Neutrality is not a new concept. Lost your job? Neutral. Marriage sucks? Neutral. Found the love of your life? Neutral. It’s all neutral. It’s all just an experience.

Your mind gives “good” or “bad” interpretation to it, but ultimately…neutral.

What are you resisting in your life now?

You know that what you resist persists. We all know that.

Theoretically sounds great – just stop resisting the situation. Be in it. Accept it and see it dissolve on its own.

Stop worrying about money. Stop worrying about your marriage. Stop worrying about – how much longer I am going to be here. Here… where I don’t want to be anymore.

When will Change come? Easily and effortlessly. Preferably without me doing the hard work.

My divorce has been going on forever already. I am so ready to be over with it. But it doesn’t seem to end any time soon. How do you not resist something like this?

The thing is – it won’t end until I accept Here and Now. Until I stop resisting.  Hard work might not be necessary but dropping resistance is.

Sometimes it might happen naturally – when you are resisting something for too long, eventually you’ll get tired. You’ll say – who cares. But it might take awhile to get to that point. Often it works faster to consciously decide to stop resisting.

“When you surrender and stop resisting and stop trying to change that which you can’t change, but be in the moment, be fully open to the blessings you’ve already received and those that are yet to come & stand in that space of gratitude … and look at where you are and how far you’ve come and what you’ve accomplished …- when you can claim THAT and SEE that, the literal vibration of your life will change.” Oprah

This quote goes perfectly with today’s post. Few things that help me to stop resistance are:

1. Compared to what?

Each time you notice yourself judging anything as good or bad, ask yourself – compared to what? I don’t like how my body looks. Compared to whose body? My relationship with my partner could be better. Compared to what? I don’t have enough money. Compared to what?

When you ask yourself those questions you realize that your good or bad are so relative. Then you realize that everything is neutral. Then you realize that you are doing much better than you thought. And then hopefully you stop resisting as much.

2. Physically relax into the situation that causes resistance.

Think of your situation. What do you resist? What are you unhappy with? Feel the resistance and tension in your body. Now breathe into it. And relax.

3. Most importantly stop resisting your own resistance. I’ve done that for awhile. If you are already resisting a lot and the situation really sucks (according to your mind’s interpretation, of course… but still), admit it. Claim it. Say that it sucks. And that you hate it. And wish it was over …like RIGHT now.

Only after that do steps  1 and 2. Denial is not necessary.

And then keep reminding yourself that everything is just an experience.

Look back at your life. I bet you’ll remember many situations when what looked not so good at the time turned out to be for the best after all. It truly is all for the best. There is a lesson in everything. The one that will bring you closer to who you are meant to be.

Stop resisting. Let go.

In the past few weeks I’ve been going in and out of the state of depression without realizing it. I don’t even want to use this word here  – depression. Too strong for me. I never viewed myself as someone who would experience something like this.

I am an optimistic person. Sometimes to the point of where it is stupid. The sky might be falling and I will be standing there and thinking –It is for the best. And everything truly is for the best. But sometimes being always positive and optimistic is not the best thing to do.

In the  last few weeks I went numb. I bet you noticed that considering there was almost no posts on this blog.

Main reason? My divorce. Divorce that I tried so hard to make not a big deal out of.

Let me tell you. It is a big deal. Freaking big and quite stressful deal. Especially when there are kids involved.

For whatever reason I was afraid to admit it. I was afraid to face it.

I painted a nice picture in my mind of us peacefully getting divorced but staying best friends who share a child and spend time together often. Didn’t quite work out that way. We are to the point of hardly speaking with each other.

And our son is in the middle of it all. I so wanted to prevent him from seeing us like this. He sees it all now.

So there I was. In the middle of a quite stressful divorce trying to convince myself that it was not a big deal. I would repeat over and over again to myself and everyone else around that it was just an experience. I am moving to a better place. Everything is good. I would also throw a joke there when someone asked.

Complete denial.

And to make the situation more ironic I met an amazing person who I really like and who likes me back. When I am with him life is secure, exciting, unbelievable. But then I get back to reality where there is “soon to be ex-husband”, his “moods” and all other kinds of stuff related to our divorce.

So I went numb. At first I thought that I just needed a little break. Read my previous post. But turned out it was more than that.

I literally wanted to become invisible for the outside world. Opening my email was a painful task. I haven’t checked Facebook or Twitter in forever. I wasn’t checking my voicemail, nor returning phone calls.

My dear friends and everyone who emailed or called me in the last few weeks and didn’t get a response, I really hope you didn’t take it personally.

All I wanted to do on the most days was sleep.

The funny thing is that I was still not realizing what was happening.

To make it worse I stopped working almost completely. I wasn’t promoting my coaching nor my newly released product in any way and wasn’t even responding to coaching requests I was getting. Quite an irresponsible thing to do when you are getting divorced with a child.

Everything that had such meaning to me became meaningless.

So when the stack of bills on the desk became bigger and the feeling of “I don’t even want to look at them because I don’t know how I am gonna pay all of that now that I don’t know who I am” became unbearable, it finally hit me –  something is really wrong.

That’s when I  faced it. The denial was over.

Yes, I am in a damn stressful situation. Yes, it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. Yes, I am not as strong as I always thought I was. And, yes, divorce sucks. It really does.

Tony Robbins always says that to change the situation you have to see it as it is first, and only after that see it better than it is. I was avoiding seeing my situation as it was.

Awareness. I preach it every day. And there I was not allowing myself to become aware.

Why do I write all of this?

Because I know that there are people out there who experience something similar. It might happen to anyone one day. And usually when you expect it the least. I was happy releasing my new product. And right before the launch this happened. And then it got worse and worse. And I got number and number. It felt like I was paralyzed and even though I knew I had to do something, I couldn’t do anything.

