Wed, 19 December 2007  Do You Believe in Miracles?
Welcome to this special holiday episode that gives you a revealing glimpse into my life and allows you to share in the wondrous joy of miracles! As always, I try to give you a very personal gift each week. In fact, it's the only gift that any of us can ever truly give another and that’s the gift of ourselves. When you invite another into the intimate inner workings of your life, as I often do in this podcast, you give the gift of your presence by allowing your fellow human beings to experience a genuine connection that fills the deep loneliness felt by so many during the holiday season and throughout the year.
I hope you'll receive my gift to you by allowing me to open my heart as never before and, in the spirit of giving, to open your heart to me in return. My question to you this week while simple is also sublime. So... do you believe in miracles? Well, I sincerely hope you do but if you don't, perhaps you will by the end of my story.
I'll begin that story at the start of this year which has turned out to be probably the single most challenging year of my life. I can say, without a doubt, that this year has had more stress and strife then any I can remember. As a coach, there's one thing I know for sure about challenge and that is that challenge has a twin. Whenever life brings difficulty, it also brings opportunity for growth.
This year began with totaling my car in a freak ice storm and injuring my leg to the extent that I can still see the bruise 10 months later. I followed that accident with getting involved in a business endeavor with what turned out to be an unscrupulous character that led me to an unresolved legal dispute. A few months later, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant and unprepared for how another child would impact my closest relationships, my career, my stamina, my living situation and the rest of my life. Finally, two weeks ago my house was flooded by the second rainiest day in Seattle history that dumped about 12 inches of rain in less than 48 hours. My old electric furnace and water heater were under a foot of water which forced me to pack up and leave my house for an entire week.
Of course there were dozens of other incidents and difficulties to endure all along the way. The chaos of my life this past year has felt utterly beyond my control. And yet what's within my control is how I respond to the seemingly incessant demands placed upon me financially, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Needless to say this has been a time of unprecedented tears. I’ve cried a river in my ongoing attempt to regain some semblance of equilibrium. Collectively, this unimaginably trying period in my life has created more financial pressure on me than I've ever felt before. To say that I've been humbled by this experience would be a real understatement. And yet this year of incessant challenge has forced me to fully integrate and demonstrate the wisdom I share with you each week. There's an expression which says that teachers teach what they need to learn and I'm certainly no exception to that truth.
Each week as I prepare this podcast for you, I'm aware that I'm not coaching you but me. At no time has this ever been more apparent. At no time have I ever been called more loudly to live by and express what I know to be so; that my ultimate prosperity is not a measure of mere money and that my true worth does not correlate to any account balance.
You see, success is not defined by or limited to the evidence we so often gather to support or deny one's value. Why not, because evidence is external and subject to constant change. The stuff outside of me and you can be altered in an instant. Just turn on the television and you'll see people's entire lives being burned to the ground or obliterated by some unforeseen and catastrophic event. As you know, shit happens.
But, what does not undergo consistent fluctuation is that which is internal. It’s the stuff of you, your human and spiritual substance. And through it all, through overcoming my fears, through standing up for myself and defending my boundaries, through the decision to embrace the new life wanting expression through me, I’ve come to have the most intimate relationship with the beautiful nature that IS my true self! I won't pretend for an instant that this has been an easy process. But... I also won't deny that my experiences have had a brilliant silver lining with such effulgence as to disappear both doubt and darkness.
Two weeks ago as I prepared the episode about the power of "Yes!", I experienced what I would call lucid writing. If any of you are writers yourself, then you know just what I mean. As I wrote the episode on saying yes unconditionally, I was clearly aware of my own thoughts and words as if I were another person watching myself write. As I put the words down, I had such deep awareness of the fact that, despite the incredible stresses I've undergone and the mounting evidence of apparent failure, saying yes to my life was absolutely necessary.
To operate out of the trust in my heart and not out of the fear in my head has consistently called me to embrace of a faith in my own divine nature as never before. This is it. This is my big, hairy, wart-covered opportunity to embody my own, private gospel. So saying yes under the current circumstances of my life means that I agree to the profound obligation to allow miracles without knowing how or when or why they’ll take place. Allowing miracles means surrendering doubt, letting go of IF they’ll happen and embracing THAT they’ll happen.
