I'm sorry.   I've been out of touch.  I've felt a little sad that I haven't been writing this blog in weeks.  This isn't the only communication channel that I've neglected. I've also missed sending tweets from my Twitter account. 

In the midst of this creative cyclone, I'm totally caught in the round and round motion of a whole new landscape of thoughts and ideas.  For now, I happen to be immersed in the murky waters of a not-yet-clear soup that I'll call "mind-body-spirit transformation soup."  I'm not sure of all the ingredient.  I think some are missing.  I have a bunch more possible limp bits of goo I could add, but I wish I had more formed, delicious morsels to serve up.  Somehow, I sense I'm cooking up a stew.  It's not ready for tasting, but it's getting close.  A nasty, nagging naysayer in my noggin,' who reminds me of a Siberian grandmother (complete with kerchief), but with a Bronx accent, chides me:

I look askew and reply "Hey, I'm in process!"  I get kind of defensive. I have to be forceful with this nagging naysayer.  Her logic is strong.  I do need money. (We all do, of course) I get nervous when her voice shows up in my mental missives.  She reminds me of everyone who's been asking:

"What are you up to?" and "Well, what's that new direction your business is taking you?" 

I translate all of that into greater pressure to produce — now!  The nagging naysayer is telling me now, as I write this, "You should be writing something else."  In my mind's eye, I am clothed in white temple garb.  I look back at her, bow, and reply:

"Thank you.  But the blog calls.  I want to write it.  I also want to work on the the workbook.  Just not now."

She shakes her head, some of her hair tumbles out of the kerchief as she rolls her eyes and remarks, "Whatever." 

I know she's sarcastic.  She doesn't sincerely want to accept "whatever" I want to do. She's not OK with my choice. But I choose to ignore her for now.  It's time to trust my instincts and desires.  I know it in my bones. 

My precious Soul Motion dance teacher, Zuza Engler, this past Tuesday night, shared some lines of poetry that feel fit for sharing.  These words help me to understand who I am, even in the midst of change.  They are about "the thread," that goes through my life.  You have your thread, too.  So does everyone.

I thought you'd enjoy these words, this poem.  Especially when you can't quite articulate to others where you're going or what you're doing, may these words give you comfort.

The Way It Is

There’s a thread you follow.
It goes among
things that change.  But it doesn’t change.
People
wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the
thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get
lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get
old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of
the thread.

~ William Stafford

I wonder how that poem touches you?

Weaving my world with yours,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

This morning felt a little nutty, with a client emergency, a cell phone that kept dropping calls, and a washing machine that made an awful sound. In the midst of all of this, I realized I hadn't had breakfast yet! Ooops!  Ever had a day like that?  How did you stay upbeat?

Fortunately for me, I was able to stay positive and motivated because I had a phone call already planned with Kyra Cavanaugh, from Life Meets Work. We set up a time this morning to talk about what's happening in the economy, and why we think that there's actually a lot to be happy about and how people can stay positive and upbeat, even when the Dow is down.

We've had so much fun talking with each other over the few months that we've been acquainted, and realized we had a ton of inspiration and education to share.  So we planned to record a friendly conversation to share with our readers (now, listeners). 

I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed sharing our ideas, which include:

• Opening up to new job possibilities, so you don't get locked in by your industry or function
• Finding flexible work options (Kyra reminds us that those are more attractive than ever)
• Doing what's important to keep your job or get a new one
• Ways to do contract work
• The positive good that's being created in our current economy
• The need for cooperation and community, instead of competition

We'd both love you to post your comments. This creates community, fosters conversation, and lets us know what else we can provide for you.

Happy listening!
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

Yesterday, I spent a relaxing morning amidst the gentle rain and whispy fog at Green Gulch, a beautiful Zen retreat center near my home.  My friend, Tarra Christoff, invited me to hear author Marc Lesser give a talk about his new book, Less:  Accomplishing More by Doing Less.  Marc reminded me of the illusion that everything is permanent.  When the market for homes was going up, up, up, new home buyers were being told, "Don't worry about your mortage, house prices always rise."  And right now, it seems that the market psychology is all about how "it's just going to get worse and worse."

