Unleashing a New Life Direction

We held a live complimentary workshop in June and it was a great success! As a result, we are doing it again in July & August.

Date: Monday, July 28th

Time: 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM   arrive at 5:45

Refreshments Available

Phoenix-Area Now What?® Coaches are teaming up to deliver a joint workshop

Maria Busch                                             Debbie Exner                                              Virginia Kravitz

Have you been thinking about making a career change but life keeps getting in the way? You don’t need to struggle to figure out on your own. Set aside the time for this insightful workshop and experience the power of the group and three experienced coaches to guide the way.

Assess what’s working and what’s not

Begin to identify your criteria for work satisfaction

Determine your next steps to determine, what’s next!

Join us for this complimentary workshop at:

Jobing.com - Phoenix Office, 4747 N. 22nd Street, Phoenix, Az 85016 - 2nd Fl conference room

Register by sending an e-mail to info@inthecurrent.com.

 ”You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.”

– Henry David Thoreau

What a week! Just how much can we cram into a week? I would say that most of those I come in contact with are doing 48 hours worth of work and packing it into 24 hours. That makes you wonder when do they sleep. What is the hurry? Why are we all so busy? You might think that people who are that busy are getting a lot completed, reaching goals, making progress, feeling deeply satisfied! If you had to guess, how true a statement would you say that is? Well,truth be told we are very busy but not very satisfied. I have been guilty of this myself. I use to be the busiest person I know, I was often exhausted and realized I had very little to show for it. So something had to give. I decided it would not be my well being. I realized I wanted to experience more of my life not just live in the fast lane with no peace, no quiet time, no money, no satisfaction and a lot of frustration.

The first step for me was to decide what was most important to me, what are my values. What did I want to create in my life? I realized this meant, I had to work smarter not harder. I looked at the “busyness” and asked myself,  What was I so busy doing ? As I really looked at it I could see that the busyness was not productive, purposeful or directed. Once I defined my values (coach, create, abundance and peace) it helped me eliminate  all the things that failed to satisfy or enhance these values and to maintain the things that did. With this shift, I was able to balance my time, making room for what was most important and eliminating what was not. I don’t miss those things today and in the case of people issues that I was taking on that were not mine to take on, I have opened a space for those people to grow through their own issues rather than letting me carry it for them. What peace!

What will you do with all this free time? Hopefully you will have additional time for you to breathe. I found time for the work of the Now What program. One of the steps of the program is to actualize your values. The is the foundation, the first step from which everything else we do flows.

Please visit http: blogtalkradio.com Your Creative Coach Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction. There are two previous shows are posted there under my name. Both are various ways of looking at the Now What Program and how it can empower you.

Soon I will be scheduling another and requesting you call in to participate. Stay tuned!

In a yoga class recently, my instuctor talked to us about knowing our Dharma. I had always wanted to understand what Dharma referred to, so I listened quite intently while he spoke. This is what I learned from what he said. 

 ”Dharma” means “protection”. By practising Buddha’s teachings we protect ourself from suffering and problems. All the problems we experience during daily life originate in ignorance, and the method for eliminating ignorance is to practise Dharma.

Practising Dharma is the supreme method for improving the quality of our human life. The quality of life depends not upon external development or material progress, but upon the inner development of peace and happiness. 

If we integrate Buddha’s teachings into our daily life, we will be able to solve all our inner problems and attain a truly peaceful mind. Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.”

Very wise young man,! He went on to explain that there are three questions we can each ask ourselves to attain our own personal Dharma. I bet you can guess what the first question is! I have talked about it here before, the one question most of the people I coach have the most trouble answering. What do you want? No, what do you really want? So can you answer that question? What’s your best answer? To be a millionnaire! To get a promotion! To find Mr or Ms Wonderful! Peace on Earth, good will to all!

I decided I could not ask others this question if I could not answer it for myself. After much thought I realized that what is most important to me is to live authentically, in my integrity. Okay, new age terms, what does that mean.? Well for me, practicing what I preach, living a life that is healthy and balanced. For me that meant looking at how I manage my health, wealth and relationships. Okay sounds easy enough right? Well actually it has been a journey of discovery for me. I would say it started years ago and perhaps it did, but the most growth for me has taken place over the last two years and it continues.

After you can name what you really want, ask yourself, “What does this mean to you?” This is the question that will get you thinking and really examining what value this has for you. It may also take you up and down some different paths to get focused on what you really want. For me as a coach it is “walking my talk”. What I love about my coach is her integrity, honesty and authenicity. If she lacked that, it would be hard for me to work with her. So answering this question will get you to the core of who you are.

