The expansion of SJCF staff and increased interaction with collaborative partners in the recovery period has stretched my leadership strengths and weakness. I am learning to become a leader by becoming myself! Thanks for the book Robert, what an amazing way to see power exchanges at work! And apparently it is working as I am in amazing company for the Chamber Community Service Award

FIrst 2019 meditation: Activate your light body for the new year

New Year - New version of you being brought to 2019

1/1/19 - FIrst meditation: Activate your light body for 2019;

• Send love and loving energy build and wave out into your past year...touching all parts of the past year with love, all the experiences, the good, the challenges, everything. Let love wash over all of it. All the hurricane recovery projects, meetings, new hires, letting go of some people and projects and contrasts. All of the new connections with work people, family, friends. Some of the seemingly unfulfilled desires, wants, needs. Lay it all to rest and now see what may be ahead.
• Standing at the point between 2018 and 2019. at the threshold - at the edge. Feel the sense of stepping into 2019, and leaving the old in 2018. Feel the middle ground between the two.
• Now feel the version of you that needs to come through in this new year. You are still at the threshold, with 2018 behind you and 2019 spread out in front of you, and you are looking forward. Feel the energy of 2019. What do you feel? I feel excited, calm in a way that I know I can handle it. Isee pinks and purples and bits of red. Know that you will be bringing a new you into this new year. A new version of you, new ways of being in the world. New experiences
• Breath and feel into your heartspace - put your hand(s) over your heart. Breathe the energy of 2019 into your heartspace. Feel, sense, visualize that energy fill your heartspace. THis feels wonderful and fulfilling, activating empowerment and connection as I step forward into this new year. You may have no idea what 2019 will bring you, but as the energy comes to you, and uplevels you - then your heart, gut, hands and feet will know exactly what to do.We often think we need to know what to do, to think our way through things, to figure things out - but that is not the case. 2019 is going to carry us in a different and intuitive flow.
• Now do the same into your belly. Love up your belly for a second. Now breathe in the 2019 energy that is right out before you. Like allowing the breeze to flow out and around in front of you and into your belly, filing all the space. Allow it to enter and activate your inner blueprint, your light body. Allow your gut to receive this energy. I think of gut instincts being reset.
• Now bring that energy through the palms hands and the soles of your feet and up into your arms and legs. Then into your mind. Thank your intellect, know it won’t be your primary guide, but it will be balances with your heart, your gut, your instinct, you primal animal body, your essence, your energy - the universe. Your head does not get to lead entirely this year.
• Let the energy flow into the mind and head and know that you can let go a bit and trust. THere is a cooperative energy that wants all parts to work together and step into 2019...on path, on purpose. Aligned with joy, purpose, playfulness, nourishment
• Feel gratitude for 2018 and say thanks to 2019 for showing up. Remember that you do not have to figure this all out. You don’t have to think your way through this. Know that all parts of you are aligned for the next right step. There is an intelligence working behind the scene to guide you into and through the next year. Trust. Be kind and aware as you move through knowing you will act in your highest and best interest of your purpose and potential and that of others.

Power of Intention - and Trust

The little Intender's Hanbook is a valuable guide and I look forward to summarizing parts of it to share! I look forward to searching a Circle of Intenders and creating one on St. John!

The AH desire - trust - allow - manifest process really takes the pressure off. We are not in this alone and have such wonderful opportunities to support others and be supported.

This Code of Conduct is something I want to share as often as possible...and I will!

Event + Response = Outcome

Life and work are a constant flow of events. But success is not determined by the events you experience.

Success is determined by how you choose to respond. The best results are produced by those who take the most effective action.

With this in mind, here is a simple but powerful equation we will use throughout the R Factor Journey.

Events happen every day, you respond, and your response produces an outcome.

The R-Factor is a tool box that strengthens your ability to manage the R in the equation.

You don’t control the E; you don’t control the O;

you only control the R.

People who achieve better outcomes consistently choose better R’s. Successful people focus on maximizing The R-Factor

Press pause between the E and the R.

Before you respond, stop and think.

Don’t automatically reach for the familiar solution

or the easy answer.

When you fail to press pause, you often rush to poor decisions. Don’t let emotional impulse hi-jack your thinking. Take the time to be intentional about choosing an R that is most likely to produce the outcome you want.

Pressing Pause is a critical R Factor discipline. It will help you see situations with greater clarity, focus on the outcomes you want to achieve, and take more effective action.

E + R = O is how life works.

The challenge is to get good at it.

