I’ve been thinking a lot about extremes lately…and I am reminded again that I don’t really believe in them.

I’m really more of an “in moderation” kind of gal…

I spent 6 months this year on a crazy strict regime to reduce inflammation and get rid of heavy metals.

My short-term memory had taken a major toll for the worst and it was super scary. I was struggling to remember what I had said and where I had been, and with finding the words I knew were in my mind but I could not for the life of me find them to form sentences. It really hit a head after quizzing my son on a test and I could not read the words in a sentence. I could read them in my mind, and then not be able to say them out loud.

It was scary and embarrassing, and I was starting to shy away from conversations from people. As my naturopath put it, “you are going down a fast path to Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s”. So scary. It felt like a diagnosis but then wasn’t at the same time because I could fix it.

And so I went on a massive heavy metal cleanse after getting my Ph where it needed to be, took a ton of supplements AND changed my diet drastically.

No gluten, sugar & dairy (which I was mostly doing anyway), AND no alcohol and really nothing else except for meat (of the highest quality), fruit, raw cheese and honey. NOTHING ELSE. It was the carnivore diet, and if you want more info. check out Dr. Paul Saladino on instagram here

It was hard but I did it, and honestly it became a nice reprieve. Meal choices made easy – fruit as a side with an amazing rib eye! Yum!!!

And along the way I lost the 24 lbs I had put on during perimenopause (and a fight with a parasite) that I had been struggling to get off for years! This happened in 4 months 😳

I got a clean bill of health at my last check-up two weeks ago AND that was with adding back in some wine (okay maybe more than some the other night on the dance floor 💃🏻) and also some carbs, “Qui, Qui Baguettes” as our Eiffel Tower guide would say, which got a little out of hand over the summer…it was Paris though!

And I’m reminded…some things we do for a reason or a season, but for the most part doing things in moderation instead of extremes will keep us sane…

I learned that putting myself through a ridiculous exercise regime is not what would take the weight off…

I learned that once my body was healed it was okay to add a few things back in…

So perhaps we need to be a little more kind to ourselves…

Have the glass of wine,

See a naturopath,

Workout,

Meditate,

Spend time with our kids,

Connect with our clients,

But nothing ever needs to be all or nothing…there can always be a happy medium ❤️

I’m always going to be the person who is spiritual and spicy, with hopefully the right dose of both!

And I’m happy to say walking, yoga and doing the stairs by the beach are my jam! Low impact for the most part 🙂

Find what it is for you…maybe it’s more intensive and maybe it’s not…but one thing is for sure…whenever it becomes a “should” we’re out of alignment with loving & peaceful thoughts about ourselves ☮️

As we head into this holiday season, let’s check in, “what will give me more peace?” and let’s do that!

Wishing you lots of empowered thoughts today and throughout this season 🙂

Practicing self-care and become more “zen” doesn’t mean we don’t also practice having good boundaries and taking a stand for what’s important.

If anything I found it’s the opposite.

To me self-care is taking a stand for how we want to live life and be treated.

It’s about self-respect ❤️

It’s about giving ourselves the permission to do what we love and with whom we love.

It’s about diving deep and allowing ourselves to identify the old belief systems not allowing us to receive abundance in all areas of our lives.

It’s a constant work in progress.

And that involves setting boundaries around our time and what we will and won’t tolerate in our loves.

It’s self-worth on the deepest level.

As we practice this we become less tolerable of being treated poorly.

This sometimes looks a little rough around the edges when we finally take a stand, but that’s okay.

It takes some getting used to.

And sometimes, we need to get a little fired up in order to take the action.

We need to lower the rose coloured glasses (just for a second!) and see clearly. Because we want to see the good in others, as we should, but not at the cost of being treated poorly.

Because some times, self-love is going to involve taking a stand that is so big that it pushes us way beyond our people pleasing limits.

This might look like a confrontation. This might look like taking legal action. This might look like setting fierce boundaries for yourself and your family.

Or it might look like discontinuing a relationship, walking away from a situation, or sending someone some love and leaving.

Sometimes zenned out looks like dialed in.

Taking action from a place of self-preservation, love and a deep respect for how we want to be treated. And the more we seem to do this, the more we see where we’re not.

Some days it might look more firey 🔥 others more peaceful ☮️ but at the end of the day it’s coming from a place of love, dignity, and healing for ourselves & others.

We can be both spiritual & spicy.

I did a reading for a client a few months ago and one of her questions was about whether or not to buy a home she was interested in. I tuned in and shared with her what I saw.

I saw her in a one story home with white siding, that was run down and needed work. I saw her in the cozy living room. I saw her in nature and it felt like almost a hippie sort of vibe.

Well, the house she ended up buying was exactly this! This was after losing out on another home that didn’t feel quite right. I got to see her home this week and it was the most incredible feeling to be standing in exactly what I had seen.

What was really cool is that she shared that the reading helped her to stay on course and not lose faith. It’s a project for sure, but the sense of peace it brings her when she’s there is worth it. She is surrounded in nature overlooking a lake with a big wrap around deck. It is beautiful. And low and behold, she’s off the beaten path in a more “hippyish” type of community!

And I felt like I was going to cry at being able to play a small part in this creation.

And to me this is our intuition and we all have it. Trust it. She knew already this was the home and just needed that little bit of validation from someone not involved. We all do sometimes. I went through something recently where I started to judge my own. We all second guess, but if we can keep working on strengthening it, we see we have a power inside of us like no other. That knows exactly how to help us create love, joy & abundance ❤️

It dawned on me that I should merge entrepreneurial endeavors and let you know about our property rentals 🙂

As some of you know this is my second love! Real estate investing!

My husband and I had this vision years ago…before kids and while we still lived in Canada…to have properties around the world we could both use and rent out 🙂

Well this was before airbnb and vrbo, and at the time we were like “what do you do if something breaks?!” As my husband jokingly said, “I do not want to be a Mr. Farley!” Insert Three’s Company reference 🤣

And so we kind of forgot about it…until about 10 years ago…we revisited it and entered the property management world.

We started with some lower income housing rentals, and then traded them in later for places we wanted to spend more time in.

And so we have added Lake Tahoe (Incline Village), Costa Rica (Playa Avellanas near Tamarindo), and California (San Diego).

👆Just click on them above if you would like to check them out 😍

This has been a true labour of love and what stretches me wayyy beyond my comfort level and tests my faith in the universe!

And I just love this way of co-creating!

And I would love to share these with my coaching & speaking community too.

If you have any interested, just reply back here, so that we can save you the booking fees ❤️

And…I also wanted to let you know moving forward, I will be doing more inside of my Facebook Community, “Self-care for Success”.

I posted yesterday about something I had read…

The ego does not give out of abundance. It’s always trying to get.

This is such a great reminder…when we give without trying to get the most amazing life is co-created

And I can hear you thinking…ya but what if I’m struggling? What I’ve learned is we have to be able to receive the love + abundance as much as we can give it…love is whole

But if you focus on giving first (without trying to get, so a legitimate give), watch the magic that unfolds. Because giving feels good! It’s an instant receive and elevates our vibe 🌈

There is more on this over there plus a photo of a beautiful statue I came across while speaking and a gal name Rose, who just filled me up with goodness 🩷