Designing a Passionate Life

The Power of Intentions - Part 3: Five Tips for Setting Intentions

Part 3: Five Tips for Setting Intentions
As explained in the two previous parts of my story, the power of intention is astonishing. I have experienced this phenomenon many times and know it to be true for me. Here are 5 tips for you to set intentions and give it a try.

• Be very clear about the purpose of your intention. Is it an intention on how you want to be in the world; is it an intention for accomplishing something? What do you want?
• Take five or ten minutes and spend it in silence. If you are setting an intention about how you want to be in the world then ask yourself: How do I want to be when I XYZ? For example, my question would have been: How do I want to be when I encounter people I don’t know? If you are setting an intention for accomplishing something, ask yourself: What do I want to accomplish around XYZ? For example, What do I want to accomplish in the next 30 days in my business?
• Let the answer come to you. Your inner guide will make it clear to you about what you want. Don’t force an answer. If it takes a little longer, that’s fine.
• Write down the answer you received. Make sure you are clear about the answer you received. Read the answer out loud. See how it feels. Are you energized by it or do you feel any resistance to it? If you feel resistance, then perhaps you need to ask the question again and see if you get a different answer. After you feel good about the words that you wrote down you can rework the words, if necessary. When you have the words that feel right to you, write the intention on a 3 X 5 index card and carry it with you, post it in places where you will see it. Read it daily.
• Set only intentions that feel right to you. If you have any resistance to the answer you wrote down, more than likely the intention will not manifest. Your internal resistance to the intention will not enable you to attract what you need nor take the actions necessary to manifest your intention.

After you have clearly stated your intention, focus on it and if necessary set up a plan to accomplish it. For example if it is measurable, such as calling five customers a week to check on their level of satisfaction for your business.

What intentions do you have for designing and living a passionate life? Where are you at in the process? What is holding you back? Take that first step and sign up for my free PDD report and start the journey.

The Power of Intentions - Part 2: Arrival and Return Home

Part 2: Arrival and the Return Home
Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope that part of living your passionate life is to spend time with family and friends. I know that is key component in my life.

And now onto the power of intention part 2. After arriving in Los Angeles, California I got on a shuttle to take me to my hotel. On the shuttle I engaged other passenger in conversation and we exchanged business cards.

The driver and I couldn’t find my hotel so it became a joint effort in locating it. We did so and I arrived at my destination safely.

On my return trip home I got on the shuttle and there was a Mexican gentleman driving and one other gentleman on the shuttle. The driver and other passenger started speaking Spanish so I didn’t know what they were saying but wasn’t worried about it. They then explained to me what they had been discussing. I engaged in conversation with them and mentioned that I had just been to Egypt and that I enjoyed the trip and my experience there. The passenger spoke up and asked me if I had experienced any types of problems while I was there. He said he was asking because he was Iranian but has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years and was curious as to how Americans were received in Egypt. This started an hour long conversation about culture and politics. The three of us were the only ones in the shuttle and it was the most fascinating conversation I have ever had on a shuttle.

After arriving at the airport the driver got out, gave me my suitcase and I only had 1 dollar to give to him. He said, no problem lady that was the most interesting conversation I have ever had while driving the shuttle.

I then went to the security check line, which was very long. So I started talking to the lady in front of me and we had a lovely conversation about Hawaii and the culture. My experience in the line was quite fun and the time went by quickly.

Of course, I was pretty early for my flight, and when I went to the gate I discovered another flight leaving for my home destination in 15 minutes. I went up to the desk and I asked if there was any space on that flight and the agent said he would check but was I going to yell at him if there wasn’t? I was confused and he said that a customer had just given him a bad time. I said, “No that wasn’t the way I operated.” It turned out that there was one seat left and he gave it to me. So I got home earlier than expected.

After arriving in Seattle, I called for the shuttle to my park and ride and what do you think happened? I got the same cheerful young man that had driven me to the airport.  He was his usual jovial self and I enjoyed my ride back to my car.

I left the airport in total awe of my experience and said to myself. Wow, this stuff is powerful and it works. I walked away from my trip experience in total gratitude for the power of intention and the power of operating from a place of love and peace and non-judgment. Try it sometime and see what happens for you. What do you want to design into your life?

The Power of Intentions - Part 1: Departure

Part 1: Departure
Designing and living a passionate life includes setting intentions. I am going to write a three part series on the power of intentions. It is a very powerful tool and is well worth the time spent on it. This is part 1, parts 2 and 3 will follow in a few days.

