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It's a new year, I've shovelled 392x this month annnnnnd I got omicron.
What in the actual hell ...
But there's good news:
1) I wasn't very sick and neither were the rest of us
2) I am healthy enough to shovel the walk
3) I am grateful for the snowblower we got this year
4) I'm still a full time CEO and don't have Trudeau as my boss anymore! ha
We gotta keep positive here!
... and now let's chat about what's happening in Canada ... kinda ...
COFFEE TALK
When I was in Grade 6, my teacher (a complete ASSHAT by the way) asked us all to go home and ask our parents what Nationality we were.
My mom: We're Canadian.
11 yr old me: No ... I mean what NATIONALITY are we?
My mom: CANADIAN (louder for the people in the back, mom lol)
11 yr old me: Ok but ... my teacher wants to know where we CAME from though!!! Like ... Ireland ... Norway ... England ... like where did we COME from???
My mom: CAN-A-DA. You were born here. Your dad and I were born here. Your grandparents were born here and almost all of your great grandparents were born here. CANADA. We are CANADIAN.
11 yr old me slinks off to school knowing that my teacher will likely be a complete prick to me and suggest I'm stupid for not getting the assignment. (It was the early 80's ... we had the strap still and teachers asked questions that we wouldn't DARE ask now. Like ... this same teacher asked each of us to say (out loud) how OLD our parents were. Uhhhhhhh. PARDON?)
Anyway, I was right. The next day he told me I didn't understand the assignment and I needed to go home once again and ask my mom what Nationality I was. Ugh. I knew this wasn't going to go over well.
My mom: CANADIAN!!! You're Canadian. Your roots are from Norway, England, Ireland .... but we are CANADIAN.
And in that second ... I heard it differently. I am Canadian (while still eating Norwegian lefsa and rosettes). I am Canadian even when my teacher rolled his eyes at me over it the next day.
I feel pride each and every time I see a Canadian actor thrive. We ALL do ... did you see the song that we made for Ryan Reynolds??? It's so cute I just love watching his face as he listens to it.
https://youtu.be/nXulsCU1geg
I go out of my way to find super cool and unique Canadian owned businesses. My courses and coaching packages are in CAD (even though I have repeatedly been told I should switch my pricing to USD). I have a Canadian flag in my Instagram bio.
I'm Canadian. I'm proud to say that. Lately, I feel it more.
This past week my newsfeed has been filled with the Freedom Convoy 2022 posts and videos. Now, yes ... I have seen the nasty stuff in the media ... the nazi flag, the confederate flag, the Canadian flag wrapped around the Terri Fox monument. I think that in any HUGE group with hundreds of thousands of people ... you are going to have a few fucking idiots.
But ...
I have also seen some amazing feed of truckers and supporters from the convoy cleaning, honouring and standing guard over monuments and statues.
I have watched videos of people ensuring the garbage is not left on the streets. I've read comments like: "we are not here to fight our fellow Canadians or tear this beautiful nation to the ground."
I have seen the NICEST videos of Ontario police saying that they have had no issues at all, that Ottawa is an amazing city and that they always welcome people who exercise their democratic right to speak in a peaceful manner.
Awwwww. Seriously it's like it warms my heart ya know?
While I choose not to voice my personal opinions in this newsletter or on my social media, I will say this:
I LOVE seeing us all come together.
I LOVE seeing people smile again.
I LOVE to see all the Canadian flags flying.
I LOVE that I'm Canadian.
FENG SHUI TIP OF THE MONTH
One of the things that I love so much is to work on my wealth area. In BTB Feng Shui, you stand in your architectural front door looking inside your home. The Wealth Corner is the back left corner of your home.
THIS area (known as a gua) holds the energy of wealth and abundance.
You WANT this Wealth area to feel like luxury. You want to add royal colours and jewel tones, vertical lines or wood items (think growth) and you want to have items in this space that make you feel rich.
For me, this happens to be my master bedroom and LUCKILY this is the WEALTH month in Intentional!!!! My husband and I are looking to totally revamp it!!!! (He doesn't exactly know it yet but not to worry ... he'll find out soon enough.) It will feel more luxurious when we are done and I'm telling you ... we will attract more money.
It. happens. every. time. (We won a snowmobile the last time we redid our master!)
If you want to come with me on the journey to manifest more money (and YOU want to as well) you can click here to join us!!!
INTENTIONAL: the Wealth month!
p.s. we start each month off by clearing out the old. Sometimes it can take awhile but it's unreal how much change can happen just with removing things from your space that you no longer need!
WHAT (or who) INSPIRES ME:
Lately, I've been having some insanely cool conversations with women who have been struggling with not feeling like they are "enough". I promise you ... it's not just you ... it's ALL of us. Me included.
What I've been contemplating lately is how we can feel like we are "enough" while at the same time reaching for more. While I have a lot for thoughts and theories on this (and a whole damn course on it) I have three really key points:
1) figure out what sets you apart ... your gifts, your strength and YOUR unique way of expressing them. When you do that, you stop comparing yourself to others and you realize that the MORE authentically "you" become, the more "enough" you feel and the more success you achieve. (I'm telling you it's like a magic wand). For the entrepreneurs in the crowd ... STOP THINKING YOU NEED TO DO IT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. That's the quickest way to failure. Be 100% yourself using your gifts. Period.
