You can share your message, NOW - Remember How Lucky We Are.
People need what you have to offer and we’re so lucky we live in a world where we can start sharing our message immediately.
We don’t have to wait to be chosen.
We don’t have to apply and submit and be rejected thousands of times over to get ourselves seen.
We just have to commit to ourselves, to begin and then to continue even when there’s seemingly no response, no audience, no feedback.
Keep going.
Remember how lucky we are.
How can you do that today?
1. Choose a platform.
If you haven’t already, choose one platform to share your message. It can be a blog site, a social media platform or a newsletter style site like Substack. We have access to so many people through our devices. All we have to do is pick one and get on with it.
2. Start writing.
Now all you have to do is start sharing your messages. Tell your stories. Commit to a frequency of posts/blogs per week and get to it. If you’ve already started - can you dig deeper and commit to more posts per week? Build up a bank of 10 stories so you always have some up your sleeve.
3. Keep going.
This is the part that gets tricky. Sometimes it can feel like no one is listening. It can feel like you are speaking to the wind. Your words being blown out to see never to be seen or heard. But trust me, people are watching, people are reading. What they need is your message consistently being shared. Just keep going, even when you don’t feel inspired (that’s why you have a bank of 10 stories in draft up your sleeve for when you don’t feel inspired).
Need help uncovering your message?
Check out my program Raconteur. It’s the one for storytellers and messengers.
Plus if you’d like some 1:1 support alongside the videos send me an email.
OR sign up directly for 1:1 Voxer mentoring. We can do the work together and I’ll be there to bounce ideas off and encourage your message.
Let’s bloom,
Katrina
Stop Giving Your Power Away.
The biggest mistake I see a lot of people make (myself included), is giving their own power away. We don’t believe we have value to add. We don’t back ourselves. We don’t take risks. We overthink it before we start.
My invitation for you today is to take your power back.
Here are some practical steps in order to do that:
Create more than you consume
Make space to write things down - ideas, dreams, beliefs, journaling, tools
Make space in your life for quiet and solitude
Take action on that thing that’s been niggling you and you’ve put it off
Start small, start messy and start now
You are more powerful than you know, it’s just that society has conditioned you to give that power away.
Want some help reclaiming your power?
Katrina, Author and Founder of Peony Publishing offers Voxer mentoring for $100/week. You’ll get access to her Monday - Saturday with journal prompts, insights and ideas into honing your messaging and reclaiming your power.
Book here.
Need more info? Send me an email with all your questions here.
Let’s bloom,
Katrina
The Difference Between Traditional, Self and Indie Publishing
Why would you choose to work with Peony Publishing to get your work into the world?
Why work with Peony Publishing to get your Work into the World??
Here’s a break down of the differences between Traditional, Self and Indie Publishing to help you understand who we are and what we do.
Traditional Publishing
means writing applications and asking the publisher to support you. A lot of traditional publishers also won’t look at you if you don’t have an agent and if you have a small social following. Traditional Publishing can take years to get your book into the world.
Self Publishing
means doing all the nitty gritty work yourself. Finding an editor, designing the cover, formatting it yourself (or paying someone to do it) and then the more finicky parts like categories and search words. Self Publishing can be tedious and lonely.
Indie Publishing
means choosing yourself and your timeline for publication. It means handing over all the tech stuff to one place and it will all be done for you. It means being supported by a team of fellow authors.
Peony Publishing falls into the third category. Meaning you choose yourself, you choose your timeline, you keep all royalties and creative rights to your book. You just pay us to do the tech parts like editing, formatting, cover design, uploading and so on.
We can help you start, write (or speak) your book and publish! With all the tools and resources in one place.
Find our more by clicking here.
Unlock your creativity with these 3 tools
We’ve all been there.
You start a writing project with great enthusiasm and then part way through - crickets! Then your inner critic jumps in and tells you that it’s rubbish anyway, you should just stop. Who are you to write this anyway?
Or maybe the. critic got you before you had a chance to even get started.
Never fear, it happens to the best of us (even your favourite writers get blocked from time to time).
Here are my 3 best tools to unlock your creativity.
1. Journal every day.
Free write every single day. On whatever is on your mind, what’s happening in your world, what you see out the window. If you need help with this I share exactly how to free write in my Journal Toolkit. You can get it, along with 7 other useful journal tools and how to use them by clicking here.
Writing in your journal every day helps to free up your mind. It lays to rest all the questions, stress, worries and what-ifs so you can get to work. Try it out!
2. Go for a walk.
There’s nothing to free the mind than to go for a walk. I’m not sure what it is about moving your feet that helps to move the mind, but it works. Best to do without headphones, or even your phone if you can. Also, best to do if you can amble and look around you rather than an exercise-type walk where you going fast and timing yourself. Allow yourself to slow down, allow your thoughts to ramble. Take in the houses, the streets, the trees, the sky.
Bonus tip: even better if you can get out of your usual environment and into nature! Not necessary, but can help.
3. Write daily.
When working on a particular project it helps to do a little bit every day. This creates momentum. With momentum comes more enthusiasm for the work. Rather than trying to get a lot done in one day, aim for 300-600-1000 words every day. Watch the momentum build. Some days you’ll be on fire and write more than planned. Other days you’ll struggle to reach your goal. This is the work of art. Showing up even when you don’t feel like it. Sit down to your art and watch the magic happen.
Great read to get you inspired: Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Happy unlocking,
Katrina, Peony Publishing
Flowers Don't Bloom All Year, And Neither Should You
I was crazy to believe my
blooming would last forever.
My personal unfoldment
into ‘adulthood’,
my successful ‘arriving’
at a place always
joy-filled and thriving,
free from the nagging
of self doubt.
The very nature of blossoms
is to bud, bloom and fade.
Just look at the jasmine
on our balcony.
Now, mid-winter -
not a sign of flowers.
But with the warming of the air
come spring, the buds will form.
