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Finding balance can feel difficult. Trusting the unknown can feel even harder. For many women, especially those building businesses or redefining success later in life, the idea of ease can feel unrealistic, or even irresponsible.
For generations, many of us were taught that stability comes from constant effort, sacrifice, and pushing through. Scarcity wasn’t just a mindset, it was a lived reality. Those beliefs don’t disappear overnight, even when our lives begin to look different.
But living with intention doesn’t mean rejecting hard work. It means learning how to move forward without letting fear lead every decision.
Below are a few grounded ways to begin releasing scarcity patterns while still honoring responsibility, ambition, and growth.
4 Practical Ways to Release Scarcity and Practice Ease
1. Identify the Story You’re Operating From
Scarcity often shows up as an internal script running quietly in the background.
Ask yourself:
Simply naming the belief creates awareness, and awareness is the first step toward change.
2. Acknowledge Where That Belief Came From
Many scarcity patterns aren’t personal failures; they’re inherited survival strategies.
These beliefs may come from:
Recognizing this helps reduce shame and creates space for compassion.
3. Replace Pressure With a Steadier Anchor
Rather than forcing positive thinking, choose a belief that feels realistic and supportive.
Examples:
This isn’t about abandoning goals, it’s about changing the energy behind how you pursue them.
4. Practice Choice Instead of Perfection
Releasing scarcity doesn’t happen all at once. It happens through small, repeated choices.
Each time you:
You reinforce a new pattern, one rooted in trust rather than fear.
A Simple Reflection Practice
If you’d like to take this a step deeper, try this short exercise:
Close with a slow breath and the reminder:
“I honor what carried me here, and I choose what carries me forward.”
Honoring the past doesn’t require us to keep living inside the same stories. We can acknowledge what shaped us, release what no longer serves us, and choose narratives that support who we are becoming.
And we don’t have to rush that process. We simply have to keep choosing, one honest moment at a time.
If you’d like deeper support with embodiment, alignment, or grounded personal growth, you can explore my offerings.
You can also stay connected through The Weekly Oasis newsletter, where I share grounded tools, reflections, and support for women navigating growth in real life.
Christmas and the holiday season can be such a beautiful time. A time to gather with family, to celebrate love, tradition, and connection. And at the heart of it all, are our pets, who are very much part of our family too.
While the holidays bring joy, laughter, and togetherness, they can also carry stress, busyness, and sometimes even quiet grief. Our pets feel all of it. They absorb the shifts in our energy, mirroring both the excitement and the overwhelm we may be holding inside.
This season is a gentle reminder that our pets are always reflecting us. They meet us where we are and offer unconditional love, often grounding us when life feels a little too full.
The holidays are a perfect time to slow down and deepen your connection with them. Take a moment to pause. Sit with them. Breathe. Be fully present. When you ground yourself in the moment, you invite your pet to do the same, creating a shared sense of calm, safety, and peace.
Sometimes the greatest gift you can give your pet is not something you place under the tree, but your presence, your awareness, and your heart.
Christine Barfield is an Intuitive Pet Healer and Guide. She helps your pets find more calm, balance, and connection through her Signature PETs Method. She specializes in supporting pets with stress, anxiety, and overall well being, creating a more peaceful life for both you and your pet.
Christine absolutely loves being part of Happy Healthy Women, Newmarket, ON, Trailblazer.
Want to learn more about Christine’s Work?
Visit TheFernAndTheFox.com or follow Her on Instagram & Facebook @thefernandthefox.
Need Help with your new dog? Download the Welcome Home Guide
The holiday season can be a magical time full of celebrations, family, and connection, but for many women (especially those who are 40+), it can also feel overwhelming. Balancing work, family, and social commitments often means less rest, more stress, and sometimes worsening menopause symptoms like fatigue, hot flashes, or mood changes.
This year, instead of powering through on autopilot, focus on protecting your energy and feeling your best, not just checking off your to-do list. Here are some practical ways to stay energized and supported during the holidays.
1. Say No (Without Guilt)
You don’t have to say yes to every invitation or request. Choosing what truly brings you joy and letting go of the rest is a powerful way to conserve energy. Setting boundaries isn’t selfish, it’s essential for maintaining your peace and vitality during a busy season.
