empowerment

Hello and Happy 2013!!

I want to start by saying how grateful I am to all of you, as my clients and my readers. You are a strong, courageous, unique group of individuals who choose not to take the easy path, as you regularly apply yourselves and do the the hard work that it takes to build foundation and be the best you that you can be. I acknowledge your efforts and I bask in the glow of your progress – I am honored to be a part of your support system and I look forward to coaching you in 2013. I want you to be strong, empowered, confident and happy in the New Year, so let’s get to it!

With the holidays falling mid-week last year, it made the start to the new year a bit of a slow one to congeal, let alone to gain momentum.  That said, I always encourage clients to take a moment to review the lessons of the past year before stepping into their goals and intentions for the next twelve months.  Best to learn the lesson on the first go around!

2012 left us with a lot to process – it was a year of internal and external transformation for all – relationships shifted and changed, many of us had to navigate the passing of a parent or a grandparent and everyone caught the flu. Then the year closed out with a storm called Sandy and a shooting of the same name that really got the collective moving.  It seems like we all had to walk through some sort of intense loss or release on some level, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual.

So process it through – what did you learn in 2012? How are you stronger today than you were this time last year? Take a moment to inventory this. Write your answers out on paper to drill it down and anchor it in so that you won’t have to do it again! This is part of your foundational build-out, which is SO important to cultivate. Having a foundation that’s jam packed with coping mechanisms and internal resources (which we all need just to live a happy life in this modern world that we’re all working so hard to thrive in!) will be integral to your success as we transition into 2013.

The 3 most important things I learned in 2012 are:

1. _________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________

Do you know how you will apply your new-found knowledge and experience moving forward? Got it? Good, now we can move on!

2013 is offering us a blank canvas – what do you want to create? 2013 promises to be a synergistic year packed with fresh, new, inspired ideas, synergy and Universal support.  In short, you get to create anything you want and I want you to dream BIG. I am here to support you as you step into a new way of being and a higher level of success, happiness and gratitude. You can be unstoppable, and I want all of that and more for you. Together, we can set the tone for the new year and get you started off right! I look forward to watching the magic of 2013 happen with this brilliant group of fearless and empowered co-creators.

Your soul wants to grow!

I hope you had wonderful summer filled with sunshine and good times.

As summer folds gently into fall, (Fall Equinox is at 8:49 AM Mountain Daylight Time September 22nd) our focus often changes as well.

Many of us find ourselves taking stock of the year by making a mental inventory of our accomplishments and what we have achieved so far.  Otherwise we look at what we meant to get done and have stalled out on — or worse, haven’t even started yet.  Some of us find ourselves standing smack dab at the karmic crossroads (scary) of choice and change.

Regardless of the form in which it arrives, it seems as if the Universe is inviting us all to evolve.  This is where your personal foundation kicks in.

• How confident are you in making choices?
• How good are you at navigating change?
• Are you operating in your strength and power or are you stalled out in fear of making the wrong choices for yourself?
• Do you have fear of success/fear of failing?

So here we are wanting to get off the dime but wondering which way to go.  Do you step boldly into the new or stay the comfortable course repeating the same old habits and patterns that lead us to the same old frustrating destination?  I say screw your comfort zone, let’s grab the lessons from your experience thus far and jump boldly into the new.  If you have some outdated patterning that’s preventing you from doing this, identify it and eradicate it.  Let it go. As much as the Universe is inviting (demanding) that we evolve, it is also supporting us in clearing and cleaning our old outdated relationships or ways of being. Now is the time to become a new, more courageous and powerful YOU.

How, you might ask.

1. Drill down your truth.  Define your destination. What do you want (exactly)?
2. Find and sustain your center.  In order to make powerful choices we must choose from our truth not our fear.
3. Get clear on what (fear) is keeping you stuck.
4. How will it feel when you arrive there?  We attract and manifest according to the way we feel – if you can feel it you can create it.
5. Get support.  Hire a coach a therapist or a personal trainer, whatever it takes.  If you can’t afford it, work out a trade of services.
6. Trust.  Let go, surrender to your process and believe that you will arrive at your destination.  Focus on it and step closer to it every day.
7. Learn to allow.  Open up and let the good stuff in.

We are all, each and every one of us, at that pivotal turning point.  I support you in taking complete responsibility for yourself while rising to the occasion, being your most powerful self, and making the necessary changes that will lead you to your happiness.

This Friday, November 11^th, or 11.11.11, the primary energies of the master number 11 will be repeated 3 times, 11-11-11.

At 11am GMT, there will be a magnificent gathering of Universal energies. Some believe it will be the most powerful influx of light the Earth has EVER (and that’s a minute) experienced.

I like to call it The Love Wave.

11.11.11 represents an unprecedented opportunity for all of us to connect to our Universal divine love energy and to assist in anchoring the vibration of love into the planet Earth in a rare and intensified way.

11.11.11 is a portal of divine energy of Supreme Love that is meant to open up and cascade over the Earth and all of her inhabitants.  We get to help anchor that energy by allowing it to process through us. We are the conduits of the Love Wave, baby. Wow, did I just say that?

This is an unparalleled calling to mankind, speaking directly to those of you who have the desire to move into the next phase of enlightenment.

The 11.11.11 energy is the next big wave before the final 2012 shift. The promise of 11.11.11 and 2012 is a great shifting in humanities consciousness, an upgrade and uplifting of energies, that will facilitate a raising of our collective and individual consciousness moving us from being fear based creators into creating from a place of love. Once we have expanded our capacity to hold this divine energy, we will more easily move into the new 2012/Fifth Dimension frequencies.

So, How do you add your energy to the Love Wave?

You have the opportunity to add to the Love Wave by coming together for one hour, beginning on November 11^th at 11:11 GMT. Gather in a group or meditate alone sit with your focus upon your heart and allow yourself to breathe into the truth of your being, feeling, sensing or simply acknowledging your vibration of truth while you connect with the one great love in your heart place your positive and appropriate intentions into the collective mind, you may also ask that any fears, insecurities and outdated pattering be released from your field, let your soul soar.  Congratulations, you are now dancing on the great Love Wave into a powerful new time of Compassion based unity consciousness.

Even if you are unable or unwilling to wake up at 11am GMT, you may still work with the 11.11.11 energy. What do you want to add to the collective?

