There’s just nothing like a room full of BRA Members and Manifest & Breakfast provided our first opportunity of 2023 to gather together and fuel one another as we looked intentionally upon the year ahead. (Check out the video highlights on our IG!)
January is a wonderful time to take stock of where you are and where you hope to be by the end of the year, but the incredible thing about the work we did together at Manifest & Breakfast is that it’s timeless. You can repeat these exercises on your own, any time of year, with or without a group — it’s all up to you and your imagination.
As BRA Members began to flow into the space, the room began to buzz in the familiar way it always does for a BRA event. Many people hadn’t seen one another in person since our Wealthy Women Summit (and for some it had been even longer!).
But time creates no distance between our BRA Members. We all just pick up right where we left off and that’s a beautiful thing to see. I think the biggest networking lesson we learned from the pandemic is that we can still support one another very well virtually, even when circumstances prevent us from being together for periods of time physically. This ubiquitous presence we have in each other’s professional (and often personal) lives creates such a genuine bond throughout our Network.
Chef Katie Chin was busy in the kitchen preparing an absolute feast (for the eyes and the tastebuds) and attendees couldn’t help but follow their noses to fill their plates with chicken and waffles, mini quiches, avocado toast with pomegranate arils, yogurt parfait, hot croissants, and more.
After everyone had gorged themselves, we made our way outside for the first part of our work. June Suepunpuck (better known to some as Joy Guide June) led us through a grounding exercise. The crisp morning air provided the wake up we needed to become present for the rest of the day ahead.
June led us through some simple but effective body work to get us into our physical bodies and then had us partner with another attendee for an exercise that helped us gain clarity on what we were feeling emotionally based on or in conjunction with how we felt physically.
It was interesting to see how focusing on our kinesthetic awareness influenced our emotional state. For some it was a positive thing — feeling love, acceptance, or warmth — and others started to understand the root of some of the less desirable emotions that popped up — that anxiety is from meeting new people, that fear is from worrying about being unwanted.
June had us identify a word to embrace for the rest of the day and had us breathe it intentionally into our bodies, through our hearts. And with that, we were on our way to the manifestation portion of the event.
Once inside, we gathered supplies for our vision boards and found our workspace. As we settled in for crafting, Tisha Morris gave us a bit of insight into the five elements that govern us all — water (ideas), wood (beginning a project), fire (the push-through you need to complete a project), earth (the feedback phase), and metal (the precision or details needed to finalize a project).
We were all engrossed in learning about these elements. Tisha boosted the intrigue by telling us that we’re all less proficient in one of the five, but we can optimize how we flow through life by strengthening it (hot tip — you can take the quiz to find out your strongest and weakest elements on her website and you can find her new book, Missing Element, Hidden Strength, anywhere you buy books including online at Amazon).
From there, we began vision boarding. The creations made varied widely, ranging from super organized word collages to pieces of abstract art. You could really see the broad spectrum of personalities we have in BRA on display through the finished products and I loved getting a peek inside the beautiful minds we have in our Network.
I cannot wait for our next gathering, but I do know that whenever I see each of you next, it will be full of that familiarity, warmth, and supportiveness it always is. I wish you all a productive year, full of everything you have your hearts and minds set on.
xo,
Carrie Murray, Founder
BRA – Business Relationship Alliance
WeWo – Wealthy Women Summit
