Welcome!
What’s shifting in your life?
For me, it’s been cultivating some juicy, creative new business partnerships. You’ll be hearing about those in the coming months.
In this issue, I’ll share key discoveries I’ve made with my clients about keeping your energy up in the pure chaos of transition.
In this issue:
(1) Feature Article: Create a Strong Foundation for Change
(2) Being, Incorporated™
(3) Upcoming Events
(4) On a Personal Note: Dipping Your Toe in the Water
(5) Resources
(6) Special Offer: Looking for Three Clients to Test New ‘Get Moving’ Coaching by Phone
(7) In Closing
(1) Caring for Yourself in Transition
When you are making changes -- large or small -- how do you care for yourself? What support do you give yourself? I believe that as we change companies, change careers, change our family structure, or change locations, what we really wish for is someone to support us. A loving mother or father. A friend with a kind word and a hug.
All of those things are valuable. Sometimes, however, we don’t have someone else present to help us take stock of ourselves and keep us moving ahead. Let’s take a look at some ways you can that for yourself, and with others.
Know Yourself and Your Strengths: When you are in the midst of change, it’s vital to maintain your confidence. I recently determined my own personal net worth, not just financially, but by making an inventory of the experiences and qualities that make me who I am. I felt so much energy rush through my body, and the tingling in my arms and bounce in my telegraphed to me, “Yes, you have a lot to offer!”
This practice comes from a book I adore, Money Magic, by Deborah Price. I have been encouraging clients (and you, too!) to create this self-worth statement. Look at it from time to time and remind yourself of all the energy you bring to the new situations you are facing. Some good questions to ask yourself: What do I do well? What do I enjoy doing? What am I proud of?
Keep the list nearby so that you can refer to it frequently, and so you can add to it as new thoughts arise. I encourage you to hand write this list, rather than typing it, since physically writing is a form of movement, which taps into the reticular activating system in the brain, and creates a new neural pathway of learning.
Physically Embody Your Strengths: Each morning, take a look at your list and see how it makes you feel. Pick one of the items on your list and let yourself really experience that from the inside out, in your body. Let’s say you wrote “I’m a great conversationalist.” Imagine yourself having a juicy conversation with a friend. See your friend’s eyes light up, notice her smile, hear her laughter. Put yourself right into the scene, and become aware of what happens to your body. What sensations are most prominent? What parts of your body feel loose, tight, hot, cold, light, heavy, buzzy, jittery, and so on?
As you notice, see if you can turn up the volume on your sensations. Now, feel those sensations and tell yourself something good or positive about the change you are making, like “I’m going to get a great new job.” Practice doing this and associating the words with the sensations. You will be ‘casting’ a new way of being into your body. I’d love to hear how this practice helps you to create what you want in your life!
Financial Support: On a practical level, money is necessity of life. Do you notice that in the midst of transition, you worry or panic about money? Are you fearful of becoming a bag lady or street person? While this is highly unlikely, changes make us recall our earliest memories of being helpless, and you may find that your survival needs are easily triggered when you experience transitions such as changing jobs, entering or exiting relationships, or facing uncertainty.
Rather than fretting over money, I encourage you to look at your financial runway. That’s the period of time it would take you to spend all of your savings. You may need to make a budget as a first step. Divide your total savings by your total monthly expenditures. This is your financial runway.
Knowing your financial runway is empowering. It can tell you how much time you have to find a job, a new home, or accomplish whatever else is part of your transition. It can also tell you when you need to start working again. You might discover that you could take a simple job for a short period of time,
What is your runway for transition? What financial alternatives do you have? Part-time jobs? Project work? Investing in yourself?
Reach Out to Others: Sometimes, we are lucky enough to have others who can help us through a period of transition. Who do you turn to when life feels upside-down?
We all need people who support us and our dreams. People who understand us. If you’re changing professions, I encourage you to find people in your new field and connect with them – share your ideas and energy. People in your ‘old’ world may have trouble understanding your new world.
When our lives are in flux, friends hear a plea for solutions – even when we don’t feel we have a problem. Often, we simply need a sounding board, someone to empathetically listen and help us sort out the tangle of threads in our minds -- until they unravel into a beautiful tapestry. So be upfront with friends. Tell them how you’d like to be supported.
What else helps you to feel supported in transition? Please share your ideas, and, if you’d like, I’ll include them in next month’s newsletter!
(2) Being, Incorporated™
Let’s explore more about how you can take a stand for yourself in the world. We’ll play with feeling your length, width, and depth. Spend about five minutes with this practice each day for a week. It may take some time before you notice feelings and emotions (you may also notice images, smells, sensations, or phrases). Please be patient and compassionate with yourself.
