Renewal Archives - Allison Crow

Cindy Ingram: Reinventing Your Business

Elyse Rich — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 14:58:18 +0000

Hello Humans, today we are jamming with fellow reinventor Cindy Ingram.

Cindy has a book coming out later in the year and today we are going to talk a little bit more about reinvention.

Reinvention shows up on the outside but it’s usually because things happen on the inside.

Originally choosing her work based on how it felt,
Cindy shows a certain level of self trust to choose those kind of things when we might think we need to do something different.

“It has to feel right whatever I’m doing” – Cindy Ingram

And it takes a big leap to move careers with full on structural reinvention.

Love,

Allison

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Allowing the Space for Heart Coherence

allisoncrow — Tue, 30 May 2023 14:14:06 +0000

Tone: deep contentment, mostly.

There’s an extra space this morning.

After the Soulies closing ceremony (my primary coaching work container over the last 7 years), and after deleting almost ALL of my old fb groups (one for every group program I’ve done since 2011),

I feel the void. Is that the right word?

Void = completely empty, so it’s not quite that, but I do feel the extra space. I sense my brain’s subtle compulsion to NEXT.

I am also in a space where I am able to see my “body of work” over the last 20 years – and longer. It’s a bit overwhelming, some of it embarrassing (to parts of me), and it’s exhaustive. Creating and earning have been so intertwined. My barking brain has the urge to solve the problem (that doesn’t exist).

I solve. Therefore I am?

Ah, the capitalism energy and systemic pressure of NEXTING.

I feel the extra space.

Next door, the 7 dogs are barking like crazy – a funny metaphor for my brain. Unlike my neighbors, I won’t keep my dogs cooped in the garage, but I do know how to engage and soothe my barking parts.

Amy Callahan sent me a lovely post about how horses, and just being near them help us to have a coherent heart.

“A coherent heart pattern is indicative of a system that can recover and adapt to stressful situations very efficiently. Many times, we just need to be in the presence of horses to feel a sense of well-being and peace.” –Superior Therapy LLC on Facebook.

This is my gentle direction.

Coherence. Congruence.

Clearing Completion.

Coherence. Congruence.

Space makes way for the Creativity. Practice makes way for the Creativity.

There are no big moves to make. Nothing to fill.

Heart Coherence.

So that I have a coherent heart and so that I spread that energy to those I come in contact with in any way (except my too many & neglected dogs neighbor – I’m not there yet).

, Allison

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Get Out of The House and Magic Happens – A road riff episode

Elyse Rich — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 19:04:02 +0000

Hey, this is Allison and this is a two part episode.

The first part I recorded as a road riff, and it’s about the magic of getting out of the house.
Then stay tuned for what the Magic Act really was.

I wanna tell you what the magic was and it wasn’t what we expect.

Love,

Allison

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PS: Camp Cultivate is May 7-11 in the Austin, Texas area- we will be exploring the theme of The Wild Edge of Being Human and how to actually BE in the edges. It’s a small and intimate event this year. Find out more at Camp Cultivate 2023

Apply to become a member of the Soulies Self-Leadership Coaching Membership, where we have weekly life and business coaching calls for small business owners and a community of Soul-Full humans doing this thing called life.

You Can Message Me:

allison@allisoncrow.com
IG: @allison_crow
FB: @AllisonCrow

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How to Recover after a Difficult Season

Elyse Rich — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 16:19:16 +0000

This is the wild edge of being human, a podcast for business owners.

I wanna talk about recovering from difficult seasons and transitioning out of a difficult season,
and wouldn’t it be nice if just one day the hard stopped and the ease started again?
But that’s not generally how it works.

Y’all know that everybody has seasons where life just beats you down.

I think there is a difference between standing in the suffering and rubbing it all over your face and glorifying the suffering,
but we are human beings even if we’re spiritual beings having a human experience.

We are human and we are here living this human life and that means it is full of blessings and it is full of challenges and hard shit.

There’s no going back. There’s only becoming who you are.

Love,

Allison

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Resources:

Soulies Coaching Membership: Soulies: Self Leadership Society

My Book: Unarmored: Finding Home in The Wild Edges of Being Human.

Live Coaching Retreat & Event: Camp Cultivate in May 7-11

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The Stress of Caregiving

allisoncrow — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 17:27:20 +0000

The stress of caregiving.

So much caregiving this year. My parents and dogs required way extra-extra caregiving this year. From January until Leroy’s death last week. I chose this hard.

There is also relief in grief. The relief that we no longer have the physical and emotional, or financial burden of that intense caregiving. We have no regrets – but it was intense.

I can feel my nervous system softening out of the “on alert” mode. We are able to sleep through the night, and the daily mental load is sooooo much lighter.

Wooooo sah! Of course, we miss our Big Boy…, and he’s no longer sick and at peace. And we have a new layer of peace.

I can feel my brain starting to enjoy and create in space it simply didn’t have most of this year.

For anyone caregiving- not just emergency or acute illnesses, but even raising kids- that mental load takes up SO much capacity in your mind and body. I acknowledge the challenge of holding it all.

This is not complaining or victimhood. It is simple validation.

All year long, my writing coach would say- “of course, you feel XYZ or are in this fuzzy mental space- you are in the threat response.”

I was familiar with the threat response in the context of a visible outer threat or emergency- but this year, I got it in the context of a more subtle and extended pressure and responsibility. It still activates the threat response.

Stress is the number one contributor to illness and death. It’s a significant contributor to a heart attack- which I had in August.

