Keeping in Touch in a Fun, Playful Way

In both my ezine, Living in Balance, and my podcast, Coaching A Go Go, a recent topic was about creating and maintaining a circle of support - ensuring that your web of relationships was the right size and well maintained by you.

And voila! Here's a totally fun way to keep up with your web of girlfriends, young and old - designhergals.com. You can create custom images that look remarkably like yourself or your gal pals and use them on ecards, note paper, and other fun kicky keep in touch methods.

After reading about it in O Magazine I went straight to my computer to give it a whirl. I sent Sienna my goddesschild, who was having her first 5 year old ballet recital an ecard with a pretty darn good likeness of herself in a pink tutu. She loved it!

Go see for yourself - and let that special friend in your life know that you're thinking of her.

But beware, it can be addicting. Pretty soon you'll be creating fun Design-her Gals for all your friends.

Image from www.designhergals.com

Think Big, Write a Great Bio, and Parent like a Star

There's a theme in the title. Think you might know what it is?

If you've been paying attention to my 'Ask The Expert' series you'll recognize that these were the topics of the last three conversations that I had with notable Experts.

What?! You missed the Expert calls. Not to worry since they are now available for you to purchase as an audio download so that you can listen anytime to this knockout information.

Here's what Nancy said about '5 Discipline Strategies that Don't Involve Yelling, Nagging, or Spanking' with Barb Desmarais:

This teleforum was great! I hope that people who missed it will be able to buy a recording. You are a great interviewer Catherine and Barb has so much info! I want her to move in with me and perform Nanny 911 duties on a daily basis!! -- Nancy Marmolejo

Isabel Parlett's presentation on 'How to Write A Bio that Sings' garnered much praise:

This was my second teleclass with Isabel Parlett. Talk about content rich! I especially liked the idea of finding a theme that my life story illustrates. After the teleclass and for the remainder of my day, I felt really light and joyful. What I heard on the call resonated deep in my soul. -- Karen Hanna

I've been putting together a better bio (based on) the awesome teleconference. Thanks for letting me be a part of that. -- Liza Wacker

Thanks so much for the call with Isabel Parlett yesterday. Her advice on writing a bio was invaluable. I am delighted I was able to participate. --Rayna Schroeder

And, lets not forget my podcast parner extraordinaire, Nancy Marmolejo's 7 Secrets to Big Picture Thinkers. We didn't have any live guests, so no audience feedback, but take my word for it, these 7 Secrets are indispensable for the game of life and Nancy is a Big Picture genius!

Success is an Inside Job

Having trouble getting to the success that you want? Maybe you've started a business and even though you built it, they're not coming. Or, you're a direct seller and you're not experiencing the seemingly effortless sales success that others in your organization are. Or, you have a vision for your life, but you just can't seem to ever get there.

Success means a lot of things - more than just money. Certainly money is important, and it's one of the defining indicators of our culture.

But, what else does success mean to you?

Many times the people that I coach have trouble getting to their vision of success because they have not illuminated that vision clearly. They know that it means more money, or a better feeling, but past that foggy and vague idea there is no clear path to follow.

So, I ask it again - What does success mean to you?

In creating your vision of success, and therefore your path to it, there are some questions that you need to answer.

• How do you want to feel as a result of your success?
• Who will you be involved in relationshp with?
• What will you do with your free time?
• What will be different about you when you are successful?

I encourage you to take some time and answer these questions for yourself. Write it out. Take your notebook or journal and go to a quiet place and really consider who you will be when you achieve your success.

This is not just about what money will buy you, but about you as a person.

Once you have that clear picture of you, begin to work NOW on making those personal visions a reality. Don't wait for the elusive vague success to happen in order to become the person you want to be.

If you see yourself as being more organized, or less fearful, or involved with more positive people, or more focused when you are successful, then start working on bringing that aspect of you into being now.

And, if you need some help in doing that, a coach, therapist, mentor, or skilled friend is a great resource to turn to.

As you work on making your own self what you envision you to be, you become brighter and shinier and you begin to attract success.

You have a business plan for your business to tell yourself where you're going. A plan for your life and growth is important too.

Don't just let life happen to you. Live your life on purpose. Know what you want and where you're going and you simply are more likely to get it.

Happy Mother's Day - Fr*ee Teleforum

Discipline's a Dirty Job - But a Parent has to Do It!

