Ultimately, when we are unmotivated, it is because we are struggling to make the connection between the task at hand and the benefit to our current and future selves. I want to be very honest and vulnerable with you: I have been feeling unmotivated about launching the next cohort of The Chingona’s Sabbatical. I believe it is my intuition speaking to me. I am finally ready to listen.

I love a journal prompt. I collect them for myself and offer them to friends and clients often. Sometimes when I offer a prompt or two, I can see the hesitation in the receiver’s face. It’s often easier to talk to another person than to sit alone and process thoughts and feelings. Recently, I came across my own hesitations to journal.

About a year ago, I had a glimpse of my future self, and a particular phrase: “I am a global teacher.” I didn’t fully know what that meant at that moment or how it would evolve to be true. But I knew I wanted to hold onto the message. I wrote on a bright orange post-it note, “I am a global teacher,” and stuck it to the cover of the book that prompted this revelations, to come backk to later.

When’s the last time, if ever, that you asked yourself, “Who am I?” It is not a one and done kind of thing - we are ever-evolving beings. Asking yourself this question could cause you to freeze and say, “I don’t know,” or inspire you to list a variety of identities that you consciously connect to. Regardless of which of these is your initial response, I guarantee you that there is more waiting to be discovered under the surface.

Last week I had a moment where I had to lean into what I often recommend. A pause.

After someone had been flaky about a commitment they made to me, I had to stop and take a deep long breath, and release a learned response that was rooted fear and ego, and transition to a softer response that was connected with who I am consciously evolving to become.

I am about 8 weeks into my quasi-sabbatical, but last week was the first time I respected the time that I set aside on my calendar to rest and reflect. With all the moving pieces from work and setting up my new home, I have allowed myself to keep functioning in doing mode. Even though this is supposed to be my season of learning what it’s like to be in being mode.

I finally had to stop and reset my intentions for my quasi-sabbatical the next couple of months.

I heard someone talking about the ways our school systems hurt students of color. It reminded me of my years serving in K-12 schooling, and the shame I was feeling came from a core wound that gets triggered from time to time that I am not doing enough for people of color, specifically Black and Latinx folks, to be liberated.

I am not much of a Disney person. However, when having dinner at a friend’s house, I watched Moana for the first time thanks to her daughter. Within a few minutes, I was hooked because I quickly realized: Moana was on a journey to be a Thriving Chingona!

I’ve been sharing for weeks about the season of transformation that I am in. In seasons of deep reflection and eventual action, we begin to identify not only what we are ready to expand but also what we are ready to shed.

A couple of people I know who are also in similar seasons have focused on shedding people who are no longer in alignment with who they are becoming.

The universe is always speaking to us. We need to be in tune enough to listen. Last week, I shared that I am feeling a desire within myself to seek more freedom in my life, and I am still not clear on what that looks like. And then I came across Rachel Rodgers’ book, ‘We Should All Be Millionaires’…

I am kicking off a new book club with some besties this week. We are diving into a 7-week journey around manifestation. The premise of the book is that as we turn inward and find the blocks within us that are making it difficult to receive what we are seeking to attract, we can make conscious decisions to remove those blocks and begin to attract what we desire to our lives.

It’s time for another sabbatical. Not a full-blown slowing down season, as I have done in the past. I’m thinking more of a quasi-sabbatical where I open up more space in my schedule for large pockets of time to reconnect with myself.

When I took my full sabbatical a few years ago, I felt deeply in my soul that it was important to completely walk away from the life I knew because I had become so deeply disconnected from a life focused on purpose. Though I am now on a clearer purpose path and living life authentically as me, I have been feeling lately that I need more time and space to breathe, listen, and reconnect to a very specific part of myself.

This is the second year I speak in the Transformative Leadership course. The workshop I facilitate is Transforming Self to Transform Systems.

I highlighted that the word ‘manifestation’ gets thrown around a lot without a clear explanation of what it means. When we are clear on who we are and the life we want to see unfold, we are able to manifest with ease.

I’m sure you’re still thinking, “What does that even look like?!” Let me explain…

I have been struggling with sleep the past week. Too many ideas swirling around in my head that are keeping me from shutting off and resting. The other night I suddenly woke up and was laying in bed thinking about a variety of tasks I need to take care.

As my sleepy mind tried to make sense of all that was flashing before me, I told myself, “You know what you need. You need a mantra and deep breathing to slow yourself down.”

The last couple of months have been a roller coaster of emotions. Hope with the roll out of the vaccine. Excitement to see friends and loved ones again. Sadness that the delta variant is impacting children. The numbing routine of again canceling in-person gatherings and travel due to spiking covid numbers.

Throughout the pandemic I have remained dedicated to moving my body to keep my energy moving. This past week I was especially in need of some workouts to shed tension growing in my body and blocking my mind.

This past weekend we held a virtual gathering of the Latinas who have gone through The Chingona’s Sabbatical. As I prepared for our time together, I reflected on our conversations during the 10-week journey.

We are born full of joy and organically share our genius with the world until we begin to hear that we are too much. Societal expectations are placed upon us and we begin to shrink to try and fit molds that were not meant for us. We do this in the hopes of becoming lovable.

Last Wednesday we wrapped up the latest round of The Chingona’s Sabbatical.

There is powerful energy when Latinas come together as a community for rest, reflection, and to reconnect with themselves. Every time a breakout room ended and no one wanted to stop talking, it warmed my heart to know they were so engaged in deep conversations about their mindset, passions, strengths, and purpose.

Latinas thrive in spaces where they are heard, seen, and lovingly pushed to move forward to the life meant for them.

The last couple of days have been rough. For most of them, I was on the verge of tears. Initially I chalked it up to exhaustion from the travel home after my vacation in Mexico.

However, the pressure that kept lingering in my chest signaled something else. Everything was leaving me with welled up eyes and tension in my body. When I finally sat still in silence and let the dam break, what immediately came to me was, “I feel stuck.”

The United Farm Workers (UFW) invited me to create a session for their leadership team focused on Liberatory Solidarity. The focus was on the increased possibilities for liberation when we join with other movements who share our mission and values.

This workshop feels relevant to circle back to in order to keep the conversations around Juneteenth alive. This holiday is seeing a surge of interested people who want to learn more about where it originated, how it is celebrated, and want to show their support of the holiday.

I learned this past weekend that only 7% of the population sleeps on their stomach, me included. I started thinking of other statistics I’ve heard in the past related to who I am. For example, only 5% of the population is an ENTP (like me).

So often we struggle to see that we are special. The way we see the world and show up in it is unique to each one of us.