I am so excited to have Paula Gregorowicz, owner of The Paula G. Company, guest posting on the blog today! Paula is a close friend of mine and I am thrilled with the amazing work she does. She helps people get out of their own way and make wiser decisions through the power of Intuitive Intelligence(tm). She helps people break free from the terrorist of negative voices in their own minds that hold them back from discovering and successfully creating the work they are most meant to do in the world. If you are searching for a way out of feeling confined, restricted, and frustrated and are ready to breakthrough these limitations you can learn more about Intuitive Intelligence and get the free report: Your Own Uniqueness: The Path to Purpose, Prosperity, and Playfulness at http://www.thepaulagcompany.com.

Celebrate Who You Are Being

By Paula Gregorowicz

I recently had the opportunity to reflect on my experiences from the powerful time I describe in this post as I create a new, cutting-edge group program called A New Lens on Your Life: Reinvent, Reinvigorate, and Rejoice in You. While the actual experience of documenting a year in my life through my own eyes is almost a decade behind me now, the ripple effect and impact it had on my life is as real to me today as it was back then. Hope you enjoy the post and can join us in the program (see below for details).

Being Celebrated

Have you ever stopped to consider your own unique perspective that you bring to the world? Do you honor your own unique gifts and views or do you look to others for validation and confirmation of what you think, say, or do?

Much of our life is spent on autopilot seeing and doing things without much conscious intention. We tend to discount the very fact that we can see things through our own eyes in a way that is unique to us. It is unique to us based on many factors-who we are, what we are taught growing up, the experiences we’ve had throughout our life, and who we cause ourselves to be on a given day. It today you are being creative and confident, how do you acknowledge yourself for that?

Do you feel like what you think isn’t important? That you aren’t very creative? Wonder how time flies by so fast, where the time goes, and how you missed life along the way? Is your soul yearning to be heard, acknowledged, and honored? Do you want a record of your life to share with your children or grandchildren? Would you like to make each day a celebration of who you are being?

Being Acknowledged

A few years ago I realized that a part of me felt unacknowledged and in need of having my view of the world validated in some way. I knew that this need had to be met from within myself. While being acknowledged by other people can be wonderful, I’ve learned that looking to someone else to meet our emotional needs is a long, lonely road to feeling hollow inside. So, I set about determining what action or practice I could take to really honor my unique view of the world on a regular basis.

What came up for me (a total surprise, I might add) was the inspiration to create a photo journal of my 32^nd year. The practice I structured into my life was, starting on my birthday I would take at least one picture every single day for one year. It could range from a well-thought-out artistic photographic effort or a simple snapshot depending on my mood for a given day. It could be a photo of any person, place, or thing as long as it was my personal experience of perspective each day.

It was an interesting project to say the least. Some days it was very easy to find my picture of the day—holidays, birthdays, special events. Other days I captured something I never would’ve been able to capture and share otherwise—something unique or on a bike ride. Still other days I’d find myself towards the end of the day without having taken my picture, searching for something, anything to photograph.

Believe me, over the course of this particular year, my partner, neighbors, and family often didn’t even know what hit them when a blazing camera flash would surprise them in the middle of a wedding, gardening, cooking, hanging pictures, or sleeping. The good news was my cats were always willing to bail me out with a photo opportunity when necessary and they rarely complained.

What’s the point of all this you might ask? Well, besides being fun, it really gave me the opportunity to honor and acknowledge my unique angle on my small corner of the world while allowing me to be more present and aware of the blessing and gifts to be found each day. It even had a side benefit of rekindling my photographic passions, which resulted in me furthering my education in this area and launching the photography side of my business.

4 Great Ideas

To Celebrate and Acknowledge Who You Are Being

No matter who you are or what you do, how you see the world and who you are being is uniquely yours. You can start taking a more active role in your own life by practicing the art of honoring your own perspective.

Consider some of the following activities to stimulate your creativity and bring some of your authentic self to your life experiences:

• Create a daily photo journal of your life. If a year seems too intimidating, starting with the next month, quarter, or season. Share this journal with loved ones or choose to keep it as a private testimonial of your life.
• Start a daily journal. Ponder one question, topic, or area of your life each day and learn more about your most important asset–you.
• Organize a scrapbook. A book honoring the milestones and activities of life is not only for babies, teenagers, or retirees.
• Create a daily photo or written journal of your next trip or vacation. Have every member of the adventure create his or her own or contribute to yours. It doesn’t have to be fancy or cost much money. Disposable cameras make this an easy and inexpensive activity for all ages. Share them at some point when you’re back home to relive the memories and celebrate everyone’s experience.