You can add to the collective at any time by thinking of 11.11.11 and communicating your thoughts, meditations, positive intentions and good will. Communicate your contribution and state clearly your desire for Earth and humanity.

When we add our energy, and our love and ideals for the planet Earth into to this conscious collective, we are participating in aiding of all of humanity and planet Earth herself in taking it to the next level. This is the next collective leap forward in evolution.

This is no small thing.

The faith of one true believer holds the energy of a thousand.

For a while now, and for the first time in my life, I am really truly happy.  Not the kind of giddy happy with rollercoaster highs and lows, that fluctuate wildly based off all the other circumstances in life, but hapy with this calm, deep contentment, a self-confidence, a sure, steady, powerful happiness that I never knew existed before.

All in all I’m so content and happy and life is really SO god it feels almost surreal.  I decided although there are always still things I can work on, I just wanted to soak in this most amazing and affirming feeling for a little while – so I decided to take a temporary break from sessions just to be, and enjoy and practice all these tools for a little while.  Of course I still have TC’s number on my speed dial and she’s still my life coach, and I don’t plan to be away long!

10 years ago today while our nation was in a state of shock I made a conscious choice to choose light over fear. I did this in an effort to transcend any limiting beliefs that I felt perpetuated a cycle of division, violence and fear. I felt that this was the highest way for me to be of service to all who where suffering on 911. Ten years down the road I pray and meditate to strengthen that choice every day. I know in my heart that humanity is capable of achievements beyond our wildest imagination I also know that the shift begins on and individual level with each and every choice we make. You are love, you are power, you are wisdom let the shift begin with you.

Hello and happy summer solstice,

I had a cathartic experience last week when I wrapped and dashed out of a group workshop I was facilitating in a rush to see a rock concert in a graveyard (I love Hollywood).

Our workshop subject for the evening was defining your personal power and operating from that place all of the time. I was instantly teleported from a rich conversation about connecting to and sustaining ONE’S personal power, to standing under a full moon amongst hundreds of gravesites thinking about the fragility of life. Talk about juxtaposition: a full production (huge life) Flaming LIPS show blazing through the headstones and mausoleums.

To say that the contrast was surreal would be a major understatement. This got me thinking about death, the full moon, the summer solstice and our rare triad of eclipses (more on eclipses below). In that moment, it was impossible to ignore how important it is for us to live every moment to ITS fullest.

This summer solstice is no ordinary solstice, this solstice  is a rare catalyst for every area of your life, and is a prolific energetic depository  of  empowerment,

You may have noticed that the energies are intensified and the status quo no longer applies. We are in the energies leading up to 2012 and the shift of a new age.

What does this mean to you and how can you navigate all of this intense change?

Anchor in your power, NOW.

The great news is, during the summer solstice, our life force is at ITS maximum, we also have the support of three eclipses and a grand cross this summer.   You  can utilize this once in a lifetime energy to upgrade your internal operating system and anchor in your power.

How do you do it?

Look inward: GET honest with yourself around what’s working in your life and what is no longer serving you.  Heal what you need to heal, release what you need to release and restructure what you need to restructure. You must be willing to do the work.  Here are some overall steps to get you moving in the right direction.

10 TIPS on owning your Personal Power

1. Define what personal power means to you.
2. Foster an awareness (feel it) of when you are operating from your power and when you are not.
3. Make the commitment be your most powerful self in everything you do.
4. Recognize what takes you out of your power.
5. Give yourself permission to own your power and be powerful.
6. Choose love and faith over fear.
7. Remember that you are never alone.
8. Connect with your universal supports.
9. Be true to yourself (be happy).
10. Remember that the more powerful you are, the more you may be of service to others.

The powerful mid-year “Eclipse-TRIADS” occur on:

I know that two of these dates have already PASSED, but the energy of any eclipse builds for MONTHS prior and vibrates months after, so the window is still open for you to work with these energies.

(1) June 1   (2) June 15   (3) July 1.

The three occur exactly 15 days apart. We have two partial solar eclipses, sandwiching a full moon lunar eclipse. Barely enough breathing room, so get ready for a powerful ride. All of this is punctuated by the aforementioned extremely powerful Solstice on June 21st. Whilst the two ‘outer eclipses’ of the Triad are partial solar, do not think that their energies are lessened by the fact that they are not full eclipses. THE energy of all 3 will be extremely potent and felt by the entire planet, whether visible or not from your specific vector on the planet. The energy will encircle the globe and affect each of you.

The June 1st lunar eclipse is the beginning, and truly the energy of each of these events has an intersecting field that expands energetically from 3 days prior and 3 days after the eclipse.

The Energies:

The energy pattern of the Triad is around release, healing and reconstruction.

June 1: Release and cleansing, release of old energy patterns. Patterns that may be ingrained, even hidden.

June 15: Healing through acceptance of Facing the Challenge, and being true to SELF.

July 1: Strength and Completion of the ‘New You’. Not only visualizing the attributes and events you wish to create, but taking requisite actions and step forward to manifest them.

I understand that these are high concepts and huge shifts.  I know it’s easy to look at a list like this and feel overwhelmed. THAT’S why I am here to coach you through the process.

We are currently living in one of the most exciting times of transformation humanity has ever gone through,  this is the next leap in evolution.  You don’t have to walk this path alone (you are never alone). You are always free to contact me directly for some formal coaching or just a friendly push in the right direction.

May the summer of 2011 be positively transformative for you.

Love and blessings,

T.C. Conroy

I felt like things were generally going better since my coaching sessions had started.  I had made that huge communication breakthrough with my mom and applied it to other relationships.  I learned about expectations and boundaries.  I had learned how to self-care and really had the chance to put it into affect with the passing of my horse.  But as I recovered from this grief, I was realizing another pattern in my life that I wanted to fix.

As I once mentioned way back in the beginning of these blogs, I am fabulous at interviews.  I feel like I make great first impressions.  I can be outgoing, exciting, interesting—I know all the small talk questions to ask to draw people out and engage them…however, then once I’ve got them hooked, I fall flat.  I often get hired for jobs based on my personality – this outgoing, exciting persona I convey, that I do feel is really true to myself, but somehow once I get the job, I freeze up.  Then I get insecure.  Am I really the right fit for this job? Am I going to be able to write the articles in the style they want? Am I going to say and act in a way that will build camaraderie with my colleagues or isolate me from them? My insecurities cause me to go into a shell and actually shut down, and ultimately, work to isolate me and destroy the great foundation I started.  It can take two or three months for me to get comfortable enough in a new job to come out of this shell and start being outgoing and fun again, and often by then, it’s too late for good impressions.

