Do You Have the Courage to Show Up in Your Life?

When Brene Brown was interviewed by Jonathan Fields on his Good Life Project, she shared not only her research on vulnerability but her life commitment to it. In her new book, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead she urges us to step into the arena to live the lives we want rather than spend our lives shrinking in the bleachers, unfulfilled and critical of others.

One of the many  important messages that emerged from the interview is that “We can’t give people what we don’t have.” This struck home with me because as a parent I was too often caught promoting a double standard.

Another powerful message is Brene’s decision to not be influenced by people who criticize her from afar, but have not stepped into the arena themselves.

She drew this from the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

During the interview you’ll learn how to go about making change in your life.

Do yourself a favor and watch the entire interview below. You’ll be encouraged to embrace risk, uncertainly and emotional exposure. It’s the courageous path to success.

Once you’ve watched the video, share in the comments what it brought up for you about your life.

What did you do the day you stopped waking up with a smile?

Is change scary for you? You are not alone. ← Click to tweet

What did you do when you stopped waking up with a smile? ←Click to tweet

On his GoodLife Project, Jonathan Fields shares the story of a lawyer who left a 22-year successful practice when she no longer woke up with a smile.

Listen to her story and then share in the comments how you had the courage (or wish you did) to make a change in your life when you realized it was time.

Master the Genie Within You to Live the Life You Want

Are you looking for more peace, fun and joy and less stress and disappointment?

Welcome to the Club.

We are all  looking for ways to live happier lives, but too often are looking in the wrong places.

There is no argument that activities like eating delicious food, shopping and spending time with friends
all bring pleasure. Such external pleasures however, will be short-lived if we haven’t taken one important action.

Travelling to distant places is exciting, entertaining and enriching. The longest and deepest trip,
however, that will transform our lives is the trip we take within.

Researchers have discovered that the happiest people in the world are not the wealthiest, but rather
the people who do fulfilling work, express gratitude, choose positive thoughts and emotions, and
have developed ways to reduce stress and find joy from within.

A just-released book, Master the Genie Within: Uncover, Embrace and Celebrate the Real You, will help you take
that journey within.

In the book, therapist Gladys Anderson helps you recognize and access the power of your personal genie within to rid yourself
of limiting beliefs and the masks you wear that hide who you really are. By claiming your own power, Anderson shows how you
can handle the adversities that come your way and by engaging in activities that call upon your strengths can live the life you want.

It is now available on Amazon in paperback or you can read it on your Kindle,
smartphones, PC’s and Mac’s!  You can download a free Kindle reader from Amazon.

Enjoy the following excerpt from Master the Genie Within: Uncover, Embrace and Celebrate the Real You

Give Up the Superwoman Role

Give up trying to be the perfect partner, the perfect employee, the perfect hostess, the perfect parent, the perfect daughter, or the
perfect friend. It is not possible.

But so what if you never throw a party like Martha Stewart, the home decorating guru, organize your workspace like a professional
organizer, or empty your inbox?

What you can do is accept the situation as it is. There is such a thing as “good enough,” and when you’ve done your best, it’s good
enough. Relinquish the notion that you can do all, and be all things to everyone in your life.

You are NOT  Superwoman. Remember, Superwoman has superhuman strength and can fly and she is not real.

Real women need to set boundaries on their time, their “chores,” their lives. If you let others control your time and resources, you
open the floodgates to stress, anxiety, and frustration. Instead of being nice and accommodating, you’re really teaching other
people that they have the power to determine how, when, and what you spend your time doing. The role of Superwoman is a clever way
of wearing the mask of perfection.

If you’ve been feeling that there is more to your life than you are currently living, then listen to that inner yearning.

 

Do you feel yourself being blocked from living the life you want? Do you sense that you are hiding the real you or suffering from the
burden of trying to be perfect? Share with us in the Comments.

What You See is What You Get

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Flip Wilson, 70’s comedian of the 70’s popularized “What You See is What You Get”  in his role as Geraldine, one of his characters. It became so popular that it allegedly inspired Palo Alto Research Center to create the acronym WYSIWYG for its text editor.

But this saying is more than words, it’s a profound spiritual principle. Everything that exists began as a thought, then a strong desire and a visualization before it was manifest. The extent to which you can see what you want in your mind’s eye before it manifests is the extent to which you can have your heart’s desire.

Children typically have no problem with this concept. Parents have seen many demonstrations of this as children pleaded and made a case for this toy or that electronic. The visualization was very strong in the child’s mind and their conversation consisted of little else but their heart’s desire. They never seem to worry about the how, just the what.

As we become adults, however, we somehow forget how this works and begin to twist it to “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Or we sabotage our plans by visualizing something we want but not convincing our subconscious that we deserve it. In willing service to us the subconscious gives us what we strongly believe.

My favorite part of this whole process is that we don’t have to know the how, just the what.

Edison did not create electricity, he discovered it. That means that it already existed, but was waiting for the person who could see it and believe in its power strongly enough to find it.

If your vision is grand, most people will not be able to see it, and will think you’re nuts. The naysayers get entangled in how to do it given what we currently know; the dreamaker gets fired up by the possibility knowing that the how will reveal itself as the vision intensifies.

Can you imagine the general reaction the first time Walt Disney voiced his plan to build an amusement park on the scale of Disneyland, or Alexander Graham Bell finding a way for us to eventually talk to anyone around the world or Gutenberg’s printing press that brought books to the masses? Even the credit for these discoveries is disputed because many had glimpses of the vision before these names brought these discoveries to the public eye.

If you have a dream, a vision that is so grand that it will have a positive impact on the world, even just a corner of the world, don’t be discouraged by naysayers. You are in good company. Intensify your vision until it has manifested for all to see.

Something Bothering You? Maybe You Can Create the Solution


[This video features Startup Connecticut, a program to help new companies launch their innovative ideas.]

Who hasn’t been unnerved by the sudden onset of the hiccups?

If you hiccup for only seven times, you probably move on with your life just mildly annoyed. If they
continue far beyond that or visit you frequently, however, you likely have searched for a cure.

Meet Mallory Kievman, a 13-year-old who has cooked up a cure for hiccups that just may stick:
Hiccupops, a lollipop made up of apple cider vinegar and sugar. (I know what you’re thinking,
your grandma was on to these ingredients. But did she put make them into lollipops?)

Mallory’s invention was first unveiled at an invention convention in Connecticut. Mallory’s idea is not
just child’s play. She wants to be a doctor one day and created this product, not only to solve her
own hiccup problem, but to help give relief to cancer patients often beset with hiccups as a result
of chemotherapy.

Even though she has gained much attention and enlisted the aid of a team of MBA students to help
her create her company, there are still challenges ahead. While angel investors are eager to embrace
projects that promise cures for common ailments, product testing will be one of the first hurdles.

Learn more about Mallory and her lollipops here, and here. The video above shows Mallory as
part of her state’s Startup program.

Have you been bothered by a common ailment or problem and thought of a solution? If so, take
inspiration from Mallory to share your solution with the rest of us. Your state may even have help
for you as part of a state startup effort.

Tell us your idea in the Comments.