Sarah Levine - Mindset Coach

I read this days ago but am still marinating in its wisdom.

What does it look like to call your spirit back? 🤍

I’ve worked with the most incredible, inspirational women. 🫶

Wow. Just wow.

Ever wonder about the power of adopting a creative practice into your recovery journey?

Listen to my ‘soul dive’ session with writer & sobriety coach, Kate Baily .cic on her fantastic podcast

Link to listen in bio👂

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”

Care for a real life example?

For years I had a secret. A quiet whisper of desire: I wanted to write a book. I had a story simmering inside to tell… my own.

I didn’t have the first clue how I was going to do it, writing a book felt so completely outside of the realm of possibility for me. But that’s the amazing thing about practicing what you preach, or coach in my case, I know from my own coaching program that the “how” is none of my concern. I know that if this book is my true desire, everything that I need to make it happen will present itself, as long as I answer when it knocks at my door. And knock it did!

In May 2021 I reconnected with an old friend - An award winning journalist & best selling author, Ann is a powerhouse of the written word. So it was a wink from the Gods above that when I was ready, a post on Facebook about an incredible memoir writing course Ann leads called Writing Your Recovery, (we’re all recovering from something ✨) popped up on my newsfeed. Of course, I joined.

A passion for writing that I didn’t even know I had was ignited in Writing Your Recovery and suddenly I felt something about my own book that I hadn’t really experienced yet: Possibility. I strongly believe that as you move towards your goal, it moves towards you, so I have not left Ann’s writing course since, and along with her 1:1 support, I’m busy working on my book.

If any of this resonates, connect with Ann & join the next round of WYR which starts this month. It’s truly a special course. Hope to see you there!

I’m 42 years old today and I am celebrating myself.

Celebrating on the outside of course, the fun stuff… Coffee & crossword in bed, lovely birthday lunch & dinner, handmade cards from the kids, etc 🤗

But I am also celebrating myself on the inside. And I’m really fu*king proud of myself.

I put a lot of energy, care and attention into the relationship I have with myself this year. A relationship I’ve been neglecting for a long time. And I can say that I have more love, compassion, respect, patience, trust, forgiveness, loyalty, worthiness, peace & contentment with myself and who I am than I ever have before.

I stopped putting myself last, settling for what I didn’t want, accepting less than I deserved, and saying yes when I meant no.

And trust me, as a recovering co-dependant boundary-less people-pleaser who cared waaaay too much what you thought, that was no easy feat.

It’s been one hell of a transformative year.

Thank you to all who have been a part of it 💫🤍🫶

Sunday PSA: you’re good just as you are. 🫶

The Intersection of Spirit and Science.

“When you combine the spiritual truth that you are perfectly and completely mentally healthy and habit-free (but for your temporary, habitual thinking) with the scientific finding that your habit is made up of thoughts that fade on their own, your habit begins to look far less powerful and stable than it has.”

Leave no subconscious thought unturned!
Thanks 💘

Peaks and valleys. And a lot of in-between. That’s life. Anyone who tells you it’s not is lying.

There are high times… really high times. Moments, minutes, days, weeks even years of soaring.

These are the peaks.

The times when you’re completely in flow with the world, and with yourself. The times when what you want is lined up with what you’re receiving.

Ahhh... bliss.

Then there are the dips.

The low times when the water slowly climbs over your head.

These are the valleys.

Sometimes they’re gradual. A slow undoing of doing what’s in service of goodness and of what cultivates more goodness.

Other times they are a dramatic drop. Free-fall. Usually triggered by an emotional impact of some sort.

Whichever kind they are, these valleys we wander into often feel permanent and factual.

Here’s what I know to be true: This too shall pass.

The highest highs pass and the lowest lows pass too.

As my dear friend always likes to remind me, the only thing permanent in life, is death. And frankly, even that I'm not so sure about anymore.

So knowing that this too shall pass, what is really important is to be deliberate about how you navigate those peaks and especially those valleys.

Here are a few things I remind myself of when I’m entering a dip…

1. Remember that feelings are not facts. Even though they can masquerade as them.

2. When you’re dipping, don’t trust your thoughts. Mine usually tell me I suck and am not worthy of feeling better.

3. Don’t write stories. Allow all the feelings to come up and be processed, but be mindful not to buy into the stories we tell ourselves about the feelings. Investing in the story is like feeding the dip. It only ensures that it lasts longer.

4. Get off social media. Period. Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides. It’s not a fair fight.

5. Reach out. Sometimes the hardest part of a valley is that it craves isolation.

The truth is that I'm dipping into a valley right now.

And that's okay. Totally okay. I’m not panicking.

Because this too shall pass.

And I needed to post this probably more than you needed to read it. 🙏

I always say: When we bury our feelings, we bury them alive.

When we avoid painful feelings, we can't process them.

When we don't process them, they are stored inside of us.

When they're stored inside of us, they create dis-ease.

Then we create a life dedicated to avoiding the pain that lives inside of us.

We do this by...
Drinking our feelings
Eating our feelings
Drugging our feelings
Binge watching our feelings
Compulsively exercising our feelings
Some of us even overachieve our feelings. (There is nothing worse than meeting your big goals and still feeling unfulfilled & empty. Trust me, I know this one first hand.)

None of these methods actually resolve the core pain. None of these things heal, they postpone healing.

Us lucky ones finally learn that when we allow all the painful & uncomfortable feelings to come up, all the things we are programmed to avoid and let them be felt, they pass.

The pain is temporary.

Avoiding pain can be a lifelong affliction.

This is not a journey to be taken solo. Find your people. Find your circle of support. If you want to join mine, let me know xo

One of the themes that appeared in our Mastermind call this week was intuition. How most of us have developed behaviours to stifle the voice of our own intuition. Why do we do this?

Fear.

If we really gave that inner knowing voice the volume it wants, we wouldn’t be able to stay in our comfort zone for too long.

That voice would guide us directly towards what is for our higher good.
And that might not feel easy.
In fact, it might feel really really hard.

It might ask you to…

Quit the job.
Start the business.
End the relationship.
Speak your truth.
Leave the marriage
Put down the distractions.
Feel your damn feelings.
Raise your standards.
Let them down.
Seek pleasure (Not the immediate kind that just feels bad after)
It might open your heart.
You might get hurt.
You might fail.

Some of these are really hard asks. Some people spend their whole lives avoiding them.

But consider the alternative…

Stay in the job you don’t want.
Never start that business.
Settle for the relationship you have.
Live a lie.
Stay in the dysfunctional marriage.
Avoid your feelings.
Numb the pain.
Lower your standards.
Deny your own boundaries.
Stay in the cycle of immediate gratification.
Stay safe at all costs.
Never let anyone in.
Stay small and in the illusion of safety.
Don’t even try.

Then ask yourself what sounds like a harder way to live the rest of your life.

The answer for most people who get really honest with themselves comes quick.

Once you see what you’re giving up by avoiding your own intuition, it becomes harder and harder to do.

The bridge is gone. And thank goodness it is.

When you get quiet, what does your inner knowing ask of you?