What’s On Your Bucket List? (Aug 18)

First of all, what is a “bucket list”?  A bucket list is quite simply the things we want to achieve before we “kick the bucket”.  It could be learning a new language, starting your own business, running a marathon, climbing a mountain, getting a degree after the kids have gone off to university, or owning a cottage.  It is those dreams we keep putting off to another day, often a day that never comes.

Join us for a workshop that will help you bring your dreams back to life!

In this 2-hour workshop, we will use a variety of media from handouts and whiteboards to discussions and Q&A exercises throughout the seminar to help you create your own personal Bucket List.

This interactive workshop will help you:

• Find clarity about your most important priorities and passions
• Get inspired by the stories of others as they share their dreams
• Come away empowered with new techniques and tools to tackle the things that you’ve always wanted to do!

This workshop offers participants a unique opportunity to share and explore life’s ambitions and the means to achieve them in a fun, collaborative environment that elicits the powerful inspiration that lies within us all to bring our visions to life and find fulfillment and joy!

The workshop will be led and facilitated by Susan Wright, founder of Wright Momentum, a lifestyle coaching and consulting company that inspires people and organizations to engage in a process of change that generates renewed energy, synergy and collaboration.  As a seeker of experience, a masterful designer, and guide for handling new and uncomfortable terrain, she helps people rapidly develop trust to arrive at conscious choices and inspired action to successfully manage change and create desired results.

Susan Wright, Hons. BA (TR), ACPC, is an Adler-Certified Professional Coach Coach, a Certified Second Wind® Pilates Plus® and Integrated Movement Therapies (IMT)® Instructor.  For more about Susan, please visit www.wrightmomentum.com

What’s On Your Bucket List?

Wednesday August 18, 2010

7:30-9:30 pm (please arrive 15 mins early for registration)

Studio 889 Yonge

889 Yonge (@ Davenport)

Tickets: Early-Bird by Aug 1: $20; After Aug 1: $25

At the door: $30

Fuel Your Power, Passion and Purpose (Nov 25)

Learn Powerful Tools to Help You Eradicate the Blocks that Stop you from Achieving Your Goals!

Have you ever…beat yourself up, been self-critical, put yourself last, thought that you’re not good enough, felt inadequate, disliked yourself?

..then you are inadequately fuelling your power, passion and purpose in life. In this dynamic and interactive 90-minute seminar, pioneering psychotherapist Dr. Nicola Bird will provide you with tools that will help you break through the blocks that stop you from achieving your goals — be they career, relationships, or personal joy and satisfaction. Dr. Bird will share her expertise and knowledge to help you:

• Understand the ways that you get in your own way while trying to achieve your goals.
• Help you recognize your sabotaging behaviours.
• Give you techniques that show you how to fuel your power, passion and purpose.
• Be motivated to take action based on the skills you acquire, rather than recycle old patterns.

By the end of the seminar, you will have a clearer understanding of what blocks the flow of life, how you can overcome these obstructions, and what you can do to change. You will embrace your power, passion and purpose to achieve what it is that you desire. NOW is the time to liberate yourself from what is holding you back in life.

About Dr. Nicola Bird

Dr. Nicola Bird (www.nicolabird.com) is a psychotherapist who pioneered the Self-Imaging Therapy™ process. This approach transforms the negative self-images that impede or even damage us into positive self-images that build self-esteem, self-worth, and inner peace. Dr. Bird is an inspirational teacher who is passionate about sharing her extensive knowledge and expertise to help others transform their inner blocks and fuel their power in life.

November 25, 2009; 7:45-9:30

Kokkino’s Lounge; 414 Danforth Ave, Toronto

Please join us for a pre-seminar dinner at Kokkino’s starting at 6:30 pm.

Early-Bird Payment by Nov 12: $18

Regular Pre-Payment until Nov 18: $22

Cash at the door: $25

we know you’re busy. now shut up about it.

“So sorry, I’ve been busy.”

“I’m just so busy with…”

“I’ve been too busy too…”

Busy? Get in line.