Here are the steps that helped me to get out of that state.

1. Face your situation. See it as it is. Admit it. If it sucks, say it. It is ok to be negative from time to time. Stop the denial.

2. Ask yourself – What do I want to do right now? For whatever reason this step is crucial to be able to get to the next ones.

Forget about what you should do. Forget about what you need to do. What is it that you truly want to do right now? Take a nap? Go for a walk? Call you friend you didn’t talk to in years?

I felt like going to the park to a special place I and my son love spending time at. And there in the park, sitting on the bench by the river my mind started clearing.

3. Clear your mind.

My mind was so foggy and jumpy that I couldn’t focus on finding the solution. Sometimes meditation might help with calming and clearing the mind. But in extreme situations like this one meditation often doesn’t work.

What really helps me is to do a brain dump. Take a piece of paper. And  start writing everything that you have on your mind. Don’t worry about it making any sense. Just write. And write some more. And more. Until nothing else comes out. Mind clarity you’ll feel after doing this is unbelievable.

4. Find the underlying conflict. Often putting my thoughts on paper leads me to the core of the issue.  If you don’t see the core, start asking yourself – Why am I numb? Where is this coming from? What is the core limiting belief that is causing it?

The core is usually some deeply hidden limiting belief that often comes from your childhood or some kind of painful experience from the past. Your subconscious got so impressed by the feeling that you experienced because of it that now you repeat the same pattern over and over again without realizing it.  I learned that just remembering the core experience and becoming aware of it helps to release the limiting belief.

No belief – no pattern anymore.

I won’t tell you the exact experience from my childhood that I remembered but the feeling that it left behind was  – “I am not responsible for my life. I am not in control. I am helpless. There is not much I can do to change the situation.”

And that’s exactly what I was experiencing this past few weeks. That’s exactly why I went numb. Why I wanted to become invisible. Because it felt like there is no sense in doing anything. I can’t change it. I felt helpless.

I am always amazed how all the answers are already there. All I had to do was to ask. What is the core? Where is this coming from? And right there and then I remembered the situation that happened over 15 years ago.

Your mind has all the answers for you. Just start asking questions.

Like I said often just becoming aware of the past painful experience is enough to let limiting belief go. I used EFT and Sedona method to make sure I really let it go. Google them. There are plenty of info online about both.

5. Figure out the next steps. Only after you cleared your mind, found internal conflict and let go of the limiting belief, can you start thinking of what’s next. And usually the next steps will come to you easily once the mind is clear. Write them all down.

6. Do something right away. To keep the momentum rolling take some action. No matter how small it is, do something right away. It will be a signal to you mind that you are serious, that you started moving.

7. And as a bonus step, I really recommend to get rid of the clutter in your physical space. My home never gets too cluttered, I make sure to get rid of the stuff I don’t use/need often. But sometimes I clear everything out just for the sake of clearing my mind. It works each and every time. There is definitely a very strong correlation between clutter in our physical space and clutter in our minds.

Those are the steps I used. I feel better. And so much clearer now. And even though the situation is still stressful, I face it. I am not numb anymore. I take full responsibility. I am not helpless. If I got myself into it, I can get myself out.

I learned lots of lessons on the way. And I am sure there are more lessons to come and more limiting beliefs to clear.

I am moving. Moving forward. And it feels good. Feels like myself again.

When I got married 5 years ago I told to my husband at the time that I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I was so burned out at the job I had that I sincerely believed I didn’t want to ever work anymore and would be satisfied raising kids and taking care of the house.

The husband was thrilled with the idea, that was what he wanted his wife to be. The idea was nice theoretically, but didn’t last too long.  I got bored and got a job 3 months after we got married.

When my son Nicholas was born I realized that I can’t take him to daycare and I don’t trust babysitters, at least while he was little. That’s where the dilemma started. How can I be someone who is not just a stay at home mom and at the same time stay at home with my baby? Home-based business was the only logical answer. So my business started not as a result of me wanting to follow my passion. Passion came later. It started as a desire to do something meaningful in the world and stay at home with my son at the same time.

Fast forward couple years.

I tried many business models online. Made money. Lost money. Scratched everything and started over.  Rediscovered my passions. Decided to get divorced.

I burn meals. Often. I let go of the desire for everything to be clean and organized and don’t freak out anymore when the house gets messy as if it wasn’t cleaned for two weeks just two hours after I cleaned it.

I make business calls while chasing my son on the playground or playing Lego with him. I have two calendars that I update – one for business related activities, another one for our trips to the zoo, kids birthdays, children’s museum, pumpkin patches or strawberry picking. Two books that I have on my night table at the moment are – Unleashing The Ideavisrus by Seth Godin and The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman.

Life is full. And wonderful.

The thing that I realized lately is  – what I am doing is good enough. Really. It is.

I used to think that my business should be growing quicker and that I should be able to squeeze in more activities into our schedule. I even used to try and figure out how I can get by on even less sleep.

But recently I decided to relax. Yes, my business might not be growing as quickly as I’d like it to. This is the choice I made. I don’t want my son to go to a full time day care. I don’t want babysitters. That means I obviously can’t dedicate as much time to my business as I’d like to and that’s ok. I am making a progress for sure.

Being a mother and CEO might seem easy when you look at others but turns out to not be so easy when you do it all yourself. And that’s ok too.

You are doing enough.

Just relax and enjoy the ride. Get rid of the nagging “not good enough” thought in your head and decide here and now that you are enough. You truly are.

Realizing that took so much pressure and stress out of my life. I still do everything I used to do but now it feels different. I allow myself to take more breaks. I don’t feel like I am in a constant chase all the time.  I even started dating!

I feel more balanced. And you know when you are balanced your child will be much more balanced too. Which means  less meltdowns and more cooperation. Which means less stress for both of you.

