Rise Up

I like to think of myself as a helium balloon rising up to the holy grail of my potential in this life time. Yeah, maybe a bit out there, but it works for me. The kicker is, that attached to my helium balloon is a string with a series of weights that make the rising of my balloon a manageable and comfortable pace of climb so as not to shoot up too quickly only to explode under the pressure.

BUT, by committing to the climb (the ongoing pursuit of development and growth) in my life, there inevitably comes a time where the heaviest weight, stops allowing me to progress and starts to pull against my growth. This is not good. This shows up in things like: a job that no longer excites you and/or allows you to learn, a relationship with a boss or co-worker that you once saw as a mentor that now you look at with frustration, a gym workout that puts you through the motions, but no longer produces positive results. What does this all mean? It’s time to drop that heavy weight!

Letting go in life is tough. It means leaving what is, what you know, what feels safe and stepping in to the mystery of life. This is not easy. It requires consciousness, because only when you’re conscious would you even notice that something is weighing you down in the first place. It requires a commitment to make the necessary change. It requires a plan in which you’ll take the necessary steps to make the change and it requires bravery when you step out and start the movement of taking action.

Take a conscious look at your life this week and ask yourself – am I being ‘weighed’ down by anything right now? The clues will be in your feelings. If you are, commit to letting it go, create a plan to do so and step in to the mystery of life with brave curiosity. Only then, can you again RISE UP!

My Interview: Exceptional Women Northwest

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Doug Zanger on his Portland based radio show, Exceptional Women Northwest. I have to thank Danielle Laporte over at White Hot Truth for recommending me to Doug. This was my FIRST ever radio interview and it was such a treat!

Click the below link to listen in:

The Interview…

Vision Boards

A vision board is simply a pictorial representation of your own personal answers to the question: what do I want?  

I’ve been successfully using vision boards for over four years and they have been incredibly helpful to keep me focussed on those things which are most important to me.  There is some scientific research to support the fact that having specific goals in your life and referencing them daily (have your vision board somewhere that you see it everyday) will enable you to recognize opportunities and therefore reach your goals more quickly and efficiently.  But, more than anything, creating a vision board is a lot of fun.  It’s an opportunity for you to be creative and to be bold.  So what if you can’t afford the car of your dreams today; go down to the dealership, get a brochure, sit in the car, smell it, touch it, get a photo of you in it and then put all the material up on your vision board.

A vision board is an opportunity for you to remove the word “can’t” from your vocabulary and to go crazy as you answer the question: What do I want?

What do you want to be? (doctor, lawyer, singer, base jumper, author, actor, golfer, police officer…)

What do you want to do? (own your own business, travel the word for a year, enter a debating contest…)

What do you want to have? (your dream car, dream home, a new guitar, a scooter….)

What is stopping you from getting visual imagery of the things that you want most in your life, putting them up on a board and taking a look at them everyday?  If nothing else, it’s a “feel good” tool for you to reference daily and realize how many opportunities there are in this life.

There are no “rules” when it comes to vision boards.  It’s a personal thing and it’s an opportunity for you to do what feels right to you.  I have vision boards all over.  I have large poster board types that hang in my office, I use scrapbooks that I carry with me; they even have an application on Facebook where you can create a vision board right on your profile.

Be creative, don’t hold back.  Cut out pictures from magazines, include inspirational or motivational quotes that you like, you can print pictures off the internet that are of interest to you – it’s totally open ended.  The important thing is to DO it.  Just go out there, get yourself a poster board and make your first vision board today – you won’t regret it!!

Check out: My Inspiration Place for reference materials that will inspire!

Living your Dreams

There is one definite inevitability in life and that is, of course, death. Not usually a topic that most people want to talk about or frankly think about, but, nevertheless something that we cannot escape. Personally, my consideration of the concept is something that has given me an incredible amount of strength thus far. Whenever I have a desire to do something really big, there is the almost immediate reaction from my mind. Sometimes it tells me why I can’t do it, sometime why I shouldn’t, sometimes it just laughs at my plans. I’ve heard many theories about why this happens, why we get in our own way, why we stop ourselves from giving something a try? But the bottom line is, if we truly want to do whatever it is, have whatever it is, be whatever it is, and it is our true, inner hearts desire – we simply have to go for it!

