or too early, to design, create and live the life of your dreams! Get help with your training, speaking, coaching, writing, and consulting needs. I work with individuals, entrepreneurs, small businesses, educational and non-profit organizations, publishers, and corporate clients worldwide to support you in achieving your goals.
Have you ever noticed that the titles of some self-help books can be a lesson in and of themselves? I buy a lot of books, including self-help books, and many have great titles. But there are a few whose titles so skillfully capture the author's message that you don't even have to read the books in order to integrate the author's wisdom in a deep and powerful way. Here are ten of my favorites. May their title messages empower you!
I'm O.K. - You're O.K. (Thomas Harris, Harper & Row, 1969)
Love is Letting Go of Fear (Gerald Jampolsky, Celestial Arts, 1979)
Don't Push the River (It Flows By Itself) (Barry Stevens, Real People Press, 1970)
Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow (Marsha Sinetar, Paulist Press, 1987)
Do What You Are (Paul Tieger & Barbara Barron-Tieger, Little, Brown, 2001)
Happiness is a Choice (Barry Neil Kaufman, Ballantine, 1991)
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (Richard Carlson, Hyperion, 1997)
Relax, You're Already Perfect (Bruce Schneider, Hampton Roads, 2002)
How You See Anything is How You See Everything (Gail Van Kleeck, Andrews McNeil, 1999)
Simplify Your Life (Elaine St. James, MJF Books, 2001)
And if you want to delve beneath the surface of these wonderful titles, they would all make great summer reading. Enjoy!
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Letting Go and Suze Orman
What does letting go of material clutter have to do with creating wealth? Here's what I learned from Suze Orman.
The other day, I picked up and began reading Orman's book The Courage to Be Rich: Creating a Life of Material and Spiritual Abundance (Riverhead Books, 1999, 2002). I didn't get too far into it before I encountered Chapter 3, The Courage to Make Room for More Money. Immediately, Orman began introducing the concept of clearing away material clutter in order to make room for more abundance of every kind, including financial abundance. Because her discussion fits so well with my 365-day Letting Go Experiment, I paid particular attention to this chapter.
Orman talks about how clutter in our lives creates obstacles to financial wealth in a variety of ways:
--First of all, the material things we have purchased that we do not use represent money that was not spent in a carefully considered way - i.e. money wasted.
--Second, the clutter takes up space that could be used for other things. And consider the money that some of us spend to store items that we are not using in a storage facility.
--Third, clutter distracts us from what is important in our lives. And it slows us down.
--Fourth, clutter usually leads to messy financial practices - misplacing bills and not paying them on time, misplacing currency that lies scattered around the house, misplacing or losing important financial documents, not keeping checking, savings, and credit card accounts current and reconciled, not paying attention to credit card rules and terms, not paying attention to investments, or creating and building debt.
Orman proposes a exercise she titles Four Steps Towards Clarity (pp 52-55). Briefly summarized, this letting-go exercise goes as follows:
1. Go through your home, garage, etc. and find at least 25 items that you are willing to throw away - just discard completely. And toss them.
2. Go through your house again looking specifically for money - loose change and bills - that might be lying around, or hidden, or lost. Look in places like drawers, countertops, pants pockets, unused purses, in and under furniture, etc. (I found a $2-bill in an old purse. Orman says that most people end up finding much more than that.) Collect all that you find and put it in one container that you would think of as your jar or bowl of abundance. Place that abundance container near the area where you pay your bills.
3. Go through your house a third time and find 25 more items that you no longer want or use but that are still in good condition. Give those items away to a place or to a person that could really use them and would appreciate them.
4. Go through your house a fourth time and identify all the items that are especially precious to you, things you would never part with. Take time to reflect on these items and appreciate them.
So, embedded in this exercise is a process for letting go of at least 50 material items from your home. If you're not up for releasing 365 items in a year-long exercise, you could easily do this exercise and release 50 in one day. Suze suggests getting your entire household in on the exercise, including the kids.
