Self-Empowerment Tips & Tools

an e-zine for the mind, body and spirit, for men and women  

ISSN 1073-6158                                                                                                             Volume 2 Issue 3

Table of Contents

1. HAPPINESS EMPOWERMENT

I begin every issue with an article about bringing more happiness into your life. A sincere sense of ongoing joy eludes a majority of people. I want to help change that! Please read this carefully if you don’t want to waste another precious minute of life without feeling contentment and joy when you wake up each day, despite life’s snags. Don’t be one of those who wait until they’re much older and then lament how much they missed. It’s all YOUR choice. This issue I discuss how to keep your protective walls porous in order to take risks that let happiness in NOW. 

Making Your Mistakes Count

Brandi Chastain plays soccer. In 1999 she accidentally scored a goal in the wrong net. The other team got the point. This wasn’t just any old game. It was the quarterfinals for the Women’s World Cup. Did Brandi sulk and ask to get taken out of the game? No! Did she let it rattle her confidence? No! She let it motivate her to recover and persevere to tie the game, which the U.S. team won.  

Lots of people saw Brandi’s mistake. It was a big deal. She could have let embarrassment deflate her and play on her nerves for other games. Because she didn’t, Brandi isn’t remembered for her blunder. Nine days later in the final game, she scored the goal that won the Cup. Brandi proved that mistakes don’t hurt you! You hurt you when you respond to them in ways that negatively affect what you do later.  

Brandi says, “It’s what your do after the mistakes that counts.” You can deal with one and move on, or dwell on embarrassment and let it make you feel incompetent. Mistakes can teach you what you have to do differently, if you keep them in perspective and not let them make you question your competency or feel inadequate. You choose whether to let a goof hurt you or to cut yourself slack and get back on track. Become more conscious of your reaction to mistakes.

 
* Don’t blow what you did out of proportion. It’s common to magnify faults and drag out misery by rehashing what you did in your mind. It’s a mistake, not a sin! Don’t make it more than it is. If people say it’s no big deal, accept that it’s no big deal. It’s done—you can only do what’s necessary to be fix it, without making it a catastrophe.

* No more “should haves”! Saying “I should have…” makes you feel wrong. It does you no good to look back and think about how you wish you could change what you can’t change. Your mistake is over. Look ahead!

* Let it go quickly. Every day you hold onto guilt or blame or horror of a past action is another day you’re punished unnecessarily. That damages your spirit. Don’t hold yourself to a higher standard than your friends. You don’t punish them, so why punish you? List all your feelings – anger, inconvenience, embarrassment, etc. – read it aloud, and then burn it. That helps let it go.

* Forgive YOU. You can’t do this while beating yourself up. Forgive you for being human and imperfect. Until you forgive, you can’t let it go. Be loving to you!

* Remember that most people are supportive. Others don’t judge us nearly as harshly as we judge ourselves. They don’t want you to feel bad and aren’t gleeful if you do something wrong. Most mistakes aren’t important to others. And those who don’t feel bad for you won’t feel good for you when you succeed so who cares about them!

* Be open to reassurance from others. When people try to say nice things after you goof, do you scoff them off or minimize their kind words? Don’t! Everyone goofs and knows how lousy it feels so they want to make you feel better. Allow them to.

* Do affirmations to reassure yourself. ”I’m a winner.” “I’m not my mistakes and can do things well.” Saying affirmations helps heal bruised confidence and facilitates moving on. They also drown out negative thoughts since it’s hard to think both at once.

* Look for lessons and be more conscious / careful in the future. What can you do differently? If you didn’t prepare enough for a presentation, prepare more. If you goofed because you’re tired, try to rest more. And if it was an accident that you broke something or tripped, accept that accidents happen and you can only do your best.

Cut yourself slack if you fail your perfection standards! When you focus on imperfections, they become bigger than they are and distract you from good qualities. You can balance what you don’t have with your strengths. My friend Nasrin in Tehran, Iran wrote to me:

I know we are all human beings and making mistakes is part of any human being. What is important is to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. By developing my self-confidence and examining other people closely and objectively, I found out I'm not the only one who makes mistakes. So I'm not that hard on myself anymore. I may have some weak points but know I have many positive ones too. I understood that going after perfection leads to disappointment.