If I ever tell you that, “I’m so sorry that I’ve been too busy to…” then I’ll pay $500 bucks to your favourite charity and get you a year supply of Haagen Dazs bars. Of course I’m busy. That’s life. That’s my life. That’s most people’s lives. Grown up humans tend to be…busy. Add kids, or business start ups, or illness into the mix and you have…much more of life to be busy about.

“I’m just so busy,” is the typically gasping, rushed, whiny refrain that’s become a contemporary anthem. It doesn’t make us look more important, it makes us look just-this-side-of-frazzled. It’s typically used as a lite apology, an excuse, a duck-out, as if your Life Master is making you do stuff that you don’t want to do. Even as a well-intended social pleasantry, “Sorry, I’ve been busy,” has a little victim ring to it.

Whatever is on your plate got there because you said yes to it – in the fullness of ambition and desire and wanting to eat life whole. Sometimes we take on to-do’s and commit to climb mountains because our soul demands it. Sometimes life throttles us with unforeseen and unrelenting demands. Sometimes busyness is the result of keeping up with the Joneses. Busy can be good. Busy can be bad. Busy is most often a choice.

The “busier than our predecessors…age of technology…workaholic culture,” argument. I don’t buy it. Yes, we appear to be more compulsive, less nuclear, and surviving on less sleep than the pioneers, but their lives were just as packed. They were extremely busy planting potatoes and raising barns, and surviving from sunup to sundown (they got more sleep than we average because, a) they didn’t have the luxuries that light bulbs afford, and b) they did physically exhausting work.) The fifties housewife was just as busy. Before eco-evil but ever-so-handy tools like disposable diapers, the Swifer and microwaves, June Cleaver had to work it.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy,” is often used to appease busy-bodies. – the kind of people who email you to double check if you got their email from yesterday, or their thank you note.

So what do you tell ‘em when you’re late? When you can’t fit another moment into your daytimer, when you have to send regrets, or pass on a sweet opportunity? Tell them the truth. Report on life, rather than whining about it. Deliver it with ease or with pride if you’re inclined. “Been in five cities in four weeks. The kid’s all had the flu. It’s tax season, you know.” Let people meet you in your clear truth rather than your apologetic panic.

And sometimes, many times, you don’t need to excuse yourself at all. Just show up. Present and accountable, full of life and it’s demands. We all understand.

we know you’re busy. now shut up about it.

Danielle LaPorte is the creator of www.whitehottruth.com, which has been called “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality & business” and lead author of Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design. She is the former Director of a think tank for futures studies, ran her own communications agency to promote Nobel Prize winners and a few old pop stars, and now works one-on-one with her signature Fire Starter sessions to help entrepreneurs rock their careers and creativity. Featured in Elle, Body + Soul, Vogue Australia, Better Homes & Gardens, Globe & Mail, The National Post and Entertainment Tonight, Danielle is based in Vancouver BC.

Conquer Fears in the Way of Dreaming the Big Dream

As we walk along our path in life, it can be easy to get into the comfort of our routine, denying our deepest desires. In dreaming the big dream, many of us struggle because our fears come creeping in. Instead we either make small goals or we fail to dream at all. I am going to dare to you claim what you want, despite the fear or as I like to call it… your monsters! It is time to conquer those fears in the way of dreaming the big dream. Are you ready?

Now, when claiming the dream, 2 things to keep in mind:

1. If the dream doesn’t scare you, it is not big enough

2. You should not know the HOW of how it will manifest itself.

Here are the top 4 fears aka monsters that may appear:

1. “What happens if I fail it at?”

Dare to live the dream. Keep focused on the end result. Ask the universe/inner knowing for guidance and signs. Take action when you get it, even if it doesn’t make sense (and it probably will not). Reflect and learn the lessons as you go so you don’t keep repeating the same pattern. And if you don’t achieve it right away, at least you are much closer than you were a year ago. Keep going and it is just a matter of time.

2. “What happens if I tell people what I am going to do and it doesn’t manifest? I don’t want to be embarrassed or look stupid”

What is more important? Conforming to limiting beliefs of others so you can be accepted and then being miserable that you aren’t living your dreams? OR Daring to stand out from the crowd (in which case you will attract new friends who DO have more open beliefs) and having a shot at living your purpose and being happy?

