If this sounds like you, you might want to try an inner work tool called Guiding Image.
A Guiding Image is a symbol or picture that comes from your inner world in response to your specific quest or question. Because the image comes from within, it is “worth a thousand words”, often containing deep meaning and insight in a single flash.

Once you have an image, you can use it like a touchstone or beacon, calling it into your mind and heart any time you are unsure about a direction or decision. The image is a powerful way to get your bearings, and to access your inner knowing about a situation or challenge.

To connect with a guiding image, start with Groundwork (Tip #2), frame your quest/question as clearly as you can, and then sit quietly with your eyes closed, asking for an image to guide you. Wait in trust that an image will come to you, or perhaps, a sound or kin-esthetic feeling if you are not a visual person. Take a few moments to see and experience the image fully, and then reflect on what it means to you. This tool can be very powerful for setting direction at the outset of a project.

Is there something you are doing today that might benefit from a guiding image?
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Would you like to know that you are on track? Are you tired of the slow progress you are making getting your gifts out into the world? Check out Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing by Kate Sutherland. Its simple practical tools help with major challenges and also the little things that bog us down. (See a sample chapter). For a free newsletter, and for workshops, coaching and organizational consulting, see www.katersutherland.com.

We are setting energy all the time, most often unconsciously. Common settings are drudgery, struggle, effort and conflict. We expect difficulties. We “hate meetings”, or family gatherings, or our everyday work situation.

The same way we choose to open up to life (as suggested in Tip #2-C), we can also choose what energy we want for the day or for a task. If you need to write, you can choose clarity and creativity. If you want a meeting to go smoothly, you can choose calm, or grace, or flow….

Once you have decided the kind of energy you would like, you need to “run the energy”. To set your energy for joy, for example, think of a time when you experienced joy. Recall the experience briefly in vivid detail, inviting the energy of joy to infuse every cell in your body. Then invite this energy to be with you for your task or all day.

Finally, let go, trusting that “as you have sown, so shall ye reap”. You might also try listening for what energy wants to come through you, and then setting your energy accordingly. For example, you might choose playfulness, but loving kindness might be more important.

Try it. You can set your energy now for whatever you’ll do next.

Two bonuses: you can set the energy for more than one quality; and you can reset your energy at any point. If you hit a bump, take a moment to do Groundwork (see Tip #2), and then reset your energy.

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Would you like to know that you are on track? Are you tired of the slow progress you are making getting your gifts out into the world? Check out Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing by Kate Sutherland. Its simple practical tools help with major challenges and also the little things that bog us down. (See a sample chapter). For a free newsletter, and for workshops, coaching and organizational consulting, see www.katersutherland.com.

Groundwork is always helpful, including as a self-soothing “first aid” when you are faced with change, breakdown or breakthroughs.

There are three parts to Groundwork:

1) Centre yourself. There are plenty of ways to do this, many of which take only seconds. For example, you can take three deep breaths, or bring attention to your belly, or soften your gaze so that your attention goes inward, helping you be present in this moment.

2) Set an intention for the highest good as you understand it. Some people say, “May I serve the greatest good for the greatest number.” Others say, “May I be in flow with Life.” The words need to resonate. Setting such an intention switches us from the track called small “s” self, and onto the track for big “S” Soul. That shift generally comes with courage and greater clarity. When it is not about “me”, but about my contribution to helping a situation be all it can be, I am generally calm, effective and better connected to my inner knowing.

3) Decide to be open to life. Moment by moment, like clams in a tide pool, we open
and close our “shells” – sometimes open, for example, to learning from what a friend has to say, and other times not. The core issue is trust. When we consciously choose to trust that life is our lover, and not our betrayer, we are much more able to think creatively, interpret situations constructively, and act effectively – not to mention having more fun!

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Try Groundwork right now. It changes everything! Would you like to know that you are on track? Are you tired of the slow progress you are making getting your gifts out into the world? Check out Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing by Kate Sutherland. Its simple practical tools help with major challenges and also the little things that bog us down. (See a sample chapter). For a free newsletter, and for workshops, coaching and organizational consulting, see www.katersutherland.com.

Right in the moment, when you realize that you are challenged, stuck or lost, turn up the corners of your mouth. Moving your mouth into the shape of a smile will shift your energy. Try it!

