How to Thrive during the holiday season.

It's that time of year again where our bodies want to slow down and sleep more, but our schedules and to-do lists get bigger and bigger. Here are my top ten tips for surviving the holiday season in your best physical, emotional and mental shape possible.
Enjoy and be well!
Eat a Balanced Breakfast every day during the busy holiday season to manage your appetite and keep your energy up.
Sleep Enough each night so you'll be sure to make good decisions about what you're eating and how you're spending your time and money.
Put Your Well-being First by making self-care a priority. Make time daily to relax and rejuvenate so you look and feel your best.
Say No to commitments, events (and foods) that don't nourish you or enrich your life.
Go With The Flow when things don't turn out how you expect. Don't let hassles become roadblocks.
Cherish The Moment. Remember when you were a child and delighted in small and unexpected magical moments?
Smile Freely at everyone you encounter. Never underestimate the power you have to change a situation with warmth and friendliness.
Take A Break. There are only so many hours in the day, so put non-essentials on hold while you ramp up for the festivities.
Ask For Help when you need it, and return the favor when you can. That's what friends and family are for.
Indulge A Little. The holidays only come once a year, so give yourself permission to be joyful and have fun instead of letting old resentments get to you or letting yourself feel bogged down with details and commitments.

Clear your path to success

I spent many years observing and working in the wellness industry before I wound up enough courage to launch my own practice helping others. For a long time, I found it more comfortable to help others on a volunteer basis and to be the support person in a wellness office instead of stepping into the confident shoes of a practitioner who trusts in his or her own knowledge and skills to help others in exchange for money.

For years, since the mid-1990's, I had volunteered as a mentor for other women with non-profit organizations, and on the side, I offered holistic health coaching and Reiki healing to friends and family. This was in addition to working, often full-time for others in the health and wellness industry. This volunteer practice was no hobby. I devoted many hours per week to helping, guiding and facilitating healing and growth of others to the point where my "real" job became an impediment to the very important healing work I was doing.

I reached a crossroads in 2007 where I had to make a choice - there simply was not enough time in my life to balance marriage & family, full-time volunteering and full-time work. Nobody in my household was happy with how overbooked I was, so with the support of my husband (at the time), I left my full-time job to launch a practice that both served others and brought in the income that my household needed. I didn't consciously know it at the time, but hanging up a shingle as a real mentor, practitioner or coach meant that I had to face and clean out societal conditioning and self-worth issues.

With each step I took towards "legitimizing" my practice, another fear, limiting belief, or doubt would pop up. The first six months were mostly full of trial and error, facing fears and limiting beliefs and my own personal growth into the role of practitioner. In addition to the inner work that I had to go through in order to confidently offer my services to others, I had to learn how to run a business too.

There are so many authorities on how to run a business out there - it was confusing and overwhelming. I listened to what the experts said, and I tried this or that technique, bought client attraction and marketing systems from "experts", and doubted that I really had what it takes to practice in a way that served others and myself. I was able to build my practice quickly in comparison to statistics about how many clients practitioners usually line up the first year. But, after injuring myself towards the end of the first year with overwork and poor body mechanics at the Reiki table, I realized that the only way this business was going to really work for me and support my life was if it was built on my values and aligned with what was healthy for me.

With the help of my mentor, I was able to go within to find my own Inner Voice of Authority and start making decisions and taking actions that truly aligned my practice with my beliefs and values. When some of my Reiki students were ready to start practices of their own, I found a deeper calling than I had heard before. I realized that I could assist them in the process of becoming a practitioner and business owner by showing them how to listen to their Inner Voice of Authority and make each decision along the way from a place of personal health and empowerment instead of spending months, maybe years, listening to all the experts about what they should be doing to become a successful practitioner.

As I've described about my own journey to become a practitioner, there's a transformation process that every practitioner has to go through, like a caterpiller becoming a butterfly. Most practitioners are motivated to do this good work out of an altruistic desire to help others, and it is very easy to find people willing to let you help them for free. The transformation from volunteer work to paid, professional work requires a shift in perspective and understanding on the deepest level so that her energy as a practitioner attracts paying clients who love to work with her.

My new program Clearing your Path for Success takes new practitioners as well as established practitioners who are stuck or blocked in some way through a step by step process to identify their true calling, find their Inner Voice of Authority, identify the Roadblocks (fears, limiting beliefs, external pressure) and work through them to Clear their Path for Success. I want my clients to have the courage and confidence to do the work they love and feel called to do in a way that not only serves others but supports their own lives as well.

In the first run of this program over the summer, we uncovered some very deep insights into how to make decisions from your Core authentic self and be in business from a heart and soul centered place. In addition, we've experienced the incredible power of shared creativity to break through limiting beliefs and habits via the collaborative model of the mastermind.

One of the most powerful aspects we explored and shifted was the prevalent limiting belief about wellness practitioners from all modalities - that being of service to others in a beautiful, spirit centered way is only possible if you sacrifice your financial wellbeing or rely on someone else or a "real job" to take care of your financial responsibilities. This belief does not serve practitioners, and it does not serve their clients. Hiding behind volunteer work prevents practitioners from truly blossoming into their fully empowered powerful selves. I'm working with my clients and my mentor to create a new model of working from your authentic self that allows you to be of service to others and to yourself.

