You are ready, you can see now, to step it up, claim it, say “Yes I will!” (and then love the gulp and fear that comes sailing in – fine, be here but you aren’t stopping me).

Announcing The Savor & Serve Experiment.

This beloved URL of Comfort Queen — with its 10+ year history of hundreds of thousands of women finding comfort and solace — will no longer be my home, although it will remain here for you to read previous entries. I express my deepest gratitude for what being the Comfort Queen has brought to my life and I respectfully lay down my crown and skip, run, and saunter into my next adventure.

I hope you’ll join me now.

Two fantastic posts that pop! sparkle! liberate! the shadow side of social media which I have seen eat at my sense of enoughness and lots o my clients and beloveds.

The eating away is such a waste of time.We don’t have time for this!

Bop on over and read the BRAVE TRUE Bright Lights, Big Shadow from Bridget Pilloud and then read Tara Sophia’s helpful balm on How to Use Social Media Sanely.

Don’t skim these, read them.

Be well, do good work and know you are so amazing – trust me.

Brene Brown of TED talk fame is my latest.

If you don’t know Brene,  you must. Her books are sheer brilliance and she has that wholeness and realness that the world needs.

We meant to talk for 20 minutes. After 70, we had to make ourselves stop.

I excerpted a bit of the video love for you (if you don’t see a video in your email, click here). It’s about Shadow Comforts and numbing out and creativity… hint: if you are want to create and are standing in front of the fridge and eating instead or surfing blogs (hmmmm….) then watch this video.

Part Two of our fab fest will be on Brene’s site soon- still only the tip of our sizzling iceberg (excuse mixed temperature metaphor). The whole sizzler is at the Cafe but of course.

Questions about shadow comforts? Ask away!

P.S.The price of the Cafe goes up to $27 February 5th. Get in now and you pay only $19 for as long as you are a member. Those of you who are sampling the Cafe for free, you got a special invite in your email, be sure and check that first.

When you look around and cock your head (think: RCA dog) and ask yourself, “Why is that so popular?” or “I don’t get it” or “Yuck,” trust that.

Trust that questioning, that niggling, that contraction in your belly.

Not because you are such a genius (though you are, or you wouldn’t be here reading this) and not because I’m urging you to become a judgmental crank.

I want you to trust what you know.

The world is full of the unreal, amplified a million times by the media and the interwebs and a general lack of discernment. The unreal is streaming into your awareness and it needs your awareness to counter it

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you are ahead of the pack, the curve, the time. You do know more. Period.

Honor that you are ahead, that you know, that you see.

The world needs you to know what you know.

That niggling in your belly that says such and such is not real or not for you or simply doesn’t feel right?

It’s your current truth.

Meet it.

Fiercely.

Trust it.

Completely.

No, don’t make it into a rigid rule or noxious gossip. You don’t even have to tell anybody.

Simply say, “Yes, that is my knowing.”

“For now.”

P.S. Early bird price for my world famous Taos Writer’s Retreat goes away January 30th. Save money and get free coaching. A few spots left.

I’m also grateful for my “ahas” for reading my own interview.

Whenever you are giving birth to something new – or when you have lost focus or faith – have someone interview you.

Find someone you trust and who listens really well and who is super curious. Someone who likes to pretend she’s Barbara Walters.

Record it (I like video because I really come alive in front of the camera – ham I am. Lots of people prefer audio. Use a free bridge line. Free Conferencing.com is super easy to record on via their web interface.)

Set an intention to hear what you really want and ways you might bring it to life.

Have a conversation about your thing even if you don’t know what “it” is. Go out beyond right and wrong doing and riff.

Be willing to be awkward, to stumble, to sit in silence. The more you stumble, the closer you are getting, me thinks.

Let yourself say things that make your heart pound, that make your head spin around with a giant “how the hell would that ever happen?” Which is not to say this is about being inflated and “big.” It’s about speaking from your heart and not stopping the flow.

The alchemy of being interviewed happens in the surprise, in the interaction between the questions you’re asked and what comes out of your mouth. When you hear yourself say what you really want and realize, “Oh holy Batman, that is it.”

When that happens, you will almost certainly go immediately blank. Congrats, you have struck gold! This is why you recorded it. Wait a day or two, then make notes on what you said. If you go blank again, ask someone else to listen and make notes about what he or she heard.

I wish I could interview every single one of you! Tell me what you learn!!

P.S. I’m also happy to be part of Allison Mark’s tell-it-like-it-is organizing summit – you get to ask all sorts of self-employed chics how they actually organize their time, their offices, and their days – including me. You can call in live for free. Cool!