The 10 Life Lessons taught by the Baby Dragon:

1. Everything is in a constant state of change and evolution, there is no fixed point there is only the state of being and becoming.

2. We have to let go of outcome in order to allow the true vision to take shape.

3. Life is full of challenges, but these are not meant to be stumbling blocks they are meant to strengthen and stretch us into grander versions of ourselves. The more you can embrace your challenges the more you will feel you are living a purposeful life.

4. Things go wrong and things go right, but when you see things from a higher perspective you will see it is all perfect for exactly what it needs to be.

5. We really are very deeply powerful. The proof is when you see the perfection and everything lines up and you think to yourself.. “I couldn’t have contrived this any better!”

6. When you perceive yourself as small it is only from the perspective of comparison, because if you compare you are also larger to something else. Instead of viewing life in terms of comparison, think about it in terms of this question: HOW AUTHENTIC ARE YOU?

7. You are beautiful when you are authentic. This type of beauty is the new beauty and will soon be gracing the covers of magazines because deep down we are so hungry for real beauty, it is truly what feeds our soul.

8. If you want to be beautiful practice being authentic and the glow will begin to exude from your every pore.

9. Love is the guiding force for a meaningful and purposeful life.

10. You are a powerful beautiful dragon when you lead your life with love and move forward with the momentum of authentic power.

These are the 10 Life Lessons from the Baby Dragon.

When someone inspires you it is like being given a gift. It is as if their very presence lights your inner candle and you are ignited with a new sense of clarity, purpose and understanding.

Recently I had the rare opportunity to interview one of my favourite artists, someone that I consider to be a living master. I say ‘rare’ because usually artists are recognized as being masters long after they are dead. And this artist is alive and consistently able to capture a quality of goddess beauty within each and every one of her paintings. Her name is JIA LU. I’ve included two of her paintings for you to see, and you can view more of her work at www.jialu.com

During our interview Jia said something that ‘inspired’ me…

“Women are goddesses when they can recognize themselves. This allows them to reach the level of wisdom.” -Jia Lu

This got me wondering… What does it mean to recognize yourself?

Because if you can recognize yourself then you can be a goddess with wisdom.

I’ve created a guided exercise for you to learn how to recognize yourself and begin walking your goddess path.

Click to listen to GODDESS PATH exercise.

‘Union of Opposites’ photo of Laura Hollick with Mark Wedderburn wearing Laura Hollick’s headpieces. Photo by Melanie Gillis.

There are opposite polarities that exist within you. Have you noticed how one minute you can feel
completely overjoyed and the next minute you can feel bitterly angry?

It can be confusing when this happens, and the tendency is to cling to the side that feels
good and avoid the aspects of yourself that are dark and uncomfortable.

If we try to cling to one side we feel frustrated and eventually binge on the opposite side. If you’ve ever tried to be positive all the time you will know exactly what I mean. Eventually the negative thoughts come pouring out.

I don’t believe our purpose is to try to be positive all the time. Since we have the full range within us,
why not make friends with all aspects of ourselves.

When you allow the full rainbow of yourself there is a deep sense of fulfillment, which stems from
feeling whole.

To feel whole you must allow and include the full rainbow of yourself.

When you marry all aspects of yourself you can experience a love affair within yourself. I call this the union of opposites.

Try this SOUL ART exercise…

Think about an aspect of yourself that you have labeled as negative or uncomfortable. For example: fear

Find its opposite. For example: the opposite of fear, to me is relaxation.

Now create a quick sketch to represent each of these aspects of yourself. For example: you will have a sketch that represents the negative aspect and a sketch that represents the positive aspect.

Now, create a new sketch and see if you can introduce the two, see if you can get them flirting together. Mix and mingle the two qualities.

You never know it might end up in a full blown affair, even marriage!

Experiment with uniting your opposites.

Have fun!!

As you are growing and evolving into a grander version of yourself do you feel like you are making lots of mistakes? I know I am!

This is a good sign, really it is. When you enter into new territories and expand yourself, you enter into the unknown. By its very nature, the unknown is ‘unknown’, so while you are getting your barrings you might feel clumsy in this new space, and that can breed the feeling of mistakes.

Rather than running for the hills and shrinking back to where you were before, since mistakes are embarrassing and uncomfortable and avoiding them would be easy, let’s explore what mistakes really are….

Mistakes according to the dictionary are: an incorrect idea; an error in judgment

I’d like to share a story with you which might give a new perspective on mistakes.

Two years ago I decided that in the summer of 2008, I wanted to do a nude photoshoot as a symbolic gesture to mark my celebration of loving my body and feeling empowered to be myself.

So, for two years, I studied nutrition and started feeding my body foods that would honour it; I spent hours reframing my thinking so that I could truly feel love for my body from the inside out; I did some laser hair removal (yes it is true, I did!); I went to Boot camp for getting in shape; you name it, I think I’ve done it.

Now, here we are in the summer of 2008, and guess what my nude photoshoot is scheduled for this Wednesday!

And you’ll never believe this….

I magically manifested a poison-ivy like rash on my legs!

At first I thought, this is a MISTAKE, a BIG MISTAKE! How could this happen?

I’d been preparing to step into this grander version of myself, I’d been doing everything I could think of to fully embody the vision I had for myself. And I don’t remember this rash being part of my vision.

I labeled this situation as ‘a mistake’ because it seemed wrong.

As I was thinking about it, long and hard, wondering if I should cancel the photoshoot and reschedule it for when the rash heals, I started laughing, almost hysterically! Because suddenly I got the perfection of the situation.

I had been preparing myself to love my body and celebrate being myself, and here I am, with a rash on my legs. I suddenly realized in order to fully step into myself, I have to step into who I am now and embody it completely, without trying to change it or think it should be different.

This is the perfect celebration of myself. This is exactly what I had been preparing for I just didn’t know it would look like this. What I thought was a mistake was actually a diamond sparkling with perfection.

When you truly expand into the evolved version of yourself, there are new ways of perceiving things.

That “incorrect idea, and error in judgment” takes on a whole new experience when you truly grow.

My two years of preparation really did pay off, because I am now stepping into the celebration of who I am, as I am.

This is the perfect mistake.

Think of a situation in your life, that you have labeled as a ‘mistake’ and find the diamond in the situation. It is there, I promise you!