Little Inspirations-Listen

Hey Beautiful Souls!

I know I have posted about listening before. But for me this is a message I need to be reminded of again and again!

Listen to your life, the whispers will show up, the nudges… Listen to them

Listen to the whispers of your soul, even if you don’t always understand what that whisper has to do with “real life”

Listen to your body, it has so much wisdom and will help lead you to what it needs

Really listen, hear what people are saying to you and remember that it’s not about giving away your power but it is about deeply listening to the core of what is being said so you can make decision beyond the surface

Remember that sometimes those messages are asking you to seek the silence, the stillness to really hear them

Listen…

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Start Fresh- Journal Prompt

Hey Wonderful Souls!

We all need a fresh start from time to time. So this weeks journal prompt is to ask you just that!

Where could you use a fresh start?

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Inspiration Through the Lens…A few words

Hey Inspiring Souls

Here is some recent inspiration captured through the lens…

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Coaching Q and A- Too much to do, too little time!

Hey Beautiful Souls! It’s Coaching Q and A time!

Q:I have a large family, numerous interests, good friends, lots of talents, absolutely bewildered about how to fit all those things in my day!  It seems my 1st priority of each day gets left in the dust by other obligations.  Help me, help me!

A: I think that it’s great that you see all these opportunities in your life! The first part of this I really want to zone in on is where you say “… fitting all of those things into your day” that’s problem # one! You are not always going to be able to fit each of those things into everyday of your life. You can however fit several of those things into your daily life much of the time. It sounds like you are on overwhelm even if most of it is good stuff!

Some helpful tips:

-Define what is truly important to you in general, define your values

-Define what is important/priority to you that week or day and that will help keep you on track.

-With so much we want to do, create, learn, get done etc in general we often want to spend the entire day doing it. That is not always something that is possible. If say writing or something is one of your numerous interests then can you schedule that in daily or a few times a week at say 20 minute spurts? Friends you want to see, can you merge what you love doing with hanging out with one or some of those friends or family?  Combine where you can! In fact it could be helpful to make a list of those things in your life, see where you can fit in small bits of time to feed your soul, where you can combine passions and connecting etc.

As far as the first priority of the day getting left in the dust by other obligations, there are a few things to look at there.

-It can be helpful if you are clear on what the priority for the day is and when possible let the others in your life know that too so they can support you in that.

-Are you scheduling it in and setting the boundaries to “protect” that time? This is not just from other people, though I know many of us have people around that we love and interact with many times throughout the day. But sometimes we need to protect the priorities from our own selves! We can get distracted by all the other stuff we want or need to do that we have then gotten in our own way of what priority we set up in the first place. Also remind yourself, maybe a post it, or putting it on the calendar blocking out the time etc. would help.

-Also ask yourself (a good question in general for many areas of our life) Am I letting perfection be the enemy of completion? If we keep waiting for it to be perfect we often are over complicating it. therefore keeping us stuck in the: Working on it stage for far longer then we need to be.

Thanks for stopping by Coaching Q & A you can find out more about my coaching here and more about this series here.  Do you have a question for the coaching Q & A? Ask me here, in the comments below or email me hstoliveinspired @ gmail.com

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

The distance is not always as far as it may seem…

Hey Amazing Souls!

I have been continuing my journey of living my word this year Light,one of the ways I have been doing that is to continue layer by layer to release physical stuff (as well as mental, but that is a different post!) In the last few rounds of releasing stuff, including books I this time released ones I have had for years and years I have not worked in or read in them in years either so it was time to let go. In flipping through some of these I noticed some notes in them about some things that I even still have on my lists now that I would like to do but am not really doing. I am talking as far back as 2003.

The thing is I am just now realizing that the distance between where we are and where we want to be is not as far as it might feel.  I am not saying that is always true, but I am now seeing so many times it is. We get overwhelmed often with feeling like we have to go from 0-60 in seconds when in reality if we just start, really even the smallest and consistent actions will get us there. Not only will it get us there (or somewhere better!) but it will get us there MUCH faster than if we wait for everything to be just the right timing, to be perfect.(trust me I have tried that

Let me give you a small example from my own life. For years I have had on a list (various lists and places!) to meditate, to have that be part of my daily practice, to explore it, sink into it…For years I start and stop because it’s not looked the way it “is supposed to” (1-2 hours a day, fully clear mind=blissed out) so I have let that stop me. When if I had started all those years ago even with 30 seconds of meditation (sitting, standing,breathing  mindfully) if I had started with even that tiny amount and built on (increased ) it even just 30 seconds a month I would be to at least 30 minutes by now and all built 30 seconds at a time.

