Higher Purpose Intuition: The Most Extraordinary Type of Intuition

Are you fulfilling your Divine mission in life? If so, you are most likely in tune with your level 4 intuition, that which is known as your Higher Purpose intuition. Vishen Lakhiani states that, “This is the most useful and the most amazing level of intuition. At this level, your subconscious mind works with you and your intuition guides you to move towards your life purpose. People with this ability are amazingly successful in the stock market or business. Take a look at Sir Richard Branson; he works with over 300 partners, yet he knows within 60 seconds of meeting a person whether to establish a professional relationship or not.”

A person that is well in tune with this type of intuition will be working in alignment with what (s)he knows to be his or her divine mission in life. It is very common for this type of person to meditate daily, to listen intently to that inner voice when making decisions and to trust that their intuition will guide them in the proper direction. They do this with a firm knowing and a sense of purpose. Lakhiani rightly states that a person who is living to his full potential uses their subconscious mind to give them the momentum and the push they need to help them complete their life’s purpose. They are highly intuitive beings that are making a maximum impact on the world.

Wow! That’s powerful stuff! In other articles, I’ve spoken about creating a network of people who can help you get to your goals. I highly recommend including a few Higher Purpose intuitives in your network for maximum impact! These people can not only help you get to where you want to go, they can help you to get there fast and inspire you along the way!

So let’s bring this discussion on intuition home, right to our front doorstep.

“How can I personally learn to tap into my own intuition? How can I develop it so that it is so strong, there’s no mistaking it for my imagination?”

Good question! And I’m glad you asked!

If you would like to tap into this hidden power within you, there are several things you can do to develop your various intuitions (all of which have been discussed in other articles).

If you followed my earlier advice to take up meditation, then you are likely beginning to already experience some of its benefits. University of Arizona’s Stuart Hameroff, MD, said that “when you meditate and attain nothingness . . . it isn’t quite nothingness. You move more deeply into the basic fabric of the universe and actually become more consciously a part of it.”

However, here is where you will receive great serendipity: in the area of increased intuition. Why?

Because of the way your brain works or functions. If a medical professional were to connect you up to an EEG (electro encephalogram), they would be able to measure your brainwaves in CPS (cycles per second). The CPS would range anywhere from .5 (half a cycle) for a person in deep sleep (known as a Delta state) to 85 cycles per second for a person experiencing an epileptic seizure.

Brian Johnson says that “The normal higher end is closer to 40 CPS” and offers this chart for a more complete understanding:

Brain States    CPS      Qualities

Delta                  ½ -4 - Deep, unconscious sleep

Theta                 5-7 - Deep, comfortable sleep

Alpha                8-13 - REM sleep- Meditation- Health restoration

Beta                   14-40 - Conscious, aware state

> 21 CPS = stress, anxiety

< 19 CPS = genius creativity

“First, know that the higher our brain waves’ CPS, the more agitated we are,” Johnson says. “We’re stressed any time our CPS goes over 21. Knowing this, we (obviously) want to avoid hanging out at > 21 CPS. How? Start by recognizing the fact that there’s an absolute correlation between how quickly our brain is moving (as measured by our CPS), how quickly our thoughts are jumping around, and how much agitation/inability to focus/stress we’re experiencing.”

Intuition is incredibly difficult to tap into when our brainwaves are operating at a frequency of greater than 21 cycles per second. In fact, any kind of rational thinking becomes difficult when our brainwaves are operating at greater than 21 CPS… and the higher the cycles per second, the more difficult it is to think clearly. We lose not only the ability to tap into our intuition, but also our ability to reason. Ever see a person fly into a rage?

In order to access our intuition, we need to slow our brainwaves down to between 4 and 14 CPS and meditation is an excellent way to do that.

Karim Hajee says, “You can hardly open a major news publication these days without seeing yet another scientific study raving about the incredible benefits of meditation. Meditation has been proven to extend your life… create more happiness… increase inner peace… lower stress levels… increase mental clarity… and resolve long-standing emotional problems, including fear, anxiety, depression, anger, and substance abuse.”

It will also lower the frequency of your brainwaves.

In addition to meditation, build relaxation into your lifestyle as much as possible. Many a brilliant business idea has been spawned on the golf course, after all.

Find as many ways as possible to just generally slow down and relax. Even if it’s simply a hot bubble bath at the end of the work day or a walk in the park on the weekend.

