As the author of The Inspired Life:  Unleashing Your Mind’s Capacity for Joy I am often asked, what is inspiration, what do you mean by living an inspired life?  My response is quite simple, living your inspired life vision is living a life of passion and purpose.

The foundation of living an inspired life is made firm by acknowledging and generously offering your gifts, talents, skills and abilities. I have found that when I am in the presence of people who are living their inspired life vision that I am inspired and encouraged to continue to dream big and be a mighty expression of love in the world.

My friend and colleague, Lisa Dorey is living her inspired life vision and I am eager to share Lisa with you and trust that as you listen to our recent conversation that you will be inspired to connect with and live your inspired life vision

I am inspired by Tom Shadyac.  You are probably familiar with his films, Ace Ventura, Liar, Liar, Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor.  You may not, yet, be familiar with his new film, his documentary, I AM.  I watched it twice last week and I am imagining that this blog post is me shouting from a rooftop, I want to share I AM with you Now!  Take a look at the I AM movie trailer:

Last Wednesday was our 1st Movie Night at my un-Church Church – The New Thought Spiritual Center of Eastern Long Island.  We are choosing films that are inspiring, educational and support the interconnectedness of all beings.  I’d heard about this film when I was in Los Angeles last June the day before I broke bones in my foot.  It has been popping into mind since then and I was thrilled when I got to choose the film for Movie Night.  There were about 40 of us gathered in Southampton, NY and we’re still talking about the film.

If you have every questioned our inter-connectedness, the power of Love and the amazing power that we each possess watch I AM.  Listen to it with your heart, share it with your family and friends and share your thoughts, comments and insights with the Inspired Life Community.

Watch a brief interview with Tom Shadyac:

I am inspired by my colleague and MasterMind partner, Rikk Hansen.  Rikk is the visionary and founder of BrilliantNext.com.  He is a long-time renewal coach, guiding adults who are questioning their direction yet know they want to create a work & life that blaze with purpose.

At Brilliant NEXT Rikk creates resources, and leads intensive group & individual programs (both online and in nature/retreat settings) specifically for professionals who are seeking renewed passion, clarity, and direction for their work & life.

A few days ago Rikk and I had a conversation that I am eager to share with you. We spoke about that time Between-Dreams when:

• your old work path is no longer satisfying
• you feel certain that there is a more fulfilling path of passion and purpose
• you’re confused and uncertain about how to move forward

Listen to My Inspired Life Conversation with Rikk Hansen Now

After our conversation Rikk offered two fabulous gifts to the Inspired Life Community to support you in experiencing renewed clarity of purpose and direction for your next LifeWork:

• Between-Dreams Special Report -   In this report you’ll learn:

• What is this time Between-Dreams?  And why is it so important?
• 4 Affirmations for career renewal that can be a lifeline of hope in the confusion and uncertainty of this period.
• 4 “Guideposts” that offer a starting point for navigating  to renewed clarity of purpose & direction.

• Full Scholarship Offer for  Rikk’s LifeWork Renewal Workshop – Map Your Journey from Career Limbo to your Next Fulfilling Work (a $397.00 value!)

Click Here to Get Your Gifts Now

(http://brilliantnext.com/landing/susyn-reeve)

Pass this post forward to others you know who are Between-Dreams with their work & life.

It’s Valentine’s Day.  Are you being a mighty expression of love in the world?

A few days ago Personal Coach and Creative Consultant Ryan Weiss and I had another of our Conversations Across Generations (he’s 27 & I’m 62 and we are committed to bridging the gap).  With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching our conversation was all about Love.

Join our conversation, listen to the recording and add your comments, thoughts, questions and insights – we’d love hearing from you.

Listen to the Recording Now

Take a few moments right now and acknowledge what you Love about you.

(Use the my Self-Esteem-Experts.com Worksheet, How to Love Yourself)

Last night I led a Say YES to Your Inspired Life Workshop, with Joan Breiner, at The Women’s Center of Sarasota County.  The focus of the first session of our workshop was to create your Inspired Life Vision.  I was inspired by the willingness of the participants to courageously express their Inspired Life Vision.  And then, after the workshop, I turned on the TV and President Obama was giving the 2012 State of the Union address.

If you haven’t yet heard the US State of the Union Address, then watch it now: (State of the Union Address – 2012)

As I listened I thought – he is describing his vision for the United States.  This is an Inspired Vision.  This is an historic moment.  If each one of us  connects with this vision and takes it on as our own, generously contributing our gifts, talents, skills and abilities, then the possibility for a more peaceful, loving and prosperous world becomes a reality.

