Get Inspired with Compass On-Demand

Welcome back to the Remodel Your Reality Challenge!  A key part of time and schedule management is the clear-minded evaluation of the opportunities that come your way. Ideally, your priorities will help you make decisions about what to commit your time to. When considering a new opportunity, evaluate whether or not the invitation sounds interesting to you. If it doesn’t, reserve the right to say no!

One Thing To Think About
There are two keys to keeping your opportunity load on track and reflecting your priorities:

1. Reserve the Right to Think About It – Instead of immediately agreeing or saying no to any type of invitation you receive, decide that you will not commit to anything on the spot. Instead, when you receive a request or invitation, let the requester know that you’ll need to check your schedule and get back to him or her. This allows you to thoughtfully evaluate the situation and provides you with a buffer in the event that you decide to decline.
2. Do Away with Elaborate Excuses – Remember this maxim from the Oprah Winfrey show: “No is a complete sentence.” The next time someone asks you to take on a project or attend an event that doesn’t support your priorities, simply respond with “No, I can’t do that, but thank you for thinking of me.” Breathe deeply to quiet your thundering heart and move on to another topic of conversation.

One Question To Answer
When considering a commitment or opportunity, ask yourself these questions: Does this opportunity fit in with my priorities? If not, does it detract from them? If you feel that the opportunity fits within your priorities, and it’s interesting, consider committing yourself. Make sure to understand why you find the opportunity exciting, and clarify any expectations the inviting party will have of you once you throw your hat into the ring.

One Challenge To Take
Pledge yourself from a clear and positive place. If you feel any misgivings about saying yes, stop! From this point on, decide that you will only make commitments that compliment your priorities and feel good to you.

• Identify at least five commitments or scheduled activities that are wasting your valuable time. Examples could include volunteering for an organization you no longer enjoy, running errands for others, attending social events with people you don’t care for, participating in water cooler gossip, or failing to commit your day to activities that are important to you.
• Name your alternative. Could one of your priority areas move into the timeslot that one of your time wasters currently occupies? List the five commitments you would prefer to make in place of your current time wasters.
• Conclude your commitment to non-priority activities. If the item is a one-time engagement, contact the host or requestor and let him or her know you have a conflict. If your commitment is ongoing in nature, let your contact person know you cannot participate any longer.
• Schedule something from your priority list into the open time that appears as a result of allowing yourself to say no.

Every time you make a decision to say yes to one thing, you are saying no to multiple others simultaneously. You may not be aware of this, but it is fact. Until you are able to say no to the demands and requests of others, you will never be able to say yes to you.

Ultimately, it is better to disappoint the requester whom you will not remember forty years from now, than to look back at your life and realize that the person you disappointed was yourself.

Until next time, take care!
Kim

The current economy adds an element of stress that can affect our state of mind and our attitude, which can, in turn, disrupt our own health and well being.

It’s ironic really. When we’re busy and overwhelmed with our job and work, we wish we had more time to ourselves for the things we want in life. For some, the economy has opened up time - and plenty of it. But instead of moving forward with what we want to do, urgency drives us toward what we feel we should be doing. (more…)

Gratitude is a wonderful thing.  It is such a wonderful, powerful thing, in fact, that it gets so much lip service that we think we know what it is.  I’m here to tell you that if we knew what gratitude really is, and if we were practicing it the way the experts tell us, then we would already HAVE everything we want.  We would be living the ultimate definition of success.

But for most of us, we still have plenty of things we’d like to change about our lives. Thus, there’s still space for the power of gratitude in our lives. So let’s not come at gratitude as if we already know what it is or how to use it.  Choose to see yourself as a novice to its power, and you will invite a rush of opportunities to fill your life.

What is gratitude?  Simply, it is LOVE for a situation or condition in your life.

I invite you to stretch into gratitude beyond the things you already appreciate in your life, to the things that you don’t like and wish did not exist. The practice of gratitude allows you to see the universe working on your behalf – even with the seemingly unpleasant circumstances in your life.  Gratitude will allow you to see that even the unpleasant is a gift.  Even the unwanted is offering you opportunity.

For example, you might face moments of fear if in your business - you make the effort to reach out to new partners or prospects in a way you haven’t before.  Using the practice of gratitude, you would seek out appreciation for your fear.  Gratitude might help you see that your fear is simply god’s opening into your life.  It’s a signal that Spirit is looking for a new way to operate, and by stepping into that fear, you are becoming more divine.  That’s something to be grateful for.

Simply ask yourself, “What is this situation trying to teach me?  What is this asking me to become?”

As Albert Einstein says, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” This is how I invite you to look at your current circumstances – especially the ones that you dislike.  – The ones you perceive with lack.  See them, not just as something you can will yourself to tolerate - but as a miracle.

Who would you have to become to see your enemies, your pain, and your failures as miracles??

Gratitude is a method of alchemy that turns something of lower value into something of higher value.  Stand in the space of knowing that everything at this moment – and every moment – is an opportunity for you to step into greatness.  To live at your highest.  Everything.  Especially the things you dislike.  Gratitude helps you transmute pain into healing and lack into wealth.

Another brilliant thought by Einstein: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Gratitude, when applied to our unwanted circumstances, enables us to turn negative into positive, because it comes at our troubles with a totally different energy.  Rather than asking “How can I fix this problem?” gratitude asks, “What is there to love and appreciate about this situation?” Feel the radically different energy of these questions.  Notice what a different result you will find.

As you start applying gratitude to the things you abhor, watch as you blow through your fears, resentments, blames, and limitations. And simultaneously, notice how you systematically transform every unwanted situation into a sacredly revered mine of gold.  These mines of gold together create an entirely new pattern in your life capable of creating completely new results.

Consider the wisdom of Helen Keller when she said, “I thank God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.”

Without thinking too much, quickly write down your answers to these seven questions:
1.    What are three things in your current situation you feel incredibly grateful for?
2.    Who are three people you deeply appreciate and value?
3.    What are three things you wish would change in your life?
4.    What are three of your worst fears?
5.    What are three things you feel great shame?
6.    What are your three biggest regrets?
7.    Who are three people you wish you would never have to deal with again?

Throughout the next 21 days, spend one day on each of the items you listed.  Spend a full day inviting gratitude into your heart for each item you listed above.  At the end of the 21 day exercise, take notice at what has changed in your life.
Expect success.  Even better. Expect miracles.