This not only happens with jobs, it happens in other areas of my life.  Friendships, relationships.  People that I care very much about, I can first impress, but then when I realize how much I like them and that they have given me that chance to be in their life, I freeze up.  This happened when I first met Jess and almost killed our relationship before it could blossom.  I’d heard of getting insecurities about first meetings, but mine is almost the opposite.  I do great at first meetings, but then when I realize I’m committed, that’s when the insecurities strike.

I talked about this confusing problem with TC and she immediately had some good suggestions.  She told me she wanted me to start working on an exercise.  “It doesn’t have to be perfect right away,” she said.  “Just try to remember it, and think about it, and the more you think about it the more you’ll be able to put it into practice.”  She wanted me to stay focused on the present moment.  She said she thought a lot of my problem was that instead of listening to the conversation at hand, or being myself in the present moment, I was constantly over-analyzing my behavior.  For example, “what’s the appropriate response to this?” “What can I say that will make me sound cool?” “What’s the right article to pitch that’ll prove I’m a good reporter?” Whereas in fact, if I just stayed in the present moment and blocked out these insecure voices, my ideas and responses were already cool.  Being perfect, really, was as simple as not being insecure.

I started putting this into practice and immediately noticed a difference.  I wasn’t necessarily able to change my behavior right away, but just being aware of it made a difference.  Often time during conversations with people I would notice that instead of focusing on what they were saying and being in the present moment, I would be drifting off into my voices of insecurities…”what’s the appropriate response to say to this?…How should I respond to that?” It was really silly, because of course I could already naturally respond more than appropriately and it was nothing to worry about.  Once I recognized that I was doing this, I was able more and more to put those voices aside, and snap myself back to being in the present moment – listening to the conversation that was taking place, and just responding as myself, naturally, and as such, much more impressively.

Although my week of self care was improving my life in general, I had a stressful weekend situation to deal with.  It was my dad’s 59^th birthday party—really, a great thing to celebrate, considering he’d almost died last year, only it was just I was so burned out on talking about anything to do with the stroke…and really, burned out on more than just that, as TC would later point out.

I had a really hard time with the birthday party.  The caregivers had been calling me and trying to get me involved in things for the last week, and I kept making excuses.  (Later, I would learn from TC that I don’t need to make excuses, I can be honest and say, “I’m worn out from this, I really need you guys to handle this on your own this time around”…but I hadn’t learned that tool yet).  I felt pressure from all sides.  I had just moved into my apartment the week before, and was still yearning for my own time and space.  My mom arrived on Friday to stay for the weekend and really wanted to spend time with me.  She was asking to stay in my apartment with me, and I kept suggesting she stay in the spare room at my dad’s instead.  “All the furniture’s still a mess here…” I kept finding excuses.

The party was grueling.  I was happy for my dad, but I was emotionally exhausted.  Living with a suddenly brain-damaged parent for a year and basically being their “parent” had taken its toll on me.  All the people at the party were caregivers, friends of caregivers, Dad’s PT doctors, and other friends of my dad’s.  Everyone was making small talk, and everyone was talking about the stroke.  I couldn’t think of two worse conversation situations for me right at this moment.

With my emotions running on overdrive, I couldn’t do small talk.  Not at all.  Certainly not small talk about the stroke – the very thing that had caused these huge emotional barricades in my life! I tried to busy myself helping with food and music so I didn’t have to talk to people.  But my mom kept coming up and trying to hug me and connect with me.  She would come up and say really off-the-wall stuff in attempt to talk to me, like “What an interesting pattern on that seat cover!”  And she has this really passive, hippy way of talking, with lots of soft “oohs” and “awws” that just drive me nuts.  I couldn’t handle it.  I dealt with it by not dealing with it.  I felt bad, but I pointedly ignored her.  When she’d come up and say something weird and put her hands on my shoulders, I’d turn to someone next to me and strike up a conversation.   By the end of the evening, I was exhausted.

This was Saturday night, and Sunday, she and my dad were going to be having dinner and they invited me, but I excused myself.  “I’m just so busy, sorry…” again, more excuses.

That Monday morning I couldn’t wait to tell TC about all this.  I couldn’t possibly think how to solve this problem of dealing with my mom, and things just seemed to be getting worse.  TC immediately pointed out the essentials to me.  “You can’t change your mom’s behavior,” she said.  “But you can change yours.  And when you change your behavior, you will also change the dynamics of your relationship with your mom, so your mom will have to change.”

TC pointed out that my mom’s passive, 50’s upbringing was affecting the way she communicated with me.  But then she pointed out that my communication style was just as bad.  “You’re both skating over the ice with each other, avoiding anything real that might be under the surface.  When confronted with your mom’s clinginess, instead of telling her how you really feel about it, you skate away, you make excuses or change the subject—you don’t address what really matters.”

She was totally right.  But I felt I’d been really straightforward with my mom in the past, and that hadn’t worked either.  “I’ve told her I needed my space, and she was being too clingy, and nothing changes,” I said.

We talked about expectations and relationships.  TC pointed out how everyone has expectations about relationships with other people.  This is a natural thing.  But sometimes those expectations are unrealistic and we need to readjust them.  I realized since my dad’s stroke, I had been actively seeking that strong parent figure from my mom.  But she had never been that person for me, and, as TC pointed out, certainly couldn’t right now.  “She’s dealing with a lot too,” TC said.  “She went through a divorce with your dad just six years ago, then the stroke…she’s trying to figure out her life too.  Maybe you need to change your expectations of what you need from her.  What you want is a parent figure.  But what do you really need?”

“I guess I really need…to be able to talk about real things with her,” I finally said.  This also connected to my abhorrence of small talk right now, and cutting out friends who couldn’t support me emotionally.  “I really need her to be able to have meaningful conversations with me.  I don’t want to have this avoidant, surface relationship anymore.”

“There you go,” said TC.  “Can you tell her that?”

“I wouldn’t know how…”

Forty-five minutes later I hung up from our session, brushed up my make-up, and went to meet my mom for lunch.  I used every tool TC had taught me.  One secret of life coaches that she had just revealed to me was to use questions as much as possible.  This not only gets the point across without sounding so aggressive, it also forces the other person to involve themselves and participate.  So this is what we did.

