new reality

An Exercise in Resourcefulness

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 12 Conversations

 

“You want what you want, whether or not you think you can get it.” – Robert Fritz

How do you need to be thinking to go after your dreams and produce results?

All human behaviour is the result of state, so the first requirement is to be in a resourceful state, ie: a positive mood.

And when you’re not, you need to consciously choose it.

Because the truth is most of the time you have a choice.

Staying in a negative spin and doing nothing is a choice. You know it doesn’t feel good, but in the moment of choosing you’re doing the best you can.

How do I know? When you have better options you make better choices. I’m saying that not to let you off the hook for being responsible in your life, but rather to encourage you to have compassion for yourself when hindsight reminds you of a less than stellar choice you’ve made.

And it’s not about never having negative feelings. That’s ridiculous; everybody goes there sometimes. The key is not to stay there.

So the power then lies in choosing a resourceful state.

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As It Is Spoken, So Shall It Be

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 30 Conversations

 

How many times have you heard the childlike incantation abracadabra?

A phrase used by magicians, it’s actually from Aramaic. “Avra K’davra” meaning “As it is spoken, so shall it be!”

Puts a new spin on it, for in those words is a very important message. . .

Your speaking creates your reality. 

store window, Portland, Oregon

I don’t mean that in some new agey way, or wistful longing for a someday dream.

I mean, your speaking creates your reality – how you feel, how people respond, your energy, etc.

Every time you open your mouth you’re creating.

“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.” – J. K. Rowling

Speaking is generative, and every word that comes out of your mouth creates.

I’m tired. I’m busy. I can’t. 

What world did you just create?

I’ll do it. Let’s meet. I’ll figure it out!

How about now?

What if you really got the power of “As it is spoken, so shall it be?”

Now what would you say?

 

Over to You:

What do you have the courage to create in your speaking today?

 

 

The Art (and Science) of Solution Focused Living

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 24 Conversations

 

Problems. We’ve all got them.

In all areas of life – business, relationships, finances, health, and so on.

No one is immune.

It’s common to focus on problems, which can lead you down a negative spiral faster than an army of ants at a picnic; the kind of ANTs that suddenly seem to hi-jack your brain.

But is it really useful to focus on the problems? We’re human beings not machines, which leaves me questioning this obsession with problems and fixing ourselves.

“I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves.” – Louise L. Hay

Question: What Is Problem-Solving?

Answer: Problem-solving is a mental process that involves discovering, analyzing and solving problems. The ultimate goal of problem-solving is to overcome obstacles and find a solution that best resolves the issue.

Yes, problem solving is a mental process. . .that keeps you in your head analyzing!

Over and over, same problem, multiple angles, round and round until it feels like you’re deeper than ever, mired in the problem.

Yes, the intention is to get to the solution, but think about it. . .

How often has it really worked vs. how often has it kept you stuck?

“Anxiety and fear produce energy. Where we focus that energy noticeably affects the quality of our lives: focus on the solution, not the problem.” – Walter Anderson

It’s much more uncommon (and useful) to view life through a solution focused lens.

Sometimes I startle clients when I tell them I don’t care about the problem. And it’s true, I don’t. . .I care about what they want, and as soon as I can get them back to thinking about that, the sooner they feel resourceful.

You might think it’s semantics, but it’s not. It’s an energetic shift. It just feels better to focus on what you want from a solution focused view of life.

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Rise Up and Choose

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 6 Conversations

 

You have two options: 

1. The discomfort of taking action now

OR

2. The pain of your ‘someday’ thinking

 

Choose.

Anything else is avoidance.

Day 11 of Project 137

“Love what you want.” – Danielle LaPorte

 

You have everything you need to rise to the occasion.

For it is an occasion.

Dress up.

Open up.

Rise up,

and choose what you most want. 

Rise up and choose.

A Deva Tale (includes a damsel, a villain and a talisman)

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 27 Conversations

 

What do you do when you realize you’ve been resisting what you’re here for?

Maybe you hide out with busy work.

Or stop writing.

Or say yes to shiny new projects that are mostly distractions from…

what you’re here for.

I get it. I feel your pain. And enough is enough.

That’s what I said to myself recently!

I said, “Self, it’s time to stop resisting. It’s time to remember your intention. It’s time to get on with owning your awesome!” 

My Self quivered at this vociferous demand, challenged to find the words to share what’s been going on.

Because you know, I wanted to find the RIGHT words. Which is just another way of holding myself back and waiting for my own…wait for it…someday.

Yes, I know I’m on a mission to obliterate someday thinking from the face of the earth.

Gah. I hate outing myself.

But apparently Self needed a public bitch slap, which is why I’m about to tell this tale.

Let’s go back to the beginning, for sharing the details of how it’s been is always better than waiting for the perfect words someday.

 

Once upon a time there was a wildly enthusiastic woman with a passion for helping others. She did what she had to do to become skilful in her chosen profession, she launched her business with zeal, and she hustled.

