Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

Huzzah! The book has arrived. The real book, not just the jpg, which was all I had of the cover photo. And here is me with book, very late at night after being out all day and coming home to the box on my doorstep. Weary, and without makeup, but the grin is 100% gen-u-wine.

Mitties Anoushka and Tashi-Claire immediately sat in the box and pawed its contents but unlike swift friend Andy, who caught his sitting in the book box, I was not fast enough to get a photo. 

The illustrations reproduced beautifully and friends have praised the self-coaching system as clear and concise. Reviewer’s copies are now being shipped (stay tuned for acid-test thoughts on Everyday Bliss from the most provocative minds in America and Europe!).

As an author, one comes to look at their book in terms of a series of chapters, or this or that section. It’s nice to finally see it all hang together. For a gift book, it certainly is wide - the spine is about an inch wide. Too much goodness to contain in just one place. I can’t wait for it to be on shelves all over so I can share this information with you, too.   

More soon on how to purchase, and get in on our super-special Publication-Day Special "Energy of Everyday Bliss - Spring Training" Telesummit…here’s a preview:  

The biggest of these "Reader’s Circle" bonuses however, is a cutting-ege NEW:

This groundbreaking free event May 5 - 7 is being held ONLY for those who buy the book at Amazon.com on May 1st.

(Can’t make it? Purchase and come back to the everydaybliss.org website on May 1st anyway - We have webcasts and replays and bonus gifts for you - you can attend ANYWHERE in the world!)

I’m bringing together the best presenters from the international conferences of the two professional groups I belong to: The Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) and the Institute for the Advanced Study of Health (IASH) plus experts and professionals I have worked for years in wellness, performance enhancement, parenting, personal development and leadership coaching.

We are all coming together to bring YOU the most exciting teaching event and community kick-off ever, to help you realize and actualize a Deep and Lasting Field of Bliss in your life and the lives of those you influence.

If this thought intrigues you, buy the Everyday Bliss book at Amazon.com on May 1st and get in on this amazing "Spring Training" Telesummit.

It’s the only place you’ll find all these amazing teachers, therapists, spiritual masters and creators of the New Earth, to quote Eckhart Tolle, all in one place - all free to you, just for the price of "Everyday Bliss For Busy Women" - and Amazon, as you know, does give a discount which makes it even less expensive and more value-packed!

Support your growth into Everyday Bliss by registering now for free, over at EverydayBliss.org. You can’t get into the Reader’s Circle until May 1st, but you’ll have a jump on the process when the day comes.

See you there!

We all decided that it would be a sumptuous holiday gift to offer the audio of our last Everyday Bliss Party as a Holiday Gift to bring Joy To the World. I am so pleased that the Breathing Peace Process has been so well received. You can see just a few of the comments that have come in from people here on how this went for them. Feel free to post your own comments, too!

Feel free to copy this WHOLE thing as free content for your blog and a nice giveaway to your readers!

Free MP3 To END Holiday Stress FOR GOOD

SUMMARY:

Hate the thought of visiting family at the holidays? Does the idea of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or New Year’s leave you stressed and in a tizzy? Well, worry no more, stress management help is here and uncharacteristically at this time of year, that help is absolutely free. In a holiday gift to the world, The Maryam Webster Group and Energy Coach Institute offer a complimentary MP3 audio to help YOU completely END holiday stress - for good.

For quick access: http://www.maryamwebster.com/holidayblissparty/

FULL PRESS RELEASE:

(PRLEAP.COM) December 21, 2007. San Francisco, CA - In a free holiday gift to the world, Maryam Webster, CEO of The Maryam Webster Group and Director of The Energy Coach Institute, offers an MP3 audio of her master class to help END holiday stress, in one hour - for good.

For the investment of a mere hour of your time with no prior knowledge needed, this gentle mental exercise brings uplifting change that will leave you feeling energized and refreshed, and even help you cultivate daily Bliss as a lifelong state of being.

Maryam, an accomplished therapist, trainer and author of the upcoming New Harbinger book "Everyday Bliss For Busy Women" (May, 2008) says of this free class:

"I become dismayed at hearing both clients and friends saying they dreaded going home for the holidays…or for whom the holiday season meant a month or more of depression and unhappiness. With the quick and simple techniques we have today, this is just so unnecessary. I hope everyone who reads this will take the time to give a listen to the audio and work this "Breathing Peace" method to their benefit. It’s wonderfully relaxing and changes relationships, perspective and events like magic!"

