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Author, Awakened Wisdom

Patrick Ryan and Awakened Wisdom Experiences (AWE)

invite you to develop your coaching mastery in our Advanced Coach Training Program

• What is at the essence of truly great coaching?
• How do coaches develop mastery?

At Awakened Wisdom Experiences we have asked these questions and made it our business to uncover the answers. We have distilled the essence of truly great coaching and are committed to bringing these teachings to coaches like you. Great coaches coach from their brilliance and naturally awaken this brilliance in their clients. They bring a coaching presence that creates a field of expanded consciousness that taps into their Mind, Body and Heart. This environment helps their clients achieve results beyond what they normally thought possible and magnifies their clients’ power and success.
 
AWE Advanced Coach Training Program is for you if you’re ready to:

• Expand your coaching skills and receive ongoing mentoring and support.

• Increase and expand your contribution in the world.

• Enhance and fully own your gifts, talents, and leadership skills.

• Experience breakthroughs in your personal and professional life.

“It’s a profound training with an incredible depth of soul wisdom.”
~ Einav Tadmor, CPCC, PCC

Each program is led by a team of highly skilled trainers including AWE founder Patrick Ryan and is limited to 12 participants to provide a rich and direct learning environment.  This global program is 10 weeks in length and includes a weekly 90-minute tele-class, hands-on coaching, ongoing group work and in-depth personal exploration. This ICF-accredited program provides participants with 15 Continuing Coaching Education Units.

During this 10-week course, you will learn:

• How to access the wisdom field through your mind, body and heart intelligences for more powerful coaching
•  Step-by-step techniques for moving your clients from their distorted self to their divine essence for greater clarity, choices and action
• How to embody the Eight States of an Awakened Life and guide your clients to use these powerful teaching in all areas of their lives for greater joy and satisfaction“A resonant rich journey that raises the bar for both me and my clients to practice at a new level of depth and awareness.”

~ Daniel Fine, CPCC

Take advantage of our affordable early bird rates and sign up for a Fall program, beginning September 22^th or October 12^th. Enrollment is on a first come, first serve basis.

Register online to reserve your space just click here.

To learn more, visit www.AwakenedWisdom.com.

Or contact Julia Lau de Guzman at 510-754-0643 or Julia@AwakenedWisdom.com.

By Gail Martin 

Stories sell.  Stories reach us in a deep and memorable way that sales pitches do not.

What is the story of your business?  Sometimes, part of the story is about you, the business owner.  Sometimes, the story is built around the owner’s passion to right a wrong. If you don’t think your business has a story to tell, here are five ways to uncover your Real Story:

#1:  The owner’s story:  Some types of stories reach very deep into the American consciousness.  Stories about second chances, self-made successes, hard-working newcomers who realize the “American dream” and reinvention speak to very deeply held beliefs about who we are.  I have one client who came as an exchange student from China, received her education here and met her husband.  Because of the gift of a pearl necklace from an aunt, this client and her husband now own a pearl importing and jewelry design business.  Her story of reinvention and adaptation while retaining her roots has gotten her media coverage and positive exposure for her business.

#2: The product’s story:  What need does your product meet?  I have a Laundromat customer who doesn’t just give people clean clothes—he helps them show their love for their families and succeed in the workplace by having a neat and clean appearance.  In his city neighborhood of recent immigrants who are climbing the ladder of prosperity, family and self-respect are very deeply held values.  Do your services or products offer people security, good health or a chance to succeed?  What is the need that prompts your customer to buy?

#3:  The business’s story:  Has your business overcome adversity?  We cheer for the businesses that found a way to come back after 9/11 in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City or after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  Has your company weathered bad times, lopsided competition, succession crises or problems and come back stronger than ever?  People love a come-back story (notice that Rocky Balboa has six movies!).

 #4:  Your customers’ stories:  Go beyond testimonials.  A case study tells the story of the problem and how your company solved it—but it’s really a story about a hero, a dragon and a damsel in distress.  The dragon is the business problem—for example, a project badly behind schedule and over budget.  Your company is the hero.  The client is the damsel in distress.  Every good adventure has a few plot twists to keep our interest—what challenges happened on the way to slaying the dragon?  Did you lose key project personnel when you needed them most?  Did a piece of crucial equipment break or get delayed in shipping?  Details like this make your story compelling.  And then there’s the happy ending—how your company solved the problem and what it meant for the customer—significant dollar savings, productivity enhancement, the ability to compete in new markets. Help listeners feel the real benefit.