I like this exercise because Orman takes us beyond the mere act of discarding things by encouraging us to think about how we sometimes waste money by purchasing things that we don't really need or don't serve us well - the clothes that never really fit right or flattered us and just sat in the closet, the food that sat in our refigerators until it spoiled and had to be thrown away, the gadgets that never worked right but we never returned or had repaired, etc. She also encourages us to really appreciate and prize the things that have served us well or are precious reminders of our past or are symbols of things we prize now or aspire to in the future. She teaches us to respect our money by using it wisely and well.
How could clearing out the clutter in your home open up the space for more wealth to flow into your life?
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
The other day, I picked up and began reading Orman's book The Courage to Be Rich: Creating a Life of Material and Spiritual Abundance (Riverhead Books, 1999, 2002). I didn't get too far into it before I encountered Chapter 3, The Courage to Make Room for More Money. Immediately, Orman began introducing the concept of clearing away material clutter in order to make room for more abundance of every kind, including financial abundance. Because her discussion fits so well with my 365-day Letting Go Experiment, I paid particular attention to this chapter.
Orman talks about how clutter in our lives creates obstacles to financial wealth in a variety of ways:
--First of all, the material things we have purchased that we do not use represent money that was not spent in a carefully considered way - i.e. money wasted.
--Second, the clutter takes up space that could be used for other things. And consider the money that some of us spend to store items that we are not using in a storage facility.
--Third, clutter distracts us from what is important in our lives. And it slows us down.
--Fourth, clutter usually leads to messy financial practices - misplacing bills and not paying them on time, misplacing currency that lies scattered around the house, misplacing or losing important financial documents, not keeping checking, savings, and credit card accounts current and reconciled, not paying attention to credit card rules and terms, not paying attention to investments, or creating and building debt.
Orman proposes a exercise she titles Four Steps Towards Clarity (pp 52-55). Briefly summarized, this letting-go exercise goes as follows:
1. Go through your home, garage, etc. and find at least 25 items that you are willing to throw away - just discard completely. And toss them.
2. Go through your house again looking specifically for money - loose change and bills - that might be lying around, or hidden, or lost. Look in places like drawers, countertops, pants pockets, unused purses, in and under furniture, etc. (I found a $2-bill in an old purse. Orman says that most people end up finding much more than that.) Collect all that you find and put it in one container that you would think of as your jar or bowl of abundance. Place that abundance container near the area where you pay your bills.
3. Go through your house a third time and find 25 more items that you no longer want or use but that are still in good condition. Give those items away to a place or to a person that could really use them and would appreciate them.
4. Go through your house a fourth time and identify all the items that are especially precious to you, things you would never part with. Take time to reflect on these items and appreciate them.
So, embedded in this exercise is a process for letting go of at least 50 material items from your home. If you're not up for releasing 365 items in a year-long exercise, you could easily do this exercise and release 50 in one day. Suze suggests getting your entire household in on the exercise, including the kids.
I like this exercise because Orman takes us beyond the mere act of discarding things by encouraging us to think about how we sometimes waste money by purchasing things that we don't really need or don't serve us well - the clothes that never really fit right or flattered us and just sat in the closet, the food that sat in our refigerators until it spoiled and had to be thrown away, the gadgets that never worked right but we never returned or had repaired, etc. She also encourages us to really appreciate and prize the things that have served us well or are precious reminders of our past or are symbols of things we prize now or aspire to in the future. She teaches us to respect our money by using it wisely and well.
How could clearing out the clutter in your home open up the space for more wealth to flow into your life?
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
Friday, May 25, 2007
Letting Go of Fear
I want more LOVE in my life! More love shared with family and friends and perhaps even with that Special Someone I have yet to meet. More love of the work I do. More love of humanity, the earth, nature. More self-love. More love of LIFE!