In an ongoing effort to live my life aligned with my passions and values I set an intention to express powerful Love and Peace. I am making it a practice to open my heart to all people I encounter and wonderful things have happened. They range from very small things to very expansive and enlightening experiences. I am noticing people in stores, elevators or other public venues making eye contact with me and saying hello. I have people in stores strike up conversations with me in the isles. I am much more open to making contact with different people. I am in total awe of how approachable and open people are when I come from this space.

A series of encounters on a trip I made to Malibu California to attend a workshop occurred and I would like to share those with you to demonstrate the power of intention and what can happen when you open your heart to Love and Peace.

I arrived at the airport early, as is my mode of operation and parked my car at a park and ride. My trip to the terminal in the shuttle bus was fun because the young man I encountered was a great example of sheer joy in what he was doing. He was full of conversation and good humor. That was a pleasant start to my journey.

I had printed out my boarding pass before going to the airport so I went through security and then checked the monitors to find out where my flight was leaving from. I noticed that the monitor said my flight was canceled. I had a small tinge of concern in my belly but not an overwhelming feeling of stress. I happened to be standing in front of the customer service desk and so I went up and presented my boarding pass and asked if my flight had indeed been canceled. The customer service rep took my boarding pass and said that they had put me on another flight that left at 6:00 pm. My original flight was scheduled to leave at 6:40 pm. It was good thing I got there early. I noticed another gentleman at the counter on the same flight as me, who was screaming at the customer service rep because they had not booked him on another flight after canceling the flight. I found it interesting that I had been taken care of.

I got on the plane and was sitting in the back of the plane and usually when I fly I don’t talk to anyone. I opened up my heart space and struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me. He had been rerouted onto this flight as well. I made some pre-judgments about him. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him I am a life coach. He recognized it and said, “oh so you help hard headed managers like me see a different way of doing things.” I said, “That is a possibility.”

He had just confirmed my first judgment of him, that he was hard headed. Then, he went on to say that when he found himself in conflict with others, how he eventually learned after a life long journey that often times there was a gem of information for him to learn in that confrontation about his own stuff. I was blown away. I had judged him as being closed to seeing his own issues in his resistance during the conflict. We dialoged off and on and I had a great flight. Check back for Part 2 in two days.

The 7 Principles for Living a Passionate Life

Design and live a passionate life: After you take The Passion Test™ from me and identify your top five passions you can live a passionate life by following these seven principles:

Committment
When you are committed, you choose in favor of your passions every day, and soon you’ll discover you are living a passionate life. Until you are committed, nothing will happen for you. Keep your passions in mind and learn to say “no” lovingly. When you are asked to do something which is not aligned with your passions, practice saying: “Thanks for asking, but I can't do that right now.”

You can vary the words to make them appropriate. What is important is to first appreciate, love, understand and value the other person and then to state what you need. So be committed, and be prepared to be flexible.

Clarity
Clarity is self-empowerment. Think of a time in your life when you were so clear about what you wanted that doors seemed to open, opportunities popped out of nowhere and you saw possibilities where no one else saw them. When you are clear about your passions, what you want will show up in your life. Gaining clarity is not a one-time experience, it’s an ongoing process.

Attention
What you put your attention on grows stronger in your life. Pay attention every day to what you are putting your attention on. Are you paying attention to the good that comes into your life or the things that don't happen that you wanted to happen?As you shift your focus to living your passions you will notice the good flowing into your life, and how your life transforms.

Stay Open
Stay open to what shows up in your life and to your passions. Your passions and dreams may show up differently than you thought they would. They may show up much bigger than you ever could have imagined. When you are open to whatever is appearing in the moment, even if it’s different than the way you think it should be, you release your attachment to the outcome and embrace the possibilities.

If disaster strikes and you remain open, you are able to take advantage of the opportunities which inevitably present themselves.

Integrity
Be as responsible with yourself as you are with others, and as responsible to others as you are to yourself. The biggest challenge that you may face is to meet your responsibilities to others while being responsible to yourself and when pursuing your passions at the same time.

When you make commitments to others, make sure those commitments are aligned with your passions.

Persistence
Fulfillment belongs to those who stay on track and on course. Many begin the journey. Those who finish it are the ones who achieve success and fulfillment in life. When you are living a life truly aligned with your passions, persistence is not hard.