Life becomes better just with one decision – decision to think of yourself as good enough.

Can you make this decision now? I bet you can. Because you really are.

→

P.S. I know there is too much “baby talk” on this blog lately:) I promise to get back to writing about “real” stuff soon:)

I love working at Starbucks. I love the atmosphere and the feeling it gives me. I feel Freedom. I feel that I can make stuff from anywhere.

I am sitting at Starbucks with my laptop now. From time to time I stop what I am doing and just observe people around me.

I remembered this line from the Peaceful Warrior (if you haven’t watched the movie, I highly recommend it): “There is always something going on”.

There is truly always something going on. There is a couple sitting by the window lovingly looking at each other, woman at the counter is telling barista that she didn’t like the way her drink was mixed, guy in a suite with a laptop in front of me keeps checking me out, young woman with a baby is waiting in line and making faces to the baby.

There is so much going on around. And everyone is consumed by their own little worlds.

During those moments when I stop and just observe the world around me, I experience such bliss. Awareness  – the rarest state ever is what comes alive during those moments.

I instantly feel peace and inner knowing that everything is fine.  

Life is on my side. No matter what challenge I might be going through –  that moment, that peace is always available to me. All I have to do is stop and become an observer.

What I also noticed is that the more I have those moments of complete presence and awareness, the easier things seem to become. Most tasks get done effortlessly. Solutions are found. The World seems to start realigning itself to meet my needs and desires.

I get into the state of flow. And life starts taking me where I need to go without me having to do much for it.

They say that the secret to getting what you want is to get clear on what you want and then let go and enjoy the process.

I learned this to be so true.

Just get clear and stop worrying about “how”.  Stop worrying how long it’s going to take and that you might not have the resources yet, and that you have no idea of exactly what steps  will take you there.

Just start doing something in that direction and be present as much as possible.

Be present seems like such an easy thing to do but in reality it is one of the most difficult things (unless you are enlightened of course. I doubt you would be reading my blog if you were).

Our mind hates presence. It lives in the future or the past, constantly worrying, analyzing, fantasizing.

Rarely Here and Now. And when it is Here and Now, it becomes restless. It starts screaming: “There is so much to do, to think about, to worry about, what are you doing Here? “

Why does being present work?

• You get closer to your spirit and you shut down your lizard brain that wants to keep you in your comfort zone.
• You allow your Higher Self to send you ideas and opportunities. Your conscious mind is not interrupting
• You get more intuitive to the flow of your life.
• You let go of your desires which allows them to manifest. Letting go works.  You still want it, but you allow it to happen in a best way possible without trying to push the desired outcome.
• You become more aware. State of awareness is one of the rarest states that exist. It allows you to become conscious of what you do, think and feel. As a result you can consciously choose your thoughts, feelings and actions. That ability alone can transform your life.

How can you train your mind to be present and stay present for longer periods:

1. Meditate: Even 5 minutes of meditation a day can increase your awareness and ability to be present tremendously. Meditation stills your jumpy mind. I won’t even mention other tremendous benefits of it.

2. Focus on your senses often throughout the day:  I found this simple exercise to help  train the mind to be present.  Consciously decide to focus on one of your senses as often as you can throughout the day.

Say to yourself: sight. Focus on what you see around you. Some time later: hearing. Focus on sounds that you hear. Then smell, touch, taste.

3. Do something new: Commit to doing one new activity a day. It doesn’t have to be something grand each time. Cook a new meal, take a new route to work, start a journal, try new restaurant, try something new in the bedroom with your partner, change a radio station you listen to in the car.

Again, do it consciously. When you consciously make a decision to do something new every day, you are much more likely to do it and have tons of ideas.  New activity trains your mind to stay present because your mind gets interested by it.

Those are just some ideas to get you started.

Remember, the more aware you are and the more often your mind is in the present moment, the faster life seems to start moving you in the direction you want to go. Presence and awareness are powerful states that can create miracles in your life.

Do it consciously. Make a conscious decision to start doing it.

Are you present now?

There is so much going on around you. Stop moving through life on autopilot. Stop. Observe. Become aware. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. 

 Enjoy the moment.

Update: This post was written two days ago. The state of flow I experienced sitting in the morning at Starbucks by consciously deciding to be present and aware stayed with me the whole day and in the evening of that day something really amazing happened. Proving once again that when you are present and aware, life starts sending surprises without you having to look for them.

There are two things we don’t talk nearly enough about  in our society and don’t have nearly enough clarity around.

Sex and Money.

I had a discussion with a friend of mine that led me to thinking about why it is the case.

Why are we not clear about sex and money? With others.  And most importantly with ourselves.

Why are there so much miscommunication, hiding, shame around these two topics? Quite important topics. If not to say – vital for our survival.

Why is it often a taboo to talk about sex and money openly? Why so often we are not clear with ourselves on our thoughts and feelings regarding both? And how does it affect our growth, freedom and happiness?

Privacy? I don’t think it’s just the matter of privacy.

When Steve Pavlina started posting all over his blog and social media about his D/s explorations earlier this year, I’ll be honest, I was a bit ummm…surprised in the beginning.

And I clearly remember the first thought I had regarding the whole thing.  Ego. Overindulgence of Ego.

The label was put right away.

Good thing I am quite conscious about my own reactions these days, so I stopped and reconsidered right away.  I read more. I thought about it. And I realized that no, it’s not about the Ego.

One of the enlightened teachers once said: “It is Ego, that wants to get rid of the Ego.” Think about this sentence for a minute.

Steve Pavlina seems to understand it quite well. He is not resisting any part of himself. He is clear on what his desires are. He goes and gets what he wants. And he sees no need in hiding it, even though it might not fit the box of socially accepted norms and regulations. That’s Wholeness, in my opinion.

Why most of us can’t have such Clarity?