Michael Jordan said, "I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Don’t let mistakes take you out. Conquer them instead! Keep what you did in perspective. Ask yourself if it will matter ten, or even one year from now. The faster you let it go, the less damage to your confidence. Never forget that everyone makes mistakes – that’s being human. It’s how you let them affect you – or not – that counts. Make sure that your main perception is how terrific and talented you are!

Confidence is a big key to getting what you desire. Nobody is born with good self-confidence. We all have insecurities. Some people grew up in an environment that boosted their self-esteem and nurtured confidence. More didn’t. But you can develop some! 

Talk to yourself. I do it all the time. In an effort to boost my confidence, I encourage myself. When situations scare me, I go to a mirror (alone) and say versions of “I’m Daylle Deanna Schwartz and I know who I am.” I still do that before making an important TV appearance or in any situation that I’m nervous about. Sometimes I say “I’m Daylle Deanna Schwartz and I know I can do it.” Or “I’m good enough to handle this situation.” I can say it over and over like an affirmation until I begin to feel the power of my words. You CAN do it. Take that from someone who never believed she’d ever do anything right! Just before an important situation, say something encouraging over and over to yourself, or go into the rest room and say it silently as you look at yourself in the mirror. Let your words calm you down.  

I’ll repeat this in every issue. Taking care of your body is a gift of love to you. Being healthy makes you feel better. This doesn’t mean striving for a perfect body or impressing a romantic partner. Create better nutritional habits, take vitamins/supplements and exercise for YOU! When you focus on being healthy, you give yourself love! 

Finding Ways to Exercise

Often we decide to get into better shape and jump into it at high speed. People tell me they ran every day for a week or two and then got burned out. Gyms get high numbers of new members at certain times of the year, especially after New Years resolutions have been declared. People exercise often, with determination, for a short time and then can’t make time to go at all. Exercise doesn’t work when you go to extremes. It’s best when you find your comfort zone and work within it. A common pattern for people who haven’t done regular exercise is they:

* Get fed up with their lack of fitness and avow to get into shape.

* Join a gym and go a lot. Try to run every morning.

* Can’t keep up with the pace and stop altogether.

* Wonder why can’t stick with exercise.

Exercise, like dieting, isn’t all or nothing. If you choose to do it in a way that’s unpleasant or feels intrusive on the rest of your life, you won’t keep it up. A little is better than nothing. If you begin with a small effort, you can add more as you get into a groove and used to doing it. Congratulate yourself for each effort. There are things you can begin with that might not seem like much, but they can improve your fitness and be increased as you make them part of your routine, such as:

* Walk around your block a few times each day. Pick up your pace as you go.

* Take the long route to work when you walk from the bus stop, your car, etc.

* Go up and down a few flights of stairs every day at home or at work. It doesn’t take long but it does firm your bottom and burns calories.

* Do a few minutes of jumping jacks or jumping rope when you wake up or before dinner.

* Do some squats. And easy way to do a squat is to lean against a wall with your feet far enough from it so you can slide down. Hold that for a few seconds and go back up. It a great way to tighten your bottom and strengthen your leg muscles.

* Do some lunges. If you have the space, go across the room taking one lunging step after another. This works more lower body muscles than any other exercise.

* Splurge on a personal trainer once a week to get you into a gym habit. Working out with a trainer taught me how to exercise properly and I know that on Mondays at 4 I’m always there. It keeps me on a workout routine.

Doing more isn’t better if it burns you out fast and you stop altogether. Moderation is key to sticking with it. Plus, the healthiest exercise program is balanced. You need recovery time so your muscles can heal after they’re exerted. Once you increase what you do, limit the number of days you work out, or at least that you work out specific muscles. You might do heavy cardio one day and work out your upper body the next. You can walk and do some bits of other cardio every day. But once you put some speed into it, your muscles need rest too.

Exercise is crucial for good health. The benefits are a lot more than just looking better. It’s a good way to show yourself love. Cardio and weight training makes your bones stronger and helps keep your heart healthy. Show yourself love by finding your own way to moving, burning and strengthening. It will improve your quality of life and you’ll feel good once you do it. Slow and steady will get you moving!

You can do many things to improve your health. Improving your mental health increases happiness. One way to feel good about you is to help others.

Empowering You By Helping Others

Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Helping others helps you to feel good about yourself. Knowing that you made someone smile is priceless! Do you have a “What do I get out of this” mentality? If so, lose it! Give simply because you feel good helping others. Trust me, it comes back multiplied. That’s part of the Law of Attraction – The Secret that’s not really a secret. When you demonstrate that you care about others, more comes to you. I get many blessings because I give a lot too.

