Author Archive for Gina – Page 6

Have a heart to heart with yourself

There is a quest that is as old as time. The greatest heroes who ever lived set out on this quest. We grow up learning about these brave men and women who followed the whispers of their soul and  set off on this most noble of journeys. What am I talking about?

Purpose.

If you read last week’s post “What’s Screaming At You?”, you know how I feel about this. Not everyone is called to lead a nation, or a movement or a rock band. Some of us have quieter purposes. Make no mistake about this! Even if your purpose never lands you on the front page of the paper or in the history books, you are changing lives.

When we are living a life aligned with our purpose we change the lives of others. It’s just true. It just happens. Sometimes it happens in a huge, loud, newsworthy way and sometimes it happens through the smile of a child or the sigh of relief of a dear friend.

Some people are meant to write Pulitzer Prize winning novels. Others are meant to take care of children, or to deliver impeccable customer service that leaves people smiling.

How do you know what your purpose is? Here are my top 10 questions you can ask yourself to inch just a bit closer to your soul’s mission in this life:

  1. What do people always come to me for?
  2. What drives me absolutely insane?
  3. What makes me angry?
  4. What tugs at my heart strings?
  5. For whom do I feel overwhelming compassion?
  6. What would I battle for? What am I willing to really stand up for?
  7. What do I know for sure? If someone challenged my position on this, I could, with 100% confidence and certainty argue my point about this.
  8. What do I never get tired of talking about or doing?
  9. What could I honestly write a book about?
  10. When I was struggling, what or who do I wish had existed? What would have helped me?

I would love to hear your answers! Contact me and share!

Here’s to self discovery.

Breathe. You are enough.

I love Oprah. I love the topic of spiritual development. I devour books on living my highest self. But the more I speak to women around the world, the more I find myself wondering:

Are we being peer pressured into questioning our lives?

“Find yourself,” “Live your purpose,” “Go on the quest and search for your divine destiny.”

That’s great advice, and you should absolutely ask yourself the tough questions. Ask yourself “Am I happy? Am I truly happy with what I have and where I am?” But here’s the thing- its OK if the answer to that is “yes!”

Sometimes I worry that the heightened conversation about “purpose” tricks us into thinking we shouldn’t be content and causes us to dismiss the value of our current reality. Sure, there are women every where with big dreams and secret rooms in their soul that house their dual purpose. Notice I said “dual” not “greater.”

breatheI just want to tell you that you are enough. There seems to be a warped perception about “purpose” going on; one that says if you don’t feel pulled to go on an Eat,Pray, Love type of quest that you must be missing something. It’s tricked us into thinking that we shouldn’t be content. Ask yourself the tough questions. at least ASK. But if you never feel pulled to do anything other than love your kids, that’s enough. If you never feel pulled to do anything beyond entertaining your friends and enjoying your Sundays, that’s enough. You don’t need to be the hero to millions to be the hero of your own story. You are enough. We stop waiting for life to be extraordinary when we realize that every moment, no matter how simple or cliche, has within it the potential to be extraordinary. Every moment possesses remarkable qualities. We just have to look for them.

Whether you are climbing Everest, sitting next to Oprah, answering the phone at a local business or cooking dinner for your kids in your small suburban town, you are heroic. You’ve won, you’ve lost, you’ve learned and grown and soared. You’ve fallen and you’ve risen. You’ve felt deep recesses of pain and overflowing multitudes of love. There is an epic novel in and around our every day lives. Each of us is living a masterpiece, one that is full of raw and beautiful moments, ups and downs, adventures and obstacles, quiet victories and huge love.

If you feel called to a dual purpose, honor it, plan for it. But if you turn inward and find that you are indeed content with what you have, celebrate that. Embrace the incomparable nobility of being the best version of yourself in the life you are currently living.

You. Are. Enough.

The List That’s Changing Lives – The Books That The Gurus Are Reading!

Lady readingI’m a TOTAL book addict. I geek out on books. I have books taking over every room in my house. My heart and soul and story are wrapped around the books I’ve read and the ones I am writing. My first love is the written word. (In fact I had this “shot out of bed at 3am” lightbulb moment the other night in which I realized I had to build something new around my love of writing! So stay tuned! The muse has spoken!)

