MaXIMIze - Year In Review

This post makes 40 for this year and 128 to date for this blog, which is now ending its fourth year and looking forward to its fifth.

I am blessed to have a core group of loyal readers and I appreciate each and every one of you! When I look at the stats for this blog, I see that people from all over the world read it, and that makes me feel very blessed indeed!

We started 2015 by asking the question, "How are you walking in the world?"

We touched on practicing Extreme Self Care - a topic near and dear to my heart.

We talked about the power of action, and coming from a place of abundance.

We also covered the law of unintended consequences.

We touched on ideas in each of the six major areas of our lives - finances, relationships, physical health, spiritual health, career, and overall well being.

We finished out the year with checking on our harvest, practicing gratitude and celebrating ourselves and each other.

In 2016, this blog will have a couple of minor changes in the layout of the monthly themes. First, we will end each month with a book review related to the monthly theme. Second, we will start the month with a call to action related to the monthly theme.

As we close out 2015, please know I appreciate each and every one who reads this blog, and value your thoughts and feedback very much!

Happy New Year and Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Celebrate The Season

Wow - I did not realize I have not posted for the last two weeks! The first week was due to illness and last week was due to traveling. My dear friend is moving three states away, and I was helping him house hunt last weekend.

His upcoming move and the fact that my darling daughter will not be home for Christmas this year reminds me that time is passing and we have to celebrate the Season when we can as we can.

Even with all that has gone on in the world in the last few weeks, I still believe - perhaps more than ever - that we are all human beings first, and all else comes second. We need to acknowledge and celebrate our similarities, not focus on our differences!

So, whatever this Season means to you, celebrate!

Next week, I will wrap up with a review of the last year and a look at what next year is bringing for this blog.

Until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Gratefully Celebrate

Right now, I am gratefully celebrating the sound of a quiet house - no TV, no talking, just the sound of the appliances humming along. It is a cold - not quite 50 degrees according to the thermometer on the balcony - clear day, and the remaining autumn colors are enjoying the last bit of glory before they hit the ground and are turned into mulch.

This past week, I gratefully celebrated family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States.

And today, as I went out to do the first round of grocery shopping for the week, I gratefully celebrated the sound of Christmas music on the radio again, with new renditions of old classics serenading me out and back.

And, as I do every time I post to this blog, I gratefully celebrate you, the readers - new and continuing - and hope that what I have posted here helps you gratefully celebrate your best life now.

One of the endeavors I am working on for the new year is a series of classes on Udemy. As soon as I get the first one fully developed and posted, I will let you know how you can register for it.

So, I am also gratefully celebrating the opportunity and ability to master new skills in order to more fully share my gifts and vision with you and the rest of the world.

If there are topics I have covered in this blog that you would like to see more fully developed in one of these classes, please e-mail me here.

I may put up a survey later on the MaXIMIze Facebook page to gather ideas as well.

Next week we will be fully in our month of Celebration!

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - How Are You Sharing Thy Bounty?

Prior to the events in France last weekend, I was all set to write about Sharing Thy Bounty in the usual way - by focusing on showing our gratitude by sharing our abundance - money, things, and time - with those people and charities who embody our values and share our ideals with others.

The events that unfolded in Paris and Mali over the past week have once again reminded me that we are all human beings first and all else comes second, and that we should share our bounty with all, not just those who are just like us.

Who are you more likely to emulate - the person who gave you a hand up when you needed it or the person who turned his back and locked his gate against you?

Which impression do you want to leave with others - that you are a loving, giving person or that you are a bitter miser who gives nothing to others?

What bounty are you sharing with the world today?

What bounty would you like to share with the world today?

What does that look like? How does that feel?

I enjoy sharing my bounty of thoughts and ideas with you, and hope that what I share helps you in some way - large or small - while you are MaXIMIzing yourself and MaXIMIzing your life.

Next week will be the last weekend of the month of Gratitude and then we move on to Celebration.

Even with all that is going on in the world today, there is still so much to celebrate - big and small - and for that I am grateful.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaxIMIze - Being Thankful

As I sit at my home desk looking out over a damp street, thankful for the rain that dampness means, I wonder how many people are complaining about the rain instead of being thankful for it.

How many of us complain about things that change our plans, our world, our lives, instead of finding the good in these things - hard as that can be sometimes - and approaching them from a place of gratitude instead of impatience or anger?

Yes, there are things that truly suck - loss of a loved one or dealing with a potentially deadly disease for example. Many of us, however, complain about things that, in the long run, really don't matter. Yes, I know it is annoying, even maddening right now, whatever it is in your life. But - will it matter five years, one year, six months, a week from now? Will it matter tomorrow even, or a few hours from now? I mean really truly matter in the grand scheme of things?

The next question I have is: what energy is your reaction to this thing putting out in the world? Will the energy generated by your reaction help you or hurt you in the long run?

The last question I have is: why are you reacting negatively to this thing, whatever it is? What fears is it stirring up in you that you need to face and overcome? Is it reminding you of an incident in the past that turned out badly?

Then we flip this all on its head and change the focus to what can you find to be thankful about in this situation? What good can come from it, even if the worst of the worst happens?

Find the kernel of good and focus on it, and watch your attitude go from complaining to proclaiming, or at least accepting and moving through to the other side.

If you need an example of this, look at what former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is going through in his life right now and how he is handling his situation.

Next week, we'll discuss Sharing Thy Bounty - until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Gratitude

We are now in the month of November, which means the holidays of Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving are coming in the States this month. For me, November is a the perfect month to pause and reflect on all we have to be grateful for before the material craziness that has seemingly come to symbolize the holiday season is upon us.

I sat on my balcony moments ago, writing this post in longhand (as I always do), thankful for the rain coming down right now. I looked across the parking lot and saw my new car sitting in its covered space, and am thankful for having the financial resources to buy a new - at least new-to-me - car this fall. I am grateful that am willing and able to do the work needed to move from financial disaster to financial solvency and start this holiday season debt-free except to myself.

I am thankful that I have a job I enjoy, a loving committed relationship with a great guy, and that I am in good physical and spiritual health.

I am grateful that I live in a place where I can watch the white breasted nuthatches in the tree just beyond my balcony, and enjoy the beauty of nature in the park just beyond the parking lot of the complex I live in.

I am thankful for you, my faithful readers, and for those of you new to this blog.

Right here, right now, my life is grand - and I am deeply grateful for this moment.

My challenge to you this month is to find something every day to be grateful for and take a moment to breathe deeply in that thankful feeling.

If you wish to share your daily bits of gratitude, feel free to post them on my MaXIMIze page on Facebook, where I will post the same challenge and share mine!

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Harvest - What Are You Harvesting This Year?

As we look at the harvest this fall, what are you harvesting this year? What has changed in your life and what energy did you put out that fostered that change? Did you harvest the crop you thought you planted? If not, why not?

For me, this is the year I achieved financial freedom. I had to make hard choices in order to do so, starting with practicing extreme self-care. I had planted the seeds for this crop nearly two years ago by choosing to track all my expenses in an Excel spreadsheet and only buying the things I truly need. Okay, there were a few wants, however not the binge shopping I used to do. And I even returned things that, once I got them home, didn't fit for whatever reason. I track my grocery purchases to the individual item cost, so I can see where those funds are really going. My diet is probably the healthiest it has ever been - I'm even eating less of the holiday foods coming into the office at this time of year! By doing the hard work to get to this point, I not only achieved financial freedom from debt, but also planned to buy a new car this fall, so I had the funds to do so when my car was deemed a total loss by the insurance company after I got into a fender bender week before last.