This year has been hard AF …

AND already the gifts are showing.

I see myself internally and how I am interwoven with my climate. I see my clients and their context and the unique ways one’s individual mix of inner world and outer context – with that, I see shifts that can be considered for helpful & effective coaching.

I see more nuance.

I am committed to compassion. Self-compassion and compassion for others (I’m still working on this- I can get reactive and judge mental as a defense mechanism).

There is no ONE solution or fix-all for the stressors and challenges we have. Comparing our ”NOWS” to how it used to be is futile. There is only the unique you that is here in this unique climate and circumstances of life at the unique age and health you are in.

Be so tender with yourself. Be self-curious and listen within. Work with compassion-focused practitioners. Tend to your nervous system. Tend to your mind, to your heart, to your rest.

Sending so much love-

From a woman in a state of relief.

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I tossed an entire prayer book into the trash

allisoncrow — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 16:30:17 +0000

I just tossed an entire book into the recycle bin. So much for that prayerful meditation.

I opened a prayer book to a random page – and it landed on a prayer for “emotional distress.”

And the line that pissed me off was this:

“I know that to be disturbed by about one’s life and affairs, even for an instant, is not to trust the Divine Love that is gifted to me daily by God Source.”
.

Instant shame and using trust as a manipulation tool. Another subtle message of, “You are doing it wrong.”
.

To leave no room for discomfort or suffering is NOT LOVE.

💛 Let’s rewrite this:

I know that to be disturbed about one’s life and affairs – is so human. There truly are difficult experiences and seasons, and I know, Divine Love, that you hold me gently, tenderly, softly, even in difficult times. I know that you hold the pains I experience as lovingly as you hold my radiant joy. Thank you, God Source, for your presence in my life exactly as I am.

Shame induces performance and contrived behavior. Nothing pure – only manipulated and untrue. Compassion allows for rest and nervous system regulation, allowing the defeated spirit within to regenerate and eventually make space for genuine creativity.

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I Believe You.

allisoncrow — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 21:57:18 +0000

Today is a new day. Yesterday was low, low, low….. grateful for my compassionate friend Heather and compassionate nurse Bethany. I spent half the day at the Heart Hospital having some tests (planned, not an emergency).

Here’s what I noticed about being in the hospital while Bethany was tenderly tucking me under a warm blanket for a nap between CT scans:

In the hospital- someone else makes allllll the decisions for me. An

d when this feels GOOD – it is a sign that I am physically and emotionally beat.

Normally I enjoy freedom in making my own decisions.

And I’m not alone. This isn’t just heart attacks, dogs dying, and everyday life and work stress. When I talk to my clients and friends- many of them are DONE.

The mental load is overloaded. Overstimulated. Fragile.

Then there is the internal self-gaslighting, “but most of the world has it sooo much worse, you are weary from quality problems.”

The invalidation makes it worse, and the edges fray a bit more.

But Bethany, nurse Bethany didn’t say – you’re a lucky lady. Many heart attacks are way worse. Suck it up.

She didn’t compare my difficulty to someone better or worse. She validated my experience. She didn’t hold it as a “complaint.”

I believe you.

She said,

“Oh honey, yes, this makes you really nauseous, and that is no fun. May I bring you some juice Stay here as long as you need. We can’t have you going home feeling crummy.”

I believe you.

I believe your experience and I don’t need to invalidate it or criticize it or just because it’s uncomfortable I don’t have to squirm away from it. I believe you.

Dear Ones, you don’t owe anyone your relatability. You don’t have to invalidate your experience because it isn’t as bad as another’s. It’s YOUR experience, and your discomfort and stress are valid.

I wanna be more like Bethany – to myself and others. That tenderness heals. And when we’re healed, we can care more for those that have it way worse.

Today is a new day. Coffee in my cozy bed helps.

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How to Create Calm & Happy

Elyse Rich — Sun, 21 Aug 2022 15:33:07 +0000

I would like to have calm and happy.

Calm is one of my gateway, entry ways, of cultivating self energy, of cultivating source energy & of cultivating presence.

As many of you know, but I’m gonna go ahead and repeat over and over and over again, for those of us, all of us in the front, in the middle, in the back on the sides, not even here, that need to be reminded because we weren’t reminded from birth that…

A calm, nervous system is everything I know.

Your nervous system, that is connected to your brain and runs through your entire body can be in a state of calm and relaxation and regulation.

It can also be slightly aroused, alerted on anticipatory noticing that something might be up and then it can be completely fucking hijacked.

Calm is primary

Love,

Allison

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Itch or Flow

allisoncrow — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 16:33:18 +0000

Here’s a distinction I’d like to present for your Soulfull consideration:

Is your desire from discomfort or innate drive?

The itch is dehydrated, thirsty, and scratchy.

Flow is supple, emergent on its own, and overflowing.

Is your expression from performance and thirst or is it pure creativity unleashed in divine timing?

I see lots of itching people lately. It’s that time of year. The coziness of winter has worn off and spring is not here year- what’s in you May not be ready to bloom. Let it rest.

Settle into the waiting with your presence. The flow always comes back.

#ebbandflow #surrender #allowing #lovewhatis #theflowalwaysreturns #naturalcycles #selfleadershipcoach

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Strong leaders- independent overfunctioners, this is for you:

allisoncrow — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 22:15:19 +0000

Strong leaders- independent overfunctioners, this is for you:

Connect on Facebook

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