Tag: take the first step

Building the Stairway to Your Own Personal Heaven

life coaching, build your dream life, manifest, law of attraction, create your reality

Creating the life you dream of can feel daunting at times. After all, how the hell do you get from where you are to where you want to be? You may not even know where to start! I completely understand. When you look at the big picture, it can create fear, doubt, and insecurity. The good news is that it doesn’t have to. I’m going to share a little secret…

You’ve been doing things upside down!

Yep, upside down, even if it doesn’t seem like it. You’ve been standing at the bottom of your staircase, staring ALL THE WAY up to the top. Sounds right side up, right? Sure, but how much is it helping? You see before you a billion steps and a million things that could possibly go wrong. You begin to feel overwhelmed at the enormity of the work you are going to have to do to climb up the steep set of seemingly unending steps before you. You begin to shut down before you even get going. So, what now?

It’s time to stand on your head and change your perspective.

Imagine, if you will, that you are standing at the very top of this pretend staircase. The view is much better from up here. You can look back behind you and you begin to see very clearly everything that you needed to do to gain this new perspective. You see that each step has actually been built upon the steps beneath it…that there is a very real order to the way that things were done to get you where you now are. Now, grab a pen. Start to document these steps and break them down into smaller and smaller steps as you go. Let me give you an example:

You’re dreaming of becoming a published author…

First off, congratulations on a very noble dream. How are you going to do it? You have no experience, no connections, no money to self-publish…ah, forget it. It was just a pipe dream anyway, right? WRONG! Think bigger…think upside down. Imagine you are already a well-known published author, basking in the glory of staring at your name in glossy print on the front cover of your novel. Feel the feelings, get excited, and then turn around and look behind you. What did you do to get yourself here? Well, naturally, you got published, but before you could do that you had to entice a publisher and write a book. No big deal, right? UGH.

Don’t get stressed!

Keep going!

Break your goal down even further. In order to entice a publisher, you will need to have a well-edited book, so that will be one step in the process. You will also have to query publishers, so writing a query letter may be on your eventual to-do list. And naturally, in order to query you will need to know who might even be interested in your book in the first place, but hold on. What about the book? Well, writing it will require it’s own breakdown. You’ll have to come up with an idea, format an outline, flesh out individual chapters, figure out the best way to organize said chapters, create your character profiles. WOO. Keep going! Break each of these tasks down even further and further and further. Keep going until you can’t go any further. You may wind up with 534 individual steps, maybe more, maybe less. Now, organize them from first to last and start taking them, one simple step at a time.

Any goal is attainable by moving one step at a time!

If you run into overwhelm somewhere, that means a step is still too big. How can you break it down even further? How can you create a stairway where each step is built upon a solid foundation? How can you help yourself avoid feeling overwhelmed as you move towards your goals? Once you figure that out…

KEEP climbing!

Before you know it, you will be standing back up at the top of your staircase, but this time it won’t just be in your imagination. Don’t get daunted by how long it might take to attain your goal. Just remember that a step in any direction is progress. Standing still, on the other hand, is certain to keep you where you are.

If you need help creating a plan that will catapult you into the life you truly want to live, visit my WEBSITE and contact me today for a FREE CONSULTATION. I am excited to help you make your dreams your new reality.

A Mile is Made of a Whole Bunch of Inches

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I was on the phone earlier today with one of my best friends in the world who always acts as a supportive sounding board when I need to vent, freak out, or just bitch about life in general.  Here I am, deep in the throes of complaining about the areas of my life that aren’t moving or progressing quickly enough, when I almost landed my heel squarely on top of an inch worm meandering along the top of my coffee table.  He looked up at me with his squishy little inchworm face as if to say, “Listen lady…get that roadblock out of my way…I’m trying to make some progress here!”  I moved my foot and marveled as he slowly and steadily continue his trek across the tabletop.  “Pete,” I said “I think I have just been given a sign from the Universe!”

