Syrup for the Soul

Are you starting to daydream about what your life should look like? And what I mean by that is…is your self esteem starting to take a slow, corrosive beating everytime you open up Facebook or Instagram, and see glamorous selfies of your friends, because you have the perception that their lives are more exciting and picture perfect than yours?

If you are feeling this way, then perhaps this is one of the signs that you need to unplug every now and then to gain some clarity, tap into reality, and have gratitude to produce more of your inner magic.

So today I want to give you a dose of creative groundedness. Sometimes, we need to take a break from Cyberland. Today, I’ve put together 3 tips for you to use to fee refreshed, rebooted, and revived -  to continue in your creative goddess flow. 

Sign #1: On Social Media, you unknowingly compare your life to someone else’s.. 

It’s true that Facebook can make us feel special and can rescue us from the monotonous moments of our lives. But the picture perfect images of your friends post are merely periodic highlighted photos in an entire lifetime of their story. In reality, we deal with myriads of emotions in our lives that have the potential to accrue more meaning than Facebook could ever show, know about or even understand!

Sign #2: On Social Media, you start to question your achievements…

What if we chose not to compare our lives with the seemingly perfect one of our facebook friends? Why not go off Social Media for one month, and instead chose to carefully craft craft yourself from the inside out, instead of the outside in? That means going on a journey deep inside yourself to find out what activities make you happy, and then manifesting it around yourself. Why not invest your free time on rebooting yourself and your needs, or the needs of others around you?

Sign #3: On Social Media, you need to post photos every single day, to feel special.

It is so natural for us to want approval and attention in our lives from others. We are conditioned to be this way since birth. So, what if all we needed to do was be our own emotional sounding board? If you are feeling stuck, why don’t you delve into your curiosity and achieve some untapped goals that make you feel so good inside, that generate such a high level of self confidence within you, that you will no longer even care about posting pictures of every single moment in your online life! Your need for approval and attention would completely dissapear, as you would be focused on your real needs. Isn’t it time to stop caring about what others think of you.. or how they perceive you?

Live your life as your personal best. Live your life with true connections, as you were meant to live – in complete peace and harmony within yourself. Join me next week, when we’ll discuss how to find your artistic passion…stay sparkly, stay grounded, and most importantly, stay goddessy at..The Creative Goddess!

What are your sparkly qualities?

If you could shower yourself with something, other than just soaps and shampoos, what would that be?

Would it be kindness, thoughtfulness, loyalty or authenticity? In this chapter, I want to share this idea with you. The idea that you are MORE than your Instagram or tik- tok post. That you probably have more sparkly inner qualities inside of you than you think! But often, we spend so much time obsessing over what our friends are posting that it's so easy to forget what our own special qualities are on the inside.

These qualities are called character traits. They are the positive VALUES inside of you that make you unique. They are the colours and qualities inside of us that make us special. They literally make you ... YOU!

Often, it's easy to forget this kind of stuff when we are watching videos and seeing what everyone else is doing on Instagram, and start comparing our lives to theirs. Remember girls, a lot of that stuff by your friends is edited to an inch of its life. It's lit up or tweaked! And sometimes ... what your friends post isn't even real or true!

So in this chapter, I want to share my top 4 favourite sparkly qualities that might help give you confidence and build your character up to your very own sparkly personality! 

Kindness

It's super important to be kind. To be a nice person makes people feel good when they are around you. By being kind, you are letting someone know that they are special and appreciated in your life. It costs nothing to be kind!

You can be kind by:

Sharing some goodies with a friend.

Greeting a new student at school and making them feel welcome.

Giving someone a compliment.

Positivity

What could be more powerful ... than being positive? No matter what others think of you. No matter what happens to you, what matters is that you remain positive and strong! If you are a positive person, no one can take it away from you. They might be able to take it away for a moment, but if your natural state is to choose happy, then congratulations, you are being positive!

Why Should I Be Positive?

We all deserve to look on the bright side of life.

It will make you stand out from the crowd

It will make other people want to be around you.

So let's make it a daily ritual. A daily religion. The collective state of happy!

