When I came across the quote below from Victor Frankl this morning, I decided to take it into meditation so that I might absorb it more fully.  When I read this quote, it seemed to resonate with a chord deep inside me.  In this article, I share from my meditation, mindfulness practice, and experience as a life coach for women about a mindfulness practice for developing our emotional IQ and becoming a giver of light.

“To give light one must endure burning.”
—- Victor Emil Frankl

For me, I feel that giving light and love is my highest calling.  As a Life Coach for Women I am always striving to be a giver of light and support my clients in developing their own awareness of being givers of light.  When I am in a pure space of Presence and allowing the Light to shine through me, it is that sense of Oneness that feels right and clear and open.  It is what I believe is our True Nature.  And we are meant to share the beauty of our true nature.

What we find is that there are all degrees of being able to experience the light and Presence.   There may be a bit of fogginess or confusion that makes it a the light seem less bright and also harder to share with others.  Then there are times when I can’t sense the light at all.  When there are hurts or fears or doubts, the light seems dim or hard to experience.  By working with these emotions, I have come to know that when fearful, I have somehow allowed thoughts and emotions to cover up my access to the light.  I can be both aware of this, and also unable to find my way back to the Light easily.

A mindfulness practice called Awareness of Emotions that I recommend in my work as a life coach for women and practice daily myself, is very helpful in returning to the Presence so that I may be a giver of light.  It is the process of going deeply into completely experiencing the physical components of an emotion.  When we focus attention on the physical sensations in the body of fear or sadness, and remove the focus from thinking and thoughts, an opening occurs, a softening in the heart.

Our egos don’t want to believe this, but mindful sitting with the discomfort in the body, the tension, the tightness, the restlessness, with attention and compassion for our authentic experience is a doorway into the Light. By lovingly bringing awareness to the upset (without the stories), soon we find the warmth that is the Light has always been there within.

This is not an easy mindfulness practice.  It can be extremely intense to feel fear or emotional pain in the body. And I believe that Victor Frankl gave a good description of this practice, saying we  “must endure burning”.  That is why Frankl’s quote struck a chord within me.  In order to be a giver of light, I know I must endure the burning of facing and loving my own pain to be able to be a giver of light.

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The Feminine is the embodiment of heart energy.Her key qualities are compassion and the ability to accept and honor the process of whatever is happening.Perhaps this is often easier for women because we are physically and emotionally programmed to honor the cycle of conception, pregnancy, and birth to welcome and include whoever may be born from that long, mysterious process.

Contrary to the idea that women are overemotional, the Divine Feminine is well grounded emotionally and has the capacity to bring all of her energy to exactly where she is in the moment.Feminine energy accepts the paradoxes of life and has the ability to hold them within her heart simultaneously.Feminine energy connects deeply with the Earth and all of her children, feeling for and with them. Read more of Qualities of the Divine Feminine From “The Courage to Be Yourself” by Sue Patton Thoele

The Gratitude holiday, Thanksgiving, is upon us.  Time for giving thanks.  But just in case you are feeling a little low on appreciation, let’s make sure we are filled to the brim with gratitude before giving thanks.  Don’t you just love the feeling of appreciation and gratitude?  It really is an attitude, or state of being that feels warm and loving.  So why do we need to be reminded with a holiday?  I’m proposing that we live every day as a day of Thanksgiving as a mindfulness practice.

As a life coach for women, I truly recognize the duty and service that women offer to the world.  They give endlessly to everyone – their children, spouses, parents, extended families, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and organizations, too.  Women are Divinely designed to give.  And we are also designed to give thanks.  But sometimes, because of all the giving, we can become so worn out, it’s can be hard to feel that warm, loving sense of gratitude.  Instead, we may be feeling worried about someone or a situation, and not sure how to help.

If you are having trouble feeling grateful in the midst of all the cooking, cleaning, planning, and caring for others, here are some mindfulness practices to reconnect you with your grateful heart, your divine right to an attitude of gratitude, no matter what is happening around you.

First, we want to give ourselves permission to BE grateful for no reason whatsoever.  That’s right, just be grateful because you choose to be.  Whenever we try to attach the feeling of appreciation and gratitude to an event, it loses it’s spaciousness and expansiveness.  The real sense of gratitude is a warm feeling in the heart, an acceptance and love for all that is – regardless of what you perceive as good or bad in the outside world.  So for example, we may have many problems or none at all, but we can recognize the experience of appreciation for a cold drink of water or a breath of fresh air.  It’s the practice of BEING that we are grateful for.  The moments when we can feel truly alive and present, without judgment or concerns.  So at any moment you can give this to yourself.  At any moment you can enter the state of being by just appreciating a single breath or noticing the freedom of a movement, feeling the energy within your body.

