Life Purpose

Be Brave

~ jodiheisz ~ 7 Comments

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“Fortune and love favor the brave.”
– Ovid

Do you want to be brave? Be courageous? Be stronger and more powerful? If you answered yes, then it’s going to take work. You’ll need to throw yourself into the fire and swim in the deep waters. Facing your fears head on whether you believe in yourself or not is a must. To be brave, just do it.

Being brave is hard, scary and sometimes paralyzing. But the rewards are amazing creating a better, stronger and more powerful you. You’ll learn new skills and abilities. You’ll discover talents you never knew you were blessed with. And you’ll realize, maybe even surprised, by how strong and brave you already are.

Being courageous comes in many forms. It doesn’t mean you should do crazy feats like skydiving or bungee jumping. It’s about facing your fears with faith and belief you have it within yourself to overcome challenges and adversities. You’ll learn to live strong in your beliefs and do what your heart desires no matter what anyone thinks. Many times, it requires you to do the right thing even when you don’t feel like it.

True acts of courage are built on the foundation of your heart and spirit. It’s easier to be brave when you’re passionate about a goal you want to achieve. It’s easier to have courage when you stand up for someone you love. When your heart and spirit is filled with faith and optimism, you can face the fear of being yourself out in the world.

What can you do to become the brave warrior you’ve always wanted to be? Or I should say… already are. Try these nine things to push yourself out of your comfort zone forcing you to build courage and confidence.

  1. Public Speaking: Yes, public speaking is frightening. But it teaches you how to deliver effective communication with charisma and energy to keep your audience engaged.
  2. Speak Your Truth: When you are talking with someone who has an opposing view, tell them your beliefs. Don’t argue. Respect their position. But respect your position too. By doing so, this helps you stay true to what you feel is right no matter what.
  3. Open Your Heart: SCARY! You might get hurt. Or rejected. In fact, you will get hurt and rejected. But… you will feel love and deep connection. Getting hurt and feeling love are life’s greatest teachers making your soul grow and evolve.
  4. Sit Still in the Silence: Sitting in silence is challenging because we can hear our thoughts and feel our emotions deeper. We are addicted to background noise and distractions to muffle our minds and bury our feelings. Turn off the TV, turn down the music and pause the podcast. Learn to sit still in the silence. Be brave to see the truth of what’s going on within.
  5. Perform in Front of an Audience: Do something you enjoy in front of people. Illicit feedback from qualified people. Maybe it’s a dance routine, singing a song, reading poetry you wrote or a comedy act. Choose something you are passionate about with a desire to share it with others.
  6. Be a Leader: Be adventurous and take the lead on a project, a class or a team of people. Do it even if you don’t have leadership experience. Let of worries of being wrong. You will learn along the way and gain confidence over time.
  7. Do Something You Have Always Wanted to Do: even if you it’s your first time knowing you will suck in the beginning. The more you do your thing, the less you will suck. If you stick with it, you will become awesome!
  8. Do Less and Say No: Simplifying your life and saying no to what doesn’t serve you takes courage. We fear what others think if we say no. We fear we’ll lose out on something if we downsize our life. Saying no to wrong thing and yes to the right thing empowers you to do what matters most and live your life with intention and focus.
  9. Tell Yourself “I Love You”: One of the hardest things to do is to love ourselves. To honor ourselves with unconditional love no matter how much we have failed or let ourselves down takes an enormous amount of courage.

Being brave creates deep inner growth and helps you learn more about yourself and what you are capable of. Stepping out in courage with faith and optimism builds character, strength and integrity. Be brave, be courageous and be the best you.

Photo by Jordan Sanchez on Unsplash

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A Letter from Mother Earth

~ jodiheisz ~ 4 Comments

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“Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.”
 – Cree Indian Prophecy

Dear Human,

I need your help. Now. This seething, gut-wrenching pain is tearing me up inside. The darkness, heaviness, sickness, and the diseased hearts and souls of humanity is hurting me deeply. I’m scared. Scared of what’s happened in the past. Scared of what’s happening now. Scared of what’s going to happen in the future.