She hustled because she loved her work. She fell in love with her perfect people; they lit her up with their enthusiasm and commitment to living life fully.

Then one day something changed, although she had no idea at first what it was.

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Step By Step

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 11 Conversations

 

 marble staircase at Westin Grande, Vancouver, BC

Step forward. . .into your vision.
Watch as the details come to life.

Step back. . .into your Self.
Surrender, and own who you really are.

Step up. . .into your calling.
Be the one you’ve been waiting for.

 

“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step,
you know it’s not your path.
Your own path you make with every step you take.
That’s why it’s your path.”
~ Joseph Campbell

 

Regrets of the Dying (and other possibilities for life)

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 63 Conversations

 

“One regret, dear world, 

That I am determined not to have 

When I am lying on my deathbed 

Is that I did not kiss you enough.” – Hafiz

regretful pose of sculpture against blue sky

If you could know the precise time and place of your death, would you want to know?

How would your life change?

Maybe you’ll think I’ve become obsessed with death, but if you did you’d be wrong. This is about becoming obsessed with the opposite – living life fully.

You see, yesterday I got word that an acquaintance passed away. He was not yet 50.

It was the kind of wake-up call that rattles complacency, and it rattled me more than I expected. I heard the news as a call to go deeper with my commitment to challenge ‘someday thinking’.

I didn’t ask for this path and it’s sure as hell not comfortable; the voice in my head shouting, “Who the hell do you think you are to shake things up?”

Somewhere along the way, without realizing at first, I became a waker.

That’s who I am. And I don’t always like it.

But resistance is futile as you probably know.

A waker, a cage-rattler, a warrior for you to step up and shine. Not much comfort on this path.

I call bullshit on your reasons and excuses. I challenge your status quo. And I rock the boat. . .often.

I will not settle for anything less.

Except when I do.

And it takes a serious reminder like illness and death to remind me of what I’m committed to, and what lights me up each day.

After I heard yesterday’s news, one question kept coming to mind…

If you died today what regrets would you have? 

That question went round and round in my mind until I got that’s where the work is – to move away from regrets and towards a life of satisfaction.

Making a difference for ourselves while we can.

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Exploring the Source of Intention

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 2 Conversations

 

A guest post from Lenke Sifko. It has been a privilege to work with her and she generously agreed to share something she wrote after one of our conversations. 

It is no secret to me, I know that intention is clearly a big player in the attainment of my goals, and the creation of the life I want to lead. Intention is the foundation for which these visions, goals and dreams are built. Now well along this road, sometimes by years, sometimes by progress and sometimes by curious digression, I find myself once again engaging in a new connection with my personal, creative and vocational dreams.

This day begins with an electricity in the air of my inner landscape.

I feel as though I am standing in the path of a rare and enigmatic breeze.

I sit down on the side of the road.

I my thoughts drift to pondering “the how” of how I create my intentions. I find my awareness moving in a new direction, to a place that takes me back further, to thinking about what comes before intention —to the source from which I create my intentions.

Source — “a thing or place from which anything comes, arises, or is obtained.”

This opens up thoughts about creation, and the difference between creating FOR and creating FROM. I realize that I have so often created my intentions “for” something.

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The Space in Between

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 13 Conversations

 

Space. 

Vast and immeasurable, but not out there.

A space unlike any other.

A space not yet clear.

Not like the space that shows up reliably every January; a space that compels you to think of what you want for your life.

And not like the space of completion; an invitation to look back, reviewing and learning from what’s been.

This is the space in between – the unexamined field.

sitting on the beach in West VancouverAs often happens when I begin to explore an idea that’s been niggling at me, it seems to show up everywhere.

First, in my research on lightning, I learned there’s a word for the space between the moment you see lightning and when you hear the thunder -svaha – a word of mysterious origin, some say Native American, I say intriguing.

Then the space of anticipation, waiting for the first prompt of the year-long adventure A Year with Myself, and a question from Patti Digh that took me by surprise:

What spaces are you standing between?

When was the last time you thought about the space in between?

I let the question sink in until the hair on the back of my neck stood up, the magic of the prompt working its way through my consciousness.

The space in between.

Think of the times you’ve been uncertain or the moments of discomfort as you stretched way beyond what you know.

In between.

Did you rush to step into a more familiar, tried and true space or or pull back paralyzed by fear?

What is so terrifying about the space in between?

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Mastering the Art of Living

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 6 Conversations

 

On the left side WORK. . .

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” – Buddha

Which part of that statement is true for you?

Half? Neither?

Be honest with yourself.

 

 

On the right side REALITY. . .

“The person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between their work and their play, their labour and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion. 

They hardly know which is which. They simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace in whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them, they are always doing both.” – Zen Buddhism text

Now imagine this. . .

Work you enjoy.

Work that fulfills you.

Work that you’re here for.

On this Labour Day. . .

let yourself begin creating a new reality.