NOURISH, don’t punish your body…

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I need to get something off of my chest, and that is this;

YOU CANNOT OUT TRAIN A BAD DIET….now, apologies I had to yell that, but I just needed your attention.

I am somebody who loves fitness. I L.O.V.E to move my body. I do it in ways that always feel good to me, and it’s about nourishment, not punishment 100% of the time.

BUT as much as I know that one size or program doesn’t fit all, I also know that our results are always, always 80% what we actually put in our mouth – and only 20% how we move it (and of course 100% of our mindset and our thoughts of course).

I am getting an increasing amount of women come to me about their weights or fitness routine, telling me they’re sooo frustrated at their results … but when I ask how they’re nourishing their body, are they naturally supplementing, or what does their food day to day look like the answer is usually “oh it for sure needs work, but” they say..”I am in the gym 6-7 days a week so I just don’t understand why.

Food beautiful woman. Food. That’s why. I have never counted a calorie in my life, and to this day, I still couldn’t tell you what a macro is and how many I am meant to have a day – what I CAN tell you though is I eat whole healthy foods, multiple times a day, and I supplement beautifully deliciously with my Isagenix.

So if you’re looking for a health transformation, or some results, let’s start there. I would love to chat to you about your health goals and share more of what I do and see if it IS a fit for you, but seeing and feeling my own results, I am almost certain it will be.

You can find me on my Instagram at; annarose_richards.

Or send me an email – info@annaandmorgan.com – to connect better and tell me, if you could change one thing about your health in the next 3 months, what would it be?

Hi I’m Anna and I just want to clear a few things up when it comes to what I do.

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All day everyday I am grateful and genuinely adore answering women’s questions in my inbox about what I do, the profession I am in and sometimes the misconceptions they have about both. So I thought I’d bring some of my answers out of the ‘shadows’ and in to the ‘light’ in case YOU have always wanted to ask these questions also but never had the courage … Here we go….

And if you fist pump or go “huh that is literally what I have wanted to ask” then it’s time you & I had a chat gorgeous … so dive in to my inbox and let me know which question! xo

I’VE ALWAYS WANTED INFO BUT I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO ASK..

Awesome, you’re one of many women who feel that way don’t stress! Just reach out and say hello, that’s a great start, and I can always ask you some questions from there and will know what info to guide you to.

I DON’T WANT TO WASTE YOUR TIME IN CASE I END UP SAYING NO THOUGH, AS YOU SEEM REALLY BUSY…

Biggest misconception. This is what I do. Full Time. And I am more than happy to chat to anyone sincerely interested in learning more, even if you say no that’s completely ok, you need to be happy and ready to give this a go and how will you ever know that if you don’t at least reach out.

I WANT TO TRY THE PRODUCTS BUT DON’T WANT TO DO THE BUSINESS…

And that is totally totally cool as there is 0 pressure (I mean that) to do the business, never has been, never will be (certainly not in our team anyway). This is about your health first and foremost and THAT is my main focus coaching you over the first month & beyond. And besides, you have to LOVE these products before you even look at doing the biz.

OK BUT THEN WHAT IF I DO WANT TO SHARE WITH SOME PEOPLE DOWN THE TRACK?

That’s perfectly fine too, and that’s when I can help you share those rad health results you’ve just experienced in an authentic and organic way.

I HEARD I AM LOCKED IN AND HAVE TO ORDER EVERY MONTH?

One of the most common myths in Isa & I am exceedingly pleased to dispel it. You aren’t locked in to ANYTHING. Ever. That “auto” shipment you might have heard of, is controlled by YOU and you can turn that off or not even start with that if you don’t want.

AND WHAT IF I JUST DON’T LIKE IT IN THE END?

That’s ok too – sometimes people don’t but you wanna know the raddest thing about our company? They have a 30 day money back guarantee, so you can try all the products you get and on day 30 with empty tubs if you still decide it’s not for you (which I would never be upset over) you just send the tubs back and get a FULL refund. So it really is quite literally, risk free.

And lastly…

I ACTUALLY REALLY WANT TO DO WHAT YOU’VE DONE .. BUT I AM SCARED OF WHAT PEOPLE WILL SAY / THINK…

Beautiful. I so hear you. Louder than you can imagine. But the problem with not doing something that could change your life because you’re scared of what people will think is going to hold you back in EVERY area of your life (not just this). Just remember, people’s opinions aren’t going to pay your bills (try it, next phone bill send it to the friend that is negative about people trying to make a go of their life and see if that opinion will pay that bill  ) .. The advice I have though is just try it, quietly at first if you have to, get the results I KNOW you will get, and then go from there. But just know if that friend doesn’t support your decisions that you’re making to improve your health and lifestyle then it’s time to re think who you’ve allowed in your life. The other thing is, you will gain a hundred new friends who WILL support you & have your back with our extraordinary team of humans all there to cheer you on. So just know, NOT doing it because of that is going to get you nowhere but feeling the fear and doing it anyway – is going to get you EVERYWHERE.

I would SO love to work with you beautiful or just help answer any of the above questions if you’ve got them, you need only reach out on either our Facebook (found here) or on email at info@annaandmorgan.com

My 7 year journey

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Facebook threw up the photo on the left the other day and I had to take several moments to breathe in the journey I have been on. The photos are almost exactly 7 years apart and what a journey it has been.

7 years ago, at age 22, as ‘confident’ and ‘headed places’ as I was (I had a big group of friends around me and was already in politics working full time + in my final year at uni) I wasn’t sincerely happy.

I had a body that was getting abused with bad food, binge drinking and recreational drugs (ecstasy every other weekend), and a mind that was completely devoid of self worth and emotional strength.

And one day I woke up, and decided to change, just like that. It was a night I was on pills and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror – and LITERALLY didn’t recognise the woman staring back at me. Body, mind & spirit. So I changed. Morgan and I transformed our lives S.L.O.W.L.E.Y – changed our whole diet, I stopped saying yes to music festivals & parties I knew I’d be tempted to take drugs, and swapped out tv for books. In 2010 I had my major jaw reconstruction surgery (life changing surgery to fix my severe underbite). I dropped 17kgs – 6kg from the surgery, 11kg on my own, (Morgan dropped 23kg) and started to change literally from the inside (mind) out (body). 2 years in to that journey, I found nutritional cleansing yes – and have maintained my weight and results with those life changing products ever since, but that isn’t where this initial transformation ever came from.

This came from knowing who I was with conviction- and making drastic changes towards becoming that woman. It was knowing NO ONE defined my worth but me. It was being sick of thinking my power was external to me – when I had the keys all along.

There isn’t an excuse in the WORLD I will hear from someone, especially a woman (one day I will share my ENTIRE story) as to why you are so stuck in fear to change. Not one.

You are not what you weigh, how you have or haven’t looked, who you have slept with, you aren’t your dark past, or a fucked up childhood, you are not your mother or fathers or families expectations. You are not your scars or your feelings of unworthiness. YOU ARE NOT YOUR MISTAKES.

YOU are the one who gets to decide how your story will go.

YOU are the one who gets to feel, determine & KNOW your worth.

YOU are the one who gets to find your voice. No matter how long it’s been lost.

YOU are the one who gets to find the fire & the fight from within and share THAT journey.

No one, not your past, not your old stories, not men (or women) who have taken sexual rights from you, not any abuse, not a dark history, not A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G or ANYONE gets to tell you who you are. Only you get to do that.

YOU are a walking piece of art crafted for THIS lifetime not here to waste one second letting others define you.

You are the author of your life. And you need to understand that you get to claim all of your power & potency back in any given moment and write how the rest of your story will go.

Because I assure you – if I can do it, then you CERTAINLY can. Your time is now, the year has never been more perfect and the calling is officially on your life.

G.O and be the woman you were always born to be, and I will always be here – cheering you on the loudest <3

p.s I have to shout out to the main man in my life Morgan too who was there for every tiny step OF this journey and has supported me in ways that I can’t even explain

Changing my world, to change THE world…with you

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I was never going to be the girl who accepted an ordinary life. It just wasn’t in my blood.

I knew that if I wanted a life different from others, especially a life way different than what society tells us is ‘normal’ (go to school, get a degree, get a good job, get married, own a house, work until you’re old, then die) then I was was going to have to always find the courage to live a little bolder and work a little harder.

That journey for me started early on in my life.

At age 11, I got my first job, delivering newspapers / junk mail to 80 houses around our neighbourhood for a few dollars a week, and thanks to that, I had saved my first $100 before I was 12.

At age 13, I got my second job, working weekend nights (whilst friends got to party earlier than me) at Dominos saucing pizzas.

I worked there for over 3 years and by 16 was working big part time hours (every other night and weekends) whilst juggling high school obviously full time.

At age 17, I left Dominoes to help another pizza business launch in our area and worked long part time hours finishing year 12.