3. “I am afraid to dream because I have been disappointed in the past.”

That is the past. You do not have to keep repeating it. Instead of seeing these as disappointments, start to ask yourself these questions, “What did I learn from those experiences? How can I do things differently this time?”

4. “I think it is impossible.”

Every time you think this thought, ask yourself these questions, “Has anyone else is this world, achieved what I want? Has anyone else had major obstacles to overcome, but still found a way to achieve success? Has there ever been a time in my life when I felt like I was trapped or something was impossible, but somehow in the end it all worked out?” Journal your responses and review them whenever you have doubt.

Okay now dare to claim the dream. When those monsters appear, acknowledge and kiss them goodbye. You can accomplish anything!

Cindy Ashton, author of Kiss Your Monsters Goodbye, was recently featured in Performance Magazine alongside President Obama, Donald Trump and Tony Robbins. Having conquered life threatening chronic illness, she now empowers others to overcome their obstacles despite any odds against them. In presenting keynote speeches, interactive seminars and motivational concerts across North America, Cindy combines her extensive backgrounds in performing, education and kinesiology with her own real life experience. www.cindyashton.com

Live Life to the Fullest – The Importance of Self Growth

Life can quickly go from steady and predictable to fast-paced and stressed in a matter of minutes. As our life evolves, so must we! Whether it is your personal life or work life, self growth and self improvement is an important route to helping you deal with the stress of change and instead accept the natural life alterations ahead.

Self growth is about being true to yourself and thinking about what your main priorities in life should be. It is about learning new skills, knowledge and ways to help you get ahead personally and professionally. When you invest in self growth and self improvement, you also invest in your future and gain the confidence and inner strength required to take you to the peak of success and happiness.

Of course priorities change as time marches on, and so examining your goals and priorities on a regular basis will help paint a clear picture of where you wish to be and how you can use your abilities to your best advantage. Here are five tips to help you better understand yourself and help you lead your life to the fullest.

Be Positive!

Having a positive attitude and outlook on life is extremely important for self growth and self improvement. Negative and positive experiences are a part of life, and it is important to learn from each experience we encounter. For example, if you attempted to open a small business and failed miserably, don’t let that experience deter you from trying again. What you should do is learn from the mistakes you made with that business to help you succeed with the next.

Learn from the Past

The last point brings me to this one. Learn from past choices to help you improve yourself for the future. If everything we did in life lead to perfection, we wouldn’t be learning anything would we? Life would actually be quite boring! I personally feel that in order to succeed, you must fail. Of course this doesn’t have to mean failing miserably, but making mistakes and learning from them is a part of a fulfilling life and important to the self growth process.

One Step at a Time

Yes multi tasking is a fantastic skill, but you do risk losing focus, attention and interest in all by the end. The problem with multi tasking is that if you take on too much, you burn out. Take one goal or project at a time and learn from it. Once you complete one goal or project, go on to the next. For example, if you have made it your goal to learn the power of social media marketing, begin by signing up for one social networking site. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn; learning one site first will help you become familiar with the world of social media, and gain valuable contacts who can then help you learn what else is available when you are ready.

Listen to Others

Sometimes self growth begins with the growth story of another. Yes you read that correctly!  Every person around us has a story and it can benefit ourselves to hear their story. If you dream of opening a small business, seek the advice of someone who has. This person will have learned from common mistakes and will help steer you in the right direction. You will be able to gain new information and valuable advice to help you grow into the small business owner you hope to be.

Welcome Change with Open Arms

When you change, you grow. It’s that simple. And when you know how to accept change and grow with change, you are well on your way to personal responsibility and success.

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AUTHOR BIO

Serena Carcasole is a certified Internet Marketing Specialist, business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. In addition to administrative services, Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND provides a host of specialized technical and marketing outsourcing options to meet business owners’ unique needs. Some of the most popular services include Internet marketing through social networks, blogging, and article marketing; website and graphic design; search engine optimization support.