When we lost the patriarch of our family 5 years ago I think we all felt the tug of ‘I don’t want my life to pass me by, having not lived my dream’. Myself, my 3 siblings and my Mum have all since gone on to do some of the most incredible things. Though the pain of loss that we all endured will forever shape the way we view the world and though we’d all love to have him back, even just for a day, to ask a certain question or extend that special message of gratitude – I also believe we saw the opportunity in our circumstance and each of us embraced it and our lives are better, richer and more fulfilled because of it.

Whenever I’m scared about whatever leap I’m contemplating taking, or when worry tries to take over my mind I watch the below video. The man on the video, Randy Paucsh, is now famous for his message The Last Lecture. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. And in this, his last lecture, he gives a moving, practical, matter of fact speech about how and why to live a life in pursuit of your dreams. There is no time to put things off – we have to pursue those things that we have a desire to – we have to live our dreams!

You’ll See It When You Believe It

Join eWomenNetwork Vancouver on Tuesday April 13th at The Coast Coal Harbour Hotel (click for details) Here’s a blog post that I wrote after returning from the eWomenNetwork conference last August. Hope to see you on the 13th – Heather

When I nominated myself for the EWomenNetwork 2009 International “Emerging Leader of the Year” award, I was never expecting to win. But when the email came a few months later announcing that I had indeed beat out all the other young, talented women in Vancouver BC and was being flown to Dallas as one of the twelve International finalists, you can imagine, I was stunned, excited and a little scared all at the same time. Since I was a little girl I dreamed of a day like this, where I would be up on stage in front of thousands of people, being honoured for achieving a level of success that set me apart from my peers. And as I stood on that stage and looked out to the crowd of 2500 people, introduced myself and gave thanks to my sponsoring chapter and managing director I experienced one of the happiest and most proud moments of my life. READ MORE

Mastermind Groups

Napoleon Hill, one of the greatest thinkers of all time said: “No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.”

Mastermind groups are one of the most effective and efficient ways to use synergy to propel your life to the next level, regardless of the area.  The number one reason that clients come to me for coaching is for accountability.  People who are serious about making changes in their life – quickly – understand the importance of accountability.  The mastermind group does this in a very inexpensive and productive way.

What is a mastermind group you ask?

A mastermind group is simply a group of like minded people coming together, supporting and encouraging one another as individuals work towards specific and measurable results.  There are, however, key elements to establishing and executing an effective and successful mastermind group.  I’ve listed the most important points below.  If you are interested in joining a mastermind group – email me – heather@2020communications.ca and I’ll let you know when the next group is starting.

Mastermind you way to Success:

- Mastermind groups should have 6-8 people
- They can be conducted live in person, or, over teleconferece
- You must have an established leader who is able to direct the call/meeting efficiently
- Stay on time (if your call is 60 minutes long end it at the top of the hour)
- Set your call up by having each member share their biggest “wins” or “successes” since your last meeting
- Open the floor for each member to share any needs/wants/brainstorming to accomplish certain goals

Good luck and have fun!

Close your eyes and IMAGINE…

As a little girl I was one of those ‘teacher’s pet’, ‘goodie two shoes’ type. I did exactly what I was told, followed instructions to a tee and let’s face it over excelled whenever I could. And though you might be thinking ‘I hated those kind of kids’ fear not, as I was also socially and personally aware of myself and my surroundings and made sure not to make other kids feel bad or as though they weren’t good enough. Instead I strived to make every and all situations pleasing and enjoyable for all involved. (A skill I think I picked up growing up with divorcing and eventually divorced parents.)

In Kindergarten we were introduced to reading, a skill I had already mastered. At home every night in the bath I read Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys novels, and when I was at school I pretended I had no idea how to even sound out a sentence. Why you ask? Simple. None of the other kids in my class knew how to read and so I didn’t want them to feel bad about themselves knowing that I did. I remember my Mum coming home from the parent/teacher interviews and getting grounded for ‘lying’ about being able to read – soo not fair! But, yet today I can’t tell a lie either, so all in all, another bonus for my character.

As I look back on my overly analytical and logical little five year old mind I realize how little time I spent doing the ‘right’ brain kind of activities. Daydreaming, imagining, and building an imaginary life in my mind. Wishing and dreaming up elaborate and beautiful pictures of what life could be. Today that is a skill I work on developing everyday. Imagining and dreaming up what I want my life to look like. The kinds of things I want to see a part of it. The kinds of future aspirations I have for myself. The goals I wish to set and achieve.

