March 10, 2010

In This Issue

Featured Article: The Art of Allowing

Announcements

Daddy's Little Girls

Welcome to this week's issue of Appreciation (and Authenticity) in Action.

I hope all is well on your end! Last week's article, Who Do You Think You Are?, got lots of great feedback and also was picked up by the Huffington Post. Feel free to check it out if you missed it or pass it along to someone who might appreciate it.

I'm really excited about my 4-week telecourse on the power of authenticity that just started on Monday night - lots of wonderful people from around the country and the world. You can still join us and participate in the course if you'd like. For more info and to register, click here.

I'm also looking forward to attending the Hay House Movers and Shakers event this coming weekend in San Francisco, 3/12 - 3/14. If you live here in the Bay Area and are an author or speaker (or would like to be), I hope to see you there - should be a fantastic event!

Have a good one. I'm grateful to have you on my email list!

With Gratitude,

The Art of Allowing

(For this week's audio message, click here.)

A few months ago I got some specific feedback that it would serve me, my work, and my growth to start practicing the art of allowing in a more conscious and deliberate way. While I was familiar with the concept of allowing, I realized I had very little awareness or experience of it in actual practice.

As I looked more deeply at it, I realized that I had a judgment about the whole concept of "allowing." It had always seemed weak, passive, lazy, or based on "luck" to me. I've always prided myself on being a hard worker, a "go-getter," and someone who "makes things happen." However, as I have recently come to realize - much of this has to do with a deep-seeded fear that if I ever slow down, stop pushing so hard, or simply expect things to just show up with ease - the whole "house of cards" of my life and my work will simply come crashing down around me. Can you relate?

Allowing, however, is an essential aspect of life and growth - as well as of our success and fulfillment. The first aspect of allowing has to do with us accepting things as they are. As author and teacher Byron Katie says, "When you argue with reality, you lose - but only 100% of the time."

When we're able to allow people, things, and situations to be as they are - without judging them, trying to fix them, or wanting to change them - we begin to tap into the immense power of allowing. Ironically and somewhat paradoxically, when we truly allow things and people to be exactly as they are, we open up a space for real change and transformation to occur (if that is what we want).

The deeper aspect of allowing has to do with us trusting, being patient, and having faith that what we want to manifest, create, and experience can and will show up in our lives as it is meant to. In other words, it's an ability to allow things to happen and materialize, without us having to manipulate, dominate, or control other people or situations to make it happen. For those of us, myself included, who have a tendency to be control-freaks at times - this can be incredibly challenging.

The paradox that exists with allowing runs deep within us. So many of us were taught and believe "if it is to be, it's up to me." And while there is truth and wisdom in this philosophy, as many of us know, feeling as though we have to work hard, run fast, keep up, and make everything happen in our lives is exhausting and insatiable. No matter how hard we work, what we try to fix, or all of the changes we intend to make - if we don't learn, practice, and ultimately master the art of allowing - true success and fulfillment will always elude us. Action is important, but we have to also learn to balance it out with our ability to allow.

Allowing takes faith, patience, and trust - three things that are essential for our own peace of mind and well-being in life, but are often not things we focus on, learn about, or are encouraged to practice in our intense, fast-paced, results oriented culture. The art of allowing is truly an art and is something that often goes against the grain and runs contrary to societal norms and pressures. It has to do with us remembering, as the well-known saying goes, "We're human beings, not human doings."

Here are a few things to think about and practice as you enhance your capacity and ability to allow with more ease in your life.

1) Ask yourself how you relate to the concept of "allowing." Take some inventory of your own relationship this idea. How do you feel about it? How comfortable are you allowing things and people to be as they are, as well as allowing things to manifest with ease in your life? For many of us, this is something that we may understand, but may not practice. Tell the truth to yourself about how you relate to allowing and notice how this impacts your life - one way or another.

