Autumn's Fire

Principles of Purpose

My visit to Lake Louise (and other amazing places in Canada, and its inspiration, brought me back to refocus my energies on helping my clients work with Purpose. Then, an article serendipitously showed up in my email yesterday, from dailygood.org, commenting on an article published by Echoing Green. This article was entitled 10 Principles of Work on Purpose.

The first 3 principles are labeled Right for You. The other 2 were What is Good for the World, and finally, How to BE BOLD in reaching out for purpose.

To summarize, you should seriously consider journaling with these concepts:

1. Heart + Head = Hustle
Simply stated it’s critical to align your heart space with the ‘ideas’ you have for your life’s purpose. In Natural Rhythms, that’s aligning the masculine and feminine axes to make sure that your ‘doing’ doesn’t over shadow your ‘being,’ and that your heartfelt love and compassion permeate the ‘work’ you plan to do in the world. Where have you allowed your head to overrule your heart’s desire?

2. Know What You’ve Got – Know What You Need
Do you feel as though the knowledge, understanding and insights you possess aren’t enough, and that you feel lacking in what you need to accomplish what you believe your purpose to be? If so, partner with someone, gain a mentor, take a course. You’ll soon find that you know more than you think you do! Your wisdom goes deeper than you think. You just need to access it. Plus, you’ll have a sounding board with whom to bounce ideas around.

3. Mine Your Past
Dialog with your past to learn what motivates you, what your long buried dreams are, what you have forgotten you know how to do. Even your most difficult times yielded teachings and learnings that have helped you through those challenges and made you the person you have become.

Because we sometimes feel that memories are too painful to bring into present-day consciousness, we have set aside the meaningful teachings that are there to be gleaned. Then use journaling time to reflect on these and see how they affect and magnify the present moment. In this way, you never stray far from the present moment, the place where you find joy and transformation.

Building Your Emotional Money Muscle

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No question that each of us has a money persona when we talk to our clients, and others, about money. In the early years of running my collection agency, I developed Delores Bell, my alter-ego, who would help me handle tricky money conversations that I needed to have to collect money for my clients. So, Delores was born. She gave me the strength to have sensitive dialogs with more confidence.

Now I coach entrepreneurs who face these challenges today. Here’s what happens…

You develop an amazing, content rich program that is really exciting and can help your clients/prospects with important life or business challenges.
You share this passion and joy with those clients/prospects, and they are enthusiastic about working with you.
You outline the program in detail, and then it’s time to tell them what it costs and ask for the sale.

Who Do You Become?

The Mumbler who covers her mouth and squeaks out an indistinct utterance that has to be repeated to be heard. Outcome: the client/prospect no longer sees you as the person in charge – the one who can be strong in helping reach their goals.
The Chameleon – You manage to tell your client/prospect the price, but when they express inability to pay, you’re ready to lower the price to make the sale. Outcome: the worth of what you offer then comes into question. Not just for the client, but you yourself begin to doubt what your services are worth.
The Head Nodder – Your client is all in, but says that she can only pay a lesser amount. You nod your head and go along with the new price point. Outcome: Once again, you have abdicated control to your client, making accountability difficult for you to control in your program. The client feels an ability to ‘slide’ through the program as they were able to slide down the price.
The Silent One – You are so uncomfortable discussing fees that you bury your head in the sand, and do not pursue the clients who will build your business and boost your confidence. Outcome: You are mired in insecurity and back away from the myriads of opportunities coming your way. You retreat to the hills for safety.

Isn’t it time to step out from behind these personae and step into your prosperity and abundance? Click here to learn more about how to build your Emotional Money Muscle through my program Transforming Creativity into Cash, and see if you will qualify for a 25-minute COMPLIMENTARY coaching session with me.

Do Not Spend Your Money

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Times are tough. The economy is uncertain. Bank accounts are slender.

The natural human response is fear. Fear of lack. Fear of suffering. Fear of going without. Fear of the unknown.

Thanks to the amygdala part of the brain (that performs a primary role in processing memory and emotional reaction), we begin to hear the monkey start talking over our shoulder: “You can’t afford that.” “Don’t spend your money! What if…” “Don’t do that! You don’t know what will happen!” “Hold on to every penny!” “Don’t take that risk!”

Thankfully, not all of us listen to the little monkey. Thankfully some of us hand him a banana, say ‘Thank you for sharing’ and go on about our lives, pursuing our Life’s Purpose and creating new and different things:

Three years after a major investment firm collapses – causing the NYSE to shut down for days and an ensuing financial crisis that lasts six years – a 29-year-old scientist opens a laboratory. Economic conditions would remain poor for another 20 years. Yet during that time, Thomas Edison’s lab at Menlo Park grew to occupy 2 city blocks, created numerous patents and in 1896, Edison’s General Electric Company earned a spot on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average, and remains there today – the only remaining company of the original 12.

After living in his company office, then his firm filing bankruptcy, a 22-year-old man moved 1,600 miles away to join his brother in founding another company. The brothers worked out of their uncle’s garage for 3 years. Then, in 1929 – the middle of the Great Depression – the brothers reincorporated under the name Walt Disney Productions.

During a period of rising unemployment and inflation, stagnant GDP and huge spikes in the price of gasoline, two friends found opportunity in creating a company to sell operating software to the new market of home and personal computers. Have you ever heard of Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Microsoft?

Odds are, you are viewing this message and conducting your business on a personal computer of some sort, that is being powered by electricity, and at some point in your life you have found joy, laughter and entertainment from the Imagineers at Walt Disney.

Aren’t you glad they didn’t listen to their monkeys?

So what does this mean for you as a Third Act entrepreneur?

A recent article from USA Today notes that in the recession of the early 90s, 25% of downsized executives over 40 started their own companies. One might think that, perhaps, recession is a natural way to clean house and restart the economy anew, even if it can be very painful.

Maybe you spent years tinkering with a product in your garage. Maybe you have an idea for a special service or heart-based business from home. However, until now, you have been holding down a full-time job, raising children – doing the Done Thing. You have never had time to go ahead with your inventions or ideas.

Now, your children have moved out of the house, starting their own lives and careers. During this most recent recession your job status may have changed, that security net of stable employment and benefits is no longer there.

Welcome to your Third Act. Time to get serious about your business and why you are here. You have plenty of life to live and it is NEVER too late to open that laboratory, move 1,600 miles away, or create that next household product. Of course, creating your business does not always require such huge and drastic measures and yes, you can start, and even up level an established small business during a recession.

Do you realize that a business that YOU run will have the same struggles and the same issues that YOU have in your personal life? Can you look back and see perceived ‘failures’ and ‘issues’ in your business that parallel the same type of events in your personal life?

Darren Hardy shares: “This poignant distinction was once shared with me: Before you build your business plan, build your LIFE plan. Figure out what kind of life you want to have FIRST – where you want to live, what type of people you want around you, whether you want to work nights & weekends, how you want to dress, etc. THEN build your business plan around these criteria. I was once doing this all backwards… you?”

Ready to ignore the MONKEY?? Join us at The Nourished Soul: Caring for Your YOUniverse, April 12-14, Atlanta, GA by going to www.thenourishedsoul.com.

Article courtesy of Heather Harmon, Event Coordinator for The Nourished Soul

3 Seeds to Plant for Your Prosperity ~ Changing the Profitability of Your Company

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Imbolc is just around the corner: the time when we plant the seeds for what we wish to manifest in the growing season. NOW is the time to consider the possibilities so you can be ready, on February 2, to powerfully seed the growth of your prosperity, through ceremony, ritual or words.

We’ve all heard it: the definition of insanity is to continue doing the same thing and expecting to get a different result.

Where in your life AND your business, are you continuing to do the same thing, hoping beyond hope for a different result, only to watch as your plans fall apart AGAIN? Perhaps you believe it is your struggle to create the PERFECT program to help your clients the most? Or, maybe you believe it is the challenges in your marketing plan that are preventing you from calling in, and signing, the many perfect clients to make your business grow? What is that magic bullet?

Alright – so you are finally are ready to look the truth in the eye. It can be any and ALL of those things. HOLD THAT THOUGHT, AND add this one:

Would you construct your dream house on a cracked or crooked foundation? Of course not. So why would you take the steps to create a business without the underlying foundation to shore up the solo-preneur, the entrepreneur, the entrepreneur-in waiting, of the business – YOU?

BEFORE you invest in your company image or your marketing plan! BEFORE you design a program that is meaningful to your clients! Before you believe you can make a difference for each of your clients, your family, your friends, you MUST plant these seeds in the FERTILE SOIL OF YOU!!

Here are 3 seeds to precede your business plans and marketing strategies:

What have you uncovered about the TRUE wants and needs of your soul in this business? There is a ‘soul voice’ within that may have been suppressed as you have gone about ‘doing the done thing’. That’s one of my favorite sayings as I spent most of my life ‘doing the done thing.’ Fulfilling the needs and expectations of others, and doing what I thought I expected of me.Reaching deeply inside, and excavating the truth of what your soul desires may take a while. You’ve forced it into silence for many years.
What are your strengths and your challenges, and how do they play into the business you wish to create? There are various tools, including the lens of Shamanic Astrology, that can assist you in reconnecting not only with your life purpose, but with the tools you have to reach that purpose!
What is out of balance in YOU? As most of you know, my work revolves around the Elements of Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and always includes the support of Spirit. If any one of these are out of balance, you are shaky in what you can offer your clients. Here’s what I am talking about:

EARTH is the Physical Realm. If you haven’t maintained your body’s health, created appropriate spaces for home and business, or honored Mother Earth your Earth energy is out of balance. You must prepare these before you can develop a business plan. Money is also a part of the Earth realm. Isn’t it finally time to understand, in your body, that being in service does not require a vow of poverty?

WATER is the Emotional Realm. If you have not cleared the emotional blocks keeping you from a successful business, you are not nourishing your creation.

AIR is the Mental Realm of thought and intention. Have you truly set a strong, positive, affirming intention for your future, your business?

FIRE is the Action Realm. How are you honoring your Qi, your life force, and keeping the fires lit as you move into your Third Act?

If you are ready to balance your energies AND hear about the ways to not only plant the seeds, but nourish them, tend them, and create the most abundant crop ever, join us on April 12-14 for The Nourished Soul: Caring for Your YOUniverse symposium, at the magnificent Marriott Perimeter Hotel, for all the secrets, from tilling the soil to harvesting the crop!!

Wishing you a successful crop for 2013!

Purpose and Prosperity – Third Act Success

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One of my clients asked early in our professional relationship: “Isn’t it too late for me? I am almost 60 years old. How can I expect to start a business, build it up, and finally succeed, at this stage of life when I am slowing down?”

I explained to her, as I have to many clients since, that IT IS NOT TOO LATE! At age 55, I founded a non-profit called Ageless, which brought much-needed attention to the psychological challenges of an aging population caught between aging parents, and children still at home. At 60, Autumn’s Fire was my creation developed to assist those 50+ in their professional journey in a spiritual community. At 65, one of my long-held dreams, The Nourished Soul: Caring for Your YOUniverse Symposium, came to fruition, bringing unique and gifted facilitators and presenters together in one place for those who yearn for a breakthrough.

Certainly I am not unique in being a person who craved moving into my Life Purpose at a later stage of life. Just when I thought I was going to slow down a bit, begin to take it easy, I find myself with more exciting work to do than ever before. My joy and delight is palpable as I work with clients, helping clients move into their Life Purpose while gaining insights into how to reach out and capture prosperity.

So how does one begin in this process? It begins with a firm foundation of recognizing how to maximize strengths and handle challenges. It begins with an understanding of your lineage – the patterns and gifts that are in your DNA, or that you experienced in a prior life time. Whatever belief is comfortable to you.

Then reaching into a visceral understanding of Life Purpose, and the tools you have to reach it, is the next step.

Through the years, we change, but our essence remains the same. Perhaps life has caused us to squelch that essence, being busy with life’s challenges. Without the excavation of this basic knowledge, it’s very difficult to build a plan for a business.

Once the Essence becomes clear, we can rapidly identify the perfect client, choose your niche, decide how Spirit and unseen forces support your effort, and dreams.

So, what are your dreams, your unfinished/unstarted work, your path to fulfillment? Are you willing to figure out your work in the world, and step into your essence?

Self Doubt to Radiant Self:
5 Simple Steps to Renewed Confidence

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When confidence begins to fade, it isn’t just an inside job. It doesn’t only wear away your inner resolve. Loss of confidence also affects your ability to communicate effectively, to ask for what you need, and consequently, to co-create your life’s dreams.

There’s no doubt that life throws curve balls our way, and there are times when disappointment and rejections pile up to overwhelm us. Sometimes, just one more challenge, and it feels like everything is coming apart. That’s the time when, more than ever, we must put some basic principles into action

Here are mine:

1. Balance Life Energies –
If you are reading this, you have probably done lots of ‘self’ work, including therapies, processes, workshops and seminars, and have taken advantage of lots of self-help possibilities, like books, tapes, etc.

Many of you may have ways to take a deeper inner look. For me, I do this by working with the Elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire for balancing of my ‘realms’ (read on) and my masculine and feminine axes.

In the study of Natural Rhythms, Earth represents the Physical Realm of all that we see, feel, touch – creations of man; creations of Nature. Water is the emotional Realm whose current we want to run clean and clear just as we do the water we drink. Air is the Mental Realm of thought, imagination, focus, and intention. Fire – well, fire is the Action Realm of running full life force.

If you think about it in terms of Nature, you know that life cannot be sustained without the balance of earth to produce the food needed by all humans and animals; water to nourish us all; air for breath, and the sun’s fire to warm the earth. Water, too, is moved by the heat of the sun, the winds, and the moon. Air and the winged ones pollinate plant life, and on and on it goes. Remove just one element, and our world as we know it, collapses. So it is within us.

If I am out of balance, it is because I have allowed one or more of the Elements to get out of balance within me. As within, so without; as above, so below. That’s the time to call on the Elements to help me find where I have allowed one element too much, or too little, influence over me.

2. The second step toward renewing confidence is Co-Creation with Spirit. For me, all the good that has come into my life has been as I connect with Spirit in the way that is meaningful for me. TOGETHER we put in place what is meaningful and in alignment with my Life Purpose. If my plans aren’t working out or I cannot get the answers I need, I realize that I have not aligned with Spirit in my process.

3. In study after study, it has been proven that belonging to a like-minded community is essential to creating renewed confidence. In life’s Third Act, especially, it is easy to disconnect from those who can best support us. Our community, more than even our children or other family members, understand what we are experiencing at this time. Knowing that others share some of our experiences gives us insights and support that is crucial for our well-being. Often these friends can help us find a way through our issues.

And, while you are at it, reach out to those who need support. It’s amazing how great you will feel about yourself when you do. Whether it’s a peer, a community member, or total strangers, ‘doing good’ is a sure way to increase confidence.

4. Take Small Action – That’s right. It doesn’t have to be big … it all starts with the single step. Start with a written plan, or take the first step that you had outlined. You can even just pick up the phone and make a call to get the energy rolling. It doesn’t have to be the whole ‘to do’ list … Just start!

5. Release the Outcome with Gratitude – We want what we want when we want it, don’t we? How often are you really in control of the outcome of your plans? You can set the plan, ask for co-creation with Spirit, and even work the plan. After that, it’s time to release the outcome. Spirit and the Universe may reward you beyond your greatest dreams. But, not if you have a choke hold on the outcome.

To learn more about my individual Breakthrough Platinum Program. “Self Doubt to Radiant Self”, contact me at bsalamon@autumnsfire.org.

If I Knew Then

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Since I began this journey to authenticate myself, and find what it is in this world that I was meant to do, it has been my delight to share experiences (and experience) the younger generations in my family, in workshops, in retreats. Their connections to the spiritual part of themselves is exemplified in their awareness and consciousness. It is palpable, energizing, and inspirational. They are using the connections to their authenticity in every phase of their lives: it’s present in how they raise their children, run their businesses, develop relationships, and how they step out into the world.

It wasn’t so for my generation. Uh-uh! Conformity was at its height in my adolescent years. In the early 60s, we all wanted to wear our hair in a flip, wear Weejun loafers with our cranberry pencil skirts and pink shirts, and we watched American Bandstand every afternoon. We wanted to fit in. Most of us followed the teachings of our parents’ religion, and so we often colored within the lines (literally and figuratively).

But, the lid came off our fire in the mid-60s when flower children, love and Haight-Ashbury came on the scene. Some of us still resisted the day’s slogan, “Make love not war.” We were the ‘good girls.’ For many of us, myself included, our awakening often came later — much later in our 40s and 50s. Sometimes even in our 60s.

A few weeks ago, when I was visiting the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco, I found a mixed culture. Most of the run down rentals had been converted to lovely, stately, edifices, where the price tags were high. The streets were clean and quiet. We chatted with some aging hippies on their doorstep … they looked the same, but for sure their surroundings were different. Walk just a couple of blocks away, to Haight Street and the culture shifted: funky clothing shops; paraphernalia every few store fronts; unique eateries; and, an energy I’d not experienced in any other place.

Here’s what I’ve once and for all realized: it hasn’t been too late to come to my awakening in the last decade. What I know and experience now has every bit of the value for my life, and the lives of my clients, as the insights and knowings of my youmger friends and associates bring to their communities.

I am excited about the wisdom that the generations can so generously share with one another. Certainly, I would have enjoyed having their insights and believing in myself much earlier, but at least I have lived enough time to appreciate what I can experience in these years. I want to share my gifts with the coming generations. In turn, I want to revel in their wisdom, their joy, their authenticity.

Stay tuned later this month for an announcement of how we can come together to increase our understanding, and our abundance. Let’s share what we all know NOW — while it is viable for us all.

What is Fear?

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Fears come in all shapes and sizes. Some are blips on the radar screen; others are wholly debilitating. We’re all pretty well aware of our physiological responses to fear: heart pounding out of our chests; palms sweating; confusion or hyper clarity; no matter what a crash landing when you finally come down. Recently, I uncovered the fact that our fears can really be divided into 3 categories. I’d like to share them with you.

• The first is the fear of suffering
• The second is the fear of death;
• The third, the fear of G-d.

As I have come to understand in working with my clients, what frightens us most may be our fear of suffering. Of course, for each of us it is different! But consider that our fear of stepping out into the life we desire is primarily a fear of suffering: suffering the pain of embarrassment. Or, fear of how we will suffer at our own judgment or when others judge us. Fear that we will suffer a loss of money or prestige or even home and hearth. Such pain — and SUFFERING.

One of my clients suffered for months at the idea that she might live alone after being in a non-serving relationship for many years. The idea of nights by herself was excruciatingly painful, and she truly suffered. Finally, after months of the agony she moved into her own place. It took her 2 months to be able to sleep alone in her new apartment. Now, 6 months later, she told me how wonderful it was to come home some nights and have no one there: no one to accommodate; no one to answer to. She was in her bliss.

We must ask the question the what it is costing us NOT to face our fears! Let’s look at the ‘what ifs.’ We can take on that scenario of what if everything is awful; what if I fail; what if I am embarrassed; what if I lose everything? Yes, you can hold that vibration. Or, you can say what if …. everything works out OK; what if I create the life I want; what if I find the love in my life I’ve been searching for? There’s such a difference in that vibration in our bodies!

Going back to our 3 basic fears, what is fear of death? Perhaps we will SUFFER a spiritual death. Ever heard the expression scared to death or embarrassed to death. We are not talking of literal death here.

Even our fear of G-d (Spirit, goddess, All that Is, Universal Energy) is, in some sense, a fear of suffering. If we do not act in accordance with the Universe’s (Spirit’s) law, we will suffer.

Besides the misery of this pain and suffering, what else do we experience when in this mode?

Here’s just 3 things, and I’ll bet you can come up with a lot more.

Mental clarity may be clouded; or you may go into hyper overdrive. Engrossing fearful thoughts may keep you from focusing and from developing the important strategies you need at the moment.
You may have an erosion of confidence. There’s a constant chipping away of confidence every time we succumb to fear in one way or another and run!
Opportunities may be missed if we are too wrapped up in our fears to see the chances that we are just in front of us.

All of this is present when we believe we cannot reach the life we want, or that we are running out of time, or that we are NOT STRONG ENOUGH OR ABLE ENOUGH to grant our own wishes. That pain is pretty intense, isn’t it? It appears that it all comes down to suffering.

How willing are you to step away from the suffering?

The Year of Conscious Connection

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2012 is already moving at the speed of light. I am holding space for each of you that it will hold the magic of your dreams and wishes.

Beginning this rhythmic cycle by celebrating “Create a Dynamic Year” with Lisa Michaels, and several of my friends who came to experience this insightful and helpful teleseminar at my home, helped me begin my year with an intention: Conscious Connection.

For me, Conscious Connection means that I will focus deeply on each person with whom I interact. I will schedule my time so that I will really HEAR each conversation, ask caring questions with compassion and an honest desire to understand, and allow my partner to complete her/his thought without interruption. This will apply whether we are in person or on the phone. It also means that I will respect the written word as I do the spoken.

With the speed of each passing day, I realize the enormity of what I have set out to do this year. It isn’t that I haven’t attempted to do these things in the past. Living in the present is an important factor in my life. It is just that I have allowed time and circumstances to be the catalyst for my not always following through with keeping outside thoughts and plans at bay. Perhaps you have experienced that yourself. It’s difficult not to in the world and times in which we live.

Conscious Connection also keeps me united with the Elements: Staying in my body keeps me bound to Earth; feeling the feelings of the person with whom I am connecting allows me to run my emotional Water clean and clear; Air assists me in keeping focus; and Fire – well fire keeps my desire to stay connected well lit! I thank Spirit for the gift of the friend or associate with whom I am visiting.

Already a few people have noticed the change in me, and commented on it. It feels AMAZING, and the energy shifts daily. So many gifts seem to be hidden in re-learning to listen differently. My intention for Conscious Connection has blessed me more than I could imagine!

A Deeper Shamanic Journey

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Last weekend, Autumn’s Fire offered a workshop called Mask Consciousness, hosted and facilitated by Sherry Thomas. Sherry is a magical lady whose artistic talents are well known in northeast Georgia. Her home, smilingly called “The Castle,” is nestled in the foothills of the mountains, and was the ideal environs for this awesome day.

We began with shamanic meditation to help the participants reach into themselves and find their true essence. I asked each to be surrounded by the guides, winged ones, ancestors, and animal totems that they desired to have on their journey. After returning from this deep work, they then moved to a large table laden with paints, feathers, naturally occurring ornamentation, and buttons, trinkets, and other man-made gifts. Taking a mask form, they set about to intuit how the forms would be decorated.

Sherry’s connection to this amazing art form began with her participation in the Natural Rhythms workshops. In the 200 Level course, Sherry found what has become a soul-satisfying art form that “juices” her being, and is a source of never-ending excitement in her life. To learn more about Natural Rhythms, click http://www.autumnsfire.org.

There is absolutely NO artistic ability required for this workshop! Yet, each mask, from those who are considered artistic, to those of us who THINK we lack creative ability, were beautiful and deeply moving. What was most important was that, to each of us, our mask was a precious treasure — a true connection to ourselves.

We are planning to announce other Mask Consciousness workshops in Atlanta and northeast Georgia in early 2012. To learn more about Mask Consciousness, and the other workshops we offer, please visit http://www.autumnsfire.org/programs/