Being Brave

Your life need not be hard work when there is divine alignment.

So often we are taught we need to work hard to achieve our goals.

We are taught that our input equals our output.

The more time we put into something, the better it should be.

Let me suggest to you a different proposition, one which sees you create disproportionately positive results for your efforts.

Example #1: I shared in my personal networks that I am writing a book. A friend told a friend about my story and tagged her friend in one of my posts. I messaged her as a new friend and sent her my website to learn more. She replied with a message “I would love to coach with you.” 4 days later we had her discovery call, and she said 100% yes to giving herself the high intensity 1:1 coaching program on that call. We had her first coaching session the very next day in the early morning.

Example #2: I was looking for an artist to create a book cover for my upcoming book titled “Being Brave: From trauma to joy”. After an artist I REALLY wanted to work with said she wasn’t doing commission, I remembered my friend in Minnesota was an artist. I contacted her about the work and she immediately said yes. 4 days later I asked her when she could have the artwork ready, and in her reply a few hours later, she sent me the most perfect artwork for the book.

Example #3: This Thursday I emailed a video editor to touch up the aQuity Coffee videos from 2 years ago. I met her yesterday to give her the hard drive with the large video files and she had the final videos to me that night. You can watch the video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj0hjjIvbz8

When the alignment is right, acceleration takes hold because when you show up as 100% yourself, aligned in your choices, you create the way for alignment with others. And once you begin, there is no looking back.

If you feel called in a way beyond words to this approach for life and business, send me a message with your feelings about coaching together.

With love,
Alana

www.alanamaimitchell.com

If you love inspirational stories, this book is for you.

"Being Brave: From trauma to joy" is my first book - a non-fictional memoir about my personal experiences with five involuntary mental health hospitalisations. Read how I was told by doctors that I would be homeless, and follow my life choices that saw me land a six figure salary.

Too often in society we see mental illness as a limitation. In Australia, mental ill-health costs the economy some $180 billion each year. 1 in 5 Australians will experience mental ill-health each year, where this is our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.

Yet instead of a limitation, mental health can be the catalyst for awakening, growth and development. In the book, you can read how I accepted the whole of who I was, mental illness and all, and went onto create a joyful life.

Through reading the book, I hope you are inspired to see that "If you accepted the whole of yourself, even the parts you never speak about, would you have a limitation anymore?"

Pre-sales available now at www.alanamaimitchell.com

I have 2 gifts for you...

Gift #1 is a gift of perspective.

If you go back to March 2018, I found myself in a situation not to dissimilar from where we are at with the corona virus situation - I was in isolation, constrained, restricted, confined and had a perceived lack of control.

Except I was not in isolation from a virus, I was involuntarily detained in a hospital for a mental health issue.

But, because of what I chose in that environment, I created a business from hospital, that went into Bondi Farmer's Markets, and that in turn led me to go from the doctor telling me that I would be "homeless" to within 3 months I had landed a corporate role with a 6 figure salary.

No matter you circumstances, you have the freedom to choose how you see things.

Gift #2 is for one person who has lost their corporate role as a result of the corona virus situation.

The gift for this person is they will receive FREE early morning high intensity coaching for 8 weeks, which consists of video calls, calls and instant messages as their process goes on live, as this is the MOST powerful way to coach. They will see how, they too, can shift their perspective into one of freedom.

So, I'll ask if that person is you, send me a private message and I will be in touch.

Be well,
Alana

https://alanamaimitchell.wixsite.com/alanamitchell

A letter to the world in 3 months time.

3 months ago we united.

We united, not because we were one side of a war to fight another, but because we wanted to virtually connect with each other to share our compassion, empathy, kindness, care and treatment for all.

We saw the news, who rather than show sensationalised drama, shared human compassion with the tears and emotions of real people.

We saw people, who were once independent and employed in work, become desperate to figure out how they would survive.

We saw lives tragically cut short.

We saw politics work together, on the whole, for the betterment of all.

We witnessed nature’s systems reign in our insatiable appetite for growth.

We saw businesses create new revenue streams, yes because the closures brought it upon them, but their creativity came up with online yoga, group workshops, outdoor training, cafe takeaways. beer drive throughs and many more.

We heard people say not “The world is ending”, but defiantly “My business is going to go through this” and they held space for when they would come out the other side.

We created new industries, new businesses and new ways of working because our situation at first demanded, then inspired, us to do things differently.

We heard our bosses on work conference calls say they had just witnessed their son’s first steps as they had the freedom to work from home.

