Blocked to Brilliant™ Introduction

You are light and your life is a vehicle for that brilliance.

This 8-part course helps reveal your true brilliance — so you’ll more intentionally and authentically live your brilliance and more clearly believe you have the power to realize your dreams. I recommend that you do one session each week. This gives you time to consider the topic and digest the content, as well as time to complete the engaging and enlightening focused exercises.

Throughout this process, you’ll get more clarity about what holds you back. You’ll gain tools and processes that enable you to shift into your true power, into your true greatness.

You might choose to simply watch the videos first and then go back do the written exercises in any area that you feel needs some focus. This is a gift to you. Use as you wish.

Over eight video sessions you’ll explore and cover the following:

Part One: Waking Up to Your True Brilliance

Part Two: Negative Self Image Blocks — FULL YOU-based Solutions

Part Three: Ego Mind Generated Blocks — AWARENESS-based Solutions

Part Four: Inner Light Blocks — INTUITION-based Solutions

Part Five: Misdirected Energy Blocks –CONNECTION-based Solutions

Part Six: How-to Vision UP! Constructing Your Dream House

Part Seven: How-to Manifest! Creating a Supportive Belief Foundation

Part Eight: Letting Your Brilliance Flow

Brilliance solutions and exercises are designed to help you transcend limits and embrace your authentic inner and outer authority through more empowered clarity and choice. You have an opportunity to open your heart and mind consciously, knowing you are supported.

I recommend that you have a journal or blank notebook dedicated to the course. This will make for easy reference both during the duration of the course and later.

I’ve designed the process so that each section sets the foundation for the next one. For that reason, I recommend doing the course in order. Then you can go back to sections that were especially helpful. For instance, the dream house process is something you could do quarterly, every six months or, at a minimum, once a year. Use these tools again and again to reveal deeper layers of your brilliance. There’s no end to what more you can know and understand about yourself and your life journey. Be fascinated, stay curious and keep on track because you value yourself and the possibilities that live within you.

Most importantly, I hope that you’ll realize that becoming unblocked can be just one simple step away. As humans we tend to over-complicate our lives. It’s my heart’s desire that you shift into more ease and fulfillment as you create a bridge between your inner and outer brilliance.

Let’s begin.

Waking Up to Your True Brilliance

When you hear the word “brilliance” what comes to mind? When you envision brilliance what do you see?

Brilliance for the purposes of this course is defined as: Your naturally magnificent and radiant core essence from which infinite wisdom, love, action and perfect guidance flows.

At its most luminous, one’s brilliance flows unimpeded through an expansive mind, receptive heart, healthy body and wide-open intuition.

To be tuned into one’s brilliance is to experience heaven on earth: ease, joy, spontaneous inspiration. Unlimited creativity, confident expression, instantaneous generosity, and personal magnetism are born of your brilliance.

Your brilliance is broadcast out into the universe when:

• You speak your truth
• You bask in the beauty of nature and feel your connection to everything around you
• You bring the music of your soul into physical manifestation through your work and leisure activities
• You create and innovate simply because you’re inspired to
• You approach life as a remarkable learning opportunity
• You show up in life as a vehicle for kindness, compassion and unconditional love for yourself and others
• You look for and see the miracles in life, and point them out to others

When your brilliance is unimpeded anything is possible.

Even as you struggle to believe in your brilliance, to release the “old stuff” that gets in your way and holds you back from your authentic potential, your innate brilliance can be received and perceived by others! It’s not an either/or proposition. You can feel that you’re blocked in some way, and yet, be an inspiration to others. Though we often hide our brilliance, it’s actually easier to reveal your brilliant facets, than it is to hide them.

During this course you have the opportunity to get closer to your core essence — the most poignant crystal-clear conscious YOU! That part of you that is fresh, awake, perfect, and unimpaired at all times.

Every mental, emotional and spiritual shift that exposes your true brilliance is significant. Each action step matters. Wherever you are, you begin being enough! This Blocked to Brilliant™ process is about revealing how great you already are!

Enjoy the video portion of this course instruction now, and then read this session’s course material and complete the exercises.

Click the play button to watch the video

Why being at your brilliant best is so important

So what is so important about bringing your unique brand of brilliance to the creation of a fulfilling everyday life experience?

1. Of course, it will undoubtedly make you happier…which will probably make the people around you happier. That alone is reason enough. The ripple effect of happiness that you can radiate out into the world is powerful in both its seen and unseen positive repercussions.
2. You deserve to feel contentment. Being in touch with your true brilliance facilitates the feeling that everything is good. Contentment is composed of beautiful aspects of belief, trust, knowing, and ease. We’re so socialized to expect hardness and struggle. Living in a state of struggle, we yearn to make a big emotional leap into bliss and celebration! Yet, existing at one end of the spectrum or the other is stressful over the long haul. Daily contentment enables you to refresh, recharge and contemplate your best opportunities from a place of grounded freedom.
3. Taking personal responsibility for the tone of one’s life is no small matter. When you live from a sense of wanting to be in harmony with your true brilliant self, you acknowledge that you and your life have meaning, significance, and purpose. You let the music of your being be heard!
4. If you accept that you’re a luminous aspect of divinity (God, Higher Self, All That Is, Divine Source, however you want to think of it), you’re more likely to honor your natural gifts and passions through action that brings these gifts to the world. You understand that being a source of uplifting energy puts you in congruence with your core essence.
5. You’re perfectly able to do things no one else can do… exactly like you will do it. That enables you to bring a glimmer of something special to the world. I know you know this, even though your automatic thoughts can make you think that you don’t have anything special or what it takes. You are the vehicle through which special gifts can unfold.
6. Creating, aspiring and accomplishing from a belief in your brilliance makes manifestation so much easier!

Why not be a conscious co-creator, rather than wondering what’s going to happen next? Why not be one of those people other people notice and are attracted to because you’re radiant. Why not be someone who trusts and knows that your life is exactly as it should be (no matter what’s happening). You’re here, taking this course, so I imagine this must matter to you.

What’s with brilliance blocks?

I know the world needs more of what you have to offer, just as I know that just being yourself is fully enough in any moment. Now is a great time to give yourself permission to be at your radiant best and to achieve your heart’s desire.

That may be difficult to imagine if your experience of life right now is frustrating. Things may not be going the way you want them to or you’re experiencing a tough life transition. Perhaps you can’t make things happen no matter how hard you work. Some of you may have lost your sense of passion and inspiration and aren’t sure what the right steps are.

Being blocked stinks (I’m sure you can think of a stronger word). It’s frustrating and maddening. Especially when you know that the mental chatter in your head is all wrong but you keep reacting to it, even believing it.

One woman’s story

Here’s a great example of that. Recently I got a call from a woman who was so frustrated that she picked up the phone and called me in desperation. She explained that real estate deals she and her husband were working on kept running into problems with unscrupulous people. She was appalled at the behavior of others. She was also trying to market a business from home and no matter what she tried, she couldn’t make any headway. She was frustrated that when she tried to get some of her local churches to support a charity dear to her heart they came up with excuses not to get involved. Throughout the conversation, she kept mentioning that she was a natural healer. She had helped people of all ages with remarkable results. Yet, she didn’t feel it was right to ask for money for this since she knew she was just the vehicle for the divine healing.

As I listened, I could feel the energy around her healing brilliance wanting more freedom and expression. So I posed the question: “Do you think that you would feel less stuck if you focused on sharing your healing gift more?”

She paused to let the question, the possibility I was suggesting, settle in her heart and mind and replied, “Yes it would!” The desperation dropped out her voice as she realized her reality didn’t have to be all about chaos and too many things not working out. It could be about shinning the light on her true individual genius.

Once she was open to making her healing brilliance a bigger part of her life, rather than reciting all the reasons it would never work, we could discuss simple steps she could take to let others know about her natural gift.

How do you hold yourself back?

This story is a great example of how we get stuck when we:

• Base our power on outside/world circumstances and the behavior of others
• Spin our wheels expending our energy on the wrong endeavors or “dead-end” endeavors that have no life juice
• Splinter our focus in too many directions
• Anticipate problems rather than seeking simple one-step-at-a-time solutions
• Hide our true brilliance behind more “accepted” careers and endeavors
• Forget to construct a supporting belief foundation for our dreams
• Convince ourselves we don’t get to make a living from our soul-guided work

At one time or another, many of you may have felt some of what this woman was feeling. Until I got into my thirties I thought my reality was shaped by influences outside my control. The world had me by the tail and I could only hope to hang on and be able deal with the situations that got thrown at me.

Getting back on course and moving toward your dream life starts with accepting where you are right now. This is where your power lies. This is the point of power from which you can make anything happen.

Unearthing your brilliance

So let’s begin to unearth the brilliance that already exists in you and is YOU. What do you already know? What are your shining aspects you recognize? In your journal or notebook, list the highlights of what you offer in terms of:

• Natural Talents/Gifts
• Passions/Interests
• Life Experience and Knowledge
• Outer Personality/Skill Strengths (like enthusiasm, athleticism, good learner, etc.)
• Inner Self Strengths (like intuition, humbleness, calmness)
• Personal Quirks or Signature Characteristic

This is your chance to brag. Own what you know. Don’t worry about how someone else might judge these personal qualities and gems. The important thing is to be clear about what you value in yourself.

Set the intention to more naturally embrace the inner and outer radiance that is your birthright. Se the intention to become aware of it and celebrate it.

BRILLIANCE FOCUS: Define Your Blocks

Understanding the dynamics of your situation and what is blocking you from experiences of flow, freedom, radiance, peace, and joy is key to manifesting with more ease. With refreshed clarity you activate true vision based on conscious beliefs and inspired action.

Try this: Imagine that you are calling me to discuss your situation. Think about the ways that you feel blocked or stuck. Be thorough. Even small, seemingly insignificant sticking points are important to examine and come into full awareness about.

Try not judge the block, just review your circumstances honestly. For instance, if you’re feeling fearful about something, ask yourself:

• How are current life circumstances affecting my thinking?
• How does fear affect my desire to take action?
• How does lack of patience affect my effectiveness in life?
• Do excuses arise in my head around this block?