Why can’t we talk openly about our desires, frustrations, thoughts, feelings around sex and money? Where does that shame come from?

I think mostly from the belief that sex and money are not spiritual. That’s why my first reaction to Steve Pavlina and his explorations was  – Ego.  I think on a  conscious level most of us overcame money vs spirituality  block, but subconsciously it still sits inside of us.

Sex and money are the realms of Ego not Spirit.

Are they really?

Let’s look at sex and money from a spiritual perspective.

One thing that Steve Pavlina did mention many times was that D/s exploration helped him grow a lot. Because it stretched his comfort zone quite a bit. And we all know that growth is really impossible without going out of your comfort zone.

I’d add that the experience also helped him to learn more about himself and other people, which is also a vital component of growth and becoming a better and happier person.

Spirituality is all about growth. It is also all about Freedom. Our spirit wants us to go further, reach higher, learn more about ourselves. Know Thyself has been proclaimed for centuries the key to happiness and purpose driven life. It is also the key to Freedom.

Sex definitely can help us with that if we are not afraid to use it for those purposes.

Money is the same thing. How can we do anything in our society without money? They say 2012 is coming and things will change. Ummm, I don’t know. Let’s live here and now.

Right now how can we grow without money or without desire to have money?  When we want to take our income to the next level, that requires a whole new set of thinking and acting. That requires going out of your comfort zone and stretching your limits.

I won’t even mention the fact that without money most of us are stuck in a rat where there is little opportunity to explore ourselves or the world around us. Without money Freedom is a hard to gain thing. Of course, there is a whole bunch of different topics that come up on how much is enough for Freedom and how to make money doing what you love etc, but those are different topics.

So how can money and sex be non spiritual?

Not only are they NOT non spiritual. They are the best and the most powerful spiritual tools for growth, self expression and happiness after all.

Your Spirit wants you to go after them. Your Spirit wants you to use them!

The question is – why don’t we use them nearly enough?

So today I invite you to talk about sex and money. No, not with me (unless you want to, of course), but with yourself.

Let’s get more Clarity, since Clarity is the most important step. After you are truly clear, everything else seems to start falling into place automatically.

Ask yourself these questions.

What do I feel and think about my current sex life? Am I stuck in a place that limits my growth? How can I better utilize sex for growth? What exactly do I want to experience? What new things do I want to try? What needs to change in my current reality in order for me to experience that?

Am I happy with my financial situation? How much more money do I want?(be specific). How much do I want to make a week, a month, a year? How much do I want to save? How much do I want to spend and on what?

Get truly clear.

What can I start doing to reach my goals?

So often we say – I want more money. And then life sends us a dollar and we are not happy. That’s exactly what you asked for! Be specific. Get truly clear. Be honest with yourself. If you are not meeting your financial goals, say – “Yes, it sucks”

Admit your current situation first. And then get truly clear on what you want changed and what you are going to start doing to change it.

Remember, Clarity is often 90% of the deal if not more. Once you are truly clear, your mind starts sending you ideas and noticing opportunities. Most importantly you start taking action.

Some people say: “I want to get clear but what if it is not exactly what I want?”

That’s where the growth component comes into play. You might fail. You might get it just to find out that it is not really the right thing for you.  But you’ll grow. And you’ll get clearer. And you’ll get closer to what you truly do want.

And your Spirit, your Higher Self will be happy because you are not sitting still, you are moving, you are making a progress, you are taking risks and you are growing. That’s what you came here to this Earth to do.

And now would be a great time for me to blog about my sex and money goals, desires, thoughts and feelings. I won’t say much today. One thing I’ll say though is that I am on the way to making as much money as I want/need and I am taking the necessary steps and risks. I let go of fear and I am committed to going out of my comfort zone. Not there yet and it does suck (I wish things were happening quicker…..like overnight would be nice), but I am clear and I am making a progress. Most importantly I immensely enjoy the process and feel that I am living my purpose, have meaning and am close to freedom.

Sex. The next person I will be with is going to be very open minded, creative and highly conscious about the topic. I don’t promise to blog about my explorations and experiences (I might, if there are some valuable lessons to be shared) but I do promise to be very clear with myself.

Now is your turn. Get clear.

I am launching a new product soon. Info product. My knowledge, my experience and my wisdom intertwined with my heart and soul.

Not such a big deal, launches happen every day and in multiples. Mine is going to be small. I am not such a big name…(yet!).

Let me tell you – it SUCKS.

Having to sell your Art sucks. And by Art I mean Your Thing – it might be a product, a service or whatever it is you sell. If you love it. If you put your soul into it. If you believe in it 157%.  It is Your Art.

And it often sucks that you have to sell it or want to sell it or need to sell it. Hold this thought for me for a minute, I’ll come back to it.

My previous experience with the product launch.

I’ve launched products in the past. One was an ebook complimented with videos and audios. Another one was a CD of the month membership  program.

That was over a year ago. Took me a year to recover from that launch. Seriously. I made every possible mistake I could make. I took on a HUGE project because I wanted to validate in my own mind why I was asking  money for My Thing.

As a result I put so much into that product, it was ridiculous.

Lesson: people don’t need complicated solutions. They want something simple that they can use right away.

I am rambling, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.

Creating and launching those products a year ago was tough. I didn’t sleep, didn’t eat anything but pizza on most days and almost didn’t get out of the house for a month.

I was scared doubting if anyone would even buy it. I was scared to death that I sounded like a pushy sales person. Most importantly I was scared if people  who did buy it, wouldn’t see the value in it that I hoped to put into it.

I loved that product. Still do. I am not selling it anymore. There is too much insecurity vibe around it.

Why I put off my next launch.

I wanted my next launch to be different. I learned the mistakes I made. I want to do it in a relaxed manner. I want to feel only joy and happiness launching it. I don’t want anxiety, insecurity and too much butterflies.

