the goddess notebook

the bucket list

Tonight I watched "the bucket list".  As far as movies go, it was predictable, cheesy, emotionally orchestrated and...

okay, I loved it.

I loved it because despite its shortcomings, it had three of my favorite things in a movie:

1. It made me cry,
2. It made me think and
3. It left me inspired.

Which is why I am writing this past my bedtime.

Some of my top picks for movies come down to a line of two that makes it for me.  Like the line:
"get busy living or get busy dying" (shawshank redemption) and the bucket list delivers two memorable questions that according to Egyptian legend each person is asked when they die to determine 'where they go':

Question #1:
Have you found joy in your life?

Superb question.

Question #2:
And has your life brought joy to others?

Even better.

I would recommend this film for these two babies alone.  I love simple things and easy to follow steps that lead me closer to joy and that is why I like 'em.  These two little questions really boil down why we do anything or at least offer us a guide when we lose perspective when life gets awful busy.

Now the bucket list itself is good too, but I will leave it up to you to watch the film yourself and create your own.

To movies and joy,
beth

when days get blurry...

I must be on vacation.

Yesterday I had to really, really have to do some serious thinking to figure out what day of the week it was.  With some major brain effort, I decided to break it down...

Sunday...
We arrived.  We set up, hit the beach, hit the park, back to the beach, ate, road bikes and went to bed late.

Monday...
Major beach-combing session, over to the playground, into the water park, rode bikes, back to the beach, swam, went to bed early.

Tuesday...
Playground first today , water park, bike riding, walked to the store, went to the beach, back to the playground, stayed up late.

Wednesday...
More of same.

This is how I know today it is Thursday! Whew.  That having been done, I can safely turn my brain off again and head back to the beach!  My kind of vacation.

I hope if you are reading this, you are having the vacation of your design.

To blurry, blissful beach days,
beth

starting fresh

Technology is great and a great pain when it fails.

This weekend I experienced the failing part.  Without notice, my beloved little Macbook stopped working on Friday night.  No matter what I did, it just refused to start up and like any good crisis, I opted immediately for coping strategy number one:

DENIAL.

"Eep! This cannot be happening." I thought but happened it did anyway and no matter what my friends tried at Future Shop to convince my Macbook otherwise, it refused to work without getting a brand new hard drive first.

By Saturday I had moved to stage two: 

ACCEPTANCE.

I decided to skip anger, ranting and pouting because there really wasn't any point.  All of my clients will tell you that I am the first to ask "what is the gift" when anything "bad" happens so by Sunday when my laptop was returned to me for the low price of $362.56 I thought naming this incident would get me to the gift part quicker.

The name?

FRESH START.

So I have been given a fresh start.  A clean desktop, new and bigger hard drive space, an empty in-box, an unknown schedule and not a photo to be found for miles.

A fresh start for July to enter or download whatever I choose. 

I must confess there is some liberation of all those emails being deleted (but if yours was an urgent one of them feel free to re-send that sucker!).

So while I wouldn't advocate for re-building your hard drive and database and a recommended weekend plan, this got me thinking.

Fresh starts are good.

Back-up systems are helpful.

New beginnings are fun.

So while I might not re-build it all this week, I just know July is going to be juicier when I do.

To living fresh,

beth

Briefcase Goddess - Quick Start Series - #3

Good morning!

 

Tonight marks the third (and last!) session of our Briefcase Goddess Quick-start Series and the chance for you to celebrate the NEW.

 

Perhaps new habits you have incorporated into your life.

Perhaps new insights you have gleaned over the past 21 days.

Perhaps new ways to have fun and BE more feminine.

Perhaps a new awakening for you to go deeper into this work.

 

Whatever new things you wish to celebrate, bring this gem to the call tonight.

 

Another fantastic  question came in late last week:

 

"When your spouse is in the "negative" mode or even business partners, what techniques do you recommend us Goddesses to use to help keep us in our Goddess mode? I find myself slipping throughout the days just due to the negative energies that I am surrounded in."

 

This is a GREAT question and in fact, forms the basis of our session tonight.  Stay tuned for SEVERAL things you can do in these exact scenario!

 

Remember that tonight we are extending this call for those who can squeeze another 30 minutes away from kids, dogs, work or pressures for anyone who desires some laser coaching or lively question and answer period.  The regular call will still be contained within the 60 minutes so you want miss the 'main' content, just the bonus if you cannot stay on the call.  Of course, the whole kit and kaboodle will be recorded so as to not miss a thing.

Tonight's topic:    

                  

BEing a Goddess Session 3 – Living Happily Ever After (even if your goddess hat slips!)

 

 

Being a Goddess - Quick Start Series - Part 2

The Art of Knowing and Asking for What you Want 

 Yep.  This is where we delve into the language of the goddess and how to speak those desires so fabulously stirred up with our fun heartwork.

 Bring your best fun gems and your open heart to the call this evening.

If possible, take a breath (or a candle lit bath!) and slip into our virtual room a few minutes before the hour so we can start right at six and drink every drop of our time together.

Heartwork for the week

BE Clear.  How can you manifest what you want if you do not know what that is?  Spend some time this week doing the 'clarity through contrast' exercise Jenny spoke of.  Or if you are inspired, buy Michael Losier's Book The Law of Attraction and make as many lists as you have desires using his template.  As the goddess Jennifer so beautiful shared, "it is all about just being open and honest about what I want".  Her clarity got her lunch with 75 million dollar clients!

BE Grateful.  The power of gratitude is not to be underestimated.  Like fun only with more depth.  Allow yourself to swim in gratitude this week ensuring you find time each morning and before you go to bed to express, feel or just BE grateful.  For something.  Feel it in your heart.  Smile.  Then see what happens and of course, report back to the group!