Consider the following illustration. A woman dreams of starting a business but is being faced with the following types of blocks:

Big block: Past disappointments with entrepreneurial efforts make it difficult to envision a big success in the future. She keeps remembering all the disappointments in her life rather than the victories. She feels like the same thing will happen again, so she keeps focusing on other, less important, projects rather than putting her full, radiant self out into the world.

Medium block:She needs approval from others to sustain her business-building enthusiasm.

Small block: Her office is a mess and she can’t work efficiently in a messy environment.

Your block might be more generalized and not specific to one project. So like the woman I spoke with, just ask yourself what’s frustrating you and write whatever comes out. There’s no right or wrong answers. Use your intuition to categorize the feeling of the blocks as big, medium or small.

Listing what you know, or suspect, are blocks will help you get clarity as you progress through this course. Become more aware of your:

Big Blocks:

Medium Blocks:

Small Blocks:

Where are you on your life path? For instance, are you at the beginning of a new life phase (you recently made changes and are starting new in some way), in the middle of a life process (things have been the same for a while), or near the end of a life phase? (This could be a natural, age-related phase end or a dramatic change — like the end of a marriage or a job). Note whether your life path feels difficult and challenging, moderately tough or relatively easy. We get different emotional buttons pushed at different transition stages. Understanding if there’s a pattern in your life can be helpful.

Do you instinctively know of one action that would make a positive difference in your life or how you feel about yourself? What is it? (You can think back to another time of transition to remember what worked for you then.)

Recap: Now you have a list of key brilliant aspects and a list of some of your possible blocks. Think about them. When you’re ready move on to Part 2.

Part 2

Negative Self Image Blocks and FULL YOU-based Solutions

In this second session we’re going to look at two big Negative Self-Image Blocks: Less-Than Thinking and Not-Enough Believing.

View the video portion of this lesson and then proceed with the written content.

Click the play button to watch the video

Less-Than Thinking

This is a comparison-to-others block. The results of less-than thinking are obvious:

• negative self image
• inaccurate assessment of your own and others’ strengths/weaknesses
• lack of confidence
• worry and fear about weaknesses being “found out”
• overall judgmental attitude toward self and others

The reasons for how we get trapped into thinking that it’s okay to beat ourselves up are perhaps not as obvious. Here are a few of those reasons.

From a very early age we learn to judge things as good or bad, right or wrong. This enables us to navigate life at a simple level. The problem is that as we mature this simple comparison and judgment can become so automatic that there’s no “off” position. Even when life demands a more sensitive barometer or a more sophisticated evaluation process, the automatic thinking gets in the way.

Secondly, your brain’s natural survival mode facilitates comparison thinking. “I’m smarter than that beast….I bet I can run faster than that guy.” It’s in the interest of our survival as a species to judge our place in the animal kingdom hierarchy and our survival probability. It can be helpful to assess win-lose scenarios with other humans. As a result, the brain tends to store and hold on to the less-than comparisons and keeps bringing them to mind. So, rather than being empowered by the clarity of what you’re not brilliant at — so you can laser focus your true brilliance — a generic less-than emotional button keeps getting bigger and over-applied in your life.

Thirdly, at all levels of our societal, cultural and educational programming, competitive and survivalist “Darwinian” thinking is reinforced — those good, better, and best comparisons. This creates a need to NOT lose the survival of the fittest competition (even though Darwin also showed that survival depends on lots of cooperation in the animal kingdom, that’s not what we were taught). This is currently being reflected in our partisan politics in which the inability to find and operate from a middle ground is non-existent. Middle ground is seen as a zone of weakness rather than as an area of collaborative strength and multi-faceted potential.

As I’m sure you’ve experienced, there are many problems that arise from an overly zealous comparison mind-set. Here are 3 common issues:

1. No one can always win the comparison contest. This isn’t a problem in and of itself, since no one needs to be the best at everything. Knowing your weaknesses as well as strengths provides the opportunity to learn to trust that you’ll be attracted to the perfect interests, exploits, people and events that will benefit brilliantly from your individual flair. Yet, if you judge yourself (using faulty criteria) as coming out the loser too many times, you’ll start to devalue who you really are.
2. The weighted focus on outward comparisons fails to adequately take your inner brilliance into consideration. The comparison becomes all about tallying up “doing” achievements and not giving enough credit to your total brilliance which includes your inner-sparkle. Whole self aspects like your courage, spiritual nature, expanded consciousness, connections of love and kindness, fun sense of levity, desire for stillness and contemplation, remarkable intuition, and so forth, are equally important parts of you.
3. Using avid less-than thinking you can convince yourself that it’s not really all up to you — it’s outside your control. If you keep losing less-than comparisons (usually based on faulty or inappropriate criteria), outside powers and external circumstances have the control over what happens in your life. Less-than thinking is a defense that prevents you from having to take full responsibility for how you feel about yourself and for the life your create.

We all have moments of less-than thinking. It’s when it becomes a daily pattern that the block to brilliance occurs.

Testing your less-than thinking proclivity

When you think of doing something that requires you be at your best, takes courage, or takes you out of your comfort zone, what instant messages pop into your head?

Does your brain instant message you with thoughts like:

• I can’t do that.
• I don’t have the courage to make that happen.
• I can’t do that because it’s not the right time. Or I don’t have the time to do that now.
• Coming from a dysfunctional family puts me at a disadvantage
• My brother/sister was born the smart one.
• I don’t get the lucky breaks it takes to succeed.
• I could shine, too, if only I had financial support.
• I tried something like that once and it didn’t work out.
• So and so already does that famously so why should I try?
• I would be successful if only__________ (some person, some organization or force) weren’t getting in my way.
• That’s just not going to happen for me in this lifetime.

Sometimes less-than thinking and low self-esteem show up as arrogance and projection (seeing in others what you fear is true about yourself). Loud denials may cover for true feelings of being less than. Lack of energy, a defeatist attitude and self-deprecating comments could result from less-than thinking.

The bottom line is that less-than comparisons nearly always take you out of your authentic power. So it’s vital to quiet and/or shift your less-than thinking tendencies.

Furthermore, take into consideration this emerging truth. We have energetically moved out of an age of competition and have moved into into an age of cooperation and collaboration. Competition got us this far, which is a good thing. Yet as evidenced by many old financial, organizational and social structures falling apart, a new supportive energetic structure is in place based on collaboration and cooperation. With a technologically connected world, individual brilliance contributing to group brilliance seems to be what is needed for the benefit of all.

Now’s a great time to perceive, appreciate and use all your strengths for powerful leaps ahead. Now is a great time to know and follow your passion for self-nourishment that lights you up.

Not-Enough Believing

A close relative to Less-Than Thinking is Not-Enough Believing. I think of it as the fatal-flaw block. This block leads you to believe you don’t have enough of some critical element.

Not enough believing can be so deeply ingrained or automatic that we don’t even realize this program is running the show. Whereas less-than thinking tends to be comparison based (you often blame outside circumstances), when you think “I’m not enough” you tend to blame yourself. You might even feel shame; you might feel broken in some way.

Just like less-than thinking, not-enough believing puts you in a weak position of not being able to influence outcomes positively enough to create the dreams you envision for yourself. I’m not enough believing can result in a fear of being seen. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is at the root of people’s fear of public speaking. There’s no place to hide your “not enoughness’ when you’re the center of attention.

People who believe they aren’t enough tend to hold back their brilliance in areas of personal growth, relationships, health and career. They make statements such as:

• I’m not smart enough
• I have trouble learning
• I’m not beautiful/good looking enough
• I can’t seem to attract the right partner
• People don’t understand me
• That always happens to me
• It’s my genes
• That’s just the way I am/built
• I just have to accept things the way they are
• I’m not creative enough
• I don’t have what it takes to make good money
• I could never speak in public
• I want x, y or z, but how could that occur?

When you feel you’re not enough in some essential way you rob yourself of your wholeness. You consciously or unconsciously start settling or setting “success-within-limits” boundaries. This may mean you only let yourself grow so much or you only go forward so far before you back down from fulfilling your dreams.

Fool You verses FULL-YOU

This is a potent block to manifesting your full potential and living your life purpose brilliantly. Coming from this belief you repeatedly feel like you’re FOOLING YOURSELF rather than being FULL OF YOURSELF.

True brilliance flows from your fullness, from your wholeness. In each moment, you are fully enough to make your dreams come true. You were born fully enough. You are smart enough, thin enough, experienced enough, lucky enough to take one step forward. You are fully enough to do what is necessary in this moment for a positive outcome.

We’re fortunate that we live in a time flourishing with myriad paths to self-knowledge. You can pick and choose what catches your fancy or resonates with you. Want to know more about yourself? Explore illuminating things like:

• Your aura color or colors
• Your intuitive astrology profile
• Your life purpose
• Your dominant intuition style type
• Your enneagram type
• Your primary archetypes

Make self-discovery fun and fascinating. Avoid applying negative labels to yourself. You are a wondrous, multifaceted being with layers upon layers of qualities, abilities and divine aspects. Houston University research professor Brene Brown has done amazing work on human connection and the feeling of not being enough. She believes that letting oneself be vulnerably seen is the path to feeling worth and a sense of belonging.

The more you know and appreciate about yourself, the harder it is to feel lacking. And, when you feel more sure of yourself, you tend to be less judgmental of others. Resolve to be amazed at how great you are, and to see how fabulous others are, too!

BRILLIANCE FOCUS: FULL-YOU Solutions

This homework is designed to activate a more positive self-image. Creative, out-of-the box thinking often provokes new insights and clearer understanding.

Visioning is a powerful tool for shifting perspective. Rather than just holding words in your mind, you can more powerfully affirm your fresh intentions with visual flair. A visual is a quick reminder of what you wish to invite into your reality.

Conscious and intuitive visual work also gets you out of your automatic thinking patterns and mental dramas by shifting you into new ways of seeing and appreciating yourself.

Part One: Set a wish for yourself

Often we set goals without being clear about how we really wish to feel when our goals are achieved. We just assume that the emotion that arises from goal completion will be highly satisfying. Yet, often disappointment arises instead, and we wonder why the goal achievement fell flat.

Establish a heart-felt wish for yourself before you set specific goals. It could be a wish that carries through as a theme for the year. It could pertain to what you feel is most needed in your life right now. Try to word this wish like a blessing. “May I be…., have…., exhibit…., experience…, share…, know….” It could be as simple as the wish: “May my Brilliance Benefit All,” “May I Be Fully My True Self,” “May my Open Heart Attract Love.” Write it down now.

