Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

I just wrote a post over at Oprah.com for those studying A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. (gotta love it!)  I thought I’d duplicate it here, and also over at the 12 Keys to Bliss course for our own private forum of folks studying this book. If you’re having difficulty getting your head around any concept in any setting, try this:

"…I teach Eckhart’s philosophy in my courses and use it in my coaching program… Occasionally my students and/or clients have similar difficulties understanding these concepts. It really helps to remember that you have an immense resource and BS-detector in your physical body. While being a component of the overall pain-body for some people (it sure has been for me), it is also a wonderful truth-teller.

Research from the Hearthmath Institute in Boulder Creek California (www.heartmath.org) has shown there to be a huge correlation between the heart, emotions and your effectiveness in the world. When your heart is "in congruence" (or "agrees with") what you want to do, you’ll feel good about the thing and it usually turns out that was the best thing for you to have done.

Ever gone against that feeling? When you feel uneasy about doing something or hanging out with someone and the situation turns out badly? When you said "I wish I’d listened to my gut instincts on that one"?  That’s your heart, telling you what’s true. Ignore its advice at your risk. The heart always knows best and unlike the tongue (who will say anything), will never lie to you. The body as a whole is innately truthful.

So how does that relate to this class? Simple. Try out just one of the new concepts you’re reading. Put your hand over your heart. Take a deep breath in and out and ask yourself "Is this true/right/good for me?".  Pay attention to how your heart feels, to what it tells you.  Really, deeply listen to your heart, and feel with that hand that covers it. Listen not only with your ears, but with your whole body.

How does your heart feel as you contemplate this new concept? To start out with, is it broadly speaking "good",  "bad" or "neutral"?  Once you have a large direction to look in, you can seek refinement in your heart’s messages to you if you like.

One thing - your heart’s messages to you may not be "correct for all". They are messages meant only for you. But they will always be true for you, and always be in your best interest.

Hoping folks find this helpful….

Love & Blessings,
Maryam

I just wrote the below to the folks taking the 12 Keys to Bliss class with us over at ECI and thought I’d share, as it really applies to all of us. I get the daily motivational niblet from TUT.COM. The messages come, "From the Universe" and they always touch or tickle me. This one though, my mom would have called a real pip. To wit:

"Gabriel, did you register Maryam Webster’s epiphany yesterday? Raise expectations on all human beings another 72 gigatrons, and tell not a soul."

How do you do that?
The Universe

It’s worthwhile to note that this message is sent out to everyone who signs up. This is one of the more fruitilicious ones, but it does have a point. How can we all:

• trust our inner senses
• trust the unseen
• stay present
• have piercing life insights and epiphanies
• do what we do for the highest good of all

Post a commment if you like. The folks in the 12 Keys course have been having a busy little dialogue about this in the ecampus, but I can’t share that with you here. You can however share your thoughts for others to read if you like. Just hit the button below and let us know: How would you feel if this message came to YOU, with your name on it, telling you that these things had already happened, were a foregone conclusion. What might the difference in your life be?

In my thinking for one, self-esteem would not be an issue. Neither would courage, bravery, personal strength or any of the other traits that people seem to have trouble with. This is a small subset of all the possible personal betterment practices. As a spiritual practice, this list above pretty much covers what a shaman, priest or priestess does. As spiritual teachers in our own lives, who are we when we have these skills native in us, and intact and functioning since birth?

In a future week, we’ll learn how to reinvent your early life to give you what you would like to have from birth onwards as skills, tools or other resources. And we’ll experience how our life changes in moments, and the different timeline that arises. Generally speaking, a much more copacetic timeline. Interested?

Your feelings on this would be lovely to read.

Warmly,
Maryam

The phenomenal Lisa Wilder has brought to our attention the American Lung Association’s 52 Proven Stress relievers.  (Pollyanna Power, girl) Chief among them was: Don’t do anything now you’d have to lie about later. It really took me aback to realize that this is not right now a foregone conclusion for us as a species.

What a gritty way to say…

live from your center

from the blessed bowl of your belly

sup wisdom…

and give to get

All affect each other,

none is seperate

Please get it.

Thank you.

To quote Reverend Dr. King, whose memorial day we recently celebrated, "I have a Dream."  I personally have a dream that all beings will experience simultaneous enlightenment, release of pain and attachment to illusion. And that we’ll all realize we’ve already won the lottery and already live in paradise, each and every day. It’s both a past fact and foregone conclusion.

Doubt that this means you? Then listen to your Bliss Compass: the winged messenger of your Breath, and the measured thrumming of your heart.

Forwarded from powerful beauty, and ace girlfriend, Jasmine White (right) is this "friendly chain mail".  Send it to all the Beautiful Women in your life!  

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Did you know that it’s Beautiful Women Month? Well it is, and that means you! I’m supposed to send this to FIVE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, and if you’re a woman reading this, YOU are one of them!!!  

Below is a wonderful poem Audrey Hepburn wrote  when asked to share her "beauty tips." It was read at her funeral years later:

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness…

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. (or your mother, sibling or lover  ~ Maryam)

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone…

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed;

Never throw out anyone.

