Fun inspiration five ways!

Happy Thursday, everyone! There are so many great things happening right now!  And something here might be just the dose of inspiration you need! First, on Monday I was a guest on Stacey Shank's Blog Talk Radio Show - she's the mastermind behind the 30 Day Challenge that I participated in. We talked about how to realize our own overwhelm and ways to remedy that and live more calmly. And I do a cool sense drenching activity that's super relaxing. If you have 30 minutes, give it a listen! - click the little play icon below.

Listen to internet radio with Stacey Shanks on Blog Talk Radio

Second, I'm so excited about my upcoming Clarity and Connection retreat - right on the Autumnal Equinox- September 21-23 - a perfect time to be quiet in nature so you can hear your soul. Waterfall hiking, an incredibly beautiful and relaxing setting, and the perfect mix of unstructured time and group time to share with other wise women. I still have spots available, so check your calendar and see if a personal getaway in September is just what you're looking for! Read more details and sign up here.

Third, if you're in the New Orleans area, I have two wordless walks coming up!  I'm hosting a morning walk on Sunday August 26 at 8 a.m. and then a moonlight wordless walk on Friday, August 31 - it's a special blue moon!  You can read more about these events here. And if you're not near New Orleans, have you signed up to get my free wordless cure for busyness?  It gives you great directions on how to take your own wordless walk, and how to incorporate more wordlessness into your daily life and dial back the busyness.  You can sign up on the side bar to the right, or if you're reading this on a phone and don't see a side bar, then click here.  Then you'll be subscribed and get email updates from me and exciting offers and other fun wild and precious goodies!

Fourth, I am looking for people to share their experiences with wordlessness for my Wordless Wednesdays. I want to start a wordlessness revolution and I would love to feature you and your wordless video or photos.  Feel free to write about your wordless experience as well.  Send your wordless goodies to me: carla@livingwildandprecious.com - and if you include your snail mail address in your email, I'll send you a treat!

Fifth and best of all, if you're at all interested in seeing how coaching can make a difference in your life, this is a great time to find out. My coaching rates will be increasing in September, so now's the time to jump in, invest in yourself and save some money at the same time.  Are you itching to live more wild and precious? Click to schedule a free call with me and learn more!

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And this is just the beginning - I have some new Wild and Precious yumminess coming very soon, and I can't wait to tell you about it!

30 Day Challenge - Day 20 and 21 - Listen to your Soul, Rest and Play

I just spent two days and nights away on retreat.  Even though I was the host and facilitator, I had plenty of time to soak in the rejuvenating power of nature and really hear my soul speak.  She said something like this - it was telepathic so not exactly these words, but this was the feeling: "There's abundance.  There's always enough.  The world is full of riches and pure delight, laying them at your feet.  Love is all around you."  She was so calm, so shining, so bright.  And I don't think she was talking about material riches, like gold or diamonds.  It was much more about the abundance of beauty and life and love all around me.  So much to appreciate. Would you like to hear your soul?  All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine your soul coming out of your body and manifesting itself in a way you can visualize - maybe a person, maybe a glowing light, maybe an animal  - it could be anything.  Then feel its wisdom, its pure love, its complete acceptance of you.  Feel it wash over you. Then hear what it has to tell you, as it sits or stands or floats before you.  Listen to its message, then let it come back into your body in whatever way it does - maybe straight to your heart, maybe through the top of your head, or some other way.  Then feel yourself fill up with the love and wisdom of your soul, and open your eyes and see the world from the point of view of your soul.  This is a beautiful visualization to practice over and over.  It's one of my favorites, both for when I'm feeling stressed and when I'm feeling peaceful.

What I love about retreats like this is that it was a weekend dedicated to pure rest and play. We had lots of time alone to rest and reflect, and time together to process, share and hike and explore in nature.  I'll tell you more about it tomorrow, but here's one of my favorite photos from the weekend:

I've been drawing too - I missed my drawing time on Friday, but that's ok - I picked up again Saturday and today.  I sat inside the small gazebo on the gorgeous grounds of the B&B where we stayed and drew the view through the lattice.

And today I played with the message from my soul, and with a somewhat green version of my wild and precious tree. Quick play sketches.

How are you?  What has your soul had to tell you lately?  What feels like rest and play to you right now?

Message me or let me know in the comments!

Worshiping at the altar of busy

It's funny, I was talking to a good friend about my crusade against the word "crazy-busy" and this idea of everyone telling everyone else how busy they are all the time, like it's a badge of honor. And surprisingly, she said, "Do you know how embarrassing it is not to be busy?  What are you supposed to tell people?"

Oh. Right.  That's how we show that all is well in our culture.  A packed calendar, a list of accomplishments - a whole lot of doing, doing, doing.  We're fine - we're  just so busy!

Me - I'm starting to rebel against this kind of thinking. For the past bunch of years, I've been slowly chipping away at this concept. Now when people ask, "How are you?  Really busy?"  I've stopped saying, "Oh, yeah. Things are just so busy." Because I really don't want to live that way anymore.

Sure, sometimes I'm still busy, and sometimes my days are super-full.  But I'm not all proud of it anymore.  In fact, when my calendar gets too stuffed, I get honest with myself about what's going on that's led me to pile up so many appointments or commitments.  I get really curious.  Especially if I'm saying yes to everyone but myself.

I know what you might be thinking - that you don't have any choice.  That there's absolutely nothing you can do to escape the modern scourge of busyness.  Or that if you do elect to be less busy, that you'll be excluded, ostracized, shunned. And God forbid you don't sign your kids up for every available sport, activity, party, etc. Really - if we weren't busy with all of this stuff, what would we post on Facebook?  Pictures of us finally getting enough sleep???

If you are craving a weekend of less busy and more you, with time to think and reflect and perhaps create a new reality for yourself by figuring out how to say yes to what you really want and no to what you don't,  consider joining me for my Clarity and Connections retreat in beautiful St. Francisville, LA, July 27-29.  A small group of women gaining clarity about what we really want and connecting with nature, ourselves and each other.  With waterfalls included!  Check out the details here.

I've designed it for me - what I mean is that it's exactly what I want when I'm craving  a weekend to press my own internal reset button.  There will be plenty of Wordlessness à la Martha Beck, plus free time to lounge and reflect, along with some powerful tools that will give you major clarity, fast, even if like me, you're already sold on the idea of backing off on busy.

$99 reserves your spot, and there's still time to get the early bird rate! Click here to go to the information page.

And I'd love to hear your thoughts about busyness.  How are you dealing with it in your daily life?