Author: Christina Brady-Smith

Hi dear one,

Remember High School? What was that time like for you? Was it filled with anxiety? Excitement? Romance? Pressure? Did you get to celebrate your gifts as a growing woman? Did you feel safe to examine what it means to be a woman in the world?

For me, High School was both the best of times and the worst of times… On day one I signed a sacred contract with my soul to be popular and liked. That desire trumped my need to love myself first.

This past weekend I had the honor to return to my High School and speak at their first ever Women’s Symposium around what it means to be a woman leader in the 21st Century. (This is nothing short of a miracle considering my “goals” in High School.)

Hi lovely,

Do you dread getting sick? Do you want to lose weight so you can be happy? Do you criticize your body?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, chances are your health is suffering in some capacity. The truth is, you can’t be a feminine leader without an empowered relationship to your health! Because your wellness is so important, this post contains the three most important distinctions for you to take on so you can be powerful, happy, and healthy all at once.

Rule #3 of an empowered feminine leader: 
She’s a leader in her health and wellness. She shows up for her health out of love vs. fear. 

• Her life is synonymous with the conversations she has. In other words, she’s not a total downer. She stays inside the realm of possibility and doesn’t flood conversations with negative energy.
• She takes total responsibility for her own behavior. She doesn’t waste energy trying to change the behavior of others. Instead, she accepts her friends, relatives, and co-workers exactly as they are.
• She sets up boundaries and says NO just as often as she says YES. She has an internal guidance system that she trusts and honors. When she says No with power, that opens up an even more powerful YES in another circumstance.
• She surrounds herself with people who lift her up. She doesn’t hang around people who bring her down PERIOD.
• She’s a generous listener. She asks curious questions and leaves her judgements at the door.
• She practices forgiveness and trusts that every moment represents a “holy instant” to transform her resentments into love.

This Empowered Woman’s Newsletter is about leadership. Real, authentic, feminine leadership.

Whenever I receive questions about what I do for a living, this is my response:

I work with women who want to be leaders but struggle with fear and self-doubt.
I help them find their confidence and purpose through “Reinvention” coaching in
self-love, mindfulness, and lifestyle design
so they can feel happy, alive and empowered.

When I share this description, more often than not I receive push-back around the word, leader.
“Do you only work with leaders?”
“What if I don’t want to be a leader?”
“What if I’m not a leader and never will be?”

These responses tell me we need a new definition of leadership, especially, empowered feminine leadership.
The dictionary defines a leader as “a person who leads a group, organization, or country.” To (lovingly) combat this outdated definition, for the next four weeks I will be sharing different qualities of leadership that empowered women embody. By the end of this series, I hope you receive a new and improved definition of feminine leadership that matches the consciousness and wisdom of the 21st Century.

Rule #1 of an empowered, feminine leader:

She chooses to show up as a leader inside every pillar of her life.

• She doesn’t have to be a CEO or President to be a leader, she can step into leadership every moment, every instant, every single day.
• “Choice” is her best friend. Her daily choices align with her empowered values. She chooses forgiveness over resentment. She chooses happiness and acceptance over suffering. She chooses to show up with love over fear.

I invite you to reflect upon the following questions and notice if your answers align with your true Self. (You know.. the Self that is all knowing, powerful, and free…)How do you choose to wake up in the morning?

How do you choose to go to sleep at night?
Who do you choose to be in your relationships?
What attitude do you choose at work?
What do you choose to believe about yourself?
How do you choose to show up for your health and body?
How do you choose to grow spiritually, emotionally and mentally?

Your everyday choices either diminish or ignite your empowered leadership.

Leadership is a choice.

You are meant for greatness, dear one. Choose your power now and your leadership will have a ripple effect in your relationships, workplace, and the world.

With love,
Chrissy

P.S. What makes you an empowered feminine leader? Let me know in the comments below.

Over the weekend I led my favorite retreat, Celebration of Woman. The title says it all; we celebrated the full range of what it means to be a woman in three and a half days. I’m still riding the high of 19 women coming home to their most empowered, feminine selves. 

• I witnessed moms claim back their joy after years of exhaustion and heartache. 
• I witnessed wise women in their 60s and 70s unleash their beauty and sensuality after decades of lost hope for vitality. 
• I witnessed young women in their 20s remember their perfection and fully own their confidence after years of self-deprecation, unworthiness, and fear.  