That’s why I put it off for as long as I could. I launched my coaching and it was accepted pretty well.

I knew that coaching is not the only thing I should be doing and want to be doing.

I want to write. I want to create something incredible useful. I want to create a unique piece of art.  Something that will change people’s lives.

No, no  more huge and complicated solutions.  Simple and brilliant stuff that works and puts people on track to living their purpose and reaching their dreams.

I have several products that I am working on or walk around with in my head. Truth is I could have finished all of them by now already. I use all of them in my daily life anyway.

When I get inspiration I create fast.

All of those products are dying to be finally born.

Plus I know all the logistics behind launching an info product now.  Shopping carts, affiliates, I got it all covered.

I was  still putting the launch off.

And I realized that the reason I was doing it was  because selling Your Art sucks.

Selling your art is a balancing act that is very hard to.., well, balance.

Soul doesn’t want to worry about money. Soul just wants to create, make an impact, change the world, fulfill the purpose.

Mind on the other hand is worried with money and what others will think and failure, and who knows what else it is worried about.

Soul is Queen. But Mind is King.

Soul is powerful but very quiet and graceful. Mind is powerful and very loud.

Who will win? How to synchronize them?

My previous product converted at a whopping 5.5% with a decent list of pretty targeted newsletter subscribers and couple affiliates who helped with the promotion. Big names online say that anything better than 2% is great.

I didn’t feel so.

I had zero returns. I had people who wrote me long emails telling me that the product was exactly what they needed.

I still felt like a failure. I expected more.

Lizard Brain’s protective mechanism.

That’s what my mind was afraid and probably still afraid of. It built a link between the launch of an info product and the  feeling of failure. And now it tries to protect me. By making me to put off my next launch.

It gives me thousands of other ideas on how to make money with my Art. I have big local workshops that I am actively working on. I have my coaching. But an information product, probably the best, the easiest and the wisest thing to do, was something I’ve been putting off.  Sure, I am working on it but TOO slowly.

Why am I writing this?

Because I know a lot of you will be able to relate. I am not alone.  Selling Your Art sucks. Subconsciously we all want 100% guarantee. We want to know in advance that the World will accept it with applause.

There are no 100% guarantees.

You’ll have to go with what you’ve got.

Tell your lizard brain (I love it how Seth Godin calls it) to shut up. There are people out there longing for you to change their lives. Tell your selfish egocentric lizard brain that you must do it. No excuses.

And yes, it might not work out exactly the way you expect it to. But no matter what, you’ll make a progress. And you’ll learn. And you’ll be so much closer to a complete success that your mind wants and your soul knows is yours already.

Create your Art.

Love it. Sell it. You deserve to be rewarded for it. The World wants it.

If that’s what you love and believe in, you can’t go wrong. You were born to do it. You can go wrong only if you don’t do it.

And it’s time for me to announce my product launch.

My lizard brain is scared.  But I am determined to ignore it.

3 weeks. April 28th. Full Moon. Full trust. Full heart.

No expectations this time.

Just unconditional love, desire to make this world a better place and acceptance of “what is”.  And “what is” is going to rock. It always does.

I love you, my dears.  I wouldn’t do it if not your emails, comments, calls,  and personal words of encouragement.

You too, go make something happen. Your Art is screaming to be born.

Why is it so hard to let go sometimes? We all know that letting go works. We all know that as soon as we let go of the attachment to the thing that we want, we almost always get it.

Until you are too attached, you are not allowing it to show up for you. It’s like standing there and screaming – “I need it!”  The World responds – “Ok, continue needing.”

When you let go, you change the “I need it” vibe to “I decide to have it” one.

You make a clear choice.

Being too attached is not a choice. It’s  “I really want it but still not sure… or I need it, but don’t think I can… or I desire but it is too big…”  Too much attachment and need are anything but a clear choice.

Clear choice involves calm confidence and knowing. And both of those produce unstoppable action. Action brings results. Always.

What are you attached to? Usually those are desires that are really important to you. Want to start making more money? Want to start a business? Want to be with that particular person and no one else will do?

Are you getting any closer? And if you are, is it happening as smoothly and as quickly as you’d like it to? Maybe it’s time to let go?

How?

Just let go. I know it’s hard (trust me I do!).  I know you really want it. I know you can’t stop thinking about it. Try at least.

Consciously decide to let go. Consciously understand that it is not helping you to stay attached. Distract yourself with something. See the miracle in what you’ve got already.

Let go. And then before you know it, you’ll be living your dream.

Make sure to get clear though on what the dream is first. Otherwise you might be attached to something that really is not what you truly want.

Get clear on your true desires aligned with you passions and purpose and then let go.

They’ll come. They will be yours. Take a deep breath, dance a “whatever happens” dance and let go. Promise?

↔

I close comments on weekends only. I value your opinion (and quite frankly LOVE you for reading my words), if you have anything you want to share with me, please use my email on my contact page.

I bet you heard about limiting beliefs if you’ve been into personal growth and development for any time at all.

Everyone around you tells you that your beliefs determine your reality.

Everyone around you also tells you that most of those beliefs were picked up while you were a child. Your subconscious was very vulnerable at the time and like a sponge absorbed everything you were surrounded with.

Your beliefs about money, relationships, self image, people around you and world in general mostly come from your childhood.

So if your childhood was not perfect like most of ours wasn’t, …well, you are screwed up.

I am quite familiar with the topic.

I was born in a wonderful country that has amazing people but most of us from that country have tons of limiting beliefs (guys, my dear friends from the motherland:), I know you are reading this but rarely comment. Shout at me if I am wrong)

The country was previously called Soviet Union. I was born in Moscow Russia there but most of my childhood was spent in Tashkent Uzbekistan, one of the poorest republics of former Soviet Union. It is still very poor.

