For me, Valentine’s Day has always been about chocolate, flowers and lot’s of love and tender affection for others.  This year it was still about that, but for the first time ever,  it was also about love towards ME!

My life has evolved and shifted at what  seems like a very rapid pace. I spent  many years not really liking and much less loving myself.  Limiting childhood programming were a major source of my self loathing.  I simply did not feel that I deserved a good life.  Although it all looked great from the outside looking in, the reality was that  inside I was negative. Trapped between feelings of low self worth but subtle energies of impending greatness. Sound familiar?

In the last couple of weeks, I have had a few people ask how did I make the shift in my life?

The truth is that it all started with making the decision to love myself, as I am, unconditionally and to forgive myself for all of the years that I did not.  It was also about changing my thought patterns.  Doing the inner work by uncovering my limiting beliefs and replacing them with new empowering beliefs.  I am worthy of great things in my life NOW….not later. 

A remarkable thing happens when you make a quantum shift.   You start to evaluate everything in your life from a different perspective….your relationships with loved ones, with money, your enviroment, etc.  When you heal and move through insecurities and self-doubt, organically, you uplevel everything about yourself. 

It seems like the moment that I made the inner shift of self love, forgiveness and acceptance, circumstances, opportunities and breakthroughs started to flow very quickly.  No coinsidence there!

So….how are you keeping yourself small?  What do you need to shift within yourself so that you too can step into your purpose? Sometimes it just takes a nudge from a source outside of ourselves to create the forward momemtum necessary to create a breakthrough.  Well…I just lovingly nudged YOU!

Happy Valentines Day!

If you’re feeling like some area of your life isn’t moving forward fast enough, I urge you to just take a minute and try out the following process.
Bring to mind the situation that feels stagnate or stressful. Identify what exactly isn’t working. Make sure to look at all aspects. What part are you responsible for generating? What piece are other people creating? What outside forces are messing with your mojo and flow?

Once you’ve pinpointed the sticking points, now pinpoint how you’d like to see this area of your life. Remember to pretend you have a magic wand and can experience any end result you desire.

For instance, Sammy is not getting along with his wife. They seem to argue over the same topics every day. He finds himself not wanting to go home. He doesn’t know how to correct the problem and feels like he just has to live in this misery.

I took him through the two steps above, and he discovered that his wife is not truly the cause of his misery. He actually didn’t like the way he responded to his wife’s complaints about money and her co-workers.

Ideally, Sammy wants to create intimacy with his wife, and he would love for her to find a new job or career that is fulfilling. He would also love to support her in a way that feels easy and that she appreciates.

Once you have created clarity about what is not working and how you’d like it to be, you can make a decision. Decide how you want to feel moving forward. Is there an action you need to take to create some relief?

In Sammy’s case, he decided to stop coaching his wife about looking for a new job. She was resistant to his “expert advice”, and he felt frustrated every time he tried. He was also going to focus on creating intimacy in their relationship even when his wife is in one of her “moods”.

While Sammy’s decisions felt good in the moment he stated them, they’ll be of no use if he doesn’t take action. He must practice this new way of being, even if he fails or doesn’t get results the first few times he tries.
One of the decisions Sammy made was to trust his wife’s own ability to find her perfect path to a joyful career. This decision will help soothe him when things don’t immediately feel like paradise.

Many of you will experience some resistance around taking action. You may have made some hard decisions. Give yourself some time to settle into your decision.

What decision will you make? What is the action to support it? When will you do it?
Keep your eye on the desired outcome, and this process will be fast and easy.

This week I’m including an article I wrote two years ago when I was struggling financially.  At the time, as I studied money and wealth consciousness, I began to recognize that as women, none of us feel comfortable admitting that — at least in part — we’re “in it for the money,” because that’s without soul, right?  And we’re soulful people!  But there is absolutely no shame in wanting to support yourself and your family, to earn enough money to live comfortably and to help you achieve your goals. Because chances are that what you want is what your fellow women want as well….