Use your wish as a measuring stick against your goals. For instance, my “May I Be Fully My True Self,” wish embodies a desire for calm, clarity, exciting creativity, joyous confidence, and a sense of limitlessness.” If my goals don’t spark one these desired feelings, then the goal needs adjusting or reconsidering.

List 3-5 words that describe the feelings your Wish embodies

Part Two: Activate your FULL Self.

You are enough! This is your opportunity to envision your ideal fullness. This will be a reflection of your physical self, your emotional self, your mental self and your spiritual self. What do you want to be full of? What do you know are your greatest gifts? What can you imagine is your expanded potential?

Below is a picture of the outlines you can use as inspiration. I have colored in two examples of how your might approach this exercise. Define the various artistic or colored aspects as I have shown. It’s up to you. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Be guided by your heart and intuition.

Full You Outlines

The Example One Figure on the left is creatively filled up in a whimsical manner based on creating a 100% full Self. Figure One represents:

25% open heart (self love, compassion, kindness)
15% strong, flexible backbone (courage, confidence, and perseverance)
20% focused connection (to others, to voice, to physical health)
20% shining intellect
20% glowing intuition

The Example Two Figure on the right is simply divided up with blocks of color representing various aspects of a full self and full life. I colored different parts of the body based on what they symbolized to me.

Pink = heart-centered motivation
Aqua = global connections
Green = talent for investing wisely
Dark Purple = spiritual guidance
Red = leadership ability
Yellow= Enthusiasm
Blue= Patience/Perseverance

These are just creative ideas. Complete your own FULL-YOU outlines as inspired.

Recap: In this section we looked at common negative self-image blocks that most everyone experiences. The solution was gaining clarity about what constitutes a Full-You. Now each time you find yourself lapsing into less-than or not-enough thinking your visual will remind you of your truth. In part 3 we’ll look at two more common blocks to brilliance and simple solutions for addressing them.

Ego Mind Generated Blocks

Block number 3 is: Resistance to Change
Block number 4 is: Fear of the Unknown

View the video portion of this lesson and proceed with the written content up until the next video. View the second video, read the written content and complete the homework.

Click the play button to watch the video

Resistance to Change

Change involves unknown quantities so the ego mind reacts in fear and with resistance. As mentioned in the last section, the human brain is programmed for survival. That includes keeping you safe and change doesn’t feel safe, regardless of the size or impact of the change.

We develop resistance to change for any number of reasons. Any resistance to change you feel, might include elements such as:

• As a child there were lots of unpleasant or unsettling changes
• You experience change as something random authority figures decide (a parent, a boss, a company, etc.)
• You usually feel disconnected from the reason or logic for change
• The biggest changes in your life felt negative rather than positive
• You don’t have a good track record of navigating change with optimal outcomes
• You’re highly reactive to the fearful messages your ego mind produces (you don’t know how to ignore them and you tend believe these messages)
• You haven’t learned how to shift change anxiousness into change excitement
• Something worked well for you once (a hair style, a location, a job, a relationship, a point of view) and you got so attached to that success that you have lost perspective about whether it still works well
• You were repeatedly told, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” so you resist change unless something is clearly “broken” which is usually at a crisis point
• You tend to abdicate your authority to someone else

How many of these ring a bell for you? Make note of it.

A primary reason we react to change with resistance is that we typically try changing outside circumstances and neglect to first set the stage with inner change – which is the true energetic foundation for manifestation.

Each of us has had specific experiences with change so its important to evaluate your receptivity to change. At some junctures in your life you may be ready to chuck it all and start fresh. And, that may be best thing to do. At other times, making small progressive changes may feel like the right path to take.

Tips for Befriending Change

1. Take it slow. If you suspect you need to make changes, but are resisting, approach change one step at a time. Even when you are hoping for dramatic alterations to your life, it’s easier to manage the stress change brings with it a bit at a time. Take a step, evaluate, decide on the next step, and so forth.
2. Create a plan B. Often it’s easier to take big steps when you have a back up plan in place. You may never need it, but it can give you the extra courage you need. When I decided to move, sight unseen, from the west coast to the east coast, I told myself that if it didn’t work out I could move back. Creating this “safety cushion” gave me permission to change my mind if I wanted and provided me with the drive to make the change work.
3. Get to know change. Be aware when you feel resistance to change and make a conscious shift in how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling anxious, take a deep breath and decide to feel something else like acceptance, curiosity, hopefulness. I have a friend who always feels anxious about new opportunities. Now that she realizes that’s part of her pattern, she spends less time feeling anxious and gets to a better feeling sooner.
4. Use visualization to foresee great change outcomes. A client who gets upset about change, calms herself by visualizing herself sitting on a beach. Beautiful “waves of change” bring treasures to the beach in front of her. This visualization creates a peacefully inspired tone around change for her.
5. Set a clear intention around change. When faced with a possible change be clear about how you want to deal with the change. Set an intention to be “energized,” “organized,” or “excited.” You could also be clear about the outcome you want the change to have. Do you want to start fresh to create new avenues for success? Do you want to try something new so your life is enriched? Are you interested in experiencing another way of living? Clarity is the key to experiencing the result you want.
6. Practice believing change is positive. When a change is presented either through conscious choice or by choices others have made, have a go-to reaction like: “Here’s another chance to improve my life,” or “What marvelous mystery is at work here? I can’t wait to see how this helps me.” You may not start out saying it with a smile on your face, but eventually you’ll notice a shift that makes change feel lighter and more full of possibility.
7. Access your inner decision-maker. Using your intuition can empower your change process. I use intuitive collage (dream board) work with clients so that they can see what their intuition has to show them about their next best steps or about the personal qualities they need to nurture for positive change. It’s a fun way to get a glimpse into your brilliant inner self.

Awareness point: When you make major changes in your life, you can threaten other people, who are fearful of change or who don’t want to admit they should be making changes themselves. Don’t take it personally. Don’t let their fears undermine your faith or your vision. Only you can know what steps will help you evolve as a person. Only you can decide accurately what will move you closer to the life of your dreams. Celebrate the deliberate changes you make and the steps you take!

Go ahead and watch the video presentation about Fear of the Unknown.

 

Click the play button to watch the video

Fear of the Unknown

#4 Fear of the unknown is a major block for many people. It shows up in change, since change naturally has an element of the unknown. Yet, fear of the unknown stands on its own as a block, too. During our chaotic transitioning times, we all need to learn to exist side-by-side with the unknown, which is the place where true potential exists.

This block centers around a “need to know.” If all the details can’t be known, then possibilities take on a sinister quality. Worry, doubt and fear are common reactions to the unknown. Life has lots of unknown quantities so working through this block can shift life experience from one of anxiousness to one of increased acceptance, gratitude and joy.

A fear of the unknown block may be exhibited as difficulty in or a reluctance to:

• leave or release unhealthy relationships
• seek the thrills of adventure
• take perceived risks
• leave an unfulfilling or overly stressful job
• voluntarily make changes
• check reality against imagined outcomes
• accept or flow with the normal ups and downs of life
• embrace the lessons to be gained from challenges

Fear of the Unknown Example

I know a woman who says that it’s just her nature to be a worrier. Her need to know, ironically, leads to her telling herself negative “true” stories. One of her stories is that she will never be able to live in a climate she really prefers. This turns an unknown quantity: “Will I ever be able to live where I want?” into a known quantity: “Nope, never going to happen.” In a way, this gives her comfort in knowing there’s nothing she can do about it.

Questions/statements that have a fear of the unknown quality to them:

• “What do I do now?”
• “Where would I even begin to look?”
• “It’s better to stick to what I already know.”
• “I’m sure I could never figure that out.”
• “I can’t imagine what my life look like if I did that.”
• “I don’t know what would happen if I tried that.”
• “I’m sure my my husband/wife wouldn’t like that”
• “That’s beyond the realm of possibility.”

Unknowns can create blocks in our mental processing, bring up repetitive emotional reactions that keep us stuck in circular thinking and reaction. When you think about addressing one of these unknowns, the ego mind sends you directly to some message or behavior that keeps you wallowing in the unknown, rather than adventuring out to seek solutions.

The fear of the unknown can bring on habitual “safe” behaviors — like doing nothing, maintaining the status quo, keeping quiet, and not exposing yourself (or others) to alternate thinking. It can also make watching TV or playing computer games really attractive, since such activities allow you to “kill time” and escape making a real decision or taking steps to change your situation.

What goes bump in the night?

Have you ever heard a noise in the house at night and rather than finding out what it is, your mind tells you to stay in bed where it’s “safe” and maybe it will go away? This is your ego mind dictating what safe is. It’s just doing its job. Yet, the truth is that if you can learn what the noise is you’ll feel better…. sooner. Yet there you sit paralyzed in your bed (I’ve done this, have you?).

This is what happens when you experience fear of the unknown, although often it won’t be as obvious as this. We learn to cover our fears with all kinds of rationalized behavior that can even convince us that we’re doing the smart thing.