I looked back through this year's posts, and found these power words in a post from February: Money means More Opulent Natural Energy - Yeah!

As I look over the areas in my life - finances, career, relationships, spiritual health, physical health, overall well-being - I can see the growth of the seeds I have sown in each of these areas over the last few years, and that growth is amazing!

I can also see the bare spots, the spots where I need a bit more cultivation, fertilizer, and potentially some re-seeding. And that's okay, for it gives me a place to start from when planning next season's plantings.

It is said that the unexamined life is not one worth living. In order to live our best lives now, we need to take the time to review what's going well and what's not going so well in our lives and reflect on what works and what doesn't so we can harvest the gold and toss the dross.

So, have you taken the time to answer the questions I posed in the first paragraph of this post? If not, I challenge you to do so during this time of harvest.

Next week's topic hasn't come to me yet - perhaps something related to fall events - fires and weather and what can happen when the two collide.

Until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Overall Well-Being/Harvest - The Myth of Multi-Tasking

"Slow down and you'll get more done." ~ Karl Palachuk

This was supposed to be the topic of last week's post - which, of course, I never wrote and posted.

My day job, as some of you know, is as a budget analyst for the Federal government. That means the last week or two of September is an extremely busy time as we are trying to finish up getting our contracts and other financial obligations wrapped up for one fiscal year and get things in place to start the next. So, the end of September finds me drained at the end of the day and at the end of the week. Hence, no blog post last week.

Okay, back to the topic at hand - the myth of multi-tasking. And yes, it relates to, well actually, all parts of our lives. In my case, we just saw how it affected my coaching career, as it had to take a backseat to my budget analyst career. In order to focus on doing my analyst duties to the best of my abilities, I had to put the blog on the back burner for a week or two. However, the harvest of doing so is that we did over 95% of what we said we were going to do financially on my projects in Fiscal Year 2015 - which means we were Green as far as our metrics go. A job well done!

The quote at the start of this blog is from Karl Palachuk, author of Relax, Focus, Succeed. There used to be a free download on his website of a talk he gave where he shares what brought him to this, well, philosophy or mindset, if you will. Karl was diagnosed with a chronic illness that caused him to slow down and focus on the important things in life. It could have brought him to a screeching halt, but it didn't - he is a very successful businessman, author, and speaker, and a inspiration for us all!

We can have it all, just not all at once. We have to figure out what is truly important in any given time and place we are at in our lives and then act on that determination.

For me, when my children were growing up, it was important for me to be involved with their schooling and extracurricular activities. So I chose to put my career and higher education on a back burner to ensure I could be there for them. When the older two (I have three) were in junior high and high school, I then went to community college and changed career tracks from administrative assistant to budget analyst.

Are my children as successful in their lives as I would wish? One yes, one no, the last getting there. They are, after all, individuals and have their own paths to choose and live. However, I was able to be there when they were young to support and guide them as far as I could, so I know they have the tools to make the choices in life that will enable them to succeed.

Now, I have a successful career as a budget analyst and am five years out from retirement - if I choose to - from that career.

Could I have done that if I had wanted it all at the same time? No, I don't believe I could have.

I don't know how many of you have heard the story of the many balls we have to juggle in life. The main thing is to not let the glass ball drop.

The glass ball is where our focus needs to be at any given moment to ensure success rather than failure. It also changes as our priorities change in life. At any given moment the glass ball could be family, health, or career. For each of us, that is a choice we make by where we focus our energies.

If we try to focus on all the balls in the air in our lives, the glass ball will likely fall and shatter.The rest will bounce or land unscathed, but the glass one will break. And nothing, once broken, is ever truly repairable.

So it is up to each and every one of us to determine what our glass ball is and work to ensure it does not break.

What is your glass ball, right here, right now?

What are you doing to ensure it doesn't break?

Next week, we will focus on Harvest, the theme for October - until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Overall Well-Being - Service

As you may or may not know, I've been working on a new book, tentatively titled Find Your Passion, Live Your Bliss. Well, after reading a recent e-mail from Brian Johnson, founder of en*theos, I have modified that to Giving Service, Finding Bliss.

Brian's message is that e-mail, which introduced the Craftsman mindset as espoused by Cal Newport in his book So Good They Can't Ignore You, is that you find your bliss by creating value, by providing service.

A quote from Cal Newport's book goes like this:

"Whereas the craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world, the passion mindset focuses on what the world can offer you."

Brian also asks the question, "How can you serve more profoundly?"

One of the reasons I am happy and content in my current job is that I feel like I am truly serving the people I work for and with to the best of my ability. Coming home at the end of the day tired because I've done my job well is a much different feeling that coming home drained due to office politics and the feeling you can never do anything right and/or what we do doesn't serve the right purpose, or any purpose at all.

So, my question to you is, "How are you serving profoundly?"

If you are not serving profoundly, what can you do to change that right here, right now so you can move down the path to living your best life now?

Next week, we will finish out the month by exploring the myth of multitasking.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Overall Well-Being - The Serenity Prayer

Events with my dear friend and another friend this week made me think of the Serenity Prayer. For those of you who don't know it, it goes like this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

The wisdom to know the difference seems to be the most difficult part of the deal.

Once you gain that wisdom, your stress level will drop dramatically, or at least that is my personal experience. My dear friend works himself into migraines and my other friend works himself into various types of illness, all mostly due to this type of stress.

And really, it all boils down to the circles of control and influence we've discussed here before.

The things you can change are the things you yourself can control. You might be able to affect change on the things you can influence, however, you need to be able to let those things go if you can't. And the area where you know you have no control or influence should always be let go and not fretted over.

If you can gain the wisdom to identify these three areas properly and accept them accordingly, your stress level will be much lower and your overall well-being will be more balanced and stable.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Overall Well-Being

This year we started by asking the question, "How Are You Walking in the World?" This touched on three things - why are you where you are now; where do you want to be in the future; and, how do your peers currently view you. Finally, we are reminded that we need to "…walk in the world as you want it to be."

In February, we started by discussing practicing extreme self-care and focusing on the "Yes, And" thoughts. We moved on to optimism versus action, touching on the full toolbox of positive thinking, which includes planning and identifying potential roadblocks, both internal and external. We then discussed the power of words and the energy they conduct into and through our lives, which flowed right into the discussion we had on abundance versus lack.

In March, we discussed motivation, the law of unintended consequences, the seeds we sow, moving toward your vision, and planning for success.

From April through August, much like last year, we focused on five of the six segments of the Circle of Perception - financial, physical health, spiritual health, careers, and relationships.

Now we come to the last segment of the circle - overall well-being.

For me, it all falls back to abundance versus lack and how I view the other five segments of my life. If one of those segments is filled with lack instead of abundance, it brings the whole circle down.

When this happens, I go back to what motivates me, what I see as lacking in my life, what I truly want and/or need in my life to be happy, healthy, and responsible.

I journal about all these things and, if need be, go through the Circle of Perception exercise again as deeply as possible.

I also take advantage of those doldrums we discussed last month to discover which segment of the circle needs attention and come up with a plan to provide that needed attention to get back in sync with living my best life now.

Taking stock of things on a periodic and regular basis and doing tune-ups and fine tuning helps keep our overall well being score at an 8 or above, and helps keep us living our best lives now.

Next week's topic has not shown itself to me as yet, so until next time, Namaste!

