Spirited Woman Blogger Team

Guest Blogger - Tom Evans - What Blocks Creativity?

Tom Evans, the founder of Recipes for Fresh Thinking, continues his three-part series on Light Bulb Moments. In part one he wrote about Higher Mind Delight. In part two, "What Blocks Creativity?"

An un-spirited person might ascribe their lack of creativity to any number of external influences or excuses, like the weather or that they are still smarting from their football team losing at the weekend.

A Spirited Woman knows otherwise.

Our chakra centers are not merely a metaphysical flight of fancy or metaphor. With a little training, they even become "visible" in the aura and it is possible to detect and sense blocked and imbalanced chakras.

As described in the preceding article, when we experience light bulb moments, they interact with all our chakra centers pretty much simultaneously. It therefore only needs one or more to be out of alignment in order to extinguish the creative spark.

Firstly, a closed mind means a closed crown chakra. For example, if you think this is baloney (and I am not saying it isn’t), it has the effect of dimming the lights from the ‘get go’.

As mentioned before, if you are running internal dialogue, or self-talk, the ability of external thought forms to penetrate will be permanently hampered. Note that the "normal" human being is only capable of having one thought at a time. Note that I say "normal" as even this is not a given with the right training and discipline.

If your throat chakra is active and you are talking, you will not at that time be able to experience a light bulb moment. If you look up the definition and etymology of the word "inspiration" - you will see that ideas are both linked to the in breath and ascribed as having an external source. Try and talk and think, or even think and write, at the same time to see what I mean.

If your heart is not in it, it is a great way to dampen creativity. Perhaps you are not loved by your boss or your talent is not appreciated.

If you feel intuitively you are on the wrong path or barking up the wrong tree, your gut mind will be the blocker. It will help you procrastinate or even be creative about sabotaging an initiative. You may also be running the fear of being ridiculed or or the unknown. These too are debilitating.

This May Never Pass Your Way Again

I’m not spontaneous. I’m a planner, a perfectionist, well okay, a plodder, maybe. But when the spirit kicks in, I experience the quintessential moments of my life. Like this one: Never run from a wild animal. The tour operator in Kinshasa gave us a mantra. I practiced.

Rain pelted plastic ponchos as the bushwhacker led six spirited women into the forest. To the rhythmic thwack, thwack of his machete, we trudged uphill, hands gloved against the thickening bush. The shot-gun armed guide held rear guard in the semi-darkness. Would the sun never rise on these Virunga Mountains of eastern Congo?

In forty-five minutes the rain stopped and so did our guide. He raised his hand for silence. Six curious women froze in place, listening. The crunching of giant teeth on bamboo was off to the left. The tall bush separated as something ominous plowed our way.  My senses switched to high alert. Never run from a wild animal. Never  . . . . And there he was. My heart pounded so big it filled my throat and choked off the mantra. Blood rushed to my muscles and prepared them for flight.

I saw the top of the head first. A huge, black fur ball. And then the shoulders. Wide and powerful. The arms out in front propelled the silverback my way. I dug my heels in the ground and tried to back pedal, to give way to the patriarch heading at me. But my so-called friends jammed their hands into my back and pushed me forward. Our opposing forces kept me in the danger zone. The gorilla stopped before me and cranked his head toward my face.

“Look down!  Look down!” Everyone whispered. You didn’t need to tell me twice. I deferred to his power and stared at the ground, where his giant knuckles supported long, sinewy arms. His wing span was wide enough to squeeze all six of us together and then hurl our deflated bodies back to base camp. He didn’t. He stood at attention, daring us to challenge his authority. We didn’t. The guide, kneeling by my side, spoke to him. Softly. Gently. In Swahili. We waited. Me, the reluctant shield, hiding five petrified women. Him, the victor, snouting warm breath at my bowed head.

The test ended just like that. We proved harmless enough. He then rolled his head forward and lumbered on until the silver-white fur down his back disappeared into the thicket.

We followed him to a clearing where he fell asleep, fully trusting us to enjoy his troop of thirteen mothers and babies. We adored the one-year-old with Ace Ventura hair.  He looked at his funny reflection in my friend Barb’s belt and grabbed at our cameras. After an hour of play, the troop moved on without us—six astounded women.

Not long afterwards, a civil war broke out, cutting off all access to the gorillas. What opportunity are you glad you grabbed?

- Nancy Adair  nancyadair2002@yahoo.com
Click here to read more of Nancy's posts.

A Whole New Meaning to "Working the Room"

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes, sweat, determination, and hard work. - Colin Powell, former Secretary of State

Readers who've been following my just-beginning odyssey on the road to getting back in vibrant health may remember my post Let the Training Begin! 

In it, I described the strange and overwhelming fear that overtook me in January, just as I was about to start working weekly with a trainer at my local health club. What was I afraid of? I'd been wanting to start a real, honest-to-God health regimen, but it hadn't been possible until recently, when my husband's work situation finally improved after three excruciating years of unaccustomed unemployment.

Now, one month after my first visit to the health club, I confidently walk in the front door and stride into the exercise room as if I really belong there! Fear doesn't play a part in this scenario any longer - anticipation, exhilaration, and virtual pats on the back comprise the range of my emotions these days.

After I smile at some of my gym buddies, I drink a big cup of cold water and start "working the room."  Ah, but not in the sense that we businesswomen were taught to "work the room" at networking events in the 1970s and 1980s - back then, we were encouraged to walk up to people who were standing by themselves, or to small groups, and make meaningful conversation, to see if we could do business together.

Nowadays, for this Spirited Woman, "working the room" means mastering the seated rowing machine (2 sets of 15 reps each), the leg press (2 sets of -- gasp! -- 25 reps each), the ab bench (1 incredibly difficult set of 25 reps), and of course, the stationary bicycle (20 minutes non-stop, with a heart rate goal of 120).

After all this, I shift to doing wall push-ups (15 reps), calf stretches (5 breaths each, with legs straight and then with knees bent), and balancing on one leg, for 10 reps, each leg. My trainer tells me that if I faithfully follow this regimen (and alternate these with other machines and exercises on my training sheet) about four times a week for an hour - plus, of course, focus on healthy eating and drink lots of water - by the end of summer I could actually lose the 30 pounds I wish to bid farewell to forever!

It's worth the effort, to leap into this new process in order to reach my goal. But first, I have had to shift my thinking as to what "working the room" means, in the new and unfamiliar world of training for optimum health.

Linda Jay Geldens, www.LindaJayGeldens.com
Click here for more of Linda's posts.

Guest Blogger - Pamelah Landers - It’s Not About You - Part 2

Pamelah Landers is a leading hand analyst and author. She specializes in relationship success and insights about your Life Purpose based on your never-changing fingerprints. She has read over 20,000 hands in her career.

In her three-part weekly series exclusively for Spirited Woman, Pamelah explains from her perspective that it really is not about you. In her first post, she writes about the road to self-love and today she gives you some examples on how to determine what is or isn’t about you.

Along the lines of being aware that whatever another says is not about me, here are some examples to consider.

If your hair stylist tells you that “you need a modern haircut,”would you believe her/him if you didn’t feel like a modern haircut would look good on you? Because it is stated, is it required that you buy into it as "being about you?”

You go to the doctor’s office or a health practitioner. He or she tells you that you are aging prematurely, that you must take some type of drug or participate in some therapeutic process in order to prevent "aging." Do YOU believe that you are prematurely aging? Does that resonate with you? Does spending $395 or $5000 on a therapeutic process match how you feel about yourself? Maybe you like premature aging or maybe it’s just an opinion that is not about you actually.

What’s motivating the other person to tell you this? Can you discern how YOU feel, what YOU want, what is YOUR truth, what works for YOU from what another is suggesting? How much power are you giving away to another because of their "degree" or "position" or "authority" when it doesn’t resonate with you?

It’s still never about you. It’s still the perspective of another person. Sometimes their point is valid, sometimes not. Your opportunity is to become so familiar with your internal guidance that you know when to accept another person’s perspective as "real" and when it’s only about the other person (well, it’s always about the other person but sometimes what they are sharing resonates with you).

Connections

We welcome Andrea Chilcote to our blogger team. Andrea, we're very excited to have you as our new relationship blogger.

Thank you Spirited Woman for the opportunity to share my experience and create a dialogue about a topic so important – our relationships.

For many years I have sought a way to explain my work -- what I actually do. I’m an executive coach, a leadership development expert, and a writer. When I say that, people often respond, “But what is it that you do?” The popularity of life coaching has helped somewhat, though even that doesn’t always convey why companies hire me to do this type of work.

Here’s what I really do. I help people build relationships – all kinds of relationships. The common denominator that defines my work is the connections we have or seek: with ourselves, with other people, with the natural world, and with the minute-by-minute opportunities afforded us by the grand existence called being a human.

Connection is a primal need, particularly for women. That’s why there’s so much distress in organizations when personal agendas and misplaced hierarchical boundaries trump inclusion and collaboration. It’s why, in one-on-one relationships, we seek to be heard and understood first and foremost. The basis of trust is the feeling that one is safe with the other -- and trust is required for engagement of any kind. Perhaps most important is a connection with ourselves; an eyes-wide-open type of awareness that stems from honest self-examination. This leads to two things: a state of being called “settled in self” as well as on-purpose action.

In the coming months I’ll be blogging about building upon the relationship you enjoy with yourself, with key others, and your animal companions. I’ll include that oh-so-important relationship you have with time -- the moment at hand -- as that is where the magic begins.

As you “relate” to my posts, I invite you to begin a dialogue. Share your own stories and reflections to spread the spirit among all of us.

Andrea Chilcote, www.morningstarventures.com
Click here for more of Andrea's posts.

Guest Blogger - Tom Evans - Flashes of "Higher-Mind" Delight

We have not had a Spirited Man post on our site in forever. So this series is a testament to Tom's will, brains, and fresh ideas. The founder of Recipes for Fresh Thinking, Tom has provided exclusively for Spirited Woman a three-part series on Light Bulb moments. Go Tom - and may the force be with you!

If St Paul, Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci could testify, they would acknowledge that flashes of illumination, or "light bulb moments," have been with us for many years before the invention of the light bulb.

As any Spirited Woman knows, when we allow our inner mind chatter to abate, we allow in more subtle messages that are there all the time. These might be signs and metaphors that are around us that we simply don’t see. Perhaps friends told you to read a certain book, see a particular movie or attend a workshop. You just thought you knew better or were too busy. Yet following their advice might just be the trigger for a spark of inspiration to take you down a wonderful path you have been searching for.

When our monkey mind is active, it tends to obscure more subtle messages still - those that are messages from our Higher Self, our Soul and our Guides.

When we allow communication from our ‘higher minds’, we truly experience ideas of delight. But how do you know the difference between any old thought and such a soul-full message?

Firstly, your language might also give it away if you hear yourself saying things like, “Off the top of my head”. The idea might also be accompanied or preceded by a shiver down your back or a cosmic tone in your ear.

The main way however to know you have experienced a light bulb moment, is that it lights up much more than both halves of your brain. Indeed, all the chakra centers get in on the act. Here’s how light bulb moments arrive.

Firstly, they crystalize from the super consciousness in our alpha chakra, a couple of inches above our heads. Next they enters via the crown - or sometimes via the cerebellum at the back of our skull. Our third eye ‘knows’ they are a message to pay attention to and it directs them temporarily away from our conscious mind to our heart chakra.

I Fell in Love with Costa Rica

In Nancy's first post about Costa Rica, she was planning her trip.

I’ve just returned from Costa Rica, and I have to say I made a spiritual connection. First and foremost, Costa Rica is an earth-loving country. Like a mother protecting her young, she has set aside 26 national parks to preserve the flora, fauna, and land throughout her 12 ecological zones.

Though small in size, Costa Rica has assumed a large role as Mother Nature’s proxy for nearly 5% of the world’s known species. This includes more birds than can be seen in the United States—and I mean colorful birds, like toucans, macaws, and kingfishers - and more butterflies than exist in all of Africa. She is gorgeous.

Costa Rica is a Spirited Woman leading the charge of environmental sustainability. She inspires her people toward a value system that puts the earth first. You can see it in the recycling, rain water harvesting, and responsible industrial practices, such as the ingenious re-uses of old tires. You can see it when frolicking on the pristine Pacific beaches and kayaking the exotic inland waterways.

My friends and I met a scientist named Roy, who actually said, “I don’t want progress.” He shocked our American ears. We were confused, concerned even. So he clarified himself. “Progress comes with chimneys. I want this natural environment to be preserved so that whenever I cross the Tarcoles River, a pair of scarlet macaws will always fly over my head and tell me I’m home."

Costa Rica’s rewritten constitution- 1948 - gave birth to this new outlook on life. War damages the environment like no bio-hazard, so the constitution disbanded its standing military. So far, so good. It has engendered a peaceful, idyllic life style that attracts many Americans to visit or relocate. The Quakers were among the first to embrace the peace.

How to Marry a Rich Man

I just read an article about a girl posting on an online chatroom (for rich men) to inquire about finding a husband with at least half-million annual income. 

She claims to be strikingly beautiful, elegant and has excellent taste. So she wonders why, as most of the rich guys’ wives are plain-faced, she, beautiful and elegant, is still far from having a husband? So she tries asking rich men for advice as where to meet them and how to lure them to marry her.

Interestingly, there was no reply to her post except a rich businessman in his fifties. He told her the reason: simple economics. While most of his investments increases in value over the years, on the contrary, women only decline in value over the ensuing years, or  even months. So, at the time of marriage there is a fair exchange of money for beauty. But after that his wealth increases but her looks decrease. So it’s not good value for a rich man to enter a permanent relationship with a woman whose value will only decline. Men who earn half a million a year are not likely to be complete fools. What does make perfect sense for the rich man is renting – a temporary relationship. Finally he said, “So if you’re interested in having some short term fun, don’t hesitate to give me a call.!”

It seems to me that there are two ways out of this for women. First, instead of struggling to find a rich guy, how about struggling to get rich yourself? Or, if you are looking for a husband, think about finding someone you actually want to share your life with rather than just provide you a salary.

Mingmei Yip, http://www.mingmeiyip.com
Click here to read more of Mingmei's posts.

Experiencing a True Breakthrough

Sometimes you have to break out of your everyday routine in order to experience true breakthroughs.

Early yesterday morning, I drove in to The City (as we out here in the Bay Area call San Francisco) with a friend to attend the perennially sold-out San Francisco Writers Conference.

We were going to volunteer at a display table sponsored by our writers' group, BAIPA -- the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association.  As a side benefit, we would get to rub elbows with, and perhaps strike up conversations with, some of the famous writers, newbie writers, and wannabe writers from all over the U.S. who would be in attendance at the Conference.

While we set up our poster and easel, bookstand, members' books and promotional materials at the BAIPA table, we looked around at what would be "home" for our four-hour shift. Two other tables - one for a local women writers' group and one for a successful new Seattle self-publishing company - shared space with us in the narrow corridor outside one of the main meeting rooms on the lower level of the classy and magnificent Mark Hopkins Hotel.

In this cozy atmosphere, we soon engaged in rapid-fire conversations with our table-neighbors. What a delight that turned out to be, and how the spirits of this Spirited Woman were enlivened!

The president of the women writers' group, our table-neighbor on the right, told me she frequently gets requests for editors and writers from her members. She asked me to send her my information as soon as I got home, because she had several projects she'd like to refer me to.

Turning to our table-neighbor on the left, I was surprised to see a book that I edited recently - Steps, by Seattle author Patricia Vaccarino - prominently displayed. The self-publishing company owner asked me to send him a bunch of business cards and other information, as he is currently looking for editors with just my background.

By noon, we were fielding questions non-stop from Conference attendees about our own writers' group. It seems that the Conference keynote speakers were emphasizing that self-publishing is the way to go for writers today, and that's the focus of our group. And those conversations led to even more potential business contacts.

Looking back, I was hesitant at first to take a whole day off from my usual routine to volunteer at the Conference. But that turned out to be an excellent decision, leading directly to new opportunities and unforeseen breakthroughs. 

Linda Jay Geldens, www.LindaJayGeldens.com
Click here for more of Linda's posts.

Finding your Peace in Ancient Lands – a Love Affair from Afar

Allison continues her series on Peace, this time through the eyes of her dear friend Bonnie Michaels on her walkabout adventure in Australia.

After three months of feverishly writing every day to meet a publishing deadline, my writing partner and Life Diva® sister, Bonnie Michaels, surprised me. We were both fairly spent after the intensity of researching, compiling and writing an entire book in three months so a little time off was to be expected. I just wanted to chill out. Only, recover time for Bonnie involved a 24-hour plane ride and two weeks in the outback of Australia. When Bonnie needs to reconnect with her inner-spirit, Australia is her answer.

Her love affair from afar began in 1992 with a work opportunity in Sydney. Bonnie claims that her first step onto Australian soil was a magical experience. She felt there was wisdom to be uncovered from under the red clay and the pinnacles of ancient lava and stone.

With her work assignment completed, Bonnie decided to embark on what the Aborigines call a “walkabout.” The native custom is typically a rite of passage. A walk in solitude across desert and bush country on a spiritual quest for 1000 miles or so without assistance from a compass or radio. The walker is to rely on guidance from his spiritual power.

While Bonnie couldn’t undertake the traditional journey, she embarked on a “white woman’s walkabout” combining a car and hiking to make the trip. One stop led her to the famous Ayers Rock, a holy site for the Aborigine. Wanting to respect and revere their spiritual heritage, she chose to hike around the mammoth rock rather than climb on it.

Using a flashlight in the dark before dawn, she made her way to a large boulder to await the sunrise. In the quiet serenity, the morning unfolded in a blaze of light across the sky. Like magic the kangaroos were jumping and leaping to welcome in the new day. The sounds in the surrounding grass were mystical.  Watching, listening and taking in the ever-changing color of the rock was enchanting. Bonnie says that she was filled with happiness - the beauty of a new day in this ancient land was more moving than words can express. In that moment, Bonnie experienced the true spirit of Ayers Rock. She found her place of peace.

What about you?  Where do you make that connection that soothes your soul? Is there a person place or think brings Zen to the grind?  We are asking Spirited Women to send us your thoughts on what makes your heart sing. Let us know and we’ll post your places of peace in a future article.

- Allison Blankenship, http://www.allisonspeaks.com,  http://www.UpsideTheBook.com
Click here to read more of Allison's posts.