Being a Woman Who Lives Elegantly would have been so foreign to me in my 30’s. Sure, I had a lot of my stuff together. I had a consistent spiritual practise that aligned me every day and I finally had my signature style figured out, but I only TRULY felt like a Woman Who Lives Elegantly after I turned 40 and experienced quite a tough year personally.
I had gone through a few rough years of moving countries, renovating a home with a newborn, moving again to another country after finally finishing our nightmare of a renovation, starting an online business, experiencing 2 miscarriages and then bad post natal depression.
During my depression, after I had my daughter, I looked back over the past years and thought, yes, well, it’s understandable that I am depressed! Look at everything I’ve had to go through!
But… when I took a good look at my life I realised that my soul felt empty and THAT was the reason I felt so depressed. It was time for me to begin cultivating my life instead of just reacting to it.
How can YOU cultivate a BEAUTIFUL LIFE for yourself? Here are 6 Simple Steps!
Step 1
The first step to cultivating yourself as a Woman Who Lives Elegantly is to know what it is you want to cultivate.
Ask yourself,
“What are my values?”
What is MY definition of success in life?”
“What are my priorities?”
Once you know this you can start making conscious decisions around them.
Way back when, I realised that I was working way too many hours. I lived in England, and because most of my online clients were in North America I was having all of my coaching calls during the evenings. Once I honoured my value of FAMILY, I adjusted my working hours so that my clients had to be more flexible and meet with me during English daytime hours.
I also set an intention to get more clients in the UK. With more UK clients and with my overseas clients being more flexible, I was able to stop working at night all together. Pure elegant living:)
Step 2
Get to KNOW yourself. Once you know who you are…intimately, you can begin to appreciate and admit who you are.
When you admit and accept who you are, and those qualities serve your highest good, then you give yourself permission to be who you are, without hiding or dimming any part of you.
This is SO freeing! I used to feel bad that I liked staying IN more than going OUT. I also wondered if I was anti-social since I needed days of solitude in order to feel happy. Yes, without my kids or hubby around, not to mention friends or clients. Was this NORMAL?
When I accepted this aspect of myself I realised that it greatly served me in connecting deeply with the Divine and doing my job well. I also consistently experienced inner peace and alignment…things most people were searching aimlessly for, AND my clients received DIVINE coaching from me.
So, what aspect (s) of yourself have you not accepted? Start to LOVE and appreciate them as it was God, the Divine who made you this way!
Step 3
Turn inwards and ask your soul what it requires.
When I began asking my soul what it wanted for breakfast, I always felt satisfied and full of energy. When I asked myself, “How do you want to feel today?”, when getting dressed, I always felt beautiful…even if I was in jeans and a nice T-Shirt.
It’s SO important to begin connecting with your soul so that you don’t have to ask 20 people or an “expert” what you should do, eat or wear.
Begin to ask your soul questions like:
a) “Does this feel right to me?
b) “Does this person add to my life or take away from it?”
c) “Does this food make me feel good after eating it?”
Lead from THIS place. Gradually, elegantly, you will learn to trust yourself and really ENJOY the relationship you have with your beautiful soul.
Step 4
Cultivate LOVE. Ask yourself how you can spread love towards yourself and others. Can you give yourself or someone a smile, a note, a thought, fresh flowers, an email, a text, a bath with epsom salts, a manicure?
A Woman Who Lives Elegantly GLOWS of love and light. Why? Because she aligns with it everyday and makes a choice to gift it to herself and other people regularly.
Step 5
Elegantly nourish your Body. I love food. I get excited by it and even read cookbooks in bed with glee! Eating well (mostly plant-based) gifts you clarity, energy, health, vitality and an elegant body without even “trying”. This is a Woman Who Lives Elegantly’s secret to looking and feeling beautiful.
Some of my favourite cookbooks are: Deliciously Ella Everyday, Livia’s Kitchen, Get the Glow
Step 6
Create pleasurable everyday rituals. A Woman Who Lives Elegantly knows what she loves and what gives her pleasure, and creates small rituals for herself. Cooking to Jazz music is a favourite ritual of mine, as is applying luxurious creams like Elemis Frangipani Body Cream to my body after a shower.
Do you have a nightly bath? A twice weekly mask? A monthly manicure? A gorgeous morning and evening daily ritual where you connect with your soul?
A Woman Who Lives Elegantly don’t just exist, she commits to cultivating herself and her life.
If you are too busy to enjoy a bath, a mask, a cup of tea or making love, you haven’t created a life, you are just existing. Creating daily rituals helps you cultivate a luxurious, rich life now, today, and everyday, and Women Who Live Elegantly know this.
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2 Comments
Love it.
I agree with your points and have had a similar journey as you.
Keep up the good work.
I’d love to hear about your journey some day!