Hat Trick Magazine December 2016 by Hat Trick Magazine

ISSN 2058-198X

Volume 5 • Issue 12 • December 2016

Hat Trick (noun): 1. A sports metaphor for three achievements by a single player in a game. 2. A magic trick. We happily accept both definitions. Hat Trick Magazine is a special project targeted at sharing spiritual and professional growth with like-minded people from around the world. We share strategies that truly will change your life, business and career (with a little help from some pro friends). We’ve all been there: under/un/employed, in a bad situation, in transition, wondering what the options are and not knowing the skills we would need to get us there. We won’t lie to you. Coming out the other side isn’t easy, but we can show you what we learned along to way and help you get the confidence to turn that leaf over and pursue that which is your destiny. Knowledge is power. Not everyone fancies themselves to be an entrepreneur but the truth is, even when seeking employment these days, pulling together your resume requires some sly articulation to showcase your skills, be keyword-optimised and with a strong, personable presentation to get noticed. We feature inspirational people who have great careers, amazing businesses, tips and a host of amazing stories will inspire and amaze you. Our editors and contributors are some of the most connected in their industries and specialisms. Hat Trick Your Life! Take control of your lifestyle, your career, your dreams and your journey. We’ll share what we know and we invite you to join us. If you or your business would like to be featured or simply would like to contribute a feature in an upcoming issue, please email us on: content@hattrickmagazine.com

Hat Trick Strategies cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited coverage made by our contributors including reviews, articles, manuscripts or photographs of products, services. While every care is taken, prices, details or availability of items are subject to change and we cannot accept responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit letters or correspondence received via email, social media or other communication. All advice is given in general terms or as a matter of opinion, for entertainment purposes only, and may not be exhaustive nor suitable for all situations. Always seek specialized professional advice, specifically suited to you or your business needs. Absolutely no part of this magazine should be taken as medical, professional or other advice - always seek the advice of a qualified practitioner.

Published by

Hat Trick Strategies Unit 4 Vista Place, Coy Pond Ingworth Road, Poole BH12 1JY, United Kingdom Registered in England and Wales Number 07819796

UK: +44 1383 279 879 US: +1 501 588 2248 clientcare@hattrickstrategies.com

Editor-In-Chief Michelle Fitz

Copy Editor Shali Selva

Design & Illustration Michelle Fitz Michael Thomas Hartley Eleni Sofroniou

Your Life

Your Skills

Charlene SanJenko Cherie DeBurger Tanya Jackson Joey & Michael Phelps Jane Lindsey

Andrea Sullenger Sukh Pabial Uchechi Ezurike-Bosse Michelle Holmes

Your Look

Your Spirit

Michelle Fitz Rachael Pontillo Marina BerBeryan Mina Thomas Muirhead

Karen Salmansohn Cherie Corso Manish Kumar Arora Katie Clifton

This publication has been optimised for digital devices such as iPad and iPhone for the Issuu online platform. For best onscreen viewing, use the navigation tools to enter full screen mode.

Click this icon to enter/exit full screen mode

We love hearing from you! Contact us at content@hattrickmagazine.com

From the Editor Cleaning House: Unpacking 2016........................................................................................................... 8

Cover Story Miki Agrawal, Serial Entrepreneur .........................................................................................................16

Your Life PowHERhouse Portrait | Tina Overbury...............................................................................................24 What We’re Reading...................................................................................................................................32 Lil Nipper Snappers Cartoon...................................................................................................................33 Our New Baby!.............................................................................................................................................34 I Shouldn’t be Allowed to Have a Business...................................................................................... 40

Your Look Things We Love...........................................................................................................................................46 Self-Care for the Forgotten Ladies: Mama CEOs.............................................................................48 Confessions of a Hollywood Stylist: A Contemporary Revival of Christmas Decor............. 52

Your Skills 3 Ways to be Smart With Money........................................................................................................... 62 How to Un-Complicate Learning for Employees............................................................................. 68 Did You Deny Your Vision in 2016?.......................................................................................................74

Your Spirit Karen Salmansohn......................................................................................................................................78 Are your ‘Eye Candy’ Choices Destroying Your Soul?.................................................................. 80 Reiki & Crystal Healing............................................................................................................................. 86 Your Zodiac Predictions For January 2017........................................................................................ 90

Click an article to jump straight to the corresponding page

From the Editor

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

This is going to be an epic of an editorial, but I have a lot to tell you. This year, I had big plans. I had been offered a small contract with Disney. I had chosen a path of peace and olive-branches when steps forward were being taken in my relationship that triggered animosity with my partner’s everpresent ex. I was proud of the work we were putting out, and I was happy with the projects I had lined up and the stability that I was enjoying. I was preparing for a lengthy legal challenge pertaining to my own ex, and I actually believed that “love and light”, boundaries, and robust planning were the way forward in making 2016 exactly what I wanted. I had forced most of these things into fruition. These were, after all, things I very much wanted and some of it, I undersold myself to obtain. I had this notion that I was going to leave all drama in 2015, and I finally knew where I stood - with everyone and everything. In my mind, this is what disrupted my peace and so, well, now that I had resolved that, my problems would be solved too and the new year was going to be all “feet up” and living. I had accepted things for what they were. I was happy and ready to make lemonade from lemons and I had the perfect recipe in mind. Until, I heard a few words from someone’s mouth immediately after New Year that cast up doubt yet again and showed me that these were merely fairy stories I had created in my own heart to make myself and my existence what I thought life was all about. It was all a crock of shit that I co-created, half-manifested, half-enjoyed, and in which I was half-invested.

And then, I woke up…. Letter From the Editor, Michelle Fitz

I mean looking from the outside, I had it made! I had: the man of my dreams (read: once every week or two or three), fantastically clever children (who were very angry with me and our post-divorce set up, not least because their parents hated each other and because frankly their mother - that’s me - had let them down without so much of an explanation or apology), this amazing publication (which did well but did not have even the basics to proactively serve our readers in the way that they deserve), and I had a call back to work with some of the greatest people I’d ever worked with (for a specific piece of work, at about half the rate that I had commissioned previously, and at my own expense for travel, at a time in my life when I would already be facing serious challenges legally with my ex-husband). Oh yeah! From the outside, wasn’t I successful?! See, in one phone conversation with my now ex-partner, I realised that none of it was real. None of it was what I thought it was. And yet, I spent the first five months of 2016, completely thinking that all was fixable “if only”, not seeing that it was not even broken - it was simply wrong. And my method for trying to “fix”? It was to put more of myself, my vision, my heart into everything. In my relationship, I refocused and reframed my language and tried to keep the connection going. In my business, I met with chemists and manufacturers to produce a product line. I was selecting fragrances. I was working to sketch jewellery. With my ex-husband, I had filed a statement in court that explained all the aspects of my previous marriage which I was too traumatised to explain at the time, thinking that this was me standing up for myself (finally), no longer afraid of someone who had ruined my life and for years gaslighted his way to the point of destruction of my life and reputation with everyone from my youngest daughter to professionals.

The result? Every ounce of this blew up in my face to the point where the only person who was left devastated with the aftershock was me. 10

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Almost immediately, I accepted I was ill equipped to take on travel and I pulled totally out of the opportunity with the contract. By spring though, I had gone forward with manufacturing and chemist appointments, What did I get by keeping the connection going with a person who did nothing but keep me in a state of confusion and emotional heartache and self-doubt for over a year? I gave myself a self-created hell where I was stuck in limbo for almost five months, waiting for him to get through whatever it was that freaked him out about commitment and just “be”. It was mental torture that I created. He was never inconsistent and always honest. It was me who would take the crumbs I could get. What did I get when I raked up the past in court and talked about the bad guy my ex was instead of letting him show it for himself? I got a perpetuation of all the things from the past and made myself look like I was the one who hadn’t let go - when, in fact, I was the one so brow beaten and devastated that I would accept crumbs there, too. And one day, I woke up and realised that all of this was my doing and that none of it was changing, and that the only common denominator in this picture was me. So, I made sure that this guy would never speak to me again because I knew I was too weak to do it myself. I then took a hard look at my side of the street and what I had to do in order to clean up my part in the disappointments of my life. Guess what? My ex-husband showed everyone his real thoughts and inabilities. I made space to really consider why I bothered with this publication, what its purpose was, and how best I could serve. As mentioned, I even decided at one stage in September to shut it down. Think about that. One month, you’re developing a candle and jewellery line and two months later, you’re burning the house down. And that is exactly what I had to do across every facet of my own life.

