Archive for pre-packaged life
What are You Talking Yourself Out Of?
Posted by: | CommentsI work with all kinds of people who are tired of the status quo and want help breaking free from their pre-package lives. They come to me because they feel stuck in limbo and can’t figure out what will make their life feel more fulfilling, meaningful and fun. They want some clarity and a plan to shift things.
This might surprise you, but in most cases they actually already know what it is that will make their life more fulfilling, meaningful and fun, but they talked themselves out of it. Their heart has clearly showed them what they are passionate about and their head convinced them that they shouldn’t waste their time pursuing it.
Do you ever find yourself letting your head talk your heart out of going after what you’re passionate about?
The great thing is that with a bit of coaching it’s easy to break free of the pre-packaged beliefs that fill your head and cause you to think that you shouldn’t follow your heart and do what interests you.
For example, the 30 something year old dude who was struggling to maintain his sanity in the secure, practical management job that he had. He felt trapped and needed help figuring out how to shift things so his life felt better. After a few coaching sessions it was obvious that what he was really passionate about was being a musician, but he kept convincing himself that this was not a practical idea. He had bought in the pre-packaged belief that you can’t make money as a musician and you needed a real job in order to be a successful, responsible adult.
This is why he felt so trapped. His head was talking himself out of what his heart was crying out for and it was making him totally depressed. I gave him the assignment to think of all the possible ways that he could make money as a musician, and to open up to the possibility. Next thing you know he had a list of options and new opportunities, and created a plan. Four months into his plan he was supporting himself as a musician, and now has more opportunities than he knows what to do with. His life is Kick-Ass!
I also worked with a woman who was turning 40 and wanted help creating the next phase of her life. For the past 20 years she had been focused on being responsible and was burnt out. She felt that now was the time to create space to honor her creativity more. She felt limited in her options, and wanted help figuring out what this could look like for her. Once we started working together it became clear that what she really wanted was to write and to make the space in her life to do that, but she kept talking herself out of going for it because she didn’t think that was practical. Once we cleared out the pre-packaged beliefs that convinced her that she shouldn’t pursue this passion, and started looking at all the ways it could work, all kinds of possible scenarios started to appear. As her excitement about leaving her job to pursue her passion grew, the people around her got excited too. Everything began to fall into place and she now is set herself up to be able to do what interests her and still take care of her responsibilities. Her Kick-Ass Life is unfolding before her as we speak.
Next time you’re feeling unsatisfied and trapped, take some time to check in and see what your heart wants you to do. Pay attention to the pre-packaged beliefs that begin to fill your head and tell you all the reasons why you shouldn’t do it. Play in the realm of possibilities and start asking “How could this work? “
How to Stay Focused on Your Kick-Ass Life
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I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it really challenging to stay focused on how Kick-Ass my life actually is, when I’m being bombarded with all the fearful messages that are flying around in the media lately. I understand that we are facing some big challenges, and things are shifting and changing quickly, but to tell you the truth—This is a good thing!
It is pretty obvious that the way we have been living is deeply unsatisfying for a lot of people…….that’s why you’re here, right? The status quo isn’t working for you and you want to live a more meaningful, fun, satisfying life.
I think this desire runs deep in all human beings and in order to shift things for the highest good of all mankind, we need to shake things up and do things differently, and that is exactly what I feel is happening right now. People are feeling the pressure to take action to make their lives better, the time for tolerating oppression and all the shit that is not in alignment with your inner being is over. People everywhere are questioning archaic oppressive structures and empowering themselves to take action, it’s a beautiful thing really.
I’m of the opinion that now more than ever the world needs people who are tuned into their purpose and sharing what only they can share with the world. YOU have a unique perspective and piece of the puzzle and now IS the time to bring it forward. The world needs what you have to offer!!!! Believe that!
So how do you not get bogged down in fear and worry with all the turmoil that is happening? The trick is to stay focused and centered in your truth, and to keep moving towards how you want your life to be. It is common to hunker down in times like these, but now is the perfect time to keep moving forward and heading towards your dreams.
Even if society as we know it shifts and changes, you can still live a Kick-Ass Life. (If your thinking that going after your Kick-Ass Life is a selfish or foolish endeavor when things are so uncertain, then we need to talk about the importance of living your purpose and how to bust through that fear.)
Here are a few things that you can do to keep from getting bogged down in the drama and paralyzed by fear and worry.
1. Stop watching the news!!! Or at least take it in very small doses from non-hysterical sources. 6 hours of CNN a day is not helpful, and don’t get me started on Fox News! The media is trying to influence you to conform to their way of thinking. They want you to be afraid and to feel powerless. It makes you much easier to manipulate.
