Inside Out Series ~ What Does Your Car Say About You?

In continuing our "Inside Out" Series we are going to move on our focus to our cars (or vehicle). While our attention for this part will be on our cars I want you to tuck away this information in relation to other possessions as well.

First, I am going to ask you: What does your car look like?


Now, I am not talking about what type of car you have, but what condition your car is in. Is it well taken care of? Regular maintenance: oil changes, tune ups, car washes? Is it clean? Vacuumed? Is it free of clutter?

OR

Does it look like a dusty road ate it up? Your traveling closet? Your moving trash can? A car needs oil?

Our care of our possessions, such as our cars, can be reflective of our care for ourselves.

How so?

As mentioned at the very begining of this series, what is going on on the inside is manifested on the outside.

Think about the condition your car is in right now.
What might be some of the reasons for the condition it is in right now?
How is the care of your car similiar to care of yourself?
How is it different?
How might the care of your car/possessions add to you accomplishing your goals?
How might it subtract from you accomplishing your goals?


Again, I would love for you to add to this discussion - what's your thought?

Until next time...

Inside Out Series - What We Can Learn About Ourselve By Looking At Our Homes

As I mentioned in the earlier post we can learn a lot about what's happening within ourselves if we take a closer look at what's happening externally.

We're going to spend some time considering our home or environment in which we live.

Energetically our environments have a huge effect on whether we are really living up to our potential and can often times be part of a self-sabatoge cycle.

Clutter Queen VS. Neat Freak
This area is one that I really want to address. I feel that a lot can be learned by taking a look at which label by which you would define yourself.

Clutter Queen: The collector of clutter. You would fall into this category if you have things in your house that you don't know what to do with so you pile it on a table, shove in a closet, fill a drawer or leave it on the floor. You tend to be overwhelmed by the term "organize" and panic at the thought of creating systems to accomplish organization.

Clutter creates a huge blockage of creative energy which prevents one from moving forward and embracing their full power. This is especially true when a big fear is being tapped into. Most people will find that their clutter prevents them from doing something they know they can do. For example: If there is a fear of success then you might find clutter factoring into paying your bills late and creating financial difficulty, therefore preventing financial success.

So, a few questions to consider:

• Where are you limiting yourself with your clutter?
• What fears might be at play here?
• What would happen if you were to eliminate your clutter?
• What scares you about that?
• How would you have to change your thinking in order to change your enviroment?
• What would it take for you to let go of the clutter?

Neat Freak: You would fall into this category if you have a system of organization for everything in your house, you go through your mail immediately and have a place for all items in your home including your car keys. The one thing that generally will drive you nuts is if something is NOT in it's designated place.

While clutter can create a blockage of energy, a Neat Freak will often find it hard to release and let go. When a person is unable to release or let go they close themselves off to new opportunities. This person may be unable to fully experience the present because they are so focused on something that needs to be done or put away.

Questions to consider:

• What opportunities would be available to you if you were to let go of your expectations of how things must be done?
• What are you "missing" out on?
• What would happen if you were to fully experience the present moment?
• How would you have to change your thinking in order to do that?
• What would it take for you to accomplish that?

Somewhere in Between: This category applies to you if you find you are one way or the other depending on the area/room in your house. You might be a Neat Freak about the kitchen, but a Clutter Queen in your bedroom.

Depending on the room you can gain valuable insight into different parts of yourself. For example if a person is a Clutter Queen in the bedroom there may be a fear of intimacy or a feeling of low self-worth.

If you find yourself in this section, start by determining which category applies to each room in your household. After you have examine the questions under each category and add the questions:

• What does this room represent for me?
• What does me being a Clutter Queen OR Neat Freak in this particular room tell me about myself?

I hope you have enjoyed this first article in the "Inside Out" series. Please share your discoveries and thoughts about yourself in relation to your home with me in the comments area. I look forward to the discussion!

Until next time...

From the Inside Out

We all know that sustainable changes happen on a core level. Meaning that in order to make lasting changes they need to come from the inside out. Sometimes determining what changes need to be made can be hard to figure out.

What's going on internally is often reflected externally. We can gain some valuable insight into what is going on with our thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors by taking a look at ourselves from the outside.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks I wil be examining five different areas and what they say about us from the inside out.

