Lamisha Serf-Walls

Friday Fun…Getting to know me better.

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It’s Friday again and while I had some great ideas for more insightful and useful post today, I decided to do something a little different.

Last week I was nominated for a blog award for up and coming bloggers with under 200 followers (I am speeding toward 200, but who’s counting?).  I don’t always nominate other bloggers because I want to keep my posts useful for you lovely readers, but I thought it would be fun to answer some of the questions that came from that nomination.  If you have read my story, you already know a bit about how I got to where I am, but the following questions come from the lovely Janelle Lavier.  Go check out her blog and leave her some love!

10 Questions from Janelle:

1. What inspired you to write?

Well, I have always been a writer in some form or another.  I wrote poetry in high school and always had a journal in college, but I started this blog with the intention of it being a place I could begin to build my future life coaching business.  Little did I know 6 short months after starting this blog, I had an epiphany to finally fulfill my dream of being a life coach instead of making excuses.  So, here I am!

2. Your favorite color is?

Anyone that knows me well knows my favorite color is purple.  Did you know that is also a color of royalty and spirituality?  Fancy huh?

3. Your thoughts the first time you posted on your blog were?

Who wants to read what I have to say?  Turns out many more people than I thought!  Glad I didn’t quit.  🙂

4.  Fill in the blank. My high school prom was_____________?

Fun with friends, but not what you see in the movies.

5. True or False? Being an adult is better then being a kid?

False. I am constantly trying to get in touch with my childlike nature and wonder.  Life is so magical when you can do that!

6. Fill in the blank….Floor hockey to me is_________?

A foreign concept.

7. If you could have any super hero power it would be?

I would love to fly.

8. Why did you pick that power?

Because feeling the wind all around you and going where ever you want would be the ultimate idea of freedom.  Not only that, but it would definitely be good for the environment too. No pollution!

9. Have you ever broken a bone?

Nope. (knock on wood)

10. What are 2 words to describe yourself?

Passionate and Dramatic (shhh…don’t tell anyone)

A few fun facts I wanted to include about myself.

1. My name (Lamisha) is a family name.  My great-grandmother’s name was Lumisha and my mom changed the ‘u’ to an ‘a’.  Thanks Mom!!

2. I was once a tap dancing Santa in a holiday show.  I got to wear a full on beard, wig, hat, Santa suit etc., talk about an adventure!

3. I once traveled to Duluth, MN to work with a young singer on her stage presence.  It was a paid gig which was awesome for me at the time.  And it was something that scared the day-lights outta me when I decided to do it.

4.  In addition to my writing on my blog, I also write book reviews, children’s app reviews, and greeting cards-just call me Mrs. Deeds.

5.  I absolutely 100% believe that your dreams can and will come true no matter what they may be.  I have no doubt that life coaching is what I was meant to do and I want to help as many clients as possible to do the same.  Ready to get started on your plan for 2014 to make it the best it can possibly be?  Contact me to find out how you can do just that.

I have some exciting things in the works that will be available soon to help you get a jump-start on your plans for the new year.  If you want the inside scoop on what, when, and how much (hint: it’s a FREE offer), sign up for my newsletter.  I promise I will only send you really incredible offers and I will not clutter your inbox!  I am so excited to help you all get started early with your plans for the New Year.  2014 is going to be epic!!

Got Time?

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My, how quickly things change.  I went from being less than motivated to a fast and furious flurry of activity in a matter of 24 hours!  Not only was my inspiration sparked, but I was able to dig in and get busy on my list of things to be done and boy did it feel great…that is until time began to feel restrictive.Time

I know I am not alone in this.  It seems over the years we have spent more time adding things to our schedule because we just want to do it all right now!  I am very guilty of that being a “yes” person and all.  I find myself quickly saying yes to new projects, responsibilities, events etc., only to find I am a bit stressed at the thought of doing it all.  Especially if some of those things don’t necessarily line up with what I want for the moment.

It seems the more we pack our schedule full of “stuff”, the less time we have for doing the things we love.  For exploring new ventures or taking time for our dreams.  In fact, the second highest answer I got for why people aren’t living the life of their dreams is that they don’t have the time…or better yet they can’t find it.

Time is not meant to be found.  You can’t go looking in nooks and crannies of the sofa for more time to do something.  It’s not exactly how that works.  I have heard the saying “carve out the time” as if you were carving a pumpkin.  It sounds a bit labor intensive to me, but it is how we live these days.

