When you want to succeed at anything, the best advice is to find someone who has already succeeded, and do what they did!  Transform yourself by resonating with each of our guests for 30+ minutes. We are pleased to announce our first two Healers are Bee Jimpson and Sheri McConnell!

Live your life from a mindset of possibility like our guests are doing.  Let this new series further awaken your powerful innate ability to solve problems, think outside the box, operate authentically from the heart, and create BIG positive change on the planet!  

Sign up now to access all the live calls and the recorded audios:   http://GIAwaken.com/100Healers

Yes, this series means we are officially launching our membership Sept 1!  Your chance to save $50 ends August 31 and will not be repeated.  Make 2010 the year you expand your mindset and lifestyle to live with meaning, possibility, and joy.  Check out our life-changing benefits here: http://GIAwaken.com/benefits, and sign up ASAP!

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Healer #1  |  13 August 2010, 8am Pacific / 9am Mountain / 10am Central / 11am Eastern US time

Bee Jimpson  ~  The Next Sense
Professional Healer, Intuitive, and Intuition Teacher

Bee was raised in a culturally mixed home (Egyptian, Spanish, European and Quechua) in Argentina where traditional or folk healing was commonly used.  It wasn’t until much later in her life, however, that she stepped into her own power as a healer.  Today Bee travels the world to mentor other healers (including me) and teach people how to accept and truly use their intuition.  Join us to hear about her powerful journey!

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Healer #2  |  13 August 2010, 11am Pacific / noon Mountain / 1pm Central / 2pm Eastern US time

Sheri McConnell  ~  Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning
Author, Millionaire Business Coach, and Mom of 4

Sheri helps women start and grow membership-based businesses to attain financial independence, so they can make powerful life decisions from a place of abundance and balance, not from a place of poverty, fear, doubt, and “what if”.  As you might guess, she has recovered from being in that position too many times herself.  Today, she is the author of  Smart Women Know Their “Why” – A Guide for Discovering Your Life Purpose While Owning a Business So You Can Create Positive Change in the World (and Make Big Profits!)  Join us to hear Sheri’s powerful story of healing and how she helps others today.  (P.S. She is my business coach this year for the Institute.)

Speaker:  Daria Boissonnas, Founder, Global Institute for Awakening

“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
–William Shakespeare, 12th Night, Act II, Scene V

I would rewrite that quote to say “Awakening” instead of greatness. Do you have intuitive, empathic, psychic or healing abilities that were almost thrust upon you? Do your abilities seem strange or make you uncomfortable? Do you feel different from others because of how you experience life? What can you do?

First of all, you’re not weird, you’re Awakening. But some of us are definitely thrown on our path by accident, illness, life crisis, or the development of psychic or healing abilities. Join us for this call and hear what Daria has to say after 12 years of working with folks like you (and being one herself).

Download the audio file (mp3)

We have many more calls coming up through the end of the year, including a surprise series starting tomorrow! Check our calendar page now:  http://GIAwaken.com/calendar

Join me at 11:30 Central time today for a chat with Sheri McConnell, business coach and CEO/founder of the Smart Women’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Learning.  You can find her on the web at:  http://www.SheriMcConnell.com/

Info about the series and her other guests is here:  http://www.smartwomenradio.com

Call: 800-662-6992
Code: 1020261

Talk soon!  And I’ll get a replay link for you, too.

UPDATE:  Here is the replay –  Listen Now!

Have you ever felt frustrated that people aren’t hearing your message?  Maybe, like the members and fans of the Global Institute for Awakening, you tend to be creative, visionary, or intuitive.  You may work as a consultant, coach, teacher, or healer.  You can easily see a higher-potential way of doing things…  but the people you work with don’t always get it.  Ugh.

From time to time it can be hair-tearingly frustrating to be out in front of the crowd, seeing what they don’t see… yet. It’s a wonderful gift to have the vision to solve problems, but sometimes it feels like a burden.  Then again, you can’t give up.  You can feel your motivation and mission bubbling up inside you, and you know you’ll be miserable if you don’t listen to it.

Instead of tearing your hair out, what can you do when you get frustrated — before you burn out?  The #1 concept we teach here is that you can change the world by changing yourself.  This is great news because truly you CAN ONLY change yourself.  Here’s one way you can shift out of the frustration:  retreat back to your favorite recharging place and contemplate your raison d’etre — your reason for doing what you do.