We meditated with our colleagues because we finally fully recognised the often unspoken impact of stress, anxiety and mental health in the workplace.

We were free to become the whole, full version of our selves, wherever we were, at first because the boundaries between work, home and play overlapped, but then because we actually enjoyed being more authentic to ourselves 100% of the time.

We connected with the elderly, family overseas and long lost friends to show how much we cared.

We really felt, through our global supply chain, our interconnected interdependence on one another.

We saw how in our individual consumerist society, we were part of a much greater we that held us together.

We witnessed the dawn of a new era, where we felt more connected, more supported, more loved, more whole, more compassionate, more innovative, more creative and more brave than ever before.

Love always,
Alana

No matter where you are, you are always free to choose how you see things...

Let’s wind the clock back to March 2018. I was in a situation, not too dissimilar from where people find themselves today with the coronavirus measures- isolated, contained, restricted, bored and with a perceived lack of control.

Except I was not in self-isolation from a virus... I was involuntarily detained in a hospital for a mental health issue.

At first, I struggled with the conditions of the people who surrounded me. I found it difficult to be around them and didn’t interact too much with others.

But slowly, I began to accept my situation. I found people who were like me, temporarily unwell, but still had their marbles.

As the days turned into weeks, I was moved from the high observation unit to the general ward. Here there was more space, and I chose within myself to do the things that gave me joy. I addressed the issue of people smoking outside in the garden (where it is common practice for people to smoke in a NSW Health Facility) by first picking up all the cigarette butts people had left over the years and created a safe, smoke free place where I could practice my yoga outside. I later inspired one of the other patients to practice yoga with me, and he also gave a first attempt at quitting smoking as a result of our interaction.

* Lesson for corona isolation #1 * Do the things that bring you joy, no matter how small the environment.

As the weeks progressed, I was allowed leave to the outside world. No longer did I have to eat the exactly the same hospital meal of lentils, pasta and beans every meal every day, I could add more varied things like baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and carrots to my diet.

* Lesson for corona isolation #2 * Choice of food is a wonderful gift, where you have the freedom to choose what and when you will eat.

We too experienced shortages in the hospital. There were frequent shortages of towels, and people got wild about it (just like they are going nuts for toilet paper over here). I thankfully was able to secure a towel and used this for a few times before the next load arrived.

With the isolation from the rest of society, boredom arrived. I saw people resolve that tension of boredom through overeating, smoking, having meaningless conversation, arguing with others, watching television mindlessly and colouring in. I coloured in like a child for a while until I had permission to go home and get my laptop and set up a hotspot internet connection.

* Lesson for corona isolation #3 * We are incredibly connected through our digital technologies that allow us to continually participate in ways we never thought possible before.

I found a soul in hospital who was similarly creative as I, and we began to work on a business idea. He thought as there was so much waste in the coffee industry (especially with coffee pods), we could make biodegradable coffee bags with h**p mesh. I loved his idea and went with it.

With just the resources you could buy (at the time) in a supermarket, we set up a prototype of the coffee mesh bags. Using my design skills, I created a website for our brand “aQuity” and shared it with the nurses to gather their feedback. We even used my business partner’s artwork, artwork he did in hospital, as the packaging.

* Lesson for corona isolation #4 * Great creativity can come from environments which appear to be constrained.

After I recovered and left hospital, I took our creation to Bondi Farmer’s Market. This video shares our story - https://youtu.be/yjXDzwvlzMg

While we are no longer at Bondi Farmer’s Markets, this creation and all the joyful content I shared about it, created a six figure salary and a joyful life.

If you are being asked to self-isolate, work from home, change your daily routine, I ask you to consider what may come if you accepted your situation fully and embraced what it is there to show you.

You can read more in my book "Being Brave: From trauma to joy" which is now on pre-sale at www.alanamaimitchell.com

Goodwill is the most valuable thing in business. They don't teach this at university, yet goodwill is so important for good businesses.

There are only 5 spots left for the Creative Flow & Accelerated Results Workshop. If you are an innovative leader with a business idea, goal, bock or challenge, register for the workshop on Tuesday 23 June 2018, 6:00pm to 7:30pm, in the Gaffa Gallery, Clarence St, Sydney.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/creative-flow-accelerated-results-tickets-46200763728

(For the gorgeous people who followed Being Brave, I now only do aQuity Coffee, see the site aQuitycoffee.com or follow on insta .)

"When you find what is easy and natural to you, your motivation increases, your creation accelerates and your capacity expands to be infinite."