Okay, nothing matters if this next question isn’t answered…..“What are you willing to do to have it?”  Action the most important step of all. What keeps most people from reaching their goals? Not taking steady and consistent action. People are great at setting goals, however most goals that are set are never reached. It’s what keeps us stating the same New Year’s Resolution year after year. In order to reach your Dharma, inner peace…you must take ACTION. And for me there is one question I would add to these three, “By when?”  The accountability factor is the bow on the package. Better yet commit to someone you trust and ask them to hold you accountable.

One of the first steps for me toward answering these questions for my own life was the Now What exercises. As a facilitator I went through the program first. I read the book, was in a group and completed the exercises, did the research and homework and answered all the questions. I can’t promise exactly how your life will change however I can tell you doing the work will opening you up to new possibilities. Try it and See! Listen to my Blog Radio program recorded on September 12th or join me for this week’s program on Wednesday, September 19th at 6:00 PM EST or 3:00 Pacific time. Tune in at….http://www.blogtalkradio.com.

Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of unhappiness.”

– Lao-tzu

With all the different ways those “Now What” moments can occur in our lives, there is one that I have not spoken of yet.  Sometimes we discover our steps to a “Now What” experience because of a disappointment. So what does that mean? Well, you know… something doesn’t go as we planned.

For my son this week, it was getting cut from his college hockey team. So what who cares!, you may say. But for him, hockey is all he knows. He has played hockey since he was 5  years old. He took to sports at an early age and we discovered hockey and later that year he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. It did not take me long to realize the behavior that plagued him in the class room never affected him when playing sports. So hockey became his saving grace. It became his structure, his reliable source of high self esteem and within no time, his passion. When playing hockey there are tryouts all the time for competitive teams. If a player did not make one team, there was always the chance of playing on another team. So until he failed to make this team, he never faced not being able to play at all. As he told me the story of how the coaches told him that he was not in shape and therefore as much as they liked him and how he played, he was not as fit as other players so he was the last one to be cut. The shock he faced was numbing, he said to me, “Now what am I going to do? I don’t remember my life before hockey.” I was in shock too. However thanks to information I have learned watching people go through Now What? I realized that this is a turning point, a fork in the road, a wake-up call! While it appears to be the end of the world, truth be told, it isn’t. It is an opportunity for growth.

What about you? What situations have occurred in your life that took you by surprise, caught your breathe and had you feeling like, “Now What am I going to do.” I don’t think we grow without facing some adversity first. Pain seems to be a motivating factor in turning lives around. Even though we talk about making change, taking risk and starting fresh, most people won’t do it unless the pain they are in is too dreadful to continue without making a change. It is almost as if we are bullied into making a change. Do or Die!

For my son, he immediately recognized what he could have done differently. I encouraged him to stay in shape all summer but friends, summer laziness and X-Box games won. Now he sees things differently and has learned the error of his ways. He is committed to getting in shape, getting a job and being ready for the chance to try again. As fate should have it, his roomate made the team and so did his other friends, so he will have to face it every day that they did and he didn’t. He immediately recognized that they stayed in shape and worked hard and earned the right to be on the team and he had not. He was happy for them. For himself he made a committment to change. What we do with this forks in the road is what true growth is all about. How many people stay stuck in their stories, focusing on the noise, become victims and how many use it as a motivating factor for growth.

The Now What program has supported thousands through those moments and transitions.

Join me this week at Blog Radio for a live blog call in program.  Blg Radio is a talking blog with programs taped for future listening, you can attend my calling the number and call in to speak to the host while on line.

Date: Wednesday, September 12th,

Time: 6:00 PM EST, (3:00 Pacific)

Call: (646) 716-9870

Topic: Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction - What’s Missing From Your Life and What can you do about it!

See you there!

I like thinking of possibilities. At any time, an entirely new possibility is liable to come along and spin you off in an entirely new direction. The trick, I’ve learned, is to be awake to the moment.”

– Doug Hall

I have been passionate about the Now What Program for some time now, you have read my reflections on it here. What never ceases to amaze me is how many ways the value of this experience can rise to the surface. Yesterday, September 2nd was my son’s 18th birthday. A week earlier I had dropped him off at college. It was hard to leave, but not as hard as I thought. I got through the first week without him, barely shedding a tear. I knew all week I would be seeing him again, I am happy about the choice he made in colleges, he is happy, content and enjoys time with a circle of friends. So I went up to see him yesterday. It was a 2 hour drive, a beautiful one at that. I arrived in time for a yoga class and then planned to meet up with him.