Well, a major tenet of Zen Buddhism is that the nature of everything is actually impermance. Everything changes.  Marc related a story of feeling a pain around his heart and feeling dizzy, like he would go unconscious, and leaping up from the couch.  His wife noticed this leap and asked him what happened.  He'd experienced pain, and in a flash, he evaluated his life, and realized he could die.  Luckily, Marc didn't have a heart attack.  But he did have a good reminder that we assume that we'll breathe one breath after the next.  But we might not.

I think this lesson of impermance is so important as we weather this economic uncertainty.  First, to know that everything changes.  So, eventually, the market will adjust upwards again.  And it will come down again.  It's uncertain when.  And that's unsettling

So, what do you do if everything can change in an instant?  Do you hide under a rock?

Well, I guess you could do that.  I've never understood how you hide under a rock, but I now know you can hide inside one — in a cave house.

But I'm off track here when I talk about hiding under rocks and in caves.  Distractions tend to accompany uncertainty, as you try to fish around for more certainty.  And, you see, my little distraction is a "head trip," meaning that I got my mind involved.  What I think is really crucial in standing strong and flexible in the face of uncertainty is to access your embodied intelligence.

"OK, Susan," you say, "Cut through the California New Age mumbo jumbo and tell me about accessing my embodied intelligence.  And how's that going to help me weather uncertainty?"

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How do you define yourself?  You know, what's your title?  What does your business card say?

Sometimes, titles make me loopy. (You know, like "marketing director" or "teacher") I rebel against giving mine.  And I want to change my title all the time.  Do you, too?

So, anyway, today  I was sending my graphic artist some directions for a new set of business cards.  My old ones say that I have an MBA and an MA. Now that I've finished a PhD, I am surely going to promote my expertise, thank you very much.  Ah, those three letters. They represent a ton of time, energy, knowledge, and money.  At least to me!

So, much as I loathe titles (I tend to feel boxed in, and feel limited), I started to write titles for myself.  Coach?  Am I a coach?  Well, in my new life, I'm going to be doing more public speaking.  So am I a speaker?  I love to write.  Am I an author?  A writer?

I wrote the C in coach, but then I wrote "CEO," instead of "coach."  I noticed an impulse to write "Consciously Embodying Optimism."

A new kind of CEO — CEO as adjective:  Consciously Embodying Optimism.

I think it's a rebellious act to be an optimist in the face of an economic downturn, social disparities on our planet, and global climate change.  Look, if I relied solely on my MBA training, I'd have a much more pessimistic outlook.  I'd go and hide under a rock, and wait for things to get better.

Fortunately, I studied something else in addition to business. Since 2001, I've been a student of somatic psychology, otherwise known as "mind-body psychology."  Earning my PhD in that discipline has showed me that our bodies and minds are phenomenally flexible and adaptable. 

 I know and trust, in my bones, that everything moves through cycles. 

Breath moves in and out.  Waves in the ocean move in and out.  Flowers open and close.  And stock markets go up and down.  Fortunes are made and lost and made again. 

So, I believe that we can weather storms.  We need to trust in ourselves.  And we need to be consciously embody optimism.

Consciously, as in "awake" and "aware."

And embody.  I can embody that optimism. 

Why can I truly embody optimism?  (And why can you, too?)

I can truly embody optimism because:

I can kick off my shoes and feel my feet on the ground to feel more grounded.  

I can breathe in and feel inspired.  Ah, inspiration.

And I can breathe out and let go of unsupportive ideas.  Ah, expiration.

I can lift my gaze and see a bigger perspective.

I can get up from my computer and take a walk and shift the scenery, so I open myself to new possibilities.

I can put a hand on my belly and check in with my gut instinct.

I can rest a hand over my heart and sense what it is trying to tell me.

I can choose to notice that when I think good thoughts that are supportive of a positive future, I feel good.  I feel expanded or warm and content or just at ease.