At age 18, I got my first Full Time Job as a junior admin assistant in an Accounting firm (who are my Accountants for Morgan & I’s biz today!)

At age 19, I started my degree in Commerce, and continued to work full time and study full time over the next 3 years (graduating being offered honours – thanks but no thanks) graduating with a Double Major in Human Resources, and Management with a minor in Entrepreneurship.

At age 21, I got my job in Federal Politics and spent the next (almost) 4 years working my ass off having the time of my LIFE in our Perth based office & Parliament House in Canberra.

At age 22, I launched my first REAL business, Possibly Maybe – a dating website for 18 – 35 year olds. I wrote out a comprehensive business plan, got a bank loan and spent over $12,000 setting that biz up supporting myself through uni, and working full time.

At age 23, I launched my first blog (lifesshinyprettythings- which is the re branded annaandmorgan dot com today).

At age 25, I started my Network Marketing Business. And this is the year we are planning on hitting Millionaire.

Here is the thing though.

Between the ages of 11 and 25 (so that’s some 14 years), I have absolutely been looking for that ‘thing’ – that thing that I have been looking for since I was born, that was going to allow me to create the life that we ALL deserve, that I knew a traditional job was never going to reward me.

You know, things like…

Travelling the world – not having to request leave for 4 weeks a year.

Earning an uncapped income based on effort – not being told what I was worth from a boss or corporation.

Working with who I want, where I want, when I want – not in an open plan office with negative co-workers in a tiny cubicle.

And achieving big goals and dreams – like retiring my mum and living life on our terms.

So at age 25 – when I found my current company and feel in love with the model of Network Marketing, imagine how excited I was to know that I had just found ‘the thing’, that thing being the vehicle to reward me the life I had looked for since I was a little girl.

But something else happened when I found this profession and decided to, and successful did, go for it.

People, not all, but a good few, couldn’t understand my choice, and I realised that there is still MUCH education required around this profession to change that, which I am more than ok with and willing to be a voice to.

Because here is the thing, I know I’m ‘only’ 28 – but I have done a lot, tried a lot of things, and spent YEARS trying to find ‘the thing’ I am most passionate about – and ultimately – it’s what I do now – helping people fall back in love with themselves and their health and helping people become financially independent and or free.

And yes, I recognise that some people still misunderstand this profession and business model – but I know it’s the one profession that I am so madly passionate about, one thing I love the most is you can be a Harvard graduate or a stay at home mum with no degree, but as long as you are passionate about the product and have commitment to hard work, you can succeed. 

You might think network marketing is crazy (or I have heard the word scam thrown around which makes me laugh), or not for you, but I am here to say whether you’re a raging fan of it, or someone who doesn’t fully understand it, or someone who actually talks bad about the profession, in 2017 I am going to humbly suggest its time that you started to properly educate yourself on it.

My paper round, my years working for a franchise, starting an online ‘traditional’ business, my working full time, my degree – although all PHENOMENAL things – were never going to give me the life I now get to lead…. and THAT is why, I can’t be stopped and won’t be stopped.

I really do believe I have spent 18 years getting ready for this next chapter in Morgan and I’s life where we play bigger, show up more and REALLY start to make some noise about what we do and what we love – so you can keep watching and wondering, or you can reach out and see what it is we ACTUALLY do vs. just assuming.

My mission is to help women step in to their true power, and realise they can wear all hats if they want to – be it a mum, entrepreneur, humanitarian,  a { insert your dream title here } – and do that whilst absolutely loving the skin they’re in and earning an income that will change their world which in turn changes THE world.

And please don’t think this is the be all and end all for me or has to be for you either. It’s the VEHICLE. 

I have passion projects ready to be launched now because I have the time and financial freedom to pursue them – including womens & couples retreats and womens weekend events.

It’s just that at 28 years of age, I have found the ‘thing’ that I get to demonstrate my courage with to live that bolder life and work a lot harder – and I couldn’t be happier.

For me now though, it’s about helping other women (and Morgan feels the exact same way when it comes to helping Men) find the courage to do the same.

If you were like me, and have tried a tonne of different things, and worked incredibly hard on someone else’s dream – but know that 2017 is the year you find the ‘thing’ for you too, then it’s absolutely time we had a little chat.

Answer the question at the bottom of this other page and let’s chat. 

I GET that network marketing isn’t for everybody, but I DO get that health IS – and what we have with our company IS the perfect storm.

No one, no doubter, no bump in the road is going to stop me (or Morgan of course) – THAT for sure is what I can promise you.

I want the same kind of women around me though – one’s that want to build a legacy, an empire, ones that are so certain of the life they want to lead that nothing and no one can stop them. If that sounds like you – you’re the woman I 100% want to work with and I can’t wait to have a chat with you.

You know your time is now.

You know you’ve spent your whole life getting ready for this.

You know you’ve got it in you to change your whole life.

And I’m here ready to show you how.

Chat to you soon beautiful lady.

 

What sincere authenticity is to me – and why I am obsessed with it.

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Sitting on the ground yesterday in the beautiful Perth sunshine, I got chatting to one of Morgan and I’s friends on the street who’s clothes we are honoured to wash weekly. For the purposes of her privacy I am going to call her Sarah.

Sarah and I were catching up on each other’s week and she told me that she had just started to read 50 shades of Grey, and I was interested to hear what book she was up to as I too had read the series I told her. We started snorting with hysteria though as I went on to explain…

“Isn’t it funny though how you totally need your man around when you read it as they are absolute turn on books (*note, Sarah is in a loving relationship). Except you have just read about how wild and hot and steamy Christian and Anastasia are and then when you go to do it you’re still just Starfish”.

Cue tears streaming down our faces kind of laughing because we both knew it was true.

The conversation continued on just talking about the normal things of life, kids, family, relationships, you know – the usual kind of conversation you’d have with anyone.

Mid shift I walked over to the toilets laughing quietly to myself again about our conversation about the 50 shades of Grey books, which made me think about the countless other times I have had that conversation with so many women since reading the book in 2012 – women in parliament, good girlfriends over a wine, strangers when I used to see them reading it in parks.

And walking back over to where our friends and Morgan were sitting that sunny afternoon, it dawned on me that THAT is sincere authenticity.

Not the fact that I can talk about sex or ‘risky’ books with anyone – that’s not the point. But the fact that no matter who I am with, no matter what I am doing, no matter where I am – I can just show up as who I am and say the same thing in front of a friend on the street or a member of parliament.

Now – do not get me wrong. I am acutely aware that some conversations aren’t appropriate in front of a Priest (for respect) or a 4-year-old (due to age appropriateness) or a Prime Minister (for, well, I suppose for respect although I personally think they’re just normal human beings) – so I am not talking about that. I know that sometimes, sure what we say or how we can act does have to differ slightly person to person – but there is a huge distinction between managing respect and being sincerely authentic.

Managing Respect comes down to just knowing what volume to be at I believe, but still always living in to who you authentically. And by volume, I don’t mean that literally.

I’ll give you an example.

Back when I worked in Federal Politics, I used to always have to go in to what I called ‘the big boy meetings’ – with Ministers of portfolio’s, or CEO’s of big corporations (i.e Alan Joyce), you were constantly also meeting ex Prime Ministers (my favourite one being the time I got to have a chat with the Hon John Howard) and current Prime Ministers (who at the time was Opposition Leader – Tony Abbott).

Now. If you know me well, (or not even well, if you just follow me on social media recently or over the years), you know that I am a pretty crazy, cheeky, fun human who has an affinity for the word fuck, being silly and champagne, unicorns (yes, even at the age of 28) and hot chips– just to name a tiny aspect of me.

So when I would go in to these ‘big boy meeting’s’ I would always manage my respect, BUT I would show up sincerely authentically as myself.

What does that look like?

It means knowing that in some moments, sure, the word fuck is not the best option so to not use it. It’s listening more than talking sometimes, it’s showing the more mature side of you whilst ALL the while being wildly authentic.

So what does wild authenticity look like in a situation like that (parliament) whilst managing respect.

It looked like dressing up as a love heart on valentine’s day and handing out chocolates to all the federal members – because who doesn’t want a chocolate from a love heart on valentine’s day.

It looked like never ever taking myself too seriously at any and all ‘party’ functions and almost creating the loudest most fun, hilarious group situation where we could actually let our hair down, laugh and all show up with our sillier sides.

It meant having a drink with all the serious Shadow Ministers at the end of the sitting week and starting a “peaks and pits” of their week – going around in a circle sharing what we could do better, and what we did well that week (and for grown men & women who run our country to look forward to that session we used to do in the chairman’s lounge all waiting to fly home – was such a fun thing for me).

It meant telling Alan Joyce to his face that although I loved his airline, if we didn’t get chocolates back on the Thursday flight home I’d start a revolt (tongue in cheek) and get us all to start flying Virgin instead. (side note: guess who had chocolates back on the flight home by that Thursday night….. me.

