letting words order the soul

HELLO!

Gosh – I am grateful for your visit. This writing thing has been a long time coming… to say the least! It has been and still is a labor of absolute love from my screen to yours.

My name is Alexis, and I’m a thirty something letter-lover, functional fitness enthusiast and raw conversation starter. Next to great writing and mid-afternoon americanos, my life is daily energized by the things beneath the surface. I relish moments when, amidst the ordinary grind of life, we (collectively – you, me, the barrista behind the counter) stop to articulate the gratitude-worthy gifts of life going on right in front of us; when we move past surface level niceties to the raw and the real that is shaping our days. However beautiful, intricate and messy it all might be, nothing makes my heart happier then going there.

Currently, I’m delving deep in these moments in Birmingham, Alabama – coaching clients 1×1, doing development work with a number of rockstar teams locally and abroad, and relishing life with my sister and her growing family. 

|| BACK STORY ||

I studied Communication Arts at a small liberal arts Christian college just outside of Boston. After living a solid 4+ ocean-dunking, apartment-hopping, mercurial years on the North Shore of MA, the West Coast bug bit me, hard. And, as God would miraculously have it, all roads led to sunshine wrapped Santa Barbara, CA!  Such a dream. The music video logged journey from NY to CA with one of some of my dearest friends is youtube logged, still awaiting it’s moment to go viral.

I landed in one of the deepest loving communities that exists on earth today and have more than a few chapters to write on the gift that was my California experience. Spending two years as a full time educator at lululemon athletica, avid cross-fitter, runner and budding yogi, I was given the time I craved to delve deep in the conversation around fitness and faith, along with what it looks like to discover where my passions met some of the worlds needs.

After two years of unspeakably memorable moments logged on the pacific coast, I took a position helping launch the lululemon store front back in my hometown. So, I trekked my dancer’s fractured 5th metatarsal back across the country with my American history buff of a Dad as my co-pilot and jumped into a new season of leadership development, training and massively sweaty dance parties back East. 

|| WHICH BRINGS ME TO TODAY||

After a 4-year love affair with lululemon athletica- working on some of the most incredible teams one could ever love – I ventured out to pursue the callings well identified during my season there.  I will forever be indebted to the goal-crushing, vision-casting, people-driving ethos rooted deep in lululemon culture – and for the deep love I now possess for the power of vision & goals, at any age, the beauty of trusting the process, and a incredible closet full of luon. Giving without expectation, BHAGs, gosh the list is LONG. 

The last three years have been an incredible journey of connecting one-on-one with Soul Coaching clients across the globe, training and teaching on The 5 Voices through GiANT Worldwide, and relocating to Birmingham, Alabama to do life with my sister AND jump back into development with the lululemon team in Bham! I couldn’t stay away – and grow deeper in gratitude every day for the personal development company that just happens to sell stretchy pants.

Making space for people to slow down, consider the important over the urgent, and begin to align life according to how they are physically, mentally, socially and spiritually wired… that’s the work I love. Seeing clients on three continents make monumental life shifts on account of this work has been nothing short of mind-boggling and I am daily inspired by growth in these beautiful lives I get to run along side.

|| WHY LIFE IN A NOTE…||

Often I say I was born in the wrong century. Other than writing chapters via text message – one of my life-long [daily] cravings is to split from all things backlit and buzzing and script out some old fashioned, hand-written snail mail. I’m talking real paper, brown envelopes, rollerball ink, and if wax is handy, a real life wax stamp.  Everything in me believes in the power of language to shape life, and any moment by which I can put pen to paper to encourage, affirm, recognize or relish a moment is nothing shore of a divine gift. 

In addition to that, I’m  a gratitude journal junkie and firm believer that practicing gratitude with moderation is a no-go. I can nightly be found curled up someplace with my gratitude journal, a candle and Chris Botti’s album Italia on full blast. Truth be told, I’m often there much later into night-owl-ville than is healthy, digging deep to ring every ounce of gratitude possible out of the day God’s given. And the life shaping musical notes that have powerfully colored these nights for over a decade drive deep my belief in the capacity music have to make a moment – make a life – exponentially rich. 

I’m a firm believer that knowing what you stand for and where your heart beats hardest is a fabulous way to show up in this world. Identifying those legacy-crafting elements becomes your gift and that very work is what’s led me to begin Soul Coaching. I adore digging into the stuff of personal mission, vision and purpose, helping others identify the why behind their what, and craft an energizing, present vision for their one wild life. I’m also a firm believer in Christ  – Lord, Savior, Breathe –  and every bit of life as grace.

All of that together makes up life in a note. The capacity to recognize and affirm, edify and celebrate, order the soul and color moments, months and decades can all be beautifully held… in a note. Short and sweet – long and elaborate – hand-written or e-created, I truly believe there is life to be had in a note. This space is here to listen for the thoughts that go on beneath the hum of life, slowing the whirl of the everyday and ordering moments made to see what might be made of them. Really, it’s here to let you (and me, both) connect the countless threads that sew into the making of our lives real and rich and miraculous – to consider where our hearts beat the hardest.

||  …  ||

When I’m NOT writing in some form or fashion,  I’m often pumping some new playlist on full blast,  lecturing someone on the benefits of practicing Sabbath and the importance of knowing their enneagram number, or sipping coffee with a friend diving deep into what’s happening underneath the surface. I’m grateful for moments joyful to  be relished and/or heart-wrenching to be redeemed.  … for in the last analysis, all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. 