A lot of my friends are teachers of spirituality, abundance and success. As I see them soaring and manifesting all sorts of great things, I decided to ask them what books changed their lives. I wanted to know the words that were soul shifting and life changing for them. I wanted to know what books woke them up and brought them home. Below are their answers! This is THE list of books that are being read and embodied by the top experts in the spirituality and success industry.

May these words that have guided and expanded the brightest minds in the biz, do the same for you. =)

  1. The Gifts of Imperfectionby Brene Brown
  2. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
  3. A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller
  4. A Return To Loveby Marianne Williamson
  5. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Dr. Joseph Murphy
  6. Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain
  7. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
  8. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  9. The Gift by Hafiz
  10. The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte
  11. Falling Into Grace by Adyashanti
  12. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
  13. The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
  14. The Game of Life and How to Play it by Florence Scovel Shinn
  15. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
  16. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
  17. Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
  18. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
  19. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
  20. Wishes Fulfilled by Wayne Dyer

Many of the books on this list changed MY life. And the ones I haven’t read yet are going on my Christmas list. The power of transformation is available to all of us. And sometimes, all it takes are the right words at the right time for the blessings in life to beautifully, powerfully unfold for you.

Happy reading!

Will you be one of the few who leap?

Today started out kind of…sucky. I awoke at 3 am to the sound of a dog barking which turned out to be my 2 year old fighting an alarming cough. I held him most of the night, woke up groggy, wondering where I would find the energy to get the other two kids dressed for school and then it happened — his diaper leaked and he threw up. At the same time.

At this point you might be wondering why in the heck I am sharing this disgusting story with you. Here’s why.

When that happened, my gut reaction (after the initial “OH MY GOD, GROSS!” reaction had passed) was actually GRATITUDE. Why?

Because I had no where to go. I work from home. My company plan is in MY hands. I can reschedule clients if I need to and hold my baby til he feels better. I can work in my pajamas today if a shower and makeup just don’t happen. (And so far they haven’t.)

It occurred to me as I looked over our team plan for the month that we are not launching Soul Success. I am not offering a program. I am offering something much bigger, much deeper. I am offering empowerment. Time freedom. Pajama laptop days.

As I held my gross baby he looked up at me with his sweet brown eyes, full of big tears and his little red nose and I felt overwhelmed with love. “THIS is my reason,” I thought to myself. “THIS Is my ‘why’.” I do what I do so that I can be here when they need me, so that I don’t have to send them to daycare, so that I can take the middle one to see Disney on Ice and so that I can buy the oldest one his absurdly expensive basketball shoes.

I wasn’t always able to do that. When I launched my company I had no money and no idea what I was doing. What I had was the desire to live differently, to never again feel “less than”, to be my own hero, and theirs. And I was willing to take a chance, to invest in my dream, to be temporarily uncomfortable for a permanent difference. I chose to leap. And to trust myself, knowing there is no greater power than that of a determined woman.

And I honestly never thought to myself “what if this doesn’t work?” Asking that question sends a message to the universe that failure is an option. For me it’s not. And it doesn’t have to be for you either. The successful mindset doesn’t waste energy worrying that something might not work. The successful mindset DECIDES that it WILL work and then does whatever it takes to make that true.

When I hired my first coach and joined my first program, I wasn’t joining because I was dying to learn the ins and outs of lead generation. I wasn’t buying email marketing training. I was buying mornings on the couch cozied up to my sick baby and afternoons volunteering at my kids’ school. I was buying my freedom from the shackles of need. I was buying the ability to say “Yes, if you read two Harry Potter books I WILL take you to Universal Studios.”

At the end of the day, you are not motivated by logistics or group calls or bonus products. You are motivated by what moves you in your quiet moments, what wraps you in gratitude and what fills your heart with love.

Don’t wait another year!

Tell me if you can relate to this story. I attended a workshop this weekend with some amazing women, all looking to recharge their business dreams. At one point, I was approached by a woman who said she would give ANYTHING to work from home and be able to make money and spend more time with her kids. She had tears in her eyes and I could feel the passion in her words. But then it started. The excuses.

“But I have no money and no connections.”

“But starting a business just isn’t in my budget.
I can barely take my kids out for pizza.”

“But I have no time to launch anything.
There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

Look I get it. This was SO me a few years ago. But I got over my own bullshit and I took action.

The Dalai Lama himself said that the world will be saved by western women. But we can’t save anything if we are small and hidden.

Don’t you see? The reasons you say you CAN’T are the very reasons that you MUST.

