All my education and training has taught me to look problems “straight in the eye”. Although I resist problems less now and respect them more because of their innate ability to make me grow and expand, for the most part, I still focus on them, as I’ve been trained to do.

In the last few years, however, I’ve begun to notice something radical: when I focus on a problem I’m usually in the least likely place to solve it. Why? Because my energy is still in the problematic state. The solution exists where the energetic of the problem isn’t!

So, I’ve been experimenting with the idea of NOT focusing on problems at all. I focus instead on altering my energy and moving to a different frequency. There are a variety of ways to do this. I can focus on gratitude, or do some acupressure tapping, or, sometimes I just do a large location change, like get outside. It helps if I do something strongly physical like go for a bike ride or jump in the water, or run.
One of my most favorite ways to change my state is through meditation. When I meditate I can sometimes actually feel myself slipping out from under the problem.
I’ve also tried a behaviour modification technique where I write out a short description of the problem, then drop the paper into the trash.This has been quite effective at times.

All of these techniques work because they create relaxation and move out of the energy the problem lives in. Once I do any of them, I then try to start acting as if the problem is already solved–and usually, it’s just a matter of time until the solution arrives in the Inbox of my mind and I can download it into my awareness.

I suppose what I’m talking about here is the metaphysics of what religious people mean when they talk about handing over a problem to God. But, whatever the route, it’s very cool to go where problems aren’t.

Try it.

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Jul
01

Independence!

By Karen Hood-Caddy · Comments (0)
Today is Canada Day. A holiday. Yet I’m working. Why? One simple reason. I WANT to.

My partner and I have recently bought a small cottage (after all those years of kayak camping, it is indeed a treat to plug in a kettle and flush a toilet. Ah, the joys of plastic and porcelain!) Anyway, I’ve taken off a lot of time as we’ve settled in and today I wanted to work. So I am. And it’s feeling good. To me, that’s what being self-employed is all about. Being able to decide what to do when. It’s one of the advantages of being independent!

Because it’s Canada Day today and the US holiday on July 4th, I want to celebrate independence.  Being independent means that we are the ones in charge of our lives and that’s an awesome thing–it’s a privilege not everyone has! Yet if you’re like me, you sometimes give your power to be independent away.  Debbie Ford, a new age teacher, has written what she calls a “Vow of Emotional Independence” that I think you’ll enjoy.

Here it is:

The Vow of Emotional Independence

I, ______ ________, am committed to living free of the strangulating grip of fear, shame, doubt, worry, anger, and sadness.

I promise to give my power to the force greater than myself rather than some food, substance, bad habit, or disempowering craving.

I will stand for my highest expression rather than allowing others’ judgments to define who I am.

I will always make sure to please and take care of myself instead of succumbing to any people-pleasing habits.

I will listen to the voice of my soul rather than listening to the voice of my critical internal judge.

I will find joy in each and every day of my existence rather than get caught up in the insanity of my world.

I will take care of my planet and let my voice be heard instead of waiting for someone else to do it for me.

I choose to make choices that leave me feeling inspired by myself and will graciously let go of my self-defeating behaviors.

I take this vow NOW as a positive stand for my soul’s highest expression and set myself free.

I ask the powers that be to support me in living this vow each and every moment of each and every day.

I surrender my will for the higher will and trust I will be guided from my darkest thought to my greatest dream, from my head to my heart.

Today, I commit to living in full accordance with this vow.

And so it is.

___________________

I just said this ‘vow’ out loud. It gave me

Categories : Ideas
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Jun
07

Your Future Self

By Karen Hood-Caddy · Comments (0)

I have a co-coaching arrangement with a colleague in Britain and every week we share an hour of time. Lately we’ve been exploring the idea of a Future Self.

In my opinion,  we probably all have many Future Selves –I expect that they sit on the shelf of time like a a set of DVD’s, just waiting for us to pick one and play it on the screen of our lives. What we pick is, of course, up to us.

The Future Self I want to pick or maybe ‘activate’, for myself (and for others,) is the one that describes the BEST possibility of myself, the one that would be the fullest expression of all I could be.

The question is, how would one activate this possible self?

