One of the best, ever, success principles I learned and applied was to mimic the masters.  I attribute my success in school and my career to finding the person who did it the best and copying what they did until it was second nature.  At that point, I started adding my own Amina-flair and making it my own.  

I am dedicating this blog to some of the conversations I have in my head, the things I say to myself, and especially the things I say to myself when I am faced with a situation that I find challenging.  Over the past few weeks, I have been noticing the stories I tell myself when things do and do not go my way.  I have been noticing the thoughts I think when I am happy and less-than-happy.  It has been insightful to see my go-to thoughts and comments, when I am tired or unhappy and my go-to thoughts and comments, when I am happy and fulfilled.  

​Here are my favorite Master Manifestor thoughts and comments:
 - I got this!
 - This is going to be one of my best stories to tell when I figure this out.
 - I am so proud of how far you have come.
 - You... really... CAN... manifest... ANYTHING!
 - Just try and see what happens.
 - Ask your Angels to intervene and make it happen for you.
 - Ok, God, just you and me - you can take over now!
 - I get what I want.
 - I always get what I want.
 - I have the best luck!
 - Things always work out for me!
 - I always get paid!
 - Money always finds me!
 - Money is never an issue.
 - I am so loved by everyone and everything in the Universe. I allow this love to wrap around me.
 - Remember the time I manifested myself into the heart of Times Square on New Year's Eve?  This is easier than that!

Here are a few of my favorites when I am feeling sad, frustrated or upset.
 - If I could have anything I wanted right now, what would I want to be happening instead?  Ok, God - all yours.
 - What is the underlying feeling I am having right now?  What can I do to feel a little bit better?
 - Wow!  This is REALLY not working out at all for me.  I wonder if it is a sign it is not meant to be?  
    ... But, I really want this.  Ok... handing this over for a miracle.
 - Dear God - I am not in my right mind right now.  I am so __________ (scared, worried, frustrated,     angry).  Help me!  Help me!  I ask you to change my perspective.  Help me see this entire situation differently.  I know everything is here to serve.  Please show me how this serves, because right now, I am feeling_________.  
 - Who could I ask for help with this?
 - What other miraculous way could this get done?

And, finally... for the big dreams.  The ones I can get paralyzed just thinking about.
 -I AM A MASTER MANIFESTOR.
 - Things ALWAYS work out for me.
 - Thank God I do not need to know the HOW.
 - I believe in miracles.
 - This is too much for me right now.  I am going to go do something else and let this work itself out to a bite size piece for me.
 - Ick, that was not a very happy thought.  Undo!  Undo!  Return to sender!
 - I am so sorry.  I love you so much.  I will always be right here for you.  Do not worry about how this is going.  It will work itself out.  There is nothing else you need to do right now. I love you.

Remember, you are whatever you say you are.  If you want to be a Master Manifestor, like me, simply DECIDE that you ARE.  Say to yourself, I AM A MASTER MANIFESTOR.  And, use some of my statements to get out there and create the things you want with 0% effort, 100 return!

Want to learn to be a Master Manifest too? Check out my Coaching Programs to work with me one on one!

This is the time of year, where in the US, we pause and take a moment to celebrate our freedom.  There is a different feeling in the air, it is lighter and happier as people relax more, connect more and enjoy the celebration of our independence.  That feeling - the one of waking up and doing whatever sounds like fun, that is the essence of freedom. Freedom is a big word used in my coaching practice - people are looking for financial freedom, freedom from their problems, and freedom from feeling less than.  The real place to gain our freedom is from our thoughts!

I am not the type of person who is against the ego, our mind, or our thoughts.  While I definitely am very heart-centered, I choose to think of my heart as the Commander-in-Chief of one of the most powerful armies of the world, my mind.  My heart knows where to go, what moves to make, and how to clearly meet the objectives for a peaceful life built around service.  To get there, I need to strength of my mind.  My mind is my best friend in that, when it gets a command from my heart, it can figure out exactly how to execute it to precision.  It is truly amazing.  In order to do that, I need to give my mind all the resources it needs to be fully successful, or at the very least, remove the obstacles in its path to success.

