Darling,

It’s very nearly July 4th.
Which has me thinking about freedom, intense effort, and something I have noticed.
There is nothing more erotic than giving your all.
Whether it’s to create freedom for yourself, or others.
To stand firmly for what’s right.
Pulling out all the stops, no holding back, and offering all of your attention and all of your love to your endeavors.
To live your commitments, no holds barred.
Giving your all is how to create your destiny, and realign the world.

When I lead my classes, I leave it all on the stage, every time.
Riding hard and coming back sweaty is where the fun is.
The only reason I am capable of laying it all down, day after day, week after week, month after month, in every dimension of my life, is that I know pleasure and I connect daily to my erotic nature.

Pleasure does not deliver you from a life of great output, but, rather, it insists you live your passions with every drop of your being. (Click to tweet!)
Which, inside our culture, is a revolutionary act.

It is not easy to live your passion in a world that encourages mediocrity. And living your passion — choosing to surrender to that place of inner knowing — places each of us in the vulnerable uncertainty of not knowing the outcome, or how we will get there.
Giving our all does not protect us from the times in our lives where we feel the darkness before the dawn, when we very nearly implode from the intense pressure, of work deadlines, of massive projects, of rupture in our personal lives. During those dark days, it feels like it might never get better, and we begin to doubt that we will ever get to where we want to go.

But soon after that lowest point, and, in fact, precisely because of the lowest point, things transform, the sun rises, resolution comes, the unimaginable occurs.

The trick to accelerate and realign your world is to keep flow and movement happening. In other words, you must bring your erotic power to the pressure.
You might feel the urge to collapse, to lay still, to get brittle.
Sink into your erotic nature, instead.

Feel the pleasure in being with the intensity, feel it, flow with it, and continue to pour your passion into your life like you were Janis Joplin singing “Piece of My Heart.” Once you become determined never to give up your connection to your deepest pleasure, your deepest passion — that is where the miraculous lands in your lap.

Here is the equation: pressure + turn-on = diamonds from coal

In addition to that, the next key is to take the time and space you need to celebrate and recover. How do you celebrate?
Throw a party, make a toast, write a love letter to yourself, dance, hug a tree, gather with friends and acknowledge all that happened and all you went through, and what you learned, gained, and how you benefited, as well as the difficulties you encountered.

Second, take time to rest and restore. Recharge your batteries…have an orgasm or two or three. Have sex. Self-pleasure. Dance. Go to the beach. The country. The mountains. Get a massage. Sleep. Spend time in sisterhood.

Be gentle with that sweet body of yours.
Treat her like the Queen of the World.
Love her like she was your baby.

Through this process is freedom — freedom to know you can make it through anything, no matter how intense. Freedom to live your turned-on erotic power no matter what. And freedom to then celebrate your phenomenal efforts and the outcome — whatever that may be.

And it’s in that celebration that I have an exciting announcement for you. Every year, teaching Mastery and Creation, it’s 6 months of teaching two full weekends a month, taking a trip to Paris, hosting an huge introductory weekend — it’s a crazy amount of output, when the pressure is on.

So every summer, I take time to celebrate and recover — heading out of the city to a beach house near my horse. This summer, I’m going to ride, relax, and work on my new book.

As part of that, I’ve lined up a special eight-week summer series for you. I’ve recruited 8 magnificent guest writers to take you each week on an unplugged tour of the Womanly Arts we practice at the School. If you’ve ever wondered what the Womanly Arts actually are, how exactly they operate in a woman’s life, and how and why they work…stay tuned!

With freedom and excitement,

P.S. Celebration following intense passionate effort is your patriotic duty. I came across this fantastic quote from one of our founding fathers, John Adams, to his wife, Abigail:

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

(July 2nd was the day the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress. July 4th was the date the document was signed.)

So, party down this week, in honor of all the passion that was poured into the creation of our incredible country, and all the passion you have poured into the work of art that is your magnificent life.

P.P.S. In the comments below, please let me know how you are celebrating your own intense efforts this summer. I want to hear where you are passionately engaged (the coal), and how you are honoring the diamonds you have created!