Later, my mad Google skills came in handy as I researched the significance of this little guy showing up (I’m all about Spirit Animals).  I found my way to an awesome website on the subject (aptly named spirit-animals.com) and the quotation box at the top of the page informed me that this adorable, tiny, green worm was telling me that “Transformation is at hand.  Just one more small step and you are there.”  I knew I liked him!  This little fellow showed up in my life at the perfect moment to help me see the error in my thinking.  Instead of seeing all of the things I haven’t been able to accomplish yet, I needed to shift my focus to all of the steps I have taken to move in the direction that I want to be going. Well played Universe.

At some point or another, we are all guilty of thinking this way…probably more often than we might even be aware of.  How many times have you mentally beaten yourself up because you haven’t lost the ten pounds, or eliminated sugar from your diet, or run the marathon, or expanded the business to reach another 1000 customers, or paid off all of your credit card debt, or perfected your dance steps, or become a rock star, or performed life-saving surgery, or kept up with your laundry for an entire week, or cooked the perfect chili, or planted a vegetable garden that actually grows???  We could go on forever and ever, but you get the picture.  The vast majority of us are CONSTANTLY making ourselves feel like we are less than enough, instead of acknowledging that the process of transformation takes a balanced combination of time, belief in your vision, and perseverance.  That’s not to say that miracles don’t happen and you can’t go from picking up the guitar for the first time to overnight rockstar, but again, for the vast majority of us, it’s going to take a little more than that…and that’s OKAY!

We tend to get into this trap of thinking that because we aren’t yet experiencing the reality of the end result that we want, nothing is happening. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Every step that you are taking in the direction of your end goal is getting you closer to reaching it… whether it feels like it right now or not!  Think of our little friend the inchworm…if he had gotten so focused on reaching the end of the table how overwhelmed would he be feeling? Probably just enough to stop moving, let out a tiny, exasperated inchworm sigh, and completely give up trying to get there altogether, which would have likely led to my heel landing on him and squishing him right into the table.  It would have been a tragedy for the little guy!  It’s not that nothing is happening, it’s just that the things that are happening might not be lining up with our perfect time frame, causing fear, self-doubt, and anxiety.  

If you happen to find yourself at that intersection of fear and doubt, practice patience with yourself.  Instead of focusing on all of the things you haven’t done, make a list of all of the things you HAVE done!  Put any silly thing that you can think of on there!  Emailed a person that could potentially help you reach your goal, landed your first gig/client/class/etc, daydreamed for twenty minutes on all of the amazing things you were eventually going to create…maybe you just got out of bed and showered even though you were riddled with all of this anxiety!  List them ALL, big and small, and refer back to this list every single time that doubt starts to creep back in.  

If you feel like you actually haven’t done ANYTHING to start working towards the goal, then now’s the time to do that.  First off, set one!  Then, make a list of all the steps you will need to take to reach it, and start taking them one inch at a time.  When the overwhelm starts to creep in, just take a deep breath and go right back to focusing on the one task at hand.  

The fact is, if you do nothing, you are sure to remain where you are.  If you start moving, you have nowhere to go but forward.  Don’t let yourself get squished to the table by the big heel of self-doubt.  Nobody wins that one.  And if you need help getting motivated, ask for help!  Reach out to your friends, family, mentors, teachers, counselors, coaches (I happen to know a pretty good one), and anybody else who inspires you to dream big and move into your greatness in every capacity!  You are the only one who can take the first step!

Learn more about me by visiting my website HERE, or join me on FACEBOOK to keep up with classes and events I have coming up.  Learn about my 12-week coaching program, “Ascend to New Heights” by watching THIS VIDEO INTERVIEW

Ignite Your Light, Change Your Life.

Every morning that we wake up, we are given a unique opportunity to approach the gift of this day from a place of peace that resides deep within us.  In this place, there is no self-judgement, no shame, no comparing ourselves to others, and no apologies for the things which make us different.  This is a place where we are fully connected to what makes us the fascinating, ever-changing, talented, powerful beings that we are.  It sounds like a dream, right?  Well, however elusive this magical place feels to you at this given moment, it may help to hear that it is so much closer than you think.  Right at your fingertips, actually, and all you have to do is learn how to access it.

