For over 20 years now I’ve engaged in business as an entrepreneur and regarded this as a key part of my spiritual practice. When I began, I felt something amiss about having my spiritual life separate from the rest of my life- especially from the professional realm.  I endeavored to integrate the two and become more transparent.  This was enormously vulnerable for me- exponentially so because I was already feeling very vulnerable due to my youth, lack of professional experience AND being a woman in a male-dominated profession (architecture).
Over the years, my businesses and my spiritual practice have become inseparable and seamless as have the other aspects of my life: all integrated into one whole. No longer living a partitioned life feels really good and works so much better too.  In my view, this is an aspect of Mastery.

Concerned about regarding your work as spiritual practice?  Yes, it’s messy and inconvenient at times, but what a growth opportunity! (Second in opportunity only to parenting or marriage.)
However, my deep abiding love of the truth outweighs any inconvenience, messiness or pain.
I would have the truth at ANY price!  I’ve been willing to inquire into the truth about myself, my circumstances, my relationships and this has caused me to grow enormously as a person and as a professional. I won’t suggest that it’s been easy, but it’s been completely worth it! This is part of the process of Mastery.

Along the way, one of the many things I wrestled with is self-care.  I wasn’t raised with any value on self-care.  I was raised with a survival ethic: nose to the grindstone, sacrifice, etc.  The person or Self was not important.  Meeting expectations, productivity, advancement, etc. all were key to survival and thus valued above most everything else: the Self, the family, happiness, enjoying life, etc.  Through trial and error, I’ve come to KNOW wholeheartedly that when we care for ourselves FIRST and put ourselves ahead of work and business, we are not only able to do more, be more productive, do a better job, etc., but also are able to offer our work from a place of fullness, wholeness, love, generosity and service. Being able to do this is key to my soul’s purpose.  It’s not enough for me to be good at what I do and offer something useful to society and the world.  HOW I offer myself and my services is of paramount importance to me and to my soul’s purpose.  The more I care for my Self, the more I have to give, the more brilliance comes through my work, the more love I experience and clients and colleagues experience.  This is part of the Meaning of Life for me.  Additionally, I feel this is key to sustainable entrepreneurship and to THRIVING. What does/would self-care look like for you?  Are you at your best if you begin your day with meditation, exercise and wholesome food?  Allow the time for a real lunch break for healthy fresh food and fresh air?  End your work day with enough time to exercise and connect with your partner, family, or friends over the evening meal?  What are the limiting beliefs that arise as you read those questions?  What do you believe you can have?  What do you believe will happen if you do those things?

While those limiting beliefs are very real, I’d like you to know that that they can be eliminated (this is one of the aspects of my work with clients) and that you can actually have MORE as a result of eliminating them and allowing excellent self-care: more productivity, more income, more satisfaction and fulfillment, more energy, more vitality, more sustainability, more THRIVING!

From my perspective, self-care is KEY to sustainability and sustainability is a KEY to thriving. Many people that I know and associate with have a desire to truly thrive!  However, I see our culture at a critical crossroads on many levels.  Business culture too.  Many aspects of our culture are anything but sustainable! I see people, entrepreneurs and corporate professionals alike, burning themselves out, wearing themselves out with insanely long work hours, poor nutrition and self-care, excessive caffeine use, lack of sleep, insufficient community, connection, and renewal.  How does your lifestyle rank in terms of sustainability?  What adjustments can you make to improve the sustainability of your lifestyle and move towards thriving?  Is this important to you?  If yes, how will you make this a priority?  Many people need support with this.  I’m here to help!  Contact me for a complimentary consultation: http://www.MoneyMissionMastery.com/appointments

One aspect of sustainability and thriving for me is connection and transparency.  I see transparency as one of the hallmarks of the new paradigm in business. The entrepreneurs that I’ve really connected with on Facebook, Twitter and locally all embrace  transparency! THIS has made it possible for us to connect over the internet, communicate in meaningful ways and enrich each others’ lives. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was deeply touched and a bit surprised by how much love and appreciation has been expressed for me and my work on my Facebook wall recently; and I was reflecting on what a difference this expression is making for me as I endeavor solo, but no longer alone in my business as a soulpreneur. This love, appreciation and connection are nourishing, comforting, enlivening, and sustaining at moments when I really could use such a boost. I have given generously and shared transparently and people  are responding beautifully from their hearts!   THIS is the realm in which I choose to do business.  THIS is part of thriving and mastery!

