A New View of Life

As we move into not just a new year, but also New Paradigm – there seems to be as much fear as anticipation – this needs to change.

There have been many misinterpretations of the 2012 predictions, what is important to know is that major change is in the air and has been for sometime.  Just watching the news about our political, economic and social conditions worldwide confirms that. There are movements of major change everywhere.

And my clients have made that abundantly clear. They come to me because their inner-selves are in a state of discontent – a state of movement toward something they are not sure of yet, but which they know represents their True self – their greater Purpose. People are awakening in the most wonderful and also sometimes frustrating and even sometimes frightening or uncomfortable ways

Besides all the other ways we work together, I put great emphasis on placing fear where it belongs – behind us.

One of my favorite mantras is the litany against fear from the Bene Gesserit

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
--- Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

I used to keep this near my computer until it became a part of me. Our thoughts are things, our thoughts actually create and change our DNA – what ideas do you want to support in the New Year and in your new life? Your new way of being?

Mike Dooley says in his TUT messages – ‘Thoughts are things, choose the good ones.’

Love and Blessings, Katie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 29

This morning's journey took me into a place of stillness and inner peace. I enjoyed the feeling of silence around me and the stillness within me, but that was just the beginning of my journey.

Gratitude led to peace which took me to a place of deepest love--love of life and love for life.

This is that place of every-thing and no-thing. The 'void' that I used to fear but now wrap around me like a warm blanket. It is always in this void, this place before creation, that I experience my deepest truths and my deepest understandings. It is not a place I get to often, but today I did.

Sitting in this energy of every-thing and no-thing, I am free to be re-created into a new thing.

Gratitude exists in this place as well. I'm finding that gratitude exists everywhere. It feels like the glue that holds the universe together and allows Love to enter in.

Love and fear are the only 2 real emotions. Everything else you experience are aspects of one or the other. It is impossible for them to exist in the same place at the time. You are either in a state of love or a state of fear in any given moment.

The state of gratitude opens the door for love to enter in and reside within you. Fear, then has no room and no reason to exist.

But we live in a world of duality--good/evil, right/wrong, gain/loss--with fear, chaos and conflict seemingly in charge. That is one aspect of reality, but it does not need to be the only aspect I experience.

With each day of this journey I understand on ever deepening levels not just the importance and benefits of living in gratitude, but the amazing tool for transformation that gratitude is.

No other tool is as easy to employ to change your experience of life. It costs nothing, needs no user manual to assemble and is available to you in every moment.

You simply close your eyes, take a deep breath and say 'thank you'. Your Spirit self can take it from there.

Gratitude can be the next great adventure of your life--if you allow it.

My eyes closed, a deep breath and thank you for being on this journey with me.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 18

The more time I spend in this state of gratitude, the more I learn about who I am and who I am becoming and that leads to feeling even more gratitude.  And I continue to fall in love with myself more every day in new ways.  What an incredible Being I really am--amazing how I never saw that before.  Amazing how we forget to remember how amazing we each are.

As I keep my focus on gratitude, I notice subtle shifts within.  Increasingly I am more open to seeing life as a journey and less needing to try to control my outcomes.  What a relief that is!  To begin giving up controlling my life and how it turns out and relax into the moment as it is--priceless.

I already know my eventual destination, so why not be open to the journey itself and enjoying the outcomes rather than fearing them.  That is a huge shift for me.  I've always been a destination kinda gal--focusing more on getting to the finish line and forgetting to notice the cool things along the way. 

Other changes are beginning to show up in my life as well--physical changes.  As I physically relax into this journey of gratitude I am sleeping more.  Never realized how wound up and constricted I had become the past couple of years with trying to do things the 'right' way and control the outcomes. The more I relax, the slower my pace the more I actually accomplish.  Seems counter-intuitive I know--but it's real.

And I am physically detoxing a bit as the energy of gratitude floods my body, flushing out the old 'not enoughness' that was trapped.  A bit uncomfortable certainly, but also refreshing as my body continues to let go of what it no longer needs to hold.

My outlook on life is definitely brighter--this attitude of gratitude is becoming a constant presence in my life.  More and more when an old habitual thought of worry or fear arises, I am flooded with feelings, images and thoughts of all I have to be grateful for.  A new habit of gratitude as my natural state of being is arising.

I find that I'm walking around in love with people and with the world instead of shrinking away from the chaos and pain.  All good and all bad still exist out there.  We do live in a world of polarity, but the difference for me is where I now place my focus.  Gratitude is not only a state of being, it is also a choice.  A choice that I make every moment in my life.  To choose gratitude over fear.  To choose to focus on all that is good in life and allow my experience of life to be simpler, happier.

I no longer feel the need to save the world. Did I really believe that I could? Loving myself and my life one day at a time is enough.  If we each do that, the world won't need saving.

In the meantime, life is meant to be an adventure and we are meant to enjoy the journey--living full out to the best we can.

