Lamisha Serf-Walls

My Flying Leap!

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I love when I get messages from the Universe that catch my eye and provide a bit of meaning to my current situation…that is when I take notice.  Sometimes I don’t realize the meaning or impact of a quote, statement, or article until I look back, often kicking myself for not noticing it before.  But, as I am learning, everything happens for a reason, even if we don’t know what that is.

Looking back over the last few weeks I noticed I had an eery feeling of discontent upon waking almost everyday.  I didn’t have any particular worries on my mind and I couldn’t quite pinpoint the source.  I would meditate, write in my journal, and compile my gratitude list to help combat this feeling, but I was never really able to get rid of it entirely.  I have also been reading a lot.  Books, quotes, articles, other blogs, and newsletters all with a similar theme.  They became what I like to call “inspirational nuggets”, and while I really enjoyed the information, it didn’t really click.  At least not right away.

The first post was from the When I Grow Up Coach website.  It was about how Michelle Ward’s husband decided to quit his day job to venture into the freelance world.  It’s a really great post and you can read more about it here.  I read it and thought, “Gee I can’t wait to be able to do that.  Of course I will have to do x, y, z first and then…”

The second post was a post from Tiffany Han that discussed achieving your dreams Someday vs Right Now.  In my head my life coaching business has always been a someday kind of thing.  Sure I want to do it and I know that it is what I am meant to do, but there are so many things I should do first…or at least that is what I kept telling myself.  When I read this post, I was thought..”Sounds good but…” and I left it in my inbox to be read later.

I then received this post from The Green Bough which included the quote “I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.” by Rabindranath Tagore.  (Hmmm, do you see a theme here?)  It was this post that got me to start waking up a bit, but I still wasn’t there yet.

I hadn’t quite gotten the full message until a few days later when I was having a conversation with one of my co-workers.  She mentioned she had decided to go back to school to be a pre-school teacher.  She had mentioned wanting to do something other than the work she was currently in and just saying she was going back to school caused her to overflow with excitement.  I was so happy for her.  I congratulated her and told her how I wish I could move forward with my dreams, primarily the life coaching dream.  That is when she said, “You just gotta take the flying leap!”

The idea of a flying leap sounded freeing.  It sounded exciting.  It sounded like throwing my procrastination to the wind and finding another way for it to all work out.  But how???  From the time I decided I wanted to be a life coach the logical step was to get training.  In order to get training the logical step is to save for the training…you get the picture.  It was then I realized I have far more power and knowledge than I am giving myself credit for.

From the time I graduated from college I have been talking to, encouraging, and inspiring co-workers and friends to follow their dreams.  I started this blog for that very reason.  I wanted to continue to inspire others through my journey.  And while I thought there was something specific that I needed to learn in order to help people, I realized, I have been doing it for years already.  So why not take my own flying leap and create my very own model of coaching and do what I love?

I couldn’t come up with a good reason not to, so I took the leap.  I am currently working on a coaching model that I will use in my business.  I am no longer waiting for the “right time” or for someday to come.  I am choosing today and I must say it feels great.  I am inspired and challenged, but most of all proud that I am taking control of my dreams.

One day soon, I can help you take control of yours too.  (That sounds so good!)

Fearless Living…The “How”

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Let me first apologize to you lovely readers for taking so long to continue my thoughts from last weeks “fear” theme.  Sometimes the things we plan are not the things we must do in the moment and I am learning that more and more each day.  With that said, I am back and I am excited to update you on some recent developments in my world.

I ended last weeks post with a promise as to how I was going to begin living a fearless life as a way to teach my son (and future children) to do the same.  At the time my thoughts were on taking some much-needed action toward my goals and leaving fear in the dust.  Before I do that, let me give you a little insight into why I haven’t been moving forward as much as I would have liked.

I have talked a little bit about my plans to write a children’s book and I set the intention to begin writing on a certain date.  I thought the best way to do it was to jump right in, but I soon realized (after scheduling conflicts) that maybe I should wait until I have more inspiration before I begin writing.  I still stand by that decision, but the more I found myself waiting for the inspiration to hit me, I realized I was also allowing fear to dictate my plans.

I had a moment (or two) where I thought if I don’t start this book, I can’t fail.  But then again if I don’t start it, I can’t succeed either.  So, in order to accomplish my dream of writing a book, I have to write, but in order to write the best book, I have to be inspired.  To be completely honest with you fear was not only dictating my plans for writing a children’s book, but also my plans on starting my business and many of my other dreams.  Looking back, I can see my vision was a bit skewed.  I thought I needed certain pieces to fall into place in order to execute my plan of action.  I realize what that really was, was fear.