As always, I welcome your feedback. You can contact me here.

MaXIMIze - Relationships - Communication and Feedback

A lot of the angst and/or friction in relationships comes from communication.

Communication is both verbal and non-verbal. There are the words we say and then there is the meaning behind them. There are also the words we don't say, thinking the other person should know what we mean and want by our non-verbal clues. As I'm sure we all have experienced, this is not often the case.

Few if any of us are mind readers, so we need to hone our communication skills in the verbal sense. And we need to be aware of our non-verbal cues - how our posture is, our eye contact, and even the tone and volume of our voices.

Trust me, I am quite sure the word "fine" has very different meanings for men and women, as an example!

Feedback is also important in communication.

Again, few if any of us are mind readers. If we don't let others know how their words and actions affect us - both negatively AND positively - there can be a serious breakdown in the relationship due to pent-up angst, resentment, and anger.

It's fine to bounce your reaction to the words and actions of one person off of someone else you know and trust as a reasonable and relatively unbiased sounding board, however, once you've sorted out the wheat from the chaff of your reaction, you might need to discuss things with the person whose words and actions you reacted to in the first place.

Open and honest communication and feedback are important elements to the success of a relationship - whether it be personal or professional.

And, if the person you are providing feedback to ignores, rejects, or belittles your feedback, that might need to be examined too, in relation to your, well, relationship.

Is this relationship buoying you up or dragging you down? Is it helping you grow, keeping you stagnant, or worst of all, stifling you?

As always, I welcome your feedback. Contact me here, and let me know how this blog has helped you over the last nearly four years of it's existence.

I am on vacation next weekend, so we will pick back up in September. The theme for the month will be Overall Well Being.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Relationships - Being In Sync

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, as I watch the project I am assigned to hit a major milestone in its move towards the finish line and watch another one in the same office stumble about, trying to get its groove back.

If you have ever worked on a team, project-specific or otherwise, you know there is a process that the team goes through as it settles into its groove and begins to move forward. There are usually four steps in this process - forming, storming, norming and performing. These are called Tuckman's stages of group development. There is a fifth step or stage at the end called adjourning, but we are focused on getting through the first four in order to live our best life now.

When a team gets to the performing step or stage, the members are pretty much in sync and they work very well together. The team I am on is like that. We communicate well and we know the project and how it is structured deeply enough to just do what needs to be done without a lot of questions or discussion. We are truly in that sweet spot of team development.

A large part of that synchronicity comes from the relationships between the team members. If a team member comes in who is potentially detrimental to the team due to viewpoints, attitudes, or actions,  that person either learns to conform and focus on moving the project forward or he/she makes enough friction that it causes him/her to be removed and replaced for the good of the project.

This comes into play in our personal relationships too, particularly our partnerships with others. It is a little difficult to ostracize family when they are a burr in the side of living your best life now - although sometimes that has to be done in order to regain sanity and peace of mind. However, the people we choose to bring into our lives as friends and partners definitely should be a balm and a help to living our best lives now, not a burr in the side draining our focus from that goal.

Last year at this time, we discussed toxic relationships and the detriment they can have physically and mentally on us. We also talked about shedding these toxic relationships in order to move toward living our best lives now.

When you are blessed to have relationships in your life that are in sync and encouraging you to live your best life now, there is truly nothing you cannot accomplish!

So, what step/stage are your current relationships in? Do you truly see them moving forward to being in sync and supporting your best life now?

If so, great!

If not, what needs to change to move forward? Are you willing to instigate that change?

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Relationships - Addressing the Elephant

Yes, I skipped blogging last week - the summer doldrums hit just ahead of the heat here in California. That happens sometimes. I have learned through the years if I want to avoid burnout, rather than powering through the doldrums, the still space, I need to instead sit in that still space until the wind and wave come again to carry me to the next spot on my journey. Floating in the still space also allows me to gain energy so I can work with the wind and wave when they come, and I can land further up my path then they can carry me alone.

The theme of this month's postings is Relationships. The most important relationship you have in life is the one you have with yourself. When you really know yourself, you can better craft a response to the action of another or to a particular situation rather than just having a reaction to them.

A lesson learned from my readings this summer is that you have to address the elephant in order to get it out of the room. Sometimes that elephant is external - another person or a particular situation. Other times it is internal - your reaction to a particular situation or another person.

When you know yourself on a deep level, you can determine which type of elephant you are dealing with. And once you've done that, you can address the elephant and encourage it to leave the room so you can deal with the heart of the matter at hand.

So, what elephants are you dealing with? How are you going to address them so they will exit the room and leave you able to to deal with the true matter at hand?

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Career - Why Do You Want to Leave Your Current Position?

A friend of my dear friend discussed this in his blog a while back, and it seemed appropriate to address this month here, since we are focused on careers.

While I don't know that it is an allowable question in an interview in the public sector, it is something to consider when you are looking for that next position, particularly to ensure you are looking to move for the right reasons and not *just* for higher pay, bigger glory, or you really can't stand your current co-workers. These are all extrinsic reasons for doing something. To be successful in the long run, we need to stay focused on the intrinsic reasons.

When seeking to answer the question of why you are looking to leave your current position - particularly to answer it for yourself - consider the following:

How your current position does or does not fit in with your personal value system.

Whether or not your current position is aligned with your passion - the underlying drive that lights your fire and illuminates your path.

If perhaps - as I have in my current position - you've reached the summit of what you can truly accomplish in that position and are looking for your next mountain.

These are all intrinsic reasons for looking to move on.

Another one is seeing a need to be filled and believing you can fill it. That's how I ended up being a program and project manager for four years working a program I still believe in, even though I support a completely different project these days.

So, if you are looking to move to another position - or just, really, to leave the one you're currently in - I challenge you to consider, REALLY consider, why so you can answer the question "Why do you want to leave your current position?" - at least for yourself.

If you need coaching on how to take the Five Whys process and use it to really get at the heart of career change or change in other areas of your life, please contact me.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Career - Passion or Glory?

For whatever reason the song Eye of the Tiger by the band Survivor was stuck in my head earlier this week. There is a line that goes, "…you trade your passion for glory…"

This clicked with discussions a dear friend has been having with his management over the last year or so - they are focused on the glory of what his finishing a certain project could/should/will mean. They are missing the fact that he is looking for the passion lacking in his current situation, and that their search for glory is draining him, causing burn out and frustration, and could lead ultimately to disengagement. And they have seen it before with other employees on other projects, yet they seem to not learn the lessons of the past.

Glory is external and fleeting; passion is internal and lasting.

Glory is for the benefit of others.

Passion is for the benefit of you.

Passion fuels you; glory drains you, for it is using your talents to fuel others, not yourself.

So, are you living a life of passion, or are you fading from glory?

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Career - Find Your Next Mountain

Wow! I look over my posts from last year on the topic of careers and I don't know how I can top those!

Sort of fits the theme of this post - Find Your Next Mountain.

I think we've all been there (and if you haven't, you will)…that time and space where you feel you've hit the pinnacle of the job you're currently in. For me, that was in the months following my last performance appraisal, when I got the highest rating we can get in our appraisal system - a 1 - out of a scale of 5, with 3 being fully successful. When we did our mid-year reviews a month or so ago, I realized that I had hit a pinnacle and the saying followed soon after that - Find Your Next Mountain.

I spoke with a co-worker in the the elevator this morning - he hasn't got to the summit of his mountain yet. How could I tell? Because his job hasn't settled into a flow yet. Yes, when you hit that Zen flow in your current position, where everything just comes together and feels easy or right, it's time to find your next mountain.

