Tag Archives: improve

Exercise to Create REAL Holiday Cheer!

Hello!

Have you noticed that this time of the year brings up as many gremlins as it does elves and hosts of angels?

As we get closer to the holidays, some of us will start to rush and hurry in preparation—becoming frazzled and overwhelmed, others will get anxious about expected time with relatives kept at a distance the rest of the year, and some of us will fret over finances as we spend more than we think we should.

While we were kids, many of us learned not to set our expectations high at Christmas – so our expectations wouldn’t get dashed and our feelings hurt. We may have taken this message into our internal, unconscious beliefs we operate from as adults, all year long—not just at the holidays!

Thinking about this I began to ponder how something full of potential awe and wonder often becomes downright hard for so many of us. And I realized that the story most of us learned as we got older was that the “grown up story” was nothing like the “pretend” fairy tale we believed as children. In order to “grow up,” we were told to put away these childish whims, any magical thinking and be realistic!

Yet, so much of what I have been studying tells me that my imagination and my expectations are dictating my experience. Whoa there! You mean to tell me that maybe I had it closer to the truth when I was a kid, before I allowed the beliefs of the adults around me to help me “grow up?”

Before you dismiss what I am studying as “new age” or some other label, let me give you some quotes of people you might give greater weight to.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Does a firm persuasion that a thing is so, make it so?… And in the ages of imagination this firm persuasion removed mountains; but many are not capable of a firm persuasion of anything.”  ~ William Blake

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” ~ Thomas Edison

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ~ Mark Twain

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go no where.”  ~ Carl Sagan

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.” ~ Walt Disney

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“You can’t do it unless you imagine it.” ~ George Lucas

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.” ~ Stephen Covey

“The world is but a canvas to our imagination.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” ~ Gloria Steinem

“The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” ~ Napoleon Hill

“America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” ~ Harry S. Truman

“All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination.” ~ Carl Jung

“The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

“Imagination rules the world.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

OK, so I think you get the picture. The top scientists, politicians, artists and thinkers of the world ALL agree that our imagination creates our world; yet the way we were raised taught us to put away imagination when we grew up.

Maybe if we brought our imagination back, we could create a holiday—for ourselves and those around us—truly filled with joy and good cheer, not just an imitation of it. We have just over a week to let our imagination take over. So try this simple exercise.

Write down everything about the holidays you do not enjoy and are dreading—financial issues, a certain relative, whatever it is for you. Then take another piece of paper and IMAGINE with lots of detail what it would look like if it were the exact opposite of what you wrote on that other sheet. Really put in tons of detail. Pretend you are Walt Disney creating something magical; add all the pieces in to make this vision  feel real. What would it FEEL like if it was real? When you have written about your desired holiday, burn the paper with the “old reality.”

Now send a blessing to each person you will be involved with this holiday season. Bless the money you do have in your wallet and bank account and the sources that it comes through to you.

Read your imagined holiday each night before bed imagining what it would feel like if it were real, and send blessings, too. See what magic you can create…with a little childlike imagination!

I wish for you a magical and joy filled holiday season.

All my best,

Amy

Equality

I love this quote from fellow Harvard grad, Sheryl Sandberg:

“A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half of our homes.”

Statistically, we are a far distance from this goal since under 20% of countries and companies are headed by women and possibly fewer homes are run by men.

Yet, maybe the first place we can find equality is in the small realm of our own home and family.  If each of us discussed with our partners a new plan that empowered us both, balanced the supporting chores like shopping, cleaning, and cooking between us, and the children felt equal involvement from both parents across the car pools, sports meets, and homework, plus financial and other major decisions were made through discussion and collaboration  — then we would be creating a microcosm of the world we want to create.  From this environment our children would be learning to expect and replicate equality in their outer world.

And what about our internal landscape.  Do we give equal weight to our own feminine and masculine sides?  Do we nurture ourselves?  Do we listen to our intuition?  Do we take time to ensure our own bodies are not polluted and abused?  If we balanced our inner masculine and feminine how might that improve our intimate relationships, our families, our daily world?

