Refuel Your Brilliance Part 1: Curiosity, the Unexpected Power Move

Hello dear one,

I hope your summer is feeling spacious. As I write this, I am on a train heading to a retreat and time offline with friends.

I’ve just come to the end of running my new programme Feminine Fire: Fuel Your Brilliance, which is why I’ve been a bit quieter than usual here the past month.

In truth, I almost didn’t run this programme. I had a major wobble during the launch, which was slower than I’m used to. I very nearly cancelled and gave up on the idea.

But, something whispered to me not to and good colleagues held me steady. So I hung in there, and I’m so glad I did!

In the end, ten fantastic women joined and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and transformational courses I’ve ever run.

I’m still processing it myself and feel personally changed by the experience.

It was very special and will shape all my future offerings!

The results have been breathtaking. In just six weeks, the women taking part have started Substacks, closed misaligned programmes, launched new collaborations, raised their prices, finished their books and moved forward with projects they’ve been stuck on for YEARS.

Deeper still, we all experienced such personal healing - because, as soulful business owners, it’s never just about the work! Here are a few snippets...

"I just wanted to share how this has been freeing up so much life force energy"

"I’ve started reaching out for more support in general, talking more openly about my struggles, so I feel less isolated. I’ve started going out more instead of working from my home office to do work in novel cafes and natural environments, I’ve even started to conduct meetings and client sessions there and it’s felt so freeing! And I recently met a woman with whom I feel deep resonance and connection and we’ve decided to co-facilitate a retreat together!"

"I feel like a door has opened wide. A door to a giant playroom. And I can stay as long as I want. Whenever I want. Even though I won't be able to keep these wonderful women in my playroom, I will keep their inspiration close. I will remember the playful times and all the tender confessions and dreams we've shared with each other. I've gained some invaluable tools for resourcing, honoring myself in the process. Such beauty. So grateful."

"My body is breathing again"

"I appreciate myself more, and I have more confidence in the unique person that I am. That's huge! I'm much more in creative flow. I'm writing very quickly, and my mind is full of ideas. I feel more confident in my business. I'm enjoying work and wider life more. I have been more prepared to uphold boundaries in my relationships, even when my inner people-pleaser is questioning it. I have processed angry feelings, and I'm more at peace".

I can’t believe it almost didn’t happen. Please, if you’re reading this mid-wobble, don’t give up! Run the programme, share the idea, create the art - you might be the one needing to receive your own medicine.

As I led this programme, I felt my teaching expand and deepen to a whole new level, and something much wiser seemed to move through me at times. It felt easy, and fun, and so aligned.

There were so many rich learnings that emerged from Fuel Your Brilliance, that I've decided to create a series of emails over the summer to share some of this wisdom with you all (and honestly, to help me integrate it).

My intention is to curate some ‘light summer reading’ for your holidays - a tapas menu if you like - of some of the key themes from Fuel Your Brilliance. Small doses of goodness to help you replenish over summer.

There’ll be audio snippets, written reflections, my personal insights, as well as links to podcasts, articles and books from other brilliant thinkers on the topics we covered. I’ll include some exercises to help you engage with the themes on an embodied level, as well as a smattering of music (dancing optional but highly recommended!)

Here’s what to expect over the next month...

Coming up in this Summer series:

The six somatic shifts that create success in a softer way.

✨Shift One: Self Honouring over Self Improving (medicine for fear of success)

✨Shift Two: Pleasure over Procrastination (medicine for holding back and inconsistency)

✨Shift Three: Play over Perfectionism (medicine for perfectionism and imposter syndrome)

✨Shift Four: Power over Permission (medicine for people-pleasing, overdelivering & undercharging)

✨Shift Five: Community over Competition (medicine for comparison and self-doubt)

✨Shift Six: Presence over Performance (medicine for marketing dread and visibility fears)

I’ll also host a couple of live community conversations in August.

These offer a chance to gather with other wise, soul-led women and explore these topics. Details below.

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For now, I’d like to start by sharing with you the first thing I said to the women inside Fuel Your Brilliance.

For the duration of this programme (email series), I invite you to adopt the view that you are already the perfect shape for the medicine you are stewarding into the world.

As women, we spend so much of our time trying to change, improve and optimise ourselves, that we miss the ways in which our natural brilliance is already showing up.

I’m so tired of the personal-development industry, which I see fuel so much self-hatred, harsh judgement and shame.

Shame never got anyone unstuck, it is love that liberates.

Shame is like dirty fuel, it burns toxic fumes which suffocate your brilliance.

Love is regenerative, clean, sustainable fuel that replenishes as it burns.

My hope is that what I share this month will help you to fall more in love with who you already are.

To see your true nature more clearly, and to learn how to nurture and resource your gifts in such a way that your flourishing becomes inevitable.

That's the path to real success, in my experience.

True success is a path of the heart.

I’ll leave you today with a quote from the late, great, incredibly wise and sorely missed poet Andrea Gibson, which guides so much of my work:

“I know most people try hard to do good and find out too late they should have tried softer.”

- You Better Be Lightning, by Andrea Gibson.

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I’d love to hear back from you over the summer with any ‘a-ha’ moments or reflections from these sharings. Do email me and tell me how they land!

With love and summer spaciousness,

Erika x

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Your Invitation:

If the themes of this series resonate with you, I’d love to invite you to join my next Community Conversation on 5th August, where we’ll be taking a deeper dive into the transformational power of those first three spells: curiosity, pleasure and play.