Tips for Approaching the Unknown

1. Shine a little light on the situation. Don’t assume you’re completely in the dark. It’s very rare that you truly are. The main objective with blocks around the unknown is to affirm what is knowable in the present through honest review and inward contemplation. Start where you are. Be gentle with yourself.
2. Use your intuition. It’s your mind that gets fearful of the unknown, because your intellect can’t tap into the unknown; it can only access what has been put into it. Your intuition can access the unknown. That’s the beauty of intuitive dream boards, they enable you to see new messages and information. Another option is dialoguing with your intuition in a Question and Answer format.
3. Play detective. Perhaps you want to make a career shift, but are feeling fearful because you aren’t sure what to shift toward. Rather than feeling blocked you can play detective and start noticing the clues of your life. You can start connecting the dots of your work experience, talents and skills with the dots of your interests and life purpose. You can practice listening to your intuition for direction. You can enlist a career coach to help.
4. Segment the unknown. Like change, taking one part at a time and breaking it down helps with issues around the unknown. You may not be able to know the big picture, but you can probably know one part of the picture (call it a vignette). Take your health for instance. You could live afraid that you inherited your father’s bad heart or your mother’s breast cancer. Or you could live more empowered. You may not be able to know exactly what genes you inherited, but you can make daily informed decisions that positively affect your health today and then again tomorrow. You can decide to develop the belief that genes are just tendencies not destiny, and that you can positively impact your health reality.
5. Act on what you do know. Take simple steps that move you in a desired direction. One small affirmative action will make taking the next step less scary. For instance, a client knew that she wanted to contribute to her family’s financial health after being home with the kids for several years. She didn’t know what she wanted to do work wise. She reviewed her past work experience and evaluated what still excited her about that work. She enlisted me to help her explore natural gifts that were becoming more evident. Practice believing in your courage and ability to direct your life successfully.
6. Be aware when you’re disconnected from your natural authority. In what instances do you tell yourself: “That’s just the way it is?” We can be lazy dream creators and life directors. It can seem easier to go with the seemingly known, rather than taking the time and energy to create a fresh, less-obvious outcome.
7. Practice verbal leaps of faith. At the most basic level you must get clear about your heart’s desire and state it no matter how crazy, unreasonable or unbelievable it seems. Tell others your dreams. Tell yourself “I don’t know what will happen in the big picture, but right now I’m taking one action that feels right.” Then taking action seems more reasonable than staying where you are.
8. Practice imaginative soaring. Rather than letting your imagination exacerbate your fears, use it to create inspiring visions. Five minutes a day of positive visualization around a goal, a dream, an outcome can do wonders.
9. Get expert guidance. There are several good books around change. Ask your intuitive/higher self to guide you to one. As friends about any books they recommend.

BRILLIANCE FOCUS: Awareness-based Solutions

You can always choose to get more clarity. Clarity is a brilliance aspect.

Awareness-based solutions are designed to lead to understanding, realization, insight and compassion. All of this is directed toward your Self. You are the brilliance vessel. Your brilliance is contained within you. You can tap into that brilliance for your best answers.

Brilliance Focus: Keep a Change Journal

Take some time, at least 15 to 30 minutes to think about the major changes in your life. Identify the major changes in your life. Note who or what brought about the change. Then be honest about how that change made you feel. Try to use one word like: angry, frustrated, sad, anxious, excited, thrilled, overjoyed, etc. Be aware of whether or not any of these feeling tones linger today.

This kind of conscious review can give you an appreciation for why you approach change the way you do. Be gentle and compassionate with yourself. Then approach new change based on your positive experiences. Reinforce the good that change has brought about in your life. If you’re having trouble seeing any good, resolve to see the good from now on.

Also contemplate what approach feels like it’s in alignment with your true nature, and provides a stretch. We’re not all cut out to be change daredevils. For some of us that would feel too random. Yet, even the most gentle of souls can approach risk-taking and change management with more confidence and curiosity. What approach would make change easier to navigate for you?

If it helps, consider aspects of change on a range from Change Instigator to Change Resister. Do not use this range to judge yourself. Rather use it for clarity — to give yourself a better idea of where you are and where you want to be. Your change potential is your own. It doesn’t have to be a dramatic arc, and yet you may want to create change movement in areas that have become stagnant.

Change Initiator/Instigator

You consider yourself a fearless dramatic change daredevil
You act on a whim to change things up just for the fun of it
You regularly risk hearing “No” and/or taking necessary steps to get what you envision

Conscious Changer

Each week you intentionally push outside of your comfort zone in some way
You naturally review life and assess changes that would improve you life quality or personal effectiveness
You’re a planner who sparks significant change throughout each year

Mid-Range Changer

You are a deliberate change-maker at critical life junctures (when a job, health, relationship or happiness is at stake)
May shake up the status quo every five to ten years to revisit goals/satisfaction with quality of life
You willingly change some life aspects but are afraid to make changes in one or two key areas

Change Resister

You change when it is obvious/unavoidable that you need to reinvent yourself or your life
Change tends to happen when dramatic life events happen
You do not choose change; change chooses you
you do not value change at all

Where would you like to be on this range? Your primary goal is to have change go from “hard” to “easier.” What’s your change stretch?

Consciously create a statement that clearly expresses how you’d like to approach change moving forward.

Just ask yourself: How do I want to think about change?” and listen to what thoughts come to mind. Keep it simple. You could also choose a symbol that represents change for you. This may be an animal symbol, geometric symbol or a symbol from nature. Maybe a person you know is the “face of change” you’d like to emulate in your own way.

Your statement or symbol can become a touchstone that helps you stay balanced and in flow during change. You could end up with a statement such as: “I co-create with change for the best outcome,” or “Change is an exciting opportunity to step into my potential.”

Write in your journal about how change is feeling to you, what changes you want to make and what steps you are taking around change.

Exercises Around the Unknown

List any factors in your life that are unknown and cause you worry or anxiousness. These may be specific life issues or a life area in which you avoid taking pro-active steps (health, money, relationship, job, etc.). These may be areas of your life that you’ve given up on or that you’ve tucked away so you don’t have to deal with them.

Create a New “Dream Outcome” story:
Step back into the “director’s chair” to create a specific dream outcome you’d like in your life in one of the areas you identified above. Inject positive energy into the “unknown” by starting where you are. Describe how you feel now and why you desire a specific outcome. What will it mean to you and your life story?

Playfully imagine and list ways your ideal outcome could occur. Be very descriptive about how you feel throughout the arc of your story. At first you felt…..then you felt…until finally you were……! Imagine the full arc of your personal development.

Title the story as you’re inspired: “The Day I Met My Soul Mate,” “Being a Successful Artist,” “Becoming My Own Boss” “Taking a Leap of Faith.”

Start a “What else can I know?” practice:
Each day sit quietly for at least five minutes to have a conversation with your inner knowing. Take a deep breath. Sit straight with feet on the ground. Have a notepad and pen close by. Gently ask yourself: What else can I know _________________________________________ ?(fill in the blank with situation you would like more info about). Accept whatever pops into your head and jot it down. Continue to “listen” for a few minutes. If your mental chatter starts in with a story you’re already familiar with, gently thank your ego mind for doing its job, and listen for, see or sense any information.

Recap: In this session you got more familiar with ego mind blocks: resistance to change and fear of the unknown. Continue to make notes in your change journal, create your Dream Outcome story and practice asking yourself what you can know. You are an adaptable person. You know more than you recognize. You CAN imagine success right into reality! In part 4 we’ll look at two more potential blocks to brilliance that you’ll learn how to overcome.

Inner Light Blocks

Block number 5 is: Fear of Success
Block number 6 is: Fear of Failure

View the first video portion of this lesson and proceed with the written content up until the next video.

Click the play button to watch the video

What Blocks Your Light?

Your brilliance is most illuminated when it comes from the inside out. This is the natural path for your unique and individual light.

Your soul longs to beam itself out into the world through the channels of your gifts and talents and life purpose. Soul purpose/blueprint comes through inspired and heartfelt connection to others and the world around you. Soul influences your conscious intentions, inspirations, hopes and dreams. Soul can be found in the big picture of your life as well as in the details — in the daily joys you experience and in the simple things. Soul encourages you to notice synchronicity and coincidence.

Yet, in daily life, in your intimate relationships and casual interactions, at your workplace or in your business, by the way you schedule your time or prioritize your needs, you may dim your light or play small due to various factors.

Factors might include:

• fear of trying and failing
• fear of taking the dream out for a spin and being disappointed
• fear of losing control and/or being taken way out of your comfort zone
• worry about being judged for taking a non-traditional or “unapproved” life direction
• concern about shifting or “upsetting” the power balance in your relationships
• a limiting belief in your life “role” options or your place in the scheme of things
• over-recalling your failures and not clearly remembering your successes
• attachment to your victim identity/story
• doubt about being adequate prepared to fulfill your life purpose

Fear of Success and Fear of Failure have many common elements. It can even be difficult to pinpoint which one is blocking you. So let’s examine them one at a time.

Fear of Success

Getting in your own way

This block is highlighted by the feeling: “I’m getting in my own way” or by the recurring question: “Why do I sabotage myself?”

Each block being covered in this course has an aspect of this feeling of being in one’s own way. Yet, it’s especially true for fear of success. Have there been times in your life when you thought, “I always muck things up and I don’t know why!” or “I’m so tired of making things harder than they have to be!” That’s you acknowledging that essentially all that stands between you and your dreams being realized easily is your fearful self.

According to author Marianne Williamson, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.”

If this quote resonates for you then fear of success may be an issue. Fear of living up to your potential scares you. You may know how much more you could be exploring, saying, accomplishing, etc. And, you’re not sure you can take all that on. It may seem pretty overwhelming. You scare yourself not with what could go wrong, but with what it will mean if everything goes right! So why do intelligent and insightful people like you do this?

Fear of Success and Change

Your fear of success may have a dominant “fear of change” component. You fear measuring up to your potential because it will mean changing your life in significant ways. If you step INTO your true power you may need to:

• leave a secure but unfulfilling job
• establish a more supportive circle of like-minded friends
• change the way you eat and exercise
• redesign how you spend your time and energy
• get focused on your needs
• learn new skills that allow you to take on a leadership potential
• change up your daily routine
• move to a new location
• you may feel guided to do ALL of these!

In part three you learned how to deal with change. So if you think you may be holding back your true inner light due to a reluctance to change, go back and try some of the change tools. Consider what is the easiest change you can make. Intuit what will make a real difference and bring about the outcomes you envision.

Be willing to try new things without labeling your efforts success/failure. If you know committing yourself to a change is worthwhile do it. Big risks can have big payoffs.

If you try something new and it doesn’t feel right for you, commit to something else. It’s your life you get to choose. Just don’t give up because the change isn’t comfortable at first. That’s a sign that you’re moving into new territory. To embrace your success potential you’ll have to push the boundaries of your comfort zone. This might mean becoming comfortable with public speaking, asking people for business, learning new technology, requesting support, networking, etc. Explore the territory before deciding if it’s in congruence with your intentions and goals (can also compare against wish for self you set). See change as an adventure worth experiencing.

Fear of Success and Doubt

Does this sound familiar? You’re intelligent and capable but you have developed a habit of doubting that you possess exactly the right abilities to succeed.

How does Doubt Dis-ease show up? You may progress or evolve just so far and then self-sabotage your efforts. You may see a pattern of letting some outside circumstance stop you dead in your tracks.

