So, I’ve been given a gentle nudge by a few minxettes to update y’all on my weight release journey that I started earlier this year…

Now I’m nothing if not honest, so here’s the deal.

Firstly, I got complacent.

I’d released 56lb – hurrah – and thought to myself, do you know what? I can take a break now, surely? The doctor was pleased with me, I was feeling lighter and brighter in myself and I deserved some time out, right? Wrong.

Y’see, while the releasing weight bit was actually do-able, the head and heart stuff? Well that’s a whole other plate o’ food…

I might of released some weight-age, but what I hadn’t done, was change up my story. Y’see, when your story remains the same, yet you try and change up your behaviour, life falls out o’ whack. Now, as a life coach and girl who helps others to transform and grow, I felt a bit o’ a failure. Why hadn’t I realised that to shed the poundage for good, I had to change my thinking, my programmed beliefs about food and my body? Thing is I had realised, it’s just that, well…that shit’s hard work.

Now, I’m not afraid o’ hard work, not at all, in fact I thrive on it, but when it involves having to do some digging into the deep, dark shadow-y stuff that I’ve spent a substantial part o’ my life trying to keep locked away, well, that’s crazy hard. So for a few months, I ignored it, but when, like me, your weapon o’ mass-self-destruction in life has been self-sabotage, you’ll know that, unless you put down your weapons and make self-love your weapon o’ choice indefinitely, you’ll start to hear the whisper o’ seductive self-sabotage-y-ness in your ear. Now, I know ALL about self-love, I’ve written books on it, yet, it still feels like something I dabble in. I LOVE the skin I’m in, yet I still seem to struggle with feeling worthy enough to be healthy and happy in the world, which is why it’s words o’ sabatoge-y-ness were sounding a li’l something like this:
“You don’t think you can actually be a size 14, do you?”
“You might as well eat a chocolate bar, because this healthier happier you isn’t really you, is it? It’s not like it’s going to last, is it?”
“You’re from a council estate, what makes you think you can be someone who’ll be able to eat organically and nutritionally, who do you think you are?
I slowly felt myself slipping back into my old attitude of despair, thinking I had absolutely no choice but to accept defeat, give up on myself. Then, something clicked. I was standing in front of the mirror and I made a decision.
“I am not accepting this. I am no longer playing at this level now, I’m healthy and happy, and I want more of it.”
So I did ‘the work’.

In fact, I’m still doing ‘the work’ and I’m thinking that I’ll always be doing ‘the work’.

Some of my belief systems around how worthy I am o’ success and happiness are so hard-wired and need a LOT of work, but that’s okay, because I’m a girl o’ SASS – Spiritual, Authentic, Sensual & Sensational – and girls o’ SASS know how to lock and load their awesomeness to make amazing things happen. Fact.

So, I’m now locking and loading. I gained 11 of those 56lb during the self-sabotage-y wobble (I’ll be writing more about what to do when your weapon o’ mass self-esteem destruction is self-sabotage next week) and I still have 3 stone-age to release to make the doctor types happy and to substantially ease the Endrometriosis, but I’m on it. I’m eating yummy, healthy nutritious food, I’m reading lots of books about emotional eating and transforming thoughts, learning all about how to eat to balance my hormones which’ll aid healing my Endrometriosis, and swimming, belly-dancing and burlesque-ing, I am a girl o’ SASS after all!

EXCITING NEWS: Sassy Minx is soon to get a swanky new look to coincide with the launch of my brand new book series, SASSYology, to make sure you don’t miss out on all the updates, news and most importantly, freebies, go ‘like’ Sassyology over at FB and ‘follow’ me, I’m Misssassyology, on twitter!

I am in book-reading bliss right now.

I never usually blog about a book ’til I’ve finished it, but this one is so good, I HAVE to tell you about it now. When I put it down, the characters call me back ‘…but wait Lisa, I’ve got more words of heart thumping beauty to share with you…’ I’ve got a gazillion deadlines, yet while I try to edit, create a brand bible and re-name a product, all I can do is think about the what’s happening within those pages, what are they doing without me? I keep giving myself ten minute breaks to go hang out with them and find out more, but I don’t want it to end either.

