Are you a woman seeking more clarity, confidence and courage? Would you love to be comfortable in your own skin, anytime, anywhere so you could do, be, or have what you most want? Here I share tips, resources, and coaching to help you live life by your own design.
Learn the 5 Steps to Turn Your Fear into Freedom
and Experience Greater Confidence - FREE
Privacy: I value your trust! I will never share your information with anyone, for any reason.
Do Positive Affirmations Set Off Your BS Alarm?
By paulag | August 25, 2010
Have you ever been told to just adopt a positive attitude?
Practice positive affirmations?
Shift your thinking to a new, more empowering belief?
If so, how did that work for you?
If you’re anything like me, you tried to think positive thoughts and adopt more productive beliefs but it was only through sheer force of will that you managed to wrestle with the practice for even a short while. Sooner or later your insides sounded the alarms and you finally thought (or maybe even yelled it out loud) – “This is such BS, I don’t feel young, thin, and rich one freaking bit!” (or whatever you were attempting to affirm). And so you went back to the cynicism and self-defeating patterns feeling just a little worse about yourself than you did when you started.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times this happened to me. There was a time in the past when if one more person told me I just needed to have a positive attitude about things that I could have laid them out flat. It’s not because I was unwilling to change nor was it because a positive attitude isn’t beneficial. It’s because the whole positive affirmation and create a new belief thing is only half the story. Throwing ice cream on top of poop doesn’t negate the fact that there is poop there and that if you eat your way through the ice cream…well, you know… you won’t be loving that next spoonful!
That is why when I am doing belief work and shifting thoughts and behaviors that are not serving me, I always apply the BS test to it. I ask my clients to do the same when I work with them. Because no matter how powerful a tool you use to transform your beliefs, if you can’t buy-in to the next step, more empowering belief on your path, you only set yourself up for failure. You can’t force an attitude change and you certainly can’t sustain it. No matter how much you tell yourself something different, if you are feeling in your bones that it is a bunch of crap, it isn’t going to work. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Confidence, Success Secrets | No Comments »
Eat Pray Love: Lessons in Self-Discovery and Judgment
By paulag | August 18, 2010
I admit it, when I read the book Eat, Pray, Love I loved it. Last weekend I went to see the movie Eat, Pray, Love and I loved that too, but in a different way. Frankly I could leave it at that and say I’ve been deeply moved by both these pieces of creative work. Yet there is something far bigger and important going on here with the release of the movie that can’t just be swept under the rug. Two very important lessons…
At its core the book and the movie are about giving yourself permission to honor yourself and live fully without guilt. Take the time and space to get to know yourself deeply and make choices that align with who you really are. While many critics call the scene where Julia Roberts (who plays Elizabeth Gilbert the main character and author of the book) demands “I used to have this appetite for my life and it is just gone. I want to go someplace where I can marvel at something.” as self-indulgent; I ask, when did it become a crime to want to be alive in your one precious life? Much like the character in the movie, most women haven’t given themselves two weeks, heck two days to solely attend to what they really want and who they really want to be in this lifetime beyond just the titles and roles they carry.
As Megan Smith shares in her post “Eat Pray Love and Julie Roberts: Almost a Winning Combination”:
I have to admit, though, I was touched by Eat Pray Love because of issues I’m grappling with in my own life: Am I making the right choices, going in the right direction, living my life instead of just letting my life happen to me?
All questions we, especially we women, should be asking ourselves more often.
Think about it — when was the last time you asked yourself…got quiet…got in touch with your heart, and asked:
- Who do I really want to be in my life?
- What is my definition of success?
- What are some of the things I want to experience in this lifetime (And, do you have a plan in place to turn them from fantasy to reality?)?
- Am I really alive in my life or just passing through without much engagement?
If these questions are strangers to you, use the movie, the book, the conversations surrounding it as permission to begin that inner inquiry. You owe it to yourself. Remember – you get to do it your way — this story is just one woman’s journey edited for publication and the silver screen. The important thing is that you begin. Create your own eat, pray, love story. Get support if you need to, just do it!