You’ve torn me down by your human hands leaving me barren, dry and desperate. You pollute my air, water and soil. You knock down my trees, throw litter on the ground and create landfills. You exploit my natural resources, create toxic chemicals and build weapons for warfare.
It breaks my heart when I see you hurting each other, the animals and the planet. In the human world, you fight, judge, condemn, blame, kill, verbally abuse each other, and even worse… ignore each other. In the animal world, you kill, slaughter, abuse and mistreat animals without a second thought of how much pain it causes. Don’t animals have a right to live like you do?

This toxic, negative energy makes me feel unbalanced and out of harmony. My whole system is way off track. I can’t help but to respond with disastrous hurricanes, forest fires and earthquakes. When your human mother feels overwhelmed, exhausted and unappreciated, what does she do? Doesn’t she respond with a whirlwind of emotions creating a tornado of anguish and frustration?

The problem is you’re missing the real reason for being here with me.

And that’s LOVE.

You’re meant to love each other, not hate each other. You are here to love me, all animals both domestic and wild, the plants and trees,  and the air and water. You are here to love one another through the good and bad. To love God even when things don’t make sense. To love yourself even when you can’t look at your face in the mirror.

I was created to provide you a school to learn life lessons for your soul to grow and expand into a greater consciousness. You were created to honor life in all forms while taking great care of me. To build a strong and thriving planet, let’s work together to support and serve our mission for the benefit of all beings.

To create a positive effect for building a better world, I ask you try these things. Even just for one day.

  • Instead of anger respond with compassion
  • Show mercy for someone who upset you
  • Listen to someone’s perspective instead of judgement
  • Pick up the trash as you walk down the street
  • Smile and say hello to a stranger
  • Give someone you love a hug
  • Go outside and breath the fresh air. Feel my energy around yours.
  • Instead of buying meat and produce at the grocery store, shop at a local farmer’s market
  • Volunteer your time for a cause or charity you find meaningful
  • Sit still and be aware of the connection between heaven and earth and the world around you
  • PRAY. Pray for your loved ones, people suffering from recent and future disasters, animals of all kinds, those on the Other Side, for the hungry and living in poverty and pray for me, Mother Earth.

If you do these things for one day, maybe it will go on to the next. Every moment, every minute and every second counts. That’s all you need to heal and make a difference.

Please help me by planting the seeds of love into my soil. Water these seeds every day to build strong roots of kindness and to grow compassion, joy and forgiveness. We can work together to create beautiful, peaceful and loving planet to honor humanity and all life existing within it. A little bit of love will go a long way to heal our aching hearts and soothe our precious souls.

Even if it’s just for one day.

Love,
Mother Earth

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

Life Precious Life

~ jodiheisz ~ 2 Comments

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“Be Yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle. Just Be.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh

Each day passes by with endless to-do lists, working long, hard hours to meet deadlines, numbing ourselves with soul sucking TV and getting lost in the social media rabbit hole. Amid of doing this and that, going here and there, being nowhere and everywhere, we lose sight of what’s important. Life, precious Life.

Life is a precious miracle blessed with many gifts and wonders to offer in this world. Why does it take almost losing it to realize it? Why does it take a terrible disaster to shake us up into appreciating life with gratitude for being alive?

Stop. Look. Listen. You have everything you need. Right here. Right now. Wake up and open your eyes. See how beautiful your precious life is. Without the Universe asking you. Without nature pushing you. Without anything drastic happening to you. Simply be. FEEL the energy of this moment. With devoted time and attention, experience the love felt between family, friends, pets and partners. You never know when these moments will be your last. Continue reading →

Be Your Own Guru

~ jodiheisz ~ 5 Comments

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“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”
 – Lao Tzu

Your friend will give you advice. Because you need it. Your spiritual teacher will tell you how to pray. Because you need to learn. Your fitness coach will give you a workout plan. Because you need to train without hurting yourself. You read best-selling, self-help books. Because you want to grow and develop.

But, at the end of the day after everyone tell you what’s best for you, there’s only one person who can tell you what’s best. YOU.