Your deepest passions energize and drive you, in spite of yourself. When you experience setbacks. Be gentle with yourself, then pick yourself up and when you are ready begin again.

Follow your Heart
When in doubt, listen to your heart. Passion emerges from the heart, not from the mind. Acknowledge your mind, thank it for its input but listen to your heart. When you feel confused, or lost, or don’t know which direction to head, just start taking action and pay attention to what your heart tells you.

Start on the journey to designing a passionate life by signing up for my free PDD report now.

How to Incorporate Fun into Every Day

Designing and living a passionate life takes focus and let's not forget fun! I find it very easy to get caught up in my day to day activities, keeping my focus on what I want to manifest and sometimes forget to enjoy what I'm doing. Have you ever been there and done that? Life is too short not to have fun in every day!

I know that I often get caught up in being the responsible adult. First, you need to be aware of the level of fun that you have in a day. Pick a normal day and reflect on that day and then determine which of the following categories most closely describes you.

Which category best describes you?
No Fun

Symptoms include:

• You can't recall smiling during the day
• You can't recall laughing at all during the day
• You didn't notice the color of the sky or the beauty of nature
• You didn't laugh with your partner or children
• You didn't treat yourself to something you absolutely love to do

Some Fun
Symptoms include:

• You remember smiling once or twice but don't remember what it was about
• You remember laughing but you don't remember what it was about
• You noticed the beauty of the day and the rich colors in nature
• You remember smiling at your children and partner
• You thought about treating yourself to something you love

Fun Filled
Symptoms include:

• You know exactly when you smiled and what you smiled about
• You remember exactly when and why you had a good belly laugh
• You took a long walk in nature and reveled in the nature's perfection
• You had fun performing simple tasks
• You made your children smile
• You made your partner smile
• You made your co-workers laugh by telling a great joke
• You absolutely love what you do and every task energizes and inspires you
• You treated yourself to one of the things on your list of "what makes me smile"

If you are in the "Fun Filled" category, congratulations and keep it up. You will continue to be energized by the fun you bring into your life. If you fall into the "No Fun" or "Some Fun" categories here is what you can do:

• Make a list of the things that make you smile and start smiling
• Make a list of the things that you love to do
• Make a list of the things that make you laugh
• Make a list of what brings your children joy
• Make a list of the things that bring your partner joy
• Make a list of the things that bring your friends joy
• Make time to spend with your children, partner, and friends
• Make an appointment with yourself to do your favorite things and keep the appointment

With these lists, you have an endless supply of ideas on how to incorporate fun into every day. Fun can simply come from your frame of mind. If you want to, you can change your mindset in an instant. I have done it and so can you. I find humor in almost everything that occurs in my daily life.

Sometimes it doesn't appear fun to me in the moment but most of the time when I look back on it, I do get a good laugh about it. When I get caught up in an event and don't see the bigger picture, often times that is when I find that I'm not having fun. Design fun into your passionate life. You will be amazed at the energy it brings into your life.

How to Learn from Mundane Tasks

Designing and living a passionate life requires self reflection. In order to get to where you want to go, it is helpful to reflect on the past and learn from it. I did this in a recent writing class that I took and found the experience absolutely fascinating and revealing.

The process is about writing in detail about a mundane task that you do everyday in your life. I would like to share this process with you so you can discover where it takes you. You will be surprised. You don’t have to be a writer to do this. This is an exercise simply for self discovery and self reflection.

But first, I’d like to share what showed up for me when I did this process. The mundane task that I chose to write about in depth was the process of choosing my clothes to wear for the day. When I first chose this topic, I thought that it would be impossible to write about it for 30 minutes let alone a whole hour. I gave myself permission and just let go and started writing and it was easy to do.

I learned the following about myself:

• The process of choosing the clothes to wear for the day goes back to my childhood.
• My mother taught me to sew my own garments when I was six years old and this created a bond we share to this day.
• My mother taught me the creative process of designing my own outfits and let me do it on my own.
• My mother helped me to build my self-confidence.
• I love having “one of a kind” garments.
• I love being unique in my hand crafted garments.
• I love the process of creating the garments.
• When I buy artist crafted garments I connect to and appreciate the creativity and inspiration of the person who made them.
• My mother taught me how to accept a compliment and honor myself and the person giving me the compliment by accepting it gracefully and not deflecting it.
• I dress according to my emotions. When I want to feel invisible, I wear subdued colors and styles. When I feel confident and want to be seen, the colors and styles are bold.
• When I want to celebrate life, I wear my “Wow!” outfits.
• I can dress the opposite of how I’m feeling. When I’m not feeling attractive, I put on my best outfit.
• I enjoy the reactions I get from people when wearing my bold clothes. Their comments give me little insights to that person in that moment.
• I have FUN wearing my clothes.
• There is nothing mundane about choosing the clothes I wear for the day.

