Shera R. Sever: Awakening Leaders™

Success Principles start with taking 100% total responsibility for everything in your life. It’s mid-year, 2010.

Take a look at the goals you set for yourself, your family, community, your business, your employees and clients at the beginning of the year. Where are you in your achievement and level of fulfillment and satisfaction?

All success starts with 100% personal responsibility and accountability.

Here is a great little exercise, that when completed, is a powerful jump start for goal refinement, redefining your direction, taking new action.

This can  be used for personal assessment,  as well as in pair and small group discussions around community building, team building, employee engagement, and more.

I
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for my life, I would. . .(state action)
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for my happiness,  I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for my health and fitness, I would. . .
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for  the quality of my relationships, I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for the effectiveness of my business, I would. . .
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for the development of my employees, I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for quality of life in my community, I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for the health of this planet, I would. . .

Just think if BP could honestly answer these questions.

Thanks to Jack Canfield for inspiring this exercise

In one of my past blog posts on business models,  I cited Seth Godin and his book: Tribes- We Need You to Lead Us!

Tribes are everywhere,and thanks to the internet, we can find who and what we want to connect with:

Work tribes, community tribes, spiritual tribes ,Ukranian dancers. . .

According to Seth Godin, assembling tribes (not money and factories) can change the world.  You don’t need everyone. What you need is 1000 dedicated fans, true believers, supporters, doers, etc.  The hypnosis of mass-marketing no longer works. Leading and connecting people and ideas does.

What do “tribe” leaders have in common?

• They challenge the status quo- who are you upsetting?
• They are curious and build a culture- who are you connecting?
  
• They commit to leading with unrelentless focus and passion

Get inspired- watch Seth Godin’s presentation from TED :

If you are feeling  a bit stuck or in transition, get our of your comfort zone, and do something! Just by taking the action (any action!) will unleash your potential, creativity, and attract others who want to get on board with you!

Find a  group or cause that is disconnected- organize and connect them. This is what you do for a living!

Start something that matters.

Start.

Do it.

We need it (and so do you!)

Not sure where to get started?  Contact me . . . 1, 2, 3,     GO!

The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come…We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ~Joseph Campbell

Change is profoundly in the air this summer.  I have a had a number of past coaching clients contact me in the past few weeks,either seeking a tune-up or in a total melt down. It’s permeating everything and everybody,  and the next turn (personally and collectively) is,  at best, unknown.

Not-knowing is one of the more evolved practices of personal leadership.

Can you trust and allow?  Do you have the courage to simply say “ I don’t know.”

When dancing with change, what’s important is that you are willing to let go of everything that has felt comfortable, familiar- this includes all those habits and plans that your ego is clinging to for it’s own survival.

Yes, it is a death . . . it is transformation.

Breathe into and accept this.
Exhale the doubt, fear, and uncertainty.
Become naked in your own truth.
Imagine, feel, see, smell and hear the new life (business, career, home, etc) waiting for you.

Stay curious
Share your truth  compassionately, consciously and wisely.
Trust and be open to receive.

For the past almost 7 years, I have been going through what I call a ‘slow death” letting go of the family members and friends that have passed over, recovering from a serious auto-accident, leaving the spiritual community I was a member of for over 22 years, along with two beautiful homes,  and so much more.

As an entrepreneur, teacher, writer, coach, these experiences have deepened my ability to guide others through intense change (personally and professionally.  As I reflect upon what seemed insurmountable at the time, I am now grateful for the experiences that allow me to serve you even more fully with a complimentary coaching session through July 15.

For more information on the practice of Not-Knowing

http://traffic.libsyn.com/amberstar/Zencast102.mp3

Summer is in full swing, yet admidst all the celebration, we can’t close our eyes to such unprecedented catastrophic events as the BP Oil Spill, unresponsive government and United Nations initiatives that are not functioning.

Most of us are aware that we as a civilization are on the brink of a huge shift-the old paradigms are collapsing.

Thanks to initiatives such as Transition Towns, Awakening the Dreamer, FourYearsGo, and thousands of organizations that are part of Paul Hawken’s Wiser Earth, communities are awakening and reclaiming their sovereignty with local food production, town hall meetings exploring alternatives to health care, crude oil, etc. and community educational and consciousness shifting opportunities that are bringing us back home to the common thread of our humanity.

The shifts and changes are uncomfortable for many , especially for those of us without strong family ties nearby, who have lost their j obs and homes,  or for those living in urban areas where the social fabric is often weaker.

So what can we do to help each other? Who do you know that may be feeling especially uncomfortable in these times?

Move beyond insular comfort. Expand your capacity for inclusivity.

Take the time to reach out and really be present with someone that you normally would not.
Enrolling people you trust and respect to help you and coach you is one of the best ways to navigate the unknown.

I am here to support you through your shifts and changes.