Flowers bursting white
fragrant beauty
some weeks later.
In time, the white
petals will curl,
landing brown and
shriveled on the tiles.
Leaves bare once more.
- Blooming is never eternal
On Roe Vs. Wade
Defined.
Roe v. Wade, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1973, ruled (7–2) that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. In a majority opinion written by Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the Court held that a set of Texas statutes criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a woman’s constitutional right of privacy, which it found to be implicit in the liberty guarantee of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (“…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”). Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
(taken from: https://www.britannica.com/event/Roe-v-Wade)
Jun. 24, 2022, 10:36 AM ET - The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's majority opinion✎ EditSign in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. "The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."
Quotes.
“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.”― Margaret Sanger
“How come when it’s us, it’s an abortion, and when it’s a chicken, it’s an omelette?”― George Carlin
“I cannot understand anti-abortion arguments that centre on the sanctity of life. As a species we've fairly comprehensively demonstrated that we don't believe in the sanctity of life. The shrugging acceptance of war, famine, epidemic, pain and life-long poverty shows us that, whatever we tell ourselves, we've made only the most feeble of efforts to really treat human life as sacred.”― Caitlin Moran, How to Be a Woman
“We don't like to kill our unborn; we need them to grow up and fight our wars.”― Marilyn Manson
“The Vatican won't prosecute pedophile priests but I decide I'm not ready for motherhood and it's condemnation for me? These are the same people that won't support national condom distribution that PREVENTS teenage pregnancy.”― Sonya Renee Taylor
“Here is the trap you are in.... And it's not my trap—I haven't trapped you. Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and you—because you know how to perform them—have no choice, either. What has been violated here is your freedom of choice, and every woman's freedom of choice, too. If abortion was legal, a woman would have a choice—and so would you. You could feel free not to do it because someone else would. But the way it is, you're trapped. Women are trapped. Women are victims, and so are you.”― John Irving, The Cider House Rules
“If we lived in a culture that valued women's autonomy and in which men and women practiced cooperative birth control, the abortion issue would be moot.”― Christiane Northrup, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing
Poems/Songs.
You want to keep
the blood and the milk hidden
as if the womb and breast
never fed you
Rupi kaur
feel it. the thing you don’t want to feel. feel it. and be free.
Nayyirah Waheed
***
It shouldn’t affect anyone
what we do with our bodies
least of all those who haven’t
walked a day in our shoes
Rupi kaur
Thoughts.
I sat in a circle of women not long ago when the conversation came up, abortion. 8 or 9 of us. Book club. On a sunny Saturday afternoon sitting on picnic rugs by the beach, under a tree. We were having drinks and snacks.I don’t know how the conversation began, but it’s one I’m happy to be a part of. I’d always been pro-choice and five years ago had my own moment to choose.
As we sat in the circle some 6 out of us had, once upon a time, had an abortion. It was a revelatory conversation as, even though it’s legal in Australia, it’s still not a piece of information we women offer up without a sense of intrepidation. ‘What will she think? What’s her opinion?’ The thoughts waft around in our minds.
In saying that, that most of my friendship circle has had an abortion at some point in time; it’s understandable that the overturning of Roe Vs Wade in America has shaken my heart and soul. What does it really mean? Here’s my take on the situation.
By overturning the Roe Vs Wade decision which stated that abortion was a constitutional right; the Supreme Court has deemed that the issue of abortion be in the control of each of the 50 states. According to a 2021 article by reproductive research and policy organisation Guttmacher Institute which has been ammended this year - up to 26 of the 50 states are certain or likely to ban abortion with Roe Vs Wade upholding consitutional rights.
Read more here: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2021/10/26-states-are-certain-or-likely-ban-abortion-without-roe-heres-which-ones-and-why
So what does that mean
? It means women in these states who fall pregnant for any number of reasons and do not want to keep the child including rape, incestual rape, gang rape, rape within marriage, a broken condom, failed birth control and any other plethora of reasons cannot access safe, supported abortion in their state. They will either have to travel, sometimes hundreds of kilometers to a state where abortion is legal. OR procure an illegal abortion; some of which may not be safe and cause septic pregnancies or face prison time if caught. Or, have the unwanted child. Which can lead to psychological, emotional, financial struggle.
As someone who went to a clinic and obtained a very affordable oral abortion treatment the idea of any of the above outcomes when I was pregnant make me want to cry. Imagine young women and girls who have been raped, who have been through so much trauma already and then having to give birth to the child of the rapist?
Imagine if all six women in my circle of friends had another mouth to feed. Their lives would have taken different courses, education wouldnt’ have been completed their paygrade much less than it currently is, their lives even more complicated.
I just can’t imagine the struggles and hardship this will cause, particularly for those in lower socioeconomic situations. In my reading this morning one article said that the rich will know people and be able to access safer abortions when required; legal or not. But those with less means will be the ones who suffer. Forced into unsafe abortions with people who have little to no medical knowledge leading to illness and even death. Or, forced to have a child they do not want and potentially cannot support.
Where’s the sense in this?
This morning alone I’ve read some posts about making men more culpable. As in, why is the woman lumped with the responsibility? Why don’t we enforce that all young men have a compulsory vasectomy that will be reversed when they are ready to have children. Which has caused heated arguments in facebook threads and I’m sure over dinner tables around the world.
But, I must agree, it seems that birth control has always been on the woman. Take hormones, put a rod in your arm, put a coil in your vagina. It’s always our bodies that are impacted by birth control excepting the condom. Which, we all agree is not anyone’s favourite form of birth control even if it is in use.
I’ve also read a few questions about whether or not the decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade could find it’s way to Australia. In all of our states and territories abortion is legal. As far as I can read and to my knowledge of Australian society I don’t think the case will impact Australian legislation. Overturning Roe Vs. Wade merely gave the power of banning abortion back to each state. In Australia that is already the case and in each and every state and territory we have been through the process and each one has made their own laws legalising access to safe abortion.