A miracle is an object of wonder. And by definition, wonder is a marvelous thing. Occupying the realm of wonder demands unyielding fidelity to the yet unknown or unexpressed capacity you contain. To live in a mindset of miracles means to live among the most powerful forces known to man: Hope, love, trust and faith. None of those forces are tangible and yet they collectively empower all that is or ever will be good.
And it was from that Almighty place we call wonder that I wrote my essay about the absolute power of YES. More than a thousand words spilled out of me quickly and effortlessly that day. I concluded my writing for the week while totally occupying both my higher self and the awareness that miracles can and do take place in the most unexpected and life-changing ways.
No more then five minutes after finishing my work, I picked up the phone to retrieve messages from my cold, abandoned house. I received a call from a woman, a former student in a class I had given months ago. Her message said that some people she knew were looking to personally help someone affected by the recent rainstorm rather than giving money to some unknown charity.
And I admit to you freely that this call and financial support came from the most unpredictable and unlikely source my mind could have ever imagined. And that's the take away from this episode. I was not in my head and therefore not constrained by the limits of who might come to my aid. I was instead in complete possession of my heart from which miracles are made manifest.
I had, through such trying circumstances, been brought to that unfamiliar place where ego was stripped away and replaced with great humility. I had asked repeatedly for help in any form, in any quantity and from any possible source. I even released the notion that I had to work for or earn what resources would come my way. I was probably as detached from the how of how miracles happen than I ever have been. It's a difficult place to describe but still, I know you know what it's like. I know you know because faith, like love, comes from some unseen place to encourage your becoming in the most beautiful way.
The powerfully affirming and miraculous phone call I received that day powerfully fortified my relationship with the invisible. And the more I remained in gratitude and possibility, the more miracles unfolded before me. Two days later I received another call from another person who I'd met just once who also offered his generous and selfless support to me without hesitation or expectation. It was enough to repair my furnace so my son and I could return home.
When I heard the words come out of his mouth, all I could do was cry. And in an amazing, ironic twist, I heard my own words of wisdom reflected back upon me by this man. You see, he too listens to this podcast and he had heard the episode about the power of Yes. And he reminded me that I was in fact in the place of saying yes to my life without condition. When I heard him say those words, they delivered me to a point of unspeakable gratitude. I managed to eke out “Thank you" through my tears.
And it is to you, yes you, that I offer my heartfelt gratitude. It is my gift to share both my trials and my triumphs with all who are really ready to receive my offering. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of sharing myself with you. Thank you for giving me a reason to rise above difficulty and allow my light to shine; to connect each week with the best expression of me in a way that encourages the best expression of you.
May you celebrate the miracle of your life this very day. May you savor the peace of prosperity that I offer you for ever and ever and always.
Until next time, I leave you with abundant peace. Comments[0] |
Thu, 13 December 2007 Do you feel 100%?
Welcome back! Do you feel 100%? Was that a resounding “No!�?. I suspected as much…
Let me assume for a moment that you’d actually like to feel 100% from time to time, I know I would; 100% vibrant, 100% capable, 100% content! I know that sounds pretty appealing to me and I’m guessing you’re no different.
It’s curious why it’s so rare to feel like you’re really on top of things; seldom enjoying a sense of completion in any given area of your life. As we bring this year to a close, it seems like the perfect time to talk about this subject before another year gets underway.
There’s one thing I know to be true when it comes to feeling 100% and that is… COMPLETION COMPLETES ME COMPLETELY!
But why? Because… - completion brings closure - closure brings a sense of accomplishment - accomplishment reinforces the belief that “I CAN!� - believing you CAN fosters confidence - confidence creates enthusiasm and… - enthusiasm inspires you to live the life you’re meant to live!
It’s easy to see that completion is absolutely paramount to success. So do you want that? Do you want to leave this Earth knowing that you didn’t miss the boat, didn’t fail to know who you’re really capable of being?
If completion completes you, then why is life so incredibly full of INcompletions? Because we all do way too much. We’ve all bought into the idea of having more, doing more, and being more. You’ve succumbed to the myth that ATTAINMENT is the purpose of life.
