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Beauty, Brains & Boundaries

By The Artful Woman
    Why Worthy Women Are Done Apologizing for Wanting More As a young girl, I was an international model—traveling the world, young, beautiful, and financially independent. I was naturally drawn to powerful, intelligent, and successful men—not because I needed anything from them, but because I admired ambition. I respected men who could build something for themselves, because I was already building something for myself. But because I was beautiful, I was labeled. Assumed. Dismissed. "Gold digger" that type of judgment made me stay away from the very type of man I was genuinely aligned with. I didn’t want to be misunderstood. So I shrunk my desires and played it safe. And for that, I paid the price. As I got older, that stigma stuck. I found myself in a pattern of relationships with users, losers, and opportunists—men who took and took and gave nothing back. Men who drained my spirit, my finances, my peace. And I let it happen, because somewhere deep down, I still felt like I ...
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When Effort Becomes a Block

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By The Artful Woman


 When Effort Becomes a Block

Dr. Leslie Phillips describes something called “being in effort.”
It’s when you try so hard to be connected—over-cleansing, over-reading, over-seeking—that the trying itself creates a block.

She teaches that true spiritual connection doesn’t come from effort. It comes from alignment.

That landed for me—not because it described what I’m doing wrong, but because it affirmed what I’ve been doing right.

I’m not chasing connection.
I’m not grasping for signs.
I’m not in obsession—I’m in curiosity. I explore what resonates, stay open, and trust.

I’m not in effort. I’m in flow.
And that, too, is surrender.

Effort Blocks Flow

Being “in effort” is a subtle but powerful block.

It doesn’t just apply to manifestation—it applies to everything:

  • Growing your intuition

  • Opening to spirit

  • Deepening your healing

  • Feeling “spiritual enough”

When you push too hard—even toward something beautiful—you risk making it about the ego’s need for control rather than the spirit’s natural unfolding.

Less Effort, More Surrender

This may be the lightbulb moment you didn’t know you needed:

You don’t need to do more to be more intuitive, spiritual, or abundant.
You often need to do less to allow your gifts to rise naturally.

Sometimes, all the extra tools—smoke, cards, rituals—become noise.

What you really need is:

  • Space

  • Stillness

  • Trust

Your spirit already knows the way. Your job is to let go of control long enough to hear it.

Manifest with Flow, Not Force

If you’re done pushing, striving, and second-guessing your path…

If you’re ready to align with your truth and create from a place of ease, trust, and soul connection…

Then you’re ready for Artful Living Coaching—a space where we release effort, reconnect to inner wisdom, and allow abundance to meet us in the flow.

💫 Let’s clear what blocks you.
💫 Let’s activate what calls to you.
💫 Let’s move forward—not in force, but in faith.

Contact me to explore 1:1 coaching or upcoming group offerings. Your path to effortless alignment begins here.



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Location: Dana Point, CA, USA

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