The "Breathing Peace" process is additionally good all year ‘round to take care of stress at its source. Though topically framed around the holidays or whenever families and significant others can make everyday living stressful, you’ll be able to transpose the process to many different situations and environments to achieve personal Peace.

No special skills are needed, just sit back, relax and follow the instructions along with Maryam’s able guidance and plucky volunteer client Sabrina, an intern at The Energy Coach Institute. Written instructions on how to perform the method again, plus invitations to monthly telegatherings where similar information is shared, are also included in this powerful gift.

For instant access, catch YOUR audio break for the holidays here:

http://www.maryamwebster.com/holidayblissparty/

The work you’ll experience on this audio is a powerful component of Maryam’s Everyday Bliss Coaching process and her Certified Energy Coach Program’s GAP coaching model - known for its lightspeed transformative power and ease of usability.

Beginning in February, The Energy Coach Institute will be offering Maryam’s personal development program:

"The 12 Keys To Blissful Living"

Taught by Maryam and a a stellar cast of Everyday Bliss Experts, participants will uses methods like you’ll learn in this free audio, to clear the 12 common Bliss Blockers and use the 12 Bliss Keys to generate Peace in everyday life. Plus you’ll learn simple, uncomplicated ways to transform relationships, living conditions, job situations and begin to live a life free of limitation.

You can learn more and register for this unique program (be sure to catch the Earlybird Rate through December 24th!) here:

http://maryamwebster.com/12keys

We at The Maryam Webster Group and Energy Coach Institute hope you enjoy this free peace-bringing method, and wish the world the Happiest and Most Peaceful of Holiday Seasons.

Reference URL’s:

maryamwebster.com
energycoachinstitute.com
everydaybliss.org

This just out from Watson Wyatt Worldwide Research Reports: stress plays a large part in why employees job-surf and high-pressure companies find loyalty difficult to guarantee. Execs, take notice. If you don’t already have one, you NEED a stress reduction program in your company NOW.

Read the below and contact me if your company of 20 - 1500 employees is willing to have:

a) Far fewer collateral sick days

b) Employees able to take pro-active care of self and others

c) A comfortable, respectful work environment

d) Sky-high morale at ALL levels of the company

e) No snags to trip up and derail the workforce (and those few that might happen easily resolved)

f) Serious longterm employee loyalty and support

If you’re willing to do some of the most pleasurable work you’ve ever done as a team, contact me for a complementary prescriptive analysis.

From: watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=2007-US-0164&page=1

Playing to Win in a Global Economy – 2007/2008 Global Strategic Rewards® Report and United States Findings

Executive Summary

The increasingly global market for talent makes it critical for companies to understand the factors that affect employee attraction and retention everywhere they do business. Organizations that do not balance financial imperatives and employee reward preferences risk losing their best talent.

The 2007/2008 Global Strategic Rewards® study examines how companies in Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the United States are tackling attraction and retention issues and reward management. The first half of the report highlights the similarities and differences between the regions, while the second half focuses on U.S.-specific data.

Global Key Findings

Regardless of region, the study found:

• The majority of employers have problems attracting critical-skill employees (70 percent) and top-performing employees (67 percent).
• Employers have an incomplete understanding of why employees join or leave their organizations. For example, employees rank stress as a top reason they would leave, but it is not even among the top five reasons cited by employers.
• When employees are satisfied with stress levels and work/life balance, they are more inclined to stay with their companies (86 percent versus 64 percent) and more likely to recommend them as places to work (88 percent versus 55 percent).
• Financially high-performing firms get performance management right. For example, their managers are much more likely to link organizational performance to rewards (51 percent versus 38 percent of low-performing organizations).
• Clearly setting expectations and delivering on the reward promise is a formula for a more engaged workforce. Sixty-nine percent of employees who say their employers succeed at both promise and delivery are highly engaged, versus roughly 25 percent overall.

U.S. Key Findings

• Employers report difficulty in attracting and retaining employees — particularly, top-performing and critical-skill employees — for the fourth year in a row. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of employers are having difficulty attracting critical-skill employees, while 60 percent are having difficulty attracting top performers.
• Consistent with the global findings, U.S. employers and employees have different ideas about why employees join or leave (see below*). As a result, some of the actions that employers are taking to attract and retain employees may be counterproductive.
• As employers continue to manage their cost structures, they are putting more money into variable pay and raising the bar for performance. As in 2007, more than one in five (21 percent) increased the size of individual target awards for 2008.
• Merit-increase budgets for 2007 remained relatively stable, at an average 3.6 percent, and are expected to rise only slightly, to 3.7 percent, in 2008.
• Highly engaged employees are more than twice as likely to be top performers than are other employees.

