Giddy up. You’re in for a treat. Welcome to part 2 of the creation story of Liberté. Summon Rick Rubin, Liz Gilbert, and Julia Cameron herself…we’re about to get cozy and comfy with divine creation.
There are so many compelling aspects, important players, and synchronicities that were divinely placed in my path while making an overwhelming amount of mistakes in the process. So many truths all swirling at the same time.
The essence of this story is: trust, surrender, and faith led to truth, purpose, and freedom.
There’s really no other way to share the bulk of this story, other than to tell you that the essence of Liberté (the essence, soul, vision, plan, and offerings) was a channeled message from…something outside of myself. The Universe. Source. Inner Knowing. Call it whatever you want, Liberté was not just created out of thin air, but created from a deep place of soulful service. And I, Mindy, am privileged enough to be its messenger.
In early November of 2022, I woke up to the most gorgeous sunrise happening right outside my bedroom window. No, not a Los Angeles sunrise, this was a European one. As you may have guessed, I settled into Lisbon quickly, yet the choice was serendipitously unexpected, as it was never really my intention to settle at all. Receiving gifts left and right from the unexplainable forces that pull universal strings, I couldn’t resist making Lisbon a temporary home (even for a few weeks) after my retreat had ended — I wasn’t quite ready to go back to the US and I couldn’t explain why. I felt such an intense whisper in my ear, serenading me with cobblestone streets, mornings spent at cafes with the most delectable pastries, evenings overflowing with interesting conversations, wine, and laughter, colorful-tiled buildings that had no business being this beautiful, foreign friends that felt like family, and sunrises that would turn into businesses.
It was rich with pleasure.
The voice was faint but distinct enough to hear: “Stay awhile and see what finds you.”
Little did I know, that faint voice was the rumbling of a spiritual awakening.
This faint voice also led me to the apartment of my European dreams. After only 5 days in Lisbon, I somehow managed to stumble (divinely, accidentally…you be the judge) onto an apartment that could have been designed by an archived Pintrest-board of my past — one that I longed to someday live in, yet had only dreamed of in the form of images on the Internet (for I was was not worthy of living in such beauty). Éphémère yet élégante, as the French may say. This apartment had been living on a vision board of mine, perhaps a vision board that only lived in my heart, hidden and buried amongst my deepest desires.
The best part?
This apartment’s best feature was its outdoor garden, full of….4 or 5 orange trees.
Enter: oranges and The Artist’s Way meets European living meets making dreams come true meets divine synchronicities.
Dining room tables housing fruit bowls in one part of the world turned into the growing source of an abundance of oranges in another part of the world…all mine for the taking.
On this particular day, the sunrise was hitting my French-doors-esque windows just right — the perfect amount of glimmering light that forced me to barely open my eyes, sleepily take a photo, and capture its beauty with drowsy laziness. With my mind and body still in an innocent, sleepy daze, I had not quite realized what a significant moment I had just captured.
This…turned into Liberté just a few hours later.
How?
Keep reading.
With the sunrise forgotten in my memory bank but saved in my photo album, I innocently awoke a few hours later and went about my day as normal. Well, as normal as one’s life can be in a foreign country, soaking up every ounce of charm, beauty, and zest for life — I was in a constant state of juggling the yearning for adventure and committing to my business responsibilities. To be honest, I think I failed at this most days. As you already know, business had slowly started to crumble in LA, and I was letting it fall completely to the ground in Portugal. At the time, I cared more about life than business. Not just life…but living.
I wanted more.
In hindsight, a ‘normal’ day is very abnormal to most.
However, I quickly normalized the significance of oranges. I was in awe that oranges had followed me all the way to Portugal, so I created a morning ritual to appreciate the symbolism. I couldn’t make sense of their significance.
-Were they a safety net of protection?
-Were they teaching me to pursue my creative interests?
-Were they just there to say hi?
I don’t know, but I did know I appreciated their presence. So every morning I would pick oranges from the trees and give a little prayer of gratitude for each one that fell into my hands. 10 - 20 oranges later, I had an abundance of delicious fruit to be nourished by and an abundance of things to be grateful for.My morning routine gave me nourishment in mind, body, and soul.
Oranges would soon give me so much more.
Welcome to my first apartment in Lisbon
On this particular Monday, I did have to spend a little bit of time (begrudgingly) online, all for good reasons though. I was in the midst of a business overall and had begun intimate work with the brilliant Amanda Chase of ōSHen (now known as Substance) to help transition my business from ~CoAchInG* to something of more substance.
Consciousness. Purpose. Soul.
I wanted to build a business with not only creative intent but with conscious-driven intentionality as well and I knew Amanda was the one to guide me there. Crossing paths with Amanda (in Los Angeles) was yet another example of following the intuitive trail of oranges. Much like my retreat partner, Guiles, I will forever believe Amanda was placed in my life at the right time — invisible strings of connection, we were destined to eventually meet. Little did I know she would be such a key player in the origin of Liberté.
I hopped on Zoom and was greeted by Amanda, expecting nothing new or out of the ordinary to unfold. Yet, what transpired next was unworldly.
Amanda had guided me into a meditation, visualizing the next 6 months of my life. To my surprise, I couldn’t place myself anywhere else but in Lisbon. Every single detail of my life, specific to where I practice yoga, what my coffee order is, what I wear, where I go to dinner, what I do on the weekend, and who I surround myself with….all Europe. All Lisbon. Los Angeles was nowhere to be seen. It’s like my life in Los Angeles became a distant memory as a new life began to unfold, in crystal-clear detail.