I sat down and sipped my Chai tea, and said, “So, Mom, what do you think of our relationship lately?”

TC had totally prepared me for if she tried to be avoidant, to steer her right back to my question, but to her credit, she met me straight on.  “Well, I think it’s pretty emotionally rocky and we’re not really communicating,” she replied.

I was pleasantly surprised, and continued with the tools I’d just gathered from my session.  “Why do you think that, and what do you think we could do to make it better? What do you need out of our relationship?” And finally, “I feel like you avoid me a lot.  It seems like you try to avoid upsetting me.  What are you afraid of?”

At this, my mom burst into tears.  “Oh honey, I’m afraid of losing you!”

What?? I was shocked.  “Losing ME? Mom, I’m your daughter! You’re stuck with me for life! You’re never gonna lose me!”

We hugged, and she opened up and talked about how the divorce six years ago had totally shaken up her world.  “I thought that marriage was forever, and if that could fall apart, anything could.  If I lost my husband, I could lose anything.”

“I’m slowly realizing differently,” she went on.  “But it’s my greatest fear.  And that’s what I’ve been so scared of with you for so long.”

“But Mom, I’m your daughter.  You’re like my right arm! You’re never going to lose me.”

We talked all about what I’d talked with TC about.  How I’d felt like we were always skating over the surface.  “What I need in this relationship is to be real.  I want us to be able to talk about our feelings, and meaningful things,” I said.  “I want you to be able to get upset with me.  I don’t want us to be always avoiding important issues.  If we notice each other doing this, can we remind each other?”

She agreed.  After we’d talked all about our relationship, I even brought up the life coaching sessions, and what a help TC had been to me.  My mom was fascinated by the things I’d learned about boundaries, standards, and tolerations.  I gave her the papers TC had given me on the subjects, and told her how to make a Tolerations Checklist, and how that would help her create boundaries in her life.  She was so impressed she was taking notes on everything I said, and is now seriously interested in also taking life coaching from TC.

I came back from lunch feeling like I’d reconnected with my mom, and really been able to talk to her for the first time in years.  What an incredible breakthrough! This communication stuff really isn’t so scary once you have the proper tools…

Blog Day 6, My First Week Of Aware Self-Care:

So post our session on Monday, I really decided to try putting TC’s homework for me into my daily life.  Everything I thought about doing, I thought beforehand, is this going to drain my energy, or add to it? I had a busy week scheduled.  I was moving back into my own apartment again, from my dad’s – I’d been living with my dad for the last year to take care of him after he had a major stroke last year.  But now I’d gotten caregivers set up on a 24 hour schedule, his doctors all set up, he had formed good bonds with all the caregivers, and I felt like I could start transitioning back to my own life again.  So this week I was starting to move back to my old apartment.

One of the things I wanted to do in moving back to my old apartment was shift out a lot of the old furniture.  When I’d moved in last year, I’d come from Boston and from being overseas for a long time, and so I just took hand-me-down furniture from my dad and his at-the-time girlfriend.  But after the girlfriend had turned out to be one of the most selfish, horrible people I’d ever met, I didn’t really want her things in my apartment anymore, not to mention if this was truly going to be my own space, that I so needed right now, I really wanted things in it that I really loved.  So I started going around to vintage and antique stores.  I had found an amazing French sette and matching chair from the 1800’s that were really from France, and an old antique dresser.  This week I was scheduled to go pick them up and move them into my apartment.

Before going to get them, I thought about my homework from TC.  I knew the physical act of moving these furniture pieces into my apartment would be draining, but the emotional boost of having them in there – totally my style and things I loved – I thought would be worth it.  I got my boyfriend Jess to help, and my friend’s husband Paul, and together, it really wasn’t so bad.  After we moved the sofa we went and had a really nice dinner at an upscale restaurant since everyone was hungry.  Maybe since I was aware it was an activity that had the potential for being draining to me, I took care to be aware of how I was feeling and protect myself.

I did things I needed to do, but I spaced them out and went about them with more awareness, so I wasn’t wearing myself out.  I went grocery shopping for my apartment, I took my friend out horseback riding, I emailed my resume and sample writing articles to some job contacts that were interested in me.  I tried not to worry about shifting my old furniture out (right now it’s just sitting in the middle of the room) or about getting pictures on the wall, or getting everything set up.  For me, this was hard, because I’m a very proactive person, but I kept telling myself to take one thing at a time.  For now, getting the furniture I loved in the apartment was a big step, and I didn’t have to hurry to make it all look perfect just yet.

I had two things this week that were big for my physically.  The first was a tattoo.  This wasn’t a large tattoo, just a small lotus flower on my left wrist.  It was also my seventh tattoo, so not a big deal for me, but still, getting a tattoo means taking care of it, and time to let your body heal.  Again, however, I’d been on the waiting list to get this for the last month, and although it was physically draining to me, I felt the emotional booster from it was worth it.

The other physical task for me this week was that I was having laser eye surgery done on Thursday.  Now this would be much more taxing than the tattoo, but again, something I’d been wanting to get ever since I could remember.  I have really bad nearsightedness, and have had to wear glasses since I was about four or five years old.  I can’t remember a time when I didn’t need glasses or contacts.  I have worn contacts since I was eleven, but within the last year they started rubbing against my eyes and giving me frequent eye infections.  As a result of the infections, and to prepare for the laser eye surgery, I have had to wear my glasses constantly for the last month – and I despise my glasses.  So I was really looking forward to the surgery – and afterward, being able to see with my own eyes!

Another thing about the surgery and the tattoo, and I don’t know if this was good or not, but they gave me good excuses to take it easy for the week.  I know I should be able to take it easy just on my own, but when this was something totally foreign to me, it helped to have an excuse.  Both the tattoo artist and the eye doctor told me to relax and give myself some time off to just lie around and recover.  Even before my eye surgery, the doctor wanted me rested and pampered.  They gave me Valium for the surgery, and told me they just wanted me to go home and take some Vicodin and sleep, so that’s just what I did.  My dad and his caregiver brought me take-away sushi for dinner, and then I went back to sleep.  The next morning, I was just fine and could see perfectly! It was miraculous, I felt like a character in a bible story.  But I continued the extra-self care especially since I knew my body was still healing.  I let myself lie around and watch movies (something I never do without friends).  I napped.  I went shopping.  My dad was extremely worried about me – he worries extra since he had the stroke – so dealing with that was a little bit stressful, but besides that I had a great time letting myself rest and recuperate.

