37 while I am 37- A birthday list

Hello! Wonderful You!

In keeping with Tradition for my Birthday I have made a list of the things that I want to create, experience or do in my year of being 37 (obviously the other years were different ages lol)

I tried to keep in mind some things I learned from last year and the results, adding a   big things in line with my passions and some fun and simple things and some of them are simply things I want to buy that I have been eyeing for a while.

Here is the list in visual form on my Pinterest page

Here is this years list in no particular order!

37 while 37

1-Open a Roth IRA

2-Interview my Folks

3-Create a wardrobe I love (by releasing and investing mindfully)

4-Launch a new Coaching Program

5-Create and release 3 new eCourses

6-Volunteer in person 4 times ( I volunteer for a great place , it’s all virtual though and it will help me expand to volunteer in person)

7-Create monthly Inspired Action themes, naming the month etc (this is an idea I have been inspired by in several places by several people)

8-Collaborations on my blog, in person etc

9-Take at least 5 local classes

10-Creat at least 1 video a month for the blog

11-Read or release the books I have had (ebook and physical book) not read in a year.

12-Create another large canvas and get my hands full of paint!

13-Go on a retreat

14-Meet my friend from Scotland

15-Go to this awesome sounding place Land of the Medicine Buddha it’s less than an hour away.

16-Find and hopefully enroll in a Yoga Teacher Training

17-Take the be your own light course

18-Go to a local flower shop

19-Get a tattoo on my foot

20-Do a list and photo project

21-Invest in a Mentor Session with Kimberly Wilson

22-Try Turmeric spice (It’s come up an amazing number of times for me lately so I am taking that as a sign!)

23-Convert our wedding VHS to a DVD

24-Explore Soul Collage

25-Buy a yellow pen (lol I know this is strange but I have wanted a yellow pen for a while.. just one of those weird things!)

26-Create fabric garland

27-Write a letter a month

28- Buy this amazing piece of artwork

29-Learn to sew

30-Put together a gathering of woman.. not sure what this looks like yet but loving what I can envision so far

31-Create a sticker book of my instagram photos

32-Easily do reverse Prayer Pose

33-Put a pink streak in my hair

34- Get a massage

35-Join a local CSA

36-Make a colored mason jar

 

37-Invest in some lenses for my iPhone, since that’s the camera I use 99.99% of the time!

There is still time to do good while supporting something I deeply believe in and get a free workshop in exchange. Donate any amount to My Charity Water and get my Journey to Authentic You Workshop for free (self paced!) 

 

 

It does occur to me now looking at this, that it seems more intense than last year in some ways.. but you know it feels more Authentic too and my word this year is Expand, and I want to Expand Boldly in many ways and this list seems to reflect this for me!

 

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

How to Approach a Big Goal- Coaching Q and A

Q: I have a really big goal of organizing my whole house.  What is the best way to tackle it?  Should I take small steps, or should I take big chunks?

A: I know how tempting it can be to want to dive in head first with things like this (I have been there) There are a few issues with this: We forget that it has taken us often times years or at least months of getting into the clutter/chaos etc that we have now so it’s going to take time (and patience) to get out of it. Also what happens often for projects like these is that we are feeling motivated and pumped up.. for a little while and often that motivation to the level it was can shrink then we are surrounded by even more chaos. (Many of these ideas can be applied for just about any goal)

Thats a long answer to say small steps are always better with something like this

Heres why and also some tips to help you in the process.

When we approach big goals with small steps we:

A: Feel way less overwhelmed by the bigness of the tasks ahead

B: Can see the progress and feel it, basking in those victories (no matter the size)

C: Are more likely to actually complete it as small steps build on top of one another and lead into big result often!

Tips:

-Make a braindump list of what needs to be done, walk around your home and see what “jumps out at you”

-Go back to that list (a few hours or days later if you can, but you don’t want  lose the motivation, so at least step away for a little bit) and then choose the area that is either: A: draining you the most, just keeps bugging you  or B: The easiest to complete area (because often when you can compete that with success it gives you  confidence for the next area and the next…)

-Ask yourself (inspired by Peter Walsh) What is my vision for this place? And consider getting rid of anything that does not fit or support that vision

-Break down each section. For example Instead of saying Declutter and Organize the Bedroom, break it down by section: Closet, Dresser, Under the Bed etc.. And there ar times where it’s helpful to break it down even more. I have a close that needs some TLC and I know I am not going to finish the entire thing in one sitting but I will take it shelf by shelf.

