Autumn – Emily Brickel Edelson

Articles Tagged with: Autumn

October 31, 2013

The Anatomy of Swagger – Halloween Edition

Pirate Swagger.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The topic of swagger came up a few weeks ago with one of my clients, and the answer to what people think swagger is was very interesting. Well, I’m here to help you get your swagger back, or increase it – if in fact you lost it.

We all can sense when someone has swagger but how do you define it, and how do you get it?

Swagger is the reason you get that promotion as opposed to the next person, it’s how you notice people when they walk into a room, it’s how you choose a romantic partner (or don’t). Swagger is what makes heads turn, hearts race and suitors fall all over themselves to get a chance to talk to you. Swagger makes men want you and women want to be you. It is that extra oomph and the icing on top of a delicious cake. It’s what can take you to the next stratosphere in your business and in your life.

Swagger, also referred to as mojo.

Do you have swagger?

Swagger is the way in which you present yourself to the world. It’s the way you walk, the way you talk, how you dress and how you handle a situation.

According to the urban dictionary “Swagger is to move with confidence, sophistication, and to be cool. Swagger is to conduct yourself in a way that would automatically earn respect.”

Alright, so swagger is something we all covet, in ourselves and in others. Maybe you put up a front and think swagger is a bad thing, too arrogant or too aggressive. The thing is, having swagger induces jealousy too, so maybe you are jealous of those who have swagger if you are feeling low on the swag-o-meter.

Well, I’m here to help get your swagger back or up the level of which you swag.

Let’s break down the anatomy of swagger, shall we.

I think swagger is a state of being. It is temporary and NOT a constant. Some days you have swagger, some days you don’t. Some days you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. However, some days you have swagger when you are confident in what you are doing and when you feel you are superior in your skill level or competence.

In order to have swagger, one must go above the bare minimum in any given situation.

Example: How you rate on the Swag-o-meter.

Swagger meter 0:

You got dressed this morning. Good for you! We need clothes to not get arrested in public. You got where you are going late or on time. You did the bare minimum.

Swagger meter 4:

You got dressed, you picked out an outfit you feel great in, ate breakfast and grabbed some reading material for your commute. You feel good and started your day off well.

Swagger meter 8:

You picked out your outfit the day before, did your hair and makeup on point, set the coffee machine, had 15 minutes to actually enjoy your breakfast and read a blog. You left your home early and got to your appointment before the other party arrived. Feeling good, looking good and feeling confident you rate high on the swagger meter. Other people may notice your great mood and self-confidence. Great job!

Swagger meter 10:

You did all of the above in meter 8, plus you worked out, found the perfect shoes, accessories and purse to match your outfit. You switched contents in your purse to the matching purse the night before. You have your commute down to a science, you are stocked for your business meetings with all of your research, techy devices, and gorgeous power point or even unique and original 3d visual mood board to show your client. You had some spare time the night before to call your best friend and take a bath, your calendar is booked for the next 3 months and you feel like you have a certain plan for the future but are flexible if changes occur. You feel like you have an over all life balance and have EXTRA time to relax and do things just for you. You have a strong sense of connection, of spirituality or religion and a good support system of family and friends. Here are the elements of swagger. You score a 10, you’ve got swag. Congratulations! (But I don’t have to tell you that because you feel great about where you’re at and KNOW that you are going places.)

You are the man/woman who turns heads. Your confidence shines like a gorgeous glow of golden light around your hot-self, you move with grace, never rushing to your next stop. You are smiling from the inside out because you know no matter what happens, if coffee spills all over your shirt, if your toe gets stepped on by the strap-hanger in front of you or even if you don’t get the new account, it’s ok because you feel great and know that it is all good. You will not feel defeated; you will feel empowered to try another way.

How do you do this?

Its not perfection its just taking CARE in what you do! It’s 100% achievable.

But it is not 100% consistent. By all means I do not have swagger every day. Like I said, some days I feel it, others I do not. Some days I loose my swagger for a while if I’m sick, feel out of balance or if I’m dealing with a big issue. It’s all about how well I took care of my needs and myself that day or instance.

