rainbowsoverruins

NOW ABOUT THOSE RESOLUTIONS

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It’s that time of the year and my email inbox is filled with messages from folks in the self-improvement field telling me how to keep to my resolutions or choose another word like “commit” or a word other than resolutions. They are hitting a nerve. We want to do whatever we can to avoid what we believe is the inevitable sense of failure when we do not keep our resolutions.

If you’ve been following my posts throughout December, I think you’ll agree that I’ve been suggesting something similar all month: Pre-pave the New Year by determining your goals before the holiday rush.

With the holiday weekend here, now is a great time to settle down in front of the TV with movies or sports on the tube as background noise. No, that’s not my recommendation because it’s distracting, however, what I’m about to describe could take a while and I want you to enjoy it.

I want you to take those notes you made about your dreams and goals for 2015, put them in front of you and start to make a plan for how you are going to achieve them. Most of us are really good at making the first list of resolutions. We may even add extra language – I intend to lose 40 pounds; I intend to work out every day. However, we fail to provide some really critical information.

Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to work out? Do you have a result like a promotion you want to receive? Do you have a targeted event to attend? Goals are easier to achieve when you have a date in mind to achieve your goal – such as losing weight before your high school reunion or your big family wedding. It is also easier to evaluate if your goals are realistic when you attach a date to it. If you feel overwhelmed when you add a target time frame to your resolution, chances are that you need to break your resolution into smaller steps.

Are you being specific enough? Can I measure signs of my success? I may say that I want to make 2015 the best year ever, but what would have to happen for me to recognize that I have reached that goal by December 31st?

Are you overwhelmed just looking at your list? Which of your goals/resolutions are really important? There may be a few on your master list of goals that would be nice, but you don’t have a great deal of passion about them. So go ahead, take your list and reorder it according to your priorities.

Are you ready? Go make, edit and prioritize your list now before you get distracted.

Clue to potential failure number 1: If you find your head filling with negative self-talk, write down what you are telling yourself on a separate piece of paper. Mark Waldman calls it your C.R.A.P. sheet. You are acknowledging the negative while honoring your brain’s concern for your well-being. That seems to satisfy the sense of self-preservation, allowing you to explore possibilities instead of stopping you.

When we continue, we’ll identify the next steps to take your goals to the next level.

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

The Key to Developing Persistance

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Tenacity. It is a quality that develops when you are fixed upon your purpose. It’s a necessary quality to have when you are trying something challenging or that will take considerable time to achieve. Tenacity implies that you will do whatever it takes to accomplish your vision and reach your goals.   It involves persistence, determination and perseverance, all strong words that support the theories of success.

Regular students of success philosophies are familiar with the writings and stories about persistence. Napoleon Hill gave us the often used quote: Anything the human mind can conceive and believe, when organized around a purpose and a plan, can be achieved. All too often, the organization phrase is left out in common usage, yet it is the key to achievement. Knowing your purpose and developing a plan that you can follow with persistence yields the prize.

Bob Proctor, the success coach commonly known from his appearance in the movie The Secret, began his successful pursuits when he studied the words of Napoleon Hill and owned them through his actions.   He went from $4,000 a year income as a fireman to over $100,000 within a year. He built multiple, highly successful janitorial services using the principles of success before moving into the personal development field. To this day, Proctor devotes one month a year re-reading one specific chapter every day. It is the chapter on persistence.

Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich is filled with stories of perseverance. An entire chapter is devoted to persistence. Greg Reid and Sharon Lechter picked up on one of those stories as they wrote Three Feet from Gold, the tale of a young man who gave up his pursuit of a vein of gold, only to have the new owner find it three feet from where he had stopped. Greg has gone on to write extensively on this quality of persistence – stickiness.

Hill is clear on one point. The ability to develop determination and the self-discipline to pursue our goals begins with purpose. A couple weeks ago, I suggested that you might find this a great time to plan for your New Year’s resolutions so that you could build them around your goals. Such planning constitutes a great strategy session that improves your chance of achieving goals because you attach them to your purpose and the big “Why” behind the actions you choose to take.

