Personal Power Archives - Page 14 of 15

Micro vs. Macro

Are you living your life with a micro perspective or a macro perspective? Here’s what I mean; you get rejected from a sales opportunity, a friend, a lover, a job, a client, a barista, whatever it may be… and if you find yourself dwelling in the rejection this is micro living.

It’s important to learn, acknowledge, but what’s more important is to move on and look at the macro picture.

What is the bigger picture of your life? What is your purpose? If you are strong in your own vision of your self and your life the micro doesn’t need to paralyze you.

It doesn’t need to carry the weight you give it.

Give yourself permission to let go. You are precious. You have something to offer. You have an unlimited supply of energy within you if you tap into the right resource states we all have within ourselves.

We give ourselves too much of a hard time for what life is meant to be, which is why so much of this blog is dedicated to bringing greater awareness around neural networks, paving new pathways, mindfulness, and self compassion.

Live with lightness. Enjoy every second. Be grateful for every breath. Hug someone you love.

Live in the macro. It’s where you’re meant to be.

In wellness,

Susan

Building The Personal Power Mindset

In an earlier post I wrote about personal power and how easy it is to give it away to other people, objects, or simply daily events that happen in our lives.

Today, I wanted to focus specifically on one major way we give away our power so easily, and that is: caring about what other people think.

If you’ve done the 24 hour self realization test you may have noticed this particular theme come up over and over again. Why is it that we care so damn much about what others think? To the point that it actually changes our very own behavior and possibly the trajectory of our path?

Let’s be honest, we’ve all done this at one point or another in the past. Heck, maybe even within the last day!

Your baby is uncomfortable and crying on his/her first flight and you’re flushed and embarrassed at the thought of other people being annoyed at you and your baby.
You wear something amazing to school or work only to notice someone else is getting much more attention. You decide to keep your jacket on and wear your outfit on another day.
You pack your lunch because there’s an important lunch meeting and you notice no one else is eating. You decide to eat later and hope to God your stomach doesn’t growl during the hour.
You have an accent and you’re afraid other’s might think less of you so you avoid any job that requires speaking over the phone or public speaking.

The list can go on…

What I’ve noticed a million times over is that people who have this tendency are doing one thing 90% of the time – they aren’t caring enough about themselves.

What’s happening in our brains is that we are already looking outward and caught up in a fear based state of other people’s projection. Now, remember what I’ve said over and over again – with every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. This is power.

If you have a tendency to immediately jump to what other people think, you also have an equal tendency (or the opportunity) to immediately jump to what YOU care about in yourself.

Instead of caring about what other people think about you, why not care about what you want to do?

Why not care about your world for once?
Why not care about your voice?
Why not care about how your potential failure can lead to future success?
Why not care about yourself?

You may begin to feel something shift within you. You may begin to imagine all the times that if you shifted your mindset to caring about yourself first, how empowering this actually feels.

Remember, no one is actually thinking about you as much as they are thinking about themselves.

Take baby steps to build your personal power. Use the right tools whether they be books, meditation, a spiritual practice, or a coach/therapist to get you along the right path.

Owning your personal power is a birth right and we need as many people (with the truest of intentions) to step into their God given power – your true Light!

In wellness,

Susan

Friday Focus – 10/20/17 {Don’t Let IT Define You}

Labels. Society and humans have created labels as a way to quickly categorize every thing possible including the way we feel. While it is highly efficient to name and label things so that we can go about our lives and continue to evolve, labels can be detrimental to our quality of life.

What I’ve seen time and time again is how a feeling or an event can suddenly be so generalized in the mind that suddenly you are IT.

For example, you have a prolonged depressive time in your life where you are in a medical condition you wish you didn’t have. Suddenly that moment (or moments) where you felt severely depressed is so generalized you are suddenly “in depression”.

Or how about the few times at work where rushing deadlines and frantic managers have caused an uncomfortable level of anxiety within you and suddenly you believe you “have anxiety”.

This list is endless as you can imagine. Fortunately, through awareness and active monitoring of our thoughts, we can stop the generalization of these moment to moment feelings so that we suddenly aren’t just a label.

Yes, that feeling was real. The event did happen. However, it doesn’t define who you really are.

You are much more than the feeling that lasted a couple of minutes or maybe an hour or two. You are much more than what happened in the past. You are now. You are living and breathing. You are love in this very moment. You are the experiencer of experiences. Not the actual experience.

The power is in your minds, and how freeing is this? To know you always have a choice. To know that if it’s possible to generalize a thought so much so that we become the thought, that we have the same power to go the complete opposite direction and unbecome that very thought in an instant.