In love and service,
Kamila Harkavy
Founder of Money*Mission*Mastery
http://www.MoneyMissionMastery.com

Mastering Stress and Mastering Life

Living in the modern world can be stressful.  It’s your choice.  A choice you make many times each day when you choose how to react to things that happen.   There’s no shortage of research proving that it’s HOW we REACT to life’s events that determines whether we experience stress and how much stress.  Two people experiencing an identical set of life circumstances but making very different choices about how to react will experience different degrees of stress.  One may experience extreme stress; the other may experience no stress at all.  A few of the stress determinants are whether you feel a lack of control or victimized, whether you feel your survival or identity are threatened, and whether you choose to be affected by the circumstances or their outcome.  We’ve heard the expressions “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” and “like water off a duck’s back”; both of these directives yield a no-stress outcome.

In Chinese, the word for stress is made up of 2 characters: danger and opportunity.  I love this.  Seeing opportunity in any event or set of circumstances is KEY to responding proactively rather than reacting in such a way that creates stress in the body-mind-spirit.  We can take a huge lesson from this.  In fact, I have.  I’ve long made a practice of looking for the learning or growth opportunities in difficult, challenging, and undesirable circumstances and events.  This has transmuted the feeling of no control in these situations.  It’s also led to a lot of growth and learning.  I can’t say that I’ve been as successful in not personalizing.  SIGH.  Perhaps someday.

I recently heard a story about some Tibetan monks who had been imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese for a long period of time.  Now free, these men are happy and show absolutely no indications of the sort of PTSD one might expect to find in such survivors.  No PTSD whatsoever.  In fact, they are sweet, kind, gentle, loving, happy, fully-functioning people.  This is so exceedingly rare in P.O.Ws.  How can they be so unscathed?  They responded to the torture not by feeling victimized, nor by feeling a complete an utter lack of control; they responded by having immense compassion for their torturers who they perceived as deeply troubled souls; and they did not personalize the experience- they did not believe the torture was in any way a reflection on them personally.  They did not agonize about whether they deserved it or not.  They did not ponder what they might have done to deserve this kind of treatment.  They did not resist the reality of the situation either; they accepted the fact that it was happening.  They did not attempt to minimize it nor did they become stoic.  They did not experience the intense stress of hating their captors night and day.  They suffered, but they didn’t suffer in the same ways and to the degree that you or I might because of their attitude and response.

The next time you find yourself in a challenging circumstance, I hope you’ll remember that you have a choice about how to respond and a choice to look for the learning and growth opportunity in the experience.  Please let me know how it goes for you.

I’ve been noticing something in the world of late.  Major shifts in consciousness are occurring and impacting us in BIG ways.  There’s a karmic quickening going on. Those ‘on the path’ (i.e. lightworkers, conscious individuals, people committed to evolution and growth personally and collectively) all seem to be having their shadow activated.  Anything from the past that has not be resolved, dealt with, released, or healed is coming up for us.  It’s yet another opportunity for resolution and freedom. Such people are going through this karmic quickening in order to step fully into their roles in the coming years and be a light and a support for others.  We can help others only to the extent that we’ve healed ourselves.

Fears, unacknowledged shadow, and karmic stuff  is coming into the light of consciousness to be dealt with NOW! Wherever we’ve taken short cuts, avoided doing what we needed to do, or just plain sat on our butts, the Universe will now challenge us to make amends and clear it out.  Those able to detach from ego and acknowledge the karmic reckoning are able to move through this time with wisdom, grace, and a light at the end of the tunnel. Those who are clinging to ego and perceiving the cause of these circumstances as being about everyone else but themselves are stuck in suffering.  It will serve each of us well to look at present circumstances to see what part we’ve played in them.  Inquire about how your past actions (or lack of actions) or attitudes contributed to your present circumstances.