So why will millions of women who watched the movie or read the book never take barely one step toward their own journey? Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Living Fully | No Comments »
BlogHer ‘10 Recap
By paulag | August 12, 2010
This week I am back from the BlogHer ‘10 conference in New York City. For me the weekend was a study in contrasts. Unlike BlogHer ‘09 where I was a speaker, this time I simply planned on drinking in the experience without any specific time commitments. Last year I was stoked to be social; this year I am still walking the path of grief since my Mom died less than two months ago.
Since I was no longer a newbie, I knew what to expect – an overwhelming experience with a ton of women (2400 attendees up from the 1600 last year). That is a lot of excitement and energy in one place. And, not just any women… but the most powerful voices online today. You only need one snippet from the final keynote (quoted here from Denise Tanton’s post at BlogHer: You Are Powerful) to understand the magnitude of this power:
During the final keynote, I listened as Gloria Feldt talked about your power. I listened as she tried to tell you that the expo hall was filled with Fortune 10 companies because of YOUR power. I listened as Marie Wilson, Simran Sethi, and, Alison Stewart told you that your voice is important and you can achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve. I listened and I was thankful. Strong, powerful women were telling you exactly what I wanted to tell you. Surely we would all walk out of that keynote and feel able to embrace our power. What a wonderful way to end an event that really should send you home feeling strong, proud, and empowered.
As a contributing editor for BlogHer, I am particularly honored to be part of this community and am always humbled by the company I am in. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and connecting with many of my fellow editors on Thursday night which was a wonderful start to the weekend. Here’s the truth – you can own your own power and be humbled at the same time. It truly can work that way (and certainly does for me). Owning your voice is not about becoming an untouchable figure or icon on the shelf. It is about celebrating your brilliance and the brilliance of those around you.
I have to admit that this conference is normally overwhelming but was particularly so for me this year. It marked the two month anniversary of my Mom’s untimely death and frankly was my first major networking event since. Sure I’ve hit some of my local “regular” events, but nothing prepares a vulnerable soul for walking into the proverbial social experiment fryer known as BlogHer. Before I left home I had already set my intentions and given myself permission to ease in and out of sessions and activities as I needed to. Even so Friday felt like drinking from a fire hose. Thankfully I received a number of golden nuggets before I chose to spend a quieter evening with friends. Here’s a very light recap with much more to come in future posts. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Living Authentically, Small Business Success | 1 Comment »
Career Reinvention – Paula G on Yahoo! Shine
By paulag | August 9, 2010
This year at BlogHer ‘10 in New York City, Yahoo! Shine was one of the exhibitors. As part of their You. Reinvented. series I had the opportunity to sit down and be interviewed about my own career reinvention story and the work that I do as a Life Alchemy™ Success Coach. Since I help others reinvent their lives and careers (often starting their own businesses in many instances) I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share my expertise. Here I am!
Let me know what you think… and share your own reinvention stories and reinvention desires in the comments.
Topics: Career Coaching, video | 3 Comments »
The Life Alchemy™ Podcast – Sheila Sylvestre of Whisper Greetings
By paulag | August 3, 2010
This month I am thrilled to interview a colleague of mine who inspires me to no end. While I only met Sheila Sylvestre earlier this year, she has touched me personally on numerous occasions and supported me in my own business with her gift of teaching small business owners how to nourish relationships with their business colleagues and customers. Let me tell you a little bit about Sheila in her own words…
During a successful 26-year career at a large telecommunications organization Sheila had various management roles in client care, communications and human resources. Sheila was meeting her financial goals but never felt fulfilled and was not living life on purpose.
An internal wake-up call started around 1999 to do something different. It started as a whisper or a nudge and then the urgency increased with the same thought, “there has to be more to life than what I’m doing now.”
A perfect storm occurred in 2007 when personal loss and career overload led Sheila to take a “you-turn’ away from the known.
After being shown how short and fragile life is she asked herself “What are you waiting for?”
Shifting from employee, to being unemployed, and ultimately choosing self-employment has been a journey of self-inquiry and personal growth beyond her imagination.
Sheila had been studying Life Purpose for almost 10 years and knew she wanted to go after a childhood dream of owning her own greeting card company.