Letting yourself wallow in doubt keeps you in success limbo land. You can plan to go for it from the comfort of your doubt and low expectations. Then you have little to live UP to! This allows you to stop short of proving to yourself — one way or the other — if you’re truly capable of success. That means you won’t have to maintain a high level of Being Brilliantly You.

People who experience this block tend to wall themselves off from success.

• You may do this by letting your focus get stuck in the negative aspects of what you’re dealing with.
• You may do this by keeping yourself on a “always the student, never the teacher” path. You’re never quite ready to see all the ways that you could be successful right now or to do what it takes to be ready to shine.
• You may shift the blame for being held back to other people. This results in a “no way to win” self-fulfilling prophesy even though you keep telling yourself and others you want to succeed.

It’s probably partly a self-confidence issue and partly that you have no previous experience stepping out on that limb. Honestly looking at your situation helps. You set the tone for what you expect from yourself and for what others expect to see from you. If you don’t believe in yourself, others, too, will have trouble believing you’re serious about being successful. In Part Seven of this course you’ll be establishing the beliefs that support you.

The Anti-Oz Syndrome

You may consciously or unconsciously believe that successfully taking your health, wealth, relationships or career to a new level, means significant losses. Loss of certain relationships, loss of being the biggest fish in the pond, loss of free time.

This is form of awful-izing. And it sucks the life blood right out of your vision. You imagine the downsides to success more powerfully than you imagine the upsides to success. It’s the Anti-Oz syndrome.

When your dream is a mental construct that isn’t fully connected to the uplifting emotion it needs to make it fly, the loss of valued life aspects can loom large. Don’t get trapped by some generic idea of success. Have a clear vision of your personal success.

This is why visualization is so instrumental. Visualization is a “success-as-you-see-it” tool. It enables you to define your picture of success, and your success process. Use the visualization on this video section, or create your own visualization practice that keeps you tuned into your magnificent vision. Keep tuned into YOU (as an aspect of divinity) and all your brilliance. Then success is a path you want to take and a journey you’re excited to direct mind, heart and soul.

Are You a Pioneer?

Consider whether or not your spirit is encouraging you to be a pioneer in some way — to break new ground personally, to do something that not many other people are doing, to go in a fresh direction so new things can be created and manifested, to bring about wonderful outcomes through group activity that benefit others. Realizing this can be strangely comforting. Once you see your pioneer path, you understand that feeling uncomfortable and inhabiting newness is part of the big plan. Then it doesn’t have the same power to stop you.

Also, entrepreneurs who go it alone are regularly frustrated by their inability to get traction on their dreams. Ask yourself if collective brilliance is the answer. We can get very protective of our brilliance and what we want to accomplish and create. Yet, more and more that’s very old school thinking, even if you’re a pioneer. Generating impact and power today is often a collective endeavor of mutual support and vision. Who do you know that has a vision much like yours? Set the intention to discover your success tribe. It may make all the difference in how you approach your work and how you more fully inhabit your life.

Now watch the second video before proceeding with the second half of this session.

Click the play button to watch the video

Inner Light Block #2

Fear of Failure

Fear of Failure has some typical characteristics you might recognize:

• Have you ever been afraid of what you might learn about yourself?
• Are you overly concerned about how you’ll be perceived if you fail?
• Do you fear judgment for taking a non-traditional or “unapproved” life direction?
• Do you over-recall your failures and not clearly remember your successes?

Fear of Failure and the Horror Flick

A fear of failure block is often the result of intense focus on potential imagined negative consequences. It’s like a horror movie. At every turn what horror COULD happen is top of mind. Playing it safe, staying in the box, not doing anything out of the ordinary can become preferable to these imagined outcomes.

You are the director of your life; you are the master architect; you are the artist. By realizing what movie is playing in your head, you can stop the reel from spinning its “that-would-be-terrible” stories. I have clients create intuitive dream boards (collage play) to do just this. By getting out of their 24/7 worry-anxiety mind, they can open up to intuitive visions that are congruent with their soul-guided longings and truth. Always a magnificent picture! (see the dream board video course to learn this process)

Fear of Failing Someone Else

Fear of failure can haunt anyone who is trying to live up to someone else’s expectations. All your power gets delegated to an outside source you don’t have much control over. What a stressful situation!

This might be a parent who envisioned a particular career for you. It might be a boss who wants you to fulfill a specific role in the company. Attached to the idea of going for a dream or becoming a success is a feeling that you might let others down.

In my early twenties I had a roommate who was trying to be successful in an accounting career, when what she really wanted was to be a radio DJ. The career she choose was to prove something to her parents. So the fear of failure was huge! Yet, she would never really be fulfilled, successful or happy staying in that career. You can imagine all the blocks she faced day in and day out. Also, by not going into the career she really wanted, she was acquiescing to the idea that being a radio DJ wasn’t an acceptable career. I like to imagine her having finally lived her life on her terms and feeling really successful.

Fear of failure includes not only a fear about a business loss, but potential losses like: loss of social standing, loss of any hierarchy standing, loss of family respect, loss of something valued by you or those around you, and so forth.

Fear of Failure and The Perfectionist

From my workshops I’ve observed that fear of failure can plague perfectionists. Is your fear of failure block related to your perfectionist standards? Are your standards holding you hostage to an out-dated model of success. Here are some examples:

1. Women who are balancing careers and motherhood can feel they aren’t successful in either role. The truth is that the modern working mother is living a lifestyle that hasn’t been around that long. So judging this newer role with old models for career success or motherhood success is inadequate. It holds you back from accepting what is, from accepting what HAS EVOLVED. New formats and roles are always perceived as awkward and even faulty at first
2. Mid-life divorce can’t make people feel like they’ve failed. Yet, accepting that a relationship has run its course can be a defining moment of success. It can open you to whole new universe of possibilities. Staying in a relationship due to fear of failure can in no way heal the relationship. You can’t heal from a place of fear or dejection or apathy.
3. Feeling that success is based on doing things in a certain, perfect way can almost guarantee failure and frustration. We live at time when innovation, exploration, advancement and leaps of faith often come from breaking away from old structures and past ways of doing things. Looking to something new or just making it up as you go is incredibly freeing. Not all personality types can handle such unmitigated freedom, but loosing the reigns of perfectionism even a little can help you breathe a sigh of relief.

Randy Pausche famously stated in “the Last Lecture,” that the walls aren’t there to keep you from your dreams; they’re there to keep out people who don’t want it badly enough. Consider this possibility: You are a perfect universe unto yourself. You unfold perfectly. Your perception of your perfection may be off kilter, but you never are.

Flexibility is a great brilliance tool. The more you are able to adapt to the changing landscape of your inner and outer life, the easier it is for your to BE the success you desire — whatever that means to you.

Perseverance is a great brilliance tool. Resolve to move through your fears to the completion of the goal or a dream. In time, you’ll find that you’ll keep going until miracles manifest.

Failure is a Learning Facet

Failure doesn’t really exist. It’s just a learning facet of life. Through the brilliant learning process of life we discover through trial and error what makes our life hard and what makes it easier. We learn what is in harmony with our talents and gifts and what isn’t so closely attuned. We learn what we really want to do, who we really want to be. We learn this by recognizing what we don’t want and who we don’t want to be.

Often we learn by existing in the spaces that don’t fit us. We try things on: we evaluate jobs, locations, partners, and health programs. It’s easy to think “I failed” when those things don’t work out. Here’s another way to see it. Deepak Chopra uses the word “contrast” to describe people who are different from us; who believe differently and espouse different truths.

Applied to the failure discussion, you can think of failure as contrast. It allows you to appreciate what is more You. Failure contrast allows you to figure out your best path through life. You can never really lose; each experience is more contrast. There’s always a gain…as long as you see it that way. Your experience of life is based on your perceptions. Shift the perception and your change the experience.

BRILLIANCE FOCUS: Intuitive Solutions

Part one: Intuitive Journal Writing. What you notice matters! An unbalanced outward focus may signal a weak channel to one’s inner wisdom and guidance. Intuition development is central to activating and accessing your total brilliance.

A. Answer the following questions from an intuitive place. Ask the question and listen to what comes to you. Once you start writing, jot down any thought that arises. Don’t plan the answer from logic. Try to keep pen to paper until you sense you’ve answered each question. Try not to edit yourself. You can also have someone else read the question and take notes as you talk.

1. Are there things happening in your life to help you examine and deal with your fear of success or failure? What?
2. What is trying to get your attention right now?
3. What could you be learning from rather than pushing away?
4. When do you NOT speak your truth?
5. How do you hold back to maintain the status quo?

B. Set a new intention based on the insights you received. Example: “I will notice opportunities to speak my truth,” “I will record ‘What I Notice’ at the end of each day,” or “I will take one action that proves my commitment to my success each day.”

Part two: Intuitive Success dream board
Select one magazine. Take no more than 10 minutes to look through it and pull pictures that capture your attention. Don’t worry about why a picture attracts you. Do this quickly before moving on in the process.

Now, with the pictures in front of you, set the intention, “I will get a clear vision of success that aligns with me — mind, heart and soul.”

Then very quickly sort the pictures into two piles. One pile is for pictures that are “speaking loudly to you.” They capture you attention at a high level. The second pile is for photos that you like, but don’t have a strong resonance with at this moment.

Glue the pictures on a piece of paper in any way that feels right. If you find yourself over-thinking or fussing with this part of the process, take a breath and relax. Try singing! This should take between 5 and 10 minutes at the most.

Journal on what you have created. First, identify what feels like the most obvious reasons you chose the pictures (individually and how they are connected). Write those down.

Then review the board a second time and ask yourself what the different photos symbolize. Try to intuitively register one or two words for each picture. This will give you insights to what success is for you right now — what you value at this time in your life.

Title the dream board. Revisit the dream board each day for a week to get additional insights. Stay happily curious and unattached to what insights are revealed.

Recap: In this part you learned how to differentiate fear of success and fear of failure. You learned new creative tools to try throughout the week to address the issues brought up by these fears. Stay aware this week. Notice when your fears want to push back and get the upper hand again. Try to feel more relaxed when this happens. Laugh even. When you don’t feed fear with your normal reactions, it shrinks. In the next part we’ll look at one more block possibly causing you to scatter your brilliance in too many directions.

Misdirected Energy Block

Block number 7 is: Splintered Focus

Watch the video before proceeding to the additional content and focused work.