When you get into the habit of leading a slower-paced, more relaxed life, mentally, and not allowing your thoughts to jump all over the place, you can begin to recognize intuitive thoughts and messages coming to you from a variety of sources. Engage your five senses (and beyond). Recognize that any of our senses can be utilized to intuitively receive information.

Let’s assume that you are working to solve a problem. Slow the frequency of your brainwaves down, then use your logical, reasoning mind to ask the question. (for example, “How can I get little Johnny to willingly WANT to do his homework every night?”) After you ask the question,… sense… listen… watch… feel… even taste and smell for information.

It is possible the answer may come to you right away in the form of ‘knowing’. What often happens, though, is that later that day (or the next day) we will see an article in the newspaper that just so happens to directly answer our question or we will be having a conversation with someone who ‘coincidentally’ happens to mention that their kid just loves to do homework.

We hear a song on the radio or see a film that speaks directly to us, in answer to our question. A random road sign. A scent that causes us to recall a long-forgotten memory, which memory happens to be the answer we were looking for. A sound of water dripping or a pen clicking. You never know.

In an internet forum’s discussion on intuition, one man stated that he felt like he really needed to get in touch with a friend he had lost contact with. “That night,” he said, “I went to sleep and dreamed that I was in a car and saw my friend across the road. I called her name and waved and made a sign for her to telephone me. The next day she called. I have had several dreams of this nature, which usually occur when (before going to sleep) I ask to be given a dream in answer to a dilemma or decision I have to make.”

Multibillionaire Bill Bartmann uses this same technique.

Intuitive answers can come from any variety of sources. You can dismiss them as coincidence and therefore close your mind to them or you can accept them as answers from the universe, or an unexplained method of ‘knowing things’ and encourage your intuition to strengthen itself.

If you wish to begin working in alignment with your higher purpose, I would recommend following Bartmann’s and Richard Branson’s examples and develop your sensitivity to what is within you by allowing your intuitions to take center stage, instead of dismissing them.

Bill Harris said, “The human brain has the quality of plasticity or malleability throughout life—if it receives the kind of stimulation that allows it to grow and adapt.” The same holds true for developing intuition.

Slowing down your mind and tuning in to signals, thoughts, and feelings are the keys. Jose Silva and Burt Goldman state that “as with any endeavor, you will improve as you practice. Improvement in this case means that ultimately you will simply close your eyes, take a deep breath, and be at [a] level” where you can readily access your intuitive responses.

The more you enjoy your meditation, the quieter your mind will become. The happier and more relaxed your mind is, the easier and more natural your receiving will be.

So chill out and tune in. You may just find your life’s purpose.

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach
Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine. She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements. More information can be found at her website: http://shelleydudley.biz.

If You Have Everything Under Control, You’re Not Moving Fast Enough!

by guest writer, Scott Cameron Dudley (no relation)

Striving to gain control, working to have everything just right, waiting for the perfect moment, delaying until everything lines up… If this describes your approach to your goals, your life or your career – you are going to be relegated to the slow lane of life where few opportunities and fewer rewards reside.

It has often been said that entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart and that the path to real success is a messy road. Occasionally it is even a little hard to watch, with so many ups and downs, moments of sheer terror, days of hanging on by a thread, soaring highs countered by free-falling failures, the pressure of having a tiger-by-the-tail and many moments of momentum and madness – but the end result is extraordinary! So in a way it is kind of like someone who loves sausage – wonderful to eat but you really never want to watch it being made!

With the previous description of the path to success and achievement some may ask why pursuit it? Those who ask are generally those who have never experienced the rush of peak performance living for themselves. Those who need absolute control to function will never truly enjoy in the sunshine on the peaks and mountaintops of success.

Achievement comes as we learn to gain confidence in moving at a pace a little faster than we are used to. Quick, but not rushed, pressing but never stressing. Learning to live in a world where things are not perfect, where you may not have all the information you want or where you may not have the perfect team or perfect presentation is vital to accomplishing your goals.

You must be careful not to fall into the pattern of the old analysis paralysis or perfectionist procrastination syndromes. Each represents a major inhibitor to your pace and speed. The world and business markets are ever accelerating and your ability to move swiftly, even when feeling a bit out of control, will determine what you achieve. A race car driver and crew can tinker forever on a myriad of parts and processes, but if they are forever returning to the pits or slowing down to check one more thing, the competition will literally run circles around them.