We will take a look at:

• Our finances


• Our homes


• Our vehicles


• Our physical appearance


• Our self-care

Stayed tuned for the 1st post in the Inside Out Series!

Until next time...

Resistance ~ How Does It Show Up In Your Life?

I was forwarded an email today from a friend about resistance being an either/or attitude vs. a both/and attitude. I found this to be especially serendipitous since I was working with my coach around some resistance I've been feeling internally to a change that I feel needs to be made.

This article was from Dr. T's Timely Tips and I found it really thought provoking.

What really hit me was that when you find your attitude to be either/or - Either is has to be this way OR it has to be this way, you are creating resistance. This resistance creates a block that prevents you from truly being open to possibilities.... that truly great minds embrace a both/and attitude. Dr. T mentions an example of a person wanting a dessert that is both hot and cold, hence the hot fudge sundae was born.

This was a lightbulb moment for me. I have a delicate and challenging relationship with my mother, which most of us can relate to in some form or another, and I want to be more emotionally connected to her, but feel resistance due to previous hurts.

I'm working through this with my coach - I recognize that this block that I hold onto only holds me back from being the best me I can be. I get off of the phone and this article is in my inbox.

What I've realized is that my relationship with my mother has always been an EITHER/OR situation for me. Either I connect emotionally and open myself up to hurt OR I put the shield up and protect myself, at the same time losing out on a deeper relationship with my mother.

What I have just been opened up to is: What prevents me from both connecting emotionally, lowering the "shield" and being able to protect myself from being hurt a the same time?

Who says the only way to protect yourself from hurt is to emotionally block yourself off from a person? What I've realized is that although I have the wall up, I am not necessarily protected from being hurt - I still get hurt. I still feel the emotions and I lose the potential for a better relationship with my mother at the same time.

So, now the question is: How do I shift my mindset from either/or to both/and? Definitely food for thought!

How about you?

Where are you creating resistance with an either/or attitude that prevents you from living life to it's fullest?

How would your life be different if you were to shift your mindset to both/and?

I am really interested to hear your thoughts and comments around this new awareness - please share them with me!

Until next time...

P.S. - Email me if you would like a copy of this article.

Our Inner Critic

"We are our own worst critics" I think many of us find that to be a true statement. Today was a perfect example of my critic popping up to work me over. I was invited to participate in a panel discussion for a "Marketing to Women" seminar that was held today. First thing that pops into my head when I was first approached about it was "Why would you want me to be one of your experts on marketing to women? What do I know about that?" Gotta love those inner critics :-)

I actually was thinking about it so much that I finally really had to ask.... response: "Suzy, you're perfect for this panel - your market has always been women." Umm - Oh, I knew that. So, by now I'm starting to catch the fact that I've allowed my inner critic to come out and play with me.

So, today is the day, - I wake up... things start off on the right foot and then, my morning takes a nose dive. I'm printing brochures, run out of yellow ink (my printer won't print anything unless all the ink cartridges have ink in them). Ok, not a big deal. I run into town, pick up ink - remembered I ran out of business cards (big no, no), so I pick up some printable ones (got to work with what you've got), head back home and start printing. I get half-way through and the black ink runs out. UGH! I do not have time now to make a second trip - so I have brochures, no business cards.

As I am driving to the seminar, my "fun" little critic starts right back at it. "What kind of business woman are you? Everyone knows you don't attend these types of events without business cards. Do you really think people are going to take you seriously?" (nevermind that I DO have brochures)

At this point, I'm getting sick of myself. Come on, Suzy, snap out of it! I now consciously shift my focus from what I don't have (i.e - business cards) to what opportunities have now opened up to me as a result of this. Here's a few of them that I came up with:

~ Everyone will relate to me - I'm human!

~ It's great I didn't bring the cards, with the brochure they will now know more about who I am.

~ I can use this opportunity to really connect with others and get their business cards.

And then I reminded myself to just have fun! You know what - I did! I released the morning and went the flow. Not only did I have tons of fun, meet great women (martini "date" next week), I felt really good about my contribution on the panel discussion and received great feedback as well.

Moral of the story: Tell the inner critic to "shut-up" :-)

Until next time....

