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It’s your decision you know.  You can decide to worry about what’s going to happen for you this year or you can decide to create what’s going to happen for you this year.  I know I’m choosing to DECIDE for myself what 2012 will bring.

I have to say that one of the most important skills I learned this year was to make a decision!  I credit both my coach David Neagle and PSI Seminars for helping me see what I couldn’t see… that I was refusing to step up and play my life full out because I was afraid to make a decision and take a stand.

I realized that I wasn’t bringing my “A” game to my life.  Now, if you know me, you know my “B” game isn’t bad…I have a nice life and I live my life “on purpose.”  But I realized I was holding back. And I’ve DECIDED to change that.

In support of this decision, I did two things at the beginning of the year. One is I created this Vision Board that hangs on the wall in my office reminding me what I want to create in 2012.  You’ll notice I have both words and images – that’s what works for me.  Your Vision Board might be images only – it might be words only.  The only thing that matters is that it creates the feeling you want to move into for 2012 and you put it in a place where you look at it on a daily basis.

The other is that I wrote myself a letter dated a year in advance, looking back and marveling at what I accomplished in 2012.  It’s very descriptive both in terms of concrete things that happened – money, work, home, travel – AND my emotional breakthroughs that allowed all the other successes!

Now here’s what I do differently than some other people – and certainly differently from how I USED to do it!

I look at my Vision Board every day – it hangs in my office and I have a photo of it on my phone… I don’t just look at though – I LOOK at it and embody the feelings I want to create for myself in 2012. If I’m out of alignment with any of it – I DECIDE to get back in alignment and I do whatever it takes to get to that place.

And, every day, I read the letter I wrote to myself.  It is so emotional and so loving and so REAL, that I can’t imagine anything else happening.  Then I plan my actions for the day accordingly.  (This is important…I don’t just wait for the Universe to deliver what I want…I TAKE ACTION in alignment with my Vision!)

Now here’s my new twist for 2012.  This year I’m going to look at the Vision Board and the letter every month and DECIDE if they’re still the Visions I want to live into…and change them if I need to!  Life changes. It makes no sense to hang on to an old vision that no longer inspires me and supports me in where I want to go.

I hope you’ll join me in DECIDING what 2012 will bring to your life!

I believe in you!!

Linda

Today I choose…

to step into my greatness.

to be inspired.

to be confident.

to be loving.

to do my best.

to embrace my faith.

to accept myself.

to remember I have the power and the privilege to choose every moment of my life.

What do you choose today?

Several of my coaching clients have told me that they have been hearing this from some of their prospective clients.

“I’d like things to be different, but I believe this is just my lot in life.”

“I wish I could work with you, but it’s just not meant to be. It’s just the cards I’ve been dealt in this life.”

“I can’t do your program. My husband would kill me if he knew I was even thinking of spending that much money on a coach.”

What I know is that when those things are showing up in our businesses…they’re usually showing up somewhere inside of us as well…

Where in your life are you feeling like you’re a victim of your circumstance?

You might not word it that strongly…

Where in your life do you feel like you are not worthy – that if God meant for your life to be better…it already would be?!

Where are you feeling like you’re experiencing your “lot in life?”

About 10 years ago, my Mom moved across the country to live with me for the last year of her life.  I learned so much from her in that year – but possibly the most important thing was when she looked at me struggling with a relationship and said, “Linda, God didn’t intend for you to be miserable. If you’re not happy, do what you need to do!”

Now, you have to understand my Mom really wasn’t like that most of my life.  She felt you had to stick things out, that EVERYONE else’s needs came before yours, that you couldn’t do something just because YOU wanted to – that the worst thing you could be was selfish. We never talked about being happy. You just had your “lot in life” and you made the best of it.

What a gift my Mom gave me with that one statement.  I have thought of it often over the years and slowly tested out what it means to be truly happy, what it means to live my life in a way that means my needs are supposed to get met first – that only through meeting my own needs can I fully give to others.

What would your life look like if you truly stepped into whatever makes you happy?

What would your life look like if you stepped into the fullest expression of who you really are? If you stopped holding back. If you stopped blaming your circumstance, your lot in life, your spouse or whatever.

Remember my Mom’s words – “God didn’t intend for you to be miserable!”

What DOES God intend for you?

For much of my life, I’ve known I had an issue with feeling “good enough.”