Obviously it is important to do everything you can to be in control, to have a plan and to execute, but keep in mind as you move forward, especially if you are moving at a good pace, there will always be challenges, obstacles, roadblocks and course corrections to make – while you continue to move fast. Remember, sloppy success is always better than perfect procrastination.

Mario Andretti, as one of the great racecar drivers of all time knew a thing or two about speed and about winning. He was right, “If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough.” And you will not win!

Entrepreneur Scott C. Dudley lives in Perth, Australia, and his blog (all about inspiring others to find the entrepreneurial spirit within) can be found at http://scott-c-dudley.com/.

Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach, has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training.  After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

Intuition and Creativity: Are the Two Linked?

In previous articles, I’ve talked about the power of tapping into your intuition, how your intuition can spare you from harm, and how intuition can help your career or business.  In this article, I’d like to discuss how intuition can enhance your creativity.

Successful inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, designers, writers, and others have, to their great credit, learned to access and pay close attention to their creative intuition.  But what about you?  Is there any benefit there for you, personally?

Thomas Edison once said that “ideas come from space.”  When they did for him, he was tapping into his creative intuition.

Creative intuition is that intuition which, not only brings us brilliant ideas, ideas our logical mind could never come up with on its own, but also streamlines the creative process for us, aiding us in solving difficult problems, creating art and music, designing things, including engineering or architectural designs, and becoming more attuned to our own feelings and the health of our relationships.

Vishen Lakhiani says that “history is filled with countless stories of how creative intuition has aided in the creation of inventions, art, and designs. Even businesses have grown and flourished because of intuition.”  Microsoft, Apple, and Google are modern examples of just that.  He tells the story of Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine:

“He was struggling for years to come up with the design for the sewing machine needle. One night he had a dream where he was surrounded by cannibals who were holding spears with holes in them. This gave him the idea that the thread hole for the sewing needle had to be at the tip of the needle and not at the top. That was how the sewing machine was invented.”

When Shari Repasz Schwendener created her dance suite, ‘128’, she said in March 2005, “The idea came to me in a traffic jam on 128 – not that I would create a dance suite, but looking at all the huge cars with only one perfectly groomed person [in each car] with all the ‘right’ things… cell phones, note pads, sharp clothes, perfect hair. Then it hit me, IT isn’t about the stuff, it’s about why we are here. Our relationships, the causes we make. Over the next 9 years, through conversations, observations and growing, ‘128’ has morphed into what you see tonight.”

When Shari was sitting in that nasty snarl of traffic, did she realize that tapping into her creative intuition would later yield, arguably, her best work to date?

How about you?  Are you accessing your creative intuition to create your very best work?  Are you using it to enhance your leisure activities?  Add your comments below to tell us how you’re tapping into and using your creative intuition.

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach

Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

Intuition and Business: How Could They Be Related?

In a previous article, I talked about the power of tapping into your intuition and how your intuition can spare you from harm or even save lives (yours and others).

But, what else can intuition do?  Hay, Jung, and Orloff have already alluded to its creative abilities.   However, Vishen Lakhiani, gives a bit deeper insight when he says that “there are 4 levels of intuition.  Level 1 is your warning system.  Level 2 revolves around your social intuition.  Level 3 is your creative intuition and level 4 is higher purpose intuition.”

We’ve already discussed your early warning system in a previous article and if you haven’t yet tapped into that and begun using it, I would highly recommend you do!  It could just save your life!

But what is this level 2 social intuition Lakhiani talks about and how could it possibly improve your career?

Social Intuition is a highly attuned function found commonly in twins and also in people who have empathetically learned to sense the moods and thoughts of those they are emotionally close to, like a mother sitting in the living room, sensing that her son on the other side of the globe is in danger.  Or one twin finishing the other’s sentences.  The best of the world’s leaders have developed this type of intuition and when utilized in business as a means of sensing the thoughts and moods of staff and customers, serves managers well.

