Lamisha Serf-Walls

What do YOU want?

March 31, 2014 by Lamisha

With the release of the Unleash Your Personal Power e-course that starts tomorrow, I have had this consistent question come up for myself and my clients over and over again. And if you know me, you know that when I see a theme appear, I take notice.

The theme this time boils down to one question: “What do YOU want?”

It seems like a simple enough question, but when was the last time you asked yourself that? It seems we are far more tapped into what we think we need as opposed to what we want in life. Add to that questions like: What do you want…to feel, to see, to experience, to be, etc., and the question can get a bit convoluted.

I know on any given day, I am more likely to share with someone what I ‘need’ to get done rather than what I actually need or want for that matter. Ask me what I want and I might be stumped for a moment if I am so far entrenched in my ‘have to’ list.

Why is that?

There seems to be a general perception that giving and doing are far more important than allowing and being. So when we take the time to see what we

really want, it feels foreign and often uncomfortable. It is of course necessary to feel the discomfort in order to move through it and identify what it is we truly want.

The truth is this: You have the ability and power to make your life happy, just as you have the ability and power to make your life less than happy. You can choose to thrive or simply survive. The choice is yours to make. However, if you are merely surviving what life throws your way then you are not really harnessing the unlimited power you have within to make this life amazing and magical. It may be that you don’t have the tools, practices, confidence, or knowledge you need to use that power. And if you fall into that boat then I assure you the Unleash Your Personal Power is the course for you.

This course isn’t just about getting what you want in life, it’s so much more than that. This course will teach you effective and life-changing tools and practices to live the best life possible all the way around. It is being offered by myself and three other talented women who have collectively coached and taught hundreds of people to harness and utilize their own power. If ever you have thought about how to live the best life possible starting now, this course is for you.

This self-paced e-course begins tomorrow and to make it even easier for you to join us, we are offering a payment plan option so it is affordable for everyone. This course is transformational, inspirational, and full of power.

You already have the power within to make your life amazing, we simply want to introduce you to it. Are you ready to join us? If so you can sign-up, learn more about the teachers of the program and try out a free meditation here. Life is far too short to merely survive what life throws at you. This is your chance to thrive!

Dream Changer-Featuring Author Nicole Luongo

March 25, 2014 by Lamisha

***Nicole Luongo is sharing her dream changing moment this week and I am so honored to share her story with you. With this being National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day, this post is coming to you a day early and once you read Nicole’s story you will understand why. To tell you she is determined would be a gross understatement. She is magnificent in so many ways and I am so happy she is a part of the Dream Changer series. Nicole is such an inspiration to us all and I hope you enjoy her beautiful words as much as I did.***

I came into this world the size of a baby chicken! I was born two and a half months premature, weighing less than three pounds. My mom noticed that I could not rest my feet flat of the floor. Lacking balance, I rarely took a step without holding onto something. Nearly two years passed. I still wasn’t walking on my own. A neurological evaluation revealed I had spastic diplegia, the most common type of cerebral palsy (CP).

I could not do the one thing I wanted most: walk. At three years old, I slipped my hands through shoes – belonging to my parents or ten older siblings – and crawled throughout the house on my hands and knees. I did not give up. I paved my own path. This taught me an important lesson that shaped the rest of my life: anything is possible with determination and perseverance. In January 1978, an orthopedic surgeon lengthened my Achilles tendons. After walking in other people’s shoes for the first years of my life, I finally learned to walk on my own two feet.

As an adult, I began to experience problems associated with CP. I tired easily when walking. My back hurt if I walked too much. I could not step up curbs with my right leg – something I never had difficulty doing until age 35. This continued to be a such a problem that I asked my orthopedist for a cane. I couldn’t bring myself to use it. Instead, I avoided curbs and got a handicapped license plate. In October 2012, I received news that would change my life: I was a candidate for selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR), the only surgical procedure that can permanently remove spasticity (abnormal muscle stiffness) caused by cerebral palsy.

My dream changing moment occurred on March 29, 2013. At nearly forty years old, I had SDR on March 29, 2013, with Dr. T.S. Park, the world-renowned neurosurgeon who is acclaimed for refining the procedure. Dr. Park predicted SDR would allow me to move with greater ease, walk with less effort and ride a two-wheel bike, the number one goal on my post-SDR bucket list! My four-month followup went well. The spasticity in my legs was gone, I walked much smoother and straighter, with heel-toe motion, no longer leaning to one side, and both legs were even (they weren’t before surgery), eliminating the need for ugly orthotics.

It’s been nearly a year since I had SDR surgery. The journey has truly been amazing! My passion for the surgery gave me a purpose. I am an advocate for people with cerebral palsy. I raise awareness about SDR on my blog and social media. Thanks to SDR, my gait has improved so much that it’s hard to tell I have CP. I can walk up and down stairs without holding on – something I would never attempt before SDR. I tried rock climbing for the first time. I went back to ballroom dancing. On my 41st birthday, I will attend an iCan Bike camp to learn how to ride a bike. I always thought (and was told, in one form or another) it was impossible. Contrary to popular belief, people with cerebral palsy who have not had SDR, can ride a two-wheel bike. My SDR journey is teaching me to stop believing in limits – those imposed by myself or others. All of us are capable of much more than we imagine.