At least, that is one time - one good time - to find your next mountain.

A not-so-good time is when you are going through the opposite - trying to support something you feel you truly cannot support anymore. When the other players are just too frustrating, and management may or may not be waking up to this not being a good thing, and/or it just compromises your value system to the breaking point - and, burn out is setting in.

This is a time to do two things - take a serious sabbatical and find your next mountain.

It's easier to find your next mountain when your job has become flow.

It is much harder when you feel like you are continually fighting the current and get to a point where you wonder if it's anything really worth fighting for anymore.

When you are exhausted from fighting the current in this way, you really need to find a way to pull back and reconnect with what makes you feel alive again. You need to find your passion, your purpose in life again.

Our careers take so much of our lives and are our physical - monetarily - support for our lives, and we need to be fulfilled in them, otherwise we live a half-life instead of a full one.

The best job is the one that doesn't feel like work. It feels like purpose. It feels like focus. It feels like, well, passion. And it gives us bliss.

If our jobs, our careers aren't doing that, it's time to find a new one.

Question to ponder for the week - if you could do any job in the world, what would you do and why?

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Spiritual Health - What Stones Do You Need to Put Down?

I read the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed a few months back, about the time the movie came out.

Something that struck me at the time was the part in the book where she reflected on the extra psychic or spiritual weight we carry, like carrying a chip on our shoulders or an extra rock in our pack. It struck me strongly enough that I had it down as a potential blog topic for this month.

I think, after the events of the last few weeks, perhaps we all ought to examine the weights or rocks that we carry psychically or spiritually, and let go of those that no longer serve to keep us centered or grounded, the ones that now drag us down instead of buoy us up and shut us away from our fellow human beings.

What stones can you put down today?

Next week is a new month, and a new area of our lives to explore. We will be pondering the area of careers.

Until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Spiritual Health - Honoring Our Connections

Happy Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year.

Happy Father's Day, at least here in the States.

A day of sun to be spent with someone's son who may or may not have a son of his own.

Happy Sunday, a day many - not all, but many - set aside to commune with the Son and the Father.

Wow, so much synchronicity in this day, so much connection!

Last night we saw Noel Paul Stookey and Pam Mark Hall at a house concert in a nearby town. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Stookey is Paul from Peter, Paul and Mary, a folk group many of us grew up listening to in the 1960s and 1970s.

One of the songs he shared last night was One Flame, Many Candles.

Some of the lyrics he shared were:

One flame, many candles
One sky, many stars,
One sea, many rivers,
One love, many hearts

He went on to at the end of the show to add the following:

One forest, many trees
One tree, many branches
One branch, many leaves

It reminded me of the Scripture where Jesus tells us, "in my Father's house are many mansions…" John 14:2.

So, I would add:

One species, many races
One race, many people

Or - even better - leave race out of the equation, for once. We are all Homo Sapiens, no matter our color or culture.

One species, many people
One person, many siblings

We are all connected with each other and our planet. What we do to it and to others, we ultimately do to ourselves.

Part of being spiritually healthy is recognizing that connection and honoring it in our daily lives.

How are you honoring your connections today and every day?

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Spiritual Health - Connections

I have learned a lot from reading the works of several great spiritual leaders and teachers.

You'll see me reference the New Testament, particularly the parable of the mustard seed. I also trust in the Golden Rule, which can also be translated as Karma. What you put out in the world is what you get back.

More modern teachers I've learned from include Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Holmes, and Julia Cameron, as well as Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I also count Richard Bach and Leo Buscaglia among my spiritual teachers.

I find spiritual inspiration everywhere - in people I've met, places I've been, things I've seen. Nature herself is a constant source for me with her annual themes of toil and rest, death and resurrection. Just this weekend, I saw our native California Buckeyes going into their summer hibernation - called aestivation - and know that, while they appear to be dying back now, they will come out in leaf and flower again in late winter/early spring of next year.

Just this morning, I was reading Julia Cameron's "Finding Water," the last part of "The Complete Artist's Way," and she quotes Thoreau - "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." Wow! This quote accompanied her essay titled "Companionship," which reminds me that we are never truly alone.

And that reminds me of a poster I've seen since probably the late 1970s. Perhaps you've seen it as well. The poem on it is called "Footprints," and the image is that of two sets of footsteps along the beach becoming one, as if one make of the steps is now being carried by the other.

We are never truly alone in this world. We are all connected to each other and to every living thing on this great blue ball that we call Earth, that we call Home.

My challenge to you this week is to notice and acknowledge the connections - big or small - in your life every day.

Next week's message on spiritual health is no quite clear yet, but I know it will come when I put pen to paper.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Spiritual Health - Meditation

For me, meditation is a practice of quieting the mind by focusing on the breathing. It is also a practice of acknowledging thoughts that stop by as I'm meditating and then letting them go on through rather than stopping and chatting with them a while. There is no judgement, joy, sadness or fear when the thoughts come through as I am meditating, merely a "hello, yes I acknowledge your presence as you go through my mind" and then a refocus on my breathing.

By practicing as little as three to five minutes of meditation, my mind regains clarity from what could be chaos, and is able to more sharply focus on the heart of what matters instead of the "what if," "if only," and other thoughts that breed fear and stagnation rather than growth and movement.

I meditate by either sitting cross-legged with my hands palm-up on my knees or by lying in corpse pose, on my back, feet a little bit apart, arms at my sides, my hands palm-up. In either position, I breathe slowly and purposefully in through my nose, filling my belly and lungs fully. I hold for a beat or two, or four if I am really agitated at the beginning of the meditation session, then exhale through my nose, emptying first my lungs then my belly fully. Inhale, hold, exhale.

After a few breaths like this to clear the mind and body of tension, I sit or lie quietly breathing normally for a few minutes. If thoughts begin to stay around rather than pass through, I bring my attention back to my breath for a few counts.

I find that meditating in the morning before I get ready for the day - work or weekend - helps me deal with any stressors that come up in a much calmer fashion than I once would have.

I also find that meditating prior to going to bed or even taking a nap helps me sleep better, deeper, and longer, and awake more refreshed than trying to sleep with a head full of thoughts clamoring for attention.

So, my challenge to you during this month of focus on spiritual health is to find a few minutes each day to meditate and see what changes occur within you because of it.

Next week, I'll share some other mindful activities and some thoughts from people I turn to for spiritual guidance and inspiration.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Physical Health - Recap

Over the past couple of years, we have touched on this topic several times.

Last year, during the month of May, we discussed the list of seven things successful people do on a daily basis, five of which are directly related to physical health. How many of them do you do on a daily basis?

We also learned that self image can be a saboteur to our enjoying our best physical health now. Is your self image getting in the way of your physical health?

We discussed the difference between lifestyle and d-i-e-t, and toning versus weight loss. Are you making long-term choices or chasing short term goals?

This year, we've explored practicing extreme self-care as it relates to our physical health, as well as identifying our spheres of control and influence, and the choices we make.

I hope that these posts have enlightened, inspired, and enabled you to ensure your physical health is where you want it to be, and that it is enabling you to live your best life now!

Next week is a new month, and a new topic - Spiritual Health. I will be sharing wisdom I've learned from the spiritual teachers whose writings have inspired me over the years.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Physical Health - Choices

At the beginning of the month, I asked what type of fuel do you put in your body. Do you remember how you answered that question? Or, how would you answer that question right here, right now?

