Lamisha Serf-Walls

Dreamer Highlight: Leo Babauta of Zenhabits and Jenny Lawson of The Bloggess

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Many years ago I was on a search to find what I thought was the secret to life.  I wanted to know how to live with passion and to enjoy most of my days.  I wanted the key to peace and happiness.  That was also about the same time I started getting interested into personal development and meditation.  It was then that I stumbled upon an incredibly inspiring, uplifting, and very insightful blog, Zenhabits.

Leo Babauta is a man of intentional transformation and the creator of Zenhabits.  He is a writer, father, husband, and peaceful life hacker who shares his knowledge with his readers as a way to pass along his wisdom, experience, and general knowledge to help others.  He isn’t perfect and doesn’t claim to be, yet he is honest and his writing portrays the image of a seemingly simple, yet wonderfully happy life.  What works for him may not work for you, but he has some really great information and advice for his readers and until recently I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed his site.

What he did:  You can read his whole story here, but to put it simply Leo made changes in his life intentionally so he could live the zen life that includes a healthy body and mind, a more simplified life, and overall enjoying the journey.  What I love about Leo is that while he has a ton of information to share with others (which he includes in his blog and novels), he doesn’t claim to know everything.  He is just a guy living an intentional life that works for him and he is happy doing it.  Sharing it with others is an added bonus.  And while he hasn’t always taken the most common path, he took the path that was right for him.  Something we could all stand to do a little more of, because after all our dreams are individual.

How he did it:  Tiny intentional steps, one after the other.  Simple, yet profound.

The other dreamer highlight is also equally inspiring and unique, but for very different reasons.  Jenny Lawson is the beloved Bloggess who’s sometimes vulgar humor she has shared with the world via her blog and most recently her book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.  She is a hilariously funny writer and mother who often struggles with depression, anxiety, and a variety of other ailments that she shares openly on her blog.  While her life may not always seem to be the typical ultimate dream, Jenny recognizes it is her dream life.  What I find so inspiring about Jenny is that no matter what her reality shows her, she believes in something greater.  The power of community (which she has a great deal of on her blog), inspiration, and the power to keep moving forward no matter what.  Jenny Lawson is living her dream as a writer, a mother, and a wife in spite of her fear that often tells her she isn’t good enough to do any of them.  A voice we all hear within ourselves from time to time.

What she does:  She shares, writes, lives, and laughs.  Loves her daughter, husband, and her pets.  Lives apologetically and embraces her quirks, ticks, and wonderfully unique qualities because they make her just who she is, and incredibly brave woman and ingenious writer.

How she does it: She just keeps going, no matter what.

The moral of these two dreamer highlights is to take intentional steps toward your dreams and keep moving forward, no matter what your doubts tell you.  The life of your dreams is closer than you think.

Dream Discovery Pt. 2- Exercises

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Yesterday I talked about the two types of people that generally have trouble defining their dreams; the Reality Seekers and the Survivors.  Today, I want to give you some exercises that anyone can use to help get your imagination going in order to make room for your aha moment.

4 Ways To Find Your Passion

Set Your Intention:  Sometimes all it takes is mentally setting the intention to find your passion.  Maybe you want to write it down as a formal goal or create an affirmation that states you want to remain open to discovering your dreams.  However you choose to set the intention, do it.  Simply deciding that you want to do something sets the energy in motion enough that seemingly miraculous events take place to catapult you toward what you desire.

Meditate:  I know I have talked about the benefits of meditation, but I have to mention it again.  Meditation allows you to calm your mind and be open to inspirational ideas, thoughts, and inklings that will guide you along your journey.  If you aren’t sure how to meditate or find it difficult to sit still for even 5 minutes, check out guided meditations online.  You can find some really great videos and information that will help you get to a regular meditation practice.  Often when our minds are so cluttered with day-to-day responsibilities, we don’t hear the little voice inside that is giving us the information we need.  When you quiet your mind, you release the resistant thoughts that keep your inspiration at bay.

Make a List: Sometimes when we aren’t sure what we want it helps to create a clarity list*.  It is very easy to do and can provide a ton of information for what you really want in your life.  Simple take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle.  On the left side include things you don’t want and on the right side list what you do want.  Using your life experience, make a list of items you don’t want. For instance, if you are looking for a passionate career, you might say “I don’t want a boss that is a micro-manager” and that might mean “I want to be my own boss or have the freedom to do my work independently”.  Make the list as long as you need to in order to provide some clarity to what you want.  Once it is complete fold the paper back and look at the items you have listed for what you want.  Now you have a starting point for your discovery process.
*This exercise is one Michael Losier uses in his Law of Attraction books.  For more information click here.*

Have Fun: You may be wondering how having fun can lead you to a life of your dreams, however if you are like me, when I am trying to figure something out, I can get a little obsessive about it.  I find myself searching and thinking and worrying about it far more than I should.  This only creates more resistance in your thought process and can inhibit your inspiration completely.  Sometimes to gain momentum you have to not try so hard.  That can be difficult for some of us to learn since we have been taught that if you want something you have to work really hard at it.  That’s not always (or mostly) true.  Often when you are having fun and thinking about something entirely different, you get a major aha moment that sparks your interest and inspiration.  So if you find yourself thinking about this too much, take a step back and go do something else.

