Lamisha Serf-Walls

Dream Changer: Featuring Nancy Pigno of Creative Abundance

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****Happy Hump Day Dreamers!  Today we have a wonderful Dream Changer piece by the inspirational and very creative Nancy Pigno from Creative Abundance.  This is one story that will make you dust off your own idea book and get busy.  Enjoy!****

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”  These words were spoken by Thomas Edison years ago, obviously, but they just reached my ears today.  When I heard them I stopped dead in my tracks.

Yes.

These words spoke directly to me.

Not that I am a genius.  That’s not it.

I get inspired though.  You know the phenomenon.  You get a great idea, right?  And then, you let it go, for there is laundry to be folded and lunches to be made.  Life demands a certain amount of effort or it threatens to fall into chaos.  And it is easy to move your dreams and ideas aside to tend to your daily responsibilities.  The idea is forgotten, until weeks, months, maybe years later, when you suddenly remember it.  What a good idea that was!  You wonder what would have happened had you followed it.  More laundry.  More lunches.  Other great ideas come, too.  You have lots.

Laundry.  Lunches.  Life.

We cannot act on all of our great ideas, of course.  It isn’t realistic.  So, we should not beat ourselves up for letting ideas go.  I just read an article about someone who is trying to start a new business every single week for a year.  I wonder about this experiment.  It doesn’t seem a recipe for success unless he truly has vast resources and can delegate much of the work out.  Seems like it would be hard to focus, hard to manage, hard to juggle it all.

We don’t have to act on everything.  It’s okay to let ideas go or to store them in a special notebook labeled, “Great Ideas” or whatever strikes your fancy, so that we don’t lose them entirely.  Collecting inspiration is good, but the genius is in the action: taking an idea out of that special notebook and bringing it to life.

I am doing a monthly theme over at my blog, the Creative Abundance Café.  I have enlisted the help of other creatives and together we are dishing up helpings cuppaof Perseverance.  Perseverance pep-talks are important because that ninety-nine percent of genius, the sweat-work part, is riddled with moments when giving up seems very attractive.

When I was invited to write this piece, my Dream Changer story, my immediate thought is that I would talk about my journey into becoming a creativity coach, setting up a business, or my book-writing aspirations.  But that’s not the essence of it.   Simply put, I am changing my life by the simple fact that I am daring to take ideas out of the “Great Idea” notebook and am taking action towards bringing them into being.

This is a big deal to me.  It isn’t an easy road.  It is full of moments of doubt and discouragement.  It takes courage and it takes perseverance.  This is the truth of it. It is universal.  That is why so many people were eager to rally at the Café. We are cheering one another along because making your dream, changing your life, bringing something new into being, or following a great idea, is worth it.

It is worth every ounce of sweat, all ninety-nine percent.

NancyHaving a life of CREATIVE ABUNDANCE  is about connecting with and believing in your CREATIVE SPIRIT, the part of you that dreams big and believes that you can do whatever you set your mind and heart to. Nancy J. Pigno brings her training as a Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach, in Kaizen-Creative NLP and as a Modern-Day Muse Facilitator together with her Masters in Dance Education, Massage Therapy training and Certificate in Somatics Movement Therapy, to offer 1:1 coaching, workshops, and writings, designed especially for creative people with big dreams.

Website:   http://www.creative-abundance.net/

Blogsite (The Café): http://www.creative-abundance.net/blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creativea

Email:  nanodance@creative-abundance.net

 

Dream Changer: Featuring Karma Dreamwalker

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***We are back with another Dream Changer post from the lovely Karma Dreamwalker.  If you have ever had a dream that you didn’t quite understand or was so weird you wouldn’t dare speak of it to anyone, Karma is the one to chat with.  Her story is one that may make you rethink the purpose and meaning behind your dreams and your power to understand, shape, and use dreams in your waking life.  Take it away Karma!****
dreamwalker
My dream-changing moment was the moment that I chose to go after what I really wanted to do in life; Dreamwork. I always hoped that what I ended up doing in my life would be something like this, however, I wasn’t sure if there was an interest in it.

I had my first “out-of-body” experience at the age of 5, which left a lasting impression on me. I still remember every detail of the experience, and although many people do not understand the subject, it turns out it is actually fairly common.