 

Honesty

Honesty is about being loyal, trustworthy and sincere. Having an honest character trait makes you reliable to tell the truth, and it makes others able to trust you to keep a secret. If you are honest with others, you can be honest with yourself and your feelings too. This shows that you have respect for yourself. knowing what is true, or speaking your truth is really a special virtue to have, especially when discerning what is real vs. what is fake on social media!

 

Why Should I Be Happy?

We all deserve to look on the bright side of life.

It will make you stand out from the crowd

It will make other people want to be around you.

So let's make it a daily ritual. A daily religion. The collective state of happy!

Being curious opens up your mind to learning about the world around you. Having curiosity about the real world makes you interesting and fills you up with satisfaction in knowing that you are challenging your mind.

Why Should I Be Curious?

Learning new subjects or adopting a new skill or hobby makes you ...

Feel more confident and smart

It makes life fresh and exciting

It's like searching for new treasure...or

opening up a new door, and one of them can lead you to your dreams!

Curiosity is seriously cool!

So, have a great week, and shower yourself with bubbles of kindness,

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'Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.' 

So… I found myself weeding the other day. This creative goddess…was actually WEEDING in her back garden, for the very first time. Now, I had never seen a single weed in my life. And when I finally got the hang of bending down and digging the spade underneath the soil so I could remove their stubborn roots, I was amazed with what they actually looked like…

I couldn’t believe, that what seems like just some plain looking shrubs on the outside, lies the driest, most shrivelled root I have ever seen. Yet it is so stubborn to remove from the ground. Like pulling teeth. Like trying to drag a screaming toddler out of a supermarket aisle. It’s like…empty and frazzled, lacking any energy. Just well, scraggly really.

So then I had a creative thought. About how we think, and about how our life choices come about by seed or weed thinking. Do you have thoughts that make you more evolved, that make you grow like a SEED, or is the quality of your thinking small, dry and looking a bit … erm..WEEDY? 

Are you the seed.. or are you the weed? Who are you choosing to be, or…how are you choosing to think? Will you stay stuck in the ground, or will you choose to emerge and bloom? 

It’s only a thought. But a pretty BIG one for all of us this year. 

Weed or seed? Just another sparkly thought this week at The Creative Goddess!

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Hey girl, here's a couple of dance classes you can do today, to uplift your soul!  

1. Go to a Body Jam class. You thrust, you gyrate and you sweat, sweat, sweat! It is street dancing at its finest, as the entire class is based on learning an entire piece of dance choreography. I was drenched afterwards! 

2. Go to Sh'bam class: Light up like a disco ball and make your mtv debut as you learn and execute 12 different dance tracks. It's like dancing and singing when no one is watching. Well worth a go if you want to shine in a spotlight! 

Keen to learn more? Listen to my Creative Goddess podcast this week.. as I talk about which group fitness classes are amazing for your body, mind and soul! 

Merry Christmas!

Nicole x

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Everyone carries a certain kind of vibe. Some are sparkly, some are icy. Some just excude that certain something that says: I’m confident, I care about myself, I love who I am! You can't pinpoint exactly what it is. It’s an element that is making someone shine heads above everyone else in the room. 

This is what having presence looks like. Its an energy that springs up from a person. It's a look of confidence. A pop of effervescent charm, bursting with pride. Its a certain posture, a certain walk, with shoulders back and head up high.

One thing I find interesting, while teaching dance at the gym, was how so many female members craving to rebuild their sense of femininity. But the great thing was that they were from all walks of life, from different age groups - all wanting to be there for the same reason, to regain their presence. To feel alive within their own bodies, to feel sexy and desirable again, only for themselves. So after a while I realised that this was a universal want and a necessity to a woman self worth and to finding inner magic.

Having a positive vibe is a sure fire way to win that first impression, that first creative job, that first date. Its your body unknowingly telling the other person that you are confident in yourself. It's a built in mechanism that shows your worth to others. That you are proud of who you are.

Keen to build your inner magic? Here are the 5 things you need to do today to build up your Goddess presence, no matter what age you are!

1. Go to Dance Class

The easiest way to get your groove back is to pretend you are under the spotlight in a dance club! Try zumba! Learn some hip hop, jazz, rock n roll and sultry latin moves. Slink your way through Ariana Grande, Beyonce and Lady Gaga songs. Say hello again to your hips, quads and hamstrings. Ham it up, get out your inner pop or rockstar. Movement is key. Reintroduce yourself to your body and your happy endorphins!