And believe me, I’m no stranger to that myth. It seems that everyone in my family suffers from an unhealthy drive to create change, businesses, obligation and stress. Talk about a work ethic…. Sheesh! Exorcizing oneself from a superman or superwoman complex takes time.
Do you want to know the funny irony of it all? If you actually do the basics and do them well, you’ll feel absolutely SUPERhuman! You know that my podcasts tend to focus on internal processes rather than external action. But, the reality is that we all have stuff to get done every single day. It’s a matter of striking a delicate balance between being and doing.
So if you have to do something, why not do it well? Why not give it your mark of excellence? Why not give yourself the elegantly simple gift of getting it done in a way that frees up your capacities for resting, reading, creating, growing or loving?
Completion creates the space for the you that exists beyond your list. Efforting towards totality enables you to stop living your list and start living your life. It’s not about accomplishing this task only to fill the vacancy with that task. The point is not to be perpetually efficient but to be EFFECTIVE; to create the effect you choose to create. Imagine the possibilities!
Florence Scovel Shinn once wrote:
I believe her words underscore the value of persistence. Take anything that needs to be done and take it all the way to home plate. Do one thing at a time and don’t compromise your sense of 100% by multitasking.
Think for a moment about the essentials of being alive. How would it feel to start your day 100% rested and 100% nourished? How would it be if you gave yourself exactly what you needed like activity and attention and respect? How could your life be dramatically changed if you did that day after day? Think about it…. It’s huge!
What if when you paid the bills you didn’t just open them but wrote the check, put the stamp on it and delivered it to the mailbox? What if when you had a miscommunication with someone that you didn’t walk away with the burden of what was not said?
My challenge to you, and even to myself, this week is to notice all those little things you do each day in a half-baked way. Each is an opportunity to push through the part you don’t feel like doing and take it to it’s natural conclusion. For instance, if you have clean laundry that’s piling up, don’t just move it from room to room. Fold it and take it to its final destination. Don’t put it on the bed, put it away. As I’ve practiced the principle of 100% living with myself, I’ve been amazed at how incredibly effective it is at producing feel-good results.
Try it for a week and you’ll discover the same results for yourself! Just try it and you’ll see that every time you completely complete even the smallest endeavor, you’ll savor peace of mind. That peace will become habit with practice. It’s a gift you can have today, right now and it’s a gift only you can give yourself!
Please join me next time for a special holiday episode when I ask “Do you believe in miracles?�
Until then, I leave you with abundant peace. Comments[0] |
Wed, 5 December 2007 What's the force of “Yes!�?
Welcome back! Our topic this week takes a closer look at the infinite power of "Yes!" because when you affirm your will or desire through the force of the spoken word, a host of resulting actions ensues from what you've said. And setting those actions in motion through intentional voice is exactly what we're going to discover today.
Before I continue, I want to encourage you to take five minutes to enjoy my very first episode which is a video podcast that provides a natural segue into this episode. Even if you've seen it before, I hope you'll take the time to watch my inspirational mini-movie again as it sets the stage for the untold ways in which you can leverage the power of "Yes!" to create positive shifts in your life.
In past episodes, you may have heard me refer to the either/or paradigm. But… if you're unfamiliar with that concept, let me just say that, when you start paying attention, you'll notice that either/or thinking is our collective way of approaching just about everything you encounter; Win or lose, rich or poor, ally or enemy. The either/or consciousness informs the decisions you make each day from what you eat for breakfast, to who you put in office. The fundamental and often unnoticed trap of such thinking is duality.
Duality creates an “other�; something or someone outside of your experience or value system. Duality encourages blame by assigning responsibility to an alleged perpetrator. It’s us or them, ours or theirs, mine or yours. Duality reinforces the notion that you're somehow separate from the experience you desire from life; that happiness is out there, love is out there, and that health and wealth are things you get. Believing in that means that you become a rat in the age-old rat race because you must either pursue what you don't have or strive to protect what you believe is yours. Stay young, stay beautiful, stay busy, stay numb.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the either/or paradigm is that you may be immersed in it and reminded throughout the day by popular media that you live amidst real scarcity. Greed and conspicuous consumption are the ugly step-children of someone who believes that scarcity is true. And if you’ve fallen under the spell of scarcity consciousness, you'll find yourself saying "No!" instead of "Yes!" You'll say no to opportunities, no to your loved ones and no to yourself. You'll say no to your needs, no to your instincts and no to the unknown possibilities that might have otherwise existed for you.
