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Announcing visionSPARK 2017!

By Rosie Molinary on November 16, 2016

Are you ready to create your vision and define your intentions for 2017?

Would you like to claim how you most want to feel so you can chose actions that support your desire?

Would you like to build a foundation for the new year and the life you seek by gaining clarity, conviction and confidence in your vision?

If starting 2017 with exuberant expectation and clear intention speaks to you, join me for visionSPARK where you’ll capture your ideal year’s vision. You’ll imagine the possibilities, gather inspiration, and then chart your vision all while receiving thoughtful support.

Ultimately, you will leave visionSPARK with clarity about your 2017 passions and priorities, an inspirational vision board to root you, a touchstone word to reinforce your commitment during the year, a gentle and personal call to action to guide you, and the motivation to manifest the life you imagine.

$60 registration fee includes pre-workshop workbook, supplies, and refreshments. Use code EARLY for $10 registration discount between now and December 5th.

visionSPARK Thursday, January 5, 2017 from 9:30 am to 1 pm (Statesville, NC)

visionSPARK Friday, January 6, 2017 from 9 am to 12:30 pm (Davidson, NC)

visionSPARK Saturday, January 7, 2017 from 9 am to 12:30 pm (Charlotte,NC)

visionSPARK testimonials

The visionSPARK workshop changed my year! I had more focus than I ever have. My word for the year really guided me through some difficult times which in turn helped me to shape two new career opportunities. Rosie was so easy to open up to and to work with, she makes the vision process easy and fun! I hope to make this a part of my new year routine EVERY year! ~Malone Lockaby

visionSPARK was just what I needed to really fine tune my vision for the year. I left with a clearer perspective than I came with. I have always had a vision board of sorts in my head but something about laying it out in a tangible way proved a more interesting and revealing process than I expected. Rosie is awesome at asking the right questions to get you thinking about what you really want. I use my ‘word for the year’ daily in making decisions and in my approach to everything. ~Allison Andrews

I attended visionSpark with Rosie Molinary to kick off my birthday weekend in early January. My goal in attending was to begin 2016 and my “38^th” year with purpose and intention. As a mother of two who works outside of the home, I find that often in trying to get through the day to day of our lives we lose sight of its purpose and live less intentionally and in that the things that drive us and truly make us happy become muddled. I wanted 2016 to begin differently and to lay-out broadly what I wanted this year to bring me and what my purpose would be. Rosie was amazing at helping me hone in on what that vision was and what word would encompass that vision. It was inspiring and just what I needed to feel as if I was starting my year off with the purpose and intention I needed. She helped me to see that every decision or calendar invite or favor that might come my way this year should be measured by how it would fit in with my vision for the year and my intent to “thrive” in every aspect of my life and in finding small ways each day to fulfill my purpose for myself and family. ~Jocelyn Negron-Rios

Attending a visionSPARK workshop has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. It’s nice to have a special time to reflect on the previous year and to set intentions for the new year. Rosie is gifted in asking questions that cause you to think more deeply and to see things more clearly. I love the spirit of camaraderie and encouragement that always seems to occur among attendees. Having a vision board to take home that reminds you of your hopes is a gift that lasts all year. ~Mary Sherrill Ware

The visionSPARK workshop was truly genuine and powerful. Rosie knows her authentic self and radiates her passion during the entire session. She is laser focused on her goals; and it’s infectious. Sometimes that can be intimidating coming from the speaker because you think, “I can never be as pulled together”. Yet, Rosie is humble, forthright and open to sharing her proven methods. The best part is she takes you through the very simple steps of empowering you to develop your own authentic voice and leads you down a proven path toward achieving your own clear goals. The workshop is concise and turn-key; you walk out empowered, and better yet, laser focused on your steps for the next twelve months. ~Holly Schoolmeester

I attended Rosie’s VisionSPARK workshop with the hopes of setting some clearer work goals for myself. Those hopes were met and far surpassed. Just by spending time with Rosie I felt smarter, more grounded, and more capable. One of her coolest gifts is the ability to listen to women and extract the truth about what they are feeling. I think this has something to do with her amazing insight and incredible vocabulary… Rosie is like a modern day shaman and midwife; she sees your best potential and then helps you deliver it to the world. ~Michelle Icard, Author and Founder of www.MichelleintheMiddle.com

