Alisha Herrick

⭐Link in bio to get early access to enroll⭐ DMs open for questions

🌕The Moon is FULL!

Full Moons are a special time to invite acknowledgment and clarity into your life. Wherever you are on your own spiritual, healing, or growth journey, the full moon invites you to acknowledge all that you have moved through already! It's also not at all surprising that the brilliant silvery light of the full moon can illuminate that which has not yet been visible to us, either because we weren't ready, or simply couldn't comprehend... yet. But tonight is the night!

Get out your cards, and try this 3 Card Full Moon spread.
1. Acknowledge where you are and who are you presently on your journey
2. Illuminate that which you are ready to see and understand.
3. Gain clarity on what to do next to integrate this new wisdom into your path.

Share your reflections below! I'd love to hear how this goes for you.

🌕

Hey everyone! I wanted to share some exciting news with you all. I'm hosting my first Virtual Mini Tarot Class on Sunday, March 5th from 10:00 AM PST - 11:00 AM PST. Intro to Tarot as a tool for Personal and Spiritual Development.

As someone who has experienced the transformative power of Tarot firsthand, I'm excited to share my knowledge with you. During this one-hour class, we'll explore the basics of Tarot and how it can help you tap into your intuition, cultivate self-awareness, and make meaningful progress in your life.

This interactive class will offer a framework to practice intuitive readings, and provide practical exercises and tools for integrating Tarot into your daily rhythm. I truly believe that Tarot can be a powerful tool for anyone interested in personal and spiritual growth.

The cost for the class is $33, and I'll leave the registration link in the comments. If you have any questions about the class, feel free to send me a DM. I hope to see you there!🌟✨

People come to coaching for many different reasons but for me, it all boils down to this.

How do you want to feel?
What is getting in the way of that feeling?
What needs to change?

These are also great questions for a three card Tarot Spread 😋

... and just like that, she's 35 😘🙏🏼

I blew a kiss to the sunset above the clouds. Welcoming joy into my life for this and all future journeys around the sun.

Finishing up my 35th trip around the sun in Maui 💗🙏🏼

More to come soon!

Had so much fun with the 4-Seasons Tarot Spread this past Winter. So excited to offer it again this spring!

Link in bio to book

It's official!

People have always said that I have a gentle way of putting people at ease, reframing perspectives, and guiding folks to new insights, but I struggled endlessly with feeling like I wouldn't be taken seriously as a "coach" without training.

The truth is, I wouldn't have been able to take myself seriously as a coach without this certification.

I chose Fielding because of the graduate-level course work, and theoretical rigor. It was also critical to me that I would be able to learn from a diverse faculty and that the institution was committed to Social Justice and Equity. What I didn't anticipate how much the program would change me. Becoming a certified coach was hands down the best decision I've made for myself.

I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who's supported me on the journey and especially thankful for some amazing coaches who have coached and encouraged me on this path.

Special thanks to my first few clients who trusted me to journey with them as I cultivated my skill. And deep gratitude to all of my amazing program peers who witnessed my progress and transformation.

I'll be sharing my 2022 coaching offerings next week 🤗💗

It's such an honor to work with people on their spiritual journey and see all of the ways they grow. For a limited time (until the first Full Moon of 2022 - January 17th) I'm offering the 4-Seasons Tarot spread reading. Link in bio to book! Would love to support you or a loved one wherever you are in your journey!

Happy Winter Solstice! Here are my own reflections, some blessings, and an affirmation for whoever resonates with it.

New offering!

One of my favorite readings to do is the 4 Seasons Spread. 4 cards, one for each upcoming season, and 2 helper cards to support you along the journey.

I'm happy to offer this reading just in time for the upcoming Winter Solstice. Book soon to learn what lessons to expect on your spiritual journey in the coming year.

💗🙏🏼

Once upon a time, I was a lighting designer. If you were with me during that part of my life, please remind me of something you remember about working together in the comments!