Deborah Allen tells the story of her daughters’ intuition:
When my identical twin girls, Ashley and Rachael, were about a month old, Rachael developed a very high temperature.  I took her to the doctor and he immediately admitted her to hospital.  As I had another baby and a two year old at home I was unable to stay with Rachael at the hospital. The first night away from home Rachael was very restless and would not settle.  Ashley was the same, she just would not settle.  The next night was the same.
As Rachael was still unwell, the doctor decided to keep her in hospital for another night, but asked if I could take Ashley to the hospital and leave her there the night to see if either of the girls would settle.  They both slept soundly all night!  The staff at the hospital were amazed.  It appeared that at such a young age the girls knew their sister was not there!  The girls slept in separate bassinets on opposite sides of my bed.
My girls are now 16 and are still extremely close.  They share the same room still and they have the same group of friends.  They sometimes appear to communicate to each other without talking (although they don’t realize that they do it) and they often finish each other sentences or answer questions for each other.
This mental telepathy Allen describes is a form of social intuition and is not just restricted to twins.
B. Andrews of White Plains, New York tells an embarrassing story of a colleague’s use of social intuition:
I work for an advertising agency as a copywriter and I want to relay my experiences with a graphic artist, which [experiences] never fail to astonish me.
Her name is Angel and she is truly an angel.
The way we work it here in the office is I’m given an assignment, usually a product for which to create an ad.  I’ll write the copy, then arrange a meeting with Angel so she can do the artwork.
Our mission is to create an ad or ads that people will be drawn to and remember.  When I first sit down with Angel, I am usually geared up to present her with my ideas, but most of the time she simply picks up on my thoughts and starts sketching ideas that I have in my mind.
I don’t know how she does it, but time after time she usually hits it on the mark.  She has the ability to climb inside my head, and it’s both fascinating and unnerving.
One minor problem is she is quite beautiful and sexy, but we stay careful not to get personal as our company has strict policies about ‘extra-curricular’ activities.  The problem, of course, is sometimes I can’t take my eyes off her and she knows exactly what I’m thinking.  I mean to the last detail, if you know what I mean.
It has happened more than once when I have a vision of the two of us in a compromising position, and she has whispered in my ear, “Nice thought but forget it buster.”
Fortunately she has a good sense of humor, but it is unnerving knowing she can sense what I am envisioning.  It helps in creating an advertising campaign but embarrassing when I’m thinking of ‘other’ things.
I guess Andrews forgot to keep his ‘business hat’ on.
Another example of social intuition in the workplaceis that of The DeMoss Group.  Mark DeMoss, CEO, had a strong connection with his social intuition.  He wanted to create a strong company with happy employees, like any CEO would.  Being in tune with his intuition, DeMoss sensed “that without good people—trusted, professional, respected, motivated, inspired, rested people—I have no firm.”  His intuition told him that after five years of dedicated hard work his employees needed a sabbatical and that he should give them five weeks off work to rest and have recreation.

His rational mind reasoned that this was just not possible.  The company would suffer financially, his clients would miss key people and go to another firm, the added workload would be stressful for other staff, etc.  There were any number of logical reasons he could think of not to give his employees an extended vacation.

Yet, on a leap of faith he decided to trust his intuition and when his first employee (the VP of the company, Beth) approached her five year anniversary, he announced his plans to all staff members.  They were each to be given a five week paid vacation on their fifth anniversary, in which they were to have no contact with the company, were not allowed to take work with them, nor could they stay in touch with staff while they were away.  It was intended to be a true vacation.  “In return,” DeMoss said, “I asked only that the person taking a sabbatical commit to spend at least one more year with us.”

“Beth used her time away that year to hike the north coast of Maine, visit family and friends in North Carolina and Virginia, and spend time doing nothing at all. Meanwhile,” DeMoss said, “I confess that until she walked back in the front door—our first experiment in this perk—I hadn’t realized that I could hold my breath for five weeks. During that time, we didn’t speak once. To my delight, the wheels of the firm rolled on as the team deftly covered Beth’s client work (realizing others would do the same for them when their sabbatical rolled around).  Just as sweet was Beth’s summary statement on her weeks away: ‘The timing was impeccable, you’ll never know,’ she said, blowing in these days with fresh winds and new energy. She thanked me as if I’d known all along that like a car stuck in stop-and-go city traffic, after five years a person needs to flush the buildup in her mental engine.”

Looking at statistics, we see that 40 percent of all America’s workers feel disconnected from their employers; two-thirds come to work with scant motivation to help achieve their employers’ business goals or objectives; 25 percent admit to showing up just to collect a paycheck.  Little wonder then that DeMoss was very glad that instead of following logic and reason, and inadvertently allowing his best resources to burn out, he listened to his social intuition.

So how about you?  Are you tapping into your social intuition and using it to get ahead in your career?  Post your comments and let us know.

