Stop and forget, you'll accomplish more...Try this...

After a very productive, yet intense day... I fell asleep exhausted.

I woke up tired.

Mind chatter began to belittle me for not achieving more.

It made me feel anxious (that's an understatement)! 

Noticed my immediate reaction - get busier, drown out and stop that damn voice.

But it only got worse. Made me even more anxious and stressed inside.

The angel mobile hanging in my stairwell has been a touchstone of lightness and calm for the last eighteen years. But it got all tangled up a few weeks ago, keeping it from flowing freely in the breeze. This morning, as I was untangling the knots, I responded to that battling, belligerent belittling mind chatter assuring it that all would be fine, and that like the knots, little by little all the tangled threads would surely be worked out.

The mind chatter didn't like that. It shouted louder.

But then I did something surprising...

I stopped.

I forgot about the nine additional tasks I set to do before leaving the house.

Instead, I stopped and lay my back upon my bed. 

I listened to the badgering voice.

I acknowledged it and gave it an internal hug.

Something shifted.

Deep within, I felt a bit more at ease. 

When your inner critical voices push you to "do this, do more, be more... blah blah... you get the picture (it's not a pretty one :-)... how do you respond? Do you argue back? Compete?  Give up?

Amazingly, I discovered a simple quick recipe for restoring my sense of inner calm when experiencing 'anything but':

1) Stop.

2) Forget what the critical voices are trying to say.

3) Acknowledge them by LISTENING COMPASSIONATELY, but NOT RESISTING them.

It took less than two minutes.  I had more energy to complete my tasks at hand, and most importantly, I felt fulfilled and satisfied during the process.

Stop. Forget. Acknowledge. Listen.

Simple. What a concept! (Even the mobile got untangled :-)....

Where will you apply this today?

Share below. Your voice makes a difference.

How to Increase Your Intuition with Ancient Wisdom

In today's overly chaotic world, when it seems you've got even less free time to do more essential things that you need to do just to survive, it's even more important to S-T-O-P.

 Sometimes, when you stop for a moment, it helps you to reconnect to your intuitive power, which will guide you more effectively to whatever is next on your plate, with alot more calm and inner focus.

 How can you listen to your intuition when you're too busy to even stop for five minutes?

 Sometimes, less is more...


 What does your intuition tell you?

 Please share it below in the comments box.

 Your voice truly makes a difference!

How Do You Get Them to See & Hear You in Noise??

How do I get other people to hear me in all the noise and distraction? 

Ever ask yourself that question? 

You have something genuine that your heart yearns to share. And at the same time, inside another voice warns you not to share your authentic truth for fear of being criticized, attacked or just plain ignored.

Last week I wrote about my inner voice guiding me to go to Tel Aviv - to sing onstage with Bobby McFerrin, even though the "authorities" e.g. his agent and organizer had politely declined in an email written back to inquiry from my marketing director. 

If you want to have more authority, be more authentic.

Eliana Gilad and Bobby McFerrin  in Tel Aviv

For those of you who need physical proof :-)...

It wasn't a matter of "pushing" or "forcing", rather listening authentically and giving more credence to the small voice inside and acting upon "It" vs the outer authority, which may have looked like and sounded like "No".

Yet, there's a higher authority at work in the universe. When we attune ourselves to the Source of our power, there is truly nothing that can stop us.

If you want to create miracles in your life, start by giving more credence to your authentic inner whispers...

On a similar tangent, ever asked yourself...

How Do I Get Attention In a Crowded Field?

Author and Thought Leader Jonathan Fields wrote a beautiful blog post this last week, that resonated with me as I have been pondering the whole issue of authenticity to it's depths.  He writes:

I’ve been asked this question by everyone from bloggers to actors, artists to entrepreneurs and corporate aspirants to movement makers.

How do I make a mark when it seems everything that can be created, said or done has been created, said or done by someone else?

Short answer.

"No field is too crowded to make a mark when you’re remarkable."

He continues...

What is your experience?

How do YOU connect with your authenticity when it seems like everything is all the same or no one's listening, because they are too consumed with their own worries about the same thing? Express your voice below...

Do less, achieve more with this seldom practiced secret

"May You Live in Interesting Times!"  Ancient Chinese Proverb

 Seems like the ancients knew a few things about the future, eh :-)!?!

Amazing, we are most certainly living in interesting times!

Even if you are not a stressed out kind of person, you may still be experiencing inner conflict feeling confused about what to do next, frustrated because your best laid plans keep falling apart. You know you're destined for something big, yet you have no idea what that is. Just a short while ago, life seemed so clear. Now it's all a fog as everything seems to be falling apart. 

Nothing is wrong with you.  Everything IS falling apart.

 It's exhausting. and giving up with abandon may just be the best thing you could do for yourself.

Are you finding yourself needing to reinvent yourself?

Maybe you flip flop back and forth several times within a day, an hour or sometimes even within moments. 

There are powerful forces of change at play. Old ways are breaking down and the new has not yet fully been birthed into place. It's a messy uncomfortable place to be. 

The old ways, the old models of "effective" operation just don't work anymore. The new has not yet come in. First things have to break down. 

How can we deal with this mess?  Improvising is the solution.

Improvising?! In today's world, you've gotta be even more sure of yourself - you may be thinking to yourself. But is it working? Insistence upon the traditional way of doing things, such as making plans and expecting them to be followed through is a particularly dangerous way to operate.  It's counter productive and unprofessional. 

Improvisation is the ultimate tool of authentic power!

I had the good fortune of performing onstage with Bobby McFerrin in Tel Aviv this last week, during his tour in Israel. It all came about through improvising. Our meeting. Our singing. Our mutual musical creation. 

How did it happen?

My marketing manager wrote to Bobby's manager to suggest that they include me, at last minute to Bobby's program. She received a lovely email in return with a respectful decline. 

She wrote again, suggesting that we meet just for a brief period as I wanted to personally thank him for our meeting during his last tour to Israel (see photo).

Again, she received a lovely, respectful "no".

I thought perhaps I'd go to the concert anyway. I went to order a ticket online. Only a few seats were avialable - way on the side, with a way too heavy price tag. I respectfully declined. 

Then on the day of the performance, the small inner voice nudged me to get in the car and drive to Tel Aviv. When that voice speaks, I follow it's instruction. I prepared to pay the extremely high price, even though I felt secretly scared that I was irresponsibly creating an embarrassing financial debt to myself. As I walked out the door, the voice also guided me to take the ancient bells with me.  "You never know what can happen", the voice guided me. The bells fit perfectly into the side pocket of my pocketbook.

I drove the two hour journey from my Jezreel Valley home to Tel Aviv, showed up at the box office and purchased a ticket. They gave me 5th row front center seat ( wasn't available on the website) for half of the price on the website.

Half way through the concert, Bobby placed a microphone in the center of the stage, silently motioning people from the audience to come onstage and improvise with him. As if on cue, I took the bells from my purse, arose from my seat, and approached the stage awaiting my cue for Bobby and I to sing together. 

The conscious melding of two voices into one. Playful. Unplanned. Uncensored. 

No nerves, no mind. No thinking. In service to the sound which asked to be sung. 

Heaven. Showing up to myself, listening to the voice that said "Go!' and acting upon it, and meeting my inner fear and doubt about spending money on what seemed like a frivolous outlay provided me with a tremendous gift. 

The heavenly bliss of being in service to The Music. This is a gift I have to give. What a blessing.

How can you do less and achieve more by improvising in your own life?

1) Show up in the moment.

2) Listen inside for guidance 

3) Be willing to look like an idiot.

Try it. You might like it. Let me know....