I was simply amazed at what showed up for me when writing about what appeared to be a mundane task. By doing this exercise I discovered the life skills I learned from my mother that I use to this day. We created a common bond that we share to this day. I learned that at times, I really enjoy being seen and affirmed. All of these are insights that help me to see and understand how I function in the world and affect how I design my passionate life.

This exercise takes about three hours to complete. Give yourself the gift of time, space, and silence to do this. You will enjoy the process and may be surprised by what shows up in your writing.

Here are the process steps:

1. Take five minutes and write a list of the 10 most mundane tasks that you do in a day. For example, brushing your teeth, driving to work, getting ready for work, getting ready for bed, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, making the bed or brushing your hair.
2. Take five minutes and list 10 more mundane tasks.
3. Take five minutes and list 10 more mundane tasks.
4. Pick one of the mundane tasks on your list of 30 and take 10 minutes to write about every detail of that mundane task. You can’t include too many details. Go through every step that you take to perform the task. Include any thoughts that go through your head as you do the task.
5. Pick another mundane task on your list and take another 10 minutes to write about it in detail.
6. Take 10 minutes to write about an ordinary day in your life.
7. Take 10 minutes and write about an ordinary day in your life when something out of the ordinary happened.
8. Take 10 minutes to write out your internal dialog during an ordinary day. For example, write about the things that you either say to yourself or that go through your head during the course of the day, your self talk.
9. Pick one mundane task from your list and spend 30 minutes writing about it. Write about the details; don’t worry about the art of writing. This is for you to see what shows up. Include any thoughts or feelings that come up as you write. Include everything.
10. Read what you wrote out loud to yourself without any judgment or excuses. Just accept it for what it is.
11. Continue to write for 30 more minutes about the same mundane task. Pick up where you left off.
12. Read what you wrote out loud to yourself.

After you complete this process, notice what came up in your writing. Are your mundane tasks really mundane? What feelings came up in your writing? What thoughts did you include in your writing? What was revealed to you about yourself that you didn’t know before? What was the gift that showed up for you?

7 Tips for Dialoging with Spirit/Your Higher Self

Designing and living a passionate life requires inquiry and dialog with your intuition, spirit, higher self, center, inner wisdom, or guide. What ever you want to call it, you want to connect to the truth of who you are. This is where clarity begins and your path to designing and living a passionate life begins. Here are seven tips on how to dialog with spirit.

Tip 1: Dialog with Spirit
When I say dialog with Spirit, I mean this to be a two way conversation. Ask questions, be still and see what answer comes to you. Your intuition is Spirit speaking to you. Practice this in times when you are not under stress so that when stressful situations arise, you can do this without any extra thought, and you can run on automatic pilot.

Tip 2: Call on Spirit
When you are unclear about what action to take, ask for assistance. For example, I’m really confused about this situation, what should I do? When you are seeking creative ideas, inspiration, or internal peace ask for assistance.

Tip 3: Be still and listen to Spirit
When you ask questions be still and listen to what your heart tells you. Wisdom comes from our hearts, not our heads.

Tip 4: Ask what you are to learn from Spirit
When some event that is either positive or negative occurs, ask what you are to learn from this. There is always a gem of knowledge to take away from all events in your life, if you just ask. For example, what am I to learn from this person cutting me off on the freeway? Everyone’s answer will be different so we all have to ask for ourselves.

Tip 5: Watch yourself as you go through the day
Every event, action, or conversation that occurs over the course of the day has the power to make or break your day if you let it. When you function from the witness perspective you can watch what is happening and begin to gain clues as to why things are occurring. Notice what you say to others, what others say to you. Notice how you feel when someone says something negative or positive to you. What are the things you say to yourself after you hear them? Are they positive or negative?

Tip 6: Notice the things that repeatedly happen to you
The things that happen to you repeatedly contain the keys to priceless information about yourself and how you are in the world.

If an event is happening over and over to you with different people, the common denominator is you. Ask yourself what do I believe about this event and why it happens? Where is my focus?