2) you can manifest more when you realize that you are grateful for what you have AND you can still want to achieve more at the same time.
3) surround yourself with others who love who you are, in your unfiltered, raw authentic state. Hold space for them to do the same. THIS is hard to find but sooooo unbelievably powerful.
Speaking of that ...
COOL SHIT:
This new book just released - I bought one for myself and another copy for one of my BFFs.
Neither one of us read books so the impulse buy seems relatively illogical but I promise you, its not. I bought them for what they MEAN to us (and for the inscription that I have written on the inside of her copy).
You see this girl and I HAVE that unfiltered, real, raw, authentic relationship that this book talks about. We often joke about casual evenings together, wearing sweatpants, with greasy hair and a bottle (or a few) of wine. We spent weekends painting our homes (I would tell her that I don't paint builders beige, so deep merlot it is!!!) We chatted until 2am about our fears, our dreams, our ideas, our gifts, our strengths and the things that piss us off. We laughed till our stomachs hurt and we didn't hold anything back. At the time, we didn't really understand how special all of that was.
After moving to different cities, we no longer have those evenings in our sweatpants. Ok ... well I do, but I'm at home by myself typing this email. It's not ENTIRELY the same. What we realized is this:
Friendships where we can have REAL conversations without fear of judgement are not always that common. Friends who can drop by at any time and you don't fear that they are wondering where your fucking vacuum is, is not always that common. Vulnerable ... it's not always that common.
But when you find it, it's magical.
So while it is likely that I will never read this damn book (I'll WANT to and so will she, but who are we kidding, we won't read it), it will sit on my shelf and I will immediately feel the specialness of our friendship and I will smile. I'll smile at the past, our continued connection and that fact that I'm likely STILL wearing sweatpants with a greasy ponytail and yesterdays makeup.
After all this ... I want you to read a little bit from Jess, one of the authors. You'll see why I bought the books.
The highest honor of friendship isn’t getting invited to “that party” or out on a girls weekend. It’s not clinking champagne glasses at fancy brunches or wearing matching shirts on a beach in Florida. That all is nice and fun and good and special, but it’s not what it’s about, not at all.
The real honor of friendship is being invited into someone’s REAL. It’s getting an invitation into the nitty gritty, the not-so-pretty, the hard stuff, the vulnerable stuff, the weird stuff, the unpolished stuff. It’s being welcomed into a home where the sink is full of dishes and the laundry is covering the couch. It’s entering the places of heart ache and pain. It’s being invited to the hospital room when your friend is still in her mesh underwear from birth. It’s sitting crosslegged in old sweats on the floor and laughing till you cry. It’s carrying around secrets that you’ve been trusted to keep. It’s listening and hearing. It’s holding space for each other. It’s answering phone calls just to talk something through.
The highest honor of friendship isn’t found in beautifully planned events or brightly filtered photos. The highest honor of friendship is messy and dingy and real. It’s in unfiltered photos of laughing so hard your double chin is showing. It’s loving each other’s babies and holding each other while you ugly cry. I can’t stress this enough:If you’ve been invited into even one person’s real, you are blessed.Cherish it.
If you love this, I just know you will love my new book. Love, Jess
Told ya it was good ....
WHAT'S COMIN UP?
Yup you guessed it ...
THE POWER OF YOU
It's hard to believe that this picture on the left was me. I was exhausted but I THOUGHT I was still doing a pretty dang good job of showing up when I needed to in a powerful way. Uhhhhh do I LOOK powerful to you? I was barely hanging on. I was stressed. I was anxiety ridden. I was overthinking the fuck out of everything and quite honestly every time someone tells me that they knew I was struggling back then I STILL feel the judgement that I feared.
My life started to crash around me and as my doc once said, you can only ignore the signs for so long until your body decides to make you take a break.
What happened when I took that break though was pure magic. I channelled this course when I finally felt it ... the POWER of being me and the POWER of not being at the mercy of my thoughts and emotions. It's unbelievably freeing when you can sit as an observer to your thoughts and emotions and work through them like a damn rockstar.
Cause here's the thing:
You WILL have moments when you think like shit and you feel like shit. You will get triggered by something and you'll go down the rabbit hole of despair. You will start to feel yourself in the spin cycle and you will HATE it ... but you will not want to necessarily do the work to get yourself out of it.
and THAT ... is what this program is about. Getting your power back so that you can handle ANYTHING with grace and ease.
February 2022. I love this program so much - it's the answer you've been searching for.
www.thefengshuichick.ca/power
OUR PODCAST IS LIVE!!!
I'm so obsessed with these weekly chats (releasing one episode every Thursday) and with podcasting in general really. I find it SO fun to just have a chat about how we see life.