If you are an innovative leader with a business idea, goal, block or challenge, then this Sydney workshop is for you. Creative Flow & Accelerated Results is on Tuesday 23 June 2018, 6:00pm to 7:30pm, in the Gaffa Gallery, Clarence St, Sydney.

Only 8 spots, so tickets will go quickly. www.eventbrite.com.au/e/creative-flow-accelerated-results-tickets-46200763728

(For the gorgeous people who followed Being Brave, I now only do aQuity Coffee, see the site aQuitycoffee.com or follow on insta .)

Freedom, borne through unconditional love, has the power to create world changing results for you.

Results, so complete and meaningful in the present moment, that you no longer need to wait for something else to arrive in the future to be fulfilled.

With freedom, your world changing result awakens new paradigms in people. Ironically, none of this is about achieving more of how you are currently successful. I suggest the model of 'climbing the ladder' is now boring for you. The big picture result you crave and the difference you want to make for others will not come from following in another's footsteps. This time around you are here to break new ground. And it will arrive from transcending your limitations, by developing a capacity to see the loving whole.

Those eyes become how you look within, soon turn into the eyes for how you look without. How you perceive yourself is what will transform your world.

My world changing result, of total freedom from nervous breakdowns, stress, medication and the medical system in one year, now informs the consciousness of how I experience life. For example, this week someone asked, “Are you going to be upset with me if I say no?” Resonating in unconditional love, I knew no matter what their decision was, I loved them for the whole of who they were and what they decided meant nothing about how I saw them.

Want to know why your approaches so far have not given you major results? Send me a message with what you want to achieve and the current thing (behaviour, thought pattern, feeling etc) that holds you back. In one conversation, you will know where you are not free and see where your expansion to create results resides.

Being Brave, a high intensity coaching partnership, only has space for 3 people to start this month. If this post called you, in a way you already 'knew' we were meant to work together, then you are welcome to move decisively with this level of connection.

In love,
Alana xo

Love the voice that knows no fear of persecution.
This time around, there is freedom to speak truth.

See beyond the illusion of a fight between right and wrong, and you elevate above duality.

Hold space for ambiguity and uncertainty, and surrender to what is to be created through you.

In arriving here, you have lived both sides of duality. You know with direct experience success / failure, good / bad and right / wrong. And all the while you heard both sides, you identified with neither. Perhaps to ease the disconnection and mis-understanding, you thought you should do something else because the fit wasn’t quite right. Maybe you pursued further study to achieve what would be the perfect match for you. Or you might have decided to continue on, hoping things will get better. Meanwhile, the untapped power wanting to move through you awaits.

Duality does not make sense to those who create. Most people play the game where the definition of self comes from standing against that which they are not, which can be shaky and unstable. Yet there is unparalleled certainty and clarity to experience by expressing the whole of who you really are.

This voice of perception might have been quiet for some time in you, because... How could it be you who transcends? How could it be you who is the one to bravely, boldly and gracefully break new ground for others?

When I reflect on my experience of creating total freedom from stress, anxiety, nervous breakdowns, medication, labels and the medical system in one year, my primary activity was creation. The choices I made were grounded, fully in the now, with 100% personal accountability.

So, should you be someone who is ready to elevate above duality (beyond the struggle, stress and suffering in it) and create total freedom, you’re most welcome to message me.

The structure we are held in, is Being Brave, a high intensity coaching partnership. I remind you... If this post awakened something for you, that is the level of connection I look for. Before reading this, you already ‘knew’ we were meant to work together.

In love,
Alana xo

This is an offering for you.

To see the search for ‘meaning’ is about being UNDERSTOOD. To know the need for ‘fulfillment’ is really to be AT ONE with ALL that is.

When we begin with "What am I to do?”, we set up a pattern of looking outside for our answers.

Let me share something with you...

In my search, I explored high and low - from leafy universities, to the shiny corporate towers, to the great lakes of Minnesota, to the mountains of Nepal, to the lounge of a counsellor, to the brink with a nervous breakdown and back to the shiny corporate towers.

I explored high and low,
and there was only one place left to go.

Within.

I too had the question of “What am I to do?”, and until I looked within, all my approaches externally solved my need for achievement and recognition. The trouble is, when we place ‘meaning’ and ‘fulfillment’, in something we DO, we dis-connect to our sense of self. When what we do is a ‘success’, we feel great and bask in it, AND when what we do is a ‘failure’, we judge ourselves and make it a learning to do better because we saw ourselves as not good enough.