I was intensely curious, I could not ignore my own experience and I wanted to learn more. 

As it turns out, OBE’s and Dreaming are related. I have always had incredibly vivid dreams in my life. Dreams that often felt as solid as being awake. It is difficult to live out these kinds of meaningful experiences and not be able to speak about it. The other night, I dreamt that I was in a tornado; I became the wind, and felt the air. I have dreamt that I went inside the earth; dreamt that I swam through the ocean and felt the water on my skin; dreamt that I took a deep peaceful breath and felt the oxygen in my lungs. The depth of these experiences is amazing, considering you are just lying in your bed.

When you talk about dreams like that to a stranger, they are likely to give you a funny look. This leads to people ignoring their dreams for fear of “sounding crazy” because they do not have anyone to discuss it with who understands. Without support, people often ignore their dreams or become afraid of their experiences. When I ignored my dreams, they got louder and became nightmares that kept me awake at night and caused me to wake in the morning feeling intensely anxious.

I made the decision to volunteer, because I thought that it would help me to do something to help others. I volunteered for a center for women healing from trauma. While I was there, the subject of dreams got brought up, and a woman was telling me about someone she knew, who was having nightmares that kept her awake and from enjoying her life, although it was “just a dream” they very much affected her.  That was the moment that I realized I was not the only one who has been afraid of their dream experiences, and I decided I had to go for it.

I made the decision to concentrate on my own dreams again, so that I could heal and transform myself and my life from the inside-out.

Instead of running from my nightmares, I went to bed with the intention to immerse myself fully in them. I ran directly into my own storm so that I could find out what was really happening with me. I was having nightmares of a man chasing me and trying to kill me. When I made this decision, I dreamt of him again, but this time, I turned around and laughed at him. I asked “Why are you here?”

This led to a series of dreams in which I was running through my dreamscape until I found him and asked every question I could. It wasn’t easy, actually, and was a pretty intense experience all its own, however through this experience I found that I became empowered. I was working through the various levels of fear that I had built up over the years. One night, I realized that I was no longer afraid of him, and he had no power in my dreams. I stopped dreaming about him, but then I walked around my dreamscape and saw that the imagery still wasn’t very happy. The anxiety, stress, worry that I had collected over the years was visible in my mind.

I decided that I was done having nightmares at that point. I felt I had expressed and healed the parts of me that needed to be acknowledged enough. I was ready to move forward with my life. With this intention, I had another dream; one that was intense and unexpected. Because my entire dreamscape was made up of nightmare imagery, there was only one thing to do – my dreamscape collapsed. In an earthquake, the water flooded and the ground shook, and then I was in a void.

Elephants appeared and walked me out of the void, they each had an earth on their back, and there was several of them. They walked somewhere there was water, and trees growing out of the water. I felt peace. I had collapsed my nightmare dreamscape, and pulled myself into a new one.

It was an intense experience, even though it happened in the realms of my dreams; it transformed my entire life, my attitude, it helped bring me clarity and most of all, it helped empower me again. I haven’t had a nightmare since, although sometimes my dreams can be intense, I am not fearful of my experiences anymore. This feeling reflects out in other parts of my life as well. Actions that you take while awake are reflected in your dreams, but also, when you take an action in a dream, it is reflected into the waking world.

I want others to feel comfortable expressing their dream experiences, talk to me about the weird stuff! Consider me a friend that has been through it, lets see if we can make some sense out of the nonsense, or perhaps, just explore, transform, and empower.

Sweet Dreams,

Karma Dreamwalker

KarmaKarma Dreamwalker is a 22 year old Spiritual Dreamwork Artist, Intuitive Health coach, and Teacher of Magickal Arts. She lives in California and focuses on inspiring transformation through the art of lucid dreaming, dream interpretation, and dream divination. Visit her website www.KarmaDreamwalker.com or her blog www.theartofdreamwalking.com to learn more.

 

Dream Changer-Featuring Petra Monaco

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***Happy Hump Day Dreamers! It’s Wednesday and it is time for another wonderful Dream Changer post!  This week I am excited to share with you a woman who has overcome great obstacles in life to find her true calling and as we all know life’s path is rarely a straight line and many times a topsy turvy wonderful world of lessons, growth, and evolution and Petra Monaco’s story is amazing.  She is doing wonderful work in the world and I know you will enjoy her story.  Take it away Petra!***

It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what moment in my life directly led me to this path because in the big picture of it all it all relates in some way.

