change » Empowering Your Mind

Make a Fresh Start with a Clean Slate

Jan 092019

This is the time of year that people make New Year’s resolutions. People like the idea of starting over, of having a fresh start and a clean slate. This gives them more of a motivation to pursue and work on their goal. Linda-Ann shares some tips on how you can take advantage of this opportunity and be successful at it all year long.

Transcript:

Thank you for joining me. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart of Heartvision Consulting. This is the time of year that people make New Year’s resolutions. They establish the goals they want to achieve in the coming year. Have you made any? People like the idea of starting over, of having a fresh start. This gives them more of a motivation to pursue and work on their goal.

For instance, I remember being in first grade and the cubbyhole in my desk that was supposed to hold my books was crammed with papers. I was not a very tidy child. It was hard to get my books into it. Sometime during the year, our teacher changed our desk assignments, and I was given a desk with a clean and clear cubbyhole. I remember looking at the shelf, enjoying how clean it was and deciding to keep it organized from then on. And I did. I just needed the incentive of a fresh start and a clean slate.

Has anything like this happened to you? Have you ever felt stimulated by a fresh start? Moving to a clean desk can inspire it, as can New Year’s, your birthday, the beginning of the month, or even the beginning of the week. Any of these can give you a new perspective and increased energy.

What about a clean slate? With a clean slate, you feel like you can leave behind your old ways. You can establish a new habit or pattern, like I did with the desk. But the problem is, how much are you leaving behind? It wouldn’t have worked for me if I’d just repeated my habit of stuffing papers into my desk. I decided to change that habit. How much of a clean slate are you actually starting with? Are you bringing outdated ideas with you and holding yourself back? Or are you really starting fresh?

As a vision strategist. I work with women service professionals and small business entrepreneurs who have businesses that are stuck. Instead of updating their goals, or even having any, they just continue with their old habits and patterns. And then they become frustrated because this doesn’t help them reach their next level.

Using my 30 years of experience as a hypnotherapist, I coach them to intentionally develop and focus on new strategies that will get them on course to bring their vision into reality. I help them reevaluate where they are and where they want to go, and then how to get there.

Are you reassessing your goals? Do your old ones serve you now, in what you want to achieve? What if you do start with a clean slate? Without taking into account your previous goals, and any limiting ideas, consider what it is you really want. Wipe away any disappointments, fears or past mistakes.

Maybe you can set a bigger goal than you ever expected. Have a bigger goal or vision or intention than you normally would think of. When you start with a fresh start and a clean slate, it reinvigorates you. You get excited and eager to make progress on your decisions.

Now, I don’t suggest you start over with an absolutely clean slate at the beginning of every week, essentially starting over from scratch. This would undermine your progress. You’d never really achieve anything, would you? But you can assess if the direction you’re going is the right one for you. If the strategies you’re using are working. If there’s something else that needs to be adjusted.

Each week, with a fresh start, you recommit to your goals. With a clean slate, you wipe away what wasn’t working, and decide what to do that will achieve your goals. You refocus and get reenergized to take action. It gives you a new beginning, one that can motivate and inspire you to tackle what’s ahead.

In first grade, my fresh start was getting moved to a new desk. My clean slate was the empty shelf and my decision to keep it organized. What is yours going to be?

If you’d like some help in getting on course and achieving your goals, apply for a complimentary coaching consultation.

Thank you for watching. I hope you find your fresh start and clean your slate so you have the success you deserve. Take care.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Guided Meditation to Overcome Your Fear of Success

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Dec 132018

Many people have an unconscious fear of success. They’re afraid that it could attract negative attention, or affect their life in a detrimental way. But those fears are generally an outdated remnant of the past. This short, guided meditation is designed to recognize those fears and let them go so you can experience the success you deserve.

Transcript:
Thank you for joining me. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart of Heartvision Consulting. And today, I’d like to take you on an internal journey to overcome your fear of success. Many people have an unconscious fear of success. They’re afraid that it could attract negative attention, or affect their life in a detrimental way. Do you have any such fears?

