rainbowsoverruins

Taking Notice of Your Inner Advice More Quickly

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Today, I am laughing at myself.  You see, I just realized that I have spent months developing tools and techniques, visualizing, planning and taking action toward my goals, yet missed something that was right in front of my face.

In “Rainbows Over Ruins,” I tell you my story, however, I want you to be able to do this for yourself.  This has translated into the development of a social media platform where you can find me and content for a course on these topics.

There’s a touch of’ do as I say, not as I do in this.’  Note that I instruct others to develop a strong relationship with their Higher Self; call it your subconscious mind is you wish.  This relationship can be an important factor in achieving goals.  That’s where the humor comes in.  I am not always listening to my own inner voice.  I think I am listening and taking action when I receive an impetus to do something, however, often I just file the ideas away for future reference.

Here’s an example:  In “Rainbows Over Ruins,” I describe my desire to build a center where people can develop their ability to use the power of their mind, work with others, and incubate their dreams into realization.  Over the past few months, the sense that I should begin to focus on this center has grown ever stronger.  I often suggest students should ask themselves a question – What can I do today to feel the way I want to feel when I have or achieve my dream?  Asking myself that question, the answer that has come up is to volunteer at a similar venue to my dream site.  I’ve been searching for one.

Spiritworks-Center For Spiritual Living - Burbank, CA, United StatesThe humor in this is that this week I realized that the Universe has been pointing me to a place for months.  I drive past it on the way to work most mornings.  A colleague, John Charnay, discussed it with me a few months ago.  And I kept saying to myself, “I’ll get over there.  I’ll introduce myself.”  Then John scheduled a workshop at the very same facility on vision boards (which you may be aware are one of my passions). Of course I went, both to support John and because I love playing with vision boards.  The results: (i) a new, smaller board for my home office, (ii) a visit to the SpiritWorks center, (iii) meeting the very person on my list of people to contact, and (iv) seeing that the facility has several components of my dream center.  This may very well be an ideal place to actively pursue volunteer work.  Plus, a new afformation is being added to my routine:  Why am I listening responsively to inner suggestions I receive?

I wonder, what inner nudges are you receiving that you are just not taking the time to investigate?  Today is a perfect day to explore possible answers that may move your dream projects one step closer.  Let down your resistance; let go of the compulsion to know and control everything – and see what happens.  It’s just one step after all, not a lifelong commitment.

May you find joy in the discovery of what your Higher Self is suggesting for you.

To Your Success,

Susan

 

Move Beyond Fear and Other Limitations

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As you know, I’ve been focused on producing a new podcast series these past few weeks. My focus is to feature the work of those who have either experienced great loss and rebuilt their lives or who champion the processes that make it possible.  It’s been great for me.  I get to dip into the work of some wonderful people who inspire us to move beyond our private limitations.

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that my first invited guest is Noah St. John, author, coach and mentor, with whom I have been privileged to work over the past few years. I’ve taken his trainings and participated in his mastermind group. Last July, we appeared together on Home and Family to discuss his latest book, Afformations: The Miracle of Positive Self-Talk which has just been released in soft cover.

Hallmark Home & Family

If you’re familiar with my book Rainbows Over Ruins, you know that I devoted over a full chapter in it to my experience with Afformations. They provided the necessary impetus and support for my shift from increasingly negative circumstances to what has grown into an incredible opportunity. I became aware of Noah when he did an online interview that I chose when the headline grabbed me. He was talking about getting unstuck – and I was the poster child for being stuck at that moment.

What I heard on that program grabbed me in a big way. Noah had been going through similar circumstances when he received an inspiration that became the concept of Afformations. He took those ideas, began applying them and now is the Founder of Success Clinic, Inc., an organization that is “engaged in creating high-impact, customized strategies for fast-growing companies and leading organizations around the world. His sought-after advice is known as the “secret sauce” to creating instant superstar performance in high-growth businesses.”

I didn’t know any of that when I tuned in to hear him speak. I only knew I needed a solution for a problem I was experiencing in that moment. I heard how Afformations turned his life around and knew that I needed what he had to offer. Call it a God-thing, a God wink, a God shot if you will. That chance broadcast was a gift that helped me transform my situation and thus, my life.