Click the play button to watch the video

Which way is UP and where did all my energy go!

All blocks have an element of misdirected energy, but a splintered focus is defined by misdirected energy. Why does this matter? A splintered focus creates splintered results.

In today’s stimuli-full, busy world, it’s easier than ever to get blocked by what you’re doing consciously and unconsciously. How you spend your time matters. How you expend your energy matters. The number of disruptions that take your focus from one thing to the next matters. Your intention to focus matters.

Signs Your Energy is Splintered

• You notice you lose the thread of your thoughts in conversation
• You often start one activity and before it’s completed you’re doing something else
• You misplace things on a regular basis
• You’re tired and/or get sick more than usual
• You’re feeling anxious
• Few things go smoothly or seem easy
• You don’t know what to do to solve your life issues, so you’re trying many things at once, hoping something works
• There’s no spark of inspiration to stay focused on a particular activity or path
• You’re going through a phase of bumping into furniture, walls, stubbing toes, or having accidents
• You’re constantly searching (online, in your house, in your community) for something to buy, to connect to…for an answer
• Chaos not calmness runs most days
• World circumstances get the lion’s share of your attention
• You’re spinning your wheels, but aren’t getting traction on a single thing

From Splintered to Cohesive

As my client realized, it doesn’t help to speed up when you’re going in the wrong direction. It doesn’t help to do more, when what you’re doing isn’t working. On the other hand, as an ancient Zen proverb states, “If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”

A few tips that address misdirected energy that is dimming your true light:

1. Slow down! By slowing down you can access your authentic power, know where you want to focus your energy and set your course. Slowing down to ensure you’re going in the right direction might include being in action less and being in contemplation and planning more. It might include getting help from a coach to get on the right path. It ideally includes tapping into your inner wisdom for direction and guidance. These are all great slow-down-to-succeed ideas.
2. Do something wildly different. When you hit that proverbial wall, it’s a good indication that it’s time to switch from what you’re doing right now. Go opposite! If you’re frazzled, do less and focus more. If being all things to all people in your life isn’t working, focus on you instead. If being a follower isn’t producing results, be a leader. We trap ourselves in ways of being that aren’t matched to our true brilliance. At these times, breaking the chains of sameness can produce the best focus.
3. Define satisfaction. If like the Rolling Stones song proclaims, you “can’t get no satisfaction,” maybe you’re not clear about what that means to you. What is the source? Does it flow from creating something new? Does satisfaction come from completing priority projects/tasks? Is it helping others? Is it physical exertion that makes you strong and healthy? Does it emanate from a place of stillness? Does it spring from risk-taking or emerge from security? Do you experience satisfaction from divine connection?Satisfaction comes from both inner and outer sources. It comes from doing and being. Satisfaction refocusing doesn’t have to be a major event. It can be a daily, moment-to-moment practice once you know what brilliant aspects define satisfaction for you.
4. Listen to your heart. If you’re headed down one path that keeps presenting road blocks, your heart may not be in it.We often let our minds be the sole decision maker of our activities. Ask your heart what it really wants. By stepping out of the splintered energy you can refresh and regain your heart center. By shifting out of what feels all wrong you can stumble onto what’s exactly right.
5. Take a break from your regular day. Give yourself permission to be inventive and creative.Play. It’s easy to get stuck in habitual living. We get so wrapped up in what we believe needs to get done that we miss our real lives waiting to emerge. Schedule play time if you have to. Give creative possibility the time and focus it deserves. By not being so serious all the time, you can actually improve your effectiveness through spontaneous inspiration born of your brilliance.

Here’s a link to a beautiful meditation from energy worker Gabriele Neumann that will focus your energy for 20 minutes.

Focus and Your Creative Power

The opposite of putting up a wall to brilliance is a splintered focus that arises from creativity on steroids. Are you someone who has countless ideas and many projects going, but are only getting middling results?

Informed creative power brings about the best outcomes. For instance, business consultants create programs and then let the clients implement them. The best consultants know that the implementation process would take them out of their creative power. Innovators, artists, and can-do pioneers often find enthusiastic supporters of, and focused environments for, their genius. That might be a creative educational institution, an innovative think tank around a particular subject/social concern, or a progressive company with high regard for creative minds. Team and collaborative arrangements also provide focus for creativity. Being aware of how and where your genius is “received” and where it is not finding resonance is key to effective focus for your energies.

Knowing at what points your creativity is its most effective is important to not blocking your brilliance from really shining.

As someone who could happily create all day long, I’ve learned that not every idea needs to get all my energy. I once created an entire face and body product line from the wisp of an idea that I’d like to know what ingredients went on my face. If I had been passionate about cosmetics this might have been a fabulous focus for my energy. What I learned was that I can create anything (as can you), but that doesn’t mean I need to or should. Now, I focus on directing my creative flow so that it’s in line with my life purpose and my desire to help others make their dreams come true.

Know what is right for you. When does your creative energy feels powerful, magical even, and at what point does it feel chaotic or draining?

I recently met the a woman who wakes up nearly every morning with a new idea about something new to create. She makes no excuses for the excitement she derives from responding to her creative impulses. She embraces her creative sparks, no matter where they lead her. That’s the juice of her life. Someone else might find that overwhelming. Tune in to you and your “just right” focus.

BRILLIANCE FOCUS: Connection-based Solutions

Healing a splintered focus brings your brilliance back into tune. Instead of having different factions singing different songs, you get your efforts back into a harmonious whole.

Part One: How You Are Misdirected?

Do some exploratory contemplation in your journal. Review your situation honestly and with gentleness.

1. Are you misdirecting your energy because you’re afraid to risk trying something more authentic and fulfilling?
2. Is your attention getting divided by investigating all the things you COULD or think you SHOULD be doing?
3. Do you try to do everything yourself and end up feeling isolated from the rest of the world, not to mention separate from the results you desire?
4. Have you gotten caught up in the minutia of life: all the tasks and to-dos instead of being engaged in what’s important and will make a difference?

You’re here to expand your individual genius. Pick the activities or processes that interest you and that augment your strengths. Evaluate the results you get. Eliminate or delegate what’s not clearly stepping you closer to your dreams.

First, identify your brilliance centers. These centers of focus significantly contribute to your experience of a FULL life. Your centers of brilliance are portals of intelligence, of emotional growth and expansion, of spiritual and intuitive development, and of your physical experiences of nature, wellbeing and excellence. Brilliance centers are where your light shines the brightest and where you feel connection to your life purpose.

In your journal, intuitively identify where your light shines brightest. First, is it an area of mental brilliance that involves philosophy or problem solving or teaching? Perhaps how you process emotions effectively and respond to life is a real strength. Maybe you nurture people through psychology or you care for animals. Is your greatest asset in the way you engage your physical self with the world? Are you a physical risk taker or someone who is fascinated with the way the body works? Are your primary explorations around spirituality or being service focused on the wellbeing of others?

Perhaps you uniquely combine more than one strength to bring something remarkable to the world. Try to get clear about this. Are you a writer and a comedian? Are you an artist and a mystic? Are you an athlete and a political activist? Are you leader and an effective collaborator? Are you a healer and a new world change-maker? The possibilities are endless. Think about who you admire and how those qualities show up in you.

B. Energy-focus through THEMES. By creating themes around your brilliance areas, you can easily schedule these into your life. Ways to do this might include:

• Create themed months that highlight priorities — month for creativity, month of giving, month for innovation, month of health, etc. I’m not suggesting 12 different themes. You could rotate 3 important themes for one year, and then decide which themes to focus on for the following year. As your life changes, you can adapt the themes based on your current values.
• Create weekly focuses — Day for learning, day for writing, day for sales, day for relationship building, etc.
• Create daily focuses — Hour for spirituality, hour for planning, hour for marketing, hour for social networking, etc. The most important factor is a commitment to staying focused.

Part Two: Practice asking and receiving

We live at a time when we’re more connected than ever through technology. And yet many of us have a hard time asking for what we need from others. We are loners and isolationists when it comes to getting it done. And, when others offer assistance, we are uncomfortable receiving the gifts. Yet, amazing manifestation can occur from being clear about a specific desire or need and then asking someone who might actually be able to help.

• This week identify a need and ask at least two people who can help you. Of course, they have the option of helping or not. Yet, speaking a need always gets you closer to fulfillment of the need. Asking presents a “gift” opportunity to another person. It’s a way of establishing greater connection and a supportive community.
• Receive graciously. Many of us don’t know how to do this. Express your gratitude. Thank you cards are great. Think about providing a testimonial if appropriate or refer the gift-giver to others. Offer to reciprocate. For instance, a friend pulled together a group of women to put on a big charity event. After a successful event she offered each a session of her hypnotherapy expertise. They then provided testimonials about that. And, the giving and receiving continues.

In the coming years, heart-based collaboration and cooperation will get you further than a mindset of competition. Set the intention to notice all the ways that collaboration works in nature. Set an intention to be more collaborative in your work and life.

Recap: In this section you learned how important focus is to desired outcomes. To create more focus you identified your brilliance centers — those key elements that contribute to Full Life for you. This beautifully layers your understanding of your Full-You self. Practice asking and receiving this week and in the next part you’ll be in a wonderful space to clarify your dreams.

Vision UP! and Create Your Dream House: Dream Planning with Flair

You are magnificent! You are a natural dreamer! And your life is the reflection of the dreams you hold in your mind, feel in your heart and manifest through soul connection.

Dreams are the stuff of imagination. Dreams get to the root of your purpose for being here. Dreams express your unique brilliance. The question is do you still know how to dream? Dreams should resonate with you deeply. They should lead to inspired action. In this session you will be tapping into your natural dreamer self and Visioning UP!

Enjoy this clarifying and fun session. You can pause this video between steps, or view it all the way through and go back to instructions as you need. Take as much time as you need to get really inspired and lit up by your dreams!

Below is an example of a house blueprint. Create your own idea of a house blueprint to work with. You simply need to keep in mind that for this home you will be working in the SEEN and with that which is UNSEEN, like a basement or foundational structure.

Click the play button to watch the video

Dream House Construction

Often we don’t get what we want because we’re not clear, mentally and/or emotionally, about what we truly want. This Dream House or Dream Home process reinforces the idea that you are the master architect of your life. Your are the creator of your daily experience. This is your chance to get really clear about your present dreams and goals or what you can think of as vision points.