No one knows you better than you. No one knows how your body gains weight after one bite of chocolate cake. No one knows who’s the perfect partner for you… or not. No one can tell you the best meditation since you know how your mind works. No self-help book, no matter how well written or if it’s a New York Times best seller, can tell you how to make your life better. Continue reading →

Then You Will Be Happy

~ jodiheisz ~ 6 Comments

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“If you want to be happy, be.”
– Leo Tolstoy

If I had more money, then I’ll be happy. If I had the perfect partner, then I’ll be happy. If my loved ones listened to me, then I’ll be happy. If I had my dream job, then I’ll be happy. If I, could I, If I had, If I did…then I’ll be happy.

Or will I be?

Well…no. I won’t be happy. Because the only way to find true happiness is by discovering it within yourself first. It begins and ends with you. Whether you are in a shitty job or have the perfect career, feeling joy and shining your inner light is the key to living a life of balance and harmony.

Searching for happiness outside of yourself or in a bunch of what if’s that may or may not happen, leads you to walking around in big circles. This circle leads you right where you started. Searching for happiness.

Stop searching. Right. Now. Instead look and listen to your heart, your essence, your soul. Within this space is where you’ll find happiness that will sustain you while giving lasting peace and deep inner strength. Only you can provide this. Not anyone else, no other stuff or any other circumstances.

Happiness is also created by living in the here and now. Being fully present while savoring each moment cultivates gratitude for being alive. No matter where you are, how much you’ve suffered or whoever has hurt you in the past… you ALWAYS have something to be grateful for.

Amazing, wonderful and beautiful things will happen. Difficulties, rugs being pulled from underneath you and unexpected traumas will rock your world. All guaranteed. But to remain calm and centered and in all experiences, requires you to embody deep, relentless and committed inner joy.

Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. Or you can choose to be unhappy. It’s up to you. You have free will to decide where to be, what to do and who to be with. If you are in an unhappy relationship, you can work on it or get out. If you hate your job, you can change your perspective or find a new career. God gave you the power to charter your own journey while co-creating your life with the Divine.

Many people claim they are “stuck”. But being stuck is an illusion. No one was brought to this earth to live a stuck life. All of us are meant to experience life filled with joy, passion and purpose with the energy to love and serve others. Taking responsibility for yourself and your life gives you control of your happiness. Not your circumstances controlling you.

Shifting your perspective and changing your mindset, creates the space for happiness to grow. All you need is to see and be aware happiness begins and ends with you. Always.

I don’t a lot of money, but I am happy. I don’t have a beautiful house, but I am happy. I don’t have the perfect partner, but I am happy. Sometimes my son doesn’t listen to me, but I am happy. Doesn’t matter if I, could I, If I had, If I did…because I am happy.

Will you be happy?

Photo by Lesly B. Juarez on Unsplash

Five Ways to Develop Intuition

~ jodiheisz ~ 1 Comment

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“The only real valuable thing is intuition.”
– Albert Einstein

Intuition is the language of the soul. Because you are soul experiencing life in human form, you have intuition. Remember when you were a kid and seemed to just “know” things? But as you grew into an adult, you were taught the logical mind should rule how you think and act making your sixth sense fall to the wayside.

Your intuition is always here waiting for you to embrace to improve the quality of your life. All you need is to be open and believe you are intuitive.

For example, how many times have you heard that small, still voice telling you to take a different route to work? But you didn’t listen and ended up in dead stop traffic.

Or what about the time you met a someone who was dressed nice with good manners, but your gut told you something was off? Then, later you discovered your initial instincts were right.

Or have you ever had a “feeling” to do or not do something. Like something was guiding you in a certain direction.

To use your intuition, be open and aware of the signs, hunches and nudges your inner guidance shows you. By training and developing your intuition, it will grow and become stronger. Just like training a muscle. As it gets stronger and the more aware you become, you’ll learn to trust and believe your intuition will guide you in all areas of your life.

Here are five ways to develop intuition I have tried and hopefully, they will help you.

