Lamisha Serf-Walls

Dreamer Highlight: Leah Pearlman of Dharma Comics

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One of many wonderful pieces at dharmacomics.com
One of many wonderful pieces at dharmacomics.com

I am so excited to share with you this week’s Dreamer Highlight.

Last week while I was perusing the internet I stumbled upon an interview Lilou Mace did with Leah Pearlman in Japan and after hearing about her journey and viewing her website, I fell in love with her creativity, drive, and her artistry.  In the video (that you can view here), Leah tells Lilou how she stumbled upon her inner artist as she was on her own spiritual journey to find her life purpose.  As she followed her inspiration to different places in the world she found herself drawing these stick figure comics that served as documentation of some of her favorite memories, thoughts, or inspirations.  She later found that what started off as a hobby, quickly escalated into something greater and that is when Leah Pearlman found her inner artist and Dharma Comics was born.

Dharma Comics is a concept unlike any other I have seen and upon seeing one or two of her illustrations you will instantly fall in love.  Leah takes lovely spiritual quotes, musings, thoughts, and her own inspirational sayings and couples them with her unique illustrations to make genuine works of art.  Check out her website here to see her collection of thought-provoking and inspiring comics that speak to the soul.  I have highlighted some of my favorites here, here, and here.

One of the things I love so much about her story is that she followed her heart every step of the way.  She did the things that felt good to her by traveling the world and while she was “searching”, she wasn’t doing anything that felt like struggle, work, or stress to find her passion.  She allowed it to unfold organically as she followed each little inspirational nugget along the way.

Simple?  Maybe, but it works.  The more we struggle and fight to do anything, the more resistance we bring to it.  When we allow ourselves the joy of doing what we love and follow our inspiration on the way to our dreams, we are allowing the energy to flow and we remain open to the possibilities around us.  It is there you may realize that thing you were reaching for was there with you all along.  You couldn’t see it because you were trying so hard to find it.

If you are looking for a lot of inspiration and some wonderful work, check out Dharma Comics.  I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Do you have an idea for the next Dreamer Highlight post?  If so, feel free to contact me with the info.  I would love to check it out!

Gratitude: Anticipation & Eagerness

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This week I have been in a constant state of planning and visualization.  I have this knowing feeling that some great opportunities are going to be opening and I am sitting with great anticipation and eagerness for things to unfold.  In that space I have to remind myself not to get too far ahead and simply enjoy the moment (whatever it may be) because I am on my way to something and that is just as good as the actual something.

You may not know this, but I have been actively working behind the scenes on my business and have been leading with my inspirational foot as I plan.  I will be sharing more information as I get closer to my launch date, but I wanted to share my excitement for what is already unfolding.

Over the last month or so, I have been working with a client to test out my skills and coaching model and not only is she doing wonderfully, but I am getting more and more excited to work with other clients.  I am realizing that my passion lies with assisting others achieve the life of their dreams and watching them grow and evolve before my eyes.  It is truly an honor to experience and it is with anticipation and eagerness that I look to my future working with many more clients, some of which I hope will be you lovely readers.

Stay tuned for more information on my launch date and special pricing for the first month of coaching.

May you move into your weekend with eagerness and anticipation for whatever delights you and makes your heart sing and as always, thank you so much for reading!

The Comparison Pitfall

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Comparison

It seems that comparisons have become commonplace in our society and have somehow become the ruler by which all other things are measured.  For instance, if you are a new actress or author, the media makes every attempt to put you in a box with others that are like you.  It makes sense that we have gotten used to this metric and have since taken to measuring our own successes and experiences by those of others in a similar situation, however I can’t help but feel like this has become a huge detriment to our ability to stand out and find success in our uniqueness.

The truth is we all have our own gifts we bring to the world and while some say everything has already been done, we bring our own flavor and experiences to everything we do.  No two writers, actors, business owners, coaches, or athletes are the same, so why do we constantly compare ourselves to others in order to define our greatness?  When did it become so important for us to keep up with the Joneses in our attributes, successes, and bank accounts?