The mind/body connection works both ways: we naturally smile when things are going well. When we “turn up the corners” to create a smile, life goes better.
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Would you like to know that you are on track? Are you tired of the slow progress you are making getting your gifts out into the world? Check out Make Light Work: 10 Tools for Inner Knowing by Kate Sutherland. Its simple practical tools help with major challenges and also the little things that bog us down. (See a sample chapter). For a free newsletter, and for workshops, coaching and organizational consulting, see www.katersutherland.com.

These group sessions will address your business’s specific goals for only $240 plus hst. Learn valuable tips, tools and techniques to help your business make best use of the social media and online marketing tools available today.

Contact October 17 Media with the names of your 4 attendees and your desired workshop date to get started! By phone at 604.688.7616 or email at contact@october17media.com.

Full details: http://october17media.com/blog/social-media-workshops-with-a-difference

This way, you’ll know if you can comfortably live on that income you expect to receive in the future for the rest of your life. You’ll also make the transition easier. Then, when you retire, you will have had the experience of living on that new income.

Over that transition period, you can spend your energy on deciding how you will use your new-found time. Will you go back to that dream you had when you were young? The dream of creating art, focusing on your favourite sport, spending time with your family or traveling?  Enjoy going through the possibilities of retired life while you are still in the process of winding down your career.

Patricia Lalonde, CFP – Collaborative Financial Adviser
www.patricialalonde.com

After a lifetime of listening to money questions and creating solutions for my clients, I created “Four Piles of Money,” the workshop with the answers.

It will be running over three consecutive Mondays, March 14, 21 and 28 at the Roundhouse.

Check out www.fourpilesofmoney.com .

Please share this with all the great young professionals you know!

Call me to register at 604.605.3149

Thanks for spreading the word,
Patricia Lalonde, CFP
Collaborative Financial Advisor
604-605-3149, cell 778-241-3351
www.patricialalonde.com

Pay attention to that thought! That’s your body telling you something very important that you should pay attention to. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. So, ask lots of questions, check it out on the Internet and talk to other people before you make any decisions. When someone offers to let you buy into their great idea, you need to know what’s in it for you and you’re entitled to think about it before you decide. Be very careful especially when you are in an emotional state. Be very careful when you are feeling vulnerable. Talk to your financial planner who knows your financial situation and understands the world of money.

Patricia Lalonde, CFP – Collaborative Financial Adviser
www.patricialalonde.com

A persuasive website, sales letter or brochure can get a customer to buy a product they’ve never tried once. But even the most skillful marketing copy cannot get a customer to buy something they’ve tried already and didn’t like. Either the goods are delivered as advertised, or else the marketing pro and their client go out of business the next day because they’ll be seen as unreliable.

That said, marketing content can take utilize a technique described by Robert Bly in “The Copywriter’s Handbook” as false logic. The idea is to be absolutely truthful, yet play upon the customer’s assumptions. One example Bly uses is a fruit company that uses the slogan, “less than one in 1,000 people have tasted this pear” – which gives the pear an air of exclusivity, when the statistic may only mean that it’s not very popular.

Another example could be a company advertising the idea that “customer service is our highest priority” – when all customer service has been out-tasked to a subcontractor. Customers may assume that customer service calls are handled by internal company representatives.

But so long as the customer gets great service, the company is being truthful (while using “false logic) to give themselves a positive selling proposition. That’s not a bad thing for the company or the customer.

Marketing copy must be truthful to succeed. “Logical” is a whole other story.

Contributed by Jonathon Narvey, President of www.writeimage.ca, a Vancouver-based copywriting company

The call to action doesn’t have to be a request for an immediate sale. It might be a suggestion for the customer to get information or sign up for your newsletter. You need to be clear in your own mind about your business objectives.

Examples might include:

• “Call us today at (555) 555-5555 to schedule your initial consultation.”

• “Email info@info.ca to get your free information package and take the first step to financial independence.”

• “Purchase online in the next 24 hours and get our complimentary gift pack absolutely free.”

A call to action can be a clickable button on a website or the last paragraph of a sales letter or business email. In a one-page brochure, it might be the only line of copy on the page. It needs to be there if you want results.

Contributed by Jonathon Narvey, President of WRITEIMAGE, a Vancouver-based copywriting company. www.imagewrite.ca