We are brought into this world relying on others.  Our families keep us safe, warm, fed, and clothed, as well as offering us boundaries and rules.  Our teachers, communities, and peers expand on these boundaries, educate us, and offer us endless opportunities to connect.  We realize at a very young age the need for human connection, for without it, it would be impossible for us to thrive.  These are all necessary steps on our journey through this life, however, a problem can begin to arise when we put so much emphasis on what others can do for us, that we forget what we are capable of doing for ourselves.  This absence of recognition in our own abilities can lead to an extremely distorted image of self-worth.  This is often where our paths begin to veer from all that we are destined to become, instead moving us to a place where we settle for wherever we are.  This is the place where dreams are lost and life becomes a monotonous routine of daily tasks and disappointments.  Not to say that we are unable to find happiness, but that our happiness loses the technicolor it once held for us.  We find ourselves at a crossroad, where we feel disconnected from ourselves, without quite being able to explain what it is that’s making us feel this way.  This is a time of choice.  This is where we are confronted with the opportunity to access this place of inner reserve.

To our left, we see our life the way it is.  The landscape is flat and drab, but predictable and comfortable as well.  To our right, we see a mountainous terrain full of possibility and excitement, but also riddled with deserts of fear and unknowing.  We know that if we take a step to the left, we are choosing to be content with our discontent, and allowing our dreams to slip further from our grasp to possibly be rediscovered later down the line.  If we take a step to the right, however, we realize there is no turning back, for once we have begun to embark on this path, we will never again feel content living in the familiar.  If we choose to go right, we are choosing a path of self-discovery; one that will surely be difficult and scary at times and which will definitely push us far outside of our comfort zones.  We are choosing to shed our limiting beliefs and go in search of the truth that is burning deep in the core of our being.  We fight back our doubts, and allow that nagging curiosity to win out…we take a step to the right.

As the next leg of our journey begins, our light instantly begins to burn brighter.  We start to look at ourselves from an angle of interest.  Our passion is reignited as we dig through the layers upon layers of conditioned responses that have accumulated throughout the years, only to discover little gems of our own personal wisdom buried within the debris.  We begin to realize that we have been seeking outside of ourselves for answers that we had all along.  We start to remember that we DO know who we are, that we DO know what’s best for us, and that we CAN trust ourselves.  We begin to play games with the friend we have found in our intuition, testing its knowledge time and time again, to find that the more we trust it, the more keen it becomes.  With this dawning sense of self, our confidence is boosted.  We realize that we have something to offer.  We start to understand that we are here for a reason and that life is not just some series of banal tasks that need to be accomplished.  We start to take back the power that we have given away over the years, and the connection that we once desired begins to change shape.  We no longer feel the desire to be connected from a place of lack or need, but rather we long to be connected to bask in other peoples light, to shine our own out, and to lift one another up as we each continue on our paths.  Our passion is in full flame, and nothing can stop us from moving full steam ahead.

Oftentimes when we reach this place, we may feel the need to scream out to others, so sure that we have found the key to happiness.  However, we must remember that life is about balance.  Although we have found our way to higher ground, there will still be valleys we must cross, this time equipped with new tools to help us battle the shadows we find, both in ourselves and in others.  This journey is never over.  Each time we climb to a new plateau, there is another opportunity to climb higher still.  Perhaps we even go back down a bit before we ascend further, hopefully lifting others up with us when it is time again to climb.  You may even find yourself stagnant in one place for a while, but the best part about the journey is that you can never unlearn the things that you have learned along the way, and so inevitably it will continue eventually.  The first step is simply to take the first step.

There are so many ways you can do this.  Join a group in your community with the similar interest of embarking on a journey to their highest self, buy a guided journal, go on YouTube to access guided visualizations, start a meditation practice, or hire a life coach who you trust to help you navigate the journey (I know a pretty good one…  AHEM).  Whatever it looks like for you, take the first step, and I know you will be amazed to watch all of the next steps start to fall into place.  Life’s an adventure.  Live it up.

Please check out my website HERE or find me on FACEBOOK .