-Know that a little can go a long way. If you  have 15 minutes a day you will be surprised at what you can get done.

-Set the stage for it to be inspiring. Put on some music that gets you pumped up or inspired, listen to a podcast or Audio book.

-Keep yourself hydrated and fed well. Oh and get up and stretch every now and then

If you have a Coaching Question for me that you would like me to Answer  (or want a follow-up or more ideas for this question)  please leave a comment or email me hstoliveinspired @ gmail. com

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Frustrations often reveal Desires…

Hey Beautiful Souls!

The other day I was having a conversation with someone and I was venting about some things that just seemed to really be getting to me that day. None of it new  really, but it was one of those days where you just are hyper sensitive to “stuff”.

I had so many little and big frustrations. And it hit me (this may be a Duh moment for some, but for me it was more like an “Ah Ha” moment)

My frustrations were revealing desires. When I reframe it that way and have been stewing on it ever since it really opened up something new for me. An entirely new perspective on those things/situations.

Think about it for your own life, where are you frustrated? What is the underlying desire within that? This is a new way for me to think about it, so this is something I must ask myself again and again.

Let me give you some of my personal examples:

-Frustration: A family “situation”  >Desire: To have those relationships as they used to be or as they “should” be.

-Frustration: Some people around me not taking ownership of their lives, yet complaining about it. >Desire: To see where I am doing that in my life, and knowing where I am (not fun, but good!) and moving through it.

-Frustration: Not feeling good > Desire: To feel good

Those are just some ways lately that I have realized what desires the frustrations are revealing.

Peel that frustration to get to the desire, that is my mission for myself as I know there are many more to uncover!

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Quote and the Winners!!!

Hey Beautiful Souls!

I wanted to say a HUGE thank you for each comment/entry on the giveaway, even if your name was not pulled you are a winner in my book (and I would like to be in touch about another little something for you!)

The winners are:

CHOOSE YOUR OWN: (clarity coaching or workshop) MICHELLE!!!

2 MONTHS OF e-COACHING : MONIA !!!

Congrats ladies! I will be in touch via email!

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Creativity- Coaching Q and A

Hey Inspiring Souls! It’s Coaching Q & A time again!!

Q: I really feel the pull to do something creative, but I just think I may be one of those people who is just not creative. The things I have tried are just not as good as they should be. It’s discouraging, how do I start to find my creative voice, or am I just better off giving up that idea and moving on?

A: Let me start with this: You are creative, you were born that way. We just lose sight of what that looks like as we get older. Most times when we are young we don’t struggle to make sure our forts and imaginary friends are as good as other people’s, but as we grow up we get so stuck in comparing and looking at how things “should” be that we lose sight of own creative voices. Some ideas to start exploring and defining your  creative voice are:

1-First take a deep breath, you can do this, allow yourself to be as open as possible

2-Willingness to explore, when in the process of finding your creative voice (and when redefining etc.) we need to be willing to explore. There are so many ways creativity can show up and a willingness to explore some of them is essential!

4-Exploration, try lots of different things. There are a zillion things to try! Some ideas are: Visual Journaling, Writing (by hand or on the computer, it doesn’t matter just allow yourself to play with words), knitting, cooking, jewelry making, painting and photography. Those are some ways to express yourself creatively. Experiment with some of those or something else. You will know when you have hit on the one(s) that really speak to your soul!

5-Don’t compare! This can be a real creativity killer.. Take inspiration from others not that the way they do it is the only way. Allow yourself to “mess up” as it’s all part of the process. I remember when I first started visual journaling I had times where I wrote “this is supposed to be fun” I was frustrated because my pages didn’t look like they should (getting the should from how other people did their pages”) Then I learned there is no “Should” when it comes to expressing myself. I pushed through it and am so happy I did.

6-Learn to push through and learn to be gentle. There are times where you are just hitting a bump of self-doubt and it needs to be worked through. Other times we need to allow ourselves to step away (and perspective is often so helpful!) be compassionate with yourself when it’s called for!

7-Look for (and even write down) the ways that you are creative now. The way you problem solve, decorate, dress, cook and so on. There are so many instances in everyday life we are creative and looking at those can also be great clues into finding our creative voices.

These are just some ideas, I have a lot to say about this subject (clearly!) and in my Clarity Coaching or Authentic Living Coaching we dig a bit deeper in this subject! You can check it out here if you are interested!

Have a coaching question of your own? Contact me hstoliveinspired @ gmail.com

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Coaching Q and A- Stuck

Hey Wonderful Souls!