There are six skills that shape your R Factor. The skills are common sense, but they are not common practice. It is the application of these principles – not the circumstances you face – that enables you to respond effectively to the stuff of life. Make sure you manage the one thing you control.

1.Build a strong foundation

2.Develop self-awareness

3.Think strategically

4.Manage your emotions

5.Act with focus and discipline

6.Connect with others

...more on these in a minute :-)

Quarterly Focus: Abundance and Financial Security

Now that we have shifted to a quarterly focus, I wanted to share a funny story about how "Financial"was always the part of my wheel that created a bump in my otherwise smooth ride through life.

Quarterly Focus: Physical Health

This is one of the most important areas of Life Management. It can make or break all other areas and is multifaceted. It is more than simply what you put in your body, it is also how you move your body, and making sure you are resting your body & getting enough sleep. As you create your vision of 100% Physical Health means to you, consider some of these things to add to your Three to Thrive Action list:

Put things in your body that are good for you

• Don’t smoke. There is enough research out there to justify this advice. Smoking kills.
• Limit alcohol – Sure, wine is made of grapes; beer and liquor come from grains. However, the processing they go through take them far from that natural state and in excess, alcohol can be toxic, literally poisoning your body and your damaging organs.
• Drink lots of water. You’ve heard that most of your body is made up of water, and that drinking pure clean water is vital to flush out toxins from your body, but there is more. Thirst and hunger both originate in the hypothalamus and are sometimes hard to differentiate from each other. So drink a glass of water before you have a snack.
• Eat fresh whole foods including lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Limit processed foods and meats
• Choose whole grains
• Get an annual physical, or at least your bloodwork done to determine your blood sugar, cholesterol. Keep track of your blood pressure and heart rate.

Move your body in healthy ways:

• Maintain good posture
• Exercise regularly –
• Strength
• flexibility and
• endurance –

Breathe fresh air – go outside and enjoy nature – enjoy the sun but protect your skin

Feng Shui; another way create balance in your life!

This Life In Balance series would not be complete without introducing the ancient art of Feng Shui. The best explanation I found was at About.com: Feng shui is an ancient art and science developed over 3,000 years ago in China. It is a complex body of knowledge that teaches how to balance the energies in any given space - be it a home, office or garden -  in order to assure good fortune for people inhabiting it.

As good fortune comes in many ways - better health, successful career, fulfilling love life, etc - feng shui has detailed tips for almost any area of one's life. You will see that one of the Feng Shui tools, known as a Bagua, looks like the Life Wheel we introduced to you early in this series. I like to incorporate this in my home as a whole, and in any room I spend a lot of time in, like my office!

Feng means wind and shui means water. In Chinese culture wind and water are associated with good health, thus good feng shui came to mean good fortune, while bad feng shui means bad luck, or misfortune. Feng shui is based on the Taoist vision and understanding of nature, particularly on the idea that the land is alive and filled with Chi, or energy.

The ancient Chinese believed that specific land's energy could either make or break the kingdom, so to speak. The theories of yin and yang, as well as the five feng shui elements, are some of the basic aspects of a feng shui analysis that come from Taoism.

Read: The Yin-Yang Theory in Feng Shui

The main tools used in a feng shui analysis of any space are the feng shui compass and the bagua. The feng shui energy map, or bagua, is an octagonal grid containing the symbols of the I Ching, the ancient oracle on which feng shui is based.

Knowing the bagua of your home will help you understand the connection of specific feng shui areas of your home to specific areas of your life. For example, you have a love and marriage area in your home, a career area, a health and family area, etc.

There is a total of 8 bagua areas in your home that can be worked on in order to improve the areas of your life that are connected to these bagua areas. Read: All About Your Feng Shui Bagua

Feng shui offers a variety of cures to improve your life. From the feng shui use of aquariums to attract prosperity to the feng shui use of crystals and fountains; from the right feng shui use of colours to the feng shui use of clocks, there are many ways you can improve the energy in your home or office with solid, good feng shui. Read: 25+ Popular Feng Shui Cures for Your Home

Although some levels of feng shui are easy to understand and apply, the core knowledge takes years of study. Just like the Traditional Chinese medicine, the feng shui knowledge is deep and complex. The more you know about feng shui, the more there is to explore!

That is one of the things I hope you get out of this series...a desire to explore things you might not have considered before! And while we are on the subject of energy, here is a book that I found fun and you might want to check this out ... Inside are a series of experiments you can try to see how you might be affecting energy. I look forward to hearing about any personal experiences you might have. Mine were mind blowing!