That night I went out with friends to my boyfriend Jess’s DJ night to celebrate my new vision.  Not only did I have a great time seeing my friends – it’s amazing how pleasantly glad you are to see people when you’ve given yourself the proper time you need to yourself – it was also a very eventful night, and I got a little more practice with being assertive.

It hadn’t gone long into the night when some guy trying to start trouble starting having a go at Jess, who was DJing.  Jess isn’t one to take any crap, especially from a guy who’s looking to start a fight, and was intent on giving him a good punch in the face if Casey, the bar owner, didn’t throw him out.  Some girl made some nasty comments about Jess’s reaction, and I turned right around and told her what she was saying was certainly not the case, and I was his girlfriend so she could answer to me.  She immediately backed down and commended me on “standing up for my man.”  I don’t know if that’s something I would have done before I started this work with TC or not.  I’m usually pretty good about sticking up for my friends, just not myself, but with this scene going on at the bar and everyone getting all hot about it, in the past I might have been too timid of getting in the middle, and just pretended I didn’t hear what she was saying.

Later on, after lots of rowdiness, everyone was dancing, and this creepy guy who was by himself started going around groping all the girl’s asses.  He lightly touched mine, which was when I was alerted to what was going on.  I whirled right around and stuck my finger in his face and told him if he so much as tried that again, I would slap him.  Then I heard the other girls complaining about him, so I told them, “let’s go up and tell Casey and get him thrown out,” so we did, and Casey threw him out.  Then he snuck back in, so Casey threw him out again.  It was an eventful night, but I was proud of myself for standing up to whatever I didn’t like and, as TC said, taking the “high road” instead of letting it slide by and taking the “low road.”

Things were better with Jess this week also.  He was still stressed out, but with my self-care, I was able to just do my thing and not worry about him, and also be supportive to him when I would see him.  As TC had told me, I can’t change him, but I can change myself.  He had four papers to write, recording to do on the weekend, was fighting off a flu, and, I just learned that Friday was the anniversary of his mother’s death.  That’s a lot to be going through.  I totally understood if he was stressed and needed space.  And again, it was another good excuse for me to give myself space.  If Jess was available and wanted to hang out, I probably would have been hanging out with him.  I needed to give myself time and space to myself and continue my good R & R.

Learning Self-Care:

The next day was Monday, and our official scheduled phone session.  That morning was a disaster for me.  These apartments can lock from the inside, which creates a problem when you’re especially scatterbrained like I was feeling.  I had an appointment at 10am, but ran out of the apartment leaving the keys on the kitchen counter, and locking the door behind me.  As soon as I was outside I realized what I’d done.  My apartment and car keys are all on the same ring, so I couldn’t even drive to my appointment and then figure out what to do.  Luckily I still had my phone, so I was able to google a locksmith to come let me back in, but this took over an hour until they even got out.  I had to cancel my appointment, and the locksmith let me back into my apartment at 11:58, precisely two minutes to spare before my phone appointment with TC.

So of course I was still a little frazzled when I called her.  I told her about my hectic morning.  It just seemed like a continuation of Sunday’s chaos.  “I just don’t know what’s going on with me and mornings anymore,” I said.

Well, TC did.  “You need to slow down, and take care of yourself,” she said.  “This is a sign.  You being this scatterbrained, starting to forget things and feeling frazzled like you are, this means you’re not taking care of yourself, and it’s wearing you out.  The number one lesson I want you to take away from today’s session is self-care.  And this lends itself to other things that you want to work on as well.  Once you’re taking care of yourself properly, you feel good.  When you feel good, you have more self confidence.  When you have more self confidence you are naturally more assertive.  Do you understand where I’m going with this?”

Yes, of course, now that she said it, it made perfect sense.  We went over the Tolerations Checklist that she’d given me the previous week, and I had been filling out.  I was surprised how many tolerations I’d already taken care of.  I’d told my friend kindly, but assertively that I needed to be left alone for a while and she’d understood.  I’d told my other friend to stop making snide comments if he wanted to stay my friend, and he apologized.  I’d been giving myself more time and space to myself, and so on.

“So now you’ve located the cracks in your teacup, and you’re repairing them, so your life energy doesn’t keep draining out.”

Sure, this made sense.  I have to take care of myself before I can feel strong enough to protect my standards and boundaries, or even take care of other people.

“So your homework for this week is taking care of yourself,” TC told me.  “This is your exercise this week.  Whatever you do, before you do it, ask yourself first: is this going to drain my energy, or give me energy? With everything you do.”

Our hour was up, and I hung up thinking this was going to be slightly challenging for me, but good.  As I mentioned previously, I had been brought up by a very 50’s house-wife style mom.  Though she tried to have me turn out without that baggage, independent and modern and all that, of course she couldn’t help passing those old 50’s habits on to me.  So I was very used to thinking about and helping other people.  But myself? Down to measuring each activity I do on whether it will make me feel good or not? However, this was obviously something I didn’t know how to do, and it would be good for me.  As TC had explained, taking care of myself was the first step that came before anything else.  Confidence, or assertiveness, or taking control of my life, or anything that I wanted to work on.  So I better start learning how to do it.

“I’m manifesting like crazy – everything I’m asking for, I’m getting”

A.H. Supervising Producer

The Tolerations Checklist was fantastic.  I had so many things that I was tolerating.  One of my friends being too clingy, one of my friends being a bit of a dick, one of my friends only talking to me via texts when she was drunk, having to parent my dad, having no space to myself, the pushy lady at the spa who wouldn’t give me the chance to talk about getting a refund for a series of treatments I’d ordered that I didn’t want anymore, and the list went on and on.

There was something freeing about writing these things down.  Instead of lurking in the depths of my awareness, by writing them down they were brought to the fore.  And this made me start acting on them.

I talked to my friend who was being too clingy and told her I appreciated her as a friend and as a person and how much she’d supported me in the past, but I was just processing so much after this last year, and this summer, and I just really needed my own space right now, and I couldn’t be there for her right now.  I would be able to in the future again, I just didn’t know when.  She took this extremely well and was grateful to be communicating (she probably had no idea that I’d felt that way) and told me she was sorry if she’d pressured me, and to just let her know when I felt ready to hang out again.