I’m so excited to share life with you here at Life in a Note! Thank you for stopping by.

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  • EVERYDAY | ‘But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today ...’ • How crazy powerful encouragement can be. Without any huge achievement to be congratulated for, just naming the greatness we see in each other’s everyday - giving someone specifics on WHY they mean what they mean to us can - can literally send someone away beaming. It takes a little time and dose of intentionality, but the mind boggling meaning it can bring to a moment is ridiculous • Last week, I probably read and reread each of these RAG notes 7x each. Friends catching me doing something well - and making the time to tell me about it. Unlike @lrdeiters , I’m filing them away so I can reread them who knows how many more times 😜 ( Kidding Liz, I know you’ll hang on to your latest one...) I’m thankful for the minutes it took to write them, and for the weeks/months/years worth of impact they hold • We seldom notice how each day is a sacred space Where the gift of the ordinary is given, Transforming our broken fragments Into an eternal continuity that keeps us. - John O’Donohue
  • #Repost @three15studio with @get_repost ・・・ GRATITUDE • Today’s #mondaymotivation brought to you by @alexisgirvan of @lifeinanote, an incredible soul coach who walked us through “The Five Voices” during our instructor retreat. • It happens the moment we take an ordinary, grinding, hustling minute of our day, and intentionally put the brakes on it. When we pause to call out the unnoticed and unnamed gifts sitting right in front of us. The minute we stop and name that thing – a moment, a conversation, a gesture – and appreciate it, give meaning to its presence, opening our mouths and declaring the inherent worth it holds. • Gratitude for others takes things up a notch. When we halt that hustling hard minute and decide to put into words the brilliance of a human being working along side us. When we pause for a moment in our high-speed hustle and choose to elevate, appreciate and call out the beautiful way someone has shown up in our day. These are the ways in which our moment of intentional effort can give way to the miraculous power of gratitude in the life of another. • Who in your life can you articulate gratitude for today? Who do you know needs a word of courage, appreciation, an acknowledgement that you see them? We simply cannot begin to predict the potential for impact of words like this - both for the receiver AND for the one who gives!
  • powerful morning with this incredible @three15_birmingham crew last weekend. Such a gift to be with a team that jumps hard and fast into the deep / fearlessly navigating the raw & the real, identifying patterns they know can derail their leadership, and effortlessly celebrating each other’s greatness. It’s my favorite kind of work to do! Thanks @mandyhmoseley for inviting me in to scuba dive with these fantastic women 💯🧡👊 #5voices #enneagram #three15 #knowyourselftoleadyourself #personaldevelopment #pioneer #creative #connector #guardian #nurturer #leadershipdevelopment #bangkok
  • Is there ANYTHING better than a legit - ink on paper - delivered by the postman having traveled through the actual mail - HAND-WRITTEN LETTER !!?!? I am not sure there is. What a total treat. So much power in receiving words of affirmation this way. I love when it doesn’t take some holiday or crazy amazing accomplishment to warrant someone making the time to put pen to paper. I’d probably argue that among the minutes of the ordinary day to day is the one of the most memorable times to actually stop and acknowledge the gift of those around us with words. | Mary Oliver’s insight on how to live well seem so fitting here: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. Amen to making it happen in ink! | Major shout out to @joshrich08 for starting this discipline - writing 7 letters every month! - AND for sticking to it !!! You are a such blessing to me buddy!!!!! • #handwritten #wordsofaffirmation #RAG #RAGnote #gratitude #paperismylovelanguage!
  • RAG | Gratitude is not a matter of circumstance, but if focus. It’s a muscle. It grows the moment we pause to name and thank the people, spaces, moments happening right in front of us | Good luck to all of you running the Wine 10k! And don’t forget to BRAG on someone before the day is out | #lululemon #wine10k #RAG #birmingham #deepgratitude
  • #Repost @alexisgirvan with @get_repost ・・・ GRATITUDE & Growth || One of the ways I love to kick off the year in review process is this !! Looking back on the year categorically ( physical, mental, social, spiritual, professional, vocational, relational, financial, recreational) and asking two questions: • What am I grateful for? What was good - whole - complete - difficult but beneficial? Acknowledging God for the unexpected - giving thanks for things I have forgotten | • How do I want to grow in each area this year? What do I want to improve in? Press into? Cultivate habits around? | Sitting down to start the process for myself - which might honestly be one of my favorite rhythms e.v.e.r - already overwhelmed at the crazy number of unexpected gifts of 2018...
  • Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant is a seed that plants a giant miracle. Do not disdain the small - the whole of life - even the hard - is made up of the minute parts. And if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole | Ann Voskamp • Grateful to be guest posting over at @eddamarie today - on Gratitude Before Hindsight. After time around the table, nourishing and being nourished - check it out! 🧡 • Link in bio |
  • Fantastic article from Jenny Roaenstrach over at @cupofjo ! | A perfect thank-you note is not very long... But it’s earnest, specific, and from the heart... | Who have you appreciated for their presence in your life this week? | Thank you @ofnotestationers for the soul nourishing recommendation 🧡🙏

NOTE – /nōt/

... the capacity to recognize and affirm, edify and celebrate, order the soul and color moments, months & decades ... can all be beautifully held in a note. Short and sweet - long and elaborate - hand-written or e-created ...THERE IS LIFE IN A NOTE.

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