It’s not to say that these laws cannot be overturned. However, I also believe our Australian society to be far less religious than America. I also believe we are far less active in the anti-abortion activism. We even have laws here banning protesters from clinics so women and their health care providers can be safe and unhassled (we’ve all seen the movie scenes depciting the situation in the Us - the teenager goes to the clinic with the aid of a friend, aunt or even alone and on her way into the dingy clinic which is already dispiriting, there’s one or two (or more) people outside the clinic waving pamphlets, holding placards, shrieking at them not to kill their child, that they are murderers. We avoid that indignity here in Australia thanks to these laws.
The decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade and the ripple effect this will have through the American and global society upsets me. I’m upset for women and girls who will be forced into situations that could so easily be resolved. I’m upset that we live in a society that is so narrow minded. I’m grateful to live in Australia. I’m grateful I had access to an abortion. I am grateful I don’t currently have a five year old child. I’m grateful I have a place to share my voice. I’m grateful for the freedoms afforded me.
Be bold,
Katrina
On Imagination
Defined.
1: the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality
2a: creative ability
b: ability to confront and deal with a problem : RESOURCEFULNESS
use your imagination and get us out of here
c: the thinking or active mind : INTEREST
stories that fired the imagination
3a: a creation of the mind
especially : an idealized or poetic creation
b: fanciful or empty assumption
Quotes.
If you fall in love with the imagination, you understand that it is a free spirit. It will go anywhere, and it can do anything. ~Alice Walker
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will. ~George Bernard Shaw
What is now proved was once only imagined. ~William Blake
Everything you can imagine is real. ~Pablo Picasso
You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. ~Anne Lamott
I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn’t have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn’t exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives. ~Lloyd Alexander
You need to be a little bit crazy. Crazy is the price you pay for having an imagination. It’s your superpower. Tapping into the dream. It’s a good thing not a bad thing. ~Ruth Ozeki
Your imagination, my dear fellow, is worth more than you imagine. ~Louis Aragon
I believe art is utterly important. It is one of the things that could save us. We don't have to rely totally on experience if we can do things in our imagination.... It's the only way in which you can live more lives than your own. You can escape your own time, your own sensibility, your own narrowness of vision.
Mary Oliver
Poems/Songs.
Wild Geese, Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Pure Imagination, Jackie Evancho
Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination
We'll begin with a spin
Traveling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy
Explanation
If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world, there's nothing to it
There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be
If you want to see magic lines
Close your eyes and you will see one
Wanna be a dream, I'll be one
Anytime you please
And please leave me one
Thoughts.
It seems I’ve been fascinated with imagination for as long as I can remember. Which only dawned on me this week at the age of 36. Why now? I’ve been working on a series to share on Instagram. I’ve called it ‘Books That Changed Me. A series’. I’ve only shared two so far.
The first one was Anne of Green Gables. You know, the orphan child who has had quite a rough go of life but uses her imagination to make life bearable. I was in awe of the way she named everything. The way she made life seem more poetic, more beautiful than it really was. I wanted to be like her, to imagine like her, to name all the trees and the places around my own home.
The second book I’ve posted is The Brain That Changes Itself. I read this nearly two decades after I read Anne of Green Gables (I’m not posting in order but as inspiration strikes). It’s a sharing of stories by neuroscientist Norman Doidge. Stories of neuroplasticity. Which is their fancy term for change. That the brain can change. Up until the turn of the century neurologists believed the brain to be static. Unchanging. They mapped it all out and said, ‘This part processes sight and sight only. This part processes hearing.’
Turns out that this isn’t the case and the brain can change to process different things. In fact, it’s utilising the power of our imagination that we can often create changes in the brain. How cool is that? So not only is imagination incredibly empowering to create more beauty in life, it’s also practical in creating the things you want in life. I could go on and on about the stories and miracles shared by Dr. Doidge, but that’s not what this was about, if you’re intrigued do and go purchase a copy of the book. It changed me. It really did.
Back to imagination. I wrote in my journal the other day, something along the lines of ;
If imagining moving your body can create nearly the same amount of physical muscle as actually working out can create -
What else can we create with the power of our imagination?
Now I’ve been ruminating on Imagination for a day or so and I went to the restaurant and there, in the middle of someone’s table was a journal with a quote on it. ‘Let your imagination run wild.’ Hence this lament. There is something in here for me. Something to be unpacked.
Imagination: the power to see something that isn’t there, yet.
Imagination: the power to create.
Imagination: the power to walk through, to plan, to ideate, to see, to make, to innovate.
Imagination: the power to write stories, make up characters, paint, sculpt, make anything artistic
What we can create in our mind’s eye is truly incredible. We can picture of times long gone. We can see our car keys in their entirety even when we can’t physically find them and we’re searching the entire house for where they’ve been placed. We can imagine hanging in a hammock by the sea on a remote island in Indonesia even if we’ve never been there before. We can see a multitude of possible futures we might live should we choose option A, B or C. We can even create brand new things that have never been seen or invented before.
Imagination is also the seat of worry. For what is worry but imagining the worst possible outcomes to a situation? That your child might come off their motorcycle, that you’ll be late to work, that you’ll lose your job and have no money to pay the mortgage and then what will you do?
All of this. All in our minds.
What then, are we to do with all of this incredible creative power? It is power. Because what we can see in our minds eye we can bring into reality. Are we then to cultivate the power of our imagination - to practice and to play so that we can create the kind of life we’d rather have than the one we are currently living. Or so that we can add more depth, more beauty to the current life we’re living?
I suppose that’s it. If we can practice seeing what we would like to see. Winning the race, getting our work in by the deadline, having the kind of bank balance we would like. That’s just the practical stuff. We could also imagine a lottery win, a business success, a windfall. I guess it comes down to this: what do you really want from this one wild and precious life of yours? What do you want to see, hear, feel, be, do, experience?
