As I have been contemplating new products and programs I'd like to offer, I have found myself second myself, wanting to look good, fearing failure and generally resisisting change. Not much fun . . .
So, I paused to reflect and be with the fears and doubts so that I could move forward from a more centered place, from a place that is more of the best of me. During that reflection, I wrote this meditation / affirmative prayer to support my process.
I offer it to you now, too, so that it may offer you hope and direction as well!
Recipe for “Instant” Manifestation
Within every desire
is all that we need
to bring that desire to fruition.
As we are ready to surrender
our ego strong-hold on:
• What we think we know
• Needing to look good
• Old habits and patterns that no longer serve
• What we believe is “the way”
• Outdated identities that no longer fit
• Whatever demands we have . . .
And we open to the magic of:
• Being reborn in a moment
• Expressing vulnerability and humanness
• Loving all that is
• Accepting our good
• Flowing with change and transition
• Allowing ourselves to be all we are meant to be . . .
We are now ready in this moment
to bring our desire into reality. . .
Knowing My Solid Foundation
After I wrote about embracing change last week, it didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to consciously be aware that my life has a solid, unchanging foundation. That makes embracing change a whole lot easier!
I cannot control everything that happens. Heck, some days I have a sense of how very little I control! What I CAN control involves what I bring to any situation, any interaction. I choose attentiveness, clarity, generosity, strength and love. In the moments that I fall short of bringing any of those qualities to the table, I then choose compassion, detachment and forgiveness!
I have been using this affirmative prayer to remind me of and connect me to my solid foundation. It helps me stay on or get back on course. Perhaps it can support you as well . . .
In the Eye of the Storm
With so much chaos in our world,
I have found it more important than ever
to deliberately choose my way of being.
I don’t know what will happen later today or tomorrow,
but I do know that I choose to bring my
attentiveness, clarity, generosity, strength and love
to whatever it is.
I do know that I choose to connect
more frequently and deeply
with those I love.
Reaction is no longer something I choose to indulge.
Instead I choose to be present with whatever is,
allowing it to move around and through me,
without attachment or resistance.
And, once again I choose to bring my
attentiveness, clarity, generosity, strength and love
to whatever it is.
To create your own solid foundation, join us for the Thriving in 90 Days! program starting Sept 24th.
Today in yoga class, I heard my teacher say, "This is not about pushing more, but rather opening into . . ."
Ah, such is so much of life when I notice myself trying harder and pushing more rather than simply surrendering and allowing. In those radiant moments when I truly know that I already am everything and that I already have everything that I seek, then I have nothing to seek. I can simply take a deep breath and relax into all of the love and abundance that I am!
Radiant Drop of Oneness
I am a radiant drop in the
ocean of oneness.
I am one with God.
I am all that God is.
All I desire and need is mine,
easily and effortlessly -
as I am willing to receive
the love and abundance
of me, of the ocean of oneness.
I am one with God, with good.
I am all that God is.
I am a radiant drop in the
ocean of oneness.
I am love, power, beauty and mystery.
I am love, joy, peace and hope.
I am love, brilliance, health and wealth.
I am love and abundance.
I am God expressed.
I am a radiant drop in the
ocean of oneness.
Thy will, not my will.
I am willing to be willing . . .
Breathing out my limited notions.
Breathing in Your expansive reach.
Breathing out my attachments.
Breathing in Your absolute abundance.
Breathing out my resistance.
Breathing in the fullness of Your allowing.
Breathing out feeling stuck.
Breathing in Your ever-present flow.
Breathing out feeling separate.
Breathing in the Oneness of all energy.
Breathing out feeling alone.
Breathing in reaching out . . .
Today, I am willing to do Thy will . . .
Every day for the past several days, I have been noticing anything I feel scared or anxious about and transforming it. Working with the simple yet powerful concept that I already have everything I need inside me, I notice what’s causing the fear or anxiety and then find a way to know it from the inside rather than expect it from the outside.
I’d love to share a bit of my process so that you can use this transformation tool, too.