People often say that I’m lucky to get all that I do. We create our own luck! I truly enjoy making people smile and doing things that can improve someone’s life. If you’ve begun to count your blessings, include the blessing of helping those less fortunate than you. I was very touched when I learned about Soles4Souls Inc, an international charity dedicated to providing footwear to people in need. You might be able to help on your own or get your kid’s school, your place of worship, your co-workers, or any informal group of people you can inform to gather used but still usable shoes for people in need. Small efforts can generate big smiles and improve someone’s life!

Do you have shoes that are in good shape but you rarely wear them? You can make room in your closet and benefit others by sending them to Soles4Souls. They have a simple mission: To impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes. Donating 'gently worn' shoes can make a difference in someone's life. Shoes go to those who need them in the US and worldwide. I’m excited to make a difference in someone’s life by sending shoes I never wear but don’t toss because they’re in good condition!

Wayne Elsey founded Soles4Souls when he was looking for a way to help after the Tsunami. He orchestrated a nationwide shoe drive with some friends for Southeast Asia. In 2005, Wayne quickly organized the same team when Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast region. Now Soles4Souls operates year round. I was so impressed with what Wayne did that I called him with some questions, which I’ll share now. I hope it motivates you to find ways to help others too!
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Why did you decide to give away shoes? “I’ve been in the shoe business since I was fifteen. When the tsunami tragedy happened, I was watching the news and saw a pair of shoes float on shore. It bothered me and I got together with some people to send shoes. I thought we might get 5,000 pairs but we collected a quarter of a million from individuals, shoe companies, church drives and more. We had connections with folks in DC who worked with embassies and they facilitated getting product over onto people’s feet.”

What would you say to those who ask why they should help others without getting something in return? “I say why not? Do something for someone else. It’s more gratifying and rewarding than any big deal you can ever make.”

Did you expect this to blow up like it did? “NO! After the tsunami, we high-fived each other and said it was great. Then Katrina came, and I called the guys and asked what they thought of doing it again. It evolved very quickly. We had distribution centers set up. We had product coming from all over the world donated for Katrina. We ended up shipping over three-quarters of a million pairs of shoes there. We high-fived again and felt good. That bothered me for months. At Christmas of that year I put together a business plan. I didn’t want to be just known for being a disaster relief organization. I developed an infrastructure and business strategy, that would be fifty-two weeks a year to impact people’s lives, one pair of shoes at a time.”

How did you accomplish that? “We set up a business with a 501(c)3 certification. Then we got grants. There are currently thirteen full time employees. We have a world headquarters and warehouse facilities in Alabama and Las Vegas. We’re about to open more around the world, where people can drop off product to us. I never thought it would be this big. We’re looking to have chapters in Europe and other places.”

Why do you think it’s been so successful? “Because of the simplicity of what we do – we get a pair of shoes and give a pair of shoes. That’s it!”

How does it make you feel? “I sleep pretty good at night knowing that what I started impacts on so many people’s lives or actually saves lives. It’s a simple gift of shoes, something that many people in the USA take for granted.”

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Go to your closet today and see if there are shoes you don’t need that someone else can use. The joy of giving will make you feel good and will also come back to you with more blessings!

Using Colors to Be More Empowered
By Stephanie Rose

When we think of “color,” we think of color in nature, in decorating, in paint, in skin. What if you knew color could be used as a device to empower you? How simple is that! Albert Einstein attested to the fact that everything is made of energy. Yes, even color! It has been scientifically proven that color has the ability to alter how you feel. It can calm, heal, excite, agitate or even depress you. On the other hand, color can also empower you.

The ancient people of Greece, China and Egypt used the power of color like medicine. They understood its potency. In Egypt, patients who were ill were placed in a room where the color blue was beamed in to envelope them. Blue, the “universal healing color”, was beneficial to all. They made it a daily ritual to absorb the energy of the color for healing purposes.

There are many ways color can be used to heal and strengthen you. Using it with a purpose is a way to feel as if you are doing all that you can to enhance each and every day. By knowing what each color stands for and what it can do, you can choose what color you need. Did you know that color is the first thing your eyes see before your brain registers what it is? You see, think, and then feel. If you choose color with a “purpose”, you are empowering yourself everyday – from what color you choose to wear, to what color cup you drink your coffee, tea or milk from.