These women walked into the retreat with deep desires to feel happy, loved, and complete. At the end, every single woman was glowing from head to toe, radiating beauty from the inside out. I was so moved by their transformation, that I invited my biological mother to participate in our workshop in October. She said “Yes!” This is a dream come true for me. Stay tuned for that blogpost ;).

These women taught me a powerful lesson about what it means to be attractive.

An empowered woman is beautiful because she loves herself- all of herself. 

• She loves her body and takes exquisite care of it. She loves her hips, her stomach, her arms, her jiggles, her wrinkles, her moles, and every single “imperfection.” When she loves her body, her body loves her back. Loving her body EXACTLY as it is gives permission for her lovers or partners to love it the same way.
• When she loves herself, she isn’t afraid to express herself! When a woman is totally authentic and willing to speak her truth, walk her truth, dance her truth, and celebrate her truth- she becomes more attractive by the minute. 
• Loving herself means loving her darkness too. She doesn’t run from her pain, she welcomes it with compassionate honesty. The more compassion she gives herself the more she attracts compassion from others. 
• She plays!! Being playful is an act of self-love. She plays with life from a space of innocence and wonder with zero attachment to the outcome.

What makes you, you? How are you beautiful? I have loved hearing from all of the empowered women in this Fearless Purpose community, so please comment below to let me know what makes you stand out in the world. I want to feature your gorgeous voice and wisdom in an upcoming newsletter honoring the empowered women in this group.

To you and your true beauty,
Chrissy

P.S. Do you want to remember WHO YOU ARE, rather than who others want you to be be? Are you ready to love your body exactly as it is? Do you desire to express yourself fully with grace and confidence? Do you want to own your authentic beauty and attract the partner of your dreams? If you answered yes to any of these questions, fill out this Discovery Form and share what’s stopping you from feeling fully self-expressed and beautiful. We will then set up a FREE 45 min call to design your personal reinvention process. On this complimentary Reinvention call we will map out the changes that must happen to free yourself from fear and self-doubt so you can step into leadership, empowerment, and radical self-love FOR LIFE. 

 

Have you ever witnessed a woman stand out in a room with grace and magnetism?  Could you feel her? Her power, her wisdom, her confidence, her love, and her humble presence? Did you want to know her?

This week’s copy of the Empowered Woman’s Newsletter contains one of the most important behaviors that all empowered woman embody.

An empowered woman commits to her inner work.

• She takes full responsibility for how she shows up in the world. She doesn’t react- she responds.
• She shines light on her darkness, faces her demons, and owns her shadows with love. Her shadows can’t own her when she owns her shadows.
• She transforms her self-defeating patterns and limited beliefs into new belief systems based on the TRUTH. When she gets hurt she doesn’t make up stories about why this happened to her (like a victim…),  she simply steps outside herself, finds the truth, and steps back into her power.
• She has compassion for her little girl. When she’s triggered, sad, or mad at someone, she has the awareness that she is not responding to the specific situation at hand, but honors how this situation may be triggering a time in her life long ago that was scary and painful. This awareness brings her out of her ego and back into love.
• When she misses the mark, she forgives herself. She is her own best friend.  If a loved one or co-worker misses the mark, she forgives them too. She’d rather be happy than right.

How do you commit to your inner work? Comment below! I’d love to feature you in an upcoming newsletter celebrating the empowered women in this community.

We have 20 women committing to their own inner work this weekend at my retreat, Celebration of Woman. It’s a 3.5 day process of letting go of everything that no longer serves you, all the while receiving unconditional love from the feminine.  It’s a weekend celebration of the FULL range of women, and it’s my absolute favorite retreat to lead.

Our next workshop is in June, and I’m more than happy to have a complimentary call with you to see if this retreat is right for you. Email my team at chrissy@new.chrissybradysmith.com to set up a time to chat.

All my love,
Chrissy

If you’re reading this post, chances are you already live with empowerment. You’re courageous, passionate, powerful and loving.

Empowered women embody specific traits that make them stand out in the world. Their power is magnetic and their desires are fierce.

An empowered woman’s strongest muscle is love; she takes full responsibility for her life. She is not a victim, but a warrior seeking love and acceptance in every circumstance.

Every Monday you will receive a different trait of an empowered woman from me. Today is your first one, and after Valentine’s Day I figured this topic would be appropriate.