Staring out the window and directly at my personal grove of orange trees that were the backdrop to my workstation, computer screen, Amanda, and this vision: I opened my bewildered eyes and as tears formed in their corners, I quietly muttered,
“Does this mean I’m moving to Europe?”
window view of my orange tree-filled garden
I thought things could not get any more overwhelming, yet, what transpired next was unworldly.
The universal gates opened and information began pouring out of Amanda. Apologizing profusely, she couldn’t quite explain what was happening and I couldn’t quite understand what I was witnessing. Yet, we both just ran with it. No questions. Just commitment to the unfolding.
I remember her sweet voice: “I’m sorry, I just have to do this right now. I have to create a document. I’m being told to give you a message. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m sorry.”
She began writing feverishly, channeling information from not her brain, but the spirit of something else. I still have trouble articulating who the mysterious message-giver could be. Sometimes, I think it was my higher self. Sometimes, I think it was GOD (good orderly direction). Sometimes, I like to think it was Amanda’s and I’s guides and angels, co-conspiring together. Sometimes I think it was all of the above.
All I know is, without logistically questioning any of it, we both accepted our roles. We accepted the truth of how co-creation with the divine works.
I listened. She wrote.
I witnessed. She channeled.
I observed. She informed.
Hastily written in a Google doc, we co-created Liberté in that moment.
All the details came flooding from the ether, a universal liminal place, and into the physical form of the document: from branding, to name, to offerings, to mission and values. My life’s purpose was being revealed right before my eyes — what I was put on this planet to do….put into words. It was scarily specific. It was unbelievably accurate of what I had been trying to create and build for some time. It was as if someone reached into the caverns of my heart and presented the purpose on a silver platter.
It was what I was searching (maybe lifetimes) for.
I just had to (finally) feel worthy enough to receive it.
A glimpse into what information was shared:
Vision:
“Living and working in Portugal with sparkly eyes and flourishing in the abundance of joy, service, love, and pleasure. You are building a business.”
Brand Name: [BLANK]
“Don’t worry about it right now, it will come to you as you are in Lisbon.”
And it did — a few days later, I revisted a Pinterest board created awhile back. I saw the image below and couldn’t get Liberté out of my head. Within seconds, I knew it was the name. Just like oranges, Liberté had been tailing me before I consciously knew it.
Brand Colors: Orange, Blue, White
Remember the sunrise photo from earlier in the day? Premonition from God.
Also to note! These are colors I would have never consciously chosen for myself. At the time, I was following the whole ‘neutral and simple color palette’ that seemed to be the 2020 - 2022 trend. Copy/Paste of other people’s business, I had not yet begun to trust my creative identity.
Mission:
“To inspire the world with practical and accessible tools and resources to live a life of inner richness.” Where practical meets inner transformation? Hi, welcome to the past decade of my life.
Vision:
To live in a world where one is living in joy, fulfillment, and freedom.
Freedom…something I have always been chasing. (Or does freedom chase me?)
Value Proposition:
I help conscious creators and businesses with tools and resources to live a RICH (decadent, fulfilled simple) life.
Simple pleasures, not egoic validation — what I stand for
*since the original creation of Liberte, the vision has only deepened and become more alive — Liberté needed some time to come into her own.
Liberté has matured into:
living a rich, fulfilled life that you feel worthy enough to create
I wish I could tell you that the information felt out of left field — that this crazy lady with a strange ability to talk to spirits (sry Amanda, I don’t think you’re crazy) was way off base with the direction I wanted to go in my business and life. But no. This all felt RIGHT.
It felt big. It felt significant. And it felt like something I had always wanted to pursue. There was so much heart and too much vulnerability — all for good reasons — as it was built the most intimate parts of myself: the inner work I had personally been working through (and will continue to do so): worthiness and scarcity. It was my own transformation, now meant to be taught to others. Liberté has been my biggest teacher in helping me walk into my worth.
At the time, I knew this on a really deep level, but the responsibility of it all was overwhelming. I was afraid to admit it, especially to myself. Yet, I can’t deny that Liberté was the heart, mission, vision, direction I had been searching for since I began my entrepreneurial journey. It had depth. It had vibrancy. It had soul — including my personal dharma, if you will.
It had everything I had been trying to mentally articulate.
It was everything I had never even imagined.
It was better.
Not knowing how to make sense of it, I also knew this was one of the most significant things to possibly happen to me. Co-creation with the divine. How lucky am I?! Signs were all around me — I just had to see them and luckily, I did.
The oranges. The sunrise photo. The message. The meaning.
I felt both the privilege of holding this sacred information near and dear paired with the very human confusion, disbelief, and overwhelm. Sacred information comes with its downfalls — one being: believing and trusting what’s been given to you. Am I worthy enough to fully bring Liberté to life? Can I do it?
Oh, I also forgot to mention I had no money (unstable income), no plan (when was I going back to LA?!), spiritual confusion (am I crazy?) contentious relationships with my family (they definitely thought I was crazy) yet full trust in where I was being led…which is the embodiment of Liberté. I became both the teacher and student the minute the sunrise photo was taken.
The Liberté way is to listen deep within and to move forward with unshakable faith. Your internal guidance system is never wrong and your divine purpose is right on time.
In utter shock at the events that just unfolded, I closed my laptop and said out loud to no one but myself and my spirit guides: “What the fuck? I’m supposed to do WHAT NOW? I guess I’m moving to Europe. Omg! I guess I’m moving to Europe.”
And I did.
And if you’ve been following along, you know how that went. A very pivotal part of Liberté’s origin is the aftermath of the move.