For me, I realized the first step was to get to know this BFS better. To do that, I had to spend some time sensing what she feels like–her core energetic, so to speak. After a few tries, I was able to write down a list of characteristics that described my Best Future Self.  She is:
* radiantly calm
* deeply trusting of her deep value
* wise
* has an air of incredible nourishment
* expansive

Overall, her energy is similar to that of the Dalai Lama. (Blush!)

Once I had the list of her attributes,  I started aligning myself with these characteristics.  As often as I can, I think the thoughts, feel the emotions, and do the activities that are most in alignment with the energetic of my Best Future Self.

It’s feeling wonderful.

In this way, I am bringing the future into the present. Or, maybe we’re meeting somewhere in between. As I reach forward to her, I feel her reaching backwards to me. It feels as if we’re becoming a team. I have asked her for more information about how to bring my Now Self into greater alignment with her and got a clear sense that she’s willing to advise me. I’ll report as we go!

What does YOUR Best Future Self feel like?

———————-

RESOURCE:

At my new website: http://www.happinessanyway.com, I’ve posted a whole bunch of meditations that you can do just by clicking on them. I’ve kept them purposely short so you can do them quickly and easily. Each and every one of them will help you modulate your energy. CLICK HERE for quick access. I’d love to know how you like them. I’m going to be offering a very cool online course in the next while called ‘Change Your Energy, change Your Life’ and these meditations will be part of that offering.

Check it out. Once again, CLICK HERE for the link.

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Here is an awesome video about an amazing man! There’s a few seconds of advertising at the beginning of the video, then the man’s story. It’s well worth watching.

I used the word ‘disabled’ in my heading, but the term really is a misnomer. The truth is, we all have some areas in our lives where we’re not very ‘able’. Our areas of ‘disability’ just may not be as obvious as the man’s in the video.

Besides, people with ‘disabilities’ have often learned things that could benefit us all. They know, for example, that attitude, is EVERYTHING. They also know how to make the most of what they have and often take what they’ve been given to new peaks of performance.

Being able to change your attitude or modulate your energy is a huge skill. People who can do that are able to avoid negative thoughts and energy-sucking emotions and create positive outcomes that others can’t. Even in the most difficult situations!

So many of us feel that life creates us, that life MAKES us grumpy or sad or unhappy. ‘The ‘disabled’ show us what a load of bunk that is.

Would you like to learn how to modulate YOUR energy so you can create positive states at will?

I’m developing a course called ‘Change Your Energy, Change Your Life’, that teaches people specific meditations, acupressure tapping procedures, breathing techniques and a whole host of other tools to create powerfully positive states no matter what else is going on–health issues, relationship problems, financial challenges.
I want to teach people how to feel good from the inside out.

I’ll tell you more about it next issue!

Meanwhile, check out the video. It’s inspiring. Click HERE.

Categories : Ideas
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Quote: “Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.” — Jeffrey Gitomer, Author and Sales Trainer

Toyota has been getting a lot of attention lately for their SUA problem (Sudden Unintended Acceleration) and it got me thinking about other times in life when things speed out of control.

The experts have suggested a variety of strategies that will be helpful if SUA happens to your car, and I’ve added some ideas about how those suggestions can be helpful in life.

1. Stay Calm: Staying calm isn’t just a good thing to do–your life may depend upon it. Survivors of major disasters always have this one trait in common. They didn’t panic.  This is great advice for when things go crazy in our lives as well. If you need help with this, I’ve just posted some short, but calming meditations on my Happiness Anyway website–check them out by going to MEDITATIONS

2. Don’t turn off the engine: Think of it–the engine provides power to the power steering and brakes, so if you turn off the engine, you’ve just cashed out of any chance of buying yourself a different outcome.  It’s the same with relationships, and jobs–don’t turn off the engine. Stay IN the situation and figure it out. That’s the only long term way of being successful.

3. Apply uniform and consistent pressure to the brakes: Don’t pump. In life, we need to be consistent about saying “No”, consistent about our goals and habits. Doing them sometimes and not others (pumping) won’t do it.

4. Shift into neutral: I like this suggestion a lot, because it’s one area where I see people botching things up. Don’t keep at a conversation when the other person has clearly tuned you out. Don’t keep pushing for a solution when your body is exhausted. Don’t say or do more until things ease up a bit.

5. Move to a side lane: Pulling over (but not exiting) a situation is often a wise choice. It will allow us to get a break from the chaos, reassess and call in the help we need.