I went in to the spa and talked to the pushy lady’s assistant (the pushy lady herself was away for two weeks) and was very firm about needing a refund.  The assistant kept telling me she wasn’t authorized to do it, but I finally got her to check with her higher-up and get the okay, and she refunded my card.

I confronted my friend who was being a dick and told him that the comments he’d made were completely unacceptable, and if he wanted to stay friends he needed to stop talking like that.  He also apologized.

Some things were going on in my romantic relationship too.  After having the most amazing time together in LA, Jess had suddenly been really off with me this whole week.  On Friday night, after a week of practicing being more assertive, I decided to bring it up.  I told him he’d been really grumpy with me all week and I wanted to know what was going on, I felt ignored and unappreciated.

It turns out a whole stew of things had been going on for him that I hadn’t known about.  His best friends had just moved across the country, he was trying to get back into the swing of classes and homework, felt he might need more space to himself, and then a big one, he was considering going travelling abroad for a year, in the future, and if he decided to do that might not be able to continue having a relationship with me.  But it was all up in the air still.

Well, of course that threw me for a loop.  I told him so, and told him how I felt about it all, and how I felt about everything being on the fence (I didn’t like it), and about how I felt about him (totally in love), and brought up possible solutions or other approaches to the travelling/long distance quandary.  It didn’t bring any of the answers that I was craving so badly, but at least we were communicating.

At the same time I was moving back into my old apartment.  For the last year after my dad had the stroke I have been living with him to take care of him, but slowly I built up a very competent team of caregivers that he has bonded well with, and they were now on a 24/7 shift schedule with him, so I could slowly start moving back into my own life.  However, this was hard for my dad.  My dad’s biggest fear has always been being alone, and even though the caregivers are around all the time providing good company for him, I’m sure this started flaring up again.  I told him I’d be spending more time at my apartment, and probably sleeping there (my apartment is five minutes down the road from his), but I also arranged to do Daddy-daughter dates Mondays and Thursdays where we would have dinner and then I’d help him get ready for bed and tuck him in.  Despite this, Dad was still sad about me being at the apartment less.  After just one day had gone by, he told me he was missing me so much, and he really wanted to see me again.  This was hard, because I felt terribly guilty for leaving.  On the other hand, I’m 26, and I needed to start getting my life back after a whole year of putting it completely on hold.

This weekend I was also supposed to do a motorcycle training class to learn how to ride.  I got to the first class just fine, and did great, but the second day my road was closed off due to a marathon and I was 45 minutes late to the class.  Even though I gave them the policeman’s card who had told me I couldn’t leave, they had a strict late policy, and my instructor was a square, so they wouldn’t let me finish the course.  This was the last straw in my already stressful weekend, and I drove a little ways, then pulled over and cried.  It was early in the morning so no one was awake, and even if they were, who could I call? I was raising my standards and that meant there were a lot of “friends” I no longer really considered friends anymore.  I had put a lot on Jess in the last few months, but I couldn’t talk to him right now because a). he was asleep and b). he was part of the problem.  Out of desperation, I tried calling my mom, but that went terribly.  She seems to have turned to her hippy friends for consolation from her problems lately, and now she talks just like them.  I was told the universe seems to be shifting things around for me, and I should go out and listen to the wisdom my horses have to offer.  I told her I had to go.  Finally I texted TC that I was having a terrible weekend and she called me and we talked for probably about a half hour.

She calmed me down and told me she wanted me to go home and spend the rest of the day doing things that were nice just for me.  “I want you to have a self-care day,” she said.  “Whatever it is that makes you feel good.  You can’t control Jess.  You can’t control your dad, or your mom.  But you can control you.  So whether it’s watching movies and eating ice cream, or having a hot bath, or whatever, I want you to go home and do that.”

I explained that I really wanted to watch movies, but the TV cables weren’t set up yet, and the furniture was all in disorder, and my suitcases weren’t even unpacked, and there wasn’t any food at the apartment.  “I want to pamper myself, but nothing’s set up to do it with,” I protested.

“Look, don’t worry about unpacking for today,” was her answer.  “I know you want to get your apartment all cute and organized, and you will, but not today, and probably not tomorrow.  Just make sure you have the basics, set up a little corner in one of the rooms that’s yours, and camp out in it.  Just get the basic what you need to take care of you.”

Then it struck me that I’d been taking care of other people so long I didn’t even know what I would want to do that was relaxing and nice for myself.  The whole concept seemed a little mind-boggling to me.

“So what you’re telling me,” said TC.  “Is that you’ve put your own life on the shelf and you put it up so high and for so long that you’ve forgotten where you put it or what’s even up there.”

That was exactly it.  I needed to get it back down and wipe that dust off.

We talked a little more until she was sure I was calm and focused again.  I drove back home.  I still couldn’t get back to my apartment because of the marathon, but I finally parked some blocks away and just walked back.  I had a long, hot bath with candles, and spent the afternoon reading my book (which I haven’t gotten to do since I can’t remember when), and then my best girlfriend brought wine and snacks over and we had a good girl talk.  This was Sunday, and TC and I would continue the self-care lesson the following day.

Jess and I spent the weekend soaking up the sun in LA and flew back to Portland on Sunday night.  Even though I’d only just had our first session on Saturday, I wanted to get started into our routine right away, so I arranged with TC to start our first phone session on Monday (from then on we would “meet” on the phone every Monday at 12).

I was so excited from all the new information about boundaries I’d been given on Saturday that I was chomping at the bit to roll with this.  I’d already thought of two big boundaries for my life: no more sloppy drunk behavior from my friends, if they wanted to stay my friends, and people aren’t allowed to yell at me.  I wanted to make more! The more I thought about boundaries, the more defined my life felt.  It was something I’d always been missing.

I especially wanted to set some boundaries with my mom.  My mom is the sweetest woman in the world, and I love her more than anything, however she’s also extremely needy and clingy, and I think all the recent goings on with my dad had kind of pushed her over the edge into a world of denial.  (My parents got divorced six years ago after 33 years although have stayed friends, but since that my mom has also had to deal with my dad’s seriously crazy, bitchy girlfriends, and now the stroke that has completely changed him physically and mentally).  As soon as I got on the phone to TC for our session that day I brought this idea up to TC.

“Whoa, there,” TC said.  “Let’s slow down.  It’s great you’re so excited about setting boundaries, but your relationship with your mom is an extremely important one.  Let’s practice setting boundaries and being assertive on some less important ones first.”