I discovered this book o’ wonder on Saturday on my first trip to Totnes. Have you ever been? It’s now my most favourite of places, I adored it. On arrival, the beau and I passed a man giving gong showers outside this most deliciously cute esoteric book store – if I had needed a reason to fall in love with the place ( I didn’t, I was instantly smitten) then this was most deffo it. This book was waiting for me on the shelf as soon as I walked in, and I felt an insta-heart tug. I’m not the only one that gets these over books, am I?

Just so you know I am a Rumi obsessive, and hold his poems personally responsible for my love of all things…well, love. This book, The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak shares the story of Rumi sewn together exquisitely with the contemporary storyline of Ella who has truly forgotten what it is to love and to be loved. The book, that’s been translated from Turkish, gives real insight into Rumi, his friendship with Shams, the mystical magic of Sufism and the most beautiful, beautiful rules o’ life and love. Sigh.

It’s clever, it’s beautifully written – lyrical almost – and it makes my heart sigh the biggest sigh of happiness. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to go finish reading it, erm…I mean work.

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak – buy your copy here – you won’t regret it, it’s like a beautifully woven tapestry of words and love and wonder. Sigh.

Yep, it’s that time again…bring on the strawberries. Those juicy, juicy life moments that make you super-grateful and full o’ gratitude-y love stuff!

my kindle
What can I say? I am a bad book-o-phile. I am now the proud owner o’ a kindle. And well…I’m a little bit in love. Actually, scrap that, I am in all kinds o’ big crazy love with it. It was an early birthday present from my parental – thanks mumma – and it’s literally changed my life. (And stopped one shoulder from hanging substantially lower than the other due to my obsess-o need to always have at least five different books in my bag at ALL times) It’s been a week and I am still totally blown away that right now, in my cute mini-satchel, I have over 350 books. Don’t worry, I still have huge love for real books, NOTHING will ever beat the feel or smell of a real book in my hands, but for a travel-girl like me, a kindle is most deffo a thing o’ beauty. FYI: I’m currently reading The Andy Warhol Diaries and JZ’s autobiography, decoded – both are acecakes.

My fam
I spent Friday night at a party for my Auntie Beryl. She’s been diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and while I don’t know exactly what it is, I know it’s not good, yet she rocked out like the super inspirational lady that she is, and as a fam we celebrated, made beautiful memories together and also raised lots o’ money to buy her the medical equipment she’s going to need pretty soon. In the past, I’ve totally taken my family for granted, right now, today though, I am so full o’ gratitude that they’re mine…

My pregnacious bestie
I am beside myself with excitement as my beautiful bestie, Miss Aimz is glowing with all things pregnacious and pretty soon we will have a mini Mister or Miss to hang with. No one knows how life is going to pan out, not even me and my Diva o’ Destiny super-powers, this time last year I was prepping to lose her to the sunny climes o’ Australia and this year, we’re prepping for the birth of her beautiful bambino. I am so crazy proud o’ her and means I get to have a gorgeous bouncy bubba in my world without having to go through the whole pregnacious 9 months business – win win!

Inspir-o people
I am loving the whole connection thing that’s going on for me right now, I meet a person through chance circumstance, who introduces me to another, who then goes on to inspire or motivate me in a certain way, it’s the most beautiful game o’ connect the dots and I love it! I also got to spend time with the beautiful Lyndsey Inspired, (with a name like that, she’s deffo someone you want to know, right?) And we walked and talked, and walked and talked some more in a beautiful locale in the middle of the New Forrest and then went on a green tea crawl, ending the day with a sparkling water, I know, get us, positively angelic! After spending the day with her, I felt awesome. As in ‘I can do anything’ awesome. It’s encouraged me to be that ‘make you feel awesome’ person to others, it’s like a be awesome game of pay it forward.

Birthday Roadtrips
The beau and I have birthdays two weeks apart so have decided to pretty much stretch our celebrations across the entire two weeks, because let’s face it, you can never have too many celebrations, right? This week we’ve had picnics on the beach and cinema trips – Three Muskeeters, LOVED it – next week we’re gathering up the beau’s fam and going to see my most favourite musical EVER, Wicked, celebrating Samhain with our beautiful besties in Glastonbury and then heading down the West Coast for a magickal mystery roadtrip – culminating with the beau and I eating salmon out the packet, with a glass o’ pink fizz, on a windy west coast beach on my birthday morning – what could be better than that, huh?!

