How many times have you caught yourself in a meeting or even in a small [...]]]> Your voice.  There’s a lot of power in it, but for so many reasons, sometimes we don’t realize it.  Or believe it.  Or trust it.  Or choose to use it.  But, it’s there – waiting for us to use it.

How many times have you caught yourself in a meeting or even in a small group conversation wanting to say something… really, really wanting to speak-up and say something, but you didn’t because it felt too uncomfortable?

Or, on the other hand how many times have you found yourself in a meeting or conversation and you just had no desire to even try to engage?  You just went into the meeting knowing that you’d be unlikely to say anything because… well, you thought… your voice really doesn’t matter.

There are far too many times when we remain silent and on the inside we’re just dying to speak up.  Or we get used to not speaking up because it feels easier to just not say anything at all.  What holds us back from saying more, more often?  What exactly are we afraid of?

There are many, many possible answers to these questions, but the important thing is to figure out what your answers are. What’s really holding you back?  What’s making you feel uncomfortable?  What is the worse that could happen if you did say what you wanted to say?

It’s no small thing to say that out of the billions of people in this world, no one else has the same thoughts, opinions, reasoning and heart that you have.  When you express yourself – sure it may be similar to the views of others – but, the complete package, background, understanding and expression that it is born from is 100% you.

You have something unique and special to offer to this world – you just have to believe it first.  And you have to remind yourself that if you don’t say it, there’s a chance that no one else will.  So, that means that sometimes you’ll have to take a risk in the conversation – and even though your stomach may be turning and twisting knots on the inside, take a few deeps breaths, raise your hand or jump right in, and say what’s coming up inside of you to say.

It’s your voice…  How do you want to choose to use it?

Take a moment right now to think about these three questions.  What’s coming up for you?  Any surprises?  Anything coming up that you’ve been feeling for the last year… or two?

Our lives are often moving and shaking – we’re [...]]]> What’s happening in your life right now?  What feels right?  What doesn’t feel so right?

Take a moment right now to think about these three questions.  What’s coming up for you?  Any surprises?  Anything coming up that you’ve been feeling for the last year… or two?

Our lives are often moving and shaking – we’re going from one task to another, marking one thing off of our to-do list only to go to the next… and then the next… and then the next.  Sometimes this actually feels good – we’re happy to know we’re being productive and getting a lot of stuff done.  Then, there are the days when it doesn’t feel so good.  When we realize we’ve been caught up in all that stuff, and life is passing us by.  Our dreams aren’t being realized; in fact, we’ve lost sight of our dreams and what they really are.  And, the things that matter most in our lives – our families, loved ones, sacred time and space, good ole’ me time – are unconsciously being reprioritized to a much lower level of importance simply because we’re trying to keep up with “what needs to get done.”

What would shift in our lives if the tasks that ruled our world, became the things that actually mattered the most to us?  So, instead of starting with the list of things that typically clog up your time, you shifted to prioritizing:  Spending time with your partner, expressing love to the people who matter the most to you, carving out time to feed your passions and interests, exploring new things, holding time to do nothing simply because that’s what your mind and body are calling you to do.

Imagine a world where these things came first, then all the other stuff fell into place after what mattered most was taken care of.  What would look different in that world?  What would feel different?

What is calling out to you right now that needs to come first?  Choose to shift one thing in your life today to make space for something that really matters.  What’s it going to be for you?

It’s amazing how the cycle goes:  good idea, excitement, you’re ready to do it…  but then nothing happens.  Days go [...]]]> You’re feeling stuck.  Again.  You have that great idea that’s going to transition you from working for someone else to doing your own thing, but you just can’t seem to get anything off the ground.

It’s amazing how the cycle goes:  good idea, excitement, you’re ready to do it…  but then nothing happens.  Days go by.  Months go by.  Then, gasp – years go by and still little progress.  What’s the problem you ask yourself?  You’ve been excited about doing your own thing, you were excited about your idea, so why can’t you just get it together and make it happen!

There are a few things to point out when you find yourself in this situation.  The first is obvious:  That you’re feeling stuck and you know it.  There’s no question that forward movement is not happening in this particular area of your life right now.  Another point that may fall into the not-so-obvious – at first glance – category is around how you feel about that thing you need to do.  At first thought you think, yeah, it’s totally something I want to do.  In fact, I definitely want to do it.