TWO AWESOME RESOURCES:

Bob Proctor, a Canadian entrepreneur who’s been hugely successful, is offering a daily video series for a buck. You can cancel for no reason if you like at the end of a month. I like Bob Proctor so I signed up and I’m loving the videos. They are 6 minutes each and delivered to your box every day and talk about everything from creating wealth to handling difficult emotions. Here’s the link.


https://sixminutes.infusionsoft.com/go/SM2SV4/inic1984


LAST BUT NOT LEAST:

This is your last opportunity to enter the Month of Free Coaching Draw. To be eligible, all you have to do is sign up for my blog at my new Happiness Anyway site. Not only will you get lots of tips and tools for being “Happy Anyway”, you’ll create a chance for yourself to win a free month of coaching. If you’re interested, do it today as I’m picking the winner tomorrow!

Categories : Ideas, Resources
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The people on the planet just now are probably THE most manipulated in human history when it comes to wants. We get so many messages, telling us what we want, it can be difficult to really listen to our own truth.

I feel it’s my job as a coach to help people tap into their deeper knowing. I want to save people from pushing themselves up a ladder, one struggling step at a time, only to find out later that they’ve put their ladder against the wrong wall.

Take Samantha. When she called me, she told me she wanted to get married. As I probed further, I learned her partner wasn’t so sure he wanted this. Then, I asked her what she hoped being married would accomplish.

“It would give me a sense of security. I would know I’m loved.”

I asked her to think about her friends and family to see if  “feeling secure and loved” were the inevitable result of marriage

I could hear her wince.

“Well, I guess with the divorce rate at 50%, that’s not always the case.”

I invited her to explore other ways she might deepen her feeling of being loved and secure from within herself.  Now things got interesting.

As we did this, she started feeling more and more powerful. Obviously, she was liking not having her well-being depend on external circumstances.  And, of course, as she took responsibility for creating her own feelings of being loved and secure, she stopped putting pressure on her significant other. And of course, when her significant other felt free to give to her or not, he became a much more responsive partner.

So, when you’re thinking about what you want, go deeper. Ask yourself what you imagine this item, event, or experience will give you on the inside. Once you know this, see if you can just create it on your own. I have developed a whole bunch of ways to help people do what I call energy modulation, so if you want to go deeper with this, click “Free Ideas” up in the menu bar to set up a free idea session.

Meanwhile, here is something I loved that I wanted to share with you:

AN OPPORTUNITY:

Would you like to set up and run your own website? Or revamp your current one so you can manage it yourself?

Tomorrow, Christina Hills is having a tele-seminar on how to do just that. I can personally attest to what a great teacher Christina is, as I took her Website Creation Workshop last year and loved it.  I’m not only a non-techie, I’m tech-less!– but through her tutorials and videos, she shows you how to set up a WordPress website, even adding photos, audio and video. I not only revamped this site, personalbest.org, but I created a whole new one at http://www.happinessanyway.com

And instead of it being a gruelling, hair-pulling out experience, I found it fun and creative.

In the class tomorrow, she’ll explain how it all works, with pictures, handouts and non geeky web talk.  The class is a 10 am pacific time and 1 EST and it’s free. To find out more, go to:

http://thewebsitecreationworkshop.com/cmd.php?af=1079349&u=TheWebsiteCreationWorkshop.com/preview

Or, if you can’t make the call, go here:

Categories : Uncategorized
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Hold your hand up, palm forward. Now turn it to the side.  Same hand, but it looks entirely different. The difference, as you know,  is perspective. Before reading the funny story below, let me say a bit more about perspective.

Successful people learn to switch their perspective to keep their energy high. If you tell yourself that “Business is terrible”,  or that “No one cares about me”, you’re not going to have much energy. But if you tell yourself, “Business is  recovering” and that “People are beginning to value me”,  not only will you feel more like taking your life/business on, but brain science tells us, you’ll be changing your future.

We now have solid scientific studies that prove the fact that “Neurons that fire together, wire together”.  What this means is that the more you repeat a thought or action, the stronger the neurological patterns become, the deeper the grooves in the brain and therefore, the more easily that thought or action can recur.

