New Year, of intentions

Tomorrow is the first day of 2011. Wow, that shocks me!
What happened to 2010?  Even more so, how did we get from 1970 to 2011 so quickly?

As we grow older we sometimes begin to feel we have wasted our lives and may think:
If I were only 20 years old again, I would do so many things differently. I'd be rich by now. I'd be wiser.  I'd be stronger. I'd be healthier. I'd be happier. I would have honored the important things in life sooner.

Impossible I say. We couldn't possibly have known everything we know back then.. It took all these years to learn the values, concepts and revelations we have now.

What we can do is decide RIGHT NOW  to live our lives without compromise of our beliefs and values.  That we will live our lives to the fullest and on OUR terms. That we will be ourselves and stop playing it safe.

Many of us begin reflecting today on what we intend to do for the New Year.
Some common goals may be:
lose weight
be more productive
learn to draw
be a better mateget a new job
be a better listener

eliminate clutter


These are good goals for us to have.

I encourage you however to make New Year's goals without reservation.
Make your list and GO CRAZY. Anything is possible if you believe it can be.

Some say the sky is the limit.                                

I say THERE IS NO LIMIT!

Only our own limited thinking can stop us.


What about goals like:

Write that book that's been in your head for years. (even though you've never written before).
Train for that marathon you've always wanted to run (even though you think you're too old and out of shape).
Run for office (even though you think no one knows who you are).
Start that business (even though everyone tells you how bad the economy is).
Change your career (even though you've been in your current one for 20 years and it feels comfortably boring).
Move to another country (even though the thought terrifies you).
Have a baby (even though you hear how bad the economy is and you fear not being able to provide)

Do what you dream of doing no matter how CRAZY it sounds to you (and to others).


GO FOR YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!

In order to do that however, you have to know what your wildest dreams are.
I suggest you take some quiet time and ask yourself:
If I were to go for my wildest dreams, what would I do? Where would I be? Who would I be with?
What would my life look like?
Then write all the answers that come to you.
From those responses you can create your list of goals form the New Year.

I hope you'll join me in making 2011 the most exciting and prosperous year yet.

Happy New Year and I wish you much prosperity and success in 2011.

Mari Mitchell Porter
Certified Life Coach
http://preparingapathtolove.com/

As we head towards Christmas and the New Year we feel pressured to do more than we really want to: more shopping, more baking, more decorating, more gatherings, more stress.

Remember to follow your heart. Don't ruin the holiday season for yourself by getting caught up in so many activities or social events that you can't wait for the holiday to be over. It's okay to decline invitations cordially and spend your time they way it best for you. Less is more is a good rule to follow for yourself.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF and set aside time for just YOU. You could read your favorite book, sit by your beautiful tree and take time to really enjoy it, take a walk and see all the Christmas lights and decorations, go the the mall and just enjoy the sites and the excitement in the air without having to do any shopping, have a hot chocolate and game night with your family, take a gift of baked goods to your neighbors.

SLOW DOWN and enjoy each day, each minute of this wonderful season.

Most of all take time to enjoy each person in your life for they are the REAL GIFTS of the season.

Mari Mitchell-Porter

Certified Life Coach
http://preparingapathtolove.com/ell

 

 

Be who you are meant to be.

Don't let other people's opinions of what you "Should" be doing determine what you do. If you go against your own instincts and try to be successful in a career you don't absolutely love, just to please everyone else, you will lose your joy and aliveness. Pay close attention to that quiet inner voice and it will get louder. In order to do this it's important to take quiet time every day to read your favorite materials or just sit and listen. 

From the moment we come into this world we are being molded into what other people think we should be. Parents, teachers, counselors, baby sitters all give us their advise about career choices or options. Sometimes they convince us to choose the career they wanted for themselves but for some reason didn't achieve.

Each one of us is gifted in a special way. We are on this earth for a purpose no one else in the world can fulfill. We are all special, important and significant. 