Are we embryos in a cosmic womb, or are we cells in a gigantic organism?
To turn our consciousness to this kind of speculation is to wrench
ourselves from the rust of millennia, from the habits of insular peoples & ideas.

We are trying to make a gigantic leap of faith – going
cosmic without ever having been there.

For do not doubt it folks, we are
being prepared for the biggest jump in history.

-Jean Houston, Jumptime

It’s graduation time throughout the USA.

In this compelling, heart warming Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs shares three stories about love, loss, and trust. . . from being a public failure , to starting over and following his heart.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward.

You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that somehow the dots will connect in the future.You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, believing the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.

You’ve got to find what you LOVE!

The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. The only way to do great work is to LOVE what you do.
If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

Keep looking..don’t settle!  Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Steve Jobs Commencement

I’m sure many of you have seen Julie & Julia, the film with master actress, Meryl Streep, starring in  possibly one of her very best roles as Julia Child. Streep so rightly earned the Golden Globe Awards for best actress a few nights ago.

And we saw the character of Julie Powell (Amy Adams), offering us an inspiringly candid reminder of self-mastery qualities: Vision, Passion, Focus, Practice, Set-Backs, Failures, Commitment, Discipline, Courage. Julie Powell set a very specific and ambitious 365-day goal, and achieved it- actually superceded it.  She became a master, by self-mastery.

As we enter a new decade, we are all crafting  our vision maps for what we would like to master this year and beyond.

What would you what would you like to master this year? A new leadership role, a published book, a new business, a long forgotten passion, a new sport or language, buying or selling your home,  reducing your footprint, living more simply, or possibly just having more compassion for self and others?

The time of the lone wolf is over- none of us can do it alone. If you need a jump start on your master plan, I invite you to contact me by Feb. 1 to a schedule a complimentary call. Let’s discover how we can best work together this year.

The future is now! What do you want to create?

In 2010, anything you desire strongly will manifest quickly.

We have a chance to reorient ourselves, bring our wishes into manifestation and truly assert what we want to be. We are literally dreaming our new realities into being.

The more creative we are in dealing with what has held us back in the old consciousness, the more healing will take place within ourselves and as a result in the world around us. Continue focusing on your highest truth and reinventing your lives.

There is a quickening and a deepening of our life directions. We are anchoring our dreams into manifestation and becoming more grounded in our own light. This is a time of great reward for those of us who have done our homework.

Happy Holidays!

What a wonderful time of year for giving and receiving, sharing love and reNEWal!

If you survived the last 3-6 months with your sense of humor still intact, take a moment now to CONGRATULATE yourself for your amazing navigation and accepting “what is” skills.

A friend recently shared this wonderful reminder with me:

LIFE is an endless transition. Go with the flow, change the flow, surrender to the flow,

be the flow, create the flow… the essence of the flow is: Transition

When we look at nature (biomimicry) we see how true this is.

It’s been quite a time of transition and reorganization for so many!

Most everyone with whom I speak has commented on the “intensity ” of the times with many of us undergoing, slow, yet massive changes in our homes, careers, businesses, and relationships. I believe we are all undergoing a collective re-organization.

What has changed for you this past year?

How are you reorganizing your life/business?

Any new approaches/attitudes you’d like to share?

The on-going theme for me  is SIMPLIFY. I didn’t realize how complicated simplification could be. It takes tremendous courage and trust to get out of our own way, surrender, and let go! As all manifestors know, the clarity of our intentions along with committed action/discipline is what creates “so-called” miracles.

Now is a wonderful time to move from hoping to knowing/feeling what it is we are creating in these times.

“Everything comes to us that belongs to us when we create the capacity to receive it.” -Rabindranath Tagore

Clarity, love, acceptance, and gratitude are wonderful gifts to give and receive. In this holiday season, I am wishing us all more ease, beauty, moments of peace and rest, more compassion and understanding as we continue to navigate and reinvent our lives, businesses, and relationships.

Change cleanses the soul. Enjoy the ride and be kind to your fellow travelers.

Wishing you warm and happy holidays!

Equinox-A Moment to Pause & Reflect
by Shera Sever (first posted in Spiral Muse , Sept. 2009)

Feel your inherent balance with a gentle pause between the inhale & the exhale.

Equinox is a time to pause, honoring the perfect balance between light and dark within you and beyond you. It’s a time of reflection and balance, a time for reassessing motivations, intentions, and actions. It’s a time to cleanse, release habits, to surrender, let go, and TRUST in the unknown.

Equinox is a time to honor and recognize the divine in everyone, and experience all beings as your mirror, as your teacher, as your family. Equinox is a time to sit in circle among our friends and peers,  speaking our truth, sharing our joys, our fears and vulnerability, asking for help, offering help, and trusting that our circle will not let us fall, nor fail us.

