On my way to meeting my ride to Cape May, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fear, until I asked the question “What can I do if I feel like a fish out of water this weekend?”, and the answer I got was “You learn to swim in the air”. That was the perfect answer, and I was able to let go of the fear and worry. Whatever uncomfortable situations we put ourselves through or life presents us, we can choose to stay in fear, or we can choose to conquer it, learn from it, and grow.

I’m happy to share that it was one of the best weekends of my life. I bonded with the participants, I was present, my heart was opened, and it was truly magical. Had I stayed in fear, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it or learned as much, if at all.

How can you start expanding the comfort zone you have established for yourself? I assure you that it is worthwhile.

I think that most of the time, we are going through our daily lives not paying attention to it. How about if we set the intention to realize and appreciate the inspired moments? How would that day look like? Would you spend the day wondering if and when inspiration would come? Would you ask for it to come at a specific time so that you would notice it? Would you just live your day as you always have? Or would you stay more present each moment, so that you would recognize when you had an inspired thought or action?

Inspiration is simple and it can be profound at the same time. Any time you listen to the voice within and you act upon it, that moment was inspired. It does not have to become the most expensive painting ever sold, or the most played song ever, or a photography exhibition that makes visitors cry, or a best seller book. It doesn’t even have to be art.

It can be a new way to relate to employees/partners/co-workers/family members, a new way to promote your business, a new way to nurture yourself, a new road you take home, a new game you come up with to play with your kids. It may be that you observe how someone else responds to adversity and you are inspired to act this new way from now on. It may be that you get inspired to change the world, starting by changing yourself. Inspiration is everywhere, in everything, in everyone, in you.

Yesterday morning, my inspiration was to write this post. I did take action by grabbing my notebook and a pen to write it on the subway. How about you? How do you access your inspiration every day? How often do you act on it? Share your own story and inspire others!

The Day of Self-Discovery workshop on October 22^nd 2011 was great, thank you to all the women who participated, shared, opened their hearts, created their own action plans and are now on their way to achieving something wonderful!

The workshop got me thinking about my own journey in writing Ask Others, Trust Yourself. I realized that this journey started long before the idea came up to write this book. I remember that as a teenager, I would go with my little sister (10 years younger) to the club, stay by the pool, and I would come up with stories for her to keep her out of the pool so I could sunbathe (I know, horrible! But she forgave me. I think). Years later, the first book I attempted to write was a fiction one, but it was never published or appreciated. The second one was about living abroad, and who knows, one of these days I may work on it again. Over the years, new experiences, new goals, new journeys, new lessons learned provided me with the intuition and knowledge to write Ask Others, Trust Yourself.

I had never stopped to think about the journey that helped me become a published author until now. When people ask how long it took to write this book, I always share that from idea to publishing it took approximately 2 years. In reality, it may have taken a lifetime.

-          I made up children stories when I was a teenager;

-          I worked on two other books that I never finished as an adult;

-          I had amazing real life experiences: worked in my family’s business for many years, got my MBA, had coached hundreds of entrepreneurs prior to publishing the book;

-          I got very negative feedback from the few people who read portions of the first draft of the first book – got stuck for a few or many years;

-          I have mentors who published their own books and were ready to help, brainstorm, connect;

-          I have a friend from college who gave me a can that said “Escreva um Livro”, or “Write a Book”, with a very special gift inside, and it was encouraging;

-          I attended a series of calls based on the book The Artist Way by Julia Cameron, and hosted by Persephone Zill, and that was really crucial and inspirational in getting unstuck;

-          I wrote and still write morning pages;

-          I got stuck more times than I like to admit;

-          I have friends who were able to encourage me and offer a helping hand or proofreading eyes;

-          I wrote an article that was published in  a major newspaper in Brazil once while still living there (over 12 years ago);

-          I had been writing articles for WomenandBiz.com for six years before the book was published;

-          I read many books and articles on how to write/self-publish/publish/promote/write/write/write;

-          I had self-doubts, I had faith in myself, I lost faith, I trusted myself, had ups and downs, but made it to the other side;

-          All along I had to hear this question in my head: Who do you think you are? I never quite got the answer, but I just kept writing.

-          Afterwards it is easier to answer the question “who do I think I am”? Well today I know that I have my own voice, intuition, opinions, and life experiences to share! Oops, maybe one or more of my friends and mentors told me that once or twice.

These are just some of the things I could think of that I experienced, over the span of 20+ years, that led me to become a published author. As you can see, I had failures, I had successes, and most of all I had invaluable support from old and new friends.  I invite you to take an inventory of one of your journeys or life goals you accomplished. How long ago did that plan/goal/dream really start? And how about taking an inventory of your journey towards a goal you haven’t yet accomplished? You may realize that you are ready now, and you may be just one action away to creating/making it happen.

I think that finding what I was most passionate about happened organically. At first, there was an interest, and then the idea/opportunity came up to create WomenandBiz.com, followed by an opportunity to coach women entrepreneurs. Of course, since then, the passion has expanded to include spiritual and alignment coaching, create courses and programs, and I became a Reiki Master, which has also helped awaken new interests.

How about you? Do you know what your professional passion is? If you have many interests and you are not sure if you can name one passion, take a look at the books you chose to read in the last few years, consider the people who stimulates you intellectually the most, and think about when you feel the most alive.

I would love to learn about your passion, and what you are doing to pursue it, live it, embrace it, breathe it, and be it. You can post your comments and thoughts here.

I certainly welcome feedback, and I ended up being criticized for doing it alone. Either it was the wrong lighting, the wrong distance to the camera, (I agree with all comments), hey maybe the wrong person to be in the video… You will see from the video that I recorded it myself (I used a Flip Camera). I’m actually proud that I was able to edit the video, and delete myself starting and stopping the recording.

