WOW: Adventuring with Whales

This past weekend was filled with “Wow!” over here in my neck of the Baja. Together with family, I adventured 4 hours up the coast for an intimate experience with nearly-ready-to-give-birth grey whales. I am still trying to find words for the magic we discovered in Magdalena Bay. I melted somewhat into a land with…

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Fear & Surfing: Part 3 – Love Wins!

stephanie armstrong | life coach

“Have the courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” – Maya Angelou I have come to know this surf spot well over the past few months. As the dirt road slopes down towards the beach, I can pretty quickly tell what the conditions are going to be like. Today, as…

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How to Choose Love over the Holidays

A common theme I hear through the holiday season is one of self-abandonment. I know that terms sounds kind of harsh, but let’s think about what sometimes happens during this time of year. People can… Spend more than they are making…all in the spirit of “giving” Attend parties they don’t want to be at or…

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The Forgotten Elf

Please enjoy this Holiday Story I wrote about the importance of living your purpose. During a time of year when elves all over the world hung from light fixtures, peeked out from chimneys, and hid behind kitchen appliances, there was a particular elf named Hans who remained in a garage packed in a cardboard box marked…

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A Pilgrimage to Hiroshima

“Pilgrims are persons in motion, passing through territories not their own, seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit’s compass points the way.” – Richard R. Niebuhr During WWII, my great grandmother “Obachan” was a widow raising three daughters in Hiroshima, home…

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Moving & Choosing {love}

I refresh my email, Instagram and Facebook in that order and stare out the window contemplating where I can get a glass of crisp white wine on this warm winter day – somewhere preferably with a water view. Escape sounds so much more appealing than writing. For this recovering perfectionist, revealing the process, the unfinished,…

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On Being wHOLe

Wholeness: We welcome life’s opportunities and challenges as essential to the leadership journey.  With grace, we cultivate healthy, loving, and real relationships, with ourselves, one another, and the world.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it?  All the cultivating of healthy, loving, and real relationships and such.  We read this definition for our value of wholeness before every…

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25 Lessons Learned Over The Past 20 Years

As we prepare to launch our first Heart of Leadership programs on Thursday, I took a moment this weekend to reflect.  20 years ago, I entered my freshman year in high school – ready to make new friends and take on the world.  The journey since those days of a smile full of braces has…

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Don’t Hide. Celebrate!

I have tan, long legs with defined calves. I get them from my petite Japanese mother and tree-trunk-sturdy-calved Caucasian father. When I wear heels or workout shorts, my legs become a statement piece. So I don’t wear dresses with heels unless the occasion is incredibly appropriate. I hide my legs not because I think they’re…

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10 Guideposts to Wholehearted Living by Brene Brown

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown 1. Authenticity: letting go of what people think 2. Self-compassion: letting go of perfectionism 3. A resilient spirit: letting go of numbing and powerlessness 4. Gratitude and joy: letting go of scarcity and fear

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