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach

Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

The Power of Intuition

Richard Branson once said, “Whenever I experience any kind of setback, I always pick myself up and try again…  Look outside the box and try and find a solution.  You’ll be surprised how many great opportunities and possibilities arise when things look bad.  You’ve just got to open your mind and not be afraid of sticking your neck out … Fear is the only thing that stops people acting intuitively and going with their gut.”  He was so right.

According to the dictionary, intuition is the act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.  Psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, in Psychology Types (1923) described intuition as “a perception of realities which are not known to the conscious, and which goes via the unconscious.”

Yet somehow, that doesn’t quite describe the power or impact intuition can have in our lives when we learn to tap into it and use it.  Human beings are far more powerful than they realize.  Learning to tap into our intuition helps us to understand this.

José Silva and Burt Goldman said that “when you understand the mechanism of the mind, you can control your life better.”  So in order to control our lives better, let’s see if we can grasp this thing called intuition.

The intellect (our rational thinking mind) requires intuition to function at maximum performance.  In other words, our capacity to reason can only get us so far.  Intuition, Jung said, is not merely a perception, but a creative process with the capacity to inspire.  By adding intuition to our intellect, we create a synergistic effect where one plus one does not equal two.  It equals three or four or more.  We add to our logic a creative process with the capacity to understand anything far better than solely our rational mind could and with the enormous capacity to inspire… both ourselves and others!

“Entrenched patterns,” Charles W. McCoy, Jr. said of the logical mind, “become extremely difficult to change, as Galileo discovered when he suggested, counter to Church dogma, that the earth does not occupy the center of the universe.”  The head of the Church was thinking with his logical, rational mind, while Galileo was using his intuitive mind.

Traditionally trained physician, Judith Orloff states that “intuition is a potent form of inner wisdom not mediated by the rational mind. It can be experienced as a flash of insight, a gut feeling, a hunch, a sensation of energy, or a dream… It will help you make decisions that inwardly feel right and reconnect with what you really care about. Finding your inner voice can give you the confidence and wisdom to face anything; following it is key to living a passionate, high-energy life.”

Have you ever heard a wee quiet voice in your head telling you to do or not do something?

“Don’t sign that contract!  You’ll be sorry!”

“Quick!!! Get off the freeway!!!”

“You need to go see the doctor.”

Often this inner voice will give us messages of safety, telling us things that, if we listen to them, will either save our lives or our health.  In this situation, people will usually say they ‘had a gut feeling,’ however unexplained, ‘a knowing’ that, if asked, they would not have been able to substantiate.

On the day of the September 11^th, 2001 World Trade Center incident, for example, an unusually large number of people reported a feeling of dread before going to work in New York City.  Why is that?  Intuition.  Those people had ‘a hunch’ that something bad would happen that day.

Karim Hajee tells a personal story, an experience that I’ve had myself on the very same freeway!  He says:

Several years ago I was in Seattle – a city I’m somewhat familiar with but not completely knowledgeable of all the streets. I recall driving along near Pike Place Market – trying to figure out how to get back on to Interstate 5 and head north. Finally I figured out how to get back on the freeway – and decided to speed up a little.  The car in front of me was going rather slow so I thought about passing it – but something didn’t sit right – so I just stayed behind him. A minute later another car zipped past us both.  It was not more than 20 feet ahead of us going through a green light when another car smashed into it.  The other car was going through a red light. We had to stay and talk to the police, but my instincts saved me!  That could have been me in the accident had I chosen to pass the car a minute earlier – but I trusted my gut and stayed put.

How about you?  Have you had an experience like Hajee’s where your intuition saved you from danger?  It’s not uncommon.

But saving us from danger is not intuition’s only function and, when used solely for this purpose, is under-utilizing a tremendous resource… sort of like using a directed trickle from the Colorado River to water your garden, not realizing that it also has the capacity to forge the Grand Canyon for you.

So what else can intuition do?  Tune in to my next article to find out!

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach

Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

5-DAY CHALLENGE

By guest author, Jennifer Scott

Most of us get so frustrated when we “hit a wall” that we put all our energy into the feelings of frustration. Not the solutions.

There are always solutions – no matter what the problem. But when we hit that wall, it feels as though there’s no way out.

I’m throwing down a 5-day challenge to you. Five steps. One step a day so that by Day Five, I know you’ll feel better, different, more open and more aware of the power you have right inside you.