As I meditated about what, if anything, might be blocking the flow of love in my life, the answer came to me: Fear. Yes, F-E-A-R (False Expectations Appearing Real).
Now, as the process of letting go and clearing the clutter out of one's life goes, releasing long-standing fears comes pretty high on the list of challenges.
Fear of what, you might ask.
We all have our own pet fears, generated from past experiences of one sort or another. You have yours; I have mine. Mine come, as most do, from childhood experiences, and the most obstacle-producing ones come as a doubled-edged sword: a fear of rejection and a fear of being trapped. These equal-but-opposite fears have created some real challenges in my life; they sometimes create a tremendous push-pull tension between the desire to engage and the desire to flee.
Then there are the bodily-harm-what-if-I-die fears, which, for me, mostly take the form of a fear of heights, thus preventing me from sky-diving, free-falling, bungee-jumping, tightrope walking, cliff climbing, trapeze flying, doing roof work, completing a high ropes course, painting above the first story of a building, hot-air ballooning, or flying in an airplane. This is mostly OK with me, as I have very little interest in any of these activities, except perhaps for hot air ballooning, which seems divine, and flying which I have done on occasion, both for business and for pleasure, despite my fears.
In terms of blocking our relationship to anything or anyone in life, Fear inserts iteself between you, or me, and the Other, and creates a host of barriers including guilt, anger, caution, doubt, distance, anger, withdrawal, judgement, misinterpretation, miscommunication, mistrust, refusal to cooperate, isolation, and inability to be intimate or to commit.
What might it be like, I wonder, to live a life free of most fears - especially those that are made up in our minds, have no relationship to the present moment and therefore are not real? How does one go about letting go of Fear? You can't just put it in the trash or give it to Goodwill or sell it on eBay or at a yard sale, now can you?
Then, I remembered a book I had read in the 70's, pulled it out of my bookshelves, and read it again. The title really says it all: Love Is Letting Go of Fear (by Gerald G. Jampolsky, original edition published by Celestial Arts in 1979).
Amazon.com describes this short (131-page) tightly written book this way: "An inspirational classic since 1979, LOVE IS LETTING GO OF FEAR remains one of the seminal works in the transpersonal movement." I agree that this book is a classic, every bit as wise and as timeless as it was when it was first published 28 years ago.
After devoting some pages in this book to exploring the ways in which fear inhibits the flow of love, Jerry Jampolsky provides a series of 12 daily lessons, which can be reviewed in a few minutes each day and repeated day after day until they become integrated into your life. These lessons are based upon some of the teachings contained within The Course in Miracles.
Some of the lessons are:
--Giving and Receiving are both acts of love.
--Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
--Letting go of judging anyone or anything is a way to inner peace.
--Staying in the moment almost always eliminates fear (fear is almost always based in the past or the future rather than in the present moment).
--Changing how you think about things is the key to letting go of fear.
So, in the abstract, Love is Letting Go of Fear. How does that translate to everyday life?
Here's an example from my life: I am working on a new work project for a client - a project I want very much to love and commit to. But those pesky fears are raising their nasty little heads and getting in the way. They have names like "fear of scarcity" and "fear of loss of control". I am a work-in-progress on this one. My intention is to work through and release these fears and have a joyful work experience. Time will tell.
What fears might you be ready to release? Perhaps Jampolsky's book could be your coach? What have you got to lose? No, a better question would be, what do you have to gain?
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
As I meditated about what, if anything, might be blocking the flow of love in my life, the answer came to me: Fear. Yes, F-E-A-R (False Expectations Appearing Real).
Now, as the process of letting go and clearing the clutter out of one's life goes, releasing long-standing fears comes pretty high on the list of challenges.
Fear of what, you might ask.
We all have our own pet fears, generated from past experiences of one sort or another. You have yours; I have mine. Mine come, as most do, from childhood experiences, and the most obstacle-producing ones come as a doubled-edged sword: a fear of rejection and a fear of being trapped. These equal-but-opposite fears have created some real challenges in my life; they sometimes create a tremendous push-pull tension between the desire to engage and the desire to flee.
