What Are Your Entrepreneurial Values?

This week I was flipping through the stations one evening and I came across the History Channel’s series – The Men Who Built America. I definitely learned some things I did not know before – things that were both uplifting and upsetting to hear. The series highlighted the lives of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The qualities that define an entrepreneur were clearly highlighted – the drive to excel, to innovate, to change the world, to express oneself fully, and to dream a new and bold future.

On the other hand, the dark side of that entrepreneurial drive was also clear to see – profits at the cost of human lives, competition that often decimated others, greed and manipulation.

It made me sit and think about the way that I feel about being an entrepreneur, my values, and most importantly the level of consciousness I choose to function at.

For me that means that I no longer choose to believe in competition – I only choose cooperation. I have no desire to profit by walking over another human being. I believe it is possible to make a fabulous living and a fortune if one chooses to do so – in a way that uplifts our world rather than suffering it.

So I ask you – what are your values? How do you choose to express your entrepreneurial spirit? I’d love to hear about your personal rules for running your life and business. So do post below and share your perspective with me.

Do You Have the Clarity to Move Ahead Boldly in Your Life?

My question to you is: how can I serve YOU on your path to expansion and how can I help you in fulfilling your purpose in life? Where are you feeling glitched? Where are you feeling frustrated? Is your personal life creating issues in your business life?

If this applies to you – let’s talk about it! Don’t stay stuck.

If you want to chat about this make an appointment today and I’ll explain more in detail. –> www.timetrade.com/book/8BFCS

‘Till next time …

Sheri Rosenthal

Don’t Take the Hook – It’s the Road to Ruin!

When I was a little girl, I remember going fishing with my dad, watching him carefully place the bait on the hook – gosh it all seemed so fascinating! I couldn’t understand why the fish would want to bite the hook when they could clearly see it penetrating the bait. My dad smiled and patiently answered, “The fish are so tempted by the tasty morsel that they don’t put their attention on the hook!”

Wow! I thought that was so weird since we’ve been fishing for eternity and fish have been watching us catch them. You’d think that they’d be onto us by now and avoid the bait! When I shared that thought with my dad he rolled his eyes and laughed, “Honey, the fish want the short term satisfaction of the food and don’t think about the consequences of the bait, and thank goodness or we’d have nothing for dinner!”

Since then, I’ve come to realize that people are no different than fish.

And although we perceive ourselves to be higher on the evolutionary scale – in many ways we’re not. For example, how many times in your life has someone said something challenging to you and instead of seeing their words as bait for a painful argument – you bite? You take the tasty morsel without paying attention to the shiny hook – favoring the momentary rush of being right over the long term consequences of living your life in conflict with others.

We abdicate our personal power and responsibility in favor of something we can never truly control – the behavior, opinions, and points of view of others. Truth is – if we take the bait we suffer the consequences.

So just like fish, we’ve been dealing with each other forever and we still haven’t learned that if we take the bait we’ll end up hooked. Does that sound like a conscious species to you? I don’t think so!

It’s important to understand that attention is the mechanism we use to create our reality – whether it is one of peace or suffering. The ability to focus our attention is the one of the few things in life we can actually control. We choose what we want to see and what we don’t want to see in any situation.

If we put our attention on the bait we’ll feel the temptation for the tasty morsel rising in our bodies – whatever that bait represents for us in the moment. And we know the consequences of doing so, we all do – but we do it anyway. So how many times are we going to choose to not see the hook in favor of the bait? How many centuries does humanity have to suffer this self-imposed ignorance?

I for one do not like the idea of being hooked like a fish and I’m tired of crying victim to the hooks I choose to bite. How can any of us cry ignorance when these hooks are dangling right in front of us? Truly, is there any bait that’s so blinding that we can’t see the hook right behind it?

For example, how many times have your loved ones suggested that the person you’re dating is going to cause you to suffer? But just because you want the tasty morsel of someone to love, you take the bait – you’re SO hungry for attention, company, and validation you ignore the obvious.

Or how about when you’re applying for a job and the company hangs out a tempting lure? Your deep inner awareness is screaming NO as it can clearly see the hook. But because of your fear around lack and your need for security, your attention is focused on the money – and you take the bait suffering the consequences of a job you don’t enjoy.

Or how about when you’re afraid of your own success and living your life boldly – so you purposely sabotage yourself by taking bait of succumbing to procrastination or overwhelm two behaviors you know will take you down the road to ruin? I could give thousands of examples of how we choose not to see the obvious, but I think you get the idea here.