Don’t think of this as a waste of time, or pointless because you can’t see the ‘how’ of making your dreams come to fruition. Just enjoy those moments where you can close your eyes, and imagine….

Three Simple Words

I was staring at one of my vision boards this morning and noticed a little card, the size of a business card, with three words written on it.  I wish I could give credit to whomever came up with them, but, for some reason I didn’t note the source.  Suffice to say, these are not my words and I only take credit for communicating them to you.

The words are:

Intention, Attention, No Tension

(well I guess technically it’s four words)

Intention

A simple definition states that intention is an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions. When you state an intention what you are doing is sending out energy in the direction that you want to go in.  It’s a guide which helps us choose thoughts, feelings, and actions that will move us in the direction of where we want to go.  It’s like leaving for a road trip with the final destination being your intention.  What often happens in life is we don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know what the anticipated outcome is and often we haven’t given enough thought to what we want it to be.

Homework:

Write down where you want to be in 5 years.  What kind of relationships do you have; at home, at work, with friends and family.  Where do you live?  What kind of home do you live in?  What car or transit system do you use? Where do you vacation and what do you do while on vacation.  Where or what is your work? How much money do you earn? (You get the idea.)  Step one to to setting your intention is knowing what your intention is.

Attention

Attention is simply a focussing of your energy.  There are billions of particles of energy surrounding us at all times.  Without attention to the particular it would be easy to get lost in the muddle of all the energy. Once you’ve stated your intention the ability for you to focus your attention will become easier.

Homework:

Ask yourself: “What focussed thoughts, feeling and actions will move me in the direction of my intention?”

No Tension

The last piece is about choosing a path of least resistance.  Life is not supposed to be, nor does it need to be as hard as we make it.  Once you’ve stated your intention and you’ve made a commitment to focus your attention the next piece is to let go.  Life is about flow and when you’re in the flow – you’ll know!  When you are forcing something there will always be tension – this makes it too hard.  You want to detach yourself from “how” you will arrive at your intention and just know that by having your intention and giving it your attention through focussed energy you will achieve what you intended to.

Summary:

State your intention (what outcome do you want), focus your attention (thoughts, feelings and actions) and chose the path of no tension (let go and let it flow).

"It was all a dream" – Notorious B.I.G

Growing up listening to Hip Hop music didn’t always impress my parents, but, behind all the profanity and derogatory comments was a permeating message that I could be, do and have anything I wanted in life regardless of where I came from. What is so intoxicating about the Hip Hop culture is that these young kids who were exposed to one of the most challenging of upbringings – made it. They became successful and with their success came the success of their family and closest friends.

Whether studying under Bob Proctor or listening to Biggie Smalls and Kanye West, it’s important to remember that life begins in your imagination. As you quietly ponder what it is that you really want your life to look like you begin to plant seeds of potential that with steps of action become reality. It doesn’t matter what your present circumstances are – it only matters whether you’re able to “close your eyes and imagine – the good life”.

If you are not living the life of your dreams, or at least working towards it everyday – then you are not living up to your potential. Sit down today and imagine what your life would look like if you could have anything? Where would you live, what would you do everyday, what car do you drive, what clothes do you wear?

“The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”
- Benjamin Mays

What does your “good life” look like?

Growing or Dying?

In my many years of study under the incredible Bob Proctor there was always one underlying lesson that governed all others. There are only two directions that any living organism can venture: towards growth or towards death. Every once and a while it’s important to take a step back in order to clearly identify what people and activities are facilitating my growth and subsequently what people and activities are facilitating my death.  Now, of course, we’re all going to die at some point, that we all know is the inevitable, but, the journey can be one of growth and cultivation or it can be one of drought.

If you think of your body, mind and spirit as a garden that you have been put in charge of; are you flourishing, growing and blooming or are you wilting, thirsty and dying?  As human beings we have a responsibility to ourselves to plant, nourish and harvest the seeds that we sew.

Over the course of the next week, take an inventory of your life.  What activities are you participating in? What company are you keeping?  What books are your reading?  What television are you watching?  What food are you eating?  What music are you listening to?

Are you planting and caring for seeds of growth, development and life?  Or, are you planting seeds of drought and famine?

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

- Maria Robinson