Whisper Greetings was founded in February 2010. A custom design greeting card company dedicated to creating genuine, poetic expressions of connection, healing and hope. www.whispergreetings.com
So be sure to settle in to listen to our conversation. It’ll only take you 36 minutes (a perfect length for a nice walk I might add) and it’s guaranteed to touch your heart, inspire you, and open the door to possibilities.
To learn more and connect with Sheila, you can join the Whisper Greetings community at www.whispergreetingsgift.com where you’ll receive a free gift and subscription to the Your Essence Ezine. Sheila can be reached at sheila@whispergreetings.com for a complimentary call to discuss how creating a custom greeting card for your business can increase client loyalty or to explore ways to re-connect to your own life purpose.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Topics: Podcast | No Comments »
Release Fear, Expectation, and Judgment – The Life Alchemy™ Success Formula
By paulag | July 30, 2010
Step 6 of The Life Alchemy™ Success Formula is all about releasing fear, expectation, and judgment. If you can relate to having an endless loop of tapes playing in your head (and they are not telling you how great you are!) then you know what it is like to be stuck and feel not enough. If fear is holding you back, if you’re too hard on yourself, if everyone’s expectations keep you stuck, then watch this video and learn how you can release your death grip and open to new possibilities and greater success AND joy.
Topics: video | No Comments »
Are You a Seeker?
By paulag | July 26, 2010
A few weeks ago I had the immense blessing of spending a long weekend at Omega Institute to be a participant in the workshop “A Seeker’s Guide”. The workshop was led by Elizabeth Lesser whose books The Seeker’s Guide:Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure and Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow have made a tremendous impact on me. What made this workshop particularly special was its timing for me. I chose to attend fairly last minute as a gift to myself following the difficult and painful events with my Mom’s illness and death just a few weeks prior. While the workshop spoke to me earlier in the year when I received the workshop catalog, it resonated even more strongly with me now. I saw it as a way for me to immerse myself in this deeply spiritual yet practical work and be in a very nourishing environment for a few days far away from all the external details of running a business and dealing with these immense changes in my life and simply BE.
Co-leading the workshop with Elizabeth were David Wilcox and Nance Pettit. The musical medicine that David brought to the experience was a very visceral way to tap into the depth of the work. From 
a simply musician and music lover point of view I have enjoyed David’s music in the past; this time, though it held a key to opening some of the floodgates of emotion that were pent up from all that had happened over the last few months. Nance brought her own expertise about the body to the mix and not only held such a strong space for us all but guided us often and gently to reconnect in with the body.
The workshop followed the flow of the book “The Seeker’s Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure” and I’d highly recommend reading this book for insight, comfort, practical advice, and warmth that is truly a gift. I might add that in person Elizabeth is equally gifted as a powerful leader who is so easy to connect with and truly believes we are all walking this path and is quick to share her own experiences. In the book and workshop she breaks down the spiritual journey into four landscapes:
The Landscape of the Mind - this is the realm that focuses on our ability to bring presence to our moments and ease anxiety and stress by harnessing the power of our minds. We focused a lot on the practice of meditation and the games our minds play during this part of the workshop.
The Landscape of the Heart – truly connecting with our hearts so we can be fully alive. Being fully open to our hearts means being willing to be broken open by the sorrows and grief that finds us and use it as a catalyst in our lives. How we deal with grief, loss, and pain will determine whether we shut down or open up to ourselves, our lives, and others. Needless to say the exercises in this part of the workshop hit a very raw spot inside of me but I welcomed it all in… Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Living Fully | No Comments »
Anchor Your Efforts in Confidence
By paulag | July 16, 2010
Are you as confident as you’d like to be? I mean REAL confidence at your core, where you feel fully comfortable in your own skin. It has nothing to do with what you are doing…it transcends that. The truth is that wherever you go, there you are. If you do not feel fully confident in who you are at the core of your being you can’t experience the success that’s meant for you. Want to be more confident in your career, as you build your business, network with others, speak your prices to potential clients? First you need to grow your roots deeply so you are fully confident and trusting in YOU.
Topics: Confidence, video | No Comments »