I also asked if you exercised, and if so, did you give it the focus it deserves, or were you multi-tasking through it - watching TV, listening to podcasts, reading, conversing with someone else. Recent studies have shown that multi-tasking while exercising lessens the impact of the workout.

So, it is as important to make the choice to single-task our exercise routine as it is to eat healthfully.

As to eating healthfully…

Do you drink enough water during the course of the day? Most recommendations are for eight eight-ounce glasses - sixty-four ounces, or a half-gallon, or nearly two liters. If you're exercising a lot or sweating excessively due to heat or other factors, you may need more water during the course of the day.

Are you practicing portion control? For example, a serving of meat is roughly the size of your palm. May of us overindulge, particularly if we eat out. It's okay to eat half the meal and bring the rest home to eat at another time.

Are you getting enough fruits and vegetables? The current recommendation is nine servings - or four and a half cups - two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables.

There are recommendations for grains - six servings - and dairy - three servings - as well. And a serving of grains is one slice of bread or one half cup cooked rice, pasta, or oatmeal, for example. A serving of dairy is one cup of milk or one ounce - usually one slice - of cheese.

Of course, if you have food allergies or sensitivities, you have to adjust your diet accordingly.

It is highly recommended to stay away from processed food and added sugars - and diet food and drinks as well. As close to natural as possible is best for both digestion and overall health.

Now these serving recommendations are based on a 2,000 calorie diet - usually for a person in their 30s or younger who is at least moderately active (30 minutes of exercise or more per day on average). If you need less, eat less. 

Next week we'll recap the posts on physical health, and look forward to June's topic - spiritual health.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Physical Health - Spheres

One of the questions I posed in the last post was:

Do you allow yourself to get worked up by news stories or the stories of others about things over which you have no control instead of focusing on what is in your sphere of control and/or influence?

Where we focus our mental and emotional energy has as much to do with our physical health as getting enough sleep or exercise, or eating right does.

Here is a quick visual explanation of the sphere concept.

Take a piece of paper and put a dot or some small symbol of your choosing in the center of it.

Draw a circle around that dot or symbol.

This circle signifies the thing you can control. These are the things in your life that are totally yours - habits, thoughts, actions - that you have absolute control over.

Now, draw a larger circle that surrounds that first circle.

The space between the edge of the first circle and the edge of the second circle signifies your area of influence. These are the things you cannot absolutely control, however you can exert enough influence over to produce a positive outcome.

The space beyond the edge of that second circle is what you can neither control absolutely or influence significantly - the weather for example, or perhaps your required work hours. These things may cause you concern, however, you cannot exert control or influence over them.

When we get spun up about things we can control or at least influence, we can focus that energy toward accomplishing something - and usually succeed. That success makes us feel good and positive about ourselves, which influences our physical health in a positive way. When we feel good about ourselves or something we've accomplished, we tend to feel better physically too.

When we get spun up about things we are concerned about but that we cannot control or influence, we are just blasting energy out with no successful outcome. Without the reciprocal energy from a successful outcome, all we are doing is draining our energy and drawing in negativity, which has a detrimental effect on our physical health - high blood pressure, feeling run down, disturbed sleep, etc.

So, I challenge you to take the exercise above and use it to identify what you can control and influence in your life, as well as what you are concerned about but cannot control or influence.

Then, think about where you are focusing your energy. Are you focusing on that which you can control or perhaps influence in a positive way or are you wasting energy worrying about things beyond your spheres?

When you understand where your energy is going, you can then focus it toward the things you can control, or at least influence in a positive way, and stop spending energy on things you have no control over.

Over the next few weeks we will discuss the detrimental effects of multi-tasking, and making healthy choices in food and exercise.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Physical Health - Extreme Self-Care

What fuels you? Asked another way, what type of fuel do you put into your body?

Are you dependent on that cup (or cups) of coffee to get you going in the morning, or is sipping the coffee while journaling and unhurriedly starting your day part of the ritual?

Do you eat breakfast in a timely manner or do you run on fumes? What do you eat for breakfast - donuts or other processed carbs or oatmeal, fruit, eggs, and/or yogurt?

Do you drink enough water during throughout the day - about eight glasses - that is eight eight-ounce glasses or one two-liter bottle - per day?

Are you dependent on wine, beer, or other alcoholic drinks to wind down and go to sleep at the end of the day, or is a glass of wine paired with a healthy dinner, again, part of the ritual?

And let's not forget the midday meal - do you take the time to eat a nutritious lunch or do you hit the drive-thru for fast food or worse yet, skip lunch or run on sugary drinks or junk food?

Do you truly take the time to slow down and get things accomplished, or are you running on adrenaline, moving from crisis point to crisis point, putting out fires but never really accomplishing or even mapping out long-term progress?

Do you take the time to mindfully exercise or is it something you check the box on while multi-tasking - or skip altogether?

Do you get enough rest and/or sleep? Studies now show that we need seven to nine hours of restful sleep per night on average or we end up in sleep deficit. Other cultures close down at midday for siesta time. I can tell you I need at least six if not the seven to nine hours recommended to be in top form the next day, and I find myself taking a nap at least one day of the weekend - an average of two hours napping - if I've shorted myself on sleep by or for whatever reason during the week. When we are well-rested, we can handle stress - both day-to-day and crisis mode - much better.

Do you allow yourself to get worked up by news stories or the stories of others about things over which you have no control instead of focusing on what is in your sphere of control and/or influence?

All of these things have an effect on our physical health.

We are given one body to live in and take care of during our time here - how are you taking care of yours?

Over the remainder of the month, we will look into some of these things in depth.

Until next time - Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Servant or Steward?

This month's focus has been on our financial house. We started with the idea that fiscal health equals financial freedom. Then we discussed what true wealth is. in the last post, we asked what message we were sending in relation to our financial house. Finally, we come to the most important question - are we servants of our money, or are we stewards of it?

In order to have good financial health, we are to be stewards of our money, not servants to it. It serves us, not the other way around.

We are stewards of our lives - all areas of our lives. Our financial house is part of our life, so therefore we are the stewards of it.

Money is our servant, our tool. It works for us. It does what we tell it to do.

When we chose to squander it instead of save it, that is not the money's fault, that is our fault - our decision to do so.

So, how is your money serving you?

Or put another way, how are you stewarding - managing - your money?

If you are stewarding it well, it will serve you well. If not, it won't.

The month of May brings us to the topic of physical health.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - What's Your Message?

Today's gleanings are from Cheryl Richardson's book, Take Time for Your Life. This book was first published in 1998, and is still very relevant today. My personal copy is paperback, from 1999. I picked it up at a second hand store in the early 2000s, and haven't let go of it yet!

Cheryl has a chapter in this book focused just on financial health. The first question she asks is, "Can you afford to live the life you really want?"

She's not talking strictly money here, she is talking about having the freedom to make the choices that MaXIMIze your best life now.

As I've said before, our finances can seemingly be the scariest part of our lives to deal with. Cheryl points out though, that the more trouble we have with this part of our lives, the more energy is drawn away from other parts of our lives to deal with it. And yes, if we are avoiding dealing with something, we are still expending energy with that avoidance.

She also points out that how we deal with our financial life sends a message telling the Universe how worthy - or unworthy - we feel we are to have true abundance in our lives.

In order for others to invest in us, we must first invest in ourselves by ensuring we have a tidy financial house. If our checkbooks are not kept balanced, or we do not know what we owe on our credit cards, or we consistently pay late - or not at all - that sends a message of coming from a place of lack rather than a place of abundance. And like attracts like.

