It's sunny and gorgeous out, and the kitties and I are loving it!
I accomplished a big to-do this week and am proud of the results.
I celebrated a good friend's birthday last night.
I got crafty, got busy, got outside, got enough sleep and even got to relax here and there.
It's been a great week!
Hope yours was too! Excited to meet you back here next week with some surprises and a new MO MOJO pocast.
See you then. Happy weekend!
<3 jena
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I've spent the past couple days with my nose to the grindstone accomplishing the billion tiny steps that it takes to finish an e-book- and now it's finally heeeere!
YIPPEE!!
I'm beyond thrilled with how it turned out because not only did I pack it full of extra helpful info on how to do your own PR, it's been totally re-branded and re-prettied and is a super fun (and colorful!) read.
Are you ready to get over that self-doubt that's holding you back from really getting yourself out there?
Stop waiting to be discovered, and get out there and start telling the media about your hot shit, cool jams, and supa bad self!
This new and improved PITCH-KIT shares everything you need to know to start reaching out to the media, to BE THE GEM in an editor's inbox, and DO YOUR OWN PR with CONFIDENCE and SUCCESS!
Check it out and snag yourself a copy over in the MOJO SHOP.
And now, I rest. phew!
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This is the third time I've sat down to attempt to write this post. I'm listening to Frank Ocean and have gotten distracted twice just having to get up and dance! So I've basically spent the morning playing piano, drinking coffee, playing with the animals and dancing around- shhh... don't tell my boss!
So, this kitty photo Friday pic is an oldie! We finally turned in a couple very old, very random rolls of good old fashion film, and this was one of the pics I took with this little toy camera. That's when my office was yellow and brown- ick!
But I thought little Neko looked so sweet, I just had to share. Glowing kitty ears!!
And next week I'll be unveiling a new and improved Pitch-Kit!!
Ooooh yeah, I'm excited about it and you're going to be too once you see how packed full of helpfulness it is.
Adding on to the current kit, which is all about pitching to blogs, it's going to share everything you need to know on how to DO YOUR OWN PR effectively! How to drum up the buzz and see yourself on blogs and in mags- it's totally possible for you to do yourself, and I'm going to show you how!
Just a reminder- the kit is getting double packed with info and is going to cost (almost) double the dough!
The price of the new kit will be $44, but if you purchase the current pitch-kit at $24 by Jan 15th, then you'll get the new updated kit for FREE when it comes out on Jan 16th!
So you can buy now to get started, and receive the all new updated version free next week and save 20 bucks. Sounds good to me!
I'll also be continuing talking about mindset stuff throughout the whole month of January. Next week, we'll talk a bit about how to get in the right mindset for pitching, and marketing yourself! Cause I know it can be uncomfortable and weird, but it doesn't have to be :)
Thanks for reading and I'll see you round here next week!
<3 jena
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I can get caught up in the "what's next?" syndrome, staying so focused on the future and what's up ahead that right now starts to feel not quite good enough.
Like I have to just achieve this one thing and then I'll be totally satisfied.
But of course, the satisfaction never really comes from the achievements themselves because once we have "the thing"- whatever our goal may be- the sense of happiness and accomplishment is often cut short as a new goal quickly falls into its place.
This is much of the reason why I'm choosing to, I guess, "lay low" on the whole "goals" thing this year. I do have goals, of course, but I no longer want to focus so much on how exactly I'm going to reach them.
When I look at my goals from that long-distance perspective, the journey feels so long and arduous from here, and it makes me start to second guess myself, start to lose motivation and get all sorts of procrastinatey.When our sense of fulfillment becomes wrapped up in attainment, then the "if I just do that thing, am in that place, act this way, have this happen, then, I'll be happy" treadmill becomes miles and miles long, and we never feel quite happy with where we're presently at.
One way to hop off that treadmill of conditional happiness is to celebrate your accomplishments!
Continue reading "See yourself as the success you ALREADY are" »
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{photo by my mister, @drsmoothdeath}
Happy new year! I've been taking these past few days of 2013 to figure out what I really want for my life in the year ahead...
And I've decided, I'm making no resolutions. I'm setting no goals.
I'm focusing less on the things I want for my life, and more on how I want to FEEL.
I'm focusing less on what I want to do up ahead, and more on who I want to BE.
I'm tired of hoping for someday, and am ready to ACT on today.
I think when we become so worried about which path to take and if it's the right one, how long it's going to be and "when are we going to get to the end already?", that we forget to look up at the trees, and the light shining down through them- we forget about the happiness that we have access to, here and now.
Continue reading "This year my motto is... Feel. Be. Act. " »
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Man, it is beautiful out today! We're not used to seeing the sun around here in December and it feels oh so good. I saw someone call Portland sexy today on instagram, and I gotta agree- those blue skies and big sun are beckoning!