So many women live in lack, and particularly financial lack. And most women have a lot of self-imposed limitations, issues and money stories that keep them from fully showing up in life. That keep them from really giving of their passions and gifts. That keep them from being who they most authentically are.
And this kind of lack mentality leads to depression, it leads to disease, it leads to over eating it leads to playing small and it leads to miserable lives and worries, fears and stress.
And the worst part of all is that it not only affects the one individual woman being overworked, stressed, depressed, over-eating and bummed out, but it affects all of the people who would ordinarily be blessed by her work and her showing up large in life. And for a woman to show up large in life, she needs a lot of money.
And I know this can be a very controversial subject, particularly for any of us in any form of a spiritual community. And that’s part of the bridge that I want to build here. Because it’s been this melding and blending of my own faith and spirituality with my passions and gifts of life coaching and empowering women that changed my financial circumstances.
Growth comes in many forms. Spiritual development is one form. Psychological wisdom is another form. There are physical forms of health and growth and there are financial forms too.
It was when I began making more money than I ever dreamed that I could generate, that really helped catapult me in my life and my work and my quality of life, not just to the next level, but many levels beyond and that is what can be brought out in every woman if she desires.
Most women’s deepest desire is to bring forth the “Queen” within.
To bring forth your greatness and your beauty and your femininity and to heighten your intuition and your living life in luxury if that too is one of your desires.
For any woman that is tired of struggling with her money issues, for anyone that is tired of going through the grocery store and trying to tally up in her head how much her groceries are worth in their basket, change is an option and help is available.
Or maybe you’ve learned how to make a lot of money, but you’ve created an up and down dynamic where you get a big account or a big client, but then you don’t know when that next paycheck is coming I like many women entrepreneurs experience.
What you can do is blend all of your passions together. Because that is what being queen is all about. It is about having spiritual integrity, it is about being psychologically developed, it is about having material wealth, and it is about being in great community, it is about having the romantic relationship, it is about having the self-confidence, the expanded sense of self-worth…
All of these things, including money, are what bring out the best in women. Isn’t that the ultimate goal? To thrive in every area of your life?
So philosophically, the activity of being generative and making money is sourced from masculine energy…it has to be because the masculine is about the doing, the accomplishing, the providing the protecting, which is one of the things that money does.
Your womanhood and your femininity and your spirit and your intuition and your feelings count. They not only count, but you can use them to actually make your work,your life and your relationships juicier. Your feminine way of being actually gives you a higher level of attraction so that you don’t have to do do do.
Being Queen is a beautiful blend of the masculine and the feminine.
It’s about the being and the doing. It’s about being the beautiful Queen who is alluring and can communicate in a very attractive way.
And it’s also about being the Queen who can take a stand and be a leader and be in a position of authority and issue orders to get things done that need to be done.
So just so you know that as you make more money, the first premise to come from is you being Queen in your life.
And I have to tell you, I have NOT met a woman yet, whose #1 goal is to make money at the end of the day.
You might be saying, “Wanna bet?” Well, as a coach, when I go underneath this issue of making money and ask women, “Why do you want to make money?” “What would that $10,000, or $15,000 or $20,000 per month mean to you, why is that such a priority in your life today? I always get a response in one of eight categories. And the desire is NEVER just for the clothes, or the nice house or the pool, or taking the trips.
The Top 8 Reasons Why Women REALLY Want to Make More Money…
 

#1 Basic Needs
Of course we start here. Every Queen needs to have her basic needs of food, shelter, clothing and gas money.

#2 Romantic Relationships
Not only do money struggles help to deteriorate relationships, but also women stay in relationships they might not if they had their own money, and women may not get into a particular relationship if they were on solid ground financially. When money stress isn’t an issue in relationship it creates more choice in relationship.

#3 Expansion and Forward Movement
The whole experience of traveling or going to spas or attending seminars is that women want to be able to expand themselves and the next generation and really move themselves and our world forward.

#4 Creative Expression
When women want to go to the great restaurants and wear the fabulous clothes and decorate their homes beautifully, its not about keeping up with the Jones’ its because they want to be able to go in the store and touch and feel the fine silks and create environments that are gorgeous reflections of who they really are.
Do you see what I am saying? So its not just about the about money, its really letting YOU express creatively in a very large and luxurious way.
 