I was procrastinating and in a way sabotaging my dreams by not even getting started.  I did a lot of good talking about my dreams, about my plans, about the many things that had to happen first, and then I could start working on my dreams only to find they were excuses.  Excuses not to start for fear of failure.  Excuses not to begin for fear of not being good enough.  Excuses not to dream bigger, for fear my reality wouldn’t live up to the picture in my head.  And when I jumped off the boat of self-pity and self-sabotage, I remembered this…

The best part of our dreams is the journey we take in reaching them.  The mistakes we make, the lessons we learn, and the amazing experiences we have along the way make our lives worth living.  And to be completely honest with you, if all of my dreams came true in the blink of an eye, what fun would it be?  Sure my book series would be a success and my business would be booming, but would I appreciate it as much without the journey?  Probably not.

So, with that said I am accepting the journey ahead of me with open arms and while fear may accompany me a little bit along the way, I vow that I will not allow it to become the captain of this ship.  Instead, I am moving forward with my dreams and as I do, I will go where my inspiration leads me and I hope you do too.

(Tomorrow I will give you a little insight into the inspirational nuggets that have appeared to me in the last few weeks. )

Fearless Living

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At the end of last week I decided I wanted to write a post about fear as far as dreams and goals are concerned.  In light of the events that happened in Boston on Monday, I know that this is the right topic to write about for there are various forms of fear that take place.

When I first heard about the tragic events on Monday, I was deeply saddened and as I posted on my Facebook status yesterday, I kept asking myself “why?”.  I don’t know if it is the common violent occurrences that are happening around the world or if it is because I am a mother now, but these things are taking a toll on me.  I have never been one to particularly fear for my safety, nor have I ever been ignorant to believe that bad things can’t happen to me.  I purposely do not watch the news for I don’t believe it adds to my life in any way and because it is nothing but “bad news”.  As you can tell I am far from the realist.

As I felt the sadness for what is happening in our world, I was reminded of the many people who ran to help the victims of the bombings.  Those dear souls that ran toward those in need instead of running away are the heroes.  They are the light in this dark event.  They helped strangers simply because it was needed and didn’t think twice about any other danger they may be putting themselves in.  They gave me hope.  That hope quickly fueled my decision to not live in fear.

As a parent, I am responsible for the safety of my child.  I have been given this wonderful opportunity to care for this incredible life and to make decisions that are right by him.  One of those decisions is to teach him to live the fearless life with a good dose of discernment.  I want my son to grow up and weigh the risks for his dreams.  To live his life fully without fear of rejection, fear of failure, and ultimately without fear at all.  I want him to be able to live in a world that honors his uniqueness and choices.  I want him to be able to live in a peaceful world.  And while I cannot stop the violence on my own, I can teach him that no matter how much negativity and violence we see on television and in the media, it will never outweigh the goodness that is in the world.

And the best way to teach him all of this, is through my actions.  More on how I will be doing that tomorrow.

100th Post and Feedback Request

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I have thought a lot about the content of my posts and with this being my 100th post (yay!), I thought I decided to make a bit of an adjustment to how I post.  The last 99 posts have really been about me getting my feet wet in the blogging world and going with what was on my mind, and while that won’t change too much, I wanted to create content that is a bit more organized for my readers.  With that said, I am setting up a theme for each week to help guide my posts and to help make my content more usable for you lovely readers.  This is a bit of a loose experiment so if you don’t like it, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

I have also thought about the reason I started the blog and the direction I may be headed in the future.  I initially began my blog with the intention of inspiring and uplifting others as they reach for their dreams, while sharing my journey as well.  Looking back, I see I have moved away from that a little bit and as I play with my weekly theme (and other ideas I have brewing), I hope to continue to create posts that will be useful and inspiring to my readers.

With that said, I want to say thank you.  Thank you for reading, commenting, following, and liking my posts.  Thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say and for allowing me to accomplish one of my dreams by starting this blog in the first place.  I am proud that I have not only made it to my 100th post, but also that I have been actively blogging for about 6 months now.  I hope this is the first of many celebrations on my blog and that you know how grateful I am for you.

Feel free to share with me in the comments anything you would like to see more of, less of, or any ideas that you might have of material you are looking for.  Please share your thoughts as I am looking for ways to improve upon what I have already created and with that comes change.