Letter From the Editor, Michelle Fitz

Because at the ripe old age of 37, I had sought help for - but still not yet overcome - the circumstances and trauma from the first 23 years of my life. From a rape I hid from my parents. From lack of self-worth derived from a difficult childhood. From numerous unhealthy relationships which involved both good and not-so-good people. And it was manifesting and perpetuating in every aspect of my being. It lowered the bar of what I was willing to accept in a romantic partner. It manifested in an eating disorder where I would go from binge eating to not eating at all. It also resulted in a constant need to either sleep or be in bed. And I was very stuck in the past. I relived all of these moments on a regular basis as though I suffered from PTSD. Oh, I could fix your life. I could hook you up with a great job. I could write things for you. I could do and help with anything... unless it was for myself. Because my own shit was too deep and the easier outlet was to medicate it through sleep or food - or no sleep and no food - or over achieving, or self-sacrifice, or perhaps standing up for my boundaries with the largest hammer I could find to smash a nut. If you have a toilet bowl of shit and keep adding water, can you be surprised when the shit simply rises and your water is never clean? You have to remove the shit, and believe me when I tell you that it’s a job that no one really wants to face! Alas, you have to, if you really want to clean house. Here’s what changed. I agreed to turn the page with my ex-husband. I napalmed the communication lines with this partner who was never going to be anything other than a source of heartbreak, I had to acknowledge that I had to work with my kids to address and make up for the ways that I had let them down, and I had to identify why I was so unhappy with myself that I would torture myself with food rather than to stand up and simply sort out/accomplish/address/do all the things that I had been carrying around with me internally for years. When I did that, I took an inventory of my life, my circumstances, my habits and I overhauled. Everything. I told you in November’s editorial that this magazine was started for myself. Little did I know I’d make a framework for restarting your life and use myself as a test dummy against it.

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

And I’m not done yet. I can’t wait to share with you what I have learned and what I continue to learn. Because I did not come this far, to only come this far. Happy New Year! I pray it is your best yet.

How I Changed My Life I had to feel it to heal it. I participated in a video challenge designed to draw out what was most important to you in your business and to help you really focus your intentions. Every video I produced revealed a subconscious pain I carried and a deep longing to fix my personal life. I saw the degree of criticism I had about myself and the guilt I carried. Granted, some was valid, but the impact to my self-worth was incredibly unfair. I saw a pattern emerge whereby I projected this guilt on myself to define what I was “eligible” for or deserved. So, I allowed myself to feel the pain of what was lacking, frustrations, and, of course, for my own mistakes. I let myself cry more that year than I probably ever had in my whole life, but when I did, I challenged myself to identify what was

creating the anguish and how I could address it - it was feeling with purpose. I had to decide that accepting things as “settled” wasn’t enough. I needed to actually do something about it, or at least, try. I had to decide I didn’t want to feel that way anymore. I had to see that I had a choice. It never occurred to me that I did. Once I stood up and vocalised what I wanted, I accepted help and guidance from numerous professionals, some on my side and some on opposing sides. I accepted a little bit of chemical help from my doctor, who prescribed an antidepressant which helped me not only get out of bed, but to see that the future I was creating was very bright. I also accepted energetic help in the form of alternative therapies such as EFT, daily meditation, and Reiki.

I had to realise that self-worth was an inside job that could only be reinforced through friendships with others who wanted nothing from you but fully reciprocal love and shared moments of love and support. I took a break from relationships to work on my own stuff. I replaced that with a clan of best friends who I began to bond with and support on a daily basis. People with whom I shared spooky parallels with and who had overcome these stories and were a daily echo reminding me of my goals. Gemma, Katy, Will, and Donna, I know

you’re likely to read this. I hope you know how important you are to me. Andrea, you are my best friend. I wouldn’t have made it without you all. I had to clean up my side of the street. I had to address the fact that I had few or often low standards, and that very often, I walked away and accepted someone else’s definition of me too easily. I had to address my food issues by asking myself why I comfort ate and what was lacking in the space I was trying to fill. I had to look at the way I was moving my body, and I had to acknowledge that I was sometimes shallow and as such fostered shallow relationships. I had to acknowledge accept that, in the process of all the fighting, we all carried this anguish and that some of it, I had caused. I had to take accountability for it and offer a means of atonement. I also had to see that I often was very judgemental, refusing to grant forgiveness to those who came to me, like my mother, seeking it even though I wanted it myself. I had to choose to see my mother as a young woman who was doing the best that she could with what she had. I had to forgive that young woman and to acknowledge her, as she once was, and offer to the woman she is now - a true and unreserved apology and forgiveness from my heart. To do this, I had to seek the help of mother figures - aunts and cousins. But it didn’t fully come until I held space for that young woman doing her best all those years ago, spent some time with her, and learned to accept her exactly as she was and is today. To love her, just as she is today. To embrace her, as my mother, which meant so much to both of us. I had to see how meeting my ex-husband changed my life for the better and to be grateful to him for beautiful children. For a new country. For life experiences. I had to celebrate him being a rung on my ladder of life and the role he played to transform me. To see how he suffered, too. To thank him for the tragedy of it all. To forgive him for many disappointments and to pray for his forgiveness in the many ways I caused him pain and disappointments as well. I had to grieve my poor choices in partners and perceptions of what love was. I had to see the little

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

confused girl who got herself so entangled with a person that didn’t fit me in the first place. I had to see that, in many ways, the soft girl who was exploited actually was an exploiter herself. She didn’t want to be alone. She allowed a person to build a hope of being with her... because she wasn’t able to be alone. Because she wasn’t herself. She wasn’t her best self so, of course, she wasn’t going to attract her best partner. I had to stop holding onto the narrative. I had to stop calling him my abusive ex-husband. Because that perpetuated his abuse of me emotionally in my present. I had to start calling him Steven. My ex-husband. I had to truly turn the page. I had to humbly come, cap in hand, asking for help in turning the page. I had to allow others to criticise me. I had to take it in and ask to be given help to fix it all. I had to genuinely and humbly position myself to be ready to receive. I expected miracles. I focused on the love I felt and that alone. I stopped posting snarky bullshit and started using Facebook as a gratitude journal, counting every small blessing that came daily. I transformed my energy to gratitude and joy. I noticed I now only had gratitude and joy.

And suddenly, everything else just began to fall away. By Michelle Fitz, Editor-In-Chief

Michelle Letter From the Editor, Michelle Fitz

Cover Story

I consider Afripads part of our ‘Global Girls’ Club’! We strive for girls to be more intimate with their bodies, to understand how it works, above all. Miki Agrawal is a Serial Entrepreneur – a true go-getter who sees a need for something, fills the need in a way that is simple and to the point, builds a team to support it, and creates something new. Like Miki, her business, Thinx, has an upfront motive: to remove the taboo surrounding menstruation. Thinx features a line of underwear that is designed to absorb blood and kill germs. It’s sleek design – yes, it looks exactly like something you might already own – is its selling point. Miki’s journey with Thinx has led her to Africa, where she partnered with a company called Afripads to empower young schoolgirls. Afripads makes reusable and washable cloth pads for a very affordable price. While in Africa, she learned how periods drastically affected women there; many young girls drop out of school because they find it so embarrassing to have their periods whilst in school. 18

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Through her collaboration with Afripads and business ventures like Thinx, Miki hopes to remove the stigma surrounding periods in Africa and in the Western world.

WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR THINX? The idea for Thinx came from a “situation” at a family BBQ in 2005. While I was defending my championship title in the threelegged race, my twin sister got her period. And we had to sprint to the bathroom so she could change out of her bathing suit bottoms. As she was washing blood from her underwear, we had the idea: “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had underwear that could support blood?” And, by extension, women?

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH AFRIPADS. I consider Afripads part of our ‘Global Girls’ Club’! We strive for girls to be more intimate with their bodies, to understand how it works, above all. Other than the provision of reusable menstrual pads, our collaboration with Afripads has grown and evolved into a six-month curriculum for young girls. We’re teaching them about their bodies, menstruation, what menstrual tools exist, self-defense and financial literacy. These are all things that have the power to change their future.

Cherie Corso: Spiritual Entrepreneur

AS A SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR, YOU’VE DABBLED IN QUITE A FEW AREAS, INCLUDING YOUR FIRST VENTURE – FOOD. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WILD, YOUR PIZZA BUSINESS. Well, it’s just so hard to find healthy comfort food that tastes good and makes you feel even better! Back in 2004, everyone was talking organic but no one was making organic pizza. So I thought, ‘If no one else is gonna do it, I will!’ So I did. My first restaurant opened back in 2005 in New York City and seemed to meet a very real need in the community. Wild has a farm to table concept that transforms comfort foods like pizza into delicious organic offerings – yes, we source our produce from local farms. There are now 4 different outlets!

To read more about Miki and her inspirational business ventures, pick up her bestselling book, ‘Do Cool Shit’ here. ‘Do Cool Shit’ is an inspiring, irreverent manifesto for those seeking to blaze their own path to entrepreneurship and find fulfillment and happiness through bold action and big ideas – could this be your new 2017 manifesto?

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

YOUR AD HERE

LINDSAY MARINO Medium, Author, Speaker

Email Lindsay@LindsayMarino.com

YOUR AD HERE w w .e m

INSPIRATIONAL WALL ART

EMPOWER+INK

po w er in k. m e HANDMADE & DESIGNED TO FEED YOUR SOUL

Your Life

Photo Credit: Maggi Woo photography

Find me online here

By Charlene SanJenko

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

“I think as human beings we’ve become masterful escape artists, and it is costing us our connection to each other.”

I’m

Tina O from TinaOLife, a new online hub launching in February 2016 (though you can sneak peek us now) designed to ignite your fire for life. I’m an inspired entrepreneur, an authentic marketer, an artful speaker, and a soulful writer. Oh yes, and I’m a full-time mum to three hockey-loving Canadian boys too. My thrill is your (and my) Living Story. It’s not just about identifying and marketing your core story, it’s about experiencing the heat and freedom of living it.

Describe your Mission. What’s it all about for you? I see (as do you) enough dead eyes, exhausted souls, and guarded hearts in the world as the old operating system of how we’ve been living collapses. It

Powerhouse Portrait: Tina Overbury

can be terrifying to recognise that what used to work: mega-systems, huge business, control, adrenalin, raising the bar all in the name of more, more and still more, simply doesn’t compute today. Our efforts often don’t land anymore. It’s a scary time for people who can feel the writing on the walls even if they can’t see it yet. My mission is to awaken contentment on the planet by reacquainting people with their innate wisdom, and walking beside them as they re-integrate their self using what I call their four engines of alignment: Soulset, Skillset, Mindset and Body. It’s very freeing to recognise that we needn’t escape to the soul (or energy) world, nor must we hide in the practicals (or realities) of life. We can live in this physical world while connected to our soulful self. It’s not only possible, it’s how we’re designed to be. I image a world of tall poppies, each of us living to the heights and depths of all that we are, peaceful and content as the wind of life blows around us.

What is your ultimate dream for your business – your Mission – and where would you like to take it? Crazy as this sounds…I will not stop until TinaO (yup that’s me) and TinaOLife becomes a replacement for our addiction to Netflix, video games, the news, adrenalin and all other stuff we get up to in order to hide from

really living. I aim to provide a place for people to go and trade their ‘hardness’, or ‘exhaustion’, or ‘despair’ for energy. Just call TinaO, and TinaOLife your neighbourhood gas station for lifeforce energy.

Describe what success looks like. TinaOLife will be launching using somewhat of a financial co-operative model in that all of our contributors will be paid from the profits generated by the work 26

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

of the site. Success looks like a living wage for TinaOLife’s contributors, all parties feel respected and their work honoured, and an audience who feels empowered to be the difference in their own life. Imagine how different our lives would be if we didn’t rely on the expert industry to tell us who we are. Imagine if we didn’t live our life by the next best ‘ten steps to whatever’ list out there. Success looks like a business that knows what is enough is with a message that inspires the same in others too. Success is a perpetual motion machine because we’re not looking for more, we’re being who we are and what is needed instead.

Describe your success strategy in one sentence. My strategy: Dear Tina, always, always, always move in the direction that is peaceful. My explanation: There are many forks in the road, lots of cross-roads in our future and many decisions to be made. That’s life. That said, confusion and indecision is completely self-made. When we listen to our innate wisdom by leaning into what is peaceful, decisions make us and not the other way around. There is no personal conflict in the truth, and that’s peace.

Biggest highlight in your career/journey thus far? Launching the Live Your Best Story workshop on a gut-knowing that it was right and then seeing afterwards that I was right. It was the first time since I was a

Powerhouse Portrait: Tina Overbury

child that I simply leapt without shame or fear about it. Making the decision to launch LYBS was my first conscious experience of ‘listening so as to lead’, and it started a ball rolling in my life that has changed everything: my marriage, my business, my parenting and my health.

How would you describe what brings you the greatest joy in your current role? Home, and I’m not talking about my house although that’s certainly part of it. I’m talking about ‘feeling’ at home, ‘being’ at home, and ‘knowing’ my home and ‘resting’ at home. That brings me my greatest joy. It’s the well-spring that fuels all that I am and reminds me that I belong.

What would you like women to most understand or consider – on a higher level – with regards to your role and your mission. Given I just asked What is My Mission? as my birthday question to the powers that be, this comes at the ripest of times for me! I always ask a question on my birthday because my belief is 28

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

that we are the most connected to ‘the Source’ of where we come from on our birth-day. It’s the day to ask the big questions, and so I do. This is the answer that came: I’m here to show,

teach, help, and lift by example – what it means to LIVE in the physical realm. While we are souls who live in a body, vibrations that connect only because we say so, and have spiritual paths and gifts and genius and passions and, and, and…while all of the above may be true (and I’m not saying it’s not), it is the physical realm of living that allows our spirit to be here.

I’m here to help people find their peace with living in this physical world. It’s the one place where we all connect.

I am here to connect people’s feet to the earth, our hands to the soil, our soul to a path, and our passions to a purpose. We’d rather live in the concepts of being alive rather than actually being here. So we end up choosing to either live by the tangible via: Seeing is Believing, or the opposite, the intangible via: Believing is Seeing, and I’m here to say that both are true.

Click here to continue reading about Tina Overbury and her Mission over at www.poweHERhouse.com

Powerhouse Portrait: Tina Overbury

THE POWER OF KINDNESS PIERO FERRUCCI PAPERBACK / £11.02 The Power of Kindness is a stirring examination of a simple but profound concept. Piero Ferrucci, one of the world’s most respected transpersonal psychologists, explores the many surprising facets of kindness and argues that it is this trait that will not only lead to our own individual happiness and the happiness of those around us, but will guide us in a world that has become cold, anxious, difficult, and frightening.