Oh yeah – she was right.  In all my excitement about boundaries I forgot my mom is also insecure and ultra sensitive.  Not a good combination for a boundaries beginner.

“I want you to keep working on your boundaries,” TC told me, “but let’s not jump off the high dive before we can swim.  First, let me give you some terms to think about.”

I wrote them down in my notebook while she told me.

1.     Boundaries

2.     Standards

3.     Toleration

“Each supports the other and each builds on the other,” TC explained.  She gave me an analogy of a teacup filled with tea.  “The tea is your life essence, your energy, and for every one thing you tolerate, you get one crack in the side of the tea cup.  Each crack starts draining away your energy.  You have to raise your standards and set boundaries around those standards to repair the cracks and strengthen the sides of the cup so your energy is protected.”

TC sent me a Tolerations Checklist, which was a list I should make of all the things that I’m tolerating in my life right now, from big important things to the minutest annoyance.  “Even if they’re things you can’t change,” she said.  “Just write them down.”  The Tolerations Checklist was something she said she does also every so often.  “It’s just good for checking in with your boundaries and standards.  There may be things you’re tolerating that are draining away your energy that you don’t even realize.”

Again, the phone session was perfect.  There was nothing I felt I was missing from not seeing TC in person.  We talked about my relationships with my friends, and ideas for how to talk to them assertively and communicate my new boundaries without being angry, or also taking to lower road of avoidance.  The hour went by quickly under TC’s guidance, and before long it was time to finish up.

I went straight to my email and started filling in the Tolerations Checklist.

Meeting TC:

Saturday afternoon at last rolled around.  It was a sunny and hot Saturday afternoon, unsurprising in Los Angeles.

I’m not generally a person who gets nervous at first meetings.  I feel like I make a good impression.  I’m great with parents, fabulous at interviews.  I don’t generally carry pre-conceived judgments about people, and I generally like people on first impression (sometimes to my detriment).  I was excited to meet TC after hearing so much about her and feeling sure that she was the one person right now who could really get my life on fast track to where I wanted it to be.  Still, it’s always a little bit unnerving to meet someone who is so famous for what they do, and, according to Jess, a real ass-kicker.  Although our phone conversation had been warm and laid back, I still had an image in my mind of TC as some sort of female, picture-perfect Terminator.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised, and relieved, to walk into her office to find calming zen fountains, a comfortable sofa and chairs, and the room painted in darker, calming tones, with lamps in the corners for atmospheric but not intrusive light.  TC herself was sat behind her desk as we walked in and jumped up to welcome us.  She was smaller and slimmer than I imagined, but even warmer and friendlier than my impression of her had been over the phone.  She was even wearing fantastic heels, “for my sake, I knew you’d appreciate them,” she said.  My lingering image of her as the Terminator vanished.  She seemed achievement oriented, yet down-to-earth at the same time.  I immediately felt like she was someone I could connect to.

Jess left to wait for me outside and TC invited me to make myself comfortable on the sofa.  “Help yourself to bottles of water, or anything you want,” she said, and we immediately plunged into conversation.  I told her about my frustrations with trying to fight the passivity I’d inherited from my mom, but despite my resistance, feeling like the passivity was still winning.  What could I do? I was so eager to change.

“It won’t take you long at all to beat this, Camille,” is what TC told me.  “Do you know why it won’t take you long? Because you want to change it.”

This gave me a lot of hope.  I have always believed that attitude and mental awareness is the key to changing anything in life.  But it’s always nice to hear your life coach verify your feelings.

We talked about everything, from my mother’s 50’s housewife passivity to my verbally abusive ex-husband, to my father’s stroke last year that led me to give up my life and take care of him full time until just recently when I had caregivers set up enough to start taking over for me.  There wasn’t a clock in two and a half hours of her time! I felt so comfortable talking, I probably could have gone on all afternoon.  Again, as she had on the phone, TC gave me excellent guidance, so I never rambled off-topic.  She also introduced our first concept for me to think about.  Boundaries.

Tune in next week to hear how Camille applies what she learns in her coaching sessions.

Wise words from Energy Expert Jennifer Matthews

I AM COMMITTED TO YOUR GREATNESS, ARE YOU?
I am sure you have noticed that nothing is happening on a subtle level anymore and that includes my work. I offer my clients the opportunity to shift and grow at deep and profound levels and I am committed to guide, to support and to hold space for you to be all that you can be at the highest levels of Greatness. Are you ready to make that commitment to yourself, for yourself? If so, please schedule an appointment and let’s move you out of the paralysis of fear and the woundings of your past and get you aligned with the Divine Light of who you really are. And because I am working with my clients at a much deeper level, I am now offering a 20 minute follow up phone session to help you process and integrate your newfound awareness into your everyday life. It is my honor and my pleasure to be of service to each of you.

THE PATH TO GREATNESS. ARE YOU WILLING TO ASK MORE OF YOURSELF?
I went to Marianne Williamson’s Tuesday night lecture series last night. This is a weekly lecture series she does on The Course of Miracles at The Regent Showcase Theater in Los Angeles. If you are looking for some inspiration, I highly recommend it. You can attend in person or catch the lectures online. http://www.marianne.com/LA-weekly.htm What I experienced was an honest and motivating mix of lecture, prayer and Q&A.

The juicy nugget that I walked away with last night was that good is no longer good enough and it’s time for us to fully own our Greatness. As Marianne so honestly phrased it, *It’s time to stop coddling our wounds. We need to love and forgive the wounded parts of ourselves and our past and then be willing to move on.* For many of us, we allow our wounds, especially the story of our wounds, to block or limit the Great person we know we can be. We are drowning in the details and paralyzed from too much analysis. How many times do we have to re-create the same situation, limitation, beliefs, etc. before we are willing to ask more from ourselves? For those of you who have had a session with me recently, this is exactly why we spend less time on the details and place our full focus on you making your empowered choice.

FRESHEST OF FRESH STARTS
Are you feeling stuck or can’t even begin to image what Greatness would look like in your life? I’m not surprised because on some level we are all overwhelmed, scared and burnt out trying to process all of the change, disasters and destruction unfolding in front of our eyes. The world as we once knew it is on life support at best and most of us just can’t let it go. We are being offered the freshest of fresh starts if we are willing to let go of good and open to great. It can feel scary to let go but I offer this re-frame; when you say no or goodbye to something or someone that no longer serves you, you are saying YES to something that supports your Greatness. The universe works like a vacuum. If the space around you is filled with habits, beliefs, relationships or situations that no longer serve you then there is no room in your life for the people, opportunities, Love and choices that can help you create Greatness for yourself and those around you.