So why do you say no? Is it because you don't have the time or energy or money with which to say yes? Is it because you haven't met some self-imposed conditions under which you might otherwise permit changes to occur? What I want you to see is that scarcity only begets more scarcity. Fear begets fear and war begets war. And is scarcity NOT the reason we go to battle with ourselves, our bosses and our fellow human beings?
So... I'm here to tell you, once and for all, that scarcity is a lie and my duty is to shed light upon the truth of abundance and how saying "Yes!" absolutely to your life empowers that abundance to be manifested in your reality.
When you give an absolute "Yes!" you'll immediately create a profound shift from either/or thinking to and/both thinking. Whenever you engage the and/both part of your awareness, you instantly enter into the realm of possibility. From the and/both awareness, there are always more than just two choices. From and/both, you become conscious of the fact that there’s something behind door #3! In that realm ANYTHING is possible. Miracles begin to take place. Good things, and I mean REALLY good things, start to happen without explanation.
YES summons the power of
But... you'll never say yes if you're waiting for just the right circumstances or right time. You won't say yes if you haven't first agreed to befriend the unknown in yourself and others. You can't say yes if you're operating out of fear but rest assured that fear dissipates when you conquer duality by saying yes I can, yes I will, YES I AM!
The unconquerable force of YES is life itself. It's the life that says yes back to you when you say yes to it. Just as in my own life when almost 2 years ago I said yes to my intuition and then found myself in a powerfully nurturing and loving relationship as a result. At the time, I couldn't possibly know where that would have taken me. Consent need not be conditional. It need not depend on some predetermined or safe outcome.
I said yes to love and that love embraced me without limit. And since that fateful day, when I agreed to the unspoken terms of a life I had yet to live, I’ve experienced massive growth and subsequent change. I'm deeply in love with a man who I would have never thought existed before I met him and found out that he’s really real. I'm living in a house that I could have never imagined would be my home and within me exists a new life, a new expression of my love for another and his for me. Yes, I’ll be a mother for the second time this coming Spring. The timing is all wrong, the situation is so far from ideal that saying yes to motherhood right now is nothing short of a radical expression of my faith in the power of possibility.
Do I know how it's all going to work? No. Do I know where the perfect solution will come from? No. But I do know that it's not my job to know how, when or why. It IS my sacred obligation to give my unconditional yes and my unconditional love and to allow the conditions to be birthed of their own volition. I’m allowing my life and while that allowing may not be at all easy, I won’t be the one to stand in its way.
Juan Gris, author of Artist's Way, one said "You are lost the instant you know what the result will be."
So, my challenge to you this week is quite simple. Begin to say yes, say it often, to the little things, then the bigger things. But say it loud and say it clear. Let me know what’s happening for you. I’d love to hear your story so drop me an email at feedback@peaceofprosperity.com
Please join me next time when I ask “Do you feel 100%?� Until then, I leave you with abundant peace.