2. Have a daily practice to connect with your heart and center yourself on a daily basis. Mediation is good, a quiet walk without the headphones blaring, some plain old quiet time to sit for a minute and relax. Do whatever you need to be quiet ad slow down so you can actually here yourself think, and connect to what your heart is asking for.
3. Look for things that are Kick-Ass. Spend time everyday appreciating your life. Notice the beautiful flowers, feel the warm sun on your skin and bask in the juicy good feeling of these things. The Daily Kick-Ass List is something that I created to help my clients with this. I have included it in the Leah recommends section below.
4. Focus your attention on what you DO want to happen. Don’t get caught up in the drama of bitching, moaning, and complaining about how sucky things are. The more you talk about the things that aren’t working for you the more energy that you are giving to them. If you only do one thing from this list-Do this- Learn to focus your attention from what you don’t like to what you do want. Your focus and attention is something that you can actually control. Shift your attention to what you want to see happen and look for solutions to the problems rather than just getting pissed off, worried, or talking about how stupid the Senate is being to everyone you know on FB.
5. Look for evidence of your abundance! I know right now people are worried about $$$$. Make a habit of looking for evidence of your abundance. Things like- “Hey-I found a penny!”, “My friend fed me a wonderful meal!” and “In this moment I have everything I need” go a long way to boosting your ability to attract more abundance into your life. I like to meditate on these thoughts- “ The Universe prospers me” and “ The Universe provides me with everything that I need, life is good.”
6. Focus on the things that make your life meaningful, and that you are interested in and do more of them!!!! Do I need to say anymore about this?
7. Talk about your dreams and how you want to feel in your life. The more time you spend basking in this juicy energythe bigger it will become, and the stronger the signal is that you will be sending out into the Universe. Imagine how powerful it would be if everyone in the world did this? WoowZza!!!
Pick a few of these tips out and give them a whirl, then take a minute to let me know how they are working for you.
As always, I love to hear what is going on in that head of yours, so share your thoughts in the comments below.
Flying by the Seat of my Pants
Posted by: | CommentsDo you know the expression: ”Flying by the seat of your pants?”, well that is what we were doing this week on Defy the Box Radio.
I decided that I wanted to see what it was like to do the show free form and see what kinds of ideas came up in conversation between me and my co-host Beth.
In the back of my mind I imagine the show being more like Howard Stern and his side-kick Robin, bantering back and forth all the time. Listening to them was exciting because you never knew what was going to come out of their mouths. I want Defy the Box Radio to be like that; spontaneous and fun, and I like the wild card aspect of not knowing what we are going to come up with during the conversation.
I have to say that I feel the show was a wild success!
Beth and I had an amazing, organically unfolding conversation. The call was effortless and I had a blast doing it and the people who were listening live said the show rocked!
Whoo-hoo!
I think we’re to something here.
Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Your Story: Love It or Ditch It !
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my superstar clients came to me wanting support in building her business. She had reached a point where she felt bogged down and the joy was going out out of it for her. It was begining to feel a lot like WORK! Work she did not want to do. She found herself doing things she did not enjoy because she thought she “had to” do them.
Once we dug down into it, I uncovered a story that she was carrying that said in order to be successful in business, you had to be very serious and work hard. She had to MAKE everything happen and figure it all out. She was following a plan of action that did not feel very good to her.
Now, this superstar is a fun loving gal. Part of the reason she started her own business was so that she could enjoy herself and have the freedom to do what she wanted. As we explored the different stories she held about what success meant and looked like, and how you got there, it became apparent that her story was not in alignment with her desire.
She felt hemmed in and limited by what she thought she was supposed to do. This story took the joy out of everything.
It also took her out of alignment with her vision of how she wanted her business to be and she was not making the money that she desired.
Are you wondering what we did about it?
We ditched her old story about what she had to do in order to be successful and wrote a new one. In this superstar’s new story, her success easily grew out of her enjoyment of her work and it was fun and easy. We identified the different components of her business that felt good to her and were already working. I had her identify the things she really enjoyed doing and wanted to do more of. We focused on the fun and what was already bringing results.
We also identified the parts of her business that felt forced and were not working. If we could not find a way to make them fun we ditched them or found someone else to take care of it. When we were done she was already seeing things take off.
The biggest improvement was that she was enjoying it again! Things were opening up for her and she felt good! This new story was really working.
I am curious to know if any of you have places in your life or your business where you are feeling bogged down and are not getting the results that you want.
Do you know what your story is around it?
Talking about Coaching with my Superstar Client
Posted by: | CommentsAdrienne is a dream client. She is hip, cool, fun , and full of great ideas. I have no doubt that she is going to create everything she desires in her life. One of her many cool offerings is a U-Tube show called Everyday Abundance. She rocks it out ! As part of her process she wanted to make a video about our work and share it with her audience. Here it is. I hope you enjoy it!