A Purpose Can Be Found In Everything

The above is a foundation principle that was taught and embraced in the coaching course I just finished up this spring. I really connect with this because it connects with the concept of free will vs. the saying "Everything happens for a reason" which implies that no matter what choices you make the outcome will always be the same.

This principle came up for me the other day as my husband and I discussed some big changes that are coming up in our near future. He just accepted a new position with a company that he has wanted to work with for years. The funny thing is, he was on the verge of being offered a position with the exact same company, just in a different location, about two years ago and it fell through. About six months or so after that whole debacle (or so we thought at the time) the account fell through for that company and the man who ended up with the position had to relocate or was out of a job.

As we reflected over the events the past two years, we realized that the choices we made on our end led us to where we are right now. It's interesting if you take time and reflect over past events and choices, you will start to see a pattern that leads you to exactly where you are at this moment in time. What purpose can be found in your past choices, circumstances and the events in your life? How might you use that information to shift directions from this point forward?

Until next time....

Set the Example

I was watching Oprah's show on putting yourself first and Oprah's resident life coach said something that I thought was amazing.

She said that children pattern their parents. You need to Love Your Own Life!

If you only love your children and not yourself, they grow up into people who can't love themselves.

Children do not treat themselves the way you treat them, they treat themselves the way you treat YOU!
This is true with friends and other loved ones as well.

Set the example and LOVE YOURSELF!

Until Next Time...

Empowerment through Choice

What is the one thing that will always make you feel empowered?

It is the ability to make a choice. The problem is that we often forget that there is a choice in absolutely everything. Even if external circumstances prevent us from doing what we prefer, we have a choice in how we are going to approach the situation. We have control over our attitude, thoughts and feelings.

Being "Stuck":

I often hear people talk about being "stuck" at their jobs. When asked why they don't move to another job that would be more fulfilling, their reply: "I can't because I need the health insurance" OR "I can't because I've built up my retirement" and it goes on.

Do you notice anything interesting about those responses? They all revolve around the word "can't". The word can't is disempowering... it's pretty reasonable to assume if your thought processes around your job involve the word can't, that you would feel "stuck", because according to you, you can't do anything about it.

What else did you notice about those responses? The one thing that I find interesting about them is that if you really dig deeper, you often find that these individuals place high value on their health insurance benefits or retirement packages and although they are unhappy and dissatisfied, the value of these benefits outweigh their dissatisfaction. So, essentially they have made a choice... the benefit to cost ratio tips in favor of the reason they stay.

Empowerment Via Choice:

Here is how we are empowered through choice: We are empowered when we are aware that we are choosing something.

Instead of being "stuck" - ask yourself "What reasons do I give for staying in the current situation?" "What do do I gain?" "What do I lose?" "What is more important to me right now?"

Once you answer those questions you will have made your choice. AND as you are going through the questions and answers you will become aware of the fact that you are making a choice.

The next step would be to ask yourself: "How do I choose to feel about this decision?" This is where attitude comes in....

You Have The Power To Choose!

I found another interesting article on the "Power of Choice" by Chuck Gallozzi - check it out!

Until next time...

Jumpstarting Productivity

I don't know about you, but I find that my days are most productive when I start my day early. I remember the most productive time in my life included a schedule of exercising, cleaning and reading all before 8 am. I had never been a morning person (still not) - still at that time in my life I had committed myself to that routine and eventually it was automatic. My productivity was high and I felt a strong sense of accomplishment. So, now I have been trying to get myself back into that routine so as to capture that high level of productivity and I just can't seem to get my behind out of bed in the morning.

I am the classic "snoozer." I always start with good intentions - I go to bed at a reasonable hour, I set my alarm clock for 6am..... and then 1-2 hours later after hitting snooze over and over I finally get going with my day.

I was starting to wonder if I would ever be able to get back into that routine and here I come across an article. Steve Pavlina produces a very successful blog and his How to Become an Early Riser definitely caught my attention.

He draws attention to the correlation between early rising and high productivity. Along with his observations around how much time you gain by rising early, he shares an interesting system for becoming a habitual morning person.

So, if you are like me and wish you were a morning person - check out his article and try it out. Let's see what success we have in our new commitment to ourselves. I'll keep you updated!

Until next time...