For example, in my business, I got scared and anxious when I felt enough money wasn’t coming in. So, I asked myself: why do I want the money? What do I believe the money will give me? I want the money to pay my bills. I believe the money will give me security. Okay, how can I feel, how can I be security right now?
I don’t have to wait long for the intuitive answer to come to my conscious awareness. Spending a few minutes laying on the ground, under a tree, being with the sky though the leaves of that tree helps me instantly feel plugged into All That Is and I feel secure. Wow. Easy. Doable. Highly effective. Sure beats the alternative of panicking!
An example from my personal life: I felt sad and scared when it seemed that a friend was “abandoning” me in a moment in favor of another friend. Okay, why do I want my friend to “choose me?” What do I believe me being chosen will give me? I want to be chosen to demonstrate I’m valuable. When I’m chosen, I feel important. I feel I matter to that person. Okay, how can I feel valuable, important and that I matter right now?
A couple of answers come to mind. I have taken the time to put the focus on me and what’s going on with me. I am valuing myself, prioritizing myself and indicating to myself that I matter to me! And, I have many friends. If I would like to spend time with a friend, I can value that experience for me and reach out to another friend. Wow. I know I matter and I feel valuable and important.
My whole life becomes better in two ways when I transform these “yucky” feelings. First, I get to feel and be what I desire – secure and valuable, no matter what’s going on or what others around me do or don’t do. Secondly, I am now in the energy of “security” and “valuable,” so I naturally attract more experiences of security and valuable, including more money flowing in and more friends who treat me like I am important to them!
I am so jazzed about this transformation process right now, I am considering teaching a 3-week, 1-hour each week tele-class for $89.
I would love your input.
What about this tele-class might interest you? If you took it, what would you most love to take away from it at the end of the 3 weeks?
Please take a moment to comment and give me the thoughts off the top of your head. Thanks in advance!
As I am integrating all that I learned from both speaking and exhibiting at the Career Management Alliance annual conference last week, I am struck by how well I did both jobs at essentially the same time.
I'm more introverted than extroverted and incapable of multi-tasking. So, I actually had no idea how I would do both jobs well, back-to-back for two days.
I do love to be at the front of the room. My presentation was short, just 45 minutes. I looked forward to speaking, but thought I wanted to spend the rest of my day alone in my room or take a self-guided walking tour.
Yet, I had to be at my booth the day before and the rest of the day after my presentation, talking to folks about my coaching services and coaching courses.
Thank goodness I usually sooner or later remember to practice what I preach! I set an intention to show up fully with each person in front of me by being present, connected and playful. I even practiced with my seat mates on the airplane on the way to the conference.
I had so darn much fun, thoroughly enjoyed all the people I met, rocked the house with my talk and went out to dinner on the second night with 11 of my new best friends.
Not a bad two-days work for an introverted single-tasker!
I just got back from the Career Management Alliance annual conference in San Antonio where I gave a presentation: Strong You, Strong Biz: YOU Are Your Most Powerful Business Attractor. I feel humbled and grateful.
Back in the fall when I agreed to this engagement, I felt excited. Excited to connect with my people – other self-employed coaches, in their cases, specifically career coaches. Excited to embark on a new adventure with my new business partner at the time – she would man the expo booth and I would give the talk and we’d both have a great time doing it.
Fast forward a few months to the day when I learn that the majority of the conference attendees aren’t self-employed and are in fact in the military helping military folks transition to civilian life and jobs. And to the day when my new business partner can suddenly no longer be my business partner for several personal reasons.
Then I start dreading the conference. What do I know to help these military folks? How am I suppose to do it all myself? The conference organizer reassures me that plenty self-employed coaches will come to my talk. I don’t have to re-structure it for the military. My sister offers me some tips on giving my talk and man-ing the booth myself.
Yet, I still have a bad attitude.
Just a few days before the conference, I wake up and realize, just like I wrote on a plaque I gave my grandma when I was 15, that “we are what we make ourselves.” In good coach-like style, I remake myself.
