What Might Our Lives Look Like If We Refused to Align with Limitations?

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We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong.  The amount of work is the same.” – Carlos Castaneda

What might our lives look like if we noticed our misery and then consciously chose to move toward our strength?

What if, in those tough moments, we remembered that we are Infinite beings and we refused to align with what we perceive as limitations?

One of my young adult clients gave up smoking this week.  He told me he didn’t want to smoke anymore because he wanted to focus on more important things.  When I asked him about those important things, he told me he wanted to “smell good for girls and having more time to study instead of going outside all the time for a smoke break.”

How great is that?!?  He can either use the same time for a smoke break or to study for school.

So, what about you?  Where in you life might you like to refuse to align with your limitations and make yourself strong?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

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Strong from Within . . .

If you are feeling called to go beyond some
limitations and would like coaching support,
let’s have a conversation to explore if the
one-on-one Strong from Within coaching
program would be a good fit for you.

Click here to schedule your conversation.

==========================

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

 

StrengthsFinder™: Good to Great Enough

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When does going for Excellence become a burden?  All strengths have their dark side.  The strength of Maximizer is no exception.  I know this one from the inside, as it is my own number one StrengthsFinder™ strength.  And, of course, I have served as a great match for dozens of clients over the years with Maximizer in their top 5.

Maximizer suffers no fools.  Not even ourselves. 

Recently one of my clients with Maximizer in her top 5 dug in her heels.  For several months we had been doing strengths coaching with her leadership team of four.  When it was time to bring strengths training to the rest of the staff in her small business, she asked, “Why should we do this?  How do we know it will work with them?”

She caught me by surprise.  She loves StrengthsFinder.  It was her idea to bring it to the company.  What was going on?

When I had a one-on-one conversation with her, it became clear that her Maximizer had been triggered.  Sure we had seen greater engagement and more distribution of the workload based on strengths with the leadership team, but how did we know that would carry through to the rest of the team?

She knew that what we were doing was good, but would it continue with the team and become great?  When Maximizer goes to the dark side, the translation of “great” equals perfect.  Managing the trigger requires dialing “perfect” back to great enough.

rainbow

It would be so easy for my own Maximizer to
wish that the second rainbow were as vibrant
as the first.  Or, that I could have taken a
picture of both rainbows all the way across. 
Instead, I call upon my Connectedness and
Positivity strengths and feel happy that I am
connected to nature in this way and grateful
that I did capture the moment in a meaningful
and beautiful way!

By calling on her strengths of Responsibility (to her team and to her original commitment of becoming a strengths-based company) and her strength of Self-Assurance (confidence and trust in her original decision), we are once again moving forward – toward this amazing destination called “great enough.”

What about you?  If you know your StrengthsFinder strengths, when have you noticed one of your strengths being triggered?  How did you get back to making your contribution?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

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If you haven’t yet taken the StrengthsFinder™ assessment, I highly recommend it!

It costs $19.99 and takes 30 – 40 minutes to complete.
They will immediately email you your top 5 strengths and a report about them. 

I would love to know your to 5 strengths, if you’d like to share them with me!

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Strong from Within . . .

If you are feeling called to go deeper with your strengths at home or at work, let’s have a conversation to explore if the one-on-one Strong from Within coaching program would be a good fit for you.

Click here to schedule your conversation.

==========================

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

Creator/Owner Mindset: Naming the Glory of You

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A few years ago, my coach at the time, Jeff Patterson, created an important distinction for himself to support him in expressing himself and his fullest contribution.  He gave names to himself at the far ends of the spectrum of low expression and contribution and high expression and contribution. 

Needy Man and Miracle Man.

He knew exactly what each meant to him and he kept his focus on living his days as Miracle Man and having compassion for himself when he showed up as Needy Man. 

Jeff was an amazing role model for me.  Being coached by Miracle Man called forth more from me than I knew was within me.  Learning how Jeff worked with Needy Man taught me to love myself more, no matter what.  And yet, in all the time I worked with him, I couldn’t come up with my two distinct names for me.  I knew that my equivalent of Needy Man was Scramblin’ Ann but my Miracle Man equivalent eluded me.

The more I tried to find my glorious name, the more I could feel my mind “searching my brain’s hard drive” rather than receiving it from my heart.  So I let it go and wrote my first book with Jeff’s coaching support.

I coached several clients to name theirs.  I told them about Jeff’s success and disclosed that I had only half my equation, yet I could feel the power of having both names. 