You see – you can be respectful when you need to be – all huge examples above – but you can still ALWAYS, ALWAYS show up sincerely as yourself.

We are moving in to a world where authenticity is the new currency.

We are seeking authenticity over perfection.

We are asking for everyone around us to throw down their masks – and bare their souls.

We are obsessed with compassionate acts and unconditional love (well I am) – which is birthed from humanity stepping away from who they were told to be and stepping in to who they were born to be – authentic powerful beings.

We are hungry for freedom – authentic, delicious freedom.

The universe is calling forth a rebellion of a new kind – and more and more are listening to the call, not being able to resist the pull to put down their masks, light their own fire and step more in to their sincerely authentic selves.

And it’s beautiful and inspiring and extraordinary to watch.

Sincere authenticity IS the black and its here to stay, so don’t be afraid to step in to your own true divine self more and more.

It’s speaking up when your soul says to.

It’s owning who you are in front of a priest, a member of parliament or a homeless person.

It’s saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

It’s being exactly the same person as to who you are in ‘real life’ as to the person who you are showing up as online (side note; I always feel like I shouldn’t even need to say this one, but in 2017 I still do think that reminder needs to be in there).

It’s taking off every single last mask you have been holding on to, throwing it in to the fire and burning them once and for all.

It’s owning the bad ass extrovert parts of you along with the graceful and introvert parts.

It’s having the balls to live your boldest, grandest, most TRUE life – and if that means being the quietest librarian the world has ever seen or the most impactful world leader the world has ever known – BEAUTIFUL – just make sure you are showing up exactly as you are every.damn.day.

My only wish for you today though, is that you start somewhere – and I suggest that somewhere is in the next instance you go to crack a joke but don’t because you think it’s not ‘cool’ or you don’t speak up on a topic you’re actually red-hot passionate about – you actually DO instead, because THAT is who you are.

 

 

 

 

 

Images: here,

How to be healthy & happy 365 days of the year

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I can’t tell you exactly when I started to have beliefs around food that I do today, but I can tell you it has been this way for a very, very long time.

Even before I was the size I am today and have the love and passion for nutrition and fitness that I do today, I always had a healthy MINDSET around food and my body. Habits, no, but mindset, yes.

The Anna you see today, as I have very well documented over the last 5 years since birthing my blog is a vastly different woman to the Anna several years ago, but I can confidently say one thing that has been strongly consistent in my life for a very very long time is how I feel about food and the relationship I have with it.

Back when I was 17kg heavier, and honestly truly believed that as long as I cooked something at home, that it was healthy (regardless if it was an extremely creamy pasta or a massive rice dish or a carb heavy plate smothered in gravy). I thought a home cooked meal was far healthier than say a McDonalds meal, and granted I was still right, but in terms of the nutrients I was getting from carb heavy / naughty home cooked meals I had absolutely no idea they actually weren’t that amazing for me. Morgan and I were guilty as charged as well for at least once or twice a week, crawling in to bed with a big glass of coke (a cola) and a packet of salt and vinegar chips and watching a movie together.

Needless to say it’s no surprise to anyone with a heart beat and some common sense why I was 17kg heavier. But here is the thing…

I was happy – until I wasn’t of course and at that point I set out to change my health and lose the weight and just feel better in general.

But even smashing back the foods and drinks I was, I almost never ever had ‘guilt’ around the food I was eating or hated on myself for it. I enjoyed eating my gravy covered dinners or big glasses of coke, and when I ate anything, I was genuinely hungry (I have never ever ever been an emotional eater) and I would choose things that I felt like and I also thoroughly enjoyed every meal.

I still look back at how I ate back then and how little I exercised (and when I say how little I exercised I mean, I didn’t exercise at ALL) and am shocked I wasn’t kg’s and kg’s and kg’s heavier – as I should have been.

BUT I truly believe I wasn’t, because even being a bigger size, even being un healthier even with such accidental disregard for my health – there was no guilt around food, just enjoyment.

That all changed however when one night, Morgan and I were having a party at the house with a few friends, and I was my usual at the time, weekend warrior, few ecstasy deep self – and I went inside by myself to put bathers on to have a spa with the girls. I remember putting some green bathers on in the bathroom really hurriedly and as I ran back out to go join the party I caught the reflection of myself in the mirror – and honestly didn’t recognise the girl staring back. It was the first time in my life, I didn’t vibe with the body I saw in the mirror.

{ The night I knew that I didn’t love the body I was in anymore and could do better }

That was a Saturday night, and by the following morning, Morgan and I had had a huge chat about our health and weight and decided to go do something about it.

By the Monday, we were attending our first weight watchers meeting to educate ourselves on food, being inspired with some healthy recipes and learning at the very least the basics around what healthy food looked like.

The next year we changed our habits and completely transformed our lives – Morgan loosing 23kg and me loosing 17kg (6kg of which came from major jaw surgery). But that is a story for another time.

That year though, the ONE thing that never changed (because our exercise and food habits absolutely changed) was my mindset around food.

Sure I had started to eat way way way differently and so so so much healthier – but everything I put in my mouth, I still totally honoured, and yet again, there was just no guilt with any food I ate. My body and mind and I had a great relationship with food and food had a great relationship with my body and mind.

Years and years followed, and the 17kg loss was maintained with struggle to be honest through a lot of gym exercise and being pretty strict with what I ate – STILL honouring food regardless though.

A year after that, come March 2013, which was when Isagenix found me and a whole new chapter and journey in my life began. My weight maintenance the last 3 ½ years has been the easiest thing ever but my enjoyment with food has increased tenfold. That 3 ½ year journey again is another story and one you can read snippets of in previous posts on this blog.

That’s not why we’re here today talking though, we are here for the following lesson.

Over the last 3 ½ years as I just mentioned above my enjoyment of food has increased – a lot, but my relationship with food has deepened even more divinely.

You see, I honour food. So.fucking.much.

I know that I know that I KNOW, that loving food and honouring each and every meal or thing I choose to put in my mouth to fuel me makes that food digest with ease and harmony.

Whenever I eat, more than ever today, I am so grateful for the meal in front of me, and I am choosing to eat or fuel my body with nutritious yummy food and never ever have guilt around what I eat.

That probably sounds easy when you know me and you know I fuel my body with a LOT of high quality nutrition and yummy food. It’s like well of course you don’t have guilt Anna you eat really well and have amazing habits (why thank you, yes, I do, and I’m really proud of that).

But here is the kicker.

I live, the most balanced life more than anyone I know.

So yes, I absolutely eat and fuel my body with nutritious healthy food, and have cleanse days and superfood smoothies, but I also don’t have a nickname “Anna hot chips champagne Richards” for no reason.

Not a week goes by that I am not also enjoying delicious cold glasses of French Champagne or hunting down the best hot chips either in my city or around the globe. OR just being SUPER honest, grabbing the odd cheeky chocolate bar from the shops when I run in to grab something.

Then there is the travel I do, and when I travel, I can also be honest and say my eating habits are more around enjoyment and finding gorgeous cafes than a strict food plan.

And yet, my body stays harmonised and toned and healthy and slim year round.

I’m not allergic to anything, I have no intolerances and I have never cut one thing out of my diet nor counted one calorie. Ever.

So how? HOW do I honestly maintain that kind of body amongst the crazy balance of salads but hot chips, water but champagne, cleanse days but non organic chocolate, or food prep but days off with burgers….

Well I believe it’s my RELATIONSHIP that I have with ALL food and how much I HONOUR it and ENJOY it.

I can sit and have a few crazy days where I need to rely on my food prep of rice, chicken and vegetables, then fly to Sydney for 3 days and have champagne most nights, too many hot chips to count and some salt and vinegar chips on the plane (there I said it) … Or I can have a week of perfect eating with my non negotiable cleanse days but then have guests come and spend 5 days celebrating life and success with champagne, lunches and dinners out and a relaxed exercise regime …. But not matter WHAT I DO, and no matter WHAT I EAT and no matter WHAT GOES IN TO MY MOUTH…….

I honour it so damn deeply. I have absolutely ZERO guilt around it. I ENJOY it all SO much and I never eat anything I don’t feel like or won’t absolutely love.

And that is what I TRULY believe keeps my body so harmonised and happy and healthy and toned year round. Because food that goes in to my mouth is eaten with gratitude and love, and digested with ease and harmony as I talk about how much I love it, or how yummy it is.

The other major aspect to this whole theory though is what I SAY about my body also. When I finish a meal, there is no guilt, which means I NEVER say things like…

“God I feel so fat”.

“Why did I just eat that?”

“Next time I go to order chips someone stop me”

“I feel so disgusting I so need to not eat the rest of the day”

… Or any other negative comment associated with my body.

(I do occasionally say I feel a LITTLE bloated if I do, but generally it’s freaking rare I actually do, and if I say I am it’s normally backed up by “but god it’s worth it for how delicious that meal was” – I am just trying to be REALLY honest with you guys so you REALLY get this point).