So it’s only natural as I begin my podcast series that I introduce you to Noah St. John himself. Afformations have the ability to bring an immediate sense of relief, calm and peace which would be welcome when you are setting out to recover from a disaster.  Over time, these positive questions have the ability to lead us to solutions for other problems we may be facing.  We’ll be talking about how this is possible and how we can utilize this powerful technique to rebuild our lives, make more money and move from what we call a disaster to a more prosperous, abundant lifestyle without struggling or sacrificing the very things we treasure.

Noah and I are meeting this week and, if all goes according to schedule, the podcast will be available on iTunes and Stitcher within a couple weeks. I’ll provide the details as soon as I have the URL.

In the meantime, if you can’t wait to learn more about Noah St. John and his work, check out his website: www.NoahStJohn.com. His books are available at Amazon.

If you are ready to shed your fears and other beliefs that are holding you back, please get ready to meet Noah. I’ll send the podcast details in the near future.

To Your Success,

Susan

I’m Flying

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Look at me, way up high…., here am I, I’m flying!

This spontaneous, enthusiastic Peter Pan outburst is the result of completing my first podcast. It took a bit of work to get the intro and outro outsourced, the podcast written and recorded and then stitched together on a hosting platform. Not being an editor (video or audio), it was a bit challenging to feel my way through the steps even with a written guide before me. However, I did it!!!

Then, I took my next step in the challenge to post the finished podcast on the distribution channel. It was much easier. And after a few days that felt extremely long – well, I guess they were, I stayed in the office until 8:00pm a couple nights to get this done – I posted the podcast into our 30-Day Challenge Facebook group. It felt so good to receive the loving, supportive comments from group members.

As I made that post, I had this curious sense of flying! It was as if I had been taxiing around the runway for some time and then, in the blink of an eye, I’m airborne. I am now “Successfully Mid-Air” – with a nod to Sandra Daly. That is the title of her latest book. It is the experience of being in the gap. Where you have been is behind you and you are moving toward where you want to be, but your feet don’t touch the ground. I have to ask myself, do I have my coordinates? Do I know where I’m going? Do I have the journey in mind? Who is flying with me? What am I feeling as I anticipate all of this?

Free. On track. On purpose. Bridging the gap and it is going to be fun to travel. This feels so good. This feels exactly like what I could do forever! It is exhilarating and liberating to get off the runway, lifting off to experience my dreams in process. Whatever happens, wherever this takes me, I can do this. I am so grateful for where I am right now.

I’m looking forward to sharing the first episode with everyone, but the Challenge is teaching us more than just how to make a podcast. It is also talking about how to market and promote, line up guests and monetize podcasts. The recommendation is to wait until we have three full podcasts before submitting to iTunes and Stitcher, the two major podcast sources.

I’ve already lined up the next two guests – Noah St. John (author, Afformations) and Sandra Daly (author, Pop Your Paradigms and Successfully Mid-Air). My sense of anticipation is high. We’ve been exchanging thoughts for content and I’ve been doing my due diligence to read their materials to draw upon for the conversations. This is fun!

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, unsure if you want to do a podcast, I suggest that you take this challenge for yourself. I’m experiencing such a sense of accomplishment working through it step by step. It’s the 30-Day Podcast Challenge – http://goo.gl/CD3jfA.

I’m off now to celebrate. It’s Valentine’s Day and Peter and I are going off on an adventure. I hope you are feeling safe to fly today.

To Your Success,

 

Susan

The Recipe for Serendipity

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Have you ever had the feeling of serendipity? By definition, it is a gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. I’m wondering if the definition is missing something. I think we experience serendipity when we want something and find it in unexpected places.

I started thinking about this when Noah St. John sent out a recent email in which he outlined the positive benefits that people experience as soon as they start working with his book Afformations: The Miracle of Positive Self-Talk. And I agreed with him. I had experienced exactly what he described – a brighter outlook, a fabulous job promotion, more joy in my daily life, and new opportunities opening up before me. What was most fabulous was that his technique was so simple that it did not feel as if I had to work harder to get the results I wanted.

All of that equates to the feeling of serendipity. In my case, it felt like I was in a rags to riches movie. I talk about it in my book Rainbows Over Ruins – how we went from the landslide that destroyed our home to a lovely ranch, how our business opportunities grew, and how we discovered that the switch from our default mindset of negativity to one of positive self-talk opened up the creative thought process for both of us in an amazingly short period of time. On many occasions, I felt as if someone was holding my hand and moving puzzle pieces into place at just the right time. Call it faith, call them miracles, or call them God-winks or God-shots.