I grew up in Germany in foster homes since the age of two until I graduated high school at the age of 15. Throughout the years I was exposed to trauma and abuse, neglect, rejection, unable to believe in myself and looking for love in all the wrong places. During all my struggles of trying to find out who I am, I never quit. I was pregnant with my first born at 17, engaged to an American, who I would not marry until later. I moved cross the ocean to find a different life and was left to continue to figure it all out on my own. I married the father of my son and a few years later, we had another child together. We would not work out however due to move beyond our parens dysfunction, but we are friends nonetheless.

Life still wasn’t easy and I continued to move forward believing there is something out there but never quite finding what I needed. I singled parented for awhile, remarried my husband just to once again learn that this is not working out for us. I earned a degree in accounting with the potential of making good money but I was unable to be satisfied or feel happy about it. I wanted more. I loved psychology, I loved learning about the FBI and toyed with the idea of becoming a profiler. But it still did not sit with me.

I learned about life coaching from a television show and thought to myself, now that …that looks interesting.

firefighter
One of Petra’s amazing pieces!

I began to find solace in my creations and crochet and wood burned whenever I could. I started my first business Hippie’s Creations. I find it therapeutic to create with fibers or burn on wood. It’s been my tool towards healing where I look within, analyze my situations and figure out a way to move forward.

In my 30’s I gave birth to my fourth child who at the age of four was diagnosed with a rare metabolic genetic disorder. I think that this ultimately tipped me over to follow my dreams and pursue what I wanted out of life. But it appeared I was not ready to acknowledge what I wanted and had a few more things to learn. I opened a brick and mortar store but closed it a year later still not feeling good about life. I left a relationship that did me more harm than good and my growth was huge.

I wrote a book about what I remembered of my life which helped me move forward, create boundaries, and live a much healthier life. I still have some work to do but I am enjoying the path I have taken.

In 2010 I started working as an intensive in-home counselor and I LOVED my work. I am still with the same company and continue to help children figure it all out providing them with therapy as they need. But as a mom with a child who has disabilities and remembering the life coaching show I started to explore it more.

I am in the process of writing a book, sharing my son’s inspirational story of survival and his incredible will to live. I have also started Fostered Life, in which I help individuals find the time to balance work, family and live the life they have envisioned. I am offering pro bono coaching sessions to foster children who are aging out and need a little help reaching their goals!

Petra

PetraPetra is a former foster child ready to change the world one pebble at a time. She’s the author of Betrayal: The Journey: Childhood Memories and the Adult Awakening. She is a mother of a special needs child and is in the process of writing a book about his journey of rare genetic disorder and surviving three liver transplants. You can get a glimpse of his life at www.lennonsworld.com . Petra is also a crochet and pyrographic artist and shares this world over at Hippie’s Creations . In addition to sharing the arts with the world, she is helping individuals foster their dreams by creating new thoughts and habits along the way to be come the person we should be and live the live we want! Connect with her at www.fosteredlife.com .

Dream Changer-Featuring Isis Arjeta

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***I am a little behind with posting the latest Dream Changer feature this week, however this one is worth the wait.  I am so excited to present to you the amazing transformative journey of a dear friend, co-teacher of the Unleash Your Personal Power course, overall amazing healer and soul sister, Isis Arjeta.  I know you will leave this post feeling anything is possible and I encourage you to check Isis out online and on her Facebook page to learn more about what she can do to help you grow, heal, and evolve into the abundant and amazing soul you are meant to be.***

“You may say that I’m a DREAMER….”

Since I can remember I’ve known that I am destined for an amazing life… to change the world for the better, and really make a difference in people’s lives. The how has never been clear, but a dream is all you need, right? In following my dreams,I’ve flung myself wholeheartedly on so many life paths I can no longer count them. I attended college for 6 years, and achieved the glorious Associate of Arts they give to people who don’t know what they want to DO with their lives. I’ve changed directions and dreams so many times that it has become a magical, colorful tapestry of experience and growth.

