I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually posted something written by someone else on any of my blogs. But I read this article this morning and it summed up so perfectly how I’ve been feeling and what I’ve been struggling with for the last little while I just had to reprint it here.

Enjoy!
Lena

Want to Grow Your Business? Listen to Your Heart
by Andrea Costantine

It’s not often that business coaches, consultants, or other professionals that work with entrepreneurs tell them to listen to their heart, but when you don’t it can be disastrous for your personal well-being and your business.

As conscious and service based entrepreneurs it’s even more important that we take the time to really turn within and seek the guidance that lives within us. My personal story and the stories of countless others are perfect examples that when you go against the feeling inside you, your results suffer. However, when you start tapping into what you really want, who you really are, and what you are here to do things begin to click, become in alignment, and that’s when magic starts to happen.

The power truly is within you. When you stop doing what everyone else tells you what you “should” be doing and start trusting that all of the answers live within, and that you will always be lead where you need to be for your highest good – synchronicity, attraction, and manifestation begin to occur.

Often we need to travel down many paths before we find our own, but no matter where you are currently or where you have been continue to seek your own path. Recognize that each of us are here for different reasons, we have different purposes to fulfill, and the only way we can truly tap into it and access that power is to listen to our heart, to the inner voice that lives within us, and the divine guidance that is available to us.

For me, I started off doing “business coaching” then “life coaching” but it wasn’t until I claimed my power, recognized what I was good at, and acknowledged my own gifts, skills, and talents that my business begin to grow (and it happened fast too!). In less than three months I have filled my practice up to 75% capacity and I get new client calls, referrals, and appointments weekly. I know the one thing that changed my business dramatically was when I was able to get into alignment, see my own value, and stop listening to what everyone else told me I “should” be doing.

Ask yourself “what do you want to do?” and “what is in your best interest?” If you are currently in a business where you aren’t fully connected, offering what you truly love and are passionate about, perhaps it’s time for a change. Realize this change can be small, even miniscule, but begin to make changes to help you shift to where your heart is truly leading you. No matter how scary it can feel to come out as the real you it’s amazing how much easier things will become.

The real you is good enough. In fact, the real you is absolutely perfect.

About the Author:
Andrea Costantine is the ConsciousPreneur Connection Specialist, connecting conscious-minded entrepreneurs with powerful resources to easily and effortlessly grow their business. Visit http://www.andreacostantine.com for your FREE ConsciousPreneur Kit today!

(or… why I’ve been so quiet lately)

You may have noticed that I’ve been a little quiet for the past few weeks. For once, it’s not because I went into hermit mode. In fact, it’s just the opposite… I’ve been getting my virtual face out in front of the internet marketing crowd again.

It’s all Napoleon Hill’s fault too! I haven’t even progressed beyond Chapter Two in Think and Grow Rich yet because I was so fired up to get doing that I just dove right in. I’m really hoping to continue reading this week though… I have a feeling if two chapters can do this to me, it’s gonna be amazing what happens when I get further into the book. :)

So what have I been up to, you ask? Or maybe you don’t, but it’s my blog so I’m gonna tell you anyways. :)

Well, I’ve been jumpstarting the Ritchie Media brand again. To celebrate my birthday I set up a giveaway where for 30 days I’m giving away a PLR package every day. And because I didn’t want to just send out a boring old link every day, I set it all up on a blog where I write tips on using PLR as well. We’re up to day 21 now and lemme just say being disciplined enough to write a blog post every day is hard work! I now see why it’s such a big deal to actually complete a whole month over at NaBloPoMo. (I’ve tried it on my self improvement blog and never made it past the first few days.)

In addition to the giveaway on my own site, I’m playing in the JV giveaways again as well. I joined the PLR Giveaway put on by Leon Klepfish because it fit with what I’m doing on my own site, and so far I’m pretty pleased with the results. There’s a lot of pros and cons to dealing with giveaways and I’ve been pretty leery of them in the past.