Use your imagination to come up with answers. Use your imagination to come with the imagery to these answers. Then keep focusing on it and allow it to come to life. Which is an imaginative process. You picture what it will look like out, how it will work out, what you will make, what you will do.
Imagination is part of everything we do. Not just for children, dreamer’s, artist’s or inventors (although if you’d like to be one of those most certainly cultivate your imaginative powers). It’s how we think ahead, how we plan, how we remember. So it’s beneficial for all of us to dive into imagination and use it for all it’s worth.
Be bold,
Katrina
Question Everything
I’ve just had my world blown apart.
I feel like I did when I found out my housemate was secretly stealing and drinking alcohol whilst claiming to our faces to be seven years sober. Back when I lived in New Zealand on a resort, I lived with the chefs in a little cottage style house up on the other side of the hill from the restaurant.
From the day I arrived the head chef had told us all, with deep and believable pride, that he was 7 years sober.
He was so sincere and honest there was no reason not to believe him. We also never saw a drink in his hand.
Even if, after service, the restaurant manager and I would warm ourselves by the restaurant fire with a glass of local pinot noir, chef would head straight home. Even when I arrived home and Mama Jenny was in her seat watching a movie or out on the deck having a cigarette and a glass of savvy b.
He never had a drink in hand.
One week, chef had taken the weekend off. The day he arrived back we all knew something was awry. He wasn’t his normal self.
Long story short he’d been on a bender all weekend and was sent on the next boat back to Picton.
It was my unlucky job to go through his bedroom. The past few weeks alcohol had gone missing from the store room and unbeknownst to us, all of us in the house were suspected by the owners.
Turns out chef wasn’t so sober after all.
His room was littered with bottles.
Stuffed under the bed. Hidden in drawers. Tucked in his backpack from the weekend. Bottles of wine pilfered from the cellar to cooking alcohol from the kitchen.
A bit of everything. Every night when he’d turn in while Jenny and I stayed up chewing the fat and having a glass or two, he’d been secretly drinking in his room.
The entire time.
For months.
While convincing us to our faces he was sober.
I believed him.
I thought he was sober.
I was left reeling for days. Questioning myself. Questioning the world. Questioning what I believe. Because you see: I believe myself to be a good judge of character. I believe I have great gut instinct. I believe people to generally be honest and good,I knew him. I lived with him. I worked with him for goodnesssake! How could I not know?
My mind was frantic.
Today I found out people I’ve admired and looked up to for years in the online business world aren’t who and what I thought they were.
People I’ve built an idea of success around. People whose success I’ve wanted to imitate. People whose words I read and respected. People whose lives I’ve made visionboards around.
I’ve wanted to BE LIKE these people. I’ve wanted to make the THE MONEY these people are making. I’ve wanted to HAVE what they have. I’d like to be as free, as creative, as expressive, as rich, as wealthy, as stylish as these people.
I’ve built an entire mental construct of who I would like to be based on people I follow online.
People who claim to be leaders.
People who claim to be teachers.
People who claim to be making millions of dollars.
People driving better cars than me (that’s not difficult! Haha - I drive a 2001 Toyota Rav 4).
People I essentially wanted to be like. I wanted to make money online the way they did and live the life they did.
But just like all those years ago when chef claimed to be sober. These people I’ve admired aren’t what I thought they were.
They’ve been saying one thing to my face (our face, on social media) when the reality is something entirely different.
They aren’t as kind as I thought.
They aren’t as creative as I thought.
They aren’t actually making as much as they say - cash flow and profit line are two different things.
They aren’t as interesting as they make out.
They aren’t as integral as I thought they were, they aren’t as honest as I believed them to be.
It feels like a wrecking ball has smashed the framework of my life and online business.
Everything I’d set my sights on, focused my goals on.
Smashed to the ground.
Which is incredible because as it turns out, the framework was built on false foundations. It was built on lies, non-truths, dishonesty and unkindness.
Which is exciting because now I get to rebuild. I get to redefine success, reassess financial goals and dive into my creativity with more authenticity, honesty and truth.
Questions I’m asking myself today:
What does success look like to me? Real, authentic success?
What do I really want to create in the world?
What do I truly wish to teach and share?
What do I feel called to make?
Thoughts for everyone to reflect on:
Be careful who you let into your social media feeds
Don’t put yourself down because you aren’t where other people are at (where they are might be a lie and/or you might not even want to be there)
Add some more diverse people to your social media feeds
Question everything ; what people are selling, why they’re selling, what their messaging is and is why - even mine.
Be bold,
Katrina
Things I know For Sure
There’s a lot about this world and this life I don’t understand and am unsure about. The more I learn, the more I realise I don’t know and there’s so much to know. But, I picked some cards today from an oracle deck and when I asked about what I need to do, I picked a card stating Share Wisdom.
I believe wisdom is what we know through experience, which sparked this post.
Here is what I know for sure. After 36 laps around the sun.
( I also obtain the rights to change what I know for sure ten minutes, ten days or ten years from now. Because, the more we know, the more we know we don’t know, right?)
Things I know for sure:
When we go after what we want in life, we naturally must grow.
This expansion and change is valuable and important.
The hard times in life are where the gold lies.
The arguments in relationships can provide deeper connection and understanding once we’re on the other side. Sadness allows us to hold our joy. Working for something can be more satiating than being gifted the very same item/experience.
This life is amazing.
The fact that our planet earth hangs in such a balance that it can support life. That your ancestors survived, thousands upon thousands of them and the fact that you of all the sperm made it to the egg and then you survived the perils of birth. The fact that we can touch, see, feel, hear and taste. To experience life in these human bodies. That humankind created running water and washing machines. I could go on and on and on. Life is miraculous and amazing and we take it for granted too often.
Gratitude and appreciation make everything better.