I always however talk about how delicious a meal was. How yum the hot chips were. How amazing that particular champagne was. How much of a good time I had laughing or talking with friends whilst I ate said meal or drank said champagne.

I truly, deeply, fundamentally believe that our thoughts and words DO shape our reality, and I know SO many others know this to be true also (and that’s because it IS true) and yet we seem to forget that that then extends to every single aspect of our co-creating reality. Including our beautiful body.

If you are going to constantly put your body down, or say you feel fat, or pick on the parts of your body that you hate or feel guilt every time you eat food – what do you honestly think is going to happen? Nothing? Because I can tell you that unfortunately your body is ALWAYS listening and responding. If you call it fat, it thinks its fat and I believe creates fat. If you pick on parts of your body you hate, negative energy is held in those areas only making that part of your body feel worse. If you feel guilt around food when you eat it, be it a big yummy chicken salad or your favourite treat (like hot chips!) then that guilt is held and becomes a stagnant energy in your body.

Point is, anything you say aloud, or even THINK….your body is always listening.

So what do you think happens to your body when you’re in a state of gratitude for all of your food. When you sincerely enjoy all of your food – be it extremely healthy or more of a treat meal. When you honour every meal that goes in to your body. When once youre done, you hold no guilt and only hold on to positive thoughts.

I can tell you;

You digest your food with harmony.

Your food does exactly what it needs to in the body.

Energy circulates through and around your body with ease.

You live in a state of fulfilment and hold on to no guilt.

You love your body and your body responds by loving you right back.

And it’s not just thinking and saying positive things when you’re eating either. No way. Let me assure you with absolute certainty that your body is always, ALWAYS listening.

You have to SHOW your body that you love it. You have to TELL your body that you love it. You have to DRESS your body like you love it. You have to live in to feelings of LOVE for your body.

This is a constant journey I am on still and a journey I know I’ll always be on, but a journey I am honoured to be on and treasure – one of loving and accepting the meat-suit I was so divinely gifted when I chose to come back to this earth this time around.

There are moments where I still have a negative thought about my body (of course) or I wake up after a big night of delicious food and drink with beautiful friends and I feel a little heavier or groggier than usual, and have a negative thought about my food choices or how I’m feeling in my body. But would you like to know what I do in those moments? Honestly? …

I put my hand on my stomach and my heart and I tell my body how beautiful she is, how much I honour her, how grateful for her I am and I just sit or lay in gratitude telling her how beautiful she is again and again and again until I genuinely feel the shift of me believing it – then I can carry on with whatever I was doing.

I tell my body how beautiful she is. I dress my body like I love her. I give my body food and drink (it’s why I love French champagne so much) that she loves. I move, walk and talk like I love my body. And you know what I get in return?

A body that so loves and nourishes me back.

You get to choose.

In every moment in every day, you are either choosing your thoughts that empower or disempower you, and it’s no different for when you are eating for or talking or thinking about your body.

There are no ‘5 steps to’ or ‘3 ways to change’ when it comes to your body + relationship with food. It’s just a conscious decision again, and again, and again and again to choose love. To choose to be grateful for every meal you sit down for. To choose to feel satisfied and happy after a meal. To choose to send your body love when you’re not necessarily feeling it or her. To choose to honour the food that goes in to your mouth.

It’s not always going to be a perfect this journey to self love of food and your body – but it’s a journey that is SO WORTH giving time and energy and a deeper level of commitment to, because you really DO only have one body for your time on earth, and I know so wildly and deeply, that loving and honour ‘her’ (or him) creates a far more beautiful and extraordinary time on planet earth than the opposite.

My wish for you is that you choose love today, is that you choose to honour your food today, and that you choose gratitude for your food today, and in the moments when you don’t you simply start again.

And I promise you – it’s worth it.

Love, Anna xoxoxo

Images: here & here

Corporate 9-5 Vs Network Marketing- A Former Skeptics Take

By on 1

Hey everyone,  Its Morgan here!

Slight change of plans from the normal today. Its been some time since I posted on this blog, in fact, the last time was when I gave my account of our time in Amsterdam back in 2012!!  Anyway, Some recent events really got me thinking about this topic and prompted me to write this short post.  It started out as Facebook post and then the next thing I knew I had a couple of thousand words.  So I figured hey why not share it here?  I hope you enjoy it and find some value in it, i know it’s a little off topic from what you may to be use to but its something I’m really passionate about…… ENJOY!

Working from a café today I couldn’t help overhear a conversation going on behind me.   Some poor girl was being grilled in a job interview, to be fair she was doing a good job and holding her own.  She seemed bright and very bubbly, but sitting here listening to the language, the tone and general vibe of the convo made me feel a bit anxious.

One person trying so hard to Sell themselves  the other revelling in their self-perceived position of power.  Out comes the “Work Voice”, you know the one?  It’s similar to the one you put on as a kid when you’re answering the home telephone but you are in earshot of mum…….  “Hello Richards residence, Morgan Speaking!”  just the most fake thing you can think of.

The reason it made me feel so anxious though is because that was exactly how I felt working in corporate, going to corporate meetings and talking the corporate talk all day long.  Trust me, there is nothing more soul-destroying than working in a profession where you can’t really show up as yourself or say what you truly mean without fear of what your “boss” might think.  I would often think I wonder what would happen if I spoke honestly to my boss’s even for 30 seconds, how would they take it if gave them  an honest appraisal of their performance as a leader.   The answer being that most employers wouldn’t take it well and it would be reflected in my pay review and promotion prospects.

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I feel the same type of anxiety in airport lounges when high-flying harry big balls is sitting next me talking on the phone or talking to his staff.

Actually that just reminded me of a story.  A few weeks back Anna and I were waiting for a flight in Melbourne, we used our points to upgrade to business (we aren’t flashy dickheads, but when we can we upgrade).  Subsequently we were given access to the business lounge and we were sitting there on our laptops enjoying a red wine before our flight (Anna of course a Champagne) when a few moments later this guy in a suit comes in and sits just near us, entourage in tow.  This guy thought he was Harvey spectre (watch the show suits to understand that example) and he wanted everyone to know it.  Berating his staff for asking questions, talking down to them like they were dirt.  Not just quietly either, loudly, he didn’t just want the staff to know how important he was, he wanted everyone to in the room to.  I always try my best to be impeccable with my word whenever I can, not to judge people  but after listening to this guy for over an hour it was fairly safe to assume that this guy was, well, a massive dick.

I thought about John Maxwell’s 5 levels of leadership as I often do when I’m around this type of person. This guy was the definition of level 1-  TITLE.  People (his staff) only tolerated him because they believe they had no other choice because of his rank in the company.  But you know what I honestly felt? I honestly felt sorry for him, because one day his time and position of power will end and along with it his own self-worth.  When your own self-importance comes before developing others you can’t create legacy, once the power of your title is gone you are left with nothing.

But most of all I felt sorry for his staff, I knew that feeling of being made to feel second-rate by some A-hole on a power trip.

It made me wonder, why do people put up with that? Seriously, in any bar across any country in the world if one person spoke to another the same way as this guy did to his staff, fists would probably fly.  But because there is an exchange of time for money (that’s basically what a job is right?) we tolerate the worst people in world and we do this by choice?

I’m not saying that pursuing a traditional career is a bad idea, in fact I was speaking to a friend of ours the other night who has just landed his dream job in an incredible company.   He is super passionate and excited about the work he will be doing and the people he will be doing it with.

What I am saying however, is if you don’t love what you do, change it or at least takes steps to do something about it.

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Casual Friday AKA the day i left corporate and became a full-time Network Marketer

As I sit here in this café today listening to the girl being interviewed and reflecting on high flying harry big balls display in the lounge I found myself filled with so much gratitude for our chosen profession.  Anna and I are so fortunate to able to say that we love what we do now. Not only is it important to be our authentic selves, its critical for success.  We treat our team with respect and in turn we get it back in droves, but most importantly we treat people exactly the same when they enter our team, as when they are working in our team or if they decide to leave our team.  Yes network marketing isn’t perfect, and yes you still get the occasional knob but I ultimately have the say on whether or not I choose to work with them.  There are no high pressure interviews where you need to have a shiny CV full of qualifications and pre requisites that (lets face it) you probably lied about anyway.  It’s often said that it doesn’t matter if you have gone to Yale or come from Jail to have success in our profession.  Ultimately your success is measured (and paid on) the amount of people you help be successful and rise through the organisation, which is completely the opposite in the corporate world.

