Last night I spent the evening with 11 beautiful women at Fresh Start Women's Foundation.  I shared this with them and felt this is a message that others need to hear too.  Enjoy.

Dear Beautiful Soul…

You came here tonight for a reason.   Something has you sitting in this chair right here and now.  A series of events led to this very moment and I believe that there is a golden nugget here for you.  Your job is to open your eyes and ears to listen and watch for that light-filled moment.

We often go through life as if we are at the mercy of the events, people and situations around us. We fall into auto-pilot and go through the motions and then look back and wonder where time has gone.  We dream of "someday" when we will be happy and fulfilled.  Guess what?  Your "someday" is NOW.  Happiness is a choice that you make.  It’s not dependent upon what’s happening around you, but comes from what’s going on within you.

Your power lies in your thinking. Journaling is a tool waiting at your fingertips.  It's a space ready to capture your thoughts.  Get your thoughts out.  Do you like what you see?  Is what you SEE helping you to move forward in your life or causing you to shrink and feel miserable?  
Photo taken by my friend Syda at Kreative Notions!
I read an article today about the top 5 regrets that people
during their last hours on earth have shared and two of them really struck
me...

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.  

I wish I had let myself be happier.

We often live life trying to please  others (I did for many years) and ignore our own innate purpose and blame people and circumstances for our misery.  Now is your moment to break the cycle.

Open your eyes to your thinking and question your thoughts with boldness.  You may not have control over the circumstances in your life, but you have say in how you choose to perceive it and who you will be in the face of life's events.

Let today be the beginning of writing your story.  Let your journal be a place where you begin to take responsibility for your life, for your thinking and for the way in which you choose to see what’s around you. Let your journal be a place where you begin to be kind to you.  It will multiply and impact everyone and everything around you.  

What would be possible if you took this on in your life today?

Are you ready to start a journal?  Get your free online journal and come journal with me here. 

Want to journal on pen and paper?  Click here to order your Sanity Journal
today!
Add Comment
 
 
I have the butterflies. 
I'm getting ready to lead a new course that starts next week.  Truth be told - I am leading this course because I want more of it in my own life too.  I’ve always been inspired by stories of people going beyond, defying the odds and taking risks for the sake of something greater.  When I think about exploring new realms of possibility, I feel like a little girl again jumping up and down with excitement.  That is what this course is about....going beyond our limits.
 
The butterflies come from knowing that to lead this course I will be taking it all on in my own life too.  The butterflies remind me that to fly free I must call upon courage.

I've been thinking back to times when I stepped out, felt afraid and did it anyway or acted because I trusted a vision someone held for me.  These experiences all held incredible richness, aliveness and also involved getting a little uncomfortable to learn something really valuable.  

Then, life happens and I settle into a new comfort zone.  Why do I gravitate back to playing safe and comfortable?  Come to think of it..I like that space too.  And, that space is important.  But, the time comes when I know it's time to stretch again.

I want to ask you the questions I have been asking myself.  Where are you holding back?  What could you do now that would have the greatest impact?  What would be possible if you elevated your speedometer for giving and receiving love?  WHAT WOULD BE POSSIBLE if (fill in the blank)?

If you sense it's time to get out of a rut and shake things up I am inviting you to STRETCH with me.

I am offering 5 Complimentary Strategy Sessions to help you get clear about your next step.  

Here’s what a Strategy Session is all about…

Together we will…
*  Create a crystal clear vision of what you want next in your life?
*  Uncover blind spots that might be getting in the way of you moving forward
*  And…you will leave the session feeling inspired, energized and ready to take the next step in your life.

If you’d like some clarity around what is next for you, don’t miss this opportunity.  To take advantage of this very special offer, click here and answer these  questions.  

