Trust me, I'm a Unicorn.
A few weeks ago, I was dangling my feet in my friend’s pool, rocking out to an amazing Chilean + Japanese reggae trio at a fabulous party in the nestled in the Hollywood Hills. The only child at the party, a sharp little six-year old, plopped down next to me, wearing a T-shirt that said, “Trust me, I’m a unicorn.” She and I ended up having the most imaginative conversation about how to throw a killer tea party on the ocean floor, what running like a cheetah feels like, and what kind of unicorn we each were. My right brain left the party satiated with creativity.Â
TWO THINGS I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ARE CHILDREN…AND UNICORNS.
However, it took me a long time to learn to embrace my love of unicorns. (I’ve always loved kids. I’m one of those women who’s always wanted to be a mom.) But, unicorns on the other hand…
You see, since I was eleven, I was obsessed with acting older. I always felt I had to prove myself, prove how smart I was, prove how grown up I was. I set aside my imagination in ord...
Trouble Waking Up, Sleeping Beauty
I was pretty opposed to sleeping at all since birth. My poor mother said I only slept for about an hour and a half a night as a baby. (She’s up for sainthood in my book for that alone.) And, napping was never my thing as a kid. I used to be so paranoid that I would miss something. That if I slept, I wouldn’t finish a project. I’d miss a deadline. I’d miss a client. But, as I got older, and more and more sleep deprived, I realized how desperately my body craved catching up on my sleep. Ironically, because of my lack of sleep, my fears came true. “The longer, more continuously, and later at night you work, the less efficient and more mistake-prone you become,” states Schwartz in my latest book-obsession, The Power of Full Engagement.Â
“In addition to its energy renewing function, sleep is also a period during which substantial growth an prepare occurs — most of it at the deepest level of sleep, when slow-wave delta brainwaves are dominant. During those periods, cell devision is most act...
5 Steps to Stop Procrastinating and Do That Thing That You're Putting Off
I gotta tell you, it has been a week of celebration up here at Crown Yourself headquarters (and by that, I do mean my current, my bedroom/office.)
I was so honored when Dr. Ely Weinschneider, asked to interview me for his series for Ariana Huffington’s magazine, Thrive Global on...
“How Extremely Busy Executives Make Time to be Great Parents”
Because let me tell you, this mompreneur thing ain’t easy.
YOU CAN HAVE EASE. BUT "EASE" AND "EASY" ARE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS.
"EASE" IS A STATE OF BEING. "EASY" REFERS TO THE LOAD OF ACTION BEING PERFORMED.
Let’s break it down in NLP terms.
Ease is a noun, meaning it’s a state. And states, as you know, can change from moment to moment. If by “easy,” we’re talking about the sheer amount of load of work being performed...it’s a crap ton...literally. From dirty diapers to designing integrative intuitive strategies in our CRM, the workload is a lot.
It’s not necessarily that any task or project is particularly “hard” or “diffi
...Who's Sitting On Your Throne?
Beware! There is a dangerous, insidious usurper in your kingdom. She’s been sitting on your throne for far too long. She looks like you. Maybe you see her in the mirror. It’s not like she’s an evil twin, she has a purpose. And don’t get me wrong, she loves you so much. In fact, she’s only ruling in your stead to try to protect you.
She’s just doing a piss-poor job of it. She’s holding you back from achieving all that you desire. She’s keeping your kingdom small, contained, within the boundaries of your comfort zone. She whispers words of doubt into your ear whenever your instinct tries to get out of line and go for something big…
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“Don’t invest in that program, even though you know it’s going to change your life and business. What if you lose all your money?’
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“Don’t jump into that relationship, he’s too old. What if it doesn’t work out?”
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“Don’t get up early and workout, your bed is sooo much more comfortable.”
Do you recognize her yet?
You see her. She is Fear.
...3 Linguistic "Tells" to Help You Banish Blame and Lead with Love
Feeling unfulfilled in your business? Do you catch yourself complaining about your life or your relationships on a regular basis?
When I think back to only a couple years ago when I was still feeling so unfulfilled...
I didn’t LOVE what I was doing.
I didn’t LOVE how much I was making.
I didn’t LOVE where I was in my life.
Every day felt like something was going wrong. Ever been there? What shifted for me MASSIVELY was getting pregnant. Suddenly...WHAM!
My, my how quickly things changed.
But, it was more than just getting pregnant with my son, more than the certifications, more than the clients, more than achieving the $13K months, more than the 354% increase in my income (while that was really , REALLLY, fun)...
IT WAS BECAUSE I FREAKING LOOOOOOOOOOOVEE WHAT I DO. ALL OF IT.
The thrill I get when a client transforms within the span of weeks is radical. The joy I have from getting emails of clients getting their first $2400 a month client, or getting their first $19 in pa
...3 Steps to Stretch Your Body's Built In B.S. Meter
What if everything you wanted is already located inside your body?