If you are going through this process, you may want to ask a few questions of yourself. What is it about your goal that resonates deep within you? Call it passion. Call it purpose. Why does it fill you with enthusiasm and drive? Why does it stick with you even when you experience obstacles? The answer is extremely important to your ability to maintain the pressure that moves you along the path to your greatest desires.

And if you are unclear about your purpose, one of your resolutions may be to identify your purpose this year. A good place to start might be to observe yourself. What are you drawn to? What do you study or watch? Who are your friends? Who are your heroes and heroines? Where do you like to go? What things do you want? If money is your big goal, ask yourself why? What does money mean to you? What feelings come up when you think about having money? How will you use it? If you had all the money you currently dream about having, what would your life look like? As you go through these questions, a pattern of feelings will emerge around the things you have in your current lifestyle and the ones you would like to have.   How will you feel when you have them?

Purpose brings a sense of direction. Purpose brings passion. Passion brings tenacity and the ability to stick to it. The emotions you feel when you sense movement toward that which you desire brings such joy and well-being. Take the time this season to align with how you envision your dreams and draw the road map that appears to take you to them. With this in hand, may you find all the tenacity you require to not only keep your New Year’s resolutions, but also move steadily toward your goals.

To Your Success,

Susan

Going Viral with Appreciation

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Did you feel it? My inbox and social media sites have been filled with expressions of gratitude as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the States.

Since the publication of Rainbows Over Ruins, I often hear from people who have been inspired by my story. After all, if I can survive the after effects of a landslide, and go on to thrive, others can hold onto the possibility that they can too – in all areas of life. They can use the road map I have shared in order to come to understand the power of their minds and retrain their thinking. They can start to grasp the creative process.

Still, when you are in the midst of a crisis, where do you begin? I used to ask myself, how do people pull themselves up by the bootstraps when they have no boots? And the answer was to imagine the boots. It may be a little too simplistic, but imagination is one of the great powers of the mind. Over time, I’ve found that our imagination yields richer results when we open its treasures with an attitude of gratitude and appreciation.

So how do we start? How do we express a sense of appreciation when we are at a low ebb in our emotional life? Here it is. Take the time to appreciate one thing in your life that makes you feel better, brings joy or a hint of well-being every day.

There is an immediate shift in the energy you are putting out. The new energies are closer to what you want to be feeling. The magnetism of that improved frequency draws more of the same. The more you do it, the more you attract.

One of the cornerstones of my meditative work is to express gratitude. I have been following someone’s suggestion that I look for 10 things every day for which I am thankful. Sometimes I have to stretch to think of so many things, but I focus on this feeling as it opens me to new and wonderful ideas during the rest of the day. It does not matter what it may be – a moment of rest and relaxation, sunshine, rain, food, shelter, loved ones, being greeted by a happy pet, solitude, friendship, a new inspired thought, a surprise gift, the opportunity to give to others, goals achieved, the ability to work toward my goals, the connection to consciousness and on and on. The key is to express your appreciation every day.

So what are you happy for today? What are you grateful for? What do you appreciate? If you are looking for an action step to improve your life, grab a pen, pencil or crayon and memorialize it in your journal or drawing pad – even on the back of a napkin. And keep doing it. If you’d like to spread the sense of appreciation to others, send me a comment, make a You-tube video, let the people who serve you know that they are appreciated. Let’s keep the feeling of Thanksgiving going. Let’s go viral with the feeling of appreciation.

May you share your love in the form of appreciation to all around you today.

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

Reports from the Field

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It’s an interesting experience – receiving feedback on your first book and interacting with those first individuals. I certainly have a vision of what I would like people to gain from the reading. Still, it feels a little different in reality.

The first surprise is that people now want to talk to me about it. They are surprised by my openness. They are inspired. They begin to look at their own lives differently. They begin to focus on their future plans. They begin to look at what they are thinking and whether their thoughts are moving toward their goals or away from them. And because I have shared my life with them, they begin to share theirs with me.