I fell into Lighting Design unexpectedly. I was a theatre kid in High School and President of the Thespian Club 😆 I chose Theater Arts as my college major with the dream of becoming a Director. I love storytelling and have pages of stories I've written in journals, stuffed in boxes, and scribbled across stacks of post-its. I love how storytelling is something that connects us to all of humanity... as far back as our consciousness is aware and as far forward as our imagination will allow.

Lighting, color, luminosity, and timing captivated something in me. It was an added layer of a performance that evoked the feeling sense in the body. Imagine being in a cafeteria with bright florescent lights (🤮). Now imagine being in a dark room with a softly burning candle.

A glowing, gentle, warm light in the darkness creates just enough space for dreams, fears, and secrets to be whispered out of our bodies.

🔥💗🔥
To my delight (I literally tell everyone), all of the lights in my apartment (except the bathroom) are on dimmers! Not only that, but there are two completely different color tones to switch between 😃. One is bright and cool, the other is soft and warm (pictured).

Today, I'm feeling so grateful for the lighting in my apartment. I have the ability to shift the energy of my entire space, with the flick of a switch. An absolute dream for my younger self.
💡💗🕯️

When I was a wedding planner, I would ask my clients, "how do you want to feel on your wedding day?"

"Like I can't get off the dance floor"
"Joyful"
"Present"
"Relaxed"

That was our target... our planning goal. At every decision point, I would ask them, "what feels like it would be most aligned with how you want to feel that day?" "With how you want your guests to feel?" and for the most challenging decision points, "what feels like the most loving choice to make?"

As a coach, I ask my clients the same thing. "How do you want feel one year from now?" Contemporary goal setting strategies (as well as strategies of manifestation) would have you focus on the details. The specific and measurable outcomes. I'm here to tell you there's another way. Focus on the sensations you want to experience.

When we focus our goal setting on the details, we actually limit our possibilities. By focusing on the sensation instead, we open ourselves up to experiences that we could never have imagined.

After my divorce, when I was struggling to make ends meet, and living on my friend's couch, I focused on what I wanted to feel... secure, stable, peaceful, fulfilled, safe and in my own place. 6 years later, I'm here. I have my own apartment, a six-figure career, and truly fulfilling work.

Get clear about how you want to feel, align your actions, beliefs, and thoughts to those sensations and watch your life transform.

One thing that I'm incredibly proud of these days, is that I truly like myself. I like how I manage challenges, I like how I show up for myself, and I'm fulfilled in my relationships.

This achievement is not an accident. It is the result of years of doing "the work". Of being honest with myself, of asking for and receiving help, and taking courageous steps into uncertainty.

💗✌🏼

Early in my healing journey, I became convinced that the way to heal damaged relationships was to cultivate compassion and forgiveness for the other person. I believed that any pain I experienced in relationships was mine alone to resolve. It made sense that to heal from the pain, I just needed to fully understand and forgive them. As a result of those beliefs, I have spent many years of my life trying to rationalize abusive behavior and justify the harm I’ve endured as a means to find forgiveness and healing.

My journey had to take a pretty significant u-turn for me to finally realize that:
- It is impossible for me to fully understand someone else’s motivations (especially if they also have no idea why they do the things they do).
- Rationalizing someone’s harmful behavior does not make the behavior any more acceptable.
- You can’t forgive someone who is unable or unwilling to take responsibility for their behavior.

Sometimes, you just need to set clear boundaries.

It's the little things

Tea
Conversation
Being seen
Food
Wine
Questions
Answers
New learnings
Old lessons
Bone deep truth

Happy Autumn Equinox friends

I'm the kind of person who has hit more than a few low points in life. I've sat in the spaces of myself that feel hopeless, achy, and nearly unbearable. In taking a deep, grounding breath now, I'm remembering moments when I have felt so grief-struck, I could barely breathe. And a wave of gratitude washes over me.