Powerful thoughts on this wonderful Friday morning.

In wellness,

Susan

Summer & Questions To Guide Inner Reflection

There’s something about going back home… While I grew up as an army brat with many “homes”, I consider Seoul and Tokyo my old stomping grounds. It’s where I spent more of my formative years.

As I head back to Seoul for a much needed break I can’t help but be thankful for Seattle. Since my re-entry this wonderful city has been a place where I met the most unexpected people; a place where I grew in ways I never thought I would. Guess it goes back to, “You never know what the Universe will provide if you surrender and let go of expectations.”

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset — Seattle Summer Nights

I’m looking forward to this break so that I can spend time with family and old friends. It will also be a time for inner reflection, and I won’t lie… there will be a few meetings sprinkled in here and there but when you put your highest intention in them it doesn’t feel like just a “meeting” if you know what I mean 😉

As we close out this Summer I urge you to take time for inner reflection. While everyone’s questions and time for reflection will be different, here are a few you can use to guide yourself:

What have been the consistent themes/thoughts these past 3-4 months?
What have I done to take action toward these themes/thoughts?
Am I in a place where I am ready to take action?
Who or What can help me take action? (i.e., books, meetups, teachers, coaches, etc.)
As I prepare for Fall, what do I need to close out to complete Summer?

May these next few weeks be filled with last minute bbqs, more laughter, and time spent with our loved ones.

Namaste,

Susan

Seeking Confirmation

Why do we do that? Whether it’s out of curiosity or we want to hear something other than what we know deep down inside, it’s as if us humans have an insatiable need to constantly seek confirmation outside ourselves.

On one hand if you have a healthy mindset about it, scratching a particular itch doesn’t hurt. I often find that when you’re honed in on your own intuition and your deepest desires you always know the answer and aren’t as stressed because you already have faith in the unfoldment of what is to be. Instead, what we mistaken as confirmation are really therapeutic experiences; after all as humans we love to be in community and what better way than to share and find a tribe of people who understand what you’re going through?

Where I think it can do more harm than good is when you constantly seek confirmation without giving anyone’s opinion or advice deep thought. When you feel the need to jump from one thing to another, stop and ask yourself, “what am I seeking?” “what do I want to hear?” “what am I afraid of?” “what is the underlying emotion that is driving my actions?”

Whether you’re in one boat or the other, consider relabeling what you are seeking. Rather than seeking “confirmation”, position your thoughts to identify with this activity as a “therapeutic experience” or a “discovery session”. Whether you do this with friends, a tarot/astrology reading, therapist, or life coach, when you identify this as a self discovery process suddenly the desperation falls away. Did you feel the shift?

When we come from a place of seeking confirmation it implies a yearning for a particular goal, outcome, or indicates an illusory fear.

So the next time you feel the need to seek confirmation, take a moment to re-identify the action from seeking to discovery. It may make a world of difference and save you the stress.

And remember, you already have the answers within ?

In wellness,

Susan

The Ultimate Secret

Secretly we spoke, that wise one and me.
I said, “Tell me the secrets of the world.”
He said, “Let silence tell you the secrets of the world.”
~Rumi

How often do we rely on others for answers? For validation? What are we seeking affirmation of?

Oftentimes we are in the mode of analyzing every situation and question we have in our lives, and it makes sense! We are primal beings and our brains are hard wired to know every single outcome… after all we survived all these thousands of years to get here right?

However, once we recognize we are safe, we have food to eat, and we have a roof over our heads… we begin to fill out brains with strategy, over analysis, and ultimately we are seeking control of our lives.

Unfortunately this is where we get into trouble. Believing we need control of our lives is what leads to anxiety, depression, and at the end of the day – it leaves us in a state of FEAR.

When we cut through the muck and stop thinking, analyzing and strategizing (left brain) and begin to feel and BE the flow of life (right brain), we come to realize we already have the answer.

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset — Mother Nature

This is a reminder to feel into the moment, to allow your brain to rest, to allow yourself to accept this moment and just feel into what is NOW.

When we do this and are willing to see things differently, we are doing more than just accepting and surrendering, we are allowing room for magic. This extra space we didn’t have before is now leaving room for breathe! It is now activating your unconscious to search for creative solutions you may not have otherwise have had the chance to consciously be aware of because our minds were so fixated on our limited thinking.

So I urge you today to lean in a little to the NOW. Be ok with what is just a little longer, and trust you are already taken care of.

