are they entrepreneurial? Activity based? Connection based? Health based? Art based?

(Pictures of the beautiful Wishing Tree nestled in the neighborhood of Capital Hill. You should check it out if you’re in the area ?)

I did these myself and absolutely LOVED the process. For me, my love for photography has been coming back in ways I never expected! I’ve been making it a point to bring my professional camera along with me because I never know what I might find inspiring while meeting up with a friend. In addition, I have been deeply considering creating a women’s group in the North Seattle area. I’m still working through the main concept and what intentions I’d like for this special group, but thought I would share with you all some of my creative ideas that have come up in the last couple of days and weeks.

How about you? Any big truths or hints come up for you? You’d be surprised at what comes up if you really honor the time to reflect ✏❤?

In wellness,

Susan

Friday Focus – 7/21/17 {How Big Are You Dreaming?}

“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.”

~Albert Einstein

This week’s focus is about DREAMING. To focus on what your dreams look like, to begin to feel into it, and to be in gratitude of this life we get to live.

How big are you dreaming? Are you letting yourself play? Allowing room for fantasy, dreaming, and letting your imagination go wild?

Go ahead, feed your soul. For just 5 minutes today give yourself room to imagine. I find it happens best when I am writing it out on paper and then creating mental pictures in my mind. Nothing is too little to be noted!

Allow yourself to be the star in your movie. Feel your way until you smile so big you can’t seem to erase it. And just as easily as you created those feelings in 5 minutes, know that these feelings are yours even in this moment without the attainment of _______.

Remember: YOU are the creative being of your life experience. Create what your heart desires my friend.

Namaste.

Unresolved Emotions

Do you often find that unresolved emotions lead to regretful decisions?

Why is that? Well here are a few examples:

1) Anger at someone > “I’ll show him/her!” > Send hasty email
2) Anxiety, depression > Escapism > Open pint of ice cream
3) Regret, shame > Need to fix > Run 5 miles
4) Frustration, angst, sadness > Need to get it off your chest > Call friend in a heated moment, say the wrong things
5) Guilt > Need to fix > Over compensate or over commit to something you, deep down, don’t want to do

I don’t know about you but I have certainly found myself in a number of these situations before… and then I realized there was a key step in-between the emotion and the decision:

SELF AWARENESS / MINDFULNESS / SURRENDER / GOD / COMPASSION

Call it what you need to fit into your framework but for simplicity’s sake let’s call it Awareness.

When you have the awareness right **after** the emotion begins and right **before** the decision THAT is all you need to step back for just a moment.

And in that stepping back can you just sit with the emotion? Where is it in your body? Can you drop into it? What is it really trying to tell you?

Take a moment or two, heck take a week if you must! Take as long as you need until you feel good about your decision and know you aren’t trying to avoid the feeling. We seem to be good at that as we humans evolved.

Last but not least, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get it each and every time! For some it comes easy and for others it requires a bit more practice, mindfulness, and/or guidance. But but know this: there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are everything you need to be and everything is unfolding in your divine order.

In wellness.

Approval & Acceptance

Approval and acceptance. It’s such a hard thing to get away from isn’t it?

When you are going about your daily life or making key decisions (that ultimately will change the direction of your life) ask yourself this question: if you need these two from anyone other than yourself to make you “ok” or “happy” are you ready for the roller coaster? And by roller coaster I mean the worst one you can possibly imagine!

Just remember this one thing: to need approval or acceptance from anyone implies there is lack, but how can that be when you’re already perfect?

Once you have accepted this and are willing to change, fundamentally, how you look at approval and acceptance, has begun to change; pat yourself on the back. That is half the battle. However, understanding how human nature and psychology works this new belief now needs to be set in the brain. You must set new patterns to break old ones.

Just as you practiced the old beliefs around approval and acceptance you must practice the new, positive, truer belief around approval and acceptance.

Just remember that change is possible and you are already perfect.

Namaste.

Friday Focus – 7/14/17 {Stay In Your Lane}

Good morning beautiful people! It’s absolutely stunning here in Seattle on this magical Friday morning. I hope no matter what season it is in your area you are diving into the weekend with an expanded heart and inspiration.

This week’s theme came to me suddenly but resonated deeply. I may have written about this before but I always welcome the reminder, and it is this:

The time spent worrying or thinking about what others feel/think/act/say to you is their business. Stay in your lane and keep your eyes on your business.

Take a moment to truly ask yourself, “is this really true?”. No matter what worries you, ask yourself this question. How much of what is going on in your head are your own projections, worries, and fears?

Remember no judgement, only awareness.

As we dive into the weekend take a moment to pause and ask yourself this question whenever you come up against a resistance. Oftentimes you will find the thought you were just thinking is either based in the past or is a future projection. And what a relief that is!

You are free in THIS moment.

May you find a bit more peace, love, and laughter as you head into the weekend.

Namaste.

Photo by Tanner Larsen

Knowing Your Truth

What does it mean to go IN? To be still? To know your truth? To muddle the outside (and sometimes inside) voices so that you can finally hear and feel your own personal power? To finally feel the expansive freedom that comes with knowing THIS truth?

Just remember, all that ever matters is the coming back to this.. the constant remembrance and living out from this beautiful place that lies within all of us.

Photo by the wonderful Jakob Owens

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

~Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

Gives you the shivers doesn’t it?

So I ask again, who are you not to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? What are the limiting beliefs (and therefore illusory truths) that are holding you back?

Take a moment and take inventory of each decision during the course of a day. Imagine these decisions as branches of a tree; where are these branches stemming from? What is the basis (beliefs) of these decisions and how deep do those roots go?

