New Mexico Landscape Photos

How Do You Experience Your Unique Divinity?

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What if the whole of your life was a contribution to the planet? Not only all the things you do each day, but also your very beingness, your essence, the specificity of your energy . . .

What if the more you engaged with whatever energizes you, then the more delightful energy you’d add to the planet?

What if when you were engaged with whatever drains or depletes you, you allowed that to be okay? Then you’d add more acceptance and allowing to the planet.

How Do You Experience Your Unique Divinity?
Remembering the Light that is always present, even behind ominous storm clouds.

What if you knew, really knew, that every breath you take matters?

If you’re inspired, I’d love to hear how this speaks to you . . .

Join the conversation ~ comment below.

Why Do I Resist “Thy Will, Not My Will?”

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I’m becoming more and more aware that “my way” doesn’t always work out so well. Yet, I still want to be in control. So I resist turning over areas of my life to The Power So Much Greater Than Me.

It’s easy for me to tell you I don’t know what God’s will is in this situation. So, I’d better figure something out. But here’s the thing. When I meditate and pray, I DO receive answers, guidance and direction.

And, even more miraculously, as I’m struggling to work something out, I look up to see that it’s already handled. A client needs to reschedule at just the right time, my sweetie offers a solution that wasn’t even on my radar, or the morning turns out be cool enough that I can walk even though I thought it was too late and too hot.

Why Do I Resist "Thy Will, Not My Will?"
A pretty clear sign, on the road to the Taos Ski Valley, to keep my eyes lifted to the heavens!

This being both human and Divine is super tricky. The human (read: ego) part of me wants to be in charge. And, the Divine keeps patiently beckoning …

Thank you for reading this far. Sharing this with you lessens my resistance. When I’m finally willing to loosen my grip, I do love listening and allowing the Divine Plan to unfold …

What about you? What helps you live more from your Divinity? What helps you follow God’s plan?

Join the conversation – comment below.

Where Is the Super Effective Inner Peace Reset Button?

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Overwhelm seems to be affecting most people. I see it in my clients, with my friends, on FB posts and in myself! To support my clients (including my first client – me), I’ve been paying attention to what’s most effective in giving us some relief.

For me, it’s definitely a good night’s sleep. Luckily, I sleep well 90% of the time. And, when I wake up and start my day, I can address anything. My mind is clear and sharp and ready to go. 

Another thing that eliminates overwhelm for me for a while involves coaching clients. I’m present and focused on that one client and I set everything else aside.

Where Is the Super Effective Inner Peace Reset Button?

It’s impossible for me to feel overwhelmed when I’m hanging out with these whimsical clouds and rocks and trees in the GBP.

Perhaps my favorite super effective reset button for peace involves hiking in the Galisteo Basin Preserve (GBP). I rarely see anyone. And, overwhelm literally drains from me with every step I take.

For one of my clients, a run at lunch clears her head and gives her calm, focused energy for the afternoon. For another client, meditating both in the morning and evening helps him reduce anxiety. One of my friends clears the stress of the day by taking a strenuous bike ride after work. Another client is on a news fast. She found the news was overwhelming her, so she’s not watching or reading any news.

It seems we need to be proactive and vigilant right now about consciously taking action to reset ourselves to peace.

So, what about you? What might be your super effective reset button for peace?

As always, post your comments, experiences and insights below…

And, whenever you’re ready, perhaps I can help you:

Work with me one-on-one.
(For established coaches and business owners.)
I have a limited number of coaching opportunities available for established coaches and business owners who want to make more of an impact. When you commit to your greatest contribution, miracles happen.

If this sounds like you, email me at Ann@AnnStrong.com, put One-on-One in the subject line and tell me about your Big Dream. What would you love to create? I’ll reply to schedule a Coaching Conversation for us to determine if we’d be a good fit.

How You Think about Life Actually Becomes Your Life

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Awhile back, as I was working with a client around the growing pains of her business, she noticed that she’d come to accept that there wasn’t any time for her personal life. Because that was her thinking, her life had become putting out one fire after another.

This alerted me to look more closely at my own thinking. For most of the past year, I’ve been telling myself that “the world” is too much for me. As a sensitive empath, it’s challenging for me to feel all the chaos. My solution had been isolating myself from the world more and more.

