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... and JUST LIKE THAT ... the longest year in the history of existence, is over. Phew! I don't know about you but I'm getting really sick of fighting with my kids to adhere to covid rules:
"You CAN go ice fishing with a friend if you do not go into a shack together. You CAN sit around a fire with that friend while ice fishing, as long as you remain 6 feet apart. You CANNOT sit around a fire pit in your friends back yard though, even if you are 20 feet apart because outdoor or indoor gatherings are forbidden and can result in a $1000 fine."
I'm starting to sound like a fucking lunatic.
Nonetheless, despite all of the rules and all of the changes and all of the masks and all of my scary health issues ... 2020 has been nothing short of magical for me.
I CHOSE IT TO BE.
COFFEE TALK
Let me explain ... (grab a cup of something cause this is gonna be a while ...).
In 2019 on New Years Eve, I remember saying that 2020 was all about ascension. I was excited at the idea of it all. I was READY for the increased awareness, the up-level, the changes that I was about to experience that I believed would take me to new levels of consciousness.
I did not anticipate a pandemic BUT ... I guess I had a lot of crap that had to fall away in order for me to level up. The whole WORLD did. I truly believe that.
I also believe that the biggest shifts for me, have happened when everything has fallen apart. As Lisa Nichols once said: Life's gifts often come wrapped in sandpaper
It happens FOR me. FOR you. FOR the world to heal.
I chose to LEAN IN throughout 2020. I chose to pay particular attention to my thoughts, my "talk track" and my own inner dialogue.
And then I made the bold move to be intentional, more so than I ever have before. You see, anyone can choose to follow the fear, the anger, the frustration and the negativity. THAT is easy. THAT is often our default.
I knew that in order to change my life, I needed to change my default setting to one of gratitude, love and faith.
And what happened was completely magical.
In 2020 I took a meditation certification, signed up for a meditation membership and then decided to just do my own thing. I now channel the most powerful "sourcing" meditations, while sitting in the dark and just letting the words come through me.
In 2020 I was able to stop the racing thoughts I have had in my mind for my whole life and just ... BE. It has been heavenly and I never believed I was capable of achieving it.
In 2020 I learned that in order to truly work through emotions, we have to FEEL them but we can do that without rehashing the same shit over and over and over and over again in our minds. We can feel the feelings and allow ourselves to release them.
In 2020 I was able to hang out more with my kids and talk to them more. At 18 and 16, I find it pretty cool that they tell me as much as they do and this year, I learned even more about them.
In 2020 I had more medical tests than I ever thought possible. While they revealed some potentially scary news, I managed that emotion so well that I impressed the hell out of myself (though admittedly, I did say to my doctor: "stop fucking scanning organs of mine that aren't bothering me!!!!!"). He's thorough though ... and I'm pretty sure I get more phone calls from him than my husband. lol
In 2020 I channelled a course, The Power of You, that changes the game. The women in the group have had such incredible epiphanies from this program that I cannot even begin to tell you. They have found themselves again, changed their businesses, used my meditations daily, had visions and dreams of loved ones who have the most powerful messages for them.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the amazingness that 2020 has brought me. It has been a year of true ascension, because I chose to see it as that. Because I chose to lean in.
So as we go into 2021, I want you to do something. I want you to sit down with a pen and paper and just start writing: What gifts (wrapped in sandpaper, or wrapping in gold wrap) did 2020 bring me? What lessons did I learn? What will I choose to take into 2021? What will I leave behind?
FENG SHUI TIP OF THE MONTH
Tonight, I am hosting a New Years Eve Vision Board Party that will be NEXT LEVEL (and fun).
I do mine differently. I add a Feng Shui twist to it (because let's face it ... I see everything in a bagua map so why in hell would I have a Vision Board that's scattered and messy with no true purpose to it?
