This story made a big impact on me as a child.  This was my very first Album!  (vinyl!)
Take a listen and reflect, it's beautiful.
https://youtu.be/jt_9ZzMmrtE

I've been going back through some class work (always keep learning) and I came across this very important concept.  Split Energy!  OK so what is meant by that?  Imagine you are focused on something you really want like a new job...but you don't want something that doesn't pay well....See that BUT?  You just split your energy.  When you confuse your energy by focusing in different directions it weakens the energy.  This can slow down your manifestation or stop it all together!

Maybe you believe in a higher power and maybe you don't but energy is everywhere and it's pretty darn smart.  It knows how to build and gain momentum naturally.  It know how to flow.  When you split your energy you are getting in the way of the natural flow.  So how do you not get in the way?  Stay on the positive side.  Going back to the new job example.  Make a list of everything you want in that job but phrase everything in a positive way.  Instead of saying "I don't want a job that doesn't pay well" say "I want a well paying job".  Make as long of a list as you like, be specific.  Read the list each day.  Keep the energy united and open yourself up to all kinds of possibilities.  It's a big, vast, abundant Universe and you can have what you want!  When you get what you want focus on something else and repeat the process.  It starts with you.  Let the energy flow!  

​Happier, Abundant people make for a better world for everyone!  Be Abundant!

I was told recently that my frustration with finding a business training program for my coaching practice that addressed my Introverted nature was a limiting belief.  I was limiting myself subconsciously by thinking an Introvert can't do any business program out there. And yet instructors will admit that in learning business you need to find one that is focused toward the coaching industry and not a brick and mortar business because there are differences.  So why wouldn't there be different training for someone who processes energy differently?  "To some extent, we've always had an admiration for extroversion in our culture. But the extrovert ideal really came to play at the turn of the 20th century when we had the rise of big business." ~Susan Cain (author of Quiet)

Now I will freely admit that I have blocks about the business aspect of coaching.  It is not my passion, the coaching is, working with people, being an ear for others.  Reflecting back to them what they are sending out.  However, my dislike of networking and promoting myself isn't a belief that I can't do it!  I can, I have, it's uncomfortable and draining.  This is because I am an introvert and I don't thrive on those kinds of things.  And the list goes on...This is a huge problem that needs to be addressed as there are a lot of introverted coaches out there.  Listening is one of our superpowers!  Coaching is something that a lot of introverts are drawn to because of how we process energy and the stimulus around us.  "I prefer listening to talking, reading to socializing, and cozy chats to group settings."  ~Susan Cain 

So why am I being told it is a limiting belief?  My guess is because THAT coach is an extrovert who doesn't understand, they have fully bought into what Susan Cain calls the extrovert ideal.  There are ways to be more outgoing if you are an introvert.  There are ways to do business if you are an introvert.  There are ways to learn things you aren't particularly interested in if you are an introvert...Charisma and flashy presentation are not the only ways.  "Most people who have grown up introverted in this very extroverted culture of ours have had painful experiences of feeling like they are out of step with what's expected of them." ~Susan Cain  So I will continue to search for the program right for me.  One that I can maintain, one that speaks to me.

How connected do we feel to others?  When we feel a connection do we know what that relationship is supposed to be?  I often feel we have lost our connections with the environment, others, situations, etc...because we aren't connected to our emotions.  Especially in America (which is the only perspective I can truly write from) our emotions take a back seat too often. We've been told to be logical, figure things out with your head, you can't trust your heart it will lead you to be emotional...Why is that a bad thing?  Too often the only emotions we feel are the extreme ones because we just can't avoid them any longer.  But the subtler emotions can be a guide, the hint of truth in the air that you are looking for to connect you to your intuition.  Yes, I do believe we all have intuition and we can all learn to be more intuitive with practice (just like building your muscles when you exercise).  This can lead to better empathy with the people you encounter which leads to better relationships.  Using your intuition can also lead you too better opportunities in life that you would never have seen or known were available to you if it weren't for that little nudge from your intuition.  
Perhaps we have disconnected from our feelings as a way of protecting ourselves from the feelings that don't feel so good.  I think we all know we still have those times however.  Mostly we have hurt ourselves in not feeling the powerful, positive, elated feelings that we could be experiencing on a more regular basis from a new perspective.  From allowing ourselves to resonate with the things we are in alignment with, be that a new friend, new love, new job, new home...
How can you reconnect to your emotions and feel again?