 #5:  The story of your mission:  Is your company part of your mission in life?  Do you want to make the world a better place through the product or service you provide?  Perhaps you became a lawyer because someone in your family was taken advantage of, and you want to make sure that others receive justice.  Maybe you learned martial arts because you were robbed and ended up opening a studio to teach others to be safe.  Your mission goes beyond your personal story to have a broader impact and make a difference in the world around you.  Even the most mundane business can have a mission.  Maybe you repair cars, but your commitment is to keep people from being endangered by breakdowns or from losing their jobs because of unreliable transportation.  How do you make a difference?

 Telling the Real Story of your business makes a powerful connection with potential customers.  It can be the springboard to compelling media coverage.  It can differentiate you from competitors in ways they can’t copy.  Once you uncover your Real Story, it affects the way you communicate about your business and the way you think about yourself, your products and your customers. 

Gail Martin is a Smart Women’s Coaching Contributing Marketing Expert.  You can read more of Gail’s Marketing Articles at www.smartwomenscafe.com

Kevin Degen is my hero as well as for hundreds of others.  He died last week at age 52 and even though he spent his life partially paralysed with Cerebral Palsy, he became a role model for hundreds of others by spending his life raising hundreds of thousands of dollars riding his bike and raising funds for others.

The tears began to flow immediately yesterday as my husband and I pulled up to the church for Kevin’s funeral.  I couldn’t believe it — there were hundreds of bikers everywhere – sporting their riding gear and wearing the shirts they wore for the various fundraisers like the Make a Wish ride that Kevin has participated in just a few weeks before riding hundreds of miles on his three wheel bike and using just his left hand and foot. 

During the eulogy, many friends and family members shared stories about how Kevin’s had impacted their life.  One friend shared how he had been riding with Kevin and decided to slip by and take a short cut to the camp.  He had arrived back early and had a chance to take a shower and nap.  Kevin arrived back late that evening never complaining.  He learned that since Kevin did not see his friend, he had gone all the way back to the starting point looking for him – adding another 20 miles to his trip that day.  Needless to say, this brought tears to all of our eyes because Kevin never complained. 

Just a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to celebrate my friend Julie’s 50th birthday by watching her jump out of a plane and sky dive.  Who do you think was there to join her that morning?  You are right, Kevin drove his specially designed car out to the air strip and even though he wasn’t sure that he would be allowed to sky dive, he had already decided that he would be experiencing this high along with everyone else.  Here is Kevin’s video of him jumping from the plane. He says this was the happiest day of his life.  Today, Kevin is free of his physical body and flying again.  You can help continue his legacy by visiting the foundation set up by his fellow bikers at  www.kevindegenfoundation.org

How can you make a difference and leave your legacy by following your dreams? 

Happy Independence Day and Celebrate Life! 

I have been talking to more and more women who are all going through similar fears that have to do with claiming their brilliance and following their passion vs. playing it safe and hiding out.  We all have these same struggles going on in our lives, especially as we reach midlife.  In addition, many of us are facing major stresses with money, relationships and family issues.  All of this can drag us down and make us want to just let our dreams go. 

Several times in my life, I have been so ready to just give it all up myself, and each time, I found a mentor or just the perfect book to help me get back on track – and you know what – within a very short time, I had reached that dream and beyond.  Here are a few quick tips to help you stay on your path and connected to your Divine Essence:

• Reach out for support from a mentor, friend or councelor
• Read inspirational books and listen to your favorite music
• Take really great care of your mind, body and heart by mediating, exercise and yoga
• Plan time for yourself and time with friends and love ones in your calendar and in advance
• Allow yourself to experience pleasure – seek out joyful experiences
• Invest in yourself and continue to move towards your dreams

Here is my chapter, “Thank God I Was Abused” in the ebook, Thank God I and how I was able to find joy and gratitute after experiencing extreme adversity:  http://www.thankgodimultimediabook.com/pg.php?p=59

I hope you enjoy it.  I would love to hear how you plan to Claim Your Brilliance!

With gratitute,

Katana

Join me and our Smart Women’s Coaching Community on Friday, July 30th at Fleming’s Steak House Livonia, Michigan for an evening of fine wines and fabulous appetizers to raise funds and awareness for the Smart Women’s Empowerment Foundation Scholarship Program.  For ticket information, call 248-366-0137 or visit our calendar of events!

P.S.  Be sure to sign up for my RSS feed, so you will continue to receive my posts directly to your email box!    By the way, how are you celebrating Independence Day this year?

Start with the End in Mind

Stephen Covey shares this idea in his bestselling book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  This concept is important whether you are starting a project, writing a report, planning a garden and even planning your life. 

Create Your Vision

Take a moment to sit down in a quite place, and visualize your perfect life three years from now.  What would it look like?