Namaste,

Susan

Friday Focus – 8/11/17 {Last Days Of Summer}

This morning I sipped my morning coffee outside on the lawn and did a few sun salutations and heart openers. I felt the cool breeze move through my untied hair and really savored the moment.

Lately the days here in Seattle have been filtered with a never ending haze strewn across the sky, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying every last bit of what Summer has to offer us.

It wasn’t until after a bit of yoga this morning I walked over to the apple trees in our backyard when I noticed that in about another month the apples would be ready for harvest. “Wow, already?” I thought… and of course, “How beautiful are these apples…”.

As I felt the wave of emotions rush over, in that moment, I understood these were the last few days of Summer. Time to enjoy every last bit of it. The getaways, the hikes, backyard bbqs, picnics in the park, patio brunches with friends… all of it. Time to savor it all.

How are you spending these last few days of Summer? Are you taking the time to unwind? To enjoy and let loose? In what ways can you relax (in your unique way) to prepare for the “harvest”?

All good questions to ask ourselves.

In wellness,

The Never Forget List

NEVER FORGET

? Be bold
? Define what happiness, your role, your life looks like, and insist on it
? Own your yes and own your no
? Do not fear failure
? Stay detached

Processed with VSCO with g3 preset — Taken at Haleakala, Maui

This list was written years ago and often changes but I keep it handy for the turbulent times, the fearful times, or the times when I suddenly feel off kilter so that I can find my voice amidst the storm.

There are many other ways to find your voice, this is simply one of the easiest ways I personally deploy as a quick and easy reminder by having it as one of my notes on my phone.

Here’s a simple exercise to get you started on your list.. what’s ONE thing you never want to forget? No matter what is happening in your life, what is the ONE thing you never want to lose sight of in ordinary, and of course the not so ordinary moments?

I encourage everyone to take some time to think of their list. You may be surprised to see what you find 😉

Namaste,

Susan

Finding Your Voice When Presented With Too Many Options

Are you ever presented with too many options? Where every choice seems like the right choice? Or maybe two choices seem like they can go in either direction and you’re actually OK with one or the other?

What’s a person to do?

The easiest way to make a decision comes down to one question: Are you doing x out of Fear or LOVE? What tugs at the depth of your heart just a little more?

It’s much too easy in these times to get caught up in a story, the past, the future, technology, other people, and the 100 million other things on your to do list. When I’ve put off making a choice because I’m in analysis mode (left brain), and not in feeling mode (right brain), this simple question always brings me back to center when it’s crunch time, Fear or Love?

For me, choosing LOVE makes it very clear in finding my truest voice. I drop into what’s real and what *was* the facade naturally fades away… pretty quickly too! Other questions that help bring clarity when it comes down to making an important decision?

⚘ Who am I overly considering in my choices?
⚘ What feels lighter and brighter?
⚘ What is serving Love?
⚘ How can I serve the most amount of people?

All that said, what truly matters is making the one, small step. It’s the only way you’ll get more data to make the next small step.

I’m curious, how do you find your voice amidst the storm and voices in your head?

In Love,
Susan

Unresolved Emotions

Do you often find that unresolved emotions lead to regretful decisions?

Why is that? Well here are a few examples:

1) Anger at someone > “I’ll show him/her!” > Send hasty email
2) Anxiety, depression > Escapism > Open pint of ice cream
3) Regret, shame > Need to fix > Run 5 miles
4) Frustration, angst, sadness > Need to get it off your chest > Call friend in a heated moment, say the wrong things
5) Guilt > Need to fix > Over compensate or over commit to something you, deep down, don’t want to do

I don’t know about you but I have certainly found myself in a number of these situations before… and then I realized there was a key step in-between the emotion and the decision:

SELF AWARENESS / MINDFULNESS / SURRENDER / GOD / COMPASSION

Call it what you need to fit into your framework but for simplicity’s sake let’s call it Awareness.

When you have the awareness right **after** the emotion begins and right **before** the decision THAT is all you need to step back for just a moment.

And in that stepping back can you just sit with the emotion? Where is it in your body? Can you drop into it? What is it really trying to tell you?

Take a moment or two, heck take a week if you must! Take as long as you need until you feel good about your decision and know you aren’t trying to avoid the feeling. We seem to be good at that as we humans evolved.

Last but not least, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get it each and every time! For some it comes easy and for others it requires a bit more practice, mindfulness, and/or guidance. But but know this: there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are everything you need to be and everything is unfolding in your divine order.

In wellness.