Whether you are a citizen of the US or not – we are all Citizens of the World and we have the opportunity to use the power of our mind – connected to our biggest dream – to birth in this new year a world where love grows and peace and prosperity expand for all.

And if you want to connect with your 2012 Inspired Life Vision, then listen my January 2012 New Moon Visioning TeleCircle Recording

It’s now 3 weeks into 2012 – how are you doing on your resolutions?  Is your Vision for this new year clear?  Has it never actually formed?  Has it already faded away?  Today,  right now is the time to stop self sabotage.  To stop avoiding the time and space to articulate your vision.  With the January 23rd New Moon soon to be upon us it is the perfect time to articulate your 2012 Inspired Life Vision and breathe life into it.  New Moons are the time of new beginnings – the ideal time to say YES to your Inspired Life Vision.

It is interesting to me that we often sabotage ourselves by not allowing the time an space to dream.  We sabotage ourselves by believing that we are not equal to the big dreams that capture our attention.  We sabotage ourselves by believing the thoughts that echo through our mind, I’m not enough, not good enough, not smart enough, not old enough, not young enough, not worthy enough, not loveable enough, and the list goes on.

Stop self sabotage now:

• when you hear the well-worn attack thought tape playing in your mind:  acknowledge yourself for noticing your thoughts; use the full resources of your imagination and create a new thought; say your new thought aloud and allow it to vibrate through ever cell of your being
• create a Vision Board 

        Join me on Monday January 23rd @ 8:00pm (eastern time) for a New Moon Visioning Circle
(the call will be recorded and sent to you)

 Register Now

I’m a baby boomer and Ryan Weiss is a generation Y guy.  We met in the spring and, you know how is it with some people, from the moment you meet there is a connection that feels like home – familiar – this is true for us.  And the label that most clearly expresses the quality or our connection is God Mother & God Son.

I have decades of experience on my personal spiritual path and as a women, daughter, sister, step-mother, wife, divorcee, grandmother, single heterosexual women, InterFaith Minister, Transformational Coach, corporate consultant and author to name some of the roles I have played in my life.  Ryan’s roles include son, brother, triplet, uncle, gay man, friend, Broadway performer, film producer, Life Coach, student and teacher of A Course in Miracles.

From the moment we met we have had conversations that inspire us, allow us to explore what is most meaningful and dear to hearts, tickle our funny bone and express our appreciation for the gifts of living an inspired life.  In December, 2011 we decided to record some of our conversations as a reflection of our commitment to bridge what is often experienced as a generation gap.

So here we are a baby boomer and a generation Y guy inviting you to listen in on our conversation – post your comments, ask questions and for now add your voice, via this blog, to our conversation.

Bridging the Gap:  Conversations Across Generations – Who Are You?

I’d been feeling a bit overwhelmed in keeping up-to-date with this blog.  Once I acknowledged these feeling the power of positive thinking revealed a new thought, invite Ryan Weiss, my teaching partner and Life Coach to  contribute regular posts.  I did just that, he said, “YES,” and I’m eager to share his first, of what will be on-going posts with you.

I took a ridiculously difficult Vinyasa Yoga class mixed with Capoeria (Brazilian Martial Arts) at Pure Yoga in NYC recently. Though I used to be a professional dancer, I was surprised that this new style of class forced me to stretch through tightness I didn’t know existed. We were instructed to move swiftly through our hips and shoulders, rotating, stretching, leaving no ligament un-pulled. As a student of consciousness, I brought my attention directly to the pain, and asked the Uni-Verse to help me let go of the tension in my hamstrings, shoulders, neck, behind my knees, etc. I sat into the pain, felt it and altered my thinking about each sensation. This is what kept me in class, advancing my physical, emotional and spiritual wellness.

As I worked through the pain, I had a clear memory of the first moment I became aware of my thoughts.  I was an eight year old camper at Camp Swig, a sleep-away camp in Northern California. It was around 8:00pm and I was being a naughty boy, skipping the evening program to play a secret game of Capture the Flag. In the pitch black darkness, I did not see a tall sprinkler head which had a sharp knife-like edge. I mean, SHARP.  I felt the sharpness as it ripped through my shin. I remember the immediate sensation of pain. As I shined my flash light on my leg I saw the white of my shin bone, as I watched my blood pour down my leg.

The pain was excruciating. Yet, I remember my first thought being, ‘What if I could just choose that this pain does not hurt?’ At eight years old, I was shocked by this new idea. What if I could go right to the pain and just decide that my experience of this feeling is not painful. It was as if a miracle had occurred. The pain subsided rather quickly and over the next few days, my rather intense injury healed perfectly. As I continued transforming pain into flexibility and relaxation in yoga class, I became conscious that I have used this consciousness sporadically throughout my life and over the past year it has taken over.