If you don’t have the money NOW, you’ve got to find your money breakdown and learn how to FIX it so that it’s no longer a problem. If you don’t have the time right now, you need to learn how to become CEO of your life and master time management.

I will repeat – the reasons you say you can’t
are the very reasons you MUST…

When you make a choice to leap, you are also making the choice to do EVERYTHING in your power to make it work. Success becomes non-negotiable. Plan A is IT. Eliminating your plan B keeps you accountable. When you have nothing to fall back on, you stay standing and keep going. And the time has never been better.

Here are three things you need to seriously think about:

  1. A college education doesn’t guarantee a job anymore, and a “job” doesn’t guarantee anything!

  2. Setting up a business no longer requires a six figure sum. The internet has made it easy peasy for just about anyone to set up shop and get started for very little money.

  3. The United Nations Telecommunications Agency says that this year, the number of internet users will be 3 BILLION!

That’s 3 billion potential sets of eyes on YOU,
on YOUR product, your offering, your awesomeness.
The time has never been better to step forward.
Do what you have to do so that you never have
to say, “I can’t afford that.”
Build a business that supports your lifestyle so that
you never have to say “I have no time to do anything.”

If you feel called to master belly dancing, there is someone out there who can help you do it. If you want to become a kick-ass cook, there is someone out there who can help you do it.

Put your attention on your own dreams for a bit. It’s the best way to make the dreams of the people you love come true. Start the business. Write the book. Paint the masterpiece.

I believe in you!

Why you aren’t making money

Ever just get tired of thinking about money?

Before I started this business, I remember a conversation I had with my friend in which I said, “I don’t need to be a millionaire. I just want to go to bed without thinking about money. I want to eat out twice in one week and NOT feel guilty about it. I want to buy a new freaking lipstick without feeling like I’ve just taken money out of my kids’ mouths!”

The bills were being paid (usually on time) but it just never seemed like there was ENOUGH. Aa certified Law of Attraction Coach I get a LOT of emails from people centered around the universal language of “not enough.” And I have found that there are a few main reasons that people fail to enjoy the kind of wealth they are meant to enjoy. That’s right. You were BORN to be wealthy. And there is an endless supply of money out there that belongs to you. How long are you going to leave it sitting there unclaimed?

So check out this list. Get really honest about where your money gap is. That’s the first step to closing it!

FIVE THINGS THAT MIGHT
BE MAKING YOU POOR

  1. You have adopted the false belief that money is something OTHER people have. You have it too. Its already yours. Now you’ve got to expand your container for receiving it. Picture yourself walking through a desert and a waterfall appears. How much water can you take? Depends on the size of your container right? Make the container (your mind) HUGE and expansive knowing that in doing so, you are able to receive and fill it with enormous amounts of abundance. (By the way you don’t need tons of money to make tons of money. You need the guts to invest a little to make a LOT.)
  2. Your definition of wealth is warped or you’ve forgotten to manage your expectations. Focus on GROWTH and GRATITUDE. The richest things in life have nothing to do with dollar bills. Love, family, creativity, sex, joy, nature. Those are the things that are RICH. Be grateful for those. Feel the wealth of abundance in those intangible things and you set yourself on a wavelength to attract abundance in ALL forms.
  3. You need to get responsible. There are endless stories of people who came from nothing and went on to be self-made millionaires…during the great depression. It’s not the economy’s fault. It’s not your parent’s fault, or your husband’s or anyone else’s. Your results and your circumstances are in YOUR hands. When you expect anyone else to provide your dream reality you are setting yourself up for resentment. Resentment and regret are the taxes you pay for not taking charge of your life.
  4. You have no idea what your true purpose is and have therefore failed to take action. So many people do this backwards. I was guilty of this for years. They think they need to be clear before they act. But action gives birth to clarity. Do something, anything that FEELS good and clarity will come. When it does, follow it, feed it, feel into it.
  5. You lack the foundation. Your wealth house is built out of cotton, not bricks. If you are an entrepreneur you need a business that is aligned with your soul and primed for profits. If you’re not making money you’ve got a spiritual gap or a strategy gap. You either aren’t connected to your vision, you’re not effectively communicating that vision to your audience or you’re not connecting it to their greatest need. The great news is that it’s all fixable!

Those are just a few of the things that keep people from claiming their wealth.