I grew up in THAT family where if I brought home all A’s and one B, my Dad would want to know why I had gotten a B.  Where nothing was ever enough. Where I wasn’t valued just for being me.  I excelled in many things just to prove I WAS enough. I put myself through college and graduate school. Proving I was enough just became a way of life for me.

But that’s not what I want to talk to you about today.  I came to terms with my “good enough” issues, and though I get an occasional opportunity to peel another layer of THAT onion, I’m doing much better on that front.

What I do want to talk about is what I discovered this fall…when I realized that I had fallen into a different kind of “good enough” trap.  I was at the final coaching retreat of a six month program, and my coach asked us to do something.  Every one of us committed to it and were all sure we could accomplish what we said we would.  Days later, (it seemed like weeks had gone by!) we went around the table and each talked about why we hadn’t done what we said we would.

One by one, EVERY SINGLE ONE of us talked about where we had stopped – because EVERY SINGLE ONE of us fell short of our goal. And EVERY SINGLE ONE of us had stopped when we felt we had done enough things out of our comfort zones – and we ALL had decided that our efforts were good enough.

And, just like that, I realized that I had created a “good enough” life. My relationships were “good enough,” my business was “good enough,” my life, in general was “good enough.”  Somewhere along the way, I had given up on doing and being my best and had settled for “good enough.”

I decided THAT DAY that I would not settle for good enough ever again.  I want a life where I know that I am being the BEST I can be in each moment.  That doesn’t mean that I always have to choose to be busy or productive or the best out there.  It doesn’t mean that I have to prove anything to anyone. I don’t have to judge myself or anyone else. I have simply committed to being aware of who I’m being in the moment and to choosing the best I can be…in that moment.

My life has changed dramatically since I made that decision. I won’t tell you it’s been easy. But I will tell you it’s worth it.  To know that in every moment, I’m choosing to be the best me I can be…that’s freedom. That’s joy. That’s me stepping into the fullest expression of who God created me to be. And THAT’s how I want to live my life.

I must hear this at least once a week from one of my clients – not all of them at the same time and none of them feel this way all of the time…but from time to time, that self doubt creeps in for all of us.

For me it sometimes happens after I’ve upleveled my thinking, my investments in my business and stepped out in the world in a big way.  So much energy went into getting to that next level – and then where am I?  At the bottom, looking up at the next level.

Where is it coming up for you?

“I don’t think I have what it takes to (fill in your blank here).”  Could be your business, your relationship, losing weight, quitting smoking.  Whatever.

Now look at what’s really behind that question. Are you afraid of what someone will think if you stop being polite all the time and give your real opinion on something? Are you afraid to take a risk in your business ’cause… what if it doesn’t work out? Do you have the voices of your childhood in your head? Telling you to play small so you don’t rock the family boat. Telling you not to get “too big for your britches?” Asking “who do you think you are?”

When I get in this place, I have to ask myself a series of  questions.

What if I don’t have what it takes?

What if I do have what it takes?

What does it take anyway???

As I answer each question, I must ask myself – and what does that mean?  And keep digging deeper – and what does that mean?  Until I get to the core issue of what’s going on.

For me, when I dig really deep, that question is just the voices of my childhood slapping me down to size, telling me I can’t outgrow the limitations that keep my family together and insisting I’m just fine living a contracted life. I let those voices in for a bit to see who they belong to – and why they needed me to be that person.

AND THEN…I choose differently! I make my choices based on my new, expanded self who believes that I DO have what it takes to do, be or have anything I want. I make my choices based on my belief that God wants me to live an expanded life – giving and receiving love, inspiration and connection.

I mean really, if we’re created in the image of God – who am I to doubt what I can be, do or have?  Did God create me to live a small, contracted life worrying all along the way until it’s over?  Or did God create me to live the biggest, most expanded, prosperous, abundant life?

What I know for sure, is that it’s ALL there for me when I get out of my own way.

Who are YOU called to be today?

I believe in you.

Linda

Recently  I was given the opportunity to look at times in my life I’ve tried things that didn’t work out.  I came up with my list (which was a little longer than I expected!) and then got to work on the next two questions.

1. Where did I quit?

2. What commonalities were there in these experiences?

I do believe that there are times when it’s the right thing to walk away from a business, partnership or project. But what I discovered in this exercise was that there was definitely a common thread for me in everything that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. And whether it was the right thing for me to move on from these things doesn’t really matter.