Many of you have let me know about the various mental frustrations you’re going through right now. Times are tough! There’s Procrastination, Your Golf Score, Low Self Esteem, Finances, Health Issues, No Work, Time Management, Weight Loss, Smoking, Doubts, Fears, Too Many Thoughts, and I know there are many, many more.

We live in challenging times, and it’s important to learn how to quiet your Mind. Underneath the turmoil of those nagging thoughts is a feeling of peace, a quiet calm. Once you reach this state, you’ll awaken a part of you that has been dormant. This is “the real you.” This person has answers, inspiration, courage and ideas.

Let me know if you want to sign up for this challenge. I’ve begun my first this week but will be starting my second  5-day challenge on Monday, 4/26. You can let me know by emailing me at: jscott@jscotthypnosis.com or you can call me at 1 866 662 0939. I look forward to helping you come out the other side of your present state of stress.

Jennifer

Jennifer Scott, C.Ht.

Spiritual & Clinical Hypnotherapist

Change your thoughts. Change your life!

Shelley Dudley encourages you to take up the five-day challenge.  She has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

Get What You Want

Imagine finally taking off seven coats you’ve been wearing on top of each other for years and years. You’ve forgotten that some people consciously choose to live without seven layers of coats on, even though most people are living that way.

You remember the possibilities you imagined your life would be when you were a child. You decide to take off the coats and start running joyfully through the spring fields you forgot about. You move into the light where you finally begin to laugh and live feeling inspired every day instead of simply marking time, complaining, counting down the days to the next weekend or vacation.

Start taking off the coats that have layered your soul since you started to grow up. Forget about the negativity of the news. Don’t believe negative people telling you that you can’t make more money or move to a nicer city or do anything to better your life. Close your ears to people who blame their boss, the government, their friends, and their circumstances for what they don’t like about their lives and leave behind the victim mentality yourself.  It’s time to take control of your life. It’s time to drop all that limited thinking that keeps you stuck on the birth-school-work (paycheck-to-paycheck)-death merry-go-round.

It’s time to learn the magic of saying YES. I’m going to make YES your new favorite word. Imagine what you want most in life right now. Dream BIG. Think of what your ideal life would look like. See all the tiny details. You have no limitations. So imagine you can have exactly what you want…. because you can.

Imagine that money is no object. Your time is your own to spend as you like for as long as you wish. Dream BIGGER now. What fills your soul with more joy than you’ve ever felt before? Remember the best experience of your life? Start there and make it as amazing as you can.

How are you spending your days and nights? Who are you with? What are you doing? What emotions are coming up? What smells are in the air? What are your favorite foods that you’re eating and tasting? What cities and countries are you visiting? What are you wearing?

As you reach out to touch your loved ones, what sensations are you feeling? Get as specific as possible. The more specific you are the more you’ll get out of this exercise. I want you to see, hear, feel, taste and smell every little piece of the life you were born to live.

As you walk into your dream house, how big are the doors? How high are the walls? How much of the square footage is covered in windows? How have you furnished it? How many rooms does it have? How many rooms does your guest house have? How many acres of property do you own? What do you see outside of the windows? A meadow? A stream? The ocean? The sunset?

Is this the most fantastic day of your life? YES, it is. And every day of your life can be that way, if you choose to make it so.

Get more in depth. See how your smile looks. Feel the warmth in your heart and the ease and peace in your spirit. Hear the sounds of the surroundings that feed your soul. Feel the excitement in your bones as you realize that you are actually living your dream come true.

How amazing do you feel right now? You deserve this life don’t you? YES, you do. This is no accident. If you are in a human body then you deserve to use it to build the life you truly want to be living. Hundreds of thousands of people are doing it right now. Can’t you do it too? YES, you can. You might need some help, guidance and support, but you can create the life of your dreams. YES, it’s yours for the taking.

YES, you’re ready. YES, you will live it now. How do you feel right now? YES, right now at this moment. Imagine feeling this light and warm every day. You’re smiling aren’t you? If you aren’t then you didn’t do the exercise above slow enough to absorb it and I invite you to do it again.

Feeling is what creates what we have and do. Positive thinking without honest feeling behind it will leave you wondering why nothing’s changed.  So as you do the exercise above, I urge you to REALLY FEEL IT!

When you learn to consciously create with your feelings, you’ll start getting better results in your life. Right now you’re probably getting results based on your unconscious thoughts and feelings. The scary part of this is that most people only feel in reaction to what happens to them. I’m teaching you how to consciously create with purpose instead, through the use of your feelings.