2. Ask for Help
Delegate tasks at work or home whenever you can. Sharing responsibilities not only eases your load but also strengthens connections with the people around you. Remember, it’s okay to rely on others, you don’t have to do everything alone.
3. Prioritize Sleep
Late nights and seasonal stress can make fatigue and hot flashes worse. Try keeping a consistent bedtime routine, limiting caffeine in the afternoon, and reducing screen time before bed. If sleep feels challenging, especially during menopause, Utiva Menopause Relief can help support restful nights and ease hot flashes, so you wake up feeling refreshed.
4. Carve Out “You Time”
Even just 10 minutes can make a big difference. Take a quiet walk, enjoy a bath, move your body, or savor a cup of tea or coffee alone. These small moments of calm help recharge your mental and emotional energy, making it easier to show up fully for yourself and others.
5. Stick to Healthy Habits (Most of the Time)
Stay hydrated, especially between festive drinks, to support energy and urinary health. Enjoy your favorite treats, but aim for balance: nourish your body about 80% of the time and indulge 20%. Simple swaps like dark chocolate, fruit desserts, or cinnamon for sweetness can help. And if you’re prone to UTIs, pairing hydration with Utiva UTI Control offers added support for urinary comfort and prevention.
6. Support Your Body from the Inside Out
Stress, travel, and the demands of the season can take a toll. Keeping your body supported with proven supplements can make a real difference. Utiva Menopause Relief supports energy, mood, and hot flash comfort, while Utiva UTI Control provides urinary comfort and helps prevent UTIs, helping you stay energized and healthy no matter how busy the holidays get.
This holiday season, make your well-being a priority. Protect your energy, honor your needs, and enjoy the moments that truly matter, because taking care of yourself is the best gift you can give, to yourself and to those around you.
When women talk about growth, there’s a lot of narrative, both from what I hear in my work and what I’ve experienced personally, around wanting things to happen instantly. We live in a fast-paced, have-it-now, instant-gratification world, and that expectation often carries over into how we think growth should work. Like stepping into a new version of ourselves should be as easy as buying a new car.
But anyone who has actually moved through a real growth process and come out the other side knows it doesn’t work that way. Aligning ourselves with what we want, and with the version of ourselves we’re trying to live as day after day, takes time, repetition, and a willingness to stay present through the uncomfortable parts.
What I’ve found is that this kind of growth doesn’t happen because we decide it should. It happens when we start paying attention to how we’re already showing up. How we respond to stress. What we push through. What we ignore. What our bodies are signaling long before our minds catch up.
That’s where things begin to shift, not in trying to become someone new, but in learning how to stay connected to ourselves in real time.
And that’s where embodiment comes in.
What Embodiment Really Means
Embodiment isn’t about mindset alone. It’s about how growth shows up in the body.
When something is aligned, your nervous system responds first. You might feel steadier, more present, or quietly energized. This is why embodiment practices for women are such a powerful foundation for long-term personal development, they help the body learn safety, clarity, and self-trust.
Over time, this creates sustainable change instead of burnout.
Signs You’re Already Embodying Growth
The woman you’re becoming isn’t separate from who you are today. You can often see her showing up when you:
These moments matter. They’re how embodied personal growth actually takes shape.
Grounding Questions That Build Alignment
Instead of asking, “How do I become her?” try grounding your growth with questions like:
These questions anchor alignment and embodiment into everyday life, where real change happens.
A Simple Embodiment Practice for Grounding
When you feel disconnected, overwhelmed, or mentally scattered, use this short grounding practice to return to your body and the present moment.
Step 1: Settle your body
Find a place where you can pause for a few minutes, in your home or outside. Sit, stand, or lie down in whatever position feels most supportive.
Step 2: Ground through contact
Place your feet on the floor or earth. If you’re seated or lying down, notice the points of contact beneath you.
Step 3: Anchor your breath
Place one hand on your heart and one on your lower belly.
Take slow, steady breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Step 4: Focus your attention
Bring your awareness to the sensation of breathing, the rise and fall of your belly, the warmth of your hands, the weight of your body being supported.
If your mind wanders, gently return your attention to your breath and the feeling of being held where you are.
Step 5: Stay until your body settles
Remain here for as long as you need, even one or two minutes can help regulate your nervous system and bring you back to center.