That’s where I come in and say, hold up wait a minute.  There’s something else going on here.  If you really want to do this, then why isn’t it getting done?  What are the barriers?  What’s holding you back?  Could it be that it’s actually something you’re not really feeling connected to at all, and you’re trying to force yourself to do it for some reason.

And, there it is.  That’s what’s been holding you back – you’re trying to make yourself do something that you’re not feeling connected to.  Before we go any further, let me say this:  sometimes what you feel connected to – like the idea of starting your own business – can be mixed in with something you don’t feel connected to – like doing it a certain way or getting certain tasks done.  It’s important to be aware of this so you know how to deal with it when it happens.

When I transitioned out of my traditional career path, I was both excited and really scared.  I wasn’t exactly sure of a lot of things, but I recognized that at times uncertainty is all a part of doing something new and different.  It’s part of the process.  I had a lot of ideas and I was eager to get things moving, but at the same time I often felt like time was passing me by and I wasn’t making the movement that I wanted to be making.

After going through this for quite some time, I realized I needed to just take a step back and figure out what was really going on with me.  In doing so, one day I sat down and made a, “What really excites me about what I want to do?” list.  I didn’t include what I thought I should be doing or what other people were doing that seemed to be working for them.  I just focused on the stuff I knew made me happy and excited to think about and to do.

After completing that list my energy shifted and I re-directed my focus.  Instead of fretting over stuff that I wasn’t really into, I got really excited about the stuff that guess what – made me really excited.  And a strange thing happened.  That not so exciting stuff that kept me stuck in my tracks?  Some of it got weeded out into the, I’m not going to try to force myself to do this anymore category.  While I surprisingly found myself doing some of the stuff I’d previously been avoiding, because I saw the value of it in connection to what really excited me about starting my business.

What have you been trying to force yourself to do that deep down you really aren’t connected to?  How can you shift your energy towards what gets you really excited?  I want to hear from you, so be sure to share your responses in the comments section.

Traveling moves my spirit, and it feeds my soul.  I don’t know what it is [...]]]>

Enjoying the view

Without a doubt, traveling is a passion of mine.  Whenever I hear that someone has traveled somewhere, my ears perk up and I want to learn more.  Where did they go?  What did they do?  What was the experience like?

Traveling moves my spirit, and it feeds my soul.  I don’t know what it is but there’s just something about going somewhere new and exploring life outside my everyday norm – what I refer to as “life outside myself” – that really gets me going.  More often then not, travel becomes an exploratory journey of me not only learning about another country or culture, but also learning a lot about myself along the way.  Traveling very much lends itself to being a catalyst for soul searching and reflection.

I’ve been fortunate to have traveled and lived in countries around the world, and as much as possible I like to encourage folks to get out there and explore.  I’m a huge advocate for both local and global travel, as no matter where you go you’ll expose yourself to something new and insightful.  So, if you’re like me and you’re oozing to get out there and do some traveling this year, here are five insightful reasons to make it happen in 2012.

You will be inspired.  There’s no doubt about it, traveling is inspiring.  You’ll see new sights, be introduced to new cultures and you’ll gain first-hand insight into alternative ways of being and living.  The possibilities for inspiration throughout your journey are really limitless; you just have to be open to letting it in.  Whether it’s the intense blue sea you’ll be surrounded by in the Greek Isles or the vast countryside of Ethiopia sprinkled with beautiful children along the way, just getting out there will fill you up with both visual and soulful inspiration.

You will get a huge reality check.  This is definitely a good thing, as it often results in gaining a new perspective of what life around the world is like for many people.  Once, while traveling through a developing country, I didn’t have running water in my room for days.  I mean dayssssss.  Daily actions that I was so used to easily doing, like taking a shower or flushing the toilet, were non-existent.  It definitely was not the most convenient situation to be in (and “in 15 minutes” as a reply to when we’d get water got old real quick), but that experience was a reality check.  Millions of people across the globe live every single day of their lives without running water in their homes – that’s the reality, and I got a taste of it.