Gratitude and Honesty

When I think about how I moved through those dark spaces, I remember grasping for anything that might help me stay afloat. And there are many tools folks suggest - meditation, yoga, therapy, energy healing, tarot readings, etc. Anything that might bring about clarity, insight, or hope that we can't otherwise find ourselves. When the suggested tools didn't work or were inaccessible, I leaned into practicing gratitude and being honest with myself as a way to bring about the change I was desperately seeking.

Writing 10 or more things one appreciates about life could provide just enough of an exhale to get unstuck. A regular gratitude practice provides relief and creates space in our mind and nervous system to feel a slight emotional expansion. Life challenges take up a tremendous amount of emotional, mental, and physical space in our lives. Hopelessness creeps in when we reach the limits of our capacity to hold such things. And it is during those times, we either fall back into unconscious patterns and behaviors or reach for something else in an effort to move through the experience more consciously.

Gratitude is what I reach for first, and then honesty.

"Above all else, tell yourself the truth" is what I journaled to myself as I was facing the end of my marriage. Up to that point, I had spent most of my life lying to myself as a maladaptive strategy to stay emotionally safe. The truth is, I didn't know how I felt, what I believed, or what I needed.

It's okay to be grateful for someone's presence in your life and honest about your needs not being met in the relationship. You can be grateful to have a job and still know you're meant to do something else. Create space for truth-telling in your life. Especially when things are difficult.

Self-coaching questions for Imposter Syndrome.

Take a look a the five types of Imposters according to Dr. Sandi Mann's book "Why Do I Feel Like an Imposter?"

Which one are you? Drop an emoji for your type.
💯 Perfectionist
⭐️ Superhero
💫 Natural Genius
🥇Rugged Individual
🧠 Expert

I am 💯 the Perfectionist and occasionally 🧠 the Expert.

A big part of my growth journey has been about learning to accept my imperfections. If we don't address Imposter Syndrome in our lives, it can derail our personal and professional growth. I remember working countless hours of overtime to make sure my projects were flawless. Sure, I got a promotion, but in the shift from hourly to salary, I ended up getting paid less as a salaried employee than I was when I was clocking overtime! Also, NOBODY ASKED ME TO DO IT. I still facepalm myself about that from time to time.

Feeling like I had to be an expert before putting myself out there professionally significantly delayed my career and earning potential. I've always had talent and skill, but I would spend more looking up graduate programs than networking because I was constantly comparing my state school education to those with MBAs and Stanford degrees. If I had an opinion during meetings, but I wasn't as educated on the topic as others in the room, I wouldn't say anything. Not only did that reinforce my own Imposter Syndrome, but it kept me from making a valuable and meaningful impact at work.

I challenge you to explore the self-coaching questions in a journal or digital document. Treat this as a real coaching opportunity to deepen your self-awareness and let me know what you think!

The more I learn, the more convinced I am that a majority of us humans, particularly in the USA are experiencing different flavors of the same sh*t. Take Imposter Syndrome for example. According to this book I read (cuz I wanna give ya'll more than just my opinion) there are at least 5 types of Imposters. My perspective is that you probably have a dominant type, and then some sub-types. You probably also have different types that show up in different situations.

Check out the 5 types and the inner rules that govern each type.

Drop an emoji for your dominant type, and let us know what situations bring it out for you. We can all learn from each other 😉
💯 Perfectionist
⭐️ Superhero
💫 Natural Genius
🥇Rugged Individual
🧠 Expert

For me, my dominant type is definitely 💯 The Perfectionist. If I can't do something right the first time, why even try?! It has gotten me stuck more times than I care to admit. The path of integration for The Perfectionist is permission to fail (and learn!).
More on paths of integration coming soon!

Awareness + Choice = Transformation
🌟🌟🌟


source: "Why Do I Feel Like an Imposter?" by Dr. Sandi Mann

Have you ever believed that others think you're a better person, employee, leader, parent, or partner than YOU think you are? Do you feel a constant fear that you'll be discovered as a fraud, fired, punished, or otherwise abandoned? How often do you dismiss your achievements as a result of things like luck or "being in the right place at the right time" rather than acknowledging them as due to your own talent, skills, and abilities?

