Discovering Your Way | Ann Strong

My Intertwined Paths to the Divine

October 6, 2015August 26, 2015 by Ann Strong

Last Sunday, I gave a talk at church about my two intertwined paths to the Divine. The more formal, worship and body prayer path and the church of nature path.

The worship path
From the Catholic church of my childhood, through Christian mysticism, Quaker meeting, a dozen Christian church field trips, Dances of Universal Peace, Unity and Religious Science churches and Kundalini yoga to Celebration Church in Santa Fe (a non-denominational, co-created church without a minister.)

The church of nature path
As a child, I spent hundreds of hours laying under a tree watching the clouds. I also wiled away many summer afternoons on the banks of the Roaring Fork and Crystal rivers making smithereens. As a teenager, I was mesmerized by the stillness in the trees while skiing.

In my late 30s, I discovered the sacred vastness of New Mexico. This is the second time I’ve lived here because it’s the home of my soul. It feel easier for me to know God here – in the earth and the rocks, the sun and the moon, the sky and the stars, the sage and the rocks, the trees and the wind.

When I lived in Denver, I wrote most of the prayers in my first book while sitting under trees in City Park. I would drive up to Red Rocks when I was in a funk to hang out with those awesome red rocks. And, I climbed high enough to look out over the entire city, which consistently shifted my perspective.

It has always been natural and easy for me to connect with the Divine in nature, through nature.

Confluence of the Colorado River and Roaring Fork River.
Who could not find God here?!?

Back at Celebration Church last Sunday
I loved giving the talk. And what surprised me: 6 or 7 people told me that my story was their story. At first I was puzzled. Had they too visited Quaker meeting and several fundamentalist Christian Churches? Did they know how to make smithereens? Did they study to become a Unity minister?

Then I realized what they were saying – they too are seekers. They too had looked in churches and alternatives to churches and had often found the Divine in nature.

What about you? What has been your path to the Divine?

I would love to hear a bit of your story below . . .

“Anybody Can Do That.” Or Can They?

October 1, 2015July 29, 2015 by Ann Strong

When we are most ourselves – radiant and alive – our beingness and what we do comes naturally to us, without self-consciousness or judgment. Often effortlessly. We mistakenly imagine that if it is effortless for us, then it must be effortless for everyone. We also often take that one step further: if it’s effortless, it must be of little value.

Could anybody do this?!? I don’t think so!
As seen in Lamy, NM. Artist: Jenny Lind
of Rainbow Gate in Santa Fe, NM.

Truth: It takes no effort to be you. If you’re struggling, gently look to where you aren’t allowing you.
Truth: It would take great effort and net poor results for others to try to be you.

What might it take for you to release self-judgment and self-consciousness that tends to dim your radiance?

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for returning to the joy of you”)

I would love your thoughts and responses. Post comments and insights below . . .

I Didn’t Know How to Integrate

October 1, 2015July 9, 2015 by Ann Strong

I’ve had a lot going on this week. New work. Meeting new people. Two emotional family situations. Spending time with a new man. More volunteering at church.

And then this poem for my new book came to me . . .

This guy seems to have mastered Settling Down.

Settling Down

Less thoughts.
Deeper breaths.

Less contraction.
Greater expansion.

Less restriction.
More freedom.

Less figuring out
who to be,
how to be.
Actually being.

Less judgment.
Expanding openness.

Less agitation.
Bigger love.

Less all-over-the-place.
More present.

Less concerns.
Many blessings.

Less in my head.
More in my body.

Less me.
More Divine me.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within.”)

I would love your thoughts and responses. Post comments and insights below . . .

Relaxing into Ourselves . . .

October 1, 2015July 2, 2015 by Ann Strong

Back in 1997 when I first became a coach, I loved the idea of helping people “make themselves better.”

Today, I see it a bit differently. We each already are so amazing. We don’t need to make ourselves better.

Can you imagine her thinking she were anything less than radiantly beautiful?

What I love now: creating the space that allows my clients to recognize and accept their own love and brilliance. I am so tickled when they experience spontaneous episodes of their own Divinity.

