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Showing posts with label different. Show all posts
Showing posts with label different. Show all posts

Friday, May 10, 2013

A Different Kind of Makeover (guest post)

I’ve been watching Carla for years.

She was one of my first 5 friends on Twitter.. true. She inspired me to get my (big, incredibly painful Isis tattoo) after she did the Dr. Seuss sleeve. She clearly has a higher pain tolerance than I do. Like all of you, I love her warmth, her commitment, her real-live way of making it work on her own terms.

Here’s something you might consider, I hope it adds to your becoming more yourself, in all of the best ways.

One of the commonalities I’ve seen in women that make the big changes in their lives has been particularly interesting to me lately. But it really shouldn’t be…Once I named it for myself, it seemed obvious, but prior to that it hadn’t been as clear.

The women who contact me often hire me quickly. There is a certain kind of readiness. Sometimes it comes from a sense of “I have to do something” or a point of pain that gets their attention.

And sometimes it’s some of that mixed with something else. The something else is they begin to catch a whiff of who they are becoming. They sense who they could be in a stronger way than ever before.

The vision is bigger than the fear..and the excuses that come with fear.

Letting go of old patterns that create barriers to what your heart desires, on one level seems like it “should” be fairly simple (obviously we know it isn’t). If you’re unhappy, if you aren’t getting the things that you want and have a sense of what’s in the way it makes sense to drop those behaviors and find other ways to do things.

And yet it’s typically more complex than that. In our minds anyways. Which is where most of the push and pull takes place. What we believe we can or can’t tolerate.. how much discomfort there will be and whether we believe we are worthy of the challenge, fears of how big shifts in behaviors and choices may shake things up.

And it’s true.. there are shake ups when you get clear on who you are and begin to leave the rest behind. People around you may not love you for changing things up. But that’s a very big other topic. And if you’re in the midst of a breakthrough, you’re going to have to keep all of your focus on what you want most for you right now. Seriously.

But it’s also in our minds that it all unfolds, almost like magic when certain things are in place. And the big something I’ve noticed lately is when a woman, a woman really no different than you in any particular way, gets a whiff of a real vision for herself, what felt like obstacles are no longer a big deal.

Whether it’s changing your level of fitness, your weight, how you feed your beautiful body, or who you include in your inner-circle..the truth is that once you find the clarity of a new identity (what I call your Divine Identity), when it clicks in as something you finally see and feel for yourself.. the actions become inspired and not especially arduous.

The big deal is breaking through the heaviness of the identity you’ve been dragging around. The one you’re really attached to. The one you can’t quite believe isn’t wholly and completely “you”.

It’s hard to modify that one. The breakthrough comes as more of a “swap”. Just as you no longer wear the outfits (do you?!) that you wore in junior high because you’ve outgrown them. You found a new “look” for yourself..it’s a bit like that.

Here’s how you know what that identity, the one you’re stuck to might be. Over the course of a couple of days, listen closely to a very particular way that you’re defining yourself. Specifically what follows the words “I Am” in your daily language? You may be rolling your eyes right about now, even tempted to stop reading this (I am a bit long-winded in most posts, but hang in..).

You’ll get a very clear, if not particularly inspired, sense of the exact shape and size of your current self-identity. It may sound something like “I am so out of shape”, “I am so out of control with eating this week”, ” I am never going to get into those jeans”, “I am always like this”… You get a sense of what I’m saying. I didn’t say this was a fun exercise. But knowing where you are helps you know what you want to create.

The reason you’re reading this blog and others like it is to catch the energy of another kind of belief..

A different vision, other potential ideas that you’re putting in your back pocket. “for later”. But real change comes in present-time, in you making the decision to shine in the world.

This is an identity makeover…

Just the parts weighing you down (yes, pun intended.. those beliefs are energetic ‘weight’). The parts that support you, that bring you love and connection and wellness and confidence.. hold on to those.

In my 25 years of helping women with eating and weight related issues, the biggest shifts occur when women change their identity. In the present.. not in the “Someday when I …” way.

It happens on a dime when your vision gets crystal-clear and you’re holding it and can feel it in a visceral way, it becomes a beacon calling you forward-even if what you see in the mirror is not yet matching up. You live a new presence, new beliefs, walk in a new energy and it shows before you lose an ounce. You feel it course through you, and can’t help but begin to take small actions.

It’s a makeover that lights you up from the inside and informs every choice you make from the moment you fully connect with it. It’s yours, and your Intuitive Body knows exactly how to guide you.

It’s a gorgeous beautiful thing to witness, and to live. I want that for you.

With love from my heart to yours…

lisa-best:pillarLisa Claudia Briggs, MSW is an Intuitive Psychotherapist, Mentor, and Author of “Recovering Beauty”. She is the creator of IntuitiveBody.com and has been mentoring women around the world for 25 years.

For more blogposts and your free copy of “The Energy of Weight Loss: 7 Essential Secrets” go to Intuitivebody.com


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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Mix it up: Same title, different song

Mixed Tape

I used to make mixed tapes for friends, actual tapes, which is one of those signs that I’ve been on the planet longer than a steadily growing percentage of the population. I make mixed CDs now and don’t even own a tape player, which means I won’t be listening to the recordings of my 6th grade band concert any time soon.

Sometimes I get high-concept ideas for CD mixes, like a mix of songs that track the progress of my life. Or a CD where all the tracks are covers of the same song. My latest concept is “Same Name, Different Song” which consists of songs that have the same name but aren’t covers, just totally different songs. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Forever Young – Rod Stewart
Forever Young – Alphaville (Though I personally prefer the Youth Group cover)
Breathe – Erasure
Breathe – Sixpence None the Richer
Breathe – Jane French (The theme from “Passions” oh how I miss you)
Breathe – Maria McKee
Photograph – Weezer
Photograph – REM feat. Natalie Merchant
American Girls – Weezer (No link, sorry!)
American Girl – Tom Petty (Ok, not an exact title match, but close!)
Trouble – Ray Lamontagne
Trouble – Shampoo
Trouble – Shawn Colvin
Blush – Ben Lee
Blush (Only You) – Plumb
Independence Day – Imani Coppola
Independence Day – Ani DiFranco
Dancing in the Dark – Bruce Springsteen
Dance in the Dark – Lady Gaga (Again, not an exact match, but close!)
Heart – Pet Shop Boys
Heart – Stars
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
The Boxer – Carbon Leaf

Can you guys think of any others? If I were a programmer and cared more, I could probably write a script to parse my media library and find all the matches for me, but it’s more fun to ask you guys.

BTW, I realize my last two posts have been about music. I promise this isn’t going to become PQ’s Music Blog. It’s just a coincidence.

Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away"Smart, unflinchingly honest, and laugh-out-loud funny."– Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice

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