27 June 2008

Dealing With Fear and Negative Self Talk

“NOW is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream. You don't need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.” ~ Sam Ewing

Is what you are consistently saying to yourself contributing to your fears? Are you allowing your negative self talk to dictate your life and sabotage your dreams? Are your fears being fueled by the energy of your negative inner chatter? If you have answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, then it is time to re-write your inner script and re-design your life.

Remember when you were a child. You had no worries and no cares. Everything was taken care of for you. You just played happily, knowing that somehow all of your needs would be met. You were also fearless. You could tackle anything. You even had to be taught to avoid the clear and present dangers, like animals that could harm you. So, what happened? Well, you grew up! And in growing up, you were conditioned against what you instinctively knew – that you are fearless! That fear is merely a stepping stone to a new adventure.

In some of our popular children’s stories, Alice was not afraid to go beyond the looking glass; the children of Narnia could not wait to see what adventures were in back of that huge bureau. Children are naturally curious and full of wonder and awe. As we grow up, we have lost that sense of wonderment and awe. We have lost our natural spirit of curiosity, replacing it with the spirit of trepidation. That natural spirit of curiosity is what sparked our passions and helped fueled our dreams, creating the adults we are today. Yet, somewhere along the way, the spark has dulled and dimmed and so has our sense of wonder.

As adults, we seldom, if ever, allow our eyes to widen and our voices to squeak, “Ooooh!” We have stopped asking questions. I remember as a child, I would drive my mother crazy because I would ask a question, then upon hearing the answer would ask, “Why?” I kept this up until my mother, in utter frustration, would very firmly say, “Because I said so!” We have lost this childlike curiosity of asking questions; and have taken up the unfortunate habit of talking to ourselves in the negative.

Daily Practice:
When you hear the negative inner chatter, simple stop, take a breath and ask yourself: “What am I feeling right now?” Then simply wait for the answer. Don’t force anything. Don’t get impatient or frustrated if you do not receive an immediate answer. Remember, the answers are within you, they have become blocked by the toxicity of daily life. You need to create practices to clear the toxicity away.

“Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
~ Angelique Arnauld, Abbess of Port-Royal

05 June 2008

Being Fearless ~ On Purpose

Hey incredible people of passion and purpose!

I have been doing a lot of "noticing" lately and my findings are quite astounding. It seems that everyone is plagued by one fear or another. Is that not remarkable news? So I have launched two fearless communities on Meetup.

The first is the Fearless Living Spiritual Book Club. Beginning with the book by Rhonda Britten, we will discuss those fears that stop us from living passionate and purposeful lives. We will continue using other personal and spiritual development books and materials. Our first gathering was a brunch and we talked books, fears and dreams. It was a great time and I enjoyed meeting new fearless friends.

The second community is the Fearless Entrepreneur. This group is for aspiring or new entrepreneurs and anyone who has a dream and plagued or sabotaged by fears. This group will be a series of seminars, workshops, and networking events that deal with living with fears. The first seminar is scheduled for Thursday, June 26th @ 6pm.

If you are in the New York area and are dealing with fears, do not deal alone ~ come join one or more of our events.

Stay tuned for more future fearbusting events.

Live your passions fearlessly!
Coach Carolyn

04 June 2008

Embracing Extreme Self-Care

“It takes courage to demand time for yourself. At first glance, it may seem to be the ultimate in selfishness, a real slap in the face to those who love and depend on you. IT IS NOT! It means you care enough to want to see the best in yourself and give only the best to others.” ~ Shale Paul

“If you are not taking care of yourself; body, mind, and spirit, the people in your life don't get the best of you, they get what's left of you!” ~ Lorraine Cohen

Our end of May Meetup gathering was about embracing extreme self-care; extreme being doing it intentionally and on purpose. As women, we tend not to take care of ourselves, putting everyone else’s needs before our own. As member Lynne stated, we are more about “embracing extreme self-neglect.”

Though the weather was a bit gloomy, we all made the effort to fully embrace who we were created to be: women of passion and purpose, though sometimes that may look a little murky. To get clear on what our intentions for self-care are, we began with a self-care intention guided visualization. One of the ways to take care of ourselves is to stay in the present moment. This is difficult to do if you are prone towards worrying about the future and fretting over the past. This behavior leads to fears, stress and anxiety. When we catch ourselves in one of those mental spaces, we must remember. One of the main reasons we get out of alignment with who we really are – which includes ignoring our self-care – is that we have stopped remembering.

Remember what? Remember who we truly are. The opposite of remember is not forget – it is dis-member. We have become dis-membered beings, scattered here and there, masters of multi-tasking. In order to pull ourselves together again and become whole, we must remember. What we are remembering is a feeling – the feeling of being whole and present. The visualization exercise took us back to a time when we did feel whole and present. We held that feeling and created symbols around it to bring it to mind when we most need it.

I shared with the group the three self-care practices that they can do on a daily basis in order to maintain a sense of peace and wholeness.

1. Set your self-care intention. Always begin your day intentionally. Remind yourself of your self-care feeling.
2. Three things you are grateful for. Start small, start with the basics: health, home, nourishment, friends, family, work, Meetup…
3. Find a nutritious support person to check in with – this could be a good friend, an accountability partner, a life coach, a mentor – you don’t have to go through this transition alone; and creating new habits is transition. You can set up a time, preferably weekly, to get together. Keep that person in mind constantly, especially when things are looking dark. Have them on speed dial!

Once you have made the decision to do so, these three practices will easily incorporate into your everyday life.

Set the intention to embrace extreme self-care!
Coach Carolyn