And one Maryam-tip:

For a smooth and wrinkle-free face, live in the Now where there are truly no problems to cause brow-furrowing.

Remember,
if you ever need a helping hand,
you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;
one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.

If you share this with another woman,
something good will happen.
You will boost another woman’s self esteem,
and she will know that you care about her.

It’s
BEAUTIFUL Women Month
TAG
YOU’RE IT!

I love the Everything Yoga blog. Diane had a great quotation for the Winter Solstice:

Take time to do yoga and meditation on the Winter Solstice,

A moment of time in the midst of your busy holiday schedule,

To acknowledge healing and the possibility of a miracle in every moment.

I’ve revamped my Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Tutorial "EFT In A Nutshell: The Quickstart" to make it even easier to understand. For the "knowledge of healing and possibility of a miracle" using only your hands and mind check it out here:

http://maryamwebster.com/eftbasics

Happy Solstice!! 

Warmest Love & Blessings,
Maryam

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

Name
Email

I’ve been privileged to live most of my life in a richly multi-cultural environment, and to have friends from many areas of the world living both in Europe and here in America. We have shared Thanksgiving with all of them - Vietnamese, Arab,  German, Chinese, Malaysian, French, British, Italian, Iranian, Greek, Norwegian and people of many other nations.

As I like to say, Thanksgiving isn’t really an American holiday, it’s a holiday for all people to give thanks for what we have, for the richness of our lives. It is a time to give thanks not only for surviving to see another day, but to do so richly, in beauty, and in a state of surpassing grace.

Grace is what comes when we are thankful, when we live in a state of constant gratitude. And grace is accessible to each and every one of us, just by the virtue of our giving thanks for what we have.

No matter how money or possession deficient we may be at the present, we are all rich beyond measure. We have our health, we have wonderful energy therapy techniques to keep us well and happy, and we have each other in community. We have breath in our bodies, and purpose in each and every one of our lives. No matter how much we may perceive that we "don’t have", we are truly rolling in abundance.

Most of those reading this have clothes on our backs and a place to live. The lucky have someone, or many people to love them. The very, very lucky love others in abundance and are aware of how very rich this makes them.

What a treasure trove is ours!!

I give thanks for each and every single person in my life who has helped me, who has challenged me, who has championed me, and who has told me I couldn’t, shouldn’t or better not.

It is because of all of them that I have tried, failed, succeeded and kept on going. It is because of all those who love me and whom I love that I continue, and because I was given the gift of gratitude, that I do so in bliss and beauty. How very, very lucky I am.

We are all very, very blessed. When storm clouds gather and the wolf may seem to be at your door, remember this, and remember that the wolf is really a blessing in disguise, that the clouds always part to let the sun shine through. All we need do is return our thoughts to the present moment and reflect that in the now, all is well. And in the next moment and in the next.

And if, temporarily, all is not well and survival is threatened, that this too shall pass, and we have that to be so very thankful for. There is never a cloud without a silver lining, nor a storm that does not bring nourishment to our fields and forests, with sunshine to follow.

May the sun always shine in your life, and may you always know how rich you truly are -

Love and Blessings to you and yours,
Maryam

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!

Cheryl Richardson’s newsletter is an ongoing source of inspiration. In speaking of the events of 9/11/2001, she offers these questions, which I in turn offer to you.

"That day showed me the true, universal priorities we all need to keep at the forefront of our minds — how connected we are to our own soul, to each other, and to a power greater than ourselves.  Realizing this truth in such an earth-shattering way gave me the courage to make tough, sometimes unpopular, choices to insure that my life was reflecting what mattered most.  I decided to travel less and be home more.  I gave up some goals that were more important to my head than my heart.  I made my spiritual life more of a priority.  And, I started the ritual of answering the following questions each year on September 11th that I share with you today."

"…Take some time to think about these questions.  Then, write the answers in a journal or notebook.  You might even print them out and discuss them during dinner with family or friends.  Please don’t wait for a crisis to take your life seriously.  Do it now . . ."

• Am I pleased with how I’m spending my precious time on earth?
• Am I spending enough quality time with the people who matter most?
• Am I doing my best to listen to the voice of my soul so I make real, honest choices based on what I most want?
• If today were my last day on earth, would I feel good about what I’m leaving behind?
•  
• Am I sharing (or working toward sharing) my God-given gifts and talents with others?
• Are there any petty disagreements or differences that I need to let go of once and for all?
• Is there someone I need to forgive?

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Well said, Cheryl. A spiritual life for me is integral, but has come to mean something far, far different than ever it did before. We evolve and grow spiritually, sometimes away from one form and closer to a different form and at some point, to the formless. Spiritual connection ebbs and flows as is natural. Seek out sources of abundance and inspiration near you. If you are of no particular spiritual focus, you can begin to deepen in spirit by listening to the patterns of your breath and your own heartbeat, and finding that which your heart finds congruence with. For more information on heart congruence, seek out www.heartmath.org

For more information on Cheryl Richardson and to subscribe to her newsletter, go to www.cherylrichardson.com