While these exercises may seem pretty simple you will be amazed at what they can do.  I hope they help you move toward the discovery of your dreams and if there is anything I can do to help let me know!

Happy Dreaming!

Dream Discovery: Start Where You Are

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Since I started my blog, many of my posts have been aimed at readers that have defined what they want to achieve and may need a little inspiration and insight to get them moving.  I have posted inspirational links, dreamer highlights, and general motivational tips for when things feel slow-going.  And while I think that information is beneficial , I realized this week that I hadn’t really touched on how to find your dream.  So, today I want to take a step back and start at the beginning with some tips to help you define your dream.

People who have yet to define their dreams generally fall into two categories.  There are those that deep down know what they want to achieve, but have written it off as impossible and unrealistic, and others who have been so focused on simply surviving life, that they haven’t taken time out to allow themselves to want anything more than they truly need.

If you fall into the first category or as I like to call them the ” Reality Seekers”, you have probably thought of several things you wanted to do in your life, but there is a little voice telling you that for some reason or another it is unachievable.  You have a long list of reasons why it could never happen, yet there is still an underlying urge to do it.  Maybe you want to perform in a Broadway show, but the idea of doing it seems so “out there” that you can’t even imagine how it might happen, so you have resolved the situation by only dreaming the achievable dream.

My advice for you: Start where you are.  Visualize a life where you can have, be, or do anything under the sun.  Imagine you have a magic wand and can grant your ultimate dream wish.  What would that look like?  How would it feel?  Is it a dream career?  A once in a lifetime experience?  Would you travel the world?

You don’t have to have just a singular dream.  In fact the more you have the better.  The key is to get you to think beyond what you deem is reality and get into the magical realm of ultimate possibilities.  Is it still hard for you to get out of that reality box?  Try thinking of all the things in your past that really got your fire going.  The things that made you light up and made your soul sing.  For me, it was dancing, creating, and working with people.  Helping others to achieve their goals and celebrating with them when they learned something new.

The key for the “Reality Seekers”, is to move you more into a space of imagination and possibility.  Think magic.  Think ultimate possibility.  Imagine a life full of free-flowing energy, freedom to do what you want, and a life full of fun and passion.  Don’t worry about how you will achieve it, just milk it for all the inspiration that you can.  You will be amazed at what you come up with and you might find your dream was there all along.

The second group is a group I like to call the “Survivors”.  They have been living a life just making it through the next day.  Working, paying bills, taking care of every day necessities without ever really thinking about a thriving life.  They often believe what they are experiencing in life is all there is and when asked what is their dream, they have absolutely no idea.

If you fall into this category never fear, there are plenty of things to do to get your inspiration and dream discovery process going.  Understand that the life you have lived up to now has served you as it needed to, but the fact that you are looking forward toward a thriving, passionate, and wonderfully happy life is a step in the right direction.

Don’t know where to start?  Start where you are.  Look back at where you have been and use it as information for your future.  While you may have been more focused on surviving, chances are you had moments of daydreaming and thinking “if only….happened, I could finally be happy.”  Can you tap into what those things were?  Maybe they weren’t specific dreams, but it will get you moving in the right direction.

If that doesn’t work, try making a list of descriptive words that you want for your future.  Words like abundant, happy, free-flowing, freedom, ease etc. can begin to move you away from the “survivor” mindset into a more peaceful and inspirational state of being.  As your mind ponders the various feelings you want in your future, you may begin seeing specific situations, careers, opportunities that create those feelings.  If so, write them down and don’t discount anything.

You are beginning a journey into the unknown.  A space that you haven’t often ventured into and it may seem foreign at first, but no matter what keep going.  Keep thinking, imagining, visualizing, and feeling what your dream future feels like.  You might also want to do some research about various careers that offer those same feelings.  Maybe you want to look at dream vacations, read inspirational stories, or watch programs of other survivor’s reaching their goals.  You might even find it beneficial to work with a dream (or life) coach to help you through your process.  (Of course I would love to work with you if you are interested in some one-on-one coaching.  If so, please feel free to contact me and we can chat about how I can assist you.)

No matter where you find yourself in the dream discovery phase, the most important thing to remember is to start where you are.  Whether you are taking baby steps or flying leaps to your dreams, you will get there when the time is right for you.  Everyone’s journey is different so don’t feel like you have to be as fast or as slow as someone else.  Enjoy the ride because as you move into the space of your imagination and inspiration there is so much to enjoy!