Cue the Hawaii 5-0 theme song and my Inner Chicken riding the waves of life!

In gratitude,  Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 15

Before I begin talking about my experience this morning with gratitude I'd like to answer a couple of questions that I've received from people following my journey.

How do I get started and what do I do once I've started?

I always start my 10 minute mediation by closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths.  Then I begin with my gratitude prayers--thank you for my life, thank you for my ability to breathe, and then I move through gratefulness for my husband, children, grandchildren, friends and opportunities. After that I take another deep breath and quiet my mind and allow myself to feel the gratitude for all those things.  Some days it flows smoothly and other days it's more challenging.

Just like today--I had a few false starts and had to start over again.  It's a journey, not a destination I have to remind myself.  Simply a journey.

OK.  On to my experience this morning. And an interesting one it was as I mark the mid-way point of this 30 day journey.  A bit of a challenge to settle down into gratitude.  My conscious mind was running wild with thoughts of today's 'to do' list and I even found myself worrying about getting my Christmas shopping done.  Lots of resistance for some reason.

At first I tried reining the thoughts in, which of course did not work.  So I allowed them to scurry across my inner vision unhindered, like clouds being blown across the sky by a strong wind.

Then it happened--I felt a sudden, subtle shift and my mind went completely still and time seemed to stop.  All sounds silenced and my outer world ceased to exist.

I sat in this profound silence and felt myself floating in what felt like a primordial soup of everything and nothing.  Of course, the moment I was aware I popped out of it, but then would fall right back into it again.  So there I sate, blinking in and out from what felt like existence to non-existence, from particle to wave to particle again.  Back and forth, in and out, feeling gratitude in both states of being.  But gratitude in a very different way that is difficult to describe.

I've had this experience before when in deep meditation, but this was the first time I blinked back and forth, bringing gratitude with me.

Instead of experiencing the feeling of gratitude, I believe I experienced the knowing of it--the true state of it.  I believe I tapped into that place where all things manifest--the unified field that exists all around us and I felt a presence of something very wonderful.

And for that I am most grateful today.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

Gratitude Experiment--Day 5

Resistance--what a great teacher!  It was inevitable this resistance.  The conscious mind doesn't think much of change after all and loves the status quo.  To spend time in the state of gratitude--and gratitude IS a state of being--opens you up to change.  And resistance arises, like an old pair of slippers.

I embraced my resistance and expressed gratitude for it.  'Thank you resistance!  How wonderful to see you again old friend.  I acknowledge and honor you as being part of who I am.  Welcome.'  It seemed insane at first to embrace my resistance because, after all, we resist feeling it don't we?  But what we resist persists.  And so we sat together--my resistance and me.  Just sat in gratitude that I actually had resistance--realizing that resistance has a positive intention, which is to keep my safe.

And in that moment of safety I felt the shift.  How precious is life!  My life, regardless of what I do or don't have, despite the situations I find myself in--my life IS precious.  Your life is precious.  The very act of living is precious.

Last night my husband & I attended a charity gala.  I got all 'gussied up' as my mother called it and Jim wore his tux.  We've always had a great time before at this annual gala, but this year was a very different experience.  The room was noisy & chaotic and several of the people at our table spent the evening drinking and texting rather than talking. 

So we left early and came home.  I quickly shed the fancy clothes and slipped into my favorite pair of flannel pajamas.  Just the man I love and myself--together and grateful. 

That experience last night showed me what I value most--a life of simplicity with people I love and who love me right back.  Being myself in every moment.  Being grateful for all my experiences--whether I like them or not.

So there I sat in my flannel pajamas filled with happy smiling frogs. Nothing to prove, nothing to do, nothing to be--just me in the moment.  Content, happy and grateful for everything.

Enjoying the essence of my life now.

In gratitude,
Bonnie




 

We did it! WooHoo!

We did it!  Today our Brave Woman vision was successfully launched with our free teleseminar Command Your Courage-Unlock Your Greatness.  The vision that we have held so dearly and worked so diligently to bring into being is here and we are so very grateful for the hundreds of women (and men!) who registered to help us launch our dream.

And a special thank you to our Angels of Support--women we love dearly who helped spread the word about this new global community for women supporting women in living their greatness, their power and their courage.  We could not have done it without your encouragement and support.

Not only do you have this blog as a resource for support, we have created a yahoo group called The Brave Woman where you can connect directly with other women to discuss topics of interest, ask questions and share stories about living The Brave Woman Within.

To join the Brave Woman yahoo group visit http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/thebravewoman

Next step in the vision is the series of teleseminars we are offering design to
help you throw open the curtains and step into the Light of your greatness.

Set your calendar for October 22nd at 9:00 pacific time for
The Brave Woman:  Breaking Your Trance of Scarcity!

We are interested in what you have to say about being the Brave Woman in your life.  Where are you struggling and what do you need?  Where are you succeeding and how can we support you in even greater success?

