I’m sitting in a new deli and coffee shop in my neighborhood to write this.  It’s so wonderful – the delicious food is Afghan -and the decor is rich gold / burnished trim, vibrant pink, green, orange, blue and yellow accents.  It’s warm, alive and inviting and it’s the only one of its kind in the city.  Cafe-Rumi at www.cafe-rumi.com.  The owners are delighted to be here, they have wanted this a long time; they have given themselves over 100%.  And they are attracting business.  Read more to explore the idea of 100%.

I just got off a phone call about enrollment with Patrick Ryan of Awakened Wisdom Experiences (http://www.awakenedwisdom.com) and he said the biggest difference in enrollment of clients (or in a marriage or a project or relationship or anything in life) is your enthusiasm.  If you are willing to “throw yourself down on the mat and give yourself over 100%” to what it is that you are engaged in, the people you are talking to will get that about you.  Everything else you say or do will support that when you bring it to the conversation.  There are a hundred ways to throw yourself into it at 100% – aggressively, quietly,gently, intelligently, etc. – whatever is appropriate to you.

Patrick says to ask these questions regarding your commitment to a project, relationship, etc.

* The first step is to check and see if you are at 100%.
* If not, ask if you are willing to go to 100% engaged.
* If you are not willing, then ask what’s needed to be willing.
* If you are willing, ask what’s needed to be 100%, then take action.

These are wonderful questions.  He doesn’t want you to figure out why you’re not at 100% but if you’re willing to go there.  He doesn’t ask you to figure out why you’re not willing, but what’s needed to be willing.  They engage you in forward momentum, not in paralyzing analysis.

This discussion lead me to notice where I am not at 100%, and it’s uncomfortable as well as an opportunity to call me forth.   It’s exciting to see an opportunity for growth.  I’d say my marriage has been fulfilling for 25 years because we both chose to give ourselves over to it 100%.  My business struggles when the 100% enthusiasm sags and erodes in the wake of discouragement or fear. And discouragement and fear are the ideal triggers to throw myself on the mat at 100%.

Mini coaching:

Pick a project you’re doing or a relationship you’re in and ask the questions that Patrick suggests above.  If you’re doing it, isn’t it worth doing at 100%?  Otherwise, why bother?  What would your world be like to “throw yourself down on the mat and give yourself over 100%” to everything that mattered, including your downtime, intimate time, work time, playtime, think time? Great!  Leave a comment-thanks!

The learning -  each tree has an internal intention to become itself – to gather the nutrients, materials, water and light; to follow its own DNA patterns, and develop trunk, branches and leaves characteristic of its species.   It also grows into a unique tree in shape, height, location, etc.   All the trees did that together, so now we’ve got a beautiful forest.

Our goals and dreams have their own internal DNA.  The dream or goal, once stated or planted, gathers the resources, time and energy it needs to grow into itself.  If you state that your desire is to own a blue hybrid car, you don’t start looking at trucks or bicycles.  You don’t save $100.  You save or plan on $30,000 and you look at blue hybrids.  The dream contains the DNA, the blueprint for action.

So I invite you to plant your dreams, especially the ones that will be the biggest and brightest of your forest of dreams,  and let them direct your actions, so your realized dreams  grow into a beautiful, fulfilling life.

Mini Coaching Session:

Look over your forest of dreams you’ve created so far in your life.  What do you love about it?  What’s wanting to happen now?  What dreams have you avoided planting?  What are the conditions that will be more inviting for a beginning?  Choose a dream and plant it, and discover what its DNA guides you and others to do to make it grow.

Napoleon Hill, in his book “Think and Grow Rich” has a chapter called “The Mystery of Sex Transmutation”.  He says that the highly successful people he studied and those he read about  going back 2000 years “possessed highly developed sex natures”.  In other words, they’re turned on!  He writes about transmuting sexual desire from only physical expression to creative and intuitive and mental outlets.