If you want more of something - be grateful. If you want to change something - be grateful. If you want to make the world a better place - be grateful. If you want your children to have a better life than you did - teach them gratitude. What we focus on grows so if you focus on what is good, what is working, what is going well, what is great, what is awesome? You’ll get more and more to be thankful for. It’s how the universe works and it’s an attribute to point three - life is amazing.Not everything is as it seems.
Especially in the modern world. We live in a sea of social media, marketing, curated news and misinformation. The women teaching money mindset might actually have less money than you do. The luxury lifestyles of influencers may or may not be their actual day to day. That article in the paper is actually an advertorial and was paid for. The guy with the great abs teaching you an ab workout might actually be more naturally inclined to generate muscle than you are; so pushing yourself might never see you get the same abs as him. Food wasn’t meant to be quick and easy. I could go on.
But question what you read, the images you see, the messages you’re receiving. Who’s responsible for them? What’s their intention? What’s really going on behind the scenes?Writing helps me bloom.
This is personal but its truth. I’m sure it’s truth for many. While I believe I’m quick witted, astute and capable, it can take time for me to decode what I’m feeling, what I want and need. It can take me time to figure out what I need to say, my opinion on a matter. I need to spend time writing to sort out the experiences, the thoughts, feelings, memories, stories to put them together coherently.
Six is my favourite number, so I’ll stop there.
A few things I know for sure.
That I might not believe in any amount of time from now.
Life is funny like that, isn’t it?
Always learning and growing.
Be bold, Katrina
stay the course, magic will follow
Do you want something that’s contradictory to popular opinion or that your family doesn’t understand?
Maybe you want to ditch the family business and become a musician - even though that’s frowned up on and your parents keep telling you that you’ll have to go back to university and study business.
Maybe you’re taking a non-conventional career path, a creative path but part of you feels like you should be doing something steady. Account, business, finance, law.
Maybe you’re just not married yet and you’re feeling pressure to get married.
Maybe you’re not sure where your life is heading right now but you’ve quit a corporate job, jumped out of a university degree and seeing what comes up.
I know how scary it can feel. How out at sea and lost it can feel. We are hardwired to seek external approval. We want to fit in with the tribe, we want our peers, parents and significant others to be proud of us, to be able to rely on us. We want to show up in the world in a way that’s not only authentic but empowered. A way that is truly ours.
I get it, because I’ve been there. As a straight A student in school I felt really pressured to study something ‘prestigious’ at university. I ended up in Law school, not out of any passion for the law but because I thought I should.
When I eventually jumped ship into a Communications degree (majoring in journalism and writing, tipping my hat to my dreams and my soul) I felt extremely misunderstood. In fact, I still don’t think my parents know what degree I graduated with despite them being at the graduation ceremony.
After uni, instead of jumping straight into a written journalism career I went backpacking. I was on a mission. I was seeking something else, something other, something more than the life that had been sold to me. (You know the 9-5, the paycheck, the monotonous day to day). I just, didn’t know what that was. Every time I booked a ticket to a new country I physically made myself sick (I was bed ridden for two weeks before I left Australia for New Zealand) with worry, fear and doubt.
What am I doing?
What will everyone think?
Who cares what they think? Who even are they? But I do! I do care.
What’s my plan?
What will become of me?
What if I end up old and alone, broke?
What if I never have a career? Never make any money?
My bestfriend is about to receive her Masters Degree and owns a property already? Shouldn’t I be doing that?
It was a full on freak-out-fest in my mind.
Fast forward 10 years and I wouldn’t change a single thing. I know every single misstep and every single step in the right direction was divine. I wouldn’t be the person I am. I wouldn’t have the boyfriend I do, live where I do, write what I do with such passion, have such beautiful clients or big dreams if my life hadn’t flowed the way it had.
Yes, it mightn’t be linear.
Yes it’s not the life most of my peers are living.
Yes it’s missing a few of the common tropes of modern life but you know what?
It’s mine. It lights me up.
I wake up every day excited for what I do, how I do it and who I do it with.
I share my story because I know going against the grain can feel scary and hard. It can be daunting and there are many times you want to scream and turn back for the path more traveled. The path that others are walking.
I’m just here to remind you to stay the course. Follow your heart and I promise the path will unfold for you in the most magical of ways. Go against the grain, stay true to you.
Keep being bold,
Katrina
You can make another decision
Decisions.
They can seem overwhelming at times, particularly when they involve the rest of your life. I remember feeling paralysed by big life decisions.
I mean, you’re in the 9th grade and they invite you to choose subjects that will define the rest of your career. Ie. The rest of your life.
If you know any of my story you’ll know that I struggled with my career path for most of my life. All through high school as we were directed to narrow down our subjects to align with a career path I freaked out. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had no idea what to do or what it looked like.
At one point I even believed I would die at a young age because I couldn’t see the way forward. I couldn’t picture my working life, my career, the rest of my life.
Another time I was panicked by a decision that impacted the rest of my life was when I was living in Helsinki. I’d moved there for a year to see my heritage, to learn the language and spend time with my maternal grandma. While there, I met and fell in love with a beautiful french man. He invited me to stay. To make a life there with him.
I panicked. I mean, could I do it? Could I stay there? Did I want to? This was, after all the rest of my life we were talking about.
In one conversation about it, in which I was paralysed by this seemingly huge decision that would impact the rest of my life, this beautiful man said something to me I’ll never forget.
‘You can always make another decision,’ he said.
Meaning, the decision to stay in Finland wasn’t final. If I didn’t like it I could leave. I could make another decision further down the track.
Do you know how much relief that flooded me with?
I hope it lightens the load on your big life decisions too.
Even if you do choose one degree over another, even if you choose one pathway instead of something else. You can always choose again.
You can always make another decision.