What I have found is that people resonate with such stories. To others, I became an example of someone who has not only survived a catastrophe but thrived using a positive thought process. Somewhere in my story, my readers found the hope and promise that if they do what I did, they will experience release from pain, fear and anxiety as they transform their lives. When you are feeling unhappy, are struggling, leading a life of quiet desperation or just stuck where you are without any idea of how you will get out of a situation, it really helps to hear that other people have gotten through it all, and to see that the curious chain of events that led someone else to overcome crisis, obstacles and challenges can also apply in your own life. It’s inspirational. Their response is, of course, what inspires me. There is something magical in seeing other people find hope that they can learn how their Inner Self can lead them from where they are to where to where they want to be.

This is not meant sound other worldly as such even though it feels like it. Rather, this is said with an awareness that scientific research now shows that the brain can be re-trained. If you catch one of John Assaraf’s Brain-a-thons, you’ll see that there are now studies that demonstrate that we do not have to controlled by survival oriented, primitive brain reactions any longer. We can take a more proactive stance by learning how to coordinate what we call the Inner and Outer aspects of mind.

Mine is but one story. There are so many others. I like to hear about other people who are using their similar experiences in ways that bring them serendipity. It helps me work with creative people who desire more out of life, helping them let go of the negative thought habits that stop them so they can see unimagined opportunities unfold before them. I’m looking for stories now that I can share with you, and if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. We’re all on the road to bigger and better experiences coming from unexpected places.

To Your Success,

Susan

Five Steps to Help Rebuild After a Mudslide

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This coming February, it will be 10 years since a mudslide swept through out home and changed our lives dramatically. Once again, mudslides fill the news in the wake of heavy storms after years of drought and fire damage. The plants that hold our soil to the surface of rocks have been destroyed and with their loss, people face serious challenges as well.

In a matter of moments, our lives as we have known them are swept away.   It is hard to believe as we survey so much loss and destruction around us that we are standing at the edge of a creative opportunity that will enable us to not only survive, but thrive.

It is a process that can take considerable time. Having lived through it, perhaps these suggestions will prove helpful now:

  1. Find help. Although you will have to do this on your own, you cannot do it alone. In the immediate aftermath, you will need to take care of your safety and shelter before everything else. Seek out those who can assist in your rescue and recovery. You want a support system to get you through the profound grief, fear and shock that immediately follow a disaster, as well as resources to rescue what you can.

Peter and I found our church to be our strength during this most difficult time. Members put us up, helped us find temporary homes for our animals, and helped us rescue our belongings and get them to a storage facility. They prayed with us, cried with us and gave us the emotional strength to carry on.

  1. As soon as possible, begin to focus on what you want The recovery process takes time. Knowing what you want provides a mental anchor to which you can return regularly as you work through each step.

Peter and I knew we wanted a home and space for our family of animals – horses, dogs, cat, bird and fish. We were able to focus first on everyone’s safety, then places to live in the immediate time period. During that time, friends from church permitted us to use rooms, pipe corrals and other storage places until we could get on our feet. It took about 6 weeks to find an independent rental home and another 1 ½ years before we found a new permanent home.

  1. Once you have your focus on your desired results, your goal, you can begin to examine where you want to go and identify the resources you have to move toward it. One of the big surprises for me was that this does not happen overnight. More is swept away in a mudslide than your physical possessions. Over an extended period of time, you will go through stages of looking at physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of your life that have been affected. I found that taking an inventory of these various aspects enabled me to examine what was and was not working in our lives up to that date and then recover, rebuild and recreate what we desired with our goal ever before us.
  1. In the immediate aftermath, your surrounding circumstances may not give you any reason to believe in a brighter future. However, you can create one. You can use your natural skills and abilities to yield even better results than you had before.

I found I could do this by learning more about the mind. Current scientific research finds that the default position of the brain is to fall into negative beliefs of loss, despair and hopelessness, and the litany of “it won’t work, it can’t be done.” We are all familiar with this voice in our head when we are feeling down and out.

So the best thing you can do for yourself is to cultivate the habit of positive possibility thinking using affirmations and Afformations. I used these along with neuro-emotional work with a chiropractor, myofascial therapy with an occupational therapist, hypnosis and guided imagery.   The most powerful work I did to maintain my mental and emotional health throughout this time period involved asking positive questions, journaling, meditation and centered prayer.

My book, Rainbows Over Ruins is a story of recovering, rebuilding and recreating after such a disaster. If you would like to read about someone who has been there and gotten through it, pick up a copy. It’s available on Amazon.