If you are feeling restless or unfulfilled in your career or job situation, search deep inside for the things you love to do and do them. You might just find what your life's work it. 

How will you know?

Your heart will sing when you're doing it.

What do you choose to believe?

What do you choose to believe?

While watching several of the reports on television during the miraculous rescue of 33 miners in Chile I was taken back by their negative content even in the face of such success.

When there were only six or so miners left to bring up, one station began listing all the things that could possibly STILL go wrong with the rescue. The miners could panic, a rock could fall and close the opening, the capsule could become damaged… They were going to list more, but I turned off the report, disgusted with the negative lean of the media.  I was angry at the message coming from my television and  refused to be part of it. I chose to focus on the victories so far and believe for continued success.

A couple of hours later I was curious to find out if all the miners had escaped and I turned on a different channel. All 33 had been recovered, yet instead of shouting the tremendously good news in excitement, the newsman was stating that there were remaining  rescue workers who had assisted the miners down in the hole and they might still be in danger.

Soon afterward I heard that all the rescue workers also came up unharmed at the end of the evening. The entire mission was an amazing success. Everything went perfectly. The miners were recovered in less the then half the time predicted.

That experience reminded me not only of the negative nature of the media but also of the negative nature of people in general.

Why am I writing about this? For two reasons.

1. To urge you to focus on the good and believe for the best outcome in any situation
2. As a reminder that the media thrives on bad news and catastrophe.

The entire ordeal with these miners lasted 69 days. They were down there alive longer than any miners in history. Their families prayed, hoped and believed for over two months that they would be recovered safely.

We will never experience what those miners did. They were assumed dead for the first 17 days after the cave in. They were in darkness, temperatures of 90 degrees, away from their loved ones. But they did not give up, they were alive and determined to let the world know.

I watched as the oldest of the miners came up and knelt down immediately giving thanks. Later when he was interviewed by a reporter he said that the entire time he was down there he BELIEVED he would come back up.

HE BELIEVED

Those words struck me. A man who is entombed 2000 feet underground believes he will be lifted from the darkness.

If only we could believe the way that miner did.

If only we could take anything going on in our lives and believe for the best outcome.

We can. It’s only a matter of shifting our thinking from believing the worst possible scenario, to believing the best possible outcome.

How do we do that?

By changing one thought for another. Whatever negative thought come to our mind can be replaced by a positive one.

For example: I have too many bills and not enough money.

These steps will change this thinking

1. Change that thought to “I have enough finances to cover my expenses with money left over.”  That creates your desire
2. Begin to give thanks for every good thing that comes into your life.

The more gratitude you have in life, the more things to be grateful for will come to you.

3. Imagine yourself having the financial abundance you desire. Visualize what your life will be like. Where will you go? What will you do? Who will be with you? How will you help others?
4. FEEL yourself having the financial abundance. What does it feel like?

Will you have a big smile on your face? Will you feel more peaceful, energetic, joyful?

5. Take some quiet time every day to visualize your abundance, then write down any ideas that come to mind for creating abundance right now. It might be consolidating debt, getting more education, starting a new business, creating a budget, getting professional help.
6. Instead of focusing on not having money, focus on how it feels to have more than enough..
7. Stop watching or reading news reports that tell us how bad the economy These reports do affect your ability to create abundance.
8. Speak abundance wherever you go. Don’t speak about lack of money or finances.
9. Be generous. Giving creates more abundance in our lives.
10. Be open to receiving. Sometimes we block abundance from coming into our lives because we refuse to receive what others want to give us.

These steps will work on any area of your life. If you have thoughts like: 

“I’m always fighting with my husband”

 “I hate my job”

 “My sales have gone down.”,

“I don’t have any friends”

“I’m never going to find someone to share my life with.”

Each of these can be turned around using the steps above. I challenge you to try.

I will never forget the ordeal those miners went through. I gave thanks for their safety. Now I’ll list all the wonderful blessings in my life and encourage you to do the same.