Getting more in tune with exactly what you need to feel happy is the key to swag. Listening to YOUR opinion before asking others what they think will make you feel happy with your choices.

It may sound difficult (and some days it’s damn near impossible) but it is attainable. It’s all about LOVING yourself enough to take good care of your needs, knowing that what I call the “Water fountain effect” is in full force. (see #7 in link.)

HEARING your intuition:

If there is an issue in which you don’t know what to do, flip a coin.

Yes, flip a coin. Heads you do it, tails you don’t. Now here’s the twist: You will KNOW immediately how you feel about this decision if the coin flips on the decision you DID NOT want to go through with.

Picture this – Heads you take the job / cut your hair / cancel plans /etc., tails you don’t. The coin lands on heads. You immediately think AH!!! NO!!!!! OMG I don’t want to do that!!!!

Ok well there’s your answer. Don’t do what the coin says, listen to your reaction. This is a fail proof way to hear your instincts and do what makes YOU happy!

Now that we’ve broken down swagger, I hope you realize you can have it too, or get it back if you had it years ago. Swagger is being prepared for your day, for your needs, respecting your time and the time of others. It is being responsible for your side of the street, knowing full well no one else will do it for you. It is going that extra mile beyond the bare minimum and MEETING the day instead of letting the day push you around.

So go ahead, get your swag on and get ready for an awesome day!

Let me know how you got your swag up in the past or if this was helpful in the comments below or by replying to this email!

Hope that inspires you, and hope your Halloween is filled with swag!

Xoxo

Emily

October 17, 2013

The Story you tell… becomes the life you lead.

Perception is everything. Reality is totally different. Now, That’s not to say if you dress up like a cat you will be a cat, but … (maybe just for Halloween!)

Reality is actually completely different for everyone. Your reality is different from my reality and each of our realities are different from your parent’s and siblings realities, your friends realities and your coworker’s realities. How is this possible? Because it is our PERCEPTION of reality that changes from person to person, and that is why perception is everything.

If you perceive your life to be hard, and a struggle, it will be. If you perceive the road to be long and the battle to be tough, it is. If you perceive your life to be full of joy and abundance, so be it.

If you think of yourself as ugly or to have a big nose, that is the reality you live in, and you truly feel that way – going on, day in and day out, feeling bad about yourself. Meanwhile, someone else may think your nose is the most perfect nose they have ever seen and that you are really beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

If you identify yourself as intelligent, you live in a world where you ARE intelligent. You feel you make smart choices, based on the choices you have seen others make and based on those around you. However, that doesn’t mean someone else can think the exact opposite is true, and be correct – in their own reality – and based on their experience perceive your choices to be ignorant and inept.

It is all based on perception. Your analysis of yourself is based on how you view others around you, their behaviors and your past experiences. From that you draw a conclusion.

That teaches us to all be a little more compassionate. Someone you may be judging may just as well be judging you. When in an argument, someone else’s point may seem preposterous, yet when you try to see things from their eyes you can see that each reality may be true.

The Earth was deemed flat based on our perception of walking, sailing and driving on land. The Earth was deemed round upon our discovery of flight and our view from higher altitudes.

Ok, ok – what am I getting at you ask? It is a very simple yet complex point. We create our own realities. Our minds and thoughts organize themselves in a way that informs the world around us. The thoughts we think inform the feelings we have, which then create the energy we release into the world. Those around us recognize the energy we give off subconsciously. The energy we feel determines our day, our mood and compoundly, our life.

If all this is true, then why couldn’t you change your whole life as you know it. You can.

Change your perception of being the VICTIM to the VICTOR of your life.

Change your perception that “It can’t be done” to “You need 99 no’s to get 1 yes,” and that “impossible is nothing.”

You have to make the choice EACH and every day to live in Faith, or to live in Fear. The stories that we tell ourselves from our past are lodged so deeply in our psyche that we believe them whole-heartedly.

We believe that we are worthless without those external things we seek. We believe that because it happened once, it will happen again. We believe that our future will be based on our past suffering.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you will certainly most always be right.” Henry Ford.

