Thanksgiving is coming. People are sharing concerns about how to speak with relatives of different political views or how not to speak with them at all.

Friends wonder how to have a conversation without branching into troublesome territory.

The known or understood has become fragile.

Even conversations with people of like mind can be tricky. Some want to avoid subjects because emotions may run high and may trigger their own emotions that haven’t yet been figured out.

So, what does one do?

Here are a few thoughts:

• Love is love- coming together with family or friends can be framed simply with love. We are together. Let’s find each other in our mutual care
• Holidays can be difficult no matter what, so create an intention of what will work for you this holiday and choose your roadmap.
• For example, setting a goal, a tone, or a desired mood for oneself can help keep difficulties at bay.
• Know when it is time to take a break from festivities or conversations and get out in nature or find a yoga class. Focus on self-care.
• Some families have creative traditions. Doing something together is often the best remedy. If not a tradition, an outing, or cooking or baking together.

When it comes to those potentially difficult conversations take a breath, step back (inside yourself), and decide who you are and how you want to show up.

• That may mean saying, “I’m taking the day off from complicated (you choose your phrase) concerns and focusing on relaxing together.” Then, possibly suggest an activity or a new topic.
• You may choose to embark on the conversational journey and agree to disagree.
• You may choose to embark, and if emotions start to rise even when in agreement, you may comment on a method you’ve found that helps you feel better or more neutral.For example, “I don’t know about you, but I have found that when I get really upset, I just end up feeling worse.” “I’ve been trying to catch myself and take a breath, feel my feet on the ground, and remember I’m OK in this moment, and it helps me feel better.”

Whatever you choose I wish you a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

Quick tip:

What is your goal for the day?

Remember to have a focus.

The people you are with are yours to cherish if you choose.

Love is a guidepost.

Want some additional help with those complicated conversations? Click the Let’s Talk button below.

Wishing you easy conversations and intentional self-care.

With Love,
Liz

I have found lately that HOPE is palpable.

What is it? Why is it such a strong force?

How does it show up in our lives?

I can only speak to my realizations and those of some of my clients and friends but really… I picked up the newspaper today and I saw hope.

The kid who turned away from school and later became a rapper teacher is now helping millions of kids rap-learn subjects that were previously unreachable, and they are loving it!

Saturday, The New York Times August 24, 2024. “His Alter Ego Is Excited About Education”

I see movies like “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2” that help explain to even our youngest citizens what in the world goes on in our emotional lives and a few ways to get it under control. Yahoo!

Sunday, The New York Times, August 11, 2024 “How Pixar Helped Change Therapy”

I see and hear people shifting their consciousness from desperation and divisiveness born out of fear to hope and a belief in the possibility that comes with naming what is good in all of us and working together to fix what isn’t.

Because of hope.

No matter what the personal belief system is, hope allows us all to find something good and true.

I hate to belabor the COVID experience but mine interested me because it was like having a dark cloud hanging over me for a while.

It seems like a dark cloud has been hanging over our society for a while.

What I noticed when it began to lift was that I hadn’t known just how gloomy it was. It was like having a gray filter in front of my eyes and then suddenly it cleared. I could see the sun.

It felt that way today as I listened to people speaking, read the newspaper, and saw a different bounce in people’s steps.

A new energy seems to be taking hold in people’s interest and participation in our country.

Hope.

I’m glad the fog is lifting enough to see some sunlight. Hope is a great energizer.

If you want to explore how to accelerate your hope let’s talk! Click here to schedule a call!

Where did that feeling come from???

I came down with COVID last week.

I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise as it appears to be on the loose again.

The surprise was remembering the tricky emotional part of COVID-19.

Feelings.

Does anyone remember that?

After a couple of days of feeling poorly and beginning to slowly feel a bit better… all of a sudden, I noticed that I was paying a lot more attention to the nuances of what people said or didn’t say; if they were in touch or not in touch; mulling over a situation and starting to think about it differently.

Oversensitivity or over-focus.

Making things personal that weren’t personal at all.

The truth is all of it was imagined.

It was all a story my imagination concocted.

I began to question these innocuous situations from an emotionally negative or over-sensitive standpoint.

What snapped me out of it?