In the process of weaving this tapestry, I worked in a busy ER and collected some wild stories about the crazy things humans do. I’ve processed paperwork, I hung out with alter-able adults, and became a massage therapist. I sold books on amazon, I moved cross country in a home-made caravan, and I learned what it means to be a New Age Hippy. I’ve had a mohawk, long shiny blonde hair, and several sets of dreadlocks. I’ve worn high end pumps, and been barefoot and broke. I’ve crossdressed, been a nudist, and I’ve sold my dirty laundry online to fetish lovers. I stepped out of societies labels and boxes and altered my consciousness in ways most people can’t even imagine. But it still didn’t satisfy my dreams of radical success and happiness.

The real shift in my life happened when I decided it was time to actually manifest what I’ve been dreaming. No matter what I do, I want it to be EASY. Yes, you heard it, easy. I was always told that life is hard, nothing is easy, and certainly you never get anything for free. Inside I always laughed, because something in me KNEW that it was a lie. It doesn’t make any sense to me that with all the resources and incredible talent present in a world filled with 7 billion creative souls, anyone would be destined to suffer and work hard.

Yet every time I tried to build a business, make a name in the world, or just be happy, something went wrong. It wasn’t easy, and I had to work very very hard. It left me with a rage and hatred that the world could be so cruel… and deep self-loathing that I couldn’t figure out how to make my dreams real. How does one small human being change the world?

One day I gave up. I screamed a desperate prayer at God (which I hadn’t done since I was a teenager) that said something like “F*ck you, I give up. What am I supposed to do? I believe in an easy, blissful, and abundant life for all beings, but everytime I try to make it real, something is in my way. What gives?”

For the first time since I was little, I actually received a full-on answer from Spirit. A Voice spoke to me and said “You are the only one standing in your way. Get your sabotaging beliefs and all those angry emotions out of your mind and heart, and the world you see will change before your eyes.” So I thought, “I need some help with that, I don’t even know where I’m stuck.” The Universe kept answering me, and the perfect teacher showed up – I could literally see her bright angel wings outlined behind her head. So yet again, I took a wild leap of faith, and signed up for an EFT and Hypnotherapy training class at The Miracle Center of California. “My dream is so big, I need a Miracle to make it happen,” I thought.

“…But I’m not the only one…”

My first day of class, everything changed. Robin Duncan, my angel teacher, used EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and Hypnotherapy to help me release trauma and angst from my childhood as well as lifetimes of experiences, and she encouraged my dreams. For the first time EVER, I met others who also believed that life can be easy and beautiful in every single moment. It requires a complete shift in how you perceive the world, but with access and tools to clear to the subconscious, it is EASY!

According to A Course in Miracles (my FAVORITE life guide), a Miracle is defined as a shift in perception from fear to love. Who doesn’t want to do that, right? Sometimes our subconscious and emotional beliefs make that difficult though, and learning EFT and Hypnotherapy gave me the ability to shift my perceptions on all levels. It became so simple to shift my experiences on a daily basis that I am now living in a whole new way – with ease and grace, no matter what challenges I seem to face. I had never realized how much of my time and energy was wasted on fear, complaining, and trying to figure out the details.

“…I hope someday you’ll join us…”

I couldn’t believe how fast that initial shift happened. I literally looked like I had a facelift after that first session – and I felt 20 paradiseyears younger. Within months I had quit my spa job and was running my own home-based massage and healing business. Nearly two years later I am now living the life I always dreamed of, filled with ease and daily Miracles. My lifelong dream of living in the tropics came true this year when I moved to Maui, Hawaii where I play and dance and swim in the ocean every day. I am able to share the gift of EFT and Hypnotherapy with clients from all over the world, in person and through the internet. I have created e-courses to help others make the same kind of shift into an easy and fulfilling life, and I teach in-person certification courses in EFT and other energy healing modalities. I am truly blessed that my dreaming world is now my waking life. I wake up every morning in Paradise, with the awareness that my DREAM is my REALITY.

I am still in awe of the transformation that occurs when we access the subconscious patterns we’ve accepted as our identities and shift them into what we truly desire. I believe that every person on earth has a very special purpose and mission – to make an impact, to change the world, and to be filled with love and gratitude in every moment. What is holding YOU back from living a life of ease, while changing the world for the better?