This month, I invite you to engage in a practice to amp up your love for your mind, its amazing ability to tell stories, the thoughts that it throws out there (mainly to protect you) that can be a huge stop sign, and all of the other little things it does that trip you up.  Realize, that your mind is truly like a large Army.  Willing and able to march in any direction at a moments notice, but, left with zero direction, will go in a million different ways all at once.  This month, we practice building our freedom, by using the strongest tool in our toolkit, our mind.  And, in order to do that, we start by nurturing it and giving it all the love and support it needs to continue to help us achieve every one of our dreams and heart's desires.

This month we build our ability to create freedom from the less than desired circumstances, by building up our biggest ally in creation, our mind.  Here are some mind-loving practices:
1.  Meditation - you have heard it, you know it is good, but you still are not doing it... I have been there!  Take all the distress out of it.  Take five minutes a day (set your timer) to just sit with stillness. There are a bazillion ways to meditate.  Find a guided meditation/visualization (my favorite is Tree of Life with Jack Canfield, who he learned from Deirde Hade).  Listen to some classical music and just get lost in the music.  Stare out into space or nature.  Walk a labyrinth (to find one near you go to labyrinthlocator.org).

Need a little pick me up?  Want to let the Universe know what you are expecting and have it delivered?  Check out my One Command video/prayer.  

90-10 the practice that not only changed my life, but saved my life.  I really, really, really do not like it when people are unhappy with me.  Ok, not all people, just all the people that I care about (which is only the majority of the world's population, or roughly, everybody).  It is painful, uncomfortable, icky.  People used to tell me all the time, "Not everyone is going to like you, Amina." And, I would nod along to what I knew was true, but in my head, I would secretly think, "I could get them to like me if I really wanted to." And, in that thought, was born my co-dependent personality behavior.  I can be happy, if everyone around me is also simultaneously happy.  Unfortunately, people around me did not stay happy and thus really inconvenienced this Utopian way of life I wanted to live.

Worst of all - I caught myself in all kinds of manipulative behaviors to try to make other people happy, so that I, too, could be happy.  This formula lead to a lot of unhappiness.  Then, I was talking to Tamara Green, one of my favorite coaches in the whole world, and she asked me to practice 90/10.  90% of the time, I was to tend to my needs, my happiness, my wants, and my desires.  10% of the time, I was to tend to the needs, happiness, wants and desires of other people.  I was living 90/10 already, just 90/10 the opposite direction.  Tamara's advice seemed impossible, and I told her so.  She reminded me it was a practice and a mindset and asked me to boldly take it on.  She also had a lot of faith in my ability to do this (I, admittedly, had no faith in my ability to do this, but total faith in my willingness to try).  I told a friend of mine about it, and she started practicing it right away to amazing results.  As happy as I was for her, this did not help me.  Now this was impossible and only worked for other people.

I tried hard to do 90/10.  The only way I could practice it was by reading.  When I was over giving, I would stop, go upstairs, pick up a book and read.  I love to read.  It brings me great joy.  Leaving icky situations and reading was my 90/10 practice.  I literally did not know how to practice giving myself 90% of my own attention.  This was the only tangible thing I could think of to do to practice.  Then the miracle happened.  You know the miracle.  It is the thing that only you can understand how miraculous it is.  I could spend pages explaining it to you all in painstaking detail, and it would be like, "really, that is your miracle?  That is my Tuesday afternoon."  So... I won't do that.  Instead, I will say, I was in a familiar position.  Someone who I loved dearly was less than thrilled with me and I was unable to function.  So upset that I had made a mistake.  So upset that I had missed the signs they were sending and stepped into a crappy situation and made it worse.  I could easily see every little thing I did wrong in this situation.  And, I started to cry (also my go to) and then all of a sudden I stopped.  I said to myself, you are ok.  I got up, went to my room, got in bed, and started reading my book.  I was so happy, engrossed in the story.  I almost (but not quite) forgot that someone was even upset with me. 

Since that miraculous night, I have not yet gone back.  Sure, there are days when I am no where near 90/10, but they are few and far between.  I have come to see how doing what is best for me, is truly best for every single person around me.  When I am truly aligned to my purpose, my passion and my mission, the people around me are not inconvenienced, there is no sacrifice, we all win.  I have no idea how the physics of this work, which is why I think it is a miracle.  There have been numerous examples.  Days where I have not felt like cooking happen to be the exact same day that my husband wanted to go out to dinner.  Days I have not felt like working, clients have called to apologize and ask if we can reschedule.  The Universe keeps showing up and taking care of me.  90/10 could also be called follow your joy. 

