A foggy morning on Madeira Island, Portugal at our last retreat - Photo by Mary Gardella Six weeks ago, I turned 44 surrounded by chosen family. I was celebrated by clients, crew, and closest friends through gifts of presence, spa treatments, cards, flowers, and truly beautiful messages about who I am to each of them. The day started with sunrise on the beach and ended with sitting on the floor of our living room laughing and telling stories. As I blew out my birthday candles, I could feel my...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
What's your definition of success? I used to think sitting still was for lazy people. My whole life was go-go-go and I liked it that way. From the time I woke up in my running clothes so I could hit the trails before sunrise to getting to work early so I could catch up before my team showed up, I didn't stop until I fell asleep wearily only to start the day over again. I felt like I was living my life to the fullest, using every single moment to get things done. To accomplish. To be...
2 months ago • 5 min read
A few months ago, when Lexi shared that she wanted to post some of her stories in the One Moksha Network, I was overcome with joy for numerous reasons. Just over 18 months before this, I had received Lexi's retreat intake form and read her words out loud to myself: "Please don't push me outside of my comfort zone and definitely don't ask me to speak to the group." At that gorgeous home in Palm Springs, I watched her step out of herself and into the woman I saw inside of her. She shared in...
4 months ago • 4 min read
photo in the Fanal Forest on Madeira Island in Portugal So, you're sabotaging your success, huh? The vision you have for your future is cloudy at best and you're worried that if you set a clear one you'll never make it a reality, so you don't. The message you sent without thinking about its impact on the other person because you were in a hurry. The moment demanding your presence but you had other things on your mind more important than the relationship. The fear you gave into that led you...
4 months ago • 3 min read
TLDR: Are you in a big transition and not sure how to get where you want to go? I'm hosting a free 2-part workshop that will give you the direction you've been searching for. Click here to register! So here's where we're at. In my last episodes (#1 & #2), we've caught you in the middle of a conundrum. You've just realized that what got you here won't get you there. In other words, you've used every bit of your book-smarts or street-smarts to get you where you are, and things have stalled....
4 months ago • 5 min read
Your intelligence only gets you so far If you read yesterday's email, you'd have learned that what got you here won't get you there. That's why you're in this odd place in your life–trying to figure out your next step with the strategies, people, and ideas that got you where you are. They won't help anymore. So, let’s go back to the beginning and find the truth. No, I don’t mean the beginning of your business or career. The beginning of your life. When you were a kid, you were born with...
4 months ago • 3 min read
"What got you here won't get you there." I’ve heard this phrase by Marshall Goldsmith many times as I built my branding agency, usually as it pertains to the people I had hired or the strategy I had put in place. Entrepreneurs tend to outgrow their original team members and business strategy because their business changes over time and needs new blood and perspective to help it go to the next level. As much as I heard it, I never paid much attention to this phrase until I began to work with...
4 months ago • 2 min read
photo of Bo & Lyndie from The Brilliant Rebels Experience - by Mary Gardella Do you have the courage to be seen? To be truly known?To be wrong or disliked?To be loved without doing?To just be? Many of us feel powerless as we put our sense of self in another's hands. In their eyes--knowing we have to meet some sort of unreal expectation based on their trauma, beliefs, and stories--all which have nothing to do with us. Yet we worry about others--allowing them to control how we feel. It takes...
5 months ago • 2 min read
photo from The Brilliant Rebels Experience - by Mary Gardella "How do you get yourself grounded?" “Grounded? What do you mean?” I asked him this simple question and he tipped her head to the side with a big question mark on his face. I had been asked this same question years ago as I began some of my deepest healing and was just as befuddled. Shortly after I began getting grounded, I was able to connect to my body for the first time in my life (40 years of living without connection to it). I...
5 months ago • 1 min read