Soul-Centered Success ™

July/August 2004

An e-zine for the driven professional who wants it all without sacrificing self or soul.

Written and Published by Jill Berquist, PCC

Certified Coach and Founder of Berquist Coaching Services, LLC

NEW: Visit us on the web at: www.berquistcoaching.com

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"  Live with great expectations and great things will happen."   - Art Fettig 

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I.  Topic:  Attracting Soul-Centered Success Part 3 - Manage Your Mind

II.  Messages from the Masters

III. Coach's Top Picks

IV. News

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I. Topic: Attracting Soul-Centered Success Part 3- Manage Your Mind

As you continue to explore the concept of creating exactly what you want, in any or all areas of your life, from the inside out--let's back up for a moment to get grounded in a couple of basic operating principles. As universal truths these principles can help guide you through any steps in this approach and serve as a compass. To have the full results of Soul-Centered Success™ one must believe in the basic premise that the universe is intelligent, meaning that energetically, what we do or think (with our own energy) causes a response in the world around us. The other related principle is that we are always at choice. The great news about these principles is that they put us in the driver's seat.  We are always making choices--and no matter whether we like or dislike the results we get, we are in control and can make a new choice at any time.

Just to recap, the six key areas you can impact are your dream design, environment, mind, wellness, spirit, and actions. As a reminder, once you declare your desire, there need not be one of these areas that you address first, however in the last edition we we began with Preparing Your Environment as a great first step. (This will be on my website shortly for your reference!) Now let's move onto another of the four key areas you can impact by exploring ways you can Manage Your Mind.

The "Mind" for our purposes does focus on your thoughts, but it is important to note the intertwining relationship thoughts have with feelings and beliefs.  Your feelings stir up your thoughts...and your thoughts unconsciously bring up feelings, and either way--there is an energetic response within us and around us. This energy can be be motivating, positive and positively attractive....or it can be negative, demotivating or struggle-inducing. You probably can see examples from your own life, or from lives of those you know, where beliefs, attitude and perceptions can have everything to do with outcome.  <The Mind piece of the Soul-Centered Success approach assumes that someone is not experiencing a medical or psychological condition that would be better treated by a psychology or psychiatric professional, although some may even recommend similar tactics.>

As we mortals muddle through our issues related to worthiness, perfection, rejection, success, failure, power, belonging or prosperity, (to name a few),  which can rear their ugly heads on our road to our dreams, what can be done to shift our negative mind energy or enhance our positive mind energy, so that we can attract what we desire? Although there are many more, a sample of ways to address Managing Your Mind are the following techniques. Many may not be new to you--but if you haven't tried any one of them with some regularity (like weeks or months at a time), than you may not have dipped into the well of power they can offer. 

1.) Find that Happy Place - In a differently spun version of this common phrase, recalling a time when you felt competent, happy, jazzed or able to tackle a block in the past, when you want to shift stalled energy around something you want to attract, can remind you of your capability, capacity or get you juiced into action. Remember in detail, especially the related emotions, that surrounded the scenario when you were getting through it and finally did.  Remind yourself of the skills and gifts that helped you then, and that you can use them again.

2.) Victory Journal - We've heard much over the past ten years about the movement of gratitude and gratitude journaling. I have often asked my clients to do this exercise, and have done it myself through the years, to shift a negative mood or pattern. Another great way, to raise esteem, motivation and energy in any area that may be blocked, is to journal daily victories. They can be related to the goal or not, and they can be big or small. Being your own cheerleader and having it recorded in writing, completely reinforces the positive energy around your desire and will help you attract it.

3.) Feel Them, Thank Them and Let Them GO! - All of our negative feelings and thoughts have a purpose. Do some work to discover what they were there for (like to protect you, get you to another place, motivate you to finally take action, or whatever...), fully feel them without moving away from them in whatever way suits you best--such as writing, speaking about it to others, drawing, or just being there with yourself.  Thank them for the purpose they served, and then bid them farewell.

4) Consciously Dream -  Not only can being aware of the emotions and thoughts that emerge in dreams help you advance toward your goal, it can also help you leap some hurdles that may be getting in your way.  Dream experts tell us, and I have experienced personally, that by writing a question down before bedtime, an answer will be uncovered in a dream.  We can also conquer a recurring fear by writing down that we will face that 'scarey thing' or situation, instead of stalling, or running or whatever we did before.  Technically this step is called lucid dreaming. Our brains cannot differentiate from what is real or not, and a shift you make in an unconscious state, is likely to carry over--moreso if done repeatedly.  (Yes--this is the same reason affirmations and visioning work, which is are other great proven tactics, NOT New Age hoo-ha.)