Knowing your vision, your message, your mission, and most importantly, your WHY, can carry you through your down moments.  Knowing these four items will help you move FAR in life, and quickly.  It will make it easier for you to help heal the world.

For a great example of this, I highly recommend you read the brand new book, “Smart Women Know Their WHY: The Guide for Discovering Your Life Purpose While Owning a Business So You Can Create Positive Change In the World and… Make Big Profits!” by Sheri McConnell, my wonderful business coach this year.   I chose her because she’s one of us:  super-creative, intuitive and has a message about business and taking action to change the world that few people are saying.  Get your copy on Amazon with the book link above. 

Know Your Vision, Message, Mission and WHY

Here’s the core truth of this situation, and the key to solving it:  when people you are working with don’t get it, some part of YOU actually doesn’t get it.  Remembering your vision, message, mission and why helps YOU to “get it” again.  It helps you remember why you are doing what you are doing.  It pulls you out of the details and frustration and realigns you with the highest Potential of the situation.

If you don’t have these important points written out for your life, your family-raising, or your business, take a stab at them right now.  Answer these questions:

Raise Your Sights:  Your Healing Vision
What positive potential do you see that precious few others can see?  What change are you inspired and driven to make in the world?  How can you see people as empowered in the future?  What problem do you know you can solve?  (As an example, I see people as powerful healers of themselves and others, and as having MUCH more ability to change their lives for the better than they think!)

Speak Your Truth:  Your Healing Message
What information do you want to share with people?  If you could make people understand one thing, what would it be?  (My message: “You are a powerful healer, and to change the world, all you must do is awaken to your potential.”)

Make It Happen:  Your Healing Mission
How are you carrying this out in the world?  Are you a painter?  A journalist?  A consultant?  A mother?  What do you do everyday to make your vision come true and communicate your message?  (I’m clearly running a community of people who want to awaken their inner healer and change the world!  I also have a private practice working 1:1 with powerful creatives who can heal the world.)

Motivate Yourself:  Your Healing WHY
At the core of all these things is WHY you do them.  It’s easy to step out of your ego and get going again when you think of the people you are here to help and the pain you can help them move past.  It’s common to have different motivation in different areas of your life.

For instance, you may simply have been born with a gift or talent or insight that you love to share with others out of pure joy.  If so, you are a Creative Healer, creating healing out of nothing.

Perhaps a difficult experience in your early life motivates you to help others solve a problem that you once had.  If so, you may be a Wounded Healer, transforming your pain into so much more positive change.

Perhaps you are having fun mocking the establishment and helping people see the old, stuck ways are not what they thought they were.  If so, you may be a Trickster Healer.

For me, I do this because I can feel it bubbling up inside me.  I know this is what I was born to do, and I feel a divine obligation and joy in fulfilling that mission and glorifying Potential in the Universe by reaching beyond my comfort zone for my highest Potential.  My private practice comes from wounded healing — helping other high-level creatives, intuitives and healers deal with their gifts and successfully fulfill their big life missions.

I know you are a healer, full of solutions.  Sometimes others can’t see them.  Take a moment to step out of your ego and recharge yourself with your divine vision, message, mission, and reason why. Be sure to check out Sheri’s book while you’re at it!!

Videos go viral when they touch us deeply in a way that is basic to our human nature.  If you haven’t seen the “Embrace Life” public service announcement from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in the UK (http://www.sussexsaferroads.gov.uk/), view it here:

I’m a weeper, so of course I cried.  By the time I’d showed it to all the kids, I was sobbing.  But beyond the happy ending, there are remarkable things about this video and the fact that it resonated so much with folks around the world that it went viral, with over 9.3 million YouTube views at this writing.

1.  It’s artistic and beautiful.  As humanity evolves forward, arts are coming to the forefront.  Not just in museums, but in the amount and quality of beauty and design in everyday life.  For isntance, things that used to be primarily functional (like public service announcements) are becoming more artistic and beautiful.  Think of all the colored/designed phone covers and computers now, where these items used to be gray and functional.  As humanity shifts out of our logical Navigator Mind and back into our creative, artistic, metaphorical Essential Mind, people are demanding more artistic flair and design in their lives.  You can see this everywhere.