It’s Coaching Q & A time!

Q: I’m really stuck on a specific project. I just can’t figure out the best step to take next and I’m up against a deadline for my boss or a customer. How do I get unstuck?

A: First, take a deep breath! I believe often in these situations that one of the best things we can do is step away even if just for  a  few minutes. I have found when we are right in the “face” of the project or piece we are working on that we can’t see what is working, what is not and what could be next if we don’t gain a little perspective.  I get when you are on a deadline it’s easy to feel like you don’t have even 15 minutes to step fully away from it. But in truth it’s often the case that we are not making any progress on it anyways by “staring” at it. Do something totally unrelated to what you are working on then go back to it. If you are still stuck try some or all of the following ideas:

1-If you can step away a little bit longer, maybe even go outside get some air!

2-Once you have stepped away a little bit try looking at it for what does work, what is good,then once you have that it’s often easier to tell what is maybe out of place or not working- make a list

3-Talk it through with someone, I have found that talking it outloud is sometimes very helpful in situations that you are feeling stuck on.

4-Think back to what the objective of the project is in the first place and look at what you have/where you are and go from there.

5-Ask for help where you know you really need it

And as a sidenote, don’t forget to celebrate your accomplishment when you are done!

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

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

Coaching Q and A – What it’s all about!

Hey Beautiful Souls!

As you may have read I recently started a new series called “Coaching Q & A! I am really excited about this new series and wanted  to tell you a bit about it and ask for your help!

Coaching Q &A is all about you! It’s a chance for you to ask a coach (me!) questions of whats on your heart. Questions about change, balance, self-expression, goals and goal setting, dreams, finding your voice and anything else on your heart! It’s a way for you to get sort of mini session of coaching and in doing so to help others who may have some of the same things going on (because it’s published but your information is not!) I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I do promise I will do my best to give you something of value in each response that you can apply to your life!

I am very very passionate about coaching it’s just the way I “show up” in lots of situations and to be able to bring more of that to you makes me really happy!

Send me your questions hstoliveinspired @ gmail .com  I will publish your question but not your information. Also you  can  now ask me a question totally anonymously  on formspring! I could use your help and support by submitting questions and if you know someone who could benefit from this too please pass it along to them as well!

You can read past questions and responses right here!

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather

Coaching Q and A- No real Passions

Welcome to another Coaching Q & A today! I would LOVE if you would send me your questions, I will keep your information private and only post your question!

Contact me heather.shafer @ gmail.com

Q: My life is BORING!  I have a routine job that a trained monkey could do, no friends I hang out with, and no real passions.  What can I do?

A:  There sounds like there are really multiple things  going on in these questions.  But I will start with the last part- “no real passions” as that is the foundation of the others. I have had moments in my life where I was not sure what I really was passionate about, what really inspired me and  made me tick.  So I did what I am suggesting for you! (and it works if you work it!)

I think sometimes we are waiting for the things that make us tick the passions to come knocking on our door, but we often have to go out and explore a bit to find what really makes us light up!

1-Make a list of things that inspire you, things you enjoy. Ask yourself : I feel most like myself when….? Ask yourself what causes or issues do I get really worked up about?

2-Do what I call Inspiration hunting: This is all about experimenting, exploring, gathering and being open.  Start noticing what things you hear or see that make you interest peak a bit, that you say I would love to, that you are inspired by, drawn to etc.. Keep capturing these things (more on that below) Be open, don’t judge or question it at this point… just go with it. Be on the “lookout” for words, phrases and images that inspire you, even if you don’t have a clue why.

* Ways to capture these things: My favorite would be a journal, there are also online ways to do this but I really am a fan of the ol pen and paper it engages a different part of your brain! So you can document/capture these things in a journal, on Pinterest.com (online  inspiration board of sorts), you can use a document on your computer or phone to jot down these things. I am a very visual person so words and images both are attractive to me, some things I just have a written list while others a magazine clipping or something like that really represents what inspires me.

3-Choose something and start exploring more on your list, look for themes or just that one thing on your list (via images, words etc..) that you say yes, I really am drawn to this and explore it more. Just be open to exploring and gathering clues. You will know when you have something that is a “keeper”.

This is just a start to help you get clear on what inspires you, to help stir up some passion in you. Just allow yourself to be open and to try new things sometimes going out of our normal will bring us to what really would inspire us, so allow room for the unknown!

Here is to living Inspired, Creative and Empowered

Heather