5.) Act on Your Intuition - How many times have you said you yourself, if you had only listened to your gut feeling on something?  Fortunately I am counting less and less times these days as I am trying harder than ever to honor my intuition. We do have all of our best answers and are infinitely wise. Your intuition is there for your higher good and will lead you to positive energy and events every time. Yet, what if you slip up? Hearing and timing is everything too. You may not always listen to your intuition, or you may be going too fast to hear it. In that case, do some damage control, and go  back to suggestions 1-4!

6.) Detach and Observe - I am convinced that half of our stirred up negative thoughts and energy is due to our knee-jerk reactions to situations that get us angry or flustered with the need to make something known, make ourselves right or defend our actions.   Wayne Dyer once said "It is better to be kind than to be right."  Many sage philosophers and writers have documented the suggestion about not taking things personally, detaching and becoming the observer.  This has been an important tool for me, and as I have seen, for others. How do you respond when someone pushes your buttons or perhaps when contested by another? Next time, before jumping in, pause, mentally step back and say nothing. Delay any response to even another day if need be. Take the bird's eye view of the scenario and decide what these triggered emotions/thoughts are really about. What outcome are you hoping for by trying to make your point or by wanting to engage? I have done this numerous times and found when I'm successful, I can unplug the energy of "needing to be right," and channel it toward a better goal. Another great way to strengthen your Observer muscle is to focus on the present. Thoughts about the past are regret or guilt, and about the future are usually worry--all useless and negative-energy emotions.

 > Take Action

What thoughts and feelings support or block you from moving toward your desire? As a start, which one of these Manage Your Mind tactics strikes a chord with you, as something you could use? Try on one approach to managing your thoughts and see how your energy shifts for the better.  Tell me how it goes!

II. Messages from the Masters 

"Jung followed his own inner leadings that brought him to experience phenomenon that some of us would prefer to ignore; the possibility of an intelligent and responsive universe, acting and reacting in our interests.  It is my experience that this is true.  I have learned as a rule of thumb, never ask whether you can do something.  Say instead, that you are doing it.  Then fasten your seatbelt.  The most remarkable things follow."

- Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

 

"When you constantly are evaluating, classifying, labeling, analyzing, you create a lot of turbulence in your internal dialogue.  This turbulence constricts the flow of energy between you and the field of pure potentiality.  You literally squeeze the gap between your thoughts. It is that state of pure awareness, that silent space between your thoughts, that is the inner stillness that connects you to true power." 

-Deepak Chopra, Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

 

 

III. Coach's Top Picks

What You Think of Me Is None of My Business by Terri Cole Whitacker

This book was first published in 1979, and revised a few times since. It is a classic and the author was ahead of her time with the phenomenon of attraction and and how to manage yourself to impact your life. Her messages around various life issues such as success, health, death, children and money are grounded in examples from her own life as well as exercises at each chapter's end. There are occasional religious references, but is not an religious book. It is an inspirational one.

IV. News

> Jill Berquist will be a guest on the Mary Jones Show on WDRC, 1360 AM, Tuesday, July 13, 2:00 pm EDT.  We'll be talking about a Life Coaching approach to Career Transition and Management. Hope you can tune in! (Segment is at 2:30pm EDT.)

 

> Stay tuned for our Creating Soul-Centered Success™ Circles coming soon! 

From the comfort of your own home, yet with the synergy and support of your group, you can tap into a model for creating exactly the type of fulfillment you are seeking. You will learn how to prepare your environment, mind, body and spirit, and then to align your actions in a way that sets exciting things in motion for you, personally and professionally! More details to follow.

 

 

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact us at
jill@berquistcoaching.com

Or call (860) 659-5829

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jill Berquist, PCC, is founder of Berquist Coaching Services, LLC, and a Human Resources professional for over fourteen years--ten of those years with a leading global management and technology consulting firm. As a Career and Executive Coach, Jill works with managers, professionals, executives and entrepreneurs on various issues, from business or career transition, to creating life-balance and realizing one's life vision. Jill's mission is to help others achieve success on their own terms, supporting them in an effortless and enjoyable process of attracting work and life fulfillment.

Jill is also a founding member of The Coaches and Trainers Collaborative, a group of coaches, trainers and consultants who specialize in producing results through the human factor of business. They believe that people are the cornerstone to any organization's success, and as a partner, help to unleash and maximize their ingenuity, creativity, passion and productivity. The Collaborative is unique because it brings to bear an extended network of resources, with the ability to deliver on any customized requirement that an organization might have. Call 860.659.5829 to explore the unlimited possibilities.

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Copyright 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Jill Berquist, PCC
Berquist Coaching Services, LLC
All rights reserved

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