First, write your main goals in the various rooms of the house that you designate. You can see here that I even left space for magic (that I can’t imagine) to enter. Write any beliefs that are not in alignment with the realization of those dreams in the basement or foundational part of the Home Blueprint. This will help you see how you work against your own highest vision through emotional vibration not in keeping with your vision (that may be part of the past or a current worry). Likewise, write the belief or personal truth that supports each goal or vision point.

Tips for expressing dreams powerfully:

• Choose and word your stated dreams so that they are in alignment with your individual idea of success
• Dreams should inspire “how you want to feel”. In the end, we desire an emotional state not things. So focus on the feeling state, then focus on inspired processes that help to make you feel that way (rather than expecting the end goal to make you feel this way).
• Once you write a dream down, envision it. Get a picture in your mind. Note what that feels like. If the envisioning brings about any additional insights, make adjustments to your dream statement.

Vision UP! Process

One intention for this course is for you to be a brilliant dreamer. Dreaming BIGGER is by itself not necessarily better. There can be great satisfaction to be experienced in the realization of smaller dreams, too.

That said, dreams should take you a little bit out of your comfort zone. You should be aware of expanding beyond your habitual expectations about what you can achieve. It can be scary to dream big, especially if you don’t have much experience fulfilling big dreams.

We tend to create dreams that are really closer to glorified goals. We try adding a little shine to our goals and tasks and dress them up as dreams. Then we wonder why we’re not so enthusiastic about our dreams!

I encourage you to Vision UP! because when you force yourself to really think about what you want, you may realize that: 1)you’ve been keeping a lid or a ceiling on your dreams, or 2)you’re less than clear about what you really hope to attain or accomplish and why.

Vision UP! if a dream feels too small. Take it up a notch. Get more clarity. Explore new possibilities. Refresh your view of your dreams. See how they fit into your vision of a quality life and how they align to your life purpose.

I had a client who wanted to list “beautifying her home” as a dream. In her case, this is a glorified goal. When she examined what she really wanted, she realized that she wants to sell the house in a couple of years for enough money to allow her to get her real dream home. Beautifying her home then made perfect sense as a supporting goal for this bigger dream.

Visioning UP! Another Example:
Let’s look at book writing Lots of people want to get a book published. So the first version of this dream might be stated as: “Have my book accepted by the best publisher for my topic.”

After getting clearer and identifying the more inspired vision, the dream is restated actively as: “I am a Best-Selling Author!” or “My book is being translated into another language to reach a wider audience.”

Having the book accepted by the perfect publisher becomes the goal under that dream.

Assign one or two action steps to each dream. In this case, the first task might be: finish book proposal. There will be many more steps for each dream but writing one or two down affirms your clear intention to act on your dream. Action steps take the dream out of fantasy land and ground it in reality. It’s also nice to have action steps that relate both to developing your inner resources and to the outer world stage. An inward step for the Author Dream might be: visualize book on best-seller list for one minute each day.

Go through this dream clarity and Vision UP! process for each room of your dream house.

Dream Priority and Timing

Think about the timing of your dreams: which are more immediate, which ones are longer range? It’s always good to have an idea of when you want to start working toward any particular dream. I’ve left space on your worksheet to list a proposed time or time frame. Depending on how big each dream is, the timing could be weeks apart or many months apart. Some dreams will overlap. Some will need to follow a particular order. This helps you to focus your energies. Working toward seven dreams all at once is too much. Pick one or two to start working toward immediately such as: 1)Having optimal health, and 2)Creating transformational workshop.

Wish and FULL-You Adjectives

Add the wish you created for yourself in Part 2 of this course on the roof of the house. This wish is a wonderful guiding inspiration. Use it to consider how each dream aligns with your wish.

Now refer back to some of the adjectives that you used to define The FULL You in the Part 2 visual exercise and add them to the roof under the wish.

The adjectives are a helpful feedback tool. For instance, if you had stated that you want to be full of creativity, how does creativity show up in your dreams? Have you included one dream all about creativity? Perhaps this will remind you to use your creative strengths as you realize each of your dreams.

Key to your dreams

Ask yourself: Is there a key to successfully achieving your dreams? Take note of any thoughts that emerge immediately.

The definitive answer may not come to you right away. You can ask yourself this question before you go to bed and see if your sleeping dreams have anything to show you. Ask it before meditation. Present the question to yourself without needing to know right away.

An inspired insight will eventually come to you. When it does note it on your house. As you see here, I’ve inserted “Act on Spontaneous Inspirations.” I know that will be a key to my business and personal evolution.

Dream House Completed

As the master architect, how do you feel as you look at your dream house? Are you satisfied and excited? Does it feel sturdy? Is it a thing of beauty? Do you get the impression it will be easy to build step-by-step? How long will it take to complete your dream house?

If you’re feeling inspired, create a collage that represents the central elements of your dream house.

Recap: You have practiced Visioning UP! and clarifying your current dreams. Throughout the week post your Dream House Blueprint and Collage where you can see it to inspire you to live the life of your dreams each day. In the next part you will put beliefs in place to create a stable foundation for your dreams.

You are Brilliant. Believe It! Applause….Applause!!

“Creating a Supporting Beliefs Foundation

View the video portion of this session and then proceed with supporting materials.

Click the play button to watch the video

You are brilliant!

I believe that each of us has within us right now all the tools, answers, courage and love we need to solve our challenges and to live the life we imagine.

I also recognize that this doesn’t always feel true. So this session is designed so you can clarify what beliefs exist within you right now to support your dreams.

This session empowers you to look at beliefs that may be limiting you from fulfilling your dreams. This a critical part of dream realization. When you look at what’s limiting you, you can use your awareness to shift what was in darkness into the light of your true brilliance. Remember, you are light, your life is a vehicle for that light. Life is learning. So imagine that you are going on a trip to revisit your belief classrooms to see what you learned in them.

Albert Einstein said, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” Our beliefs get fully integrated very early in our lives. Often they get so integrated that we forget many of the beliefs weren’t ours to begin with.

A note about belief work: It would be exhausting and impossible to unearth all of your beliefs at once. That’s why working with beliefs that may be impacting your current life and dreams is an ideal place to focus. This allows you to become aware in the present of what’s emotionally in place. As you live more consciously, you’ll notice life situations that bring up a particular belief/disbelief. And, that is the best time to work with what has come up to consciousness to deal with. The tip off is when you find yourself reacting in a negative way that’s very familiar to you. That’s the time to trace the lineage of the belief that is causing the reaction.

School of Beliefs

You might have picked up more beliefs in one of life’s classrooms more than another. Belief classrooms include:

• Childhood experiences (and trauma)
• Life’s defining moments
• Your Mother’s behavior and messages
• You Father’s behavior and messages
• Rules and perspectives of authority figure (teachers, doctors, religious or political figures)
• Social conditioning
• Romantic relationships
• Peer opinion
• Educational teachings
• Influential mentors and leaders

It’s rather remarkable how many beliefs are in operation. Some of which you’re aware of and some which you’re not.

You have beliefs around money, good and bad, right and wrong, your health, your mental potential, how the world works, your place in the world, your strengths and weaknesses, what you inherited from your ancestors in terms of genes and behavior, how you’re supposed to behave in relationships, who deserves respect and who doesn’t, favorable careers and undesirable jobs, what’s important and what’s trivial, what you can and can’t do. The list is endless. It’s a good bet that the beliefs still exciting emotional reactions in you today, you probably heard over and over.

What you notice matters! When you start to examine your belief system, you may notice beliefs that are running on autopilot, as well as beliefs you don’t even think to question anymore. Now’s the time.

Hopefully, you’ll discover beliefs that aren’t really yours that you’d like to release. Won’t that be a relief! It will also make you more conscious of beliefs that you’d like to adopt.

Your Brain and Beliefs

Your brain will let you reinforce a false belief just as easily as it will let you reinforce a positive belief. As brain science expert Norman Doidge, M.D. writes in The Brain That Changes Itself,“The mental ‘tracks’ that get laid down can lead to habits, good or bad. If we develop bad posture, it becomes hard to correct.” Likewise, if we develop erroneous beliefs and keep reinforcing them, they get lodged in our psyche. So reviewing and challenging your own beliefs ensures that your carry around and manifest from the beliefs you consciously endorse. Knowing what you are dealing with always opens you up to more options and opportunities. Empowered conscious choice is liberating.

As Above So Below

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. In the previous part of this course your created the upper portion of your dream house. Now it’s important that the foundation lower levels harmonize with these dreams. When your beliefs are positive mirrors for your dreams, then manifestation becomes much easier. You’re not working against yourself.

Materials for your belief review

• sheet of paper
• pen or pencil
• Dream House Blueprint with completed dream section
• BELIEF WORKSHEET. CLICK THIS LINK TO ACCESS IT NOW.. A new window will open with the PDF form. Hit print in the upper left corner and then close the window.

Step One

Look at each of your dreams. Ask yourself if you have a belief that supports it. If you do, list it. This is a great way to acknowledge and feel gratitude for what exists to support you.

If nothing comes to mind immediately, ask some questions:

1. What thoughts rise up when I think about this dream? Then calmly listen to what thoughts arise for at least one minute. Do you get affirmative thoughts or does a particular conflicting idea arise?
2. Do I think I’m the right person to fulfill this dream? Why?
3. Do I believe the Universe supports me in this dream? Again pay attention to and note thoughts that arise, rather than trying to answer this from logical thinking.
4. Do I know of positive experiences related to this dream? What did I learn from them? Remembering positive experiences can enable you to tap into the positive “tone” of the experiences to affirm the likelihood of you succeeding again. Remember, it’s emotion connected to thought that manifests.
5. Do I recall anyone else voicing an opinion about areas or topics related to this dream? What was said?
   Thoughts that conflict with your dreams are a good indicator of a belief that needs to be addressed.

Belief Review Example

Let’s look at the “I am a best-selling author” dream as an example. If I search my belief system for a supporting belief I realize that I learned very specific things from my parents about making money from one’s creativity. From my mother I was influenced by her belief that creativity is very useful to help you save money, not make money. From my father I heard that you don’t get to live your big dreams, especially if they are centered around your core talent.