Rosie’s welcoming presence, her insistence that we all deserved to and could live up to our full potential, and the support of the other participants, were the encouragement I needed to start moving forward again… Rosie shows you how to open your mind and heart to the possibilities of your own life. In a few short hours, we learned how to identify, then neutralize, the fear and negativity that stood between us and our desires…Thanks to VisionSPARK, I’ve been more creative, more willing to step out of my comfort zone, and kinder to myself in general. Signing up for one of Rosie’s workshops is one of the best gifts you can give yourself! ~Lisa Rubenson

Having the opportunity to spend some time intentionally setting my focus for the new year through this workshop was a gift. Not only was the actual workshop time valuable, but the prep time also made me realize that Rosie’s mantra of organizing your thoughts around who you want to ‘be’ (instead of what you will do) will truly ground you in your specific purpose going forward. Having Rosie as our ‘Vision Guidess’ was ideal- she has an intuitive way of knowing exactly how to help you zero in and boil down your thoughts and ideas into that one main important point on which you will focus. I would highly recommend this workshop! ~Donna Scott

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a daily practice

By Rosie Molinary on November 7, 2016

So we are entering the busiest, happiest (ideally), most stressful time of the year. With holidays, lots of family time, expectations, memories, and more, this time of year can be fraught. A lot of times, our strategy to make our way through it is to power on, strong arming and willing our way through the season. And while that technically works, it doesn’t really allow us to enjoy and be present for what we are experiencing.

This year, I want to encourage you to slow down a bit. In the midst of all of this doing for others, it’s especially important that you keep yourself fueled and sustained. There are eight weeks until the new year and what I want to encourage you to do in these last 55 days of 2016 is take a moment each day to just take care of yourself. The moment can be just minutes long or, if you have the time, more than that. Any deliberate self-care, whether it is one minute of stretching, a twenty minute bath soak, a 30 minute bath, a 45 minute phone catch-up with a dear friend, an hour of reading, a two hour lunch break, etc. will profoundly fill your well. You might think you don’t have time to do it but after you experience the restorative nature of self-care, you will realize that you didn’t have time NOT to do it. Self-care is such a profound reset for our souls that what we get from ourselves after that nourishment is all the proof we need to keep going with it.

So right now, here’s your challenge. Ask yourself, “What do I need right now more than anything else that I have the resources to provide for myself?” And then make that care happen as soon as possible. Often, what you can need can happen pretty soon.

The answer bubbles up, “to stretch my back out” and you can do that immediately. Or it might be that you need to meet the need later if the answer is, “a soak in the tub” and you are at work. Sometimes, it might even need to happen a few days later when the answer is to “see my best friend” and it’s a couple days before you can arrange lunch, a walk, or coffee.

Irregardless of when you can actually meet the need, you begin to meet the need when you ask, answer, acknowledge and plan for it. So, your answer is “a massage” and you call for an appointment and it is three days away. No worries. Even as you hang up that phone, your body unknots a little bit in relief because it knows that you heard it, acknowledged it, and honored it by making an appointment. Even with the massage 3 days away, you are already feeling the benefits of that self-care.

But one self-care challenge is not enough. To follow up that exercise, I want you to do one self-caring thing a day. At the end of each day, consider what you have before you the next day and make a conscious commitment to your self-care. Ask yourself, “what will I do tomorrow to care for myself and when will I do it?”

Need some suggestions? Take a look at this list (you can even print and post it somewhere as a reminder):

Follow through over and over again; and you will experience yourself and your life in the most profound way. Here’s to profound self-care as we nurture others this season.

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Notice

By Rosie Molinary on October 31, 2016

It comes down to this: we all just want to be noticed.

We all just want to be seen, heard, and told we matter. It is perhaps the simplest truth about the human condition but the hardest to act upon.

