Be Nice To Yourself by laurageorge

What with the bath I finally allowed myself last week, I realized that the person that’s meanest to myself  is me. Not counting some Mean Girls at work. They suck big time. If I was as mean as them I’d have no friends. But I’m not counting them because they are so not my friends. OK, let’s rephrase: out of all of my friends, I’m the meanest to myself. So not cool of me. Do you feel the same? Like you’re your own worst enemy? Like if someone said to you what you think to yourself, you’d classify them as “a mentally ill asshole“, but since you say it to yourself it’s not only OK but valid?

Well, let’s take that Mentally Ill Asshole Vampire that lives in your head (is it comforting to know that we all have one in our own heads?) & kick him in the shins.

What aren’t you being nice to yourself about, & how you gonna start? Read the rest of this entry »

“Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are & become it.” – Steven Pressfield

It’s the first in my monthly Rousing Reviews series! OK, it’s technically the second (I reviewed The Renaissance Soul in June of ‘09, so that totally counts, right?), but it’s the first on a consistent basis. Let’s face it, our lives sometimes get in the way, & it’s tough to sit down with a book that you know will do ya a world of good, both for yourself & your fans/readers/followers/clients. So yes, this series is absolutely a structure I set-up for myself to make me accountable to read the books that I’ve been tagging along the way. See, I life coach myself sometimes! And duh – obviously I do this for you kids, too (say it with me: “Awwwwww!”).

I wanted to start off the series with The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield because it’s really a hell of a title. What artist wouldn’t want to go into battle, break through their creative roadblocks, & emerge victorious with the Writer’s Block Vampire’s head on a stick? And while I’d like to say that that’s what this book does, I can’t. Not to say it won’t help slay that Vampire, but it’s more about discovering all the ways the Vampire’s likely to attack you & instilling yourself with the mojo to make it not only not bite you, but to get it to leave you the hell alone, at least until tomorrow.

Let me explain. The War of Art is split into three books: Resistance (Defining the Enemy) Combating Resistance (Turning Pro) & Beyond Resistance (Higher Realm). As you can tell, Resistance is the Vampire here. The long & short of it is that every single thing that causes a creative person to shelve their creativity – whether it’s perfectionism, addiction, procrastination, or the million other excuses a creative person gives themselves to not do – is a direct weapon of Resistance.  For me, Book One was eye-opening, powerful, & worth the price of the book a few times over. When I flipped the page to Book Two, I may or may not have clutched it to my chest & said to myself, “You will be beaten & dog-eared when I’m through with you.” And then I may or may not have kissed it. I couldn’t help it – hearing about all the different Vampires that get in the way of making Art, why, it was a wonder that any Art exists at all! The whole reason Resistance exists is to “shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work” & “the more call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel towards pursuing it.” How evil is that? It’s so evil that the more we discover something that’s authentically us, that’s calling us to do it, the more it attempts to stop us! That is so, so evil that I not only wanted it’s head on a stick, I wanted to chop it up into pieces & then stomp it to double death! Seriously, it pissed me off. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s amazing how many places you can go without leaving your apartment. Of course, I’m talking about my multiple appearances on the Interwebs this week!

First off is the monthly Spring instillation, which is now a weekly one! That’s right – instead of one long-ass video, or 1 long-ass video cut into smaller pieces, we taped 4 stand-alone segments & are posting a new one each week. How great is that? Click here for the first part of our discussion on support, & don’t forget to comment for your chance to win our weekly giveaway (yup – weekly! How cool are we? Answer: very cool).

Note: this is not my self-portrait, but the button you click on to get to the self-portraits on The Mathematics of Glamour. Read the rest of this entry »

#313 at Things We Forget

OK, I admit it: I ditched my Me Time this weekend. There was just no time for Me to be found in my Sunday, heavy with a hangover & Things To Do. And while I know those 90 minutes would have been much-needed, I chucked them away. Even Luke said to me, “It’s your Me Time now” (I put it on my calendar, so it pops up on our computer a few minutes beforehand) & I responded, “I know. It’s just not going to happen.”

So today, on a random Tuesday, for no special occasion, I’m going to give myself that Me Time. Not that 90 minutes – that would be too tough, & too easy to let go – but something, whatever I can do. I’ll share what it’ll be in the comments & hope that you answer my tough question there, too:

What are you going to do for yourself today?

Give Me a Hand by Blue Bicicletta

Last month, I got a tweet from Danielle LaPorte alerting me to the Help Haiti Blog Challenge, & it’s been stuck in my mind ever since. I’ve been running it over in my head, trying to figure out how I want to contribute. I’m supposed to add a badge & complete this sentence:

“I will donate ________ dollars to _________ on behalf of the next person who buys _________from me.”

But I don’t wanna. I wanna involve more people than just The Next Person. I wanna give more of myself & the things I can contribute. I wanna donate 5% of my coaching income for February to Haiti. Will you help me make sure it’s a lot? Click on over to my Services page to find out about my private sessions, & over to Events to explore the group sessions I got goin’ on, & know that your hard-earned money will be hard at work for those in need.

