Awaken the Genie Within

Thank God It's Monday

Okay, so it's not Monday. But a friend sent me the following excerpt and I thought it was powerful and wanted to share it with you. It was written by Reverend Margaret Shepherd.

Vision builders are required to be always manifesting a vision - a soul-inspired ideal experience you want with all your heart and that blesses others. Our formula for success is simple: keep focused on your vision and do your "inner work" of stillness and directing your thoughts to your vision. The right inner action leads you to the right outer action.

I can always tell when someone has lost their way because they are suffering. They report on their suffering instead of objectively reporting events and insights. (We learn to say, "It's just data, and data can't hurt me.") They speak of loss or fear or being victimized. They blame. They judge. They're angry. They just plain suffer. I listen between the lines and can tell they feel powerless. They have forgotten who they are - powerful spiritual beings of genius with infinite resources.

Do you know that is who you are?
Staying focused on your vision and doing inner work doesn't guarantee success, and certainly doesn't immunize you against challenges, but it does immunize you against suffering. VISION  prevents suffering because the positive emotions you feel about your vision dissolve the fears and false beliefs that threaten your success - including that you have to suffer to succeed. You begin to develop the success mindset, seeing yourself and the world as always "enabling inevitable success" in what matters most - your vision. You thrive instead of suffer.

If you are suffering for success, stop. Find a vision and commit to it, then cultivate an inner practice that reminds you that you are a powerful spiritual being of genius with infinite resources, enabling inevitable success in everything you care about. T.G.I.M. - Thank God It's Monday. Another week to shine.

Where's Your Focus?

One of my clients and her husband have been going through a very difficult time in their relationship and they are at their wits end with their struggle. So I decided to ask her a question - actually two questions.

"Are you focusing on ways to make the relationship better or are you focusing on ways to not break up?"
The questions stopped her dead in her tracks because she immediately understood the impact that came with each question in regard to the results they were getting.

On the surface these questions may look the same but they are very different. Depending on which one  you're focused on, you'll create a very different result because of the attitude, belief and above all else, the energy and vibration you hold within yourself.

These questions don't have to be limited to relationships. You can apply them to other parts of your life that you're struggling with. If you're in a job that you're conflicted about simply ask yourself, "Am I focusing on ways to make this job better or am I focusing on ways to survive it." (or not get fired or not be miserable)

If you're having difficulty with your child - are you focusing on ways to be more patient, loving or understanding or are you focusing on ways to keep yourself from flying off the handle?

How about money struggles - are you focusing on ways to create financial abundance in your life or are you focusing on ways to save every dime you have?

The bottom line is this - the second question is always based in fear. When our focus is fear based we are not going to get the results we truly desire.

Wondeful Book On Forgiving

Wow! I didn't realize how much time had past since my last post. I like to get 2 posts out a week but I've been incredibly busy so my apologies for the lapse.

Once again, I am finding yet another theme running through my coaching practice - forgiveness seems to be the main focus for many - the need to want to forgive and the difficulty being able to. Perhaps you have found yourself in a similar situation or are still in a place of not being able to forgive someone for a wrong that you believe was done to you. If you are, then I want to share a book that I've told many people about who struggle with forgiveness.

Dare To Forgive by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.

It is absolutely one of the best books I've ever read on the subject matter and I love the author's realness around forgiveness. He states very clearly how difficult forgiveness is and that it can often take a very long time and sometimes, it just doesn't happen for some people. There is absolutely no judgment anywhere in this book. His honesty is a breath of fresh air.

No, I do not receive anything for this endorsement. I've never met the author. This comes from my heart because I believe so strongly in the importance of forgiveness so people can move on with their life - so they can set themselves free. And, forgiving is something we must learn to do if we want to be part of the change that we want to see in the world.

If forgiving is easy for you, bravo! Perhaps you know someone who struggles with this - why not pass on the information about the book. You never know, you could be the catalyst that changes their life.

Just Be Who You Are

I was quite moved and incredibly grateful by the supportive responses I received from my Reaching Out To You post a couple of weeks ago. Because of this support some wonderful opportunities have turned up and in some cases it places me on the big playing field of life. While thinking about some of the opportunities a bit of fear started to creep in when I realized where this could take me with the book and my work.

In that moment I did the only thing I could think of to calm myself down - I reread my book from cover to cover before going to sleep. When I was done, I was proud of what I read and I knew the book was deserving of playing on the big field. But then, another fear came in - I wondered about my ability to play on this field. As I shared this with my husband he said something that made all the difference in the world - "If all you do is be who you are and continue to put your best Self forward, there is nothing you can't handle."

What beautiful and simple advice. And it's that exact advice I want to pass on to you. Whatever it is you're wanting to create in your life, first and foremost, just be who you are. As you stand in your authenticity and allow people to really experience you, you can't fail.

That doesn't necessarily mean everything is going to work out exactly as you hoped it would, but it does mean that you can't fail with who you are in the world. And, it could simply be, that the opportunities in that moment just weren't the right ones for the time being. The more you stand in your Beingness, the more you attract the perfect people and circumstances to you with greater ease.

It doesn't matter whether your playing field is the size of a small backyard or a professional football field, just be who you are and you can never really lose a game.

Now More Than Ever

Now more than ever, every client call starts off with me asking, "What's working in your life?"

Why? Because people are starting to complain about things like the rising cost of gas and food and the economy in general and how it's negatively affecting their life. They are quite simply focusing on what's not working and that only sets them up for failure.

When they take a moment to focus on what's working, no matter how small, there's a complete shift in their energy and our hour together ends up being incredibly productive. By the time they're off the phone they feel like they can accomplish anything!

In times like these, when the media is inundating us with nothing but bad news and the main topic around the watercooler is about everything that's wrong in the world, that's when we need to dig deep and keep our attention on what is working.

The truth is, we all have so much to be grateful for that we could probably write about it for days, weeks and maybe even months or years. It's about putting the attention on those things you prefer to focus on instead of what everyone else wants to focus on.

This is your life and it's up to you to challenge yourself to wake up each day with the commitment to look for what's working moment to moment. No, you can't control the bad news that's fed to you from the outside world but you can absolutely control how much and what you let into your Being.

Now more than ever surround yourself with people who are more interested in what's working than what's not working. Don't participate in conversations that don't feel good. Steer conversations in a direction that serves a higher good and lifts people up. 

Now more than ever, why not commit to what's working by finding a partner to communicate with first thing every morning for the sole purpose of sharing with each other what's working in your life and then get on with your glorious day!

Feel free to post in the comment section what's working in your life. It would be great fun, not to mention inspiring, to see all the good going on in people's lives! The comment link is right below this sentence.