Before Lifebook, I was a bit lost. Ok - a lot lost. In a lot of ways. And I was not entirely sure which direction to go or why.
My career looked great to the outside world but it was eating me alive with stress and anxiety. There were days I couldn't even get out of bed because the idea of getting dressed dissolved me into tears.
I would have these bizarre emotional attacks at super weird times (while cleaning my bathroom floor, for example) that would cause the room to spin and my chest to tighten. On more than one occasion I would have to stay on my knees where-ever I was until the worst passed and it made me feel like a helpless failure.
It was the most awful feeling in the world. It was like I didn't have any control and I couldn't handle anything (and yet I knew I still had to run a business!).
I would have given anything to just make it stop.
My mental game was also waaaaaaaaay off track. I was frustrated and exhausted trying to move my needle forward.
I was trying so hard to upgrade myself and my life because I felt if I could just learn enough I would be able to get myself out of my own rut. But I couldn't seem to make it happen.
I was devouring books and programs on everything I could find to improve myself, my mind, and my skills. But I felt like none of it was helping me get 'on track'. It was like I was pushing a pile of bubbles uphill.
I was also pretty tired all of the time without understanding why - I thought it was because I was introverted and the stress of having to go out to maintain relationships I didn't know I even wanted to keep was draining me.
I also wondered if it might be the stress from my job and was constantly trying to find ways to improve my skills so I could decrease my stress levels and feel less tired.
As for the rest of my life...
Spiritually I had never really given any thought to my beliefs beyond not subscribing to a specific religion.
Health and fitness I had started a program called NOOM several months previous which had been helping with my energy so I was just beginning to see the incredible benefits of this to my overall life quotient.
My finances were up and down with the sales season of my business, although in truth they were mostly down and I mostly worked for free.
My relationship with my parents was ok, although I still had bi-monthly encounters that made me want to cut them out of my life for brief periods.
Enter Lifebook.
(Going to swear here)
Holy shit.
Getting conscious changed EVERYTHING.
Let's start with health. Understanding that health = energy and energy is mandatory for being able to handle stress, grow as a person and pretty much do anything you want to do? Game changer. I am more in tune with my health purpose than I have ever been. And I have more energy and positive feelings as a result. No exaggeration here. Without my health I was a mess. There was no chance at a win anywhere else. Period.
Romance - I have a fabulous husband and a ridiculous relationship which I am forever grateful for. Yet, there was a big problem under the surface that would have killed us in the long run and which we didn't even know was there! I had my husband do this one category along side me because we both feel this is a really important thing to do together. It was a day- long tears, conversational, emotional explosion!
We discovered that we were both in our relationship not believing it was ok to put another person ahead of your career or 'first' in your life. Yet we both professed that our relationship was the most important thing to us. So how could that be? We discovered we were holding onto old beliefs about what a healthy relationship was and fears about being used or left behind. So we each had 'one foot out the door' (always put me first!). OMG. THIS BLEW OUR MINDS. And it saved us too.
The next big revelation, which is something so obvious I am unsure how it had escaped me for all of these years, was to become the person you want to be surrounded by. Be it friend, lover, patrons, career....becoming the person with the character traits, skills, personality, intelligence and motivations that you want other people to bring to the table will ensure you attract what you want! BOOM! BLOWN MIND X 2.
Career - this was my biggest fear category by far as it controls so much of my life. I am an entrepreneur and have had several businesses while building up my skills and knowledge to be able to create my 'dream job'. Only I have discovered what I decided to create is actually not my dream job.
I am terrified of being seen as a failure, so I have persevered and pushed through and forced this thing to work for just about 5 years. But Lifebook has shown me this career is far away from my values, aspirations, and vision. It is no surprise that the universe has been trying to tell me to get out with manufacturing problems (from just about day 1), some very ugly clients, staffing issues, etc.
I know I could 'make it work' and likely one day make good money. But I feel that I am in a profession that will never enable me to powerfully change lives & make a difference. And that is what I am on this earth to do.
So I have made the decision to close the doors to my store. I have talked to my husband about it and we will make a plan to begin the closure at the end of March, fully closing the doors as soon as June.