You’ll open yourself up to life outside yourself.  There’s no doubt about it, you’ll stretch yourself and get out of your comfort zone.  Sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot – it really depends on where you go!  We are so fortunate to live in a world where there are so many different cultures, ways of life and being, and dare I throw this in there… types of food (I happen love food, so I’m all about trying new great veg dishes around the world)!   Explore it!  See what’s out there; get out of your bubble!  When you do you’ll see first-hand that yes, while cultural differences do exist – and there’s nothing wrong with that, there are also a lot of similarities and ways that we can connect with each other.  We just have to be open to it.

If not now, then when?  Far too many people put off their travel dreams for too long.  If you’ve spent years saying you’re going to start traveling soon, but that’s not happened – let 2012 be the year that you do it!  Come up with a savings game plan and stick with it!  Determine what you’re financially able to do, and plan something special around that.  It may not be that $3000 trip to Africa, but perhaps it’s a well-budgeted $1200 trip to a country in Central America (depending on the time of the year, and how thrifty you’re willing to go (hostel vs. hotel), you can actually do it for much less!).  Stop putting your travel dreams on hold; make it a priority to make it happen!

Give yourself space and time to slip away.  Sometimes what we need most is time and space to be away and to just be.  It’s so easy to become consumed by our day-to-day to-dos; and before we know it, we’re living life on a treadmill and going nowhere fast.  We feel lost or empty, and we’re not exactly sure why.  In moments like these, getting away from your everyday environment can yield a breath of fresh air and renewed energy and insight.  There are ways you can plan your trip for intentional reflection, like by bringing along a journal.  Or, you can travel without any structured reflection in place, and just let what comes to you surface as it may.  In either case, you’ll very likely gain new insight and perspective by simply just being away.

Around this time of the year, there’s a lot of chatter about how people want to start the New Year.  For some folks this time of the year means getting focused and setting resolutions, and for others it means running as far away as [...]]]> It’s a New Year, and it’s time for a New Beginning.

Around this time of the year, there’s a lot of chatter about how people want to start the New Year.  For some folks this time of the year means getting focused and setting resolutions, and for others it means running as far away as possible from any and all structured, goal-setting resolution talk.

Let this be the year that you kick-off the New Year doing what feels right for you.  There’s no right way to do it, and there shouldn’t be any expectations around how you want to jumpstart this new beginning.  The possibilities of what you can do are in your hands; don’t let someone else’s opinion override what will have meaning for you.

Perhaps what feels right is committing to a New Year’s resolution, or signing-up for an e-program you’ve had your eye on for a while now.  Or better yet, maybe your inner voice is leading you to simply go with the flow and let the year unfold as it may.  Trust what’s there and what feels right for you.  Each year is different and at different points of our lives we need different things.  It’s the same with the start of a New Year.

If you’ve been on the fence about how to start your New Year, or if you’ve just flat out avoided thinking about it because of all the hype around it – it’s time to let that go.  Take a deep breath and know that you just need to go with what feels right for you.  Ask yourself – What feels right for me as I kick-off the New Year?  Then allow yourself to be guided by the answer to that question.

The thought of this certainly isn’t always so easy to consider, and letting go of something that was once important to us can be tough.  But, sometimes in order to move forward it’s just necessary to do.  It’s critical to you being able to live fully [...]]]> Sometimes we have to let go to let in.

The thought of this certainly isn’t always so easy to consider, and letting go of something that was once important to us can be tough.  But, sometimes in order to move forward it’s just necessary to do.  It’s critical to you being able to live fully in the now.

When I think about this and how it relates to my everyday life, what keeps popping into my mind are my stacks and stacks of papers.  I’m talking years of documents, resources, clippings, and publications – a closet full of papers that at some point I felt I really needed to hold on to.  But, life has changed.  My career path has changed.  My interests and what’s important to me have changed.  I am sure that I no longer need some of that stuff as a future “resource” because the path I’m on now looks a bit different then it did three years ago.

I need to let it go.

In letting go, I’ll be able to make room for what’s right now and all the exciting new things that are developing.  And, that’s what I want; that’s the direction that really resonates with me and fills me up with energy – an energy that I’m craving more of.  That energy stems from an exciting place of change, and what’s now needed is for my physical space to reflect that change.  What specifically does that mean and what would it look like?  Getting rid of a lot of old stuff.  Filing what remains in an organized way.  And creating a workspace that inspires me and is reflective of the work I’m doing now.

That’s what I’m considering right now as I think about what I need to let go of to live more fully in the now.  What about you?  What do you need to let go of so that you can live the life you really want right now?