Buy yourself mugs in different colors. When you wake up in the morning and decide what you need for the day, choose the color mug that is associated with that energy. For example, if you are feeling depressed, drink from a red cup. It will give you strength, passion and uplift your emotions. By also wearing that color, you give yourself double the strength. Did you ever notice how sometimes just the color of a room affects your mood? It has been proven that even though they can’t see it, blind people are affected by the color of a room.

Once you become conscious of color, you will have what I call “a secret weapon.” By feeding your soul the color you need, you nurture and empower yourself daily. Below I’ve listed some colors and their meanings. Use them with a purpose and see what happens!

BLUE – Calms, gives confidence, awakens intuition/artistic ability

GREEN – Balances energy, soothes nerves, stimulates growth

RED – Energy, vitality, spontaneous, passion

PINK – Aids in matter of the heart/emotions/love; awakens compassion

ORANGE – Joy, strengthens social ability, helps with depression

YELLOW – Stimulates the brain, confidence and optimism

PURPLE - Promotes strength and growth mentally, spiritually, emotionally

WHITE – Strength, cleans, purifies, awakens creativity

BLACK - Grounds, protects, mystifies

BROWN – Awaken common sense, reality, comfort, security

May your life be colorful and empowered!

Being Whole On Your Own

Happiness with someone else works best if you’re happy and whole on your own. Nobody can give you a life if you don’t have one already. Learn the “A” word – AUTONOMY – to relish your own company and thrive on your own. Below is some sample advice from the guys in my Straight Talk with Gay Guys book. While it was written for women, it applies to everyone. Too many people of both sexes look to someone else to give them a life. When you can function on your own, you can feel empowered with or without a partner. As Ed says, “ If YOU can’t spend time alone with yourself and be content, what makes you think ANY ONE ELSE wants to spend time alone with you???”

Having your own friends, interests, and feeling secure in yourself makes you more attractive and helps to prevent desperation to be in a relationship. When you get a life and appreciate the joy of having your space, you’ll truly own your life. Then you can continue to be an individual in a relationship. Here’s some input from the guys:

Travis: “Hands down, the healthiest couples I know do things apart and have their own interests and separate friends. Of course you want to have things that both of you enjoy doing together, but girls, come on. You don’t need to follow your guy out to the golf course and ride around in the little cart with him all day just to spend time with him if you don’t like it. You will end up miserable and even worse, you might pull that card sometime when you want to go shopping and say “but I went golfing with you.” Then you are either going to have a guy say to you “I didn’t make you go golfing” or you will have a miserable guy on your hands who just wants to get out of the store. Let him go do his thing; you can do dinner afterwards or something else. Everyone needs “me time.”

Rick: “You cannot be in a healthy relationship with anyone else if you aren’t in one with yourself. To have autonomy and be able to be with yourself is a huge gift. It’s really throwing something away if you can’t do it.”

David: “You need to be independent/interdependent – being with somebody because you want to be with them, not because you HAVE TO be with them. The hardest thing we have to learn is to love ourselves first, in every way – mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Be the best YOU that you can be.”

Mike: “We all need a life outside of our love. A friend of mine once said she melted into her love’s life, becoming a part of him. It’s beautiful and poetic to say it but can be damaging if overdone.”

Michele: “We all need our space. It makes you feel alive, independent, stronger, and helps you enjoy your time together more because you miss each other and refresh passion and fantasies.”

Vinnie: “Nothing spells “loser” more than someone who right from the get-go plans things in the future – when you’re so clingy that you’re trying to get a mortgage by the second date. Oh, I hate that. I’d go running in the other direction. If you’re clear about who you are, what your goals are, how you want to be treated, and you’re solid in that place – you don’t need to act a certain way. You won’t need a plan.”

Dan: “Everybody is under pressure from family and society to have this one relationship that works and makes their life worthwhile forever but if anything happens to it, they feel shattered, degraded and derailed. The way that the world has evolved, there are too many things that can affect that. The ones I know who are most happy are in long time marriages, but their relationships enhance their lives, not make or break it.”

Michael M.: Don’t panic if you have a night or weekend alone. Realize that you’re a grown up and that you should have cultivated enough inner resources that you can be your own best friend and be good company for yourself. You don’t need to be with somebody all the time.

Kevin S.: Find out what interests you. What are you about? What do you like to do? Stop trying to be what everyone else wants you to be and figure out who you are, what makes you happy, and what makes you tick.”

