The Navigator

Archive for April, 2009

I had the pleasure of speaking to the store managers last Wednesday at the Preferred Outlets in Medford.  What a great group of people.  I thought the information I shared is always a great reminder for all of us so I decided to post it here so you could benefit as well.  My top 5 tips for managing stress are:

1. Live your life from a state of gratitude.
2. Find at least three proactive behaviors you can do any where, any time and in front of anyone such as taking nice deep breaths, asking questions if you’re in a heated conversation, or think of something that brings you joy.
3. Look at how balanced your life is.  What areas are suffering?  What can you do to bring more balance in today?
4. Focus on what’s really important.  If something is causing you stress but doesn’t really matter in the big picture – let it go.
5. Finally, ask yourself what YOU can bring to the table to make things better.  Don’t blame others!

Have a peaceful day full of joy!

• Fully enjoying having shed old crap that no longer serves me. The One Command rocks! #
• If you are interested in any kind of healing, you have got to check this out! I had an experience – incredible. http://bit.ly/EHPuV. #
• If you aren’t following mashable, check him out for great tips on social media: http://bit.ly/GqOR5 #
• Just got home from a session with Merrilee Town. I’m beat. She’s good! #
• Great day doing aura photos in Buffalo. Thank you to everyone for such a fun time! #

I just had to share this excerpt from a post by Bonnie on the Commanding Wealth Circle Yahoo Group.  I also had the pleasure of seeing Michael Beckwith at Agape two years ago when we were out there on vacation.  We attended the Easter service at Universal Studios (because there were so many people there).  It was inspiring and worth the time and cost ($100 cab each way – had NO idea that would happen).

Excerpt from Bonnie:

I had the privilege of attending the Agape Church in Culver City–Michael Bernard Beckwith’s church yesterday while I am here in LA. What an uplifting experience! I see why people stand in line for almost an hour just to get a good seat.

He said many wonderful things, but a couple things really stood out for me that I want to share with everyone. “Let us all be in agreement that Life is FOR us, the universe is FOR us, God is FOR us.” Wow! Goose bumps on that as I repeated his words.

Life is FOR me. The universe if FOR me. God is FOR me. Try it—close your eyes, take a deep breath and say out loud to yourself. Life is FOR me. The universe is FOR me. God (or whatever word you use) is FOR me.
Stand in front of a mirror and look into your left eye. Life is FOR me. The universe is FOR me. God is FOR me. Notice what is different for you after that experience.

“You cannot stop the flow of someone living in gratitude.” Pause and ponder that–you cannot stop the flow of someone living in gratitude. What would life be like for you if you lived in gratitude from the moment your eyes opened in the morning until you fell asleep. How unstoppable would YOU be? Goose bumps again!

And the 3rd thing he suggested about living a life you desire is to do 3 things:
–Stop comparing yourself to others.
–Stop reacting to others.
–Mind your own business.
Again–goose bumps at the thought of what would be like if I could live that daily.

All great thoughts to ponder wouldn’t you say?

Bonnie

First published by Essential Wellness in 2005

Have you ever wished you had more confidence in any area of your life?  Your job? Relationships?  Intuitive living?  I know I’ve been saying for years that I wish I had more confidence in all of those areas and more.  I’ve wondered why I didn’t have more and I’ve wondered what my life would look like if I did have it.  I’ve played the “if onlys” over and over in my mind.

Finally, after tiring of seeing little change, I decided it was time to get out there and start doing things.  I realized that things weren’t going to change on their own.  One of the areas I looked at was my job.  Although there were many things I enjoyed about my job, I didn’t really feel passionate about it any more and felt like there was another direction I’d like to go.  One day I just took the afternoon off and went out looking for office space in the community.  As luck would have it, I found a perfect space that I could afford.  Then I joined the Chamber and before I opened my doors, I had my first official client call to schedule an appointment.  Things just grew from there. 

I realized that every time I took a risk, I gained confidence!  And not just in the area I took the risk (for example, my job) but in every area of my life.  Even though I’ve heard for most of my life that practice will do that for you, this was different for me.  It wasn’t really practicing as much as just going outside of my comfort zone to achieve the things I want. 

Rhonda Britten, author, calls this stretch, risk or die.  Imagine a bullseye and the middle of it is your comfort zone.  The next ring out is the stretch zone, the next one is the risk zone, and the furthest one out is the die zone.  Stretching is something you’ve been avoiding but isn’t really that hard to do.  The risk zone is when you doing something that is scary for you and if you do it; it will probably change your life.  The die zone is where you do something that is so scary, you feel like a part of you is going to die.   As you visit the outer edges of your bullseye, you will be able watch your life change before your very eyes.   

I invite you to take a look at an area of your life you’d really like to change.  Come up with two stretches, two risks, and a die.  Start with the stretches and go through each item on your list.  As you do, acknowledge each one proudly, no matter how small it may seem.  Each time it will get easier and easier and you will feel your confidence begin to grow. 

To have the life you desire you must move out of your comfort zone and into the stretch, risk, AND die zones.  Know that you are worth it!  Today’s your day!  Make it count!