• I stepped back and looked at the data
• I noticed that how I felt made no sense
• I realized how easily it would have been for me to get totally sucked into how I was feeling.

I refocused. But even knowing all that didn’t work entirely.

It persisted. So, I talked with a good friend and said I believed I was going through the COVID emotion phase and checked out a feeling I was having.

It was based on nothing.

Except that there SEEMED to be enough of a potential something to feed the thought beast.

Fortunately, I checked it out and trusted reality rather than the sticky thought/feeling stuff leading me astray.

How often do we all let our thoughts run away with us? Even without COVID-19?

An idea bubbles up, we don’t check it out and then it becomes a “thing”.

Then if we are lucky, we do check it out, but often people don’t.

Suddenly there’s a problem where there wasn’t one and no one is talking about it.

I am so glad I gave myself a taste of my own teaching and stepped back, evaluated, and followed through. It was such an important reminder that being curious about a feeling is more important than buying it hook line and sinker.

That’s why I created both my Enlightened Communication Through Luminous Living® course and my Divorce Well and Thrive® Coaching program. Communication is key.

Let’s have some fun together finding the best way to have tough conversations or any conversation that means something to you. Those are the tricky ones.

Click here to hop on a call so you can feel like this going into every conversation.

With love,

Liz

Battersea Power Station, London, Wimbledon Screen

This week I did a crazy thing. I flew to London to go to Wimbledon without a ticket to see “the tennis”!

Okay, so you can guess that one of my passions is tennis.

When have you jumped into life and followed your passion?

It might be as simple as baking a loaf of bread, or painting a picture, or walking in a special place, or… you name it… it’s your passion of course!

‘A British friend was in town, and we began talking about tennis. He said “Come and queue up. We do it and we get in!”

I thought, Wow, how crazy! spend a fortune on a plane ticket with no guarantee!

However, I do have a friend to guide me through the process, so I have a more than 50% chance!

After a couple of people said- “DO IT! It’s a chance of a lifetime!” I started planning the trip, added a couple of days in Bath, planned to meet another friend in London on the last day, and I booked it!

The Crescent, Bath, England

Here’s what I learned:

• The most amazing things can happen when you leap outside of your comfort zone.

I’m a big leaper in that way but this was different- filled with things I wouldn’t; ordinarily do, even while leaping, and everything turned out extraordinarily well.

• Following my passion led me to pure relaxation and joy in each moment even beyond the tennis part of the adventure.

Andy Murray, Center Court, Wimbledon

Yes, I got into Wimbledon each day and even got into Center Court to see Andy Murray play, watch the touching tribute in person, and feel the deep love the crowd has for him.

• Taking advantage of following my intuition each day on where to go and what to see, made the trip pure ease.

The road well-traveled can have lovely twists and turns if you listen to your heart. Seeing the important sites and adding some curiosity helped manifest a fun and truly relaxing adventure.

And I’m even excited about going home!

What I’ve learned is that following your passion is the best way to feel joy, to be truly relaxed and completely awake.

What’s your passion? Tell me all about it!

Comment below.

Want to dig deeper into aligning with your true passionate self? Get on the list for the Beta of my online Luminous Living course.  And yes, we get to chat live!

With love and passion,
Liz

Happy day after Valentine’s Day!

Today is the day!

It’s the day to pat yourself on the back for all the cool, wonderful, exciting, and courageous things you have done since you were born.

It’s the day to recognize just how cool, wonderful, exciting, and courageous you are!

It’s the day at least some parts of the world designate for partnered love. If you are in a partnership, make every day Valentine’s Day because appreciation is special and key to a healthy relationship.

Whether or not you are in a couple, you are in a relationship with yourself which is by far the one that the most attention and the most gratitude needs to be paid. Why?  Because here you are!

Make sure you are experiencing joy along with the challenges. Make sure you give yourself the same space and compassion you would give a friend. Make sure you realize how important you are.

Yes, you are.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

With love,
Liz

P.S. Want some tips on how to move through that relationship a bit more easily? Hop onto a POP (Power of Perception) session with me. $47.00 (a $150 savings) as a special Valentine from me to you. Click here to learn more. Offer ends February 19 midnight ET. Enjoy the holiday!