Usually, we are prone to feel grateful when we are out in nature.  We see the beauty and it transports us into a state of just being and appreciating.  Give this to yourself every day.  Revel in the sunrise or sunset, feel the sun on your back, or the breeze in your hair, whatever is present is a reason to feel appreciation.  When I engaged as a life coach for women I often suggest a visit to a beautiful spot in nature, which can bring you back to the grateful state effortlessly.

So many times, we feel anything but grateful because of some challenge we face.  An illness, financial worries, relationship problems.  By switching your focus to the mindfulness practice of being grateful for the very simplest of experiences, you can cultivate and reconnect with a grateful heart.  Being here and now, take a long slow breath in and out, simply noticing the air movement and the relaxation that comes with a relaxing breath.  Focus your attention on your heart and begin to breath in and out of the heart area.   Allow yourself to feel the aliveness in your heart and imagine great warmth and light there.   As you do, bring to mind something that you feel true appreciation and gratitude for.  It could be someone you love, or something natural like your favorite place in the mountains or beach.  When you experience that feeling of appreciation, keep expanding it and nurturing it until it is full and rich and wonderful in the heart area.  This is an attitude of gratitude – no matter what is going on in the world.  Give this to yourself.  Revel in the feeling.  You will begin to feel so full and blessed, that you will know you have much to give and much to give thanks for.

Blessings for a Thanksgiving of Mindfulness Practices for Gratitude!

It’s important and valuable to have a life direction.  However, there seems to be a lot of confusion about how to create or connect with your personal inspired vision for your life.  In this article, I hope to provide some insight in just what a life vision comprises, and the qualities of a life vision that will inspire and motivate you and others around you.

There’s some confusion around the concepts we call vision, purpose and mission statements.  What I’ve come to realize is that a life vision is much more expansive and powerful than either purpose or mission.  Purpose and mission are necessarily more narrow and tend to include aspects of measurement and comparison or judgment.  Whereas, vision does not.  Vision does provide direction, but it open and takes you beyond the land of measurements.

A vision is actually a “view” or image of what truly inspires you.  It’s a big picture of the greater possibilities for your life.  When you create your life vision (or rather get in touch with it, because spiritually, it is already there waiting for you to access it) it becomes the inspiration for your every action and focus.  It is the view that will help you create powerful goals and action plans.

A life vision is unlimited because it isn’t a finite landing place.  It’s more of a powerful launching pad.  It will contain possibilities for expansion and growth and development as it fosters new ideas and openings.  And most importantly, a powerful life vision will inspire you and others to take action.

Furthermore, a Life Vision is a powerful picture or image that when held in mind it actually transforms the state of mind of the viewer.  It has the power to expand the mind into the realm of great possibility and inspiration.  It energizes and uplifts your state of being into the higher realm of possibility, joy and creativity.  It also takes you out of the realm of right and wrong and judgment and comparisons.  It brings everyone into a space of present moment creativity.  It isn’t a “future” reality.  It can be seen and felt here and now.

Here are three steps to help you begin to access your life vision.  You can use these for any aspect of your life – health, relationships, career, spirituality, etc.

1) First, enter into a meditation that brings you out of the realm of your day-to-day concerns and into the space of presence and peace.  This is the space where we can here the voice of our higher selves.

2) Let yourself begin to imagine the highest possibility for your life, letting your creativity expand into pictures that you can actually see, taste and feel as they come alive in your imagination

3) Write down what you see – describe the picture.  Describe the view of “how it is” in the realm of possibility.

To help you with this, here is a portion of my life vision.

I see that through my work as a personal life coach for women, clients are powerfully supported for personal and spiritual growth and transformation, so that they may face life’s challenges with courage and wisdom and create their lives with meaning, vision and joy through mindful living.  I see the positive spiritual growth of women living more mindfully and joyfully as a ripple effect, spreading out to bless others – children, spouses, friends, parents, co-workers, communities, the world.

Enjoy creating your new life vision!

We have all been advised to smile – that we can make someone’s day brighter by offering a smile.  And if we smile, people may be more open and cooperative.  These are good reasons to smile, and this article is about the real power of of smiles.  Smiling has the power to transform you, not just a power to effect others responses to you.

It has been scientifically proven that movement of the body effects our mood.  There are the well known studies on how running or other aerobic exercise produces endorphins which uplifts the mood.  In fact, exercise is one of the best natural remedies for depression.  And then of course, there’s the practice of yoga, which has been scientifically studied for years.  Yoga practice improves health, and yoga movement has a definite impact on mood.