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Working from our local cafe in Fremantle

Now, I can already tell what some people will think as they read this “but morgan I had a friend who was involved in network marketing once and they were let down really badly”.  Which is a totally valid statement, yes in the past and even today people are let down by network marketing companies.  They are let down in the same way they are let down by bad restaurants, Taxi drivers who take the long route, publicly listed stock, airline companies, telephone companies, Investing money in the wrong shares,  mechanics and of course trades people and contractors who rip off their clients.  The worst by far are Plumbers! They show up late, they overcharge and not to mention the dreaded plumbers crack (what’s up with that?).  I remember a plumber charging me $1000 to fix my hot water system, I then found out from a friend a few months later it was an $180 job. The difference is 3 years later at 3am one morning, the toilet began overflowing. Now like most sane, rational people I didn’t throw my hands up in the air, tar all plumbing companies with the same brush and allow the turds to flow through my house.  I called any plumber that was available to come out and help fix the problem regardless of my past experience.

It frustrates me why people think that our profession and industry is somehow immune from the same type of stuff that happens in  any other industry?

Yes, unscrupulous companies come (and very quickly go), yes sometimes people with poor ethics find their way into our profession, but what profession doesn’t have the exact same problems?  If you pick any profession across any industry you will find the exact same thing, in the medical industry with dodgy doctors, in the legal system with corrupt judges and what about the people we trust to run our governments?  I’m not trying to make excuses for these companies, in fact I get as angry as the next person when people get let down by our industry, what I am trying to point out is that network marketing is just like any other industry.  There is the good and the bad.

Finding a good network marketing company is like finding a good plumber or mechanic.  Difficult, but not impossible, provided you know what to look for.  There is a whole swag of things to be mindful of that will help you cut through any BS, but that’s a whole other post for another time but its something I’m also really passionate about.

The common thing for many people is they seem to believe that if they purchase a product from a network marketing company they somehow are being duped or they are a sucker? Common sense time guys…….  If you pay for a membership at cost co and all you receive is a trolley full of groceries that you love every single month, are you being ripped off? If you are a member of a wine club and all you pay for and receive is a case of wine each month are you being taken for a ride? The answer of course is a NO!  Your membership allows you to purchase products at the best possible prices, you get products that meet your needs and you consume them on a regular basis.

Quality Network marketing companiess are no different! You find a product you love (MASSIVE HINT), make sure it has a money back guarantee (any decent company would back their own product, our company certainly does)  you pay a membership fee to receive the best possible price, you order the products and you consume them.  There never is an obligation to pursue the business (if there is run the other way), that’s because legitimate NWM companies MUST HAVE REAL CUSTOMERS in the exact same way that cost co does.

But for some reason when there is an opportunity to earn rebates and/or commissions by making referrals, peoples scepticism seeps in?  Like it sounds too good to be true?  The truth is, it’s not to be good to be true because it requires hard work, dedication and commitment just like anything where the rewards are high.  It’s no different to sharing a movie you love, a restaurant you had good service at or hotel that went above and beyond.  In fact most of us are doing it don’t even realise it!

Big companies like Apple and Samsung are already leveraging your networks, you just aren’t being paid for it.

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No thanks, Sounds like a pyramid scheme.

Network marketing has come of age, It’s no longer a question of viability or if it works, it does……. It’s the people who don’t.

The industry will continue to grow with or without you or me being a part of it, people will continue to buy quality products and distribute them to friends, families and total strangers.  My hope is that eventually common sense will prevail when it comes to the everyday person looking at our profession and even though it may not be for them, they understand that’s it is just another profession.  I’m not saying that’s its perfect, but if you hate working for knobs who treat you like dirt it’s a bloody good option.

Of course this is just an opinion post,  it’s up to the person reading this to make a decision on what they believe about network marketing. It may or may not be for you, but there is only one way to find out….

Image: here & here.

Why I think there is MUCH more to life than you’re currently doing

By on 0

Go to school. Get good grades. (Try to) qualify for university. Get a HECS debt. Get a job. Work hard your whole life. Keep up with the Joneses. Work harder. Take 4 weeks of holiday a year (if that). Get married. Have kids. Over leverage. Argue over money. Possibly divorce over said arguments over money. Retire old. THEN start living?

FUCK.THAT.

I can’t recall the exact moment in my life I always knew I was going to buck conventional thinking but I do know it happened quite young.

I vividly remember being in high school in Year 10 though having been a straight A student (a rebel with partying – but always a straight A student) and sitting with a course counsellor trying to work out “what I was going to do in my future” and thinking, how the hell do I know what I want to do with my future at just 15?? All teachers were encouraging me to do Tertiary exams in subjects like law, history, hard maths and high English – and I remembmer not just thinking, but TELLING them – I could think of nothing worse!!!! My heart was calling me in to the subjects that I figured I would actually use after school, like Tourism, Work Studies and believe it or not – cooking!!

I went home and chatted to mum. I told her I didn’t know what I wanted to do specifically (although I STILL was saying “I’m going to own a hotel” at this stage) – but I did know that I would always strive to do my best and I would be successful no matter what.

She told me tertiary education or not – even if all my friends did it and all my teachers encouraged me to do it because of my grades – she would support me 100% in whatever decision I did make and be proud of me regardless (best mum EVER right?)

I chose the non conventional route – a straight A intelligent kid bucked the trend of exams and stress at 16 and 17 years of age and went with non T.E.E subjects instead. I did things that my heart told me to do – Tourism (I had a love of travel very young it would seem), Work Studies, Dancing (I have always loved to dance and be creative), Craft, Cooking, English – NO MATHS (yep, I dropped maths year 11 and 12 – STILL think it’s the best decision I ever made), and work placememt – I wanted to get out in the big bad world and I wanted to do it young.

Years 11 & 12 passed and I excelled. Whilst all my friends were in tears and developing stomach ulcers (yep, a few kids in my high school were that stressed from exams they got very sick) I had the best 2 years of high school life. I still maintained straight A’s – got DUX of year 11 (for non tertiary) and actually got top student of Western Australia in Work Studies.

I finished high school and rebelled again. Whilst many if not most kids were applying for universities and TAFE’s – I was studying world maps and figuring out where I wanted to go and spend a gap year.

Again, my teachers were concerned – even my incredible Year Co-ordinator got involved and sat me down and told me the smartest thing I could do was go on to continue my studies.

I rebelled against that notion though. I knew I didn’t want to be a Dr or a Lawyer at this stage so what was the rush to go and kill my creativity so young in a uni or TAFE?

Fast forward to 18 years of age and taking off to the U.K with my best friend (thanks to a generous gift of a one way ticket from said best friend Najettes mum Lynne) and $300 dollars to my name – but with an adventurous spirit that had just began it’s life journey of living on purpose. I didn’t have a visa, nor a job but we DID have somewhere to stay – and the first week, Naj and I went bar to bar asking for a job. She was underage – HA, and I didn’t even have a visa – Double HA … but within 2 days, we landed our first job in a small Scottish country town in one of the local pubs.

That was a months and months long adventure I will never forget and it gave me my first taste of a) doing whatever it takes to look after myself and b) travel.

Coming home I got my first full time job in an amazing Accounting firm. I was 18 years old, living out of home by myself earning a whopping (I joke) $20,000 a year. That eternal pull of … this is NOT the way I want to live my entire life was starting to pull on me again however.

By 19, I felt like my vocabulary was not where I wanted it to be (true story) and I wanted to challenge myself again, so I took a SAT test to get in to Uni as a – get this – mature age student (at 19!! Haha) and successfully started my Bachelor of Commerce double majoring in Human Resource Management and Management, with a minor in Entrepreneurship at Murdoch University.

Graduation

The following 3 years I worked full time and studied full time and that is when I wound up in Federal Politics. I graduated being offered honours (fuckkk thattttttt I thought, MORE study?? FOR WHAT!!! – aka I politely and respectfully said ‘thank you Murdoch but noooo thank you) and continued my career in federal politics.

By societal standards. I had “made it”. I was 24 years of age, earning approx. $90,000 a year in Politics , I had finished high school successfully, graduated uni with a degree successfully, I was madly in to personal development ….

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But I still wasn’t fulfilled.

There was a MASSIVE in congruency between what I wanted to do (which I still couldn’t work out) and what I was doing.

I left politics to go pursue a career in the private sector – thinking maybe THIS was the thing. I didn’t take a pay cut (at least one thing was for sure I was young but I absolutely knew my worth – LEARN that lesson alone from this post and you’ll have success) as a Business Development Manager (BDM) in a Mining Services Company.

I’ll never forget my old (incredible) boss in federal politics though handing me a book on my last day wishing me all the best. I opened the book – “The 4 hour work week” – when I got home (little did he know I had read the book 3 years earlier at 21) and saw his lovely inscription.

There was lots of lovely well wishes – and then at the very bottom – 7 words which struck something inside of me that to this day, still give me Goosebumps.

“Go and find what you’re looking for” …

I realized that was the in-congruency – I was living the life I didn’t want to live. EVEN THOUGH I was successful by almost all of societal standards.

I was so not ok with the traditional 40 hours a week (but really it’s 50+), for 50 years, to retire at 70 then not even be well enough to truly enjoy life. Then die.