The point in this is not to berate yourself, but to take responsibility!  Taking responsibility is one of the fastest ways to change your experience, change your outcomes and change your destiny. Detach from the ego who needs to feel perfect and in charge; and look through the eyes of the Soul, accept that you’ve made mistakes, fallen short, etc.  Be compassionate with yourself as you accept the truth about your past and your present and your role in their circumstances. This is coming up now because you’re fully capable of dealing with it and clearing it out once and for all.  You may not feel capable, but if you dig deep, you’ll likely find that you are or will be by the end.  To be able to see your own shadow and change yourself is a hard-won ability that will serve you really well and open the horizon of your future in ways you may not even imagine.

There’s a quote being used frequently these days that I rather like: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” There seem to be different sources credited for it.

“When you ACCEPT your inner divinity you discover your inner genius. When you DISCOVER your inner genius you reveal your inner excellence. When you REVEAL your inner excellence your release your inner joy. When you RELEASE your inner joy you receive your inner peace.”

“Perhaps the greatest gift in life is to BE who you actually are and to DO what only you can do! The pressure is always on to trade your uniqueness for compliance and conformity. The temptation is always there to trade your genius for mediocrity, your extraordinariness for commonness, and your wings for chains. Revel in your ORIGINALITY!” (c) Divinitudes by James L. Giles, 2010.

If we are to be happy and thrive, we must live an authentic life- a life that’s authentic and meaningful for us alone. It’s none of our business what anyone else thinks about us. To have an authentic life, we must arrange, re-arrange, re-design our lives as needed to become in accordance with our values. We must be true to ourselves….true to our truest selves. The more congruence there is between who you really are, what you value, and what you do with your life, the happier and more truly effective, truly successful (by MY definition of the word), and the more peaceful you will be. When the level of that congruence reaches critical mass, you begin to THRIVE! Life becomes a great experience. Synchronicity and grace are then more likely. Life becomes quite delightful when this happens.

My soul’s purpose is to learn how to completely thrive and to guide and support others to do the same if they are so inclined. Discovering and pursuing your own soul’s purpose is a key to truly thriving. My work is designed to address both discovering and pursuing your own soul’s purpose. I have adapted and combined some very graceful yet very powerful tools to facilitate this for myself and for you.

Although my work is called Money*Mission*Mastery, ultimately, It’s really not about the money itself. However, money, or what you believe about money, is one of the biggest obstacles to living an authentic life- the life you are meant to lead. THAT is the main reason, for me, to address money issues. Money is a microcosm of the macrocosm.  Interestingly, as I work with a client on their money issues, their whole life transforms and becomes more authentic, more effective, more delightful.  This shows that our lives are hologram: we address one part, make changes, catalyze transformation and your whole life transforms.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest
accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I read a blog post http://www.jaredyellin.com/what-is-brandentity/ by a leader in one of my many LinkedIn groups for NLP.
Here is a snippet from that blog post that I offer for you to ponder the idea that to truly thrive, you must truly be yourself!  The bolding is mine:

The Time is Here and the Time is Now

What I have learned is that in order to thrive in life you need to accept the fundamental principle of giving for the sake of giving, but in order for this philosophy to have the type of impact that I have envisioned for all of the members of the IDENTITY REVOLUTION, the first person that you need to give to is yourself. That is the underlying purpose and goal with Brandentity because once you make the choice to identify with yourself and become the real YOU, then all of your hopes, dreams, and aspirations will begin to come to fruition. This journey is not for the faint of heart, but what I will tell you is that those who decide to join BRANDENTITY and experience the adventure will begin to realize that tomorrow can be even better then today. As Dr. Gabriel Cousens MD once said, “The Personality is a Case of Mistaken Identity!..We Are Born Originals-Why Do So Many Die Copies?”

Want to move forward toward being truly yourself and thriving? This can be very challenging.  I have tools to facilitate the process and make it quite graceful. Contact me for a free consultation; I’d love to help you. Go to http://bit.ly/dgSmH2 to schedule a complimentary consultation.