Remember, change can happen but it takes work. Knowing how to catch the beliefs is half the battle and everyone, yes everyone, is capable of creating this change.

In the meantime I implore you to ask yourself two questions today:

How are you playing big today?
What is one small step you can take toward your true self?

In wellness,

Susan

Language & Beliefs

Your language is a window into your beliefs, and your beliefs are a window into your vibrational state. Take a moment today to identify FIRST where you want to be and how you want to feel, and now reverse engineer the process.

It’s so simple yet incredibly true and powerful when you do the work. Take a quiet moment to think about how you want to feel and then use the beliefs and language you need to support this.

In other news, I’ve been writing a lot about quiet time and creativity, and my creativity is exploding! Let me share this beautiful creation with you:

Creating this mala took hours. From the time it takes to intentionally sit with each stone and feel what it is you are drawn to, designing the mala, and then of course hand knotting each bead and pouring your intention into it. It’s quite meditative and such a beautiful process.

Did you know that Rose Quartz is one of the most popular stones for it’s loving qualities? This stone encourages love, nurturing, and warmth, and vibrates at the heart chakra and is a vibration of a high, deep love. It is often helpful for emotional healing as well as faith and hope.

And the Opal Quartz is a stone that inspires hope, creativity, and imagination. Due to it’s larger proportion of the water element, Opal is known to provide deep support during times of transition or hardship. This stone is also said to be a stone of love, helping a still heart to receive and give love, warmth, and peace. Opal has a sense of fragility, lightness, and yet a fierceness as the way the light dances to the spectrum of colors within each Opal stone. This stone also enhances cosmic and psychic consciousness, while cleansing the aura.

I thought the combination of Rose and Opal was perfect.

I’ll be spending some time creating more of these beauties and starting a ceramics class as well, but don’t worry, when I have a burning desire to share knowledge for positive change and growth you can be sure the Blog will be the first place I post.

In loving kindness,

Susan

Friday Focus – 7/7/17 {There’s Nothing Wrong With You}

There’s nothing wrong with you

Are your hormones are a bit wonky? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Do you feel like crawling under the covers because of a string of bad days? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Struggling with a health issue? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Dealing with relationship issues that keep coming back? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Fighting an intense fear of failure? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Experiencing grief that doesn’t seem manageable? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

Wondering why it feels like it’s taking a million years to achieve X when for others it seems so easy? Sure
But it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.

There’s nothing wrong with you

No matter what is happening in your life just remember this, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you.

Namaste.

Favorites Lately – Sunpotion

Stress. It can be so easy to fall into it am I right?

Every since experiencing adrenal fatigue I have been vigilant about watching stress. Whether it’s stress from work, the analytical mind, exercise, lack of sleep, you name it – ensuring your stress levels are in check requires mindfulness and action.

Paired with mindfulness and a holistic approach to life, what I have found to be amazing at helping ensure I am supported in keeping stress at bay are adaptogens.

Anyone who has delved into the world of health, fitness or vitamins has certainly heard this buzzword for quite some time. As someone who has experienced adaptogens their whole life I can attest to these amazing supplements that come from the natural elements of the world.

Lately, I’ve been using Sunpotion as part of my daily ritual. Also pictured is AmlaPlex which I’ll speak to below:

So what is moringa, rhodiola, and AmlaPlex? Let me explain how I use these wonderful adaptogens in my daily routine:

Moringa
- What it is: Moringa by Sunpotion is packaged as a green powder and is full of micronutrients and amino acids. While it has many purported benefits I specifically use moringa to assist with stress management and a gentle energy boost without the element of caffiene.
- How I use it: I love having moringa as a tea or a latte in the morning either before breakfast or after breakfast. If I drink it as a latte it will typically be before breakfast. Did I mention how much I love how it acts as a natural energy boost without feeling the jitters?!
Rhodiola
- What it is: Let me start by saying Rhodiola is magic for me. While I wrote about rhodiola in earlier blog posts I want to emphasize how important it is to find out what works for you and your body. Each body’s chemical make up is different and it’s important to work with a trained professional to find out what works for you and your current situation. I’ve tried Ashwaganda for stress management but my adrenals love Rhodiola. It stabilizes my stress and energy levels whether I have a dip in energy or too much of it; Rhodiola always brings it back to where it needs to be in the circadian rhythm.
- How I use it: Rhodiola is a key ingredient in my morning “poppin collagen lattes“. I add a half tsp, sometimes a little more, into my concoction and blend it all together until the coffee turns into a smooth foamy blend. It does have an earthiness to it but I’ve found that adding the tiniest pinch of stevia does the trick. Cinnamon helps too!
AmlaPlex
- What it is: AmlaPlex is a auyervedic blend made from 35 select ingredients, including spices and herbal extracts. I was recommended this blend from my ND who suggested to take this morning and evening to help with increasing immune function during a time when I was catching the cold.
- How I use it: Doctor’s orders… morning and evening I take a tsp after my meal. To some who are not used to various spices it may taste… spicy… but I love spice so naturally this tastes amazing 🙂 It is also a bit sweet so it acts as a dessert too.

So there you have it, adaptogens and the powerful effects it could have on your health! I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to adopt holistic life changes to assist with stress management and note purely rely on supplements. After all, you want to get to the root cause and only use these when your body may need the extra boost!

I’m curious, have you ever tried adaptogens? If so, which ones have you tried and have you noticed a difference? What lifestyle choices have you adjusted to get to the root cause? How do you effect positive change in your life?

Namaste.