Be bold,
Katrina
Incorporate these in your life to feel confident in your direction in life
There are plenty of times we’ve all felt unsure of the next move, or where to go next. Maybe feeling lost in our purpose and direction altogether. I certainly know i have over the years.
Here are two things I truly believe help you feel safe, confident and satisfied in your direction in life.
#1. Goals
Having clear set goals, both small and big give us a sense of direction as we pursue them AND fulfilment/satisfaction when we achieve them. This is why small goals and breaking down bigger goals into small steps really matters. So we can feel fulfilled and satisfied along the way.
#2. Learning and mastering skills/ a skill set
As we develop a skill or set of skills we develop confidence in ourselves and we achieve small goals (see #1) - we also open up opportunities and we begin to see a direction these skills can take us in.
Don’t have any clear cut goals or uncertain of which skills/skill set you’d like to develop?
Book in for a clarity call and let’s see how we can get you on a path you love.
www.katrinahahling.as.me/clarity
Be bold,
Katrina
3 Questions for the End of 2021
When anything in life comes to an end it’s quite normal to stand back for a moment and reflect.
At the end of a day, the end of a month, the end of school, or like now - the end of the year. So if you’re feeling a little nostalgic, contemplating what’s happened this year (or maybe what hasn’t happened) and thinking about what you’d like next year to be, it’s very common.
I have a journaling/ letter writing process to reflect on the end of the year and I’ll be adding these three very important questions to my journal process. You can buy this process in a pdf form of questions by clicking here.
Here are the questions 3 questions that will deepen your reflection process and enhance the experience for you whether you reached your goals or not.
How did I grow this year?
This refers to areas you pushed out of your comfort zone. Where did you push what you thought was possible? Where did you learn a new skill, start something new or even further master an existing skill? When we focus on growth whether the goal was reached or not, we focus on positives.
What would I like to improve on from this year?
What is something you did well, that you would like to improve on even more? OR what is something that didn’t go so well this year and you’d like to focus on improving?
What can I celebrate?
Big and small. What are the wins you can celebrate as the year winds to a close?
I hope these questions help you reflect on 2021 in a positive light and set you on the right footing for 2022.
If you enjoy journaling, check out The Journal Bundle in my shop where I share my favourite journaling techniques, tips and tricks to start and maintain a journaling practice and even create you a personalised audio to help motivate, inspire and uplift you to reach into 2022 with style.
Be bold,
Katrina
The Three Biggest Reframes That Will Help You Find Your Purpose
I know how frustrating it can be watching your peers and your idols showing up day in and day out sharing their work with the world when you still have no idea what you want to be when you grow up.
I know how painful it can be to feel like your life is passing before you and you haven’t found your ‘thing’, you haven’t made your contribution.
I know how low one can get when you’re so focused on everything you haven’t done yet and how you’re constantly falling short when it comes to work and career.
Here are the top three mindset shifts that will help you find your purpose. Please, take a deep breath and read with an open mind. These shifts have the power to change your entire life, if you let them.
1. ‘I have to find my one thing that is my purpose in life.’
REFRAME:
‘My purpose in life is to be so aligned with my soul, to be who I really am and then follow what lights me up.’
I know this can sound like a useless piece of information when you are struggling to make ends meet, when you don’t know who you are, when you’re not even sure what a soul is or how to connect with yours. But please, hear me out.
Your singular purpose is to be you.
Even in a planet of billions, there is no one exactly like you.
If you can just be YOU and if you can follow what lights you UP? You will be lead to the path that’s yours.
Check out Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford by clicking here to listen to his story of following is soul and intuition and how it lead him to creating Apple.
If you can embrace this reframe it can really free you up. Which also frees a lot of capable mental real estate from worrying about finding your purpose to getting on with being creative and solving problems.
Let’s move on.
#2. ‘The purpose of life is to find your gift and give it away freely.’
This is one I read time and time again on my own journey and it got me really hooked on the ‘one thing’ again.
REFRAME: ‘The purpose of life is to be so yourself and follow your soul/intuition and curiosity, then you’ll naturally share your gift/s with the world.’
Again, your purpose isn’t about one thing in the way we’ve been sold. You also have more than one gift. You are multi gifted with many strengths and have had a myriad of life experiences. These are all yours and unique to you. If you limit yourself to one gift, one method of expression, you’ll feel limited, you’ll reduce your search.
Open your mind to just being WHO YOU ARE and uncovering ALL THAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER.
Doesn’t that feel more exciting and freeing already?
#3: ‘My purpose has to be a job, career, title, pay me money.’
REFRAME: ‘My purpose is to be so myself and follow my soul/intuition and to do what lights me up.’
Your purpose is to be you. Getting the message here?
If we limit why we are here to a job title, a career, a mode of expression… we are limiting all that we can be.
THE MESSAGE I WANT TO LEAVE YOU WITH:
You are unique. You have gifts, strengths and life experiences. You’ve had challenges (and will continue to face them).
The purpose of life is to live YOUR LIFE. The way that YOU LIKE. To be of service to others in a way that lights you up.
But on the way there, you may have to do work you don’t love and first find the LOVE in where you are.
But on the way there, you may have to struggle and strive and work hard.
Your purpose? It’s to be you. Because you’re the only you, born to specific circumstances. Your purpose is to be you and play the cards you’ve been dealt to the best of your ability.
Take on that reframe ?? And the world is your oyster.
If you’re still on your purpose journey, head to the connect section and book in for a clarity call. Let’s uncover your purpose, once and for all.
Be bold,
Katrina
What if, just for today...
”What if, just for today, you took the pressure off yourself?
What if, just for today, you stopped shoulding all over yourself?
What if, just for today, you did whatever your sweet soul sings to you?
What if, just for today, you smile a little more and judge yourself a little less?
What if, just for today, you approve of yourself instead of berating your every move?
What if, just for today, you let go and let love seep into the cracks?
What if, just for today, you permitted yourself to breathe, to dance, to laugh with wild abandon?
