illumination. exploration. intuition.
this month i launched the new lighthouse oracle deck over on kickstarter. the deck is called ‘illuminate’ because the whole idea for this deck is to use it as a tool to explore the lighthouse that you are building, that you are BEing… to shine a light of awareness on anything going on within ourselves.
as little as 3 years ago i never would have guessed i would be creating an oracle deck. my background is teaching science! lol. and then teaching branding and marketing strategy. oh and then teaching mindset strategy. which is all about ‘inner work’. hmmmm… you can see how the journey unfolds.
i like to think of my own journey as a spiral, of both growing and learning and evolving, but also of ‘unlearning’ and coming back to myself. when i was young i was into exploring all sorts of spiritual-type stuff, though i never had a name for it. i was definitely intuitive – like most people i can point to times in my life when my intuition was strong – but again i didn’t really have a clear recognition of it. i started journaling, as an act of self-awareness & exploration, when i was just 14 and also started collecting ‘messages’ in the form of quotes and song lyrics.
but then somewhere along the way i left my interest in all that ‘stuff’ behind. i guess i got focused on my career and my relationship and my children… and lost my focus on me. my journey into building a little biz brought me back around to exploring my purpose and asking ‘who was i born to be? what am i here to do?’
what i have noticed is that the more i have ‘worked on’ the various parts of myself and my life the more i realized there was one area that i was missing… that soulful, spiritual side. as i was writing the lighthouse revolution book i realized there were some ideas and strategies that were inspiring to me that didn’t fit into the framework i was working with, that’s when i had an AHA that there was one more component to add to the lighthouse – that connection to source, that connection to soul, spirit, universe, god… whatever you like to call it!
for me, spiritual practice is simply part of the ‘inner work’ i do… it’s one act of self-leadership that i combine with many other acts: self-awareness, self-expression, self-love, self-worth, self-exploration, self-support, and more. it’s one piece of the puzzle! i am enjoying playing in the space of strengthening my intuition, exploring my ‘stuff’, healing & clearing, learning & growing… because i am here to be my highest, brightest self and so i will do whatever happens to help with that!
the lighthouse has become a framework for self-leadership, and the oracle is simply one tool to help us BE the lighthouse… whether we use it as a tool to explore or stuff, or to tune into our own intuition, or to identify how we can better shine our light.
but there are many, many ways to do the work of intuition, exploration, and illumination… to build a spiritual practice or to practice healing… just as there are many ways to define these words as well. we need to do it our way!
to share more examples of how these themes factor in to one person’s journey in a variety of ways i have asked some of my friends to share their own stories and journeys. i hope this helps to ‘shine a light’ on the simple truth that these things do make a difference, and that you get to define them and practice them in any way you choose.
tash corbin ~ business coach for heart-centred, soul-driven entrepreneurs
I was resistant to intuition in my early days in business. I used to consistently say “I’m not an intuitive person”… but then as I continued to grow my business, I noticed that I had always used terms like “My gut feel is…” or “What I’m feeling we should do is…”
At first, I tried to train myself AWAY from saying these things, because I felt that as a business strategist, people weren’t paying me for my gut feel, they were paying me for my knowledge and expertise, based on what I had learned with my brain.
I think it takes a lot of courage to acknowledge that we aren’t 100% in charge of what we think and feel, and I continually work on opening up my intuition more and more, and owning it when I’m not sure where my advice is coming from. I am very open that my webinars, training sessions, and live calls are fluid, and that I just let it flow from me. Sure, I’m teaching from a space of having been immersed in the world of business strategy for over 15 years now - but more and more I am trusting that my intuition is guiding me along the way.
I have worked on my ‘mindset’ from before day one of my business. When I refer to my mindset I include things like energy, looking after my body, intuition, and more - basically the non-strategy side of business, both planning and implementation.
I recently found an old journal from when I first started my own business - that first journal had about 50% of the pages filled with exploring and clearing my ‘stuff’… It reminded me just how important both strategy and mindset were to the initial success of my business, and how important it is to address both even now.
I don’t believe it’s actually possible to create and build a business without looking at your own ‘stuff’ … it will surface eventually even if you’re not proactive about it - but the more you are on the front foot, actively exploring, uncovering and clearing - the faster you and your business grow.
My favourite tools are daily income tracking, kinesiology, emotional freedom technique, journaling and afformations. I work with a kinesiologist around once every 2-3 weeks, and a tapping practitioner around launch times and when I’m focused on a particularly big up-level. I track my income and do tapping, journaling and afformations daily.
I also think there are other things that I do which might not be considered ‘spiritual’, but that I think play a big role. Things like moving my body every day, going to bed by 9pm whenever I can, eating great quality food - these really contribute to my effectiveness, intuition and mindset in a huge way.
