self empowerment

Tender times as the Harvest Moon wells full in Pisces (water/ emotions) this weekend. Unless you are a Vulcan, robot or droid, you may be FEELING this one. It’s what you do with your feelings that matters. Resistance is futile, it only inflames suffering and stalls you out. Instead, try a  grow with the flow and follow the feeling approach or, when in deep waters, become a diver.  Trust yourself and dig down deep. You have to go THROUGH the feeling if you want to break on through to the other side. – #feelingit

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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  If you have some outdated patterning that’s preventing you from doing this, identify it and eradicate it.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much as the Universe is inviting (demanding) that we evolve, it is also supporting us in clearing and cleaning our old outdated relationships or ways of being.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.

Cause no harm. Not with your thoughts, your words, your intentions, your way of being in this world. Take responsibility for your energy and cause no harm.

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.

I called TC this past Monday with a pending crisis on my hands.  I was having money problems.  Shopping has always been a kind of therapy for me.  Retail therapy, literally.  It’s maybe not as bad as a drinking or drugs habit, but it’s still destructive in its own way, as anyone who has gotten themselves in too deep with credit cards might know.

Since the time I hired the other caregivers to look after my dad and started trying to have my own life again, I started spending too much money.  Now, having just moved back to my own apartment and having to pay rent and bills on my own again, I was in over my head.  Budget? Ha, I wasn’t even thinking about price tags.  I realized with a bang that I needed to get things back under control.

First of all, this is embarrassing.  None of us want to be the girl who is out of control with money.  It was hard enough to admit it to myself, much less TC, but I did.  TC was great.  She didn’t make me feel embarrassed – she immediately set about with an action plan.

The first thing she told me was I had to change the way I think about my relationship with money.  “We’re raising your standards about your relationship with your money,” TC said.  “First of all, it is a relationship.  So from now on, I want you to think of it like a relationship.  I want you to pretend you’re dating your money.”

Dating my money?

“For example,” TC went on.  “Where’s your money right now?”

I’d been too afraid to look at my online bank balance for weeks.  “Umm…I don’t know…” I said.

“So I’m asking you what your relationship with your Money is like, and you’re telling me ‘not very good, you take it for granted and don’t pay it any attention and you have no idea where it’s at right now.  How would that sound if this was a real relationship? What if I asked you how things were with Jess and you said, ‘oh, I don’t know, I don’t really pay him any attention, I’m just using him and I have no idea where he is right now.’  That doesn’t sound like a very good relationship, does it?”

It sure didn’t!

This was thinking about my money in a way I’d never thought of before.  It really didn’t have to be a chore.  We talked about why I shopped for therapy.  What was I craving?

Power, I admitted.  Control.  I feel like if I have money and can buy whatever I want whenever I want, that’s a form of power.  That’s having control.  With everything crazy going on with my dad the last year and feeling like I had no kind of control, no wonder I’d turned to retail therapy if that’s what I saw in it.

“But how do you really feel the next day after you’ve bought too much for your budget?”

“Completely out of control.”

The truth hit me.  I thought spending money was what being powerful was.  Really, being powerful and in control meant budgeting, knowing where my money was and what he was up to, knowing what I could and couldn’t afford to spend.  Retail therapy was a fake control.  Really, it was making things worse.

“What do you think would make you really feel in control?”

“Being able to be in control of my impulses, being in control of my money instead of just letting it jump out of my hands.”  Great, this sounds like common sense, but I’d never stopped to think through common sense before.  This logic was all totally new for me.

TC gave me some homework for this week.  I was to write everything down.  Every single penny.  “Just spend like you normally would,” she said.  “But write it all down.  And next Monday we’ll talk about it.”  She also wanted me to think about how to make my relationship with my money better.  “What would help?”

“It would help if I knew where it was,” I said for a start.  So I’d also be checking in with my money.

“You know, this doesn’t have to all be a drag,” TC said.  “I never say, ‘balancing my bank account.’  Instead I set dates with my money.  I schedule it in my planner.  Next Monday, me and my money have a date.  You can have dates with your money too.”

Gosh, that sounds so much more fun than the old chore of balancing my budget.  Right, Money and I were going to get things back where they belonged.  And we were going to work together!

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.

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.

“I am evolving on all levels and really finding myself for the first time.”

G.J. Artist/Musician

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.

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.

During my drive to the office yesterday I was listening to Led Zeppelin on my crappy car stereo. You know when you have those moments that a song just rocks you so hard? Well that happened, (always feels sooo good). I want to say the song was Whole Lotta Love, but truth be told I can’t remember what song it was.

Last night I was having a hard time getting to sleep, that seems to be happening a lot this week and it’s a frustrating four in the morning before sleep finally comes. I only sleep for a few hours but my dreams are amazing!

I have this dream that I am at a picnic/barbeque situation where there are these stairs that everyone is walking up and down.  While I am walking up the stairs Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are walking down the stairs.  At the moment that Jimmy and I pass each other on the stairway we lock eyes and he peers into my soul.  His piercing eyes were so powerful and it felt soooo good. The dream goes on — as dreams have a tendency to do.  Jimmy and Robert stayed at the party for a while and everyone had a good time.

