Time for a Sip of Tea…

… and a Pause to Consider

I hope your summer (winter if you’re in the South) is going well and that you’re taking full advantage of the warm temperatures and lazy, hazy days that we are being graced with this July.

And that you’re finding ways to stay cool.

The article I was going to write today was pretty darn controversial.

And then Summer got in the way… the cats wanted to be scritched… the flowers needed to be photographed… the sandbar started calling…

Truth be told, I’m just not feeling all that controversial.

(well, I am, I’m just not ready to write about it yet) 

So, I’ll talk about that soon.

This week though, we’ll keep it light as befits the season and the temperature and my mood.

It’s Our One Year Anniversary On the East Coast

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the big, yummy man and I packing up our lives and moving to the East Coast.

Woohoo!

We’re still learning more about our land and the treasures that it holds.

We had our first rhubarb in June, brined bar clams on the July 1st weekend, and I keep finding flowers. A rose bush here, black-eyed Susans (my mom’s favourite flower), daisies, sweet peas, tiger lilies there… every week it seems that there is a fresh new burst of beauty for me to enjoy.

The roses above are growing wildly at the top of my driveway in a patch of scrub we were going to remove.

Now? Not a chance.

Sometimes it’s best just to settle in before making big changes, y’know?

Sometimes, we need to slow down.

If we’d done what I wanted to do when we arrived, I would never have met these beautiful blushing ladies.

About That Gorgeous Office…

In fact, I made an error because I moved too fast and the gorgeous work I had done (and all that painting I did!) on my upstairs office turned out to be a poor choice because it turns out I do ALL my calls and ALL my work in a completely different room upstairs.

Whoops!

It seems I prefer the South room to the East room for creating business magic with my clients.

Who knew?!!! Obviously not me.

The beautiful, grey, modern office has now been turned into a beautiful, serene, grey guest bedroom.

I learned my lesson. I’m waiting to see how our house feels in ALL seasons before doing any more renos.

Renovating ALL the Visuals

Speaking of renos, I wanted to let you know that I’ve been working away on my website and social media feeds and though they are a LOOOOONG way from where I want them to be and from the images I have in my head and the feelings I have in my heart, they are also a billion times better than they were.

I’ve really started to lean into the visual aspect of my brand.

And I’ve had to slow down to do it. (slowing down is not my strong suit)

One of the things we learn in NLP is what are called Representational Systems. Rep Systems are how each one of us perceives the world through our senses and I am a high Kinesthetic.

Which means that I feel my way through the world.

The 3 most common types are Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (VAK).

(though we are all ALL of them)

Up until now, I’ve used my Kinesthetic (‘K’) as a crutch and as an excuse to NOT bring the beauty that I desire into my life and my business because I didn’t know how and it felt hard. It was scary.

Slowing Down to See the Pretty

Again, I’ve had to slow waaaaaay dowwwwnnnnn and baby step my way through the process while facing my fear of doing it wrong.

I started by going back to the branding I had done a couple of years ago by the brilliant Jennah Lear (Blue Loui Studio) and I’m seriously considering what visuals give the impression I want to give and how to construct them using the palette and mood board she created for me.

It’s juuuuuuuust a bit (maybe a bit more than a bit!) outside my Comfort Zone and it’s stretching me in very good ways.

I’ve thought a lot about the feelings (that’s the Kinesthetic) that I want people to have when they see (that’s the Visual) my imagery and read (that’s the auditory) my words. 

It’s a LOT of effort (for me!) and it’s well worth it because it’s helping me to fall in love again with the work that I do.

When I see the pretty, my heart is happy.

(by the way, when you start anything new, it’s going to be a lot of effort – anything new will tax your brain until it becomes a habit!)

New Images on the Blog and Social Media Feeds

So, the upshot of this work is that I have finally begun to populate my blog with my previous articles (which until now have been lolling about in hyper-space) so that they can be used as a resource and shared.

I’m in the process of re-doing all the header images because they. don’t. bring. me. joy. But the new ones do.

And my Instagram feed here.

(are you on Instagram? give me a follow and a shout out if you are. I love to hear from you.)

I’m still finding my visual voice and tweaking and tweaking… annnnnnd tweaking.

The cool thing is that while before I told myself that “I can’t do pretty social media sharing because I’m a kinesthetic” (that right there is what we call a limiting decision), I’ve now taken away that excuse and am putting in the work to figure out (and learn from experts) HOW to do it.

Take Control of Your Life

This is what I mean when I talk about taking control of your life.

Instead of blaming who I am and who I was and what happened to me and where I see myself falling short, I take 100% responsibility and do. what. I. can. to make a difference.

I choose an area of my life where I am not 100% satisfied with the results I am getting and I de-construct it and examine it and seriously consider what I would like to see instead.

Then I make a plan, take action, and trust.

Then I see what results I get and iterate.

This is what I was talking about in a previous post on making reality your friend when I said that our lives are a lab.

You can do this too.

And I’m happy to help.

Actually, it’s what I’m here for. What I live for.

… and there’s a Book, too

Lastly, I’ve also been working away (though not as regularly as my writer’s soul would like) on my upcoming book ‘Love Money Magic: Lessons in Creating a Life You Love‘ and I’m excited to see the words that stream through my spirit and onto the page.

Originally, this was meant to be a ‘quick and easy’ book that brought together many of my favourite writings from the first year of the PowerHouse Facebook group, but the Divine has been working in and through me and the book is becoming so much more than a way to capture my previous writings… it’s a handbook for Divine Alignment and miraculous manifesting.

I’m so excited to be moving into this new season of beauty and trust and surrender.

One where I don’t sit in paralysis questioning whether I am good enough or whether my voice has anything worthwhile to add but, instead, trust that the Divine has good plans for me and that my voice matters.

I invite you to join me.

Questions? Thoughts? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know.

Vanessa Long

Vanessa Long is creator of the Seasons of Success and author of Discovering Your Passionate Purpose. Focused on providing straight-forward, no b.s. solutions, strategies, and support to move you from where you are to where you yearn to be. It’s time to tap into your purpose and build a life that expresses all of who you were designed to be.