This feeling, actually a feeling even lighter and clearer, is the place where my clients learn to live from. If you’d like to learn more about living from an authentic state I invite you to visit http://shelleydudley.biz and join my coaching program. This program can support you in experiencing even deeper versions of this ecstatic state.

Please re-read this exercise and get precise about what you want. Becoming conscious about your desires and feeling as if you’re already living this way will magnetize it to you. Whether you realize it or not, you are creating your circumstances everyday so you may as well do it consciously to get what you really want. You deserve it, so go for it!

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach

Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

Follow Your Bliss

Doing what we really love is absolutely necessary if we want to be fully happy and live our highest potential. Parker Palmer, in his book Let Your Life Speak said, “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”  Have you spent much time lately in introspection, listening to that wee voice in your head, but coming from your heart, telling you what you really should be doing?  (“I wish I had more time to paint.”  “I’ve always wanted to travel to Africa.” “Wouldn’t it be great to buy an old jalopy and fix ‘er up?!” “I need to rekindle the romance in my relationship.”  “I want to take my company to a million in turnover.”)

Leo Babauta states that your passion “will be the thing that will motivate you to get out of bed in the morning, to cry out, ‘I’m alive! I’m feeling this, baby!’ and to scare your family members or anyone else who happens to be in yelling distance as you do this.”

Think about what that small voice inside your head is telling you.  Do you have a passion deep inside you that has lain buried and ignored for years?  A martial arts enthusiast asked Bruce Lee to teach him everything he knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup,” said Bruce, “represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.” If you want to discover your true passions in life, you must first empty your mind of any pre-conceived notions.

Stephen R Covey said that one should always “begin with the end in mind”.  So with that purpose, I’ll share with you an idea he suggests.  Imagine you are attending a funeral.  As you enter the church, you take a seat at the back and look around.  You see some people that are familiar to you.  A priest enters the front of the church and stands at a pulpit.

“We are gathered here today, ” the priest says, “to honor the life of (insert your name here).”

You realize that you are seeing a fore-glimpse of your own funeral.

“It is only fitting,” the priest continues, that those who loved (insert your name here) most should share their thoughts and memories.  Who would like to go first?”  You see your life partner of many years stand up to speak.  You see that (s)he is teary-eyed, but smiling, as (s)he recalls some of his/her happiest memories of you.

What does (s)he say about your relationship and the kind of partner you were?  What do your children say about the kind of father or mother you’ve been?  What do your co-workers and business colleagues say about your work ethics?  What do your friends say about the type of friend you’ve been to them?  And finally, what do the local charities say about you?

Is is a eulogy you are proud to hear?  Is it one that could be better?  Incidentally, if attending your own funeral is a bit too morbid, you can always imagine that you are attending your 100th birthday party and that everyone is there to help you celebrate.  Their speeches and memories are to honor your life’s work.  Do you like what you hear?  Take some time right now to vividly imagine one scenario or the other.

As Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind.”  Get a clear picture in your head of how you would like your eulogy (or honorary speeches) to sound.  Take a moment now to actually write that out on paper.

If, after asking yourself many questions and listening to your soul’s reply, you are still not able to find your life’s passion, then it is time to break out of the mold. Perhaps the reason you haven’t found your passion is because you’ve not discovered it yet. Enroll in a class, attend a lecture or poetry reading, take up a new hobby or sport. Anything that will take you outside of your usual comfort zone will help you discover new likes and dislikes, helping bring greater clarity.  Maybe it’s time to think outside the box!

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach

Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide to Achieving your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz

Unleash Your Leadership Potential!

Leadership is a unique form of behavior that requires the integration of character, knowledge and experience. So what can you do if you step up and unleash your leadership potential? Change the world!  And if you doubt that, you have only to look at history for a myriad of examples of great leadership that changed the course of the world.

Your journey to unleashing your leadership potential begins with a deep understanding of self. Discover your personality traits, including your strengths and weaknesses, and how they relate to leadership. When we know and accept ourselves fully, we can maximize our strengths and shore up our weaker areas with additional resources, which extend a long way toward helping us to achieve our leadership potential.

Once you understand and know yourself, next you must hone your communication skills. These are not limited to your public speaking skills either. They also include your writing style, your body language, your ability to conduct effective meetings, and your ability to share your vision. This skill will greatly enhance your ability to give clear instructions and to inspire others.