Being a Goddess - The Quick Start Series

If you could DO less and BE more, what would that look like?

Can you commit three hours in June to BEing more relaxed, preaceful, creative, joyful, connected, clear, nurtured, centered, cherished, heard and happy?

Say Yes!

If you could DO less and BE more what would that look like?

This three-part tele-class series is designed as a fun and easy path the world of the goddess.

Sessions will include:

• The case for BEing feminine (and why your health depends on it!

• The seven effective habits of a Goddess

• The simple way to start and end your day

• How to know, ask and get (more of) what you want (guilt-free!)

 • The one critical thing can implement right away to put in your calendar to stay sane

• What to do if your goddess hat falls off

• And much, much more!

are you in love?

It's February.
LOVE month.

Oh the expectations around good 'ol Valentine's Day!  Whether you love it and hate it, there is definitely no escaping that it is coming.  Everywhere you turn, there are suggestions of ways to express your love.  Hearts  on coffee cups, red balloons, chocolates galore and of course, roses.  But in the spirit of Tina Turner, "what does love got to do with it?"

Not so much.

I don't know about you, but my relationship is not made nor broken by how we spend Valentine's day.  Neither one of us thrive under the pressure of this Hallmark day.  My husband spends all day wrestling with what to do or buy for me and gets all stressed out about even finding the time to buy a card.  I am no better shape at my end.  I try and think up something we might do different or exciting or sexy and usually end up doing the same old thing or hoping my husband surprises me with a blow-me-away plan.  Either way, who needs the stress?

Instead of using February to remind me to BE in love all month.   Not just with my husband but the rest of my life too.   Be in love with my clients (easy!), be in love with my current level of fitness (a work in progress), be in love with my children, my family, my friends, my colleagues (yum!) and be in love with things that are less easy to appreciate.  Like paperwork.  Like making lunches.  Like moving forward with a business plan with ease and simplicity so that every day does not feel like 'work'. 

That feels like LOVE.

How about you?

To BEing in love.
B

Easing into 2008

Ahhhh....the new year.  Perhaps you are thinking about reinventing yourself?  This time of year certainly calls us to DO something.  Quit smoking.  Join a gym.  Eat better.  Whatever.  Just improve dammit.

Well, I for one do not feel like doing that this year.

While I may do a bit more yoga this year, eat a little less refined sugar and try to be a better person in general, I do no feel compelled to create a whole bunch of big ass goals to start working on.

Nope.  I am spending my time this January focusing on two main things:

• who do I want to BE this year and
• can I love myself a little bit more?

They might seem like two little things but I assure you, those two items will keep me busy.  For sure the latter. The who I want to BE goes something like this:

I want to BE...organized, effective, relaxed, creative and inspiring.

Now, as for loving myself, it shouldn't be that tough in theory and intellectually I can tell you that I have many gifts and ways I contribute to the world.   However in the spirit of total honesty, the loving part really comes in when I let go of all the judgments I have about what I didn't do, the shame I feel when my house does not look clean and organized, the critical voice in my head that pounces every time I am a less than perfect parent or spouse.  My 'perfect' parent hat fell off this morning...

Perhaps you can relate or at least may be inspired to create your own BE list this month.  If you do, I would love to see it.

to your inspiration and best year yet!

b

discovering who we are

I have been hanging out in the company of Joan's lately.  Last month I was driving around to a book by Joan Borysenko and this month I am escaping with Joan Anderson's "A Year by the Sea".  As I read Joan;s chronicles of her year sequestered into a cabin on the cape with the sole purpose of finding her own voice, it has inspired me greatly.

It is also reminded me of the importance of pausing, retreating and taking some time out from the hustle and bustle of life to hear your soul's whispers.

Joan writes:

I'm learning that what's important is not so much what I do to make a living as who I become in the process".

Now that's a statement and a half.  I know myself, I can easily get caught up in the categorizing of who I am with what I do and the many hats I wear of wife, mother, friend, neighbour, coach, writer but the truth is, none of those roles is who I am.  They make up lots of what I do and certainly contribute to who I am, but what I do is not me.

Sometimes I think I could write my own book and call it "A Year on the Farm" because living on 54 acres on a mountain in the middle of nowhere has taught me much about myself.  Living surrounded with family, animals and a forest has afforded me breathing space, living space and space to just get quiet.

I realize that many women do not have such a place to live but could use a dose of quiet, of nurturing and surrounded by other women who lift them higher.

And so I am planning my own version of a weekend by the sea in January - when the weather is nasty and curling up by the fire and discovering what we want next year to be about will be the perfect backdrop.

Stay tuned for more details...

busting loose

I have been reading a new book.

Busting Loose From the Money Game - by Robert Scheinfeld.

Truth be told, I am actually reading it for the third time.  The first time, I could not relate to the language of it or the author's masculine style so I gave it to my business partner, Jean-Pierre.  He then got so excited about the darn thing, I became re-inspired to pick it up again.

This is where I got into it.

It paints a very mind-binding kind of thinking that I liken to taking the course in miracles, the law of attraction the what the bleep into one place.  It draws upon Hollywood movies like the matrix and field of dreams to make th point that everything is an illusion of our consciousness.

Is this true?
Life seems fairly real to me but then again, I have been fooled by many of my thoughts before so I read this book open to its message.

Here is the best part - even if you are adamant that the world as we see it is as is, you can still apply the 'process' to things in your life that make you uncomfortable. It allows you an easy way to glean the gifts from virtually every irritation in your life.

Now that's something.

That would also be why I am re-reading it again.
If you are inspired to pick it up, let me know what you think. 

Perhaps we can start our own busting loose club...