Peter has been incredibly supportive. He encourages his friends who may be going through tough times to read the book. Last Sunday, one of them dropped by for a 3 hour visit. He’s been having very challenging health issues – sudden and life threatening problems with his heart that became more complicated because of blood clots. Peter handed him a copy of Rainbows Over Ruins to read while he recuperated when he got out of the hospital and for several weeks he’s been telling me how much he’s enjoying it. In fact, he enjoyed it enough to leave a review on Amazon.

But Sunday, when he came to the house, he wanted to share. He was not complaining about his health. He was focused on his future goals – on the nicer person he is becoming – on the ability we all have to change our thoughts and flip our thinking so that it supports our dreams. Funny, it’s startling to hear someone who “gets it.” It’s what I want, of course, but pleasantly surprising nonetheless.

Another one of Peter’s friends has faced health challenges requiring a transplant. After facing the possibility of death continually for years, he is facing emotional changes now that he has the chance to live. Rainbows Over Ruins opens up the thought of possibilities for him.

I may understand his reaction. I know that when we got through the landslide, I had the sensation of urgency surrounding the pursuit of what I wanted in life. “If not now, when?” echoed in my mind and became the impetus for all that I have done now. I heard similar comments from a producing colleague after her return to a more normal life after surviving breast cancer. In each case, they need to turn their inspired visions, energized by the new positive feelings surrounding survival, into a realistic plan to pursue their dreams, now that they can. The book is a tool to raise their awareness, however, I would encourage them to work with a coach or counselor to help channel all their new found enthusiasm.

While reading Rainbows Over Ruins, a co-worker realized that she and her husband have never discussed what they wanted in their retirement years. Inevitable as it is (and just around the corner), they had never taken the time to dream and plan for the future. They are so busy with their current work that planning for the next stage in their lives has been overlooked. Now they want to spend some dream time together.

I enjoy hearing their responses to the book. It makes me happy to know that my labor of love is reaching others in such a powerful way. And it reminds me that my work only begins when I raise their awareness of what is possible. They will want to develop the mental muscles that provide support for their desires. It’s a daily workout, a daily prescription for success in their future endeavors. We all benefit by starting the workout routine that helps us achieve our dreams.

It’s my birthday. A few of these friends will join me to celebrate my successes as well as their own. You could be doing the same thing.

So what do I say? Start now! Start right where you are! You have everything you need to begin – using the power of your mind.

To Your Success,

Susan

The Secret to Achieving Success is Simply SHOWING UP

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This morning as I perused my email inbox, I noticed a theme to the subject lines. There were several about persistence. John Maxwell had sent a daily message to “keep on keeping on…Those who quit never succeed…never make it to the top.”

And yesterday, while showing a colleague around the ranch, the topic turned to the importance of continuing to “apply pressure.” Keith had read Rainbows Over Ruins and it was his way of explaining what Peter and I have done to accomplish our goals. It was a good way to put it. I call it focus.

In the book, I apply this pressure in a number of ways daily. Gentle or intense, the point is to keep the vision in mind and do at least one thing every day that can help move you toward achieving that goal.

Sounds simple, right? It is. As Jim Rohn would say, “simple to do, simple not to do.”

One of the things that I have discovered through my personal journey is that as a result of consistent focus, many opportunities appear. I may be going along nicely and then begin to notice points of strain, a feeling of completion of one goal while still unclear about the next step. It makes me uneasy. In fact, it is as if my focus is being pulled off course – which it is. For example, Rainbows Over Ruins has just been published. The next progressive step is to promote the book, letting people know about it and, in the process, my work on the subject. However, publication has created a void. The energy I had focused on publication needs to be redirected and I am aware of a flood of projects vying for my attention.

For a time, this makes it challenging to maintain your focus while you go through a process of discernment. You need to ask yourself which action or choice feels most likely to bring you the results that best match your long term vision or short term goal. It is not unusual for the best choice to also include an aspect of personal growth that will require you to reach outside your comfort zone. All of which can be very uncomfortable.