In the Babemba tribe in Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he/she is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the “accused” individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, about all the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy is recounted. All his/her positive attributes, good deeds, strengths and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. The tribal ceremony often lasts several days.

The tribe recognizes that the correction for non-integral behavior is not punishment, but love and the remembrance of identity. They believe a friend, coach, or teacher, is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. They are not fooled by the mistakes you have made or the dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

One of the most important lessons we can learn from evolution is that we are related to all that lives. Consider the fact that your personal DNA is 99.99 % identical to the DNA of every other human being, and to all that has ever lived. Once we begin to include ourselves in the story that we are no longer on an individual journey, we have joined the grand caravan of “endless forms -most beautiful and wonderful”. This is cooperation and collaboration at it’s core essence

So, I encourage all to offer some time to BE with your fellow travelers (friends and “strangers” alike) this week, reminding each other that we are one beautiful family on an unprecedented journey back home.

It’s been over a month since I have posted on this blog, however, if you have been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you know why.

Right now, rather than another 10:00PM sunset swim in the Mediterranean, OR bicycling and strolling along some of the most enchanting 13th century countryside caminos, I choose to fulfill my need to CONNECT with all of you.

When I first received an offer to spend some time “en retiro”, living on the north side of the island of Mallorca, Spain,  I was very confused  about what TO DO, fearing what I would leave “behind” if I actually left my home, community, live and social networks, and other “opportunities”for 4-6 weeks.  It was an obvious reminder of the need to LET GO!

Did you know that Americans actually take less annual holiday time (i.e. vacation) than any other ‘Western” country in the world?  Reason: FEAR that by letting go of routine that their “career/business” will fall apart or that they won ‘t get ahead!  My question- Ahead of what?  Aren ‘t we all in this global transformation together?

When is the last time you gave yourself the beautiful gift of just BEING?  For those of who have, you know how much clearer and more effective (focused and intentional) you are internally, as well as once back on the  “playing field”.

Awakened Entrepreneurs™ Create Decisions based on Needs/Values

I used an NVC method (universal needs- based process from Marshall Rosenberg) to make the decision.  What needs will be fulfilled if I go?  What needs will be fulfilled if I stay? Not only was my list longer for going, but I got more in touch with what is important to me.

Bottom line: Do what FEELS good- and in my case that meant my physical body-
(warm Mediterrannean sun &  sea,  healthy, fresh food, lots of movement outdoors) Simply YES!! Now Mallorca, is in no way Spain, unless, of course, you refer to Maui, the USA. But I used to live and work in Madrid and Barcelona, and the idea of spending time on the island of Mallorca seemed like a good choice. ( And then that night,  after taking myself through this personal exercise, I received a loud message in a dream- clear and simple:  GO TO SPAIN

DOING vs. BEING

Particularly in our fast-paced culture, DOING has much more perceived value that BEING. How often are you asked “ How are you?” – if the response is anything other than BUSY, something must be wrong. Yet, wouldn ‘t we all agree that all work and no play/rest makes anyone dull (rather than vibrant), inflexible and, well, uninteresting. How many relationships and dreams (personal and professional) are not realized as a result of this “busy/work” epidemic?

Especially in these times of information overload, including fear- based marketing and propaganda, I find “unplugging” essential in order to access one’s truth, values, goals, direction  and strategies for living in purpose in order to make our greatest contributions (to self and others)

The Awakened Entrepreneur™ understands the essential need for regular  “unplugging” -be it a long weekend retreat with no technology (yes, that!) or several weeks (3-4?!) of an actual holiday is exactly what is needed in order to optimize our engines for peak performance.  Tony Robbins claims it takes 21 days to break/change any habit, which is another way of saying it takes 21 days to drop into a new reality.

Having reinvented myself a number of times in personal and professional pursuits, I’ve consistently been a big advocate of work-life balance. Starting back in the mid- 90s, I introduced a personal needs/values assessment component in all of my leadership seminars that continues to serve as a transformative catalyst for organizational and business leaders.

I am very impressed with the models that Mallorca is advocating from progressive youth education, Transition Towns (using Appreciative Inquiry) to local organic food production, permaculture, biking as preferred transportation, reducing meat in one’s diet (and revealing the truths about the costs of the meat industry),  to a very sophisticated recycling system (including compost) throughout the City of Palma.  The official unemployment rate in Spain is over 20%, (one of the highest in Europe),  however  that isn’t stopping most from finding new ways to connect, collaborate (an inherent value in this culture), and reinvent, once again, a 700+ year old way of being.

Most importantly, the general philosophy here is TRANQUILLA- and this includes the time you take to connect with those you know  (and don’t know) throughout your daily activities.

And so here I am concluding a month of  (once again) witnessing  who I am, what I value, what I deeply desire-

The Result- a simplified life style with real time connections/dialogs that support personal and planetary health, wellness, sustainability, and collaboration-all essential elements for the Awakened Entrepreneur™.