Interesting stuff, no? It says basically what most savvy execs have known all along - value someone appropriately, keep them engaged in interesting duties that fulfill them and invest them with personal power insofar as possible. Do this and there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do to stay on the job and tout the company and its products to all they meet.

Why employees actually leave is found in another Watson Wyatt report (here and in charts below) of the European market where we learn that there is a large gap between the employee’s values and the employers perceptions of those values.

You can’t market where the market doesn’t exist. Employers wanting to pitch their employees on longevity of their position within the company, need to take a more prosaic set of employee needs into account: people hate long commutes, they don’t want to spend most of their waking hours during the week in a pressure cooker environment with little to no release, and they want to have some security when they finally do decide to take a job. That and a dollop of feeling like they’re in control of their life. From the study:

"…employers need to increase their focus on more immediate needs as well, such as the nature of the work they do now, and the internal and external pressures that affect employees’ working experience, like stress and length of commute.”

What attracts employees?
The three reasons most frequently given

Why they leave?
The three reasons most frequently given

Found here: www.watsonwyatt.com/news/press.asp?ID=18396

Is this you? Your company? Then you may be able to benefit from what I offer executives and their teams. Contact me for your company’s complementary prescriptive assessment.

Join Us for a Festive and Transformative Holiday Party!

Date:
Monday, December 10, 2007

Call Time:
9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK

(To translate correct time for your area, check the Meeting Planner link at: www.timeanddate.com)

You’ll learn a technique never seen before…

You’re going to learn a special part of The Everyday Bliss Process -  how to make situations, memories, even objectionable family members bearable and even blissful for the holidays…and onward. This technique is a blend you’ve never experienced before - no one has. And it will be yours from now on.

But there’s also a higher purpose to this telegathering.

"The opportunity for us to grow exponentially as individuals  and community is already present."

Many people are feeling the pull towards a new dimension of being, thought, and freedom from limitation. 

How will you leverage this  opportunity as an individual? As a member of a community?  

And how can you maximize your growth while remaining relaxed, present and in bliss?

Let’s discover how together, using what we’ll learn on this call.

We will be discussing precepts rooted in the teachings of Abraham-Hicks, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer and The Dalai Lama on how to remain Present when all around you dissolves in chaos. And further, on how to use that chaos as a personal  path to Bliss.

Note:  If you’ve never registered for one of our calls before, you’ll receive an opt-in email which you MUST click through to get call details, downloads and extras.  

Simply enter your name and primary email below and I’ll whisk the details right to your inbox

My buddy Donna Steinhorn, of the Association of Coaching Excellence just tapped me to reply to a post she made over at her blog on what we do to give away our power and how we can get it back. I’m happy to oblige with a few thoughts on the matter…good question!

Hey Donna, Donna!  For giving away power, I’ll have to go with you and say it’s getting dragged *back* into things that I had already found support on…then found support staff wasn’t doing what I needed them to. I’ve made out reams of instructions, spent personal time, taught them how to teach/create/whatever, and even set up a support help desk.

Yet, when the salami hits the fan, my students and customers complain directly to me as the buck really does stop here, on my desk. Sometimes though, no matter how much I gently redirect their complaints to the help desk, or counsel with an employee how to deal with the complaint on their own, I still occasionally, find myself embroiled in the thick of things.

This is a liminal time. Liminal, in the sense that it represents both a challenge and an opportunity. An opportunity, that comes to me in the form of empowering others to deal with things on their own that I have told the Universe I do not wish to deal with anymore. And by golly, it’s working, and the staff do their jobs really well for the most part. A challenge though, to shape gently and minimally, letting others do their own work without the temptation to become re-involved.

I stand on the threshold of two doorways, a hallmark of liminality.

One doorway, holds the new life I have affirmed over and over and over (and over…) that I want to lead. Not doing the "busy" in my job, but handing it off to others who are so much better at it. Not doing the main bulk of teaching in the post-graduate program I created, but hiring brilliant and qualified teachers from my own pool of graduates. Not coding every webpage and shopping cart item in my online store, but jobbing it out to the nicest VA’s in the world, who also run my help desk with polish and elan.

Life is good through this beautiful doorway. Life is as I want it to be. With this support system in place, I now have the time to create again that I badly needed, to cause my business and life mission (the two are indivisible really) to take off and truly fly. And lo and behold, it has.

But annoyingly sometimes, there is that other doorway. Rimmed in flame, in my imagination. The doorway through which previously ingrained pattern behavior wants to pull me backwards into the mental maelstrom of "no one can do it as good as I can!"  and "it takes me as long to teach them to do it as it would be for me to do it myself!".  Cue energy and power flowing away and down the drain.