If you were single or in a relationship this past weekend, this consumer holiday might have stirred something up for you. Thriving on Valentine’s Day involves a quality of Celebration.

If you’re single and celebrated yourself and the loving couples in your life, you attracted love and happiness into your life. If you were bitter, sad and isolated, you attracted those energies into your experience. The couples who thrived on Valentine’s Day celebrated their relationships, the couples who fought focused their energies on unattainable expectations or drama.

Without further adieu, here is your first tip on how to be an empowered woman…..

Tip #1 
An empowered woman embodies celebration. 

• She believes there is no shortage of greatness in the world. When she celebrates another, her own power expands as a result.
• Sisterhood is sacred. She celebrates her sisters from a space of love. Celebration dissolves her comparison, judgment, jealousy, or competition.
• When life gets hard, she finds the lesson and celebrates her growth and expansion.
• When life is painful, she celebrates her ability to feel.
• Celebration is a choice. She can choose it any instant. Celebration turns her breakdowns into breakthroughs.

Empowered action for you to take this week:
Find a woman who makes you jealous, angry, resentful, or envious and find one thing to celebrate about her. Notice how your energy shifts when you simply celebrate her gifts from a space of love. As a bonus, reach out to her and love her up for who she is in the world.

To your empowerment and freedom,
Chrissy

P.S. I’d love to hear from you! What makes you an empowered woman? Comment below to let me know.

Hey gorgeous,

Last week I went on vacation to Kauai. It was the best vacation ever. That’s a breakthrough for me.

Truth: I used to SUCK at vacation.

Vacation used to be a source of shame, stress (say what?!) and even embarrassment.

These thoughts used to bombard my consciousness:

• “Is it okay for me to take time off?”
• “Should I work while I’m away so I don’t feel guilty?”
• “Will I be judged for spending money on my happiness and pleasure?”
• “Do I deserve this?”
• “How can I make this vacation perfect??”

I’m happy to say those questions are complete.

Here’s where I’m at after a beautiful time away from wi-fi, texting, social media, and email:

• My body deserved and cherished this time off and I’m more awake and on purpose in my business because of this vacation.
• My relationship deserved this kind of romance and our love has grown leaps and bounds because of the time and attention we put into this 8-day date.
• I let go of expectations and let go of my need for control. Letting go allowed my man to lead me and whisk me away to a gorgeous island so I could relax in my feminine essence without a single masculine business structure to distract me. The need for perfection dissolved because I was present, living in NOW o’clock.
• We turned off our wi-fi and shut down our laptops. Feeling guilty was not an option. I set up boundaries and honored my needs through a simple: “I’m away from email” message-reply system.

We woke up to roosters cock-a-doodle-doling every morning at 6 AM…. and we LIKED it!

I’ve returned now with more energy than ever to support my precious clients.

My ideas got to simmer and grow inside my relaxed state of being.

Today I feel READY, inspired, and energized.

Best vacation ever.

To anyone out there struggling with the concept of vacation and or the possibility of self-care, may this message give you permission to take a guilt free adventure into your relaxed heart and joy…

Because you deserve it.

Love,

Chrissy (and Steve)

 

Hi Beautiful,

Yesterday I led one of  my favorite workshops, New Beginnings. To the right you’ll see the picture of our altar in which everyone brought a special object to share as a way to create sacred space. What a special day it was!

I created and led this workshop for the first time in January of 2013. I was a teacher at the time and was struggling in that career because I knew in my heart that I wasn’t following my true calling. My gifts were stifled inside a classroom regulated by rules and standards which worked to bankrupt the minds and hearts of my beautiful students.

I knew I was meant for something different, with more meaning and personal passion but I didn’t know how to get there. I was blinded by fear and self-doubt.

On January 26th of 2013, I decided to trust my gut and brought three things I loved most inside a tiny living room in San Francisco: human beings, truth, and feelings. My co-facilitator and I created a New Beginnings workshop for 10 of my closest friends to let go of the past and step into 2015 with hope, love and commitment.

Even though I was terrified to put myself out there, I followed my passion through every fear, tear, and sleepless night and landed inside my purpose.

Leading that workshop was the most important day of my career because it created me as the coach and facilitator that I am today. The ten participants who arrived as separate individuals left the workshop as one. Their hearts went through precious healing and their self-doubt transformed into unyielding confidence.  They got their “new beginning” and I got mine too.