Join us for the 7 Week program: A New Lens on Your Life: Reinvent, Reinvigorate, and Rejoice in You at a very special price. Because you are in Joanna’s community (and I SO love Joanna and her work), I’m offering you a $500 discount. You can claim that special deal here.

I am just thrilled to be presenting to you this valuable, heart-filled, and information packed article by guest blogger andmy colleague Annemarie Miner, MA. Annmarie is a gifted coach who can help you move through the voices of criticism and doubt. You can learn more about Annmarie at www.minerwisdom.com Enjoy!

There is a saying “What you resist, persists”. I love it because it reminds me that my old coping mechanism of ignoring my negative feelings never works. I’ve learned that if I’m feeling fearful, pretending that I’m not or getting angry with myself does not help. It’s not until I am able to acknowledge my true feelings with understanding and compassion that my burdens lighten and release.

I have found the same to be true of my relationship with my inner critic. Through my work with hundreds of clients, I’ve learned we all have an inner critic. For years I didn’t even know I had an inner critic, and I actually thought I was pretty kind to myself. Then I read Louise Hay’s book, “You Can Heal Your Life” in which she advised listening to the way you talk to yourself and stopping all self-criticism forever. The day I decided to start paying attention, I was horrified to discover how hard I was on myself.

From the moment I woke up, I began berating myself. If I wasn’t criticizing my appearance, I was judging something I’d said to someone, or beating myself up about the quality of my work. I soon realized that if I was in a relationship with me- I would consider myself verbally abusive and break up with me immediately.

I have tried many ways of dealing with my inner critic over the years including trying to ignore her, and getting angry at her, but the strategy that has worked the most effectively has been to befriend her. Why befriend your inner critic? It goes back to the wisdom of “what you resist, persists”.    Ignoring or getting angry never works long- term. It may shut the critical voice up in the moment but soon it will come back louder than ever.

In order to befriend your inner critic it helps to understand how and why they came into being. Most developed during our childhoods to make us happy or keep us safe.

Humor and play are essential for befriending your inner critic. You may want to name them and start asking them why they are there and what they want. I named my critical voice “Betty”. When I asked Betty why she was so hard on me what came up was that she was really worried that I could not handle life’s difficulties. Turns out she was really afraid that I was not smart enough or competent enough. She berated me in an attempt to make sure I did what I needed to do in order to survive. In her own grim way, she had been trying to help and protect me.

I thanked Betty for all her help over the years but explained she and I would be trying a different way of relating going forward. I explained I had learned over the years that I was actually quite strong and capable and could handle life’s struggles with love and faith. Whenever she felt anxious, I asked Betty to lovingly let me know rather than hurling harsh insults. It worked. Whenever I hear Betty trying to get my attention now, I lovingly thank her for her concern and remind her that all is well and I’ve got it covered.

In befriending my inner critic, I learned to love myself completely, even the parts that at first glance appeared unlovable. Another bonus of befriending your inner critic? As you learn to love and accept yourself completely, your capacity to love others increases too.

I am thrilled to be sharing this article by my friend and colleague Alycia Hall with you. Alycia’s expertise and wisdom will blow you away! ~Joanna

So simple – it’s hard

Ever wonder if you are making life harder on yourself? If you are like most people, you will notice that a lot of your energy goes into over thinking, analyzing and problem solving. Our minds love to fix things and problem solve but wasn’t it Einstein who once said, “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it”? So how do we access a more simple way of living?

Mother Nature has given us a wonderful tool to live simply and the good news is that we don’t have to do much. All we need to do is get out of the way so she can do the healing work on us. Once we create space she can come in and helps us heal whatever is blocked. The trouble is that we rarely create enough space because we either don’t know how to or we feel uncomfortable doing so. Our mind may also try to convince us that it cannot be this simple and if there is a problem we must ‘fix’ it. Fortunately life is very simple; unfortunately the mind would love to convince us otherwise. So how do we access and open ourselves up to this profound healing?

The answer is simple and it is hard too. If we want to access this healing we must do what our minds talk us out of doing – sit still and become more receptive to our feelings. If you have ever done this practice before you will know that it can be very uncomfortable since different emotions, feelings and thoughts arise. Staying with it will allow you to walk through this discomfort and after enough practice you will find yourself feeling much lighter. All of a sudden what caused you anxiety is no longer a problem and it doesn’t have the same emotional charge.

Thanks to Mother Nature we have been designed for self-healing and we don’t earn it or lose it – we simple uncover it. Practice coming into your body more and release the need to over analyzing everything. You will be surprised at how such a simple tool can create deep profound healing.

For more information on how to access your body’s wisdom contact:www.alyciahall.com