Melancholy Monica and Magnificent Monica. 
(Names of clients have been changed for their privacy.)
Scardy Cat and Lover Girl.
Contracted Shelly and Expansive Shelly.
Barely Betsy and Goddess Elizabeth.
Slave and Queen . . .

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Ah, the feeling of experiencing myself
as Radiant Grace . . .

And just a few days ago, out of the blue, I received a gift from my heart: Radiant Grace.  How amazing is that – the name Ann means grace.

Scramblin’ Ann and Radiant Grace.  Oh my goodness, can I feel the difference in my body, my energy and my heart!!!

What about you?  What distinctions bubble up for you?!?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

– – – – – – – – – –

On the Way to Experiencing the Divine . . .

If you are feeling disoriented or lost and sense you are being called to a deeper relationship with the Divine, let’s have a conversation to explore if the one-on-one Align with Source coaching program would be a good fit for you.

– – – – – – – – – –

How Might Whole Use of Empathy Look?

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Earlier this week, I passed my oral exam and officially became a Certified Strengths Strategy Coach!  I’ve never been certified in anything before. So this is significant because of how strongly I believe in the value of going deeper with the Gallup StrengthsFinder™ assessment.

While all 34 strengths are created equal, a few seem to create more havoc AND, when used at an optimal “volume” create extraordinary outcomes. 

Empathy tops that list.  I know this one from personal experience – Empathy is my 2nd strength and in the top 5 for dozens of my clients, friends and colleagues.

flowers in a field

My Empathy loves feeling these sunflowers
and evergreens in the mist!

 

And what I’ve noticed over the years:  whole use of Empathy, optimal volume of Empathy, involves two things: mindfulness and boundaries with Empathy for those around us and a practice of Empathy for ourselves.

Mindfulness and Boundaries with Empathy
for Those around Us
From sheer necessity, I made a deal with Spirit a few years ago:  If it is optimal, I will feel it.  If it isn’t, I won’t.  It took me awhile to come to this specific boundary because I wrestled with optimal for whom.  Eventually my 3rd strength, Connectedness, kicked in to remind me: for all.  Now, when I do feel someone else’s pain, excitement, grief – whatever it is – I often name it or ask about it.  Which then tends to open up life-affirming conversations because that person feels so seen.

Mindfulness and boundaries show up in many different forms.  One of my clients is vigilant about visualizing an energy bubble around herself at all times.  She still feels others, but their feelings don’t come into her own energy field and deplete her.  Another uses her strength of Adaptability to moderate Empathy.  One of my friends believes Empathy is one of his greatest gifts and only occasionally feels the need to take time for himself to re-energize.  I consider him a bit of a saint!

A Practice of Empathy for Ourselves
One of the most powerful and overlooked practices with any and all of our strengths involves using them toward ourselves, in relationship with ourselves.  This tends to be a brand new concept for most of us.

Wow!  Look at all of that untapped potential in the most important relationship of our lives – the one with ourselves.  How different is my experience of my own life when I give myself the gift of Empathy within?!?

This one idea has changed the course of my life.  As I have become more compassionate and less judgmental with myself, I have lessened my internal struggle.  As I have paid attention to how I feel, I have less of a need for others to understand how I feel.  And, I’m better able to communicate my feelings and needs in a way that my loved ones can hear!

What about you?  If Empathy is in your top 5 StrengthsFinder™ strengths, how might you play with it a bit? Even if it isn’t in your top 5 or you haven’t taken the StrengthsFinder asessment, what do you notice about Empathy for you?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

If you haven’t yet taken the StrengthsFinder™ assessment, I highly recommend it!

It costs $19.99 and takes 30 – 40 minutes to complete.

They will immediately email you your top 5 strengths and a report about them.

I would love to know your to 5 strengths, if you’d like to share them with me!

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Feeling Disoriented or Lost?

If you are feeling disoriented or lost and sense you are being called to a deeper relationship with the Divine, let’s have a conversation to explore if the one-on-one Align with Source coaching program would be a good fit for you.

==========================

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

Mindfulness: Why Am I So Happy?

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In his new book, “The Millionaire Master Plan,” Roger Hamilton writes about his own practice for creating his day each morning.  He shares eight questions that he asks and answers himself every morning.

I have been playing with his questions.

My favorite, by far:
Why Am I So Happy?

This question presses me to find my happiness and gives me infinite opportunities to name it.  I’ve also noticed that I am becoming more aware of happiness as my natural, innate state, even when I temporarily feel unhappy about something.