#5 Career Advancement & Service to Others
Any woman that I know that really wants to advance her career is because she wants to serve others more. You don’t have to necessarily have to be in this helping profession to want that. I do work with a lot of coaches and speakers and PR specialists and spiritual healers of all types and what I find, also with my corporate banking friends and my mortgage broker friends and my stock market friends who are women, is that they all want use their skills, talents and profession to serve others more.

#6 Greater Self-Confidence  
It’s not that money in and of its self can bring confidence,but when a woman has created her wealth, she develops many aspects of her being that give her greater confidence. Plus she has the confidence that financially, her needs will be met and this strengthens women’s self-esteems tremendously.

#7 Community
Creating community, being in community and improving community is another reason women desire to make money and do good with it.

#8 Power
There’s no denying that money has power. And using this power in a healthy and productive way not only benefits the lives of women but the world as well.
When you pull together these top 8 categories, they are really just all of the different aspects of YOU and when you are showing up beautifully and boldly in all of these different forms of expression that’s what creates a healthier woman, a more attractive woman, a true Queen.

Success Coach, Gina Ratliffe, publishes the Esther Experience weekly ezine. Women Entrepreneurs: If you’re ready to live as Queen of your finances, relationships, and health, and have more fun in your life, get your FREE report now at www.EstherExperience.com

Being an entrepreneur and starting your own business is probably one of the most exhilarating things that a person can do and at the same time one of the most revealing. 

 Exhilarating because this is your own creation.  You imagined it, you nurture it, you feed it your time and energy, and you watch it grow in to a magnificent company that reflects your greatest dreams and desires. 

 Revealing because it will bring forth to your attention those areas in your life where you are stuck, have resistance, and/or feelings of limitations.  These are known as limiting beliefs and can be the factors of whether your business will be the phenomenal success that you envision or not. 

 Limiting beliefs have always been present in your life, but you have ignored them or tried to explain them away by blaming them on someone else or other circumstances.  Now you have your own business, you are responsible for this business’ success, and you have no where and no one else to transfer the lack of success.

 An example of a limiting belief is the hesitancy to ask for money for your product or service.  Before when you were working in corporate environment, the excuse could have been that your manager didn’t appreciate you or recognize your value when all along you just needed to ask for the raise.  Your underlying belief that it is wrong to ask for money kept you from asking for the raise and presenting and seeing yourself in a way that justified it.

 Now in having your own business, there is no manager to be the reason for not receiving money.  It starts and ends with you.  You have to feel right about asking and have to value yourself to be able to ask for the money for your product or service.

 Anther example of a limiting belief is the lack of confidence in being a leader or in public speaking or making presentations.  If any of these are present, it will have a negative impact on your business.  Having confidence in these areas are key components to the success in marketing and promoting your business. 

 Perhaps you don’t like salespeople for whatever reason.  This reason is a limiting belief that definitely will not serve you well and will hinder the success of your company.  There is more to selling than just selling your product or service to a customer.  To achieve the success you desire, you have to sell the vision that you have for your company to your employees.  You are being a sales person.  If you don’t like salespeople, then how can you do a good job selling your product and promoting your vision and still like yourself? 

 Also this limiting belief will affect your business by not attracting to your company, the vendors that can supply the best deals, materials, and services that are needed for the successful and exponential growth of your company. 

 So you see how a limiting belief can be intertwined in many areas of the success of your company and your personal life.  Sometimes a limiting belief can be so great that it actually becomes a fear. 

 What is important to understand is that these limiting beliefs have been with you the greater part of your life.  Ninety percent of limiting beliefs form in a person between the time of conception to four years old when the conscious mind has not yet formed.  Only the subconscious mind is present and it is like a sponge receiving emotionally and verbally external input without discernment of whether it will be beneficial or not in the person’s life.

 This creates an energy that your life is formed around and patterns that you repeat throughout your life.  When you have business, these patterns then come to the forefront of your attention and can affect your business. 

 When you know there is something you should do in your business and feel resistance to doing it or you procrastinate doing it, this is very often representative of a limiting belief you have.