Kyle: “When you’ve created a healthy life of your own, if the time comes for you to get out of the relationship, you will be able to discern that it’s time to leave and realize that it is for the best. Always remember that you don’t need a romantic partner to survive. You are always enough on your own. Carrie Bradshaw got Big when she lost interest. Make your partner compete for your attention by making other things as important as he or she is.”

Alex: “It’s incredibly difficult to tell yourself that you don’t need anyone, because you do. We’re social creatures and need to be around people and find meaningful relationships. You have to be patient and make yourself a better partner. When you become a complete person, you don’t want someone who is a half. You want somebody who’s also complete. Do anything you can do to take care of yourself physically and spiritually. It makes you a better, more attractive person.”

Yiannis: “It’s very easy to get lost in a relationship. If you find yourself relying on your partner for too much, do something alone that’s all about you. Learn a language, take a dance class, prepare for a marathon, etc. The activity itself doesn’t matter nearly as much as the feeling of independence you’ll gain by having something that’s all your own.”

Travis explains: “No way does anyone need someone, be it a man or a woman, to complete themselves. A friend of mine in the Navy once said to me, ‘you need to be happy with yourself before you can date someone’ and he said that if you are comfortable enough to go to a movie by yourself you are comfortable enough with yourself to date someone. I thought it was odd until I realized I had never actually gone to a movie theater and seen a movie by myself. When you are comfortable with yourself, it shows and that makes you a lot more attractive.

Hug Somebody Today: Everybody can use a hug, or more! Keep your eyes open for at least one person you can give a hug to. Hugs are therapeutic. Studies show that the more touching we get, the healthier we can be. I always greet people with a hug. Some people are very receptive and others get a little stiff if they’re not used to it. But they all seem to like it. Hugging feels good so go out and do it!

Consciously Cultivating Mental Freedom

YOUR NATURAL STATE IS BOYANT, ABUNDANT, FREEDOM, AND MUST BE CONSCIOUSLY CULTIVATED. You must learn to open new freeways of energy in your brain. This begins improving your quality of life, even if you’re not used to using the new pathall the time. Once new freeways are open, the more familiar it becomes and the more you use it. That makes your response time faster for leaving your old habitual path of compression, doubt, depression, pain and suffering.

Through meditation, and awareness, you slowly close down the part of you that is familiar with taking old neural pathways of pain and suffering. This neural rewiring is the beginning of transformation. When you start on your spiritual path, you officially begin rewiring your brain. And in the opening of that new stretch of neural freeway, your life begins to change. I call it freeway because rewiring your brain is a way to freedom -- a free-way. You develop new neural pathways. New choices. New experiences.

Rewiring the brain is much like a sailboat on open water. No matter how high the waves get, the sailboat stays afloat, by floating up and over the waves and being able to respond with its natural buoyancy to whatever the turmoils of the ocean arises. The turmoils are the effects of the subconscious, sub-mental, sub-emotional – the old patterns, storage and thoughts that we come into this life with, and develop over time. The new wiring – the new neural pathways – is the buoyancy above those thoughts. And yes, even as you read, your sub thoughts are being affected simply by reading this article. So are all the other sub-terrain consciousness patterns.

The spiritual brain, the conscious mind, the developing prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps you move and negotiate your way through life, is beginning to reroute the experience of what we will refer to as limbic stress, the places in the brain that in the past had free reign over our lives to wreak havoc. This new paving is a buoyancy. It is newly created – a new experience – a new point of reference that allows you to be think buoyantly in your brain.

As you have the beginnings of a natural tendency toward buoyancy, life by definition will change. The gift of buoyancy becomes automatic instead of having to think about – the tendency of the entire system. The system remains buoyant no matter what tumultuous stuff comes up. The nature of your being is buoyancy. As long as there is buoyancy, there is freedom.And as long as there is freedom, there is buoyancy. Each supports the other.

The move towards buoyancy is a big deal. The more you use it, the easier it is. The faster you use it, the faster you leave the darkness. It is key and significant. We don't recognize the depth of the significance because we are in the picture. Imagine the sailboat buoyantly riding the waves. There is no safer place to be then aligned with the energy of spiritual buoyancy. In essence, it is the buoyant nature of consciousness. The decision to stay atop the water no matter what happens. To respond and be buoyant. This is a necessary part of your emotional and personal evolution.

