Believer it or not, several people responded. I was actually quite shocked by the number of people who were up for taking a spontaneous road trip around Thanksgiving. One response struck me the most. Here’s what it said:

I just ‘liked’ you on facebook and saw that you’re looking for someone to get your car from Phoenix to Long Island. Did you find someone yet? I live in Maine and have been thinking of some kind of get away for the end of November. I may be up for it if the need is still there….

I know you can appreciate synchronicity so I wanted to share this with you. I’m writing a book about a year in my life when I traveled cross country. I’ve been slowly retracing my journey and this drive would give me the opportunity to re-drive a portion of that (I went from CA to NH), which I’ve been hoping to do within the next year.

I got full body chills reading Alissa Pashko’s email. I knew she was my girl. We had a brief phone chat to make sure neither of us was crazy and to iron out details. She booked a one-way ticket to Phoenix for Thanksgiving day, picked Zoe up from my aunt and uncles house, and went on her way.

Alissa didn’t ask me for money and she didn’t know me from Adam. She trusted me. And I trusted her to arrive back in Portland, ME a few days after Thanksgiving with her and the car in one piece. And she did. Her generosity and the generosity of the universe for connecting the two of us at the perfect moment still floors me now, a year later.

I shot an episode of Glimpse TV with Alissa, intending to share the magic of our paths crossing. I wanted to post it as a way of thanking her and also as a reminder to us all that the world is full of inherently good people. I also wanted to share the miracle of asking for someone to drive my car across the country for me and finding someone who was looking for exactly that sort of opportunity.

Sadly, when I went to edit our episode today I found that the file was lost. So instead, I’m posting Alissa and my story here today. I’m saying thank you to her a year after her generous deed.

May this post be a reminder to all of us:

It’s never too late to say thank you. (Click to tweet.)

The other day I sent over twenty thank you notes for gifts I’d received in June. Would it have been better etiquette to send them right away? You bet your bippy. But I didn’t. So, instead, I sent them this week, six months later.

Would it have been ideal to post my Glimpse TV episode with Alissa last November when the file was in tact? Probably. But instead I’m telling the story today. And I guarantee that at least one person reading this needed to hear the story today, not last year.

You can spend your time beating yourself up for not sending that wedding gift, for not writing that note, for not bringing a present to your hostess, or for not emailing your heartfelt appreciation in a timely manner.

Or you can spend your time saying thank you. There’s no such thing as a thank you coming too late. To the degree that all time is happening right now, (which I believe on some level it is) this moment is the perfect time to say thank you.

In honor of Thanksgiving in the US this week (even if you don’t live here) say thank you to someone. Do it on pretty stationary, do it in an email, do it via your blog, or do it silently to yourself. Do it even if it’s long overdue. You never know, your timing might end up being perfect for the recipient of your thank you. Tell me who you’re going to thank and how in the comments below.

And please know that I’m thankful to each and every one of you. Some of you I know, some I don’t, but I appreciate you all nonetheless. You bring a lot of goodness to my life whether you know it or not. Thank you.

The definition of financial freedom that I love is this:

You are financially free to the extent that your passive or residual income (income that you earn over and over again for work done once) is greater than your living expenses.

In order to achieve this goal we have two choices: increase our passive or residual income or decrease our living expenses.

In 2010 I drew a line in the sand for myself that my 28th year was the year I was going to truly and officially be financially free (including zero debt.) I decided to tweak both sides of the above equation to gracefully jeté over that line. I radically simplified my life AND I increased my passive and residual income.

I’ll talk about increasing passive and residual income in a future post (so be sure you’re on my list so you get it directly in your inbox) but today I’m going to talk about simplification.

I am not the first person to bring this up. There are bazillions of other writers sharing the power of cutting back and living with less in order to experience more life.

The difference is that I’m not, nor have I ever been, a minimalist. And becoming a minimalist is not something I strive for.

What I’m talking about is the spaciousness that can be created through simplicity.

Up until about two years ago it had never occurred to me to spend less money than I made. I had this erroneous belief that having abundance meant making more money and then spending it. Seriously. That’s what I thought it was about.

I had read plenty of times that we should live within our means but honestly, that brought to mind images of women wearing orthopedic shoes and ugly corduroy jumpers.

It felt limiting. It felt like deprivation. It felt down right unsexy.

But the thing is I had all this credit card debt (to the tune of about $20,000). And I also knew that I wouldn’t consider myself truly financially free until my debt was paid off, even if I was making enough residual income to cover my living expenses.