Remember, broke is a temporary circumstance. Wealth is a state of mind.

This breaks my heart

You know I am usually the positivity queen, but something is bothering me. Lately, every time I turn on the TV or power up the home page I see headlines of death, war and terror. People starving. Women and children being mercilessly killed.

sadAnd as I sit here, reading this stuff from the comfort of my air conditioned house in my safe and beautiful community, I cannot help but feel a deep ache for the people whose lives, for reasons I will never understand, are marred with pain and anguish.

Where are you sitting while you read this? At your comfortable desk? Or maybe curled up on your couch with your iPhone? In a coffee shop? On your porch enjoying the quiet and your hot (or maybe iced) tea?

Do you realize the incredible miracle you are experiencing just reading this email without the threat of insurgents coming through the door or the background noise of bombs dropping?

Don’t feel guilty. Guilt is wasteful energy. I just read an article that suggested that the best thing we can do to honor the lives of the less fortunate is to live our lives as fully as we can. The bigger you reach, the more of a difference you can make. The farther you step outside of your comfort zone, the broader an impact you can have.

There, in your corner of the world, in that cozy corner of your soul, you’ve got a dream manifesting. In this world we share, there are so many people whose dreams are never given the chance to ignite into reality.

But yours can. I can SEE you. I see that you have fire in your heart, ideas that have been blooming slowly for years, a purpose you know you are being called to. But I also see fear. Fear of failure, fear of spending money on a “maybe,” fear of being judged, of making a mistake. I’m challenging you now to dig deep into the recesses of your heart, where true courage lies, and bring it forth once and for all. Around the world, there are people standing up for massive change, for religious freedom, for education.

When will you stand up for yourself?

HONOR the gift of life that you have been given, the blessing of safety, choice and opportunity. Honor it by living the kind of life that so many people are robbed of. Pray for them, in whatever way that you do, and use their stories as inspiration.

What is it that you want? What pulls you? What drums up so much passion for you, that you’ll stop at nothing to make it happen? Do you even know?

Strive to live the life that you daydream about. So that you can feel more. So that you can DO more.

Most people get this wrong…

If you’ve been with me awhile you’ve probably heard me talk about the importance of being naked. Not birthday suit naked. But VULNERABLE.

We know the importance of thinking positively and feeling grateful. But equally important is the willingness to be vulnerable.

Vulnerability gets a bad rep. People hear “vulnerable” and they think “weak, easily broken, victim.” But the word that stands out most to me in the official definition is “open.” It’s something we intuitively long to be. Our souls cry out for the right to be vulnerable yet safe. Loved. Accepted. 

Set yourself freeYour vulnerability, your humanness is what makes you real. It’s your most powerful tool for connecting with other human beings, with your partners and lovers, your children, your clients. There is nothing weak about a willingness to be open. Open to what? To everything. To pleasure, to pain, to opportunities to love, to criticism, to incredible abundance and growth. It takes far more courage and strength to OPEN yourself to it all but you have to if you want the goods.

When you resist being vulnerable, being open, you essentially close the door to intimacy. But a closed door is a closed door. True, pain doesn’t get in, but guess what, neither does love, neither does success, neither do raw and beautiful moments that make life worth living. Iyanla Vanzant says that Intimacy means In-To-Me-See. No one can see anything if your emotional front door keeps slamming shut. And if they can’t see in, they don’t actually know you. They don’t know what you’ve been through. They don’t know what you overcame. They don’t know the depths of your journey.

To reap the blessings of life, you’ve got to embrace all of the parts of your human experience. All of the heartache, the love, the gifts; all of the things that make you beautiful, flawed and real.

Because it’s in the space of that realness
that your soul will start pulling
everything you need right to you.

Baby step: Ask for what you need. Always. Let go of the fear of being told “no” and honor yourself by at least voicing your needs and desires. “I need you to hear me. I need to feel loved by you. I need five minutes alone because the kids were evil today.” Whatever it is-ASK for it.

Risk it all in the name of self-love. Because you deserve it. 

OMG, when does it get easy?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Just when you think things are going your way BAM! Something happens, big or small that shakes you to your core! (This is longer than usual, but it means so much to me so I hope you’ll read the whole thing. Five minutes tops!)

Have you ever heard yourself say:

“When does it get easy?”

“Why does it feel like I take 2 steps forward and 5 back?”

“When will life just ease up!??!”