What if?
What if?
What if? “
If you’re anything like me there’s a little voice constantly reciting the list of things you ‘should’ be doing.
A little voice berating the way you do things and the rate you do them.
A little voice who compares your work to others. Your life to others. Your body to others.
This little voice creates a chasm between where you are and where you desire to be and with every should and ever comparison, with every perceived failure the chasm grows.
This is the voice that puts the pressure on.
Do more.
Be better.
Try harder.
Work. Work. Work.
Do. Do. Do.
What I’ve learned in recent years is that this voice will always be with me. It also plays it’s role. It does drive me to work well, to strive and to try.
But it also need not be in the driver’s seat. That’s MY job.
So, some days, I sit back and thank the voice for its effort and give it the day off.
Just for the day.
Just for now.
Just for this moment.
Try it some time and let me know how you go.
(It’s easier said than done, I know).
Life’s short, be bold.
Katrina
What anxiety really means
Feeling anxious about your work, about your studies, about a job interview?
Feeling anxious about someone's response to your text (or lack there of)?
Feeling anxious about signing on new clients, feeling anxious about putting your creative work out into the world?
Breathe.
There’s nothing WRONG with you.
-
Let’s flip this impression that anxiety is BAD. Anxiety, like all your feelings, is a messenger.
Want to know anxiety’s message?
-
Feeling anxious means you care.
-
You care about your work.
You care about your grades.
You care about getting the job.
You care about succeeding in business.
You care about getting your clients results.
You care about putting meaningful work into the world.
You care about the other person you're messaging.
-
If you weren't at all anxious, then there might be a problem.
-
Being anxious = caring.
You see ?
-
If you're feeling anxious about any of the above:
Remember to breathe (deeply into your belly)
Get out your journal and write about your anxiety (this will help to alleviate the anxiety, believe it or not)
Move your body - go for a walk/run/practice yoga/dance in your bedroom/whatever works for you. Movement gets you out of your head and into your body, it also can force you to breathe deeply (see above) and take your mind off the the thing that's making you anxious
Check in with any beliefs you have that are holding you back from allowing and trusting the result you want is yours and remove them (tapping, journaling, questioning techniques)
OR: book in with me.
Helping people deflate their anxiety and unravel is one of my gifts.
In fact, Unravel is just $110 right now. 3 sessions, 2 weeks, 1 personalised audio for you to keep.
Let's reduce your anxiety so you can breathe deeply and allow the next step forward to unfold with clarity and ease.
Let's talk about fear
Fear of failure. (What if I fail?)
Fear of deficiency. (What if I am not/ don't have / do enough?)
Fear of missing out. (What if I'm not having as much fun? What if there's something else I must have/ I need / I want that I don't have).
I used to think these fears were personal. Mine and mine alone to bear.
Worrying about being good enough...
Stressing about not doing enough...
Caught up in comparison, doubting my own ability to create a meaningful life and meaningful work in the world.
As it turns out, these fears are universal.
Part of being human.
We all have them, in our own way.
We all have stories and defences, armour we've created around our fears to keep ourselves safe, secure, connected, belonging to our tribe.
We all have these fears and the thing is, they don't go away. They aren't unique to you, they are universal and they will always be with you.
Our work then, is to witness our fear, to be with our fear and to transmute our fear into something greater. Into something that expands us rather than something that makes us shy away and makes us smaller.
These are the tools I teach.
If you're ready to be with fear and move with fear and grow into who you came here to be..
Send me a message.
LIfe’s short, be bold.
Katrina
Just creAte
Dear creative soul,
The most important thing you need to hear today and follow through on is this:
CREATE.
Create every damn day.
Create whether you feel like it or not.
Create whether your creations make you money or not.
WHY?
Because you were BORN to create.
Because you create your own deep understanding and connection with your soul and with all of life when you create.
Because you were MADE to be creative and with every thing you make you heal yourself and heal your perspective.
Because you are SUPPOSED to make MONEY from your art and your art is supposed to be a part of your own private and spacious unBECOMING. The more you make the more you get to the core of what you REALLY came here to make. Not what you think you should make, what you think will sell, what you think you think others think you should make!
All of your art whether saleable or not, whether it makes you dime or not is designed to walk you home.
Right back into yourself.
Right back to who you came here to be.
So create.
Create with wild abandon and know that everything you make is an extraction of your experience here in this body at this point in time.
Create and know that with every creation you’re peeling back layers and pulling out greater meaning, deeper connection and vital life force.
Create to connect.
The money will flow when it’s ready.
But you’ll be the person you came here to be and at the end of the day that’s all that really matters.
New 1:1 coaching spots available in a six week program unBecoming. 6 weeks, you and I to create, create, create, create and collect together a body of work while peeling back the layers of self-doubt, fear, shame and guilt.
If you’re ready to step into your next level creative self and put your work out into the world, let’s connect.
Life’s short, be bold.
Katrina
Your desires are walking you you home
Every single desire you have is planted within you because you’re supposed to go for it.
Every single desire you have, no matter how unavailable and how far away it may seem was given to you because you have the capacity to attain it.
More importantly, every single desire you have is planted within you to help you expand and grow into the person you truly came here to be.
Think about it.
In the pursuit of anything you’ve ever desired you’ve had to shed beliefs, learn something new, create a new habit, unlearn some bad habits, make new friends, push yourself out of comfort zones and more…
THIS is really what your desires are for. They’re calling you home. Home to the part of yourself that knows what you’re here to learn, what you’re here to do and to be.
Every desire is valid and valuable whether you attain the desire or not. Because pursuing the desire unravels you and helps you learn, grow, change.
So if you’ve got a desire right now that’s frustrating you, that feels oh. so. far. away and like it will NEVER happen for you… it’s time to shift the perspective and fall in love with the process.
