Work From Within - Newsletter

May, 2005 Newsletter

What's bubbling, stirring, meandering and flowing in your life?

In this issue, you'll find suggestions about how to 'cross the river' into a new career, and resources to ease your journey.

In this issue:

(1) Feature Article: Getting Across: Navigating Towards Your Passion

(2) Being, Incorporated™: Feel Nervous? Give Yourself a Hand

(3) In Closing

(1) Feature Article:

Getting Across: Navigating Towards Your Passion

Changing careers is a bit like crossing a river.

Imagine standing on the bank of a river. It's a warm, sunny day and you're at a picnic with a few people. No one's talking much. You brought your lunch. You had work to do this weekend, so you ran to the supermarket and picked up a ready-made turkey sandwich. "It's fine," you think, as you crunch into the chips you grabbed to go accompany the disappointingly dry sandwich.

Across the river, you see another group. They are playing great music. They dance together, moving in and around each other, smiling and laughing playfully. Those who are not dancing are feasting at a table filled with vibrant flowers and fresh food. The smells of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers (maybe the veggie kind, too) and corn on the cob waft across to you. Yummy potato salad and cole slaw complement the offerings. Someone even baked brownies from scratch with luscious chocolate frosting.

Your mouth waters. You want to be at their picnic. Yet you know that getting there means crossing the river. The water looks cold, deep, wide, and fast- moving. Do you give up your dreams of being on the other side? Do the thoughts of the revelers persist? Do you push them away?

Are you seeking a more meaningful, satisfying career? Here are some suggestions for crossing over:

Stay in touch with the energy that draws you to the other side. Immerse yourself in the positive feelings of what you are wanting. Let yourself be inspired to take some next micro-action. Allow for a slower pace. Know you need not make wholesale change.

Find other people who are already on the other side and enjoying it. Ask them how they got across? What advice do they have?

Seek out ways to have a taste of the other side. Enroll in a class or a workshop. Take a Vocation Vacation and try out a new career - this is a way to get a sample of a new life - maybe you want to check out life as a TV reporter, vintner, or photographer!

Vividly visualize yourself already in the new career - imagine that new life fully. Who is with you? What environments are you in? What activities are you doing -for livelihood, leisure, and learning? What are the highlights of your day? Tune in, especially, to the sensations that let you know you are enjoying this new life. Pattern those into you.

I hope you enjoy the flow of the river and your journey to a new shore! Please do let me know how I can support you along the way.

For more resources on smooth transitions click here:

(2) Being, Incorporated™: Feeling Nervous? Give Yourself a Hand

Maybe the prospect of change makes you feel fearful or nervous. Here's a way to manage those feelings. It's an activity called 'The Bell Hand,' from a book I truly treasure: What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living, by Lavinia Plonka.

Bring the thumb and fingertips of your right hand Then, slowly let them fall apart. Repeat this a few times. Then, synch up the 'open and close' movement of your fingers with your inhalations and exhalations.

This process may calm you, because the nerve endings in the fingertips and thumb are some of the most sensitive in the body. Neurologists suspect touching your fingers together with your thumb fires responses in the parietal -- or sensory -- part of the brain, which can cause the calming effect.

Overcome fears! Buy the book, What Are You Afraid Of?

(3) In Closing

Swimming in Your Dreams

Recently, I have been exploring the writing of Henry David Thoreau. I have this quote to share with you.

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

I hope you savor your dreams and musings, so that you may a life that satisfies your body, mind, and spirit.

Be well,

Susan