April 2010 Archives

I love reading Penelope Trunk's posts - they're always thought-provoking, controversial and stimulating.  I'm thankful that she has a large voice and an even larger audience because she is able to prod so many of us to think about what we truly believe, in comparison with and contrast to her very strident views.

I must say, though, that her recent post on BNET - Terrible Career Advice Women Give Each Other - really got me going, and I have a feeling it will arouse a vigorous response from you too.

Please do check it out!  And read my comments on her post here:

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So folks, I'd LOVE to hear from you.  PLEASE! leave a comment below.  What do you think about Penelope's views, and mine.  Share your voice! 

Give us some great career advice for women - puleese!

As we move into a time of planting new seeds and cultivating what we truly wish to create, it's time also to weed our gardens - discard old remnants from past plantings that thwart our growth, and cease to be beneficial as we evolve.

This Spring, I'm doing a great deal of emotional weeding.  Truth be told (and so many people do not tell the truth about their real-life problems, so here we go), I've been extremely challenged by financial mistakes of my past.  I don't regret these "mistakes," as they are fodder for learning, but that doesn't make them any easier to resolve.  And boy, has there been learning!

What are these serious financial mistakes? 

I've realized that I've been held hostage by old "structures of knowing" around money formed years ago. 

These mental models of how things work were not fully in my awareness until now -- and they include my believing that:

1. It will be virtually impossible to make fantastic money if I'm doing what I love in my heart and soul

2. If I work for someone else, I'll be terribly hurt, as I was in my past corporate career

3. I have to work incredibly hard to be successful

4. When abundant money flows again from my work (as it did in my corporate career), I'll misuse the power that comes with it (as I did before)

5. To make great money, I'll lose the precious family time I've worked so hard to achieve

6. I can't admit out loud that I'm not having the financial success I want, because then I won't be a strong role model for other women

7. I can "affirm" away scarcity

These structures of knowing have wreaked havoc on my financial health, and I'm taking powerful action to revise each and every one, and its working!

(For help about uncovering your limiting "structures of knowing," see Dr. Maria Nemeth's book The Energy of Money).

Unearthing these limiting mental models is a vital step to shedding behaviors (financial and otherwise) that keep you from the joy and success you long for.

And by the way, I have seen with hundreds of people I work with and in my own life that knowing about the Law of Attraction and practicing abundance principles is often not an effective enough guidance system to shift you into a prosperous state, when you're really stuck around money.

I've found that what truly WORKS in shifting you out of your money lack is to 1) release old beliefs and behaviors (I call these your "Breakdown Myths") that sabotage your success, 2) connect with your true intentions  and life purpose, 3) gain awareness of your standards of integrity and use them to guide your life, 4) infuse your life with new energy of money, time, creativity, vitality, enjoyment and support, and finally 5) create a S.M.A.R.T. plan with doable goals and steps that move you forward to what you deeply want.

So if you're stuck around money...

1) Read my latest newsletter and the featured article called "Is Your Attitude Keeping You Broke" written by my friend and colleague, holistic financial consultant Denise Hughes. 

 2) Join my Breakthrough Women's Circle

Denise will be holding an hour-long teleseminar on "Achieving the Financial Success You Dream Of: 6 Steps to Financial Growth" for my Breakthrough Women's Circle members only on Wednesday April 14th 1pm to 2pm EST.  She'll also be available next month on the BW Circle forum to answer your specific financial questions! 

If you're not a member of the circle, join now and don't miss it.

3) Reach out to get help and build your success support community today

Get help today.  Don't wait.  Find a coach, join a support community, take a workshop or seminar.  For live support in Connecticut, join me on May 15^th in Norwalk, CT for my Breakthrough to Abundant Success! Seminar.  (Register by April 15^th and save $50). 

My friends, your reality can change in a blink of an eye - I can attest to this.  But it takes a new and different kind of inner and outer work to achieve it.

