It seems impossible, but 2014 is drawing to a close. Craziness! With that in mind, I want to take this opportunity to invite you to plan with me for 2015. I’m designing events and supportive resources for 2015, and I’d love to give you a sneak peek and get your input! 

First, I’ll be opening the Kindness Community in early 2015. If you want to be in the loop for that, you can register here for the email notifications. The community will open to the people on that email list first, and there will be fun perks involved, too! (I’m not going to give away ALL the secrets here on the blog, so join the list to learn more!) In the community, you always have an opportunity to request topics for classes AND get coached!

The Kindness Community is an affordable way to learn from me each month, get support in your healing journey (mind, body, emotions, and spirit!) from me and my Endorsed Coaches, and join in the group coaching calls. It’s a perfect solution for anyone who wants continuous community and support and access to coaching. (I’m pretty booked up for 1-1 coaching, so not much is available at the moment).

Second, I’ll be creating a couple in-person retreats for you in 2015. Stay tuned! As a busy mom, I don’t do too many of those a year, so you’ll want to grab your seats right away.

Third, if you want to become a mind-body coach, you can join the 2015 training! To learn more about the training and join the interest list for the 2015 training, visit www.mindbodycoachuniversity.com. We’ll be updating the site in January to include all the details for the 2015 training, including dates and curriculum. Stay tuned!

Fourth, I need your input! I want to know what you’d love to learn about on the blog in 2015! Below, I’ve listed some of my favorite topics. Please comment below on the blog or pop on over to Facebook  where I’ve posed that question today on the page. You can also share ideas via email to my assistant, Beth if you choose. Use the topics below to spur your creativity and tell me the questions you want answered in 2015! Get as specific as you’d like. And anything outside of the topic list is welcome, too. Can’t wait to hear from you!

My Fave Topics:

• Mind-Body Healing (TMS, mind-body syndrome, etc.)
• Spiritual Growth
• Emotional Well-Being
• Law of Attraction – Tricks of the Trade
• Body Image
• Confidence
• Creativity
• Self-Kindness

Looking forward to your input!

By Anamsong Endorsed Mind-Body Coach, Jessica Steward

As a solopreneur, it can feel very strange and lonely working for oneself day-in and day-out. We no longer have a source of endless annoyance or inspiration in the form of other people. No one with whom we can brainstorm our brainiest thoughts or off of whom we can bounce our bounciest ideas. No one to wish away so we could just get some friggin’ work done already. Sometimes we lose perspective. Things can start to feel crappy. We realize we have been wearing the same sweatshirt for a month and a glob of yellow mustard from earlier in the week. Stuff like that.

One of my favorite tools to combat this state of extreme loneliness is to ask myself,  “What would feel better/great right now?” 

Borrowed from genius Law of Attraction (LOA) expert Jeannette Maw and brilliant Master Mind-Body Coach and Mentor Abigail Steidley’s premise that “Everything that I do with mind-body healing is in perfect alignment with LOA concepts,” this simple phrase is a great way of staying in the flow of positive and productive energy even when you would rather assume a fetal position with your childhood blankie somewhere underneath the dining room table. I may or may not be speaking from experience right now.

So ask yourself: What would feel better right now?

When I ask myself this, my response is usually “A shower”, which, unfortunately, speaks volumes as to the overall state of my personal hygiene. Your answer could also be “to shower”, or it may be a variety of other activities – to cry, to go for a walk, to tidy up the kitchen because it vaguely resembles a crack den, to take a nap, to call a friend. The key is that you want it to propel yourself from the current state of “funk” to a more elevated state of – at the very least – “meh”. If it takes you all the way to “huh” or even “not too shabby”, then that is marvelous!

However, what if the answer to the question, “What would feel better right now?” is “A milkshake.”

This is where it gets tricky.

Let’s break it down into three possible scenarios:

Scenario 1:

• Your mental state right now: “Blah” to “Wah”.
• Your mental state immediately after drinking a milkshake: ”HOLY CRAP, THAT WAS DELICIOUS! I THINK I’LL ORDER ANOTHER ONE! THIS TIME WITH MALT!”
• Your mental state 5-20 minutes after drinking a milkshake: ”Oh my God! What have I done! I have no will power! I am weak! I am terrible! Please God, smite me for my frothy transgressions!”
• Verdict: Don’t drink the milkshake.

 Scenario 2: 

• Your mental state right now: “Blah” to “Wah”.
• Your mental state immediately after drinking a milkshake: ”Oh crap. I’m lactose intolerant!”
• Your mental state 5-20 minutes after drinking a milkshake: ”Oh. Crap.”
• Verdict: Don’t drink the milkshake.

Scenario 3:

• Your mental state right now: “Blah” to “Wah”.
• Your mental state immediately after drinking a milkshake: “My, my. What a delicious treat. It’s a shame I couldn’t finish it, but my tiny inverted belly was full. I dare say I feel a modicum of delight creeping back into my viscera once again.”
• Your mental state 15 minutes after drinking a milkshake: “Mmmm. I think I’ll have a quinoa salad with radicchio and soya beans for dinner tonight. But now, off to pilates.”
• Verdict: Drink the milkshake. And I hate you.