Dreamer Highlight-Leonie Dawson

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Welcome back to the week dear readers.  I hope you enjoyed your lovely (hopefully long) weekend and that you were able to squeeze in some relaxation amongst the other festivities you had planned.

I have a treat for you for this weeks Dreamer Highlight.  And because she is so incredibly inspiring and there is so much to her story, I decided to highlight just one dreamer this week.

I stumbled upon Leonie Dawson about 3 years ago as I was doing some research into coaching and dreaming.  I can’t tell you how I linked with her site, but I can tell you that it felt like it was meant to be.  Everything from her website to blog posts, to inspirational newsletters spoke to every fiber of my being.  I hope you find her equally inspirational.

Leonie Dawson is a self-proclaimed “self-help author/artist/hippy who has also evolved into an entrepreneur + philanthropist”.  Not only is she living the life of her dreams (at one point living in a tree house), she helps other women from various backgrounds live and create the life and business of their dreams.  She has created a ton of products, workbooks, journals, and other inspirational tools to guide her clients along their individual paths to greatness.  She is a more spiritual coach and really walks her talk by living her soul’s purpose every day.  She shares her life and journey as well as her products and services on her website here.  Read about her life and her dreams on her about page and see how this wonderful dream goddess has come into her calling to help others.

So how did she get to the life of her dreams?  She followed her heart.  She listened to the deep yearning that kept her moving forward and acted on it as long as it felt right to do so.  She also treated each move as an adventure.  Moving from place to place, she did so with a sense of wonder and magic.  Leonie is the perfect example of following your intuition and using inspired action to get to the life of her dreams.  It was by following her heart, her soul, and the passion she had within that got her to the wonderfully abundant business, beautiful family, and the incredible life she lives each day.

Please check out Leonie Dawson’s website and blog.  I guarantee you will feel the magic of her energy just by reading more about her journey.  I encourage you to embrace that magic and use it to propel you forward into your dream life.  Remember, if she can do it, you can do it too!

 

(Note: I did not receive any compensation for this or any dreamer highlight.  These are simply examples of inspirational people living the life of their dreams meant to motivate and inspire you to do the same. )

Gratitude: Surrendering & Simple Things

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When I wrote my last post, I was convinced my “issues” were behind me and I was ready to move forward.  What I didn’t know was there was a lesson looming that I had to learn before I could truly move forward.  The lesson?  Sometimes we need to surrender to the power of the Universe.  That’s it.

I took some measures into my own hands yesterday to be proactive in checking on my financial mishap to ensure it wouldn’t continue to haunt me.  In the process, I ended up with more confusion and frustration than I had in the prior two weeks.  After speaking with several people who I thought would be able to assist me, I was told “there is nothing you can do”.  Excuse me what?  This situation that I want so desperately to “fix” is out of my hands?  I don’t understand.

After fighting with that thought for an hour or so, I gave in.  I accepted the fact that this particular situation had to play out however the Universe saw fit.  I had to surrender in order for it to resolve itself.  And while I wanted to fix it, I couldn’t.  So, I opened my arms, said a little prayer giving the situation and outcome over to the Universe with faith that all would be well in the end.  At that point something amazing happened.  I didn’t worry or fret about it as much and I simply moved through my day changing my thoughts to whatever I was currently working on.  I couldn’t worry about it anymore, for it was now out of my hands.

This morning I woke up refreshed from a good night’s sleep and grateful for the free feeling I had upon waking.  I could feel a freshness in the air and a new energy for my day that made me smile.  I didn’t even think about the financial situation for I was able to see past it and into the many blessings I had around me at the moment.  My son, my partner, and our lives together.  I had finally let go.

When I checked on the issue this morning, it had finally been resolved and not only that, I was able to get all of the fees associated with this issue reversed as well.  In that moment I opened my heart and gave a heartfelt prayer of thanks to the universe for taking care of the situation as tears of joy flowed.  I learned my lesson and am so grateful for knowing that all things work out no matter how bad they seem if and when you surrender.

In the midst of my surrendering, I became very aware of the many simple things that I often overlook.  For instance, the amazing blue sky that greeted my son and I on the way to his t-ball game last night or the white fluffy clouds that caught our attention on the way home.  I was reminded of the simple yet abundant pleasures we have all around us.  I felt the soft breeze coming in my office window this morning and appreciated the warmth of the sun on my face as I took a moment to truly be in my body.  These are moments we take for granted far too often when we rush around worrying about a time that has yet to arrive.

With a long weekend ahead of us, I hope you find many simple things to be grateful for and that you slow down long enough to enjoy them.

Have a wonderful weekend and as always thank you for reading!