If I could just know that I matter, we think, I could give the world what I’ve got. And so we wait for affirmation, for verification, for something to resonate-our power paused as we wait for something, someone to fuel us.

As we wait to be noticed, our well diminishes, we shrink into ourselves, we lose our ability to marvel because we don’t feel so marvelous.

It becomes a frenzied cycle. We are here to engage the world with all of our soul but, if we feel invisible, we cannot fully engage-neither in the work we are meant to be doing nor in affirming others so that they, too, may engage in the work they are meant to do. We starve for matter-a deep hunger aching inside of us to learn that we matter, a deep hunger aching inside of us to do something that matters.

It comes down to noticing.

What a difference we can make in this world if we marveled anyway, if we insisted on noticing, if we had faith that looking at those around us with starry-eyes would allow us to be seen with those same starry-eyes. What if we weren’t scared to give away what little bit of gusto we have, what if we had faith that each time we marveled, we would be filled up with more marvelous as well?

We would, I assure you, get noticed.

Make the commitment today to notice, to register awe, to celebrate those around you, to let them know what it is that is so marvelous about them. Fill them up. You will not just help them heal. You’ll help heal the world.

From the 2nd Edition of Beautiful You: A Day Guide To Radical Self-Acceptance

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The Essential Questions Jar: a tool for self-discovery and connection

By Rosie Molinary on October 24, 2016

We officially launched the 2nd Edition of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance on Saturday, October 15 at Main Street Books.

It was a such a wonderful event filled with amazing women and many daughters, real talk about self-acceptance and self-compassion, the Beautiful You manifesto, great food including gorgeous cookies, book sales and signing, and a make and take activity that I want to share with you today!

Our make and take activity was creating a jar to be used for one of several different exercises in the book (it can be a self-appreciation jar, a caught you jar etc). One of the suggestions I had was to make it an Essential Questions jar where you write questions on small pieces of paper, fold them up, and then place them on your dinner table. At dinner each night, everyone draws a question and answers it. Happy loves the jar so much at our house that we often do more than one round of question answering.

I promised to share some possible questions and so here they are. Take or leave whatever best suits you (if you want to use the jar as a spontaneous reflection/ journaling prompt jar) or your family. As for creating the jars themselves, I cut out hundreds of words and images for the group to choose from for their jars. Those images were affixed with modpodge and then there was also washi tape and glitter available for pops of color and style (I strongly recommend adhering the glitter inside the jar to minimize the spread. Mod Podge totally works for glitter, too). Now, for the questions:

Hope these questions bring you and your family an even greater connection!

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a whole~hearted opportunity for yoga teachers (and their students)

By Rosie Molinary on October 18, 2016

Yoga teachers, are you:

Curious about integrating more positive body image into specific yoga series for your students?
Interested in supporting your students more deeply around their body image, but you’re not quite sure how to do that?
Wanting a tested teaching structure for creating a series that you can also adapt and make your own?

If so, whole~hearted was created with you (and your students!) in mind.

What is whole~hearted?

Whole~hearted is a local, yoga teacher-led series. It is a powerful transformation experience that creates a space for people to practice connecting with and showing their body love in a supportive environment.

The program blends the body and soul-affirming Curvy Yoga with the intentional self-awareness and self-acceptance journey found in the book Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance and includes personal reflection, yoga, group support, and compassionate guidance. whole~hearted is led by yoga teachers who wish to offer their students of all backgrounds and abilities a powerful way to very intentionally live their yoga while practicing self-acceptance.

At just $75 for this thoughtful, inspired curriculum, whole~hearted is a powerful way for yoga teachers to bring their students home to themselves.

Learn more…

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Pledging allegiance to yourself (and a Beautiful You giveaway)

By Rosie Molinary on October 17, 2016

Wednesday is LOVE YOUR BODY DAY.

In celebration, my goal is to get you to sign The Body Warrior Pledge, from Day 2 of Beautiful You, to inspire you to make a conscious commitment to be your own self-acceptance champion.

In exchange, I’m giving away a few signed copies of the 2nd Edition of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance.