  1. Meditation: For developing intuition, meditation is vital. To hear that small, still voice, your mind needs to be quiet. Meditation trains the mind to let go of thoughts creating the space and clarity for messages to come through. Focus on your breathing for 5-10 minutes a day. Or do an activity that encourages mindfulness such as yoga or gardening.
  2. Clear the Clutter: A clutter filled physical space in your home, office or car disrupts the energy flow which blocks intuition. For intuition to come in, the energy must flow freely and effortlessly. To clear your space, start slowly working in small area first. Go through your stuff and get rid of whatever you don’t use or what doesn’t serve you. Remove any objects that bring up bad memories or make you feel negative. The more open and clear your physical space becomes, the more room intuition has to flow in and enter.
  3. Spend Time in Nature: Feeling the energy and looking at the beauty of nature fuels your intuition with a sense of openness and peace. Seeing the lush trees, hearing the birds sing and feeling green grass beneath your feet increases awareness of the natural beauty existing all around you.
  4. Believe You’re Intuitive: To open your intuition, you must believe you are intuitive. Lack of trust and self-doubt are intuition killers. To gain trust, start keeping a validation journal and record all your hunches. Over time, you will begin to see how often you were right and understand when you were wrong. Reflect on your past hits that were spot on. This will help gain confidence and to see how your intuition works.
  5. Pay Attention to Your Dreams: Intuition comes through into your dreams. When your ego, conscious mind is at rest while sleeping, you’re more open for receiving guidance. The inner critic who doesn’t believe you are intuitive won’t interfere. Dreams are like little movies showing you what’s going on in your subconscious, thoughts and emotions. If you pay attention, your dreams give you an idea of what needs to be healed or dealt with in your life. Keep a dream journal by your bedside and write them in detail as soon as you wake up in the morning. Otherwise, you might forget them. Over time, you’ll see patterns, symbols and signs giving you messages you’ll understand later down the line.

Intuition is a gift everyone has given by God. It’s how you communicate with Him and your highest self to do what is best for you and those around you. You don’t need to be a spiritual guru or chant om all day long to use it. All you need is a sincere desire, belief and awareness your intuition is available to you at any given moment. Embrace it and start using it today to create the best life you deserve.

Featured photo by Yeski Kangrang

5 Simple Things to Create Joy & Brighten Your Spirit

~ jodiheisz ~ 6 Comments

 

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“Joy is the fibre of your Soul. “
 – Danielle LaPorte

Life can be challenging, exhausting and heart-wrenching. Let’s face it… sometimes it just plain sucks. But, what if you had a list of simple things to make yourself happy, create joy and brighten your spirit. A go to prescription list to medicate your mind and heal your heart and soul.

Here are some things I’ve tried that helped me and want to share them with you. All I ask is you try one of them, just for one day. If any of these makes you feel happy and joyful, awesome! If none of these make you happy and joyful, that’s ok too. It means this wasn’t the right list for you. But the world is unlimited filled with opportunities to create peace and joy.

  1. Do Not Worry: Just for today, let go of your worries and release your troubled mind. You know those stories of mass destruction filled with pain and suffering playing repeatedly in your mind? Guess what? Never happens. It’s easy to imagine worst-case scenarios. But, in the end, everything usually turns out OK. All worrying does is steal your light sucking the life force energy out from underneath you. The next time you worry, replace it with prayer or a positive affirmation. Worry steals life, but prayer feeds life.
  2. Meditate: Sit in silence for five minutes a day. Yes, just five minutes. To calm the mind and build focus, that’s all you need. Sit on a chair or sit on the floor with your back straight. Focus on your breathing. In and out, in and out. When the mind wanders, and it will, gently bring it back to the breath. Just breathing. When thoughts come, let them go like waves in the sea or clouds in the sky. A simple, daily meditation practice gives you presence of mind to create peace, clarity and stillness in all areas of your life.
  3. Spend Time Outside: Spend 10-20 minutes a day outside in nature. Take your dog for a walk, play ball with your kids in the backyard, look at the stars at night, or read a book sitting next to a tree. When you spend time outside, you ground your energy releasing any negativity from your body and your energy field. Nature is a natural healer balancing and centering yourself making you feel peaceful, whole and connected.
  4. Pray: Talk to God for 5-10 minutes every day. Pray for yourself when you feel lost and can’t see the sun beyond the storm. Pray for your family when they are sick and want to ease their pain. Pray for your friends so they may be happy, successful and prosperous. Pray for your neighbors, the Walmart store clerk, the UPS guy who comes to your office, and even the stranger on the street whom you never met. When you pray for others and yourself, you feel a connectedness to humanity with a deep understanding we are all one.
  5. Read Spiritual Books: Read a book on spirituality. Whether it’s reading a Bible scripture, a chapter from the Course in Miracles or any author whose words touch your heart, it will lighten your spirit making you feel inspired and alive. Words are powerful with ability to penetrate deeply in your soul helping you see things from a different perspective. Reading spiritual books creates positive change within yourself bringing you to a higher vibration.