This type of grounding supports nervous system regulation and helps reconnect you to the present moment, where clarity and confidence live.
Growth Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect
A lot of what gets labeled as growth online looks polished, curated, and easy. Real growth usually isn’t. It’s not linear, it’s not aesthetic, and most of the time it doesn’t feel very impressive while you’re in it.
For me, growth has looked like trial and error. Pausing when something feels off instead of forcing my way through it. Letting practices be personal rather than perfect. It’s learning to trust myself enough to stop tolerating things that don’t support the life I’m building. To rest without needing to justify it. To adjust when something isn’t working instead of assuming I’m the problem.
The version of yourself you’re becoming isn’t created through perfectly executed plans or constant forward motion. She’s shaped by the small, grounded choices you make when you listen to your body, honor your limits, and stay present with where you actually are.
That’s the kind of growth that lasts.
If you’d like deeper support with embodiment, alignment, or grounded personal growth, you can explore my offerings.
You can also stay connected through The Weekly Oasis newsletter, where I share grounded tools, reflections, and support for women navigating growth in real life.
Have you ever noticed how your pet seems to sense your mood before you even say a word?
Maybe your dog quietly curls up beside you on a hard day, or your cat suddenly appears, purring softly when you’re lost in thought. These moments feel magical, but they’re also deeply natural. Our pets are constantly reading and responding to our energy.
What Is an Aura?
Every being, human and animal, has an aura, a subtle energetic field that surrounds the body. It reflects our emotions, thoughts, and even our physical health. You can think of it like a gentle glow that shifts and changes depending on what we’re feeling.
When your pet’s aura is calm, they feel grounded, open, and connected. When it’s unsettled from stress, fear, or even absorbing what’s happening in your energy you might notice changes in their behavior: pacing, hiding, barking, or clinging more than usual.
The Energetic Connection Between You and Your Pet
Our pets don’t just live with us; they live through us. They move through our energetic field every day blending with it, reading it, and often mirroring it. This is one reason why a peaceful home and a calm human presence can have such a powerful impact on their well-being.
When you feel centered, your energy sends signals of calm. When you’re scattered or stressed, your pet may respond as though something is wrong not out of disobedience, but because their sensitive system is attuned to yours.
How to Support Their Energy
One of the most loving things we can do for our pets is to care for our own energy first. When you nurture your own balance, you help them return to theirs.
Simple practices make a big difference:
● Take a few minutes each day to breathe deeply and slow down. ● Spend quiet time sitting or walking with your pet without distractions.
● Visualize a soft, golden light around both of you, gently expanding and harmonizing your auras.
You don’t need to do much, just be present. The energy of calm is contagious, and your pet will feel it.
Christine Barfield is an Intuitive Pet Healer and Guide. She helps your pets find more calm, balance and connection through her Signature PETs Method. She specializes in supporting pets with stress, anxiety, and overall well being, creating a more peaceful life for both you and your pet.
Christine absolutely loves being part of Happy Healthy Women, Newmarket, ON, Trailblazer.
Want to learn more about Christine’s Work?
Visit TheFernAndTheFox.com or follow Her on Instagram & Facebook @thefernandthefox.
Need Help with your new dog? Download the Welcome Home Guide
Lately, I’ve been catching myself slipping back into that old rhythm, the one where I convince myself I’ll rest when everything’s done, even though everything is never done.
I’m sure you’ve experienced it too. The constant mental tab-switching, the “just one more thing” loop that somehow stretches an hour into three.
A couple of weeks ago, I was juggling about twelve things at once, client notes, meal prep, a website update, and in the middle of it, my oven started screaming at me. Not figuratively. Actually screaming.
It was the universe’s not-so-subtle way of reminding me to slow down.
That moment pulled me back into a truth I’ve learned over and over again: stillness isn’t a reward you earn once you’ve done enough. It’s the reset that makes everything else sustainable.
If you’ve been in that same cycle of doing, managing, and carrying it all, here are five small, realistic ways to bring stillness back into your days, even when life feels like too much.
Stillness doesn’t have to look like meditation or an hour of quiet reflection.
It can be a slow sip of coffee before the world wakes up, a walk without your phone, or a few deep breaths before your next meeting.