Continue reading "Well hello, beautiful day! & goodbye til next year " »
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It's not too late to pitch your shop to blogs to gain some ever-impactful holiday season exposure for your business!
Since I spend so much time helping individual clients out with pitching thier online shops to blogs to get exposure, I wanted to extend the same hand to help all of you with some advice on how to make the most of these last couple weeks left in the shopping season.
I have been wanting to deliver some helpful nuggets here via video for quite awhile now, but I'm still finding my groove with that and have been finding audio recording really quick and easy for me right now... So, I decided to record a special little "MO' MOJO" podcast for you!
Continue reading "Mo' Mojo Podcast: How to Pitch Last-Minute for the Holidays" »
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It's a special kitty video Friday, today! I walked in the bedroom and caught one of our kitties kneading on the big fluffly belly of another one- they were just having a good ol' cuddly purrfest all by themselves. It was just too cute, so thought I would share!
Happy Friday to you and hope you get some cuddles in this weekend! <3 jena
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...and the mister, around the neighborhood we feel so lucky to live in, on a crisp and clear Autumn evenin'.
No, this wasn't today- today is a total sogfest, as is Portland most of the time during fall. But that just means when the sun decides to peek itself out, it makes it all the more magical.
Dang.
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So you may know that I love to meditate to help clear my mind and get present. And I can vouch that it really does make you feel happier overall the more regularly you do it.
I am getting back into a regular practice myself, and so when Mayi from Heartmade asked me to say a little something about gratitude for her Life is Messy Bootcamp members, I thought about what would be most helpful from me to really get people into that state of thankfulness?
And so I put two of my loves together and recorded a guided meditation on gratitude! I wanted to share it here with you too:
It will lead you through some breathing and ask questions to get you thinking about all that you have, right here and now, within you and around you, to be truly grateful for.
Plus, I recorded some birdies in my backyard and around the hood that you'll hear in the background :)
So before you rush off on Thanksgiving travel plans, or if you need to step out of the thick of stressful holiday seasonness for a moment, I encourage you to take these 10 minutes for yourself to give it a listen. A little bit of thankfulness each day can shift your whole perspective of your life and the world around you!
I plan on creating more guided meditations like this around a variety of topics to have as a free resource for getting mo' mojo into your life! So let me know what you think, and if you'd like to hear more stuff like this!
And I can't leave without saying a big thank you to you all!! For sticking around and supporting me through the many changes on the blog over the past year. Your comments and emails and smiles and thank yous are really what keep me charged and plugging along. I appreciate each and every one of you reading this right now!
Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers and lots of happy gratitude to all of you! See you here next week!
<3 jena
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I have been so excited to show off my new Pansy Maiden bag to friends, and they all love it too! It looks like leather, but it's actually waxed canvas, which I adore. And the style is so very me!
Come check out what I carry in my bag over on the Pansy Maiden blog today. Laura, the lovely maker behind the line, is offering 20% off to YOU awesome readers o'mine with the code "InJenasBag", thru 11/25 only!
And to top if off, 10% of all sales from that code will go to Charity Water. I was introduced to them at the World Domination Summit over the summer and think it's an incredible cause- learn more on their site and buy a bag this week to share some proceeds with their awesome mission!
Thanks so much Laura, for having me on your blog!
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The snuggling season has begun!
I'll pop in next week before Thanksgiving to let you know about some plans and stuff coming up ahead around here! In the meantime, hope you have a snuggly weekend!
<3 jena
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I feel like I've been pulling a little vanishing act lately, cancelling obligations and plans cause I was sick for way too long, and now have been playing catch-up like a mad-woman because of it. But when work is fun and fun is work, I don't really have too much to complain about in the grand scheme!
Part of the fun this week was taking some pics of myself and my new Pansy Maiden bag, along with what I carry around in it, for an upcoming blog post on her site! It'll go up next week- I'll share the link, of course!
After shooting those pics, it had been the first time I really felt any energy in over a week since I caught a nasty cold, and since I had the camera all set up, I felt like playing some more.
I started messing around taking photos using a double flash, while I was dancing and spinning around, and I caught some moments where you could, literally, see right thru me!
Now you see me, now you don't.
I'm half here, half stuck up in my brain tallying up all my to-dos. But one thing's for certain- taking some time out to dance around, play, move yo' bod-ay... it's always time well spent!
Have you taken a movement break lately? If you need a shift in your energy, it's time to get on up and get down!
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{collabo project by my mister and I- original photo by him, @drsmoothdeath}
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A couple of my bedside companions...
Ugh, I've been sick all week! Finally feeling up and around today, but now the Mr caught whatever I got and is home sick too. Phooey fall colds! I forsee much catching-up with work and housey stuff this weekend- whee!