With the energy of today’s environment and the stress pounding on your soul every day, take a little time to make yourself happy. Even if it’s just for one day, try these simple things to shine rays of light into your spirit and to open your heart. You deserve to feel joy and love in your life no matter where you are. If you start today, then maybe you can feel joy the next day, then the next, and the next… until one day living in joy and being the light is the essence of who you are.

Heartbeat… Can You Hear It? Can You Feel It?

~ jodiheisz ~ 6 Comments

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“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition – they somehow already know what you truly want to become.”
– Steve Jobs

If you want to live a passion filled life – the fire burning in the pit of your stomach, courageous truthfulness, unlimited creativity, big and bigger vision, then feeding and feeling your heartbeat is essential.

What attracts you? What draws, yanks and pulls at your innermost desires? What fuels your burning need begging for attention? What makes your heart beat hard and fast taking your breath away?

Whatever is for you — listen and follow your heartbeat all the way. Maybe it’s fulfilling a childhood dream that always haunts the back of your mind. Or doing something to overcome your fear with a pure act of courage. Perhaps a call to serve humanity in a way that raises your spirit. Or feeling the push and pull of an energetic connection with another human being. Or maybe it’s the wild, out of this world creative idea dying to get out of your head into the real world.

The rhythm and beating of your heart signals to what drives you, motivates you, inspires you and captivates you. When it beats strong spreading warmth throughout your body, it means yes. When it beats slow or normal, it means no. Listen to the sound and feel your body’s wisdom. Then, follow and act on the messages of truth sent by your heart.

Listening and acting upon the thundering sounds within paves the way to live the life you are meant to live. They’re clues, signals and messages to take the next big step and venture into the uncharted. Trust the messages and believe if you follow, you will discover great treasures along the way.

No one said it was easy to listen and do what excites your spirit. But, if you are crying for more wanting to unleash the veil between the ordinary and the extraordinary, you must say go right now. Not next month. Not next week. Not tomorrow. But… Right now.

What is it that thing gripping your heart making it move. Stop and listen. Even just for a second. Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The boom, boom, boom beating of your heart is speaking to you, beckoning you, guiding you to what brings you happiness, passion, wonder and fulfillment.

Listen. Feel. Follow. Go. Do… right now.

Featured photo by Sergio Rola

Bad Ass 2016 Year in Review

~ jodiheisz ~ 2 Comments

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The other day I was reading Danielle LaPorte’s blog post (check her out… total spiritual warrior), on the 5 Q’s for Your Deeper Year in Review. Danielle answered, and invited others to answer, these five questions below to gain self-inquiry and insight from the past year and hope for the next.

What didn’t work?

What did work?

What were the highlights?

And then: What does the new year look like if it’s full of what works?

Bonus Q: What do your highlights say about you?

I thought “Damn!” These are bad ass and sooo much better than New Year’s Resolutions. To be honest, resolutions suck and are a hell of a lot worse than doo doo. And since, I loved this strategy, I decided to answer these questions myself and share them with you. And, hopefully, you will answer your 5 Q’s and share those as well.

What didn’t work?

