Business Bliss
June 9, 2010 by Coach Margie
Filed under Business bliss, Self Development, bliss, self empowerment
I’m so excited! I’ve been asked to be the keynote presenter for a local Woman In Business Conference. It’s being called “Living Your Business Bliss”. Now, is that just the perfect place for me or what?
This all day affair will include vendors, networking, mini workshops (I like to call them play-shops!) and is being offered by the local Small Business development Center, out of Cochise College, and is available through a WIRED grant. All Cochise County womyn in business are invited, and, here is the totally cool part, it’s absolutely free! What an amazing opportunity for womyn!!
My keynote presentation is titled “Getting Your Bliss-ology On!” and I am going to be busting through some mythology on work happiness, getting wild with joyful activities, and inducing (hopefully) a state of bliss for the participants.
Not only do I have the honor of being the keynote, but I will also be presenting a play-shop. I’m going to be one busy girl that day! But that’s OK, because I love this stuff. Ya know, being in front of people, helping them turn on their bliss-ology, facilitating happiness thru new awarenesses and understandings, and getting people moving on all levels. This is when I get to be in my bliss. Not that I don’t love the rest of my work, and I truly love working with groups as a bliss facilitator!
My play shop will be “Self Care, Sustainability, and Satisfaction-the 3 legged Stool to Business Bliss”. I know, not a very sexy title, and it’s still going to be a lot of fun. This won’t be a typical talking head, power-point presentation, oh no! It will be interactive, engaging, and will get people out of their seats, out of their minds, and exploring all kinds of great things. After the conference, I’ll probably make this into a tele-class, so keep your heads up on that one!
If you are local to Cochise County, I highly encourage your participation in this event. Not just because I will be there, because it really is a fabulous event, with fabulous resources, and fabulous business womyn. What do you have to lose?
For more information visit us on Facebook
Go here to register
How to Find Bliss While Tackling the To-Do List
October 1, 2009 by Coach Margie
Filed under Health & Wellness, Self Development, Whole Health, personal growth, self empowerment, sustainable energy
(Part 1 of a 2 part series)
Here is my basic premise: There are always things to get done. We orient our lives around a perpetual to-do list. Everything from paying the bills, feeding the kids, building our business, mowing the lawn, getting exercise, socializing, defining our purpose, attending our relationships, and everything in between. Our To-Do lists can provide structure and order, or they can provide us with a never ending sense of guilt about what we are not doing and accomplishing. We create lists to stay on track, to not forget, to stay connected to our vision, and to define priorities.
But what happens when our lists become a mile long and we really aren’t getting anything on them done?What is the message here? Why are we able to do some things, and not others? Are the items on it really that important? Are they not in alignment with our values so we ignore them , hoping they will go away? Is there no juice, passion, or motivation in the tasks? Are they there out of some sense of obligation, should, or have to?? Or is there some other element at play here?
A bit ago I did some of my own personal exploration around my pattern of doing things and attention to my own To-Do list. Working with the above basic premise, my inquiry led me to a methodology that I have adopted and is working really well for me. As you read I ask you to consider these ideas for yourself, to give them a try, and then to get back to me with some feedback. How did it work for you? What am I missing? What did you notice about yourself as you integrated these ideas and changed your relationship with your To-Do list? My hope is to develop this into a workable program that will support individuals and groups move into a more enjoyable experience with the tasks of their lives, to find a way to make it a fun game worth playing, and from that place to get dynamic results where everything gets done with lots of time left over for the really important things in their lives.
The secondary premise, after there is always things to get done, is that all of these things require various degrees of our cognitive, creative, intellectual, physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual, skills and attention. For instance, mowing the lawn requires our physical ability, but not so much of our creative or mental skill. Building our business might engage our creative and emotional skills, as well as our intellect, with each element being required in various degrees depending on the task at hand. When we recognize this and allow ourselves to do the tasks that best feed the skill center we seem to be in at the moment, I am discovering, we can get more done, and our sense of passion and joy increases as well.
Here are the problems-being scattered, getting distracted easily, lack of focus, lack of completion, being stuck or bogged down, no energy, brain fog-any of these sounding familiar? Actually, these are not problems! They are signs that you are not utilizing the appropriate skill set!! It’s an opportunity to check in with yourself and see what you need. Working on a creative project and feeling stuck? Maybe it is time to stop, get up and go get your exercise for the day. Allow the creative energy to be moved, so that it can come forth. Guaranteed, when you go back to your project, you will have new ideas and the creativity will be flowing again.And, you will have gotten your exercise.
Because there are so many things to do, if we stop trying to force ourselves to get one thing done when it’s not working, and instead let it go and attend to something else that is more in alignment with what our body, soul, and spirit is calling for in that moment, eventually, we will get everything done. We work in a more cyclic, creative flow, rather than a dogmatic, linear way. Sounds way more fun and bliss inducing to me.
Stay tuned for more ideas on my new Getting Things Done methodology, including tips on how to integrate these ideas, and the benefits of making the switch. In the meantime, try this idea on for size, and tell me what you think.