It had only been a week and already he seemed more mature, wiser, more courageous. He had just eaten so there was no sense in eating again so we just found a place to sit and talk. I felt there were so many things I wanted to tell him.  As I listened to him talk I realized I did not have to tell him anything. He is strong, brave and sure. I realized he had turned out exactly the way I always dreamed he would. I told him I had come because I really wasn’t sure what else to do. He looked at me and said, “Now you get to do your coaching.”

You see I first heard about the profession of coaching when he was less than a year old. I wanted to have a coaching career then but being a mother became more dominant in my life. For me being a mother was a full time job, I am a single parent so I was his mother and his father. I don’t regret one day of life since he was born. However now, our paths must change. He is creating a new path for his life and it is finally time for me to create the path I have always wanted for me.

So here I am beginning a new transition. What a perfect opportunity to uncover limiting beliefts, rely on my intuition and create the possibilities that are there before me  Transitions can take on so many forms. How many can you think of? Okay so far we have:

• life after your son/daughter goes off to college - now what do I do with my life?
• new career - I’m finished working for someone else, what about me?
• transition to retirement - now what am I going to do?
• company layoffs - what else can I do with my life
• graduating from college not sure what I want to do with my life
• marriage and children but I don’t just want to stay home and raise kids
• after divorce - time for a new beginning

As much as it hurt to say good bye to my son, I also knew today was the first day of the rest of my life. Hiding behind raising my son was safe and convenient. I had a noble cause, raising my son, but it kept me so preccupied and busy that I did not have to challenge myself to take on new risk, new opportunities, new adventures.

What is exciting to focus on are the possibilities! The 9o day program to uncover a new life direction, is exciting work. However, it can be very scary to discover new possibilities. Telling the truth about what you want, realizing past negative patterns and even seeing your dreams come true can hold unpredictable emotional reactions. Behind all the emotion and uncomfortable moments is the opportunity for growth.

You will be encouraged to courageously begin to analyze your beliefs, one at a time. Ask yourself, if you have sound reason for each of your beliefs. As you do this, you will find that many of your strongest convictions have absolutely no foundation. You will also begin to realize that some of your beliefs are toally absurd. For the most part, our beliefs are something we inherited, learned and practiced for many years. Regardless, one of the most important responsibilities each of us faces is to review out personal belief system. Some of our beliefs are keeping us blocked from moving forward, in this program we will look at those and replace them with more empowering beliefs.

I have long believed that my life was made better by being my son’s mother. I have given it my all and it is a wonderful son. Now he is ready to create his own path and as such I will get to shift my limiting beliefs with empowering beliefs for my own life. I am no longer marked in the world only by my role as mother, I am also a coach, a motivator, a leader and a successful business woman.

” The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” John Ruskin

Do you believe that every one has a life purpose? How many believe that? How many don’t care? Perhaps you do, perhaps you don’t. Regardless perhaps after reading this blog today you will be persuaded to think differently. 

About 6 months ago I was in a coaching session with women named Edie.  She knew there was something more for her than her current job in Corporate America. What had happened to her dreams of becoming a lawyer? Of all the hopes and plans her family had for her as she was growing up in Bizbee, Arizona? She desperately wanted to learn what her real purpose was and how to direct her life so it would not escape her. 

 I suggested she work with me on this process we have been talking about here. The process was created by Laura Berman Fortgang called, “90 Days to a New Life Direction” or for short, “Now what?” This workshop provides a simple yet effective process that is made up of two parts. The first part helps you determine the direction or next moves of your life by asking you to look in unexpected places. The second part of the process gets you into action and helps you redesign your life to accommodate the changes you are thinking of making. So what’s in it for you to take on such a venture? Perhaps you already know your purpose and the way to get there, but what if you don’t? Listen on! The Now What?  process contains 3 practices that support identifying your life direction. 

Developing Your Intuition is one part. What does that mean? How do you know when you know something in your gut? What is that like? How did you know you should join Toastmasters? Marry your spouse? Give that speech that won you best speaker? Everyone possesses intuition, your challenge is to tap it, trust it and use it to your advantage. I coach someone named Tim that has a knack for knowing who to hire for our High potential program at work. He can see talent and capability in applicants while visiting at the local colleges. So far all of those he has selected and coached through the program have been winners. I asked him what he attributed to his high success rate. He responded, “I’m not sure, it something about the way they respond to my questions, engage in dialogue, I just know it when I talk with them. I just get a hunch.”  He realized at one point that he had made a shift in how he looked at intuition, it wasn’t just for women, he learned to trust it which now allows him to continually tap into it. Sources of your intuition are your emotions, mood, energy level and physical sensations.

