In the late 1980s, I did a lot of work in the education field helping teachers and administrators bring self-esteem training to the classroom. If students felt more confident about their abilities, we discovered, they stretched more as students – which improved the learning process by making them less afraid of failure. One byproduct of building confidence and self-esteem is that you tend to be less shy about speaking up, offering your ideas, and showing the world your best self.

Being rejected is an inevitable part of life. When we don’t understand the rejection from the eyes of higher intelligence, it is easy to create a very painful emotional experience along with a lot of unnecessary suffering.

For example, the fear of rejection can hold people back from marketing their business or taking initiative with a love interest. It is important to realize that the fear is based on self-judgment and the projection of insecurities. 

Back down memory lane. There are times you have to go back before you can go forward.

Childhood memories.

Jubilation, awkward times and growing pains; some memories fill your heart with warm contentment and others you’d rather forget.

A foundational period that molds and shapes your thoughts, behavior and contributes to who you become.

You are on the receiving end of your caregiver’s conditioning, thoughts and idiosyncrasies. Implanted in your impressionable mind are inherited beliefs and responses that can become both beneficial and detrimental throughout your life.        

Time passes, you get older, and you capitalize on opportunities to shape and form the person you want to be.

Ultimately being a powerful communicator is simple but not always easy…….

Say what you really mean.

Ask for what you honestly want.


Take responsibility for how you feel.

Speak with love and kindness.

Your ability to communicate powerfully will determine the quality of your life.

Communication is the foundation for a fulfilling life.

Everybody's world and life experiences are colored a little bit differently. This is because we view others and our surroundings through our own unique perceptual filters. Though we all live physically on the same planet, our life experiences vary from person to person.

You’ve finally built up the courage to make a change. You felt it was time for a shift and you’ve taken the first step; the hardest part. The wheels of life have been set in motion. Now comes the next challenge – being patient and giving yourself time.

“Summer is a great time to rethink how we are working, how we are learning, how we are consuming our food, our energy, and our time. It’s a great time to rethink our lives and how we are living.”

Last week our granddaughter graduated from Oregon State University. Linda and I were thrilled. The guest speaker surprised everyone. Instead of the usual encouragement to climb mountains and follow dreams, he suggested that the graduates be kind. “As you grow older,” said this wise and accomplished Turkish businessman who also has founded a four-year university in Turkey, “you will find that your most fulfilling moments will be times of giving or receiving kindness.” I agree. Dreams, aspirations, and successful ventures are not difficult to accomplish compared with developing kindness toward others and toward yourself. When you are encapsulated in a frightened part of your personality – such as anger, jealousy, despair, superiority and entitlement, inferiority and need to please – how can you experience kindness for others or for yourself? How can you experience kindness when a frightened part of your personality wants to kill someone or kill itself?

I remember the first time I heard this statement 30 years ago, and, (as a newly minted magical thinking new ager) I took it to mean that I would “easily and effortlessly” manifest what I want. After all, if I desire something should I not be able to manifest it?

One of the most painful experiences is the feeling of being betrayed, especially by someone you love and trusted.

When your romantic partner cheats on you with someone else.

When you are being taken advantage of or treated unfairly.

When certain agreements you made with another gets changed without discussion.

Before you watch the video below I just want to remind you … You are deserving and worthy … simply because you are here in physical form. It’s time to own your power and allow yourself to be recognized, by YOU, for the amazing being that you are …

I was thinking this morning about surrender as I perused Faceplant looking for cute baby animal videos ( one of my friends sent me one since Sebastian’s ashes came home yesterday and I wanted to escape by finding more).

Instead I landed on a page that had one but also an argument between two new agey- people having a conversation about ambition and the nature of surrender. One was pushing hard on the other to not give up and “cop out” suggesting (so so nicely) the failure of the other’s ambition to make things a certain way. She was a coach by the way.. “Push harder” she said!

There often comes a moment when the life you are living is too small for who you are seeking to become.

You have simply outgrown your circumstance, whether it’s your job, relationship, or simply who you have been up until now.

This moment is very powerful, but it can also be scary as it requires that you let go of who you have been and trust what is seeking to happen.

What you have to say matters.

Your voice makes a difference.

There never was and there will never be another human being like you on this planet.

Many, many years ago, many incarnations back when I was a professor at Harvard, I used to run a course called “Career Decision Making.” It was interesting, because the students at Harvard all had these models of doctor, lawyer, business, graduate school of business, or something like that. We’d start the course by having people fill out a questionnaire and talk about what turned them on the most. It would be interesting that somebody would say, “Well, what I really like is being out in the woods by myself for long periods of time.” Then they would think about their career and they’d think, “Well, now should I be a doctor or a lawyer?”

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I trying to live my greatest life or am I living my greatest life?
2. Am I trying to change my life or am I changing my life?
3. Which word do I use more… I’ll try  or I will… do?
4. What is it I really really want… and will I get it by trying or by doing?

We all go through those moments when we feel like giving up.