Evaluating these influencing beliefs — that I’m sure I’ve assimilated — I consciously plant the seeds for a new belief around creativity. This new belief is: “My creative wealth attracts abundance.” This is a clear example that knowing what beliefs are present, enables you to transcend them.

Here’s another example. Perhaps the dream is: “I Achieve and Maintain Optimal Health for a Long Life.” A belief review turns up conflicting beliefs. First, your parents died at relatively young ages. This created a belief based on life experience. Secondly, all your doctors believe that your genes dictate your health. Knowing this you set the intention to establish the belief: “Genes are not destiny. Daily healthy thoughts and acts determine my health.” And, it would be healthy to get a doctor who is supportive of your new belief and your willingness to be proactive about your health.

Go through this process for each of your dreams.

Decide where and how you can start shifting from a self-defeating or limited perspective to one that’s more empowered.

Every room in your dream house should project amazing dream visions!

When you are satisfied you have identified a strong supporting belief or have created an inspiring new supporting belief for each dream write them in the lower section of your dream house blue print.

This is a big deal. You have just proven that you are committed to your dreams and their success.

Celebrate the completion of your Dream House and Belief Foundation in some special way!

Your Brilliance Flow

Enjoy the final video to your course before proceeding to the additional content and exercises.

Click the play button to watch the video

You Got the Brilliance in You

Being brilliant is your natural state of being. The progressive exercises in this course helped you experience your whole brilliance more fully. Thus far you’ve had the opportunity to:

• Identify what holds you back and dims your brilliance
• Picture a FULL magnificent you
• Turn down the volume on less-than and not-enough thinking
• Transform your relationship to change and the unknown
• Shift your perspective about what you can know
• Define your personal idea of brilliant success
• Appreciate that failure doesn’t really exist; it’s contrast learning
• Focus your brilliance
• Revisit your dreams and prioritize them
• Create a brilliant belief foundation for your dreams

What is real balance?

Your brilliance is always within you. It can never disappear. This session is about bringing balance to the many facets of your BEING.

Often balance is thought of, and discussed as, giving more equitable amounts of time and energy to the various aspects of your life. For instance, this kind of balance is a huge struggle for a woman with children and older parents who demand the majority of her time and attention. For others, balance can feel like a kind of tug-of-war with one crises or one priority struggling to override another priority or need. The loudest, most urgent tasks and responsibilities always get attended to first. Achieving physical activity balance can be a struggle for busy professionals who are all work and no play. Balance is an issue for anyone wanting to eat right, get exercise, maintain healthy relationships and incorporate spiritual life practices along with their normal day.

The reason so many of the solutions for bringing balance to life ultimately fail, is that the primary focus is outside of you — on you changing your activities and priorities. Trying to “balance” life becomes about reshuffling outward action in hopes of feeling more fulfilled and calm inwardly.

I’d like to suggest seeing it the other way around. Balance your inner life, your energy first! Move from intuitive fluidity into logic, move from imaginative expansion into choice-based planning, move from energetic possibility to physical action. This naturally brings a greater sense of balance to your life, regardless of what you’re juggling. This naturally inspires beneficial shifts in how you approach your outer actions as well as positively influences the decisions and choices you make.

Balance Continuums

To get into balance consider two types of balance.

First, there is the Opposites Spectrum in which primary polar opposites lie at either end of a spectrum. We live in a universe of duality so it’s natural that we have both light and dark, wet and dry, and so forth. It’s generally thought that you can’t have one without the other. What you don’t want is to stay stuck in only one point (viewpoint, perspective, reality) on the spectrum. It’s healthier to realize that you are a being of change and flow, flexibility and wholeness. You are all things. Within you lies the entire universe.

So for this exercise, think of one end of the spectrum as being a RESPONSIVE state of being. At the other end is a REACTIVE state of being. One end points to consciousness, the other end points to less awakened, more ego-directed experience. This gives you an easy way to visualize where you are on the spectrum and to consider where you want to be. The important thing is to know that with clear intention you can choose where you are on the spectrum, or you bring a practice into your life that helps you to attain the balance you desire. This is not about achieving some ideal of “perfect” balance. By accepting that you are all things and have access to all states of being, you can integrate every point along this spectrum more gracefully. You’re not denying anything, rather you’re accepting everything! It’s about appreciating your wholeness and not getting stuck in a limited way of being and expressing yourself.

You can also create your own opposite spectrum based on what you are experiencing or being challenged by right now. Use these as examples.

The balance spectrum for Patience might look like this.

|————————–|——————–|————–|—————–|————|——————|
quick anger triggered emotion frustration annoyance   curiosity  patience       calm

Examples of whole-self facets that are opposite:

• anger and peace
• confusion and clarity
• depression and joy
• witnessing and judging
• bewildered and focused
• declining and flourishing
• rigid and flexible
• deceitful and honest
• cowardly and courageous
• deflated and excited
• awkward and graceful
• self-denying and hedonistic
• self-love and self-hate

Secondly, this is a Complements Continuum. Rather than being polar opposite, the aspects are complementary to each other. It’s ideal to have and balance both aspects. Both ends of the spectrum have desirable aspects that are empowered by bringing in aspects along the entire continuum. When you move too far toward one or the other end, you may lose that sense of flow that is so integral to being brilliant. That’s when you’re “not fully yourself.”

This isn’t about needing to be right in the center of the spectrum. It’s about being where YOU most shine. For instance on a spectrum for Intellect and Intuition, some people are more naturally mental, more gifted in this area. So they might be closer to the highly mental side of the spectrum. A “feeler,” such as someone gifted with great capacity for compassion, will naturally be closer to the intuitive end. Yet, both the mentalists and the psychics are empowered by checking in with emotions and with physical sensations. Both ends benefit by stepping more into the other end of the spectrum now and again to open to new perspective and possibility.

The range for the Intellect-Intuition Continuum might be:

|——————————————————-|——————————————————|
highly mental (in one’s head)      checks in with emotions/body         highly intuitive

As with the Opposites Spectrum, this provides a simple linear snapshot that helps you to make quick adjustments and choices to stay in balance.

Examples of whole-self facets that are complementary:

• intellect and intuition
• structure and spontaneity
• control and trust
• masculine and feminine
• humor and seriousness
• physicality and spirituality
• creativity and logic
• fascination and dispassion
• drive and peace
• silence and sounding
• dreaming and doing
• complexity and simplicity
• exploration and contentment
• discipline and relaxation

Balance is an inside job
As you’ve experienced, certain balance issues take center stage at different times in your life. You may be in a relationship that creates a struggle to balance your sense of trust and your need to control. Your distinct personality probably brings about a struggle to balance two particular sides of you — like judgment and acceptance or security and fulfillment — on a regular basis. Once you see this balance as an inside job you can stop fighting to make outside factors come into line, and make a choice about where you want to be, emotionally or from a spiritual perspective, on that particular spectrum. We all evolve; it’s our nature. You get to choose how you experience that evolution.

Attitude and Outlook

This kind of balance is more about attitude than action. It’s about shifting your outlook to shift back into balance. You know when you’re out of balance. You’re all seriousness and no fun. You’ve turned into a control freak and lost touch with a sense of trust that everything unfolds perfectly. How often do you find yourself all in your head and disconnected from your inner wisdom? The fascinated person can become the fanatic.

I know a man who was an avid law of attraction fan. He wanted to know everything about it. He immersed himself in it. He was a huge proponent of it. Now he’s swung dramatically in a new direction with equal ferocity. He believes that focusing on one’s self and wanting to attract abundance is the work of the devil. His outlook on his ability to create the life he wanted might have unfolded to look something like this: Certainty: “I have no doubt I create my reality” —> Doubts: “why isn’t this working?”—> Ego Backlash: “I’ve been fooled”—> “The devil has more control than I do”

While this kind of extreme processing through a central theme makes for dramatic swings in one’s life, the soul purpose of experiencing the entire theme spectrum may actually be guiding this life process. I have a friend who swears that her ex-husband was on Earth to learn everything about greed. It’s the rich man who becomes bankrupt. We see similar dynamics in the addict who becomes the health counselor, or in the move star who becomes physically handicapped. To the observer this kind of life drama looks radical and undesirable. Yet, who’s to say it’s not merely an ambitious soul going for the gusto?

For a life that feels more balanced, the most important thing is to be conscious of your life and how you show up in your possibility. Notice when you are listening more to your Ego than to your Essence. Then choose to consciously shift back into higher frequency thinking — go to thoughts that easily put a smile on your face (love of your dog or cat/love of a special place in the world).

The expansiveness of flow
When you’re in relative balance you feel more expansive. You’re not locked into any one way of Being. You’re more adaptable and resilient. You’re less attached to particular stances. You appreciate that others also struggle with finding balance and don’t have your awareness level yet and that it’s okay — we’re all on a learning path. Your life has a greater sense of flow. It’s the difference between fighting the flow of life and feelings, and letting yourself go with the flow knowing that each moment changes into something brilliantly new. When you’re in brilliant balance, you are acting more from love and less from fear.

Take a few minutes to review your balance:

1. What primary opposites are obvious in your life right now?
2. Do you feel in balance? What does that feel like?
3. Have you spent too much time occupying one end of particular spectrum? Why?
4. Would it enrich your life to explore new aspects of your self? How might you go about that?

Your Brilliant Presence

You choose how to be present in your life. It’s your responsibility. You choose to be a full radiant presence or a dimmer reflection of your brilliance. As I was so wonderfully reminded this morning by “A Note From The Universe,” aka Mike Dooley, “The more responsible one becomes, the farther their wings reach.” Hopefully you come to the end of this course feeling more open of heart and mentally expanded, more spiritually alive and inspired to flight!

Observing, discovering, intuiting, choosing, and envisioning are acts of LIGHT. From these acts of light spring luminous facets of insight, understanding, empowerment, trust, grace, and freedom!

My wish right now is that you are feeling jubilant about being at HOME in your True Self and eager to shine your brilliance through the vehicle of your dreams. Working with blocks and beliefs is courageous and fascinating work. I hope you found it so.

Continue to attend to your dreams with love, light and levity. Continue to build bridges and create new paths between your inner and outer worlds.

Thank you for engaging in this process. For yourself, for others and for the world.

Copyright 2011-17 Melissa Wadsworth, www.collectivemanifestation.com