I have used Vision Boards for years and it's crazy the things that I have been able to manifest from them!! This past year was an iMac (for FREE) and a new laptop at a SMOKIN' deal. I tripled my income. I became addicted to meditating and more. I didn't travel but ... it's coming.
My Feng Shui Tip for you this month???
I want you to treat your home as though it was a 3D vision board for your life ...
... because it is.
If it makes you feel like shit, get it out of your house.
If it makes you feel "meh", get it out of your house.
If it makes you feel inspired, excited, joyful, energized, zen .... if it makes you feel ANY WAY YOU WANT TO FEEL ... if it reminds you of the life you want to live ... keep it.
Then just IMAGINE how much your home will support you going into 2021.
p.s. if you wanna join us for the party, we start in a few hours!!! Grab something to write on, sign up for a free pinterest account and/or canva and grab something to drink!!! It's gonna be fun!
If you are reading post Dec 31, 2020 the REPLAY is in here!!!
COOL SHIT I LOVE:
I really love essential oils. I have a few diffusers in my home and I have them running all the time. Most of my collection is from Doterra, HOWEVER I also love love love the Vancouver-based company "Saje".
My favourite product of all time that I haven't been able to find a comparison for yet???
PEPPERMINT HALO
Holy smack this stuff works well for migraines!!! You use this roller ball and kind of draw it around your hairline. Actually ... lemme just show you a video of what to do!! Click here.
No amount of peppermint oil on my temples has ever been able to come close to the magic that is this peppermint halo concoction. I'm not sure what the potion is, but it's a game changer (especially when paired with a quartz crystal point where my headache is at).
There are stores all over Canada plus some in the US (California and Washington only at this point). They do ship all over Canada and the US though so here is the link if you wanna check it out!
https://www.saje.com/ca/home/
WHAT (or who) INSPIRES ME:
One of the things that inspires me the most, are female entrepreneurs who have a strong purpose. They decide that they are going to succeed no matter what and CEO/Founder Rachel Mielke of Regina Saskatchewan based company HILLBERG AND BERK is no different. She began a jewelry business from her kitchen table, but her mission has been so much more. She seeks to empower women (personal and collective empowerment).
"We want women to exercise their agency, achieve equality and gain access to all they need to thrive. It starts with what a woman chooses to wear to express and celebrate herself and extends to every aspect of our female-driven business. We advocate for women. We use our platform to share women’s stories. We channel our economic power into opportunities for women. The world we want to see is the company we choose to be."
How awesome is THAT???
As a company they have donated over 2 million dollars to initiatives that empower women. They have given over 8 million dollars in their products in order to uplift women (one was actually a friend of mine!). They have partnered with thousands of community partners.
They are MORE than a jewelry company. They are changing the world one sparkle at a time and it's inspiring as hell to me.
CLIENT SHOWCASE:
This is getting harder and harder to choose a client to showcase. Man oh man I've worked with some incredible women throughout the month of December!!
This month though I want to showcase Dr. Elena Sherwood!! Elena has a Ph.D. in Social Work and she has specialized in relationships. At one point she mentioned (actually, cancel that ... she OWNED) the fact that she has the same degree as author Brene Brown and immediately it hit me ... holy HELL!! We all need to own our gifts more than we do!
Elena realized that she loved to write (she used to actually write a Dear Abby type column for a newspaper) and so she's done that ... she created a blog for relationship advice and a facebook group!!!
I'm SO thrilled for her and I look forward to each blog being released!!! If you are looking for a deeper connection in your relationships ... click on this link below! That will get you to her blog posts, you can ask questions, she even has a free 20 minute zoom session that's available!!! (scroll to the bottom of her page for that).
Dr-Elena.com
WHAT'S COMIN UP?
Last month I mentioned that my 2020 Membership was coming to an end. As I sat with that, I realized that it was SO CHOCKED FULL of amazing stuff ... meditations, guest experts, some of the best of my videos on business, leadership, feng shui, mindset ... I couldn't just let it go. SO ... I've created something called THE VAULT.