The best thing you could do for anyone that you love, is be happy! And the very worst thing that you could do for anyone that you love, is be unhappy, and then ask them to to try to change it, when there is nothing that anybody else can do that will make you happy. If it is your dominant intent to hold yourself in vibrational harmony with who you really are, you could never offer any action that would cause anybody else to be unhappy.  - Excerpted from Chicago, IL - Sunday, April 25th, 1999

The best part of all of this is how all of the relationships in my life have changed.  Now, instead of thinking/feeling/saying, "don't you understand how hard this is for me and I could use some support...", I say, "this is hard for me, I need to take care of myself so I have the means to handle this situation."  Everyone is off the hook.  I GOT THIS!  Yes, really I do.  I am amazed at how many things I can handle.  Things I thought were so scary are really not.  As soon as I started practicing 90/10, I realized that I can handle more than I ever thought possible, which has sky rocketed my self confidence through the roof.

However, the first step was the hardest.  That step required me to be very present.  To hear what was being asked of me and to bravely follow my heart.  These are steps I can do easily in many situations, but not when it comes to the people I love the most.  I have a hard time saying no to them.  I don't want to.  I want to be there for them.  What I realized is that I am capable of giving so much more to those that I love when I take great care of myself.  This June, in Adventures with Amina (my free Facebook group), we are going to spend the month truly loving, honoring and taking care of ourselves, so that there is more us to give to the world! I hope you join us.

Learn more about Tamara Green at http://www.tamaragreen.me/

The hardest part about writing this post, was coming up with the title.  I have been asked quite a bit lately for support by people, because their Significant Other, or Best Friend, or Parent, or, someone else close to them, thinks they are NUTS for believing in manifesting, law of attraction, etc to solve ACTUAL problems.  They come for validation.  They also may come secretly for the, "so there" to these people in their lives.  I thought... why not write about how to handle situations when the one you love does not see what you see. 

I write a lot about changing other people's behavior, which cracks me up, because, we all know... you can't.  But... you kind of can.  Let me explain.  Newton's third law of physics states, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction".  That is what I will use to walk through the process to change someone else's behavior.

In every interaction you have, the person you are interacting with is, reacting to you.  

In order to change the outcome of the interaction, either you or the other person have to change.  And, since you can control your behavior, we focus on changing the variable that is YOU.  When we do this, the following will happen, either the other person will change, or, the interaction outcome will change, or... BOTH will change.  Here is how you get BOTH to change.

1.  Allow the other person to be right.  I will be brief on this one, but it could be its own post.  If you honestly think about it, no one really ever thinks they are the one that is wrong, in the moment.  (We can see it after the fact, or sometimes we can see it in the moment, but most of the time, people truly believe they did what they had to do and were right to do it).  So, your love, DOES NOT think they are wrong.  And, they DO think YOU are wrong!  There is a saying that I love, would you rather be right or happy?  Many of us, may say, happy, but in reality, our behavior chooses being right over happy most of the time. 

Let's use an example of this.  "This LOA stuff is good for finding parking spaces, but we have real financial issues that need you to take action!".  Your response, "you are right".  I can feel some people cringing at that response.  That is it?  But, I do not agree!  When do I tell them how truly WRONG they are?

Here is the truth.  They are right, by their perspective.  Allowing someone to have their perspective is a huge gift and the number one way to lower resistance to hearing your perspective.  If they believe that statement, then, by their life experience, they are right.  Let them have it.  This will not result in hours of stress reduction for you, but is a KEY component in shifting the outcome of the formula above.  Your new affirmation, "I love letting other people be right" (because I know I benefit)!

2.  Ask for the Guidance.  There are no accidents in the School of Life.  We are all students on our own, unique spiritual path.  And, this person, whether you love them or have only interacted with them one time, is your teacher.  They are there to allow you to truly learn a life lesson that is trying to get through to you.  This is not the first time this lesson has come up, and unfortunately, if you resist, it will not be the last time.  I tell my coaching clients, "let's learn it this time and never have to deal with it again". 

For this step, get quiet, go inside, and ask:

• What is this person here to teach me?
  
• What am I not seeing that you are trying to show me?
  
• How can I move forward with love in this lesson? 
  

Wait to hear each answer and know that you are healing a pattern that is no longer serving you. 