2. It’s positive reinforcement, not negative.  When I was a kid, parents spanked, a technique largely frowned upon today.  It’s based on negative reinforcement: negative actions have negative consequences so you’re trained to avoid the negative ones (in theory… it didn’t work so well on me).  Today, parents focus on positive reinforcement:  positive actions have positive consequences, so you want to do more positive stuff.  In terms of power, positive reinforcement trumps negative, any day.  This reflects a step up the evolutionary ladder from the punishment mindset.  This shift is similar to emerging from the First Phase of Healing Mastery (fixing what’s broken) into the Second Phase (seeking solution w/o interest in causality).

Masaro Emoto did an experiment with rice years ago that has been independently duplicated hundreds of times around the world and demonstrates that positive reinforcement is stronger than negative.  You can do this too: take three identical jars, add the same amount of rice and just cover the rice with water.  Then seal the jars and set them next to each other.  Each day, to the first one say “I love you”, to the next say, “I hate you”, and completely ignore (don’t even look at) the third.  The results?  Generally, the first jar simply ferments, like beer or sauerkraut – it doesn’t go bad.  The second typically goes bad, you see mold, it turns icky colors, etc.  But the third one goes putrid, really gross compared to #2.  Conclusion: positive reactions preserve and sustain, negative reactions (even to negative things) hurt, but ignoring hurts most of all.  This is why kids and adults would rather act out negatively than be ignored.  I see signs everywhere that humanity is shifting into positive reinforcement mode.

3. The PSA is metaphorical.  Now this is extraordinary.  The main character is NOT driving a real car.  We did NOT see blood and guts.  And really unusual — we did not see a single seatbelt in a seatbelt PSA!!!   The child and female represented his seatbelt.  What is the metaphor?  Love saved the man’s life.  He buckled up out of love so he could come home to embrace his loved ones.  And we saw the looks on their faces that showed what seeing him again meant to them. 

Metaphor gets to the essence of the matter — it shows us what we’re really talking about, and what it MEANS.  Here, we saw no car.  No seatbelt.  No gore.  No stats.  No lecture.  But message heard, loud and clear, by millions of people all over the world.

We are changing as a species, evolving more fully into our true form of consciousness, the one that operates through the artistic, conceptual, metaphorical, possibility-oriented right brain, which we at the Global Institute for Awakening call the Essential Mind.  This popular ad is great evidence of this shift.

Intrigued?  To learn more about humanity’s evolution and what we are all ultimately seeking and how to get that for yourself and others, join as a member and receive with your membership our extraordinary two-part class, “How to Find What You’ve Been Missing”, where we go into this in much more detail!  Join here:  http://www.GIAwaken.com/benefits

To learn more about the video and the artist who created it, check out this brief CNN interview with him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnXH_P9SVAk

There are many deep, unknowable mysteries in life, but the difference between ”i.e.” and “e.g.” is not one of them.  For some Friday fun, let’s impress friends, family, and colleagues by getting this obscure fact straight. 

These abbreviations actually come from Latin.  When I learned what they stood for, I never confused them again.   Here’s the scoop:

•  “I.e.” stands for “id est”, or “that is”.  Use this abbreviation when you mean “that is”.   Today I would like to ride my bike, i.e., my motorcycle.

•  “E.g.” stands for “exempli gratia”, or “free example” — use it to mean ”for example”.   Awareness of your Awakening happens in many ways, e.g., via a sudden accident, a life crisis, or by simply hearing your calling one day.

I love the simpler European style where they lose the first period:  eg. and ie. seem so much cleaner.

Now you have the perfect cocktail party factoid banter.  See if you can use these terms this weekend!

Are you looking for a way to sail more smoothly through life’s knock-down events, have more patience with your kids and coworkers, and rev up your thinking?  Try mindfulness meditation. 

Lots of meditation research has touted its powers to de-stress your approach to life, but new research from UNC says even a short program of mindfulness meditation can significantly help you focus and think faster!  Who can’t use some of that? 

Here’s how their article described the meditation program:

The meditation training involved in the study was an abbreviated “mindfulness” training regime modeled on basic “Shamatha skills” from a Buddhist meditation tradition, conducted by a trained facilitator.  As described in the paper, “participants were instructed to relax, with their eyes closed, and to simply focus on the flow of their breath occurring at the tip of their nose.  If a random thought arose, they were told to passively notice and acknowledge the thought and to simply let ‘it’ go, by bringing the attention back to the sensations of the breath.”  Subsequent training built on this basic model, teaching physical awareness, focus, and mindfulness with regard to distraction.