Recently, I realized I could shift my thinking to something more life-affirming.

I have this wonderful job in which I get to support people in proactively creating their lives and their work. My clients are willing to look within themselves and courageously create what’s important to them. It’s such a privilege to facilitate their transformations.

While I still don’t get out into the world much, I do feel better about my life because I’m thinking about how I AM contributing rather than what drains me. I’ve also given myself permission to spend more time alone in nature, reminding myself, yet again, that it restores me. I don’t need to judge it.

How You Think about Life Actually Becomes Your Life
When I think about this land and this rainbow as benevolent friends,
I feel happier and more accepting of my life as it is.

So, what about you? What have you been thinking about? What do you notice about how that has become your life?

Post your comments, experiences and insights below…

Revelation

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I see with new eyes.

I see through the eyes
of relationship and union.

I close the eyes
of separation and judgment.

I live in the expectancy
of revelation –

expecting the purpose
of each experience
to be revealed –

as I recognize that I exist
in union with the
Source and Cause
of revelation.

Revelation

I see through the eyes
of relationship and union.

I see with new eyes.

As always, post your comments, experiences and insights below …

What If You Have the Key to Your Freedom?

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“So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains
That we never even know we have the key . . .”
~ Lyrics from Already Gone, Eagles

Earlier today one of my clients sent me these lyrics because they reminded her of some of our coaching conversations. The Eagles were my sister’s favorite band when we shared a room in the mid seventies. I’ve probably heard that song a thousand times and never heard those lyrics on their own.

It’s strange that I had never picked out those specific lyrics because they are meaningful to me. The foundation of my life purpose involves helping us free ourselves from our innocently self-created prisons. Thank you Eagles for planting seeds in my teenage psyche!

So what is this key?

Over and over again, as I grow and evolve and as my clients grow and evolve, I see that the less involved we are with the content of our thoughts, the more free we are.

When we recognize there is actually a witness to all these thoughts – and that we are that witness – we begin to realize we may not be as crazy as we have feared. Indeed, we tend to have some crazy thinking, but we are not that. We are the witness of that.

And, when we recognize that we can choose to not engage with trying to take care of all the problems that seem to be in our thoughts, we have freed up a whole bunch of time and energy for living.

What If You Have the Key to Your Freedom?
Ah, to living!

Imagine if we never again tried to answer the question, “I wonder what he is thinking about me?” Or, if we simply noticed that we were once again upset for being upset but allowed ourselves be okay with it. Nothing to fix. Or, we started to rehearse what we were going to say and realized we didn’t need to rehearse.

So, what about you? What if you are not your thoughts? What if you don’t have to fix the problems of your thoughts? What if you don’t have to attempt to control every aspect of your existence? What if you notice that your true identity is part of All That Is? And that life is organizing itself beautifully without addressing all that repetitive thinking inside you?

What a glorious key to our freedom . . .

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming stress and overwhelm into clarity and purpose”)

How Does Being Present in the Moment Vaporize Fear?

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“You’ve been walking in circles, searching. Don’t drink by the water’s edge. Throw yourself in. Become the water. Only then will your thirst end.”
– Jeanette Berson

When we throw ourselves in and become the water, we are completely present. And when we are completely present, we have no fear.

AnnStrongblogpost081116
What does it take to become the water?

Fear lives in the past through regret. Fear lives in the future through uncertainty. Fear lives in attempting to control others and outcomes.

My clients often question me about being present when they don’t like the present. It’s such a great question because we as humans spend a lot of time attempting to avoid what we don’t like.

A vivid experiential answer I have for that comes from when I used to have debilitating migraines. I spent a lot of time fighting them, doing anything I could to distract myself from the pain.

When I’d exhausted all those distractions and myself, I would finally surrender. What I found in those present moments after the surrender: this sweet, tender way of being there with me, for me.

Every time, it seemed so strange to me to be relishing being with myself while at the same time experiencing excruciating pain. I no longer feared the pain. I accepted it and I stayed with myself through it – cherishing myself as the beloved.

Ah, to be the water. So very similar to being the migraine. Isn’t that fascinating?!?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences . . .

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming crisis into clarity and purpose”)

How Have You Forgotten Yourself as the Creator of Life?