THE LAW OF SUCCESS NAPOLEON HILL PAPERBACK / £12.99 By Michelle Fitz

OUTWITTING THE DEVIL NAPOLEON HILL PAPERBACK / £5.99 Click images for synopsis and purchase information.

By Joey Phelps & Michael Phelps Lil Nipper Snappers Cartoon

Our New

By Cherie DeBurger 34

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

I had a wonderful and unexpected surprise last month. We have welcomed into our home and hearts a new little boy. You may be asking “How many kids does that woman have?!” but it is not the kind of little boy that you are thinking of. We are now the forever home for a sweet little male Shih Tzu named Louie. I declare right now that this baby factory is and will remain shut down and has been since I had my fifth little bundle of joy. After having my last child, I started to have dreams and I don’t know if you would considered them nightmares or not, but I did. In the dreams, I am lying on the delivery table in the middle of the hospital room, all the big white surgical spotlights hanging from the ceiling are pointed at me or rather, at a specific portion of me. The doctors and nurses are surrounding the birthing bed and extend past the end of the bed in rows on each side of me. I find myself lying down with my head and shoulders propped up on my elbows as I watch in shock as a line of babies just walk out of my body, each sporting a hobo handkerchief and stick. I am certainly no psychiatrist but I know my subconscious was trying to tell me something.

Our New Baby!

I want something little to cuddle with, something to dress up and take care of and hang out with me - a little cutie I can take with me everywhere and anywhere. We already have a dog, our beautiful eleven year old german shepherd named Sadie. She is a big suck up and although she weighs in at around 90 pounds, she is convinced that she is a lap dog and doesn’t think twice about climbing up and sitting right in your lap. We have had her since we was eight weeks old and although I have taken care of her since we got her, she is one hundred percent my husband’s dog. I can always tell when my husband gets home because Sadie will run back and forth from the front door to the back door and cry the whole time until he comes in and gives her a scratch and says hi. I don’t know why I thought it would be any different I seem to get the same respect with the kids. I’m not even going to take into consideration the fact that they grew inside my body for 36

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

nine months - I won’t even bring that into the equation. Let’s look at things taken care of after I experienced the inhumane pain of childbirth: midnight feedings, walking the floors for hours trying to sooth their colicky tummies, changing diapers, wiping puke out of my hair, rocking them, learning how to function on little to no sleep only to hear their first word be “Dada”. My kids are getting older and don’t need me as much. The youngest of my kids is now ten, although I think she is really forty in a ten-year-old’s body. I have played with the idea of getting a little dog that I could spoil and baby for a long time now. How crazy am I going to be when all my kids finally do move out since I seem to be suffering from empty nest already and they haven’t even left yet?

Occasionally, I have tried to put hints and ideas into my husband’s head about getting another dog but he shot down the idea every time I mentioned it. He would say “You don’t really want another dog, do you?” Are you kidding me? In my mind I would scream, “Yes, that’s why I keep talking about it!” I want something little to cuddle with, something to dress up and take care of and hang out with me - a little cutie I can take with me everywhere and anywhere. So, last week, when my husband said he bought me a dog, you can understand why I didn’t believe him. If I remember correctly I think my exact words were, “Yeah right, you’re full of crap.” That’s when he told me his parents had found an abandoned dog crying in their barn the previous morning. They live out in the country so we think someone dropped him off to fend for himself because there are no houses in the proximity. It took the kids and I all of eight minutes to get in my car and drive to my in-law’s house to meet the dog. They had made up a nice warm spot for him in their barn with lots of food and water. He was just a little thing, probably about ten pounds. His fur was dirty and matted and so long he couldn’t see straight ahead just to the side where there was some spacing in his fur. I fell in love immediately. We all sat on the ground and he jumped right onto my lap and as I scratched him and petted him I could feel how skinny he was. My heart broke as I wondered who would or even could just dump this sweet little guy out in the middle of nowhere. He was so gentle and happy. Like some kind of wind-up toy, he bounced back and forth between each one of us as we all took turns giving him some much needed love. When we got back home, I told my husband I wanted to keep the dog and he started to laugh. “Is that supposed to be news?” he asked. “I never would have told you about him if I didn’t plan on keeping him because I KNEW there was no way you be able to resist once you saw him.” It turns out the dog had

Our New Baby!

been at my in-laws for a couple days while they tried to find his owners and it wasn’t until everyone realised that no one was coming for him that they told me about him. I guess my husband really does know me. The next day, I took him to the veterinary clinic to be checked over and make sure he wasn’t hurt or sick. The vet was fairly certain that our new dog was a Shih Tzu and between one to two years old. The vet said he passed the wellness check with flying colours and after he had his rabies shot, we were good to go. Next stop: the groomers! We hardly recognised him after he was all clipped and clean. He looked like a brand new dog and he was ready to start his brand new life with us! The final obstacle was to introduce him to Sadie, our german shepherd. It took a couple days but they are now the best of friends.

Please welcome our newest member of the family, our little Louie! If you have any comments then please feel free to email me at lifes.moments@live.ca

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Be Allowed to have a Business

Find me online here

By Jane Lindsey 40

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

I am not a morning person For the past 20 years, every single morning, I have been brought a large coffee in bed and, until I have finished that, I am not up to speaking, never mind making important businesschanging decisions. Of course – if you read any business book or blog, this should mean that I can’t run my own business, as one of the pre-requisites of being a proper businesswoman is being up at dawn and doing important stuff. I am not a night-time person Most nights I am in bed by 10.30pm, I never do any thinking after this time as my brain goes mushy and, if I do go out and stay up after midnight, I am groggy for days. I’ve always been one of those girl who needs her sleep . Of course – if you read any business book or blog, this should mean that I can’t run my own business, as one of the pre-requisites of being a proper businesswoman is working through the night and doing important stuff. I love TV One of the highlights of my day is 9.00pm, curling up on the sofa with Euan with a glass of wine and watching TV. This week I have been mostly watching The Missing, Cold Feet, and Goliath.

I Shouldn’t be Allowed to Have a Business

Of course – if you read any business book or blog, this should mean that I can’t run my own business, as one of the pre-requisites of being a proper businesswoman is giving up TV in favour of doing more important stuff. And yet I am a businesswoman, a well rested, happy, centred, thriving businesswoman.

Go figure.

I post this for all the people who could be running their own businesses, who should be running their own businesses – but who just aren’t going to trade in their own life for it. Not everyone is the same and not all business owners are the same. All can still be brilliant and shine…just maybe not at 6.00am! The perfect mug for coffee lovers and those who struggle to get going in the morning. One side is printed with “First I drink the coffee” and the other “Then I do the things!” - both are in a very beautiful swooping calligraphic font. The mugs come packed in a beautiful printed gift box with a ribboned tag.

Only £12.00p 42

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

About a Homemade Year

Your Look

By Michelle Fitz

VESTRY / BLACK JACQUARD TOP MINI DRESS 2

ROYAL-DRY / PLATFORM SHOE

CHANEL / ROUGE ALLURE LIPSTICK

NU-DERM STARTER SET 6

SKIN STATION / OBAGI

VEIL / ILLUMINATING COMPLEXION FIX

DANIELLE LAPORTE / DESIRE MAP PLANNER

SELF-CARE FOR THE FORGOTTEN LADIES:

Find me online here

By Rachael Pontillo 48

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;¢ hattrickstrategies.com

Interview with Megan Flatt We’re familiar with the trope of ‘the working mom’ - the one works 9-5 at the office, comes home, throws a meal together, helps the kids with homework and after school activities, goes to sleep and then does it all again the next day. We’re just as familiar with ‘the stay-at-home mom’ - the one who takes care of the food, the cleaning, the tune ups, homework, chauffeuring, and everything in between. These are very brief summaries of what both types of moms do – I know it’s not possible to sum up a mom’s duties in one sentence or paragraph but both are incredibly full lives and come with equal yet different levels of challenges and amounts of fulfilment. But one woman is left out of this scene: the work-at-home mom.