I also started a new system for getting things done. It really bugs me that I didn’t meet my goals for the year so far. So from now until the end of this year I am being really focused on the big prize(s) and I am determined to meet at least one, if not all of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. I know that it’s probably unrealistic of me to think I can accomplish everything I wanted for a whole year in just 4 months, but hey I’m the queen of unrealistic goals. And I’m firmly subscribed to the theory of go big, or go home.

One thing I’ve noticed throughout the last couple of weeks is that when I get really focused on a project, I forget to talk to people. I haven’t tweeted much until this morning, and I haven’t been to facebook in who-knows-how-long. Another thing I haven’t done much lately is visit my friends’ blogs. It’s like being “in the zone” and everything else but the pen and paper ceases to exist. I kinda like it because it means I get things done, but I also know now why I don’t have many physical friends around here.

I need to work on balancing work with the rest of my life. I haven’t even been out taking pictures in about two weeks now. I managed to get a few shots at the driving range last weekend, but that’s it since my long Sunday hike about three weekends ago.

I’ve noticed a few other things too, but I’ll save them for future posts since this one is getting too long as it is. :) But I do promise that it won’t be another three weeks between posts. :)

Have a great day!

To be in the now, you must let go of the overwhelming feelings that hold you in the past and keep you from moving into your desired future. ~~ R L Bray, No Open Wounds

Living in the moment is a topic that is near and dear to my heart — literally. After all, surviving two heart attacks made me realize that every moment really could be my last, so I’d best enjoy each and every one of them. It’s a real wakeup call to start living in the now instead of wasting time dwelling on a past that can’t be changed. The only thing that I can change now is how I remember and react to those memories. And, for the most part I do fairly well at leaving them where they belong.

But, there are days when the past looms large, and I’d rather crawl into a corner and nurse my hurts instead of getting on with the business of living and enjoying life. And as you can no doubt see from the huge gaps in posting recently — there’ve been more than of few of those days in the past few weeks.

One thing I’ve learned about living moment to moment though is to always be paying attention to things that show up. And when they show up in multiples, you better believe I sit up and take notice. Once or twice might be cause for a “hmm, I best have a think about that” but when four — count ‘em, four — posts on living in the moment cross my path on the same day, I really think the Universe is tryin’ to tell me something. (“Get the lead out and get back to doing what you’re meant to be doing” comes to mind.) Add to those the book I’m reading which has as one of its main premises the theory that you can’t be fully present in the now if you still have hurts and wounds from the past that need dealing with, and you have a pretty convincing club for the Universe to whack little ol’ Lena on the head with!

It was John Lusher’s post Have We Forgotten How To Be In The Moment? that got me thinking along this track early this morning. He offers up some great suggestions on how to be more present in the moment. And the comments of Mr. Business Golf on living for the nanosecond and people who bring their cell phones onto the golf course are priceless. (Don’t even get me started on people who can’t unplug long enough to play a round of golf.)

Amber at Epic Self has some really great awakening exercises for living in the now that she gleaned from reading Eckhart Tolle’s books as well as a cool list of 11 reasons to live in the now. This was my first visit to her blog, and I have to tell ya, she’s got some great stuff there.

There’s a great post at Positively Present, in which Dani shares a poem she wrote when she was thirteen and an analysis of what it means to her now. I’m almost tempted to dig out my own high school poetry and see just how warped I was at thirteen. :)

One of the best reasons I’ve found for living in the moment comes from a quote by James Joyce: “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” If we want our tomorrows to be something other than a repeat of today, we have to make the changes that we hope tomorrow will bring in this moment, here and now. If that’s not a good reason to not dwell on the past or worry about the future, I don’t know what is.

Living in the moment, for me, has a lot to do with feeding my inner child. I love to stop and watch the ducks in the park, and I love to sit on the swings and contemplate the flow of life. I notice things like how blue the sky is and how green the leaves and the grass are. In “The Path to Personal Growth” I wrote: “Side paths are meant to be explored, roses are meant to be smelled, and butterflies exist to be marvelled at. Live your life to the fullest, do the things you love, and enjoy every minute of it.”

And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing this moment with me. :)