I’ve been loving the Olympics. I see dedicated men and women pouring their hearts, love, time, energy, and bodies into their chosen events.  They are ice dancing, speed skating, bob-sledding, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, solo skating….  Their bodies and purposes are all different, yet they share the common purpose of excellence and athleticism.  The bodies of speed skaters are slim, short with strong legs; the bodies of hockey players are bulkier, and larger. Ski jumpers are lean and long; and bob-sled teams have strong legs.  Their training regimens are all different.  Their athletic purposes are expressed differently – grace, rhythm, creativity for the ice dancers; forward speed for the speed skaters;  strategy, speed, skill, aggressiveness for hockey players;  flight and landing for the ski jumpers.

Like the athletes, many people have the same purpose that can be expressed in different ways.  The purpose might be to be peace, and the expressions might be teaching, leading a march, meditating, or practicing Buddhism.    So, for those of you who thought you loved the work you chose but you are not happy with it, you may need to find another expression of your purpose, one that you are uniquely designed to do.  You don’t necessarily have to change everything.

Last week the people of Port Au Prince, Haiti were tossed, buried, injured, killed, left homeless, and left in grief by a 7.0 earthquake.  The world has rushed to their aid, to do the best we can with what we’ve got.   It is like our own bodies – when a body part is injured our whole repair and protection system bursts into action and rushes to the injury to heal it.

Success is an inside job – it begins in the heart with what matters to you, what you love, and what brings you joy.  Maybe it’s numbers, or music, or cooking, or inspiring, or teaching.  This you knew when you were a child – it is what attracted your attention and was joyful.  Unfortunately, we often choose to ignore our heart in favor of shoulds, opinions, fears.   It can be a long journey back to the heart.

Once you find your way back to your heart, the head does the implementation. It works out the details, gets the help, designs, and plans in service of the heart.

Finally, success is an outside job.  The body gets into action with speaking, writing, building, selling,dealing and doing whatever it takes to bring to reality the heart’s passions and purpose.  This is the most challenging step – to go from the mental, emotional and spiritual energy of the heart and head to the slower, denser, physical energy of the body and of making an idea real.  Just know that it is normal to have bumps and setbacks bringing your brilliance to reality.  

And, when actions and goals are aligned with the heart’s purpose, those goals flow, things work better, and the transition to the physical has more grace and synchronicity.

Moving gracefully from inside to outside, may your success flow in 2010.

Sun and Earth

The wolrld is ours to heal or wound.

Every penny given in care and love to the people of Haiti is a penny of peace, love, hope and healing for Haiti and our world.

Every hand yanking away rubble …  Read More

Coaching Mode!

Ten years ago I hung up the phone and cried tears of gratitude after my first completion call as a coach.  I’ll call him Roy.  He had achieved his goal in about 5 or 6 sessions, and our final call was to acknowledge and celebrate and clean up anything left undone or unsaid.   He had trusted me with his life and heart; and allowed me to journey with him for a while as he created courage and stepped into a new, bigger experience in his life. That moment marked a turning point in my years of seeking fulfilling work, training, certifying, letting go of the old work, starting a business, marketing, and finally coaching.  It’s been many clients and sacred journeys since and I am filled with gratitude for all the people who have allowed me to serve their emerging brilliance.

My parent’s and brother’s home burned down in March – here’s a photograph of their new home. They lost much, but much was salvaged. My dad mailed me a thick envelope of papers of mine he’d saved – a Christmas story I’d written at age 6; a history paper from junior high (with a picture of Snoopy on it!), report cards, and letters I’d written from camp (thinly disguised cries for rescue!). I did not know he’d kept those – it was touching that he’d filed those for 50 years. So that is one blessing that came out of the ashes. Other blessings – their new home has things they want like a screened porch and a front door like my mom had in her childhood home. They’ll be moving in soon, hopefully before Christmas. It’s been a long journey of red tape and decsions! Their good health and help from their children and church has been a blessing.

I’m celebrating 10 years as a coach for the rest of this year. See below how you can celebrate with me.

Peace, Joy,

Now, What Am I Going to Do?

This is what a relative said as she was going through a divorce, had no job, few possessions, and the bad economy to make it just a little more precarious. How many of you are asking that question about finances, your home, real estate, savings, job, relationship? I am. How do we all get out of the mess?

Together. We work together. I was telling you about my parent’s and brother’s home – they sure didn’t build it themselves – it was a team. So how do we get out of our silos and help each other? Here are some ideas.

* I sent out a call for help to colleagues and friends to hang in there with me to increase business this quarter and help me keep up my energy and spirits-yes, the one who writes so optimistically every month. Nice to have a team!
* On Facebook and Twitter I promote people I know, and they promote me.
* I’ve traded, which is great, but it doesn’t pay the bills.
* I heard of a neighborhood that got together and pooled their money to buy and share the equipment they all needed to maintain their woodsy yards – mower, clipper, chipper, trimmer, etc.
* People are giving away a LOT of valuable information on the internet. I am listening to one of dozens on growing my business.
* Find a need that matches your passion and fill it. There is so much opportunity in this market – keep open. Partner with your customers.

What ideas do you have for Now, What Are We Going to Do? Please add a comment.

We are deep into autumn here in the U.S. and the energy has softened and cooled from the brilliant summer days.   This reduction in energy and light affects us.  While the West does not pay much attention to the change, the Chinese, for example, recognize the seasons and their influence on the earth and our bodies.  Nature displays the change very clearly – it brings forth vegetables and fruits – the result of the sunshine, nutrients and water building all spring and summer.  The end of a project.  Leaves go to work one last day to produce food for the tree; they give a last brilliant signature color, then let go.  The end of a project.  The animals that hibernate or travel south begin to shut down or shove off.  The end of a project. As the light changes, so do we.   Our bodies start to pull in, its energy shifts to our core away from the extremities as we prepare for less heat and light.  The end of a project, or many projects.  The bright, fast energy of summer is giving way to the softer, slower light of autumn. There is a pause, even a sadness in the air as we say goodbye to the sun.  And it is good.  The rest is good. It is time to gather the vegetables and fruits and clear out the vines that produced it.