Wherever you find yourself today, know that if I can do it, you can too. You can get past these losses by keeping your goals in front of you as you work through the process step by step. If you have questions, reach out to me. I am open to helping you think through your steps to recovery. May you find as I did that deep within every crisis lie the seeds of infinite opportunity.

To Your Success,

Susan

5 STEPS TO PLAN YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS NOW

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No doubt about it, the holidays are in full swing in my life. Home and Family has just taped the Holiday Special which will air on Hallmark Channel Monday evening, November 24th at 8:00pm E/7p Central. We had over 40 guests on the show ranging from our daily hosts and family members to stars from Hallmark movies and American Idol, Acro Army and Aria. We cook and DIY, sing and break bread with one another in a wonderful celebration. Tune in if you can. We had a great deal of fun pulling this together for you.

On a more personal note, the holidays remind me to take a fresh look at my personal goals for the coming season and my New Year’s resolutions. It’s been a fabulous year and I am extremely grateful for the sense of joy and accomplishment I feel. If I were to create a blessings tree, I’d weave in thoughts of my book Rainbows Over Ruins, the foreword so generously written by Noah St. John, Noah’s live conferences, our appearance on the show to discuss the power of afformations, Home and Family’s second Daytime Emmy nomination, a most wonderful birthday celebration with good friends, family visits, hiring assistants, my virtual blog tour and being asked to be a guest blogger on CoffeyTalk.com.

Ironically, in the midst of all this, I felt a sense of completion. The activities that filled my spring and summer continue, however, the milestone map I had originally created to guide me along the path to publish had done its job. The next steps on the map were too vague and all encompassing. The result was that I felt a lack of forward momentum. I was confused about the specific actions that needed to be taken.

When this happens after an intense flurry of activity, we need to do some strategic planning on inner levels and work from the inside out. What’s that entail?

  1. Sit down and think about your vision of your dream project. Appreciate anything in your daily life that supports your vision. Challenge yourself to find 10 examples each day.
  2. Holding your vision, allow a movie to play across your mind. Ask yourself questions. If you achieve your dreams, what will it look and feel like? Why is it important to you? What are some potential strategies you might pursue? What could the next steps and levels be?
  3. Choosing from a variety of techniques, allow yourself to be guided to deeper subconscious levels. These techniques can range from contemplation, meditation, sitting for ideas, centered prayer, hypnosis, guided imagery, to quantum jumps. The technique is less important than the result – achieving a deeper state where your conscious mind is more still.
  4. Once you return to normal consciousness, be sure to write down any ideas you received. They may be clues to your options, specific ways to find resources and research, as well as descriptions of how to “chunk down” or “step out” a specific milestone you are seeking to achieve. Start to take these actions as soon as you can.
  5. As you go back to regular activity, be mindful about what is showing up around you. Next steps tend to emerge out of your daily activities or, as Thomas Troward suggested, they proceed in an orderly fashion from that which has gone before.

Things do show up around you, often from unexpected places. For instance, the other day I had a conversation with a friend who has been working with me on the show since it began. He revealed that it was not easy to grasp my grand dream, because he could not see how to receive any potential return on investment. I would have to be able to communicate that before he would consider taking action.

Wow! What a wakeup call! My ability to communicate my vision held a key to my success. My idea could be inspiring, however, it would be important to demonstrate to others how they get their money back (i.e., return on investment) or see a different return that helps them achieve their personal goals (such as seeing potential improvement in their own lives or the lives of others). This perspective shared by a friend raised my awareness that whether we are marketing to a client, pitching to a buyer or a financier, we need to know enough to tailor our presentation to their Why before they can see its value to them and take the action we are requesting.

This insight from a random conversation contributes to my strategic planning as I pursue my next steps to create presentations and content. I firmly believe that no matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves, we can use the power of our minds to improve them. My task is to get the message out. This year’s New Year’s resolutions will reflect these next steps that support my goals.

If you can make the time to do some inner strategic planning around your goals, by the time New Year’s rolls around, you may have created resolutions that support them as well. They are the kind of resolutions we are all more likely to pursue until they are achieved, no matter what.

I hope you will take some time to define your strategic New Year’s resolutions. If so, we’re going to have another fabulous year, all together.

To Your Success,

Susan

Living the Fairy Tale

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This has been an incredible week. I spent a few days sending messages to everyone I knew to let them know that Noah St. John and I would be appearing on Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family Show. Noah was doing the same thing – letting his list know that we would be on the air. We appeared together and Noah did a fabulous presentation. Then he made the most of the appearance with a follow up blast. Talk about an opportunity to learn so much just by observing Noah and his team in action!