I was not ok with being a young couple who’s soul focus was to settle down, buy a house the bank ultimately owned anyway, get married, have kids… then argue about how stressed we were over money.

Again – to that I say fuck.that.

I spent a year in that role as BDM before I found some health products my body desperately needed from the stress I was under – that happened to be attached to a profession I had heard nothing about – network marketing – that I fell madly, deeply and passionately in love with.

ME

I won’t say the rest is history, as it’s not, I am only just getting started, but I won’t bore you with the story here as you can read about what happened next on that journey in this post.

What I will say is …

I found what I was looking for.

I found the vehicle that was going to get me out of the rat race of working my whole life to try to live in the moments I got given when approval from a boss was given.

I found the vehicle that was going to allow me financial freedom to choose if I did want to invest money in property, I could be able to ENJOY that property as I stay at home working on my business –not tied to a 9-5 office job.

I found the vehicle that allowed me to be location independent – the greatest gift of all I believe.

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This article isn’t about network marketing though. Far from it. It’s about waking you up to the fact that your own life doesn’t have to be the norm of working your entire life towards a goal that you maybe don’t even want.

What do I mean by that?

This.

Go to school. Get good grades. (Try to) qualify for university. Get a HECS debt. Get a job. Work hard your whole life. Keep up with the Joneses. Work harder. Take 4 weeks of holiday a year (if that). Get married. Have kids. Over leverage. Argue over money. Possibly divorce over said arguments over money. Retire old. THEN start living?

If that is what makes you happy, then AWESOME, do more of that – and do it with all the joy and gusto you can muster. And I sincerely am cheering you on.

But I can guarantee you, for most people, that isn’t at all what their heart desires and yet somewhere along the line, they’ve accepted that as ok, as the norm, like, it’s ok to work Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm wishing your life away for the weekends then being too tired to reallyyyy LIVE and pursue your passions on the weekend anyway.

NO WAY.

THAT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE YOUR NORMAL. NO ONE IS DESTINED FOR THAT LIFE IF THEY DON’T WANT IT TO BE.

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Jim Hightower once so brilliantly and wisely stated, “The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it’s conformity”. If you have happily but intentionally chosen a life of ‘just getting by’ and living to pay the bills and get a good job, own a nice home and work until you’re 70 – that’s totally ok, as long as you’re HAPPY and conscious about that decision. As long as you haven’t accidently chosen conformity.

If you have just unconsciously accepted this as normal though and you’re not happy then re evaluate – look at ways to live more in to the life you want and deserve and go out there and pursue THAT.

As I said, this post isn’t about network marketing – nor is it about quitting your job living off baked beans and failing forward in entrepreneurship. Because most people aren’t in fact cut out to be entrepreneurs or successful in building a biz in network marketing, I wish they were but it’d be remiss of me to say anything other than the truth.

It IS about finding out what you REALLY want to do in this life and aligning yourself to your passion and values however.

Maybe that might mean not driving in the car the bank owns to impress your mates to instead drive an older less expensive car to have some more money to put in the bank to get some savings to invest in something that can earn you passive income in years to come.

Maybe that might mean downsizing your house or not filling it with all the 2.0 things to keep up a facade when the bank is the one who again, really owns it anyway to be able to have more money left over at the end of every pay to start saving for the big 6 month Europe trip you really want to take.

Maybe it might mean dropping down to part time hours (IF you can afford that because you haven’t over leveraged yourself) to take 2 days off either end of the weekend to do what you LOVE for 4 days of the week instead of JUST the weekend. Hell, even dropping down to 4 days of work to have 3 days including the weekend. (It IS Possible – anything is possible).

Or maybe it DOES mean network marketing or become an entrepreneur is something you need to look at to earn extra money to pursue the adventures of life that set your soul most on fire.

As the amazing Jack Delosa says – Your life’s work is a representation of who you are.

You weren’t born to work in a job that doesn’t totally light you up, be in debt most of your life, retire old – and die with a life unlived still inside of you.

The #1 regret of the dying is … and I quote;

“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me”.

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Just let that sink in for a minute. Or 5.

The #1 regret of the dying is to have lived a life TRUE to themselves …

I live by this principle personally (it’s why I pursued network marketing in my extraordinary company with such gusto and passion) – and recently when talking to a successful gentleman in a bar (I thought I recognized him from somewhere so stopped him) in his late 50’s when I asked what excited him he looked at me like I had just punched him in the face – with total and utter shock.

Here was a wildly successful civil engineer being asked by this loud fun loving random 28 year old woman who he had just met “what excited him” – but the saddest part … was the shocked look was because he said no one had ever asked him that before.

His wife came over and I brought her up to speed on Morgan and I’s and her husbands conversation and she said “nothing excites him, he loves his work” –

Turns out she couldn’t have been more wrong. He looked me dead in the eye, and told me “Travel. I want to travel. I want nothing more than to pack a suitcase and go and explore the world.” Now it was the wife’s turn to look like someone had slapped her in the face.

I told him he should go do that. He told me he couldn’t. I asked him why… he told me and I quote this verbatim..

“ I can’t because we need the money – we have a beautiful house in the best suburb that I never even get to enjoy because I work so damn hard, our 2 kids are in private school education because well, that’s the suburb we live in and my wife wanted them too, we have to have friends over on the weekends and only eat the best steak to keep up with the joneses and both drive nice cars”

He told me it looks like he’ll have to do that for the rest of his life, and I am quoting here – “then be lucky enough to die” … be LUCKY enough to die. He is so engrained in the rat race that he is literally living to die. A man who again by societal standards would be one of the most successful around – married for 20+ years, 2 educated children, great house, nice cars, wildly successful career – is living to die.

That is obviously an extreme case – but don’t be so naïve to believe that you wont work yourself in to the same position if you keep living the life that others expect of you – your family, boss, partner, society – instead of living the life you wish you had the COURAGE to live.

I’m not here to tell you what to do (ever), or even give you steps today like “5 steps to living a life you wish you had the courage to” .. No. It goes much deeper than that and no 5 steps is going to get you anywhere.

I am merely here to challenge you to take a look in to your life right now (I mean literally, right now) and ask yourself is this the life you truly want to be living or is this one that has happened by blind autopilot because you think it’s what you SHOULD do (get the house, cars, have the kids – and work until you die). Because I’m just here to also tell you it doesn’t HAVE to be that way.

LIVE

I’m an ambassador for happiness and believe part of my purpose in life is to be here to shake up mediocrity and help people realise they’re destined for greatness, even if that greatness for you looks like more travel, more purposeful living and less arguments in a household due to less financial pressure.

In this moment, whether you’re on the train coming to or from work, or at your desk at work, or maybe scrolling reading this on your phone over the weekend – just take an honest look at your life right now – and do a stock take on if it’s where you want to be. If it’s not, that’s ok, the most powerful way to live is to live consciously, so at the very least you have taken the first steps towards living with more awareness.

Now I want you to have a think about where you would HONESTLY love to be in 5 years time.

Travelling more?

Maybe with a kid or a few kids but not having to stress over money.

Mortgage free?

Working from a laptop around the world?

Having your own business?

YES

Ok good – thinking?? If you DON’T know where you specifically want to be, just think about what would be something you would love to DO … go and spend 3 months in Rome learning to cook and speak the language? Or maybe take the train route through the Alaskan mountains? Or maybe it’s just to cut down to 3 days of work a week.

Got it? If you haven’t stop. Right now. Look away, even just for a few minutes and THINK. You do not have to be ok or accept the life you already have. It’s bullshit and telling if you unconsciously or consciously have but don’t believe you can still drastically change it – because you CAN.

Have you got a picture now?

Ok great. So you have even a slight idea of what we want to be doing in 5 years or at least something you would love to do as a smaller aspect of our life.

NOW … I want you to think if what you’re doing today, like right now, look around you THIS SECOND – is going to get you closer to that.

Are you not over leveraged struggling week to week?

Are you not stuck in a job that you hate wishing you weren’t there?

Are you making healthy choices to get your body ready for children?

If the answer is no, what you’re doing today or this week, or for the next month isn’t going to get you closer to where you want to be in 5 years then CHANGE WHAT YOU’RE DOING.

I love the quote – you are not a tree –MOVE.

Life is yours – to live as loudly and brightly and wildly and spontaneously and magically and divinely and beautifully and successfully and gloriously as you please.

It’s just a choice – but it’s a series of lots of little choices that you are making every single day that leads you to your future – and it’s a series of lots of little choices you have made to have lead you to where you are now. (That might have hit you somewhere and hurt but guess what, the truth is always going to piss you off before it sets you free).

So choose better. Be conscious of your decisions from today forward and just remember – you weren’t born to wait to die, living a life of mediocrity in the meantime complying to societal norms.

You get to choose your life – and I hope today, you start to choose better.