2. Sashay In The Supermarket 

Haven't got time for the gym? Why not make food shopping fun after work? Put on your headphones and get a playlist going on your iPhone. Develop a sultry walk by swinging your hips while pushing the trolley to your favourite tunes. Practise your new walk without a care in the world. Make this about you, your music, and your moves.

 

3. Create a Runway Walk

If Dancing is not your thing, than go for a Runway walk! Think of it as a power walk but imagine you are on a "Runway" instead. Plug your favourite songs onto your phone, and imagine away. Walk with your hips, with each knee powering forward in front of the other.  The songs need to have a strong beat, so your walk becomes purposeful with power. Walk around outside, preferrably twice around a park if you can.

4. Practise Walking In Heels

The moment I put on heels - magic happens. My shoulders suddenly pull back, I support my stomach muscles, my spine rises, and I start to walk a little taller. My legs also look a little longer. Heels make us feel alive and strong! Even if heels are not your thing, they are great to wear even for a couple of hours to feel taller.

5. Release Your Shoulders.

Standing tall with a lovely posture is the key to your presence. Stand in front of a mirror, at home or at the gym, and roll your shoulders back ten times, and forward ten times. Then gasp your hands behind your back and pull your chest out for ten seconds and release. Repeat this 5 times for going out! 

Presence is a look of power and above all, female fearlessness. Learning to build this sense of pride into your body is the base for achieving Goddess Style, whichever way you choose!

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Hello and welcome back to the Creative Goddess podcast! I’m Nicole Salinger, chief self - excavator, Wellness Wizard and sparkler of inner magic! In life, we are lots of different things, and especially now, in 2021, I feel its time for you to honour your abilities, seek your passions and find the courage to free your inner magic! 

Its the end of the year. The holidays are coming… its time to get into the holiday spirit… but 2020 had other ideas for you. You are feeling.. a little underwhelmed. You feel like you are having some kind of identity crisis. You don’t know who you should be anymore… or who that person is. You are trying to do lots of different things, trying to be curious and broaden your horizons, and worst of all? You feel judged. from trying one thing or another. You may feel social pressure..to be this, or be that, and then, when you really think about it..you become so over whelmed that you decide to do nothing at all. You remain feeling misunderstood. 

So this is what I want to say to each and every one of you, at this time, towards the end of 2020. 

I want you to swim. 

I want you to wash away the noise, unleash your inner mermaid…lay out your beautiful, sparkly fins, dive into the ocean that is this big, wide world…and swim.

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A few years ago, I was creatively burnt out. I redesigned my life, sold my design business..and decided to explore many other facets of my creativity and expression. Deep down, I wanted to evolve and grow. So I got physically healthy and my whole being opened up to accept change. I did a makeup course. I entered the world of health and fitness, and I started a blog. I was being creative in other ways and my mind was open to what was ahead of me.

And you know what?

It made me so frickin’ happy! I felt free to transfer my skills BEYOND the shores of the limits around me. YES I had 4 kids, YES I was in my forties, YES I was single again…but I totally didn’t care what anyone thought!

YES it could have looked like I was on a rollercoaster ride to nowhere, YES I’m sure my parents thought I was momentarily mad…but in my heart - I knew it was ok to swim! Looking back, I was swimming. From port to port to test myself, to challenge myself, to bask in a sea of possibilities. 

So what have you got to lose? Especially in Covid times, this is the time, more than ever, to bring out your inner magic!

So today I want to talk about why its ok to swim. Why you deserve to swim, especially in our every changing world. 

Firstly, its a way to move past your fears. When we think of doing something new. We initially get excited to bring a new skill into our lives. But then, seconds later, we talk ourselves out of it. We start overthinking it, and start thinking negatively. We start doubting we can even do something new, we freeze, and hesitate. Then we create all these imaginery scenarios of what could go wrong instead of right. We let fear take over. 

But you are not alone. Everyone does this.

Let me give you an example - Apple Store. Seeing others there doesn’t make you feel alone!