Nicole Luongo is the author of Naked Desires, a poignant book for everyone who is searching for love, delighting in love, or hoping to understand love. Her mission is to raise awareness for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). Nicole believes information about the surgery should be provided to every person living with cerebral palsy. Please help spread the word by sharing this blog post.

You can connect with Nicole via her blog titled Bare Your Naked Truth. You can also reach her on Facebook or Twitter.

Teacher, Student or Both?

March 24, 2014 by Lamisha

photo credit: Umang Dutt via photopin cc

I have come to a point in my journey where I am realizing something that feels pretty big to me. Something that at one point would have hit me right between the eyes as I thought ‘Huh???’. In fact what I am realizing is also becoming a theme with many of my professional colleagues and friends who are sharing their gifts with the world. Maybe you are going through it too on some level and if so, I want you to know you are not alone.

So what is it?

I have recently realized (or remembered as it may be) that we tend to teach the lessons we most need to learn.

Say what?!

If you are a business owner, teacher, professional, or expert of some sort it can be mind-boggling to think that you can actually teach something you still need to learn.

It sounds a bit like an oxymoron, but I am willing to bet that some of the most amazing teachers of the world were also some of the best students. I mean even Albert Einstein was constantly learning, growing, and evolving in the middle of all his amazing scientific discoveries.

What is it that makes us believe that when we transition into the role of teacher, professional, expert, CEO, or whatever other powerful position you can come up with that, we need to know everything in order to do the job well?

I call BS on that thought because it simply isn’t true. Not only do we teach what we most need to learn in many cases, but our own individual lessons, growth, and healing make us so great at what we do. The fact that we have the experience, have the knowledge, know the tools, and can share them with others makes us incredible teachers!

Bottom line: You don’t have to know it all! (Whew, thank goodness for that right?)

So with that thought I share with you my lessons that I am constantly learning and teaching.

Flow with life. Forcing does nothing but create resistance and resistance feels icky. Don’t struggle, just flow with it! (This is one lesson I have the honor of reminding myself of a lot. )
Accept what is. There is no use worrying about the details, the moments that haven’t come yet or trying to prepare for the inevitable failure that we feel is coming. If you accept what is right in front of you as being perfect in every way you allow solutions, magic, and miracles to appear. So true!
Keep going. This one seems a bit obvious and while I haven’t ever entertained the thought of ‘quitting’ per se, there are times when I am down in the dumps for whatever reason and instead of planning, scheming, solving, and trying to control the situation, I need to remember to breathe and keep going. My theme of the year is ‘show up’ and when I consistently show up and remember the first two lessons, things work out rather nicely.
Self-care is monumental. I am learning to listen to my body far more than I have in the past. A previous people-pleaser and overall achiever, I often felt guilty when I wasn’t busy doing something. It really didn’t matter what that was either. Now I am providing myself with more compassion and love so when I feel the need to take a break from Facebook or take a nap to fill up my tank, I do it and don’t feel the least bit guilty (most of the time).

Do you find you learn many of the same lessons that you teach? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Let’s learn together!

***Calling All Creatives!!! The Free- Creative Chaos call will be this Wed. at 12pm EST so if you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, please do. I will be sending out the call-in info soon and you don’t want to miss this. If you can’t make the call live, no worries! I will record it and send it out to everyone that has signed up along with a few exercises to help you get through the web of ideas so you can take inspired action!

Also, don’t forget about the Unleash Your Personal Power e-course that will begin April 1st. We have now added a payment plan option for those who want to sign up. It is important for us to make this amazing course as accessible as possible so if you know of anyone who might be interested please don’t hesitate to share. You already have the power to change your life for the better, we just want to introduce you to it and would love to have you join us for this transformational experience. ***

Intention is Everything

March 21, 2014 by Lamisha

Can I tell you a secret that’s not so secret?

Intention is Everything!

At the beginning of the year I told you I was working on the lovely Leonie Dawson’s Create Your Amazing Year 2014 planner. I completed most of the it for both business and personal life and one of the exercises included making a list of 100 things you want to do for the year. To be honest the task seemed a bit difficult at first because I allowed my logical mind to get in the way, but once I got started I had lots of fun things added. Things like getting a facial, hiking, reading 100 books, writing an e-book, and dancing in the rain. I’m not even sure if I have made it quite to 100 yet as I am still adding to it, but you get the idea.

So, after really focusing on what I wanted to create for 2014 and allowing myself the flow as far as ‘how’ it would show up, I put the planner away and kept moving through every day life. Every now and again I will pick it up and read through it to see if there are any exercises that I still need to complete that call to me. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but one day in January I did this and took a look at my 100 things list.

I was astonished!!!

I realized that within the first month of the year without even trying, I had accomplished two things on my list. They weren’t big things like going to Hawaii (which requires a bit of forethought and planning). They were small things that simply happened.

What were they?

One was ice skating with my family and another was to have a game night with the neighbors. Small, but super-fun things that I loved!