You’ve probably seen lists like this. I just received one attributed to the Tony Robbins organization; I’ve received others in the past. Not bad advice, actually so I’ll share the one I just got with a few changes.

ONE . Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully, willingly- they can tell the difference. Under-promise and over-deliver.

TWO . Marry a man/woman you love to talk to and be with. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important or more important as any other attribute.

THREE . Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want. Exercise integrity in these areas.

FOUR . When you say, ‘I love you,’ mean it. Say it as often as you can while meaning it.

FIVE . When you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ look the person in the eye and acknowledge how you hurt/affected them.

SIX . Be engaged at least six months and together at least 3 years before you get married. It takes 3 years to really know a person. Anyone can be on their good behavior for a year, but in 3 years you’ll see their “stuff” and how they really live. Make sure you really know who you’re committing to be with.

SEVEN . Believe in love at first sight. Trust your gut, but follow #6 too.

EIGHT . Never laugh at anyone’s dreams.

NINE . Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.

TEN . In disagreements, fight fairly . No name calling. Be respectful. Say only what you wouldn’t mind everyone knowing you said.

ELEVEN . Don’t judge people by their relatives .

TWELVE . Talk slowly; give yourself time to evaluate what you’re about to say; it’s easier than trying to make corrections after the fact.

THIRTEEN! . When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, ‘Why do you want to know?’

FOURTEEN . Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk. Remember #9.

FIFTEEN . Say ‘bless you’ when you hear someone sneeze .

SIXTEEN . When you lose, don’t lose the lesson; spend some time reflecting on the lessons in the experience and you may not need to have an experience like that again.

SEVENTEEN . Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN . Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship; find the courage to repair the situation .

NINETEEN . When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. Apologize whenever necessary. See #5 .

TWENTY . Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice .

TWENTY- ONE . Spend some time alone. Keep a journal. Go for walks. Have time for stillness. Most of us DO too much anyway.

This article contains good reminders/tips so I thought I’d share it with my readers.
10 things that Martha Beck is grateful to have un-learned – and that you could un-learn, too.

By martha beck from O Magazine
In the past 10 years, I’ve realized that our culture is rife with ideas that actually inhibit joy. Here are some of the things I’m most grateful to have unlearned:

1. Problems are bad. You spent your school years solving arbitrary problems imposed by boring authority figures. You learned that problems suck. But people without real problems go mad and invent things like base jumping and wedding planning. Real problems are wonderful, each carrying the seeds of its own solution. Job burnout? It’s steering you toward your perfect career. An awful relationship? It’s teaching you what love means. Confusing tax forms? They’re suggesting you hire an accountant, so you can focus on more interesting tasks, such as flossing. Finding the solution to each problem is what gives life its gusto.

2. It’s important to stay happy. Solving a knotty problem can help us be happy, but we don’t have to be happy to feel good. If that sounds crazy, try this: Focus on something that makes you miserable. Then think, “I must stay happy!” Stressful, isn’t it? Now say, “It’s okay to be as sad as I need to be.” This kind of permission to feel as we feel—not continuous happiness—is the foundation of well-being.

3. I’m irreparably damaged by my past. Painful events leave scars, true, but it turns out they’re largely erasable. Jill Bolte Taylor, the neuroanatomist who had a stroke that obliterated her memory, described the event as losing “37 years of emotional baggage.” Taylor rebuilt her own brain, minus the drama. Now it appears we can all effect a similar shift, without having to endure a brain hemorrhage. The very thing you’re doing at this moment—questioning habitual thoughts—is enough to begin off-loading old patterns. For example, take an issue that’s been worrying you (“I’ve got to work harder!”) and think of three reasons that belief may be wrong. Your brain will begin to let it go. Taylor found this thought-loss euphoric. You will, too.