Let's hear from you!  This group is for every Brave Woman.

We witness your greatness,

Bonnie and Katie

Hi - just in case you haven't heard - we have a terrific free seminar coming up for you on October 8th. It is a teleseminar so it is easy to attend either by phone or as a webcast, and if you can't attend - then sign up anyway and listen to the free replay after the seminar.

Most of you know that our free seminars are fully functional seminars - meaning - you learn real stuff AND you get into thrival mode with The One Command process and with one of Bonnie's brilliant meditations. All our classes are designed to be transformational on all levels of your life.

Email bonnie@inner-resources.net or katie@commandingwealth.com if you have more questions.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

Tao Te Ching

We believe that every woman carries the seeds within her of true wisdom and true power. But the question is—Do you believe it of yourself?

Have you been sensing a:

• Restlessness that won’t go away no matter how much you ignore it
• Destiny calling you to something greater—but are afraid to answer
• Desire to share your values and vision with others—but don’t know how
• Need to step out now and just do it—whatever your “It” may be

Or are you tired of constantly Performing, Pleasing, Perfecting and Proving

to others that you are worthy and deserving?

This really is an exciting time to be a woman right now. Things are changing

and possibilities abound for you as a woman. You feel it, but you may not believe it yet.

Begin your transformation process of greater self-love, self-acceptance and coming ‘home’ to your body in new ways right now.

Using the simple, yet powerful 6-step process of The One Command, you let go
of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace, honor and respect your

Brave Woman.

In this teleseminar you: 

• Remember how good it feels to be a woman
• Find the courage to live as a Brave Woman
• Feel the connectedness with all women and the earth that nourishes you
• Experience the power of change with The One Command

Awaken the Brave Woman in you now.

Take this Journey of Courage with other women wanting what you want—to live an Authentic Life as the Brave Woman that you are.

Take the first step on your Journey of Courage now in this Free Teleseminar—Command Your Courage—Unlock Your Greatness.

Register Now for this free teleseminar

Invite your women friends to join you on this Free Teleseminar. We have built a support system for all women to gather together for encouragement, support, love and acceptance. And we’ll talk more about the many ways you can participate on October 8th.

As always, this teleseminar includes intensive belief work using The One Command along with a special meditation to enhance and integrate your healing.

Upon registration you will receive a handout with a brief exercise. Completing

this exercise before the teleseminar will greatly enhance your healing experience.

Can’t attend live? No worries! This teleseminar will be recorded and the

free replay made available to you the next day.

We are excited to see you there!

Bonnie & Katie

Five minutes to relax into your Brave Woman self

Take 5 minutes to sit back, leave the outer world behind and step into the
sacred space of your inner self.  Getting out of your ordinary reality and your
conscious mind for even a few minutes allows that Brave Woman who lives
within you to come forth and move you through the day.

Enjoy, relax and walk softly upon the earth today.

Beautiful Earth

www.youtube.com

It's not your beginnings that matter most!

I was drawn to see the movie Kung Fu Panda 2 today and I was curious what message it might have for me.  Anytime I’m drawn to a movie it’s because there is something for me to pay attention to in it.  And there was!

The movie was fun to watch, but here is the ‘gem’ I walked away with—and in a kid’s movie too.

Even though your beginnings weren’t happy, it doesn’t matter.  It isn’t your beginnings that make you who you are.  What matters is who you choose to be now.  And it is who you choose to be that makes you who you are now.

I felt much of what has been bothering me recently dissolve and resolve itself.  TODAY is what matters.  Who I choose to be TODAY is what’s important.  How I choose to feel TODAY; how I choose to behave TODAY—that is what makes me who I am.

Regardless of your beginnings, you have a choice to be or not to be, to change or stay the same, to heal or not, to use your voice or to remain silent, to stand in your courage or continue to be afraid.  There is great power in that message—It is who you choose to be that makes you who you are.

Today I choose to be a Brave Woman walking my Journey of Courage, using my voice for

healing and standing in my own truth.

Who do you choose to be today?

Today is 9/11

Over the years of doing my heart-work from psychology to coaching to seminars - I am often prompted in what I offer from the experiences of my own life and challenges or joys - and I also watch for what is showing up for those in my tribe (my friends, family, colleague, clients) - and focus on what is coming up for them.

I am watching the 9/11 tribute in Shanksville right now and thinking about the heroism of 'just people', people rising to an unprecedented situation - who found out what was happening on other planes and acted without question - out of the fullness of their hearts.

We all have that brave selves inside, the one that jumps to do what is needed in the moment. If we are looking for a way to change our world - jumping in to help build a school somewhere (by contribution or participation), to participate in Random Acts of Kindness like the ones going on in Seattle today, to deciding to elect people who actually care at least as much about all the people of our country as they do about their own ambitions, to being our own hero and the hero of our children.

This cannot help but be a day of reflection no matter where we live, and when we live from our spirit - we can't go wrong.

Love and Blessings, Katie