What does this mean? Often, people will ask, “So you’re a Life Coach, eh? So you just teach positive thinking?  Isn’t that another way of denying what’s wrong?”  I love this question because I’m not certain I have never specifically suggested the power of positive thinking.  Our power lies in acknowledging whatever experience is present and not being seduced by it. This circumstance is in our experience so we may be awakened to the Reality that it is not the truth of Who We are. It came so that it may pass – it did not come to stay.

With the support of the Uni-Verse we may rest assured that the pain is present so that we may transform it. From this deep knowing, perhaps now is the time for the power of positive thinking.

• I am POSITIVE that the Uni-Verse is on my side.
• I am POSITIVE that all I need to do is remove the blocks in my thinking by looking at the experience but not being seduced by it.
• I am POSITIVE that I am constantly gifted the opportunity to move right and move left so that I may find myself nuzzled up peacefully in the center.

Ryan Weiss is a Los Angeles native committed to living his inspired life by Coaching others to find their power, passion, love, and happiness. As a former Broadway performer and film producer, Ryan’s experiences lead him to the work of A Course In Miracles which transformed his life.  He works with his Coaching clients to remove all blocks to living their inspired life vision, allowing miracles to flow.  Contact Ryan at:  CreativeCounselorForYou@gmail.com

On New Year’s Day I had the honor of speaking at the Unity Spiritual Center of San Francisco.   Before I spoke I listened to Rev. Maggie Oman Shannon welcoming those of us gathered on the first day of the New Year.  She mentioned that the most popular New Year’s Resolution people make is to lose weight.  While I am certainly familiar with this resolution, the word weight echoed through my mind and I kept hearing, Now is the Time. The Wait is Over.  In declaring a resolution, intention, dream, goal, etc… aren’t you actually saying that the wait is over?  You are making a commitment to live aligned with your vision reflected in your thoughts words and actions.

In the past few days I’ve been exploring what it means to me, in terms of living my Inspired Life Vision, that the wait is over and here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Now is the time, the wait is over, to say YES to your Inspired Life Vision since you have been talking about it and thinking about it for many months.
• Now is the time, the wait is over, to align your thoughts, words and actions with your Inspired Life Vision – to live from your vision, trusting that the resources and support are available for you.
• Now is the time, the wait is over, to use breakdowns – challenges along the way, fear, anxiety and worry – as stepping stones to breakthroughs.
• Now is the time, the wait is over, because you are not given a dream that is too big for you!

I was particularly struck by my thoughts about breakdowns.  So often breakdowns are viewed as proof that our dreams are bigger than us.  This idea has often stopped me in my tracks, leaving me feeling that my dreams, my desires will always be out of my reach.  But in recent years I have re-framed my ideas about breakdowns.  I now approach breakdowns as opportunities to:

• strengthen my commitment to my vision
• evolve a pattern from the past
• become aware of my self-sabotaging thoughts – upgrade the software of my mind

To support you in living your 2012 Resolutions – to say YES to your Inspired Life Vision, join me for a 4-part Teleseminar, Transforming Breakdowns to Breakthroughs.

Register by January 5th for a Special Offer

Another year is ending and 21012 is hours away.  2012 is said to mark a New Age.  To some it is the End Times, for others the Age of Aquarius.  Some believe the end of the Mayan Calendar is simply an astronomical occurrence  while others define it as the end of civilization as we know it; still others say that while it marks an end it is a gateway to a new beginning of peace and cooperation among all people.

Whatever you may believe, isn’t now the time to enrich your life by affirming and committing to your Inspired Life Vision.  At the very least, living your vision offers you the possibility of greater joy, fulfillment and happiness.  And, at best, as you put your stake in the ground for living a more peaceful and loving life, your consciousness generating your actions contributes to the collective consciousness and love grows and peace expands for all.

So as you declare and affirm your resolutions for the New Year – dream big, give voice to your heart song and say YES to living your inspired life.

And to honor the New Year I am happy to share with you a recording Ryan Weiss and I recently made on New Year’s Resolutions.  This is the first of weekly conversations we have committed to record as part of Bridging the Gap:  Conversations Across Generations.

Click Here to Listen to our New Year’s Resolution Conversation

We would love to hear from you – so please share your New Year’s Resolution and let us know how we can support you to live aligned with your Inspired Life Vision during the 2012.

*Image: dream designs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net