It's time to STRETCH again!  Come along with me.  Share and explore your stories of stretching here.  I'm listening ;-).
2 Comments
 
 
Once upon a time my husband and I met, fell in love, and got engaged.  Soon
after the negative comments and predictions began. Time and time again people
would see our affection or intimacy and say things like “Ooh, they’re newlyweds,
just wait. The honeymoon will be over. Oh, that won’t last for long.” These
comments felt like a curse, a looming sentence soon to be reality and a
statistic. It felt like there was a looming monster that at some future date
would swoop in and snatch away all the bliss and magic that we had created
together.The fear that these comments might someday be true for us turned out to
be the greatest blessing to our marriage. It ignited something in us and we
would talk about it often. It became our mission to tell a new story. We
recognized this monster was imaginary and it’s power only lived in our belief in
it and the energy we chose to give it.   Click here to read the rest!  Published in Sparrow Magazine! 
Add Comment
 
 
I found myself in a crummy place mentally on Sunday afternoon.  I headed to yoga class as I usually do.  About half way through the class I realized that nothing, absolutely nothing in my life had happened or changed and here I was feeling so down.  I had created, conjured up, built this  struggle where there was no struggle.  

The words of a street sign "Exit Here" flashed before me.  I new it was time to abort this mental rut.  I promised myself then and there that I wouldn’t leave that yoga room until I was ready to leave the struggle right where it belonged on the floor as I walked away.   It was truly that easy.  I stood up and walked way.  This one decision completely altered what was possible for the rest of the day.

Is there an Exit Here sign wanting your attention? Is there a thought pattern that continues to leave you feeling crummy?   Why not Exit Here?
2 Comments
 
 
Have you ever stopped to pay attention to how much space thinking about "what's next" takes up in your mind? Do you ever feel like you are there in body, but not in spirit? It's that feeling of being there with the people in your life, but knowing your head is elsewhere.

I've started an experiment...it's called "No Agenda Moments".

"No Agenda Moments" involve me and you just showing up to the moment "empty minded" - leaving behind the need to get somewhere and the concern for what's next. I'm doing it in micro-movements to build my "having no agenda" muscle.

It might involve just plopping down next to my boys for no reason other than to get into their world, sitting and watching a tv show (something I don’t normally do) for the sake of a shared experience, or gazing (yes, I said gazing) into my husbands eyes for no reason other than to connect with him in a brand new way (sounds crazy, maybe nauseating to some, but has been quite interesting, amazing and fantabulous ;-) - you should try it ;-) These are the moments I crave. Moments of nothing and everything. Moments of surprise and encounters with the unknown.

Don't get me wrong, my to-do list and plans have their place, but I don't want them seeping into every nook and cranny of my life. "Busy"...isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's gotten my to-do list made and checked off, it's made me feel important, and it's filled up many of my moments and days. But, I'm finding I make bigger impacts after filling my soul with moments of touching life in spots that truly matter.

When do you have "No Agenda Moments"? Where would it delight you to create more of them?  Share your thoughts and ideas here!
Add Comment
 
 
I am super excited to share with you this Q & A with Jennifer Lee, author of The Right-Brain Business Plan.  She is a fellow journal junkie and has been a huge source of inspiration to me!  Soak up what she has to say about journaling, creative business and what she does for her sanity!  Meet Jennifer Lee!  She is a certified coach, writer, artist, yogini, and the founder of Artizen Coaching. 
Picture
I’ve heard that you are a journal junkie yourself...
Yes, I am a fan of journaling, especially in the morning just to clear my head.

When did you start journaling?
When I was about 7-years-old my grandma bought me a pink journal with colorful hearts all over it from a Hello Kitty store. I would write in it whenever I was excited or upset about something. At some point during my early teens and young adulthood, I stopped journaling because I was afraid someone would read what I wrote. And then it was probably around 1999 that I started to write in a journal again and did it even more consistently when I started working with my first coach in 2000.