That’s what makes it so difficult to change our perspective sometimes–the pathways are so well trodden, we can slip into them easily. Developing new ones may feel like a slog at first, but it’s worth it for our thoughts shape our actions and our actions shape our future.

wanted cowboy

Here’s the fun story:

Bill was working on his family genealogy and found out his great-great uncle, Remus Starr was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. He even found a photo of  Remus, showing him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture were the words:

“Remus Starr–Horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison, 1885. Escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged, 1889.”

Bill decided to revise things a bit. He cropped the picture into a head shot, then he rewrote the text:

“Remus Starr was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include the acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and included intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1885, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking a key role in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency, In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.”

Now that’s a change in perspective! (Maybe Bill should consider a job in gov’t public relations!)


SOMETHING SPECIAL:

A colleague of mine, Vicki Field, who is nothing short of wonderful, is doing a free teleseminar with Dr. Amy D’Aprix, called, “How to Jumpstart New Friendships and Make Them Last!”.

This hour-long teleclass is Monday, March 15th at 8 EST. It’s designed to help people build a stronger support network, which studies show contributes significantly to longevity and health and diminishes isolation, self-doubt and loneliness.
Vicki and Dr. Amy D’Aprix have just come out with a great new book entitled, Building the Bonds of Friendship at Middle Life and Beyond.

For more information about the book or the teleclass, visit www.passagepoints.com

Categories : Uncategorized
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Mar
08

Perspective Matters!

By Karen Hood-Caddy · Comments (1)

Hold your hand up, palm forward. Now turn it to the side.  Same hand, but it looks entirely different. The difference, as you know,  is perspective. Before reading the funny story below, let me say a bit more about perspective.

Successful people learn to switch their perspective to keep their energy high. If you tell yourself that “Business is terrible”,  or that “No one cares about me”, you’re not going to have much energy. But if you tell yourself, “Business is  recovering” and that “Many people value me”,  not only will you feel more like taking your life/business on, but brain science tells us, you’ll be changing your future.

We now have solid scientific studies that prove the fact that “Neurons that fire together, wire together”.  What this means is that the more you repeat a thought or action, the stronger the neurological patterns become  and the more easily that thought or action can recur.

That’s what makes it so difficult to change our perspective sometimes–the pathways are so well trodden, we can slip into them easily. Developing new ones may feel like a slog at first, but it’s worth it for our thoughts shape our actions and our actions shape our future.

Here’s the fun story:wanted cowboy

Bill was working on his family genealogy and found out his great-great uncle, Remus Starr was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. He even found a photo of  Remus, showing him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture were the words:

“Remus Starr–Horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison, 1885. Escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged, 1889.”

Bill decided to revise things a bit. He cropped the picture into a head shot, then he rewrote the text:

“Remus Starr was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include the acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and included intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1885, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking a key role in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency, In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.”

Now that’s a change in perspective! (Maybe Bill should consider a job in gov’t public relations!)


SOMETHING SPECIAL:

A colleague of mine, Vicki Field, who is nothing short of wonderful, is doing a teleseminar with Dr. Amy D’Aprix, called, “How to Jumpstart New Friendships and Make Them Last!”.

This free teleclass is Monday, March 15th at 8 EST and will help people build a stronger support network, which studies show contributes significantly to longevity and health and diminishes isolation, self-doubt and loneliness.
Vicki and Dr. Amy D’Aprix have just come out with a great new book entitled, Building the Bonds of Friendship at Middle Life and Beyond.

For more information about the book or the teleclass, visit www.passagepoints.com
Categories : Research, Resources
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Feb
09

RICH THINKING

By Karen Hood-Caddy · Comments (0)

Rich thinking. Poor thinking. We all do both.

Rich thinking isn’t just about money — it’s the kind of thinking that makes us feel lush and able. And poor thinking is the opposite–it makes you feel limited and not able.

If you want to find out what your default kind of thinking is, watch yourself the next time you hit a glitch. Like I did this morning.

There I was, doing a bit of clean up on my website (I took a great website creation workshop last spring that I’m going to tell you more about next time) when I must have pressed the wrong button, for suddenly, all the content in my widgets disappeared. And I couldn’t get it back!

This was bad. And what made it worse was that this was the second time I’d done this.