So I decided to cut financial ties that were binding me, let go of the “stuff” (physical and energetic) that was no longer serving me, and hit the road on The Freedom Tour.

One of the beautiful side effects of taking off on the road in my Prius with just what I considered to be essential was that it decreased my living expenses significantly.

For the first time in my life I was living on less than I was making and the space in my finances felt life affirming.

Giving us extra wiggle room financially births all sorts of possibilities that wouldn’t have come about while living paycheck to paycheck.

Within a few months I paid off all of my debt and was able to dramatically increase my savings. (Not to mention the fact that creating all that space brought true love to my life and a book deal.)

I was finally experiencing what living below my means was really about.

It felt elegant. It felt exhilarating. It felt ripe with potential. It felt deliciously spacious.

I didn’t use the conventional financial wisdom of looking through my expenses to see what I could cut down on. Instead, I focused on what I truly valued and added more of it while eliminating anything that was no longer lighting my heart’s fire.

I moved toward and expanded freedom, adventure. space, connection, quality time with people I love, travel, and wide open sky.

I eliminated clothes I never wore, an apartment that I no longer needed, business relationships that were keeping my partners and I small, and beliefs about my worth that were preventing me from sharing my value with the world.

Now that I’m settled in my home in Maine and no longer living on the road, I continue to stay vigilant to my version of simplicity. Do I have way more pairs of shoes than I did when I was on the road? Yes. Yet I still remain true to spending time and money on only that which brings me true value and joy.

I’ve tasted the freedom and spaciousness of spending less than I make.  And I will never go back to the cramped feeling of spending more but ultimately having less again.

When we simplify from a place of getting clear on what is critical to our fulfillment and enjoyment of life, it feels incredibly spacious and abundant. When we simplify from a place of cutting back it feels cramped and limited.

You don’t have to sell your home, get rid of all of your stuff, restructure your entire life, leave partnerships, and take off on the road to create simplicity. (Though I highly recommend it if it sounds like fun to you.)

Instead, ask yourself the following questions:

What do I truly love?
What do I crave?
What am I doing when I feel I’m at my best?
How can I bring more of the above into my life?
What is no longer serving me that I can release?

Abundance lies in simplification. (Click to tweet.) Give yourself permission to take a leap towards what you want and release what you don’t want along the way. Then relish the space you create.

to stay at that job that sucks our soul

to stay with that person who doesn’t bring out our best

to stay on the couch instead of taking a walk

to stay exactly where we are.

Part of my creation of and embarkation upon The Freedom Tour was a conscious move toward simplicity. I sold an apartment, got rid of two-thirds of my belongings, and decided to be homeless indefinitely. I bought a Prius, filled it with the stuff I thought I would really need, and then threw in a few extra pairs of shoes, a sunny outlook, and an open heart. Then I said goodbye to life as I knew it.

There’s a feeling of fullness that comes from letting go that can’t be replicated in any other way. (Click to Tweet)

What I got from cultivating simplicity via releasing what no longer served me (books, clothing, a home, a city, business agreements, and some psychic contracts) was a lot of space for what did serve me.

I’ve heard it told that nature abhors a vacuum. First you must be willing to let go of what’s no longer working in your life (physical, spiritual, emotional, whatever, what have you.) Then most of the time you’ve actually got to let go of it. (And no, breaking up with your dead-beat boyfriend and then texting him for late night sleepovers does not count as letting go.)

And then this beautiful thing happens. You sit with the discomfort of the empty space (be it a cupboard, a slot in your schedule, or a place in your heart.) You get your chakras all spinning in the right direction. You get your vibration running on high.

Then the universe, God, Goddess, the Divine, all that there is, the great beyondananda, or whatever you want to call it brings you something better. Often way better than anything you could have imagined in your wildest dreams.

When I did all of my letting go in early 2011, I sat in my empty apartment and sobbed the night I left New York. The vacuum felt pretty painful at first. As each person left my apartment, holding something of mine that I’d let go of, I felt a bit panicked. What if I end up needing that thing that I’ve just given away?

I of course followed my fear of needing that thing that was walking out the door all the way to its inevitable end-point:

What if I’m making a huge mistake and my life is over? What have I done?

And thinking that thought felt extremely painful. So I reminded myself that not only was my stuff in very good friends with all of my loved ones, but I could come back to New York City any time and pick up right where I left off.