Stand up and notice these elements:
Length – Pay attention to your vertical dimension. Feel your feet firmly on the ground, a few inches apart. Align your pelvis over your feet, then your chest and shoulders above your pelvis, and your head above your chest. Sense a line of energy moving up from the ground, through your feet, upwards, and out the top of your head. From the top, imagine you are pulled upward, towards the sky. From the bottom, imagine you have roots going down deep into the earth.
Notice: How do you feel when you are drawn upwards and yet firmly in your place? What do you stand for?
Width – Tilt your body to the left and right. Find your horizontal axis, and position yourself in alignment so that your head is directly above your chest, neither straining forward nor pushed back. Line up your shoulders under your hips.
Notice: Who do you want on your side? Search inside your body and sense how you feel when you are ‘on the edge’?
Depth – Find your balance from front to back. See if you are leaning back or tipping forward. Allow your chest to be open.
Notice: What can you leave behind you? What are you going towards? How open is your heart?
Now, with your length, width, and depth adjusted, feel your centered presence. Your world may look different. You may hear people differently. Perhaps your mood will shift. Just notice with curiosity.
(3) Upcoming Events: Dealing with Self-Doubt - Free Teleconference
Is doubt creeping into your vision of a new future? Is it robbing you of creative energy? It’s time for some new strategies!
You’re invited to a no-cost teleconference on March 18, from 12-1 pm PST.
Dealing with Self-Doubt: Moving In, Around, and Through It!
So, you have some new direction you want to take in your life. A creative venture you want to launch or a wild adventure you want to take. You think about it and get all excited….
And then….self doubt creeps in…or leaps in….or takes over!
How can you keep moving with your dreams and visions, even in the face of self-doubt?
In this complimentary tele-class, we will:
- Discuss self-doubt – what it is, where it’s functional, and where it’s not
- Share ways you have worked with self-doubt in your life
- Discover new ways of moving with self-doubts that arise for you – yes, some of these involve movement, and of course many involve body awareness!
Please join us – the only cost to you is any long-distance charge. To register, go to www.WorkFromWithin.com/teleclasses.html
(4) On a Personal Note: Dipping Your Toe in the Water
Clients often tell me, “I’d love to make a career change, but I’m too old.” For some physically demanding careers, like being a professional basketball player, that might be true. Yet, if you really feel drawn to making a shift, why let age get in your way?
Personally, I have been having dreams of leading large groups in movement. I imagine myself encouraging people to dance and jump and sway and play to upbeat music. I hear world beat and great house music and lots of other high-energy sounds.
I knew I had to follow this burst of energy and interest, so I just completed the first level of training to become a NIA (neuromuscular integrative action) instructor. Some people might say, “teaching fitness is something you start do in your 20s and 30s. As I approach my 40s, I feel great about starting now, with plenty of mind-body training as an underpinning for helping people move forward – in new ways!
I hope this inspires you to believe that yes, indeed, you can change as you get older!
Do you have a dream you want to ignite? A passion you think you might want to pursue?
What is the first tiny step you can take towards making it happen? It’s much more natural for us to crawl before we run, so rather pressuring yourself to leap into a change with your whole body, how can you dip a toe in the water?
In her book Working Identity, INSEAD business professor Hermania Ibarra, advocates doing explorations, and states that "doing comes first, knowing second." So, what can you let yourself do so that you can know if your dream or passions fits or feels right?
(5) Resources
Learn about body-centered practices that can help in career and other transitions.
NIA – a high-energy movement practice that incorporates martial arts, dance, and healing arts.
A great book: The Nia Technique : The High-Powered Energizing Workout that Gives You a New Body and a New Life
(6) Special Offer: Looking for Three Clients to Test New ‘Get Moving’ Coaching by Phone
I know, firsthand, the power of the body for helping us sense our direction and move in a new direction. In hundreds of in-person sessions, I have helped many clients to listen to their inner guidance through movement, gesture, posture, and breath.
And now, I want to do this same work by telephone. I sense that helping clients to attune to their bodies is absolutely do-able by phone. It’s time for me to do an experiment to see how this works.
So, I’m extending an offer to a new career transition clients who want to work exclusively by telephone. If you are interested, read on:
Pre-requisites:
Commitment:
Fee:
- $400 total investment (this represents over 50% off my usual coaching rates).
Interested? Please call or email me at SBernstein@WorkFromWithin.com to discuss this innovative program and see if you’d like to be one of the few who tests it out!
(7) In Closing
When my I feel myself on shaky ground ad experiencing a constantly busy mind, I turn to this quote from Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering®
"If you want to know which way the wind is blowing, look at the sand. If you want to see the mind, look to the body. Change the quality of your movement and you change your mind."
I invite you to indulge in movement and see how it shifts your life,
Susan
Susan Bernstein, MBA MA
Transformation Partner
Work from Within
Career & life transformation from the inside out
www.WorkFromWithin.com
(415) 381-6381
© 2005, Susan L. Bernstein, MBA MA, All Rights Reserved.