Isabel Chiara

Isabel Chiara, creator of “The Life Actualization Process,” has been a guide, mentor, and leader throughout her entire life.

Over the last thirty years, she has been both studying and working in transformational energy modalities, serving others, whether through entrepreneurial work, culinary prowess, or her professional intuitive guidance. Isabel spends her time exploring her backyards in Connecticut and New York City in addition to connecting to her deep roots in Italy. She can often be found traveling the globe, whether leading a retreat or on a personal pilgrimage. When at home, Isabel is busy with her career as the owner of multiple businesses

Her new book, EAT YOUR WORDS is a mostly-fictional story that follows the history of Giana Giovanni, a first-generation American Italian girl whose early curvaceous entry into womanhood and hearty Italian appetite make for a complex-carb tale about the depth of our relationship with self-nourishment. Often self-derogatory, and certainly comedic, readers can fall in love with Giana as they relate to her often awkward and outlandish process, simply trying to find herself in the land of milk and honey. Nearing her 6th decade, join Giana as she realizes it is never too late to gain a sense of self-compassion and confront issues of body-image, or attempt to modify outworn behaviors.

I’m excited for you to connect with Isabel, check out her work and new book, and follow along as she continues to encourage all of us to lovingly embrace the glorious fullness of all that you are.

I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.

Hi! I’m Isabel Chiara—and thank you so much, by the way, for featuring my work. I’m an author and a coach. I call my coaching work “Life Actualizing”, because I help people actualize, discover, and bring to life their unlimited potential. I believe our obstacles are often invitations to transform, and growth feels imperative to my work, personally and professionally. I recently finished my first book, Eat Your Words, which was all about confronting my own “personal frontier” of learning to feel and accept my body. I created a fictional character that I felt was universally relatable… one who also was confronting issues I wanted to look at; areas of body perception, diet, eating habits, communication and relationships. Writing a book, for me, was actually a means to “coach myself”, in many ways, to work on understanding parts of my own life potential and path. I think we are often uncomfortable (especially as so-called “coaches” in the world) to get vulnerable about the places we are still stretching and growing, so this book is definitely about really diving into looking at these “under-explored” places. In working with so many others, I’ve come to really feel that we find our gifts by overcoming our own obstacles. Working as a writer has helped me identify and approach my own limitations and, ultimately, even further develop my offering to others as a Life Actualizer.

How did you get started?

When I was younger, a student in Boston, I literally heard my own inner-voice one day—and this inner-voice directed me to attend a master workshop on the process of what is called Creative Visualization. This was really my first “connection” to what became an art of honing intuition. I fell in love with mysticism and energy studies in the 1980’s, and I studied with multiple mentors through many frameworks and methods. I knew there was something more than just the physical. I have always been fascinated to support others to learn to see this, as well; to help them develop their ability to follow and hear their intuition, whether working with herbal medicine or negotiating business deals.

What Inspired the work you’re doing?

I feel really lucky to have been exposed to some truly well-versed leaders and motivators in the field of “energy work”, some of the earlier “mindset” and “visualization” pioneers of the last century. What I loved about studying different modalities of therapies (and still love) is their complementariness, how they’ve supported my own work with just trying to really get to know more about who I am. It was in schools of spiritual healing, honestly, where I really felt for the first time I was learning something that brought me closer to myself. I am continually led by this call of mysticism, we could say, but what’s really interesting to me now and in these last years, has been to find that mysticism within the body, not just somewhere on a distant star.

What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?

This is a great question, one that is likely worth asking ourselves daily. I have always had a natural inclination to follow my passion. I come from an Italian farming family who followed their drive to America in the 1940’s, passion and perseverance have been interchangeable words in my world. I love the power of purpose; to actually see a person’s face light up when they change their perception from “I cannot do it” to a big “yes”… it makes my whole body smile inside.

What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?

I like this idea of a “joy blueprint”. Mine is actually feeling the “trifecta connection”, I’ll call it. Being connected to the sense and power of my intuition, aware and feeling presence within my body, and then also aligned with what is happening outside of me, with my place in the world. For example, in my work, I love hearing what my business needs next, and then literally visualizing it, for example, visualizing a collaboration or opportunity, and then those moments of watching the vision literally unfold in its own perfect way. This kind of “unfolding” is not exactly about controlling destiny, understandably, that might seem a bit ridiculous. For me, it’s about physically participating in believing in self and in the energy of life. Then, whatever the external circumstance, joy feels way more accessible.

How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?

I think of “intentional living” as a regular practice. For me, it’s about cultivating presence, the actual feeling of being in my body, and this means taking responsibility for my perception. In this way, I can look at how I’m participating in my experiences, how I’m influencing my reality through the power of my own beliefs. For example, if there is a conflict I’m feeling with someone or something, I try my best to take responsibility and ask myself what is it I am believing in that moment. It’s easy to get lost in reaction, so I work hard to remember to take a pause, to look inside and ask myself, “What do I really want right now?” I think it’s important not to invalidate ourselves. I try to remember to practice self-inquiry, “What am I feeling, can I name it?” I believe one of the most valuable tools I’ve been able to gain so far in life is the ability to take a pause and actually look at how I am reacting to a situation. It’s pretty mind-blowing what change can come out of that on its own. I still am constantly working with this quality of tapping in, with taking a pause to feel, etc. I feel I am naturally quite reactive and responsive. It’s a bit in my blood as a maker or doer to be ready to go, to put out the fire, climb up the mountain, etc. For this reason, I’ve had to be truly proactive to just begin to get some semblance of body awareness onboard!

What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?

My younger self would say, “Omg we cannot do this! Why am I even doing this—this is so way too scary. Let’s check out of this time zone now. No, no, no, no, no. People will see us.” That’s what my younger self would definitely express. I’ve worked hard, we’ll say, like Giana, the main character in my novel, to find the “self” in self-acceptance. My younger self would rather be grounded for a century than be put in the spotlight.

Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?

I admit I’ve definitely been known to collect things I love, whether it be a plethora of herbal teas or cabinet filled with essential oils, and I’m not short on collected mantras, either. I have many, and they’re always changing, it’s not a one-size-fits-every-day kind of thing. Life changes, and my mantras adjust. To be honest, my whole house is pretty sprinkled with affirmative cards and beautiful lyrical inspirations I’ve collected along the way. Currently, I’ve been working with remembering that “I don’t have to ‘be there’ yet” and “I don’t have to know the answer” but, instead, live the process, experience, learn. Yes, my book, actually, Eat Your Words, is really about this; the journey of a woman to prioritize feeling rather than being fixated on some illusory perfect arrival point, but numbed out along the way. “I am in the middle of the journey”, I remind myself. I can still be just learning about the marvels of creating and creation.

Just to bring the conversation here home, to where I am now, releasing my book Eat Your Words is all about the power of what we tell ourselves. I’m very sure the words we ingest, whether our own or learned, and that internally ensuing conversation, is the most impactful dialogue we’ll ever engage in.

What is your biggest dream?

My biggest dream, truly, is to connect and help as many people as I can find their own way back to loving themselves. Oh---and note to self--- we can also include ourselves in that equation.

To learn more and connect with Isabel visit her website https://eatyourwords.isabel-chiara.com and you can access a free chapter of her new book, “Eat Your Words” here

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Isabel Chiara - Creator of "The Life Actualization Process" and Author "Eat Your Words"