As always, I am cheering you on the loudest.

Anna xo

Tuning in to your soul; to live on purpose

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It’s 7:30am here in beautiful Bali and I am currently sitting over looking the infinity pool that looks out over the ocean here at our divine hotel. There are no other souls in sight, and why would there be, I think I’m the only weirdo who still loves waking up really early on ‘holidays’.

It’s just me, my book, my gratitude journal, my conscious creating journal, my laptop and the energy of total and utter fulfillment.

I came to Bali to work by the infinity pool – Morgan and I have created a life for ourselves where we are location independent so can just pack up and go work from a pool instead of our home office whenever we feel like it and we did just that the last week – but I also had a deep desire to find a better groove and rhythm with my schedule. And I knew it would take a trip to Bali to ground and centre in to it.

Back on May 23rd 2011 I pressed publish on my very first post on my very first blog I created; lifesshinyprettythings. Back then no one really knew what a blog was, in fact most people absolutely didn’t know what they were and even more people didn’t do it. Blogs were big in the U.S but very few Aussie girls were creating spaces to share their daily musings online.

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I loved the idea of it though, I was a young girl of 23 trying to find her mark in the world and was going through such massive transformation I wanted a space to share all of that – who I was, where I was headed, and the journey along the way. I also loved to write, ever since I was little I have loved to write, so it was like combining a sincere passion of mine with an awesome idea – and lifesshinyprettythings was born.

Every single day forever more, I came home from my full time corporate career, and spent every night in my zen den, writing for my online space.

It literally became the thing that kept me up late and got me up early and my love of writing only deepened. I was even viewing the world through new lenses as being an almost daily poster (aka, sharing one post a day) meant I needed to go through new experiences or emotions to share congruently and authentically.

Over time and love and sweat, I accrued a beautiful organic following of like minded women who too loved what I loved and resonated with what I shared.

It was thanks to that blog I knew that corporate REALLY wasn’t for me – I used to get so passionate about writing and wanting to grow that to videos, courses – whatever I could to empower women as I found empowerment through finding my own voice.

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March 2013, so almost 2 years after starting the blog, I found network marketing through the worlds BEST company. I said a big excited yes to nutritional cleansing and everything that came with that and CANNON BALLED in to the business side of the company. Why? Because after years of blogging and knowing corporate wasn’t for me, I knew I had found the very vehicle that could allow more time AND financial freedom in my life.

Cannon balling in to something and giving it your absolute all – all of my spare time, waking moments, love and attention… other things in my life had to be put aside; and writing daily for the blog was one of them. And you know what, it had to happen. I had finally found the exact thing that was actually going to give me the time and financial freedom Morgan and I were so desperately looking for in our life, and with all great success stories, it had to take, and did take sacrifice.

I didn’t neglect it entirely of course, you can’t ignore your passion entirely after all, I even did the huge job of re branding my little ole space of lifesshinyprettythings to the new annaandmorgan dot com site that I pour my time and attention in to today.

Here is the thing though, for the last 3 years, I have built my business, and for at the very least 1 of those years, I have had the eternal tug of wanting to go back to writing and posting much more frequently, but I always had an excuse.

That I should be doing a call instead.

That I shouldn’t start my day with writing (when I’m most in my creative energy) because that is when I should be doing biz emails or biz ‘things’.

That I shouldn’t do something that makes me feel so GOOD when I am not where I want to be with our business goals yet.

That I don’t have the time.

These are just some – I could probably actually write a book on excuses as to why I hadn’t gone back to my daily writing practice.

But there it was still. That eternal tug at my soul, write Anna, write.

I started to talk to Morgan about it. Like I was almost seeking approval.

I told him I wanted to go back to writing again, and he told me I should. I told him though that my writing would have to be in the morning, when I normally do a lot of my big impact biz stuff and that he would have to step up – and he said he would. He also reminded me that there was another 10 hours of my day (more even) that I could hit the biz stuff in after I had filled my cup first with writing.

I said ok.

So here I sit, at 7:30am in the morning, poolside in Bali, flexing my writing muscle again – declaring I’m back. That is the thing as well, if I am accountable to you again, whoever this is, taking the time out of your busy crazy day to read this little space of the internet – then I hold myself extremely accountable.

And guess what?

It feels so.fucking.good.

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And that’s the thing about following the eternal tug on your soul – following what your soul is asking of you (for me, that was to write), feels GOOD, and good feelings put you in flow, and being in flow, leads to an incredibly beautiful and divinely inspired life.

This is just my story. I want to know yours though. The greatest story yet to be told is always your own but I hope if you learned anything for my own, its that you have to start listening to your soul again (it’s not woo woo, it’s the same as if I wrote trust your gut, or listen intuitively to what your body or mind is asking for).

What is it in your own life you have kept putting off because you’ve been too busy, or because it feels GOOD which makes you feel guilty?

Is it making sure you have a bath husband / kid and phone free every single night?

Is it privately journaling about a new journey you’re on?

Is it taking a candle making course?

Is it colouring in with really loud music when you get home from work?

I don’t know what your own soul / intuition / gut instinct is telling you to do, but I know you’re ignoring it, and I know listening to mine and getting back to the thing I love makes me incredibly happy, and it will for you too.

We have one go at this particular life darling heart – and if we don’t do the things we love on a daily basis then we just aren’t doing this life thing right.

So today, I dare you to follow your gut, listen to your intuition, tune in to your soul, and do the thing that its asking for most.

I promise you – you won’t regret it.

Anna

 

Love will change the world

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There has been a topic that has been swelling in my heart and soul for many many moons now, a thought, an energy, an overwhelming emotion that I feel needs to be attempted, honoured even, by being put pen to paper.

Sometimes, this energy truly, fully, completely overwhelms me. So deeply. So, so deeply it engulfs all of my being and the only way to get through it is to give in to it and allow the emotion to take me on it’s ride.

I’m talking about ….

Love.

L.o.v.e. The four letter word that holds so much meaning it is totally inconceivable, and yet, is so wildly misunderstood. You see, I believe, when we say love, there is a fundamental flaw that occurs, we, as the human race, instantly relate it to 1 of only 2 things. The first, being a romantic kind of love. A marriage, a heartbreak, a crush – the kind of love that keeps you up at night and has you looking at your phone every few moments when you’re waiting on a call back. That has you confused and angry or head over heels and giddy all over. The second, being an endearing kind of love, a love that can only be felt for blood relatives or friends that are family you choose, one that you may primarily have for those closest to you.

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But, what if I told you there is a 3rd and 4th kind of love that is so pivotal to our evolution and growth, so fundamental to our humanness, without it we are floating through life lost. In fact, what I truly believe, is that this kind of love, this 3rd and 4ht tier of love, are the missing pieces in the happiness of living. So what kind of love am I talking about?

Love of self .. and;

Love of humanity – love of one another

What if I also told you however, that without love of self, there simply could not be love of humanity. So to have one, one must endeavor to have the other.

You see, Love, to me, is the beginning, it is the middle and it truly, fully, deeply is the end. It is how we begun, and absolutely what we go back to when this physical world is all over.

I sometimes believe there are no words for it, and yet at the same time believe in fact, that it would take every single word in the English dictionary to sum it up entirely.

I believe love is the purpose, the end game, the meaning of it all.

No matter how I look at it though and how deeply I try to understand it, what I always come back to is that we all come from this power.

Power? I hear you echo back sub consciously? Yes, power. There is one thing I know about love deep to my core that nothing and no one can tell me otherwise.

Love, is the one thing that can demand change for the best, heal all pains, find the good and pure in the bad and can unite a nation. And yet so, so much more than that, love can change the world.

Did you feel that?

Change. The. World.

And it would be my honour to let you in on Love’s biggest secret. You can do all of that; demand change for the best, heal all pains, find the good and pure in the bad and unite a nation – but more than that, CHANGE THE WORLD.

By first; loving yourself.

And secondly; loving all of humanity.

If I could truly make you understand these two things alone I truly believe I would have lived in to my purpose. In saying that though, I would never ask of you to understand what I am not trying to learn and grow through myself, and what I believe is that this crazy love thing is something we should all grow through together.

So if I may, it would be an honour to share with you the secrets on how I believe you can profoundly live in to the to these kind of loves yourself.

Be selfish with your love.

I hear the rebuttal already. “Hang on Anna, you just told us to love ourselves and all of humanity and in the same breathe you’re telling us to be selfish with our love, that makes no sense at all.” Well in fact, it makes complete sense.

Why?

Because put in its most simplest of forms; you cannot give from an empty cup.

You cannot give love if you aren’t full of love first.

I have always loved the analogy by Wayne Dyer about the orange. The story goes he took an orange in to one of his lectures he was giving and asked a man in the front row what would come out of the orange if he squeezed it. “Orange juice of course” the man replied. “So apple juice wouldn’t come out of this orange if I squeezed it?” “Of course not! It’s an organge so It’s orange juice inside” the man replied.