• I’M GOING TO GIVE THIS TWEET THING ANOTHER TRY. #
• Connecting Twitter to Facebook to WordPress – cool, huh? #
• Another great Commanding Wealth Circle. Great conversations about forgiveness. If you haven’t and need to…forgive yourself. #
• Thinking about blogging? Use WordPress.org so you can customize the look of your blog! Dreamhost.com is offering a sale on thier hosting!! #
• Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken – Mike Robbins #
• Fun article on using twitter for business: http://tinyurl.com/elancearticle #
• Reading: “The Creative Entrepreneur – hello gorgeous genius!” (http://twitthis.com/atfvve) #

First published by Essential Wellness in 2004.

I have struggled all my life with a feeling that something was missing. I could never quite put my finger on why or what it was, I just knew that something wasn’t right. I spent many years being angry with others for things I felt were wrong in my life and trying to run from the pain inside. I took this anger out in a variety of ways, none of them healthy or productive. In general, I wasn’t a happy person.

Over the past few years, I decided it was time to do some soul searching and I sought out ways to improve my life as well as my outlook. I explored many avenues of learning. I tried yoga and started meditating. I explored psychic development and tried to live my life more intuitively. I also explored a variety of alternative healing methods. What I discovered was a common denominator in all of these paths – compassion for all, including ourselves.

All the peace and happiness on this earth and in my being can be summed up in one word – compassion.

As we travel on this journey, we tend to look around us in every direction possible searching for the answer when in fact the answer lies within us. Life takes on a whole new meaning when we realize that our entire purpose here on this earth is to develop compassion for all.

Wanting others to be free of suffering is the definition of compassion. Each and every day becomes more meaningful when we fill it with a kind heart, less selfishness, and an attitude of service to others.

Through my own journey, I struggle with this every day. Being a spiritual being in a human body is truly the most difficult task to master.

When I am at work and at home, I am forever put in situations that challenge my ability to have compassion for all. As hard as I try, it seems like something always comes up that I struggle with. This has been a source of frustration for me. I couldn’t figure out why this was so hard. The concept is so basic, I thought, so why can’t I do it? I came to the conclusion that I don’t think perfection means being able to have complete compassion for all in every situation; after all, we are human and have human emotions to cope with. The perfection is in our intention to do it as much as possible and to keep it in the forefront of our minds at all times. In doing so, our ability to have complete compassion grows and we are able to truly feel this way more and more of the time.

Here are some of the ways that have helped me in my quest to have compassion for all:

1. Realize we all come from the same energy.  We are all connected in some way. In Dr. Wayne Dyer’s tape set entitled, The Road is Never Crowded along the Extra Mile; he shares a saying from the Native Americans that says no tree has branches as foolish as to fight amongst themselves. We are all as connected as the branches on a tree and should treat each other as such.

2. Forgive someone from the past.  Through our connectedness, we become angry or resentful towards someone for something they have done or said. We are the only ones who suffer when this happens. Being resentful or angry is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. It will eat at you as long and as much as you let it. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that you dismiss what they did or said. It simply means, you don’t allow it to affect you in a negative way. Letting go can have a liberating effect on our hearts and souls.

3. Put yourself in their shoes.  When you start to feel angry with someone, put yourself in their shoes. Picture them as a small child. Think about what they have experienced and how those experiences have affected them.  The experiences we’ve had in our lives make us the person that we are today.

4. Be in service to others.  Put yourself in a position to be of service to others. When you live your life thinking in terms of “How can I be of service to this person?”, it softens your heart.

5. Practice living with an open heart.  Lead with your heart in everything you say and do, realizing that along the way there will be many who will not be receptive to this way of thinking and that’s ok. Remember, you can’t control what others do or how they feel. Living your life in this manner will bring a great tenderness into your being that will flow into everything you do and others will notice.

6. Lastly, when faced with a challenging situation, keep repeating “love and compassion” in your mind.  Whenever I am struggling with something, I repeat “love and compassion” in my mind over and over again. This helps me remain calm and focused and to remember what our purpose here on earth is.

Arthur H. Stainback said, “The value of compassion cannot be overemphasized. Anyone can criticize.  It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know that no one cares or understands.” It’s time for us to do our part to make sure that everyone feels as if someone cares. It’s time for us to stand up and, in the words of Gandhi, “Be the change we want tosee in the world.”

I am as excited to release my first book as I was to release my CD!  The book is available at http://tinyurl.com/BookonAmazon.

This book shares my 2 cents on various attributes I feel are important for success as an entrepreneur.  It was a joy to write and I loved finding just the right photos and quotes to go along with my content.  I hope you’ll check it out!

Join us – it’s free and fun!  http://tinyurl.com/LodestoneNetworkingonFacebook

It’s not too late to register for the One Command Practitioner Training this Friday-Sunday.  Here is the information:  http://tinyurl.com/1Command.

We also have a free workshop on Thursday evening at 6:30pm in Maple Grove at the Byerly’s in their Community Room.  Registration is required as space is limited.  You can register at www.lodestonescheduler.com.

My CD has officially been released!  I am so excited!  Check it out here:  https://www.createspace.com/1745089