Today marks the first day of the fourth quarter of 2022, and we are officially embarking on the final quarter of the year!
The core Ellivate principle we’re focusing on this quarter is Prosperity:
Prosperity
Prosperity flows from the inside out when the previous three principles (Self, Connection and Harmonious Systems) align. Gain clarity on your financial goals and identify where you can invest your resources more wisely to create more value and abundance for all.
According to Merriam-Webster, prosperity is “the condition of being successful or thriving.”
What I love most about this definition is that it has a unique meaning for each and every one of us. One of the things that makes me feel most prosperous is making space to tend to my business and myself. It’s gathering with people I love in nature.
I am grateful to have done exactly that last month when Ellivate sister, Emily Soccorsy, and I spent a long weekend together in Sedona. We worked on our businesses and lives. We hiked and soaked in the awesomeness of the towering Red Rocks around us. We received healing treatments. We relaxed. We shared so many laughs along the way.
Sedona has always been a magical place for me since my first visit. For years, Sedona beckoned to me as I listened with intense curiosity to my (future) Ellivate sister, Kristi Vitali, talk about her visits there. I finally decided to visit Sedona in October 2018 for my first solo retreat. It changed my business and my life.
Ever since that first visit, I plan it into my calendar and budget to visit Sedona at least once a year, sometimes even two, three or four times a year. We started hosting our annual Ellivate Advisory Board strategy sessions there in 2019. Sedona has become an important part of Ellivate and me.
Each time I visit Sedona, something magical happens. Things shift within and around me. I receive what I need (even if it’s not what I want!). I heal. I see things differently – not just while I’m there, but when I come back home. I gain the strength, energy and clarity I need to tackle the toughest challenges in my business and life. (You can read a little about a few of my past adventures here.)
Breaking free of our usual settings and routines to spend time in nature with special people is incredibly expansive. We can access those elusive parts of ourselves that get repressed by the pressures and stress of living in this world. We can tap into a higher part of our being and the collective consciousness.
It has been nearly 3 years since we experienced the magic of gathering in person at Ellivate. Now, it is time to gather again, in a new way. I want to share the magic of Sedona with my Ellivate sisters!
I couldn’t be more excited to announce that we are hosting our first ever Ellivate Expand retreat in Sedona, Arizona in May 2023 exclusively for Ellivate members!! This will be a magical opportunity to give yourself the space you need to restore and expand yourself and your business, alongside other brave women entrepreneurs. If you want to join us in Sedona, you can learn more about what it means to join Ellivate Alliance during our next Curiosity Session on November 10.
With deep love and gratitude,
Beginning July 2022, Ellivate is partnering with Fatima Mann and Brandis Rawls of Love and Healing Work to provide our members with a 6-month series, How to Leverage White Privilege in Business. Each month, we’ll share some insights from the important work that Fatima guides us through.
Be aware of this:
The artificial construct of race has traumatized all of us, regardless of our designated “race.” Trauma gets stored in the body and is re-activated through our central nervous systems.
Because of this, whenever the subject of race comes up, our nervous systems usually get activated. We go into fight, flight or freeze mode. We do not feel safe. We may get defensive, argue, or try to flee from the conversation. This response is often unconscious and lives in the body, which means we are not always aware of it. As a result, most discussions around race go nowhere.
Try this:
When engaging in conversations around race, it’s critical that you regulate your nervous system first. This will also help you avoid dysregulating other people’s nervous systems. To regulate your nervous system, try the following:
- First, do some breath-based grounding exercises as a group (e.g., group mediation focused on breath and feeling into different parts of the body).
- Create space at the beginning of the discussion for real human check-ins, where each person can share authentically and vulnerably about how they are feeling in the moment.
- Approach conversations from your body, rather than your head space. Feel into your body, and notice what is happening as you are listening or speaking.
