#WiseWednesday

Pain is Inevitable - Suffering is Optional.  I am not certain why it is that I feel compelled to blog on this topic because let me tell you...this quote brought with it a lot of turmoil in my life when I last posted it. However, I am feeling drawn to writing about it again...so hold on 'cuz here we go.

Do you ever choose to suffer in your life?  I know that I do.  Often in fact.  And it doesn't feel very good to admit it here...but it is the truth.

How do I define suffering?  Well, suffering is me not choosing to move on from a situation.  For wanting to wallow around in the pain of it.  Telling myself that it is something that I need to be doing.  Would you like an example?  Here is a recent one...I have been developing a product.  This includes filming some videos.  The topic is surrounding self doubt and self sabotage.  I have never made these videos before and I keep getting trapped in my own cycle of self doubt.  Technological issues really trip me up.  If it is not incredibly basic I will spin around and around, not moving forward because I will never figure it out.  Then...I start to beat myself up.  I tell myself I was stupid for even trying, it is never going to work. What a failure.  And then I topped it with what my BFF and I call "suffering gravy".  This is where I bemoan the fact that it didn't turn out.  And allow this to stop me from moving forward onto a new project.  Unwilling to see what good came from the previous attempts, what silver linings were present, what new learnings revealed themselves.  I sit in this place and I fester here until the pain of sitting in it outweighs the fear of change.  This can take seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months or even years.  It all depends on where the suffering stems from.

My mind is great at picking up old episodes of suffering off the shelf, dusting them off and replaying them like they are new releases.  The pain of that past moment does not need to exist in my present moment.  The only reason it shows up is because I have brought it here with me.  If I wanted to...I could let it go.  I could return the suffering to the shelf and allow myself to be present in this moment...a place where the past and future do not exist.

This can sound like I am just being over simplistic and perhaps even uncaring to whatever situation you may have faced or been facing but that is not true.  I make it a practice in my life to love people (and myself) because of their past and inspite of their past.  It is those experiences that have moulded and shaped you to become this beautiful being that you are in this moment.

The wisdom that I want to share with myself and anyone reading this is that we need not suffer.  We can leave the suffering of years and even seconds ago in the past where it belongs.  All we need to do in order to do that is to let go.  Connect with your breath.  Breathe in deep into your belly.  Follow your breath in through your nose, nasal passages, throat, chest, lungs and into your belly.  Witness it there.  Then watch as it leaves the belly travelling up into the lungs and chest, into your throat and mouth and nasal passages out into the world.  Let it go.  Listen to the sounds around you.  See if you can feel a breeze blowing gently across your skin.  Check in with your body and ask what it needs to feel freedom, joy and love.  Repeat this as many times as necessary.  I think that you will find you are no longer swimming in suffering gravy.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this blog post.  So please feel free to comment or email me.

Wishing you a day as Beautiful as you.

Much Love,
Lisa

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#ChooseDayTuesday

#ChooseDayTuesday...A day of the week dedicated to choices.  A weekly reminder that we ALWAYS have a choice.   Even if we do not believe that we have one. 

It is funny how easily it is for me to fall into the belief pattern that I have no choice in a situation.  For example...Tuesdays are my big client day.  I love having a day that I get to spend the day coaching female entrepreneurs.  Helping them to create a plan so that they can work less, play more and create a financially viable business.  

But there are some days when I wake up and I tell myself that my only option is to do my work.  My to do list feeling like it is a "Have" to do list.  A list devoid of choices.  Rather than a "Get" to do list.  This morning I was fretting that I had so much to accomplish in a day.  I looked at my coaching schedule and felt like I had no choice but to put my coaching hat on.  But truth be told...I had another choice...I could have called in sick, sat on my bed, eating cheetos and watching netflix or working on other things.  But that wouldn't have been in my best interest nor would have it been in my clients.  What matters is the simple reminder that we always have a choice.  There are always options.  We don't have to like those options but we do have them.  

What are you choosing today?  Today - I am choosing to take small steps that will move me closer to achieving my goals.  

Wishing you a Day as Beautiful as You!

Much Love,

Lisa

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#MindsetMonday

On a whim I decided to check out my blog....just to see...when exactly was the last time that I posted.  And WOW...I need to blow the dust off.  So here is an impromptu post....talking about the importance of the proper mindset.

Have you ever started your work week with...Oh Shit It Is Monday?  With the level of enthusiasm matching what you would muster to go to the dentist for a root canal with a hangover?  We have such a dislike on for Mondays.  We expect the worst from a Monday...and then it comes as no surprise when the day is filled with detours and disappointments.

What if we looked at it as though it could hold just as much promise if not more so than any other day?  What could happen then?

The thoughts we think set us up for success or for failure.  Our mindset is the key to our future.  It is said that we have upwards of 60,000 thoughts per day and 95% of them are identical to the thoughts we had the day before.  It is like one big loop.  It is important for us to check in...are my thoughts positive?  or Negative?  Will they bring me closer to what I want?  Or further away from it?  Now take it a step further...what do I need to be telling myself so that I am empowered to be successful in making what I want a reality?

The more frequently we check in the better off we will be.  Now it is easy for me to write this but much more difficult for me to apply it.  In fact there are so many different times that I talk myself out of doing something that could positively impact my life.  I tell myself that it is hard so why bother, that no one would appreciate it, that I have nothing of value to say and other bullshit like that.  When I find myself in a cycle like that I need to snap out of it.

My favourite way to do that is as simple as a two minute fix.  If you work with me you will know it as a 2 minute random dance party.  Pick your favourite mood boosting, fear blasting, booty shaking song and get it playing on youtube or itunes and get up and dance.  I bet that by the time you are done...you are feeling better.  If that didn't work choose another song and try it again and break out your cheesiest moves.

I want to know your best mindset improving tips so please add them to the comments...let me know what works for you.  I just may ask you to share them with me on my podcast.

Are you wanting to connect more?  Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Or if you would prefer...spend an hour with me learning what could be stopping you from getting what you want in your life and business.  Visit my website to contact me.

Until next time...Have a Day as Beautiful as You!

Much Love,
Lisa