Comments[0] |
Fri, 30 November 2007 What’s the secret to manifestation? Welcome back! This week we're going to delve into a topic that's getting lots of press these days. You may have seen or heard about a movie called The Secret which served to take the popular Laws of Attraction into mainstream thinking. The movie and its corresponding book were even featured on Oprah and sales of The Secret skyrocketed as a result. In fact, there are coaches and even podcasts entirely dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of attraction. The term ‘attraction’ in this case doesn’t refer to physical attraction or the opposite sex. Instead it's about attracting or manifesting what you deeply desire for your life from a wonderful relationship to a rewarding career. But this podcast isn’t really about that. But if you're unfamiliar with The Secret, I definitely think it’s worth seeing. For myself, I've had some pretty remarkable things happen in my life, particularly in the last two years. For a period of about six months, I was manifesting great changes left and right. I was on a roll and I couldn't quite explain it. Even now, I'm working to understand the circumstances or mindset that was in place and how I can re-create that situation in a away that fosters even greater success than I've already had. On that note, one major element to aligning yourself with unforeseen blessings is the power of gratitude. So, in a spirit of thanksgiving, I'd like to offer my deepest thanks because in the last year, this podcast has grown wildly and is now in the top 12 of ITunes under the heading of Life Coach. And believe it or not, I’ve done literally nothing to promote my podcast other than deliver what I honestly believe is quality content. Thanks to you, my audience has grown beyond what I thought was even possible in just a year’s time. So… what I believe, from my own experience, is the secret between who you are now and who you wish to become is ALLOWING. Allowing is the key to manifesting greatness, great love, and great influence over what can be in your life. Allowing isn't action. It's not something you do but something you choose. And the frequency of your choosing to allow is truly significant. You've got to CHOOSE again and again because allowing, as a necessary precedent to manifesting, takes a I realize that this might be either unfamiliar or confusing to you so let me deepen your understanding. First of all, the word ‘manifest’ is one of my very favorites. People who are close to me and know me to have a powerful, albeit inconsistent, ability to manifest unimagined goodness have often asked me "How do you do it?" The etymology or origin of the word manifest is so telling and I love the look on people's faces when I tell them what it really means. Manifest is actually a combination of two words. The first part is ‘manus’ which is the Latin word for hand. The second part is the verb ‘festus’ which means to strike. So put them together and the word manifest literally translates into hand-struck which means that the actions of your hands are explicitly connected to outcome. Understanding that, it's easy to dispel the notion that manifesting is merely a matter of sitting around and really, really, really wanting something… and I mean wanting it BAD! I've repeatedly seen people discount their own ability to invite success through the power of manifestation because they falsely attribute it to some airy-fairy, hocus-pocus idea that intention is all you need. Most of us have an inherent understanding that action is a necessary step to reaching your goals. And that understanding is largely responsible for the fact that we live in a go-go, do-do society. But you don't have to look far to see that all the nuttiness, all the incessant doing and lists making has led us collectively to a not-so-happy place. Here we are, forever trying to squeeze just another tiny drop of blood from the proverbial turnip. So clearly, manifesting is not entirely about action. And as I said before, while action does play a significant role, it's always preceded by allowing. Here's what I mean by ALLOWING. - Allowing yourself to move beyond entertaining the possible and begin to entertain the impossible. - By giving up the idea that blessings come to you in a rational or predictable fashion. - By letting go of any attachments to having your dreams be realized in a certain shape, color or size…. or by some timeline dictated by you. - By acknowledging that sometimes you don't have to DO anything at all. You don’t have to earn it or prove your worthiness. Sometimes all you have to do to create miracles is to believe in them. - By surrendering the old story that perhaps you don't really deserve to be happy. What you may have noticed as a common thread running through all of those variations on allowing is that they’re all internal processes relating to your right to choose your destiny. By the way, the word destiny isn’t some preordained story of how your life turns out. In fact, the true origins of destiny are to ‘make firm or establish’. And to establish your own sweet success is to play an active part in designing genuine delight just for you! As you follow the path of allowing, remember that it’s always necessary and always unseen; an invisible process of germination that must be permitted to unfold at its own pace if the seed is to ever blossom. Germination requires trust in yourself which comes from acknowledging and expressing gratitude to the supreme force that brought you to this life of delicious opportunity. You see, my purpose is to remind you over and over like a patient friend and ally that your life can blossom in splendid techni-color. You can be a living work of art when you allow yourself the time and space to gently unfold in this garden of humanity. 18th Century painter and sculptor Giorgio DeChirico once said: "To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits; logic and common sense will only interfere. But, once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams." Here's my 7-day challenge for you: Keep your self from perpetual motion. Start taking note of any urges to move into habitual action. Instead of doing, identify any ideas to which your rational mind is attached. Release the rules, surrender conditions and be still; floating gently amid the waves of something far greater than your mind could possibly contain. Please join me next time when I ask “What’s the force-; of “Yes�?� Until then, I leave you with abundant peace. Comments[0] |