Now those two things might seem inconsequential as far as setting an intention, but I must tell you I haven’t been ice-skating in years! And the idea to have a game night with the neighbors came from left field considering we have never done that in the 3 years we have lived here.

All I did was think “hey that would be fun”, and I wrote it down. I set the intention that these were things I wanted to do and by not planning, scheming or figuring out how it was going to happen, I did both of them within a month!

Even with all the evidence I have had over the years, I know better than to question the magical ways of the Universe. But, there was a part of me that thought it was just a small occurrence. That is, until a few weeks later.

I had been putting a lot of time and energy into my business. I booked some new clients and was participating in an e-course and got the idea to create a group coaching model for my clients. This would provide tons of information and insight for people interested in coaching at a much cheaper rate overall in a group setting. Full of inspiration, I reached out to a lovely group of women I met online and asked for volunteers to test my model. The Your Flying Leap test group has been going great and you guessed it the next time I checked in with my planner, I had an entry that read ‘create a group coaching offer’.

Now you could argue that as a business woman I would know all of the things I wanted to do and you would be right to some degree. But, the sheer ease with which it came together based entirely on my inspired thoughts is amazing. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t create the program for 2-3 months before trying it with a test group for free. Nope, I just asked who would be interested and I jumped in. Since then, the pieces have been coming together quite easily. (Note: I will be sharing more information on how you can join this program that begins again in May. Join my VIP list to get the scoop first if you are interested.)

And you know the amazing program I am taking part of called Unleash Your Personal Power? That happened as easily and effortlessly as the others and it too was on my list of 100 things to do. The kicker is I didn’t even reach out to these amazing professionals. I was asked to join this venture seemingly out of the blue and I can’t tell you how much fun it has been to create and what a great time we are having. If you haven’t checked it out, please do! This program is valued at $1000 and we are offering it at a mere $85. And while you can’t really put a price on the life changing tips, tools and information you will learn, this is an incredible offer.

The takeaway from all of this is that when you sent your intention to do something and you just ride the wave of allowing, amazing things happen for you. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to whip out a piece of paper and write your own list of 100 things you want to do this year. Big, small, or medium it doesn’t matter, I assure you that by writing it down and letting it go, the pieces will fall into place in seemingly miraculous ways.

Try it! What do you have to lose?

I hope you have a bit of fun this weekend and find some time to just relax. Self-care is such an important part of life and many of us don’t do it enough! Until next week, thank you for reading and have a lovely weekend.

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for the Creative Chaos call on 3/26 at 12pm EST there is still time to do so. I will be sending out the materials with the call info next week so don’t miss out! It’s totally free. 🙂

Dream Changer-Featuring Jeanette MacDonald

March 19, 2014 by Lamisha

***This week’s Dream Changer post comes from a very creative and gifted artist named Jeanette MacDonald. Her story will inspire you and remind you of the gifts you may have lying dormant that are just waiting for you to invite them to come out and play. It’s never too late to do what you love. Enjoy!***

Twelve years ago, I had reached the end of my tether. I was thirty-nine years old and had all but given up on life itself. I actually prayed to God to help me find my way.

I was a single mom and I had a 14-year-old daughter still at home with me. I feel like when you put a desire out to the Universe it is always

One of Jeanette's amazing pieces titled: Create Your Beautiful Life — One of Jeanette’s amazing pieces titled: Create Your Beautiful Life

answered and meeting my husband was the answer to that prayer. He was this really loving person who had the ability to reflect back to me the beauty that lay within. I remember him saying, “If only you could see yourself through my eyes you would see how beautiful you are.” No one had ever said that to me before then! No one had ever loved me like that.

It has been within the safety of that love that I have been able to test the waters of my true self for the first time. Once again I am becoming familiar with my inner-child – my inner creative. My relationship in this love has given me a second chance at growing up, but this time with a great role-model – my husband.

I have learned through starting to love myself again that I have something so wonderful to offer the world. And for the first time I see how you have so many wonderful things to offer the world and me as well! And I am able to see how your offerings do not make me less in comparison to your gifts! But instead, I feel proud of the ability to be part of something bigger!

From this place within my tribe, I have felt free to write, paint and create. I feel like I have been given permission to create a life where I can truly be of service to others. I have found my tribe of women where I belong. I have created a family that supports me in doing great things. Together with these women I feel like we are changing the world. We see the possibilities where before I only saw the limitations. Together we have proven that we can overcome great challenges and cross the finish line banded together as a group of winners!

So this is my dream changer.

This is the thing that has woken me up to be able to experience more of this beautiful life. The love of people I have been blessed to come to know, my husband, my family and my tribe have given me the ability to learn to risk getting past my fears to see the gifts that have always been available to me. I have learned through love to be brave. Because of this great gift I have been given, I have so much gratitude towards my fellows. I want to spend the rest of my life being of service to you!

Giving is no longer tiring, it is revitalizing.

Jeanette McDonald is an amazing artist and can be found at www.jeanettemacdonaldart.com and on Facebook. Check out her Etsy shop for more gorgeous pieces that are available for purchase.