I can also choose to notice that when I think negative thoughts that reflect a negative future, I feel bad.  I feel contracted or cold or ill-at-ease.

So, I can feel optimism in my body.  And pessimism too. 

I choose optimism.  And I choose consciously.

So, I embody optimism. 

What does it mean to "embody," you wisely ask?

To be embodied means, in my definition, means to attend to the inner wisdom — which we feel in our movement, our breath, our posture, our gestures, our sensations — and then respond by moving in a direction that's in alignment with our true selves.

When we're truly embodied, we're awake and aware of the instincts and impulses that the body is constantly sending us.  When I help clients with making changes that positively impact their career performance, I teach them tools and techniques to help them enhance their embodiment.  If you want to know what I'm up to, check out the new evolution of Work from Within.

So, what about you?  Are you CEO?  Are you Consciously Embodying Optimism?

If you are — share with us HOW you're doing that?  What behaviors or choices or tools or thoughts do you use to stay optimistic?

And if you're NOT CEO?  Then what?

   Help us explore this topic together.  I'm excited to respond to you.  I can feel the excitement (and a little nervousness, to be honest) as I post this, and await your reply.

CEO,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

 When it's time for a change, do you feel compelled to "go it alone"? You know, that "I can do it myself," super independent streak?

I know I felt I had to make changes on my own.  Even by myself.  

I'll be honest.  For the last few months of 2008, I was feeling depressed.  As in "pressed down."  I felt "small."  In my heart, I knew I had bigger work to do in the world.  It's not that I don't love the career transition work that I do with people through Work from Within.  I get rave reviews from my clients, and I truly create meaningful bonds that last with them, long beyond our coaching relationship.

No, I just felt it in my gut, that I was playing too small a game.  That I needed to break out of the limiting container of being a "career coach."  In fact, when people would introduce me as a career coach, my skin would crawl.  
Like I wanted to peel that name off of me, like a snake shedding her skin. 

It was time for something new.

But what? 

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Today, I feel compelled to share a quote I found while I was going through the notes for my dissertation, as I prepare the outline for a workshop.

It's from a letter that Thomas Merson wrote to Robert Menchin, January 15, 1966.  (I regret that I can't find the citation)

As I move through the changes in my own life, leaning in the direction of infusing all my coaching and teaching with more embodied awareness, I am reminded that this journey of life is about authenticity, getting real.  At least for those of us who care passionately about our own evolution.

Dear ones, as the New Year starts, you're going to be seeing me adding back the body-mind connection to all that I do — because I can't keep running away from what matters to me.  By cultivating embodied awareness, I can disconnect from my chattering monkey mind.  And I can dissolve the tensions that hold me back from creating what I'm impassioned to craft — workshops, coaching, and products that help us all to reduce stress, increase clarity, build confidence, and enhance our connections with ourselves and others.

I've been ovely-focused on mental pursuits and have been worried (like many others) about making money.  The lesson I have to learn, over and over again, is that when I follow my passion and my heart-felt guidance, the rewards follow. Not always a nanosecond later, but always in enough time for me to be OK.

My mind gets the best of me sometimes, and I lose track of what matters to me.  Does that ever happen for you? I stop following what moves me, and push myself in directions that don't necessarily feel good, but that logically seem to be lucrative.  While I have had fun building the Job Search Gym, the part of that program that really appeals to me is helping people embody the job they intend to have.  To utilize their inner awareness — the future self who already has the job — to propel their job search.  Sadly, I find this is too esoteric for some, even though I make it eminently practical.

I suppose I am more fired up about bringing forth the findings from my doctoral research, and really inspiring whole groups of people to find their "work from within," teaching practices for listening to the body/mind/spirit connection.  Most of us get caught up in our heads.  Obviously, me too!  So, I am crafting a new workshop to teach what really matters to me:  ways to manage life energy so we get what we desire with less effort.  Nice, eh?

I welcome your thoughts and comments on my new pursuits.

With care,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

We all know that the economy is in a state of utter chaos.  Foreclosures.  Layoffs.  Fortunes lost.  Companies closing. 

