Hello, I’m Michele.
Pain can be a powerful motivator. Has anyone experienced that?! Through the deep pain of yet another failed relationship, I had my first spiritual awakening in 1988 and have been on a committed journey of spirituality ever since.
First, it was just for myself. But as I began to see the results of living a spiritually connected life, of learning what it takes to be truly open to the goodness of life and of finally understanding how to give and receive unconditional love, my heart called me to support others in doing the same.
I became an ordained minister in 1997, received my Doctorate of Divinity in 2007 and had the honor and privilege of serving the spiritual community of Creative Living Fellowship in Phoenix, Arizona, for 22 years as its Senior Minister. As a certified Real Love coach for over a decade, I have worked with countless individuals and couples to make the internal changes necessary to create loving, joyous relationships and, as an Art of Feminine Presence® master teacher, I embody and teach a set of practices and tools to amplify my own personal power and magnetism and to support others in doing the same. Most recently, I have brought the practices of Positive Intelligence®, an extremely powerful, scientifically-based system for making lasting changes to the way we think and feel, to my repertoire of teaching tools.
In 2021, I became the Executive Director for the Affiliated New Thought Network and am so very grateful to support this organization in fulfilling its mission to Connect the New Thought community through Consciousness and Love.
I was blessed to meet my soulmate in 1989, and he and I were together for almost 30 years. Our journey through his physical illness and ultimate transition was as profoundly painful as it was miraculous. In my book From Our Hearts to Yours: Stories and lessons on conscious loving, conscious dying and conscious living, I describe that journey and how I have come out the other side strong, happy and abundant.
Nothing gives me greater joy than to bring all I have experienced and learned in service to others to help them unleash their lives by releasing the brakes and embracing their dreams.
Story of the Lilies
I was married to the man of my dreams, Lonnie Whittington, for almost 30 years. He supported me every step of the way in my journey to becoming my best self, and our relationship helped me bring out my brilliance, magnificence, resilience and unique feminine power. He was always my number one cheerleader. The lily played a role in our relationship. I love all 90 varieties of lilies, but the Casablanca and the Stargazer are my favorite flowers of any kind, and most every bouquet he gave me included one or both. The Stargazer lily even played a leading role in our wedding flowers.
In May of 2018, my beloved Lonnie made his transition, leaving a very large hole in my heart and in my life. But, I know he wants me to continue being my best self and to continue supporting individuals in being their best selves as well, in all that I do and particularly through the Art of Feminine Presence® practices. I know this because he told me over and over before he passed, and he confirmed it by “showing up” in a photo shoot while I was at an AFP teacher training just two months after his transition. Here’s how that happened.
The photographer, Don Hajicek of Tribe of Diamonds, and I had been outside at beautiful spots on the hotel grounds for 50 minutes of our one-hour session. Many times in the course of the photo shoot, he looked in the viewfinder and commented on what a good photo it was. Pay attention to that last sentence. It plays a significant role in this story.
About 10 minutes before the session was to conclude, he directed me over to a rock on which he wanted me to sit for my final shots. As I walked over to the rock, I was stunned to see, growing up out of the ground right by the rock, one stalk of a Stargazer lily – one stalk with two exquisitely beautiful flowers in full bloom. Nowhere else on the grounds were there lilies, but there they were right by the rock. And there were two flowers – one for Lonnie and one for me. I smiled and thought “Oh hi, babe!” and Don proceeded to click away. It was then that I almost got blown off the rock.
As he had done many times over the course of the photo shoot, Don looked in the viewfinder after taking several photos. Now, remember I wrote above that he had often commented how well the photos turned out. This time, however, he did not say a word. Rather, he just stared into the viewfinder for a few moments and then he did the strangest thing. He giggled. And he giggled again. And then he apologized saying, “I am so sorry. You must think I’m a little crazy, but whenever I think something is truly amazing and I’m touched by it, I just giggle.” And that was when I knew Lonnie was giving me his highest blessing. Because that is exactly what he did. Whenever his heart was touched or he was particularly moved, he would simply giggle.
The work I do through Unleash Your Life Consulting is aimed at supporting you in calling out your brilliance, your magnificence, your resilience and your unique power and is dedicated to the man who not only did that for me, but who made my heart skip a beat every time I saw him for almost 30 years and who continues to be my biggest cheerleader even from the other side. Thank you, my beautiful man! I will love you forever.
Giving back is a fundamental value of mine, so it is natural that Unleash Your Life would be a company that gives back.
Since its inception, UYL has shared 10% of its gross income with the community in the form of monthly tithes. Organizations as well as individuals who provide inspiration and spiritual nurturing receive tithes from UYL.
Recipients have included:
Point of Light (singing quartet)
The JaJa’s (singing duo)
Our students and clients are invited to suggest recipients for our giving. While not all suggestions may fit UYL’s giving criteria, each one is deeply appreciated and given thoughtful consideration.