heart-felt conversation

This Will Make You Get Your Business Back on Track Now

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If you don’t get your business running smoothly, which is worse, you not making the unique contribution you are here to make or your potential clients not getting the value of your unique contribution? Who wants to have to answer that question?!?

So here’s the thing.

When you can articulate with crystal clarity WHY you do what you do, your WHY will push, pull and drag you to resolve whatever’s in the way of your thriving business.

My WHY:
Inspiring and urging us to freedom
from our innocently self-created prisons
so that we may be more fully ourselves
and make our unique contributions to the planet.

Many of our self-created prisons were innocently created at a time of unresolved loss. Sometime when we were super young and felt abandoned, unloved or worthless. Other times, later in life around a break-up or a death.

If you’ve experienced a recent break-up, death or loss, that certainly doesn’t mean it’s unresolved. You’re grieving and have the opportunity even in the grief to find the good.

So what about you? Do you know, absolutely know, your business can be more, serve more?

If so, I’d love to offer you a Business Back on Track breakthrough session. There’s no charge for this session ~ it’s my gift. Click here now to book and apply.

We’ll get on the phone for 45 – 60 minutes and specifically look at where you are now and where you’d like to be.

If I feel you might be a great candidate for my brand new 10-week Business Back on Track by Receiving the Gift of Loss program, we can talk about that at the end of your session.

This Will Make You Get Your Business Back on Track Now

Because it isn’t for everyone.

I help business owners who:

  • Do extraordinary work, providing a needed service.
  • Approach life and work in a light, playful, open and deep way, even through broken-heartedness.
  • Are decisive and committed to their own transformation and making the greatest contribution of their business, while using updated technology like eGoldFax providing e-faxing services for their enterprise.

If you believe it’s possible to find the genuine gifts in challenge and/or loss and allow them to transform you and your business, then book and apply to be considered for one of the Business Back on Track breakthrough session.

As always, post your comments and experiences below …

What Happens When We Don’t Censor Ourselves?

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Are you watching AnnE with an “E” on Netflix?

If so, I’d love to hear how you’re loving it . . .

If not and you’d like your heart broken wide open in the best possible way, I highly recommend you stop reading this and start watching AnnE now.

She is so refreshingly, sometimes painfully, uncensored. She experiences life in it’s full spectrum, from the delectably scrumptious to her blunt observation of her own “ugliness.”

AnnENetflix400

Thirteen-year-old, AnnE quotes Jane Eyre, “If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”

Self-love 101. WOW.

I’ve watched 3 episodes and felt more alive and cried with every one. If you haven’t already, give yourself this gift.

Makes me want to add an E to my name.

As always, post your comments and experiences below…

If you’re a coach or consultant experiencing loss or turmoil, then join my new, private, free FB Group, Good Grief for hope around receiving the good in grief and support for getting your business back on track.

Are You Struggling to Find the Genuine Gift in Grief?

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Last year my client, “Dianne,” felt optimistic and hopeful that her daughter-in-law Serena could take over her business when she retired. They’d been moving in that direction for a few months when she realized she’d been looking the other way about how much Serena seemed to be drinking.

When Serena had an altercation with one of Dianne’s key employees, she could no longer avoid the inevitable. She had to let Serena go. Dianne’s son, Tate, quit speaking to her and they wouldn’t allow her to spend time with her grandchildren.

Inconsolable for awhile, Dianne chose to coach with me because she knew she needed to get past feeling betrayed and wanted to be available to the business and her other children and grandchildren.

Today she’ll be the first to tell you she’s less judgmental. She prays for her son and daughter-in-law and their kids every day because she realizes it’s out of her hands. She’s re-energized about her work and is grooming one of her long-time employees to buy the business.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Four years ago, three days after I sold my house to live happily ever after with my boyfriend, we got into a physical fight. That had never happened. Stunned, bruised and broken-hearted, I stayed at a friend’s house and tried to get to the bottom of it with him.

We weren’t able to work it out between us. I found an apartment and began my own inner work. Over the next several months, I realized I had taken a stand for myself that day. I had been putting off my dream of living in New Mexico, waiting for him to be ready. Not the most elegant way to free myself from my self-created prison, but free myself I did.

It’s almost 3 years since I moved to New Mexico. After the first year of living here, my sister told me maybe I should change the recording on my voicemail that says, “You’ve reached my new home and office in beautiful, spacious Lamy, New Mexico . . .” I haven’t change it yet because every day here feels like a huge gift for my body, mind, heart and soul.

Are You Struggling to Find the Genuine Gift in Grief?
Beautiful, spacious Lamy, New Mexico

Why do I tell you all this?

