Unlocking Personal Power: Why Stillness and Self-Awareness are Key to Success

As women, Meredith and I have come to realize the importance of understanding our menstrual cycles and how it affects our energy levels and productivity. It's easy to feel disconnected from our bodies, especially when using birth control. However, after coming off birth control two years ago, Meredith noticed how different her emotions were during her luteal phase and right before her period. Instead of trying to output a lot during that time, she now uses it to rest and recharge, knowing that on the other side, she’ll have more energy for bigger expressions. It's essential for women to understand the connection between their bodies and their menstrual cycle. If we can take a step back from things about a week before our period, we may notice that our symptoms or whatever is happening during our period may actually get better. It's about listening to our intuition and understanding when it's time to take a step back. Our menstrual cycle is like an operation manual for our bodies, and if we understand how we operate, we can propel ourselves forward in the future.

Finding Clarity and Personal Empowerment Through Reflection and Disconnecting from Technology

Meredith and I shared how we found clarity and personal empowerment through reflection and disconnecting from technology. I had the opportunity to go on a reflective trip to Switzerland, where I took time to focus on myself and my business. Being alone and cutting out technology allowed me to connect with myself and gain profound clarity on what I want in life and business. It takes discipline and self-love to resist the temptation of distractions and be present with oneself. During my alone time, I listened to some of my favorite books, which had been pivotal points in my journey, and the message that kept coming up was to slow down and tap back into my intuition. Meredith shares she even booked a spiritual advising session with a monk at the monastery she was staying at to further explore this connection with herself. Disconnecting from technology and allowing oneself to be present in the moment can lead to profound personal growth and empowerment.

A Monk's Wisdom: The Importance of Stillness and Alone Time for Personal Growth and Digesting Life's Experience  

Meredith spoke with a monk who shared some insightful wisdom about the importance of stillness and alone time for personal growth and digesting life's experiences. He explained that life is like being in a candy store, trying all these different candies and having all these different experiences, but it's in the stillness that we allow for digestion. If we keep going from one high to the next, we'll eventually get so full that we won't even know we're full. This resonated with me as I realized that many people are in a constant state of movement and stress, which can lead to digestive issues and dysregulated nervous systems. To combat this, we need to learn how to slow down, reflect on our experiences, and focus on the next small step.

Unlocking Your Potential: The Power of Realignment in Every Area of Your Life

During our conversation, we touched on the importance of realigning every area of your life to unlock your potential. One thing that stood out to Meredith was how she could live in total alignment can serve as a beacon for others to do the same. As a coach, she often asked herself how she could live as the coach her clients think she is and if there were areas where she could improve. This type of self-reflection allows her to optimize her potential and create a magnetic energy that attracts others to do the same. During her realignment process, she also asked me how she could live in even greater alignment and identified my weakest link to supercharge it. It's essential, to be honest with ourselves and recognize areas where we may not be giving our all, but others perceive us to be. Through self-reflection, we can use our inner critic and external judgment as fuel to propel us forward in our business and personal life.

Breaking Free from ‘Shoulds': Embracing Authenticity and Overcoming Fear of Judgment

Merediths work as a coach, she often encounters high achievers who are constantly on the hamster wheel of achieving the next thing. As someone who came from that background myself, I understand how it can feel like we're never satisfied and always searching for the next dopamine hit. But Meredith suggests she found that by slowing down and separating ourselves from our inner critic and external judgments, we can begin to ask ourselves important questions about what we truly want out of life. This means identifying the “shoulds” in our lives and asking ourselves what it would look like to live authentically and fully expressed. She encourages her clients to approach this process with compassion and understanding towards themselves and their fears, rather than trying to silence their inner critic with positive affirmations. By reparenting ourselves and acknowledging our inner child's needs for nurturing and acknowledgment, we can begin to take steps towards living a more fulfilling life.

How to Safely Process Heavy Emotions: Swimming with the Current Instead of Against It

In my experience, processing heavy emotions is always a practice. I find it helpful to remember that even after a peak experience, triggers or difficult emotions can still come up. But instead of resisting these emotions, it's important to give ourselves a safe space to express them. Meredith thought of the analogy of swimming with a rip current instead of against it. Just like swimming with the current, allowing ourselves to feel and experience our emotions can help us safely exit them with more clarity and ease. I think it's important to remember that the universe may test us before we expand into the next version of ourselves. But by not being a victim and continuing to move forward, we can grow and expand even further. It's crucial to sit with our emotions and give ourselves the time and space to process them, rather than pushing them down and ignoring them. In my opinion, this is a key aspect of personal growth and development.

Developing Self-Trust: Tiny Shifts Over Time Lead to Big Changes

We discuss the importance of developing self-trust through small but consistent shifts in behavior. By cultivating deep awareness and taking advantage of opportunities to make new choices, we can replace old reactions with new empowered behaviors that are more aligned with our highest self. It's about maintaining equanimity and existing at a higher frequency, not just when things are going well but also during challenging times. Through these tiny shifts over time, we can experience significant changes and growth in ourselves. It's crucial to recognize that these changes don't happen overnight, but rather through daily practices and small adjustments to our routines. By being self-aware and seeking out the little things we can do each day to support our growth, we can become the best version of ourselves.

How to Attract What You Want in Relationships: How the Universe Responds to Self-Empowerment

Meredith shares her experience with attracting her ideal partner by first creating a list of all the qualities she desired in a relationship and then assessing which of those qualities she was already embodying for herself. She realized that in order to attract the kind of partner she wanted, she needed to first empower herself by being the kind of person she wanted to call in. She made small changes, like leaving her phone outside my room at night, to demonstrate to herself that she could be present in the morning and create the space she desired in a relationship. This shift in mindset and behavior allowed her to attract her partner six months later. It's important to recognize that we have the power to create the kind of relationships we want by first empowering ourselves and embodying the qualities we desire. By doing so, we work with the universe to attract what we desire.

Identifying and Overcoming Blocks: How a Lifestyle Audit Can Help You Uncover Patterns and Blind Spots

Meredith discusses identifying and overcoming blocks using a lifestyle audit to uncover patterns and blind spots. As part of her purpose framework, she encourages people to unblock, visualize, create, and integrate to achieve their goals. To identify blocks, we start with a lifestyle audit to see what is cluttering our lives, what shoulds we have, and what actually lights us up. We then look for patterns and blind spots that we may not be seeing, such as recurring negative relationships or self-limiting beliefs. A helpful exercise is to reach out to three close people in our lives and ask them for feedback on any blind spots or obstacles they see in our lives. This may take us out of our comfort zone, but it can also provide valuable insights that can help us grow. Her group coaching program, the upgrade, offers tools and support to help people identify and overcome their blocks.

Guest Spotlight: Meredith Baker

A Harvard and Oxford graduate, 25 time marathoner, and 500 hr trained yoga, meditation and breathwork facilitator, Meredith is a leadership coach and facilitator who has led thousands of people through transformative experiences.

Leveraging her time as an international journalist, a beverage founder, and a mindfulness practitioner, Meredith has a developed a unique and approachable methodology to help leaders maximize their professional impact and personal fulfillment- both through executive coaching and team facilitations.

Connect with Meredith:

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