Like lack of money, lack of time for some people is a major challenge when it comes to moving forward with their dreams.  Some people feel that they have so many responsibilities that it might be selfish to take time away from those things to do something that they want to do.  While I understand where those thoughts might come from, I respectfully disagree.

I think it is much more harmful for us to not do the things we love and the things that are important for us.  I decided to follow my dreams for a variety of reasons, but one of them was so I could teach my son that he can and should do it too.  Whatever he decides is his life’s calling and passion, he should find a way to do that.  Does it mean I have to “find time” to do it?

Not exactly.

Here are a few tips in making time for your dreams.  Some of these are things I implement and others I have taken from working with various clients.

  • Sent an intention to do things you love to do, even if you don’t specifically plan for this time, the intention itself can open doors to more time
  • Get a clear vision of what you would do with the given time.  If you don’t know what you would do with it, chances are you aren’t going to be able to make time.
  • Be okay saying “No” sometimes.  I know this is a big one for me.  Saying “No” to things that don’t resonate with you or that don’t add value to your life is not only ok to do, but it is a must if you are going to be moving forward with your dreams.  Remember you can’t just dig up a bunch of free time.
  • Say “Yes” to your dreams.  This is a big one too.  Know that your dreams are important to you.  Feel the pull and the inspiration to do them.  Allow that pull to grab you and take you where it may because it just might create the exact amount of time you need to do it.
  • Hire a coach.  Working through some of the other challenges that may hold you back can help you see where you can make the time to do the things you love.
  • Take note of what you are doing with your time.  Are you spending a ton of time on Facebook and other social media sites that can suck the life right out of you? Perhaps you want to try a bit of 15-Minute Magic to help limit your social media time.
  • Ask yourself what you want to do often.  I know there are many of us that don’t necessarily want to go to work everyday, but if that is true, take a small step forward to change that.  Being mindful of what you really want to do as opposed to doing things because you have to do them can make all the difference in the world.
  • Spend some time away to visualize, dream big, and immerse yourself in inspirational surroundings.  This gives your mind a break and allows you to loosely focus on your goals.  You can often allow that lovely, easy, inspired feeling to carry you back to your daily life and you might find that you are more able to let some things go.
  • Hire help.  In addition to hiring a coach, you might think about hiring a babysitter, a maid, or someone else to come in and assist you every now and again to provide you the uninterrupted time you need to follow through with your inspired action.

The biggest thing to remember here is to take responsibility for your dreams.  Give them a chance to grow into something truly beautiful for you.  I always say we dream for a reason and that reason is not to make us feel badly about our circumstances.  Our dreams are the precursor to change in our lives.  They cause us to make some much-needed changes, to think outside the box, and to enjoy this thing called life.

Don’t allow your dreams to lie dormant anymore.  No more excuses about why you can’t do it, because you most certainly can and once you make that declaration, watch as the pieces, signs, contacts, money, time, and everything else you may need begin to fall into place.

What are you waiting for???

Let’s Talk Money…

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So it seems that money is the topic of discussion these days not only in the news with all this talk of the U.S. budget etc., but also with potential clients.  When asked why they haven’t moved toward the life of their dreams, the limiting factor is often times, you guessed it, money.

money quote
image from www.sayw.com

Whether they are wanting to start their own business, move to another part of the country, or travel the world, many of the roadblocks are the same.  They haven’t yet amassed enough money to do so.  In their minds (and mine at one time), they had the straight and narrow view of how they could (or couldn’t) accomplish their goal.

Let’s say you want to travel the world for a year.  You might think the most realistic way of doing that would be to have to save enough money to pay all of your expenses while you are away.  In order to do that you calculate what you make now, a realistic amount of money you can save, and how much you will need for your year-long expedition.  Understandably so, that calculation could not only be depressing, but it could also take the wind right out of your sails.  You might feel like it will never happen and you simply let it fall by the wayside.

But, what if instead of providing a straight and narrow view of how it is most likely going to come to fruition, you made a list of all the awesome ways it could happen.  Use the what if game I talk about here and allow your imagination to run wild.