The ‘poor’ thoughts were right there. “You don’t know what you’re doing.” “You keep screwing up.” “You’ll never get this right.” As these thoughts played through my mind, all I wanted to do was push my computer away and give up.

Luckily for me, I recognized this and substituted more expansive thoughts. They were far kinder:  “You’re just learning, it’s okay to mistakes, sometimes over and over.”  “You’ll get it right.”  “It’s great that you’re even trying to do this yourself.”

Needless to say, these thoughts felt good, and created enough energy so that I went right back and fixed the mess I’d inadvertently created. It didn’t take as long as I thought.

This thought substitution is something one of my clients does very, very well. In fact, she’s so good at it, she’s now teaching other people. Her new course, called The Rich Thinking Way is starting soon and I wanted to tell you about it.

It’s a  12 week teleclass, starting March 3rd and she’s offering people the chance to try it out for 2 weeks– free!

We all know we should think more richly, but Jane’s course will teach you how to do that on a very deep level, so that it becomes part of who you are, not just something to try to do now and then.

In the course, youll get an in-depth experience of not only how you currently think, but how changing your thoughts  will change your life.  She’ll also teach you how to  align your soul with your business, charge what you need to charge for business success and much, much more. Jane’s rich in all she does, so what you’ll get will be wonderful.

To sign up or find out more, here’s the link! Tell Jane I sent you. She’s awesome!

http://www.richthinkers.co.uk/align-with-soul/?utm_source=karen&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ad-text&utm_term=email1&utm_campaign=RichThinkingWay2010-01

Categories : Ideas, Resources
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Feb
02

FIGURING THINGS OUT

By Karen Hood-Caddy · Comments (1)

PERSONAL BEST COACHING PRESENTS:

It’s Okay Not To Know How!

Sometimes we put ourselves under a lot of pressure to know ‘How’ to do something. Sometimes we even stop ourselves from proceeding because we don’t know ‘how’.

Don’t!

Reassure yourself by realizing that many, many highly successful people have started businesses, relationships, projects etc without having a clue how they were going to pull the task to completion. In fact, sometimes not knowing ‘how’ gives us the freedom to explore in entirely new ways.

Take Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Do you think he knew anything about how to set up a social networking site? No way! He started before the term ’social networking’ site even existed.  In fact, his motivation for the site initially was to create a place to meet girls! Now, according to an annual list published by Forbes magazine, Mark is the youngest ever self-made billionaire. The magazine put the

former Harvard student’s personal wealth at 1.5 billion dollars.

mountain top

So, don’t worry about not knowing how.  Just get started.  Set out. You’ll figure it out as you go.  Don’t get me wrong. You still have to be clear about what you want. That’s given. But if you worry about the ‘how’, you’ll stop yourself before you’ve even begun.

Don’t even worry if your business, relationship, project is failing. Even if all looks lost, that doesn’t mean you can’t  figure it out and turn things around. Think of Thomas Edison who had over 10,000 filed attempts at the light bulb.  Or, Richard Bach, the author who wrote about a seagull! He was turned down by 18 publishers for his 10,000 word story about the soaring bird before Macmillan finally published it in 1970.  By 1975 it had sold over 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.

It’s even okay if you find yourself questioning your ability to do what it takes–you’re in good company:

* Beethoven was told by his teacher that he handled the violin awkwardly and called him a hopeless composer.

* Charles Darwin, was considered a very ordinary boy with nothing special going for him.

* Henry Ford went broke 5 times before he finally succeeded.

* Walt Disney was a cartoonist who liked to draw mice–who would have ever thought he could make millions from that?

What made these people successful?

1) Having a clear vision.

2) Taking action. Over and over again.

3) Staying positive when their attempts did not work.

Life gives us all the feedback we need about whether we’re on track. So, as Tony Robbins says, you want to take what he calls ‘massive actions’ so you can get the feedback you need to be successful. The more actions you take, the more feedback you’ll get. And the more feedback you get, the more you’ll be able to guide yourself along the path to success.

ALL THESE PEOPLE FIGURED IT OUT—YOU CAN TOO!

And if you’d like some expert help in figuring out ‘how’, try me for a free 30-minute over-the-phone “Idea” session. I love giving them and of course, there’s no obligation to go further. Everyone who has one always tells me how helpful

Categories : Ideas, Research, Resources
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