Is there any better time than now?

I'm a long-time student of the powerful messages of Esther and Jerry Hicks and Abraham.  I love their teachings because the concepts and insights about creating a joyous life ring very true to me and have been highly beneficial in my own life experience, and in helping me feel and create "good" in my life. 

The fascinating thing is that the more I study the idea of deliberate creation - the art of consciously allowing yourself to be in alignment with your creative Source energy - the more layers there are to peel away to get to the heart of it and to make it a consistent practical reality in my life.

Here's what I know to be true about the art of deliberate creation, based on my personal experience:

1) We are continually co-creating what's in our lives, whether we are aware of it or not

2) There are areas in my life in which I am in the "flow" - that is, full of positive intention, power, and confidence and joyful expectation.  In these areas, what I've created is wonderful.

3) There are other areas in which I have been less than powerful, confident, sure, loving, and at ease.  In these areas, what I've created is far less than wonderful. 

4) Finally, when I actively and consistently shift myself to feel and think differently about the areas in which I'm scared, insecure, and negative, then outward events and experiences change for the better, and often rather quickly.

In my life, there have been things I've created that I'm utterly proud and joyful about.  When I think on these experiences, I realize that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt all along that these would unfold to my highest expectation.  I had no reservations, no qualms, no fears.  My book, Breakdown, Breakthrough, for instance, is one life event that I was sure about.

I knew this book idea was a good one when I was researching it, and I knew without doubt that the concepts that emerged from my study were very important for women to hear, despite the fact that ten literary agents turned me down for the book.  I knew too that I was going to hold out for a fantastic publisher and editor, and have a beautiful collaborative relationship in birthing this book.  That's exactly what happened, through my wonderful publisher Berrett-Koehler and superb editor, Johanna Vondeling (one of the industry's best!).

But I've been less than sure about many, many other things in life and work, all around money and business typically, and those life areas show it.  For example, I've had a wacky relationship with money all my life.   Money either came in great abundance for me, but with a constant soul-felt struggle, or it didn't come at all.  This wonky set of experiences (and some likely past-life stuff too) has impacted my beliefs negatively (actually, it's the other way around, I now realize - my beliefs influenced my "reality").  So I give concentrated effort now to shift my thinking and feeling around money and business.  And it's working.

As I move forward in my research study Women Succeeding Abundantly, I'm noticing that the same is true for women in my study, whether they're aware of it or not!  

Women who are abundantly wealthy have very empowered views and behaviors around money.  Women who have fantastic marriages and family relationships know in their hearts that they deserve their beautiful relationships and have focused on making these relationships a priority and a reality. 

It all amounts to the same thing - we are creating every second of our lives.  The key questions to ask yourself are, "Are you aware that you are a powerful creator, and do you like what you're creating?  If not, do you know what to do about it?"

If not, it's time to deliberately make an internal shift to allow your life to change for the better - and to believe in your ability to co-create what you truly long for most.

For more great information on the art of deliberate creation, check out:

Abraham-Hicks: www.abraham-hicks.com

Ask and It Is Given, by Esther and Jerry Hicks

Money and the Law of Attraction, by Esther and Jerry Hicks

The Abundance Book, by John Randolph Price

Take my "Deliberate Creation" test below: 

1) Think about one key life area (i.e. finances, health, relationships, career, intimacy, spirituality, fun, etc.) in which you've felt in the past very confident and powerful.  Now think about what you've created in that area.  Are you happy with it?  Do you feel good about what you created?

2) Now think about a life area in which you have not been confident or powerful in the past - an area that you've had insecurity and lack of clarity about since early adulthood.  Do you like what you've created in this area? 

3) Do you believe you are co-creating what's happening in your life or that it's happening to you?

I'd LOVE to hear your comments on this.  Are we co-creators or victims of fate and circumstance, and more importantly, are your views bringing joy to you and your life?  If not, do you know what to do about it?

Thanks for your insights!