Of course, I myself fall into this category, and my search for other Mama CEOs and like-minded support is what led me to Megan Flatt, consultant extraordinaire to Mama CEOs and creator of the Mama CEO Planner System. This is in addition to many other programs and methods Megan spearheads that support moms who run their own businesses from home. One of my favourite aspects of Megan’s methodology is how she prioritises self-care for Mama CEOs, and personal goals right alongside family and business goals. She helps you understand exactly how to make it all happen in your daily life.

Self-Care for the Forgotten Ladies: Mama CEOs

I interviewed Megan this week to talk specifically about self-care and how to fit it into your schedule – and actually do it! This topic comes at an ohso-clandestine time as I just launched my new website, all while carting my daughters to and from Nutcracker rehearsals and still adjusting to homeschooling my younger daughter. I’m not going to lie–I’ve definitely broken my own self-care rules and allowed busyness to get in the way. Whether you’re a CEO or a mom or both, I imagine you might be able to relate. As women, we are blessed with compassion and multitasking talents and the ability to dream big. But we also bear the burden of feeling like we need to be there for everyone all the time. And often it’s our own self-care that keeps getting pushed to the back burner. Well, Megan has a solution for that–for the “I’ll rest after the holidays, the school volunteer event, the big launch, the new product development, the ballet performance, the big game...”

Watch the video of my interview with Megan below!

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Find me online here

By Marina BerBeryan

A CONTEMPORARY REVIVAL OF CHRISTMAS DECOR It’s that time of the year again you guys! Christmas is almost here and it’s time to start decorating our Christmas Tree(s)! Decorating a Christmas tree at home is a fun and an exciting family activity that encourages us to spend time with the family and our loved ones. My husband and I have always been big fans of the Noble Christmas Tree. Each year, we make it a fun family outing when we go out shopping for a Christmas tree. Usually, when we do find the perfect tree for our home, we go out to dinner afterwards to spend some quality time with each other. This is more of an excuse for me not cook and eat out…LOL! This year, just like last year, we got our tree from the Deerbrooke Farm, a family-owned Christmas Tree farm

that’s close to my house. The Christmas tree that we picked is about 25 years old and 15 feet tall. The kids really liked the tree and were beyond excited to decorate it! The ornaments I used are from Pier 1 Imports and Marshall’s. This time, we decided not to flock our tree. Instead, we left it green, natural and traditional, just the way it came from the tree farm. The other reason we didn’t flock our tree was to retain the newly-cut Christmas tree fragrance. We were told that once it’s flocked, it loses most of its smell.

Confessions of a Hollywood Stylist

Here are few of my tips and tricks on how to decorate a Christmas Tree! 1

Decide on a colour scheme that you would like to use for your Christmas tree decorations. The colour you select should compliment the colour scheme of the room your tree is in. I used green, white and a few wood-like ornaments for contrast.

2 Decide on a theme - do you want your Christmas decorations to have

angels, snowflakes, nutcrackers, butterflies or any other theme? My Christmas tree’s theme is a “Magical Winter Wonderland”, including snowballs and forest animals with an exception of a penguin.

3 Make sure to rotate the Christmas tree! In other words, allow the tree’s best side to face the most visible location and turn the less attractive side against the wall.

4 The first step in how to decorate a Christmas tree is to add the tree lights. Make sure the strand colour of the lights matches your tree, so this way, the wire’s colour is blended in with the tree’s colour. If you have a white tree, go for lights with white wires and if you have a green tree, go with the green wires. Wrap the lights evenly around the base of the trunk and work your way up around every major branch. String them in toward the trunk then out towards the tips of each of the branches, not just around the outside. As for the type of the bulbs, I personally prefer the

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

LED lights with a remote control. It doesn’t produce heat, it’s flame proof and it is completely safe to have hanging on the tree.

5 For a lush designer Christmas tree

look, I’d say add stems, large branches of different shapes or floral picks to your tree that coordinate with the tree’s colour scheme. I decorated my tree with a few flocked Christmas tree stems and pine cones. My tree is 15 foot tall and I used about 8 stems. The larger ones were placed in the bottom of the tree and the smaller ones on top. This is especially helpful when the children help with decorating the Christmas tree and leave some holes or empty spots behind!

6 The secret to decorating a pretty Christmas tree is simple: Style in layers and make sure the ornaments match the colour scheme selected for the Christmas tree.

7 I made sure that the ornaments are perfectly balanced and that the

Christmas tree looks sophisticated and elegant. Remember, that elegant Christmas trees create a rich and a welcoming feeling without overpowering the rest of your home.

8 Hang your regular ornaments on the tree towards the middle, then put your unique ornaments towards the outside. Larger ornaments should go towards the bottom and the smaller ones towards the top.

9 For a dynamic look, style the traditional Christmas tree with 5 to 7 different

oversized ornaments. These focal point ornaments will be the first thing people will notice when looking at your Christmas tree. This is one of the tricks to remember, especially if your tree is taller than 7 feet.

10 Hang smaller ornaments on the tree to showcase your favourites by placing them in a prime position on the tree. I usually like to hang some ornaments closer to the trunk to create depth and interest.

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

11 Finish dressing the Christmas tree by adding specialty items, such as clipon ornaments or icicles.

12 Lastly, the tree topper, which pretty much can be anything from a

traditional star, a fancy designer bow, an angel, a Santa or anything else that matches your theme.

13 Another designer trick that I’ve learned a few years back is to colour

coordinate your Christmas gift wrap to your Christmas tree’s colour scheme. And, if you are on a budget, a simple brown kraft paper used as wrapping paper with a fancy bow or twine is always a designer favourite.

14 Oh, I almost forgot! Water your Christmas tree daily with hot boiling water so it doesn’t dry out or turn brown. Yes, boiling water! I learned that last year from Steve, the owner of Deerbrooke Farm.

Remember, Christmas time is an opportunity to forgive and to be happy and enjoy the moment. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year you guys! If you find this article helpful and interesting, feel free to subscribe to my blog to start receiving more styling tips and tricks! 56

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

I hope you guys will follow me on my style journey at:

Your Skills

Ways to Be Smart With Money Find me online here

By Andrea Sullenger 62

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

oolah, clams, bones, big ones, Benjamins, loot, shekels, dough - there are literally hundreds of ways to refer to money and likewise, there are hundreds of ways to earn it. I’ve been all over the map when it comes to smart money management, and I’m happy to be able to share these strategies with you now, based on my experience. Here’s what I’ve learned: the more you focus on earning money, the more you try, the more you’re absolutely sick of not earning enough income, the tougher it gets to manifest it. Sometimes, you just have to let go, and the cash will come. This reminds me of the time my daughter was learning to ride a twowheeler. I remember how determined she was. She persisted with that bike every day for a week. The determined look on her face told me she wasn’t giving up anytime soon. Well, guess what? The second she was distracted, thought about something else for a second, off she went on the bike and never looked back. It was a kind of natural confidence she got by letting go and believing she could do it. That’s the strategy that I find works with money. Let go, and apply these top three strategies that’ll help you be smart with your money:

1 Have a plan Every three months, sit down and look at your spending and earnings from the previous quarter of the year. Are you on track? Does your profit exceed your expenses? Why or why not? Do you need to make adjustments for the upcoming three months? Are you still focused on your overall yearly plan? There was a time when I just flew by the seat of my pants. Looking back, I don’t know how I got through that time of my life. I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-mypants kinda girl, but when it comes to earning money, you’d better believe I’m making a plan. There are times to be structured and times to sail through with blind faith, believing everything will work out. Buckle down and put together a well

Three Ways to Be Smart With Money

thought-out plan that makes sense for you and your business. Spend a day or two planning it and then meet with your financial advisor to go over it with a fine-toothed comb. Now, you’re ready to commit to your new plan like gum sticks to the sole of your best stiletto.