The Vault is a compilation of the best of the best of the stuff I've created. Some never seen before ... some from the cobwebs of the internet ... some new stuff. I am going to add things as I feel called to, but this is FOR YOU ... who wants to dip your toes into levelling up in 2021.
p.s. the Vision Board Party will be uploaded into the VAULT!!! It's the only place where you will have access to the replay!!
For the month of January, I've decided to focus more on my private coaching. I love love love breakthrough calls ... those one hour sessions that rapidly transform my clients lives. There is NOTHING more fun to me than seeing that sparkle and excitement pop out in their eyes and then to watch them ROCK IT immediately after that.
I have opened up just 10 spots for the month of January, but these seem to go so quickly that I wanted to offer them to you first!! Just send me a quick email for the link to sign up!!
TASTY SHIT!
My daughter and I love cheese (AND the testers at the grocery store which are now gone due to covid. In retrospect those suckers are likely a cesspool of germs, but we are willing to believe that no-one sneezes on them or uses their dirty hands to fondle the cheese cubes that we then pop in our mouths next).
When I say it like that, it really sounds gross hey??? DAMMIT!!! Covid has ruined my grocery cheese-tasting experience.
At any rate, we DO love cheese and so we decided to make a baked brie last week. I have made a number of them in the past ... a dessert one with kahlua, pecans and brown sugar ... one's topped with red pepper jelly ... others topped with pesto and wrapped in puff pastry. Seriously no matter WHAT you do with brie, you heat it up in the oven with a little flavour and grab some crackers and you've got yourself a fabulous appetizer or dessert.
THIS time we chose a 15-minute garlic baked brie and holy shit it was next level amazing. Initially I was thinking that the garlic would be quite raw and fairly strong. I was wanting to roast it in advance and I doubted the recipe, but this chick said you could make this next-level amazing appetizer in 15 minutes.
Holy shit. She didn't lie.
If you are a roasted garlic + cheese lover you MUST try this and yes ... it only takes 15 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce wheel Brie (St. Andre or Camembert Cheese)
2 cloves of garlic (sliced thinly)
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons truffle oil
Crostini or cracker
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375-degrees
- Remove the cheese from the box and unwrap the cheese to free it from just the plastic.
- Place the cheese back into its box.
- Score the top in a crosshatch pattern with a knife. Make sure you do not go all the way through to the bottom. This is done only to the top rind, Do NOT go all the way down to the bottom.
- Place the pieces of the garlic into the top of the cheese and sprinkle with the fresh thyme.
- Drizzle with the truffle oil and place onto a baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet into the oven for 15 minutes or until beautifully gooey.
- Remove from the oven and allot it to sit for 2-3 minutes before serving with crostini.
Now ... full disclosure ... I didn't have fresh thyme and I don't own truffle oil. I used dried thyme leaves (rubbed slightly in my hands to release more of the flavour) and olive oil. STILL INCREDIBLE. The BEST pieces are the garlic and the next time I do this I will stuff more of those little suckers into the brie cracks. So so so so so so good. We didn't add any honey drizzle or jelly to it (though those would be tasty on the side if you'd like). We ate it as is and it was incredible.
Side note: ours (shown above) cooked a little faster than the recipe suggested and it literally went from looking perfect to oozing over within a minute, so watch it in the oven when you are getting close to being done!!! You want it to be slightly oozing out of the cracks but not so that it's oozing over (our garlic pieces seemed to all slide to the bottom.
Also ... my apologies for the picture. Normally my food pics are so much prettier but we were hungry and it smelled too good to go cut off some boughs from our Christmas tree for aesthetics ... ;)
***
Well that's it for random stuff from December!! 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 and remember ...
You got this,
Sandra Priestley, the Feng Shui Chick
XO
If you've got a friend who might be interested, invite her to the UNSTUCK with the Feng Shui Chick group or 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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