Unleash your creative power in 2024

Imagine standing at a large glass window on a rocky shoreline, looking out at the vast ocean and the expansive sky above it. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine what that would look like and how that would feel.

Can you “see” the splendor of nature before you?

Can you sense the energy of the powerful moving water and hear the crashing waves on the rocks below the window? Can you see the graceful, swooping birds gliding on the wind currents?

This inspiring vista represents the year that lies ahead for you — an amazing year of limitless possibilities.

The vast space is filled with energy that you can tap into and use as fuel to create an incredible 2024!

The energy for creation is in you

The way that energy is generated and built in the natural world provides us with information we can apply in our lives, to create anything we want to bring into existence or elevate in our lives.

Here’s a bit of nerdy science to explain:

1. Just as in atomic structure, you can add energy to a stable system and create stability at a higher level. (With a hydrogen atom, for instance, you can add energy with a laser. The electron absorbs the energy and moves to a higher energy state. Got that?)

Interestingly, the process can go in the other direction. An electron at a higher level of energy can drop back down if its energy is dissipated or lost. It takes new energy to be put back in to get back up to the level it had.

2. Here’s another piece of information to consider, having to do with thermo-dynamics and entropy. (I promise, this will not hurt your brain!)

The fact is that the universe tends toward disorder, and that’s called entropy. If you let things erode, you need to put energy back into the system and then sustain that energy. You can even build more energy from there! 

We all know that nothing lasts forever, and our bodies, brains, even civilizations can crumble. The good news is that living things are designed to counter entropy!

3. Chemical reactions have something great to teach us. Activation energy is needed to bring several atoms together to make a molecule (think about 2 Hydrogen atoms and 1 Oxygen atom, to make water).

Any process that creates new things from already-existng things takes energy! (For water, a spark of heat or electricity does the trick.)

For us, it means not only having all of the parts ready and assembled, also adding an energetic ingredient.. 

What this means for you

When you:

• have the willingness to go beyond the edge of your comfort zone and trust yourself to do something that excites you

• believe that your desires and ideas matter, and that you have the power to take small steps forward

• commit to yourself and the effort that’s called for to create what you desire

• generate energy in your spirit and actions — a natural outgrowth of having the foundation I just described

• and stay in the process, so you continue to build energy, or start again when there is a setback

… you can create in limitless ways!

You can add spirit and emotion, too. While these are not as measurable, you can feel the energy of kindness, love, and joy. These all build positive emotional states.

Combine spirit and emotion with the scientific principles described above, you have powerful energy for fulfillment!

Let’s create a 2024 to remember!  

I kicked the year off leading a powerful new retreat last week, that was focused on the energy of creation (see some photos below!).

It was incredible, and I am designing more deep experiences for women to come together to get focused and clear, and generate creative energy to bring into their lives — and impact the world — as never before! 

And part of my focus for 2024 is to bring more of my work inside organizations. I support professional women to be able to bring more of their greatness forward, to have their biggest impact as they create lives they love. When this happens great culture is built, organizational success is accelerated, and great talent is retained.

If you want to hear more about any of what’s coming up — for you personally or your organization — get in touch!

Can you relate to these short stories?

People ask me about my coaching all the time, and while I talk about working with accomplished women who yearn for change and want to make a big bold move in their lives, it's always the real stories that help people understand what the work is about, and who it helps.

And who doesn’t like stories?

While I could bend your ear for days, check out these (very short) stories.

Three stories about three terrific women

Story #1 | Pricing fears and asking for what your work is worth

Following my Live Big Live! retreat at the start of the month, I began working with a super-talented woman who has done major projects in her field for years. And still, what showed up at the retreat was a money story that many of us are burdened with — and that I related to from years past.

She struggles with how to ask for a fee that she knows is valid, without worry about what the client can afford. On top of that, she has a tendency to skinny her fees down with the hope that she’ll have a better chance to get the project. She allows fear to influence her pricing. That does’t feel good and it doesn’t serve her.

After just one private coaching session, where we worked on a proposal that is due soon, we not only focused on clearly right-pricing the work, but on presenting the scope in a brief but compelling way that felt great to her. And she included a fee that she knows in her heart is fair for what the project will entail and what she deserves to earn.

I love to support clients to make mindset shifts and also bring my business expertise into the work.

Is her mindset challenge “fixed” now? There will be more work to do to address the money stories and scarcity mindset that has challenged her for years, but we have made a big start.

