Elizabeth Montalbano/Mermaid Mentoring

I'll be playing acoustic original and cover songs accompanied by the wonderful musician Miyuki on Saturday at The Bakery Arrifana. Come have a coffee, enjoy tasty treats and help me celebrate the release of my first single to streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, aptly titled "Let's Drink Coffee." ;) Hope to see some of you there!

Counting down the days until "Let's Drink Coffee" is out on Spotify! This link lets you pre-save my very first single ever released on the streaming platform so you can be one of the first to hear it. More details to come on a performance in support of the release that will happen next week so stay tuned!

Let's Drink Coffee by LizAnne Stream and Pre-save Let's Drink Coffee - Distributed by DistroKid

Enjoying some down time in Costa Rica also has given me some time for personal writing and reflection. Sharing my first personal essay on Medium for a long while. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading!

A father’s love language, a daughter’s grief Home is where your dad eats pasta to help you feel less alone

An invitation for women meet to write, reflect and discuss together in an intimate circle one last time before the year ends. Please private-message me with any questions or to sign up and I will save your place and send location information. We discuss in English but writing can be done in any language you prefer.

It is always with an immense sense of joy that’s most of us welcome spring after the shadows of winter pass. This time of renewal also can bring much inspiration, which will be the them of the next women’s writing circle (see slide two!). DM me to join us if you’re in the area, with the potential for online participation by request. Enjoy this beautiful season that’s upon us! 🌼
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“Simply wait, be quiet, still. The world will freely offer itself to you.” —Franz Kafka
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When I come to Pennsylvania in winter it feels like a holding pattern. It’s cold and stark, and I feel a bit lost without the foundation and daily routine of my life in Portugal. But then I look to nature, which has always been my guide, and I trust in the promise of renewal that the quiet and bare landscape holds. I tap in again to the knowledge that it’s only when things are quiet that one’s true voice can be heard.
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Time to reintroduce myself via an honest, and photo of me on a train after many hours of travel from Portugal to Pennsylvania, USA, where I was born 51 years ago. 😍
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I’m Liz, a writer, journalist, intuitive, empath, surfer, singer and amateur musician, and mentor to women.
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I have always been a sensitive and empathetic person who understood things about the world and the people around me that others didn’t understand. For many years I struggled with what I thought was a curse. My unique insight and understanding of the world made me act in ways that were harmful to myself and sometimes others. I was moody, resentful, angry, anxious and depressed. I didn’t understand how to process all the information and knowledge I was receiving all the time. I used external stimulation and validation to help drown out the noise and self-hatred I felt because I was “different.” When difficult situations arose in my life I struggled emotionally to deal with them, finally leading to a nervous breakdown when I was 34.
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Eventually through years of therapy, shadow work, physical practices, healing and commitment to personal growth, I realized that this curse was actually a gift and a blessing. It gave me a deeper understanding and compassion for myself and others and eventually led me to the beautiful life I live now in Portugal, one of independence, commitment to authenticity and pursuit of joy and love every day. I realized that it’s actually ok that not everyone sees the world the way that I do, and that I can use this insight as a tool to help others, especially women, evolve and navigate the difficult situations in their own lives with grace, curiosity, self-love, and authenticity.
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I consider myself a light worker, and while that can sound kind of “woo,” I look at it in a practical way. I want to provide a light in the darkness as much as I want to shed light on the truth for each of the women I work with. I also want to be a light that guides them forward and brings a “lightness” to the load they carry and their overall experience of life. I hope this year I can fully embody what this work means to me and shine my light brighter than ever.

Instead of making resolutions that will be broken by the second week of January 😜, have you considered coming up with some words for how you want your year to look?
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Choosing words that will reflect how you want to grow and what you want to achieve are far less pressure. They can help guide you gently in the right direction rather than give you an excuse to beat yourself up if you fail to keep a promise to yourself. They can help remind you of your goals and desires if you’re feeling lost or off track. Words have a power that resolutions don’t. They can even help you create a mantra that you can repeat to yourself in times of stress, conflict or doubt.
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I’m still working on mine this year but have already decided on “expand,” “nourish,” and “focus” as three winners. How about you? Share in the comments below!
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#2023

Last night I discovered (thanks to my love ❤️) a hidden gem of a neighborhood I never knew existed in a nearby town that I’ve been to many times. I love how even after nearly 13 years of living here, Portugal is still full of surprises! There are so many lovely places a short drive away from where I live that it’s like being on holiday all the time. We enjoyed an after-dinner stroll here on one of the first colder evenings of fall and even saw a shooting star! I also figured out it was nearly six years to the day that we had a date in the same town just a month into our relationship, the day that the great Leonard Cohen died (RIP). Maybe that was him in the sky last night. Hallelujah. 💫
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“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
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51 turns around the sun. Grateful! ☀️
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I feel truly blessed to have a beautiful community of women around me who feel like family. This weekend I attended the celebration of my friends’ wedding on a day when I was feeling fragile, and the outpouring of love that emanated from the local community was enormous.
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Sometimes in life you end up in places you don’t expect, and Portugal was definitely a very surprising turn that I took many years ago. I don’t think anyone expected I would find a true home here, least of all me! But somehow I did, and witnessing the “family you choose” that we have here and how we hold each other up and support each other has made this crazy and not always easy journey worth it. ❤️❤️❤️

I’ve been a bit quiet in terms of Mermaid Mentoring offerings due to some travel and dealing with personal and family affairs (see previous posts for more about that). But I am happy to say that now after a summer break I will be starting again with our women’s writing circles in September! So keep an eye on this space for specifics on the date and topic. Look forward to writing and sharing with you again! ✨❤️
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