Why is it important to develop your personal process of discernment? You can save yourself a great deal of suffering if you recognize the source of agitation or contrast when it comes up and immediately begin to ask positive, open questions. Why? What if? The answers are often in the questions.

I now pay attention to those feelings. I remember Bob Proctor telling us that we aren’t living close enough to the edge of possibilities unless we feel that way. The discomfort comes from not having made the choice. Once you make it, once you decide the best course of action, you move into action mode and dive right in. The stress reduces and you know where to place your immediate focus once again.

If you are feeling this way, I challenge you to carve out some quiet time to look at your discomforts today and ask what you would prefer. Ask yourself why this preference makes you feel better as you go about your business, doing the next presented thing, maintaining the pressure right where you are while you wait for the answer to come.

To Your Success,

Susan

PREPARING TO LAUNCH

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With the arrival of the first books, all my energies have shifted. For so long my focus has been on writing, nurturing my relationship with the subconscious mind that is allied to creative consciousness. I have allowed my Inner Game to dominate my thinking on weekends which is when I make time to do so.

However, taking the publication to others involves developing a strategy, an Outer Game of goals, plans and actions designed to yield my desired results. Of course, I’ve been thinking about it, but here is the moment of truth when actions speak louder than words, literally. There are questions to ask myself. Where do I go from here? What do I hope to accomplish? What will my activities look like once I have manifested my vision?

Although I used to think of strategic planning in finite, tangible terms, I have come to realize that it involves both inner and outer aspects. What we create is as much what we visualize in our minds as it is the outer manifestation. So what do we need to imagine? What mind movies need to stream across the screen of the conscious mind?

When I took strategic planning in graduate school, six areas stood out: products and services, clients or customers, personnel, operations, finances, marketing and the surrounding environment. As we answer questions, we define and affect all the other components of our results.

S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). – What is the environment in which we find ourselves? Is there a great deal of competition? What is our U.S.P., Unique Selling Proposition? What value do we bring to our prospects?

Products and Services. My mentors were quick to ask me: what happens after your book is published? And they weren’t referring only to book tours and book signings. Did I want to keep writing? Was I building a legacy as a thought leader? Or as a media coach? Was I building a business with products and services?

Personnel. Who needs to be part of the team? Do I want people to be in an office full-time or would I be better served by hiring services from outside vendors or virtual assistants (VAs). Do I have someone to handle the accounting? Do I need legal services?

Operations. How will we make our products? How will we deliver products and services? Will we find fulfillment companies or do it ourselves? What systems will we have in place for payment? Will we ever meet those who purchase in person or will we connect primarily via phone and Internet? Will we interact one-on-one or in larger groups? Will our office be “brick and mortar” or “click?” Will we work from home or obtain space for offices and production?

For the moment, my office will be virtual – my website – which will serve to dispense information on products and services, a taste of my teaching, core information and a point of sale. In earlier websites, I forgot the point of sale part, but if a website is to provide the means to build a business, it needs to help generate income.

I’ve spent the past few weeks writing content for the site, as well as working with Kim Barbieri, a visual marketer who has helped Peter and me with our books and websites for several years now. Kim helped me choose the look of the site by suggesting I browse through several sites I knew and pick out the ones I liked. That would serve as a jumping off point. It reminded me of how Steve Lenchner (Lenchner Glass) works with his clients, suggesting that they bring in samples to provide a feel for their likes. (Note: Both Kim and Steve have radio interviews talking about their businesses archived on my BlogTalkRadio show “Susan Sherayko Online” at BlogTalkRadio.com.)

Anyway, Kim had me visit the Template Monster. From there, it was all about choosing the architecture that would give me visual results I desired. My preliminary design utilizes a photo changer for visual interest until I feel more proficient working with audio and video on the site. The website – www.susansherayko.com – is live, however, I will continue to test and tweak it.

Marketing. How will I make people aware of my products and services in order to share them with others? Although we enjoy creating products, if we are to continue to do so, we will need financial resources. Whether we are selling or raising such resources, we will have to communicate with others in a way that inspires them to engage with us.