Surrendering to the great unknown of emptiness freaked me out. And it made me feel free. And in that freedom and open space I manifested great love with a man I adore, a much deeper connection to my worth, a trust in my voice I’d never found before, more money, a book deal, and a life I’m in love with.

Remember, nature abhors a vacuum. The emptiness will be filled with great if you’re willing to give up crappy, ho-hum, or even good. The sheer act of releasing something that no longer serves you is a giant message that you know you’re worth more. It’s like a smoke signal of your divine value.

A year and a half after starting The Freedom Tour on February 2, 2011 I’m probably due for a new vacuum. I’ll begin with my t-shirt drawer and shoes and see where it goes from there. The great thing about letting go is that you can start anywhere.

Vacuums are transferable. If you want to attract more clients, try cleaning out your sock drawer. If you’re looking to increase your income, see if you can create some extra space in your garage.

Let something go. Even if it’s little. Create a vacuum. Send that smoke signal declaring your divine worth out to the ether. Sit with the emptiness and feel what that feels like. And then relish the beauty that manifests as nature fills that vacuum with goodies.

And please report back.

I was delighted to take in not only Carrie’s gorgeously designed online presence (yay Jennifer Elsner of Viewers Like You) but also the fact that she’s a parenting expert. I was immediately drawn in by her contagious smile and her unusual, yet refreshing perspective on parenthood, and really, humanhood:

By guiding, supporting and inspiring her clients to live the life they are here to live, Carrie‚ encourages living with a wide open and courageous heart.

How awesome to guide people to be amazing parents through guiding them to be amazing human beings? It makes perfect sense, yet I’d never thought of it that way before. Granted, this is most likely because I don’t have kids yet. However, I bet I think about parenting more than the average woman who doesn’t have kids, except Carrie perhaps, because I’m so clear that being a mama is on my future path.

Because I’m so enthusiastic about kids and because being a super present mama was the reason I began pursuing financial freedom I was really psyched to talk to Carrie more. We had the most delightful and insightful conversation just before the holidays that we captured for you on Skype. We chatted about:

• conscious parenting
• the whole reason I started my business in the first place
• how kids are actually here to grow YOU more than you’re here to grow them
• what to do when you’re a mom and you find yourself not liking it very much
• how to resource yourself and why
• Carrie’s Evolve 2012 program where she’ll guide you in rewiring your brain, nice and slow
• a HOT parenting tip you can try immediately (that I’m going to be using with my boyfriend and everyone else in my life) that will make your life easier as soon as you implement it!

Tune in and leave a comment to let us know about your own parenting foibles and tips, how you consciously are becoming better at humanhood, and anything else you want to share!

Click HERE to find out more about having Carrie as your personal trainer for your emotional health this year in her Evolve program.

More Carrie:

Personal training for your emotional health: Evolve 2012

Site: www.carriecontey.com

Twitter: @carrieconteyphd

Facebook

And here’s the Evolve 2012 trailer…I found it very inspiring. Perhaps you will too!

I find that when I skip the digestion step of everything that’s happened, I get cranky. I forget my blessings, I start finding myself wrong, and things kind of go bland. But when I take the time to notice all the good (and some of the challenges, as well) that I’ve just experienced, life gets back to its usual sparkly sheen.

In no particular order, here are the significant things that happened in 2011:

• I got rid of most of my stuff and left my home in NYC and hit the road on The Freedom Tour. (34,000+ miles by car, 30,000+ by plane, over 60 beds, hundreds of hours spent looking out the car window)
• I fell in love.
• I started and ended a business partnership with grace and love.
• I ended another business partnership that was a little tougher to unravel with just as much grace and love.
• I learned to say no far more often and with far less angst.
• I bought my first car.
• I sold my first apartment.
• I reached a level of financial abundance and consciousness I’ve never achieved before. (This manifested as making, giving, and saving more money.)
• I explored what freedom is and is not to me.
• I spoke in 18 cities in North America to hundreds of different people.
• I spent time with people, like my aunt and uncle Penny and Phil and my Granny, who I haven’t ever spent as much quality time with.
• I got a book deal.
• I individuated from my mom financially, business-wise, and emotionally. We are both all the better for it.
• I realized how much open space there is in this country. Having lived on the tiny island of Manhattan for 6 years this awareness calmed me down in a way I found surprising and refreshing.
• I gave myself a demotion and stepped down as the CEO of Team Northrup so that I can now focus on running my own show instead of other people’s. I’m now the co-creator which feels much more expansive.
• I was invited to become a part of Hay House’s new Ignite initiative, which is focusing on attracting a new generation of authors, speakers, and audience members.
• I started and maintained a 6 days a week meditation practice.
• I started teaching yoga at Yoga Shanti.
• I received profound support from friends and family on The Freedom Tour as Mike and I traversed the country. Thank you to all of you. You know who you are.
• I made new friends.
• I got better at doing nothing.

