Modern Mystic Profile: Denise Dare
Tell us about you and what you do, and tell us about your family:
I’m a dreamer, writer, mystic, mentor, educator and mama. I love learning and growing and the constant evolution of this human experience. My life is quite full…I’m a mentor to women ready to reclaim their power to create a life of their dreams. I’m an educational facilitator for homeschool families. I’m a homeschooling mama to my two rad daughters. I’m a writer and speaker and spiritual leader. I’m the founder of Self Love Sisterhood, a sacred online community for women to connect and support one another. I’m a peace, love and yoga mama cultivating happiness one breath at a time and endeavoring to share what I learn along the way.
How do you stay healthy, resilient and vibrant?
A discipline of bliss...mind, body, soul connection. Consciously cultivating a practice of self loving care to integrate peace in my mind, vibrant energy in my body, and love in my heart. Health is our greatest wealth, so prioritizing wellbeing feels like the most meaningful practice in my life. My vibrant wellbeing practices focus on mindset, breath, movement, nourishing foods, water, rest, peacemaking, gratitude, nature, connection, learning, play and love.
What does being a Mystic look like on a daily basis?
When I’m centered and living from my heart, being a Mystic feels like ever flowing with the synchronicities of this magical life experience. Being a Mystic feels like peace. Like alignment. Like grace and ease. Like wonder and delight. Like vibrant wellbeing. Like sacred connection. Present, peaceful, playful. Perfectly imperfect. Choosing to see the challenges as opportunities. Believing in the good. Seeing the miracles. Holding space for magic. Forgiveness. Giving thanks for the blessings here now and on their way. Being love.
Tell us about your path to creating your path right livelihood (and what does Right Livelihood mean to you)
It’s so brilliant how you can see all the stepping stones that lit the way to creating Right Livelihood when you’re looking back and reflecting…while on the way, it may not always be so clear. Little did I know along my own path how each intuitive decision and heart~centered choice would result in such magic unfolding in my life. When I reflect, I see that Right Livelihood in my life has been centered on education and empowerment. I grew up with an empowered mama who encouraged me to explore, learn, dare and grow every single day. The foundation of my life has been built on loving connection and a powerful belief in possibility. At eight years old, I became an auntie for the first time. I naturally fit into the role of nurturing mentor with my new family member. Over the next ten years, I’d become auntie to seven nieces and nephews I adore. Their energy continued to inspire wonder and awe, even as I grew into a young adult. When I went away to school at UCLA, I missed the playful energy of being around my lil’ nieces and nephews, so I immediately inquired how I could help at the elementary school on campus and started volunteering in a 5th grade class each week. Around the same time, my body was suffering from severe neck trauma after three whiplash injuries in my teen years. My doctor told me to take over the counter pain relievers to deal with the daily pain, but my heart knew better. Instead, I chose to start practicing yoga, which helped soothe my physical body. Yoga would not only heal my body, it would also be the gateway to a deeper connection to my soul. Feeling better than ever with a discipline of yoga supporting my wellbeing, I graduated from UCLA, went on to earn two teaching credentials, and eventually became a certified yoga teacher as well. I absolutely love the joy of learning. Teaching IS learning for me. When I became a mama, I knew I wanted to guide and support my babes’ learning, so I released my life in the classroom and decided to brave the adventure of homeschooling my girls. During those early years of homeschooling, I discovered a longing for more connection with other women and realized I wanted to share the tools I used in my own life to ease overwhelm and stress with other women {especially mamas} who I knew were suffering alone. So, I took the bold step and dared to share what was in my heart. I studied site design, marketing, and online business practices to figure out how to build my own site, publish my writing, and expand the ripples of my message by sharing as a guest author and speaker for an abundance of rad online communities. My intention in writing and speaking has always been to educate and empower. I believe that all of us deserve to live a life by design rather than default, to reclaim our power to cultivate joy and vibrant wellbeing, to tap into the magic of deep connection with self, with community, and with Mother Nature. Those pivotal decisions to homeschool and to publish my ideas changed my life in so many beautiful ways. The most precious being the ever deepening sense of self love and acceptance that has blossomed from teaching the practices I’ve studied, the profound connection I share with my daughters, the epic community we have cultivated with inspiring homeschool families, and the brilliant co~creative experiences I have shared with empowering women around the world through my business as a mentor and spiritual leader. When I was invited to integrate another layer of work into my life a couple years ago, I was honored and uncertain how I would manage homeschooling full time, growing an online community and business, and integrate working full time as an educational facilitator to support homeschooling families on their own unique learning adventures. All I knew was that there is always a way and I wanted my work to feel like play. And so it is. I tapped into my sacred practices and perspectives to design a lifestyle that feels aligned with ease and grace {most of the time!