Writers have a variety of options based on whether they self-publish or are being handled by a publishing house, but they still have to choose how actively they participate in order to achieve the best results.

I will kick off my marketing campaign with a book launch. It’s a big party to celebrate publishing a book. Now, I have always enjoyed a fun theme party. For years, Peter and I held an annual beast feast in January to wrap up the holiday season. Not knowing exactly what one does at a launch party, I’ve been doing a little research. I think it can be lots of fun, especially when you consider that launches can incorporate both live and virtual attendees. You can invite everyone you have ever wanted to “have over” and they can join the festivities no matter where they are.

Additionally, you can invite “book bloggers” to participate when an area of your party space is set up with computers where people can interact, post comments and pictures and truly celebrate! I’ll keep you posted on how this goes as this is a new kind of party for me.

Finances. All of these answers that we design into our project, simple or complex, have to be fueled. They help us determine our budget, the means of financing and how it will be controlled.

Add one more category: Lifestyle. When all is said and done, what will your lifestyle look like? Look at the day to day way you’ll live, as well as the leisure possibilities when you are successful. Now is the time to edit your decisions before they are in place and more costly to shift. Of course, you can always make changes along the way. My plans have clarified over the months of going through the publishing process, working with my mentor and growing awareness of options.

Questions keep coming. How do you work with a V.A.? What is the most effective marketing plan for my lifestyle? How do you launch in cyberspace?

I’ve learned to ask better questions to help me attain the results I desire. Here’s hoping you do too.

To Your Success,

Susan

The Willingness to Re-Focus

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Have you ever found yourself off course? It’s that crazy sensation of being overwhelmed, having too much to do, or being pulled and pushed away from the one thing you want to accomplish toward its polar opposite. Circumstances and events distract us continually.

 In the midst of all the turmoil around us, we have to be willing and able to re-focus. I believe Napoleon Hill called this ability self-discipline and he wrote that the only way to achieve the self- discipline necessary to achieve a goal was to have a strong desire, a purpose, a “one thing” we set out to accomplish.

 I’m interrupted and distracted all the time. When I step out of my office to walk through the production compound, I may be bombarded by questions and requests from every person who comes up to me.  It’s why they rarely see without my notebook. It’s a repository for all their desires.  It’s also a tangible reminder of what I had set out to accomplish when I started and a checklist of what needs to be done in any given day.

Still, even the day’s activities may pull me off course unless I take the time early each morning to focus on my primary goals. With the daily production schedule we keep, it would be easy to choose to sleep in an extra hour or so. However, that hour serves to reconnect me to my purpose. It is the time I take to meditate, to give thanks for what has been working in every area of my life, to ask for the one thing I could do this day that helps me feel the way I want to feel when I am living my purpose. It is the time to align with my subconscious and the quantum fields of possibility. It is my time to center in all that is and all that remains, consciousness.

From this place of restorative silence, I am able to lay aside the emotional angst around me. I can turn off the seemingly unending sources of negativity and clashes of opinions that come from the news, the computer headlines and the papers.  From this place of peace, I can observe the contrasts, observing where each voice comes from and where their vision would take them. I can ask for the resolution of conflict for the good of all concerned, releasing my personal opinions in order to make room for new possibilities and solutions.  From this point of center, I reach an awareness of what action I can take that day to move me toward my goals.  I can then state affirmations and afformations in an interplay of conscious statements with questions for the subconscious.

I am grateful for the awareness that everyone has a desire to create and the ability to do so. Contrasts and conflicts are part of the creative process as we become aware of where we are and where we want to be. As we observe the differences, we can ask for a solution that enables us to feel the way we want to feel when it is resolved. Why is a solution available now? Why do we become aware that we can be guided to a solution?

As long as I am willing to re-focus on my purpose, a daily plan emerges with at least one thing I can do today, within the context of all that I may need to do this day that helps me move toward my goal.  When I follow through on that action, my inner gyroscope senses I am on track and I feel good now, right where I am. 

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