The Key To Sustainability-Common Interest
July 21, 2009 by Coach Margie
Filed under Health & Wellness, nature, personal growth, relationships, sustainability
Sustainability. What does it mean? What does it look like? More than just a buzzword, sustainability can be a way of life, a moral obligation, a lifestyle, and even a spiritual practice. Often sustainability is thought of in terms of the environment and what we can be doing to reduce our human impact of it.
But, what does it mean in terms of our personal lives, and within the realm of relationships? How does one practice or integrate sustainability, both from an environmental perspective as well as from a more personal one, into their life?
These questions, and more, were the topic of a recent Cafe Conversation that I host every month. These engaging and provocative Cafe’s provide members of the community the opportunity to come together and share conversations about the deeper, more meaningful topics often not covered in social situations. I have to tell you that this topic was one of the most interesting and energetic ones we have had in our 3 yrs running! This tells me that it is an important one, and one that lots of us need to be having often.
We are in interesting times. The inevitability of Peak Oil looms before us. Global Climate Change is undeniable. The current economic situation has everyone looking at ways to simplify, reduce, save, recycle and whatever else can be done to stretch the dollar just a little bit more. If we are to transition into these times with any semblance of grace, it is absolutely imperative that we have these conversations. We should have been having them years ago, and some of us were. Now it is no longer a luxury.
Sustainability can be defined as the capability to endure as a system to maintain diversity. This is easy to understand in terms of the environment-we need diverse eco-systems to maintain an eclectic array of plant, insect and animal life. What about the sustainability of our own personal and internal ecology?
At the Cafe we decided that individual (my) sustainability, which could also be considered well being, supports the sustainability of the whole. By putting our personal sustainability (evolution?) 1st over the relationship, the family, the community we positively effect those things in regards to their sustainability and growth. (The old put your air mask on first theory.) The connection of personal sustainability and environmental sustainability can not be ignored.
All of this is great, in and of itself. But what holds it all together? We don’t live in a vacuum, so what happens when you have 60 billion people, plus all the other species, trying to survive on this one fantastic planet? The key to true sustainability, we decided at the Cafe, whether you are talking about this whole planet, or the relationship between two people, or even with yourself, is a point of interest that is commonly shared. The point of interest feeds the commitment to sustainability. All the hard work, or all the love in the world doesn’t make a sustainable relationship. Everyone must have the desire, that common point of interest, to see it manifested, to sustain the attention and intention towards the end result of true sustainability.
To tie it all together, the final ingrediante required is a healthy dose of respect. It’s hard to maintain the desire for sustainability on our planet if you don’t respect Mother Earth. Likewise, if you don’t respect yourself, chances are you’re not going to make choices that sustain health, vitality, and other life affirming adjectives, for yourself, or the relationships you are in. This brings up the assumption that sustainability is always a positive thing. Is it possible for negative things to be sustained like ideas, beliefs and thoughts?
Of course it is. It’s probably just not very sustainable.
(Lots of gratitude to the Cafe Conversation participants for their contribution to this blogpost!)
Women In Business
May 9, 2009 by Coach Margie
Filed under Health & Wellness, Uncategorized
Yesterday I attended the Women In Business Conference, hosted by Cochise College, and sponsored by the Small Business Development Center. Titled “Growth, Gratitude and Guts”, this day long event had a dynamic array of presenters, and included a heart warming key note by Cochise College president Dr. Karen Nicodemus.
While the attendance was fairly small, the energy, friendliness and sense of shared bond was very big. Everyone was very welcoming, willing to share information, supportive and joyful.
I had a booth, and offered a raffle for 1 free month of coaching! This is a great way for me to discover people who are interested in what I have to offer, and is a screaming deal for the winner. Congratulations to Lisa Thompson!
A coaching question I often ask my clients is : what are you taking away today? (from our session, or from an experience.) This helps to summarize the experience and allows for the learning’s to integrate more readily. I ask myself this question often as well. What I came away with, from this conference, was the affirmation of: I am a womyn in business! As I observed other womyn, watched what they did, heard the thoughts they contributed, etc. I walked away with a renewed connection to my own strengths and wisdom. I was reminded that I have a valuable contribution to make and that it is needed.
Another goody that I came away with (along with a fabulous gift basket that I won!) was a reminder of some of my weaker points as a business womyn. My tendency not to have a “business plan”, and to get stuck in the elements that hold me back from positive movement. (I forget that any movement is better than no movement and allow silly, unverified fears to rule the day sometimes.) Taking a look into who we are, and really getting to know ourselves-with all the good, bad, and ugly-is required for full success, in anything we do, really. Not just business.
Soon I will be sharing about the 17 Elements I believe are integral to a life that is a Whole Health System and has complete wellness (Click on the Playing the Game tab to learn a bit more about this). For today I will share that business and career are piece of that. By attending conferences, feeding our mind, staying connected to what’s happening in our industry and evaluating ourselves we are actively designing a sustainable environment that allows us to be in the Bliss Zone. The end result is more joy, motivation and inspiration-all things that then allow us to attract all the abundance, prosperity and fulfillment needed to keep us thriving and smiling. This is a good thing!