Doing something new is the unknown. It’s walking through a new door. And the unknown is scary. But it doesn’t have to be. Think of it as gifting yourself with new knowledge. Think of this as investing in yourself. Try one class. Try a workshop. Start slowly. Check in on how you feel. You may surprise yourself. Go to the apple store! Get on that bike. Get back on that horse!  Ad if that thing doesnt turn out to be the thing you thought you wanted? Try something else!  

Secondly, it’s a way of breaking out of feeling stuck and unmotivated.

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Hi guys and welcome back to The Creative Goddess. I’m Nicole Salinger, creative goddess, chief self - excavator and sparkler of inner magic. In life, we are lots of different things, and especially now, in 2020, I feel its time for you to honour your abilities, seek out your passions and find the courage to free your inner magic. Is it time to get back your sparkle and thrive? You bet it is! Join me here, join me now, at the Creative Goddess.  

“To feel better about yourself, you must welcome CHANGE into your life, and not to question what these changes are, whatever the outcome. Change is everywhere. She is constant. Change exists in places and things all around us. In each and every moment. People change, the seasons change, and mother nature even promotes change, by evolving a caterpillar,

 shedding its old skin, getting ready to turn into a butterfly. She is there in the shadowy steps of every breath you take, of every life decision you make, and she follows you and guides you through every obstacle or challenge that comes across your path.”

When you need to make a change in your life, you always have a choice about how you are going to receive it. 

I also love the whisper and breezy feeling of the word, “CHOICE”. Choice is always in the air, and from the moment we are born, it floats along beside us as we breath, as we think, as we feel. It bubbles and simmers in the background, and it is the patient, watchful eye that quietly observes your beautiful life waiting to unfold.

Sometimes our choices down our life’s path are good for our spirit, and sometimes, we simply make the WRONG choices. And it’s all ok. This is life’s learning curve, filled with balls of obstacles and challenges that are thrown our way in spite of our good intentions. And in the aftermath of it all, sometimes we feel regret or relief, but other times we can become stunted with frustration, blaming the world and blaming yourself and blaming others for your own mistakes. And before you know it, this toxic cocktail of broken dreams and mindless head chattering completely unravels and affects not only you,but everyone around you.

So if unexpected change has come your way, what’s your choice going to be, better or bitter? 

Are you going to open your wings and fly, despite the limitatons of the world at the moment, or are you going to sink into a pessimistic, vengeful mindset where you will just sit in contempt of others around you and act like a victim…and atttempt or unknowingly bring others down with you??

Are you the weeds of the soil, or are you the seed that is going to bloom like a beautiful flower? 

Are you going to be like the lotus flower that rises out of its toxic undergrowth? Or are you gonna choose to hide and be tangled in a dirty, webbed mindset of victimisation?

Which choice do you think is the wisest choice? Not the easiest choice… cuz it's so easy to be negative...but the wisest choice...the one that's gonna make you better?

Is it trying to take responsibility for the hard lessons the universe has handed you? Or is it to whine and complain of how hard your cards have been dealt? 

The question is… is the latter going to help you?

Is your whining and complaining and finger pointing going to better your health or your situation? What are you really fighting for? and who are you exactly fighting with? 

Fighting in the face of emptiness is not a choice my friends. It is a way of tormenting yourself. 

You are not meant to be a closed, caged animal, locked up in anger and hate, refusing to release yourself from your own narrative.  Living in blame, is a rose coloured state of mind.  But being better?

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Hi guys and welcome back to The Creative Goddess. I’m Nicole Salinger, creative goddess, chief self - excavator and sparkler of inner magic. You can listen to it here, or read this blog post!

I believe everyone has their own breed of magic inside of themselves. In 2021, what will yours be? How do you excavate it? How do you open yourself up, through the mind, body and soul to receiving it? Is it something that you can develop and train? Or is it something already inside of you, just waiting to come out?

For the first time in 100 years, Covid has made us stop, sit and reflect upon our lives, and in ourselves. It’s made us take stock of what is important to us, and made us stop, look and listen to what our souls are telling us, or at least trying to tell us. You might be someone who is starting life on a clean slate, terrified about taking your first steps into the unknown. You might be someone who is stuck in the humdrum of your life, feeling like groundhog day, just itching to do something you love but not knowing what that something is. Or...you might be terrified of getting out of your comfort zone..and trying a new career, afraid of what others will think of you.