Here’s the results:

The meditation group scored consistently higher averages… on all the cognitive tests and as much as ten times better on one challenging test that involved sustaining the ability to focus, while holding other information in mind.

You can find Buddhist centers in many towns and cities that offer inexpensive meditation programs to the public.  Or find tapes and websites you like.  We offer specific meditations occasionally in our mini-coaching program for members of the Global Institute for Awakening.  (Join today and change your life with us by establishing one awakened habit per month!)

Links/Resources:
• UNC article:  http://www.publicrelations.uncc.edu/default.asp?id=15&objId=656 
• Pubmed article:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20363650 
• Benefits of membership in Global Institute for Awakening:  http://www.GIAwaken.com/benefits

Facet #2 of the spiritual journey, Build Your Base, includes mothering yourself.  It means letting go of anything you found insufficient in the mothering you received, and caring for yourself in exactly the way you need NOW.  The past is in the past.  How can you take a step to do this today, in honor of Mother’s Day here in the U.S.?  How can you birth your full self?

Since you are mothering yourself, I will share a mother’s day gift with you:  a poem from my oldest daughter about the moon, often a symbol of the nurturing power of mothers and grandmothers. Enjoy, and happy self-mothering day. 

Dancing on the Face of the Moon
By Ariane Boissonnas

Dancing on the face of the moon
I see how Earth looks from space
I laugh and smile at the stars and sun
          And I reflect

Dancing on the face of the moon
I think how puny my speck of joy is
I expand it to fill the universe
          And I reflect

Dancing on the face of the moon
Some call me a goddess
But a goddess would be more graceful
          And I reflect

Dancing on the face of the moon
I dream of the cosmos
I write things in the moon-dust
          And I reflect

Dancing on the face of the moon
My feet move as if not my own
I dance with amazing intricacy
          And I reflect

Dancing on the face of the moon
I grow the courage to do what is right
I slow my steps to a stop
          And I reflect

Dancing on the face of the moon
I return to Earth to set things right
I snuggle down in bed
          And I reflect

(c) 2010 Ariane F. Boissonnas

I’ve been meditating more and more recently, how about you?  Most of us know meditating can de-stress you big-time and strengthen your ability to hear inner guidance.  But when you sit down, do a million thoughts come flooding into your mind?

Me too!  But still I sit down, and I always learn something.  Practicing dealing with mental interruptions makes it easier each time.  Like going to the gym, but you are exercising your mind.  Mental strength is crucial to unlocking your Potential to heal yourself and the world.

Here’s an issue that came up for me right away in meditation this morning, and the spiritual principles I remembered to help me let it go and sink back into just breathing.

Issue: A struggle to tune out my busy environment out of a fear that I might miss something. I might need to hear that!  I might need to get involved and fix that!  What is making that noise?  This is a long-term pattern for me: I also used to be a pack rat as a child and young adult, too – I might need that some day! 

Let go to flow.  Know and trust that what you need will come to you in its own time.  Right now, I choose to meditate, so I choose to let meditation come to me. 

When you are interrupted with outside sounds, thank and bless what you hear as a great opportunity to exercise letting it go.  Name it and thank it and send it floating away.  (“weird truck-y sound, thank you, let go…”)  Return to watching your breathing.

Fixing is not flowing.  Thinking something can’t be done without me is a form of pride or self-importance. This type of thought actually blocks energy flow!  By seeing something as broken or needing fixing, you judge it and limit its potential.  Fixing something broken can’t get as good results as seeing its highest potential and getting out of the way of it coming to fruition.  Practice getting out of the way by letting go of these thoughts (“fixing, thank you, let go…”) and getting back to meditation.

Bonus: Apply this wisdom elsewhere in your life today.  Let go of something else distracting.  For instance, instead of receiving 20 emails a day (I know that’s not an exaggeration for some of us!) with products and services you don’t need right now but are curious about, let them go for now and seek them out when you really need them.  Or: let go of stockpiling supplies or clothes that you “might need” some day and give them away.  Remain present, figure out what you need to do NOW, and focus on taking that next step instead of wondering about what you might do in the future. 

Did that help?  Happy meditating. 

by Tamara Gold

Do you go through your day feeling kind of pitchy?