This topic was brought to my awareness again with a recent meme I saw and shared on Facebook.

July has totally gotten by me.  I was doing another job, my theatre job and it absorbed a lot of my energy and shook it all about!  It taught me a lot too.  I moved to the Seattle area March 2014 and I'm still in transition, looking for a community of my own.  I work for a local theatre that has really long runs and not all the crew work the entire run.  I only work the second part of the run and close it.  Since I'm an introvert this is a difficult position for me.  Everyone already knows everyone else.  They have gotten into their routines and patterns and here I come the last 4 weeks and I have to blend in.  Blending in isn't so hard, I wear black I've actually been stepped on, I blend in so well...but when you are still new to an area and trying to get to know people it is difficult to feel apart of the group and not invisible or on the outside looking in.  I have an easier time with this on the smaller shows but this was a big musical and as usual it took me all four weeks to get comfortable.  In fact I didn't sleep much the first two weeks.  Now don't get me wrong, no one was mean or snobby, but when you've just learned your track on a show, trying not to forget anything, you are surrounded by people you don't know, coordinating with what you are hearing to what you are trying to remember (the sounds make my cues, when I hear something and am in the same spot where I always hear it,I know I'm remembering correctly) AND you are an introvert you get sensory overload!  It's like the stress on your brain of living in a big city not knowing anyone.  This happened to me big time this July.  I used to get grumpy and depressed when overloaded.  And while there were touches of this I was able to stay on the whole rather positive.  Until the sleep deprivation started to get to me one night, but I waited until after the show to show it!  
What still continues to happen though is my communication centers shut down.  If I'm taking care of business...not a problem I get the message out.  But if it's just conversation?  Forget it.  My brain can't do it.  It thinks of things an hour or two after I get home!  (Sorry to the people who had to hear it late at night!)  But on the spot talking doesn't happen.  By week four this is letting up and I'm much more comfortable with people, however that is when the show ends!  Then there is dealing with the loss.  Even though I'm tired and ready to move on from the show I'm just starting to talk to people and that makes things very difficult to wrap up.  I imagine this is fairly common for most introverts.  Maybe there are some introverts who wouldn't make that much effort because they don't want to meet people.  But being in a new town makes this more challenging to transition in and out of these shows.  It probably helps that I recognize what is going on, but let me tell you it's still hard to take.  What I've also learned is I have to release that energy, the energy of frustration, separateness, the effort to connect with the people I find interesting, feeling like I've failed at basic interaction, and I'm sure a lot of other thoughts and feelings of which I'm not fully aware!  To release them you have to feel them.  You have to recognize them as energy, as flowing and not let them get stuck.  This has been my work this week.  The transition back into my own energy really.  Now the trick I want to work on is not transitioning out of my energy in the first place and to lessen the sensory overload.  As I learn more and more about my energy circulation this will come to me.  Wearing quartz does help!  I learned that.  I believe the key, like with many low emotions, is to stop the overload before it happens.  Once you are in it it is difficult to focus your energy to get out of it, because your energy is scattered with being in overload. SO exercises to stay in my energy at the start of these shows and other social adventures is what I will be working on before October's next show! 
This is the introvert energy...let's find ways to deal with it better!

As most of my blogs are, I had a big realizational thought today (while driving, also as usual).  I've been feeling more in touch with my intuition as I learn and grow in my coaching and energy work so it kind of surprised me that I still don't trust my intuition.  In my private moments and study I trust my intuition but I realized today that I am still scared to act on it in more public, bigger ways.  There is a bit of a feeling of set back in this realization.  But it also gives great clarity as to what I need to move forward.  
What resonates for me most at this moment is in relation to other people.  Relationships are a tricky business as we all know, because it's not just our emotional cocktail we are working with it is that person's as well.  For example you have a good relationship with someone but the communication has been limited of late, your intuition says they are holding back for some reason.  If you truly trust your intuition you would simply ask them about it.  But I resist doing that all too often.  Now I can throw out the "I'm an introvert" line but more and more I feel that is an excuse not a legitimate reason not to follow through with a conversation.  It may guide you as to when is a good time to reach out but not to avoid doing it all together.  So how do I build trust in my intuition and how do I learn to start this conversation? 
This is something I am going to pursue.  I think we have grown and been trained not to trust our intuitions in society and I want to truly trust mine.  How can you claim to be 100% genuine if you don't trust your own intuition?  
What are ways to build up trust in your own intuition?  Please comment (as always) and lets discover our intuitions.
Light and Love

Fabienne Fredrickson is a coach for coaches.  She teaches business training.  While I've not experienced her training first hand I do enjoy her videos and news.  This is something she wrote recently that I thought was really marvelous.  What's your mindset?