That way lies insanity. Here there be Dragons.

While I have strayed back through the Flaming Door a few times in the past few months, such jaunts are becoming rarer and rarer. And it’s really okay if some folks think I’m a bitch because I don’t continually give and give and give to them of my time, expertise and energy, asking them instead to deal with the appropriate staff member. That nearly always happens when you make a shift like this. (watch for it…) And it’s okay if the staff doesn’t do it perfect, doesn’t get it right the first time or makes a spelling mistake (aaaaggh!!! pet-peeve-o-rama!) in official correspondence. Really, it is.

How I’ve made trips to the past in terms of pattern behavior dwindle to nothing is first by doing energy work, such as NLP processes, EFT, ZPoint Process or others on the patterns I know sabotage and weaken me. That done, I focus entirely on feeling good, to quote Wayne Dyer and Abraham-Hicks. Taking a page from Dr. Andrew Weil, I eschew the news more and more for reading things that educate and make me feel better and take also his prescription of a deep belly-laugh at least one a day…but you never can chuckle just once, can you?

And I take a leaf out of my own book on Bliss in slowing down, way down, no matter what. It’s a lifesaving move, and one you’ll thank yourself for. I remember Kim George’s sage quote: that nothing which is meant for me can be lost, and I reflect that I have all the time in the world, all I’ll ever need. That is a richness of reserve that keeps me looking towards the beautiful door, that keeps me going through it every day when I wake up, with singleminded intensity. 

Andy Andrews said that to truly succeed at anything, we must persist without exception. I choose to be happy every day. I choose to go through the beautiful door and live in the life I am dreaming into being. I choose to persist without exception in these things. That’s how I do it. There’s no "Secret" to it, there’s no magic other than consistently persisting in making these pivotal choices.

So how about you, dear reader? How do YOU give your power away and what do you do about it when you notice your energy going down the tubes to a power drain?

Leave a comment and let Donna and I know! 

And…I’d like to tag Krishna De, Jasmine White, Tara Katchaturoff, Suzanne Falter-Barns, Andy Wibbels, Jennifer Louden and Ellen Britt! Tag, you’re it!

Below is a great article from the Happily Retired blog on how to find healthy ways to cope with stress, and when to call the doctor. Get educated, know what your body and mind are doing and when:

For example:

* Eat a well-balanced, healthy diet. Don’t overeat.
* Get enough sleep.
* Exercise regularly.
* Limit caffeine and alcohol.
* Don’t use nicotine, cocaine, or other recreational drugs.
* Learn and practice relaxation techniques like guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, tai chi, or meditation. Try biofeedback, using a certified professional to get you started.
* Take breaks from work. Make sure to balance fun activities with your responsibilities. Spend time with people you enjoy.

Call your health care provider if:

Your doctor can help you determine if your anxiety would be best evaluated and treated by a mental health care professional.

Call 911 if:

* You have crushing chest pain, especially with shortness of breath, dizziness, or sweating. A heart attack can cause feelings of anxiety.
* You have thoughts of suicide.
* You have dizziness, rapid breathing, or racing heartbeat for the first time or it is worse than usual.

Call your health care provider if:

* You are unable to work or function properly at home because of anxiety.
* You do not know the source or cause of your anxiety.
* You have a sudden feeling of panic.
* You have an uncontrollable fear — for example, of getting infected and sick if you are out, or a fear of heights.
* You repeat an action over and over again, like constantly washing your hands.
* You have an intolerance to heat, weight loss despite a good appetite, lump or swelling in the front of your neck, or protruding eyes. Your thyroid may be overactive.
* Your anxiety is elicited by the memory of a traumatic event.
* You have tried self care for several weeks without success or you feel that your anxiety will not resolve without professional help.

Read the rest of this excellent, high-quality article at the Happily Retired Blog.

Do you Yoga? Yin Yoga and power sessions of Vinyasa Flow keep me unstressed and working in the top level of my capabilities most days. I don’t get colds anymore - I credit yoga among other self-care methods with keeping me healthy.  And it helps us ladies of a certain age to keep limber, prevent joint and back pain and keep the body fit and flexible

And others in business have found yoga to be their secret stress-busting weapon. Just listen to these professionals:

_“If you asked him a couple years ago whether he’d be doing yoga, Eddy Kelly would have called you crazy.

"My thing, for exercise, was to lift weights, go for a run, maybe play hockey in the fall and winter - but no thoughts of yoga," the 36-year-old said.

