Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Have you ever noticed how similar the scenarios are at the holidays to going to see a really dramatic play?  Everyone is playing well-developed characters that they have done for years — the Peacemaker, the Drunk, the Misfit or the Clueless Clown – these are roles that are deeply ingrained, often since we were children.  And so are the reactions we have to them.  I call it ‘getting hooked’.  In Buddhism they call it ‘shempa’.  Whatever you call it, it’s a recipe for reliving the past over and over and ultimately being disconnected and isolated from your True Self.
 
This year, try something new. When you start to notice yourself becoming anxious, misunderstood, lonely or hooked, pick a word for yourself to create awareness that you’re about to leave the present moment and pick up the lines of an old, dissatisfying script.  It could be “Stop” or “Breathe” or “Gingerbread Men” – as long as it reminds to you come back to now where you have full choice what to do. 
 
Many times clients have shared that when they are with their families at the holidays, they lose their connection to who they really are now.  This is just one way to begin to leave the theatre and start creating your present day production that ‘s aligned with who you really are.
 
 If you want to discuss this or other ways to create a more authentic holiday experience, call me (970)259-9040 or email victoria@truelifecoach.net.  Be the conscious creator of your Life now.

1.  YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY.

    You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period
this time around.
2.  YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS.

    You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life.  Each day in
this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.  You may like the
lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3.  THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS.

    Growth is a process of trial and error: experimentation.  The “failed”
experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that
ultimately “works”.
4.  A LESSON IS REPEATED UNTIL LEARNED.

    A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned
it.  When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
5.  LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT END.

    There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons.  If you are
alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6.  “THERE” IS NO BETTER THAN “HERE”.

    When your “there” has become a “here” you will simply obtain another
“there” that will, again, look better than “here”.
7.  OTHERS ARE MERELY MIRRORS OF YOU.

    You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects
to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8.  WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU.

    You have all the tools and resources you need, what you do with them is
up to you.  The choice is yours.
9.  YOUR ANSWERS LIE INSIDE OF YOU.

   The answers to life’s questions lie inside you.  All you need to do is
look, listen and trust.
10. YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS…UNLESS YOU GET A COACH TO HELP YOU REMEMBER!

~ UNKNOWN

Often when embarking on a new endeavor or goal, we can grapple with our Gremlins.  These critics of the mind can (not so gently) inform us that we don’t have what it takes to reach the goal.  In order to bypass their unsupportive suggestions, you must have a strategy to respond.  Here are 5 steps you can do right now to connect with your own gifts and build your confidence!

1 – Take a strengths inventory: Take an hour and take yourself someplace you can be uninterrupted.  Leave your critic at home or safely locked away while you do the inventory.  Look at all of the things you feel you have been successful in…yes! there are at least 20 or more!!  Then list what it took to be a success in that endeavor.
 
2 – Find success in your body!  Imagine a time in your life that you felt really successful.  See it clearly in your minds eye.  Who was there, what were you doing.  What were the circumstances around your success.  Feel this time as fully as you can.  Notice how your body is feeling and the posture you body wants to take as you do this visualization.  That is your confidence posture.  All you simply need to do to find your confidence is to take that body posture.  It IS all in your body.
 
3 – Put a deposit in your confidence bank account.  Each time you do what you say you are going to do it puts a “deposit” in your confidence bank account.  Likewise when you say you will do something and then don’t do it you make a withdrawal in your confidence bank account.  Just imagine if you keep saying you will do something…like getting out there and talking to people about your coaching business and then not doing it.  You will eventually be overdrawn in your confidence bank account.  That is when people quit.  Don’t let that be YOU!
 
4 – Be Persistent.
 
5 – Smile.  Life is a mirror. If you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.  Take the smile test.  On a piece of paper, make four columns with the following labels: Time, Situation, Receiver Reaction, and My Feelings.  Then divide the paper into five rows.  You probably want to number each row.  Now throughout one day, pick five situations where you consciously decided to smile.  Record your results.  At the end of the day, assess the information.  Did the smiles affect the way you felt about yourself?  How did they make others feel?  Were the results what you expected?  See that smiles are magic and you create it.  With that kind of confidence what else do you want to create?
 
What will you do know with what you have learned from the above exercises?  My request is you take what you have learned and use your confidence to take the next step to your goals! Because now you know you can do it!

A Story…
    Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a 2 hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. “I will come next Tuesday,” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.
    Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there’s another inch!” My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.” “Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her. “I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.” “How
far will we have to drive?” “Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”
    After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!” “We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.” “Carolyn,” I said, “please turn around.”  “It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.” After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, DAFFODIL GARDEN.  We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
    “But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.  “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.
    The first answer was a simple one.”50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”
    There it was, The Daffodil Principle.
    For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun – one bulb at a time – to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.  She had created something of ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
    The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time – often just one baby-step at a time – and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.
    “It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”
    My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way.   “Start tomorrow,” she said.
    It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting…..

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die…

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don’t need money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt, and, Dance like no one’s watching.

How can I put this Learning to use today?     

What dreams have you been dreaming, only to keep them hidden out of fear?  As we welcome spring to our world, why not step forward, bravely, and take a stand for those dreams? Beginning today can make the difference. 

If you’ve been thinking of trying a sample session of coaching, now’s the time to make the call; send the email.  Now’s the time to allow your unique vision to begin it’s sacred journey to reality.  Sharing your dream(s) with a coach creates more than one gardener in the garden – the results possible are 100% greater, aligned with someone who believes in your vision and will keep you on track for it’s fulfillment.  Don’t wait another minute.  Don’t say “I’ll do it tomorrow” – again.  Step around all the reasons for non-action and begin.  Discover the magic that’s possible when you commit to your dreams and the Universal energy aligns with you.

Call Victoria at (970)259-9040 or email Victoria@truelifecoach.net today for a complimentary coaching session!