Laqa & co. nail polish pen
Superfluous? yes. Does it make me happy? Abso-freakin’-lutely! After seeing the gorgeous Miss Aimz last week, she gave me my b-day present early and along with a bag o’ jelly beans – yummo – was this stick o’ loveliness. A nail polish pen. It’s great for those o’ you, who like me, have trubz painting your own nails, these pens let you neatly do your nails anywhere without being messy. It contains no formaldehyde, toluene, or DHP either and the packaging features unique artwork by young artists from around the world. I am a little bit in love with their philosophy and stylin’ too. Laqa & co is deffo a brand-new fave in my world o’ sass. Fact.

What are you grateful for this week? What are your strawberries?

Do you ever get a gut feeling about something? Do you act on it, or simply just ignore it? As members o’ girlkind we all have a huge-ass gift, it’s called intuition, and if we let it, it can help guide us in the path o’ awesomeness.

Enter Barbara Ford Hammond.

Her book, The Psychic Way is filled with the techniques that Barbara demonstrates and teaches during her retreats and workshops, that were developed as a fun way to meld the esoteric with the corporate. Barbara shows how to understand your mind using hypnotic meditative techniques that lead naturally to expansion of self-awareness and inner abilities are switched on in a fun easy manner. The Psychic Way is everything you need to know about being super-intuitive plus how to use the knowledge for pleasure or to ensure success in business – pretty cool, huh?

Come meet her, she rocks.

Describe Barbara Ford Hammond in a tweet…
Lover of life. Opinionated. Kind. Transient. Can manage to write or tweet to exact word count whether writing sensibly or talking nonsense.

You are author o’ brand new book The Psychic Way - can you tell us a bit about it and why you wrote it?
It led on from my psychic development salons. I thought it would be good to have everything we did, available in a book and then if people choose, they can work through the exercises alone or in groups.

I am keen to normalise psychic related happenings and keep it real. Pleased to report that people are saying nice things about the book: including teenagers. They are often the hardest audience!

So, what is intuition and how can we tap into it?
Intuition is ‘just knowing’. Entrepreneurs refer to it as gut instinct or having the knack; knowing a deal will be good without necessarily having back-up figures to hand. Most of us have experienced meeting someone who we immediately like or dislike. Also there are the times when we should have trusted our instincts but didn’t. Regret is often avoidable.

An easy way to tap into your own intuition is to slow down a little and become an observer of yourself. Notice feelings, thoughts and body sensations when you meet new people or have new experiences. Think about how you felt on entering different buildings or visited new places. You’ll soon be able to tune in and be in the flow.

As well as being an author-girl, you’re a publisher too – tell us all about your imprints: 6th Books and Psyche Books…
Both are imprints within John Hunt Publishing and I am the first port of call for authors who are seeking publication in the genres of each.

6th covers parapsychology and the paranormal and Psyche deals with psychology and the mind. If I receive a book idea or query that looks promising I invite the author to complete a more thorough proposal as the first stage towards possible publication.

I am always on the lookout for talented authors to join our happy band!

How did you discover your passion for all things psychic and paranormal?
I grew up thinking everyone saw auras and knew about chakras and the like. As a small child, I didn’t have the language to describe the ‘splodges’ but I learnt early on that it wasn’t polite to tell people what was happening or to query their fibs. When I was in my early teens I realised that either people didn’t know what others were thinking or going through or they were choosing to ignore everything that wasn’t clearly black and white. I then let myself tune out for most of the time. It all popped up again when I began studying psychology and hypnotherapy in the late eighties/early nineties. It came back in force when I opened my clinic 20 years ago.

I don’t talk with or pass messages on from the dearly departed. I am not a medium. This is something that gets muddled with many people thinking that all psychics talk to the dead.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
If you can’t be nice, be quiet.
I have another now courtesy of the RAF and it is, ‘Man up! Skin’s waterproof!’ This works on so many levels.

What would your superpower be and why?
Invisibility. I like mischief and lots of fun could be had but if I were being grown-up with it I could affect crime. In a good way!