Once you begin to tap into your intuition you will see many hidden beliefs that may be holding you back. During this 90 day process this is what you learn to tackle next, managing your beliefs. As anyone who spends Sunday night preparing for a speech in Toastmasters knows, beliefs are very powerful, they either empower you to write that winning speech that makes you feel great or they stop you dead in your tracks and have your pacing your room all night for a topic. They shape the way you see the world and influence the actions you take. Truth be told, most limits are self-imposed. Limiting beliefs operate just below the surface of your consciousness. I want you to find and remove the counterproductive beliefs standing in your way. Learning to surface, name and shift limiting beliefs to empowering beliefs is a skill that takes attention and focus to master. One of my coachees, Kristen changed her limiting belief about what she could and could not achieve by asking herself, “ What do I hold true about getting this job in HR that is counterproductive,” and then replacing it with, “What can I hold true that would be more productive?” Today she is working her dream position in recruiting high potential candidates for our ACE program.  

Once you start to tap into your intuition and manage your limiting beliefs, creating possibility is possible. The dictionary defines possibility as “a potentially favorable result.”  Possibility is often confused with probability, which in turn is defined as “relatively likely but not certain”. Probability is more of a measurement which by definition is limiting. Possibility is based on abundance and has no limits. Possibility arises out of vision. Vision can be broken down into a picture of a future that has not yet happened. Use vision as a framework for creating possibility I asked Andy what did he dream about or hope for in a professional future? When you answer that question, don’t edit what comes up, these are the possibilities for your future. In Andy’s case he had a vision of becoming a manager despite the fact that there were seldom opportunities in his current environment for that to happen. He continued to develop this possibility and almost as if by plan, the manager in the IT group decided to change careers and try her hand at Real Estate. Andy was primed and ready for the role. Today, that is the position he enjoys.

What if you were to brainstorm the possibilities for your life, in this program participants have the opportunity to create what is possible in fiction. Whatever there wildest intentions can create, write it down, capture it, revisit it, what does it say about how your life can look? 

Excavating your Life Blueprint is a nonlinear journey. You must be ready willing and able to expand your self awareness, surface and face your blocks and expand your possibility creating ability. Then and only then can you put yourself in opportunity’s way where synchronicity, coincidence and luck can show up and guide you. Another name for luck? Preparation meeting opportunity.  

So what about you? What questions about your life keep you awake at night? Better yet, what you long to do about it? Grab the opportunity to know your purpose and redesign your life to live it. There may be many ways to do that, my suggestion is Laura Berman Fortgang’s “90 Days to a New Life Direction.”  Remember to check out the free preview call on Wednesday, August 29th at 7:00 EST by dialing into 1-218-486-1300 access code…248877.

So what did you learn about yourself when you took the quiz? Any surprises? Hopefully your learned something about where you are and where you want to go now.  Completing the quiz can be revealing, it was for several of the people I have worked with . What was blocking Tim turned out to be his finances. In section G of the quiz, he had checked true to every statement. Even though he knew he was frustrated with his lack of financial success he had no idea how blocked he was. He admitted he never had the time to really sit down and look at where he was let alone determine where he wanted to go. As we worked together he realized maybe that is why he never made more than enough to cover his monthly expenses.  In the Now What Program we don’t get to your finances until 8 weeks into the program. Why so long before taking this often critical view on things? Well, historically it is where people get stuck. It wouldn’t help to get stuck in the beginning and not be able to move on. By time we get 8 weeks into the program you will be more inspired to continue on through your financial analysis and onto to the end of the program. For Tim, he was motivated to take action. Once he determined what his purpose was (to create and run his own business) he was inspired to use his technical skill set to start his own website design company creating a Cash Machine to begin building wealth.  Through this program, Tim was able to discover a new life direction for him, get out of consumer debt and build the life that had evaded him until now.

Every chapter in this program has the potential to open new doors for you! Which lesson will hold the most punch for you?