Much as I like to be an optimist, recent events (like the Madoff scandal) have made me catch my breath. I notice pangs of anxiety. Then a friend calls to say he's been let go from his company.  It's all been pretty intensely unsettling .

But, as I'm reminded with the Big Basin fires in Big Sur, California this summer, nature has a way of using destructive forces, like fire, to sort of "clean things out" and creating renewal.

 So, I invite you to imagine that the current economy is really in a state of clearing us out for something new. 

When the economic "smoke" clears, what do YOU think that a new world of work and careers might look like? 

Here are some questions to spur your thinking about a new working world:

• Will our relationships with companies change? 
• Will company missions shift? 
• How about our ideas on competition? 
• What will happen to creativity in a new economic order?
• What might happen to meaningful work in the future?
• And what will happen to work-life balance as you look head?

Please do share your vision, whether it feels positive and upbeat or heavy and downbeat.  When you look into the future of your line of work, or of any other form of careers, what do you see?

As you share your perspective on the future world of work, I'll post mine, too, in response.  I'm interested to see what YOU envision.

Looking into the future with you,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

Ever had a feeling that just felt transcendent, better than anything, totally raising you up to a new level of positive vibes?  I have, and I love the science behind it.

Slate Magazine has tracked down an idea that's got me totally intrigued.  In their article, Obama in Your Heart, they describe how the president-elect has tapped into a newly-understood emotion:  Elevation.

In the article, they highlight Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at my beloved (aaaw!) University of California-Berkeley, who studies the emotions of uplift.  Keltner explains that listening to Obama, for some, creates a feeling of "transcendence," identified because the emotion stimulates the vagus nerve, causing "a feeling of
spreading, liquid warmth in the chest and a lump in the throat."

Yes, Virginia, there IS a mind-body connection!  Of course.  That's a huge part of what my personal fave branch of psychology, Somatic Psychology, asserts. 

It was actually University of Virginia moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who coined the term elevation.  He writes, "Powerful moments of elevation sometimes seem to push a mental
'reset button,' wiping out feelings of cynicism and replacing them with
feelings of hope, love, and optimism, and a sense of moral
inspiration."  In fact, it turns out that the polar opposite of elevation is disgust, theorized to be a remnant of when our ancestors smelled something, like a food, that was "off." 

So, if you're working on an endeavor and could benefit from opening your heart and mind to new possibilities – and you're an Obama supporter — go look on YouTube for some of the president-elect's speeches, and see if they don't uplift you. 

And if you're not one of Obama's fans, you'll need to find someone else who inspires you to greater heights.  Not someone who disgusts you. Sorry.

Positively yours,
Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

I just bought a new Flip Mino HD video and with the help of my friend (and great financial planner), Celeste Mirassou, we shot a quick holiday video for you.

You see, I don't want you to get caught in the doom and gloom of things like foreclosures, financial losses, and layoffs.

It's time for a message of hope.

I believe what's essential right now, to keep on the positive side of life, are three things: Connections, celebration, and seeing creative possibilities.

I hope you enjoy this very simple message, home-spun, low-tech, and authentically from my heart.

How this message makes you feel?  What does it inspire you to do or express in 2009?  Go ahead, express yourself!  Post a comment with your thoughts and impressions.

Celebrating your divine spark,

Susan

Dr. Susan Bernstein
Coach, Speaker & Author
www.WorkFromWithin.com
Work From Within, LLC

In our current financial climate, you might be feeling nervous about your job.  That's natural.  The uncertainty about what could happen scares you.  You start to wonder "what's going to happen next?"  Then, you're likely to spin catastrophic fantasies about the possibilities.  "What if…" (you fill in the blank…"I lose my job," "I can't make the rent payments," "I have to stop eating out" — you get the picture)

With the Dow dropping and the car companies crashing and financial services firms fizzling, you're not likely to imagine a future of lavish wealth, flying on Lear jets, sipping champagne.

But you could envision these, and create something fantastic for yourself.  I'm not being flippant or insane.  Just a bit outrageous. 

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