I for one have made the choice to place my attention on any and all inner fears that could possibly put me into a self-created denial, blinding me to the hooks that lurk behind all those tasty morsels in life.

The question becomes will you do the same?

I encourage you to open your eyes and be aware of where you choose to place your attention. It’s well worth it not to suffer like a fish on a hook!

So do share what things hook your attention and what strategies you’ve employed to stop yourself from going for the bait! I’d love to hear how you deal with these kinds of situations – please let us know what tools you’ve got in your toolbox.

To your great life,
sheri-sig2

The Art of Nourishment – Are You Dead or Alive?

I wanted to share something with you that I’ve been really enjoying this year – and that’s juicing. I imagine some of you are already doing so – but I also am thinking that many of you out there have been wanting to give it a try but don’t know how OR you think it’s a bunch of who-ha.

I can tell you without a doubt that when I drink a glass of green juice everyday – I feel better and I don’t think it’s purely psychological. For me to be drinking something that I don’t think is particularly fabulous tasting – it better be making me feel good! Because truly – when I make this drink all I can think of is a freshly mowed lawn, and that is not something I dream of drinking.

So let me tell you how I got started with juicing.

I had been looking into ways of increasing the amount of calcium I take in because osteoporosis runs in my family. I had been trying to increase my calcium but every time I would take calcium pills I wouldn’t be able to go to the bathroom – a truly undesirable outcome. So I started to look into food as a solution.

Now for years we’ve been told that the best way to get more calcium is to eat more dairy products – or at least that is what the dairy association’s been telling us. Well after much research I started seeing that dairy actually makes your blood more acidic which then leaches the calcium out of your bones, along with making your cholesterol higher. The calcium is needed to make the acid in the blood that forms from eating dairy products – more alkaline, which is how the blood normally should be. But that is not the kind of outcome we’re looking for when we’re trying to increase our bone density.

Fortunately most green veggies make our blood alkaline AND give us calcium which is great – because then the calcium can go into the bones instead of hanging out in the blood trying to make it alkaline. And that’s a good thing. One veggie that is high in calcium is kale and that’s a main ingredient in my green juice. Eating kale chips is a fun way of eating kale too!

A great movie to get you into the why’s and how’s of juicing is Fat Sick and Nearly Dead – an absolutely hysterical movie about a guy who was as the title infers – fat, sick and nearly dead. And yes, it is a very funny movie despite the title. Basically it’s about an Aussie fellow who travels across the US with a juicer and a generator in his trunk meeting people along the way and talking about heath. You have to watch it to see the ending yourself – I’m not going to give it away.

Go to the website to watch the movie for free.

If you like more facts than fun – I suggest watching the documentary, Forks Over Knives which is about the way we eat, the effects of dairy and meat on our health, and so much more. You might be surprised by what you learn.

So this is the bottom line here.

We’re all busy people and if we want to live quality lives we are going to have to figure out how to do so in the limited amount of time that we do have. If not – by the time we’re in our late 50’s we’ll already be overweight and on several medications. My grandma lived to 101 and she didn’t take one pill, believe it or not. But she didn’t eat much red meat, she never ate processed foods at all, and always watched Jeopardy to stimulate her brain. Seriously.

If you need to get some good recipes – go to Reboot With Joe the companion site to fat, sick and nearly dead. That’s where I got the recipe for the green juice that I drink. They have lots of recipes there that are easy to make and take on the road. I opted to buy a Breville juicer but there is a nice comparative guide there that can help you pick the perfect one for you.

So I am curious as to whether you juice or not, or if you’ve been thinking about it but just couldn’t get motivated. Don’t forget to post below and let me know!

Leaning Into Life – Live Boldly + Fully Engaged!

Back in the day I had a horrific fear of heights and so the idea of skiing was aberrant – considering you have to go up a mountain to be able to ski down it. I approached this task like most things in life back then – with focused determination (back then you have to realize that I saw everything as if it was a medical residency program to be overcome rather than life to be experienced).

So I went to my local sports store in Florida and took basic skiing lessons on a moving carpeted hill mind you (that’s right). After a few weeks I actually could stop, turn, and do all the basics. When I arrived in Aspen, my friend (very questionable indeed) told me he’d take me up the easy hill before my first ski lesson.

I protested vehemently stating that a moving carpet in Florida is nothing like the beginners run in Aspen. But he dragged me onto the ski lift and we started to go up, up, up – you get the picture.