Some things that didn’t go as well as I had thought they would:

• I thought The Freedom Tour would be better for building my Team Northrup business but given my lack of strategic planning around this and my burn out early on in the trip, it wasn’t. That’s okay. It was really amazing for a lot of other reasons.
• I wanted to document The Freedom Tour more. I had visions of daily videos, more pictures, more updates, and more transmitting my adventures to my readers. But instead, I enjoyed a lot of adventures and precious moments that went undocumented. And because I was there in the experience instead of capturing it for the future I suppose this is really a good thing.
• I wanted to do more connecting with people I didn’t know on my travels. I had visions of tweetups, donation yoga classes, and meeting people at coffee shops to talk about freedom. That kind of conversation only happened once and I wrote about it here. It was enlightening, but not exactly what I had imagined. It turns out I’m scared to talk to strangers and sometimes I have social anxiety. Another lesson in learning that sometimes it’s okay, and even necessary, to do less.
• During The Freedom Tour I didn’t take that great care of my body and I ended the year with about ten extra pounds on me. Ooops! A reminder to prioritize self-care in 2012.

Luckily, far outnumbering the things that didn’t turn out the way I thought they would were wonderful things I hadn’t even thought to think up (like falling in love and getting a book deal!) So, overall the year ended significantly on the upside.

Taking everything I learned from 2011, I spent some time focusing on how I’d like to create 2012. I still have some more refining to do (using some of the tools recommended below). But I’m sharing my 2012 creation plan with you now, even though it’s not complete, because the idea that I could create the perfect 2012 plan and control how the year goes is not only absurd, it’s also exhausting.

Here are my 2012 intentions/goals/desires/creations:

• Tighten up my brand to clarify and expand upon my message of financial consciousness as an inroad to spiritual and emotional freedom.
• Write my first book.
• Launch my 2012 Mentoring Program.
• Take a tropical vacation with Mike.
• Follow my inner compass as my default setting instead of checking outside myself to see if I’m ok.
• Launch two or more digital products.
• Rock the stage at the Hay House I Can Do It Ignite events.
• Increase my USANA business revenue by 100%.
• Spend more time alone and more time doing nothing.
• Get better at asking for what I need/want.
• Continue to say no more often and with more grace.
• Dance more.
• Intentionally align with organizations that uplift and serve women such as Women For Women International.
• Prioritize self-care.
• Create The Freedom Family. (More on this soon and NO, I’m not planning on getting pregnant this year.)

Tools for 2012 Creation

Something I’m adding to my planning of the year this year that I’ve never done before is assigning measurable goals to each intention and then tracking them through the year. This is inspired by Chris Guillebeau’s Annual Review. I’ll also be scheduling specific events, actions, and goals into my calendar and breaking them into action steps using my new Getting Things Done system a-la David Allen.

Lastly, as I’m going through my intentions/desires/goals for 2012 I’ll be creating a list of things that I’ll be delegating to the universe. For example, if my goal is to enroll twelve people in my mentoring program, I may write down that I’ll be personally responsible for attracting six of them, and I’ll ask the universe to attract the other six. This will act as a reminder to myself that I’m not responsible for everything, that synchronicity and magic abounds, and that there’s help for me (and you) available at all times if I’m simply willing to ask.

If you’re wanting to some guidance in your 2011 review and 2012 creation, I recommend the following resources:

• Creating Your Magical Year by Molly Mahar (Molly interviewed me about how I wrap up the year and plan out the next one and I gave her some juicy, honest answers including sharing the family New Year’s Eve ritual we started when I was six. Click the green and yellow button on the right to get access to it.)
• Marie Forleo’s Free Planning Tool To Set & Reach Your Business Goals
• Chris Guillebeau’s How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review

What were some of your best moments of 2011?

What did you learn last year?

What are you thrilled to announce that you’ll be creating in 2012?

What do you think about doing a year in review and planning out your year in general?

Leave a comment!