The teleclass Clearing Your Path for Success, will take you step by step through this transformation so that you can start building momentum and attracting energy and clientele you need in your practice. The best part about the program, in my opinion, is that it empowers you to find and overcome your Roadblocks, access your Inner Voice, and make Decisions from your heart.

We've extended the registration for this class for an additional week. It will begin on November 17, 2009 at 7pm. If you are struggling with your practice, I urge you to take this class. All the details and link to the registration form are here: Clearing your Path for Success.

Who is supporting you?

Yesterday, I met with a supporter of mine so we could work on some strategy for growing our businesses and find new ways to deal with obstacles that keep popping up. With my help, she clarified the mission and vision for her business, and with her help, I uncovered a crucial characteristic of my ideal client that I hadn't noticed before. By the end of the afternoon, we both felt excited and ready to get back to our businesses with fresh perspective and ideas on how to better serve our clients and help them achieve their goals.

When you're undertaking a venture, whether it's a business, a spiritual path, having a baby or graduate school, having supporters is crucial to getting you through the tough times and having people cheering with you during the good times doesn't hurt. Images of your mom or your best friend might come to mind when you think about who supports you, but when it comes a business or a career, having professional supporters can make a significant difference. Friends and family love you, and they want the best for you. The thing is that they may not understand the ins and outs of what's important to your career, especially if you are self-employed.

This is where trusted professional supporters come into play. A mentor who's been through it before can help you navigate tricky situations or give you a perspective that you hadn't considered before. My mentor's help has been invaluable in re-visioning my life and business, and with her support I've been able to accomplish things much faster and more gracefully than I would have on my own.

A mentor isn't the only kind of professional supporter out there though. Colleagues can serve as supporters too, especially if you both share a spirit of collaboration instead of competition. Who can know better what challenges you are facing than someone who's right there in it with you? Especially when you're self-employed, finding others like yourself to brainstorm, creatively collaborate, and share techniques with can keep you inspired and motivated, even on the most trying of days.

Supporters can become trusted resources that you can turn to for help dealing with a difficult client, ideas for moving forward when you're stuck, and simply forming a community that will celebrate your successes with you and rally around you when times are tough.

Who are your supporters? Take a moment now and see if there's anyone in your network who could become a supporter. Don't be shy about asking, I bet that most people you approach would be flattered rather than put off by a sincere offer to reciprocate support.

If you're a practitioner in a wellness or mind-body-spirit field in Eastern MA, the Heart Centered Practitioner's Meetup in Salem is a place where collaborative community is being built. You're welcome to join us!

And no matter where you're located, if you're feeling stuck about getting your wellness or mind-body-spirit practice to the next level, the Clearing your Path for Success Virtual Mastermind starting on November 10th may be just what you need to get through those Roadblocks and back on the path to Success.

Who do you serve?

As I sat this morning preparing to write to you and let you in on how the new services I'm offering can help you get more fulfillment and success from your wellness practice, a timely email arrived in my inbox from Mark Silver (the author of Heart of Business). He wrote today about how a heart centered business is not so much about what you DO but about WHO YOU SERVE.

We talked about this topic back in August, about how clients choose practitioners based more on how they feel when they interact with their practitioner rather than their technique or modality alone. (Check out my article: Do you know what your gifts are?)

Personality, passion, and your message are the significant factors in attracting and keeping clients. They aren't searching so much for Reiki, Massage or Yoga as they are searching for someone who is enthusiastic and supportive about their goals for relief, elaxation, emotional healing, a feeling of being cared for and listened to, or increased well-being and peace.

Getting the clarity about WHAT your gifts are and WHO you serve with them, and then finding the inner COURAGE and CONFIDENCE to take the steps to bring your gifts to the world and help the people you are here to help is what Clearing your Path for Successis all about. This program shows you how to hone in on how and who you help best so that you can convey this to potential and current clients as you communicate with them in the office and with your marketing materials.

I think that you will benefit so much from this program, that I am giving a free workshop at my Grand Opening Celebration on November 3rd so you can get a taste for it without making a commitment. If you like what you experience at the freeworkshop, you may be ready for the 6 week Virtual Mastermind (fancy way of saying teleclass & online forum) that will follow!

You don't have to take my word for how beneficial this program can be, listen to what one of my clients has to say about her experiences:

Are you ready to check it out? Register here for the Grand Opening Celebration and Workshop on November 3rd. Please feel free to bring a friend! The party will start at 5:30pm, and the workshop will kick off at 6pm.

I want you to find the confidence, clarity and courage you need to practice from your heart! Check out the resources and free guided meditation available at the online Grand Opening Party on my website.

Grand Opening Party!

The online Grand Opening Party for my new website and new programs for wellness practitioners starts today! Please join us in celebration and enjoy your free gift!