Somehow I managed to get off that lift, face down in the snow mind you – and was confronted with my deathly fear of heights not knowing how I was going to get down the mountain. I was shaking – not from cold, but from the distinct possibility of broken bones and mutilating pain.

My so called friend gave me one piece of advice.

He said, “Sheri if you do anything, even if you snowplow the whole way down, make sure you lean forward as you descend. It seems counter-intuitive, like you should be leaning back away from what you fear, but I promise if you keep leaning forward you’ll make it to the bottom.”

As I cursed the very ground he skied on, I leaned forward and made my way down the mountain. Interestingly, I only fell 3 times – and each of those times was because I let my fear get in the way and leaned back.

So what’s the point of this story?

No matter what you’re afraid of in life, consider that your fear is only the result of a fear-based thought-form. You have the choice of either believing yourself or not and taking action in the face of adversity.

When we lean into life we’re engaging fully, we’re 100% present in the moment.

If we lean back due to fear – our skis will slide out from under us and we’ll end up on our butts! Life works the same way. Shy away from what you fear and you’ll receive the kind of outcome that will confirm the very fears you already have.

In other words, if I choose to lean back while skiing I would have proved to myself that I couldn’t do it. That is exactly the outcome my ego-mind was trying to create. My mind didn’t want to give up command to my fearless heart! It would rather have me living a boring, mediocre, limited life of fear.

The bottom line is that a fully realized human leans into life.

No matter how many fear-based thoughts you have, or how much fear you feel in your body as a result of those thoughts – the only way to transcend that fear is through action with clarity – rather than non-awareness.

Okay – if I can get over my immobilizing fear of heights you can get over what ails you too. The solution is simple no matter how counter-intuitive your mind would have you believe it is. Show up for life, lean into to every experience you have, be fully present, and don’t believe any of the things your mind proposes to you, no matter how frightened you feel.

See your mind’s strategies and don’t play into the actions that will confirm those fears. I’ll look forward to seeing you at the bottom of the mountain!

So I’m curious – do you lean into life or do allow your skis to come out from under you? Did this conversation spark any new ideas for you or any new awarenesses? Make sure you post below and let me know.

Your Thoughts Are None of Your Business!

Most of us depend on our thinking or internal dialogue to answer the day to day questions and issues in our lives. But as we expand our consciousness we come to learn to trust the messages that come from our heart and inner knowing – by that I mean the wisdom that comes as a direct download and has no words.

But until that happens – how do we deal with the thoughts that we hear day in and day out that often have us making unhealthy decisions and taking problematic actions – like procrastinating for example? Something many of us tend to do, right?

First and foremost it’s important to realize that our thoughts are not who we are.

We have a mind but we’re not our mind. And although many of us understand this from an intellectual point of view – we haven’t actualized that concept in our lives.

It’s critical to understand that our thinking is limited by nature since it only reflects the totality of what has been downloaded into our program since our birth. So in the end we can only know what we know – nothing more, nothing less.

However – all true creativity comes from pure consciousness as it comes through each of us.

A well trained mind, one that functions as an assistant rather than a saboteur – can translate that creativity into inspired action. At least that is how it works when we are in control of our mind instead our mind being in control of us!

During the time I studied as an apprentice with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, I had a very profound and life changing experience. For three days my mind was absolutely silent – I didn’t have any thoughts. What I realized during that time was that I could function perfectly without thinking. I knew exactly what I wanted without having to think about it – and I realized so did everyone else. That state of presence is how children are before we teach them to have internal dialogue.

When a little kid opens the kitchen cabinet and starts pulling out all the pots it knows exactly what it wants. It wants to explore as that is it’s true nature to be curious. Same with animals – when my mom’s little Yorkie wants to sit on my lap it doesn’t have the ability to think that thought as it has no concepts – it just knows. Both children and animals don’t have an attachment to abstract concepts and so they’re totally in the moment and absolutely authentic.

Learning not to take your own thought forms personally is an art – but well worth it if you want to train your mind to assist you rather than sabotage you as I mentioned earlier.

Making room in your life to just be in a quiet place for a while, to let your swirling thoughts calm down, is a great first step to getting clarity and allowing your own deep knowing to manifest itself.

So I’m curious what you think about the idea of your thoughts not being your business! How do you cultivate your inner knowing? What methods do you use in your life to quiet your mind? Don’t forget to share because what you do could change someone’s life.