So, is your financial house in order? If not, what is the one thing you can do right now to move toward getting it in order?  Now, just do it!

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - True Wealth

Today, I'm going to share some of what I've learned from Mark T. Rafter's book, The Wealth Manifesto.

Mark starts off strong from the get-go. In his introduction, he lays out these three steps to achieving your goals:

1. Creating/refining your intention. Once you have what true wealth and financial freedom means to you crystal clear in your mind, then you can move on to the next step…

2. Which is declaring your intention. Write down what true wealth and financial freedom means to you. Also, lay out your major goals in this area AND the steps you need to take to get to those goals. Which means the last step is…

3. Taking action. Begin taking the steps you need to take to reach the goals you've laid out.

Remember - how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

It is up to you to take those first steps toward true wealth and financial freedom.

In his book, Mark lays out what he calls "The Articles of the Wealth Manifesto." There are 14 articles in total, reminding us that wealth, true wealth, has to do with the quality of our lives as they relate to our personal values. Money is just a tool to use in garnering true wealth.

When we hone down to what our core values are in life, and live our lives in sync with those values, we tend to be happier and more content with ourselves and our lives, which equates to coming from a place of abundance rather than a place of lack.

Also, when we are living our lives in sync with our personal values, we are building our lives on a solid foundation rather then the shifting sands of society's values and mores.

In order to determine what your core values and principles are, you can go through the exercise laid out in this post from January 2014.

When we are sure of our footing, of our foundation, we can truly begin to grow, stretching ourselves to reach whatever goals we have set for ourselves.

True wealth begins by taking the first step - what step can you take right now toward living your best life now?

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Fiscal Health = Financial Freedom

Happy, healthy, responsible.

Each of us is responsible for our own health and our own happiness - and, our own freedom.

Fiscal health equates to financial freedom as much as physical health equates to freedom from physical ills and spiritual health equates to freedom from despair.

In order to begin to improve your fiscal health, you need to take stock of where you are right now. Just as when you work to change your physical lifestyle, you track food and beverage intake, physical exercise, and change in weight and measurements, so do you need to track where your money comes from  and - more importantly - where it goes in order to identify where changes can and should be made.

Here are some things to think about and some steps you can take to either adjust the financial track you are already on or to get on the financial track you want to be on.

How much do you have coming in every paycheck, every month, every year?

Is that income adequate to:

Cover your living expenses (roof over your head, food in your belly, clothes on your back, etc.)?

Save for a rainy day (those pesky car repairs)?

Put away for retirement?

If not, why not? Where are you overspending - and possibly under earning - or do you even know?

Most articles I've read - from Suze Orman to various articles on the internet to a friend's recent T. Rowe Price mailer - will tell you the following:

Keep your credit card balances low if not fully paid off every month - your credit score is affected but the ratio of available credit to accrued debt. So less debt is better!

Have 6-12 months of living expenses saved in a place that is accessible - savings account or other accessible account that isn't your main account.

Contribute to your retirement fund - whether is is the 401K at work or an IRA - to the maximum extent possible.

If you are currently on shaky financial ground, this may seem a bit overwhelming - I understand, I've been there.

So - how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

First, figure out where you are at right now. Track every, and I mean EVERY expense. I do this in an Excel spreadsheet. Do this for at least a month, if not several months to a year. Actually, once you start, continue to do so in order to stay on top of and on track with your expenses.

Second, take a hard look at those expenses that are wants rather than true needs. Things like cable or satellite TV, internet, fancy phones (who has phones in your household and why), going out to eat or to the movies or other entertainment, and other spending rabbit holes. Hobbies, sports, books, clothing, and other spending binges that are not necessarily true needs, but may be spending on perceived wants to fulfill unfilled needs elsewhere.

Third, cut back as hard as you can - yes, until it hurts! - until you are truly fulfilling needs ONLY. For example - physical fitness is a need, however that expensive gym membership or yoga studio is not.

As you see where your money is going - and are figuring out why, then you can better make value-based decisions such as:

Why are we living where we are living?

Do we really need that second car?

Can I take public transportation instead?

What is my/our true relationship with money and why?

For that last question you may need counseling, both personal and financial, to really get at the heart of any overspending or miserly financial habits you have developed over the years.

I know this is a lot to think about, and finances can be the seemingly scariest area of our lives. However, it is a very important part of our lives, since our finances will determine how we live out the golden years of our lives.

So take a deep breath and just take it one step at a time. That is all any of us can do - take things one step at a time.

So, think on these things this week and take those first steps towards improving your fiscal health and ensuring your financial freedom in order to live your best life now.

Over the next few weeks, i will be sharing what things I have learned from various sources that have helped me to once again work toward improving my fiscal health.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Planning for Success

Many of you have heard me refer to TED Talks and TEDx. There is an awesome TEDx talk from 2014 titled Getting in Control and Creating Space by David Allen, who is a management consultant and executive coach with over 20 years experience in his field.

His message here is that we already have a natural planning model, that our brain has used since we were six months old, that works to bring our desire into reality.

It flows something like this:

1. Identify your desired outcome. What is the main reason/purpose for having this event, getting that item, accomplishing that goal?

2. Create a vision for the successful accomplishment of your desire. What does success in this particular endeavor look like as you move from here to there?

3. Generating ideas. The tension between where we are now and where we want to be causes ideas to be generated - also knowing as brainstorming. What needs to be done in order move from where we are now to where we want to be?

4. Structure - also known as outline or schedule. This is laying out the most viable, workable ideas in a logical sequence to accomplish the desired outcome.

5. Taking the next action. Identifying and then taking the very next action needed to make progress toward the desired outcome.

He also contrasted this against two more "normal" processes we very often see in the business world.

The first supposedly "normal" process he described is where we seem to jump in the middle - generating ideas - without first identifying what the desired outcome is and what that outcome looks like.

The second supposedly "normal" process he described is where we start taking action first, and then maybe work backwards through the process.  This way of working the process is actually the more common of the supposedly "normal" processes we see in the business world today.

My question to you this week is two-fold:

1. Which process do you use to take a project to fruition, either on your own or in a group?

2. Which process actually makes more sense to use to take a project to fruition?

My challenge to you for the next few months is this:

For each of the areas we will be discussing - finances, relationships, physical health, spiritual health, career, and overall well-being - use the natural process of identifying the desire/purpose/goal, creating the vision, generating ideas, laying out those ideas in a logical sequence or structure, and then finally taking the next action to achieve the desire/purpose/goal in living your best life now.

With April comes tax time and a focus on finances.I'll be sharing insights I've gleaned from Suze Orman and other sources to help all of us live our best financial lives now.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Moving Toward Your Vision

This week I've been reading Julia Cameron's book The Right to Write, and many of her exercises resonate with the subject of this post.

One of them in particular, in her chapter on Integrating, is taking 15 minutes to write out a 25-item wish list.

Another one is in her chapter on Connection and it entails taking 30 minutes and letting your "…Younger Self speak to you of its wishes, hopes, thoughts, concerns, and dreams."

And the final one I'll touch on for this post is from her chapter on Valuing Our Experience, which is listing 50 things you are proud of - nothing is too small or too large for this list.

Doing exercises like these can help clarify what is important in your life.

As the saying goes, "the unexamined life is not worth living."

If you are a long-time follower of my blogging efforts, you know this is a theme I touch on again and again. In 2013, I focused it on finding your passion. In 2014, we started with looking at the various parts of life and asking specific questions.