Let me suggest the first thing on our lists:

“I’m grateful for clean air to breathe and the sun on my face.”

Mari Mitchell

Certified Life Coach

http://preparingapathtolove.com/

Are you a Visionary

Are you a visionary?

I was reading the book “Ask and it is Given” by Esther and Jerry Hicks and something I read struck me.

“One who is visionary thrives at all times.”

I had read that sentence many times before, but that day I thought to myself: What does that really mean?

Who do we know that is a visionary?

Certainly Bill Gates. He began his business in a garage with a partner. He envisioned something no one really believed in. People called him a fool and laughed, saying it was ludicrous to think people would want a computer in their homes.  Who’s laughing now?

How about Helen Keller who said: “ Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure”  She who was blind and deaf went on to become a teacher.  She had a vision and she overcame unbelievable obstacles to attain it.

I believe being a visionary means that in order for us to achieve what we want in life, we must STOP looking at the circumstances around us and focus on what we envision having or doing. Instead of looking at every obstacle and getting stuck in negative thinking, we must visualize what it is we want and feel as if we already have it.

For example: We hear every day through endless forms of media how BAD the economy is. We can choose to let those endless messages form our decisions by repeating the woes and letting fear govern our actions.

We might think:

I can’t start a new business in these times

We can’t have a baby because we might not be able to afford it.

My business is going down because people don’t have any money.

I can’t leave my job and do something new because I’m lucky to even have a job.

I’m afraid to invest and lose it all.

I can’t move now, it’s a bad time.

We can’t get married because we might lose our jobs.

This type of thinking keeps us from taking new actions or implementing new ideas that may come to us. Instead, I urge you to step out and be courageous.

Here are some steps to take:

1. Give yourself quiet time every day and begin to listen to your inner voice.
2. Do what your inner voice tells you.
3. Begin to Implement any new ideas, concepts, programs.
4. Follow your instincts without concerning yourself with the negative feedback you may get. (You’ll probably get a lot of it.)
5. Be careful who you share your aspirations with.
6. Keep company with other visionary people.
7. Limit your contact with negative people who always find problems with your ideas.
8. Remember to congratulate yourself on every success no matter how small.
9. See yourself as successful.

 As we become visionaries anything is possible. I hope you open your life up to endless possibilities.

Mari Mitchell

Certified Life Coach

www.prepaingapathtolove.com

The waves of change

The waves of change

"Don't want to cause waves."  Someone said that to me the other day.. However. those who are extremely successful are so because they do cause waves.
Einstein, Martin Luther King, Oprah, President Lincoln, Columbus, Edison I could go on forever.

Each of these people had vision, a purpose and they pursued their beliefs, regardless of the cost.

Thomas Edison BELIEVED  he could discover a way to create light. He invented the light bulb in order to do this. It took him over 2000 different attempts before he found one that worked. That's dedication, persistence and most of all BELIEF in his dream.

I say, "Move towards your dreams and purpose and don't worry about causing waves."

For many it’s unnatural. We’re taught from infancy to sit down, be quiet, don’t upset mother, do what your teacher says, fit in with everyone else. After years of this type of brainwashing it’s not easy to step out and do something different, or innovative. We tend to fall back into the patterns we’ve always followed. We think that causing any waves would be disastrous, we might be engulfed by at tsunami. Maybe a tsunami is just what we need.

Changing anything in our lives requires we make a shift in our thinking and our behaving. We must step out and do something different, something perhaps we’ve never done before. It take courage. It takes determination.

We hear so often the phase “the sky’s the limit”. It’s spoken of in motivational materials. My belief is: The sky's not the limit, there is no limit except our own limited thinking.

We can do whatever we want to do. We can be whatever want to be and we can create success in any area of our lives as long as we’re willing to CHANGE, to do something different, to follow our own instincts.

If we truly want to accomplish something, we must believe that we can and we must be willing to make the changes necessary.

Mari Mitchell

Certified Life Coach

www.preparingapathtolove.com

mari@preparingapahtolove.com