3.  Be Loving to Them.  When we go to someone with our idea or thoughts, we want their love and support.  We are reaching out to them.  When we do not get it, we withhold our love.  We believe our pain comes from them withholding love from us.  In reality, your pain comes from withholding love from them.

When your love disagrees with you, pour more love onto them.  Be a good partner to them, by listening to their perspective and ideas and validating them.  Ask them:

• Why do you think that way?  What is your rationale?
  
• What are you concerned about in the approach I am suggesting?  What are you worried may happen to me?
  
• What do you think would be a smart way forward and why?
  
• What parts of my approach do you think could work and how?
  

The truth is this person loves you.  More than likely, they are worried about your path and afraid you will get hurt or they will get hurt.  They are in a protective stance.  By hearing them out and validating them, you create a lot more space for the change.

4.  Walk the Talk.  This is the HARDEST one!  I know, they are all challenging!  At the end of the day, if you want to be a loving being, then, be that to the people closest to you.  I would never recommend starting with the people closest to you, because it is the most challenging.  It is much easier to be loving and kind to a stranger than your significant other, children, parents.  Basically, the people you love the most in the world and would die for - but also like to get annoyed at on a regular basis.

Here is how you walk the talk:

• Take big, long, time outs for yourself.  Your only job is to stay in a state of peace.  This means, remembering who you are and why you are here.  Take the time you need to get back to a state of peace before taking any action.
  
• Remember who you are.  You know some stuff.  You have had some life experiences.  You believe in miracles and magic.  And, you know this works.  That is who you really are.  It is important to KNOW IT.  When you KNOW who you are, there is no need to prove anything to anyone... that just seems nuts.  Like, if I know for a fact I can walk - I do not constantly yell out, "look!! I'm walking!  Watch me walk!".  If you have to announce it, then you are not remembering who you are and OWNING it.  Take the time to center and remember who you are and what you are capable of doing.
  
• Forgive them.  They may have underestimated you.  They may not believe in you.  They may have said x, y, or z.  The truth is, they were never really looking at you, they were projecting their own self perception.  It was never really about you in the first place.  So, forgive them.  Be compassionate towards them. 
  
• Take confident steps forward.  If you are feeling unsure of taking a step, wait.  Check in.  Ask, "am I feeling this way because it is new and I am nervous or, is there still something I need to do to be at peace?" 
  

I had to take a hard step for me this week.  It took me four days of practicing the above before I could take the tiniest step forward.  This is the work, and it works.  The outcome I got was magical.  I put in the self work to get to the magical outcome.  I invite you to try this practice with someone you care about this week.  Shift your energy.  Shift your perception.  Shift your attitude.  And... watch THEM change :)

The Native Americans have a belief that the antidote to any poisonous plant grows within reach of the poisonous plant.  In the same way, the solution to any problem you are experiencing is within reach of the problem itself, i.e., within your reach. 

On Saturday, I went and walked a labyrinth.  It has been a while since I walked one and every time I do, I get deep insight into myself, who I am and what I need to do next.  If you are interested in the spiritual path of walking a labyrinth, check out my previous blog post, Walking the Labyrinth of Life.

This is the message I received on Saturday after I walked the labyrinth. I hope it is as beneficial to you as it was to me. 

What is a problem?
A problem is your belief that what is happening at the moment is not aligned with what you want or need.  For example, if you do not have enough money to pay your bills.  You want to be able to pay your bills and therefore, the gap between not having the money to pay your bills and your desire to pay them is the problem.

Before you start searching the area around you for dollar bills, let's discuss how the solution lies within reach of this problem.

The solution is simply (simple but not by any means easy), a chance to see the problem for what it is.  The problem is an experience that is being created in this moment.  An experience you'd rather not be having.  Therefore, the solution is to connect with, see, hear, smell and taste the experience you would rather be having as if you are having it.

The solution to any problem is the realization that the problem is not real, no matter how real it feels.

By switching your mind's focus to only see the solution, only see what is right with this situation, and to only see the outcome you want (and feel how it would feel to have that desired outcome), you can literally un-create the problem.  You un-create it, because the problem is not receiving the fuel it needs to exist - your energy. 

In this moment, I un-create anything that I perceive as a problem.  Instead I openly, joyfully, whole-heartedly accept everything as it is right now.  To anything that happens with this, I say a whole-hearted, "yes!"  I choose to no longer live in the problem but instead live in the potential.  I choose to be fully present, fully loving, and fully respectful.  I choose the experience of feeling loved, honored, respected, cherished and fulfilled at all times. The pain I perceive is not real.  My power is real.