So what about the very simple subtle body movements?  What about a smile or a frown?  This tip from a personal life coach for women is to smile often and here’s why.

We normally think of these movements as being caused by our mood, rather than the other way around.  But if you study the eastern religions you will find that many of these spiritual teachers incorporate subtle body position as a spiritual practice.  For example, keeping the back straight during meditation helps with clarity.  Having eyes focused slightly downward allows for minimal mental agitation without going to sleep.  These subtle movements make a difference on mood and consciousness.

Is there an impact of the subtle movement of a smile? Tich Nhat Hanh, well known Zen monk and author of over 50 books on mindfulness practice and meditation, includes the instruction of a slight smile as part of the meditation posture.  His teaches that when we move our lips into a slight smile,  regardless of our current mood,  our consciousness is shifted and elevated.  The movement creates an Inner Smile, the ability to smile at life, welcoming it with gentleness.  And this has a major impact on our consciousness.

So it is that just the simple movement of turning up the corners of your mouth in a smile will impact how you feel.  It will shift your consciousness to peace and joy, even if ever so slightly.  The states of joy and peace then have a positive effect on your health.  And the more you practice it, the more readily it will shift.  The best part about the mindfulness practice of smiling is that you can do it anywhere.  Like focusing on your breath, it is something you can do in any moment to create that shift in consciousness.

And isn’t that one of the reasons we meditate?  Most who seek a life coach for women, are wanting to return to the inner peace or one’s true nature, which is gentle, loving and peaceful.  Now that’s something to smile about!

For many, the holiday season is stressful – time, money, family demands, travel, end of year deadlines – the list goes on. Sometimes experiencing sanity seems like a more reasonable goal than experiencing joy! Then, to compound the matter, we often become overly concerned for the joy of family members, friends, co-workers. Though well intentioned, all this concern tends to put even more stressful energy into the holiday craze, fueling the fires of overwhelm.

Joy is always found within. In the time of holiday parties, fancy decorations, family gatherings – and shopping! – it’s easy to start thinking that joy might be found in something outside of ourselves. But if we look within to experience joy, we can then en-Joy our situations. That is, we can infuse our environment with joy from our own calm, loving center. The joy we cultivate within makes our whole world an enjoyable place. The stresses still exert their pressures, but we meet them with a sense of peace and hope. Read more of En-Joy the Holiday! (or ANY day)

I agree with Jacob Glass that gratitude is the mind’s natural anti-depressant. “Gratitude is spitting in the eye of the ego. It’s throwing a bucket of water on the wicked witch….If you never remembered any other spiritual practice in your life, gratitude would be enough.” (from his new book The Crabby Angels Chronicles“.

The Feminine is the embodiment of heart energy. Her key qualities are compassion and the ability to accept and honor the process of whatever is happening. Perhaps this is often easier for women because we are physically and emotionally programmed to honor the cycle of conception, pregnancy, and birth to welcome and include whoever may be born from that long, mysterious process.

Contrary to the idea that women are overemotional, the Divine Feminine is well grounded emotionally and has the capacity to bring all of her energy to exactly where she is in the moment. Feminine energy accepts the paradoxes of life and has the ability to hold them within her heart simultaneously. Feminine energy connects deeply with the Earth and all of her children, feeling for and with them.

The following list of feminine qualities – the vision of ourselves the Divine Feminine whispers in the stillness of our hearts – is by no means complete. You will be able to add many of your own.

THE DIVINE FEMININE IS….. Read more of Qualities of the Divine Feminine From “The Courage to Be Yourself” by Sue Patton Thoele

To support your mindful transition from 2009 to 2010….

Please share your favorite Tolle quotes – or any others!

Enthusiasm means there is a deep enjoyment of what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. … You will feel like an arrow that is moving toward the target – and enjoying the journey.

Knowing yourself deeply has nothing to do with whatever ideas are floating around in your mind.  Knowing yourself is to be rooted in Being, instead of lost in your mind.

Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you.

No matter how active we are, how much effort we make, our state of consciousness creates our world, and if there is no change on that inner level, no amount of action will make any difference.

What you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself.

The source of all abundance is not outside you.  It is part of who you are….The acknowledgment of that abundance that is all around you awakens the dormant abundance within.  Read more of My favorite Eckhart Tolle quotes

Maybe you saw it on Oprah? It is part of an international project called Complaint Free Living. I’m finding it requires a high degree of mindfulness!

The process is simple: You put a bracelet on one wrist and wear it there until you complain about something. When that happens, you switch the bracelet to the other wrist. Remember, gossip and criticism are forms of complaining! Each and every time it happens, you switch the bracelet. The goal is to keep the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 days in a row.

Read more of My newest mindfulness secret is a purple bracelet