As you gain clarity of vision through this process, I recommend you create a Manifestation Board.

As I explain in a post from February 2014, there is a vast difference between the word "vision" and the word "manifest."

Vision - envision; to picture to oneself

Manifest - to make certain by showing or displaying

So, once you've done all this introspective work, it's time to get extrospective and manifest your clarity by finding things - pictures, words, objects - to use as icons to represent what achieving your goals and dreams will look like in your life.

If you keep your vision, your path, in front of you in a concrete manner, you are more likely to achieve your dreams and live your best life now!

If you have a Manifestation Board you'd like to share, please post photos to my Facebook page.

Next week, I'll share a TEDx talk on planning and riff on that.

Next month, we'll discuss the financial room of our house, based in part on pieces of wisdom from Suze Orman.

Until next time, focus on Manifesting your best life now, and Namaste!

MaXIMIze - The Seeds We Sow

As Spring approaches, it is time to think about what we truly want to harvest this year - "as ye sow, so shall ye reap" comes to mind.

What are you planting in your garden today?

Are you allowing weeds to come up by letting negative thoughts and habits take root in your life? Or are you encouraging those things you want to grow in your life by focusing on bringing positive thoughts, habits, and energy into it instead?

Here are some questions I've posed before, ones that are good to ask ourselves from time to time to ensure we are sowing the right seeds and encouraging the right growth in our lives:

1. What are the three  most important things in your life right now?

2. What are your three main goals in life?

3. If you only had six months to live, what would you do differently?

4. If you came into a lot of money, what would you do differently?

5. What have you always wanted to do but were afraid to try?

6. What activities give you a sense of importance and/or a sense of joy?

7. If there were no boundaries, what would you want to achieve, do, and/or have?

Take the time necessary to contemplate each question and answer it as thoroughly and authentically as possible. Consider your answers and how you can reach the path they are directing you towards.

And from a post this time last year, more questions to consider:

What are you harvesting right now? What is showing up in your life right now?

What do you want to harvest in the future? What do you want to show up in your life from now on?

Are you planting the right seeds in the right soil to be able to harvest what you want to in the future instead of growing weeds?

As I said then, the parable of the mustard seed illustrates that last question very well. The seeds sown in the well-prepared soil and tended appropriately grew and provided a bountiful harvest. The seeds sown in barren soil with no preparation or tending did not even germinate to be able to die on the vine.

So, are we willing to do the work to ensure that what we are sowing now is really what we want to harvest in the future? Are we willing to till the field, remove the rocks and cobbles, plant the seeds, water the field, and pull the weeds while the seeds we planted grow into a bountiful harvest?

I know that I want to sow positive energy that comes back to me in ripples, rapids and tidal waves - how awesome what that be to have all the goodness coming my way? Totally awesome!

We also have to work on ourselves in order to be open to receiving all that awesome goodness that we are sowing in the world today.

So my last two questions for this post to you are:

What do you choose to plant today?

Are you truly ready to harvest awesome goodness in your life now?

Over the next couple of weeks, we will discuss planning, visualizing, and manifesting our best lives now - until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - the Midas Touch - the Law of Unintended Consequences

For those who don't know the story, Midas was the king of Phrygia in Asia Minor to whom the god Dionysus granted one wish after Midas had provided for the safe return of Dionysus' foster father, the satyr Silenus. Midas wished everything he touched would turn to gold. In a version of the myth well-told during Aristotle's time, Midas starved to death due to his food and wine turning into inedible gold thanks to this gift. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1852 version of the myth, Midas turns his daughter - Zoe - into a golden statue with his embrace. In several versions, Midas, after experiencing these unintended consequences, asks Dionysus to release him from this gift turned curse. Dionysus tells Midas to wash in the river Pactolus, and that once Midas has done so, anything he put into the waters of the river would be reversed of the golden touch as well.

The moral of this story is, of course, be careful what you wish for.

So, when you are thinking the grass is greener somewhere else, go through the Five Whys and other soul-searching methods to determine what it is you truly seek. Then, determine what that really means if you implement the changes needed to gain that which you seek by running through some if/then scenarios - if I do this, then that happens - to at least the depth of the Five Whys. Be as brutally honest as possible when going through these scenarios; see the best and worst outcomes possible in order to get to the most realistic ones.

By doing this in-depth work, you will be better able to determine what it is you truly seek and if you are really prepared to pay the potential price for pursuing that which you seek. Your eyes will be more open to the possible consequences of your actions by taking the time to think things through in this manner.

Next week we begin to move into Spring, and our topic will be the Seeds We Sow - until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Motivation

What is your motivation for the progress you make in life?

Is it an external motivation or an internal motivation?

Are you focused on the goal or on the journey?

Are you waiting and hoping for something to happen or are you moving forward in faith that something will happen?

Are you motivated by Light or by Shadow?

That last question harkens back to a post I wrote in July 2012 about insecurities.

C.G. Jung said, "If the shadow is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected, and it can burst forth at any time."

What Shadow motivators are lurking in your psyche that need to be brought into the Light?

Another quote I love is:

Your thoughts have little legs that go out and create what you think about. ~ P. Hayes

What takes up your thoughts?

Where are those thoughts coming from?

You can determine this by following the Five Whys method described in a previous post.

Following your thoughts back to their Source will show you what your current motivation is and may show you why your progress in a certain area of life is stymied.

Once you identify the roadblocks to your success - and focusing on external motivations rather than internal ones is a roadblock - you can work to either remove the roadblocks from your path or find a way around them in order to continue on your way to living your best life now.

So my challenge to you this week is to follow your thoughts back to their Source.

Next week, we'll discuss The Midas Touch - the law of unintended consequences.

Until then, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Abundance vs. Lack

As we move through the season of Lent, we should ponder if we are coming from a place of abundance or from a place of lack.

What we perceive and believe we achieve.

If we think and feel we are small, we draw small things into our lives.

If we believe in big things and that we can do big things, we draw big things into our lives.

For example, some of my biggest issues have been in the area of money, of finances. A lot of that is mired in my childhood. I'd ask for something specific that I wanted and I would get either what my parents thought they could afford, or - and closer to reality - what they thought I "ought" to have. So I learned that perhaps I wasn't worthy of having what I truly wanted, and that I could never afford it anyway. So, for many years, I settled.

I settled for perceived security instead of true partnership in relationships.

I settled for second hand or second class items instead of what it was I really wanted to have.

I settled for a multitude of things rather than true abundance - the kind that comes from non-material things.

I settled for a life of lack instead of a life of abundance.

My soul, my Self, never settled though. She was always restless, always knowing there was more for me out there. She just had to wait until enough tools came into my life and enough belief came into my mind and heart to push me toward that abundance.

That relationship with money I touched on earlier? Well, now I truly believe what I clipped from a program at a Center for Spiritual Living service nearly ten years ago now. It says:

Is money a naughty word?

No, it just means

More
Opulent
Natural
Energy
Yeah!

During the last month of last year, a long and painful chapter in my financial story hit its climax. There are still some loose ends to tie up, as there are at the end of every story, however, I am truly ready to move on to the next chapter in my financial life and good things are already happening in that area!

So, what is appearing in your life - a sense of abundance or a sense of lack?

Ponder that for the week and see what truths come to you…

With next week comes March and the topics of motivation, unintended consequences, sowing seeds, and planning.

Watch for my daily messages on Facebook, and until next time - Namaste!