Then there are the bodily-harm-what-if-I-die fears, which, for me, mostly take the form of a fear of heights, thus preventing me from sky-diving, free-falling, bungee-jumping, tightrope walking, cliff climbing, trapeze flying, doing roof work, completing a high ropes course, painting above the first story of a building, hot-air ballooning, or flying in an airplane. This is mostly OK with me, as I have very little interest in any of these activities, except perhaps for hot air ballooning, which seems divine, and flying which I have done on occasion, both for business and for pleasure, despite my fears.
In terms of blocking our relationship to anything or anyone in life, Fear inserts iteself between you, or me, and the Other, and creates a host of barriers including guilt, anger, caution, doubt, distance, anger, withdrawal, judgement, misinterpretation, miscommunication, mistrust, refusal to cooperate, isolation, and inability to be intimate or to commit.
What might it be like, I wonder, to live a life free of most fears - especially those that are made up in our minds, have no relationship to the present moment and therefore are not real? How does one go about letting go of Fear? You can't just put it in the trash or give it to Goodwill or sell it on eBay or at a yard sale, now can you?
Then, I remembered a book I had read in the 70's, pulled it out of my bookshelves, and read it again. The title really says it all: Love Is Letting Go of Fear (by Gerald G. Jampolsky, original edition published by Celestial Arts in 1979).
Amazon.com describes this short (131-page) tightly written book this way: "An inspirational classic since 1979, LOVE IS LETTING GO OF FEAR remains one of the seminal works in the transpersonal movement." I agree that this book is a classic, every bit as wise and as timeless as it was when it was first published 28 years ago.
After devoting some pages in this book to exploring the ways in which fear inhibits the flow of love, Jerry Jampolsky provides a series of 12 daily lessons, which can be reviewed in a few minutes each day and repeated day after day until they become integrated into your life. These lessons are based upon some of the teachings contained within The Course in Miracles.
Some of the lessons are:
--Giving and Receiving are both acts of love.
--Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
--Letting go of judging anyone or anything is a way to inner peace.
--Staying in the moment almost always eliminates fear (fear is almost always based in the past or the future rather than in the present moment).
--Changing how you think about things is the key to letting go of fear.
So, in the abstract, Love is Letting Go of Fear. How does that translate to everyday life?
Here's an example from my life: I am working on a new work project for a client - a project I want very much to love and commit to. But those pesky fears are raising their nasty little heads and getting in the way. They have names like "fear of scarcity" and "fear of loss of control". I am a work-in-progress on this one. My intention is to work through and release these fears and have a joyful work experience. Time will tell.
What fears might you be ready to release? Perhaps Jampolsky's book could be your coach? What have you got to lose? No, a better question would be, what do you have to gain?
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
Monday, May 14, 2007
Letting Go Experiment: Month 11
As of May 10th, I have completed 11 of the 12 months in my year-long Letting Go Experiment. The BIG 365-day milestone is coming into view. And although I may be about to cross the finish line on this particular marathon experiment, I doubt that it will really be over for me on June 10th, for I still have a lot of letting go to do.
In the 11th month, about a third of the 30 items to be released were unopened cans and jars from my pantry that went to a food drive. Another two lines on my daily log were taken by the first two pounds I lost on the Weight Watchers program a month ago.
Another line went to my giving up the use of a brand of deordorant/anti-perspirant which I have depended on for years. This was letting go of a long-standing habit, as well as a material item. This product is very strong and is highly effective, but contains aluminum. I have heard for years that deodorants/anti-perspirants containing aluminum are not healthy for us, but have refused to do anything about it. Finally, I listened, tossed out my "old faithful" brand and replaced it with a healthier non-toxic, though less effective, brand. I think this move is allowing my body to release some toxic waste via my lymph glands, and thereby helping to cleanse my body. Old habits die hard, but I can tell that releasing this one will be worth the struggle.