Exercise

Imagine it’s three years form now, and you are getting ready in the morning, looking in the mirror and you have a smile on your face — a big grin.  What’s happening in your life today?   Where are you going? What are you going to where?  Who are you meeting?  Where are you living and with whom?

Write It Down

Now take a moment to write down what has to happen between now and three years to make these things happen.  You don’t need to know how to do these things, just write down what would need to happen or change, write these in present tense and under the three categories below. 

Personally

• My life is joyful, abundance and effortless
• I go to yoga three times a week and love riding my bike through the wet lands each morning
• I enjoy traveling, speaking and writing – my new book is a success!
• I love my home on the lake – my life is a vacation every day

Relationships

• My daughters are thriving and creating their own joyful lives now
• I love going to weekly concerts with my husband — we are closer than ever
• I make time to enjoy deep relationships with close friends by planning dates in advance

Money and Work

• My business is running without me – my virtual team take care of all the details!
• I am focused on doing what I love 80% of the time, and it’s paying off because my business is thriving
• We are on track with our financial goals and update our financial plan quarterly

Focus On What You Want – Not What You Don’t Want

Now print out your affirmations, and put them where you can read them daily.  The next step will be taking action on the goals and working through any challenges, but the first secret is to get really, really clear about what you want and why you want it.  Once you do, the magic will begin and you will literally begin to attract what you want into your life.  If you are foggy about what you want or you only focus on what you don’t want from a “fear” prospective, the Universe will bring you more of that…more fog and fear. 

Action Step

Print out your affirmations and put them where you can read them every day.  You can make a list, create a vision board, but make sure you create something visual and focus on it every day with emotion and intention.  You can also share your goals and dreams with others.  This may create some fear – but begin to move in the direction of what you want and watch the magic begin.

I had such a fabulous evening last night when I attended the Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert with my husband, Mark.  He plays the French Horn, and this weekend is the last concert series for the year. 

The concert hall was packed with lots of young people and I was thrilled.  It must have been because they had this 16 year old boy soloist named Peng, Peng playing a List Piano concerto.  He was fabulous.  He started taking lessons at 5, and did his first recital at 8!  Then at the end of the concert, they played Stravinski’s Firebird Suite.  (click on the link and you can actually here this pieces…you will recognize and know why I was brought to tears when it finished!)  Every time I go to a concert with my husband, I find myself in this state of joy and gratitude and this energy stays with me for days.

What are you doing every day to create a state of Joy and Gratitude in your life?  I ask this because our mental, emotional and spiritual state will have a direct effect on how much wealth and happiness you have in your life.  I have created a daily series of rituals which I call, My Perfect Life Practice.  By scheduling these practices into my Perfect Life Calendar, and following them daily, I am able to stay rejuvinated and operating at a whole new level.

My morning Perfect Life Practice includes yoga, riding my bike along the wetlands (this is the best!), reading spiritual books (right now, I am reading Awakened Wisdom by Patrick Ryan), and enjoying my morning coffee next to the lake every morning with my husband, Mark.  What is it that you do to raise your energy vibration and and help keep you in a state of joy and gratitude, so you can attract more abundance into your life?  Share you Perfect Life Practice with us below. Thank you!

You can take my free 7 part audio mini course, Your Perfect Life Focus, where I share the entire process I use to create My Perfect Life!  Enjoy!

My dad was a war hero who received two purple hearts.  The army was his passion and he was great at doing what others only feared. 

This is what his Commanding Officer, Captain William R. Carey of the Sixth U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Fort Lewis, Washington had to say about him in a letter my mom received on December 29th, 1964:

“I would like to express my deepest sympathy for you in the loss of your husband, Staff Sergeant Huotari.  His death came as a terrible shock to me and it was hard to realize such a tragic accident had occurred.

I had the greatest amount of admiration and respect for Staff Sergeant Huotari, his personal attributes as well as his work, and considered him as one of the finest persons that I have ever known.  The contributions he made to the young men that we teach here at the Academy will long we remembered, and his personal qualities and polite attitude will never be forgotten.”

I have often imagined how life could have been different if my father had not died and had been there to protect me, to offer his advise and to love me.  Instead, the Universe had another plan.  I had a dream that I could go back and change the past, so things could have been different, and then I realized that everything that had happened was really perfect and as it should be.  I finally found peace in his death.  He was not supposed to raise me, just give me life so I could experience my unique journey. 

I know there are so many other men and women who have lost their loved ones during war time and my heart goes out to all of you.  My dad had a wonderful and happy life.  Although his time here was short lived, his legacy lives on in the hearts of all those who were touched by him. 

Please share your story of your loved on here with us now.  My heart goes out to you.