In a few days, we will start Joy Challenge 2017.  The reason it is called Joy "Challenge" is because however easy it seems to choose to stay in joy, choose to see the solution, choose to focus on what we want versus don't want, in reality, it takes a little practice.  During the month of April, we practice daily to choose Joy instead of "reality".  It sounds easy... and... it is... sort of.  Give it a try - it's free, it's fun and it's life altering.   You can find out more at Joy Challenge 2017.

You know that feeling when everything you touch turns to gold?  You cannot believe your good luck.  You go to Target, and you find a parking spot right up front... that NEVER happens!  Or, you forget to pay a bill, and someone calls to remind you and you take care of it over the phone with no stamp, no fuss?  Or, how about a time when you know you did something wrong - forgot something, messed something up, sent an email that had a mistake in it, and then you go to correct it only to find that by some miracle, it had never gone through in the first place?  All of these are examples of being in the flow of life.  They are seemingly small to anyone else, but you know what a true miracle they really are. 

When you are in the flow, you know it.  It is a magical place.  You think of things that you want to experience or do something with, and then the phone rings and someone is offering you a solution to the thing you were just thinking you should put on your to do list.  Life gets easy.

I remember one of my very first Abraham lectures where they talked about letting go of the oars.  The point of the talk was about how we are paddling upstream, using all of our energy to go in against the natural flow of the river and that we would be served much better by simply, letting go of the oars.  I was very taken by this concept because of the craziness of it... did they understand what a wreck my life would be if I let go of the oars?  If they only knew how carefully managed and created my little world was, they would understand that what they were asking for was complete chaos.  In truth, as wonderfully organized and perfect as my world was, it was hard work.  I was tired.  And, I am not sure it would be truthful to say I was happy.  The reason I was so upset hearing this was because I desperately wanted it to be true.  I wanted to let go of the oars and see what would happen.  I wanted to believe that something even more amazing would happen.  At the time, it was a bridge too far and I was not able to truly let go of the oars.

Then, life did was it does.  It gave me an opportunity to let go of the oars.  Not a happy, pretty, gift-wrapped opportunity, but a scary, frightening one.  I was sick.  I was super tired.  I did not have the energy I needed to manage my perfect, careful world. I had to let go, simply because I could not hold on.

That is when the miracles started happening.  It is when the work that I needed to do got done by someone else through some sort of a miscommunication and I got credit for it.  It was when meetings started getting cancelled or changed to phone in meetings from in person meetings (so no commute in LA traffic was necessary).  It was when people started coming over with homemade soup for me (having no idea I was unwell, they just had the idea and popped by hoping I would be home!).  Things just started happening through no effort on my part.  And, the year I was sick, I made more money than any of my previous years.  How this was "logically" possible I cannot tell you, because I truly was doing the bare minimum. However, I learned how this is spiritually possible.  I learned something that has changed my life.

I wrote about this experience and many others I had by trusting the flow of life and offered a practice to allow others to experience this magic.  As part of my personality, I like to understand things.  I like to learn them.  I like to replicate the results.  And, then I like to teach them to others.  I did that with 0% Effort, 100% Return.  Last year, my dear friend and coach, Jeannette Maw, suggested I lead this 30 day experiential learning for my co-creators at Good Vibe University.  What started as a simple exercise to show how being joyful could result in you getting your biggest dreams became the Joy Challenge.  This April, we will be doing the Joy Challenge again.  This is a 30 day FREE program to allow you to experience what happens when you let go of the oars in a completely safe and supported environment.  All you have to do is add joy to your life, the Universe will take care of the rest.  And, the Joy Challenge program will give you many moments of joy per day as well as a community to keep your joy vibes high, so that the Universe can deliver on your biggest goals with 0% effort on your part. 

Are you ready to see what is possible for you?  It worked for me.  It has worked for many others.  Are you willing to try something new for 30 days.  Are you willing to allow the possibility that by simply following your joy, you could get what you really, truly want?  0% Effort, 100% Return.  Isn't it time to allow the good that is yours to flow through you easily and effortlessly?  Create the space for it to come in, through Joy, and watch the miracles occur as you throw away the oars!  Sign up for the 30 Day Joy Challenge today!

