Looking for clues

I wrote in last week’s post about my body, my weight and how it all ties in with life. It struck a chord with a lot of readers, and you’ve let me know that.

You let me know that you saw yourself in the vulnerability, frustration and loneliness I wrote about. Thank you for letting me know and letting me see you with your comments, emails and messages.

So here, as I said I would write about, are some of my findings about the body, the weight, and the life. And it’s all such good news.

Turns out I forgot that reconnecting my myself and my body in a different way than what I’ve been doing FEELS GOOD.

Is it sometimes uncomfortable like uncharted territory can be? Yep.

And is that okay? Yes, it is.

What’s helped me stay with myself in the past couple of weeks has been my willingness to be open with myself — and with others — but it’s also been my desire to look at what’s happening as a fact-finding mission.

I posed this mission to myself in a way that was shared with me years ago:

If I was acting as a scientist in my life and looking for evidence around what’s been happening with my weight creeping up, as well as my heavy thoughts, what would I look for? What are the clues?

Saying to myself that I have “let myself go a little” or “forgotten how to take the best care of myself ” are just my thoughts — and they’re kind of a dead-end. They don’t get me anywhere and often fuel further feelings of being stuck and pissed off.

What kinds of facts or evidence am I talking about? Things like this:

I stopped eating breakfast a few days a week or more over the past few months and have only had coffee — and I always ate breakfast before that. I wonder how I slid into letting go of that habit and why?

After 10 p.m. at night is prime-time for me to eat a lot of sugar — candy, cakey kinds of stuff, ice cream, etc. I would eat it while zoning out with my phone or the TV. A lot of times, I would actually be tired — almost ready for sleep, but I would eat instead of sleeping. Why?

My family was not eating food we made at home nearly as much as we had months before. We had a lot of different childcare help this summer and I was in and out of my house four to six times a day. How did that contribute to not eating at home as much? What was the impact?

Almost exactly one year ago, I seized the opportunity to travel internationally. I signed up to go on one women’s retreat to Ireland, and since then, I’ve fallen madly in love with getting my passport stamped. With the exception of a beach trip with my family and business trip for a few days, I did not have a history of traveling a lot for work or leisure. Yet, in less than a year, I’ve been to two more European countries, business trips to Los Angeles, Hawaii and Portland, Oregon and two week-long vacations with my family — sometimes within days or weeks of a trip I’d just returned from. I’ve gotten off planes where I’d tripped over three or four time zones, slept five or six hours and gotten up to tend to my family and get right back to work the next day. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right? Well, if that’s what you want to do; but I now see this as a clue that I was giving myself and ass whoopin by not pacing myself differently. If I’m going to keep jet-setting (yep — I’m going to France in September and other destinations beyond that…) I owe it to myself to have a different level of consciousness for how I take care of myself as a woman who travels frequently. It’s a different way of life. Duly noted.

To say I’ve expanded my business this year would be an understatement. I’ve connected with new clients, created sparkling new programs and increased revenue for my family that has surpassed what I’ve done in the past two years combined — and all within the first six months of 2016. THAT is being a #ladyboss. That also calls for a higher level of attention, love, pacing and resources than I’ve ever offered myself. So that’s where I look at myself with this clue and have to ask, “where are you not offering those things to yourself, Laura? and why?”

So that’s what I know so far, y’all. And it’s all good information to have. It’s helped me get really clear and conscious about the choices I get to make.

I’ve taken those clues and have already made simple and significant changes in what I’m doing every single day. The collage at the top of the page will give you some clues (ha! ; ).

I’ll share more specifics about those changes later in the week because I know people can look at making impactful changes as a mountain to climb. It’s not a mountain, babe. Here’s a clue as to what it really it:

Keep it simple, yet significant.

If you’re ready to start creating some changes for yourself, I have just the exercise for you — open this PDF, print and start Looking for Clues.

I just ended the summer session of my Body of Work six week telecourse. We celebrated on July 30 with a beautiful dinner at my home, and for the ladies who couldn’t travel to the dinner; they got a special delivery from me to remind them of their connection to our group.
What happened in that six weeks? It’s hard to put something that beautiful into words, but I can give you some of the highlights of what happens when curious and courageous women come together with intention, support, creation, vulnerability, humor, fun, ideas and outstanding coaching:

a 13 lb. weight loss

a bad ass business plan (written, printed and ready to be acted upon) for one group member who’s ready to fly out of job jail

a woman embracing her body and her birthright to show up in it wherever she wishes — loud and proud, in broad daylight, in a swimsuit — something she couldn’t IMAGINE letting herself do over a month ago

women who are writing again and revisiting once abandoned projects — embracing their creativity and other possibilities for their lives

And in their own beautiful words…

“to truly have a relationship with myself…learn what I desire & give myself the permission to get it; to love who I am and “Be my own North Star”

“to start loving myself right now exactly as I as a way into accomplishing anything I want. That I’m worth it. And paying attention to my thoughts, which is key to feeling what I want to feel. No sliding — I control my life.”

“to hold true to what I need…. to try being comfortable with the uncomfortable… to commit to digging deeper and notice my curiosity more”

“to look at myself in terms of who I want to be, not limiting myself to who/ what I currently am”

“to be bolder”

“to invest time and energy in myself”

To say we “accomplish a lot” in six weeks really doesn’t speak to how sacred all of this is. These are women conscientiously creating their lives and their bodies. What they are doing impacts, most importantly, their own lives — and also any life that touches theirs (the kids, their partners, their colleagues).

That is why I do the work that I do. My life and my life’s work are a prayer and I take that very seriously. And I’m also fun as hell : ) .

My brand of personal development is sacred and fun; and I love that.

Are you ready to consciously create your own Body of Work? The Fall 2016 Body of Work Program is open for registration now.

The first class is on Wednesday, September 21st and will continue through October 26th. Same time, same day each week.

You can find out answers to any questions you have about the program (and also register for it) by clicking here.

Space is limited because I like to keep the group pretty tight with all of the coaching and content I deliver in the program. I want my people to have an optimal experience, so quality is very important to me — not just ramping up my numbers of participants.

If you have any questions not answered on the Body of Work page, email me at laura@laura-wagner.com and I will be happy to answer them.