Nourish to Flourish Coaching

As I write in the beginning of my book, ten years ago I was just going through the motions of life working a corporate job and worrying about the future, when my beloved Dad died after being diagnosed with cancer. After wallowing in grief for several years, feeling sad, and binge eating and drinking wine almost daily, I began to think that there had to be a better way to live.

I  started a new career as a realtor, and began looking for a networking group I could join to help me drum up  leads for my business. One of the groups I discovered in my search was called “The Prosperity Princesses.” I have to admit that when I first heard the name I thought “this group isn’t for me – I’m not a princess.”  But I joined anyway, and soon learned that this unique, unconventional women’s group  would open my mind to a new world that was awaiting me. We met every other week to discuss ways to become more prosperous financially and emotionally, and we also read books about manifesting, the power of thought, and spirituality.

I attended multiple seminars, retreats, and classes where I chanted, hiked, danced, screamed, ate while blindfolded, screamed, laughed, meditate, and learned.  (These experiences could be another book – think a mini Eat, Pray, Love. ) I became a holistic health coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition,  and a certified personal trainer, and I wrote an almost-daily blog about my journey.

My blog began as a weight loss blog, but quickly morphed into something much more, as I realized that being thin or rich wasn’t going to make me happy – but, that the Universal Truths that I was learning about would.  My blog served as the basis for my book – looking back on my blog entries I could see that there were countless insights and important information that I needed share with the world.

The Prosperity Princesses fizzled out, but I continued to read and study oodles of books with a smaller group that still meets every other Friday.  In my readings, I discovered that  I wasn’t able to find one book that focused on all of the things that seemed to make life wonderful.  I read books about manifesting, but they didn’t talk about the importance of exercise. I read books about nutrition, but they didn’t talk about present moment. I read books about living in the present moment, but they didn’t explore healthy eating. And, I had an epiphany that I need to write about my journey and all that I had learned so that others could have all the information in one place in a concise, easy-to-follow format.

I  started writing, and writing, and writing – editing, deleting, organizing, re-organizing, re-writing, re-thinking,  doing more research, and spending many days at my table at Starbucks. I also traveled to inspiring retreats to stir my creativity (Ojai, Lake Arrowhead, Borrego Springs, Rancho Santa Fe).   As I wrote the words came to me, and often when I would read them back I would wonder who wrote them. I knew I was being guided what words to place on the page.

As I explored more of what I knew to be true, and writing about my experiences along the way Nourish to Flourish began to unfold – one word, one sentence, and one anecdote at a time.