In 2015, my mom and I went on an intuitive retreat to Italy, hosted by Deborah Hanlon. (If you don’t know her, you totally should.) I didn’t have any expectations for this trip other than to connect with a new group of people and to remain open minded enough to really push myself out of my comfort zone. I also knew that Deborah’s approach to healing and awareness was transformative, and I was ready.
The week spent in Italy was life altering to say the least. First and foremost, experiencing the beauty of the land, the people and the PACE of life was very eye opening for me. It made me realize that my way of life up until that point was constructed based on societal norms, and until you step outside of how you’ve always done things, you don’t even realize how much you are letting yourself fall deeply into routine vs. being in control of your own life.
Insight: Have you ever driven somewhere and when you arrive have this moment of ‘how did I get here??’ It’s like muscle memory knew how to get you there, but you weren’t present for the journey? That’s a micro example of how I was going through life up until this trip.
While I can’t fully put into words the defining moments - it marks one of the most profound journey’s to self-discovery I have ever gone through.
Enter, the birth of Essenza.
During one of our full day sessions of meditation, vision boarding and group discussions – I had a huge shift in awareness and consciousness. The only way I could articulate it was that I had felt/found my essence. I kept coming back to this word and a vision of a flower blooming. The life force and fragrance of a flower isn’t something it ‘thinks’ about, it just is! This visualization helped me silence my thoughts and really connect at a deeper level to who I am and my deeper purpose.
Throughout the years leading up to this trip, I had experienced tremendous amounts of pain and hardship. So much so, that I let my pain take the wheel. I always had a deep nudging or knowing that I was meant to go through all of it so that I could come out on the other side and help others.
I had thought a lot about starting my own side business, and have always loved graphic design and branding. After one of our meditations, I couldn't contain the inspiration and I started sketching a symbol that later transformed into the 'e' you see used in the Essenza logo mark. Essenza means Essence in Italian. In the years that followed, I started Essenza and began taking on clients for graphic design. Fun – yes, loved it. But wanted something deeper. I became a certified Life Coach and started helping people create space to remove blocks from their life.
Well, throughout this time I really focused on enriching my life and fulfilling what I really wanted! Having children, getting married, enjoying a full-time amazing career and graduate school – I realized that it was really about infusing purpose into every aspect of my life vs. letting it be this separate thing I did on the side.
I now make space for mentoring and side projects to keep my creative essence flowing with purpose. A lot of repeat topics kept coming up in my mentoring conversations and I decided it was time for Essenza 2.0 which is essentially just a place to share thoughts, tips and transformative exercises to help YOU! Thank you for subscribing and joining me on this journey. Please leave comments on your experiences and anything you might like to dig into topic-wise!
In the coming days I will be posting a step by step guide on how to create a transformative vision board. Stay tuned, and thank you for being a part of my journey.
Love, Lauren
p.s. Be sure to check out my instagram and facebook story on the daily to join me in starting the day with some intention setting! Or, check out my youtube channel to catch up at your own pace.