The average salary in the country is $100/mo (may be it went up to $150 since I last visited). The funny part is that the prices on most things are the same if not higher than we have here in US. How people survive is still a mystery to me.

Anyway, back to my beliefs, in a country like this the official belief about money is that you can’t make enough money to be rich unless you are doing something dishonest. Good and honest people can’t make money. Period.

I was told about tons of other limitations. You can’t. You shouldn’t. It won’t work. You have to be modest. Don’t talk about yourself, don’t talk about your talents, that’s bragging.

Passions? I don’t think anyone ever asked me about my passions. Maybe I was asked what I was good at. But doing something you are passionate about and trying to make a living doing it – this concept just doesn’t exist in the circle I came from.  Start your own business? Are you kidding?

I won’t go into other beliefs my upbringing and heritage gave me,  you get the picture.

I wouldn’t want to be born or raised anywhere else, there were 1000 times more good stuff than bad.

The point is – when I talk about limiting beliefs – I really got it!

Now everyone tells that you have to work through your limiting beliefs. You have to get to the core of the issues, find patterns etc. . And if you can’t make money in your business, most likely it is because of your beliefs. If you keep attracting wrong partners, again, check your beliefs. That’s how our reality works pretty much.

It’s all true and I wholeheartedly believe in that also. It’s all about our beliefs. Our beliefs cause our thoughts. Our thoughts affect our feelings. Our feelings affect our actions. And hopefully we all know that our actions determine our results in life.

That’s the mechanism. Makes total sense and that’s what the whole personal growth industry is built on.

So where am I leading you?

To the fact that one of the top limiting beliefs you have is the belief that you have tons of limiting beliefs.

It might be sitting somewhere in the back of your mind. But that’s what I see over and over again in people.

We almost started using the fact that we have limiting beliefs as an excuse for us to not being able to do something. Tons of energy is spent on finding and eliminating those beliefs. Tons of time is wasted thinking about them.

And, please, don’t think that I am against all of that.

I am all for awareness. I am all for conscious living. That’s what I preach every day.

Seeing your negative patterns and letting go of the beliefs that caused those patterns is a huge part of conscious living.

What I am against though is when we start using our limiting beliefs as an excuse.

Oh, my parents were divorced, now I can’t find a perfect partner. Oh, I have so many limiting beliefs about money, I have to work through all of them before I can make my business work and become profitable.

Awareness is good and useful.

Living on autopilot without even noticing your negative patterns is bad.

But using something as an excuse, wasting tons of energy and time thinking about your limiting beliefs and how screwed up you are because of them is bad too.

There is a fine line between awareness and using your limiting beliefs as an excuse for your failures.

And most importantly I see people subconsciously expecting failures because they think they have limiting beliefs. That’s what I was doing for a long time in my life.

Let it go. Yes, you might have had screwed up childhood, your parents might have not supported or praised you enough, your classmates at school might have bullied you and destroyed your self confidence.

You are aware of it. You know the enemy in the face.

Now let it go. Consciously decide to let it go.

There tons of people out there who achieved so much despite  screwed up childhood and tons of negative experiences they went through.  And a lot of them didn’t even know what limiting beliefs are. They simple decided one day that they were going to get what they wanted. Period.

So how do you let go of the limiting belief about you having tons of limiting beliefs?(funny, isn’t it? that’s what too much thinking leads us to ) Those are the three simple steps:

1.  Let go. Stop looking for limitations. Stop finding excuses for your failures. Simply accept them and move on.

2.  Get clear on what you want. What is it that you truly want? What is it that you were born to do here? What would you do if you couldn’t fail? Find your true desires aligned with who you are.

3.  Commit. Stop wiggling around. Stop looking for more answers. Commit to Your Vision. If it resonates with you, commit to it. Being open to better options is not the same as being constantly in a state of : “I am not sure, let me look for something else”. Those are two totally different things. The World can’t start sending you opportunities until you are fully clear and committed.

Once you are truly clear and committed a lot of your limiting beliefs won’t have any effect on you anymore. They will simply become obsolete. True clarity and commitment can do that for you.

So what are your limiting beliefs? Can you let them go and actually not even worry about them anymore? Deal with them when they come up, but release the worry about them from your mind.

Can you get fully clear and committed to making your Vision a reality?

I honestly cannot believe I am writing this post. In fact, I already have several posts lined up ready to be published. But here I am sitting and writing this one.

This blog is about clarity, following your true calling, discovering your True Self, getting you in the flow. I am here to inspire you. We are talking high material, baby!

“Raising animals for food is one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” – United Nations

And still here I am getting ready to write about eating animals’ flesh. How is that for an inspiration and high material?

How does it relate to clarity? Directly actually. I got so much of it now that I stopped eating animals that I cannot believe I haven’t done it earlier. I am also much healthier, have tons of energy and turns out save the planet all at the same time. Enough to get me in the flow.

I just had someone tell me that it is not fun to eat healthy. That’s the most unconscious statement that I heard in a while. And that’s what motivated me to write this post.

Is it not fun to feel good? To have more energy? More clarity? To live longer? To look better? To make more money after all, because that what at the end of the day more clarity means to our bottom line? To ensure you give the best to your kids? Are all of those things really not fun?

Why 7 seconds of pleasure? The term was invented by my dear friend Vicky Shemer, an avid supporter of green and healthy living . Because that’s really how long on average it takes you to chew food before you swallow it.

Am I really hoping to change anyone’s opinion here regarding eating or not eating meat? Not really. But this blog is also about conscious living.  Conscious living involves conscious choices. You cannot make conscious choices if you don’t know the facts.

I’ll give you the facts. No pressure. Just read them.  Whatever you decide – whether give vegan or vegetarian diet a try or not, I am sure that choice will be the right one for you.