THE BODY WARRIOR PLEDGE

Because I understand that my love and respect for my body are metaphors for my love and respect for my self and soul, I pledge:

To stop berating my body and to begin celebrating the vessel that I have been given. I will remember the amazing things my body has given me: the ability to experience the world with a breadth of senses, the ability to perceive and express love, the ability to comfort and soothe, and the ability to fight, provide, and care for humanity.

To understand that my body is an opportunity not a scapegoat.

To be the primary source of my confidence. I will not rely on others to define my worth.

To let envy dissipate and allow admiration to be a source of compassion by offering compliments to others.

To gently but firmly stand up for myself when someone says or does something harmful.

To change my inner monologue to one that sees possibility not problems, potential not shortcomings, and blessings not imperfections.

To give my body the things that it needs to do its work well-plenty of water, ample movement, stretches, rest, and good nutrition-and to limit or eliminate the things that do not nurture my body.

To see exercise as a way to improve my internal health and strength instead of a way to fight or control my body.

To understand that my weight is not good or bad. It is just a number, and I am only good.

To love my body and myself today. I do not have to weigh ten pounds less, have longer hair, or have my degree in my hand to have worth. I have worth just as I am, and I embrace that power.

To recognize my body’s strengths.

To no longer put off the things that I wish to experience because I am waiting to do them in a different body.

To understand that a body is like a fingerprint: a wonderful embodiment of my uniqueness.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below sharing with us which statement you are making the MOST conscious commitment to embrace, what your first step will be in that journey, and then signing off with your name. Feel free to share this link with all of your girlfriends who should also be championing themselves and start a mini revolution amongst yourselves.Sign the pledge by midnight EST on October 20th, and you will be entered into a Love Your Body Day drawing for a signed copy of Beautiful You. You can also enter this drawing on my Facebook page and Instagram Feed for three different chances to win a signed copy of the book!

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Hello (to and from) Beautiful You 2!

By Rosie Molinary on October 11, 2016

Today is the official launch day of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance and I am talking about the book, self-acceptance, creativity and more in several different places so I thought I would share them with you.

You can read an excerpt of the new edition at Weightless (and there’s a book giveaway!).

You can read another excerpt at Indigo + Canary (another book giveaway!).

You can read a Q&A about my creative process at Make a Mess.

You can read a Q&A about the book at Macaroni Kid North Charlotte.

Finally, if you are local, join me for the Beautiful You 2nd Edition Launch party this Saturday at 5 pm at Main Street Books in Davidson. We’re doing a Make and Take so if you are planning on coming, let me know by leaving a comment so I can make sure that I have enough supplies!

Thanks so much for all of your support and for being a part of this movement towards radical self-acceptance. I am so grateful to be in community with you!

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Consider What Self-Acceptance Can Add To Your Life

By Rosie Molinary on October 4, 2016

Over the years, whether I was personally reflecting or in the role of friend, teacher, volunteer, partner, or just casual observer, I’ve come to realize that so much of our pain is the result of a lack of awareness of our own self-worth. Pain like that morphs, aggravating itself in some way or other, over and over again.

When I was young, I worked with young men who were gang-affiliated. Sometimes, friends who have known me for decades are struck by what they see as the contrast in the work that I do now, helping people embrace and practice greater self-acceptance. But, for me, the work has always been the same. It’s about walking alongside people in a way that allows them to see their value. If you value yourself, you don’t hurt other people. And if you value yourself, you don’t hurt yourself. When we don’t value ourselves, we lash out. Sometimes it is outward, sometimes it is inward. The answer to changing all of that always lies within. We want so much to be heard and seen and understood, and the reality is the very first person we need that from is ourselves. If we can begin to see our own worth, the world expands for us.

I wrote Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance to give people a tool where they could collect all the evidence of their worthiness. This isn’t a book where I tell you to believe in yourself. This is a book where you compile the proof- which is already inside of you- of how very worthy you are. The book provides readers with a journey into a relationship with themselves that is not adversarial and that is life changing. Today, I want to share with you an excerpt from the brand new edition of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance.