What books are currently on your to-read list?
I always have lots on the go. Sometimes I crave knowledge and other times I want to laugh or escape into fantasy. The authors on my bed cupboard at the moment are: Bill Bryson, Dawn French, David Starkey, Philippa Gregory, Bettany Hughes and Katherine Webb. I get much pleasure reading through new book proposals and doing reader reports for the other imprints and can read from anything: computer, Kindle, ipad, phone as well as actual books and magazines.

Who and what rocks your world?
My family.

What’s your life motto?
Enjoy the ride.

Quick fire round: What’s your favourite EVER…
Book: The Gruffalo
Movie: Moulin Rouge
Song: At the moment is Delilah – Go
Place to hang: Warm beach
City: New York
Website: this one – my likes change by the day
TV show: Weeds and Green Wing

What does the term Sassy mean to you?
Strong, confident, classy.

What’s next in the world o’ Barbara?
I have contracts for 2 books for the Made Easy Series: Hypnosis and Past Life Regression. I am in the midst of planning workshops and retreats for next year and I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time in Greece.

Coming up in the New Year is a fabulous writing competition that Prediction Magazine and 6th Books are running.

To find out more about Barbara and her books head over to: www.thepsychicway.co.uk

Since taking a taster course back in the summer, I am having a full-on smooch-filled love affair with all things belly dance. Who wouldn’t? It’s the dance o’ the goddess, it’s beautiful, magical and mesmerizing, it’s also freakin’ hard. REALLY freakin’ hard. So when my belly dancing teacher announced that she ran a two hour fitness and dance class each Thursday, I was super-keen to sign up. The fact that is was being hosted at the local university didn’t phase me at all. Well, until I actually walked through the door to be greeted by over 70 late teens with super-toned bodies and not many clothes on.

Now, I know I’m a confidence – self-esteem coach and all, but I got a belly wobble. Not the kind that I could pass off as an actual dance move, but inside, deep down, where all that past conditioning lives and the story-telling ’bout all things life-y happens. It awoke the grump-a-tron, she of bad-mouthing and toxic thoughts, and within minutes, the internal convo went a little bit like this:
‘Seriously chica, what are you doing here?’
‘Look around you, these girls are super-fit and ready to work out for an hour, you on the other hand, will be sweating within minutes.’
‘Do you really think you can compete with these girls? Go home now, with your dignity in tact.’

A few years ago, the grump-a-tron would have seriously won out. I’d have grabbed my bag, turned right back around and walked out of there as quickly as I could.

‘Cept now, I answer the bitch back. Hah.

My convo went something like this:
‘Yep, those girls sure looked fit and fabulous, and I want to BE fit and fabulous, so it actually makes sense that I was in that room, right?’
‘And of course I don’t bloody look like them, they’re 18 years old, I’m 32 – 33 in 2 weeks time, all cards and presents gratefully received! – comparing is a no-win contest that we’ll NEVER win because there’s always someone thinner/taller/younger/richer, delete as applicable, than us, I’m me, I rock, I love belly dancing, now bring on the lesson!’

Yep, I stood at the back, but I was there and I was doing it. Yep, I did some serious sweating, but it felt freakin’ amazing and even when the super-fit, Lycra clad 18 year-old bronzed beauty stood next to me gave me a back-pat of pity and told me ‘not to worry, I’d pick it soon enough’ I smiled and took it as positive encouragement.

Oh, that last bit? That’s a lie, because for a split moment, I wanted to punch her on the nose. HARD.

What? It was only for a split second and then I smiled and took it as positive encouragement. Anyway, while I did leave the class a li’l broken, don’t EVER get it twisted that belly dancing is easy, it’s absolutely, positively not, I also felt a whole lot of awesome, and that, quite frankly, is the most important thing of all.

As some of you know, each full moon I make a dream board, set my intentions for the next 28 days and call on the magickal full moon ju-ju to help me to make them a big, beautifulreality.

Some months I share, some months I keep them right here, *I’m pointing to my heart right now* but this full moon seemed super-powerful, (I mean have you looked at it the last couple o’ nights? Bee-you-tiful.) so it felt right and proper that I share my intentions and invite you to do the same…

Tonight, light a candle, make yourself a yummy warm drink, put on your favourite soundtrack – right now I am totally in love stuff with Caro Emerald – arm yourself with a bundle o’ magazines (I love keeping it old skool and ripping out pictures and using paper and glue) or do like I did last night and use the Oprah dream board facility and then find words, phrases and pictures to set your big, beautiful, life-enhancing intentions. Keep it all in the present tense, keep it all positive and be sure to whisper sweet nothings to yourself as you do it – you’re awesome, remember?!