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How could I be anything but happy as
I stare into the face of this pure Beauty?

How great is that?!?

What about you?  In this moment, why are you so happy?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

Thank you for playing with me today!

==========================

Align with Source coaching

If you are ready to start a business, go to the next level with your business, change careers or radically transform your life, let’s have a conversation to explore if the one-year, one-on-one Align with Source coaching program would be a good fit for you.

==========================

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

Find Your Strongest Life: Singing Me to Her

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I remember a line from a song in the Dances of Universal Peace, “Mother Earth God, she is calling me . . .” and a line from the movie, Australia, “I will sing you to me.”

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What would it take for me to hear Her song more?

Well, the New Mexico land sings me to Her.  Recently, I’ve heard the song for a while and wasn’t finding time in my schedule to answer her call.  So She spontaneously cleared my schedule for a few days!

I just got back from Taos two nights ago.

What I noticed being there: she sings me to Her because I am a stronger version of me when I’m there.  I am in tune with myself, the natural rhythm of my life and of Life itself.  I am aligned with both my spiritual Self and my human self.  Whole.  Needing nothing.  Being.  Present.  Breathing deeper.  And taking in the incredible nurturance of the Earth herself.

Ah . . . . . . . . . .

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Ah, the melodies of the trees, the clouds, the sky . . .

I lived there for two years in 1999 – 2000.  I get the sense that I will be living there again.  Maybe sooner than I imagine.  Certainly, I will listen for and follow her song more . . .

What about you?  What calls you?  What puts you in tune with yourself, the natural rhythm of your life and of Life itself?  What aligns you with both your spiritual Self and your human self?

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The path home . . .

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

Thank you for playing with me today!

==========================

Align with Source coaching

If you are ready to start a business, go to the next level with your business, change careers or radically transform your life, let’s have a conversation to explore if the one-year, one-on-one Align with Source coaching program would be a good fit for you.

==========================

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

Transformation: A Question Frees Us

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What’s the difference between a question and a statement?  Why do we care?

While writing a new piece for my next book, I began to notice a subtle and perhaps life-changing difference between questions and statements. 

My first book, “Thriving Work,” includes 33 affirmative prayers/poems.  I love them.  They remind me where to focus.  For example, “I see with new eyes.” Yes I do.  Do I?  Well, I would love to see with new eyes.  Yes, seeing with new eyes is better than seeing with old eyes . . .

Hmmm . . . this statement takes me to a lot of internal conversation about seeing with new eyes.  I haven’t been aware of going there.  Now that I am, I notice that my thoughts seem to be heading toward self-judgment and argument.

new eyes

What is possible when I see through new eyes?!?

And, “new eyes” seem to be a one-time event.  There, I now see with new eyes.  Good.  Done. Check.  What’s next?

So, what if we instead try a question?  How may I see with new eyes?  Who would I need to become to see with new eyes?  What would it take to see with new eyes? Why might I like to see with new eyes?

Do you feel lighter, more expansive with the questions?  I sure do.  And, I feel hopeful and energized!  What is possible when I see with new eyes?  What else is possible?  How can I continue to see with newer and newer eyes?

What if I continued to ask these questions?  As I feel into that, I am pulled forward.  I am creating an entirely new future, not based on repetitive cycles of the past.  I don’t know this future, yet I love the freedom in the inquiry.  I love feeling the hope of experiencing more of me.

What about you?  What is your sense of being with questions? How does being with this question shift your perspective and experience?

Post your comments, insights and progress below.

==========================

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

Spiritual Awareness: Who Are We as Divine Wholeness?

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Take a deep breath.  Who are we as Divine Wholeness?

Divine: of God, sacred.  When we divine (verb), we experience insight, intuition. 

Wholeness: full, complete. Not broken, damaged or impaired.

If we are Divine Wholeness, what of our humanness?  Such a delightful and annoying question! 

Some days I cannot comprehend why we would choose all these earthly contrasts rather than hang out in our infinite home in the spiritual realm.  Other days, I feel moved to tears by this extraordinary experience of life in my body, here in this incredibly imperfect, perfect world.

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I’ve noticed that I take many variations of this same scene – lots of land
and even more sky.  I think it’s one of my ways of staying in touch with my
humanness the – the earth – and my Divine Wholeness – the infinite sky . . .

It certainly lightens my perspective when I remember to remember that I am first Divine Wholeness.  And, it really lightens my experience when I become present enough to experience my Divine Wholeness.