Now, what I offer you to see,
is the question of “Who am I to be?”.

Can you feel the FREEDOM here?
Can you see the invitation to know yourself as so much more than what you do?

For that ‘out there’ part of you (you know, the part that has other people call you ‘different’), becomes stressed and anxious when forced to fit into the norm of what you think you should be doing.

Because, here’s the thing - What you think you should be doing will never be authentic to you and allows yourself to be led by someone else. And so, there will always be that ‘out there’ part calling you, pushing you and pulling you to be something more than what you do.

The ‘different’ you is the one who will create TOTAL FREEDOM from all that might have you feeling trapped right now.

When I unconditionally loved the whole of me (even the part which caused 2 nervous breakdowns) that is when I elevated above the medical labels given to me. When I knew the whole of who I was being, and not stressed about what I was doing, that is how I created the path to release myself of medication, medical labels and a system of illness - a path which I invite you to know for yourself.

What is ‘out there’ for you, ironically, is going to be the thing that creates your total freedom.

My offering to you is to stop asking “What am I to do?” and begin with “Who am I to be?”. If you’re someone who is in struggle with stress, anxiety and perhaps a medical label, then I invite you into TOTAL FREEDOM. There are going to be just a few of you who are willing to lead this path, so I hold space for THREE strong people to enter a high intensity coaching partnership with Being Brave.

I’m not for everyone, and neither are you. The level of connection I look for is, that even before reading this post, you knew we were meant to work together. If this is you, I call on you to act decisively and send me a message.

In love,
Alana xo

There’s nothing wrong with being strong.

There’s nothing wrong with boldly standing in what you know to be true.

This is YOUR TRUTH, and it is not what you have learnt through other people’s wisdom, teachings and stories.

Your truth goes beyond what you think and believe.

Your truth is what you have lived,

and it has worked every. single. part. of you.

When there is struggle with truth, it shakes you to the core, challenges you and can turn your world upside down.

Truth does not show up quietly.

Those who have lived their truth know the divine purpose of why those experiences of struggle were sent. They know the illusion, chaos and suffering served a higher purpose to release the loving wisdom within it all.

My invitation to you is always to “Speak your truth because it has power not of this world.” Time and time again, this premise moved me out of limitation and into freedom.

It moved me out of the paradigm of success and failure. As an over-achiever, I was motivated to do things, because if I did them well and in the right way, I felt good from the praise I received. When I spoke the truth about this perception, I saw into the root cause of the success paradigm - my conditional thinking that “If I do X, then Y will result”. Dissatisfied with the present, my happiness was projected into future state, somewhere I’d get to. Work was primarily a linear process of doing to earn - earn recognition, earn money, earn promotions and earn enjoyment.

I had forgotten the truth that there was a time when we created everything with joy, and we gave our expressions with joy. A time when there was no thought, expectation or attachment about what should happen once the ‘thing’ was made. We were in the innocent flow of creation as pure expression. We saw with love, and love was returned.

Sometimes I cannot find words for the TOTAL FREEDOM that arrived from speaking my truth. Amongst the freedom I shared with you in earlier posts, I no longer do things for praise or place the responsibility of my happiness (or any emotion) on others.

With being strong, the running assumption is you need to appear as loud, showy, opinionated, extroverted and forceful. Yet there is another way to boldly stand in your truth. You can be both strong AND gentle, and because when you hold space for both perspectives, you have the capacity to unite what was once perceived as opposite and opposed.

Your truth transpires in the way you speak, the beauty you see, the insight you express, the creations you give and the capacity you hold from all that you have lived.

When this powerful mix is misunderstood, it shows up in you as:
- The one who wants to lead, yet is a bit frustrated, because leadership has not arrived as a result of what you did (and this keeps you busy ticking the boxes of what else you think you need to do)
- Holding back your thoughts, as you know what you see is different, so you tend to wait until called to speak in group settings
- Worried, because you’re concerned with what others think about you and most of your actions are about pleasing people
- And if things are really confused, it presents pretty strongly as stress and anxiety

There are only a few who are willing to know their truth and create the contrast of TOTAL FREEDOM to their limitations. I have space to welcome in just 3 of you to Being Brave, a high intensity coaching partnership.

This group starts on 27 February, so if you already knew we were meant to work together, I call on you to speak your truth to me in a message now, and we'll explore what begins for you next week. To start, what limitations are you experiencing today and what is the freedom you would love to create for yourself?

In love,
Alana xo

www.beingbrave.com.au

(Photo by Cody James)