If you are ready to make a radical shift in your life and allow your dreams to become your everyday reality – to live on easy street and be filled with radical joy and excitement – I want to hear from you! Please comment on this blog post, and head over to my website and Facebook page to stay in touch! I want to hear what YOU are dreaming into reality!

 “…and the world will live as One!” ~ John Lennon, Imagine

IsisArjetaIsis Arjeta is a radical mystic who loves to laugh, play, and surf the waves of life – or the gorgeous Maui coastline that serves as her backyard. She uses her wide variety of skills and experience to help you uncover the brilliant being you already ARE. A session with Isis feels like a conversation with your best friend, and always includes laughter and spot-on insight. She blends an irreverent sense of Spirituality with deep love, and creates a safe space for transformation wherever she goes. You can find Isis at www.facebook.com/OneSoulution or www.isisarjeta.com to stay updated on her latest Miracle adventures!

 

Dream Changer-Featuring Applied Kinesiologist Felicia Giouzelis

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***This week I am so excited to present to you one of the co-creators and teachers of the Unleash Your Personal Power e-course (registration ends April 14th!!!), Felicia Giouzelis.  Felicia is not only a powerhouse of knowledge and experience in muscle-testing and Applied Kinesiology, but she is also a beautiful soul with a passion and spark that you can’t help but feel from her with every interaction.  You will see what I mean when you read her dream changer post below.  I hope you enjoy her story and check out her website for more information about how she changes lives on a daily basis. Take it away Felicia!***

My dream changing moment exploded onto the scene in August 2013. I had spent the past year in a high-profile position within the food service industry zoiresponsible for several departments in several locations for a company that was rapidly growing. I had revamped all processes and procedures within a year, launched a successful software redevelopment project from the ground up and altered the entire direction that this company was taken and yet, I felt empty inside.

That amount of success took approximately 90 hours per week from my life, it robbed me of my exercise routine, my healthy food choices and even my personal goals and aspirations. I watched myself deteriorate into a person that I no longer knew and I had seen this person before. The workaholic die-hard overachiever that got amazing amounts of work done but lost herself in the process. I try very hard to live without regrets, but if I were to regret any choice it would be the times that I had lost sight of myself.

Before I began that position, I was going through a terrible breakup. Looking back on it now, I realize that the job was an escape for me. I didn’t want to deal with any of the feelings associated with the breakup, so I buried myself in a position that was busy enough to help me escape. I used 90 hours a week as an excuse not to deal with any of the feelings associated with the breakup. By no means was I required to work 90 hours a week. My self-proclaimed undying determination was the reason for the extra hours, or so I thought at the time.

In August 2013, at the culmination of burnout… I lost it! I lost the need to continue working crazy hours, the need to put others before myself and the need to find fulfillment through my job. At the height of burnout, I resigned from my position. The day after my last day of employment, I simply collapsed on every level. My physical body finally had a chance to recover from the self-induced overwork of the past year and all I could do for two months was sleep about 16 hours a day – ironically, the same amount of time I was working each day!

Within a week of leaving, I started to think about what the next chapter of my life would entail. At that moment, I was invited to an advanced class in Applied Kinesiology at a school in New Mexico. The call was too loud for me to ignore it and it felt like I already belonged there. I flew out and was right, I felt instantly connected to the course and the people. It was at that moment that my entire life direction changed and I felt the shift very strongly.

I felt like I had come home.

These days a six-hour workday is about all I can muster and referring to it as a ‘workday’ is a comical statement to me. I have so much fun with applied kinesiology, it feels like I haven’t worked a single day. Being of service to others in healing is by far the most fulfilling part of my life.

Today I lovingly and gratefully reflect on my former position as a required step in my path. Without that intense pressure, I don’t think I would have left the position and found my true calling.

 

Headshot(1)Felicia is determined to live in a world where everyone is healthy, thriving and dis-ease free! As an applied kinesiologist, she’s been applauded by her peers and clients for her ability to explain how the body functions, the root cause of imbalances and how to bring it back into balance holistically – in easy to understand terms. When she’s not working with her amazing clients, you can find her pouring over articles and books about epigenetics at the local park.

Her latest e-course — Unleash your personal power — hits the internet on April 1, 2014 (registration ends April 14th!)

Find out how to bring your body into balance at www.zoiwellness.com or you can reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.