Change your story. Declare that although it happened in the past, it does not have to be our future. Decide that your family’s story or struggle is not your own. Choose to have faith that your past occurred to teach you lessons to deal with your future so that you don’t have to replay history.

Choose to tell the story you WANT to live, as opposed to the story you keep telling from your past and decide that NO LONGER is your truth!

Choose the story of your life.

Hope that inspires you!

Xoxo

Emily

Special thanks to my mentor Gabrielle Bernstein who ingrained this theory into me and I wanted to share it with you!f

P.S. Im giving away $50 off your Order of Custom Illustrated Holiday Cards for the Early Birds, Now – Nov 8th with code: EARLYBIRD13

October 10, 2013

Autumn Glamour

Something about the fall always makes me feel like it’s time to pamper myself. The cooler weather commands us to focus on fall fashion, on our beauty routines and freshening ourselves up for a new season.

Fashion week, fall fetes, holidays coming up and more social gatherings in a new climate lend themselves perfectly to trying a new lip color or trend.

Everything about the jewel tone colors, the excuse to wear more makeup then in the summer months and the call to play around with fashion is so fun. Halloween, thanksgiving and holiday parties are what’s new to prep for.

Adapt a new hair conditioner now to combat brittle strands before they arrive, slather on that skin cream to hydrate in windy and brisk situations and go to the local boutique or drug store to try on new fashion or beauty finds.

It’s just a great excuse to feel extra girly. To prep our shells for winter weather; skin, tresses and garbs.

If you’re not into all those frills, just take this as an opportunity to get really vivid, nutrient-rich autumn veggies to steep into a stew, or douse the tub with Epsom salt and hop in for soak.

Whatever it is that feels like luxury to you, do it. Treat yourself. The end of summer solstice marks the preparation to get all our nuts in a row in order to hibernate and marinate in our situations.

This pertains to business as well. Take a luxurious approach to your work and really dig into your vision for the future, gnaw into the bones of your dreams and set the course correct, or deeper to get there.

Relish in this time of year that really gets you ready to saturate yourself in earthly pleasures, dreams come true and frivolous things.

Take the time you need, do it for yourself. You deserve it.

Hope that inspires you to live a glamorous autumn in more ways that one.

Xoxo

Emily

October 25, 2012

Just Believe…

Click here: to see my top picks on PeaceLoveThreads.com

In Illustration: Cutoff Comet Sweater and Senderkis Box Hand bag available on PeaceLoveThreads.com use code PLTAutumn2012 for 10% off! Also available, My illustrated notebooks!

What I know about life…

No matter how old we are or how young, there is nothing more powerful than our own mind, and our own power of creation.

When you express yourself your power grows. The more you let yourself feel it and practice it, the more mastery of it you obtain. Use it or loose it.

Ask yourself “What is it that you really want???… Do it. There is no way to convince anyone of your greatness. You have to know it on the inside and DO IT… Knife fight your way to your dream.” – Lady Gaga, The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet.

Try harder, try a different way. What are the stories you are telling yourself about why you can’t or are afraid to move forward. What journey of a thousand miles are you creating in your head that can only be taken one step at a time?

Try until you make it. Don’t stop when it stops being easy. Take your power back, schedule time to work on it, to take your one step each day. Work through it when you are not in the mood, push on and you will get in the mood.

Be gentle with yourself, Rome was not built in one day, or month – or year.

We are on a lifetime JOURNEY to learn what we are meant to learn. Lessons will keep coming up until you understand them. Things happen to slow you down, so you can actually slow down and think!!!!! To maybe gain a fresh perspective or a big picture view, we can only see this from the slow lane. Once we know where we are going we can speed up again.

Believe in miracles, there are forces around you that you cannot see or hear. If you tune in to your intuition you will notice them. Pay attention. You are being guided and there is some kind of force greater than you, even if you can’t see that yet or don’t know what it is.

Remember when you were younger, what did you believe then? Did you think you can conquer the world? You can, you just have to scuff off all the grime you have heard by people who don’t listen to their intuition or worse yet listen, but don’t do what it says. Maybe you have become one of those people. Unlearn it. Go back to your true self. Stop making yourself sick. You are in this lifetime to get it right, to find happiness.

Don’t listen to anyone’s advice but your own for a while, your inner voice – it is your inborn compass to decipher what works for you and what YOU should be doing as opposed to what others tell you that you should be doing.

“Authenticity is sexy.” – Gabrielle Bernstein, best selling author of Add More –Ing, Spirit Junkie and revolutionary leader.

Go inward. Stop. Take inventory of what you want, what kind of impact do you want to have on the world. Course correct. Where are you NOT on this path? What gives you stress? How can you remove what you don’t like and add what you do like? How can you see it differently?

Thank you to all my mentors Gabrielle Bernstein, Marie Forleo, my Mom and my internal guide for helping me grow and learn and challenge myself, every…single…day.

Celebrate life. I have had a major breakthrough by slowing down when I got sick and by seeing things differently. How can you do the same? Ask yourself – What do you need in this life to be fulfilled and what no longer works for you?
Celebrating right now!!!! Live every day as if it were your last. If today were to be your last, what would be your legacy?

Thank you, and as always –

I hope that inspires you,

Xoxox

Emily

P.S. I am proud to support my friend and entrepreneur Tash Moore and her partner Christine Okoye of PeaceLoveThreads.com, a newly opened ecommerce boutique – they are working their dream to the max and I hope that inspires you to do the same! Check out their store and purchase the sweater and purse in the illustration above from their website with the 10% off code! How cool is that!!! Wanna know what else is so cool? They are going to be selling my Illustrated notebooks on their site!!! Check it out here for details! www.PeaceLoveThreads.com/emilys-picks. This link will be live as of Friday Oct 26 2012 at 1pm.

xoxo

October 4, 2012

Falling for Fall

I just find it so interesting as to all the impacts that autumn has on us each year and the seeds we are planting now to grow for the future. It is a time of new beginning, when the leaves fall and the trees start a new. It’s a time to cuddle up with those you love, and prepare for the holidays ahead. To make trips to the orchards and pumpkin fields, to create memories and breathe in the crisp air. It’s time to center back into family and start to plant your seeds again for harvest in the spring. It is to enjoy the fruits of your labor from summer, to store and create new forms of food to last the winter and to celebrate the abundance of our crop on Thanksgiving.

We look back on the seasons past and take stock to see how we lived our year and how we could learn from it and do it better. In what ways can we fill in the gaps we may have missed when we were basking in the glow of the summer sun. What relationships and business maintenance have we overlooked and now is time to tend to?

It is also the Jewish New Year so “L’Shana Tova” to you. This means “To a good year.” I think that whether you celebrate the holiday or not, and no matter what religion you are this holiday is a really special and interesting one to perhaps add into your practice.

It basically entails that each person take stock of how they are living their lives, to acknowledge that our deeds are measured by our intentions and to have faith that no good deed goes unnoticed. It is re-evaluating how you have spent this year and for you to take into account, what you have contributed to this world and to your community, perhaps as a business person, but more importantly as a human being. What have you done out of the goodness of your heart, what lies have you told – to yourself or to others, white or malicious? The best part is, we all have the chance to fix it, to undo it with positive and good intentions and to learn from our in-authenticities. To be a better person.

To plant your seeds NOW, watch them grow and sprout to enjoy for next summer, with the deep practice of care, nurturing and the realization that some of your crop may fail. To analyze what the conditions were this past year and to course correct to increase your abundance of fruit is what is necessary now. How can we plant more, and more efficiently now to receive more abundance later? That is what we all must ask ourselves at this time in order to live a fuller life and to leave our legacy for the world.

Hope that inspires you!
xoxo

Emily

P.S. if you are interested in a customized version of the above illustration for yourself or a couple you know contact me at Emily@EmilyBrickel.com

I can create engagement, wedding, thank you, moving, new baby, etc couple illustrations in any outfit, skin color, hair color, height, position and background you like! You will receive a pdf version to use and print on cards or frame it, or you can purchase the printed item! Prices vary depending on scope of work. xoxo

The Anatomy of Swagger – Halloween Edition

The Story you tell… becomes the life you lead.

Autumn Glamour

Just Believe…

Falling for Fall

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