 You can push against it and force yourself to do what needs to be done.  You may be successful in taking this action, but in doing so you can create just temporary success.  In addition, you have not release the energy behind the limiting belief which may later manifest in a different area of your life.

 Repeating positive affirmations will form dual beliefs within yourself which will manifest in a yo-yo effect where sometime you feel fine performing a certain action and other times you do not.

 What is most important in releasing the limiting belief is to release it from its point of origin and on all levels.  When you do this, it is no longer present in your life and no longer will affect your actions, feelings, or words.  In turn, it opens the way for greater success in your life and in your business.

 The Release and Replace technique as performed by Auriella O’Neill quickly releases any limiting belief from the point of origination and all levels.  The change in your belief is immediate and permanent and reflects as a difference in your perception and feeling of life and events.

 Auriella O’Neill teaches individuals how to consciously create the life they desire to have and enjoy through her internationally conducted workshop, Create and Empower Your Life.  The 30 day manifestation success rate for attendees of her workshop is 97%.  As part of the workshop, you also learn how to use the Release and Replace technique for yourself.

 Auriella’s Personal Empower Your Life Sessions are powerful and life transforming sessions where she personally guides you to achieving the vision of your success through conscious creating and discovering and releasing your limiting beliefs.

 To schedule a personal session with Auriella or for more information, please contact Auriella. 

 Website:  www.AuriellaONeill.com

Blog:  www.AuriellaBlog.com

I received a beautiful handbook after a silent retreat I attended last year that asked the simple question: What is the most important thing in your life? The book went on to say that the best way to determine this for yourself is to ask: When you are not thinking of completing a task at hand, what does your mind revert back to?

I encourage you to ask yourself that question now before reading on.

Got your answer?

Okay great.

Now onto the Truth: What is predominately on your mind is a reflection of what is in your heart.

And, you may find, what is predominately on your mind may be very different than what you would write down – or *think* in your head & heart.

What tends to be predominately on people’s minds these days is – Money. The worries around not having enough, getting more, and running out of what you have.

Can you relate? I bet you can since this is such a challenge for people right now.

I had a conversation with my brother the other night where we were talking about Faith. We were talking about how when you have Faith, your worries *should* dissipate – because you know – regardless of what you’re going through right now, that with Faith, things will turn out for your higher good.

I saw a quote that said: “Worry is Faith In Reverse.” So true right?!

And my brother in his blunt brotherly way said: “But Bren, God doesn’t pay the bills.”

Interesting statement. But is it true?

See, it is my belief that everything that happens to us actually happens through us. And this is not to say that you’re at fault or you’re doing something wrong because you may be stressed about money or worrying about how you’ll pay your bills right now.

Many of the self-help stuff that’s “out there” would hold you totally responsible for your results, and honestly make you feel bad and at total responsibility & control to change it.

Yet I’d like you to consider something even a bit deeper.

What if, your money woes (if you have them) are being served to you right now for a higher purpose?

Stay with me now.

What if The Universe, God, The Divine, Source (whatever you feel comfortable referring to your Higher Power as) is giving you these challenges to bring you closer? To draw you closer to your Faith. To bring you closer to the Truth that you’re loved unconditionally – and that you’re always taken care of – no matter what.

And even more, that Abundance (and that is True Abundance, not just money/wealth) is your birthright. Yet you trying to figure out how to “do it” all on your own – and control your emotions, thoughts, etc. – isn’t your responsibility – and that you have loads of help from a Higher Power.

Could you consider and contemplate that? Just for a moment give it a try.

It saddens me to see that something that we human beings invented has such control and power over us. When in Truth, you are powerful beyond measure. You have infinite capabilities that you aren’t even aware of yet. And when you can tap-into this Truth, then your whole world (yes, your financial world too) opens up.

Sure, as a householder money is imperative. It’s as imperative as the air that you breathe. Yet, you don’t have to wake-up everyday and figure out how you’ll breathe do you?

The air that you breathe is just given to you as your birthright.

Could it be true about money too?

I’ll leave you with two different questions: Do you want your predominant thoughts to be about a False God like money? Or would you rather direct your thoughts, feelings and actions to the Truth – and start living your purpose passionately and let the money that goes along with that purposeful passion – flow into your life like never before?