I’ve now led over 25 workshops and retreats and I own a life coaching business that lights me up. I don’t question for one minute what I’m up to in the world because I’m living my truth with heart, passion and presence. The bonus? I get paid for being myself.

Give yourself permission to follow your desires. You can’t go wrong.

With your passion as your torch, shine your way out of the darkness into who you’re meant to be.

Blessings to you on your fearless and passionate journey,
Chrissy

P.S. Ready for your New Beginning?
Let’s have a free discovery call to map out your reinvention process so you can feel happy, alive and fulfilled. I work with women like you who who want to be leaders but struggle with fear and self-doubt. I help you find your confidence and purpose through one-on-one “Reinvention” coaching in self-love, mindfulness, and lifestyle design so you feel empowered to live out your calling.

Hey ladies,

I’ve received a number of questions lately about what I do to create and sustain success and happiness. My answer is mindset. I don’t wish for success and happiness, I expect it, then get after it like my life depends on it (because it does).

Here are 6 Ways for YOU to Expect Success:

1. Create a consistent morning routine that feels good. 
Your mornings can make or break your day. I hear these excuses all the time, “I don’t have time to meditate… I don’t have time to make a good breakfast… ” But do you have time to feel crappy? It’s taken me YEARS to commit to this and even though it’s a struggle I have noticed this truth: when my morning routine is rockin’, my LIFE is rockin’ too. All routines are different and it’s up to you to make one that works. My routine involves hot lemon water, meditation, yoga, journaling, and intention setting followed by an energizing breakfast. Please note, waking up and jumping straight to the phone to check email or Facebook is NOT on this list. That’s an invitation for stress, fear, and comparison.

2. Follow your joy. 
What brings you joy, lights you up and makes you smile? What activities make you lose track of time? What do you truly desire? When you follow your unique desires, you become more of you.  And sister, we need you. Desires and joy are a woman’s fuel. Schedule your happiness boosts into your calendar and be unapologetic about it. Genuine happiness keeps the fears and addictions at bay.

3. Show up no matter what. 
My definition of “showing up” is taking action that aligns with my highest good. If you’re ever feeling stressed or afraid, you might notice yourself staying hidden and small. In those moments, you have a choice to show up for your highest good. Does showing up mean giving yourself the space to be alone and rest? Does it mean getting your ass to a workout so your body can move? Is it calling a friend or writing in your journal? When you show up (no matter what) there’s massive transformation available on the other side. Showing up in the face of fear shows you what you’re made of.  Showing up in the face of resistance allows you to grow.

4. Be true to your purpose. 
Last week I showed up to yoga (even though my mind told me I was too tired) and left the class transformed and inspired. The teacher read this quote from the Bhagavad-Gita: “It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own dharma, but competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity.” As a Western yogini, I replace dharma with purpose, and boom, there’s my mission in life.

Follow your desires, passion, and purpose- and success and happiness will be yours. The minute you start faking it by following someone else’s dream, truth or rules you lose yourself. Pleasing others + playing safe inside a game that isn’t yours in the first place is the formula for self-betrayal and loss. Create your game, make your own rules, and find the teammates to stoke your fire.

5. Be a magnet for what you want.  
“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” The universe is listening and your energy has phenomenal power. You can use your thoughts, feelings, or imagination for greatness or defeat. Something so beautiful happens when a woman decides that she is a “success” long before she receives any award, compensation, or acknowledgement. When you put your focus, time, energy and emotion into a desire, the manifestation process begins. Your belief is where the magic happens.

6. Get support. 
This is the most important step. I am unapologetic about receiving and investing in support. I have a women’s circle for sisterhood. I have a spiritual coach for my healing process. I have a success coach for my business mastery. I even have a romance coach for my relationship’s intimacy and pleasure. I see support as a blessing, not a weakness. Thinking that you have to (miserably) do everything on your own is an old and archaic story.

Are you ready to receive the support you deserve and long for? Do you know you want to make a difference but don’t know where to start? Are you ready for a new beginning but don’t know how to make the transition? Do you have a creative project that needs accountability? Do you want to make money doing what you love?

Do you want to be the happy and fulfilled?

Let’s have a free discovery session and create a game plan for you to make 2015 the best year of your life. My team will get back to you to set up our phone or Skype appointment and I can’t wait to meet you!

To your success and happiness,
Chrissy