I won’t judge either way and still think you are awesome and still would love to go out with you for lunch some day. I hope you’ll feel the same way towards me.

Why?

I have a pet bird. Little green cheek conure. I love cats and dogs as pets but they are too messy for me at the moment, I have a three year old son after all and have more than enough cleaning up to do.

Getting a little bird for him was a great alternative. They love each other.

Her name is Abby and she has a brain smaller than a walnut. (Why am I talking about pet bird??) I know, but wait a minute.

Abby literally gets offended when I come home and not say hi to her. You can tell it. She needs attention. She has feelings. I bet she would die if all we were doing were feeding her and cleaning her cage.  Hold that thought for me.

Peta.org claims that research has proved that chickens are smarter than dogs, cats and even some primates. In a natural setting, a mother hen begins to teach her chicks various calls before they even hatch-she clucks softly to them while sitting on the eggs and the chirp back at her. Unfortunately, chickens in factory farms never meet their mothers.

My Abby gets offended when I don’t talk to her. She is not a chicken of course, but still.

Most small farms now have been replaced by massive corporate run factory farms in which chickens, pigs, turkeys and cows are treated like machines instead of living, feeling individuals.

Chickens raised and killed for their flesh spend their entire lives in filthy, ammonia-laden sheds with tens of thousands of other birds. Ammonia levels in chicken farms are so high that the corrosive substance burns the birds’ lungs and skin. Most chicken suffer from chronic respiratory disease, weakened immune system and bronchitis. I am not even speaking about drugs they are dosed with to grow quicker.

Men’s Health magazine ranked chicken as the number one food you should never eat because of its high rate of bacterial contamination.

After six weeks in these horrible conditions, the birds are roughly thrown into cages and then they are shipped through all weather extremes to slaughterhouse.

I won’t go into details of how they are killed, you got the picture.

I know, living consciously is tough sometimes.

Still reading? Ok.

Birds who are raised for their eggs are packed, five to 11 at a time, into wire cages that are so small that they don’t have enough room to spread even a single wing. Their wings and legs atrophy from disuse and their legs and feet become deformed from standing on a slanted wire cage bottoms.

Their sensitive peaks are cut off without any pain killers.

There is no one single federal law that protects animals in factory farms, while a recent Gallup survey showed that 96% of Americans believe that animals deserve legal protection.

I won’t talk about cows and pigs here and how they are treated. Do you own research if you wish.

You might argue that you buy only cage free eggs and organic grass fed beef.

Look at other facts below:

Health:

Obesity is one of the most pressing health problems in United States and will soon become country’s leading cause of preventable deaths. Despite the growing number of “diets” that are being touted through the country, Americans just keep getting fatter. A government review of all studies on weight loss found that two thirds of dieters gain weight back within a year and 97% gain it all back within five years. This fluctuation is worse than being overweight. These dieters would have been better off if they hadn’t even bothered.

It’s proven that protein diets don’t work either. Atkins himself died at 258 pounds.

The only weight loss plan that has been proved scientifically to take weight off and keep it off for more than a year is vegan diet.

I never had problems with weight. The biggest factor for me to give up meat was stronger immune system for me and my son. I go crazy even when he gets minor cold, I’d do anything if it means him getting those colds less and being healthier overall.

Other big benefits for me, just like I said already, were incredible mind clarity that I’ve got as a result and much more energy I have now throughout the day. Just those benefits are enough for me to become a big fan.

But let’s see other facts.

“You’ll live longer. Vegetarians live about seven years longer, and vegans (who eat no animal products) about 15 years longer than meat eaters, according to a study from Loma Linda University.

You’ll save your heart. Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the United States, and the standard American diet (SAD) that’s laden with saturated fat and cholesterol from meat and dairy is largely to blame. Children as young as age 3 who are raised on fast food and junk food show early signs of heart disease, according to the Bogalusa Heart Study done at the Louisiana State University.

Today, the average American male eating a meat-based diet has a 50 percent chance of dying from heart disease. His risk drops to 15 percent if he cuts out meat; it goes to 4 percent if he cuts out meat, dairy and eggs.

You’ll help reduce famine. Right now, 72 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. It takes 15 pounds of feed to get one pound of meat. But if the grain were given directly to people, there’d be enough food to feed the entire planet. In addition, using land for animal agriculture is inefficient in terms of maximizing food production. According to the journal Soil and Water, one acre of land could produce 50,000 pounds of tomatoes

You’ll avoid toxic chemicals. The EPA estimates that nearly 95 percent of pesticide residue in our diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic; lead, cadmium) that cannot be removed through cooking or freezing. Meat and dairy products are also laced with steroids and hormones.

You’ll help to bring down the national debt. United States spends between $60 billion to $120 billion annually to treat the heart disease, cancer, obesity, and food poisoning that are byproducts of a diet heavy on animal products.” Source Peta.org

Global warming

According to recent United Nations report, the meat industry causes more global warming (through emissions of carbon dioxide, methane an d nitrous oxide) than all cars, trucks, SUVs, planes and ships in the world combined. Researchers at the University of Chicago determined that switching to a vegan diet is 50% more effective than switching from a regular car to a hybrid in reducing your impact on global warming.

Water Resources

More than half of all the water consumed in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while meat based diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.

Pollution

Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the runoff from factory farms pollutes our rivers and lakes more than all other industrial sources combined.

There are tons of other facts I could have included here but you can do your own research.

Live consciously

That’s what I believe conscious living is all about – knowing the facts, knowing the risks and benefits and I think most importantly being open minded enough to give something a try to be able to make an informed decision based on facts and personal experience.

I strongly believe that at the end of the day benefits of such diet clearly and loudly outweight the downside of it.  And again I believe that most of the downside comes in the form of you giving up 7 seconds of pleasure you get while chewing the meat before you swallow it.