If I hadn’t insisted on finding the gifts in all that grief, I would’ve remained broken and become bitter.

If Dianne hadn’t done the work in coaching, she would have remained a judgmental victim and allowed her business to fall apart.

So, what about you?

If you’ve experienced the loss of a dream, a business or personal relationship or of a loved one to death recently, would you be willing to consider finding the gifts in grief?

May all beings receive the transformative gifts of grief.

As always, post your comments and experiences below …

I Am Love

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Love is not something I do.
Love is not something I get from you.
Love is not something I give to you.

Love is who I am.
Love is who you are.

LOVE IS WHO I AM.
LOVE IS WHO YOU ARE.

As I feel into this,
I notice my brain wants meaning.
What does this mean?

As I feel into this,
I realize my heart KNOWS.

Without words.
With a softening of my body.
With a slowing of my breath.

Experiencing myself as love.
Experiencing you as love.

I Am Love
Experiencing this road, this snow, these clouds, these trees as love.

Experiencing the air I breath as love.
Experiencing the sun upon my face as love.
Experiencing life as love.
Experiencing. Love.

What about you? What’s your experience? Post your experiences below…

Full Glory

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“It’s not going to work.”
“I’m not good enough.”

Ah, the dream-killer voice
of my human self.

That’s my cue 
to turn it over 
to the Divine.

Dearest High Glory of All, 
I give you this doubt and fear.

I don’t need to 
try to muscle out of it.


I simply give you 

my perceived limitations



Bobcat
Perhaps this situation calls for my inner bobcat?

and then go about my business,

living my Full Glory of You.

As always, please post your thoughts and comments below . . .

What Is the Right Place to Be Looking for Love?

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“A basket full of bread sits on your head; yet you go from door to door begging for crusts. Attend to your own head. Knock on your heart’s door.”
~ Rumi

No doubt Johnny Lee’s country song “Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places” was inspired by Rumi! Here’s the thing, in his song, he references lookin’ into too many faces. Rumi tells us where to find the right face – directly beneath the basket of bread on our own head.

It’s wonderful to notice love and receive love from our loved ones, from all those around us, from complete strangers . . .

And, sometimes they’re preoccupied in their own worlds. Indeed, sometimes we ourselves are preoccupied and forget to love ourselves.

What Is the Right Place to Be Looking for Love?

May a basket of bread always remind us of all the love in our hearts, overflowing with love for ourselves.

Yet in any moment, with one new breath, we can simply remember the basket of fresh bread on our head and receive the nourishment and love of our own hearts.

As always, please post your thoughts and comments below …

A Peek into a Private Conversation about Self-Love

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Today, I have the honor of sharing with you a private email conversation between me and one of my courageous clients, Hailey, (with her express permission, of course), exploring a bit about self-love.

“Ann, I’m sitting in my room with the window open listening to Nina Simone covers, feeling everything so deeply…

I’ve been wanting to touch more on the topic of self-love with you {my favorite 🙂 }.

If you feel comfortable sharing, may I ask what your road to self-love was like? I understand it’s an ongoing practice that we all must work to maintain. And, was there a moment in particular when you allowed yourself to step more into self-love and move away from harsh self-criticism/self-hatred?

Because, I often wonder if my self-consciousness and lack of self-acceptance will ever go away. I guess it really comes down to feeling peace in/with oneself.

When did you get to the point where you felt peaceful in who/what you are? I know each of us is on our own journey but I feel like it would be wonderful to hear your experience with this topic.”

A Peek into a Private Conversation about Self-Love

“Hi Hailey,

I’m happy to answer you and I don’t think there was one big ah-ha moment. Three thing I do know:

1. Coaching, talking deeply, to my niece Alisha for the past 16 years, since she was 11 (and I was 40) has really soften me toward myself. Sort of like I became aware of how much I wanted to support her in loving self-talk, so I had to do it for me, too.

2. When I was 34, my boyfriend died of a drug overdose before we could find help. I had to get really clear on why I chose to keep living. At that time, I realized it was about love. He was the most purely loving person I’ve ever known and I committed to honoring him by being more loving myself. And that started with me – loving me more unconditionally.

In a way, at that time, it was sort of easy because with so much grief, my defenses were down.

3. I really took to heart that thing about putting my own oxygen mask first (on the plane) before I try to help anyone else. If I wasn’t going to love and take care of myself, who would?

What might you hear in all of this for you?

Love, Ann”

“Oh Ann, THANK YOU. This is beautiful. I’m grateful for you sharing all of this with me. Truly, it means a lot to me.