Beginning

I’m not sure when this became commonplace, because to be honest it has been a common theme in my life.  Everything from my dance background in high school to my current business plans have been surrounded by the idea that I had to live up to someone else’s measure of success or else I would be deemed a failure.  I know I am not alone in this and yet I know better.

I know that what I do in my business, what I offer by way of my own coaching, and my writing are all extensions of my own creative mind.  A mind that is like none other and a mind that brings a unique essence and life experience with it.  If I know better intellectually, why do I/we continually compare our gifts and talents to those of others?

The answer?  Because that is what we have been taught by society, by our teachers, and many of us by our parents because they were taught the same thing.

The great thing about learning something is that with a little re-framing and re-learning we can change those habits into something different.  We can move away from thinking that in order to find our worth or define our greatness that we must measure up to the number of published articles, the thousands of dollars in sales, or the number of clients someone else has.

Your worth and greatness are only defined by your own unique gifts.  And I am here to tell you that no matter how “professional” or “successful” someone else appears, they weren’t always that way AND they don’t have your unique life experience and flavor you bring to your craft.  That is yours alone.

So the next time you find yourself comparing yourself to someone and feeling less than the next guy, remember you are worthy of living the life of your dreams and only YOU can bring your magnificent gifts to this world.  Never forget that!

Beta Isn’t So Bad…

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Perfect

When it comes to doing things we are passionate about, many of us strive for optimal perfection.  We work, analyze, plan, and strategically lay out the action steps and pieces that need to come together for our vision to be just right.  As it begins to take shape we may notice areas that need more work, attention, and focus only to find our vision of perfection is always slightly out of reach.  There is always something else that can be added, tweaked, and changed to make it better and if you are like me, you may find yourself pondering how to make it better or frozen as you wait for the perfect idea to make it well, perfect.

I found myself in the perfectionist conundrum over the last few weeks as I began over thinking the necessary pieces that need to fall into place in order to have the perfect launch for my business.  In my mind I had to have what many other coaches offered on their websites in order to do it the right way and to be successful and while I knew that comparing my business vision with others was a sure-fire way to lose my confidence, I still felt like certain pieces had to be just right before I could move forward.

I realized I was very wrong.

As I was reading this weekend, I stumbled across an idea that was exactly what I needed to read at that moment.  In a book called The Gift of Adversity by Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., I read a chapter that focused on the idea of perfection.  According to Rosenthal, most things don’t have to be perfect to do what you want them to do.  For instance, many companies will knowingly release a product that still has some bugs to be worked out as long as the bugs don’t compromise the integrity of the product known as a beta version.  The beta version is somewhat of a tester that can be improved along the way.  That is why we have so many versions of apps, phones, and computers.  No matter what product you have purchased it is likely a work in progress since developers are always working on the next best thing.

You may be asking yourself how this applies to your dreams and my business vision.

Well, here’s how I see it.  My business (and ultimately your dreams, goals, and aspirations) are always in transition.  Life is nothing but a constant change of events and circumstances, so nothing ever remains the same.  With that said, as I create my business intentions, services, and products I now realize whatever I create will not be what I offer for the entire life of my business.  Just as I will continue to evolve as a person, so will my ideas, creations, and my business.

So, if what I begin with isn’t exactly perfect, that’s ok.  I am sure there will be some mistakes and lessons along the way, but I will also learn a lot as my business progresses and I will likely learn many lessons I couldn’t learn if I wasn’t simply taking the leap.  In fact, I have always been far better at on the job training that pre-training with the expectation that I just know it all.  So, why should this be any different?

It shouldn’t.

I would venture a guess you too have struggled with your own progression toward your dreams/goals because you feel not ready enough.  Maybe you feel like you need more classes, more training, more knowledge, or more life experience.  Well I am here to tell you that’s not true.  You will learn far more by moving toward your goals than you will sitting back and planning them.  If you are inspired to do something, do it whether it feels perfect or not.

Beta versions aren’t all that bad, because when you think about it, aren’t we all just beta versions growing, learning, and evolving all the time?

 

Declare Who You Are!

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A really great post on standing in your power of who you are. Don’t allow others to pigeon hole you into where they think you belong. Declare who you are and watch your life transform!