The point is presence, not perfection.
You don’t need a routine to reconnect, just a willingness to pause long enough to listen.
If you’re craving a deeper reconnection to your rhythm, I talk more about this inside my self-paced program, Ignite & Align.
When your day feels like one long list of things to manage, start looking for micro-pauses. These are tiny, intentional breaks that let your nervous system reset.
Before you send that next email, close your eyes and take three slow breaths.
After finishing a call, step outside for a minute before diving into the next thing.
These small interruptions in your momentum don’t derail your focus, they restore it.
If this idea resonates, you might enjoy my post on How Lunar Cycles Can Transform the Way You Work, Rest, and Align.
Nature has a way of bringing us back to center, no effort required.
Take your lunch outside, touch the ground with your bare feet, or simply open a window and notice the sounds around you.
It doesn’t take much time, just intention.
When you slow down long enough to notice the world moving around you, it naturally helps your body regulate and your mind find quiet again.
Exhaustion is a signal, not a character flaw.
And speaking from experience, our bodies keeps score of how often we push past our limits.
When you start to feel tense, irritable, or detached, that’s your cue to pause.
Close your laptop. Stretch. Step away from your to-do list.
Stillness is less about doing nothing and more about responding when your body asks for care.
Instead of waiting until burnout forces you to slow down, build rest into your natural flow.
It doesn’t have to be rigid, it can look like:
A few minutes of journaling before bed
A Sunday walk to reflect on your week
Turning off your phone an hour earlier than usual
Stillness is sustainable when it becomes part of your rhythm, not a reward at the end of your exhaustion.
If you’re ready to build a more grounded daily rhythm, you can read more in my blog post “Finding Your Rhythm Again.” Or use the reference image below to spark a few Simple Shifts to Restore Your Rhythm in your own life.
The world won’t fall apart if you stop for a moment. It’ll all still be there when you return.
But you might fall back into alignment if you do — into a pace that feels honest and human.
When everything feels like too much, the pause is the piece that lets you breathe, recalibrate, and move forward from a steadier place.
If you’ve been feeling the pull to slow down, get out of survival mode, or finally come back to your own rhythm, I’ve got a few different ways to support that work.
Whether you need a reset, a recalibration, or a new way of moving through your days, you can explore all of my sessions + programs here.
I help women sort through the chaos, figure out what’s truly important, and build rhythms that make their lives feel calmer, lighter, and more manageable.
Have you ever felt the pressure to perform, to be "perfect," or to hide the parts of yourself that you think are messy? We’re diving deep today into the work that sets you truly free: loving your shadow, understanding the destructive core of shame, and claiming the ultimate power of being shamelessly authentic. This transformation isn't just theory; it’s the core work that allows you to show up powerfully, in your relationships, in your business, and in your entire life. We're going straight to the heart of what holds us back and how to release it for good.
The focus in my own space has evolved, a deliberate shift toward "Awakening Your Empress." This change was driven by the very intention we are discussing: to be more shamelessly authentic, to be more me, and to create the necessary space for that to flourish. The Empress embodies secure attachment, so those pieces are absolutely still in the mix, but this new space allows me to bring so much more of my truth and wisdom forward. This is all about dropping the masks and stepping fully into who you are. The journey toward authenticity can feel vulnerable, but that moment of being real is where the true power lies. It’s time to start where the hiding begins, in the shadows.
First, let’s talk about loving your shadow. Every single one of us has a shadow side. This is the aspect of us that carries fear, that holds shame, that feels "not enough." It’s the part of us that might engage in survival behaviors, sometimes extreme, like manipulation, and sometimes subtle, like simply avoiding a difficult conversation.
Society conditions us to believe, "Oh, you must push all that aside. You have to be perfect. You can't have a shadow side." But we do. And the incredible truth is that the more we love our shadow and bring it into the light, the more we can transform it. We can transmute those darker parts into love. Everything that exists in the world, in everyone else, also exists within you. That's just how it works.
Loving your shadow doesn't mean allowing it to take over. That's a key distinction. It means acknowledging it, seeing it, observing it, and being with it, all through the lens of love. You didn't get this shadow side by accident; it was formed by experiences. Again, though, the goal is not to let it run the show, but to still be with it, loving all aspects of yourself. The more you love and honor all of you, the more authentically you can show up, and the more capacity you have to honor all of another as well.