Then, when you’re finished, print it out and place it somewhere you’ll see it every single day, then g-friend, you gotta do the work. Make it happen, I dare you!

“…to realise your true nature, you must wait for the right moment and the right conditions.
When the time comes, you are awakened as if from a dream.
You understand that what you have found is your own and doesn’t come from anywhere outside…”

- Buddist Sutra

Yesterday I woke up.

Y’see, I’ve been napping. It’s as if I curled up on my day bed, with my favourite pillow and duvet, and whilst aware of what was going on around me, and what I needed to do in order to ignite my spark, do crazy-beautiful work o’ wonder, I stayed firmly curled up in my ball o’ comfort and safety.

Now, there’s a lot to be said for feeling safe and secure. My most favourite place in the entire world is when I’m wrapped in the big strong arms of my viking beau, but sadly, as much as I’d like to, there are all sorts o’ inconvenient practicalities to staying there indefinitely. Boo. The same goes for this life lark, you’ll be able to find a gazillion reasons to play it safe, to maintain the status quo, to except that, well, this is basically as good as it’s going to get. The thing is, If you look a li’l harder, a li’l deeper, you’ll also find a gazillion reasons why playing it safe just isn’t an option either. Especially if, like me, you plan on creating revolutions. Body revolutions, life revolutions, world revolutions.

‘Cept creating revolutions takes a whole lot’ o’ y’know, chutzpah and you don’t get that kind o’ magickal juju while taking a nap.

Fact.

Nope, the really, really good shit happens when you’re fully awake, when you turn your radio dial to the ‘I’m so freakin’ ready to receive’ station, and your SASS switch has been flicked to ‘go girl, you can do ANYTHING!’

I’ve been aware of what I needed to do, y’know, the actual work – the self-questioning, the story re-writing, the letting go – because unless I fully connect with myself, how am I able to connect with others, the world, the universe?

But yesterday I woke up.

I spent the day with my beautiful friend and transformation guru, Brett Moran and his gorgeous housemate Quantum Alice, who between them, gave me a gentle nudge, wiped the sleep from my eyes and proved that I’m SO freakin’ ready.

As of today, the Lisa revolution starts here. I’m doing ‘the work’, and I’m going to keep doing the work indefinitely because that’s what happens when you’re fully awake, you do ‘the work’, because when you do, you create an over-flowing abundance amount o’ awesomeness for yourself and most importantly, for the world around you, then I’m going to start a million, gazillion revolutions. Some big, some small, but whatever their size and importance, they’re all going to be freakin’ epic. Just so you know.

If you want to be part o’ generation waking up, then watch this mini-movie, a-freakin’-mazing

” A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”
- Gandhi

A while back, I went through one o’ those dark stages where I said ‘no’ to everything; going out, seeing people, basically I was saying no to life. And well that? That pretty much sucked. So then, after reading Danny Wallace’s book Yes Man, I decided to say yes, but then that? Well that can get you in ALL kinds o’ trouble.

When I was a kid, there was this campaign called ‘Just Say No’ on a teev programme called Grange Hill. It was all about saying ‘no’ to drugs and there was some really bad chazza song too performed by the cast. Still, that’s not altogether important right now. What is important, is this whole saying ‘no’ business. Not necessarily to drugs, although personally, I reckon that’s pretty wise, but hey, that’s your call, what I mean is not saying ‘yes’ when what you really mean is ‘no’. That kinda ‘no’. The kinda ‘no’ you say and then stick to.

That’s the important bit, y’see. Sticking to it. It’s much harder than you think, but like that wise dude in the sandals, Gandhi, said above, if it comes from a place o’ total conviction, it’s way more powerful than any ‘yes’ we think we have to say to please people or because we think it’s what people want to hear.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, in the past I’ve had a tendency to say ‘yes’ to everything and then burn out trying to please everyone except myself in the process, so today, I’ve drawn up a list. Yep, course I have, I have some serious Virgo tendencies under this Scorpio exterior, and as of today, I am saying a big, fat ‘no’ to:

Procrastination on my book writing: I’ve written 10 books o’ my own, 10 books as a writer-for-hire yet I still procrastinate when it comes to writing books – working on my own writing sends me into heart-thumping, sweat inducing guilt palpitations – no more. I say a big fat no to book-writing procrastination.

