In November, Sandy will be leading a teleclass series using Emotional Freedom Techniques: Living in Your Limelight. See Sidebar, but we will be sending out a special notice to our readers closer to the events.  To find out more or to register click here.

We thank you for opening your space to share our musings!

Marissa was amazed, only 2 hours had passed since she began working on her report and she was already finished. She smiled to herself and took an inner accounting. It felt great! The report simply flowed out of her.  Odd. She couldn't recall another time when getting her quarterly report out went so smoothly, let alone so fast. What was different? As she sat back and reflected on the changes in her life over the last few months, she noticed that she could make a long list of tasks and projects that were taking less time. Was it that she was working more efficiently? Had the quality slipped? Was she more organized?

Actually, she realized that she was allowing herself flexibility. She scheduled her day less fully and assigned her tasks with broader time frames. When she focused on a task, she gave it her full attention. Getting even complex projects done seemed to flow. What was interesting was that this was spilling over onto her staff. Productivity in her department had gone up significantly in the last several months, and come to think of it, there was no absenteeism, except one staff member out on family support leave. She couldn't remember a quarter where that had happened in the past.

Even the atmosphere had changed. It was becoming common to see small groups of people congregating and talking. The water-cooler conversations were more   often about sharing information. She hadn't heard any gossip in weeks! Yet, even these business conversations were punctuated with laughter. What was going on?! What caused all these changes?

Four months earlier, Marissa had wanted to quit her job and find something else. She was terribly unhappy and did not know what she wanted to do, but was clear she wanted to do something else. She began Executive Coaching sessions.  As she worked with her coach and created a picture of her ideal job and life choices, she was able to experiment with bringing these choices into her current job. She was surprised to find that much of what she was looking for was right there in her current position. The parts that were missing, she was able to incorporate. She looked forward to each day of work. For years, she had felt so much resistance going to work in the morning and getting started on each task and was always beset  with thoughts of something like: "Oh, do I have do this now?" and feelings of tiredness.

As she held her vision and the empowering energy it gave to  her mind, she found that she awoke each morning with a list of things she wanted to do and looked forward to each day. It seemed that even her family was in full swing, as getting out the door in the morning went well .  Everything seemed to be moving smoothly.  She was getting far more done. ...and suddenly had more time on her hands. With more time and the constant feeling of stress gone, she now had to deal with a new set of issues ... related to being in flow... enjoying her life and living without the constant stress.

When was the last time you thought about what you wanted in your future? It might be interesting to take a few minutes and sit back and let your mind wander... asking it to settle on a scene or series of scenes that you hold as your ideal life. What does it look like? How can you incorporate that life into your present? What pieces already exist? What pieces might need some reframing or a new perspective to bring them to fruition? What actions can you choose to take to live your ideal life? Create a plan! What step can you take now?

Dennis seemed to have two gears ... go, go, go at top speed and then,  collapse at night for a few hours.   His strong drive kept everyone around  him motivated and on their toes. At the same time, his moods seemed to run hot and cold, which his staff,over time, had  learned how best to deal with. He was a high functioning, fast-track leader with CEO potential.  He embodied the corporate leadership culture.

At 46, he was lying in a hospital, recovering after a quadruple bi-pass.  This was not in his plan to say the least. He lay  there thinking of the meetings he was missing and commitments he had made that he could not fulfill, but they seemed so far away.  As he allowed   his focus to change, he looked back on his life. He remembered when he was younger and how he used to love life and people loved being around him. He remembered the things he loved to do. As he allowed his mind to drift some more, (there's nothing like lying in bed, not being able to move to give one the space and incentive to drift...) he started feeling more of his life experiences inside himself. All of the sudden, he remembered himself at as a 22 year old young man, saying to his best friend. I know what I want to do with my life: I want to create a transportation system that will support my family and many generations to come. I want to make this work healthier!"

Now, back to the present, he surely did make it into  transportation. But healthier?! Well, no, he couldn't say that! Didn't he just give a scathing  speech about  the cost of integrating renewable energy into their cars was too high. His firm would not risk shareholder value and take a lead in R&D, but would cutback on production ,,wait for the technology to be developed and buy it elsewhere. He had become driven by the short-term profit and had lost his inner, core motivation. No wonder his heart was blocked! To feel where his motivation and love of work really came from  would have threatened his whole approach to life for the last 25 years.  

Time constraints, pressure to produce, important decisions, a failing market, constant crisis is the life style of many senior executives.What keeps them going is often "Adrenaline Addiction". It is very similar to athletes who thrive on the surges on adrenaline... the high that comes with it.  For many people, as they move up the leadership ladder, they loose touch with their inner high that comes from living from their center and with their core motivation and replace it with  external pressures and adrenaline highs. Getting back to one's center involves  a lot of risk. The hardest part is often learning to give up  the adrenaline high  and findone,s own  inner high.

Dennis realized that he had no choice. Either he would learn to align himself with what was truly important to him and experience its natural high or he would put himself at risk of losing it all.  He took the challenge  He is changing himself and transforming his company. Even in these precarious times, stocks increase for reasons that surprise analysts.

Are you living in line with your heart's motivation?  Do you remember the last time you loved what you did? What were you doing? What touched your heart? How can you incorporate that into your life now?  What choices can you make each day that are in alignment with this?