One of the biggest reasons we have a tendency not to love our whole selves is shame. We grew up experiencing it, often being shamed for having emotions, expressing an opinion, or simply not sitting still and being the "good little girl."
At its deepest, shame is one of the lowest energetic frequencies, sitting right before death. When shame is at its most intense, it’s that paralyzing feeling of: "I am nothing. I am worthless. I have no value." It’s a complete sense of nothingness at the bottom, and it’s a dangerous place to stay for too long.
Then there are the more subtle, but still destructive, layers of shame that show up in everyday life. There’s the fear of shame, which drives so much of our people-pleasing. We say "yes" when we desperately want to say "no," because we feel a deep, underlying shame if we dare to honor ourselves or take care of ourselves first.
But here’s the thing: when you honor yourself and take care of yourself first, your cup is full. You have a greater capacity to give to others, and you're not depleting yourself. It’s not about giving away your energy; it's about being in your own vibrant energy. By simply being in your energy, you automatically fuel or help another. It’s an overflow, not a drain.
Ultimately, the core of shame is: "I’m not good enough, I’m not worthy, I don't have value."
It's what leads to:
Comparing yourself to others.
The deep-seated belief, "I can’t do it this way."
Lack of boundaries and over-giving.
Avoiding situations.
Hiding your truth, your gifts, your authenticity, in your personal life and in your business. Where you are in one area of life, you are (to different degrees) in others.
I don’t know if we ever get rid of shame 100%, but we can absolutely release the hold it has on us. My personal shame story was always, "What did I do wrong? I’m always doing something wrong." While that story still tries to show up, it no longer has the same hold. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here sharing this with you.
That moment of realization that you don't have to follow the title or the script, but can go with what's authentically coming to you, is the key shift. It allows for an energy release, a clearing.
As you heal the hold that shame has on you, and that’s the key, releasing the hold, you start to show up differently in every area of your life. This is where you step into honoring yourself and being shamelessly authentic.
I realized in my own business that my focus was all out there: "What should I do? What do people want from me?" It wasn't in here. The real power comes from asking: “What do I need to share from my wisdom, my experience, that I authentically believe can help someone else?”
When you start to bring you, authentically you, into your life and your work, more ease comes with it. The more authentic you can be and express, the more naturally effortless your life becomes.
Authenticity requires checking in with yourself before you do anything. It’s coming inside, not being out there, and asking: "Am I being fully authentic to me? What is real for me right now?"
I believe so many people are in a space right now where they are learning to come back to themselves. It's not about pleasing and doing what others expect.
My strongest recommendation is to spend some time every day, even a few minutes, in a type of meditation where you just come back to your heart. You don't have to go mindless. Just breathe into your heart and check in: How are you feeling? What is going on? What are you feeling called to do right now?
This is about finding the balance between the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. The Feminine, the Empress, checks in, feels, and dances. The Masculine holds the structure. The Empress also needs a bit of balance from the Masculine, which is the necessary structure for action.
Imagine a couple dancing: the man (Masculine) holds the strong container, the protection, and the space (e.g., a time block for a project). The woman (Feminine) gets to twirl, whirl, and create within that structure (e.g., following her calling within that time).
The Masculine holds the space, protects it, and keeps it strong.
The Feminine gets to dance and create within that structure.
That is truly coming into your Empress. It’s honoring your shadow, embracing it without judgment. It’s looking at shame, observing it, and healing its hold through modalities like EFT, breathwork, and energy work. And it’s stepping into that incredible space of honoring yourself, which finally allows you to be shamelessly authentic in all areas of your life.
If you want to stop burying your emotions, if you’re ready to release the trauma that’s been running the show, and if you want to come fully back into your body and your Empress energy - reach out HERE.
This is where healing happens. This is where power lives. And this is where you truly come home to yourself.
Pets are more than companions, they are sacred mirrors and guides, reflecting our energy and supporting us in returning to balance. Their presence reminds us of a deeper truth: we are energetic beings, and so are they. When our energy becomes scattered, tense, or misaligned, our pets often respond, helping us recalibrate without judgment.