Compromising who I am to fit the ideals of others: even now, and even knowing everything I know, I still have moments where I worry what other people think of me. Not lots, but some. Next time I get one o’ those moments, I’m just going to say no. No to compromising my YOU-niqueness – in work, in stylin’, in life.

Working for free: In the past I’ve done lots of work for free, sometimes to get experience in a certain area, other times as a favour for a friend, but I’m drawing a line under that now. I’m not saying that payment has to come in monetary form (although that’s always rather splendid) but there absolutely, positively HAS to be an energy exchange. I totes say no to working for free. Wowzers – that actually feels kinda big and scary to say. Parp.

Treating my body like crap: Since May, I’ve been on a journey o’ health. I’ve released over 4 stone on my journey s’far, read endless books, blogs, listened to podcasts and I’ve really been educating myself about how to be nice to my sweet sweet self no matter what the number on the scales say, but no matter what I know, it still doesn’t stop me from chowing down on food that just doesn’t roll with me. Everyone says, ‘a little bit of what you like does you good’ but I don’t do moderation, and still find myself capable of consuming obscene amounts of chocolate in one sitting. So I’m simply going to say no to any action that treats my body like crap. There, I’ve said it. You listening universe? you’d better be, because I’m TOTES going to need your help with this one!

Fear & self-doubt: I am shouting the biggest, baddest N to the O of all at these two shady mofos.

What do you need to say no to? Care to share?

Woohhooo it’s Sunday, which means only one thing…Strawberries! Finding those juicy, juicy moments in the past 7 days that make me grateful, super happy and filled-to-the-brim with sunshine and smiles!

Strictly fabulous – Having now been to one or two dance lessons, I consider myself somewhat of an expert, so now that Strictly Come Dancing is back on our screens, I am shouting at the screen asking for cleaner lines and better posture. I freakin’ love this show so much. My plan for dance floor domination has started, first I have to get z-list famous, apparently being an author-girl doesn’t quite cut it, then I have to persuade the beau to let me spend 3 months training with James Jordon so he can whip me around the dance floor in a Rodgers and Astaire kinda style in a ridiculously pretty and sparkly dress. Sigh.

Online goodness – I discovered the joy of Facebook skype and delivered my first tarot reading via live internet land. As it was for my bestie, I took the opportunity to dress up in all my gypsy girl finery too – LOVE a reason to dress up – you’ve got to love technology, haven’t you?! If you would like an hour long gypsy reading – a 15 card spread that gives you insight and perspective into a current question you have or situ that you’re experiencing (I’ll even wear my ensemble for you too!) via skype then mail me at: lisa.sassyminx@gmail.com and we’ll make a date with destiny!

Awesome teachers – you can NEVER underestimate the importance of a good teacher, and I’m so lucky that in my life I’ve always attracted the most awesome teachers at the right time. At school, I had 2 life-changing teachers who changed up my entire way of thinking about myself, I’ve now got amazing spiritual teachers, mentors in all things work and success and now, here in my new ‘hood, I’ve discovered my love for all things dance because o’ two awesome teachers:

Akasha - queen o’ all things ATS belly dance – fierce and fabulous and SO freakin’ talented and…

Midnight Iris - also a belly dance princess, Iris is all about the art o’ tease and has done more to make me feel like princess o’ my body domain in 4 weeks than any book I’ve read or course I’ve ever attended. FACT. She is totes amazeballz.

If there’s anything you want to do, or explore in the world, put a call in to the Universe and ask to be sent the right teachers for the job. Akasha was sent to me through a FB group announcing a taster class, and then through Akasha, I met one of her students, Midnight Iris who was a burlesque dancer and teacher – love, love, love synchronicity.

