From Stuck and Sad to Fulfilled and Joyful! Creating A Life I Love (and you can, too!)

9 Years ago today, I woke up in Oslo, Norway, ready to begin a training that would change the course of my entire life.

At the time, I had given up trying to make my marriage work (I had already tried everything). Instead, I was trying to figure out how to find myself again. I was so lost in the years of giving away my voice for my then-husband's comfort, trying everything to please him and be a "good wife." I barely knew who I was anymore, but I knew that I wanted be a better mom than I was being and I wanted to feel happy again. I wanted to feel at peace with where I was in my life and to stop wishing for it to be different.

The day I woke up in Oslo, divorce still wasn't an option in my mind. My family was my priority, or so I thought.

Over the course of 4 long, intense days of deep inner work with the love and accountability of Janet Attwood herself (creator of The Passion Test) and her amazing trainers, my heart broke free. My soul started singing again. My stuck mindset began to shift and I tapped into my dreams of what I wanted for my life again. My life. Not my husband's. Mine. 🫶 There I was.

My #1 Passion became "I am living authentically from my heart and soul." I learned the formula to make that a reality and the secret that guaranteed it and I began to live it. No more lying to myself. No more Stepford Wife to make sure my husband didn't get mad at me for being me. No more. I had felt the spark of my authentic self once again, for the first time in so many years, and I was never going to let it fade out again. I still haven't. 💖

Another passion, though I can't recall where it fell in my top 5, was "I am experiencing a happy, harmonious family life." I wasn't considering divorce yet, but I also wasn't making it about my husband or my marriage, specifically. One of my markers for that passion was that I "speak with loving kindness to my children," and that I hear them laughing and playing respectfully together all of the time. They were little at the time - just 8, 7, and 4.

➡️Fast forward to last night - I'm happily divorced and even more happily partnered with an incredible man who loves me for exactly who I am. He's still in Florida, where we recently took an amazing vacation together. My kids and I were having dinner together in our beautiful home. I felt my heart growing in my chest, bursting with love and gratitude as I watched them interacting, talking, laughing together, with respect. With kindness. My 3 teenagers do not fight. My kids haven't fought with each other for years. Once I began modeling calm, respectful, loving tones and behaviors, my kids reflected it, too. We have a beautifully happy and harmonious family life today (with the realistic challenges and struggles that teens dealing with anxiety, gender identity, and puberty along with the good stuff).

⚡️Every single year, sometimes twice, I make a new list of passions and continually align my life with what matters the most to me, now. Every single year, my life gets more and more beautiful from the inside out. Every single year, I am more *me* than ever and I love and respect the woman that I am. The beautiful parts, the raw parts, the clumsy parts, the fun parts... all of me. I love all of me and all of my life because I embrace it all and continually choose in favor of my ideal life, loving where I'm at and growing and moving toward what more I want.

🙏Every single year, I take dozens of people through the Passion Test and help them design a life of intention, consciously creating what they want to experience in their lives. Every year, I get to watch those clients soar - transforming their relationships (especially with themselves) and their entire experience from one they thought they "had to deal with" into one that is fulfilling and joyful.

If you're tired, so tired like I was, of faking it, The Passion Test might be your pathway home to yourself. If you feel like you just have to "get through" another day, like I did, I promise you there is more in life for you. Are you ready to explore what's possible for you? Message me. Let's chat. If it's possible for me, it's possible for you. You're worthy and deserving of a life you love, now. 💗

#createalifeyoulove #selfrespect #selflove #wellbeing #happiness #purposefullife #clarity #thepassiontest

Introducing... me!

Hi there! It's been awhile since I introduced myself, so in case you're new here, I'm Tamara. I'm a speaker, coach, and certified happiness trainer!

A lot of people ask me how I got into the happiness business and it's because for a long time, I was deeply unhappy. I could remember a time when I had been happy, but I hadn't felt that way for a very long time.

About 10 years ago, I felt stuck in a relationship that was extremely toxic. I had gone from a confident, vibrant woman to insecure and ashamed. I didn't like who I was anymore and I had let my (ex) husband's voice become louder than my own. I believed it, for awhile, when he told me that I was too loud, that I complained too much, that I ruined everything, that I should be ashamed of myself, that I was a disgusting person. He even told me one Christmas that the song from The Grinch was really all about me.

It's no wonder so many people suffering in abusive relationships don't leave. They don't know they're worthy of something better because they've been broken down by someone who is supposed to love them. But abuse isn't loving.

Luckily for me, there was still a part of me that didn't believe him. My light was dimmed, but it hadn't gone completely out. We humans have a strong survival instinct and mine pushed me to reevaluate my life. I had children, daughters, and I didn't want them growing up thinking that this was how a man was supposed to treat a woman. I had a son and I didn't want him thinking that his father's behavior toward me was acceptable.

As the Universe does, it gifted me with a chance meeting of a woman named Michelle. She was a Certified Passion Test Facilitator. I didn't know what that was, but I remember feeling a full-body tingle and a sureness that it was meant for me.