In honor of Mother's Day (and Father's too, coming up) I am presenting a fr*ee teleforum on Monday May 15 from Barb Desmarais - 5 Discipline Strategies that Don't Involve Yelling, Nagging or Spanking

Being a parent is the hardest job on Earth. You love your kids so much, but sometimes they can be sooo frustrating and your frustration can turn into anger and get the better of you. There are wonderful and effective strategies of disciplining children of all ages that don't involve your anger. No change ever occured from shame - come learn these 5 Winning Strategies and retire yelling, nagging and spanking from your discipline toolbelt forever!

It's f*r*e*e, but you do have to register. And, don't worry if you can't make the call - you will get the recording when you register.

A Woman's Worth

Somehow I missed the boat back in 1993 when Marianne Williamson published ‘A Woman’s Worth’. I heard about this author, this book, but just didn’t take the time to read it. I was delighted to find it waiting for me on the shelf at the used book store when I did a big book stock up last week (unbenownst to me that it was already sitting on my shelf from the previous trip).

It was just the right book for me to read right now – ironic how that thing called ‘timing’ happens. I had just returned from an annual 4 day retreat with my goddess girlfriends and was reveling in the glory of my feminine spirit.

I was thrilled to find Marianne Williamson really telling it like it is about what it means to be a woman in this world and how it is that we got here. From the pre-Christian days when the feminine and the masculine were equally acknowledged and shared power, to our current cultural dilemmas, Williamson explores where our feminine spirit came from, how it serves us, where it got subjugated along the way, and what we need to do to reclaim it.

She says, “This is a book about a woman’s inner life. Here, we are our real selves, while in the outer world we are impostors. We’re not sure why we’re posing, except we have no clue how not to. We have forgotten the part we came here to play. We have lost the key to our own house. We’re hanging out outside the door. Today, the reason we haven’t found our grail, the key to who we are as women, is because we look for it in worlds of false power. Neither men nor work can restore our lost scepter. We can’t look to the world to restore our worth; we’re here to restore our worth to the world.”

This is not about gender, it is about valuing the feminine aspects of the world: connection, compassion, stillness, being, weaving, creating, nurturing….. Our current western culture, especially in America, overvalues the doing and producing nature of humans and we as women feel pushed to do, do, do, which flings us farther and farther away from our true spiritual nature of embracing our feminine selves.

What if our world valued caretaking and nurturing just as much as it valued product production? What if women became comfortable with her feminine nature and stepped to power using her full self? That’s what we want and we can make that happen by starting to know and claim our feminine spirit.

Do you know who you are? Do you feel that at the end of the day if you haven’t crossed 10 things off your list you are worthless? Do you listen to your intuition and inner wisdom and take the time for yourself that you crave?

Be, do, have. That is the natural order of things. We be, then we do, then we have. Not just do. Not just have. But be – that is our feminine.

I encourage you to get this book and savor the words within. If you were one up on me and read it years ago, it’s time to remind your feminine spirit that you haven’t forgotten her. As Marianne Williamson asks, ‘What would it take for us to remember our worth?’

On Retreat - Hibernation, Creation, and Inspiration

Wow! It's been nearly 3 weeks since I've posted. Usually my posts come out of something that has inspired me from my own life or that of someone else's, but I just haven't felt the tug lately. I've been on retreat - literally and symbolically.

A few weekends ago my Goddess girlfriends and I went on our annual 4 day sojourn to a retreat center on the Big Island (otherwise known as the island of Hawaii). This was our fourth year and as usual, did not disappoint. There is something incredibly magical about 14 women of varying ages and incredible and powerful feminine spirits joining together for days to celebrate together, enjoy each other's company, and simply breathe in and out.

I still feel like I'm on retreat. I feel still and a deep need for nature and quiet and sensual pleasure. I'm eating a lot of Dove dark chocolate squares, petting the dog and walking near the ocean. The pages of my journal have filled up and my husband wonders why I'm spending so much time upstairs in the dim light.

I'm on retreat. I'm getting things done, but I'm also acutely aware of my inner voice, the wise whisper that instructs me so well.

I'm on retreat. I laugh and connect and feel joy, yet a deep stillness in my soul.

I'm on retreat. My path seems clear and unemcumbered. I am grateful for the clear schedule and the upcoming minor surgery that will keep me quiet and at home.

I finally realized this year that being on retreat is really my life. In years past when I have returned to my 'real life' complete with hectic schedule, many demands and high paying executive job, I have strained to keep the 'retreat' feeling with me. This year they blend - the retreat, my life, the retreat, my life.

They are one in the same.

Isn't that what we all want? To feel the same when we are on retreat or vacation. What would make yours that way? What changes can you make in your life so that you don't feel like you need to escape it? What one thing can you stop doing right now that will give you a breath of retreat?