How does journaling play a part in your life and business?
Journaling helps me get the junk out of my head when I first wake up. I don’t do it every single day, but for the most part, I’m pretty consistent. It helps me work through challenges or issues I’m facing by just writing out what I’m thinking or feeling. I also use journaling to help remind me of the things that are going well and I’ll tend to write a lot of affirmations. As for how it helps me in my business, sometimes I’ll get sparks of inspiration while I’m journaling or in the middle of the night and I capture it in my journal.

Picture
Did you journal through the process of writing the Right-Brain Business Plan book?  If so, how did it support you?
Yes, I kept my regular journal as I was writing my book. The process of writing and marketing a book has certainly stretched me in ways I never could have anticipated, so journaling helped me work through those challenges.

I also did intuitive painting while I was doing my book proposal and writing. Having these larger-than-life images from my imagination reflected back to me was also helpful in working through different roadblocks during the writing process.
How can journaling help in the process of writing a business plan?
Dig through your journals to find nuggets that might be your next business idea.

Sometimes people get hung up with the formal writing style that they think needs to go into a business plan, but if you’re doing a business plan just for yourself, then hey, why not write in the same way you write in your journal?

One of my past e-Course participants, Tori Deaux of The Circus Serene, wrote a love letter to her perfect customers and that ended up helping her define her target market and gave her actual copy to use on her website.

What are the top 3 things you do for your sanity as you birth new business ideas?
1. Practice Self-Care Fridays – no meetings except with my inner muse, a masseuse or nail salon.

2. Lean on my Nurture Huddle for emotional support, brainstorming, and accountability.

3. Get as much out of my head and on to paper as possible in fun, visual, and tactile ways.
Picture
What advice do you have for Right-Brainers who have a book idea of their own?
Start collecting all of your journal pages, chicken scratch, notes, e-mails, and documents you have about your idea. You’ll be surprised how much existing material you have to work with. Organize it and use that to start from instead of trying to start from a blank page.

I highly recommend working with a book coach to help you flesh out your ideas further and to hold you accountable to the writing process.

Keep writing!!

Where do we get all the juicy details about your book, etc?
You can visit http://www.rightbrainbusinessplan.com to see info about the book and other resources to help you with your business.

Thank you Jennifer!!  Enjoy, share and be inspired everyone!  Here's to the creative dreams that live inside you waiting to be revealed with pen and paper!
2 Comments
 
 
Picture
Share your story here! 
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Last week Quinton and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!  It seems like it all happened in a blink of an eye.  I remember envisioning and writing down my dreams for marriage all in my journal before it ever happened. 

After being divorced I knew it was going to take something entirely different if I were to marry again.  I had modeled what I had seen and dreamed about for marriage, but that alone had not been enough.  Despite the terrible statistics for marriage and the limited number of great marriages around me, I still believed that something else was possible.  I also knew it would require me being and thinking about things in a whole new way.

Things shifted from the very beginning when I met Quinton.  I think we both did EVERYTHING different for the sake of creating something we'd never seen before.  I will never forget after we became engaged - others would say “oh just wait, that will wear off”, or "that won’t last", or "oh look how in love they are, but just wait".  I remember feeling like some BIG MONSTER was going to come in and snatch away all the bliss and love.  Observing this is what actually inspired us to do everything in our power to protect what we had created together.

The love and bliss doesn’t go away…it just gets covered up by day to day life stuff.

From that day forward it has been our commitment to keep things clean.  We call it “sweeping” our marriage.  Just like the kitchen requires a constant sweeping, so does marriage.  It’s about clearing away the little things that build up in a day and making sure they get handled.  Sweeping prevents the big blow ups.  Without sweeping, the dust builds and builds and eventually there’s so much you can no longer see why you ever came together in the first place.   With constant sweeping, it becomes easier to access the love and bliss.  The practice itself requires commitment, but the rewards FAR outweigh the effort.  And, with practice, it just becomes part of your relationship. 

I never thought it was possible to fall in love over and over again in marriage.  Now, I absolutely know it to be true and realize that it is up to us to make it happen.  We’ve got the ups and downs just like everyone, but the sweeping keeps us on the same page and clears the way to fall in love over and over again.

