Posts Tagged ‘transforrmation’

Turn-on is compelling, enrolling, motivating, creative, fun…..and more.  At a women’s group this week we filled two flip chart pages with words defining and expanding what turn-on is. I realized that when I’m turned-on, things get done, business flourishes, life works, and relationships are alive.  When I’m turned off, the opposite is true.  I never thought of it this way, but one of my joys as a coach is to support turn-on in my clients.  Turn-on keeps their energy, juices, ideas, connections flowing in a project, business, relationship, etc.

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?

The sun bounced off the water on a beautiful summer afternoon at Lake Chabot where I was walking with my business partner, Julia.  She’s about to take off for 10 days and won’t be looking for internet connections or have her cell phone on. We started looking at how, even http://www.emergingbrilliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Dreamstime-Mountain-Hiker-150×150.jpgthough we own our own businesses, we don’t shut down and take off for fun.   We need fun, happiness and laughter for health and creativity.

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. 

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.

Discover America, it’s 3,000 Smiles Wide

This summer marks the 25th anniversary of my bicycle trip across the United States – from Florence, Oregon to Washington, DC, and to Boston, Mass.  I’m writing to remember and see what I can learn and share from the journey.

In 1970 I’m 14 years old growing up in beautiful Iowa. One of my favorite activities is to get on my bike and ride out of Coralville (all of about 8 blocks). I roll through gentle rolling farmland and feel the earth through my tires; breathe the soft, hazy blue sky; and drink in the wild wildflower colors spicing up acres of green. Or I’d ride to Nancy M’s or Deb D’s house.

One day, I see a billboard advertisement at the local recreation center for Amtrak passenger trains. I attempted to re-create it here! Something in it speaks to me and a seed is planted. I want to discover if the United States really is 3,000 smiles wide. I don’t even think of it as a bike trip. And I don’t do anything about it but I have that feeling in my belly that I want to and I will do this. The Law of Attraction, sometimes known as the “Be Careful What You Ask For” Law begins to work.

I LIVE Here???

I grow up, go to college, meet and marry Mike, and move to San Diego with him. And I still don’t remember this dream. I ride my bicycle all around San Diego, La Jolla, and along the coast by Torrey Pines State Park. I finish at UC San Diego. Soon we move to Pebble Beach and I ride through the amazing seascapes framed with cypress, rocks, and seals. I cover Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel, Carmel Valley, and Big Sur on cold, grey winter days and fresh, early summer mornings. I play recordings of piano concerts while I ride alongside crashing foamy white waves, turquoise water, stately pelicans, sandpipers, piles of lichen-crusted rocks, and fleshy ice-plant. I’m at home on my bike – by moving and being in nature. I’ve begun to discover America.

While my work life as a tech support manager and software engineer is quite stressful and miserable (it’s not at all on purpose for me), and my marriage is a bit clumsy and unsatisfying (we are 22 with no clue, and thousands of miles from our families), my bike and camera keep me grounded and sane.   Things take a turn for the worse in ‘82, and I soon find myself taking refuge on my wheels.