Toward the end of the week, I received a series of congratulations. The one that surprised me the most was when someone told me someone they hadn’t heard the title of my book and did not have any idea of what it was about. (I don’t know why it surprised me. Advertisers tell us that your message has to be seen multiple times before people notice it.)

So I posted the following message in response:

“If it wasn’t a true story, Rainbows Over Ruins would be a fairy tale. I can’t tell you all about it in a post like this, but I can tell you that it happened to me and is the subject of my book Rainbows Over Ruins. That’s why I appeared on The Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family with author Noah St. John.

After the show we talked a little bit more…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=679559178790919&set=vb.344485392298301&type=2&theater

I didn’t get to say very much there because posts have space limitations. What I wanted to share was my slightly edited version of what Noah sent out to his list:

Imagine you rebuild after a landslide. Imagine it inspires you to help others turn crises into opportunities.

Imagine that you’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on training programs and business opportunities to move in that direction. But all it has done is dig you deeper in debt. Imagine you are completely dependent on your spouse for everything, including basic necessities like groceries, clothes, and utilities.

Now imagine you hear an author speak on an interview and what this author says has such a profound effect on you that you decide to try what he’s suggesting.

You start to use his technique and it starts to work and things start to get better

And your life starts to turn around and you get offered your dream job

And publish your first book and start bringing in a six-figure income.

Sound like a fairy tale?

It happened to me and is the subject of my book Rainbows Over Ruins.

Yep, that’s why I appeared on The Hallmark Channel’s Emmy-nominated talk show Home and Family with author Noah St. John.

As one of the show producers, we discussed how I used his method to go from $60,000 in debt to a six-figure income…

If it wasn’t a true story, Rainbows Over Ruins would be a fairy tale.
After the show we talked a little bit more…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=679559178790919&set=vb.344485392298301&type=2&theater

(What I also wanted was someone to write copy like this to help me grab attention the way Noah did.)

So in case you haven’t heard, in Rainbows Over Ruins, I share the creative thought process that has made such a difference for me. I want other people to be able to use it as well. Noah St. John wrote The Book of Afformations and created The Power Habits System, explaining the techniques he discovered that became the “secret sauce” that moved me forward. I utilize his techniques in my book and in my creative work with others.

I’ve learned a valuable lesson this week. People are so busy that it’s important to keep telling them the name of my book, what it’s about and where they can find it. The challenge is to make sure they gain something from the conversation when telling them.

To Your Success,

Susan

Why do you want to develop power habits?

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You are what you think. I know, you are more accustomed to the saying, you are what you eat. But really, even what you eat is a result of what you think. All the silly, seemingly mindless things we do are the result of what we think before we do them. They are only mindless when we have done them so long that they have become automatic habits.

One of the most important aspects of the creative thought process involves catching ourselves in a detrimental habit and changing it through the creation of more positive ones. Noah St. John calls them Power Habits. Those of you who have read my book Rainbows Over Ruins with its foreword by Noah St John know that Noah played a key role in helping me get unstuck when I was going through a difficult time.

It wasn’t so much that negative thought habits were undermining my personal and professional aspirations. Rather, I was not developing the power of my thoughts in a more positive direction. At first, Noah taught me about Afformations – the positive why questions that make a powerful shift possible. They enabled me to make a rapid turnaround in my day to day experiences. As I saw the results unfolding, I wanted to learn more about this technique, as well as Noah’s Power Habits system.

I found both techniques to be easy to understand, simple to learn and practice, and extremely beneficial. They are useful whenever you encounter a contrast or conflict in your activities or relationships with others. In practice, they provide a means to examine what’s creating the conflict and find creative solutions to it.

Here’s an example. In my work as a line producer, it’s very easy to become buried in financial details. At certain points, like someone who cannot see the forest for the trees, all we can see is financial limitation and we start saying “no” to every request. We husband our resources to make them stretch over the required period. We may not feel happy about it, but we do feel justified. In some way, we feel we are serving the best financial interests of the organization. What we may not realize is that we are not only not very popular when we do that, but we are also chaining the spirit of everyone trying to create on the project. When you are developing and producing creative content, that’s a pretty big problem.