When I woke up this morning and remembered my dream, I thought it odd that Jimmy assumed the starring role as I have always been more of a Robert Plant girl. I remember the first time I met Robert out in front of the Sunset Marquis in 1980-something and I can recall every interaction we have had since. Robert leaves an indelible impression with his British wit and rock star charm.  I did a tour with Joan Jett in the late 80’s while she did an opening stint for one of Robert Plant’s side projects.  It was a thrill from start to finish, knowing that I was in the presence of such rock and roll greatness and getting to watch Robert’s show every night.  (Not to mention Joan Jett’s performance — she’s no scrub herself — but that’s another story all together.)  My point is: I have no history with Jimmy Page have only met him once in passing and he’s not really a person I think about.  How did he get to be the star of my dream, and who gave him permission to pierce my soul?

I know that I have been processing through dream in a very powerful way lately; I believe we all do, although some of us are more conscious of it than others, and then there are those who simply don’t remember their dreams.

So what does Jimmy Page represent?  He represents a guitar God, a masculine power. I feel in this instance he was representing MANHOOD.  I believe when Jimmy Paige looked into my soul he was inviting me in, not to hang out but to graduate from the relationships I have been having with men.  An invitation to step into my power and grow.  Permission to focus my intentions in such a powerful way that I will finally call forth the partnership that I have been craving.  Jimmy and I also passed, (bye bye), a few other people on the stairs whose names shall go unmentioned. I know this dream represents an opportunity for me.  An opportunity to break old patterns and let go of the past.

Thank you Jimmy Page for showing me the door to my partnership power!

The universe always gives us the opportunity to grow.  We never know how it will show up or who will bring it, but it is always there right in front of us.

Set the intention to see everything that shows up in your life as an opportunity.  This is the next step on the stairway to your personal power.

After writing this post I looked up “stairs” in the dream dictionary and this is what I found:

Staircase
To see a staircase in your dream, symbolizes change and transformation.

Stairs
To dream that you are walking up a flight of stairs, indicate that you are achieving a higher level of understanding. You are making progress into your spiritual, emotional or material journey. The dream is also analogous to material and thoughts that are coming to the surface.

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.

Do you ever feel like life is happening to you while you drift along or sit on the sidelines? Or, are you too busy reacting to events that are happening to you?

Every event that shows up in your life is there because you have attracted and created it.

With the acceleration and scope of change that has been taking place over the past few years, the universe is demanding that you let go of victim energy (pity) and own your power. And to recognize that with great change comes great opportunity.

You have the opportunity –right now– to move past fear, be courageous and step into your greatness. You do this successfully when you are connected to your personal power and clear on your intention.

Life coach T.C. Conroy is offering a 6-week immersion workshop, Intention Intensive 2011, where you will do the work that will help you change your life.

Intention + Action = SUCCESS

In this workshop we will:

• Clearly define your goals for 2011.
• Process the past 12 months.
• Anchor in the lessons from last year.
• Define a plan to get from where you are to where you want to be.
• Set a strong foundation for your success.
• Process any fears/blockages that are impeding your progress.
• Learn to clarify your intention each day before your feet hit the floor.
• Re-prioritize how you spend your time and energy.
• Identify who you need to be to succeed.
• Give focused attention to your success.
• Step into your power.
• Practice listening to your intuition.
• Find your flow.
• Learn to set your intention in everything you do.
• Foster the courage to believe that you will succeed.
• And many other things that will encourage and inspire you.
• Uncover your true motivations and desires.
• Get out of your own way.
• Learn to deserve and receive.

When:

This is a six week workshop we will meet every Tuesday at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern)

Beginning January 11th.

HOW TO ATTEND: When you register, an email will be sent to you with the information you’ll need to attend the event

Cost:

GOLD	PLATINUM	DIAMOND
6 Week Course Action Plan	6 Week Course Action Plan 1 Hour Call with T.C.	6 Week Course Action Plan 6 x 1 Hour Calls with T.C
$187.50 Secures Your Spot* Total Investment: $375	$287.50 Secures Your Spot* Total Investment:  $575	$375 Secures Your Spot* Total Investment:  $1,275

Feedback from a Previous Workshop Participants:

“T.C. is not in the coaching business. T.C. is in the life transforming business. If you want a new set of to-do lists, go to a life coach. If you want to transform and improve your sense of self, your self-worth, your income, and your creativity, then go straight to T.C. Conroy.”

Matt F. – Musician

“T.C. will help you reach not only the goals you have but goals you never knew you had. She’s the real deal. If you need to turn it up a few notches, T.C. is the one to help you do it. AND she’s glamorous!”

Edward B – Musician, TV Editor, Professional

T.C.’s Camp Courage group really helped me step up my game and toss out unnecessary self imposed hurdles. Some of which I didn’t even know were there. The group setting was a little daunting at first but the dynamic is actually really helpful. A room of like minded people getting together to kick a little more ass in life. T.C. steering it all with tools and insight. It’s also great having weekly accountability and support.

Thanks TC for this awesome resource!

D.H. Musician

TC has helped me organize the creative madness in my head, bring the ideas to paper and structure the pursuit of my many creative endeavors. I just had a meeting where I pitched an idea to the three people from the company and they loved the idea. My friend / colleague at the company said with a smile, “Wow dude, the life coach is really paying off”. I did not have my team TC jersey on that day, he of course already knew I was being coached. Thanks for the momentum and hope TC! xo B

Brendan – Industry insider / entrepreneur

For more information on this workshop please phone or e-mail
T.C. Conroy 323-944-0966 / tc@westcoastcoaching.com