Choose Joy.  It is easy to say and many I speak to, tell me, "Oh, I do that already, it doesn't work." But, do you, do you really, choose joy?  It sounds easy and even cliché, but the practice of choosing joy and living life from a place of flow is a consistent practice, albeit, a super fun practice. 

During a particularly hard time in life, I started to choose joy.  Not from some spiritual place or even some enlightened world view, but from a place of mere survival.  I have never been one to stay sad, angry or depressed.  Honestly, I am not a big fan of those feelings... I would rather not experience them.  But, I am an empath and as such, find myself feeling lots of feelings more often then I would like.  During this particularly difficult time in life, I couldn't seem to find a way to be happy.  So I stopped trying.  And, instead did little things that brought my temporary relief.  The minute I stopped, I would be sad again, but for those few minutes, I was experiencing joy.  I needed those few minutes and hung onto them for dear life, a few minutes a day.  Sometimes only once a day, sometimes every hour in a day, however I could get it.  These were not exactly the healthiest ways to feel joy, though, some were - I watched lots of TV shows I enjoyed as a kid (Scooby Doo) and some other mindless shows (the OC was super popular during this time).  There were lots of cupcakes consumed... cupcakes = immediate joy in my world.  And, there were long, long, long walks. Walks to playgrounds where I would swing and then do the long, long, long return walk.  On some weekends, I would do two of these walks a day.  I still do from time to time.  All those things brought me joy, though, at the time, I would have called it temporary comfort.  Joy, probably would have seemed too far a reach for me back then.

Shortly thereafter, things started happening.  Big things, little things, all kinds of things.  They started happening by themselves, with no effort on my part.  I came across an opportunity to study international conflict resolution at The Hague, which lead to an added one month trip around Europe, which lead to a leave of absence from work, which lead to a whole new career path for me, which lead to my starting my own business.  None of these things came from "happy dreams" or even a plan, they just... came.  They just happened.  And, to this day, I am not quite sure how.  It was a conversation that lead to a meeting that lead to a completely different life.  And, all the while I was watching the OC, eating cupcakes, and going for long, long, long walks.

That's the first experience I had with understanding it has nothing to do with what I do. I didn't know that then.  It was not until years later, when I got sick and literally could not "do" as much as I used to be able to do.  I was tired all the time.  And, after the smallest amount of work, I had to lie down and rest.  That year, I was more successful financially and reputation-wise then I had ever been before.  How is that possible... I did a lot less then I had ever done before.  But like the earlier period in my life, things just kind of kept happening on their own.  This time, I paid attention and realized, the less I do, the more I get. 

I have been voraciously reading anything Anita Moorjani puts out.  She talks about going to the pier and watching the sunset in Hong Kong while eating an ice cream cone.  It brings her joy and she realized, this is the secret to life.  Many have spoken about this and it is common knowledge that it is "good" to follow one's joy.  What I find most people don't quite get is how powerful, impactful, life-altering and easy following your joy makes getting the biggest, hairiest, hardest goals you ever wanted.  Each time I "do nothing" and just have "fun", something wonderful happens in my life. 

This April, you can experience this magic for yourself.  It is simple but not easy.  That is why I created a free program called The Joy Challenge which allows you to practice choosing joy for 30 days to achieve your biggest, toughest goals.  It has worked for so many.  Big dreams accomplished while eating cupcakes and playing with their kids or sleeping.  I invite you to try the Joy Challenge for yourself and experience results like mine and many others, by simply, sprinkling more joy into your life! 

For more information on Joy Challenge, visit the website.  See you in the Joy Challenge!

I was talking to one of my closest friends last night about the next generation.  We were talking about the sense of entitlement and general lack of joy that we see in so many younger than us, even though, they have so much.  Then we started talking about the amazing things that they were doing by the age of 20 that took us much longer to master.  We laughed at how we sounded like "old people" talking about "those kids".  What we both know for sure, is that this generation is going to create some remarkable leaders.  Not because of who they are, but because that is what the world needs.

While there are definitely characteristics that define a good leader, the truth is, that the best leaders know how to respond to the situation in front of them.  And, they respond in a way that brings out the best of each of the people following them.  True leaders understand it is not about them, but about the possibility of what can be created when each person discovers their own potential.

I am amazed by what I am seeing when I look out into the world today.  Leaders that are rising up, not because they ever wanted to be leaders, but because they understand that there is work to be done.  Today's leaders are coming 100% from passion and care and are learning on their way up.  There is always more to learn as a leader.  There are plenty who will give you feedback and tell you how they would have done it differently, but, you cannot fake authentic care.  The leaders I am seeing today, some as young as 9 years old, authentically care about the cause they are standing for.  Today is the day.  Now is the time.  It is time for each of us to raise fully into who we really are and make this world a better place, in our own unique way.  We have been practicing for a long time and the time has come where the world needs our individual and collective brilliance.

I am thrilled to have co-authored a new book, Ignite your Leadership,  with eight other amazing leaders.  People who daily help others find the light in themselves.  To launch the book, we are doing a *free* leadership summit featuring over 30 short interviews from leaders from all industries and paths sharing what ignited their leadership and the one lesson they would share from their own personal journey.  I hope you will join the summit, February 13-23rd and also tell others about this book.  It is time for all leaders to step up with more authenticity and love to create a world that works better for all of us.

Link to Summit:  https://ignitetheleaderwithin.mykajabi.com/
Link to Book:  http://motivationalpress.com/Ignite-Your-Leadership/ 

"Find the thing that brings you joy and just do that.  Be happy."  This is advice I find myself giving and receiving on a daily basis.  It seems silly to talk about doing the thing that makes you happy when there are so many serious issues and problems to face.  But the truth is, facing those from a place of anger, fear, worry, anxiety, or any other emotion that is not peace and love, will only bring about more of that which we do not want. 

When I talk about the things that make you happy, I mean the real simple joys of life.  Today, I was feeling icky.  I didn't sleep well last night.  The same thoughts were circling in my mind that I had no answers to, and on top of all that, I had to get something done for a client that felt overwhelming.  For the old me, these would all be reasons to hunker down and get to work.  But the new me knows that nothing good would come of trying to create anything of meaning while feeling icky.  So, I went to my go-to joy activity - taking a walk.  Mind you, it was 29 degrees out when I left, and I had a conference call that I had to be on in 20 minutes (my walk takes about an hour), and... But, the sun was shining super bright and my soul needed a walk.  While I fiddled with my phone to put on something motivational, I heard birds chirping.  I didn't put my ear buds in and just listened to the birds.  I noticed that lining the road I was walking on were hundreds of bare trees, with no leaves, looking dead and depressed (you get an idea of the ick feeling I was in).  As I walked and thought, of course the trees look beaten down, a beautiful, bright, red cardinal flew in the branches.  And, then another, and another.  I kept walking, and another bird, with a beautiful blue head flew into a different tree.  And, then I saw a beautiful evergreen tree.  And, all of a sudden, the entire dead scene around me had specks of color in it - a black and white cat in the field on the side of the road, a golden retriever, birds, and a small flower growing out on the side of the road in the dead of winter.  That is when I knew, the Universe was sending me a message.

Its not about the LARGER picture scene, because that was pretty dreary.  But, it is about the little specs of beauty in a moment.  My client was 20 minutes late to our call, allowing me more time to enjoy my walk.  By the time I got on the call, I was in a great mood.  By the time I got home, the call which would have lasted an hour was miraculously done.  I realized I was hungry and went out to grab myself something to eat.  Normally, I would consider this wasted time when I had stuff to do - but I was so happy, I knew this would only add to my productivity.  It took me about an hour to get the document done.  And, while my co-workers were reviewing it, I took a bubble bath.  When I was done, I had their feedback and I sent it off.  Not a bad day at "work".

When things start to feel overwhelming, our go to is to dig in, try harder, and do more.  In that moment, the best thing to do is let go and find something (one tiny, little thing) that will bring you joy.  And, when you do, when you go back to the task at hand it will either be handled or you will see it with new energy and new eyes.

The hard part is STOPPING the vibration you are in and forcing yourself to just go do something that would make you happy.  That's why I created the Joy Challenge.  For 30 days, we commit to doing one thing that would bring you joy.  Sounds so easy... but previous challenge participants will tell you it is harder than you may guess.  The results of this are astounding - long held goals, accomplished with ease and while people were having fun!  Joy really is the secret ingredient.  If you are doing something, and in that moment it is not bringing you joy, take a minute to take a break, and do something small that will bring you some happiness.  You will see when you go back to the task at hand, it will be easier to do.  Join us for Joy Challenge 2017 (for FREE) in April!