A Soggy Day at the Arizona Renaissance Festival

A Soggy Day at the Arizona Renaissance Festival

Every year, Jeff and I spend a weekend at the Arizona  Renaissance Festival. We made our arrangements months ago, and were looking forward to it. This year, two weeks before we planned to go, the weather forecast started looking bad. For the first time this year, Phoenix was supposed to get rain.
Rain at the 2014 Arizona Renaissance Festival
Every day, the forecast got worse. We discussed whether we should reschedule, but decided to gamble and “act as if” everything would be fine. Friday evening, the forecast was calling for rain all day on Saturday, and some on Sunday morning.

By Saturday morning, the meteorologists had reduced the amount of rain that was expected. When we got to the Faire that morning, it was dry. But just before the gates opened, it started to sprinkle. That sprinkle turned into a downpour that lasted about 30 minutes. It drizzled a little after that, but by noon, the rain was gone. We even got some sun that afternoon.

A soggy day at 2014 Arizona Renaissance Festival

Sunday was beautiful. Mostly sunny, cool, with a slight breeze. I said to Jeff, “I’m so glad we came. If we’d cancelled and I discovered how little rain the event had, I would have been furious.” (“Furious” isn’t the word I used, but that’s what it means.)

Tartanic at 2014 Arizona Renaissance Festival

Although we prepared for the worst, we went ahead and expected to have a great weekend. I’ve found that when you move ahead on faith, “acting as if” all will be well, it generally works out that way. It certainly did for us.

Jeff & Linda-Ann at 2014 Arizona Renaissance Festival

WikiHow – How to Find Your Life’s Purpose

WikiHow – How to Find Your Life’s Purpose

How to Find Your Life’s Purpose

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Millions of people have asked the question “Why am I here?” Here are some ways to find your purpose and passion in life and some guidance on how to live the answer to this age old question.

Steps

  1. Make a list of the things you do for fun, or that you really enjoy. Include in the list the parts of your job that you really like, the things you volunteer for, sports, the arts, reading, etc. Imagine you’re a billionaire with no worries about money, how would you choose to spend your time? Add those things to the list, even if you don’t do them now. This list is of your passions; the things that you love to do, or would do simply for the pleasure they bring you. Being happy in life makes you feel like you belong on this planet!
  2. Write down the names of people that you admire, and why you admire them. For example, you might admire Patch Adams for choosing to step out of the traditional role of medicine and creating new ways of healing and connecting with his patients while also having fun. You might admire the band Green Day for living out loud and on purpose, creating the music that they love and speaking their minds. You might admire Oprah Winfrey for choosing to reveal her truth, at a time when concealing is the norm. Name as many as you can think of. When you’re done, look at the list and know that what you appreciate about others, is also in you. You are attracted to these qualities, because they speak to you, and they speak to you, because they are a part of your path. If this was your list, Stepping out of the box, telling the truth, and living out loud would be action steps that would take you toward your purpose. Adopt these admiration’s of others as a way for you to show up in the world. These are your actions.
  3. Make a list of the things you do naturally without even thinking about it. (You may want to ask others for feedback, as it’s common for them to see talents in us that we don’t see ourselves) Such natural talents may be: an eye for detail, a great sense of humor, a nurturing side, the ability to focus intently, or being playful. (Consider also, the things you’ve done that have gotten you into trouble–oftentimes if you turn them around and look at the positive aspects of it, you’ll find a gem of a natural talent that you previously hadn’t appreciated) These are your genius. Genius comes easily and profoundly, without needing to expend a lot of energy. Some people are geniuses at math or music; but there are lots of other types of genius as well. There are genius mothers, genius teachers, genius listeners, and genius independent thinkers. We are meant to use our genius in service of our Life Purpose.
  4. Look at your Passions, Actions, and Genius lists, and spend 10 minutes each morning doing something from one of the lists. Draw, sing, dance, tell the truth about something you’ve been concealing, organize a drawer, thank someone you’ve been appreciating silently, take a risk and call that girl or guy.
  5. Notice how you feel. By definition, if you’re living your life purpose, you’ll feel exhilarated, excited, happy, and alive. If you’re not feeling these things, go back to your lists, and see if there’s anything you forgot to write down, or do the one you’ve been avoiding because it’s so scary.
  6. Feel your fear and do it anyway! It’s normal and natural to feel scared when stepping into your life purpose. Fritz Perls said, “Fear is really just excitement without the breath.” So, keep breathing, and take the next step. If it’s worth doing, you’re probably going to feel a little scared doing it. Just think of the fear as the energy you need to take the next step.

