6 Practices to Facilitate True Success

Notice many people aspire to success. Many also struggle and wonder what is really important or necesary to get here, and also prolong satisfaction that widely seems out of reach or only comes and goes.  Consider these 6 practices to facilitate true success:

1. Clarify your version of "Success"

For many, "success" is a state of reaching desired goals through careful effort, intention, and growth. Ultimately, success is shaped by your sense of well-being or perceived life satisfaction. Some say that to feel good implies sense of well-being and life satisfaction are high.  In such a case, investing more energy, effort, and intention toward goals feels right. Symbols of success, such as wealth and status, tend to manifest as a result. Yet, do we always get more of what we want? Instant manifestation of desires is not widespread.

This said, not everyone defines success by the pursuit of wealth, fame, measurable material possessions, and social status. At different stages of life and experience, our views about success can change. Some people may link success with inner peace, balance and immeasurable things.  Some experience a shift from an external definition to an inner experience. Its a reminder to clarify success in your own terms, resist influence, realize it by your own rules, and create a life that resonates.

2. Get comfortable with discomfort in your life

This may seem an oxymoron. To sit with our feelings is not really about wallowing in negativity and sharing a tornado with everyone we meet.  Sitting with such feelings with intention is about conscious watching, allowing them to move through.  Wallowing implies we are not interested in a new beginning but prefer to dwell on what is not working. It implies investing energy in holding a position, in recruiting a puty party, replaying a story or reiterating what is unjust, offensive and undesirable.  We all know people who do this.  Observing our thoughts and state is recognizing that our emotions (and even those of others) are not really us.  Rather, it is about recognizing they are a pointer and teacher to what is going on deeper inside us. This is the key to cherishing the teaching and rising above it.

3. Take radical responsibility

So, if we are serious above moving forward in life, however we define this, we must we willing to stop repeating what we do not like or what is not working and instead, direct thought and other energy into conscious co-creation.  We must be willing to be accountable for our thoughts , emotions and life situations, and recognize nobody is going to rescue us. We must take charge of where to go from here, reclaim our power, and change our conditions ourselves.  If, in our heart, we sense what we are meant to do or be and resist, this is an invitation from an expanded version of us to move through our fear and assume our new role in the next stage of our lives. In a journal, it may be prudent to jot down some situations that evoke discomfort, what changes we fear and why, or and how we would like to replace this.

4. Spend time each day on meditation & reflection

The Science Foundation funded a study about journaling one’s thoughts and feelings. The result reveals the practice increases mental performance and helps translate thought into action. Yet, journaling isn’t the only method one can use to gain clarity on vision.  Still, focusing on self-reflection allows for meaningful thought connections. Creative people  devote time in daily meditation and self-reflection.  What matters is developing a reliable channel of communication with oneself. This builds self-reliance and trust, come what may.

4. Prioritize exercise that boosts aliveness

This is not simply about physical movement of the body, but also mental, creative and energetic exercises that stretch the mind.  Brainstorm how you could exercise your altruism, paying it forward or offering service.  Take some time out to innovate, create a vision, painting, sculpture, paper mache or even a sand castle.  Allow those creative juices to flow.  Does iWhat is it that you spontaneously come up with?

5. Understand everything is energy

Certain cultures tell us that determination, strenuous effort, even blood, sweat and tears are required to achieve success.  Another view is that everything is non-physical energy and aligning thought, word and action are the key to materialisation and alchemy.  Whatever "camp" you subscribe to is going to guide your process and experience.  Which resonates and works or does not in practice in your sense of reality?

6. Explore the nature & significance of dreams

Tibetan Buddhist practices as well as diverse experts echo that astral, lucid and dream yoga are the key to the experience of success and enlightenment.  Whether we come to remember our dreams, understand or decode our own messages can go a long way to learning the power of dreams as tools to heal and intgrate fragments of our psyche.  Consider the possibility of strengthing your dream recall and explore unfamilliar options if it resonates. 

Dream Analysis of the Week- Runaway Train

Dream: I  dream I go to the station to catch a train and somehow miss it.  This happens repeatedly. The scenario plays out over and over. I wear different clothes and each time I reach platform to watch train pull away.  What gives?

Insight:  In human waking life, are you waiting too long to make a decision? Life may show you many examples where you think you are just about to make it, yet don't and are confused, frozen or disappointed.  You may just about reach the mountaintop yet, something prevents it. You almost reach mouth-watering fruit in a tree, and then a bird gets it. You may just about win a race and stumble. You may strive to achieve a certificate that becomes obsolete or just miss getting a promotion.  The repeated 'almosts' are pointers.

The ego mind might echo things do not happen your way because you are not good enough, not experienced enough, not qualified eough, do not have enough stamina patience or whatever it takes. What other reason might exist?

When something happens repeatedly, it invites us to see what we are missing or not seeing clearly.  Reflect on the nature of delays in current experience. What are we postponing and why? Fear of something undesirable is the common answer. Being proactive changes the game. Rather than wait for something we may not want, speak our mind, create boundaries, step up the initiatives. IN chasing what we think we want, we may be missing something else.