I'd love to hear your thoughts?  Do you "sweep"?  Interested in having a conversation about how to sweep?  Email me.

I am off the charts excited to tell you that beginning on Feb. 17th, I am
co-coaching The Frame of Mind Relationship Course with Dave Gorham and YOU are invited to take part.  This is going to be a phenomenal experience – one where the possibilities are truly endless and life altering.  What I know about Frame of Mind Coaching is that while you may go in wanting to improve your relationship - it will spill over and impact all areas of your life!  If you are interested in finding out more about it send me an email.  Hesitant or unsure?  Take the FOM Relationship Assessment!  Kim, Presiden of FOM and her husband are doing a free teleseminar tomorrow too!  You must check it out!


Add Comment
 
 
"Abundance is not something to achieve...it's something to tune into." - unknown

This quote came my way several weeks ago.  Every day I have a conscious intention to let go and let God.  The really cool thing is in letting go of "trying" to achieve - opportunities and gifts are showing up all over the place in ways I could have never imagined!  Here's a few...

Magic Beanies...
Joettta comes in the post office of our store on Mondays and we became fast friends.  She is always sending off homemade treats to her grandchildren and great grandchildren.  She oozes with goodness.  She makes beanies for the young kids at her church and last week she came in with a special delivery - beanies for me and my boys!
Picture
Intimacy...
For some time I have been saying to myself I want to experience greater levels of intimacy with my husband.  I thought about intimacy as if it was for certain times and places and was to be scheduled in and planned. Now, I am finding intimacy can't be confined to my structured thinking...and when I "allow" and let go of how it looks, it just is...it's like finding little surprises all over the place!
Moments of grace...
They seem to appear just when I need them, but the need isn't recognized until they are there.  When I let go there is no place to be except right where I am.  So, naturally, all the goodness that exists right here and now is in vivid color.  And..instead of thinking about what's next, I'm thinking about how I can squeeze the most of right now.
Picture
Delicious photo of our yard by Jennifer @ www.anymomentphotography.com
What does abundance mean to you?  How's it showing up in your life?  I'm all ears!
3 Comments
 
 
A book appeared!  On Saturday Quinton mentioned a book to me and the next thing that happened kind of blew me away.  Out of my mouth - "I've got to get it and I need to read it by Monday".  What?  It all felt a tad strange, but compelling at the same time so I didn't question it.   "The 7 Wonders that Will Change your Life" by Glenn Beck & Keith Ablow, MD.  Somehow I finished it by Monday morning - a quick read & fascinating story!  

SO many treasures - here's a few....

Listen with your third ear! Observe and listen to my gut, listen keenly, investigate what I sense.

Act on it!  Tune into my feelings about situations I am in and conversations I am having.  Listen for the voice of my intuition.  Sometimes it's soft and I slough it off.  I practiced this week and reached out when it said to reach out.  What I discovered...more adventure, more risk, more connection with others and rich surprising experiences.

Question with boldness.  Question everything. Seek the truth. Even question what you think you know about you!

Honestly, these are just specks of what I took away from reading it! 

The reasons why I was supposed to read it by Monday are already surfacing and many I'm sure I will never know.  It impacted my coaching call on Tuesday with a new client (amazing parallels w/ her life), my Dad started reading it and he's making important timely changes in his life which are impacting my mom's well-being, and I haven't been able to contain myself in sharing it with otherse reading it...and it ripples on.  His story has deeply inspired me to keep digging for truth within myself and seek strength from my life experiences as I move forward.  
Picture

"Everything can begin to change for the better in a single hour, never mind a month or a year… Your commitment to move forward, despite adversity, is the force that actually paves the way." - from the book

The power of truth is inside you, waiting for you to discover it, even if you have been running from it for a lifetime."

Check it out for yourself!
3 Comments