A great leader must also be decisive.  He must be clear-headed enough to think on his feet and confident enough to quickly assess all the gathered facts and make a decision without dithering or worrying excessively that the decision may not be right.

An exceptional leader is one that recognizes the value of harnessing the skills and abilities of team members and leads them toward effectiveness in reaching a strategic goal.

…And so leader is not a title and leadership is not something you are born into. Leadership is something you develop.

This is what Dr. Ken Blanchard, in his book The Heart of a Leader, had to say about good leaders: “If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek.”  Powerful stuff when you consider that the speed of the team is ALWAYS set by the speed of the leader.

So how about you?  What do you see when you look into the mirror?  What do you see when you look at your team?  Remember that they are your mirror.  If you do not like what you see in your team, remember that it is a reflection of you as a leader and be grateful to them for showing you where you can change.

Are you a person who is able to grasp the bigger picture? Before any changes or new directions can be taken the exceptional leader must determine a strategy and then decide on an organizational structure that will support the strategic direction being taken.  He can then assess his resources available for achieving his goal, shore up any weak areas and communicate his strategy to the team so that they will be fully on board.

The group tends to rally behind the ‘visionary’, which as a leader is what you want them to do.  The concern is not for the betterment, enrichment or even recognition of the leader, but rather for the achievement of group goals, including the strategy of the entire organization.  Leaders who are passionate about their vision are careful to make sure everyone in the organization knows what that vision is. Their passion conveys that it is not simply a vision, but a tangible part of the environment, so much so that it will go home with employees at night. Everything that flows, then, is a reflection of that vision, because the vision becomes the beacon that guides the actions of everyone in the organization.

Those exceptional leaders know their people well; their personalities, their histories, their passions. The leader knows them because of the leadership involved in attracting and retaining the right people to ‘get the job done’ and because of his skill in seeking the correct resources to achieve his goal.

The exceptional leader creates an environment that fosters a high level of motivation.  It’s boiling inside each one of his team members, such that they are excited to get up in the morning and come to work.  Each team member knows how their role fits into the overall strategy of the organization and they are intimately involved in changes that occur in the company, feeling empowered to make decisions and handle situations that fall within their role and point toward the overall aim of the company.  As such, they are involved in the development of their job and their responsibilities for that job.  It is clear that the exceptional leader creates an environment of empowerment.

In summary, if you wish to be an exceptional leader, these are the skills you must develop:

• Stay focused on the primary goal for your organization.  Never allow yourself to be distracted from that.

• Surround yourself with those who are the right people for the job you need done, then train them and provide them with the proper tools to do the job.

• Recognize the benefit of having different personalities around you. It’s easy to want to surround yourself with those who are like you personality-wise, or with those who always agree with you, but different approaches are going to challenge the way you think, cause you to see outside the box, and are essential to the company’s success.

• Having hired the right people, get out of their way! If you must micromanage them, you don’t need them. This is not a big problem, however, since they won’t stay anyway when you treat them with so little respect.  Remember, your team is a mirror reflection of you.  If you are unhappy with the team members and how they behave, look to yourself as the cause (and therefore the solution).  Change the way you behave toward them and inevitably they will change, as well.

• Foster an environment of open communication.  You must develop openness about the direction the company is going, how it will get, and the role each team member plays in that.  In return, you must encourage team members to communicate back to you where resources are needed, when things are and are not working, and what is happening ‘on the ground’, so to speak.  Remember always to consult your feedback loop in all your processes, to make sure things are working as you expect, so that you can make appropriate changes in a timely manner. Failure to do this will hasten the failure of your organization in total. Remember that your feedback loop is only as valuable as the people from whom you get feedback. Listen to your team members with respect.

• Know when you have exceeded your limitations, and acknowledge it. Then get help to change it.

Each of us has the capability to be a leader. We will only become effective leaders, however, when we lose our fear of making mistakes, and share the responsibility and kudos for the achievement of the strategic goals of the organization.

Unleash your leadership potential!

© 2010, Shelley Dudley, Author, Speaker, Coach

Shelley Dudley has 25 years’ experience in sales & marketing, customer service, and training. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, she has written articles for a diversity of publications from Ladies Home Journal to Precious Metal Magazine.  She has written a best-selling book, “You Can Do It! A Step by Step Guide on How to Achieve Your Dreams” and is available for speaking engagements.  More information can be found at her website:  http://shelleydudley.biz