I am hearing SO many things in all of this; I mostly asked the question because I sometimes wonder if it’s even totally POSSIBLE to love oneself and thus be in flow. I’m hearing that life can be full of suffering in one moment and full of beauty and magic in another moment. I’m hearing proof of the human condition!

I also hear that pain softens you. I totally understand this. It’s almost as if pain breaks you open in a way that allows for the possibility of more love to flow in. At least that can be the case sometimes.

I’m hearing that perhaps there is no correct path to the “enlightenment” I’m looking for, aka total self-acceptance. I’m hearing that it’s mostly about choice – do I choose to accept myself in THIS MOMENT or do I not? It’s simply a yes or no question.

I’m remembering a conversation we had where you mentioned that sometimes you don’t even need your coach to answer questions because you’re able to answer them yourself just by asking the question in the coaching space.

I feel that way in this situation. I know what to do and I suppose I was just looking for an affirmation in another person’s experience other than mine. Because, like I said, sometimes I feel so much resistance to myself and the way things are that I doubt life will ever be truly peaceful. I understand now that life’s one moment at a time.

Thank you for reflecting on this with me Ann.”

So, what about you? What do you hear in this for you?

What Happens When Love Breaks Through?

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With Valentine’s Day next Tuesday, I’m happy to share this new piece with you.

Love Breaks Through

When you think your heart can’t hurt any more,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we live courageously,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When I’m unbearably hard on myself,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we feel so scared we’re paralyzed,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When your hatred seems justified,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When I notice my self-compassion,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When it seems there is no answer,
LOVE Breaks Through.

wild horses running in the grass

When our hearts are full,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When all you feel is despair,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we’ve lost hope and given up,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When there’s so much tenderness in your heart,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When the injustice seems too great to bear,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When your arms are open wide,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When I don’t know which way to go,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When the rage threatens to consume you,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When it looks like we’re at an impasse,
LOVE Breaks Through.

Winter trees in fog

When I feel so alone,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we have no idea how to solve this,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When you become aware you’re numb,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When it feels like there’s only confusion,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we can’t seem to move forward,
LOVE Breaks Through.

sunset over the blue waters of Northumberland Strait, Prince Edward Island, Canada

When you feel like you’ve tried everything,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When I’m railing against what is,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we aren’t sure of the question, much less the answer,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When we get comfortable with discomfort,
LOVE Breaks Through.

When I must say the hard thing,
LOVE Breaks Through.

Through every joy and every sorrow,
LOVE Breaks Through.

With every breath we take,
LOVE Breaks Through.

LOVE.
Breaks Through.

So, what about you? When do you notice love breaking through? What happens for you when love breaks through?

How Can We Cultivate Ill-Tended Seeds of Justice for All?

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Sunday is Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday. 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

This year, more than ever, I feel determined to See, Know and Create a world of Love. Despite outward appearances.

Today, it can look like we are so far from that. So, it’s imperative we live his dream.

 How Can We Cultivate Ill-Tended Seeds of Justice for All?

The Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial in Denver, Colorado. The irony of the fog is not lost on me. And still, we must continue to Create a world where his dream becomes a reality for All.

My dream involves activating each and all of us in coming to know that we are Love. And, that we are One. Looking beyond our differences to our shared humanity.

I fiercely hold the vision of this person in front of me loving and valuing themselves, no matter what. And in turn, loving and valuing those around them. Each of us together Creating a world of Love that dissolves any seeming division.

Thank you Martin Luther King, Jr. for planting the seeds of your big dream. It’s now up to us to cultivate those seeds, regardless of how ill-tended they may have been until this moment.

I’d love your comments and insights below.

How Do We Stop Election Fear from Within?

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One of my mentors, Dicken Bettinger, posted thoughts on Facebook worth repeating here today.

“The real question is not what will happen as a result of this election.

Politicians do not determine the overall level of well-being of those who live in their country.

To me, the real questions are:

  • Can we look within and set aside our judgmental thoughts of others?
  • Can we find love and understanding in our hearts?
  • Can we bring these feelings to each other, especially those who disagree with us?
  • Can we find tolerance deep in our souls, especially for those who see life differently than we do?
  • Can we find within us the spirit of cooperation that is based on tolerance and respect so that we can truly work together to create a society that is looking out for what is best for the whole rather than just our own self-interests?

How Do We Stop Election Fear from Within?

The problems of the world ultimately will not be resolved on a political level. The problems of the world will ultimately be resolved only by each of us bringing more love and understanding into the world.

May we all get better at listening for, and to, the inner wisdom that continues to guide us toward a more peaceful and loving world community.”

– Dicken Bettinger, originally published on Facebook

As always, I’d love your thoughts and comments below.