Thankfully, once you are aware that a negative mindset can be “flipped” in a more positive direction through the use of afformations, you may choose to turn this situation around to keep the creative spirit on your project unfettered. In my case, I realized that I would be better served if I focused on developing thought habits with limitless possibilities. Everyone involved would have more fun and be able to work from their most creative perspective.

What did I start doing? Afforming. “Why do I search for the most creative solutions for the show?” “Why do I become aware of creative requirements as early as possible so I have enough time to search for them?” “Why do I notice all the possibilities around me?”

The next time a situation presents itself that triggers my old habits, instead of responding with a constricting answer, I think about my new afformations and begin to look for a solution that will enable us to be both creative and financially responsible at the same time. The reward for this response is different. We feel more expansive, sharing our part in the creative process together.

This is not a one-time fix. Every time this situation (or one like it) comes up, I have to remember to choose the more positive, supportive response. I have to remember to ask those questions or the old habits will surface by default. However, I am finding that each time I catch myself in older patterns and apply the new techniques, it gets easier. The newer perspective comes more rapidly and I can utilize it with the desired results more readily.

If you are experiencing this type of automatic reaction, you may want to learn more about afformations and the Power Habits system. I wholeheartedly recommend it. You can find out more about my book Rainbows Over Ruins, and the creative thought process at my website www. susansherayko.com – and there is an affiliate link to Noah’s work as well.

To Your Success,

Susan

Waiting to Inhale

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Easter weekend and I am enjoying a quiet weekend at home. It is as if I am waiting to inhale. Within the past couple weeks, I moved from what is called “production” to “distribution” status on my book, Rainbows Over Ruins. As I pressed the start button for the fax machine to send my final approval form to the publisher, my heart skipped a beat.

It has taken time to write and edit. Now, the dream will be a reality. My mind races with questions. Who will I tell about the book? How will I tell them about it? Why will it be of value to others? Thankfully, Balboa Press has a solid marketing staff who are there to help me through the process.

I also just returned from one of Noah St. John’s training sessions in Ohio. It was so much fun to meet with other coaches who are using power habits and afformations with clients. We each came home with an extra added feature – a diagnostic test we can use to evaluate what may be holding our clients back from achieving their ambitions.

Not only that, but on the flight home, I picked up a copy of April’s Spirit Magazine. I rarely read inflight magazines, but the cover story was so compelling. “Van Phillips asked three questions that changed the world. You can ask them too.”

What an incredible coincidence! I was returning from the Ohio training with the man who had introduced me to the power of Afformations, positive questions that can provide breakthrough transformations. They certainly have for me and I now incorporate them into my coaching and writing.

Now, SQuire Rushnell would not call this a coincidence at all. He would call it a God Wink, an unopened gift that has been placed right in front of us, tying the bow so to speak on a package, emphasizing an aspect of our experience. Even knowing about God Winks is a God Wink for Rushnell has appeared on our show a few times, but I have never met him.

Anyway, the article’s author, Warren Berger, is not just covering a news story on Van Phillips’ incredible accomplishments creating the new generation of prosthetic limbs. Nor is he writing about how to make “conversation interesting” as he put it. Berger is talking about “beautiful questions” that have the potential to cause change. After learning about Van Phillips, Berger asked himself “what if we kept asking why and what if?” Berger’s life direction changed. He now participates with the Right Question Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts to promote more curiosity in school and businesses.

Like Noah St. John, Berger talks about how the answer is in the question. I imagine he felt the same enthusiasm I felt when I first heard about Afformations. For me, it was seeing a connection between what Noah wrote and the Biblical statement: “Ask and it is given.” My mind whirled. What if questions are the answer? What if how we ask is important? What if the Why game was the most important game we could ever play with our children, even if it exhausted us?

Van Phillips is still asking questions. He wants to know why it is possible to provide these state-of-the-art prosthetics to land mine victims in war zones. Berger is suggesting that we ask beautiful questions of ourselves and participate through rightquestion.org and amorebeautifulquestion.com. He’s also written a book, “A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas.” St. John is educating others on the power of positive Why questions at noahstjohn.com. His new book, “The Power of Afformations” even includes a few words of my story in it.

To learn more about how I am incorporating these questions into guiding others on the creative process most effectively, keep watching this blog for news about when Rainbows Over Ruins is available and where you can obtain it.

As new activities ready to kick into gear, that momentary pause between breaths shifts and my mind begins to whirl around a new set of beautiful questions. Have a lovely holiday weekend and ask yourself some beautiful questions.

To Your Success,

Susan

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