Masterful Mindsets

"Embrace your grief. For there, your soul will grow."   ~Carl Jung

The holidays aren’t always “the most wonderful time of the year” for everyone. As a matter of fact, this time of year can be a very difficult time for many. Especially if you are grieving from a loss, struggling financially, dealing with an illness, coping with depression, or feeling alone and isolated. 

The holidays can significantly increase sadness and grief, amplify emotional wounds and even escalate to serious depression. If you have experienced a loss (of any kind) recently, it can be an especially difficult time.

So how do you survive the holidays if you are hurting?

Grief and depression are natural when you are experiencing a loss in your life. For some, loss isn't just the death of a loved one, but can be the death of a dream, a relationship or even a job. Just know that grief and depression have many causes and take on many faces. You don't have to label it - if you are feeling it, you are feeling it. ...

“The launching pad for emotional freedom is always yourself.” ~ Judith Orloff

Last week I told you a personal story about how I discovered I was feeling stuck emotionally because I hadn't given myself the time to acknowledge and honor my feelings. As a result, my stuck emotions were screaming for attention in the form of some interesting physical, mental and emotional energy “mishaps” if you will. So, if you think you’ve got some stuck emotions that might just be wreaking havoc on your life… then this is for you.

Odds are high that at some point in your life, you’ve buried some emotions inside of you that could be holding you back in your life. You may not be consciously aware of these stuck emotions on a daily basis… but they may very likely be keeping you stuck and robbing you of precious emotional bandwidth that could be used for more peace and happiness in your life.

Maybe your unprocessed emotions show up in the form of unexpected anger toward your loved ones… or as an unre...

“You can’t move on to your next destination if you don’t get unstuck from where you are.”

I was speaking with a fellow coach recently who’d asked me what I’d been up to. I told her we’d gotten our youngest daughter off to college and then filled her in on all the details of what’d been going on in business and how busy we’d been. Then I said, “But I’ve been super tired lately and feeling like I’m stuck on some projects that I just can’t get clarity or motivation on.” With which she proceeded to ask me, “Have you given yourself permission to grieve?”

My initial reaction was, to wonder what she was getting at and what that could possibly have to do with my stuckness. I thought, “I shouldn’t be grieving. I don’t have any reason to grieve.” After all, isn’t grief about death and loss? Sure, maybe not always a loss of life; if you’ve ever heard me speak on “The Death of a Dream” then you know that we can also grieve the loss or letting go of an unfulfilled dream for the future, a los...

“The energy you radiate has the power to influence everyone you encounter.” - Michelle Weimer

This week’s topic of energy ties in with last month’s series on influence because of the fact that today I want to talk about how your energetic presence affects and influences those you are around.

If you are upbeat and highly energetic both physically and emotionally, people around you can feel that energy. Likewise, if you are putting out negative energy and emotions, the people around you are going to feel that as well. Take that thought in for a minute and think about the energy you’ve been giving off. How do you think it’s affecting those around you?

Now think about this, if you had the power to control the quality of air your family is breathing, would you fill the room with a toxic gas that could ultimately harm them? Of course not! Instead you’d want to pump it full of pure life-giving air. And yet, if you are giving off negative energy all the time, you are letting that energy...

“Positive emotional energy is the key to health, happiness and wellbeing. The more positive you are, the better your life will be in every area.” ~Brian Tracy

This month we’ll be focusing on Energy because I want to help you understand just how important energy is to your overall happiness and success.

I’m fairly certain most people don’t take care to maintain near high enough levels of energy. The majority don’t even realize just how many different types of energy we carry. For most people, when they hear talk of energy, the first (and often only) thing they think about is physical energy or physical health. And yes, that is extremely important. However, that is only one facet of our energy that we must care for. So instead of kicking off this topic with that most common, physical energy (even though of course, improving our physical wellbeing is essential) I want to begin with something different that you might not even be aware of.

See, in addition to optimizing our physical ...

“Another day, another blessing and another chance at life. Take nothing for granted and think of every breath as a gift.”  ~ unknown

As you know, if you’ve been following along the past few weeks, I’ve been focusing this month’s posts on Gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful thing. So much so that it can actually boost your happiness by up to 25%. So today, I want to explore the power of focusing on the gifts and blessings that we often overlook so that instead, we can make certain we take time regularly to look at them through the lens of gratitude.  

It can be easy to take people, experiences, and things in our lives for granted. But to practice gratitude from a higher level of consciousness, we must not take things “for granted” but rather see them “as granted”. This small shift in language creates a powerful shift in mindset and moves us from an attitude of entitlement to humility. And even if we don’t like to admit it, an underlying sense of entitlement is actually the #1 thing...

“It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” ~David Steindl-Rast

Last week I gave you an interesting statistic on the power of gratitude… I shared that people who have a gratitude practice of writing down at least 5 things they are grateful for once a week can boost their happiness by as much as 25% in as little as 10 weeks. Which is a compelling statistic in and of itself. But today I want to share a few more facts with you about the power of gratitude. (Just in case a 25% increase in happiness isn’t enough to convince you that it’s worth it to have a gratitude practice.) 😉  

So Robert Emmons, who is one of the world’s leading researchers on the science of gratitude along with his colleague Mike McCollough were the first researchers to discover the profound benefits of gratitude through their studies.

What they found was that people who regularly cultivate gratitude “experience a multitude of psychological, physical, interpersonal, and spiritual...

“Happiness is a habit. Cultivate it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

Last week I shared with you that happiness is a choice and I challenged you to be the sunshine for yourself and others. This week I want to share a few simple ideas with you on how to cultivate more happiness in your life on a regular basis so you can in fact choose happiness and be the sunshine! Let’s go…

Guard Your Energy – Being around negative people who are unhappy with their current circumstances and unwilling to empower themselves with hope and hard work to create a better future, can be a real energy suck and emotional drain. Guarding yourself from that negative energy will help you keep your soul fire burning. Ever heard someone called a “wet blanket” it’s a term used to describe someone who spoils other people’s fun. So, you can see how they’d easily put out your fire. And how can you be the light that shines for others if you’re around people who are always putting out your fire?

Generate Joy – Just as negative en...

“Through discipline comes freedom.”  ~ Aristotle

Summertime is the perfect time for taking vacations. And having free time is important to your overall well-being and happiness. I take a lot of time off in the summer with my family. (As a matter of fact, as I type this, I’ve just returned from being away and am getting ready to leave again.) But the one thing I know is that if I’m not disciplined enough to get my work done, it’s not only hard to get away but also hard to enjoy my time off, knowing that I have pressing projects or to-do’s hanging over my head. Not to mention the fact that if I don’t have discipline in getting things done, I will never achieve or be successful with anything. As Jim Rohn says, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

That’s why this week’s quote, although so simple, is so very profound. It has been a complete game changer for me. Although, I will admit that when I first heard the concept that discipline equals freedom, I had a tw...