So why do we do this?  What is the feeling we have as we play this game with ourselves?

There are many terms, words, descriptions that answer these questions.  Let’s go with: we are out of balance with our desires, or perhaps we could use, we have set ourselves apart from want we really wanted.  In either case we get this ugly feeling deep down in our stomach.  That sense of knowing that our choice was not aligned with what we were desiring.

There is two fold process here.  First we are trying to undo the past (not happening) and second we have decided to beat ourselves up for the choice that we made.  So we injury ourselves twice. First, when we made the original decision to go against ourselves and second when we relive it.

Learning to make choices from our feelings, our desires takes practice and patience. Patience with ourselves.  A good place to start is to take OWNERSHIP of your choice.  No matter the outcome, taking ownership of the choice keeps the power of decision making within each of us.  The knowing that we are willing to stand behind ours choices empowers us to choice from our desire and not for outcome.

Ask this question of yourself:  “WHAT CHOICE CAN I MAKE TODAY THAT ALIGNS ME WITH MY DESIRE?”

Try choosing from this point of view and let us know how your decision making changes.

The holidays are here and all of our senses are bouncing in every direction.   We begin that hurried run around, buying presents, dashing to and fro, preparing lavish meals and of course, spending time with our loved ones.

What is the true importance of these holidays that we so feverishly course through each year.  Is it the presents?  Is it the food or the music? Perhaps the true importance of these holidays is Community.  Our bodies long for the togetherness of family and friends.  By our human nature we are social beings that thrive on the bonding we have with others.

This holiday as you spend time with family and friends and someone pushes your buttons (because there is always someone who does) and you get angry or irritated, remember that spending time with others is your human nature. It is what your heart wishes more than anything else.  So take advantage of the holiday moment and listen to your body and make the most of your holiday by experiencing community with your heart.

Creating a heart felt holiday is truly the best gift we will ever give and receive. Sharing yourself in community to the fullest will be a reward that will live on for a long time.

Try making this a holiday of experience, blog us and let us know how your body being holiday made you feel.

When we get into situations that are emotional charged we may loose our ability to see clearly.

The next time that you are in a situation in which you are feeling overwhelmed, under pressure or just outright consumed by the problem at hand take a step back and ask:

“Where is my attention?”

“Is the situation controlling me or am I controlling me?”

Recently, I was experiencing some severe neck pain and was feeling completely at the mercy of the situation.   The physical pain was so powerful that my emotions where joining in to complete that feeling of total helplessness.  I had to step back and ask myself the two questions above.  I realized that my physical body was in need of assistance and that it was up to me to help.  I took action and sought out medical help.

My physical pain lead to emotional pain which lead to a lie, “I believed I was helpless”.  I stepped back and regained my attention and became in control again.

By asking these questions we stop the “out of control” feeling of the situation and we can focus on our needs and take a look at what is being offered to us by the experience.

Try this tool for “out of control” situations and blog me to share your findings.  Looking forward to hearing from you.

We loose site of the original heartfelt burning desire.  When the outcome looks like it isn’t going how we dreamed it, it is a FAILURE.

The job was more difficult than we want it to be, the house was taking longer to clean than we thought, the blah wasn’t the blah we planned.  Again you fill in the situation.

Failure is attaching to the expected outcome and losing site of the original desire of the intention.  We forget why we even felt so moved to start the dream.

Let’s say you decided that you love apples and want your own apple tree so you can enjoy the tremendous pleasure you get from eating a freshly picked apple.  You buy a small tree; dig a hole and plant an apple tree. You wait, and wait and wait.  You begin to get frustrated, then angry, and finally you believe that this is a FAILURE.  It can’t possibly take this long.  You move onto the next dream, leaving the tiny new apple tree to fend for itself.

Was this a failure? I would say no.  Expected outcome became apparently more important than the pleasure of eating apples you grew yourself (your original desire).

The following year you do get apples but they are only bitter sweet, as they are tainted by the notion of FAILURE that lingers.

The key here is to keep your intentions in the forefront even when failure is knocking hard.  Remember, having an outcome stronghold doesn’t leave much room for the freedom of possibilities or endless opportunities to be creative.

If you have fallen prey to the success of Failure blog me and tell me how it made you feel.

Imagine if this was not true. Imagine if we had no specialness, no uniqueness; how would humanity evolve? What if we all discovered fire and that was it? What if no one put his uniqueness into action? There would be nothing new invented. Imagine a world without a paper clip or a post-it note. Imagine a world without the everyday objects that we take for granted. Even the smallest and simplest things took the specialness and uniqueness of an individual to come to be.

Each and everyday it is your specialness, your uniqueness that changes some part of mankind. It may not be noticed, but it certainly does contribute to the collective energy of humanity. We would ask you to take a moment each day and give yourself glorious praise for being that special, unique being that gives mankind life. We would like you to stop and imagine the next time you reach for even the simplest object what would happen if someone didn’t make the most of their uniqueness to create that object. Please blog and let us know what you find.

We have all built our box of safety, comfort, familiarity.  This is the place where no harm, or more appropriately, no perceived harm can come to us.  But every now and then we long to venture out of this box, to make change, or to create something different.  Many times we become frightened and we run right back and climb into the box.  What is that scares us?  I would like to offer up the concept that it is fear of the unfamiliar, breaking away from our comfort zone, which causes a sense of impending harm and makes us what to scurry back to our box.

We present a challenge to you.  Take a chance, do something outside of your comfort zone, something that you have to come out of you box of safety to create. Perhaps it could be sing Karaoke. Perhaps call an old friend that you did something, well not so pleasant to, and create an opening for a new friendship.  Maybe, it could be just sitting and enjoying the sun for an afternoon even though you believe that you are way too busy.

Please take us up on my challenge and blog me back to let me know what you experienced when you were Breaking Out of the Box!

Even as an adult, the thought of hearing the phrase, “Your presence is requested”, conjures up many scary memories of past wrong doings.  So let’s look at this phrase as a key to opening up yourself to moments in your life.  Those moments that I’m speaking of are moments of being totally aware of what you are experiencing in the precise second that it is happening.

The next time you sit down to eat a meal take a moment to Request Your Presence, notice how the chair feels that you’re sitting in, the weight of the utensil in your hand, the heat rising from your plate and whatever else you can experience for that moment.

Take the time to experience life and don’t just run through it in the dark.  You can give yourself so much pleasure and fulfillment if you choose to Request Your Presence.

Blog me back and let me know what you experienced when “Your Presence is Requested”.

Imagine that you are in a store and couple is shopping. One partner is ordering the other about the store. The other partner is obediently following every word without regard for their own feelings. How could the couple act that way? How could they be so blind to each other?

I would ask you to take a moment and step back from the reaction you are having to the situation and make the REFLECTION CONNECTION. Why is it so powerful for you? What is the experience reflecting to you that causes that visceral response in you? We tend to have these type of reactions when there is a piece of truth to the situation that resides within us.

See if you can recall a particular encounter with a situation that you may, or may not have been, directly involved in that elicited a powerful response and make the REFLECTION CONNECTION.

Blog me back and let me know what you find out.

How do we break away from this pattern and regain the power of action that we unknowing gave away to the fear of the “checklist”?

The key is BALANCE. If you are not giving yourself the time to play and to experience living life for the enjoyment of happiness, you have locked yourself into a task filled life with no room for the love of SELF. I would recommend a balance between the checklist and playing. Schedule time for yourself to play in whatever way brings you joy. This checklist will be there after you take time out for you. Just like it is each morning when you wake up.

See if you can take this advise and “checkout” how you ability to wipe things off the ckecklist may improve. Let me Know how it works for you.