Tips

  • Keep in mind that often, we find our purpose along the way. It is often stated after one’s life has ended that they had a purpose, based on the events and choices of one’s life.
  • We often look at our Purpose as a way to answer everything right now or something that can only be fulfilled way into the Future. While one’s life purpose may ultimately be fulfilled far into the future, find ways to start NOW: is it a side project, is it one of many aspects of your current job, can your purpose be expressed in the way you interact with current relationships.
  • Look at ways to incorporate your Passions, Actions, and Genius more and more into your life. As you do, your life purpose will begin to unfold. Could you bring your attention to detail into your job? How about spending your lunch hour writing an article teaching someone else how to do something you love to do?
  • As you increase the amount of time spent fulfilling your life’s purpose, you’ll notice it’s easy to make decisions in life as you ask the question “Does this opportunity fit in with my passions, actions, and genius?” Over time, you’ll spend more and more of your days living your life’s purpose, and you’ll feel happier and healthier than ever before.
  • Sometimes its better (and easier) to know what you don’t want than to know what exactly you want. Eventually you hit your aim.

Related wikiHows

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Find Your Life’s Purpose. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Using self-hypnosis to eliminate specific thoughts

Using self-hypnosis to eliminate specific thoughts

Question: How do I use self-hypnosis to eliminate specific negative thoughts?

Answer: A person is always hypnotizing themselves with various beliefs and thoughts. For instance, “I’m a klutz” will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Self-hypnosis helps to re-focus the attention onto something that you want.

To eliminate specific negative thoughts, I’d suggest that every time you have that particular thought, say ‘stop’ and imagine a stop sign, then substitute a pleasant thought or positive idea.

Practicing this in self-hypnosis will begin to make the changes, then reinforcing it during the day every time you have those thoughts will help to change them.

Hypnosis isn’t magic, but it can make positive changes fairly quickly, if you’re truly committed and persistent in following through.

Copyright 2004, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Behind The Curtain Of My Decisions…

Behind The Curtain Of My Decisions…

by Kendall Summerhawk

Ready for a rant?

I recently watched a video of a guru in the self-help world, describing her recommended process for making a decision.

Okay, so I’m intrigued, as the topic of decision making is one I personally love since everything we do, have and are in our lives is the result of our decisions.

Back to our guru gal…I watched as she outlined her process, which centered on checking in with your energy about the decision and “choosing the option that felt light and easy.”

Seriously?

My jaw dropped. Expecting the right decision to be the light and easy one is a recipe for creating avoidance and denial, and cultivating what I call “low decision IQ”.

There is an abundance of situations in your life and business that require you to make decisions. Some will feel difficult or painful, yet are still authentic and honor your values, upleveling your spirit and your integrity in the process.

While I’m not saying that every decision has to be full of drama or take hours to research before coming to a conclusion, what I am saying is that taking the light and easy road will only lead you to decisions that keep you stuck in disempowerment and limit your ability to grow into the extraordinary woman you’re meant to be.

For example, recently I faced these decisions.

Situation #1: What do I do about the friend who has zero boundaries, keeps makes one bad choice after another (creating chaos and drama in her life) and disrespects my time?

On a scale of 1-10 in terms of difficulty (10 being the toughest) this situation rates a 10.5!

Situation #2: In meeting with my financial advisor I’m presented with the opportunity to move some of my savings nest egg — which is getting zero percent interest — over to a 3 year deposit account where I’ll get a nice return as long as I don’t touch a penny of the money for 3 years.

Okay, so using the same rating scale this one sounds like it should be less than 1 on the difficulty meter, but the idea of not being able to get to my money for the upcoming years without paying a penalty makes me a little squeamish and triggers old “but what if something happens??” feelings of potential doom lurking around the corner. (Irrational, I know, given the success of my business but I want to be perfectly transparent with you). So this one jumps up to a rating of 6.

Ready to take a closer look at where the “light and easy road” would lead me?

Situation #1: Remember my friend? The one with no boundaries and an utter disregard for other peoples’ time, including mine. Light and easy would be to skip addressing the problem, making the decision that “it will all work out somehow…I can just feel it”.

Situation #2: And the financial decision? Light and easy would be to do nothing, figuring “the money is fine where it is, and this way, I don’t have to fill out any of those annoying forms or worry that I might need the money in a pinch.”