Or perhaps no one is listening to you and you want to yell out, “Hey dogg, listen up, listen up, listen up. Okay, dogg…..”

You even go to your favorite store, touch a few tubes of the new Tom Ford lipstick line and think, “I’m just not feeling it.”

Your husband hums in the shower and you find yourself saying, “Honey, I love you, but I’m worried about your song selection. With all the great pop songs out there what were you thinking by humming ‘Yellow Submarine?”

What I’m thinking is that life mirrors “American Idol.”

Think about it a moment: Just like on “Idol,” we wake up every morning, style ourselves in the best way possible and then go out on that great stage of life to put on our best performances. Sometimes we win; other times we’re stuck in the bottom three. A detractor can makes our lives miserable. Other times, our personal Simon says, “You went from zero to hero. Well done. ”

What are the deeper lessons of Idol that apply to your life, business and personal style?

Just like Simon tells us on Idol, please stay true to who you are.

It’s time to recognize your own unique talents and stay true to the best vision of you. Think about the singers on Idol who are some mish-mash of what they think everyone else wants them to be as an artist. Suddenly, they’re schitzo!  One week, they’re crooning a country song and the next they’re doing some Zeppelin. It’s confusing because everyone else wonders, “Who is this person?” Just like on Idol when you figure out the best version of you then stick with it. Think about Adam Lambert and Chris Daughtry who were always true to their unique visions. No one had either of them singing show tunes. Those songs just didn’t fit. People who are true to themselves can’t be anything else but beautiful and authentic.

Just like Paula used to tell us on Idol, show us a little more personality.

Don’t hide out. Your personality makes you magnetic and unforgettable. This is true when it comes to your personal style. Perhaps you’re like Crystal Bowersox this season and you dress like you live in a Seattle coffee shop. You know what? She’s perfect because her clothing reflects her true personality. Can you imagine how uncomfortable she would feel if they forced her to wear a tight mini skirt and low-cut shirt? Don’t let others dictate how you will present yourself to the world.

Do it your own way – because the world has enough cookie cutter types.

Your goal is to stand out from all of those who are simply auditioning. You don’t want to look like that cookie cutter girl with the same outfit, the same hair and even the same makeup. Your individuality will make you rise from the pack, and often this does start with clothing. Siobhan Magnus might wear a short tulle skirt with legwarmers and cowboy boots next week, but somehow it all works because she has style to stand out for the rest. Look at Adam Lambert. Like him or not, he commands the room from his ever-growing hair to his pointy-shoes.

Realize that everyone isn’t always a fan.

You can’t go through the day worrying if everyone will vote for you. There will be people who don’t like you or those who judge you harshly. Remember that Simon was rude to Jennifer Hudson and basically told her that she stunk. She was low in the top ten when she got kicked off “Idol,” disappeared and came back to win an Oscar and have a hit CD. Your detractors can and will be wrong. I’m sure Daughtry isn’t still upset that he didn’t win Idol or even come in as the runner up.

Make sure to appreciate the Ellen in your life.

There will always be someone who desperately wants you to win and sees the positive in you. He or she will make you laugh and smile like Ellen does on “Idol.” Cherish this person and let their compliments sink in.

Realize that we all make bad song choices.

Big Mike, I feel your pain on Beatles week. But realize that we all make a bad decision or two in life. You might even do it in front of a lot of people like those Idol contestants. But the key is you put yourself out there and someone will “get” your tune.

Finally, just like on Idol, polish yourself, grow and evolve as you go on.

Think about the Idol contestants on week one vs. the finale of the show. Of course, they’ve had major makeovers from top industry pros. They’ve been polished up and the gold has been tumbled until it shines. Most of the ladies begin as regular people and look like beautiful stars when it’s over. You can work on your own hair, face and clothing in the same manner. Realize it’s not an overnight fix. Heck, it takes those idols all season to really look fabulous.

Oh, one more. Everyone is a winner.

Yes, if you put yourself out there, stay true to who you are and focus on doing your best then how can you not become a winner?

Right, dogg?

Hollywood Makeup Artist, Writer, and Style Consultant, Tamara Gold publishes publishes the “Red Lipstick Report” e-zine. Beauty & Style. News & Reviews for Real Women. Information, Inspiration, How-To Videos and Spotlight Interviews with Industry Experts keep you feeling and looking your best…in all areas of your life and your business.  If you want to create your own authentic personal style in your life, creative endeavor or business, you can sign up for a FREE subscription to The Red Lipstick Report at www.TamaraGold.com.