Looking back over the last 25 years, it’s exciting to see how far we have come as women. I was watching Meet the Press on Sunday and was thrilled to learn about the new report just released by Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress called, A Woman’s Nation, showing that women now make up 50 percent of the workforce and are the primary breadwinners for the family. (Four out of ten women are the primary breadwinners, while an astonishing 62.8 percent are “co-breadwinners.”)

We have been aware of these issues here at Smart Women’s Coaching and invite you to participate in our poll by telling us, “What is the Single Biggest Challenge Holding you Back from Living Your Perfect Life?”

In fact, we are just now launching our new Free Video Training and invite you to sign upto receive your free Twitter training video and Brian Tracy’s free report, The Way to Wealth.

The Smart Women’s Café is a forum where women can receive live coaching on their most pressing issues related to life balance, finances, time management and creating lifetime passive income while following your passion. Visit the Café now to learn what’s new!

 

I just finished the book called, “How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free.” In this book, Zelinski suggests retiring as soon as possible while you are still young and healthy and then finding ways to enjoy your retirement more by discovering your life purpose, pursuing hobbies and enriching your life. If you do work part-time in retirement, he suggests doing something that you love regardless of the pay.

While his book is focused on how to enjoy your retirement more, I have been inspired to use some of his suggestions for women in midlife who are still working but feel that they are really ready to write that next chapter of their lives. I have found that often when a woman has reached 40-50, if she has not found something that she is passionate about in her career; it begins to affect her entire life. Imagine what it would be like if you could create the ideal life of your dreams working at something that you love.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you crazy about your job?
• Do you wake up excited every day — passionate about your life?
• If money and time were no issue, would you still be doing what you are doing?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you may be ready for a major change. Zelinski states, “A few individuals are lucky enough to have had their career work and some passionate pursuit be one and the same. Thus, they can continue happily working part-time in their field well past retirement, without having to discover their true calling. Unfortunately, this is not true for most of us.”

Whether you are looking to retire early, change careers, start your own business or just want to make your life more interesting, consider doing some soul searching or assessments to discover your true passion in life.

There was a point in my life when I was working in a regular job, working 60 hours a week, day after day doing the same thing over and over. I hated it. I used to wake up and look at my husband and say, “Gotta make the donuts.” I cannot imagine living that way again.

How many of these statements reflect the way you feel right now about your work?

• I hate going to work and cannot wait to retire
• I spend everything I make and refuse to look at my investment statements.
• I hardly ever take a vacation. When I do, it takes me a long time to relax.
• I have no hobbies or interests outside work.
• I have no time for exercise or taking care of myself.
• Most of my best friends are from work and I don’t even like them that much!
• Most of my social functions are work related.
• I am proud to be a workaholic even though I know I am not that productive
• When I am home, I am restless or exhausted and can’t even imagine starting a hobby.
• I have a book in me that I would love to write some day, but know that I will never have the time.

If your work is running your life, consider the idea of reinventing your life to one filled with passion–where you can wake up every morning excited to start the day! It is possible, but it will take some work on your part to make it happen. Two years ago, I too was stuck and finally made the Leap and Retired To Something that I was Passionate about and started the Smart Women’s Virtual Coaching Café.  It’s been an amazing experience and I have met so many amazing people from all over the world.  They are now all part of our community as Contributing Experts!

Life is too short to live without passion and purpose. I have seen too many individuals work right up to 60 or 65 only to discover that their health is gone and with it–their dreams. One of my neighbors had been working overtime, six days a week, to maximize his pension. He was going to retire at 60 only he never made it—he died of a heart attack while driving home from work. He and his wife had a financial plan and she will be fine financially, but what good is a bunch of money if your dreams are crushed? Could he have retired 10 years earlier; could he have found something else to do for the last 10 years that was good for his health — that he loved doing and perhaps could do for the next 20 years if he chose? I believe the answer is “yes”.

Since it is very difficult to spend your last nickel with your last breath, it’s important to have a plan. I love the idea of retiring as soon as possible to pursue your passion and even earning an income from this passion! I have discovered this secret for myself and am in the process of creating multiple streams of passive income. In fact, I am teaching these principles for free to our Café members in my monthly Chat with Kat coaching call, as well as our Idea Lab entrepreneurial Think Tank and Joint Venture call.  It’s really amazing to be able to make a difference this way!

Begin to envision your ideal life…what would you do for free…what gets you excited and how would you like to spend the rest of your life? You are invited to experience two weeks free membership in the Smart Women’s Coaching Café where you will have a chance to learn, explore, grow and connect with some amazing people.  There is free, monthly, live coaching, resources, support and you even receive an audio CD by the De-Stress Diva and $875 in wonderful gifts when you take the trial membership!

We hope you join us in the Café!

~ With Gratitude,

Katana