Why “Adventuring” Is the Next Big Thing

Change & Transitions, Passion & PurposeLeave a comment

Yesterday I had a private session with a delightful lady who was stuck in the mud. Not literally, of course. But her whole life (her flow, her vibe) was one stalled out, stuck, endless loop of indecision and subsequent anger at herself for being in this predicament.

“I’m stuck,” she said to me.

“I know,” I replied. “How’d you get this way?’

“I was hoping you’d tell me,” she said.

We picked and pulled on threads that led her to this point. But more importantly, I like to find solutions. I like to find open doorways that lead to the next point.

Being stuck is actually a misnomer. You’re aren’t stuck; you’ve just been sitting there at a pivot point for so long that you started to think all the roads and choices you had have disappeared.

They haven’t. You’ve just gotten blinder to them.

So how do we fix that?

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30 Things I Did This Year

Jobs & Work, Passion & Purpose7 Comments

As the year closes, one resounding thud of a thought keeps circling: I don’t want to lose this year too. I want to capture this year, keep it like a songbird in my heart.

And it’s way too easy to let it slip into blankness the way 2020 did. In other words, I feel like I lost one year, and I sure as heck am not going to lose two.

So I’m doing something to capture my year. I’m doing something that cements it into my life, and reminds me that a hundred good things happened to me, my family, and people I love.

I’m purposely and thoughtfully folding up the sweater of my memories and placing it carefully and sweetly in the drawer. This is giving me closure. It’s making my 2021 shine brighter.

Do you want to do this with me?

Here’s what we do. First, this is an energy exercise as much as anything. It’s asking you to call up and touch on one bright sparkle of a moment or event, one after another, until you’re overflowing.

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22 bullshit life purposes

Jobs & Work, Passion & PurposeLeave a comment

Maybe you’ve always had too many interests, too many possible directions to go in. Narrowing them to “The One” has always been tough.

You can feel the old thoughts swirling: Will you ever be able to choose the “right thing” to focus on? And what about the other things—what if you’d like them more than the thing you choose and just don’t know it? 

How can there possibly be time for them all? Speaking of timing, when will one thing you want really ripen up into something spectacular….or should you drop it now and move on to the next thing that’s been patiently waiting for your time and attention?

Which way do we go, which way do we go?

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let’s clink glasses to the softly powerful among us

Healing, Inner PowerLeave a comment

Sometimes people confuse a light touch and soft voice for… ineffectiveness… shallowness.

We’re so used to the big hammer and bright light—the hard line, the go-go bro culture.

All those movies with the fast cars and suitcases stuffed with cash…. James Bond style.

All those rah-rah coaches sweeping over the stage, telling you how to live. We think that that’s playing the Big Game.

So if you show up softly or as just quietly efficient, you’re passed over.

And while we talk a whole line about the power of “feminine” energy, we still look to those who are stronger, bolder, and harder, and we frankly run after them for guidance, forgetting ourselves and our own unique inner power.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

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every pony does not need to ridden

Change & Transitions, Inner Power3 Comments

I got as far as downloading the Clubhouse app to my phone, and my fingers froze desperately over the fateful “tap.”

ME: Ah crap, I’m thinking, not another social media platform. They’re like ice cream flavors of the week.

OTHER ME: But my friends are there! All these interesting movers and shakers are there! It’s my medium too—all talking, I whine. I’m missing oooouuuutttt. Please. Pleeeeease.

ME: Stop it, Summer.

Friends, I had a MySpace page. It was very hip and cool, and just by using the words hip and cool, you know exactly how old hip and cool I am.

But then came Facebook like a steamroller, and we all became Facebook.

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Beautiful little pieces

Change & Transitions, Inner PowerLeave a comment

Just as we’re all taking our first collective breath and feeling like things are finally actually changing, so many of us wobbled and fell. 

It’s like we held an extraordinarily hard yoga pose for so long that as soon as we got some permission to move, we collapsed.

I’m not sure what crazy drama is happening right now in the actual or astrological heavens, but this last week or so, I’ve seen more melt-downs and falling-to-bits-moments in my family, friends, and clients, than in a long while.

Knock on wood (and Flow!) that I’ve been the post holding the fence, the pillar holding the roof, and I’m grateful to have been.

But it’s made me reflect on why and where this ability to maintain course comes from.

I want to share one thing I’ve done to keep my mind feeling clear and relaxed, even amid the chaos. I urge you to do this too. It takes just 5 minutes. 

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The struggling coach

Entrepreneurs, Inner PowerLeave a comment

I’ve worked with a tremendous number of coaches over the last fifteen years.

Life coaches, business coaches, health coaches, creative coaches….you name it.

Each has decided to shift from their old career into something new and more meaningful, like my friend Annie.

Annie’s 48, works in an office for a company supplying environmental cleanup services, and is totally sick of what she’s been doing in her work for the last seven years.

Both her her kids are in college. It’s an empty nest. Did I mention she’s also divorced? And she just can’t fathom having to drive the hour back and forth to work each day doing something that leaves her bored out of her mind for the next ten years til she retires.

So she chose to become a coach.

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hey, sweetie

Healing, Inner Power6 Comments

On allowing love.

I had a really interesting thing happen a week or so ago. Maybe you saw the subject line on my email that lit up the fire brigade: “Hey sweetie.”

Let’s just say, I’ve been calling my Flowdreaming contacts, students and friends by terms of endearment for….a long time, but not forever.

In the beginning, I wasn’t intimate or affectionate. I wanted to be seen as professional. I was also less secure in myself, so I tried to never rattle anyone, offer any political views, or do anything I thought my detract from my main message: “Learn to Flow; it’ll change your life.” It was a good justification for trying to shield myself from being disliked.

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Where will you be in 3-5 years?

Change & Transitions2 Comments

Where will you be in 3-5 years?

2020 was not just a hard year for many, but it’s made a moulding impact on us.

We changed behaviors. We changed routines, structures. We modified relationships. We placed boundaries on friendships and family that never were there before.

And above all, we adopted a feeling of “just put this off for awhile”: our haircuts, nails, fine dining, trips, seeing family, weddings, funerals, housekeepers, gyms, going into work, going to school….you name it, there’s probably been a “pause button” on it at one time or another.

It means that I’ve been, and am continuing to, condition myself to not do things.

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2020 gave us gifts (here’s what they are)

Change & Transitions, Inner Power, Passion & Purpose5 Comments

2020 gave us gifts. Here’s what they are.

I’m sitting here wrapping up work for the year, planning on taking a few weeks off for the holidays. I feel like before I go, I want to send you all a note about this year. This crazy, crazy year.

Like you, I started 2020 dreaming up big things for myself and others. And like you, I found myself stuttering and swerving as more and more fear and ridiculousness swung my way: COVID-19, the California wildfires and unprecedented number of hurricanes, the fight for BLM, and a near miss with the breakdown of democracy in the U.S. Unfathomable. It’s as if the Universe rolled up all it had and tossed it to us: “Take that, Americans. If you don’t learn from this, I don’t know what it’s gonna take.”

And learn we have.

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