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I’ve had many opportunities in the past few weeks to forget that I am the creator of Life. I’ve been working overtime trying to figure out how to resolve, work through, fix, heal or eradicate certain situations.

When I finally turned all of it over to meditation, this is what I heard, “The time of ‘figuring it out’ is over. Do you see that you are not in charge AND you are the creator of Life? ‘In charge’ is about fear of the past and trying to manipulate the future to correct the past.”

“Instead, you know that Life is created in the present. As you are present to Life, you are the creator of Life, you are in relationship with Life, you are receiving Life.”

Well, that was a clear distinction for me! As I understand it, I need to refrain from trying to manipulate what is, but rather to be present to, in relationship with and receive what is.

How Have You Forgotten Yourself as the Creator of Life?
Ah, to be present to, be in relationship with and receive this creation. That’s Life!

How does that make me the creator of Life? I have a strong felt sense of it and I find it hard to articulate it.

Here’s what I’m seeing in this moment. When I try to manipulate, I’m completely missing what I’ve already created. When I’m in relationship with what I’ve created, I’m at peace because I’m not fighting it. When I receive what I’ve created, I experience the beauty, mystery and meaning of the creation.

Even when it’s super uncomfortable and not what I think I wanted.

It’s easy to know I’m the creator of Life when I love what I create. And, I’m finding that the more I am willing to receive what is regardless of my feelings about what is, the more I experience knowing I am the creator of Life.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences . . .

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming crisis into clarity and purpose”)

How to Create a Stress-Free Zone in Our Lives

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I learned earlier this week that my car needs a new engine. And, I learned this the way I learn many things – experientially.

Sitting on the side of the road waiting for AAA, I realized that, as we always do, I had a choice. I didn’t have the choice I wished I had – choosing my car to get back on the road, drive to Whole Foods and then drive home.

I did have the choice of where to focus my thoughts and attention. My human inclination was to think of all of the things I should have done differently in the past to have created a different future.

And then I heard, clear as could be, “we spend our lives trying to manipulate the future to correct the past.” In that moment, as I felt the cool evening breeze coming in the car window, I realized the insanity of that.

How to Create a Stress-Free Zone in Our Lives
How rich are our lives when we truly receive the moment, moment by moment?

We have the opportunity in any moment, no matter how much we assess the situation as “bad,” to receive the gifts of the present.

When we are willing to let go of our thoughts about the past or the future, we create a stress-free zone in the present. When we are willing to focus on what is right in front of us, we don’t need to manipulate or change anything. How freeing is that?

(Excerpted from my forthcoming book, “Strong from Within: Simple perceptions and practices for transforming crisis into clarity and purpose”)

How to Find Sanity in a Crazy Schedule

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For the past few weeks, my life and work have been far busier than usual. In many ways, it’s felt uncomfortable. And at the same time, I am awed as I notice how much more capacity I have than I believed I had.

Because I tend toward introversion and require space and quiet to recharge, I have often actively avoided filling my schedule. Right now, my schedule seems to have a mind of its own, almost as if my soul has taken the reins from my personality.

To a certain degree, I have surrendered to this new pace. And, I still require that space and quiet. So, I’m learning to experience it in a moment, rather than in an afternoon.

It looks something like this. What if before I rush out the door, I pause, take a few breaths, become present and check in to see what else I need to take or do before I leave? What if as I’m driving in to town, I notice the beauty of New Mexico all around me? What if when I feel like I just can’t do one more thing, I pause, take a few breaths, become present and then do the one more thing?!?

As I drive into town for my next appointment, when I am present to the spaciousness that surrounds me, I feel more spacious - even with a full schedule.
As I drive into town for my next appointment, when I am present to the spaciousness that surrounds me, I feel more spacious – even with a full schedule.

What could be possible with a pause? Anything I desire in a moment.

What could be possible for you with a pause? If you pause, take a few breaths and become present, anything you desire is possible for you, too. What if you pause, take a few breaths, become present and think about that for a moment? What do you desire in this moment?

When we allow ourselves to pause and become present to ourselves, we can create anything we desire. Becoming present in the present moment, gives us the only moment there ever is. Our pause connects us to the Eternal Now. No anxiety about the past. No fear about the future. No feeling crazy.

Only Now.

Which makes the state of my schedule irrelevant. Ah, my soul at work!