The truth is that sometimes when we are feeling crappy, we will revert to decoy behavior – the mental or physical activities we’ve used in the past to avoid feeling our feelings – in order to help us cope. So sometimes the milkshake is just us reverting to old habits or behaviors in order to avoid feeling crappy – scared, angry, afraid, frustrated, homicidal – and sometimes it is a joyful treat that helps catapult us into that better-feeling state. Remember, you do not need to feel amaaaaaazing after your better-feeling activity; the key is that it moves you in the direction of something that feels not-too-shabby versus something that helps to make you feel even worse. Usually feeling our feelings – rather than avoiding them – is exactly what the life coach ordered!

So when you find yourself sitting in your own filth or your eyelids drooping out of overwhelming boredom as you force yourself to answer one more email or write one more blog post, ask yourself this very simple phrase, “What would feel better right now?” And be sure to listen for the reply.

Now pardon me, I hear a cupcake calling. (Milkshakes aren’t really my thing.)

 
 
Master Mind-Body Coach Jessica Steward helps healing & creative entrepreneurs get their work out into the world. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, dog, two cats, and two ukuleles. The cats can’t play the ukuleles. Yet.

Read more about Mind-Body tools and LOA!’
“One of my favorite ways to attract what I want is to make an evidence list.” ~Abigail Steidley

First, figure out what your mind-story is around what you want but don’t yet have.

For example, your mind might say things like:

I can’t make enough money.

I’ll never be healthy.

My business won’t succeed.

I can’t lose weight.

My body isn’t attractive.

 Next, find the opposite of that statement.

 You can embellish it a bit or change the wording, if that feels good. For example:

I can make plenty of money.

I am healthy. (Or I can be healthy.)

My business is succeeding.

I can lose weight.

My body is attractive.

Then, write this new statement at the top of a poster board, huge piece of paper, or whiteboard.

You can use a notebook, too, but a giant thing you can see on your wall every day is the best bet.

Finally, list one piece of evidence that proves your statement true on your poster.

Do this every day for as long as you like, but a month is a really good running start. Here’s an example:

I can lose weight

–          I have lost weight before.

–          I am listening to my body’s hunger signals now and notice I’m eating less.

–          I feel more energetic and want to move more.

–          I haven’t felt like overeating in a week.

–          I have moments where I really can like my body instead of judge it.

–          Etc.

At first, your mind might have a small hissy fit and argue with you when you put your evidence up on the poster. Just keep doggedly adding evidence. You can make your statements as specific or as broad as you need to in order to feel hopeful. For example, you could start with “I am abundant” instead of “I can make plenty of money.” Then, count anything you have in abundance as evidence – even if it’s that you’ve stockpiled many bars of soap.

So, there’s your homework for the next month! This is one of the strongest manifestation tools I use. And recently, a client who did this homework won a $5,000 website makeover after starting her “Things come to me without me trying hard” poster. Yep, that’s right! Get your poster board and marker and start now!

I am a Pollyanna. I believe that I can have what I want – not from a sense of entitlement, but from a sense of creative power. I believe that if I want it, I can create it in my life. I don’t give obstacles any power, because I’m always thinking about creative ways to get where I want to go in my life. So what if the road I’m on isn’t taking me there. I’ll find another one. Obstacle? I’m going to find a way to go around it.

I built a highly successful coaching practice with no business background, no marketing expertise, and zero experience in anything remotely related to coaching. I live in an area where coaching is not exactly a well-known profession. I started my business in 2008, which was not exactly an amazing year for the economy. And yet, every year my business has grown, my dreams for it have come true, and I’m happily doing everything I wanted to do as a coach.

Pollyannas get what they want. It’s just how they roll. I look around at fellow Pollyannas and I see great things happening for them. They build successful coaching practices. They create health in their bodies. They lose weight and feel good about their bodies. Pollyannas can still get stuck in life’s issues, for sure, for a while. But they find the other road and get on it. They get creative and move around the obstacles.

Being a Pollyanna is a mix of extreme optimism and fierce determination. It’s not about pretending things are great or “rising above” when emotions happen. It’s about being willing to feel all emotions, get real about what your soul wisdom is, and then going for it. When I was in severe physical pain, I definitely hit rock bottom. I remember feeling utter despair, panic, and anger. And then, my Pollyanna self kicked in. I knew there had to be a way out of pain. I was determined to find it. Nothing was going to stop me. I felt what needed to be felt, and then I tapped into my extreme optimism (all the doctors said I had chronic pain…) and fierce determination (…and that there was no true cure).  Where did it get me? Not just pain relief, but a whole new (much happier) way of living.