The difference between people who achieve what they want and those who don’t just comes down to whether they get in their own way or not.

I know, duh. But for many years, I was a fraud in my business and my life.

I was the poster child for self-sabotage. And I blamed everyone and everything else for my lack of results.

Here’s my deep dark little secret:

Even though I put on a nice façade for everyone for many years in my business, here’s what was really going on:

I used to believe that I wasn’t good enough to be successful 
I didn’t have faith in myself (or much of anything, to be truthful) 
I used to be gripped by fear(s), often daily 
I approached life from a lack perspective 
I didn’t finish what I started 
I lacked boundaries 
I was distracted by bright shiny objects (squirrel!) 
I made important life decisions from a Victim perspective 
I was resentful and jealous of other people 
I didn’t feel like I deserved more in my life 
Basically, on the inside, I had a huge lack of self-confidence.

I just felt totally inadequate for a lot of my life.

Sooooo, when a really good opportunity came along, personally or professionally, I would talk myself out of it and wouldn’t take it, even though I knew it would take me to where I ultimately wanted to be.

Pretty shocking actually. I mean, I knew I was smart. I knew I was a good person, but this was self-sabotage at its fullest and couldn’t seem to stop it.

Until one day.

I decided to make a commitment to upgrade my mindset.

It didn’t just land in my lap. I mean, you can’t do your own mindset work. If you could have, you would have, right??

No, I had to make a decision and say yes to an opportunity to transform my mindset and stop getting in my own way.

And so I did. I signed up to do mindset work and within 9 months, I tripled my income in one year. And then multiplied that.

And now…

I have new beliefs and convictions that I am here for really big things 
I think waaaaayyy bigger (and my students pay me for that) 
I understand the universal, spiritual principles that govern all of life 
I play this game of life, not haphazardly, but according to the instructions 
I have simple processes that are very powerful for getting past fear 
I continually overcome blocks that get in the way 
I’ve increased my wealth consciousness (and my results, because of it) 
I have a Victor’s mentality now 
I am not afraid of the unknown 
I stand up for what I want in my life 
I am intentional, I am focused, I am disciplined 
I believe in myself and my capabilities 
I am no longer self-sabotaging my way through life 
I say yes to the opportunities that will give me what I ultimately want 
I have given myself permission to play a much, much bigger game in life 


And, as I mentioned, I have the results to show for it.

It really is THAT simple. (Hand slapping forehead.)

I just watched an episode of Torchwood where a mother was dealing with her son going missing.  When we were learning her story she said she was kind of tortured with hope because it wouldn't allow her to move on, but they were happy memories.  7 months later when she learns her son is still alive but changed and mentally traumatized she longed to go back to that hope and the happy memories.  Now she knew the truth.  It's the same hope.  But she was coming at it from different places on the emotional scale.
My friends tease me because I'm so anti-spoiler.  I've gotten to the point I don't enjoy trailers anymore.  And I'm very particular and cautious about what which actors I will actually watch (or read) their interviews.  And it all goes back to hope.  I have a very good imagination if I'm given information ahead of time I can a) figure the story out too soon ruining the story b) create a better story in my imagination and then be disappointed with what is actually presented to me c) want to relive something from childhood and it's just never the same!  (new Muppet Show, please be good!).  And with the interviews, if a beloved character is created by an actor who doesn't give good interviews it ruins the beloved character.  Hopes and expectations are very pivotal in our experiences.
What do you think about hope and expectations?  Have you noticed them inspiring or holding you back?  They can do both but a lot depends on where you are emotionally when you experience them.  It can be a relief from annoyed but a step back from optimism.  Are they keeping you stuck in the past?  In isolation?  Or are they helping you imagine new worlds?