For the example above you might come up with a list that looks like this:

  • I could win the lottery and have all the money I need
  • Someone could gift me the money
  • I could win a trip around the world
  • I could get a new job that pays more and travel sooner
  • I could find a midnight hustle to make the extra money
  • I could find a job that would pay me to travel
  • I could sell all my crap and do it
  • I could work with a life coach and she can help me reach my goal

You get the idea.  This exercise is meant to open your eyes to all of the wonderful ways you could get to your dream without following the most logical and realistic idea.  In fact, if I were working with you on this specific example I would show you how you can get clear about your dream, follow your inspiration to take a tiny step forward, and watch as some amazing things fall into place that will lead you to the next inspirational nugget on your journey.  Doesn’t that sound much better than trying to do it the way that feels so hard and so impossible?

When you limit yourself to accomplishing your dream via this one specific channel, you cut yourself off from all other possibilities.  This wonderful world of ours is full of situations, opportunities, contacts, networks, jobs, etc. that can help you get to where you want to be.  You just have to open your mind to the possibilities that are out there and the best way to do that is to tap into your inspiration.  Don’t allow your current job, income, bills, situations etc. limit you in living the life of your dreams.  Open your mind and see what happens.

Is money the thing you are lacking to make your dream come true?

Also, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to get more juicy inspiration and updates on upcoming offerings.  I can’t wait to share with you what I am working on.

Lessons Learned: Business Building, Worry, and Meditation

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Each time I write one of these posts, I am more amazed at the evolution that is taking place in my personally and in my life.  I am an avid reader and student of life, so I have always wanted to analyze situations and dig a little deeper to find the lessons in most situations, but somehow articulating them here on my blog helps me to focus on them even more.  I hope you find value in them as well.

With that said let’s get to the lessons shall we?

Lesson:  Like building anything, building a business happens in layers and sometimes piece-by-piece.

When I envisioned my coaching business, I saw a booming business with an abundance of one-on-one clients, workshops, seminars, workbooks, books, retreats, etc.  What I did not see was all the behind the coaching stuff.  I didn’t know what I didn’t know and am quickly learning that building a business takes time and it comes in layers.  Much like bricklayers lay each brick on top of the last, I am building my business.  I learned this week that not only is it ok for it to be this way, it’s normal.  Just as I am evolving and changing, my business will do the same and as long as I add to it layer-by-layer, I can enjoy the process as it unfolds.  Enjoying the journey is the most important part!

Lesson:  Worry is worthless. worry

Wow, if I had a nickel for every time I have reminded myself of this fact, I would be rich.  This week in the middle of being blessed with an abundance of writing projects in addition to my day job and my business building, I had a little bit of worry about how I could get it all done.  My mind ran wild as I calculated the number of hours it would take to get everything done.  I was even trying to ration the time so each project got a portion of my time to get it all done.  I quickly learned that the time I spent worrying could be better spent doing something else.  Once I let go of the “how”, I got busy and did what I could with the time I had.  While I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to, I made progress and I wasn’t nearly as stressed.  I count that as a win.  If you are worrying about anything right now, just let it go because it really is worthless.

Lesson: Meditation is my medicine.

Since I have begun a more regular meditation practice (at least 5 days a week) the results have been amazing.  I have been far more calm, less stressed, more focused, and generally more balanced in my thinking/being.  In the last two weeks (especially this week) I have allowed my many responsibilities take precedent over my meditation practice.  While I could feel the stress and frustrations beginning to return, I kept trying to convince myself that I just didn’t have the time.  The Universe decided to prove to me I did have the time.

meditateYesterday after dropping my son off at daycare, I decided to treat myself to a cup of coffee and pay for the person behind me as a nice start to the day.  Upon returning home, I was on my way out the door to take the dogs for a little walk and all I could think of was how little time I had in the morning to tackle my to-do list.  Walking out the door and locking it behind me, I realized what I thought were keys in my pocket were not.  Luckily it was my phone and I was able to call my partner so she could come let me back in.  So what do you do when it’s 7am and you are locked out of the house?  I guess you could do many things, but I decided to watch the sunrise and spend some time meditating outdoors.  I then took myself and the dogs for a stroll around the neighborhood.

When I was able to get back inside, I felt calmer, more peaceful, and ready to tackle the day.  Now I know that meditation is my medicine or more like a vitamin nourishing my soul and protecting me from becoming unbalanced.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and find some time to get outdoors and enjoy the beautiful colors and weather where you are.  And if you have never meditated, try it out and see if you feel some of the same centering effects I do.

Thanks for reading!