Story #2 | Building a distinctive personal brand

Another client I am working with now is a rock-star in her field. Yet she competes with many other professionals who do the same type of work she does. In a networking program with many other similar experts she has struggled to differentiate herself and garner lots of referrals.

An additional challenge for her is showing up in big virtual meetings so that she looks great, feels confident and is consistemtly recognized.

Once again, my business and marketing background is coming into the work we are doing. We have moved through a process of getting super-clear about all that her work encompasses, how she does it, and identifying her best clients and the aspects of her work she most desires. We then honed a message that is short, distinctive, memorable, and easy for her to deliver. She now speaks it with delight, allowing her true personality and energy to shine.

We are also working on choosing the best place in her home environment for her to attend on-line meetings, so that she shows up well on-screen, even in a very small block. We’re selecting the clothes that work best on-screen and talking about hair, makeup, headsets and lighting so that she will connect to others with maximum impact.

It is a delight to watch this process unfold, and a delight to see the pleasure she is taking, step-by-step.

Story #3 | Refocusing and relaunching after a career pause

A newer client had taken time away from an impressive high-profile media career to focus on family matters (including divorce and a range of health issues), compounded by the impact of COVID. She is now ready to step back into her power and focus on her career again.

She realized that what she had done in the past is no longer a fit with her current life — as a parent, living in a new part of the country, and now seeing things with new perspective. The challenge has been finding a new, clear focus and creating a vision that is fueled by her clarified insights about her purpose. She also needs to choose a path that feels doable.

She is already well on her way. She is excited to be taking a deep dive into learning and she clearly envisions doing this new work. It will have a tremendous impact on a population she deeply wants to enlighten, and will support her to live the life she wants for herself and her child.

What story are you ready to make real?

All of us are on a path as we live each day. What do you envision as you move along your path?

We can all create the next chapter in our lives — whether it entails a big leap into something new or refining and optimizing the path you are on now.

What are you ready to step into, or up to, now?

I invite you to schedule Live Big Breakthrough Call with me to share what it is that you feel ready for.

Stay safe and well, and keep creating.

How to supercharge your thinking

Most people misunderstand creativity, and many are sure they are not creative. (I address this all the time, in podcasts interviews and when I speak to audiences of professional women.)

Rather than try to dispel those misconceptions today, I want to share a simple and actionable insight that anyone can use with ease, and that is sure to ramp up creativity and improve your life.

Put all of your brain power to use!

What, you say? I am not using all of my brain?

We live in a culture that leans hard into left-brain thinking.

We want data, we trust facts, and we look for logic all the time. We believe that by gathering all of that we can devise the best strategies and make our best decisions.

But when we hold that focus, we leave the gifts of our right-brain out of the picture. We fail to benefit from the rich insights and creative resources our right brains are there to provide.

How the right brain works, and what happens when we use it.

The right hemisphere of the brain is where imagination lives. Big ideas, new concepts and fresh thinking are spawned there. All of these can emerge when we understand how to get the best from our right brains.

And it's not hard to do!

Here are a few ways to set the conditions for your right brain to get going:

• Go for a walk around the block.

• Take a shower, or a bath.

• Look at the sky.

• Do some people-watching.

• Doodle.

• Sing or dance or play an instrument.

• Or even do nothing for 10 minutes.

Any of these will give your left brain a rest, allowing the right hemisphere to pick up bits of logic, facts and data and come up with fresh, new, surprising possibilities.

Who hasn’t marveled at how they got a great idea in the shower? Now you know why that happened. You can easily create the conditions for great ideas to show up more often!

Abundant creative ideas are great — and there are even more benefits!

Tapping the right brain and opening creative channels also connects you to your intuition — an immense resource most of us miss as we rush through our days. Listening to your intuition is like having a second brain — there is so much innate wisdom available to you when this connection is clear.

When you make bigger connections to your intuition you will notice that your heart is more open. In that way you’ll connect to your true desires, deeply-held values, and reap more insight. That insight leads to personal growth.

I witnessed all of this happening with the remarkable women who attended my Live Big Live! retreat last week.

On each of the three days we spent together I included time for their right brains to play and added creative experiences along with teaching, exercises and sharing. I witnessed accelerated insights, open hearts and glorious inspiration as each woman took steps into her future — futures that are truly aligned with who they are, what they want, and what has deep meaning for each of them. It was a joy to see it all unfold.

I invite you to set the stage for more right-brain activation so that you, too, can be more inspired, create with joy, and Live Big.

Stay safe and well, and keep creating.

(And if you want to explore how Live Big Live! may accelerate your path to living big, schedule a call with me.)