} even in the fullness. My yoga practice of nearly 20 years has paved a sacred foundation of self loving care and continues to be one of my favorite ways to come back to center and cultivate peace in the chaos. Every single day I give thanks for this completely aligned opportunity to empower and educate. Work that feels like play, unfolds magically, and offers the opportunity to share our unique gifts in a joyful way…this is Right Livelihood to me. How have you integrated your innate talent and Mystic Arts into your life? What challenges did you face in this integrative process? Integrating the Mystic Arts into my life feels like an ever expansive process. I’m always growing and learning and deepening my connection. Of course, I am perfectly imperfect, so I still make mistakes, I still get disconnected sometimes, I still get frustrated or overwhelmed. The biggest challenge is forgiving myself when I fall short of my own expectations and vision for myself and my life. The greatest difference for me now is that I have deepened my awareness and my connection to my own internal guidance so completely that the moments of disconnection are shorter and the shift back into alignment and appreciation is much easier. The challenges now feel like opportunities and my heart is in the habit of surrendering to a place of profound trust as I’ve continued to practice the mindset of faith and believing in the good things coming. The greatest art for me has been the practice of Peacemaking. Truly, this has changed my life for the better in countless ways. Peacemaking has helped me choose kindness in moments of frustration. Peacemaking has helped me believe in the highest good and best intentions of all. Peacemaking has helped me be patient. Peacemaking has helped me truly forgive, myself and others, to make space for more love in my heart. Peacemaking has invited magic and miracles and blessings into my life that I never even considered could be possible. This Mystic Art of choosing peace above all has helped me reconnect with the meaning of life…to be Love. What important lesson would you share with an earlier version of yourself, or to somebody who is just now exploring what a mystical path might mean to them? Breathe and believe. Trust yourself and your intuition. Connect with nature every day, especially when you feel out of center. Slow down and savor the experience of being. See the opportunities in the challenges and trust that everything is for the highest good. Believe in magic and miracles and blessings here now and on their way. Practice gratitude for all that is, all you are, and all that will be. Remember you are part of everything and everything is part of you. Choose love and cultivate joy. Soften into now. Give and receive. Remember that life is play. Learn every day. Know you are enough. Reclaim your power. Feel yourself safe, supported, sacred, loved. Everything is always working out for you. Love love love.
If there was only one thing a person could find the energy and resources to make a priority, what should it be?
Give thanks. When you first wake each day, start with contemplating what you are grateful for. When you are out and about in the world, look around for things to appreciate. When you close your eyes at night, give thanks for this gift of life. Appreciation invites magic and miracles and blessings…and makes this life experience enough, makes it meaningful, makes it beautiful.
What is your favorite inspirational quote?
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she became a butterfly.”
~Barbara Haines Howett
Denise's passion is supporting overwhelmed and overworked women to reconnect with their inner guidance and experience life with more ease and grace. She believes that self love is the foundation of true success...a life that feels aligned, abundant and magical! At the heart of Denise’s vision is co~creating a world where work feels like play, health is wealth, and love comes first. Denise is a home educating Cali mama, writer, mystic, and thought leader, happily featured by Positively Positive, Tiny Buddha, Elephant Journal and other rad places on the interwebs. When she’s not working with inspiring women, leading her Self Love Sisterhood community or homeschooling her two dreamy daughters, you can find Denise sky gazing on her balcony, practicing yoga on and off the mat, or walking barefoot on the beach. Connect with Denise to learn more at denisedare.com. https://www.facebook.com/DeniseDare43 https://www.instagram.com/denisedare43 https://www.pinterest.com/denisedare43/