rainbowsoverruins

Ready to Rebuild Your Life?

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I’m ready to help. After taking the past couple months to complete the 30-Day Podcast Challenge, the podcast is official! The series is live – and the first 3 episodes are available through iTunes and Stitcher. The series is all about helping you rebuild your life, whatever your personal disaster may be. I describe it in the One Sheet that tells people about the show, especially publicists and potential guests. Our Home and Family publicist read it for me and gave it his blessing – thank you, Alfred – so I’d like to share it here so you’ll get a better idea of what it’s all about.

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“REBUILDING YOUR LIFE: MOVING FROM DISASTER TO PROSPERITY” with Susan Sherayko is a podcast where we help you transform your life by changing what you’re telling yourself. We engage in discussion with those who have experienced a disaster, as well as those who help us come through the experience. We look at what they did to heal, rebuild, and where they are now.

REBUILDING YOUR LIFE… will share stories with you, bring in experts in contemporary brain research and various kinds of positive self-talk, and provide action steps that can help you discover the truth of this information over the course of this series.

Natural disasters such as fire, flood, earthquake and landslides; financial disasters where we lose everything; lost relationships; bad marriages and business failures — What they all seem to have in common is that disasters come suddenly, unexpectedly and beyond your control. The effect is devastating, affecting every aspect of your life – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. In a flash, you lose all that you have created – or accumulated – around you. Your sense of security vanishes and for a period of time you are in shock, only to experience fear and a sense of powerlessness when the shock wears off.

However, we have the ability to overcome the negative situations and feelings of despair, fear and doubt that accompany disasters. This is where you find out how. Whatever the circumstances, – whether you feel powerless over your finances, health, bad habits, physical destruction, or relationships – you do have the power to turn your thoughts in a positive direction and rebuild your life.

REBUILDING YOUR LIFE…is hosted by two time Emmy nominated producer and author Susan Sherayko. She knows the subject intimately – inside and out. She’s been through this. Susan used these principles to get past the after effects of her disaster. A LifeSuccess consultant and Power Habits coach, her book Rainbows Over Ruins describes how she applied success principles, the creative thought process and positive self-talk in her own life to overcome the after effects of a landslide.

REBUILDING YOUR LIFE… That’s what this series is all about. Whatever your circumstances, you too can experience health, financial security and a sense of well-being once again. You can rebuild and move on to something even better. You can overcome the physical problems, fears and grieving, the mental challenges and negative thought habits that hold you prisoner.

Are you ready to move from disaster to prosperity? The time to start is now, right where you are. Tune in – and let’s start getting you back on your feet right now – not in the distant future.

Produced by Susan Sherayko, the REBUILDING YOUR LIFE: MOVING FROM DISASTER TO PROSPERITY podcast is available iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/rebuilding-your-life-moving/id975055547 as well as Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=62871&refid=stpr

Contact: Susan Sherayko, susan@susansherayko.com

So there you have it. That’s what I’ve been developing for the past couple months during the 30 Day Podcast Challenge.

I now invite you to tune in and listen to the first podcasts in the series, like it, follow it or subscribe to the RSS feed. I would greatly appreciate it if you would become one of the first ambassadors to get the word out about the series, especially if you know anyone who is going through challenging times.

May you and yours discover the miracle of positive self-talk as part of your journey – whether you want to put a disaster behind you or embrace a powerful path to prosperity.

I’ll be traveling with you,

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

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

The Joy of a 3 Day Weekend

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I really needed this fabulous weekend. The past couple weeks have been stressful as we strive to create great shows, while facing the challenge to bring the season in “on time and on budget.” So, it has felt great to kick back, curled up to finish a novel I’ve been slowly reading. I had planned to do things around the house and to promote Rainbows Over Ruins.

If you haven’t read my book yet, the story focuses on my growing awareness that there is a creative thought process that makes it possible to identify what you truly desire, choose actions that support it and get the results you want. Since my entire career has centered on producing, facilitating, and supporting the unfettered creative spirit, coaching this process in order to achieve our creative potential is a natural outgrowth. The book has been a first step in that direction.

Anyway, a funny thing happened on the way to making progress on my To-Do list. One of those items was to focus on the needs and desires of my target audience. Because the book is about our recovery after a landslide destroyed our home, I was looking for people who have to change for any number of reasons or survive difficult situations as I have done. They will have to prepare to transition to new opportunities, develop their outer game by setting goals and taking positive actions as they rethink, redefine and reignite their purpose. If they are developing businesses (and a significant number are), they will engage in strategic planning, team building, and deal with conflict resolution. It will be easier if they ask for help.

As I meandered through the Internet doing a Google search, the keyword I liked most was the word “creativity.” When you are in recovery mode, you benefit from the ability to access your creative potential. This involves the inner game, connected to limitless possibilities. As new creative techniques are learned and applied to common life and workplace challenges, an entirely different energy emerges. It yields a positive outlook and forward looking capacity, even in the face of adversity. It energizes the creative spirit and makes all things possible. If you learn how to flip your thinking, pop paradigms, ask better questions and use power habits, you find your creative self and reap the full benefit of the creative process for personal development and business projects.

With thoughts about creativity tumbling around my mind, I felt a call to look over the draft of my business plan. If you’ve read the book, you know that I have a dream to create a center where people can learn these skills, as well as writing an additional book about the creative workplace. Turning again to the draft proposal, I was reminded of one of my Dad’s stories. It was a bit of a horror story, really, about the tragic ends to doctoral students who could not answer one key question when they went before the panel for their doctoral review: What is the benefit of this work for individuals and businesses? What is the value? In the case of the business plan, the questions would be: Why do we need a Center? Why do we need to improve our creativity?

So my last day off is being spent answering those questions. It has been very helpful to turn to the work of Bruce Nussbaum, author of Creative Intelligence. (I had picked up a copy of his book several months ago in one of those serendipitous moments – a Godwink – when an entire table at Barnes and Noble was dedicated to books on creativity.)

It feels good to hear my own words validated on his pages. We are all creative, even when we are just doing our jobs, even if we don’t think of ourselves that way. But Nussbaum also makes two points that address the question if this work has value to others. Of course, he believes it does.

From a needs perspective, everyone feels the effects of a rapidly changing world. We live in what the military calls VUCA, a time that is “volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.” Nussbaum observes his students coping with this by an awareness that they need to create their own opportunities “in order to survive, and they [want] to learn how.” (Creative Intelligence, p. 16). Of course, it isn’t just the students who face this. All of us do. “We need to prepare ourselves for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, to solve problems that we haven’t recognized” (CI, p. 33).

This affects anyone in transition or any form of life crisis. Just as the rug is pulled out from under them, they face the need to redefine and recreate themselves in a new world they barely understand. They need a way to raise their awareness that there are creative skills they can learn so that they have the means to face these issues in a proactive way.

But the joy of this work – and I’m all about joy and well-being – does not center on the needs aspect. Bruce Nussbaum also mentions Sonia Manchanda, of IDIOM (India), who asks: “Why not focus on aspirations – dreams that we may not believe are even possible?” (CI, p. 29)

Remember, within each crisis is opportunity. Each of us has the chance to learn to focus our ideas into creations that have value and bring us joy, a sense of accomplishment, and the chance to help others. Great potential comes from strong aspirations coupled with the willingness to flip one’s counterproductive thoughts, develop power habits and direct them toward successful results.

I may not have a center yet, however, thanks to a strange meandering 3 day weekend, I am centered on its value. May you find similar times to discover your aspirations and begin to see them unfold.

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

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