“Sex desire [turn-on] is the most powerful of human desires.  When driven by this desire, men [and women] develop keenness of imagination, courage, will-power, persistence, and creative ability unknown to them at other times.  So strong and impelling is the desire for sexual contact that men [and women] freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it.  When harnessed, and redirected along other lines, this motivating force maintains all of its attributes of keenness of imagination, courage, etc., which may be used as powerful creative forces in literature, art, or in any other profession or calling including, of course, the accumulation of riches.” Napoleon Hill

Many of my clients have been looking for work, and they are not turned on.  Sometimes we find that the kind of work they feel they should be seeking is not really the work they desire right now.  They get turned on when they let their dreams come to the surface.

Mini-Coaching:
If you’re not turned-on about something you care about, just notice without judging what is happening.  Explore the circumstances and the environment around you as well as within you.  Get curious about what might be the turn-off.   Don’t immediately try to fix it- keep exploring and allowing it to be for a few hours or days.  Begin an inquiry, “What is turn-on for me?”  “Where am I turned on in my life?”  “What’s happening in me and around me when I’m turned on?”  When you’re ready, turn up the turn-on in your turned-off situation by experimenting with inspired changes and actions.  I’m available to work with six more clients in August for you to make some powerful changes here.

Have a hot, turned-on rest of the summer, because why not?  What’s turned on in your life?  Why?

I asked a client who was looking for work for months and frustrated to take a day off for her favorite activity, golf. She agreed not to spend any mental energy on her challenge and fears around finding work during the day.  A few weeks later, she had an offer.  I assert that the peace, centering, and rest afforded by a true, deep, fun chunk of time is invaluable for clear and heartfelt thinking, creative solutions, and results.  You all know that, but do you do it?  Do I do it?  No.

So, since I’m the coach here, I’ll ask the questions you’re expecting, and some you may not be expecting, to uncover something new about fun.  What’s your payoff for “keeping your nose to the grindstone”, for staying in electronic communication even when you’re out for fun, for never taking more than 24 hours off?  If we’re doing it, there’s a payoff.  And an underlying belief.

What’s the price you pay for going and going and going and going with the daily commitments?

Since fun leads to relaxing which leads to reduced stress (which is a physical state in your body that wears on it, not to mention your productivity and joy) which leads to increased health and creativity, what do you need to do to take care of yourself  for fun?  Will a few hours do it?  Or will it take a week or two or a month away?  A woman I’ve worked with has her own business.  She took two months off over the summer.  She was afraid she’d lose all her clients.  Many waited for her.  When she got back, she had more business than ever which has been steady for two years.

What brings you pleasure and joy?  Leave a comment. 

Are you experiencing the Gap?  Have one or more of your structures crumbled, walked off, or booted you out?  Have you chosen to discard structures in your life?  Are you in the gap that exists before you grab onto the  next structure?

We often struggle, cry, and rail against that gap.  But what a delicious time!  This is where you are creative,  acting on faith, intuition, and courage, even though you may feel terrified.  You know you are alive.   What would it be like to relish this crazy, uncertain, risky but alive moment of life?   What about holding this moment as flying, as needing all your wits and energy, as a demand to draw on your creativity and resourcefulness?

OK, what about you who have no job, been unable to find work, and are losing things that matter to you like cars, homes, and savings?    Where’s the glitter in that?  On the one hand, yes, it’s messy, scary, and undesired.  On another hand,  what skills have you honed or created?  Who have you met you wouldn’t have met?   What have you learned?  What are you willing to learn?  What if you were five years old and didn’t know enough to be scared, what would you do in this gap?  Yes, these are not easy, but they are  what grow us.

I’m celebrating 25 years of marriage this month.   My former husband divorced me and sent me reeling into the gap for a year.  I learned who I was, what I wanted;  I learned that I could be fine on my own; I learned what I wanted in a partner; and I learned where I failed in the relationship.  I would not be here without that gap.

What have you discovered in your time in the gaps?  Will you share it?

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.