  • Not trusting and believing in my abilities. Gotta trust myself and not rely on anyone else for my success and happiness. It’s comes to down to me baby!
  • Worry: Nothing amazing comes out of worry. Ab-solute-ly nothing.
  • Being too nice: Just because I am a spiritual geek doesn’t mean I should let anyone treat me like a doormat. No one has the right to treat me that way. Nada zip zero. No one.
  • Not listening to my body when it’s in pain. Mind, body and spirit are one. Must integrate all parts to live whole.

What did work?

  • Taking fear by its horns and smashing it down to the ground by starting this blog.
  • Finally taking care of my body when it’s in pain. That integrating to live whole thing.
  • Learning to love myself no matter what. You can’t rely on love from other people to make you make happy. This love must come within your heart and soul extending out into your entire being.
  • Trusting my intuition. My gut never lies. Ever.
  • Back to meditating every single day. Peace at last.
  • Starting my Reiki practice again. Profound healing begins.
  • Smiling as much as possible. Because it works for myself and everyone else around me.
  • Loving and embracing my sensual side as a woman. Seriously… wearing beautiful clothes that make you feel good works. Plain and simple.

Highlights

  • My son, Hunter, taking Judo with me and watching him compete. Hell! I never competed in Judo. Kudos to Hunter!
  • Seeing Hunter perform loud and proud in his first musical. He rocked it!
  • Inspiring people to live in truth to their heart and souls with my blog and writing.
  • Becoming a published writer with guest blog posts on SweatpantsandCoffee.com and TheChangeBlog.com. Yes! I feel like a legitimate writer.
  • Bad ass girl’s night out with my martial arts super hero chicks. Celebrating Katelyn’s 21st birthday was a must. And, we kicked it!
  • Testing in the DoJang for the first time with Hunter. Me: 2nd level Brown Belt in Judo, Hunter: Yellow stripe in Judo. Sweeet!
  • Creating deeper and long-lasting connections with my truest friends.

And then: What does the new year look like if it’s full of what works?

  • Taking my blog and my writing beyond expectations. Honest, no holds barring, risk taking messages. Complete and utter truth speaking straight through the mind and soul.
  • 2017 is my year. Nothing less. Hopefully more. I will make damn sure this happens.
  • Making those long-lasting connections grow deeper creating stronger friendships.
  • Allowing intuition to blossom. Watch out world… I am getting ready to serve you more.
  • Being a complete bad ass woman at all levels filled with light, love and spirit.

Bonus Q: What do your highlights say about you?

  • I love people. I love helping others and making them smile. I love love. And I am learning to love myself once again. It’s all about love, baby.

Now, it’s your turn! Let’s hear it and share it with me and others today.

Have a Blessed and Happy New Year!
Jodi

Featured photo by Brigitte Tohm

 

Be Bold. Be Beautiful.

~ jodiheisz ~ 12 Comments

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“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Today, decide to do two, simple things to change your life.

Be bold. Be beautiful.

Being bold and beautiful means choosing to be assertive standing in the real you. Raw, honest, authentic, strong, vivacious, loving, fearless, compassionate and empowered. Being bold dressed in the real you makes you beautiful like a shining star sparkling in the indigo sky.

Being bold and beautiful is not being what someone else wants you to be. Not following today’s trend guaranteed to die tomorrow. Not following the masses because everyone else is doing it. And not trying to impress the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

When you become bold and beautiful, your unlimited. Powerful. Magnetic. Your spirit soars like a rocket to the heavens above giving a message you are ready for more. God will listen sending you affirmations and opportunities to make you more the real you.

I will be honest. Some people won’t like the real you. It will frighten them shaking every fiber and bone in their bodies smack down into their core. Because seeing you be real makes them feel they should be real. And, you know what? They are afraid of facing the real person deep inside of them.

The ones who are ready for the bold and beautiful real you, are ready and waiting for you to arrive. This tribe, your tribe, will always have your back. I betcha they too are ready to be bold and beautiful just like you.

Today from here on out fill your life with fire-breathing passion, real and gut-wrenching love, unwavering and focused commitment and a solid connection to humanity. This transforms you into the ultimate beauty irresistible to yourself and the world in every way.

Be bold. Be Beautiful.

 

Featured photo by Tavin Dotson