2) Pay attention to what you focus on in regards to your biggest goals and aspirations. In regards to the biggest goals, dreams, and aspirations in your life right now - how much of your attention and energy is focused on doing and how much is focused on allowing? While both doing and allowing are important, most of us put a disproportionate amount of attention on action. Increasing our focus on allowing and ultimately receiving, can be a magical, relaxing, and incredibly effective way for us to relate to our goals and dreams. This is often one of the big missing pieces in our desire for not only success, but more important, fulfillment.

3) Create an allowing practice. This is a simple practice you can do daily (like prayer, meditation, quiet reflection, affirmation, etc.) where you put your attention and awareness on allowing - accepting things as they are, trusting that things are working out as they are meant to, believing that the feelings, experiences, accomplishments, and outcomes you desire are on their way, and allowing yourself to receive these gifts and blessings with ease and gratitude. You may need to reach out to others for support, guidance, and feedback about creating or deepening an allowing practice that will work for you - but doing this is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself (as well as to those around you).

Have fun with this and have compassion with yourself as well. For most of us, allowing is a lot easier to think about or talk about than it actually is to practice and embody in our lives. The more attention we put on it, however, the easier it gets. And, as we deepen our ability and our capacity to allow - our whole life can transform with ease, grace, and gratitude!

How are you at allowing? What can you do to allow things to be as they are and also allow things to show up with ease in your life? Share your thoughts, action ideas, insights, and more on my blog here.

Tele-Course - You Can Still Participate!

We had our first session of the four-week tele-course, Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life and Work with the Power of Authenticity that I'm offering. Our first session was great and I am really excited about this course and the group! Even though it has already started, you can still register today! When you do, you will get a recording of the first session and all of the info you need to fully participate in the course - which takes place through March 29th. There are three more sessions to go - 3/15, 3/22, and 3/29. The tele-class is an interactive, inspiring, and practical course on how to move beyond fear and limitation, and step into who you truly are in an authentic way. For more information and to register for this course, click here.

Master Your Workday Now - by Michael Linenberger

Do you want more freedom, ease, and effectiveness in your workday? If you feel overwhelmed by all the work you have on your plate, and pressured because there's too little time to do it, then you're going to love the new book by productivity expert Michael Linenberger, Master Your Workday Now! This remarkable new book is a revolutionary yet simple system that automatically eliminates overwhelm, boosts focus & concentration, and allows you to get much more done in much less time. If you'd like to get more accomplished in less time and also enjoy doing it, then check out this link and pick up copies of Master Your Workday Now!

Hay House's Movers and Shakers Event: March 12th - 14th, San Francisco

If you're an author or speaker (or an aspiring author and speaker) there is a great event taking place in San Francisco THIS weekend, 3/12-3/14.  Hay House, the top self-help/personal development publishing house in the world is hosting an event called "Movers and Shakers," designed to help authors and speakers expand their platforms and reach people through various forms of media, marketing, and outreach.  Bestselling author and well-known life coach Cheryl Richardson and Reid Tracy, President and CEO of Hay House, will be leading this event.  I will be attending the entire thing myself and am so excited about it.  If you want to take your message and your impact to the next level, this event is perfect for you.  For more info and to register, click on this link.

Spring Your Dreams Forward - Retreat with Steve Sisgold, 3/20/10

Join Steve Sisgold, author of What's Your Body Telling You, for this special day-long retreat which takes place on Saturday, March 20th, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Novato, CA (at Steve's beautiful retreat home). Michelle and I took a retreat with Steve a few months ago and we were blown away by its power and impact. This retreat, "The Law of Attraction through Whole Body Consciousness," will allow you to explore and rewire beliefs and habits in your body that may be holding you back from springing your innate talents and visions forward. Practice with consciously communicated feedback how to present your work, ideas and projects powerfully to others. Develop a strategic Whole Body plan for manifesting your desires. Create support and energy for your dreams. Investment - $60 (limited to first 20 who register). To register, contact Steve - steves@onedream.com 415-302-5922

"We allow things to be fun almost all the time!"
- Samantha and Annarose Robbins

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our mommy and daddy, click here

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