Those fears are generally an outdated remnant of the past. People either have had a bad experience or saw someone who did, and they want to avoid the pitfalls, so they avoid success. Has something like that happened to you? What they don’t realize is that they now have resources and knowledge that can help them deal with any such challenges. So their fears are no longer valid.

If you’re not experiencing the success you want, it’s a good bet that you’re somehow limiting yourself. You have beliefs and fears that are holding you back from taking the actions that are needed to achieve what you want. And that’s what I want to help you address today. It’s something I help many of my clients with.

I’m a vision strategist. I work with women service professionals and small business entrepreneurs who are frustrated because they’re spinning their wheels and lost in a forest of details of their business.

Using my 30 years of experience as a hypnotherapist, I coach them to intentionally develop and focus on the strategies that keep them on course so they bring their vision into reality.

This short guided meditation is designed to help you recognize your fears and let them go. And then to imagine yourself successful. When you do this, you create a new pattern in your subconscious and new pathways within your brain.

Close your eyes, if you want. Using your imagination, consider how much you want to be successful, whatever success means to you. Allow the excitement, enthusiasm for it, anticipation of it to build and fill you up. This is what you choose for yourself and it is appropriate and acceptable for you. You deserve it.

Now shift your attention to however you might be limiting that success, whatever fears you might have about it. Realize that these fears are insubstantial, they are like a mist that surrounds you. It’s a mist that you have created and held onto, but you don’t need it anymore.

Examine the fear and realize that you have outgrown it, that you have resources and knowledge that can help you overcome it now. You have everything you need within you to deal with any challenge that might arise in your life. Allow the mist to evaporate, since you don’t want it anymore.

Return your attention to your desire for success. The way is now open for you. Imagine confidently taking the actions necessary to achieve it. Imagine you are comfortable taking the actions, being successful and making wise decisions. All of this is now yours. You deserve it and it benefits everyone.
Open your eyes.

How did that feel? This is a first step for you to stop limiting yourself. The fear will probably arise again, because it’s a habit. But as you keep reminding yourself that it’s outdated, you’ll be creating a new, more positive habit that will support your success. How can you keep your mind focused on the fact that success is appropriate and available to you? What one thing can you hang onto? That is the key for you.

If you’d like some help in getting on course and achieving your goals, apply for a complimentary coaching consultation.

Thank you for watching. My hope is for all the doors to success open to you, within you and in your outer world. Take care.

Read the accompanying article, Don’t Let Fear Sabotage Your Success.

As a vision strategist, hypnotherapist, and speaker, Linda-Ann Stewart helps women entrepreneurs and small business owners who feel stuck, immobilized and overwhelmed to to get clear, focused and on the fast track to the next level of their business. If you'd like some help to reach your goals, apply for her complimentary "Clarify Your Vision" consultation at http://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/coaching.shtml

Don’t Let Fear Sabotage Your Success

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Dec 062018

Are you afraid of success? That may seem like a ridiculous question, because most people consciously want success in their endeavors. But being successful can bring change, and some people may not be ready for all that means. When they get close to success, they back away from or sabotage it.

For instance, they turn down an opportunity, justifying it by saying, “It just wasn’t right.” Or they resist or procrastinate taking action that could take them to the next level. They don’t make the phone call or follow up on a lead that could bring them a sale. By default, they stay with what they know, even if it’s uncomfortable. The idea of success stirs up fears that prevent them from moving forward.

What you focus on grows, including fear. The Law of Attraction, instructed by what you’re paying attention to, will attract more of what you don’t want. If you’re feeling inadequate, and that’s why you fear success, the Law of Attraction will draw more opportunities for you to feel that way.