On a more universal level, this dream is a metaphor for how the mind functions.  The mind is running after life and somehow seems to miss it continuously. Why? When we shift focus of attention away from the present moment to the past or future, we miss the proverbial boat. The dream itself symbolizes the mind.  It is always missing the train.  The mind is bound to miss what it is reaching for because in taking time to think, that thing is already gone. Time waits for nobody.  Its the analogy of sand slipping through fingers.

So, to live in the moment is to be spontaneous, trust and surrender to the unknown.  It is also to be enlightened, to feel truly alive wherever you are.  To think about anything is to miss it.  In this light, enlightenment (peace, bliss) is not a goal to work toward or something we decide to accept or not after exerting effort.  Its the revelation we only have the present moment to live, to take chances. The mind lives in tomorrows. To truly live only happens right now.  Say what you mean, mean what you say. Be brave Be here now. 

Among our services, we offer Dream Consultations to explore dreams on your wavelength.  We also offer an Astral, Luid & Dream Yoga Course.  Contact us to discuss.

Choose Soul-based decision-making

My child is unhappy at daycare, growing noticably more anxious, and getting sick more often. I will regret it forever if I don’t leave my job, change my livelihood, to care for my child at home.

“I feel stressed in my workspace. There is so much negative energy among colleagues, even discrimination. I don’t know where to go for grievances. Just know that I can’t stay.”

“ I feel an urgency to pursue my dream. I have a vision but lack full clarity.”

I can relate to quandries about parenting and work-life balance, as well as roles in public and private sectors.  As a coach, clients consult me for guidance about life change without always knowing the next steps on their journey. What they and we all come to realize if open and receptive, is that our body-mind is constantly giving us signs and signals. We can learn to read them. Part of us knows what is not aligned with our soul. The messages are loud and persistent, to where they are difficult to ignore.  The voices invite us to give up the needs of our ego – earned job title, predictable income, security, maybe how and where we live and take leaps of faith without knowing how things will turn out! Its an exercise in trust. Can you relate to that inner urge to change?

With the onslaught of the global health concerns, wildfires, environmental calamities, political upheavals, and far more, we are repeatedly to prompted to act differently.  The inner voice is getting louder. As we begin to see our lives in terms of energy, the stakes are high when we are out of alignment! How can we learn to make decisions that are aligned with collective wisdom and that reliable intuition?

Six Modes of Decision-Making

In the book The New Leadership Paradigm, Richard Barrett talks about Six Modes of Decision Making.

1. Instinct-Based
2. Subconscious Belief-Based
3. Conscious Belief Based
4. Values-Based
5. Intuition-Based
6. Inspiration-Based

Question is, in day-to-day life, what sort of decision-making evokes more joy and freedom? If we are guided by internal feelings, or the soul, then these modes take us closer or further away from the best choice on our path.

1.    Instinct-Based Decisions 

This is about biological survival. For example, babies instinctively know how to suckle and cry when they are born, in order to help them gain the food and attention they need to survive. As adults, your instincts kick in when you are in danger, such as the fight or flight response.  In this realm, actions proceed thought. You are not consciously in control of your decisions.

2.    Subconscious Belief-Based Decisions 

This is about personal memories and experiences from the past and are often driven by emotions rather than rational thought. When you make subconscious decisions based on beliefs from the past, you are often responding to unmet ego needs.  In this realm, action still proceeds thought and you are still not consciously in control of your decisions. The key decision driver is your personal experience rather than your biology.

3.    Conscious Belief-Based 

This is where the realm of rational decision-making based on conscious thought, information, and experience.In this type of decision-making you switch to thinking before you act. You are in control. Yet, you still tend to make decisions based on past experiences and feelings, rather than on your future and infinite potential.

4.    Values-Based decision-making

This involves examining your past beliefs and experiences and letting go of what no longer serves you anymore. When you move into values-based decision-making, you can create a future that resonates with who you truly are and want to become.  Values-based decision-making is based on your personal values and the future you want to create. You are in control of your actions and consult with others to consciously create the best outcome.

5.    Intuition-Based decisions

This is about allowing you to tap into a deeper and collective wisdom of a larger group. This may involve giving up your personal preference in service of the whole. You shift away from your ego-system into a larger eco-system view.

With intuition-based decisions, you expand our awareness of the whole, suspend your judgment, empty your mind, and are open to thoughts that arise and reflect a wisdom that is greater than your own.

6.    Inspiration-Based decision-making is responding to the promptings of our soul. This decision-making enables your soul to fulfill its purpose in this world. Barrett mentions that some forms of depression arise from ignoring these insistent promptings of the soul.

In this realm, thoughts seem to appear from nowhere, they are persistent, and there are emotional consequences for not listening to them.