2 Is This activity Making Money For My Biz? Make this question the screen saver for your computer. Make a ‘can’t miss’ sign that sits on your desk. Now, hunker down and ask yourself this question every hour of the day. If the answer to the questions is yes, then keep going and finish what you’re doing. If the answer is no, ask yourself why. It may be a perfectly legitimate activity for that moment - just make sure you’ve made a conscious decision to spend your valuable time doing this non-money making activity. Remember: this is not about being mercenary. It is the difference between having a successful business that will get you into a position to help others, or being like thousands of entrepreneurs who don’t make it because they’re not spending their time doing the right things in their business.

“Be a pro. Ask the right questions” 64

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

3 Will this Expense Improve My Bottom Line? You’ll find there are endless places to spend your money and many of them will seem like perfectly reasonable, can’t-live-without investments. As an entrepreneur, you have to be ruthless when answering this question. You’ll hear about top-notch conferences you can fly to, awesome problemsolving software, great must-have equipment for your office, and invaluable memberships to join. You’ll be tempted with dozens of ways to spend money every day. For most of these temptations, make quick decisions and move on. Slow decisions cost money because time is money. Be that person who makes the decision and then hits fast forward. ow, my daughter rides bikes, horses, roller blades… and she makes it look easy. It’s about balance, gravity, thrust, being connected and determined. But most of all, it’s about letting go and just doing it - you can be the same way with your money. Allow the money to come in and just keep doing what works. The money will roll in, and people will wonder how you manage to make raking in the moolah look so simple.

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the byproduct of other activities. Aldous Huxley

Find me online here

By Sukh Pabial 68

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

“Humans are complicated. Learning is what makes us human. So learning is complicated, too. Simple answers in learning are likely to be wrong.” tweet from Donald Taylor captures something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. There is a lot of stuff being written about learning solution design, effective training models, top tips for learning, micro-learning and variations of these. It’s all good information for learning professionals who want to understand how learning solutions are being designed, and the variety of methods people can use to deliver those solutions. My concern in these is that we’re desperately trying to reduce the learning process down to simple, bite size chunks of information. And, as Don says above, humans are complicated. The process of learning is complicated and more often than not, we in L&D try and dumb down our audiences. What do I mean? I mean what we do is we take really helpful and insightful models and theories and whittle them down to understandable chunks of information for the masses.

much every moment of every day. Humans excel at taking in information and doing something useful and productive with it. We think at speed and act at speed. The workplace is a fast-moving place. Products are being developed, processes are being refined, skills and knowledge are being honed, all in the pursuit that we can have efficient and profitable organisations. That’s not always the outcome, but it’s nearly always the intention.

The thing is, as humans, and as social beings, we can’t help but learn pretty

How to Un-Complicate Learning for Employees

“Learning is a process and combination of exposure to content, awareness of self, reflection, hypothesis making and testing, research and evidence gathering, action and challenge.” When Nick-Shackleton Jones says we should focus on ‘resources not courses’ he speaks of the crux of what learning is about in the workplace. People don’t have time to ‘learn’ at work. Not in the way the human learning process takes place. The learning process takes time, commitment to learning and development of thinking. As much as we might rail against the education system, what it understands well is that people need to be immersed in a subject in order to learn it and become knowledgeable in it. Expertise develops when you go beyond that initial process and focus intently on your subject matter. That’s what learning looks like. On a side note, it’s also what grates me about modern political commentary by the ‘what do experts know brigade’. We have such open access to information and knowledge that we can know about most things within minutes. That’s just a cursory level of knowing though. The learning only happens when we take the time to understand the nuances of various subjects, the implications of certain choices, and the research into what can and can’t work. That’s how we learn. The biggest downfall of open access to information and knowledge is that people aren’t given the skills to know how to explore a topic further, relying almost exclusively on short articles and the likes. Back to the ‘resources not courses’ mentality – what this drives is that we help people at work perform – because that’s what they’re paid to do. Building in learning into that process is obviously an element of how that happens, and that’s where the role of L&D if fundamentally changing. 70

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Learning is a process and combination of exposure to content, awareness of self, reflection, hypothesis making and testing, research and evidence gathering, action and challenge. If you think about your typical training course – be it digital or inperson, that’s not what we help people with. I’m not bashing training courses. They play an important role in the learning process. They’re just largely inefficient because that’s not how people actually learn. My call to action for L&D practitioners is to better consider how we describe the work we do, and not over-inflating nor over-conflating what we do. Humans are complicated. Psychologists, economists, philosophers and essentially anyone interested in the human condition are still trying to better understand what it means to be human. We know a lot about the human condition and accordingly about the human learning process. What we’re also learning is that there are a number of models and theories we need to know about in order to support the learning process. It’s a fallacy to think one model or theory has any more prevalence than another. When it comes to workplace learning we need to bear in mind that we’re only ever concerned with an aspect of human learning. This is no reflection on how skilled a trainer, facilitator or learning solution designer you might be. is an acknowledgement that all we’re really doing in the workplace is enabling people to perform better.

How to Un-Complicate Learning for Employees

Clickatch ! e n i to OW l n

WITH MICHELLE HOLMES

Find me online here

By Uchechi Ezurike-Bosse 74

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

we enter the final weeks of the year and you start getting ready for Christmas and the holidays with your family, I want to take a little time today to remind you of your visions. The vision that you held so dear to your heart whether it was at the start of the year - or maybe even years past! This vision was one that may still be aching in your heart because you have yet to bring it to fruition, hidden in fear of what it would cost you to achieve it. Napoleon Hill in his classic book ‘Think & Grow Rich’ wrote: “there is no such thing as something for nothing”. And indeed, he is right. There’s a cost to achieving your dreams. That cost is shedding the layers of identity of who you believe yourself to be and stepping into the power of who you truly are. The cost is calling BS to the voice inside your head telling you you’re neither ready nor good enough to share your gifts and make a good living doing it! There’s also the cost of alienation from family and friends. Not because you’d be leaving them behind, but because to become the person you need to

be to achieve your goals, you’ll need to change. And those closest to you often resist your change the most, and you may fear the consequence of what that would mean. But I want to remind you today, that in order to live the fullest expression of who you are and be the person you were born to be, you need to decide, show up, commit and share your unique gifts. There’s no way around it. You can deny and resist it, but the calling will remain. It reminds me of a quote from one of my favourite books The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho that reads:

“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.” Did You Deny Your Vision in 2016?

So, will 2017 be the year you finally say yes and step into your power and manifest your vision? It may seem distant, but trust me, it’s there. I’ve said it before that if you have a vision and desire, then you also have the means to make it a reality. It’s already there waiting for your recognition. If it weren’t, then you would not have had the desire in the first place. This is law and applies to everyone including you. If you’re ready to live your life to the fullest and embark on a path to achieving more than you thought was possible, then I invite you to click here and schedule a FREE strategy session with me and discover what’s truly possible for you.

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Your Spirit

Find me online here

By Karen Salmansohn

Are your

choices destroying your soul?