GETTING ON THE ROAD
The path to Greatness can be a daunting one so here are seven ways to help get you on the road…

1. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
Ask God, your angels and your guides to help you graduate the wounds of your past and co-create your Greatness. The Divine world of the unseen is all around you and just waiting for your permission to help you.

2. THE HOW IS NOT YOUR JOB.
How something gets created is not our job, it’s God’s job. When we get caught up on the how of something, it’s really our ego putting on the brakes because we are moving out of our comfort zone. Our job is to ask for assistance and take action to prepare ourselves to receive. Putting our focus on what’s out of our control, such as another person’s thoughts or actions, is a drain of our precious energy. Many of us get caught up in what society calls *working hard* which is really just trying to control everything around us. Action is when we stay focused on ourselves and what is in our control. What we can control is our thoughts, our beliefs, how we relate, what we say and the choice to hold ourselves and others in compassion or judgement.

3. WILLINGNESS.
Don’t worry about how to do something, remember that’s not your job. Instead, be willing. Be willing to change. Be willing to let go. Be willing to receive opportunities that you thought were never possible. Be willing to be Great and share it with the world. Willingness is a state of consciousness created by our Higher Self, the part of us that is connected to Divine Consciousness. By choosing willingness we are allowing our Divine Consciousness to co-create with us.

4. COMPASSION.
It’s time to Love, Forgive and Accept those parts of you that are wounded and/or stuck in the past. All you have to do is make the choice to graduate your past and be willing to let your life in the present be different. For most of us, we have thought, analyzed, talked, figured out, lived, re-lived our wounds over and over again. So much so, that we confuse what was suppose to be just an experience with our Destiny. WE ARE NOT OUR WOUNDS. WE ARE NOT OUR PAST. Once the wound is in your awareness you have everything you need to let it go. It can be that easy.

5. GET CREATIVE.
Having trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? GET CREATIVE. I recently heard the authors of The Creative Crisis take about a study on the positive affects of creativity on thinking. What the study showed is that most of us can only think of things one way, either negative or positive and for most of us it’s negative. A group of people were given a scenario and asked to list outcomes. Most of the group could come up with lots of negative outcomes but they couldn’t name many positive ones. Then they gave this group a short creative project and found that after the brain had engaged in a creative activity, most of the people in the group could think of more positive outcomes to the scenario.

6. A ROAD MAP FOR CHANGE.
For many of us, a road map for change can be very helpful. If this is the case for you, then I suggest reading The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. This book will help you identify where in your life you are settling for good (or what he calls competence) and helps you create the blueprint for Greatness (he calls it excellence/genius) so you can feel supported as you make that much need leap into the new you.

7. PAY ATTENTION TO THE STARS
There is more to astrology than just your sun sign or mercury in retrograde. How the planets line up and interact, directly effects your energy and how the world organizes around you. When you know what the quality of the energy is going to be then you can get in alignment with it and use it to your benefit. And lucky us, there are lots of very talented people out there who are very generous with their astrological information and wrap it all up in easy to digest formats. I suggest www.astrologyzone.com www.astroanne.com and www.starpriestess.com

It brings me much joy and pleasure to be of the highest, most loving service to each of you. Your support and referrals are very much appreciated so please feel free to forward this email on to your friends, family and colleagues.

With much Love, Light and Appreciation.
Jennifer.

JENNIFER MATTHEWS
Master Healer and Coach supporting Personal, Spiritual and Creative Transformation and Liberation for All.

ORGANIC WISDOM, LLC.
Healing Out of the Matrix of Fear and Into the New Paradigm of Love.

A Leader in the New Paradigm of Love, Unity and Self-Responsibility. Our mission is to be of the highest, most-loving service to each soul in the process of self-transformation and liberation. So that we may ALL be inspired and empowered as we each walk our individual paths of authenticity.

(917) 796-2642
jennifer@organicwisdom.com
www.organicwisdom.com
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INSPIRED URBAN LIVING. Blog~Book~Lifestyle…coming soon.
You Were Born to Greatness. Know That the World has Need of You.

I remember so clearly the first time I laid eyes on Prince Poppycock.  It was at Michael Schmidt’s birthday party, somewhere on Santa Monica Boulevard, and it was love at first sight. He was not performing, not even in costume, but his beauty and magic were palpable. I knew right away that he was a special person, someone I would like to know better.

I am a connoisseur of people and a lover of creativity, so the first time I saw Prince Poppycock perform live in a Jer Ber Jones show, I was completely enthralled.  There he was, in all of his beauty, displaying his unique humor and wit. After the show I was out in the crowd and one of Poppycock’s friends started talking to me.  He said that Poppycock was considering doing some coaching with me.  I thought that was odd since I didn’t recall ever meeting him.  That’s how quick I am on my feet! I didn’t realize that Prince Poppycock and my beautiful friend John were one in the same (duh T.C!)  What I did know was that I was absolutely enchanted with both of them.

This all sounds incredibly mushy and lovey-dovey, but let me assure you that I am NOT easily impressed!  I meet a lot of incredibly talented people all the time and the ones who stand out are few and far between.  So you can imagine my excitement and surprise when John walked through the door at Camp Courage.  My heart really did skip a beat!  By now I had figured out that John and his stage persona Prince Poppycock are the same.  I already had an artist crush on him and I was thrilled at the opportunity to be his life coach.

Getting to know John has been a joy.  In spite of his mega talent he is humble, authentic, compassionate, sensitive, funny, smart, an awesome person who cares deeply about his standards of performance and about what people take away with them from each performance.  He is careful to deliver EVERY time. This is a guy who has paid his dues, done his due-diligence, a guy who deserves all the successes in the world.  I know that he will be a great steward of his fame and success because John is a good person.

I have coached Prince Poppycock while he has been performing on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and not once has he ever mentioned the cash prize.  I didn’t even know that he was poised to win a million dollars until this past Tuesday when I finally watched the show from beginning to end.  From the start John has only spoken of the performance and of his commitment to delivering for his fans.  As his friend and his coach I am absolutely elated for him. I feel like a proud stage Mom and the growing excitement is palpable.

My prediction:  my client, Prince Poppycock, is going to WIN America’s Got Talent!