MaXIMIze - The Power of Words

As we approach the season of Lent - beginning on Wednesday, February 18th this year - it is important that we remember the power of words.

Words have power, mighty power, whether they are written, spoken, or thought. Words are also a conduit for energy in our lives - positive energy and negative energy.

Albert Einstein said, "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another."

This flows along with the Special Feature I posted last year about a pastor who suggested to his flock that they focus on giving up bad behaviors that bring negative energy into their lives rather than the usual things they forgo during Lent - things like chocolate, alcohol, dessert, etc.

Also, near the beginning of last year, I posted about Personal Prose and showed the difference between power words and poison words. I provided a list of power words to replace the poison ones with in that post.

My goal during this year's season of Lent is to post daily inspirational snippets to encourage the transformation of negatives into positives in your life so you can live your best life now!

Here are some examples of what I'll be posting, with thoughts and examples for each:

Change "I'd love to…" into "I'm going to…"

Transform drama into action.

Move from lack to abundance.

Transmute denial into acceptance.

If you would like to contribute to these, feel free to share your thoughts with me either via email or by commenting on this post.

Change your language, change your life!

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Optimism vs. Action

I recently read an interview of Gabrielle Oettingen, author of Rethinking Positive Thinking, by Magdalena Puniewska in The Atlantic magazine.

In this interview, Ms. Oettingen talks about a process she calls "mental contrasting" - visualizing the goal one wants to reach and then going through all the potential roadblocks to reaching that goal.

This outlook or concept is actually right in line with my coaching training and practice, as noted in the posts from this time last year on identifying roadblocks and assessing them.

Optimism and the power of positive thinking are wonderful tools, however they are only one set of tools, one piece of the puzzle as it were. While we need the belief we can attain our goals, no matter how lofty, we also need the realism to identify potential roadblocks and obstacles in our path to those goals.

This is called planning, and planning is the first step in taking goals from daydreams to reality.

Moving from dreaming to doing means being able not only to visualize where you want to be but also to be able to plan out the "how" - plan out the route to get from where you are now to where you want to be. And that means being able to identify potential roadblocks, obstacles, and issues. When you plan for a trip, you take into account traffic flow during certain parts of the day and weather conditions during certain parts of the year, right? Plotting the course from where you are now to where you want to be in life takes the same tools and skills as planning a trip.

Now to get to the title of this post - Optimism vs. Action. I know I said we'd talk about optimism versus pessimism, however when I read that article my focus shifted.

Yes, we need the optimism to dream and aim high much more than we need the pessimism of potential failure. We also need the action of planning and moving forward down our path rather than staying in the dream state of simply visualizing our rosy future.

Remember having to answer the five questions - WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW - in English class during writing assignments?

Well, you are the WHO. That vision of your rosy future is the WHAT and the WHERE.  The planning is the HOW, and moving forward down the path toward your future is the WHEN.

Now write your story; live your best life now!

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Practicing Extreme Self-Care

Yes, I know, I said we'd touch on several topics this month, including optimism vs. pessimism, abundance, and lack - and we will. However, February is the month of love - the 14th is Valentine's Day after all - and who should we foster an attitude of love and forgiveness with and for most of all? Ourselves!

We should be our own biggest cheerleaders, keeping ourselves focused on the "Yes, And" thoughts. In fact, we should be our own head cheerleader, gathering around us a team of other cheerleaders who support and encourage our goals and dreams.

I know I've said it before, however it warrants repeating over and over again - if you've ever flown, you've heard the flight attendance tell us, in case of emergency, to put on our own oxygen masks before helping those around us put on theirs.

In order to help others grow and thrive, we need to help ourselves grow and thrive first. We need to be a light unto our own path in life.

How can we save someone else if we are drowning ourselves?

So I ask you this - how are your practicing extreme self-care in your life?

Until next time, love thyself.

Namaste!

MaXIMIze - How Are You Walking in the World?

Many of you who follow the blog regularly or who know me personally know I"m a great fan/follower of TED Talks and TEDx. In fact, I find a lot of inspiration and motivation by listening to these talks, which are held in venues all over the world.

One recent talk in particular hit a chord with me for this month's blogging theme.

In the talk, titled Fool or Football Coach, Boyd White starts with a story of a young man Mr. White meets in the principal's office of the young man's high school. Mr. White asks the young man three questions.

Why are you in the principal's office?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

How do your classmates currently view you?

The young man wanted to be a football coach, however, his classmates viewed him as a fool due to the way he behaved.

In this talk, Mr. White reminds us that the journey is as important, if not more so, than the destination. It's the "how" question - how do we deal with the obstacles we encounter along the way, how do we move towards our dreams.

At one point in the talk, he hones in on the point that what you practice, you perform. You can't just "turn it on" in life - you have to practice being what it is you want to be in life - walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

So I ask you, where are your steps taking you today? Are they taking you toward your dreams, your goals, or away from them?

If they are not taking you where it is you want to go, you need to stop and redirect your path. You need to "walk in the world as you want it to be," as Mr. Boyd says in his talk.

And, as the immortal Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven says, "there's still time to change the road you're on."

So, are you truly on the path you want to go down, or are you willing to do the work to reach your dream destination?

As you ponder on that, until next week, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Reflections and the New Year

Hard to believe that this begins the 4th year of posting this blog for me. When I began the first iteration of this blog, I had a goal of helping others as I continued to grow myself. Less than a month after I started blogging, my life went into a tailspin - I got a promotion to a job I really wanted, but that in the end was much more challenging than I realized it would be, and my then-husband told me he wanted a divorce. Writing this blog and keeping focused on healing and growing myself kept me going through that first tumultuous year.

The process of writing the blog posts that y'all read - some of you on a very faithful basis! - continually proves that it is truly about progress not perfection. I look back over the past three years and see the progress I have made and it is amazing! I now have a great job that I love and a man in my life who truly accepts me as I am - two very rare gifts indeed! I am blessed with family who came together for the Christmas holiday and there was no drama - lots of noise with three grandchildren under the age of 7 of course, but no drama!

Are there still ripples from stones I've dropped in the pond in the past? Are there still weeds in the garden to be pulled? Of course there are! But the ripples are getting fewer and weaker and the weeds are becoming sparser. It took time to get to the point I was at and it takes time to get to the point I want to get to now. So I'm enjoying the learning and growth I'm experiencing along the journey as I make progress down my path.

The growth of this blog from a mere 25 entries that first year to the 49 entries in 2014 - and the compilation of some of those posts from 2012 and 2013 into my book titled Take Your Life in Your Arms and Kiss It! - is also proof of the progress I've made, particularly since becoming a Certified Professional Coach in 2013.

Organization helps too…I had themes for every month and topics for every week in 2014, and I have the same for 2015!

For the rest of January, we will be talking about Passion and Persistence.

In February, we will discuss Optimism versus Pessimism, Abundance versus Lack, and what truly is your motivation.

We'll start March off with the Seeds We Sow and Unintended Consequences, and review what our current satisfaction levels are in the areas of health, finances, career, relationships, spiritual well-being, and overall well-being.

For April through September, we will focus on each of those six areas, one per month, much like we did with last year's posts.

In October, we will look at what we have harvested this year, and why.

November is our month of Gratitude, and December ends our year with Celebration!

If you have been with me as a long-time loyal reader - Thank You for your support and welcome back for another year!

If you are a new reader, Welcome, and please read the previous years' posts to glean more goodness for your life!

Until next week then, Namaste!