Animals naturally live in their truth. They experience the world fully, moment by moment, and their energy invites us to do the same. By observing and connecting with them, we can learn to release distractions, tune into our own energy, and return to the flow of our soul’s natural frequency.
Here are some ways pets support human energy and soul alignment:
Energy mirroring: Animals absorb and reflect our emotional states. A restless or anxious pet may be signaling that your energy needs grounding.
Encouraging presence: A dog that nudges for a walk or a cat that seeks attention draws us into the present moment, reminding us to slow down and connect.
Emotional resetting: Quiet interactions, such as petting, listening to a purr, or simply sitting together, can soothe the nervous system and restore balance.
Teaching patience and unconditional love: Observing pets in their natural state shows us how to embody patience, acceptance, and compassion toward ourselves and others.
Inviting joy and curiosity: Pets celebrate small pleasures, inspiring us to reconnect with playful, lighthearted aspects of ourselves.
Recognizing the ways our pets respond to our energy can strengthen the bond we share with them. Paying attention to their behavior, body language, and presence helps us notice when we might need to slow down, breathe, or check in with ourselves. Our pets are not only companions, they naturally help us stay present, calm, and aware of our own energy.
By observing these signals and being mindful of our interactions, we can use their presence to create a more balanced and peaceful home for both them and ourselves.
Christine Barfield is an Intuitive Pet Healer and Guide. She helps your pets find more calm, balance and connection through her Signature PETs Method. She specializes in supporting pets with stress, anxiety, and overall well being, creating a more peaceful life for both you and your pet.
Christine absolutely loves being part of Happy Healthy Women, Newmarket, ON, Trailblazer.
Want to learn more about Christine’s Work?
Visit TheFernAndTheFox.com or follow Her on Instagram & Facebook @thefernandthefox.
Need Help with your new dog? Download the Welcome Home Guide
People notice your face before they hear your words. And in business, that first glance can subtly communicate competence, energy, and leadership.
Studies show that light, intentional makeup can make women appear more competent, trustworthy, and professional. A Harvard study found that women who applied light makeup were perceived as more capable and confident than those with none. Another study published in Frontiers in Psychology revealed that “makeup and styling significantly increase perceived leadership ability, as long as the look remains natural and balanced.”
But here’s the catch:
Not everyone enjoys doing makeup every morning! (including myself, a professional makeup artist…). Some women feel it’s “too much work.” Others simply don’t know how to apply it well. And on top of that, entrepreneurship doesn’t leave much time for contouring.
So what’s the solution for women who want to look polished and confident without the daily hassle?
Enter Permanent Makeup - your silent business partner.
When done by a skilled professional, Permanent Makeup enhances your natural features so you wake up looking awake, defined, and ready. Perfectly shaped brows, subtly tinted lips, and lash enhancements give you that put-together look that says, “I’m in charge” without the extra hassle.
Think about it: if you can save 20 minutes each morning and still walk out feeling confident, focused, and intentional — that’s more mental bandwidth for what actually matters: running your business and leading your team.
1. Does it hurt?
Most clients describe it as mild discomfort rather than pain. A high-quality numbing cream is applied to keep you comfortable the entire time.
2. Will it look fake or too strong?
Not at all. Modern techniques are designed to look soft and natural. The goal is to enhance your features, not alter them. You’ll still look like you, just a more polished, confident version.
3. How long does it last?
Depending on your skin type and lifestyle, results can last 1–3 years before a touch-up is needed.
Confidence is powerful. And sometimes, it starts with simply not needing to rush for your makeup bag.
Ask me more questions! Send a note to simone.facialbeauty@gmail.com or 647-570-2406 to learn more.
Ximena Bravo is a beauty business owner based in Etobicoke, offering permanent makeup and makeup services. She helps women feel confident and ready with natural-looking, long-lasting beauty solutions that save time and feel like “you.” Before starting her business, Ximena worked in marketing for big global brands, managing products and building strategies. Now, she brings that experience into her own business, combining creativity, care, and business know-how. She’s passionate about helping women feel good in their own skin and loves connecting with others who are building meaningful, healthy, and happy lives through their work and passions.
November is that in-between month — not quite the holiday rush, but no longer the calm of early fall. For many women entrepreneurs, it’s when exhaustion catches up and motivation starts to dip.