To which Dyer replied “Let’s assume that this orange isn’t an orange, but it’s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don’t like, offends you. And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, fear. Why? The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that’s what’s inside.”

So I ask – what’s inside of you?

People want to go out every day in their lives and love their husbands or wives or children or others or even themselves and yet inside of them is stress, hurt and bitterness. Just understand, that whatever is inside of you will come out.

THAT is what is meant by fill your own cup first. Be selish with your love and give it to yourself first – why? Because then when it comes time to love others, to go out in to the world every day and interact with others, if your so full of love it’s the very thing that will come out in every word, in every smile and in every interaction.

For years and years now I have had a morning ritual that see’s me love myself first through acts of self love. Self love looks different to everyone, but to me it’s about putting my own oxygen mask on first. So I meditate, I go to the gym, I write out my gratitudes and I dry body brush and coconut oil my skin.

So many people want to impact the world in a meaningful and loving way but can’t even impact their OWN world in a meaningful and loving way because their cup is empty.

So what do I mean by selfish and how can you start being more selfish?

Well, to love yourself, fully and completely you have to develop some really strong self love or self care routines, which means focusing on YOU and you alone for parts of your day, everyday. I’m talking non negotiable treat these routines like they’re a million dollars in a suitcase kinda serious. And here is where I want to flip the stereotype on the word selfish as negative and turn it in to a positive one.

Filling your love tank and taking care of yourself through self love routines is the most divine and positive selfish thing you can ever do in this world. Because when you step out to do the work you are meant to do in this world, you have a full tank, or full cup to stay with that analogy to give from.

Taking care of myself first, every single day – fills my cup more than I can say, my cup overflows. As I explained above, I feel energized, I feel calm, I feel happy, I feel loved – by me – which is critical in the love equation. So when I am then going out in the world and having my daily interactions be that in email, text, person, social media – I am pouring love and greatness in to others from a full place.

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To be a phenomenal mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son, friend, auntie, uncle, grandfather, grandmother – whatever titles you are blessed to have in your life, you have to take care of you first, to love yourself first – before you can go and give love to others.

Got it? Are you ready to start being more selfish with your love and fillng your cup first? Good.

Well next I need you to …..

Know you are worthy beyond your wildest imagination.

Self worth. Two words that are talked about more often than not, and feature in every personal development book ever written, and yet…and yet is still such a huge issue so many people deal with today.

I personally think there is still such a lack of self worth because people give up on themselves FAR too easily, its like they start off with the very best of intentions and it’s going great for the first few days or week or maybe even month, then their first challenge happens where they need to step in to their feelings of self worth they’ve been working on – but instead the challenge feels too great so they give up.

YOU are the greatest masterpiece you can ever work on. YOU are also the most important person you can ever get to understand and love.

You cannot love until you love yourself.

You cannot give advice until you take your own advice.

And you cannot tell your children or friends they are worthy if you yourself don’t believe you are worthy. Fact.

There is a quote that I love more than anything and it goes; “I can’t hear what you say because your actions are so loud”.

When I tell my 4 year old niece that she is worthy, and beautiful and deserving of every good thing in this universe – I know she receives that message on a message far deeper than what she can hear. Why? Because I believe it about myself. I would never tell a child something that I don’t believe and live in to myself. Does that strike a nerve with you? Good. If that’s where I have to pull on your chords to get you to understand just how critical this piece is then so be it.

I see people do it all the time. Tell their friends and loved ones how magnificent they are, how beautiful they are or how worthy they are – and then yet shrink away and not be able to receive it if they get told the same things.

No one hears you if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you say.

Try this on for size…next time someone tells you how amazing you are, or loved you are, or how grateful they are for you…. Say THANK YOU. Without saying “oh no no”. Just receive it. Let it sit on you and sink right to your cells.

I adore being able to tell my niece and every beautiful person in my life how worthy they are and how they can be and do and have anything they want in this universe – because I know on a cellular level they believe me because I believe it about myself.

I also want you to try these on for size. I want you to say these out aloud for me – and if you’re at your desk at work, I want you to just mouth them out for now, or read them in your head – but when you get home and then every day for at LEAST a month, I want you to read these out to yourself ALOUD in the mirror – staring YOURSELF straight in the eyes.

I am worthy of love.

I am beautiful in my own uniquely divine way.

I am magnificent in every way.

I am worthy to receive love and give love and be love.

I am the best {mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife}

How does that feel? Does it feel like they’re not true? If you don’t feel anything less than TRUTH when you look yourself in the eye and say these things, you have a lot of work to do on your worthiness, but the good news is I’m here for the long haul to help with that.

When I was at Oprah she said something that I immediately scribbled down, it was; “Happiness is a spiritual discipline”. I resonated so hard because of the word discipline. Happiness TAKES WORK. And some people just aren’t willing to put in the work even though it’s the best work they could ever do in their life.

I truly believe, the same goes for self worth however.

Self worth is a spiritual discipline.

I assure you, back when I needed alcohol for confidence and would take ecstasy at festivals or on weekends I wasn’t waking up like “I am worthy and I am loved” .. quite the opposite. But I recognized that just like anything in life, this self worth thing might take some work, but the work would be worthwhile.

So commit today – that although it will take work, every single day, and although some days you aren’t going to feel like working on your self worth, or you aren’t going to believe a word you say to yourself, and although you may want to quit on yourself 100000 times – that you won’t.

That you will work on your self worth as a spiritual discipline so you can fully grasp that you, you magnificent human being blessed to be walking this physical planet were born for greatness and are worthy and loved beyond your wildest imagination.

Ok so we have now addressed two of the most major things I believe are critical to loving oneself to then be able to go out in the world as a beacon for love and light and all things good. But there is still one more area of love I want to talk about, and that is ….

Love every person you meet.

Anna, that is impossible I hear you say. “There are ASSHOLES out there and narcissists and terrorists and just plain dicks.” I hear you continue to say.

Yes. I say. There are. But isn’t it funny that the ones who probably are in that position in the first place are there because they are missing the one thing in their life that everybody needs the most – Love. And not just love from others, sincere love from themselves.

Don’t get this advice wrong with saying “be everybody’s best friend” .. that isn’t what I’m saying at all. Although if you want to run out there and adopt every person that doesn’t align with you or your values at all knock yourself out.

What I am saying is they can be assholes or rude or narissicistic or whatever else is out of alignment with who you are and what you believe makes a good person but LOVE THEM ANYWAY.

This is going to be hard to do if you yourself do not go out and work on the first two core things I mentioned first though, be selfish with your love (aka love yourself first) and; know how worthy and amazing you are.

But doesn’t it make sense that if you are so full of love yourself and you have such a firm grasp on how worthy you are – so essentially being full of both love and self worth that is what will come out of you anyway? Remember the orange analogy?

Of course it does.

I want to remind you again. Loving everyone, even the ones who you may struggle to love doesn’t mean you have to be their best friend – but you can show respect, decency and love to all human beings, you just can.

So what do I mean by love all of humanity. It means I want you to see the connectedness of us all. And to pour love in every interaction you have.

In my morning meditations before I end it, everyday, I cover the earth in the biggest ball of love that is humanly possible. I feel it reach from inside of me right around the entire globe. I don’t care if you’re blowing up buildings in a country or you were just nasty to your lover – you deserve love, in fact you probably need it the most.

I just want you to see that whatever is inside of people is what comes out – so the more people who fill themselves with love and then can spread love wherever they go – the more peaceful and beautiful this world will be.

I said at the start of all this, that Love, is the one thing that can demand change for the best, heal all pains, find the good and pure in the bad, unite a nation, and even can change the world.

THAT is how – because when you change YOUR world, you change the life of your family. And when you change the life of your family, they go out and impact people at their own schools, or workplaces, or associations and so ultimately you are then changing your whole community for the better. Once you change a whole community, and others are seeing the connectedness of our humanness – you start to change your nation – to the point where you CAN and will change the world.

But….

It all starts with YOU.

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What I have shared with you today isn’t ground shaking revolutionary stuff – it’s knowledge you have had within you the whole time. You know that you are worthy of love – giving love, receiving love, being love, sometimes we just need reminding, and I hope this was the reminder you needed.

All I ask is that you stop putting off these exercises you can do above for a ‘better day’ or ‘Monday’ or ‘when you feel more ready’ or worse still .. ‘have more time’ – the world is calling you in to action as of right now, it needs you to step in to your capacity to love more than ever and you have everything you need right here, right now.

So just begin. Today. And don’t stop until your cup is so full every interaction you have is fuelled with, and by love.

And remember – that the world is depending on you to change your world to in turn change THE world. And it starts and ends with YOU.

It’s all up to you and you are SO worthy of living a life of heart centred love.

Cheering you on the loudest and sending you oceans of my own love as you start TODAY on this journey.

Images: Here. Here. Here.