BE HAPPY by EverythingLovely found via A Beautiful Ripple Effect

People, it has been approximately 1 million years since I posted a Link Love post, & because of that – & because I literally subscribe to over 100 blogs in my Google Reader (that’s post-purging!), there are appoximately 1 million links to share. But, because none of us has 1 million years to read all these links, I tortured myself by including no more than 20 of them. Now, please note that there are over 700 unread posts in my Reader, & I think that my Reader lists when a post is starred – not written – so these are from the posts I’ve starred in January. Whew! This is getting complicated. Isn’t “simplicity” my 2010 word? I gotta look into that.

• Working It Out on Ink on my Fingers (great free download here!)
• What are intentions anyway? on Carmen Torbus
• day five (!) & a story on Follow My Bliss
• Is Your World Getting Smaller (Like in a BAD way?) & Show Them Who You Are on Nicole J. Butler
• life is subject to change: what happened when I raised my rates (this isn’t here just because I’m in it!), the secret to self-promotion: radiance & the facts, jack on White Hot Truth
• It’s OK on A Beautiful Ripple Effect
• 2009 Intention Review: a letter to myself & Design Your Life: Step It Up With Steph on Makeunder My Life (the former was the inspiration that, um, inspired me to write my own letter & post it for the people of the Interwebs to read. Gulp.)
• Why You’re Undervaluing Yourself (& How to Stop) on Productive Flourishing
• Batshit Crazy: Creative Ways to Meet Your Goals & How to Make Unstupid Goals& No Bullshit Branding & the Sustainable Empire of You on IttyBiz
• if you were a superhero… & let your sun shine on Jess Gonacha Swift
• It Doesn’t Have to Be Good & the Art of Procrastination on blue bicycletta

And for some shameless self-promotion, because I’m bursting at the seams!: Read the rest of this entry »

The Tiny Little Adventurous Bird by FreyaArt

Even with all the fantabulous stuff that’s been going on with me lately, I’m still feeling the agita as to whether or not I’ll “make it” as a full-time coach. So, instead of thinking of this as my Goal or My Life’s Purpose (ack! scariness!), I’ve decided to think of it as An Adventure. That frame of thinking – that my Goal isn’t the end-all-be-all-most-important-thing-of-my-life-ever – certainly keeps me focused on enjoying the journey, making sure there’s fun involved & seeing where these opportunities lead – which is what the Grown-Up (& innerpreneur) in me wants to focus on!

Join me in the comments by answering:

What’s your next adventure? Read the rest of this entry »

And we’ve only just begun by Chris Piascik

This is another scary post for me, guys. Like Dear Future Me, this was a word doc that I wrote for myself, to tuck away for me as a journal entry while my journals are still packed in a box.  But as I finished, I realized that this could serve as the more authentic posts I’ve been yearning to put here that could possibly bring some of you comfort or inspiration or comraderie or strength. And if there’s a chance I can offer that to you, what kind of selfish twit would I be to keep that to myself? And when you get to the end of the post, I think you’ll see why I felt that I had to post this, in keeping with the intention of putting myself Out There. Enjoy my diary entry (gulp)!

It’s my Me Time now. I haven’t taken an official, scheduled Me Time in probably, oh….too long. I can’t remember the last time it’s been on my calendar. There’s been unofficial Me Time here & there – time for a bath, or reading the paper, or somesuch Me Thing – but nothing that’s been a gift: Here’s 90 minutes. It’s for you.

So here I sit, sideways in the big red patterned chair so I can look right out my window onto the NYC skyline: a green & white Empire State Building, a gold twinkly bridge, the Chrysler Building that shines, well, like the top of the Chrysler Building. I saw a Broadway & Musicals station on Pandora when I was browsing, & I clicked on it. I don’t remember the last time I listened to show tunes when I wasn’t a passenger in my mother’s car. Bernadette Peters is singing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” & I’m on the verge of tears.

You can do it
All you need it a hand
We can do it
Mama is gonna see to it! Read the rest of this entry »

Holy crapballs, is this exciting. Maybe even more so because after the video was pushed back for the second time, I resigned myself to seeing it in March. Or May. Or 2011. But not before the week was over!

Put Me In, Life Coach is a 5-minute video on Newsweek.com that profiles me as one of the 15,000 (!) life coaches out there. You’ll hear how I found my way to coaching, how I got accredited, my definition of a life coach, & even see me coaching a client & hear her thoughts about being coached! I stand corrected: holy crapballs, this is super exciting.

Oh, and if you’ve found your way here because of this super awesome video, Welcome! Click around & stay for a while – there’s a ton of neat stuff both on my blog & in my site. This is my home on the Interwebs, & you’re always welcome!

Once more for good measure: holy crapballs.

I have to admit I am so super behind in my Award posts. Back in December I got the Sweet Thing Award from Maggie, & all the way back in November I got the Sugar Doll Award from Melissa!

Since I got the Sugar Doll Award first, I’m posting my response now. It’s 2 months late, but hopefully it still counts!

Here are 10 Things About Me that I haven’t yet shared (since this is similar to my Honest Scrap Award & my Kreativ Blogger Award) :

1. The only time I’ve never had bangs was when I grew them out in 8th grade. This was also the time when I got a perm. A perm + no bangs = no date to the 8th grade dance. And no, you will not see a picture of me from that time. Unless I’m dead. Until then, here’s a cute pic of me with bangs when I was super little. Read the rest of this entry »