This thought came to me this morning as I was sitting by the pool in my brand new bikini. I wanted to take a selfie and post it - in my bikini! I almost laughed at the growth and how much I’ve FALLEN IN LOVE with my body and with my exercise practice.
You see, five years ago, losing weight my biggest desire. I was so uncomfortable in my body, in my clothes, in my self.. I was yearning to be thin, fit and healthy.
Katrina five years ago would never have taken that photo, or even dreamed of it. Katrina 5 years ago was overweight, flabby and not comfortable in her body.
Feeling confident in a bikini, in anything for that matter, felt so far away from me. So unobtainable.
As my mind wandered over this situation I laughed at how back then exercise had seemed painful, a bain. Something I HAD TO DO.
Whereas five years later? This morning? I was CRAVING moving my body because I haven’t had a chance to for a few days because we’ve been moving house.
What started as something that was so difficult - exercising - and I had to really FORCE myself to do… has now become something I can’t live without.
What it took to get there? Falling in love with the process. Creating the habit.
A habit I have to this day (daily yoga), which I absolutely love for more reasons than just fitness.
My desire for a thin, fit and healthy body has lead to a healthy practice that moves my body but also calms my mind, grounds me and invites me into stillness.
It was never about being thin and looking good, it was about learning to be with myself, to come home to myself.
Just like every single other desire you or I have.
It’s a call home.
To who you came here to be.
Life’s short, be bold.
Katrina
The Desire Manifesto, BETA self-paced program is now open.
Learn the exact process I used to manifest my ideal weight, my beautiful clear skin, my purpose-driven work and upending my financial situation.
Create the life you desire, one desire as a time and become the person you know you came here to be.
Hit the contact button for more information. x
Some Unpopular Opinions That Will Set You FREE.
I was walking along the beach today, listening to a Danielle La Porte podcast when I was hit with an unpopular opinion that struck me to my core. It freed me up inside a little. Allowed more space for my present reality, my present self.
More acceptance.
A few hours later, I was on Facebook, sharing a card reading in my group when I saw a post. Yet another unpopular opinion about purpose. I felt like I was being spoken to directly from the universe with these two messages, so I thought I’d share them with you too.
I hope this brings you more self acceptance. More acceptance and allowance for the way you are and the way your life is right now.
Even if you feel like you are lacking. Even if you feel like you haven’t arrived yet. Even if you feel like you have so much more to do and be and become.
Unpopular opinion #1:
“Legacy? I’m not really interested in the idea of leaving a legacy. If I die tomorrow and vanish from everyone’s memories, fine by me. I’m here for now. Do you want anyone to read your journals when you move on? Anyone? (Memoir writers, you can skip this question.) “
- Danielle LaPorte. Read/listen to full podcast:
https://www.daniellelaporte.com/read/burning-your-journals
When I was 5 or 6 years old, I remember having a vision. It was of the pages of a book. At the time I interpreted the vision to mean I’d make the history books, I was excited! I was going to do big things with my life!
In my adult life, particularly since delving into the online coaching world I’ve come across so much talk of legacy and felt almost pressured to want to build something lasting. Something big that will outlive me.
Part of it, in all honesty, was peer pressure - wanting to do what others were doing.
Another part of it was driven by fear. My own mortality and the fact that my time here could go unmarked, insignificant and momentary. To create something that out lives you is a way to live on, after your mortal death.
This idea of legacy, of building something, of wanting to be remembered, of wanting to go down in history (read: BE SOMEONE, BE SIGNIFICANT) creates a sense of striving, proving and doing for the sake of doing. As opposed to be driven by a movement, driven by a desire to help, to serve or to learn or to grow.
Hearing Danielle’s words this morning as I walked on a wide open beach, beneath an even wider, open blue sky, I felt my insignificance. Not in a small way. Not in a victim-hood way, but in a vast and accepting way. I’m so small. My life, my time here is so tiny when you think about the expanse that is time, or the trillions of people you have lived and will live.
What. A. Relief! What a bloody relief!
My failures? My shortcomings? My stress about leaving a mark or even finding a rental property to move into? Vanished in that moment.
Leaving behind the concept of legacy allows me to be more present right here. Right here and right now and to show up in my daily life as a very present, real and available person. Available to this moment, and this one and the next. Because, that’s really all we have anyway.
Unpopular opinion #2:
“I don’t think your life has to have a purpose, or you a grand ambition; I think it’s okay to just wander through life finding interesting things until you die.
I think this goes for art too; you can just make the kind of art you find interesting and you don’t have to plan some great arc to your literary career.
I think the traditional (Western, white) narrative arc has tricked way too many people into thinking their lives have to have one grand epiphany, some flash of great meaning and deep insight, when in reality most people experience these things in much smaller ways throughout life.
I think this also leads a lot of people to miss the stuff that actually makes them happy, because it’s mostly the small stuff. They spend their entire lives looking for a lightning strike and miss out on everything else.” —twitter.com/ambernoelle
For those of you who have found this website, this blog and myself you’ll most likely know that PULL, that yearning for something HUGE. Something BIG. That one. thing. That epiphany. That momentous occasion when everything in your life will just all line up, fall into place and make sense.
We yearn for that. We crave that. WE WANT THAT SO BADLY!
But what if, just what if… it’s all just a whole lot less momentous than that?
What if there are small epiphanies every day, small ah-hah moments?
What if our purpose is to be right here, right now and just do the best we can with what we have and where we are moment to moment?
What if it’s all far more mundane and day to day than we’d imagined?
And, what if we’re okay with that?
What if we can sit back into our insignificance, the small mundaneness of our life and just be in it. Be in all of it and enjoy it for what it is.
Not how we think it should be or how we would like it to be… but how it really is.
How our life is just now. Even if we don’t have the job we imagined, or are as wealthy as we’d like to be. IF we don’t have the beach bod or the dream career…
What if, by coming back to what we have and where we are and just being HERE…
we set ourselves free?
Be bold dear one,
Katrina