But under it all, I do feel so grateful to be able to just stay home sick if I need, to have a flexible schedule, and flexible clients and a boss that doesn't make me come in even when I'm feeling like crap- yay for that!
Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll see you back round these parts next week :)
<3 jena
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It seems like with every healthy habit, there comes a period of time when we're doing really good with it! Look at us go! And then something in our life situation changes- we get busier, we have to deal with something- there's a shift of some sort. And then suddenly, poof! Our new habit vanishes along with it.
That doesn't just happen to me, does it?
One healthy habit I have found myself falling from is meditation.
I was doing really great at it, meditating almost everyday for over a year. When I was feeling at my most overwhelmed and burdened, meditation is what I turned to help draw me out of that. And guess what? It worked!
It worked so well that the triggers that led me to feeling like I needed meditation in my life, the things that led me to keep up the habit everyday, the stress, sadness and overwhelm- well, they all went away!
The better I started to feel, the less I felt like I needed to meditate, because I already felt calm and happy and present.
And somewhere along the line, I stopped meditating at all. Without even really noticing that it was a habit I had given up- it was completely unconscious.
And now that I realize it's been a couple months since I was meditating regularly, I'm also noticing that I'm getting more easily frustrated, self-doubt is creeping in a lot more, I'm falling back into stressful patterns that I had before and I see- it's because I stopped!
So I now realize, that meditation is a life-long habit I want to cultivate and that just because it seems to be working at the time, doesn't mean I get to stop! That's the exact time when I need to keep going and keep at it.
So, I'm hopping back on the habit wagon! Here's how:
First things first: I'm going to start today. Now is a better time than any to jump back on that wagon. No use wasting time thinking about myself as a failure or wondering why I can't stick to things- I'm just gonna take action and get re-started. TODAY.
2nd step: I need to re-connect with my WHY. My first motivation was very apparent- I felt like crap, stressed out, depressed, and meditation made me feel instantly better.
Now that I'm not in such an overwhelmed state, I need to find a new motivation to keep on going. I know that I want to keep building up that place of presence and calm within me so that it's there when I need it- even if things aren't immediately stressful, I need to feel like I can handle the hard stuff when it comes up, and meditating regularly gives me the strength and clarity to do that. That's a pretty motivating why!
3rd step: I'm going to bring in some community. I have always meditated alone, which makes it really easy to stop if I want. I plan on continuing the solo practice, but also want to reach out to some community activities- guided meditations and groups around town (it's Portland so there's lots of stuff like that :)
To have a chance to talk to and get to know others who are interested in this could really help my motivation, I think. Having some sort of social support around your habit can help you feel more accountable and stick to it!
So those are my steps for hopping back on the habit wagon! I'm going to meditate right after this, and get started!
Is there a healthy habit you've let lax recently? How are you going to hop back on the wagon and get groovin' on it again?
{This is part of our Truthy Tuesday series over at The Maven Circle, where we openly share our struggles and thoughts around a different topic each week. Join us in getting truthy on your own blog, and we'll link up and spread the love!}
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Ahh, it's finally the end of a pretty exhausting week. I'm exhausted from good stuff, but feeling it all the same. Yay for Fridays!
And the sun's out today! It's been pouring here for the last couple weeks so it feels like a nice little repreive. I'm gonna get some good relaxation in this weekend hopefully!
Hope you all have a relaxing one too, and see you round here next week!
<3 jena
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I've been feeling some serious liony vibes lately... so since it's Halloween, what better day to let my inner lion out!
It started around my birthday this year (and yes, I'm a Leo :) I found a scarf at an estate sale in this random bin of accessories- it had been folded up and was in a clear bag. I just saw the colors and grabbed, and to my surprise when I unfolded, it was a lion! Mine!
When I got home, I decided it needed to be displayed rather then stuck in a drawer, so I hung it up over my side of the bed to remind me to unleash my lionness more often.
Soon after, I started to crave getting a tattoo of a lion on my shoulder- calm and strong with a swirling (curly-ish?) mane, urging me to be brave. I don't have any tattoos, so to suddenly yearn for a big lion on my arm is a bit strange. (Don't worry mom, I'm just collecting tattoo inspiration on pinterest at this point :)
And then I started to get the strong urge to grow out my own mane super long, and wear it proud! It used to be so luxurious when I was young (and hated it.) I don't know if it can grow so long again but I'm gonna try and see. If I had my 12 year old hair back now, I'd rock it!
And then, at a Firestarter Sessions group I'm in, one of the ladies, Dryden, and I got to talkin' woo-woo stuff how I like to, and she had some Angel Cards with her and gave some of us girls a reading. One of the things my angels apparently had to tell me was that they wanted me to know what my "spirit animal" is...
"Do you like BIG cats?" Dryden asked.