Becoming aware of what you’re doing is the first step to remedying the situation. The next step is to understand what specific fear is prompting your resistance. Only then can you overcome it, recognizing it for the falsehood it is. Here are some of the reasons that could be at the core of your fear of success.

1. Fear of visibility. You avoid calling attention to yourself because of past rejection. For you, appreciation or acknowledgement would be uncomfortable and even threatening. But isn’t being able to share your gifts more important than staying safely hidden in the shadows?

2. Fear of criticism. There’s a difference between criticism and feedback. Criticism has a mean-spirited component to it. It’s never pleasant and chips away at your self-confidence. Whether you succeed or fail, it’s going to attract disapproval from someone. Why not do what you want and deal with the censure on your terms?

3. Fear the envy of others. This is very similar to the fear of criticism. Jealous people will try to belittle you to build up their egos. Generally, their jealousy isn’t about you. It’s more about the person who is trying to tear you down. Holding yourself back isn’t going to help them feel better. You might as well let yourself shine.

4. Fear of the responsibility. Greater success brings greater responsibility, and that can be scary. You may feel that you aren’t capable of handling these extra demands. But as more responsibility comes to you, you grow to meet the challenge. Think of it like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.

5. Fear you’re not ready. You may feel you don’t have the skills or competency for the next step. If you wait until you feel ready, your time may never come. There’s always going to be something else to learn or ability to develop. As long as you’re willing to improve your knowledge, you’ll grow into your success.

6. Fear of disappointment. You have an image of what success would look or feel like. Is it better to keep it as a dream rather than risk it not living up to your expectations? If it doesn’t, you’ll still have gained so much more than you have now. You’ll have learned how to achieve that success, and apply it to a new dream.

7. Fear of what else could change in your life. You may be concerned about how much time you’ll have to devote to your success. Or uneasy that your lifestyle might be turned upside down. You will have to let go of mental and physical habits that have outlived their usefulness. But you’ll still be in control of your choices. If you don’t like what has changed, you can always make different decisions.

All these fears bring old ideas about yourself to the surface, such as unworthiness, incompetence, or incapability. Being successful would mean that these concepts are false, and you’d have to shift your self-image. This is a massive change in itself. That could be the core of all the anxiety you experience. The Universe believes in you and created you to be successful.

Once you have identified what you’re specifically afraid of, it no longer controls you. You can take measures to overcome the fear. Refuse to allow it to hold you back any longer. Forge ahead and claim the success that’s always been waiting for you.

AFFIRMATION:
The Universe believes in me and created me to be successful. I believe in myself and my capabilities. Infinite Intelligence will guide and direct me, bringing me whatever I need to be successful. With the help of the Universe, I can handle whatever comes up. I am now ready to let go of my fears and accept the help and the confidence of the Universe.

Watch the accompanying video, Guided Meditation to Overcome Your Fear of Success.

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight Comments Off

Dec 042018

When you start to change, whether it’s improving your self-esteem, manifesting more money, or losing weight, people in your life may start making it hard on you. They could start making fun of you, “all in good fun,” or even try to sabotage you. This is to be expected, especially when you haven’t fully incorporated your new attitudes. In a way, they’re reflecting your concerns, fears and ambivalence over changing. Your environment may object as a way of testing to see if you’re dedicated to your new way of being. Stand up to them, call them on it, because as you’re addressing the outer responses, you’re dealing with your own inner concerns.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Why aren’t affirmations changing my life?

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Oct 292018

Question: What should I do when I get results from affirmations, but my life still doesn’t change in any major way?

Answer: It sounds like there’s something in your subconscious that’s blocking your manifesting enough to make a difference. It could be that you have a hard time actually believing that you could receive that much. It could be that you are restricting how it can come into your life. It could be a feeling of unworthiness. It could be a belief in having to struggle. It could be any number of ideas that you’ve accepted over the years that are restricting, limiting, or blocking your manifestation. I’d suggest you create an affirmation that helps to uncover and release any old, outdated ideas that are still operative.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart