Cultivating Your Inner Guru!

Most folks just love a good inspirational speaker. There’s nothing like listening to a Tony Robbins type of person and getting all revved up, excited about life and what we’re capable of creating. He’s great to listen to isn’t he?

But what if it wasn’t necessary to go outside of ourselves for that inspiration – what if we could access our inner infinite well of truth, wisdom and inspiration?

Inside every human being is an incredible source of power and wonderment waiting to be tapped and accessed. Yet, we ignore that pool of perfection and instead look outside of ourselves as if someone else knows better what’s actually best for us.

Crazy right?

Of course there’s a difference between getting help to assist us in learning how access our inner wisdom – and paying someone else to tell us what’s best for us.

None of us need a guru when we already have one – the key is cultivating a practice to be able to HEAR our inner guru.

To me that’s what spiritual practice is all about.

But so often we get confused between our internal dialogue and the deep pool of wisdom that’s ever present within that does NOT speak with words. Your inner guru lives in the space between the words – the place of feeling and knowing – not the place of words and the emotional reactions we experience when we listen to those words and thoughts.

So how do we access the place between the words when it’s hard enough to quiet the mind for even two minutes?! A great practice I personally love, is to focus deeply on an issue you’d like clarity on right before you go to sleep. This is a technique I use all the time and in fact I wrote all of my books using this exact method.

I’d go to sleep with the topic of my next chapter clearly visioned in my intent and then as soon as I awoke I’d start writing. It works like a charm!

While we’re sleeping we have a clearer connection with source because we aren’t attached to the constant flow of thought forms that normally hooks our attention during the day. When we’re sleeping we don’t care about that yapping voice – it seems to pass through us without the same kind of focus we give it during the day.

That voice is always trying to masquerade as our inner guru but it’s not truth.

Once you understand that your truth does NOT speak with concepts you’ll never be fooled by your internal dialogue again. All that voice is – is a compilation of all the information you’ve taken in mentally over a lifetime.

You have a mind but you are not your mind.

So – by setting your intent before bed and focusing deeply on your question as you drift into sleep – this allows you to open to the answers you’re seeking from a place of deep authenticity. Otherwise we get caught up in the judgment our mind puts forth and life becomes a problem to be solved.

When we listen to the heart it’s about getting clear direction – which is the exact opposite of the back and forth battle of pros and cons our mind normally gets caught up in.

It’s time to start cultivating our inner guru as that’s the source of all creation, wonder, and self-inspiration. Doing so is the ultimate act of self-love and self-respect.

Of course there’s always a place for a wonderfully inspiring talk – I admit, I love to hear an amazing story myself. But in the end we all must learn to trust and love ourselves and ultimately that’s the main challenge of our spiritual path.

I’d love to know what you feel about today’s chat.

Do you have a practice for connecting to your inner guru and your source of deep inspiration?

Don’t forget to post below and let me know what you’ve learned!

To your audacious life,
sheri-sig2

How’s Your Financial Karma?

I wanted to share something with you that you probably don’t know about me.

Back in 1999 I had it with my life.

I was over practicing medicine but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do – or for that matter what I could do. I wasn’t sure after practicing medicine exclusively since 1983 what I would be qualified TO DO.

However I took a leap of faith and ended up studying with don Miguel Ruiz author of the New York Times Bestselling book “The Four Agreements.”

During the 8 years that followed I went to every retreat, workshop and coaching event he had to help me re-frame my life – and spent way over 110k on my personal growth. Interestingly, that sum it was actually more money than I spent on my medical education!

However that investment in myself gave me more PEACE, self love and respect, and the ability to face life with fierce calm that no amount of personal therapy or medical school education had ever given me.

I learned something very powerful from that experience.

And that was – if I invest in myself I will always be rewarded in the end no matter how scary it seems at the time.

Later on when it came to creating my own business as a coach and mentor, I realized that my medical and spiritual education could only take me so far. I needed business coaching to be able to expand myself beyond the level I was currently functioning at.

That led me to my first big business weekend event and my first experience into participating in a year-long coaching program.

At first the commitment seemed a little over the top but then I thought about how much I spent on my medical education and how it didn’t bring me happiness – and then how much I spent on healing my dysfunctional mind with don Miguel and how that DID bring me joy.

So I decided I would bite the bullet and gift myself with the next jump in my business evolution.

It was the third best action I’ve ever taken in my life for myself.

So if over these weeks since our weekend together you’ve been unsure of whether you could use some help, I encourage you to put your financial concerns aside and take the leap. I know that I’ve always found a way to get the funds for something I truly wanted to do. It’s funny how that always works out.

In addition I realized another weird thing.

As I increased what I was willing to invest in myself – the amount that my clients were willing to invest in me increased. Interesting right?

But I do think if you want your clients to invest in working with you (regardless of the kind of business you have) – you have to feel that you’re worth it – if you want THEM to feel that you’re worth it.

I want to give you an example to make what I’m saying crystal clear.

It’s kind of like this, wanting to have a life partner really badly while at the same time you don’t love your body or yourself. Yet you want someone to fall in love with you and actually make love to the very body you yourself hate. Wow.

That doesn’t work. So it is with investing in you.

Love and respect yourself, your talents, and your abilities. The world is waiting for you to put forth your unique abilities and blessings.

You already know that I am here for you if there is something I can assist you with.

And for whatever I don’t specialize in, I’m sure you’ve already met some awesome folks at the event that have just what you need. All you have to do is ask.

I’m curious if anyone else has had the experience of financial karma besides me – please post below and let me know!

Signing off – Here’s to peace, power + personal alchemy.

Does Your Business Need a Girdle?

It used to be back in the 50’s that a woman would never dream of leaving the house without a good foundation and solid underpinnings under her dress. Well – your business works in the exact same way. I personally would not dream of creating a sustainable business without having a solid foundation to build upon!

So what do I mean by that?

Well, it’s amazing how many entrepreneurs I’ve talked to that are making 3 figures or more that are not some type of corporation or LLC with a tax ID number. You look like a business when you’re structured like a business rather than a fly-by-night type of firm.

So here are some items that I feel are important and you can follow along me making a mental note of what you might need to do to tighten up your business practices.

If you’re already doing everything I’ve mentioned – kudos to you, that’s fabulous!

So here goes:

Let’s start with personal and/or general liability insurance. When I practiced medicine I couldn’t imagine going without malpractice insurance, and for example, in my Journeys of the Spirit travel business, we have errors and omissions insurance specifically designed for the travel industry.
Moving on, most states and even some counties require a business license. It’s imperative that you follow the law so that you’re a reputable organization. You certainly could have your VA look into what your local requirements are. In addition, making a quick call to your accountant could help you avoid some financial issues that could be quite painful in the future!
Not having a retirement plan in place for example, will have even the most frugal person spending money that’s better put into savings. There’s got to be a balance between the amount of funds you reinvest into your business and how much you’re willing to put away for your future.
It’s always good practice to separate your personal and business life – and having a business checking account is a great place to start. Same with having a dedicated business phone line. I happen to like Ring Central as they have toll free numbers and a great system for receiving calls that makes you look professional. Of course there are other companies out there too.
Other items that become quickly essential to your business are your autoresponder, Facebook page, professionally done photographs, domain names for your current and possibly future website addresses, and a great and reliable host for your website.
Last but not least – a basic business plan is essential. That keeps us on the straight-away so that we’re constantly taking action to achieve the numbers we’ve set down on paper.

So I’m curious as to whether you’ve got your foundations firmly into place.

If not, maybe it’s time to slap a girdle on your business and get-r-done!

Signing off – Here’s to peace, power + personal alchemy.

What Direction is Your Business Going In?

Sheri here – just checking in to see how you’re doing. I have a question for you today.

Do you have clarity on the direction you want your business to go?

Real clarity?

I’m asking this because most entrepreneurs have a ton of ideas regarding what they would like to create and accomplish but no clear action plan as to how to make that happen.

What often happens is that we get caught up in minute activities that aren’t really going to accomplish our goals – but they do keep us busy. I’ve learned that taking imperfect action in life is the key – but as an obsessive-compulsive type of person, the initial suggestion of taking action in my business without it being perfect was rather aberrant to me.

I don’t know if you feel the same way – but what I’ve learned is that you have to start somewhere and whether you are upleveling from an income of 3 figures to breaking the million dollar mark – or if you’re just putting up your first website – without a plan and a set of definitive steps to get there that you’re actually willing to commit to – it’s simply human nature to get caught up in activities that are more management orientated rather than income producing.

So take a minute to think about this.

Do you have your year planned out with your launches (if you have products and programs) – or growth steps delineated so that there’s no question as to what you’re doing and when?

If not, consider my suggestion – I promise the rewards will be well worth it. And do post below and let me know what you’re doing!

Signing off – Here’s to peace, power + personal alchemy.

Do you React, Resist or Ignore Life?

So much out there is vying to hook our attention – if we’re going to have the kind of lives we’re been dreaming of – we’re going to have to be more attentive to what we allow or refuse into our lives.

Normally the mind automatically narrows down the amount of input we receive based on past experience – in other words we’ve trained our minds (mostly without awareness) to decide what we should and shouldn’t focus on.

However that’s not necessarily a healthy situation.

Based on your fears and obsessions your mind will allow you to see what it wants you to see, and hear what it wants you to hear. From this perspective, the most amazing opportunity could be right before your eyes and you might not see it. That’s why some folks seem to have tons of great opportunities and luck – and others seem to have nothing.

Of course that’s an extreme example – but you get the idea. The universe reflects back to us exactly what we chose to perceive regardless of whether we’re coming from lack or abundance.

It’s a process of opening up and purposely not pre-judging anything.

Letting life move through you with ease and then making a conscious choice based on discernment – not pre-judging as to what your mind wants to see, hear, smell, touch and taste based on prejudice. There is a huge difference between discernment based on personal preference – and prejudice based on fear-based beliefs.

For example, let’s say you don’t want to be privy to all the “negative” news on the TV and in the newspaper. So you shut it out. However, you might also be shutting out a piece of information that would make a difference in your life. Rather than judging all news to be bad – instead, consider that the news is simply the news and what you’d really like to do is transform the energy and focus of it.

That means you can choose to do a quick scan of the paper or listen to just ONE news program so that you’re aware of what’s happening in the world – and you can choose to watch or read without judgment and move on. Let the information flow through you without “chewing” on it. Don’t judge it and rail on about it – instead breathe it in and breathe it out with love. That’s it and that’s all.

This technique can be used in any situation.

It’s a way of allowing the world to pass through you without suffering it, being in resistance, cultivating anger, and frustrating yourself about things that are going to steal your energy and could be better directed in a more productive way.

So here are three tips for putting this into practice:

If something hooks your attention and you find yourself getting upset – stop, take a deep breath and tell yourself that you’re not interested in going down this road. On your next breath take in the situation and breath it back out with love and move on.
If something hooks your attention and you find yourself in resistance and refusing it – stop, take a breath and ask yourself why? Is it because you already think you know? It’s not productive to pre-filter life. The mind does this because thinks it knows and it’s comparing today with something it thinks it understands about yesterday. And that’s not truth.
If something keeps showing up in your life that you’ve deemed unimportant or not interesting – stop, take a breath and ask why you’re not paying attention. Perhaps the universe is trying to tell you something. Do you really need the cosmic two-by-four to hit you upside the head before you take notice? I hope not because in my experience that is NEVER pleasant.

I’m curious as to what your experience is with how you filter life.

Do you react, resist or ignore life?

Don’t forget to post below and let me know what YOU think!