4. Working hard leads to success. Baby mammals, including humans, learn by playing, which is why “the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” Boys who’d spent years strategizing for fun gained instinctive skills to handle real-world situations. So play as you did in childhood, with all-out absorption. Watch for ways your childhood playing skills can solve a problem (see #1). Play, not work, is the key to success. While we’re on the subject…

5. Success is the opposite of failure. Fact: From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure.

6. It matters what people think of me. “But if I fail,” what will people think of me. “But if I fail,” you may protest, “people will think badly of me!” This dreaded fate causes despair, suicide, homicide. I realized this when I read blatant lies about myself on the Internet. When I bewailed this to a friend, she said, “Wow, you have some painful fantasies about other people’s fantasies about you.” Yup, my anguish came from my hypothesis that other people’s hypothetical hypotheses about me mattered. Ridiculous! Right now, imagine what you’d do if it absolutely didn’t matter what people thought of you. Got it? Good. Never go back.

7. We should think rationally about our decisions. Your rational capacities are far newer and more error-prone than your deeper, “animal” brain. Often complex problems are best solved by thinking like an animal. Consider a choice you have to make—anything from which movie to see to which house to buy. Instead of weighing pros and cons intellectually, notice your physical response to each option. Pay attention to when your body tenses or relaxes. And speaking of bodies…

8. The pretty girls get all the good stuff. Oh, God. So not true. I unlearned this after years of coaching beautiful clients. Yes, these lovelies get preferential treatment in most life scenarios, but there’s a catch: While everyone’s looking at them, virtually no one sees them. Almost every gorgeous client had a husband who’d married her breasts and jawline without ever noticing her soul.

9. If all my wishes came true right now, life would be perfect. Check it out: People who have what you want are all over rehab clinics, divorce courts, and jails. That’s because good fortune has side effects, just like medications advertised on TV. Basically, any external thing we depend on to make us feel good has the power to make us feel bad. Weirdly, when you’ve stopped depending on tangible rewards, they often materialize. To attract something you want, become as joyful as you think that thing would make you. The joy, not the thing, is the point.

10. Loss is terrible. Ten years ago I still feared loss enough to abandon myself in order to keep things stable. I’d smile when I was sad, pretend to like people who appalled me. What I now know is that losses aren’t cataclysmic if they teach the heart and soul their natural cycle of breaking and healing. A real tragedy? That’s the loss of the heart and soul themselves. If you’ve abandoned yourself in the effort to keep anyone or anything else, unlearn that pattern. Live your truth, losses be damned. Just like that, your heart and soul will return home.

‘You Can Sculpt Your Brain’

This is an excerpt of Prayer May Reshape Your Brain … And Your Reality

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, has been scanning the brains of religious people for more than a decade. So far, scientists have focused on people who pray or meditate for one, two or more hours a day. They think that studying spiritual virtuosos will offer clues to the brain workings of more typical believers. But now Newberg and others are turning their attention to people who want to enrich their spiritual lives, but don’t have that kind of time.

So there’s hope for people with jobs and kids.

Neuroscientist Richard Davidson says you can change your brain with experience and training.

“You can sculpt your brain just as you’d sculpt your muscles if you went to the gym,” he says. “Our brains are continuously being sculpted, whether you like it or not, wittingly or unwittingly.”

It’s called neuroplasticity. For years Davidson, who is at the University of Wisconsin, has scanned the brains of Buddhist monks who have logged years of meditation. When it comes to things like attention and compassion, their brains are as finely tuned as a late-model Porsche. Davidson wondered: Could ordinary people achieve the same kind of connection with the spiritual that the monks do — without so much effort?

I wondered that, too. And when I heard his lab was launching a study lasting two weeks, I said, “Sign me up.”

It turned out I was too old for the study. But they let me see what it was about. For 30 minutes every morning, I settled into my chair to the soothing tones of a meditation CD. The voice of a University of Wisconsin graduate student urged me to shower compassion on a loved one, a stranger, myself.

The trouble came when I was asked to visualize someone I had difficulty with in life. I became surly, as I reflected on the minor tragedies in my life and the people who caused them. When I saw Richard Davidson, I didn’t mention how ill-tempered I had grown.

“Is there a capacity to change my brain if I continue with this?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” he responded enthusiastically. “I would say the likelihood is that you are already changing your brain.”

I hope not. Others, however, were far more successful in cultivating a spiritual mind-set. Davidson couldn’t tell me about the results of my study, which have yet to be published. But he could say there were detectable changes in the subjects’ brains within two weeks. Another similar study, where employees at a high-tech firm meditated a few minutes a day over a few weeks, produced more dramatic results.

“Just two months’ practice among rank amateurs led to a systematic change in both the brain as well as the immune system in more positive directions,” he said.

For example, they developed more antibodies to a flu virus than did their colleagues who did not meditate.

This is an excerpt of Prayer May Reshape Your Brain … And Your Reality

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

This is from Robin Sharma, the author of the bestseller, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The Greatness Guide. I haven’t corrected his grammar or changed anything.

His article below sums up his latest book, THE LEADER WHO HAD NO TITLE: The New Way to Win in Business — and in Life.

The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma
The old way of leading is dead.
Many of our best-known organizations have fallen and some of our most revered leaders have lost face. The global economy has now transformed and with all the new media ranging from Twitter to YouTube, everyone now can build a following. And lead their field.

We have just entered what I call The Decade of Leadership. Leadership has become democratized. I’m not at all suggesting that we don’t need titles and people at the top of organizations to set the vision, manage the team and take overall responsibility for the ship. What I am offering is that we now work and live in a world where leadership isn’t just something executives do. It’s something everyone needs to do – for their organizations to survive, in this period of dramatic change.

I’ve distilled everything I’ve learned into a step-by-step formula that I’ve shared in my new book “The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life” (Simon & Schuster).
Here are 9 smart moves you can make today to start changing the game and creating exceptional results:

1. Remember that you need no title to be a leader. Leadership has less to do with the size of your title than the depth of your commitment. I’ve seen front-line employees, taxi drivers and carpet installers doing their work like Picasso painted. Leadership isn’t really about authority. It’s about a choice you can make to do your best work each and every day, regardless of where you are planted.

2. Shift from Victimhood to Leadership. No great career, business or life was ever created on a platform of excuses. Too many people play victim at work. They blame the boss or the economy or the competition or the weather for their less than mediocre results. Leaders Without A Title are different. They get that they have power. It may not
be the power granted through a title like CEO or SVP. But they have power. And that’s the power to see opportunity amid crises. That’s the power to drive positive change.

That’s the power to encourage everyone on your team. And it’s the power to step into the person you’ve always longed to be. For the past 15 years, I’ve had a simple mission that has become my obsession: to help people in
organizations lead without a title-and play at their best in all that they do. This mission has taken me into client companies like Nike, FedEx, GE, Panasonic and Unilever where I’ve not only helped their best people grow even better but learned what world-class teams and enterprises do to create wow. This mission has allowed me to serve as the private leadership advisor to many billionaires and celebrity entrepreneurs. And this calling has caused me to
meet people from every walk of life in every industry and learn what keeps them from stepping up to their leadership best when that’s exactly who they are built to be.

3. Innovate or Stagnate. To Lead Without A Title is to leave everything you touch better than you found it. Mediocrity happens when people refuse to change and improve all that they do. Look what happened to some of the big car companies because the slowed down their devotion to innovation. The competition ate them for breakfast. And put some out of business. The best leaders and the best enterprises have a hunger to improve. It’s such a deep part of their culture they know of no other way to be. And that’s the edge that makes them great.

4. Become a Value Creator versus a Clock Watcher. Success comes from the value you add rather than from the busyness you show. What’s the point of being really busy around the wrong things? Leadership is a game of focus. Focusing on fewer but smarter activities, the ones that create real value for your teammates, customers and the world at large.

5. Put People First. “The business of business is people” said Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher. We have a ton of technology yet less and less humanity. Yet let’s remember that people do business with people they like, trust and respect. One of the clients we’ve done leadership development work with is RIM. Yes, they are a fast and
innovative technology company. But they also get that excellent results come from people playing at excellence. So build your team. Meet your customers. Deepen human connections. Treat others with respect. And put people first.