Work – most of us are brought up to believe that work is something we do from 9 to 5, monday to friday, and doesn’t necessarily have to be something we enjoy doing. Well, screw that. This week saw the untimely death of the awesome visionary Steve Jobs. The dude was awe-inspiring. In fact, it was one of the many jaw-droppingly inspir-o speeches he gave that kicked my ass and made me leave the only 9-5 job I’ve ever had. My colleague, Mark Wright (NOT the dude off TOWIE, this Mark is actually intelligent, witty and lovely) sent me a link to his speech, I read it, copied it word-for-word into my journal, read it again, then handed in my notice the next day.

Now, being freelance is not a walk in the park, and there have definitely been fear-filled, heart pumping ‘fuck, how am I going to pay the bills this month?’ moments, but NOTHING beats dancing to the beat of your own drum. I have a portfolio career which means I wear several different work-girl persona’s; author, writer, agony aunt, workshop facilitator, consultant, tarot reader, life coach which means 1 day I can be delivering a workshop to teen girls, the next I can be writing a magazine feature about goddesses, while the next I can be coaching a client or consulting with suited types in the Londonium or New York – my work is so varied, yet everything I do has to fit within the following basic criteria: I have fun doing it and most importantly, it helps others. Simple. Steve Jobs, I salute you.

Pugs – I REALLY want one. Not sure that I’ve mentioned it before.

Mae West – I have been watching Mae West movies obsessively this week. If you’re ever in need of an injection o’ sass, SHE is yo’ woman. Oh, and me too, obv. I’ve learned from the best, come up and see me sometime!

I’m excited. Y’see, I’m noticing a shift and g-friends, I like it.

While the hippy image of spirituality may remain in some circles, a plethora of up-and-coming women are giving ancient spiritual practices and beliefs a truly modern twist. Just look at my gorgeous gal-pals Alice Grist, Goddess Leonie and Stephanie Brookes, or the awesomeness that is Kay Gillard, or my brand-new girl-crush: Dianne Sylvan – spiritual girls with Sass.

Until recently, for most, the term spirituality conjured up images of floaty, tie-dye clothing, a diet of nuts and beans and people sitting crossed legged chanting om, but now, spirituality has gone a li’l more mainstream. Why? Because women especially, are finding that the things that usually make us feel better, like shopping, new shoes, a fab lipstick, or amazing sex aren’t quite hitting the spot and we’re now looking for the kind of spirit that’s not in the bottom of a cocktail glass.

That’s not to say that we don’t still want those things, far from it, we’ve just realised that there’s a little more to life than just that.

Does this sound like you? If so, you’re not alone.

Thousands of people are now reaching out for something else, something that will compliment and transform their lifestyle. We’ve been so caught up with the mundane of our day-to-day lives, that we’ve had precious little time to feed our souls and now our inner selves are in desperate need of spiritual nourishment.

Although as a tarot reader, healer and life coach AND a lover of all things gorgeous and sparkly, I struggled with this concept for a while. I study tarot, psychometry, divination, EFT, reiki and astrology, but while I love studying the stars, I also want to read about the celebrity star form in magazines, I never miss an episode o’ Strictly Come Dancing or X Factor and I really, really want to wear my gorgeous Vivienne Westwood heels as often as possible, even if it’s just to the local newsagent.

Does that make me any less spiritual? No.

Does that make me any less skilled at coaching clients or reading tarot? Hell to the no.

Can a trip to the Vivienne Westwood store be a spiritual event all of its own? Abso-freakin’-lutely.

I’ve encountered a li’l bit of, shall we say, ‘negativity’ about how I roll, but guess what? What other people think is none o’ my business. I’m a powerful, spiritual business woman who rocks a pair o’ heels, loves pretty shiny things and watches obscene amounts o ‘ reality TV, and I make no apologies for that. In fact, while we’re at it, I’ll let you into a li’l secret, I also watch Emmerdale. Whatcha gonna do?!

Do you want to embrace your SASSY? The Spiritual, Authentic, Sensual & Sensational You? Well you can with The SASSY Sessions. It’s all-encompassing coaching for women who want to flick their spiritual switch and become mistress of their own destiny. I read the cards to get an insight into any questions you’re currently having about your life – whether it’s body image, career, love, relationships, fears, hopes, family – and then combine coaching and a touch o’ magickal sass to help you create your very own blueprint for SASSY success. And, in case you were wondering, whether my sessions are carried out online, on the phone or in person, I always wear my heels, just because I can!

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