This experience of "Imposter Syndrome" is felt by just about everyone at some point in their life. Which makes sense if you live in a society that values contrast and hierarchy. The research* says that you are more likely to experience the sensation of Imposter Syndrome when you're going through some kind of significant change or transition. An experience that will undoubtedly bring up your insecurities and cause you to start comparing yourself to others.

Let's see… drop a 👏🏽 if you are or have experienced some kind of significant life change or transition in the last year. Drop a 😅 if you expect to in the next year!

Some examples might be:
✔️ Move to a new city/home
✔️ Start or finish school
✔️ Start a new role or job
✔️ Pursue a new passion
✔️ Get married
✔️ Become a parent

Consider too, all of the changes or transitions that you didn't initiate.

15 min self-reflection to start healing Imposter Syndrome
🟣 How and where are feelings of Imposter Syndrome showing up in your life right now?
🟣 What transition(s) or change(s) in your life introduced these feelings?
🟣 If it's not connected to a transition or change, at what point in your life did these feelings arise?
🟣 How do you want to feel about your present situation? (ie. confident, present, patient, etc.)
🟣 At what other points in your life have you felt the feelings you want to feel now?
🟣 What about your current situation is preventing you from your desired feelings?
🟣 What needs to change about your current situation so that you can feel those desired feelings soon?

Sit with your reflections and begin to notice when you experience Imposter Syndrome in real-time. Be curious about what you discover in your observations of yourself.

Making space to pause in our lives and get clarity around the truth of our being is critical to achieving our greatest desires.

So many people start with their goal/vision and then get stuck when they lose momentum or motivation.

That stuck place is where self-doubt starts to creep in.

"Maybe I'm not actually good enough for this dream"

"It must not be meant for me"

This pattern inevitably becomes a vicious cycle.

When you become aware that this is how you're operating, the invitation is to tune into your own inner truth, desires, and dreams.

Rather than looking outside of yourself and thinking "if I have that car, or that job, or that body... THEN I'll be happy" challenge yourself to discover what lights you up now, in your present reality.

When you can find what gives you joy and peace in your life, you'll be motivated to nurture and protect that state of being.

The actions you take in service of nurturing and protecting your inner joy and peace, will inevitably lead you to your greatest desires.

Learning and practicing self-compassion in my life has proven to be a critical liberation strategy in this world. Truly caring for and deeply loving oneself is a radical and revolutionary act of rebellion within intersectional and oppressive systems of power (i.e. Colonialism, Patriarchy, White Supremacy and Extractive Capitalism).

From an early age, I was made to believe that because I was fat, I was undeserving. Undeserving of pleasure, love, care and happiness. Starting from a place of unworthiness, I developed a series of unconscious people pleasing strategies to prove to others that I was good enough. Some examples were 1) overgiving of my time, energy and body in order to receive acknowledgement or validation from others. 2) Making self-deprecating comments and using humor about my body to deflect judgements I knew people around me were holding. Almost as if acknowledging my fatness allowed people to relax around me. “It’s cool y'all, I know I’m fat.” 3) Always anticipating the needs of others while ignoring my own.

These behaviors provided me with scraps of social acceptance while leaving me exhausted, anxious, and depressed.

Cultivating compassion for myself was the first step in my journey to where I am now. But truthfully, there’s a mini-step before the big step of cultivating self-compassion, and that is, increasing self-awareness. I say it’s a mini-step because it’s not as heavy as practicing self-compassion can be. Doing self-compassion work leads you face to face with your shadows and traumas. To get there, you have to first notice what is happening in your mind and your body on the reg. If you have self-critical thoughts, start by just noticing when they come up. What experiences trigger them for you? Noticing is enough. Becoming aware of what is happening within you will provide you with space to make choices. It is within that space, that you get to choose self-compassion.