Tip 7: Notice your state of mind
When you wake up in the morning, notice how you feel. Are you energized and elated to face the day. Excited to go to work?

When you finish your work day, are you energized and ready to spend quality time with your family? If not, then start asking yourself some hard questions such as: What would energize me in the morning? What would make me want to go to work? How can I be energized at the end of the day?

Use these tips on a daily basis and you will be amazed at what you learn about yourself and how you relate and function in the world. It may reveal patterns to you that you were not aware of. Be curious about yourself and notice what you do and say in any given situation. Begin the journey to designing a passionate life and download my free PDD report now.

The Passion Test™

Designing a passionate life: As stated in my bio, I am a Certified Passion Test Facilitator. This means that I have received the necessary training to deliver The Passion Test™ to groups and to individuals one on one. It is a fascinating, powerful and simple process that you use to identify what's really important to you in your life right now so that you can focus your attention on attracting all the people, places, and things you need to design a passionate life. I do this in person, on the phone, and in teleseminars for groups.

Last weekend I was in Los Angeles, California where my business partner and I delivered The Passion Test at a conference for Career Counselors and Coaches. We delivered it two times and it was completely embraced by our audience. We received rave reviews. It was so much fun giving The Passion Test to this audience. These are the people who understand how important it is to follow your passions. They are also the people who directly influence our young people. They are in a position to help them to connect to their passions.

Just imagine what our world would be like if each person was doing what they are passionate about. I think we would experience a different world. As parents, think about the money that would be saved on false starts in college by your sons and daughters because they are not clear about what they love. How would your life be different if you were following your passions?

I absolutely love giving The Passion Test to people because it energizes and feeds my passion. The ah-ha moments people had and the questions that they asked were from a place of inquiry, excitement, authenticity and energy. I soaked in their energy and excitement when they connected to that place deep within themselves when they realized a truth about themselves. This is what fuels me and moves me forward in my teaching and coaching business.

What is it that fuels you to move forward? What are your passions? Why are they important? Sign up for my free PDD report and find out why Passion is important. When you sign up, I will let you know when I am holding the next Passion Test Teleseminar.

What does Your Experience Lens Tell You?

What lenses do you see the world through? I am going to use the term lens as the influencer of your perceptions, understanding and evaluation of a situation. Depending on the lenses you are wearing, you see a situation differently from other people.

Understanding the lenses through which you view the world, prepares you to be able to identify which lens you are looking through at any given moment. By doing this you raise your awareness to how you view a situation and opens you to expanding to other viewpoints. This also helps you to understand other people and as a result relate to them better. Understanding your lenses is key to making decisions that will move you towards your passions.

Today I want to talk about the Experience lens. Experiences are those things that you have directly participated in or observed. Your life is a series of experiences and based on your experiences you see life a certain way. Experiences are one of the strongest influencers in your life and they are also the most subtle. You have experiences throughout your life and they are the basis for your beliefs and on how you function in the world.

For example, when I was 10 years old there was a very viscous black lab in our neighborhood. He would fight any dog in the neighborhood and beat the dog to a pulp. They were very bloody fights and left both dogs wounded and in pain. As a result of this I believed that black labs were a very mean breed and that I would never want to be around one, let alone own one.

I never realized it until later in life but I carried this belief with me to adulthood. I have some good friends who own black labs and I was not all that excited about getting to know them. I didn’t realize it but I was still carrying the belief that all black labs were viscous dogs. When I recognized that I was being run by this belief, I was able to consciously make an effort to get to know my friends dogs and they turned out to be very sweet and loving. That belief no longer has any power over me.

Take some time to reflect on your experiences and see if can identify both positive and negative experiences in your life that had an impact on you. This is simply an exercise in noticing. You are not taking any action at this point. Relfect without judgment.

• What are the experiences in your life that have had a positive impact on you?
• What have they provided to you for how you function in the world?
• What do you want to continue to use from those positive experiences?
• What experiences in your life have left a negative impact on you?
• How have they impacted you?

As a result of these experiences what do you do in your life that does not serve you? What would you change?

Experiences are simply your teachers and gives you more clarity about what you want and don’t want in your life. Use them as tools to become clearer about your life. What experiences in your life will assist you in designing a passionate life? Use those experiences to start now and download my free report on symptoms of Passion Deficit Disorder (PDD) and what you can do about it.