I have felt this way SO many times over the last ten years. When my first business took off overnight, and then failed; when my marriage felt nearly over every other day; when I finally figured out what to do with my life and then found myself unexpectedly pregnant with my third child.

But these years of studying have shown me the answer, and once you hear it, your relationship to change will be forever altered, and as a result, your “OMG when does it get easier” days will be drastically reduced.

I have had a lot of major shifts but this was a biggie.

So here’s the deal. You don’t want life to ease up. You dont want things to stop changing because if they do, you’re probably dead!

Change, any change, from huge changes like a new home and a surprise baby to small changes like a canceled dinner date used to send me into “Why ME!?” anxiety.

But there’s what I learned.

Change is a privilege. Because it means you’re ALIVE.

Just like the clock is ALWAYS ticking and the weather is always moving and your heart is always beating… life is ALWAYS flowing.

Plot Twist!When you can learn to accept change, big or small, as a rhythm of life that is as natural and inevitable as the earth’s rotation, you stop being crippled by it. You embrace it. You yell “plot twist” and adjust your sails and move forward. Because the alternative to change is death.

Change is a blessing. Change challenges us to use our minds and our capacity for critical thinking and our ability to maintain our peace and composure. We were given survival instincts for a reason. We are built to respond, accept and conquer change. Step to the challenge like a warrior!

The next time life throws you a curve ball, just say a quiet “Thanks. Thanks for the reminder that I’m still breathing; that I’m still very much alive, and that I’m bold, resilient and powerful.”

There is always a miracle underneath a change. It requires some blind faith. Sometimes we don’t find out what the miracle was til years later. Sometimes we don’t find out at all. But change isn’t an exercise in KNOWING. It’s an exercise in growth and acceptance.

Are you ready? The BEST changes are the ones that YOU put into motion yourself. Get on the waiting list NOW for Soul Success 360. Doors are opening in a few weeks and with over 300 people already in the pre-course, we expect it to fill up FAST. To see if its right for you, hit reply, tell me what’s going on and we’ll  hash it out together.

Change- it does a body good 😉

“They” say this will hurt me

Ever wonder who in the heck “they” are? And why they talk so darn much?

they

All of my life I’ve been hearing from “them.” When I desperately wanted to pursue a career in the arts, I didn’t; because “they” say it’s tough to find a good job in that field.

When I wanted to wait awhile to get married because I didn’t feel quite ready, I got married anyway; because “they” say a good man is hard to find…and that the grass isn’t always greener… and that the biological clock was ticking.

And just last week, when I sent you a message about my free program and admitted that I was a little afraid to share it because it was so personal, I got more than one message from my community and from my peers telling me that I should have used a different subject line; because “they” say people in my industry should never show a weakness. It costs them clients.

But I say, sitting behind a wall, under a veil, refusing to be vulnerable would cost me something much more important–a connection to you.

I’m not perfect. I’ve undergone an incredible transformation and that journey was the catalyst for a successful business and work that I love.

But I’m still human. I still get scared. Words still sting. Feelings still swirl like tidal wave inside sometimes.

What’s different now is that I smash through that fear with action. And you know having it all - a free course! what? It works. The free program I offered had HUNDREDS of opt ins, one of our greatest responses to a free offering yet. And almost 100 of those people have joined the private master mind group on fb. (And are having major a-ha moments!)

There’s something beautiful about stepping into your power. You learn to follow the only voice that truly matters; the one that always has your back — your own.
So here’s my message for you today, short and sweet.

Forget what “they” say. Because “they”:

  • do not walk in your shoes,
  • haven’t dreamed your dreams,
  • can’t possibly understand the depths of your soul or the beauty of your truth,
  • wouldn’t know how to begin to understand your deepest desires…or your deepest fears,
  • would be amazed if they knew the lengths you would go to, to honor yourself and the vision that’s been placed in your heart!

So tell me, what have “they” said you couldn’t do? And who is ready to prove them wrong?

We won’t be opening the doors yet to private coaching for a few more weeks, but get your foot in the door! Tell me your deepest, juiciest, “keeping you up at night” desires! Tell me the plan, the passion, the calling,  the hotter than a blue flame fantasies.

Tell me. Telling me is the first step to transforming a wish list into a TO DO list! Be one of the brave ones. Raise your hand. Get what you want out of this life.

Here’s to being unstoppable