Maybe we are closer to achieving this outer goal of equality than we realize.  Maybe it will require some honesty about our inner landscape.  And maybe the result won’t be men running half of the homes and women running half of the companies and countries.  However, it must be that women feel empowered to create a life they choose and that the companies and countries they run, if they choose to, will listen to their feminine wisdom–not expect them to behave like men.  It must be that men are allowed to be fully engaged in their families, expect to pick up half of the “home making” duties, and are empowered to bring their masculine strengths to the running of a family home–not behave like a women.

Whatever the current reality is; we can change it.  Women and men will hold equality in leadership–it is possible.  It will take women finding our voice, speaking our truth, and expecting others to listen.  It will require listening to their truth.  It will require vision, courage and determination.  And most importantly, it will require women honoring women–in all walks of life, in all positions, in all ways.  If we were boldly supporting each other, no man or organization could keep us down.  And from a position of strength we can better learn to honor our male colleagues in a way that empowers greatness in us both.

When we learn to honor each others’ strengths, invite other people’s wisdom into the conversation and look for collaborative solutions–we will find our world gentler, more enlivening and prosperous!

Isn’t that the goal, really?

 

Do you have an internal saboteur?

It is half way through 2014.  Are you creating the life of your dreams or are you revisiting the same daily actions and trivia you have been managing for years?  Staying alert to the subtle ways we sabotage our own success is critical to achieving our dreams.  But what do you do once you recognize you are off course?

At our last women’s retreat, we created a list of powerful actions to stop our internal saboteur before it gains power over our ability to manifest.  Having this resource can be your ticket to freedom and finally manifesting your goals, so I decided to share it with everyone.

If you begin to feel defeated, deflated, or depleted….STOP, and remember to reach for one of these tools:

  1. Scan you body.  Where are you holding the block physically?  Breathe into that area.
  2. Take a chance! Be bold when you feel timid, undecided, or confused.  Most failure comes from lack of decision, not the wrong decision.
  3. Set 3 objectives each night before bed for the next day that relate to your important goals. (Not the stuff that will consume your day, but the stuff you wish you had time for and never do.)  These are small steps towards these important goals–steps you can complete tomorrow.  Leave them by your bed and read them again when you awake.  These are your priorities for the next day.  Your unconscious has had time to creatively work on them overnight.  Do them before other tasks.
  4. Be Here Now. Remember to focus on the current moment; let go of ruminating over the past or worrying about the future.
  5. Speak you truth.  Be yourself.  Share your true feelings.  Remember truth is a powerful enzyme and it continues to transform over time.  (Let go if the results are not immediate.)
  6. Stop, rewind.  Cancel-clear.  Find a phrase to say when you notice what you are thinking or saying is not what you CHOOSE.
  7. Cultivate a daily practice.  Meditation, yoga or some other practice can keep your soul renewed and your spirits strong.
  8. Listen to the soft, calm voice of knowing we all have but often ignore.
  9. Stop the fearful chatter.  Be the boss of your inner dialogue.  Say “that’s enough!”
  10. Embrace the new or uncomfortable.  Rather than resist it try saying, “Wow!  I’ve never done THIS before!”
  11. Rewrite “the story” when you feel yourself stuck in one.  How could you see this from a different perspective?  What else is possibly true?
  12. Cultivate play, laughter, joy.  See a funny movie or do another energy changer.  We are more creative, productive, and better leaders when we act from a place of happiness.
  13. Take the next small step.  Don’t worry about the full list of what is required to reach your objective, just move forward everyday in some way.
  14. Connect with another supportive person.
  15. Do tapping or EFT when your energy is off.  If you don’t know what this is or need a reminder go to http://www.thetappingsolution.com/ or google Emotional Freedom Technique.

What are your favorite ways to keep yourself positive, motivated, and on track for the important goals you set?