We’ve been showing up, serving clients, planning holiday campaigns, and managing everything (and everyone). But what about us?
If you’ve been running on caffeine and adrenaline, consider this your reminder: you can’t pour from an empty cup or lead from one.
This month, let’s talk about self-care! Not spa days (though we love those), but everyday rituals that rebuild your energy, focus, and confidence before year-end.
November is darker, slower — it’s a time to wind down intentionally. Create a 10-minute evening ritual that tells your body, “You’re safe to rest.”
Ideas:
Remove your makeup with presence. Massage your skin, not just clean it.
Write down one win of the day and one thing you’ll release overnight.
End with a hydrating mask or balm as a symbol of softness and care.
How you close your day sets the tone for how you’ll start the next one.
Instead of diving into emails, start your day with a grounding ritual, something that connects you to your body before your business.
Try:
2 minutes of deep breathing.
A warm beverage (before using your phone!).
Applying lip balm or perfume mindfully (a tiny act of self-recognition).
That pause between waking and working is where self-worth grows.
Confidence doesn’t require perfection. It requires presence.
If you’ve been skipping your makeup or skincare because “there’s no time,” simplify.
Get long-lasting treatments that can make mornings effortless.
Or keep a 5-minute beauty ritual enough to feel like you.
Before the holidays rush in, pause and ask:
- What does my body need right now?
- What can I let go of this month to feel more like myself?
November isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing less, beautifully, intentionally, and with care.
Do you have more ideas? Share them in our Happy Healthy Women WhatsApp Group 🥰
Ximena Bravo is a beauty business owner based in Etobicoke, offering permanent makeup and makeup services. She helps women feel confident and ready with natural-looking, long-lasting beauty solutions that save time and feel like “you.” Before starting her business, Ximena worked in marketing for big global brands, managing products and building strategies. Now, she brings that experience into her own business, combining creativity, care, and business know-how. She’s passionate about helping women feel good in their own skin and loves connecting with others who are building meaningful, healthy, and happy lives through their work and passions.
Bringing a rescue dog home is pure magic. It’s the moment you lock eyes with a soul who has been waiting, sometimes for years, for someone to see them. But that magic is only the beginning. The first six months with a rescue dog are both beautiful and, at times, overwhelming for everyone involved.
These early months are a sacred settling-in period. Your new companion is learning what “home” means: the sounds of the house, the rhythm of your days, and most importantly that love here is safe and lasting. Rescue dogs often arrive carrying layers of past experiences. Even when they seem calm, their nervous systems are working hard to process all the change. It can take weeks or months before their true personality shines through.
As pet parents, we go through our own transition too. There is the joy of bonding and the challenge of understanding behaviors that may not make sense right away. Patience becomes an act of love. Routine, gentle consistency, and energetic support create the container that lets trust bloom.
I know this journey well. My own rescue, Finn, taught me that the first six months set the foundation for a lifetime. Some days felt effortless; others stretched my heart wide open. Each step was worth it.
If you’re welcoming a rescue dog, remember:
Give them more time than you think they need.
Offer a calm environment and steady routine.
Seek support, whether through training, community, or energy work, when things feel heavy.
The reward is beyond words: a bond that feels fated, a companion who mirrors your growth, and the quiet joy of watching a once-uncertain soul finally exhale.
Christine Barfield is an Intuitive Pet Healer and Guide. She helps your pets find more calm, balance and connection through her Signature PETs Method. She specializes in supporting pets with stress, anxiety, and overall well being, creating a more peaceful life for both you and your pet.
Christine absolutely loves being part of Happy Healthy Women, Newmarket, ON, Trailblazer.
Want to learn more about Christine’s Work?
Visit TheFernAndTheFox.com or follow Her on Instagram & Facebook @thefernandthefox.
Need Help with your new dog? Download the Welcome Home Guide
To really step into your Empress energy, you need emotional freedom. This is the most important key that isn’t talked about enough.
Let’s talk about what that means.
Emotional freedom isn’t about burying your emotions. It’s not about avoiding them. It’s not about pretending you don’t feel them.
Emotions get a bad rep. People say emotions are weak, that someone is “too emotional.” How often have you heard some sort of statement from your parents as a child about your emotions, but the truth is, emotions are powerful. They are your friend.