I have not yet decided on what I will do next. I like the idea of creating a series of life-discovery/ personal-discovery retreats but I would need to do more research on this. I can also set up a website with worksheets/workbooks/exercises that would help people overcome limiting beliefs, work through negative emotions, etc. as I have always had a gift for organising information in a way that makes it easy for people to understand visually. I feel that may be something I can do while I figure out if the retreats are plausible or not. I know the Lifebook templates that I posted on the website were widely used and I am still getting PM's from people who want more chapters. :-)
Moving on ... :-)
Spiritually, I blew open the doors a third time. I discovered I have a deep rooted belief that everyone and everything is tied together in a type of energy flow (no idea where this came from - I simply know it to be true somehow). I realised I was blocking my own flow by not contributing to and being connected to others in a meaningful way - friendships or otherwise. I discovered I had to step up and align my authentic self to this beautiful flow because of the value I KNOW exists in the connection of all things to one another. It is the responsibility of all to keep the flow connected and positive to keep our world healthy.
My social life has also been changed - I have opened up to my friends and acquaintances about my journey with Lifebook and have had deeper, more meaningful conversations with many of them than I have ever had before. People I had previously written off as selfish or shallow had SO MUCH inside them I didn't even know was there. Others have reached out to know more about the Lifebook program and the details of my experiences. I have become SO HUMBLED simply by listening. And while not everyone in my circle is destined to be my friend, I have grown an appreciation that a body of water can still be beautiful even if I never get to swim its depths. :-)
There are SO MANY things I could write about and talk about. So many successes and breakthroughs - so many tears and laughs. I don't know how to list it all here - Lifebook has changed me, and I am sooooo grateful.
I think I best summarised the power of Lifebook in my final post to the Facebook community:
"So...I went from 77 to 108 - and I had to do a triple take if I am honest.
Because I really did not think I had changed THAT much.
I had to stop and really think about this for a bit to wrap my head around it.
What I realised is that the act of consciousness itself is a major needle mover. Possibly THE biggest needle mover.
Because becoming conscious actually CHANGES how you think.
If thoughts become [things]...well [things] create change.
It turns out I have changed my life without even realising the extent, because becoming conscious has changed me."
Thank you John & Missy. Truly. :-)
My career looked great to the outside world but it was eating me alive with stress and anxiety. There were days I couldn't even get out of bed because the idea of getting dressed dissolved me into tears.
I would have these bizarre emotional attacks at super weird times (while cleaning my bathroom floor, for example) that would cause the room to spin and my chest to tighten. On more than one occasion I would have to stay on my knees where-ever I was until the worst passed and it made me feel like a helpless failure.
It was the most awful feeling in the world. It was like I didn't have any control and I couldn't handle anything (and yet I knew I still had to run a business!).
I would have given anything to just make it stop.
My mental game was also waaaaaaaaay off track. I was frustrated and exhausted trying to move my needle forward.
I was trying so hard to upgrade myself and my life because I felt if I could just learn enough I would be able to get myself out of my own rut. But I couldn't seem to make it happen.
I was devouring books and programs on everything I could find to improve myself, my mind, and my skills. But I felt like none of it was helping me get 'on track'. It was like I was pushing a pile of bubbles uphill.
I was also pretty tired all of the time without understanding why - I thought it was because I was introverted and the stress of having to go out to maintain relationships I didn't know I even wanted to keep was draining me.
I also wondered if it might be the stress from my job and was constantly trying to find ways to improve my skills so I could decrease my stress levels and feel less tired.
As for the rest of my life...
Spiritually I had never really given any thought to my beliefs beyond not subscribing to a specific religion.
Health and fitness I had started a program called NOOM several months previous which had been helping with my energy so I was just beginning to see the incredible benefits of this to my overall life quotient.
My finances were up and down with the sales season of my business, although in truth they were mostly down and I mostly worked for free.
My relationship with my parents was ok, although I still had bi-monthly encounters that made me want to cut them out of my life for brief periods.
Enter Lifebook.
(Going to swear here)
Holy shit.
Getting conscious changed EVERYTHING.
Let's start with health. Understanding that health = energy and energy is mandatory for being able to handle stress, grow as a person and pretty much do anything you want to do? Game changer. I am more in tune with my health purpose than I have ever been. And I have more energy and positive feelings as a result. No exaggeration here. Without my health I was a mess. There was no chance at a win anywhere else. Period.
