It feels so good to be home!

As you know, I love to travel. I love meeting, seeing, and experiencing different people and cultures... observing what inspires them and what drives them in the day to day living of life. If I go more than a month or two without some sort of excursion (whether that's a short trip to LA to meet with colleagues, or a longer one to Europe for pleasure), I go stir crazy. Travel has become my catnip, and there will always be a significant presence of it within the curated version of my Love Styled Life.

Lately, however, I've noticed something different... a craving to be still. A craving to experience a more simple way of being. A craving to indulge in my daily mediation, in my own mediation chair... to spend my morning at the local coffee shop (as opposed to the airport Starbucks), and walk along the rocky winter beach of Santa Barbara (as opposed to the unfamiliar sidewalk of a new city). All of this to say, I'm craving the comforts of home. My home. This bespoke version of home I've curated here in Santa Barbara.

Yesterday many of us celebrated Easter, and for the first time in 36 years my family (due to travel and other conflicts) decided not to get together and celebrate. So for the first time in my life, I was faced with being on my own for a holiday that is completely centered around family.

If I'm being honest, Easter has never been my favorite holiday... but the irony is, the minute I knew our family celebration was cancelled, I missed it. And missed it deeply. It made me miss my Mom, her Easter baskets and silly Easter shenanigans. It made me yearn for a time that no longer exists... taking me out of the present, and into a state of regret. A regret for the moments I didn't appreciate when I had them.

And while I allowed myself to sit in sadness for just a bit, I eventually snapped my fingers and snapped out of it. Living A Love Styled Life is a practice for well-being that calls us to choose our feelings and choose our perspective. So in that moment, I recognized my responsibility to choose and connect with what I truly desired to feel - the desire to feel a sense of connection to family for Easter. As a result, I did what I teach my clients to do: asked myself how I desired to be, knowing that I desired to feel a sense of connection to family. The answer came immediately, and was simple: make the short drive up the coast to Los Olivos, and spend Easter Sunday at my grandparents old church in their old home town, with their beloved old community. I recruited a dear friend to join me, and the day turned out to be pretty fantastic!

The lesson in all this?

Everything is a choice. Every moment a choice. And as long as we stay focused on the choices presented us in each moment, life will be whatever we dream and desire it to be... feel however we dream and desire it to feel.

In the service yesterday, Pastor Randall Day mentioned this when delivering his Easter Gospel: Don't look for the living among the dead. And I smiled inside. Because this is what Living A Love Styled Life is all about. Don't look for the living among the dead. Instead, look forward to life... to the life you desire to live... to impact you desire to make... and to the way you desire to feel. My challenge to each and everyone of you this week is to lead your life forward.... to the future, as opposed to backward in the past. Remember, life is meant to be lived and lived well. Simply stay focused on how you desire to feel and be, and everything else will take care of itself.

If there's one thing I've learned over the last year, it's that transforming your life requires staying the course, which inevitably will require busting through unforeseen road blocks or stumbles along the way.

The good news is that consistency and the drive to keep going, keep choosing how you desire to feel and be, and to keep putting your dreams and desires first starts and stops with YOU.

So how can you set yourself up for success in 2016 (and beyond) on the journey to a more joy-filled, authentic lifestyle?

Here are five specific ways you can set yourself up for success in living your bespoke version of A Love Styled Life.

1. Do Something NOW

The moment you set a goal, intention, dream or desire in writing, do something right then and there toward it. Make a phone call, hire that coach, go for that walk, look into the cost of that airline ticket, etc. Taking action NOW not only shows the Universe that you're serious about your desires, but it also help put your heart and soul in direct alignment with that feeling or experience you're craving.

2. Put Self Care First

Seriously, FIRST. Above your kids, above your husband, above your family or work. You cannot live A Love Styled Life if you perpetually leave yourself to last. I say this often, but just like on an airplane when they ask parents to place their mask on first before placing a mask on their children, so, too, must you continue to put your mask on first in every area of your life. YOU CANNOT GIVE WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE FIRST. By putting self care first, you can be a better wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother, employee, or business owner. The fun part is that you get to decide what this means for you!

3. Stay in a Routine of Gratitude

gratitude is in the realm of the spiritual. When you live from a place of gratitude, you keep yourself connected to God/Universe/Source, which keeps you connected to receive everything you dream and desire. Plus, everything is happening for you... whether as an opportunity to learn or grow, or whether as a gift and match for your desires. Finding the gratitude in every aspect of life will keep you moving forward and living within the realm of how you desire to feel and be at all turns.

4. Surround Yourself w/ the Support YOU Need

I cannot stress this one enough. As Jim Rohn reminds us, your life is the average of the five people you spend the most time with. But here at A Love Styled Life, we take it a step further. Your life is a reflection of not only the people, but also the places and information you surround yourself with the most. So if you're looking to completely transform your world, you have to transform who and what you surround yourself with. Hire a coach, make new friends, choose a new work environment, declutter your Facebook feed, etc. Personally, the biggest leaps in my life came from hiring a coach and from my decision to stop watching the local nightly news. Getting rid of the drama and investing in someone who was completely dedicated to my success were two of the best decisions I have ever made in my life to-date.

5. Spend Time in Silence

Getting clear on how you desire to feel and be in your life comes from first getting in touch with yourself. And getting in touch with yourself comes easiest in silence. There is so much noise in our world... from social media to the well-meaning opinions of our loved ones... that it's difficult to actually make decisions from our authentic dreams and desires. Two years ago I started going for daily walks in silence, without a cell phone. No music, no companions, just me and my silence. Today this has become my favorite form of self care, and one of the biggest ways I create in my life and my business. Dedicate time to a consistent practice of silence, and I promise you'll be on the way to living your bespoke version of A Love Styled Life!

Now it's your turn...

So in the spirit of experience wholeness, this week's #StyleTruthChallenge asks you to:

Choose one of the ways above for setting yourself up for success, and actually implement it in your life!

Be sure to head on over to Instagram to participate, using the hashtags #StyleTruthSundayChallenge and #ALoveStyledLife ! Also...have a topic you'd like covered in #StyleTruthChallenge? Email me or leave a comment below (I'd love to hear from you).

Cheers to an amazing year ahead, and to experiencing the level of success you dream and desire in living your own bespoke version of A Love Styled Life!

ps... Looking for to feel better and experience more joy in your life? Craving the clarity, confidence, and direction to make your dreams a reality? I'd love to talk with you! Click here on the image below to schedule your complimentary discovery session today.

Lead Your Life Forward