I know, I know. It sounds crazy, right? Almost too good to be true.
Think about it though...
Have you ever had that gut feeling that someone was lying to you? But, consciously, you were thinking, “No...he’d never do that to me. We’ve been together for so long.” And you give yourself reason, after reason, after reason to try to reason yourself out of that feeling.
Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but that gut feeling is your unconscious mind telling you what you want...the truth.
And in a Jack Nicolson moment of love, your conscious mind is thinking, “You can’t handle the truth!!!” It’s scared of the truth. Thus all the reasons, and excuses that contradict your instinct.
EGO VS. INSTINCT
You see, your unconscious mind rules your body. It’s one of its prime directives. After all, you’re not consciously thinking about breathing. You’re not consciously thinking about beating your heart right now. It's all unc
...Unlock Your Body-Business Connection
After teaching Pilates for over ten years and owning three businesses, I get this question a lot now as a high performance coach and business strategist...
WHAT DOES YOUR BODY HAVE TO DO WITH YOUR BUSINESS?
IN A WORD, EVERYTHING.Â
It’s no secret that the world’s highest performers when studied reported having MORE energy, and MORE time to workout, and they found that time CONSISTENTLY.
But it’s not just about your body…
How’s your energy?
How’s your confidence?
How’s your sex life?
ALL OF THESE ARE AFFECTED BY YOUR PERCEPTION OF HOW YOU LOOK AND FEEL IN YOUR BODY, AND ALL OF THESE ARE NECESSARY FOR BUSINESS...YES, EVEN SEX TOO.
Think about it…
Let’s break each of those down step-by-step
NO.1 - ENERGY
This happens to be my specialty as a coach...and one of my favorite subjects ever! And I’m not just talking about physical energy, like the energy it takes to run a few miles. I also mean the mental and emotional energy to get back up after the tenth rejection that day, and go ...
How to Overcome Perfectionism
When I was 7 years old, my mom was driving me to ballet class. I was in the back wrapping my hair into the perfect bun. This bun was a process and it had to be completed to perfection. Tight, taught. Immobile. And in the right place on my head. Not directly on top. And not too close to the nape of the neck either. It had to be perfectly balanced, right before the gentle curve of my head sloped down to my spine. Teetering on the perfect pointe.
THERE WERE FOUR INSTRUMENTAL STEPS THAT WENT INTO THE CREATION AND PERFECTION OF THIS BUN.
Step one: pull top half of hair into a half/up half-down on the crux of the head. Tie it. Step two, pull bottom half of hair to meet the half-done pony into a full ponytail. Tie it again. Step three: : twist the ponytail and wrap it around itself. Tie again. Step four: bobby pin stray hairs and spay with Aquanet. (Yes, I said it...Aquanet.)
The perfection of this bun determined how the next 60-minutes of my ballet class were going to go. Should it spiral...
13 Reasons Why I'm Thankful for Your Mistakes
It was this time two years ago that I found out...I was pregnant. And it was in that moment that I started to freak the fuck out.
You see, I wasn’t ready. And yeah, I know no one is really ever ready for the craziness of parenthood. But I REEEEEEALLLY, wasn’t ready.
I was unfulfilled teaching Pilates at my own studio...
I’d taken a side job teaching Pilates at a studio where I also was feeling unfulfilled...
Spike and I had separated ourselves from my parents while my dad got sober...
I was doing coaching in my car for $100 a month!
And I’d had this expensive blog, called Crown Yourself, that Is always wanted to turn into a coaching business, but I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously with all the sparkle. (LIES!)
I felt so alone.
BUT THEN, AS THE DIVINE WOULD HAVE IT, I WASN’T.
A little Being was growing inside me. A little being was dependent upon me for life.
BEST. THING. EVER.
IT WAS LIKE DECLAN WAS GROWING IN THE PLACE MY FEAR AND SHAME USED TO LIVE. I USED TO BE...
Courtship Confessions: How to Deal with Old-School Dating in the Modern Era
Like many women, finding that right guy was a mystery to me for a long time. I’d gotten it wrong so many times in the past. I questioned my judgement. I questioned whether there really was someone out there who could handle all this sparkle.
SOMETIMES I EVEN QUESTIONED MY SANITY FOR JUMPING BACK INTO THE DATING POOL AFTER SEVERAL MAJOR FAILS.
Then, one night back in 2012, when I wasn’t looking for ANYONE, while I was on my way to a networking event, I said a prayer. I had just turned off my street, paused at a stoplight and said, “God, I just want to learn more about me. I want to be 100% authentically me...oh, and I want to travel.”
That was my deepest desire.
Because all my failed relationships were stepping stones on a search to understand who I was, what I wanted. And I was tired of living by other people’s rules as to what that would look like.
After successfully having a film that I co-wrote be produced and distributed, after successfully owning a private pilates business, a...