As always, it’s your choice.

If you are anything like me, the minute that I step into the shower I start to get a flood of ideas!  Sometimes great business ideas and other times ideas about life in general.  You could say that 90% of my life epiphanys have been hatched in the shower!

The funniest part is that I am realizing more and more that there many people that also experience this very same {phenomenon}.  What is it with water and ideas?  When the idea is red hot,  I will {lovingly} yell at one of my kids to bring me a piece of paper and a pencil.  No, they don’t question why mom needs paper in pencil in the bathroom anymore, they know that mom is simply writting down yet another brilliant idea!  As a recent Coaching Graduate, my girlfriend Angela gifted me some amazing bath soaps from Lafco.  I found myself taking three showers in one day! It was part combination of wanting to enjoy the bath soaps and part combination of birthing a new program idea.  My husband was giving me odd looks!

Just recently while I was surffing the net, guess what I found?  Yep, Aqua Notes,  a waterproof pencil and paper set for the shower. Well, I guess there goes my idea of creating a shower paper and pad set!   And yes, I did place an order!  I will let you know if it’s worth the investment!  By the way be sure to check out my new course that starts on November 11th, “ Creating Money ”.  Of course, it was created in my shower!

While many business-owners have difficulty delegating work, at a certain point it becomes necessary to move the business forward. Hiring an assistant can help you run things more efficiently, letting you focus on the big picture as your assistant takes care of administrative tasks. Some companies hire admins to work on-site, but many others are using virtual assistants to take care of tasks like scheduling or invoicing remotely.

Here are five signs that you need an assistant.

1.    You forget to perform tasks like updating your website or confirming appointments. Sure, the world keeps turning even if your website hasn’t been updated or a few appointments get missed. But think how much better off your business could be if you didn’t have to think about these tasks or feel guilty for forgetting them! An assistant can easily be trained to help with marketing or scheduling so that these business functions always happen when they should.

2.    You waste time looking for lost documents or emails. In addition to your time spent performing menial tasks, losing an invoice or accidently deleting an email costs you even more time! If you’re so frazzled that this happens on a regular basis, then it’s time to hire help. An assistant will ensure that you stay on top of invoicing and filing so that you don’t miss payments or make costly administrative mistakes.

3.    You don’t have time to see family or friends. Every entrepreneur needs some downtime to relax and recharge. Spending time with family and friends is a great way to do this, so if you find yourself skipping out on brunches or birthday parties in favor of work, then it’s probably time to reprioritize. Hiring an assistant, even one who works just a few hours a week, frees you up to focus on what matters. And having time for yourself and the people you care about will also benefit your business, because you’ll be refreshed and ready to tackle new challenges.

4.    Your billable rate is higher than an assistant. Hopefully this is the case for most business-owners. Let’s say that you bill client at $100/hour and an assistant bills you $20/hour. Rather than taking time away from your paying clients to send out invoices or book appointments, pay an assistant her $20/hour while you earn $100/hour from your clients. Even after you pay your assistant, you’ll still bring in $80/hour that you otherwise wouldn’t have time to earn. So when you think about it mathematically, hiring an assistant makes a lot of sense (and cents)! 

5.    You’ve been putting off tasks that you dislike. Most of us have tasks we dread doing, such as filing, following up on overdue invoices, or balancing the books. Imagine if *poof* all those ugly little tasks magically got done so you could spend time on more important tasks (because, let’s face it, many of us waste time procrastinating on these sorts of tasks anyway).

It doesn’t take a fairy godmother or a magic wand. All it takes is a little legwork to find someone you trust to get the job done.

Once you decide to hire an assistant, you can ask your colleagues for recommendations or log into websites such as IVAA.org (the International Virtual Assistants Association) to start your search.

© 2009 Ali International, LLC

Goals are an important way to conquer life. The roadmap of our daily journey, the blue print that shapes the direction our lives take, and the manifesto of what we want to accomplish before we leave the planet, goals concretely state our plans and allow us to start breaking our plans down into easy action steps.