Taking the Passion Test was the beginning of a radical transformation in my life. I began consciously creating the experience that I wanted and my #1 Passion was to "live authentically from my heart and soul."

Each day, I started choosing in favor of that passion and I began repairing my relationship with myself. Eventually, I was able to gather the courage to leave my marriage and live again. Over the past 8 years, I've reclaimed my own voice, my confidence, and am now one of the happiest people I know, living the life of my dreams. It isn't perfect, but some days it sure feels like it.

It's a gift to be able to work with others who are newly single to help them reclaim their own confidence, hope, and happiness. And this is what I do for a living now. By sharing my experience and the myriad tools and practices that I utilized along my path, I speed up the process from being a sad single to loving life solo for my clients. We unpack the baggage of past relationships so that they can go into the next one a lot lighter. We strengthen their inner voice so that it goes from being critical to supportive. We build the muscles of courage and happiness by taking baby steps and allowing ourselves to feel our natural, human emotions without, or at least with less negative, judgment.

For years now, I've helped people create lives they love. I run a local (to the Detroit Metro area) #Meetup every month, workshops, I speak to local groups and communities on the actions and habits of happiness, and I coach individuals and groups so that they can go from wherever they're starting to where they truly want to be in their lives.

Today, I'm putting my focus on people who are newly single who are ready to consciously create a better, happier life for themselves, whether they were the ones to leave a relationship or the one who was left.

Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I'm hosting a free training on the 3 Keys to Loving Your Solo Life and I'd love to see you there! You can attend via my Facebook Lives in my new group, Rediscovering Yourself...Single by joining here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5209340529132041/

or via the event, here: https://www.facebook.com/events/723069188881699

Whatever you're feeling today, it is totally possible to love your life and the most important relationship for you to focus on today is the one that you have with yourself. Once you love your solo life, you open up the possibility to create the relationship of your dreams. That next-level love is available to you... but first, you have to love yourself. Ready to learn how?

Join me!

*** I’m so willing to embrace imperfection that I even posted this photo after noticing something in this pic that the former version of myself would have never posted!!! Bonus points if you comment on what it is!

Creating the Foundation for A Life You Love!

I'm so grateful to those of you who are committed to consciously creating lives that you love. Each one of us creates a positive ripple that sparks a light within someone else who witness our internal joy. They may not quite know what it is, but they sense something different... something special about you.

The presence of a person who loves their life, who is devoted to themselves is different than those who give themselves away to others. The light within you sparks hope in the hearts of others who know something is missing, but not how to reach it.

Each time you take another step fully into who you are meant to be in this world, shedding all that you are not to be more of who you are, you give permission to others to do the same. More importantly for you, however, is a new level of joy and vibrancy in your life. A deeper threshold to feel the emotions that a full, rich life experience brings to us.

I've spent the past 3 weeks freely sharing the formula for creating a life you love, what helps or hinders that process, shown you how to turn your inner critic into your inner cheerleader, and started you designing your ideal life. If you missed the Zoom meetings, have no fear! We're going deeper still.

Tonight, the doors are officially open! I've selected the most vital pieces of all of the workshops that I've ever run and combined them into a 6-week group Foundations Course. You’ll identify your passions, learn how your mind works against you and how to get it on your side, to turn your inner-critic into your greatest cheerleader, and the breath work and tools to help you find and trust your own inner wisdom and support you on your journey.

This interactive group course covers the basics of everything that I teach in longer programs and 1:1s and gives you a clear foundation on which to build your ideal life. It’s the Passion Test, Happy for No Reason, The Mastery of Self-Love, and Breath-work and Meditation combined into one easily digestible course! 6 weeks, 1 hour per week. If you miss it, replays will be sent out the next day.

What would it be worth to you to look back a year from now, knowing that you made the decision that changed your life forever for the better? When you committed... no... devoted yourself to yourself? When you decided that you were your #1 priority. When you recognized that you are worthy and deserving of a most passionate, purpose-filled, and joyful life?

Sign up between now and Sunday and save $100. Sign up within the next 24-hours and I'll throw in a hardcover copy of The Passion Test book. Refer a friend and get 30-minutes 1:1 with me. Sign-up here. You're worth it. https://tinyurl.com/Cr8withTamara

Self-Talk - Supportive or Sabotaging?

Our Self-Talk makes us or breaks us. That voice in your head speaking to you all day every day is what creates our level of self-esteem. Do we speaking lovingly and supportively to ourselves? Or are we calling ourselves names and bullying ourselves all day long?

In this interview with Rachel Astarte, we chat about self-love and self-talk. I share how I moved from an unhappy, toxic marriage to being one of the happiest people I know and that most people know! If you’re in a place where life just doesn’t feel like you know that it’s meant to, I invite you to have a listen. You’ll learn the difference between happiness and contentment, what happiness really is, and that it is truly in your own hands. Plus, why it’s important to put your attention on your own happiness!

You can learn more about Rachel here!