I know my work is good when they are kind to themselves. I know my work is good when I am kind to myself. I know we are making great progress when we talk more about relaxing and savoring than about striving and fixing.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within.”)

I would love your thoughts and responses. Post comments and insights below . . .

Coming Back to Center

October 1, 2015June 26, 2015 by Ann Strong

Earlier this week, I attended an Evening of Exploration at the Academy for the Love of Learning. We explored Coming Back to Center – Embodied Leadership.

One of the most profound things I learned involved not always being able to tell if I was present within myself while being present with another person. What an amazing awareness . . .

How do I know when I am present with myself? What does it feel like? If I’m not in my own center, what does it take for me to become present in my own center?

I’m excited to share this piece with you – exploring this . . .

Experiencing being present with myself . . .

Home

Hello, is anybody home?

As I take a deep breath,
I check inside.

Can I feel myself here?
At home in my body?

I feel the energy of me
In my heart center.

I feel the edges
of my physical home
In the tips of my fingers
and the tips of my toes.

I feel my energetic presence
beyond my physical home.

As I feel out farther and farther,
I experience my Oneness
with my Big Home.

All that Is.

Ah, to be home
And to be Home.

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within.”)

I would love your thoughts and responses. Post comments and insights below . . .

How Do We Allow Ourselves to Receive Without Feeling Like a Taker?

October 23, 2015April 23, 2015 by Ann Strong

Two of my coaching clients are working on receiving more. They’ve been life-long givers and prone to burnout as we talked about in last week’s Strong Notes. Recently one of them shared with me that she doesn’t easily receive because then she feels like a taker.

As I often do when I’m digging deep with a human issue, I went to the dictionary. The first definition of receive, “to take into one’s possession (something offered or delivered): to receive many gifts.” No wonder she felt like a taker. According to the dictionary, she was a taker.

So what does the dictionary say about taking? First definition, “to get into one’s hold or possession by voluntary action: to take a pen and begin to write.” What caught my attention was “voluntary action.” We often tend to associate taking with extracting, taking something from someone against their will.

So, what if we drop all the thinking and judging? What if we don’t label taking as bad? What if we are present in the moment and fully receive whatever is given? What if we take in the present moment and whatever it gives us?

Ahhhhhh, to take in the glory of this sunset! What
would it take to allow ourselves to be takers?

What if we take in all life has to offer and no one else goes without? WHAT IF taking is the same beautiful act of love as giving?!?

Post your comments and insights below.

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My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order

Creator/Owner Mindset: ‘Why Is It Hard for Me to Put Myself Out There?’

October 23, 2015February 3, 2015 by Ann Strong

“Why is it so hard for me to put myself out there? I don’t feel insecure, but I guess I also don’t feel confident.”

Recently this was the coaching session agenda of one of my clients who is a new coach. He already has several clients and serves them beautifully. And his inquiry is almost universal. Even with gifted and experienced coaches, healers, artists, professionals.

This particular kind of question tends to lead us quite quickly to something like, “What’s wrong with me?” Since that kind of inquiry doesn’t tend to be helpful, let’s replace it with a much more empowering focus and question. Whenever I notice I am feeling self-conscious in my work, I use that as my cue to shift my focus off of me and onto the client.

What happens when we take our focus off ourselves
and put our full attention on the person in front of us?

I have my own daily morning practice around self-love, self-acceptance, self-attention, self-honoring, self-appreciation and self-allowing. I spend time being with myself no matter how I’m feeling or what I am thinking. Therefore, when I’m working, I know that I am already taken care of and now it is time to put my full attention on the person in front of me.

So, we shift our focus off of ourselves and onto the client. Our new, more empowering question can then sound something like, “How can I fully serve this person in front of me right now?”

We often tend to equate “putting ourselves out there” with marketing or sales. Then, we tend to make marketing and sales way different than working with our clients.

What if there was no difference? What if marketing and sales is literally the same as working with our clients?

Let’s look at that a bit more closely.

What if we approached “putting ourselves out there” exactly the same way as serving a paying client? What if we had the same fierce devotion and attention that we have for our clients for our website visitors, our audiences, our readers, our FB friends, our Twitter followers, the person next to us at a networking event?