I know that often much of what I want seems to out of reach, so far away. But when I really stop and for even just a moment really look at what I want to feel and experience it’s not as far off as it may seem and even if I am slowllly inching towards it, it’s better than standing still waiting for “just the right time” whenever that is…

So I urge you, and urge myself to define it for myself, start now taking whatever size steps even the tiniest ones and then start again when needed..

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

To Live list… Journal prompt

Hey Inspired Souls!

I love lists, and I use a to do list often, many of us do mentally or written! I thought a good reminder would be for us to creat a “To Live” list things we want to live, traits, feelings etc..

My To Live list (some of it anyways!)

-Purposeful

-Creative

-Nourished

-Connected

-Authentic

-Brave

-Inspired

What is on your “To Live List’?

Here is to living Inspired,Creative and Empowered

Heather

Coaching Q and A- Direction

Hey Amazing Souls!

It’s time for another coaching Q & A!

Q: I Have counseled People for the past nine years, I am a preacher and I have encountered problems that have made me stop preaching for a while, I have to take care of my home (Marriage) before i can take care of others. But my question is I have back problems and I am a maintenance man for a local news paper company, I own four houses of my own, and my back is not getting better I have to find something that is not so strenuous on my back, I am seriously thinking of going to school but I am wondering what I would do at 44 I am young enough to do something and be succesful at it but with my back ground as a counselor would you recommend Life coaching or something different? I can sell things also, I am a people person I love talking to others, I was thinking of something in marketing but with our economy the way it is I am kind of stuck in a rut here. I am open for suggestions

A: I first want to acknowledge you for the willingness to ask the question and for being open about what is going on. I am sorry to hear about the back issues and the pain that  you are going through. Taking care of your health (mind, body, soul) is very important, I really encourage you to give yourself a little extra TLC when it comes to these things as it sets the foundation for other areas in your life.

There are a few questions here, a few different layers. So lets look at them one layer at a time.

It sounds like to me that you are seeking a long-term change and not something to just get you out of where you are career wise. It also sounds you are dealing with doubt and overwhelm.

You say you are 44 and are you young enough to go back to school and do something and be successful at it. First, I think that as long as we are still breathing it’s never too late to try to go for what we are called to do and if for you part of the involves you going back to school then I think it’s never too late. You also mention in that about being successful, I encourage you to look at how YOU define success as opposed to how society judges it. What does success look and feel like to you? I think education is a wonderful thing, I really do I love learning, but I also think there are those times where we are looking for it to be the answer or the validation. I just encourage you to really look at that (and of course some of it would depend on what field you decide to go into) But on the flip side I really encourage you to look at if you are letting a dream of going back to school stop you because you feel it’s “too late” in some ways.

You mention several different kinds of possible careers, I get the sense that you really want to go into something not as a fast fix to get you out of where you are but to find something that fills you up. I can’t tell you what one to pick out of all of those. I will however suggest and highly encourage you to explore with an open mind your different options. Choose 1 of the 3 or so you mention and start exploring it. You are simply in research mode. My suggestion is to pick the one you feel the most excited about. Even ask someone you know and trust to talk out some of those options with you and to watch your body language when do you seem the most animated? When do you light up? Those are signs that you are on the right track! While you are in this research mode remember at this point it’s about gathering and noticing what gets you pumped up! Don’t allow yourself to start the negative what if’s and allow defeat before you really get started.

As far as the part in your question about being stuck in a rut, my response would actually be similar to the one above. Allow yourself to explore a bit, read something different then you usually do, try something new , allow yourself to be open and explore. Oftentimes even if we do that in an area in our life that is seemingly unrelated to the area of “issue” we find it opens us up in other areas!

I hope this helps, please feel free to send me any follow-up questions that you have.

Thanks for stopping by Coaching Q & A you can find out more about my coaching here and more about this series here.  Do you have a question for the coaching Q & A? Ask me here, in the comments below or email me hstoliveinspired @ gmail.com

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather