Energy – our fuel for life!  Our bodies are filled with energy.  And it’s a must if you want to achieve business success and financial goals.  Energy is the basis of our lives.  Think of your energy as being in a bank account.  You’re either adding to your account or you’re subtracting from it.  And  throughout the day, various internal and external influences cause shifts in this account.  These continuous fluctuations affect your physical and emotional state of being.  Therefore, having too many factors that take away your energy will leave you feeling tired and depleted, hindering your ability to affect change and achieve your goals.

Having a full “energy account” feels grounding, allowing you to be completely present and connected to your physical body.  Your state of health requires you to retain an adequate energy level.  And your ability to maintain that level is highly influenced by your capacity to be fully present in your body and connected to yourself.  This is your point of power.  When this internal power is reduced our ability to create successful outcomes in our lives is affected.  The opposite holds true when you regain this power.  You feel alive, positive and vibrant.  And it’s this state of being that is the perfect foundation for creating your path to success.

Your ability to sustain this state of energy is the secret to a happy life.  Let’s look at the following conditions that affect your energy status:

1. Attitude and mood are everything.  Joy, love and happiness will add to your energy while the lower emotions of anger, resentment, sadness and powerlessness will detract from it.

2. Focusing too much on the past or thinking too much about the future takes away your energy.

3. Harboring old resentments will deplete your energy because part of you is holding onto an old situation.  The key to getting back your energy is forgiveness.

4. Avoid energy vampires.  You know those people who speak negatively and project neediness.  They will drain you every time.

5. Keeping a lot of old “stuff” and clutter in your home or office will drain you.  De-clutter, organize, and toss out anything that is no longer needed in order to regain your energy.

6. Living your life true to your values without compromising yourself will fortify your energy level.  Going against your ethics will cause you to feel an energy drain.

7. Your heart’s desire and what you want to do must be in alignment with your will and what you think you should do.  If there’s a conflict between the two, your energy will be depleted.  Therefore, doing something against your will such as saying “yes” when you really want to say “no” will negatively affect you.

8. Improper diet, lack of sleep, and inactivity leads to energy loss.  On a daily basis, it’s important to eat healthy, get proper rest and engage in moderate exercise.

9. Playing the victim and feeling as though things always happen just to you will take away your energy.  Turn things around by taking responsibility for your life. Be pro-active and don’t take things personally.

10. Participating in activities that you are passionate about will increase your energy. The contrary holds true when you’re engaging in activities that you don’t enjoy as they will feel draining.

11. It’s important to have a career that’s meaningful and satisfying, otherwise over time this will negate your energy.

12. Prayer and meditation are an excellent way to increase your energy.

13. Being outside in nature is another great way to increase your energy level because our natural environment vibrates at a high level.

14. Smiling and laughing are both fun ways to raise your energy.

Refer to this list often throughout the day as a reminder for how you can live up to your fullest energy potential.  Tap into your source!

When is enough, enough? You know the feeling. You’ve been working at a project or committed yourself to a specific goal and you feel that you are going nowhere. You’re not seeing results, you’re wasting time, money and lots of energy. Your stress level continues to mount and yet you’re still determined to go on because you want to experience some feeling of accomplishment or glimmer of hope that will keep you motivated to proceed. In addition to the fact that most likely deep down you have a need to prove to yourself that you can do it. Let’s be honest, your ego has its part in this too. After all, it wants to look good so you continue to hang in there and try to save face. Combine this with a belief that quitting is not an option, and you have a recipe for misery.

The truth is quitting is an option. But just as you have to know when to hold ‘em, you also have to know when to fold ‘em and that is a key determining factor. That’s the piece that can be difficult since we believe we must try harder in order to get results. It’s also hard to walk away when we’re not sure if we’re giving up too easily or too soon, especially since we have so much already invested.

Understand that your commitments and goals come in many forms. Whether you’re an individual working on a particular career goal or on a difficult intimate relationship, or a corporation undertaking a new manufacturing method, it’s essential to evaluate the benefit of continuing onward or bailing out depending on the exact details and nature of the circumstances.
Let’s use the following example:  You accept a job in another field that is closely related to your previous career. However, this new job doesn’t quite fit your personality. You work very hard at it and continue to feel out of sorts. You’re not accomplishing the tasks up to your skill level and you’re starting to feel inadequate in the process. You’ve already invested lots of time in training and yet all along you feel that you’re not making a difference. If you were to continue, you may lose out even more as other areas of your life may start to suffer since most of your energy and focus have been on this unworkable situation. It’s at this point that you realize things will not get better until you take action, and so you decide to quit after finding another position that better suits you.

Using this example, you can see that when you continually work at something for a significant amount of time without witnessing results you are left with extreme frustration and the feeling of being ineffective. So much so that your stress level becomes unmanageable and you wind up expending lots of energy trying to make something work that’s just not the right thing for you.