As a full-service outsourcing provider, VBSOnDemand provides full project management support for even the most complicated projects. VBSOnDemand donates 1% of profits to the Canadian Cancer Society. For more information:

Website: http://www.vbsondemand.com

Tel: 905-915-1203

Email: info @ vbsondemand. com

Your 1STOP Business Service Shop – Outsource your way to success!

AUTHORS NOTE

Newsletter publishers are invited to reprint this article in its entirety, including author’s bio and copyright information.  Please send a copy of your reprint.  www.vbsondemand.com/contact

LISTENING

Have you ever been pulled, pushed, prodded, shoved, coaxed, enticed, cajoled or sweet-talked by different voices in your head? Ugh! What a nuisance they are! It’s hard work making sense of them and harder still to quiet them so that you can hear your one true authentic voice, your truth, your inner self.

This month I was tangled up in the sticky web of my oh-so-human thought preoccupations. While battling the cyclone in my head, I began to notice that my various voices (disguised as opinions, criticisms, ideas, worries, options, etc.) had one thing in common: they were fear based.

Having had enough of being plagued by the cloudy disarray of thoughts and feelings in my internal world, I took to the blank page and began to write my voices. I wrote down everything. I focused on the subtle (and not so subtle!) feelings and wrote them down. I wrote down my worries (I’m a Cancerian…there were quite a few!). I wrote down my dilemmas, my high hopes, my deep fears. I literally wrote until the ink in my pen ran out and then I grabbed another one (yes, I have a callus on my hand). I wrote down to the bones of me. I was raw, real and revealed to that blank page and it had to take me as I was. It was scary and freeing and cathartic and messy and healing all at once.

I didn’t think about what I was going to write. My consciousness was like a freight train – not stopping for anything (Next station: Honestville). I didn’t censor myself. I didn’t worry about correct grammar. If a thought came, it was revealed on the page. If a feeling came, it was delivered. For those minutes (and some days for more than an hour) I was a mid-wife to my consciousness, birthing frayed thoughts and hidden feelings. I let the paper deal with everything.

And guess what?

After a few days of writing, I don’t have the ultimate perfect solution to my previous worries/concerns/dilemmas/etc. But I’m not bothered by that. I have something better. I have a clear channel to my gut, my inner knowing, my authentic voice, my inner-sage (you have one too). I’m no longer chasing after answers or trying to understand which voice or opinion is correct because I can hear my authentic voice. I’m listening to it easily now that my fear voices have calmed down and been expressed. I’m feeling solid and centred and sure of the way forward.

The way forward is not to grapple with my mind’s preoccupations. The way forward is not to rationalize my dilemmas. The way forward is not to make hasty impulsive decisions as a way to control my life. Often our impulsive decisions are born from fear (although we often don’t recognize them as fear). Those voices and fear, those preoccupations and impulses are not the way forward.

The way forward, is inward.

Processes for reflection:

Create a sacred space around you. Find a place where you will not be interrupted. Turn of your iPhone, get away from your computer, hang a Do Not Disturb sign on your door. Take this time for you. Find a pen, notebook or journal and think about a topic about which you would like more insight. Begin to write. Write freely. Don’t censor yourself in any way. Don’t peek at what you’ve written. Keep writing until you can’t write anymore.

Experience this writing release every day for at least one week. Don’t look at what you’ve written. If you absolutely must peek be sure to adopt the attitude of the ‘gentle-sage’ witness (don’t criticize yourself for anything).

After a week of this daily process, look back over your thoughts. Notice patterns, thought processes and ideas that come to you. Consider if you feel calmer or more aware of aspects of your true self, your true voice. You will most likely have deepened your awareness about yourself and your topic. For maximum benefits repeat the writing process often. You’ll always be starting from a new vantage point.

Aynsley Saxe has been practicing Reiki since the year 2000 and is a registered Reiki Master/Teacher with the Canadian Reiki Association. As the founder of Open Essence, Aynsley facilitates private Reiki treatments, community Reiki shares, and dynamic Reiki workshops. Committed to living with purpose, passion and well-being, Aynsley inspires others to deepen their self-awareness through her engaging “Thought of the Month” columns. Visit www.openessence.ca for more information.