This week as you go through your day spend some time journaling about what is possible if you discover what’s next? Read More »

These 3 action words describe it all! Once you create the life you want, unleash the limiting beliefs that keep you from releasing it, you will flourish! But where do you begin to create the life you want? What kind of life do you want? The first half of the 90 Days to a New Life Direction is all about defining what you want. One of the women I am coaching started out thinking she knew the direction she wanted to go in. As she worked through the exercises and did her exploratory work something very different emerged. She’s always thought she wanted to go to Law School. She started to think about what that would look like for her, meanwhile while doing her research she asked family, friends and co-workers what they valued about her. The feedback she received was surprising yet reassuring. It was some aspect of herself that she took for granted. Everyone she knows turns to her for support, advice, leadership, friendship, direction. As we talked about her relationships and interactions and positions she had worked, this pattern demonstrated itself time and time again.

Armed with this awareness she is now exploring what’s next for her. It is unlikely it is Law School but she is confident it will be a path that utilizes her skills, insights and well established track record. This confidence has opened the door to new adventures. The unleashing part for her has been profound. There have been limiting beliefs that have kept her stuck in many areas of her life. One by one she is taking them on and making choices that will take her in new directions.

One of the key roles that a coach can play is to help their clients find their purpose. There are two different approaches that you can use. One is that life purpose is a matter of personal choice. You get to decide what that is for you! The other way of viewing is that your purpose is designed into your life. For the first approach, you make a committment to whatever inspires you and go with it. The second approach requires that you discover what is there inside you. 90 Days to a New Life Direction follows more along the second approach. The outcome is worth the journey!

What would it be like to flourish? What is you knew what your life was meant to be and where you really fit? What would that mean for you and the direction in your life. Laura Berman Fortgang has worked with thousands of individuals and this process has gotten them to the other side of those issues. You too can discover that path for your life. Join me for one of these action packed workshops. Read on to learn more. And remember, Create, Unleash, Flourish!

Everything you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you.”

– Wayne Dyer

I love this quote for what it taught me about myself. I remember a time when I struggled with extreme fatigue. I was so exhausted some days I dragged through my days. As I tried to get to the root of what it was, I came across this quote.

At the time I was struggling with working in a full time job that was a conflict with my values, struggling with debt, striving to start my coaching practice all while raising my 17 year old son. Every day was full with work, things to do and challenges at every turn. Often I did not have any control of things, despite efforts, focus and attention to this things, I felt overwhelmed with all that I needed to do and yet I seemed to only be treading water. Cpnstant movement that never went anywhere!

One night while at dinner with some coaching buddies, (good friends) they pointed out to me how I was resisting being who I am. I was spending tons of energy fighting what I could naturally do it I let myself believe! Sounds kind of mysterious doesn’t it? Well have you ever been with someone who you know has potential, a gift, the ability to make things happen and they couldn’t see that? Well, I’m sure you have.

I would compare that experionce to what happened to me. No matter what they saw in me, I denied it. I could go into great detail about my frustrations and pain and struggle and they advised me to let go of that belief and create a new one. Simply see yourself for who you are.

How do you do that? Well from my experience as well as the experience of others I have coached, I learned to rely on these steps:

1.What do people come to you for, what to friends, family, business partners rely on you for?

2. How do you use that gift in your life, do you turn your back on that and say it is insignificant or is there some small way in your life you use this gift from time to time?

3.Once you define your gift, practice using it as many different ways as you can. Make it apart of your daily interactions.

I bet an example would help create a picture of what I am talking about.

When I asked others what they came to me for, they told me I could make sense of what was going on for them based on what they shared with me and what I came to know about them. I realized this was my intuition I was using.

I realised that working in a corporate setting, I had learned to turn my intuition down to a low volume.  It was constantly there in the back of my mind, but I would second guess myself many times. They I started to pay attention and realized that would often know an outcome, direction or solution to a problem before it happened. I would say to myself, I knew that, that’s what I thought etc.

Then I recognized it was up to me to trust that I am intuitive and when I use it, it makes a difference in people’s lives that I interact with.

So I started by practicing using my intuition. In my corporate job, I would not say it was intuition, I would frame it in a way that everyone could relate to or understand. It just gave others a feeling of trust and confidence in working with me.

As a result today I am learning to rely on my strengths and live my life as who I am rather than the safe me. Today fatigue evades me most of the time. Whenever it creeps back, I know it is time to do a personal assessment of what is really going on in my life.

I challenge you to answer the question, “What are you pretending not to know” I would add to it, what are you pretending not to know about yourself.

“Discover the Possibilities”
W