A lot of people bury their emotions, thinking it makes them stronger. Sometimes they don’t even realize they’re doing it because it’s subconscious. They’ll even criticize others for being “too emotional.”
But here’s the thing: if you bury emotions, they WILL show up. They’ll show up in your words, your actions, and sometimes you’ll explode. If you bury them long enough, they will show up in physical illnesses. Think of the word “dis-ease.” Holding them in always finds a way out, even if it’s in physical form.
Most of us weren’t taught to feel our emotions. We were told, “Why are you feeling like that?” or “You don’t need to feel this way.” Sure, logic has its place. But in the moment, your emotions need to be felt.
Emotional freedom is allowing yourself to be with your emotions. To feel them instead of running from them. To treat them like your best friend.
BUT - They don’t run the show!! The key piece here.
Emotions speak to you. They show you what’s happening under the surface. They point to beliefs that aren’t true. They reveal subconscious patterns and traumas that need healing.
Sometimes a present-day situation triggers emotions that really come from childhood. Maybe something happens, and suddenly you’re all up in your feelings. You don’t even know why. That’s because your body is reacting like it did when you were five years old.
This is why emotions are such powerful communicators. They give you the chance to heal. You don’t always need to know the exact childhood memory. You can heal in the now. Sometimes, as you do the inner work, old memories surface anyway. Things you thought weren’t a big deal, or that you didn’t even remember, start to show up. And the energy behind them starts to release.
Emotional freedom is important because it impacts every area of life.
Resilience. Instead of being knocked down by challenges, you can process and move through them. Life happens. Things will come up. Emotional freedom helps you stand back up. One of my favorite quotes is, “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” Emotional freedom gives you that ability.
Peace. When you’re resilient, you feel safer and calmer. You feel aligned.
Confidence. The more resilient you become, the more confident you feel. You trust yourself. You know you can handle whatever comes your way.
Healthy relationships. Instead of blaming or lashing out at your partner, you can regulate yourself.
Business growth. Emotional blocks often stop you from taking steps that would move your business forward. Releasing those blocks opens the door.
Better decision-making. Emotional freedom gets you out of fight-or-flight and brings you back to center. From there, you make clearer, stronger choices, even in small things like food.
Personal power and Empress energy. This is where it all leads. Emotional freedom keeps you grounded in your center. Even if you wobble, you know how to bring yourself back. And every time you come back, you stay in your power longer.
Embodying Emotional Freedom
I see emotional work happening in three stages, depending on how strong the emotional hook is.
At this level, a quick reframe can shift everything. Think of an apple in the middle of two mirrors. One side shows it as red, the other side shows it as green. Same apple. Different angle. That’s how fast a reframe can work at the surface.
This is for an emotion that is on the surface. It may have a slight ting of emotion. Like a 1 out 10, maybe even a 2 out of 10.
Here the emotion has more intensity. There’s a bit of a hook. This may have like a 3-4 in intensity of emotion in your body. This is where awareness helps.
Sit with the feeling. Acknowledge it. Breathe into it.
I often imagine my inner child, the little girl inside me. She holds both the wounds and the playfulness. I picture her as the one needing to feel the emotion. I sit with her without judgment. That’s when the release comes.
At this point, you don’t need to force a reframe. Once the emotion releases, the reframe happens naturally.
When the emotion is very strong and won’t release easily, you need somatic work. 95% of your memories are actually held in your body.
For me, it’s EFT/Tapping. For others, it may be breathwork. Both work with the body to release the charge.
With Tapping, you calm the amygdala and release energy stored in the body. Once that charge is gone, you naturally see things differently. You don’t have to force yourself to “think positive.” The shift just happens naturally.
Over time, the more you clear the deep stuff, the easier it becomes to reframe and release at the surface or middle levels.
Here’s the beauty of this work:
Triggers lose their grip. Situations and/or people are far less likely to rock you.
Past emotional charges from “small t” and “big T” traumas dissolve.
You bounce back faster.
Each time you return to center, you stay there longer.
That is emotional freedom.
If you want to stop burying your emotions, if you’re ready to release the trauma that’s been running the show, and if you want to come fully back into your body and your Empress energy—reach out HERE.
This is where healing happens. This is where power lives. And this is where you truly come home to yourself.