This was the same energy I brought to creating my coaching practice. I knew I was meant to coach. I knew there had to be a way to make a successful business for myself out of doing what I loved. I knew I could serve people and facilitate their mind-body journey. I was unbelievably determined to make it happen with every creative bone in my body.

I look at fellow coaches, and I see the same optimism and determination. They are living the successful coach dream. I look at clients like the one I talked to the other day, and I see the same optimism and determination. She was only a couple weeks in to using the mind-body skills for herself and was already feeling pain relief. I’d say being a Pollyanna is pretty powerful.

If you want to be a successful coach, or if you want to successfully heal yourself, tap in to your inner Pollyanna. She’s there, waiting for you. All you have to do is say, “What would my Pollyanna Self do?” Think extreme optimism and fierce determination. That’s the magical mix. Pollyanna is not going to take no for an answer. She’s going to find another way, she’s going to create a whole new way, she’s going to make it happen, whatever it is. Whatever other people say can’t be done or isn’t the right way, she’ll prove them wrong. Pollyanna may get down every now and then, but she’ll rise up again, decision made to find a way to make it happen. She won’t follow the rules. She won’t let anyone dictate what’s possible for her. She’ll doggedly move in the direction she wants to go, ever tweaking her techniques until she gets where she intended to go.

Welcome to the Pollyanna Club. I think you’re going to like it here.

You might have heard of the Law of Attraction, what with its popularity in the media in the last several years.  You may have even investigated using the Law of Attraction to create health.  I’d like to tackle this topic today, because the truth is that there’s a lot of misinformation about the Law of Attraction out there, and it really can be another helpful concept in creating fantastic health.

Here’s the first big secret about LOA:  Everything that I do with mind-body healing is in perfect alignment with LOA concepts.  That’s because you can’t really improve your mind-body connection without improving your ability to attract what you want.  Good news!

Most people get very confused about emotions when trying to apply the LOA concepts to their lives.  They start thinking that you have to feel great all the time, or you’re attracting something negative.

Not true.

It’s about feeling everything, completely.  That allows you to release held emotions and be clear much more quickly.  Suppress an emotion and you’ll find your attraction powers sloooooowing dooooown….and eventually you might decide that this LOA thing just doesn’t work.

Oh, but it does!

All the time.  It’s not as crazy as it sounds or as wild as you might think.  Science is proving it in many different laboratories right now, and eventually, it will be just a commonplace, everyday part of our knowledge.  Kids will have LOA classes in kindergarten.

Before you decide I’ve lost my mind, consider this fact:  I have attracted the health that I wanted, using my own fun mix of mind-body tools.  I have also used and studied the LOA concepts, which I learned when I first discovered the concept of mind-body healing.  I’m here to tell you that understanding the Law of Attraction can help you on your healing journey, if you feel like delving into it.  If not – there’s nothing to worry about, as the mind-body tools themselves will do the job.  I just thought I’d share in case you find LOA interesting and helpful.

Want a great LOA resource?  Here’s a fantastic and extremely helpful blog post (about emotions, actually) from my favorite LOA expert, Jeannette Maw.  Click Here to Read.

Join me Wednesday, Feb. 10 for a FREE call…

Mind-Body Magic!

Learn why mind-body tools and techniques create more than health…that’s right!  You can be pain free, but you can also create success in every area of your life by strengthening your mind-body connection.  I will take you through the step-by-step process – from pain to health to MORE.  What’s more? How does it work?  How is it possible?

Join me to find out!

There will be plenty of time for questions and coaching.

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 9 PT/10 MT/11 CT/12 ET
Phone #: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 74952 (then hit 1#)

Never done a conference call?  It’s easy!  Call the number, enter the ID number, then hit 1#.  You can mute yourself and just listen, un-mute yourself to talk, and participate as much as feels right to you.

Click here for more call-in info!

So, while I’m gone, I thought I’d give you a new and very interesting Coffee with a Coach.  Listen to me talking with Certified Martha Beck Life Coach Linda Ford about her exciting coaching niche – the law of attraction.  Want some law of attraction tools to throw in your toolbox?  Linda will fill you in on the basic law of attraction concepts!  You can hear us discussing using the law of attraction to attract health, which is something I did without even realizing it, and it does work!  Looking back at my process towards health, I can see clearly where I used law of attraction concepts, not knowing not knowing at the time they were law of attraction concepts.  Coaching and law of attraction are actually a very good fit, as Linda explains, so I hope you enjoy learning more about it.

If you really like this topic, do let me know via comments or email, because Linda and I are thinking of cooking up an informative 60 minute Attracting Health teleclass in the near future.  If this is something you would be interested in, we’d love to know.

Have fun listening, and as usual, feel free to comment.  I’d love to hear questions, opinions, and anything else you have to say.

Visit Linda at her website: http://attractalife.com.

Click the link below to listen, or right click (control click for mac users) and select “save link as” to download the file.

Coffee with a Coach #3- The Law of Attraction