Your brain is nothing more than a collection of thoughts, some of which are related to your emotions, some to your past. This collection of stored thought-forms and situations predominantly sorted by pain and intensity of pain is what the brain has evolved from. The nature of the brain is its ability to store, access and cross reference perceptions. The brain is a lifetime of data storage, sequence storage, emotional sequence storage.It is a massive emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, creational, and multidimensional data storehouse, that expands in energy and encompasses the body and beyond. Its direct perceptual, storage field encompass a space we typically call the aura. Our auric layers are reflections of the storage house we call the brain and mind body.

If you think a thought right now, any thought, your natural life force field – your aura – is instantly changed based on that thought.The emotions that you experience right now come from the sub-mental place in your brain.Each thought has a seemingly firm root. When you go to the point of it you can feel the actual flow of this emergent emotion, flowing from its source in consciousness. Feel that flow as an explorer. Go to the source of your thought, as if you were diving to seize the Titanic. Not commenting on the horror or the feelings, but simply observing. That serves you best in this moment and helps as you continue to rewire your brain. As you swim to the point in consciousness where the source point is – the sub-mental – and put your consciousness there by bringing your awareness to that point, you rewire the brain.

Go to the split second of creation of this energy and rest your awareness for a moment.As you bring your awareness to this point of perception, take your visualized hand and push that point of sub-creation out of your brain and into a great fire of transformation -- an energetic vortex of transformation. Whatever goes through this vortex is transformed for your greatest good and greatest growth. You then fill the space being vacated by the unwanted feelings or emotions, with the natural energy and tendency of buoyancy. Your true nature is buoyant. The most natural aspect of your own consciousness is buoyant freedom. Right in this moment, give yourself full permission to feel your buoyant nature. Give yourself permission to feel freedom right now, in the face of whatever else that you are feeling.

Lawrence Lanoff is creator of "A Course in Freedom".

In each issue I’ll answer a question about how to handle a specific situation. Please send in questions about something that you’d like help with. 

Being Nicely Assertive
I just returned to work from a maternity leave. All the women in my company who’ve had babies are allowed to work one day from home. I tried to get a commitment of a day to do that but my immediate supervisor put me off, saying I must wait to meet with the CEO about it. Though they don’t have to give it to me, everyone talks as if I’ll get it, including the CEO’s assistant. But so far the meeting hasn’t happened. How can I continue to pursue it without being too pushy? Latisha S.

My answer: You must subtly but firmly stay on them. Often people will ignore you until you go away. So don’t go away! And don’t ask if you’ll get it. Ask like it’s a given. “Have you decided what day I can work from home?” If your supervisor isn’t being helpful about arranging a meeting with the CEO, ask the CEO’s assistant for advice on the best way to do this, in a friendly, casual way. She’s indicated you’ll get the day at home and might be able to put you on the schedule or ask for you. While it may not be mandatory for you to get it, it’s unfair if everyone else has that perk and you don’t. Keep a positive attitude and your anger in check while regularly inquiring when the day can be arranged.

In every issue I’ll include success stories from my readers. Please send in yours. 

I’m Making a Dream Come True!
I’m a graphic designer and have done well with my firm, but my dream has been to have my own business. I thought about it for years but was scared to take the step and lose the security of a steady paycheck and health insurance. Your article on pursuing dreams made me realize how unhappy I was and that some insecurity was worth the risk. I put aside my social life for a bit and began taking on side projects and saved my money diligently. It was worth it to work toward my goal of independence! When my private clients led to referrals, I quit my day job. I work harder than I did as an employee but it’s all for me! I’m paying my bills and seeing a good future. This is definitely better than unrequited dreams. Art C. . 

I Stopped Struggling!
I’ve always felt like I was struggling to get ahead. I’m trying to launch a music career and it’s hard. Now I see that I was getting in my own way. I called myself a struggling musician and felt like one. I began to pay attention and accept that it’s no harder for me than for most others. I focused on my choice to pursue music. I could quit and make life easier. But it’s not what I want. Now when it’s hard, I remember that I’m blessed to have the opportunity to play my music and work toward earning a living from it. When I got rid of the mindset of struggling, I had a lot more fun and got more breaks. Evangeline K.

Well, that’s all for this issue. A BIG thank you to Stephanie Rose and Lawrence Lanoff for allowing me to include their input. Also thanks to Wayne Elsey for his time and for starting a fantastic organization that we can all participate in. Please let me know things you’d like me to write about in future issues.

With love from,

Daylle

http://www.daylle.com

© 2007 Project Self-Empowerment, LLC