There are some easy, positive goal setting techniques you can follow, to enhance your goals and turn them into reality faster. When you set yourself up for a planning session, create a quiet, serene place with music that makes you feel positive and successful, treat yourself to a nice glass of wine or some gourmet chocolates – give yourself peace and allow yourself to enjoy the process of writing our your goals!

1. Commit. Write down  your goals. Putting it on paper makes it much more tangible and allows you to better evaluate if its really a goal of yours.

2. Categorize. When you have a lot of goals, its hard to keep up. You may find yourself overly ambitious in one area of your life to the detriment of others.

3. Plan. Get out the calendar. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your life be. Set a completion time frame for your goal – if you’re not sure, break your goal down into smaller pieces and set yourself reasonable deadlines. Using a calendar also helps you gauge how many projects you will be attempting to deal with at a given time and give you a leg up in time management

4.Evaluate. Listen to your gut. When you write a goal, examine how your body reacts, as this is a clear indication of how you feel about it. If you clench up, reevaluate the necessity of it, or at least see if it can wait for some more fun goals.

5. Be realistic. You are not going to lose 50 pounds in a month without ending up in the hospital. Be kind to yourself and you will feel the rewards of reaching your goals!

6. Be positive. Feeling great now about your goals, and believing they are easily attainable will keep you motivated and bring you faster and lasting success. Even when your goals seem difficult or unreachable , remember to visualize yourself succeeding and know that will carry you through the hard times.

Goals motivate us through life and provide inspiration in some of the darkest hours. Goals make us human.

Long ago, a warrior was about to set his armies against a powerful foe whose men outnumbered his own. He sailed into the enemy’s country, unloaded the soldiers and equipment and gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men, he said, “Do you see the boats going up in smoke? That means we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win. We now have no choice. We win, or we perish.” They won.

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill uses that story to illustrate his point that every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn their boats behind them and cut off all avenues of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining “a burning desire to win.”

 That state of mind is essential to success. Are you willing to burn your boats behind you? Have you done that? There was a point in my life when I thought I had, but when I took an honest look, I realized that I was still playing it safe. And I was still losing, still struggling. There seems to be an automatic defense mechanism in people that as soon as they start thinking about how they can actually break free from where they are and live in abundance and success, every reason in the world why they can’t comes to the surface. As long as they believe in their reasons, they will stay where they are. They will play it safe. And they will miss the answer that is right in front of them. They just won’t recognize it.

They will be like Henry Ford’s engineers, who insisted for a year that the V8 engine Ford envisioned, with eight cylinders cast in one block, was impossible. Ford told them to design it anyway and to stay on the job until they had succeeded. At the end of a year, they still said it was impossible, but Ford continued to insist that he wanted it and he was going to have it. Finally, as if by a stroke of magic, the secret was discovered. Why did it take so long? As the engineers worked, they came up with all of the reasons why they couldn’t produce the engine. They had to exhaust each of those reasons first in order for them finally to tap into the way for it to be done. And Ford had to stay true to his vision and not give up, no matter how long it took.

Don’t miss the law of the universe reflected in that story: It doesn’t matter what it is that you want, the way to have it is already here. The solution was right there for the engineers; it just took them a year to see it. What solution is right here for you now? Can you let yourself move toward it? If you can’t imagine staking everything you have on winning, can you practice with something smaller? Think of it as an experiment to see if this approach works for you. Is there something you want that requires a stretch (like spending 5 days with me at ERS), but that doesn’t threaten your existence? Try burning the boat that would help you retreat from that thing you want. Now, see what happens.

© Copyright 2009 – David Neagle’s Life Is Now Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

About the Author: David Neagle, Million Dollar Income Acceleration Coach, mentors entrepreneurs to quantum leap their current businesses past the 7-Figure income level in just 12 months. David invites you to download—as his GIFT to you—his legendary “Art of Success” 4-hour audio program. This audio series is a tremendously compelling and comprehensive program that demonstrates—once and for all—that Success has nothing to do with “getting” or “achieving”, and everything to do with WHO we must BE to manifest our hearts’ true desires. For an additional bonus, Text: success to the number: 85800