We all need to feel a sense of accomplishment and that we are moving forward productively. We must be able to register some degree of success in our mind, no matter how small in order to feel positive and energized to go the distance. When this doesn’t happen over time, we become depleted emotionally and physically making it difficult to continue. At some point, we must be willing to stop the madness and take action by letting go of our need to chase after a goal that only leads to frustration.

With this in mind, you must either modify the goal or be willing to change your action steps, or both. When you evaluate the situation you need to look at what’s working and what’s not working. Ask yourself, how you feel about continuing to go after this goal. What’s it worth to you? As you come to the realization that for whatever reason, the timing of things may not be right in so much as you’re not ready in your own personal development to achieve and/or receive this particular goal. However, by letting go of what isn’t working allows something better to come along, which may be perfectly suited for you at this time. It’s important to be open to a new path or opportunity that may present itself.

In some instances, it will make sense to just throw in the towel and start over with a totally new commitment.  It’s at this point when you decide that it’s time to quit and accept this fact. And yet, there will be other instances where it makes sense to salvage a few key aspects while modifying the method or project overall. The important concept here is that you feel that you have a choice in the matter. This can make all the difference in the world with how you feel internally. When you give yourself options including the permission to quit, you feel empowered with a sense of control over your life. Without this option, you feel emotionally powerless, drained energetically and lacking the impetus to proceed ahead.  You have the power to decide what mindset is more productive and supportive, and then act accordingly.

In summary, despite the well-meaning messages that we may have internalized from our parents, there are situations in fact where it’s okay to quit and choose another course. Keep that in mind when it comes to teaching children about commitment and goal achievement. There are never absolutes, but with proper evaluation and assessment we can come to an understanding of what’s best for us in the long run.

To your success on your own terms!

With the many disturbing stories that we hear in the news, we are bombarded with negativity and distress continuously.  And it’s these types of messages that feed right into our fears. Whether it’s the swine flu, which triggers our fear of death or the headlines about the state of the economy and job loss, which triggers our fear of being broke and homeless, being exposed to this information on a constant basis makes it difficult, if not impossible to maintain being centered, let alone positive.

Keep in mind there is nothing new about our state of affairs, just that the details of the story are different. In life, as you know there will always be challenges and unfortunate circumstances, but it’s your choice in how you face these situations that will define your attitude and life.

It can be challenging, however, to react differently than the expected norm especially since our society has adopted what they deem as acceptable reactions to various events.  We buy into this form of peer pressure by reacting with the typical conditioned responses, which in the end negates our positive thinking.

I’ll share a personal example with you.  I recently was in a minor car accident.  Someone rear-ended me causing damage to my bumper.  To me, it really wasn’t a big deal.  I viewed it as an inconvenience but something that would easily be taken care of.  When I shared my story with a few people, I noticed their reaction was totally different than mine. They seemed to get upset and annoyed commenting about the other driver, the damage to my car and the issue of insurance. I quickly reassured them that I wasn’t upset and that everything would be fine once the details were ironed out. In the end, everything worked out, and I was grateful that I chose another way of experiencing this situation.

So how can you maintain a healthy attitude and respond using a positive approach while not succumbing to the negativity around you?

The first step is that you must give yourself permission to be happy.  Not only allow yourself to be happy but to do so without the feeling of guilt.  With the unfortunate news around us, we often feel bad about being happy while others are suffering.  But what good does this do?  We can’t change the situation with our unhappiness.  However, we can influence outcomes by responding with the right attitude.  Realize that you have the choice to decide how you would like to react to any given condition.  Remember that you are the master of your emotions.

Be aware that we all have a set point for our emotional state, but there are specific techniques that can raise that point to a higher level.  The following ideas will support this process:

• When you’re experiencing an uncomfortable feeling, ask yourself what purpose does this feeling serve?  Is it helping you in any way?  If not, are you willing to let go of it?

• Put things in perspective and realize that everything changes given time.

• Avoid environments that are negative and seek out supportive, uplifting ones instead.

• Perform meaningful work.  We all want to feel that we are making a difference and contributing to society.

• Relax your rules.  Don’t always feel that everything has to be perfect.  When our definition of happiness and satisfaction are very narrowly defined it makes it harder to hit the target. The result – we feel disappointed.  Instead, adjust your expectations and be open to the possibilities.

• Be aware of your mental thoughts and what you focus on.  Get in the habit of re-directing your mind so that you are focused on the positive instead of the negative.  Stop looking at what’s wrong and start seeing what’s right.

• Love yourself more and practice good self-care.  Eat the right foods, get proper rest and engage in physical activity.

• Connect with nature.

• Listen to upbeat music.

• Pray and meditate.

• Laugh often.

• Use EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)*.  This is a great tool that can help you release unwanted emotions and obstacles.  I personally use this technique and teach it to my clients who have experienced great results from it.

* To find out more about EFT call 201-612-6700.