And what I’ve discovered is...the common thread is what everyone on this planet wants.. to find their inner magic, that very thing that makes them unique, that gives them a life purpose. And this is because a life purpose, financial or not, keeps us in a healthy mindset. And after years of deep - seeded conversations with people from all walks of life, I’ve realised that having a purpose is the thing that makes us feel full inside. It makes us feel ike we are contributing to the good of the planet. That we matter. It could be as a volunteer position you take on board, it could be a hobby you’ve never tried before, or it can be taking an online course in art, just to broaden your horizons. It doesnt matter what it is. What matters is that you are willing to put yourself on the line and take some sort of ACTION, especially when we are facing life in a pandemic.

Sitting and being indecisive about your next steps is not enough. If we dont do anything about feeling stuck, we start to feel glued to the ground. We start to become immobile and unmotivated. Not knowing how to bounce back with sparkle and vitality!

Throughout my years as both a creative and a wellness advocate, I believe that the 3 major elements to finding your inner magic lies within exercising your body, mind and soul. In that order. This takes action. It takes effort and work. It takes an enormous amount of guts and courage to start glowing again. It might sound ‘too hard’ or ‘too scary’, but it’s the truth. I’ve done it myself. I redesigned my whole inner self first to redesign my life. It took more than creativity alone to find my inner magic again. It took a whole lot of inner reconstructive WORK. And most importantly, to add colour and sparkle back into my life, I had to let go of everything that did not serve my essence anymore, and begin my life over again.

What do YOU need to let go of to leave room for your inner magic to flow? Is it a toxic situation? A negative imprint notions from your previous life chapter? I promise you, that in redesigning your, body, mind and soul, it leaves space for the real magic to come through, back into your life. There is magic in the air, and its happening all around us, all the time. We just have to wake up and let it in.

I want to give you an example of one of my life chapters, and how my personal refurbishment began. I found it in the most unlikely of places.

My local gym.

At the time, I was professionally burnt out,

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Hi and Welcome to my Podcast, The Creative Goddess. I'm Nicole Salinger, a Designer, Illustrator, Storyteller and Emerging Kidlit Author! I’ve held a lot of creative titles throughout my life, including having spent years as a Walt Disney singer and performer. So I thought it would be fun to share what inspires and motivates me to become a better artist, writer and human being! Here on this show, you’ll find moments of inspiration, empowerment and mindfulness, to get you into a safe, creative bubble of inner happiness, especially in these crazy, Covid times! Come with me to get comfy, inspired and free, to express your best creative self - at The Creative Goddess.

In today’s episode, I want to start by telling you a little story about myself. When I was 10 years old, I discovered magic inside of me. It wasn’t the magic of a genie in a bottle, or the magical spells of a witch, but it was some other kind of magic that was already inside of me, because out of nowhere, I realised I could illustrate characters. They would magically appear inside my head, the creativity would go down to a pen in my hand, then I would draw some kind of character that would be... it was like magic! Some kind of character would appear on the page! It was someone I had made up. And (pause), the only explanation I have for being able to put it on a page...is, you know, when you are a child, that you’re fearless. You’ll just have a crack at anything. Just to try. And you don’t have any fears inside of you. And so, in this podcast, what I want to teach you, is that I think that as adults, we forget that we still have the magic inside of us, and I want to motivate you to unleash it out into the world, because it couldn’t just be me who had ‘no idea’ about the magic inside of me and then all of a sudden it came out. I believe each and every one of us on this planet has some kind of, you know, untapped talent, that they either haven’t had the courage to, you know, bring out. They’ve been too scared, or too scared about what people think of you, and in this pandemic, we’ve had a lot of time to reflect, and I believe that in that reflection, we can start to harness our own kind of magic. But this takes effort. It takes courage and it takes WORK on your part to get out of your own way, release your magic, bring it to fruition, and perhaps find your life purpose!

In this podcast, I want to inspire, motivate and empower you to find your own kind of magic. Like a female explorer, I want you to excavate it. Like a mermaid, I want you to keep on swimming towards it, and like a hero goddess, I want you to exercise it. Whatever age you are. Whatever it is… isn’t it time to free your inner magic?