I embody my talk. I can feel in my bones how good it is. As I prepare all the expo materials, I feel grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way. I see the entire trip flowing smoothly, from the moment the shuttle drives picks me up from my front porch to the time another one drops me back on my porch two and a half days later. I set an intention to have a good time, give all I am there to give and connect with wonderful people. I set an income goal for all the new business that will come from this event.
And guess what happened!
It went exactly like my intention, only one better. Many people from the military came to my talk, too. And they got huge value, slightly different value than the self-employed folks, but great value, just the same. Two military ladies even told me I was “under-selling” myself to just offer my services to self-employed professionals, because they saw how I can help them, too. So we are going to talk . . . I see that income goal being met and then some!
And, the shuttle driver on the way home even dropped me off at my house first!
"Imagine that you could plug yourself into a socket that would tap into the electric current of the universe. Because source energy is indivisible and boundless, this would give you access to an unlimited supply of energy that only you could limit or stop its flow. Well, in fact, you are plugged in, and you are responsible for the level of flow you experience."
– Ernest Chu
From the book, Soul Currency
Oh what rich balm for my spirit as I realize I have been limiting my own flow recently! While meeting with my coach, Peleg, I heard myself telling him about the "burden" of all I have to do in my business right now. And, I was talking about things I love to do - like writing this blog, speaking, teaching.
Somehow playing on Twitter had become comparing myself to everyone on Twitter. I wasn't "doing enough," I wasn't offering anything new, I was just adding to the noise.
Don't go down that road. It doesn't go anywhere any of us want to go!
By synching up with this comparison monster, what I really did: cut myself off from my flow, from source, from my spiritual clarity, from the deep knowing of the intrinsic value of my unique contribution.
With this realization, I am BACK! Back to me, back to my flow, back to my source, back in my own power, without concern for how I "measure up."
Thank God! Thank you, Peleg. Thank you, Ernest. Thank you, Ann.
"Pushed out of ourselves, we leave space for
Mystery, for the healing alchemy of God."
- Sue Monk Kidd
From the book, When the Heart Waits
I have been sitting with this concept this week.
I love the idea of leaving space for Mystery,
yet I cannot seem to embody "the emptiness of me."
I get it intellectually, yet the knowing of it
escapes me. So, I wrote this meditation focus / affirmative prayer
to solidify a bit of what I do know!
From the Fullness of You
Take time each day
to pull yourself away
from the madness and mayhem of the world,
from the relentless piles and to-do lists
and go within to recharge.
Skip through the park.
Talk with your God.
Commune with the trees.
Listen to the stars.
Play with your children.
Walk with your dog.
Write a poem.
Journal your sorrow.
Eat lunch with attention.
Be here.
Be here now.
From the fullness of you.
When you return to your lists and piles,
return from the fullness of you.
Be with your lists.
Be with your piles.
From the fullness of you.
Bringing to your lists and your piles:
Your God, the trees, the stars, your children and the dog.
Your poem, your sorrow and your attention.
From the fullness of you.
A few months ago, I wrote a "guiding light" for me and how I serve the world. It has brought me so much comfort, always reassuring me about the essence of me and what I have to offer.
I'm sharing it with you now, so that if you feel inspired you may use my personal essence statement "template" for spiritual inspiration and write your own.
Here's mine:
Ann's essence statement
I am fully present with:
- My Self
- My beloved
- Loved ones
- Clients
- Those I encounter
- All of nature that calls to me
With my:
- Love
- Clarity
- Playfulness
- Focus
- Grounding
- Beauty ways
- Inspiration
- Truth
- and Strength.
I am present
to the energy
of each of us
and our combined energy;
where it's flowing
and where it's stagnant.
In each moment,
I discern
what's called for
to more fully experience
Love,
presence,
and flow . . .
Now it's your turn
To write yours, fill in the blanks:
I am fully present with:
(Fill in who and what you most love to be present with.)
With my:
(Fill in your best qualities.)
I am present to:
(Fill in the way(s) you love to engage and serve.)
In each moment:
(Fill in what you naturally do consistently that is almost always helpful to the situation.)
Have fun with this! And, after you write yours, do post it here to share with others . . .
