positive self-talk Archives - rainbowsoverruins

Channeling Grief into Creativity with Uma Girish

April 9, 2015 By ssherayko Leave a Comment

Channeling Grief into Creativity with Uma Girish

Bright and early on Friday, I was talking with Uma Girish, one of my next interviews on the Rebuilding Your Life…. Podcast. I became aware of Uma through the 30-Day Podcast Challenge where she introduced her podcast, The Grammar of Grief. Grief is a natural byproduct of loss, whether we are losing a loved one or everything that we have built up in our lives so I was looking for someone to talk about the topic – and there was Uma.

The stages of grief are well documented. In the immediate aftermath of an event, the first responders and community of support (whether friends, family, church and community, hospital or the Red Cross) get us through the shock and strong emotions we experience.

And then we are home alone with more questions than answers, coping with our new reality. There are often so many things to do in our physical world that we are not paying attention to the symptoms of grieving that are popping up around us. I know that for weeks, Peter and I rescued everything we could from our destroyed home as we figured out what lay ahead of us. Although we conscientiously made efforts to get back to our normal routines, it was challenging. When we finally settled into the rental house that would be our home until the financial issues were resolved, we immediately had physical symptoms of distress and spent weeks with the chiropractor, and the anxiety was relentless. Other people may experience a great deal of loneliness, hostility and guilt.

It’s easy to sink into depression under these circumstances. That’s why a friend at church, Sue Smith (who is a therapist), gave me a routine to follow that might stave off the more serious symptoms of depression – and I was watching for any telltale signs. She suggested that I spend some time everyday doing each of several tasks: Be in beauty or find inspiration through prayer or meditation. Eat good food that has been cooked as if company was coming. Get enough sleep, at least 7-8 hours. Get some exercise. Laugh. Watch TV, listen to tapes and laugh. Talk with a friend with whom you can share anything. Learn something new. Over time, I added a couple of my own. Be of service. Helping others helps you feel better as well. And spend a few minutes every morning to express gratitude and appreciation for life and where you see movement toward restoring your life and building toward something better.

When we are grieving, we may find it difficult to make that shift toward a renewed future. We may have rebuilt as much of the life we had as possible, yet a gaping hole remains and it stops us from enjoying ourselves. We draw a blank on pursuing a different future and don’t want to lose our memories of what was before. This is where Uma Girish comes into the conversation.

Uma is a Grief Guide and certified Dream Coach, as well as an award-winning author. Her book, Losing Amma, Finding Home: A Memoir About Love, Loss and Life’s Detours is published by Hay House. In it she chronicles her own story of the grief journey she undertook when she lost her mother. That journey became the impetus for her work as a grief guide and the creation of her message: We are not the same person we were before the loss. Although we are changed by the experience of loss, it also opens a portal to a new dream that comes to us through the pain of loss. Our healing journey is to recognize that dream, embrace it and experience the joy of our new creation.

As Uma comes from a place of similar experience, she has the ability to explain some aspects of how we are able to do this through looking at the unfinished business in our lives. And I love her way of describing how gratitude can help us move from being a victim to a victor. She calls it “shapeshifting” our grief story.

This is transformational work. To facilitate progress, Uma offers private sessions via phone and Skype, as well as an eCourse From Grief to Gratitude through her website www.umagirish.com. She is also the co-founder of the International Grief Council which seeks to educate and empower those who are grieving a loss.

I’d like you to meet Uma Girish. She’s one of my next guests on Rebuilding Your Life: Moving from Disaster to Prosperity. The 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.

Please get ready to listen in as we learn more about channeling grief into creativity with Uma Girish.

To Your Success,

Susan

Ready to Rebuild Your Life?

March 21, 2015 By ssherayko Leave a Comment

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.

“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

Move Beyond Fear and Other Limitations

February 25, 2015 By ssherayko Leave a Comment

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.

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

The Recipe for Serendipity

January 18, 2015 By ssherayko Leave a Comment

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