Find me online here

By Karen Salmansohn 80

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

Recently, I was out to dinner with my family. I excused myself to go to the restroom – and found something very interesting scribbled on the bathroom wall. Lynn + men who don’t love her… Although I chuckled, I also felt Lynn’s pain. Over a decade ago, I experienced bad patterns in love – which, thankfully, I’ve since broken. I used to joke that if we all had a one in a million chance of meeting the right guy, I only had about two or three guys left to go out with. I felt like I’d dated nearly every eligible — and non-eligible — man in New York City. (I’ve since shared my tools for how I finally stopped my bad love patterns – in my book Prince Harming Syndrome and my digital course The Never Again Program.) When I saw Lynn’s bathroom wall scribble, I immediately recognised the root of Lynn’s love problem. It had also been the root of my own love problem for a while. Again, this is Lynn’s scribble…

Lynn + men who don’t love her Do you see how Lynn worded her love problem? She was implying that her bad pattern in love was just bizarrely happening

Are your ‘Eye Candy’ choices destroying your soul?

without any logical reason – as if the universe has hand-picked her to sadistically torture and punk! Lynn needed to “own” her bad love pattern – so she could “disown” her bad love pattern. With this in mind, I had good news and bad news for Lynn.

The bad news first Lynn was somewhat responsible for her bad patterns in love. Specifically, her (1) subconscious mind, (2) imprinted limiting beliefs and (3) learned foolish dating habits!

The good news As soon as Lynn was game for owning her part in her bad love pattern, she could then work at disowning her bad love pattern – and find happier love! I was tempted to write a note back to Lynn on the bathroom wall – right below her scribble! I thought about writing one or all of the following… Lynn + men she chooses who remind her of a parent who didn’t love her Lynn + men she chooses who she knows will love her at the same lower level she presently loves herself Lynn + men she chooses because she’s seeking men who are eye candy – not soul food. I recognised these issues because I have lived a few of them! Thankfully, I’ve managed to take a deep (and painful) look inward – and owned my responsibility for my bad patterns in love – so I could finally break free from them!

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Today, in this essay, for the sake of brevity, I’m only going to focus on one of my many love lessons learned. (If you want more insights and tools, check out Prince Harming Syndrome or The Never Again Program.)

How to find the right balance of “eye candy” vs “soul food” in a love partner. When I was younger, I used to look at a cute, funny, charismatic guy and think: “Yum, yum! I want him!” One day, I saw a loving, happy couple — watched the happy, healthy dynamic between the guy and girl — and thought: “Yum, yum! I want that!”

That’s when it hit me: True love is a that — not a him. True love is the special, deep, inner soul-to-soul connection between two people. True love is not the special superficial qualities found in (or on!) a person. After all, if you don’t have that special soul-to-soul connection, then it won’t matter how sexy, successful, or charismatic the other person is. Hence, you need to seek out the “that” – not the “him” or the “her”! Basically, if you’re not seeking a “that”, then you’re foolishly prioritising finding someone who is mere “eye candy.” Let me state clearly: it’s okay to enjoy some eye candy in your partner. But love cannot live by eye candy alone. If you want to find lasting love, then you need to seek a “that” – not just a him or a her. In order to find a “that,” you must sloooooow down and make sure the person is a substantial source of “soul food” – and not merely “eye candy.” (NOTE: It’s also helpful to slooooooow down to make sure this person is not toxic eye candy – and thereby dangerously bad for your heart!)

Are your ‘Eye Candy’ choices destroying your soul?

My Lesson / Your Lesson / Lynn’s Lesson: It’s important not to confuse “infatuation-at-first-sight” with love-at-first sight. It’s called “finding a soulmate” – not “finding a lustmate” or “finding an egomate!”

The Solution / Soulution: Don’t rush too quickly into a relationship! Take time getting to know who someone is – in a deep soulto-soul way – so you don’t fall in love with “the idea” of the person – but you fall in love with the actual person! Basically, you must stop confusing “romance” for “intimacy.” ● Romance attracts you by the body and ego. It’s the easy, superficial stuff: candle-lit dinners, flowers, sexy slow dancing, sweet gifts, love poems, fancy vacations. ● Intimacy is what connects you soul to soul over time – and it takes time and effort to develop true intimacy! There’s a great quote in that classic book The Little Prince: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” What this quote describes is prioritising finding someone who is “soul food” not just mere “eye candy.”

So how do we wind up over-prioritising eye-candy? 84

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Usually it happens because we rush our crush and go speeding into a relationship. Unfortunately, when we rush a crush, we don’t gather enough important info that could better help us to suss out if we’re psyched about someone with whom we share long-term loving compatibility — or we are merely riled up over short-term lusty attraction. For all these reasons, when you rush your crush, you’re more likely to crash your crush. Just think about what happens when you move slowly vs. quickly down a street in a car. If you drive slowly, you notice many more details and are less likely to crash your car. If you’re speeding, you just get a big blur of data and thereby dramatically increase your possibilities of crashing your car. Well, this goes ditto on dating data. If you enter a relationship slowly, you’re more likely to notice those deal-breakers staring you in the face. Conversely, if you rush on in, you might not be able to handle those dangerous personality curves and surprise emotional potholes.

Know this now: It doesn’t matter how fast you get somewhere if you’re heading in the wrong direction. It’s essential you take your time getting to know someone soulto-soul so you don’t confuse infatuation and romance with a real-deal soul connection!

Want to stop your bad patterns in love? Get more tools – by clicking here now!

Are your ‘Eye Candy’ choices destroying your soul?

Reiki Crystal Healing

Find me online here

By Cherie Corso 86

Hat Trick Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ hattrickstrategies.com

The word Reiki is derived from two Japanese words: rei meaning Universal Spirit and ki meaning life force energy. In Reiki, hands are the channels for energy (ki) guided by the Universal Spirit (Rei). Mystics of all cultures speak of the physical universe being made of an underlying form of energy which is subject to or affected by thought. Reiki is a flexible, ever-evolving form of healing, relaxation and personal development. Practicing Reiki helps bring about harmony in the body, leading to a deep sense of relaxation. As well as having this wonderfully calming affect on the healee, the person giving a Reiki treatment also receives the healing effect of the Universal energy that flows through them. Many hospitals and Doctors use Reiki healers in conduction with traditional medicines. This is said to be an intelligent energy in that it seems to know where to go for healing to take place and what is needed. It never does any harm. The energy does not come from the Reiki practitioner. The practitioner is a channel for the healing energy.

Some benefits of Reiki include:

YY YY

A balancing of physical/mental/emotional and spiritual energies Enhanced personal awareness; reiki increases inner peace and mental clarity/emotional stability

Reiki & Crystal Healing

“Through Reiki, energy is channelled by an attuned person to empower the healee to cure themselves.”

YY YY YY YY

Improved creativity Suppressed feelings are released A reduction of stress and tension and pain relief Aids positive thinking, its all about the energy flow

Reiki can therefore be used for many reasons including reducing stress or tension, relieving pain, headaches, back problems, respiratory problems, PMT, menstrual problems and more. Reiki should be used to compliment traditional medicine and not as an alternative. It is a gentle non-invasive method of healing. Through Reiki, practitioners can also develop personal and spiritual growth.

The Differences between Reiki and Spiritual Healing Reiki draws on the Universal spirit to heal however there are differences between Reiki and other methods of healing such as spiritual healing. Through 88

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

Reiki, energy is channelled by an attuned person to empower the healee to cure themselves. The healer acts as a channel for the energy normally without being drained themselves. A spiritual healer is a person said to be gifted in the powers of healing who will channel energy to bring about a cure. Spiritual healers believe themselves to be vulnerable to other influences/entities and to picking up problems from the person theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working on when they open themselves to the energy. They take steps to protect themselves against this. Reiki attunement seems to protect and prevent Reiki practitioners from picking up any negative influences from the healee. There are several different forms of Reiki. As knowledge is passed down from Master to student, students have developed and passed on their own understanding and individual methods. Even so the basic concept of channelling Universal energy is common to them all. Different symbols are used in each Reiki practice. Some practitioners are trained in and use more than one form of Reiki. Each method has its place in healing.