6. Remember that Tough Times Build Strong Leaders. Look at any exceptional leader and you’ll find that they stepped into their leadership best during a period of crises versus calmness. To Lead Without A Title is to hunt for opportunity amid every adversity. Every setback has the seeds of an opportunity. Companies like Apple, Google and
Amazon were built because their people leveraged disruptive times into brilliant wins. And because their people refused to give up when faced with difficulty.

7. Go to Your Limits. The more you play out on the edges of your limits and take intelligent risks, the wider your limits will expand. The more you leave your comfort zone, the bigger your comfort zone will grow. Each day at work, do the things you know you must do but are scared to do. That’s how you grow, build your leadership capability and access more of the leader within you. There’s zero safety in staying within what I call “The Safe Harbor of The Known”. That’s just an illusion that bankrupts too many businesses and breaks too many human beings.

8. Lead Yourself First. “The Leader Who Had No Title” isn’t just a book showing you how to create exceptional business success and win at work; it’s also a handbook for personal leadership. Because how can you lead other people if you haven’t first done what it takes to lead yourself? Get to know your values. Think through what you want your life to stand for. Become physically, mentally and emotionally strong. And have a remarkably good relationship with your family. What’s the point of becoming super-successful yet being alone?

9. Give Back a Legacy. Success is good. Significance is even better. Sure profit and peer recognition and doing great work is mission-critical. But even more important than that is what you give – and all you leave behind. As I write in the book, “even the longest life is pretty short. And all that matters when you get to your last day is the difference
you’ve made and the people you’ve helped.” So as you Lead Without A Title and step into your leadership best, stay focused on adding value. And making an extraordinary contribution.

Robin Sharma is one of the world’s most highly respected leadership experts, with a client list that includes Microsoft, GE, NIKE, FedEx, Yale University and IBM. In a survey of 22,000 business people ranking top leadership gurus, Sharma was in the top 5, along with Jack Welch. His new book is The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life.

On my facebook feed today was this post that I felt clearly discerns some of the difference between healthy love and unhealthy love. I’m sharing this with my readers; thank you to Nico Iris who wrote this. The bolding is mine.

♥ Discernment between Addictive Love and Healthy Love ♥
Share

1. Healthy Love develops after we feel secure.
Addictive Love tries to create Love even though we
feel frightened and insecure.

2. Healthy Love comes from feeling full. We overflow
with Love.
Addictive Love is always trying to fill an inner void.

3. Healthy Love begins with Loving ourselves,
being the Lover we think we need.
Addictive Love tries to avoid looking at ourselves
and always seeks to get Love from that
*special someone*.

4. Healthy Love is based on our ability to Love and
Trust ourselves and hence
others.
Addictive Love seeks sex and romance outside,
precisely because we feel empty inside, and don’t
Trust ourselves or others.

5. Healthy Love allows us to be vulnerable because
we feel secure inside.
Addictive Love is based on a shaky foundation. We
feel we must protect ourselves.

6. Healthy Love grows, like a tree.
Addictive Love grows fast, as if by magic, like those
children’s animals that expand instantly when we
add water.

7. Healthy Love thrives on time alone as well as time
with our partner.
Addictive Love is frightened of being alone.

8. Healthy Love teaches me to value my own
company.
Addictive Love makes me feel uncomfortable with
myself and in need of someone else.

9. Healthy Love is gentle and comfortable.
Addictive Love is tense and combative.

10. Healthy Love flows out.
Addictive Love caves in.

11. Healthy Love creates a deeper sense of ourselves
the longer we are in Love.
Addictive Love creates a loss of self the longer
we are together.

12. Healthy Love gets easier as time goes on.
Addictive Love requires more effort as time
goes on.

13. Healthy Love is like rowing across a gentle
lake.
Addictive Love is like being swept away
down a raging river.

14. Healthy Love is satisfied with the
partner we have.
Addictive love is always looking for
more or better.

15. Healthy Love teaches that we can only
make ourselves happy.
Addictive Love expects the other person
to make us happy and demands that we
try and make them happy.

16. Healthy Love creates life.
Addictive Love creates melodramas

By Nico Iris <3

Blessed Mother Teresa’s Prayer:
“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.”
“If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.”
“The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”