Can you guess what I did instead? Let’s find out…

Situation #1: I decided to address the issues with my friend, letting her know that her choices where up to her, but they were impacting me, which I wasn’t comfortable with. When nothing changed I let her know that while I cared about her deeply, I could no longer have her chaos in my life and I ended the friendship.

While not a light and easy decision to make, it was a decision that honors my integrity. By standing up for my boundaries I strengthened my self-worth and deepened my connection to valuing myself.

Situation #2: Rather than ignoring a great opportunity I reminded myself that in an extreme emergency I could still get access to the money in the longer term investment. Plus, by moving the money from my regular savings account I was creating a ‘gap’ that I could get excited about filling with more savings. The decision made, I asked my financial advisor for help on filling out the forms, sent off a check and felt awesome about making a financial decision from a grown-up mindset.

Ladies, “light and easy” decisions are best left for deciding whether to have pizza or enchiladas for Friday night dinner.

The rest of the time? Make decisions based on what will help you achieve the results you want. Every decision you make from this place of clarity and integrity adds grace and ease to your life, which is the ultimate way of creating joy!

 

Would you like to learn simple ways you can brand, package and price your services, quickly move away from ‘dollars-for-hours work’ and create more money, time, and freedom in you business? Check out my web site, http://www.KendallSummerHawk.com, for free articles, resources and to sign up for my free audio mini-seminar “Money Blocks & Breakthroughs.”

Guided Visualization or Affirmations?

Guided Visualization or Affirmations?

Question: What’s the main advantage of self hypnosis and guided visualization over affirmations?

Answer: Affirmations and suggestions are essentially the same thing. They’re both statements designed to change old mental patterns in your subconscious mind. The advantage of self-hypnosis is that you’re in a state that is more receptive to the positive statements you’re affirming.

When you add visualization to self-hypnosis and affirmations, it helps to give the subconscious more information on what you want and helps to make it real for you. The subconscious cannot tell the difference between a strong image and reality.

But the real power behind any re-programming is feeling. If you can FEEL it to be true, the subconscious mind accepts that and creates it. That also is the main reason for visualization. It’s a mental rehearsal that gives the subconscious a pattern to follow in those situations.

Copyright 2004, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Positive Thinking Myths

Positive Thinking Myths

There are so many myths about positive thinking and optimism. Pessimists attack it, saying it’s unrealistic, shallow, and even destructive. But they’re talking about an extreme that isn’t recommended. If you think positively, you still have to be aware of pitfalls. You just don’t fixate on them, as pessimists do.

A recent article, The 7 Biggest Myths About Positive Thinking, challenges seven of the most prevalent myths about positive thinking. He addresses myths such as “Positive thinking encourages unrealistic expectations,” ” Positive thinking is a bunch of sugary, have-a-nice-day nostrums,” and ” It’s absurd to believe that thoughts shape reality.”

He busts each one, even quoting from the very authors who encouraged optimism in the first place. Recent advances in cognitive psychology, clinical studies and even brain imaging are all supporting the fact that the way you think creates your experience.

The problem with people who deride positive thinking is that they refuse to let the facts affect their opinions. I guess they choose not to take responsibility for their thoughts and their lives. One author even said that positive thinking was too hard, and then went on to advise other exercises to change your thoughts. So even with his system, you had to work to feel better.

If you’re an optimist who gets attacked for your positive attitude, read the article. It’ll give you ammunition to respond to those who don’t understand because they’ve never explored it.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Linda-Ann Stewart empowers business women and entrepreneurs to break through their inner barriers and create the life they want with more success and abundance. Sign up for her FREE report “Imagine the Possibilities,” at www.Linda-AnnStewart.com.

Napoleon Hill “Think and Grow Rich” #13 – Habits

Napoleon Hill “Think and Grow Rich” #13 – Habits

In this last of these rare videos, Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich,” discusses the law he calls “Cosmic Habit Force.” It has a positive and negative aspect. The negative one will attract what you don’t want. In its positive aspect, you draw to you the situations and circumstances you do want. He compares this law to Emerson’s idea of “Compensation.” Essentially, it’s a description of the current popular principle called the Law of Attraction.



~ Linda-Ann Stewart

The Power of Words

The Power of Words

When you change the way you say things, you change how people perceive them, and you change your world. Language and messaging is so very important when you want to get an idea across. Here’s an inspirational video that illustrates this concept.



~ Linda-Ann Stewart