Reiki is guided by the Universal Spirit/ energy that sustains and balances all life on this planet. It is an intelligent energy of love and wholeness. Reiki & Crystal Healing

Predictions

Find me online here

By Manish Kumar Arora

Aries 21 March-19 April

You will be full of energy, but tend to prefer to work or act in privacy. It might please you to do something charitable or to take action on an important matter anonymously now. The month is likely to be busy and productive, and while you can, be a little reserved. You tend to be in high demand. Work on the home, or at home, can be very productive, and you are likely focusing on real improvement and long-term value and growth. Projects that require precision and attention to detail fare best right now. There can also be very productive conversations occurring with children, a lover, or a creative partner.

You will love yourself more than ever this month and cultivate the courage and confidence you need to fully develop your talents. You will be a little more deliberate in your communications, taking more time than usual to craft your words. You will be much more outgoing and discover (or re-discover) a particular hobby or pastime that will not only interest you on a personal level but will bring you a whole new social circle. The month offers romance aplenty and a possibility of a serious relationship that may last for some time.

Favourable Dates: Jan 4, 7, 13, 16, 22 & 25 Favourable Colours: Yellow & Blue

Favourable Dates: Jan 4, 6, 13, 15, 22 & 24 Favourable Colours: Red & Blue

Taurus 20 April-20 May

Gemini 21 May-20 June

Steady energy is with you right now. You might receive a positive message that boosts your confidence about your resources.

Getting organised in a significant way makes the most sense right now, as it will serve to increase your motivation.

Zodiac Predictions for January 2017

Imagine a bright light in the centre of your chest that is a beacon of hope, inspiring you to come up with new ideas to enrich your life. You are determined, thinking in the long term, and more tuned into important and practical details right now. Some of you could get news of a job or opportunity in the communications field. The latter half of the month will see you slowly winding down after a busy but rewarding period.

Glorious influences will give you the kick-start you need and the month sees you being very responsible but not having much fun. A more balanced attitude will serve you well during the month. Money matters can do well, although not necessarily in a dramatic way. Instead, this is a time for serious consideration of a purchase or changes made to your spending. The goal is security in the long term.

If you are already in a permanent relationship, January will bring some exciting news.

It’s also a good time to work on a natural talent with focus on fine-tuning and improvements.

Favourable Dates: Jan 4, 5, 13, 14, 22 & 23

Favourable Dates: Jan 2, 3, 11, 12, 20 & 21

Favourable Colours: Red & White

Favourable Colours: Red & Blue

Leo 23 July-22 August

Cancer 21 June-22 July

There is strong energy for work of almost any kind. You are able to combine strength with patience, and others will take you more seriously as a result. 92

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

This period is encouraging you to open your mind to new and different ways of approaching areas which have unnerved you in the past. Singular focus tends to be the best strategy. Whatever you put your mind to can fare very well. Try telling yourself that you’ve nothing to fear and everything to gain by going for it. This month can encourage you to be excessive and over-generous. You’ll

have a tendency to use your money, assets or resources in a somewhat careless way because you want to impress those around you. Think carefully about how some of your colleagues, friends or associates might perceive you when you’re at your most inventive and daring.

Favourable Dates: Jan 6, 8, 15, 17, 24 & 26 Favourable Colours: Green & White

Virgo 23 August-22 September

The month is likely to start with you being in quite a dithery mood. You’ll have lots of good intentions, but won’t act on them. There would be a few prickly moments, but it will get you thinking about making certain changes to your personal life and considering reorganising your personal space or sprucing it up. You need to plan your moves and work out exactly how you’re going to put crucial messages across. If you approach things in a systematic and logical way, you can be pretty sure that you’ll persuade everybody involved that you consistently do more than

your fair share and that it’s time for everyone else to pitch in.

Favourable Dates: Jan 1, 8, 10, 17, 19 & 26 Favourable Colours: Green & Red

Libra 23 September-22 October

This month will provide a couple of fabulous opportunities to forge ahead at work or in your studies. You will enjoy intellectual stimulation and look for avenues through which to communicate your ideas. However, you will tend to talk forcefully about yourself and your interests and be less interested in listening to others. If you are in a budding relationship, this month will offer the chance to take it to the next level. If you are single, this is a great time to meet someone of interest. Accept an invitation to a wedding or engagement party and you may meet someone special. There is a lovely youthfulness to your persona now.

Favourable Dates: Jan 5, 6, 14, 15, 23 & 24 Favourable Colours: Green & Blue Zodiac Predictions for January 2017

Scorpio

Sagittarius

23 October-21 November

22 November-21 December

You will be inventive and use your unique talents well. People will be attracted to your easy-going sense of individuality. You will show inclinations in out of ordinary pursuits. You will be highly-motivated and spontaneous, often enjoying the challenge of travelling down new and adventurous roads in your life.

Your sights are definitely set and the Universe will support that vision. Inspiration is abundant and you aren’t quite ready to curl up by the fire yet as your mind is buzzing with plans and ideas for adventure. You are on a journey to rebuild some of your own personal structures, morals and boundaries. It’s very easy to feel restless or completely impatient.

However, you will show weakness in your tendency to exaggerate and your inability to cope with the more mundane activities in life. There may be a tendency to become stuck in negative emotional patterns and this may lead to periods of self-imposed isolation and needless worries about the future. Your challenge is to follow your intuition while remaining responsive to other people.

You may have been feeling an imbalance in giving and receiving recently, and to regain an equilibrium, you will benefit from seeking trusted advice, both from others and your inner guide. The best way to work on this is to celebrate and be grateful for these ideas - to communicate and collaborate.

Favourable Dates: Jan 3, 5, 12, 14, 21 & 23

Favourable Colours: Green & Yellow

Favourable Colours: Green & Blue

Favourable Dates: Jan 2, 7, 11, 16, 23 & 25

Capricorn 22 December-19 January

Capricorn (22 December – 19 January) - Start this month off with the intention 94

Hat Trick Magazine • hattrickstrategies.com

to go beyond your fears. You are the one in charge of your thoughts – even though a situation or challenge can create a certain feeling within you – and it is still totally up to you how you choose to perceive it. Try not to see everything as an attack on you, step outside the situation and be realistic. Pick your battles carefully. Think about the energy around you and make a big choice to focus on a positive aspect rather than go straight for the negative. Be prepared for twists and turns in your plot and open to the fact that things will change.

Favourable Dates: Jan 5, 9, 14, 18, 23 & 27 Favourable Colours: Red & White

Aquarius 20 January-18 February

Aquarius (20 January – 18 February) This period holds a very positive vision for the future, but it’s about how you choose to look at it. It offers you the gift to receive more opportunities, if you let those options into the flow of your life. This is your chance to look at your life as an educational experience and know that you are about to get schooled in a whole new set of possibilities. Think about excitement and expansion of your horizons. An interesting

prospect may cross your path but take time to think about it before jumping on board. Be sure to communicate how you feel instead of holding things in and then exploding later.

Favourable Dates: Jan 5, 7, 14, 16, 23 & 25 Favourable Colours: Brown & Green

Pisces 19 February-20 March

A project or plan you have been working on is set to materialise. It’s a great time to light a candle and set new goals and intentions. If you are trying to have a child, this is a good month to conceive. Pay attention to your thoughts, visions, feelings, dreams and the spiritual signs around you. Communication or messages from loved ones who have already transitioned may come through during that time. Stay positive and enjoy the special moments. Romantic relationships will also weigh heavily on your mind. There are aspects of your love life that you want to improve but it’s at a stalemate. Love relations need nurturing.

Favourable Dates: Jan 2, 7, 11, 16, 20 & 25 Favourable Colours: Blue & White Zodiac Predictions for January 2017

Hat Trick MagazineTM