Happy Friday!  This sweet song has been stuck in my head all week…  I especially love the last line:

“It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep, 
because my dreams are bursting at the seams…” 

(The video has some great toys that date from my childhood, too, heh.)

What’s cool:  This musician kept at his music-making art in his parents’ basement in a small Minnesota town, expressing his heart until… he had this huge hit.  He inspires me to keep producing my art (writing), knowing that my intention to help the world will eventually allow it to happen.  How can you keep at your creative outlet even though you’re not in demand… yet? 

This weekend, may you get 1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs — or something just as enjoyable!

Have you ever felt something bubbling up inside you — an invention, a book, a business idea, or art — but you couldn’t quite put words or form on it?  If you stayed with it, it started to clarify itself, maybe through a “coincidence” or surprise opportunity.  Or you tried something and it was wrong.  Congratulations, you learned something and moved forward!

We often search for years to find how in the world to express the something wonderful we can feel inside us.  Has your life been one long search, with occasional finds?

That vague in-between phase can be super-frustrating!  The solution is to reaffirm your decision and keep taking action, however imperfect.  Each step you take towards the goal, even if it’s “wrong”, will bring clarity.  And it will make more space for more information to bubble up. When it does, you’ll be ready to jump on it.

Love those inspirations, but then comes the perspiration!

We each come into this world with a powerful, precious gift.  When you use your gift, it becomes healing not only for you but for those around you.  May your gift and dreams also surface into reality this year.

Please let us know how we can help you.

“My mission in life is to access God’s gift of creativity to inspire, to touch people’s minds, bodies and spirits with love and compassion — to make a difference in this world.”
          — Donna Karan, Fashion Designer

Have you written out a life mission statement?  Every person on the planet (including you) has a mission (which is ultimately healing) and a healing message.  Notice that Donna Karan’s is not to make lots of money or live in a big house or make cool clothes for celebrities.  Those are some of the things that happen as she implements her life’s mission.  Your mission is bigger than what you do and even bigger than the results you get.  It’s that thing that makes your heart sing.

How can you take a few minutes today to start writing and honing your mission in life?  If you’re stuck, start with hers: it’s beautifully specific and general.  Edit it to fit your life.  Also jot down how you dream of fulfilling your mission.  Your “how” will evolve through your life, but your mission will stay fairly steady.  (Of course you will get increasing clarity on it.)  Share your mission or dream in the comments below!

“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain:
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”

          —Emily Dickinson, American Poet (1830-1886)

From Wikipedia: “Virtually unknown in her lifetime, Dickinson has come to be regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 19th century. Although she wrote (at latest count) 1789 poems, only a few of them were published, all anonymously and some perhaps without her knowledge.”  

TIP: Don’t let a lack of recognition from others slow you down.  Stay true to what you know in your heart and get your creations out there — the clients will come sooner or later.  Either way, you can make a difference!

“To me it’s like living and breathing: when I don’t make art I’m not happy.  And philosophically, I believe that the process of making is what holds the earth together, whether it’s making love or making bread or making babies or making art.  It’s part of the process that maintains the world.  We should never discourage anyone from making or creating or engaging the body-mind in that dance or that flower arrangement because it does two things.  It makes the person sane, and it keeps the world going.”

—Rae Atira-Soncea, artist, d. 1 March 2009

TIP:  Expressing creativity is an important part of maintaining health and balance in many ways.  It is related to intuition and healing.  How do you express your creativity?  Do you give yourself full permission to do so?  If you are worried about what others will think, try an experiment of sharing your creativity in a small supportive group or with a good friend.  How can you better allow yourself to express your creativity and innovation today?

I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer.  For the dance is his ideal, also his fine art, finally also the only kind of piety he knows, his “divine service.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche

TIP:  What is the difference between your life, a dance or a work of art in progress, and your giving back to the world?  Not much.

Live and work as if you are a lump of clay with the finest, most exquisite form within.  Observe yourself, your world, and your results.  Experiment as you seek to release the magnificent magnum opus already within you.  It is simply awaiting your notice.

Know that ultimately, you cannot fail.  This is the truth.  You cannot fail, but you can choose how to make the best of your journey.