How might our self-consciousness around “putting ourselves out there” transform?

I would love to hear your story!

Post your comments and insights below.

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My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order

Discovering Your Way: In Divine Flow

October 23, 2015January 23, 2015 by Ann Strong

Recently my coach asked me if I was willing to surrender what I thought needed to happen. I immediately replied, “I would love to surrender.” And, before she spoke, I could feel the “But . . .” inside me.

My ego says, “If you surrender, you will die. You MUST fight for your life.” What it really means: I, the ego will “die,” take a back seat. I, the ego, must fight to stay in charge.

This no longer works for me. I am no longer willing to be a slave to my ego. So, I wrote a prayer to serve as a bit of a compass . . .

In the God Flow

I listen and follow,
Rather than plan and demand.

I stop searching my mind’s hard drive
And instead follow the God pulse.

When my heart and soul, body and mind align,
I know I am in the God flow.

Post your comments and insights below.

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My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order

Evoking the Best of You: Activated by Martin Luther King, Jr

October 23, 2015January 15, 2015 by Ann Strong

Today is Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. Almost every year at this time I write about how he has influenced me.

While taking my Strengths Strategy Coaching certification course last year, my trainer and mentor DeAnna used him as a shining example of the best of the StrengthsFinder Activator strength. With Activator as my #4 strength, I felt a renewed sense of our kinship and a renewed commitment to Activate people in a way that makes this world a better place.

Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr for activating
us to greater love for all people.

His dream involved nonviolence, justice and equality, social and political reform.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr

My dream involves each of us as individuals dissolving the old patterns and habits that bind us. Deeply connecting with and honoring ourselves so that we can fully express ourselves. For me, Martin Luther King Jr serves as a brilliant example of fully expressing himself.

“I fiercely hold the vision of this person in front of me loving and valuing themselves no matter what, so that they may offer the world the one-of-a-kind gift of their self-expression.”
– Ann Strong

What about you? What is your dream? How can I Activate you to take your next step in the direction of that dream that only you can fulfill?

Thank you Martin Luther King, Jr.

Post your comments and insights below.

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My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order

And Then There Were Eight

November 2, 2015December 11, 2014 by Ann Strong

Thank you so much to all of you who wrote to me after I sent out the piece, “One.” I felt far less alone after hearing from you! If you missed that piece, you can read it here . . .

And Then There Were Eight

Last Saturday I went to my first meeting of the Women Entrepreneurs Santa Fe Network. And now I know 7 more women in Santa Fe!!! And, we have so much in common. Of course there is the obvious – we all have our own businesses. All very cool businesses, I might add. And, several of the women are new to Santa Fe in the last few months.

I am far less alone today than I was one week ago. This morning I had coffee with Cinny, an artisan dressmaker. She introduced me to a wonderful new bakery and coffee shop, Dulce. And now I know who will begin my custom wardrobe in the near future!

Ah . . . the process of bringing new dreams into reality . . . Sometimes I’m very impatient. I think I’m not interested in the process of making new friends. I just want the result of having new friends.

Yet somehow sharing a bit about the process with you has reflected back to me the sweetness in the process – the baby steps, the daily victories, the subtle shaping of a new life, a new me . . .

So, what about you? In what areas of your life or work would you like to bring more of what you were born for into reality? How can I inspire you to savor the journey?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

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I’m so excited – the new website is live!!!
Win a solo retreat in Santa Fe (A $1900 value)!!!!!

We have been hard at work for months and are so happy to share the new beautiful, spacious website!

We were sad because we were not able to bring the comments on the blog to the new site when we made the move. I have figured out a way to remedy that!

Between now and Jan 1, 2015, if you will take the time to look at the blog and make a comment on 10 or more of the blog posts, I will enter you into a drawing for a facilitated solo retreat with me in New Mexico.
Read all about the retreats at: http://annstrong.com/retreats/

We will announce the winner of the retreat in the Jan 7th newsletter . . .

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My book, “Thriving Work” is now available
on Kindle at Amazon for just $3.99:
Click here to order