Imagine a line: a continuum from self-hate to self-love, with self-hate being the furthest point to the left and self-love being the furthest point to the right. I like to think of self-acceptance as neatly residing between them—a position of neutrality about the self—a place where one understands that she has worth and power and dignity simply because she exists. Worth does not need to be earned. It doesn’t have to be proven. It just is.

For some people, the concept of self-love is terribly uncomfortable for a litany of reasons: upbringing, faith, culture, ideas around language, etc. What they imagine it to be makes them self-conscious. So having self-love be the ideal destination feels inauthentic (to themselves) and, thus, they avoid it, choosing a relationship with the self that looks like the opposite of self-love, lest anyone think they are self-impressed or arrogant or anything else.

Let me be clear that I do not think that practicing and embracing self-love is being self-impressed or arrogant. Sometimes semantics can keep us away from a practice that might be good for us. Embracing self-acceptance can be a more accessible way to build a positive, healthy relationship with ourselves.

Imagine self-acceptance as a position of neutrality about the self, rooted in our decision not to have an adversarial relationship with our self. Your worth doesn’t have to be earned. You aren’t bad, ruined, imperfect. There is nothing fundamentally wrong about you. In fact, you are fundamentally right because you exist: because you, just like every other person, were put here on purpose. Worth, you see, is your birthright just as it is the birthright of everyone else. Ultimately, you chose to recognize your humanity just as you recognize and respect the humanity of others.

Today: Consider what self-acceptance would give you if you decided to embrace the practice in your life. How would your life be different? In what ways do you need to see the world as more abundant? How do you begin today?

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Announcing 2nd Edition of Beautiful You pre-sales!

By Rosie Molinary on September 30, 2016

This October, the 2nd Edition of Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance officially hits store shelves.

Drawing on self-awareness, creativity, and mind-body connections, Beautiful You is a powerful 365-day action plan for breaking undermining habits of self-criticism, shoring up confidence, realizing profound self-acceptance and championing one’s own emotional and physical wellbeing

Through accessible, doable daily actions, readers are encouraged to manifest a healthy outlook on themselves and life. Steering clear of the florid affirmations and daily meditations often utilized by books geared toward personal growth, Beautiful You delivers a nuanced, authentic, and modern guide of inspirational thought and powerful action that keeps pace with the times. Beautiful You is a practical, candid, and accessible handbook that will make readers think, laugh, and change their ways while never patronizing them.

I am so proud of this updated book and really believe in the difference that self-acceptance can make in not just our individual lives but the world. My dream is to move all of us past negative relationships with ourselves so we can go out and do the urgent work this world needs to heal and thrive. It would mean so much to me if you would help get this message out into the world by buying this book for yourself and/or as a gift.

Want to go ahead and place an order today?

A signed copy, personalized as you would like + mailed to you

THANK YOU so much for embracing me and this precious book and for sharing it with the people in your life. It is my great hope that this 2nd Edition will also call to you and that you might be inclined to share it with others.

You are so appreciated!

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Hope

By Rosie Molinary on September 29, 2016

As many of you know, I live just outside of Charlotte and teach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The last week has been so incredibly heartbreaking. As we navigate forward, I’m reminded of this Barbara Kingsolver quote and of my hopes:

I hope for a world where every single one of us knows how worthy we are and that we understand that our worthiness does not trump anyone else’s worthiness.

I hope for a world where we no longer fear what acknowledging another’s worth will do to our own because we understand that it does not diminish us.

A world where every single one of our lives is equally valued and protected and respected.

A world where we don’t feel inclined to just dismiss or ignore a differing point of view simply because we cannot get our heads around extending that person some grace.

A world where we turn our volume down and our reception up.

I hope for a world where we have the courage to truthfully acknowledge what causes our tragedies, even in our discomfort, where we respect that we all experience life differently.

Where we show up, over and over again with and for our stories that have complex underbellies.

Where we say, “I want to understand” and “you are worthy” effortlessly and with meaning.

Where we show up for one another in whole new ways. If we can do that, we heal the fractures. Together, I believe we can do this.

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