Romance - I have a fabulous husband and a ridiculous relationship which I am forever grateful for. Yet, there was a big problem under the surface that would have killed us in the long run and which we didn't even know was there! I had my husband do this one category along side me because we both feel this is a really important thing to do together. It was a day- long tears, conversational, emotional explosion!
We discovered that we were both in our relationship not believing it was ok to put another person ahead of your career or 'first' in your life. Yet we both professed that our relationship was the most important thing to us. So how could that be? We discovered we were holding onto old beliefs about what a healthy relationship was and fears about being used or left behind. So we each had 'one foot out the door' (always put me first!). OMG. THIS BLEW OUR MINDS. And it saved us too.
The next big revelation, which is something so obvious I am unsure how it had escaped me for all of these years, was to become the person you want to be surrounded by. Be it friend, lover, patrons, career....becoming the person with the character traits, skills, personality, intelligence and motivations that you want other people to bring to the table will ensure you attract what you want! BOOM! BLOWN MIND X 2.
Career - this was my biggest fear category by far as it controls so much of my life. I am an entrepreneur and have had several businesses while building up my skills and knowledge to be able to create my 'dream job'. Only I have discovered what I decided to create is actually not my dream job.
I am terrified of being seen as a failure, so I have persevered and pushed through and forced this thing to work for just about 5 years. But Lifebook has shown me this career is far away from my values, aspirations, and vision. It is no surprise that the universe has been trying to tell me to get out with manufacturing problems (from just about day 1), some very ugly clients, staffing issues, etc.
I know I could 'make it work' and likely one day make good money. But I feel that I am in a profession that will never enable me to powerfully change lives & make a difference. And that is what I am on this earth to do.
So I have made the decision to close the doors to my store. I have talked to my husband about it and we will make a plan to begin the closure at the end of March, fully closing the doors as soon as June.
I have not yet decided on what I will do next. I like the idea of creating a series of life-discovery/ personal-discovery retreats but I would need to do more research on this. I can also set up a website with worksheets/workbooks/exercises that would help people overcome limiting beliefs, work through negative emotions, etc. as I have always had a gift for organising information in a way that makes it easy for people to understand visually. I feel that may be something I can do while I figure out if the retreats are plausible or not. I know the Lifebook templates that I posted on the website were widely used and I am still getting PM's from people who want more chapters. :-)
Moving on ... :-)
Spiritually, I blew open the doors a third time. I discovered I have a deep rooted belief that everyone and everything is tied together in a type of energy flow (no idea where this came from - I simply know it to be true somehow). I realised I was blocking my own flow by not contributing to and being connected to others in a meaningful way - friendships or otherwise. I discovered I had to step up and align my authentic self to this beautiful flow because of the value I KNOW exists in the connection of all things to one another. It is the responsibility of all to keep the flow connected and positive to keep our world healthy.
My social life has also been changed - I have opened up to my friends and acquaintances about my journey with Lifebook and have had deeper, more meaningful conversations with many of them than I have ever had before. People I had previously written off as selfish or shallow had SO MUCH inside them I didn't even know was there. Others have reached out to know more about the Lifebook program and the details of my experiences. I have become SO HUMBLED simply by listening. And while not everyone in my circle is destined to be my friend, I have grown an appreciation that a body of water can still be beautiful even if I never get to swim its depths. :-)
There are SO MANY things I could write about and talk about. So many successes and breakthroughs - so many tears and laughs. I don't know how to list it all here - Lifebook has changed me, and I am sooooo grateful.
I think I best summarised the power of Lifebook in my final post to the Facebook community:
"So...I went from 77 to 108 - and I had to do a triple take if I am honest.
Because I really did not think I had changed THAT much.
I had to stop and really think about this for a bit to wrap my head around it.
What I realised is that the act of consciousness itself is a major needle mover. Possibly THE biggest needle mover.
Because becoming conscious actually CHANGES how you think.
If thoughts become [things]...well [things] create change.
It turns out I have changed my life without even realising the extent, because becoming conscious has changed me."
Thank you John & Missy. Truly. :-)