Archive for September, 2008
Posted by:
Leah | Comments
The other day, I was speaking with a perspective client about the lack of opportunities he had. He felt like he was stuck in an uninspiring job and he did not see anything interesting coming down the line. He was bored at work, tired of the same old thing day in and day out, and was wondering how he got there. He wondered why some people were always stumbling across exciting opportunities and why he never did.
I find this to be a common problem. Some people are constantly discovering opportunities and some people do not.
Why do you think that is?
This is what I have discovered: When you are TUNED IN and focusing your attention on what you want to create and what you want more of, you attract situations that allow you to experience that energy. The thing is most people spend their time tuning OUT and/or focusing on what they do not want. This results in more of the same boring thing. If you want something different to show up in your life, you have to put some different ideas out there.
I think the second part of the whole opportunity equation is that you only see what you are open to seeing. An old client of mine went through an enormous life transformation. She had followed the plan that was laid out for her in high school. She went to college and got a “practical” degree in accounting. She obtained a job in a top company and bought a condo in the city. She became bored and uninspired quickly! She longed for a more creative life where she could truly express herself. When we began working together she knew she wanted something different but did not know what that was. She could not figure out how to transition into a more creative lifestyle without having to give everything she worked so hard for up. As we worked together, she became clearer around who she was and what inspired her. She began to look at things differently. She discovered that there were so many possibilities and opportunities available to her. When we started, she could only see as far as the Box she had created for herself. When we finished working together, she had blown that box wide open and now was available to respond to many different opportunities that she never would have considered to begin with.
Is there somewhere in your life that you could use some new opportunities? Give me a call to see how I might help you. 617-524-0967
Posted by:
Leah | Comments
” The mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the Underground.”
~Frank Zappa
I had an “aha” moment when I read this quote today.
It is so true.
The mainstream is full of “pre-packaged” ideas about what people need to be happy. These ideas are handed to us over and over again through the media until we begin to believe that it is the truth and how things work in the world. I took a class in collage about the media and how it influences public opinion. There is a deliberateness to the way information and ideas are scattered around and retold until they become the “truth”.
Buying into the mainstream culture does not require any thought on our part. It seems that it can easily engulf us and convince us that we need not look any further for happiness. But I know that is not true! Happiness is not a one size fits all kind of thing.
For me, identifying what makes me happy is a process. It is about tuning into what feels good and inspires me. It is a process of exploration, going out and looking for other people exploring new ideas and ways of living, and trying things on for size. On my journey, I have explored many Underground cultures, and inside of them have found parts of myself that I never would have accesses if I did not go looking for them.
Underground cultures are edgy and boundary pushing compared to the mainstream! The people who seek them out are discovering what works for them and doing it their way. My best friends are the people I have met in these communities. I appreciate them because they are not afraid to embrace the parts of themselves that are different from the mainstream. They bring fresh new ideas and possibilities into their word and are not afraid to break the Box wide open!
Posted by:
Leah | Comments
I have been concerned about a friend lately. He is a really cool guy; intelligent, attractive, he has many friends and he is well respected. I see that he is falling down into a deep hole and I am wondering if he will catch himself before things get too bad. I wonder how bad things have to get for him before he does something different. What will make him take action to change things?
It is hard to tell what someone’s limit for discomfort is. How far out on the edge is he willing to climb?
I know I used to be able to take a lot of discomfortbefore I took action. Mostly because I was so tuned out to how I felt and so focused on my story about what I was supposed to be doing. It made sense to be tuned out because I mostly felt frustrated and unsatisfied. That began to be the baseline. It felt normal.I was either resisting or holding onto something. Life did not feel very good. I was struggling. Just like my friend is now.
I made the choice to do something about my experience in life. I began the Priestess Path Apprenticeship, entered coaching school, and began working with a coach. I quickly learned that when I am in alignment with my authentic nature, things move smoothly and it is effortless. When I become out of alignment, the Universe sends a message to me in the form of discomfort. At first the message is subtle, but if you miss it, then the next one will be a bit louder. For example, first you may feel a slight bump in the road, then you trip, then you fall in a big hole in the ground, then a bus might hit you. It goes on until you get it.
Right now the Universe is sending my friend a very loud message. I hope he hears it!
Posted by:
admin | Comments
Lately, I have been having a number of conversations with people about the places in their lives that feel yucky. It may be in their relationships or their job, but the story is always the same: This is what I have to put up with in order to have: the job, the money, the family, married, or whatever it they are wanting.
My response to them is: “Who says?”
I want to know who made up this rule!
The one that says you “have to” put up with something in your life that feels bad on a regular basis in order to have what you desire.
I see so many people struggling with this on a daily basis. They dread going to work, or they are not getting the affection they desire from their relationship. They may feel stuck in something or uninspired by their life.
I wonder when it became “OK” to feel like that?
Why are some people prone to accepting when things feel like crap, rather than doing something about it?
When did you run out of choices?
I see many people stuck in this trap. Hell, I was stuck in that trap too. I had bought into the story that I was supposed to make things happen by working long hard hours and always striving. That you always took the highest paying job no matter if you liked it or not, because it was all about the money. It did not matter that I was exhausted, disconnected, uninspired, watching too much TV and needing to get “my party on” a few times a week. I was stuck in a story that said this was just how life was. I had to suffer, tune out, feel stuck, or be uninspired so that I can do the things I am supposed to do in order to have the things I want in life. It seemed to me that everyone around me was caught up in a similar situation.
Boy did that feel crappy!
Funny thing is, I was so caught up in it that I did not really know the difference. Sometimes, I would suspect that there could be more to life. I would glimpse it every now and then in other peoples eye’s, but I could never figure out what it was exactly.
Then I read a really cool book called the Four Agreements . It suggested to me that Life was meant to feel good. I did not have to struggle in order to have what I wanted. I could make my own rules for how I lived my life. Opening up to this possibility shifted many things for me. I made the choice to find a different work environment that felt better to me and I made money. It was no longer OK to feel stuck. If it felt bad on a regular basis something had to change. I had to change. I began working with a coach. I started to question my old story that said work was supposed to be hard and I had to suffer through in order to be successful.
Now my reality is different. I no longer struggle against things that feel bad. I know that there is always a solution and it is possible to find a different way of approaching things. It does not mean I abandon something, but rather find a new way of approaching it that works for me. I re-write my story in a way that feels good to me. I am back in a place of choice.
I make the rules for my life.
Where do you need to make new rules?
If your curious about how to do this, give me a call.