This month, I still have a significant number of backlog lines that have not been filled, which is another way of saying that I am behind on my letting go of material items. But I am not sweating this (note the pun, re the above), since there is a significant rummage sale coming up in June, and I will be gathering all sorts of items to donate to that event.
As with other recent months, the most significant letting-go experiences have been, and continue to be, in the non-material realm. The most significant one of these is the letting go of fear. This is a BIG topic, and will be covered in a future blog.
Another non-material letting-go occured yesterday, on Mother's Day. This was the day when I released any remaining negative feelings I may have been holding toward my own mother, who passed away on September 2nd, 2003. It was suggested on one of Oprah's shows last week that we do more than give or send cards to our mothers, but that we actually write letters - letters that detail our appreciation and gratitude for all they do, or have done, for us. Although my mother passed away four years ago, I decided to write her a letter. And on Mother's day, I did. In that letter, I finally was able to see and accept her as she really was - with all her gifts and flaws - and not as I wanted her to be. I was finally able to take responsibility for my share of whatever breakdown there was in our relationship, and to not only accept and appreciate her for who she was, but also to accept and appreciate who I am - and to forgive us both for disappointing each other. What a HUGE letting-go this has been!
So, how about you? What have you released from your life this past month? What would you like to release in the near future? How will you do it? What's stopping you, if anything? And how will you overcome any resistance you may be feeling?
Remember the Nike ad: Just DO It!
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
In the 11th month, about a third of the 30 items to be released were unopened cans and jars from my pantry that went to a food drive. Another two lines on my daily log were taken by the first two pounds I lost on the Weight Watchers program a month ago.
Another line went to my giving up the use of a brand of deordorant/anti-perspirant which I have depended on for years. This was letting go of a long-standing habit, as well as a material item. This product is very strong and is highly effective, but contains aluminum. I have heard for years that deodorants/anti-perspirants containing aluminum are not healthy for us, but have refused to do anything about it. Finally, I listened, tossed out my "old faithful" brand and replaced it with a healthier non-toxic, though less effective, brand. I think this move is allowing my body to release some toxic waste via my lymph glands, and thereby helping to cleanse my body. Old habits die hard, but I can tell that releasing this one will be worth the struggle.
This month, I still have a significant number of backlog lines that have not been filled, which is another way of saying that I am behind on my letting go of material items. But I am not sweating this (note the pun, re the above), since there is a significant rummage sale coming up in June, and I will be gathering all sorts of items to donate to that event.
As with other recent months, the most significant letting-go experiences have been, and continue to be, in the non-material realm. The most significant one of these is the letting go of fear. This is a BIG topic, and will be covered in a future blog.
Another non-material letting-go occured yesterday, on Mother's Day. This was the day when I released any remaining negative feelings I may have been holding toward my own mother, who passed away on September 2nd, 2003. It was suggested on one of Oprah's shows last week that we do more than give or send cards to our mothers, but that we actually write letters - letters that detail our appreciation and gratitude for all they do, or have done, for us. Although my mother passed away four years ago, I decided to write her a letter. And on Mother's day, I did. In that letter, I finally was able to see and accept her as she really was - with all her gifts and flaws - and not as I wanted her to be. I was finally able to take responsibility for my share of whatever breakdown there was in our relationship, and to not only accept and appreciate her for who she was, but also to accept and appreciate who I am - and to forgive us both for disappointing each other. What a HUGE letting-go this has been!
So, how about you? What have you released from your life this past month? What would you like to release in the near future? How will you do it? What's stopping you, if anything? And how will you overcome any resistance you may be feeling?
Remember the Nike ad: Just DO It!
*******************************************************************
Although this Blog site is not set up to be interactive at this time, feel free to contact me with your comments.
Email: connie@conniekomack.com
Web: www.conniekomack.com
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