(find tash here. and scroll down to find out how to win a copy of her book!)
natalie sisson ~ entrepreneur, business strategist, and freedomist
have always relied on and been in tune with my gut. Especially throughout my travels and personal journey… but since starting my business, I've looked to it more and more. My spiritual practice is relatively new and for me comes in the form of meditation, mindfulness and introspection. I recently signed up to receive Elizabeth Peru's Global Energy Report - and that's about as 'out there' as I've allowed myself to go so far. There's so much I've not tapped into or learned in this arena and I'm open to going on that journey now.
did a lot of ‘inner work’ and self-exploration in my late teens and early 20s when I was very much into personal self-help books… Tony Robbins 'Awaken the Giant Within' and Napoleon Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich' were a big part of this. What I learned and applied back then has stayed with me through until now, but after my 3 month business sabbatical this year and 180 degree life change I have very much gone on a new personal journey of learning, opening up, exploration, and the Universal Cycles of Life work. I am about to embark on another round of this in the coming months.
do love essential oils for energy or peace and calm, I use them through a diffuser. I also love incense when I'm doing yoga or meditation, to be fair all the time. I've worked with a crystal through my friend before but don't have one myself. That's the next level for me.
(find natalie here, and join her right2freedom movement!)
jo bendle ~ productivity coach and founder of the wildly successful society
Interestingly, I don’t consider myself intuitive and my initial reaction to thinking about my spiritual practice, is that I don’t have one! But I can now see that I do have tools and an inner ‘something’ that guides me in making decisions, I just hadn’t connected it to ‘intuition’. I’m pretty practical when it comes to this work – I don’t own any crystals, I have one oracle card deck (soon to be two J), and I am getting better at listening to my intuition as my journey evolves.
As far as I’m concerned the inner work of exploring & clearing our resistance is the biggest deal there is – it doesn’t matter how many tools we have, how many goals we set etc if we don’t work on clearing what’s really stopping us from having what we want. I have been clearing limiting beliefs for a long time, and still have more to work through. I know we will always be clearing stuff – the good news it’s now a fun part of my growth plan. I’m more ‘curious’ about the stuff that shows up now – but only because I have worked with people like Karen to allow me to explore this.
I’ve definitely become more aware of the importance of the inner work as my journey evolves. I used to believe everything my mind told me and it wasn’t all good! Luckily now I know it’s not true and I have a choice whether to listen or get a new more empowering story to tell myself! I’m still work in progress but it’s become less of a negative and more ‘just part of the journey’.
For me, the best tool for doing inner work has been connecting with likeminded women, my mastermind sisters, or a coach. The people who get me and can pull me out of my ‘stories’. I can’t always see it myself – I find having support in this area is the game changer for me – this journey was NOT meant to be driven alone! Depending on what’s coming up my main go to tools are EFT, journaling and SOS calls with my business besties!
(find jo here, and watch for her new mission to #LIVEBIG)
Prerna Malick ~ copywriter and content creator for website, blog, & social media
I do regular journaling and prayer as well as tapping or EFT... while prayer has always been a part of my life, EFT is fairly recent but I really enjoy it. Also I’ve found using essential oils help me to feel clearer and more in touch with my intuition... Journaling is a new part of my routine and I’m using it to heal past memories, forgive and also introspect.
(find prerna here, and check out her amazing content bistro!)
michelle house ~ financial educator & money mentor
I use my spiritual practice to tap into my intuition and seek clarity; without it I get foggy, I do things from a place stuck in my head rather than from my soul. my spiritual practice opens up more doorways than I could have imagined to continue giving me clarity of purpose… which is how I define success.
I keep learning new ways to do things, to recover more quickly if I do go on a downward spiral (of failure or frustration)… my recovery time is better now, thanks to my spiritual practice… it keeps me moving forwards, moving quickly.
I guess I have been in the spiritual space for 20 years, though I didn’t call it that, and it wasn’t something I always trusted. I didn’t want to be seen as ‘woo woo’ and I wasn’t brave enough, fierce enough to step into that space and own it. It’s come later as I’ve gotten older, as I’ve been able to look back to the times I thought I had it all figured out, yet it unfolded in a way that I couldn’t have planned. that gift of hindsight, that toolkit of evidence where I can see how the universe has had my back, has helped me build trust.
I am noticing now that I don’t let fear rule my life anymore. I notice other people’s fears coming at me, and the old michelle would think ‘you should be afraid too’ but now I am able to recognize the fear and move forwards anyhow.
I also don’t carry my ‘baggage’ – my stuff – around with me. I unpack it, I tidy it up. everyday if I need too. I love working in the cycle of the moon so I definitely do clearing every month. I love to set an intention with the new moon and look at the limiting beliefs around that intention, then do the work to clear those limiting beliefs… this soul cleansing makes my intentions even more powerful!
The tools I use for clearing include energy work, writing, talking with others, plus a variety of other things as I need them… my spiritual practice guides me to which tools to use. one of my favourites is to write a ‘fuck you letter’ – express it all down on paper, because finding it is the key. then you can work on forgiveness or letting go, that’s where the freedom is! we need to do this clearing work so that our path of service is not interfered with by this stuff we carry around!
I also love just breathing. 3 big, beautiful, life force breaths to bring you to the present moment and to tune into your intuition. the more I work my practice the more I’ve learnt that I don’t need tools as much anymore… I am the tool. my job is tuning in and clearing and tuning in and clearing, on repeat.
(find michelle here, and join her RICH living room!)
has intuition been part of your journey? how about exploring & clearing your stuff? what tools do you use to tap into your intuition, to explore & clear, or as part of your own spiritual practice?
i am giving away a copy of tash corbin's NEW book - #nomorepinkghetto : the feminine evolution of online business. use the hashtag #illuminate in your comments to have your name added to the draw to win the book!