When you can enjoy your life like a dance, through its highs and lows, you’ve mastered your spiritual journey.  If you need help and inspiration, hang out here.  Read some more articles, sign up for our free report on the right.  Let us know how we can help you.

In a vivid dream in high school, I read an article I'd written (in the dream) from a newspaper.  It was a great article, on a topic I didn't know much about.  Where did that complete, amazing and well-written article come from in my dream? What magical source produced a great article in an instant, when I had to struggle for a week to write something like that?

I tend to collect clients who are wonderful creative types: writers, painters, fiber artists, musicians, crafty types.  And they are very much healers, too.  They use their creative gifts in healing others as well as themselves.  Me too.  My art is writing.  In the creative process, I find my best writing, speaking, and healing work with clients feels like it comes, not from me, but through me.  I know in my heart that the book I am writing about the healer's path came from somewhere else, but through me.  I could feel the energy of it when I started.  It was my job to put the physical words on top of that energy, like icing a cake. 

Call the Source of creativity what you like — Universal Mind, Source, God, Spirit, my Muse — by any other name, I know it still.  It comes through a connection, which I can sometimes even palpably feel in my body, in my heart area or head or throat.  It is a connection to something indescribable, and when it happens I can feel the information flowing in.  What comes in I know I didn't "think up".  The shapes, feelings and colors of these ideas are soooo delicious, so brilliant and clear, wonderful and satisfying.  Peaceful and grounding.  I can't get enough.  It's divine!

This is the creative process, a connection to the pool of all potential ideas.  As you practice establishing your connection to this Source for creative or healing purposes, you can bring more harmony and order into your life.  When this magic connection happens, there is little hard work involved and the results are brilliant. 

We all crave this connection to Divinity.  I believe this is why we crave art and beauty.  When others perceive this connection in your work, they will feel drawn to read your book, go to your art show, listen to your song over and over, or ask you to work with them to heal.  They want this connection, too.  And this is why there will always, always be plenty of work for artists, intuitives, creatives and healers.

This same process happens in healing.  When you connect to that part of you that is divine and eternal, which happens to be whole, healed, and perfect all the time, then you can "remember" or connect more fully to who you truly are, and healing happens.  Repeatedly making that connection happen is a lifelong practice for any healer — in fact, that's why our businesses are called "practices".

Whether you believe you are are creative or not, I wanted to make sure you'd seen this brilliant talk from Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray Love, about the creative process.  Listen as an artist or writer, and then listen as a healer, replacing her words "writing" and "writer" with "healing" and "healer".  I think you will recognize something deep, something familiar… and she explains it so wonderfully!  Let me know what you think.

What’s your secret addiction?  Sugar?  Caffeine?  Ice cream late at night?  The standbys: sex, alcohol, smoking or doing certain chemicals…  Or perhaps you’re more subtle: anger, control of others, bullying, or drama?

As healers and people walking our spiritual journey, we feel particularly guilty about our addictions, telling ourselves we should know better.  It’s time to forgive ourselves and look at our addictions as the spiritual quests they are, however misguided.  It’s time to love ourselves and guide these quests properly, to where they can be satisfied and our deepest desires answered.

Studies have shown that addicts have a higher than average anticipation of satisfaction ahead of consumption, and a way-below-average satisfaction afterwards.  Sound about right to you?  No satisfaction, just want more…  My secret craving is sugar.  If I was Edmund in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, I suspect I too would have climbed up in the witch’s sleigh for some turkish delight candy. 

This I know: what you are seeking is not your favorite substance, but something even greater and more satisfying.  It’s that something that feels missing in your everyday, seemingly troublesome physical life.  It’s the missing something that drives many into mid-life crises or acting out.  Why not find it now and save yourself a lot of trouble?  Here’s a clue:  Did you know some psychotropic drugs stimulate the same brain centers as states of deep meditation or spiritual awe do?  (Other substances simply suppress our misery.)

We chase addictions in circles because we seek one thing, and one thing only:  CONNECTION.  A safe, complete connection that holds you, fills you with deep love and comfort and joy and pleasure, a connection to something greater than you within which you can relax all your defenses and be yourself. 

This drive is completely normal.  Addictions and other bad habits happen when you don’t know how to find this connection, so you try all kinds of things that seem to feel good like what you are seeking, but don’t work in the long run.

Next time, I’ll share something you can do to help curb your addictions.

Read The secret of addictions, Part II: bypassing them