Oooh, shit.
Of course it's a lion! And it's been calling me. And apparently it has been for years, when I look around the house and see all the lions I've been collecting for sometime without really realizing...
So what does this all mean? I guess it's time to BE the fucking LION.
It's time for me to be brave. Be bold. To protect. To lead. Be fierce.
Time for me to ROAR in my own way.
And Halloween's as good a day as any to get started!
Wishing you a happy one! What alter ego/secret identity/sprit are you channeling this year?
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A cuddly kitty photo friday for this cuddly sort of day!
I'm putting the finishing touches on the next Dose of Mojo video- it'll be up next week- for real this time!
And over at the MC, we unveiled a new fun thing this week- the MAVEN pledge!
We are pledging to trust our inner awesome, not let the mind gremlins defeat us, and to take care of ourselves! (amongst other maveny things)
Do you want to remind yourself of your priorities and strengths and join the movement of people trying to live their most awesome lives? Take the MAVEN pledge!
Well, hope you have a fun weekend! It'll be a soggy one around here. See you back in action on Monday!
<3 jena
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Is it ever really possible to see yourself as others see you?
Is it possible to think of ourselves without expressing judgement of some-sort?
It might be possible, but it's not something easy to achieve, to distance ourselves from the focus on flaws when our eyes met our own in the mirror.
I've gone thru many changing ideas of my own self image throughout the years. Although I still have a long way to go to see myself as the me I know I am, deep down inside, I'm at least catching glimpses of it more often, recognizing her in little bits and pieces.
I'm starting to see the good stuff and believe in myself more, little by little. And through that alone, I've seen the shift that a change in perspective on my own self can have on my whole experience of the world.
For my whole life, only up until quite recently, I've seen myself as too shy for a lot of the things I wanted to do, too scared to speak up or really share my differences. I've seen myself in this way for so long that it felt like it must be the truth. But lately I've been noticing my actions prove otherwise.
Suddenly I find myself doing all these not so shy things. I'm finding my words and speaking up more for myself. I feel more open then I have in years. I'm doing things on a daily basis that used to freak me out. I'm not that shy, scared little girl anymore, and I'm still wrapping my head around seeing myself as something stronger and braver than who I've identified as for so long.
For most of my childhood life, I didn't consider myself artistic or creative, because I had an incredibly talented best friend who could draw and was so naturally free in so many ways. I thought "I'm not artistic, cause I'm not like her! :(" I didn't consider all my talents and hobbies artistic at all, even though looking back now I can see I was an incredibly creative kid. It really took me getting into photography and writing more in college, and then ending up working for myself being creative every single day, just to prove to myself that I am artistic, I am creative, and I do have good ideas.
I used to hate my curls so much I got my hair chemically relaxed and would blow dry it out stick straight in high school and into early college. That is until the chemicals burned the right side of my hair off! Once it grew back though, I was back on the relaxer again. Not until I moved to Portland did I stop destroying my hair!
I was petrified of being seen as "other", as "different". Although I thrive on being recognized as an individual, when I was younger I also felt so compelled to be accepted and fit-in. Still now, I do let my curls go crazy, but I tend to pull my hair back- reign in the lioness quality of it, because sometimes it feels almost too fierce. Too "look at me!". Too confident. And I'm still getting used to seeing myself as someone like that.
I could go on and on about all the things I used to/still do consider flaws, but I won't- because, I've learned that that's really the whole battle right there -- learning how to talk to ourselves differently.
Learning to let go of our own flaws and foibles, and just accept that they're part of who we are, as we do for other people we care about. Learning to approach ourselves with less judgement, so that we can also practice less judgement against others.
And I think that's where the fear lies really- the fear to be our real, raw, full selves - it's a fear of being judged. And it's so ingrained in us because we ourselves are judgemental. And like Jen said in her post last week, the best place to start practicing less judgement is to ourselves.
I think to start shifting our self image is simple really:
1. Be kind to yourself. Notice when you're judging yourself and change the sentence to something more positive.
2. Stop comparing yourself to others. Comparison is judgement. Put it on the back-burner and just say fuck 'em!
3. Start believing the good stuff. You know, all those nice and wonderful things people say that you slough off and push away? The things you notice in yourself that surprise you. The good feedback, kind words, compliments. Believe them. Let yourself take them in.
4. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. The further you go beyond it, the more your self image can start to grow beyond the limitations you've placed on yourself, simply by how you see yourself.
I'm practicing all 4, all the time, but it's a work in progress.
What about you- how do you see yourself differently now, then in the past? Where else would you like to shift your self image toward the positive?
{This is part of our Truthy Tuesday series over at The Maven Circle, where we openly share our struggles and thoughts around a different topic each week. Join us in getting truthy on your own blog, and we'll link up and spread the love!}
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