Yes, I know. I’m the author of Ask Others, Trust Yourself, and I didn’t ask anyone for help. Not that I don’t have friends or that I don’t know of professionals that could help me with it, but in an effort to get it done fast, I did it myself. Was it worth it? Only time will tell. In reality I did ask for help from a friend/mentor/colleague beforehand, on ways to promote the workshop, and she suggested that I recorded videos. There you go, I did ask for help. Maybe it wasn’t enough though.

So which one is it, do we ask others, or do we do it ourselves, and how is it perceived by the world at large?  I think it can be a combination of both. If there is time and an opportunity, and questions are in the air, certainly ask for help. If you are sure of what you are doing, and you can get it done, close your eyes, take a deep breath and make it happen. What do you think?

What can you do today to stop worrying and start doing? What are the small and big steps you can take to make something happen? Here are some ideas in case business is at a standstill:

-          Create a blog, or continue posting on your blog on a regular basis, and comment on other businesses’ blogs.

-          Set up and sell used books or things around the house you no longer need/use, on eBay, Amazon, etsy.com, for the extra income you need to invest in your business.

-          Ask for help from a friend, coach or colleague.

-          Write a description of your ideal client and search for him/her through social media and live networking.

-          Start writing your book or ebook and blog about it

Sometimes, it is easier to stay stuck in the worrying mode, no threats, no unknown results, no results. If you really want to make a change, step away from worrying for just 5 minutes today, ask yourself: what are the small steps I can start taking today?, and see which actions you come up with.

Let me know if this exercise is helpful, and feel free to post here what your worrying helped you create.

Sometimes we just stay in the idea stage, and we keep thinking – wouldn’t it be nice if…

Other times we do decide to take action, but we get stuck planning and planning and planning and we never act.

Are you going through it now? How about if you get clearer of what you want to create and then ask yourself why not? Once you know what you really want to accomplish, ask yourself: How can I make it happen? Who could help me? What needs to happen for me to go for it?

If fears and blocks come up, ask yourself what am I afraid of? How can I move forward and take action?

If you would like to go through these questions and many more in a group setting, and would like to learn tools to release the blocks, sign up for the course “A Day of Self-Discovery – Break Through Fears and Procrastination Workshop: Release Blocks, Clear Your Mind, Take Action”  on Saturday June 25^th, learn more here: http://bit.ly/jV5Lz1

I could have chosen to go in many directions:

1-      Hire someone to proofread every post I write, every email I send out – every thought that I have. But finding someone who can keep your voice, while hiding the accent is challenging.

2-      Stop writing and hide. I could just let the writer’s block (with the added accent) leave me stuck forever.

3-      Just write and hope for the best. Hope that my readers grasp what I’m trying to say, even though it might sound a little funny, or not really perfect.

I have chosen the latter so far. What about the results you may ask? I published “Ask Others, Trust Yourself”, and I did hire copy editors, and had friends proofread the book as well. Hey, don’t tell them but sometimes I changed the edits back to the way I wanted to say things…  :-) The book has received great reviews. On WomenandBiz.com site over the past 7.5 years since I’ve started publishing it, I got just a handful of people asking me to do some edits on the articles I wrote about them.

A few days ago, I shared at the Creative Conversations meeting (a group of women creative artists/writers/photographers), about a short story competition I learned about, so that the writers in the group could enter it. They encouraged me to also submit a story, but I told them I write with an accent! It’s obvious that I can let go of the accent for certain things but not all. Yet, I’m seriously considering entering that competition, it could be fun to write a fiction story for a change.

Let me know your thoughts and ideas about writing with an accent – is it best not to write at all? Is it best to have someone dissect what you want to say at the risk of losing your voice, to make it perfect? Or is it best to just write (of course writing carefully and editing it as many times as you see fit) and hope for the best?

I realized I had to take action and start thinking of my next move. How can I make myself feel alive? My second book idea came up. I’ve been thinking about this idea for maybe a year, but I hadn’t acted on it. I hadn’t written the concept, or brainstormed it with anyone. So that morning, I grabbed my journal and started writing down the ideas I had, which have evolved a lot.

It may be the Light Ascension course I’m taking, it may have been the book I was reading by Carol S. Dweck: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success or it may just be the time to take action.

I suggest that you think back at anything this year that made you feel stuck, disappointed, upset, and work through those feelings. Once you are done with them, open yourself to new inspirations, so that new opportunities can come up.

If you need help getting back on track or planning a strategy for 2011, contact me to discuss if coaching would help you get there.

By the way, there are many ways to look at a situation: No, I haven’t become a best-seller author yet, but I’m still a published author, and I’m receiving very positive feedback from people who read “Ask Others, Trust Yourself”. Here are two comments I received this week: “Your book helped me understand what I need to do to be successful”; “I’ve been planning to start my business for a while, and your book made me realize that I’m ready, thank you”. I consider these comments a huge accomplishment by the way!

I suggest that you look back and consider your accomplishments (big or small) in terms of your family/friends/relationships, business/career, financial, spiritual and fun and write them down. My own accomplishments in these areas include making time to visit all my siblings (2 different countries outside the U.S.), keeping in touch with friends and family, connecting with my dad’s cousins whom we had never met until this year, meeting new people, signing up for online dating; growing my coaching practice, teaching Entrepreneurship courses; on my way to meeting my savings goals; continuing to take spiritual courses, practicing Reiki to help others heal; and taking care of my health. Well, haven’t created an exercising schedule yet, but hey this article is about accomplishments!

Feel free to post your own accomplishments here, or share if you had any A-HA moments when thinking of your year 2010 so far.