What really matters is that in each and every one of them, the key reason they didn’t work out was because I was afraid to be seen.

Afraid to show who I really am.

Afraid to be authentically me because it wouldn’t be good enough.

Afraid to show up fully and risk rejection.

Afraid to say what I thought.

I used the fear of being seen to stop myself.

More than once!

As I’ve transitioned into my full time coaching and speaking business this year, I’ve made a commitment to be seen – to show up authentically as me.  I know I will be the best speaker and coach I can be when I’m showing up 100% as me.

So what’s your thing?  As you look back at the places in your life where something didn’t work out or something you considered a failure (more on failure in another post!) – where did you quit? And are there commonalities among the events that come to mind?

I believe in you. Be brave – admit to yourself the places where you stop – that keep you from showing up as your magnificent self!!

Linda

Earlier this month I attended Robert Evans’ Full Time Messenger training.

Everyone at this event was there to learn how to take their own unique message out into the world more effectively and each speaker came at this with their own perspective.

There were so many GREAT speakers and I’ll be sharing more about what I heard throughout the rest of the year…but one speaker really stood out for me and his message was really very simple…

Neale Donald Walsch (the author of the Conversations with God series) spoke at the event through video Skype.  He was funny, touching, open and inspirational – all the qualities that many of us aspire to embrace when we speak!

He framed much of his message around this question:

“What is the purpose of sending my message?”

Neale said the reason you send your message has nothing to do with the recipient – if you think it does, you will judge the effectiveness of the message by how it was received. There is only one reason for me to do anything – to define myself. To announce, declare, express, fulfill the next grandest vision of who I am.

Ask yourself:  Does my fulfillment come from the results others experience or because of what my Soul NEEDS to give! Your message needs to come from the place of “I can’t NOT do this.”

My life is my message from morning to night. This is who I am. I am an individuation of divinity. I claim that in myself. And in claiming that in myself I see it in you. Everything I do is for the evolution of my soul.

What unique message are you here to share? Where is the evolution of your Soul taking you?

I believe in you.

Linda

I got this question from Max Simon’s Enlightened Entrepreneur Event…

I love the reminder that we create our reality with our intentions.  For that event, mine were:

To Follow Spirit’s Direction

To Deepen my Commitment to Success

To Meet People Who Make the Journey More Fun!

And as I look at them now, a few weeks after the event ended, I know that they are still my primary intentions.

For me, to follow the guidance or direction of Spirit 24/7 is my goal.  I’m not there 100% of the time yet…but it IS my intention, so it WILL become my reality!

To deepen my commitment to success is true for me in all areas of my life – to be a better coach, to be a more connected friend, to be a more loving partner, mother, sister, aunt, cousin…all of these fall under my commitment to success.  It’s so easy to feel discouraged when things don’t go the way I plan or hope.  By focusing on my commitment to success, I’m able to more easily release mistakes, words I can’t take back, times I’m not giving at 100%. Why is that?  Because the focus is on the commitment to success – not on being perfect!  As long as I am moving in the direction I intend, I know that I am successful!

To meet people who make the journey more fun…I take this one VERY seriously! I feel very blessed to have some amazing people in my life – family, friends, business associates. However…there is ALWAYS room for people who make the journey more fun!

What is your intention for this week? Month? Quarter? Year? Lifetime???

It’s time to make your intention your reality.

I believe in you!

Linda

Want to know what it takes to be marketable and finally catapult yourself, your business, and your reputation to the level that attracts the right clients willing to pay for your services and products?

Then you want to join my friend, Master Success & Wealth Consciousness Mentor, David Neagle, for Are You Marketable? A 90-Minute, No-Cost LiveStream for Entrepreneurs Fed Up with Just Making Ends Meet with Moderate Results & Seeking THE Catapult for High-Level Connections, Credibility, & Clientele, on August 17, 2011, at 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific.

Save your seat today.  
https://lifeisnow.infusionsoft.com/go/AYMLiveStream/lindawE

Streaming live from an exclusive, invite-only Gratitude Gala in Naples, Florida, (that I’ll be attending!) David is drawing back the curtain of this VIP-only event to show you–from the comfort of your own home or office–how to become marketable and get the results you work so hard to achieve.

Register Now = >  
https://lifeisnow.infusionsoft.com/go/AYMLiveStream/lindaw

I believe in you…and I believe this event can help you too!

Linda