Are those 7 seconds of pleasure really worth it?

Those are just my beliefs, they are  biased and I was hesitant to write about them so strongly. But again your beliefs might be totally different and I accept them. My main goal here was to educate you, give you facts and tell you about my personal experience.

“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”  - Sir Paul  McCartney.

Give it a try or don’t give it a try. And most importantly whatever you decide-  know with your whole fiber that this is the right decision for you. I definitely don’t want you to eat meat and feel bad about doing it. This would bring more harm than anything else. If you are already vegan or vegetarian, let us know about your experience in the comments below.

Own your decision.

Live consciously!

I am in the flow.

What does this phrase mean to you?

I am aligned. Everything is working out. Life is moving me forward. I am dancing with life instead of resisting and pushing. I live with ease. I live with passion. I love what I do.

I am in the flow.

Are you in the flow? Or do you remember the time in your life when you were?

Ideas, opportunities, and people seemed to show up right in time, moving you forward where you wanted to go. Serendipities followed you everywhere.

Small and seemingly insignificant events had a whole new meaning for you because they were there to show you – you are on the right track.

You felt excited, motivated, inspired.

You found your muse.

And you rolled with it.

You lived!

You do know what I am talking about, right? I know you do. You might be in the flow now. Or I bet you remember at least one period in your life when you were in the flow. It might have been short or it might have been long. But I know you know what I talking about.

Where did all that magic come from?

You tapped into your Inner Genius. You tapped into your Inner Source of Creativity, Inspiration, Motivation and Wisdom.

We all have that Inner Genius that can help us with anything. That Inner Source of Creativity that is ready to provide us with a million ideas about how to make our dreams a reality. That Inner Source of Wisdom to help with taking action on opportunities.

It is inside of us waiting for us to reconnect with it.

Maybe you got disconnected from the source and never found your way back. Or maybe living in connection with it is your everyday reality. Lucky you, if it is the latter.

All the success stories you hear are about people who tapped into the source.  Success rarely has anything to do with luck. In fact I don’t believe in luck, but I guess it is just the matter of how we define certain terms.

And I am even going to dare to say that success rarely has anything to do with hard work alone (don’t throw stones at me yet, let me explain).

Sure, both luck and hard work might take place but they took place because the connection to the source was there. It might have been weak or it might have been strong but it was there.

I truly believe that big and authentic success can’t come only because of luck or hard work. If you are completely disconnected you’ll never find enough motivation to keep up with the hard work.  And luck will never ring its charms on you.

All the answers are truly inside of us. All we have to do is to learn how to connect with the source on a regular basis and you will always be in the flow.

So without postponing it any further, how do you connect to your Inner Genius?

How do you get in the flow?

Here are the exact steps to follow:

Find who you are. “Know thyself” for centuries has been proclaimed to be a key to happiness, meaning and fulfillment. Do you know who you truly are? What are you good at? What  are you passionate about? What are your values?

Do this quick exercise for me. Grab a piece of paper. Now close your eyes and imagine your Best Self. Imagine a time when you are at your best – you look the best, you feel the best, you are happy with yourself, you act exactly the way your Best Self would act.

 Get into that feeling of being your Best Self. Now open your eyes and write down 7-10 words that describe your Best Self. Courage, trust, powerful, sophisticated,… what are your words?

Don’t think. Don’t analyze. Just write them down. That’s going to give you a good glimpse into your True Self. There are tons of other exercises you can do to discover who you truly are.

Find yourself. Don’t postpone. This is the only way to get in the flow and stay there.

Write down your life purpose statement. Now expanding from the step above, come up with your life purpose statement. You can read this series to help you with that.

They often say you don’t discover your life purpose, you create it, and I totally agree. As long as it resonates with you on a deep level, inspires you and is clearly stated, you got it right.

Come up with your Vision. Having an authentic vision aligned with who you are and your life purpose is the next step.  Your Vision should answer two questions – what and why. What you want your life to be and why you want it. Write it down.

Get clear on your goals aligned with your True Self, your Life purpose and your Authentic Vision. Write them down as clearly as possible.

Clarity

Everything we were doing  up until now was to help us gain true clarity. 95% of the population lives without that degree of clarity. Are you going to be in the winning 5%?

I believe and saw many examples that true clarity can create miracles.

Live consciously. Why? Because this is the only way to ensure you live every day aligned with your True Self, your Purpose, your Vision and your goals. When you live consciously and with awareness you won’t allow yourself to slip into the old patterns. You won’t allow your limiting beliefs to distract you.

You’ll live your Vision fully.

If you do all of the above, there is a very high chance you’ll get in the flow. Your Inner Genius will wake up and start doing everything to help you along the way. But in order for you to not disconnect again make sure you do the following regularly as well.

Spend time with yourself. What are the activities you do that reconnect you with your True Self?  It might be journaling, it might be meditating, it might be reading a book or listening to some particular music. What makes you feel inspired? What makes you vibrate high?  Whatever it is, find it.

Do it regularly no matter how busy you might be. Remember, if you lose your connection, no amount of hard work will help you to reach your goals.

If you stay connected though, if you are in the flow, hard work will never feel like hard work. You’ll enjoy it. You’ll be motivated to keep up with it. You’ll be inspired. You’ll have tons of ideas. And see opportunities everywhere you go.

You’ll be in the flow.

And you’ll get the results that you want.

Most importantly, you’ll enjoy the journey.

That’s all that really matters.

Remember, happiness is a process, not a destination.

Notes: As you might have noticed with major blog redesign I am also very excited to launch my coaching that I’ve been doing only offline up until now.  This is exactly what my coaching is designed to help you with – to get clear and to get in the flow. And I give you the tools to stay there —  I create a custom made visualization CD just for you to help you get aligned with your Authentic Vision. Check it out.