What about you?  What is your sense, your experience: Who Are We as Divine Wholeness? How does being with this question shift your perspective and experience?

I’d love for you to post your comments, insights and progress below.

Mindfulness: How Might We Stop Judging?

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How might we stop judging?

Let’s back up for a moment.  Why might we be interested in releasing judgment?  Hmmm.  Who do we judge the most?  Even when we judge others, isn’t there an element of self-judgment?

What’s the cost of judging ourselves?  Well, what’s the cost of an internal war?

“Oh, it’s not that big a deal.  Everybody judges, right.  It’s just human nature.”  What if that’s true only as long as we believe it’s true?

How would my life be different, how would your life be different if we stopped making ourselves wrong?  About anything.

Seem impossible?  Maybe even wrong? Ah, there we go . . .

pink flower

I love to take my cues from nature.  Would
this wonderous one judge itself? I think not. 
Maybe that’s the secret.  A judgment is simply
a thought.  Why don’t I think a different thought?!?

I’m not posing these questions because I no longer judge myself about anything ever and now I think you should stop too.

I’m asking because I’m in this inquiry and I’m wondering if you’d like to join me?  How does it feel to you?  It’s an amazing inquiry for me.  Maybe it’s not right for you.  Or maybe it feels intriguing to you, too.

If you’d like to play, what if we noticed when we judge ourselves or made ourselves wrong, and then asked ourselves, “How might this be right, great or perfect that I just don’t see yet?”  And then, holding it lightly, be on the lookout for what we hadn’t seen before . . .

Feel free to post your comments or insights below.

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Would you love on-going inspiration for the Third Chapter of your life?

I highly recommend my friend Rolf Evenson’s new digital magazine,
“Boomers Rising.”

Boomers Rising is the world’s leading digital magazine for “encore entrepreneurs” inspired by a vision of passion, prosperity and purpose.

Some of my favorite articles:
– Confidence in Your Business
– Top 10 Food Lies that Keep Us Sick and Fat
– The Tribes We Lead
– Lessons Learned on E Street (Think Bruce!)
– The Illusive Obvious

You can read it on your iPhone, iPad or Android.

Check it out HERE.

==========================

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

Conscious Choice: The Energy of Freedom!

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What greater freedom is there than truly being me?  And you truly being you? Me in my artsy energy, you in your adventure energy; me loving to eat delicious food, you loving to cook delicious food; me wilting in summer heat, you living for it; and our list goes on . . .

Human/Divine, strong/scared, selfish/selfless, playful/self-conscious, flawed/perfect, you get the idea . . .

I love our US holiday of July 4th, Independence Day.  Our forefathers had a vision of being independent of certain constraints.  And yet today, our country and our world face challenges that our forefathers could never have imagined.  And still, each of us has the opportunity to choose our own freedom in any given moment.

While each of us has a list of certain things that will help us to be free – losing 20 pounds, getting out of debt, getting a new job or relationship or car, making more money, healing our broken leg or broken heart – there is a much more immediate way to be free.  In this moment.

Simply allow yourself to become immersed in the energy of freedom.

fireworks

Ooooo, aaaaah, the energy of freedom!

What does freedom feel like to you?

For me, I’m without concern and judgment, slowed down, excited and alert, and at the same time peaceful and present.

If it’s challenging for you to feel into it like that, then remember a time when you felt fully yourself, fully alive.  Once you remember the event or activity, then remember what it felt like.

That’s the energy of freedom.

No new car purchase or more money in the bank necessary.  Yet, interestingly, the more you live in the energy of freedom, the more whatever you require or whatever you’d like then tends to show up!

Happy Freedom!

Feel free to post your comments or insights below.

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I want to turn you onto my friend Rolf Evenson’s
new digital magazine, “Boomers Rising”

As baby boomers with generous entrepreneurial spirits, we face significant challenges. What to do next with our lives? How to make it work financially? How to create a life that allows us the freedom we crave, while offering opportunities for connection and creative engagement?

Join Boomers Rising Magazine to be an active part of the solution.

Boomers Rising is the world’s leading digital magazine for “encore entrepreneurs” inspired by a vision of passion, prosperity and purpose.

Some of my favorite articles:
– Confidence in Your Business
– Top 10 Food Lies that Keep Us Sick and Fat
– The Tribes We Lead
– Lessons Learned on E Street (Think Bruce!)
– The Illusive Obvious

You can read it on your iphone, ipad or android.

Check it out:
http://www.boomersrising.com

==========================

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