Currently you can catch us on Spotify or Anchor. You can also check us out on our YouTube channel if you'd rather SEE us. (my hair isn't greasy for these recordings lol)
So far we have 8 episodes uploaded on things like limiting beliefs, taking risks, the stories we tell ourselves and more. You know ... the things that hold us back from being our most happy selves and what we can do to step into greatness!!! Let me know what you think!!!
INTENTIONAL: wealth and abundance
I've talked about it already but I'm SO excited for WEALTH AND ABUNDANCE month!!!! I have some fun things planned and I'm ready to step it up! I also can't wait to see how much money we girls in the group can manifest this month!! GET READY for some cool stuff to occur!!!
If this feels like something you'd LOVE to get into but you'd also like to uplevel in every aspect of your life ... you can join all 9 months!! You get lifetime access to them all so at ANY point in time if you need an uplevel in your life or your space ... I've got you, girl!
INTENTIONAL: 9 months to designing your life (USD and CAD links available!!)
I truly believe the this can change your life like no other. It is damn near impossible to change your circumstances if you're stuck in yesterday's "stuff". ;)
PRIVATE COACHING
I have three spots for Private coaching available!! These mentorship spots are exclusive, limited and designed for women who have reached success in one or more areas of their lives ... but they seek EXTRAORDINARY. The amazing relationships, inner peace, health, wealth and personal power ... and a life that they can look back on with pride.
One more thing: These three spots will give you access into THE POWER OF YOU as well as my newest course EXCEPTIONAL. It's like me personally coaching you every day, to change your whole damn life.
These spots are by private application only. Private message me on IG or FB for more information or email my team by replying to this email.
WHEW! That's a lot hey???
There's more coming ... in March my newest program releases too!!! EEEEEEK!!!
TASTY SHIT!
Ok last month I mentioned that my lululemons were getting a little tight. Its never a good sign when they start to get a little sheen to them, ya know???? Plus ... I'm on a camera a LOT and the puffiness to my face was not that appealing to me.
Here's the thing though ... the idea of a DIET .... fuckin kills me.
I have spent a lot of years demonizing foods ... making some foods good and bad and when you've tried as many diets as I have, you start to realize you really have no idea what to eat.
Carbs are bad.
Fats are bad.
Fats aren't bad unless you are eating them with carbs.
Fruits are bad.
Fruits are good but don't eat bananas
Grains are the enemy.
You can eat grains but not bread.
Gluten is bad.
You aren't drinking enough water.
You can drink too much water.
... and don't get me started on keto ...
What I realized is that I needed a plan that was easy to stick to for life, that unfucked my mindset about foods more than anything and allowed me to eat all the foods i loved (and STILL lets me drop a few pounds before my daughters grade 12 graduation). So far I've lost 10 ... I'll let you know how it goes.
This is one of the recipes I've found and I'm telling you ... I can't make it enough. It is SO flavourful, very filling but you don't feel like a bloated toad after it because of all of the salt.
Dang ... I should have it for supper tomorrow I think too.
Roasted Veg "Nachos"
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1-1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger root
- 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
- 1/2 head Nappa cabbage, shredded (approx 4 cups)
- 1/2 medium carrot, shredded
- 1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced (on an angle if you feel like being fancy)
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
- Himalayan salt to taste (optional)
Our Tips n Tweaks:
This section usually is for "our" tips and tweaks. "Our" refers usually to my daughter Shea and I ... sometimes my husband Cam and I. My son Cole is in University, lives on his own and rarely has much to say other than "it's fine".
For THIS recipe ... I couldn't actually get anyone to try the veggie nachos because there were no nacho chips included and I'm the only one that likes sweet potatoes. DO NOT LET THIS DETER YOU!!! The other parts of my "our" didn't know what they were missing.
For MY tips, here goes:
- follow the recipe on the spice mix - don't substitute with taco spices (it's not the same); don't eyeball it (it won't be as good). The spices are so so so flavourful and smoky and they MAKE the dish.
- smoked paprika is a must - don't substitute it for regular paprika
- it looks like a lot of spice mix, but use it all. Trust me.
- The toppings are necessary ... otherwise it's flavourful roasted vegetables. Good ... but not nachos.
- eat it with a fork, right out of the pan. It's NACHOS ... don't be weird and put it on a plate that's for sissies. ;)
***
Well that's it for random stuff from January 2022!! Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you SO much to all of you who regularly email me, recommend my group, my courses, my coaching or this newsletter to your friends and colleagues, your biz besties and your family. I appreciate every one of you and every message that I receive.
OH AND ONE MORE THING!!!
If you're loving this email but you're wanting all the blasts from the past, you can now access ALL MY PRIOR NEWSLETTERS on my blog!!
www.thefengshuichick.ca/blog
"Life is not meant to be an assembly line of tasks ... it's meant to be a masterpiece. Only you can hold the brush".
Sandra Priestley
XO
If you've got a friend who might be interested, invite her into my free community recently renamed to:
from here to EXTRAORDINARY
You can also direct her to my IG account: sandrarpriestley. The link to this newsletter is in my bio and I LOVVVVVE seeing the number of subscribers go up!!!
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