Three Ways to Align Decisions with the Needs of Your Soul

Here are some tips you can practice to begin shifting to making decisions aligned to the needs of your soul:

1. Be Aware of the Level at Which You are Making Decisions 

• Do you tend to get stuck in rational decision-making based on your past experience, without considering values? When is that appropriate? And when might you need to shift to exploring the involved in the situations.

2. Consult others 

• Through consulting with others and becoming more aware of diverse perspectives, you begin to expand your own knowledge, gain deeper levels of understanding, and tap into a collective wisdom that is greater than your own.

3. Meditation, Prayer, Spiritual Practice

• Tapping into values, intuition, and inspiration is a spiritual practice. Take 5 minutes per day to quiet your mind, be present, and seek wisdom from your ancestors in the spiritual realm and the wisdom of the universe. Ask for guidance in decision-making. It may come in a dream, while immersed in nature or in a quiet moment. Listen carefully and pay attention.

At what level do you tend to make decisions? At what level would you like to make decisions?  What is most effective for you in different life areas?  Would you benefit from coaching along these lines? Contact us.

3 Tips to Accept Innate Worthiness

To accept innate worthiness, implies you accept you are worthy without doing anything. The essence of your being is love, which means your basic nature, when functioning freely, is constructive and trustworthy. Love, in this sense, is not a romantic emotional state, but rather, a rational, coherent, and positive intelligence, guiding your life forward with subtle and ordered complexity toward goals the Soul aspires to realize.

In a nutshell, it is your essential loving nature establishes your worth and belonging as a human being, meaning you are inherently perfect exactly as you are right now, have been in the past, and are in the process of becoming. It’s the truth and science backs it up. The fact that your worth as a human being is inherent means it is always true. There are no conditions you need to meet, no prerequisites to qualify you, no accomplishments required to earn it. Your worth is not earned; it’s given. Your successes and failures in life neither increase or decrease your worth. Whether you live in a mansion or on the street, you are worthy. 

The research of Brene Brown reveals only one variable that separated the people who have a strong sense of self-worth and belonging from the people who struggle for it. That variable is that people with high self-worth believe they are worthy. They accept it as fact (which it is). Your unqualified acceptance of yourself as worthy is fundamentally all it takes to experience it.  Your basic nature drives you to fulfill your potentials. Something within guides you to express and activate all your talent and gifts to enrich your life and reach your full potential.  Consider 3 Tips to accept innate worthiness; 

1) List of qualities you experience when you are at your best.  Simply jot down 10 words or short phrases that describe your experience when you’re in the flow, in the zone, consciously co-creating with love and things happen. This will help you identify the experience of the directional force emanating from your essential nature.

2) Know the code for your essential nature is embedded in the very neurocircuitry of your brain, unwrapping to express the creative, curious, explorative, playful, constructive, peaceful, loving, joyful, compassionate, sharing, and cooperative forces within that move you forward toward self-actualization.

3) Repeat positive affirmations and femonstrate them to yourself in practice, What you are is good enough, and all you have to do is to be it openly. Transcend struggle, shame and self-doubt, by proving otherwise.  Although you are by your very nature intrinsically worthy and forward moving, your inherent core of worth is so overlaid with layers negative thoughts, fears, and doubts as to feel nonexistent. Thus, your challenge is to remove the layers of fear and negative thinking so your intrinsic worth can emerge naturally. 

5 Steps to more conscious living

Ever feel like a peice of wood drifting through life, not going in the direction you want to go? Is it clear to you how you got where you are today? Do you feel drawn to change anything?

Living consciously is about taking control of your life, about making deliberate decisions rather than making decisions willy-nilly without thought.  This is about consciously creating the life that we want rather than settling for the one that somebody tells us we deserve. Consider these 10 steps to more conscious living;

1.  Reflect regularly on your life

This involves reflecting on who you think you are, how your feel and behave in different situations.  It includes growing more aware of patterns playing out through your relationships and being open to change.

2. Reflect on how you spend your time

Notice whether you focus attention on what matters most to you or, whether you are working toward doing that in the future. The key is to find courage to stop doing things that do not stimulate creativity or fulfull you, to stop interacting with people who do not matter, stop spending money on stuff we do not need to impress people. What would you ideally be doing and where?

3. Nurture your sense of humor

Laughter is brings balance and recalibrates well-being. What tickles your funny bone? Laugh longer & more often. Spend time with children who giggle and animals that play spontaneously. Be open to allowing some of this to rub off on you. Allow yourself to be silly.  Be okay with it. Lose the conditioned fear of embarassment.

4. Review life goals often

Notice what you truly feel destined to do with your gifts and talents. Are you are in sync or off track? Ru moonlighting? Its useful to grow aware of the nature of distractions we create or excuses we make to hold ourselves back from doing what the heart knows fuels our spirit.

5. Reflect on your impact on the environment

This includes what you eat, how its produced, how far it travels to get to you. How do you feel when you eat? Are you being authentic, eating what feels right or making changes as your body gives you signs to do so? Which modes of transport do you use? Be mindful that everything we do affects more than us, but everything around us in some way.