To the untrained eye, yoga looks more like the stretching you do before exercising than the actual exercise itself. It’s the warmup, not the muscle burner.

"I won’t say I thought of it as feminine at the time, but certainly not the type of workout where I would get in shape - not that strenuous thing I look to do twice a week," Kelly said. "But my opinion’s changed.

"It looks like you are stretching, but 10 minutes in, you are sweating."

"(Yoga) balances your day," Brenda Brown said. An executive assistant at a Bayers Lake-based company, she came up with the idea of holding the class. Yoga was offered at her previous job, and when she moved to Halifax, she made it her mission to introduce yoga at work.

"You have stressful things going on outside the office, inside the office, and if you just take an hour of your day, it really is productive. You can go back to your desk and tackle what you have to," she said.

Every Tuesday, about a dozen - mostly women - of the more than 100 employees get together in the cafeteria, push back tables, and roll out their yoga mats._”

Read the whole article here.

Michelle Courtney Berry tells us (and boy don’t we know it) -

"….Several top banking executives in New York State requested stress management training for their employees during the historic merger with Chemical Bank in 1996. One of the more progressive CEOs in Rochester requested a hands-on stress management workshop that blended elements of storytelling, poetry and meditation for an evening soirée for employees. Although other business associates might have thought his desire to blend tactical information with humor and relaxation was odd, he was clearly a visionary ahead of the times.

Indeed, it is only within the last few years that trainers and corporate coaches have combined workshops with meditation, massage and reiki (a hands-on energy ancient healing method designed to relieve stress) for corporate employees. This is a decisively new trend but one with ancient roots certainly worthy of replication in our over-exhausted, harried society."

Read the whole article right here.

What kind of culture are you encouraging in leading your company? How well do you value your team members, your own health, your unbridled creativity and productivity? All come with a more blissful, reduced-stress life.  If you haven’t yet, go look at the toys I give you to play with and reduce your own stress, here.

I took class with Liselotte Molander a few years ago and she’s a swell coach. Imagine my delight to find this great article by Liselotte on Stress and the Executive Woman! Full of sage wisdom and good suggestions, her "Three Mistakes" is a great cautionary tale. Read and enjoy…

Working as an executive manager in International Trade and Marketing is not always exciting, energizing or fulfilling; it sometimes may be the highway to personal crisis and burnout. Here is the true story about Susan…

Susan had a very busy life. As a Purchasing Manager in International Trade, she was always on the road. Though she loved her job, it kept her frantically busy, traveling around the world, climbing another rung in the career ladder every two years. She had 2 small children at home and a husband equally as busy. Increasing competition, clashes with her boss about the ideas she felt strongly about, pressure at home, and constraint in her marriage added to her growing feeling of fatigue and frustration.

Susan felt she had too much to do and no time to do it. Almost in desperate need for a change she found another position in International Relations, hoping that with the change in jobs, everything would level out. At first she felt better, but soon Susan was overwhelmed and felt helpless again. Guilt, hopelessness, and despair filled her as well as self-blame for not managing the situation.

Fear of losing "everything" fueled her effort, working only to avoid criticism and job loss. Her motivation was gone and she saw no way out of her situation. Fear of burnout and depression kept her going, but inside she felt totally empty and powerless.

How did Susan’s life go so wrong? Here are the top 3 things she did to fail:

1. Susan was working hard and got no acknowledgement at work. Money and materialism became the yardsticks she employed to measure her worth. Susan was missing something but couldn’t connect the dots. Her daily survival method became fighting or fleeing while completing her daily tasks.

2. Susan experienced more and more stress in her life. She thought that lowering the stress would get her back on track. She started to schedule facials, body massages, and spa days into her already busy schedule. She felt angry and blamed herself for not being wiser, stronger or better. Ironically enough, by adding these relaxing activities, Susan increased her stress level even more. . .

Read the rest of this article here and visit Liselotte at her website.

Again scientific confirmation comes for a syndrome most have long known exists - stress at work = anxiety and depression. Family troubles. Failures in business. And there doesn’t seem to be much difference in occupation studied from this quote:

"The most toxic factor here is high psychological demands. That can be present in multiple professions: the media are always working under time pressure;  doctors, firemen, nurses, builders, plumbers - it applies across the board."

From New Zealand, generational research proves the  link between high stress on any job and the mental illnesses of anxiety and depression. Other studies have linked such stress to chronic pain perception as well. Keeping in a stressful situation does more damage than you may have thought. Just look:

Jeepers. But then, we already knew this…didn’t we?  Click to read the whole article here  and click to get relief here