Have you ever started a new book or training program, and the author tells you that the key to your success is to commit to the system... never miss a beat... push hard and fast and never give up?

I really REALLY hate it when they start out like that.

In my estimation, such books and systems are setting you up for failure ~ and a lot of self-blaming and guilt on top of it.

And so I decided to write my own list of tips for success. Cuz... why not?

These tips aren't about guilt-tripping you into success. Rather, they honor the whole human being that you are, and the fact that you are not EVER going to be able to do any course, system, project or business within a complete vacuum.

Real life is happening out there, and I know that if you're gunning for big change in your life, then there are some very important aspects about that life that you'd like to change.

So please take some time to read through these tips.

Remember that YOU are the only person who can really know what you need in life... what you are healthfully capable of in any given moment... and what is best for you and your personal operating system.

That means that no one else's opinion matters more than yours about YOUR life.

It also means that you are responsible to yourself for discerning where you're at and what you need moment-to-moment and day-to-day.

People everywhere want to feel empowered. It begins with these simple ways to honor yourself and also to be honest with yourself.

And so I offer these counter-intuitive yet wholly human tips to you with love and blessings.

May the Universe reflect back to you in resplendent gifts all your commitment, love, and gentle perseverence in your journey for true change and a fantastic life!

TIP #1. Commitment is About Choosing Yourself

Though we often think it should go without saying, your enduring commitment to yourself and to achieving any change you desire is the first step towards reliable results.

But I'll be the first to tell you that sticking with your good intentions can be difficult in a busy life of responsibilities, other commitments, and work.

There is also the consideration that most people seeking big changes in their life may already be struggling with finances, relationships, health or work. If this is you, it's okay! I hope you know I'm here to help you get through to the other side...

Just be mindful that once you identify a system or set of actions to take to create change or transformation... life will quite quickly present you with a series of challenges, distractions, reasons to focus elsewhere, and excuses for sabotaging your transformation efforts.

You will WANT to put aside your necessary healing/transformative work in order to put out those inevitable fires. And let's be honest... when a fire shows up, you want to put it out!

So first things first, honor the complexity and paradox of life:

1. When you want change, the status-quo will fight to survive.
2. The situation may truly call for your immediate action and it may distract you from the changes you were making.
3. That's OKAY... AND you still need to find your way back to your campaign for change.

Life happens! So let's just plan for it, and not beat you up about it. 🙂

Here's some wisdom that has helped me and my clients through the years:

First, it helps to know that those endless to-dos and challenging circumstances are the ties that bind.

They are shackles designed to maintain the status-quo in your life, based on the vibrational offering of every unresolved trauma, negative energy, and limiting belief you've had in the past.

Offer whatever action is necessary to handle those challenges when they arise, but know that changing your future circumstances will require coming back to your chosen system for change to clear the negative influences that created those challenges in the first place.

Commitment isn't about consistency. It's about CHOOSING: Yourself, again and again.

When it's between showing up for yourself and dealing with never-ending challenges... eventually you have to choose yourself if you want your challenging circumstances to ever change.

When it comes down to either doing your transformative work, or chasing that extra dollar... eventually you have to choose yourself if you ever want that abundance to flow inward towards you.

When it comes down to the duties to your family, your community, or your nation... eventually you have to honor your duty to yourself, because no one else ~ no matter how much you show up for them ~ can ever be responsible for, or ensure your happiness.

So when the sh*t hits the fan, get yourself out into the open sky and sunshine. In other words, don't plunk down and mourn your poor fortune in a crap-strewn room.

Get up, walk out, shift gears and keep going. Stay committed. Come back to, and choose yourself. And you WILL succeed. Promise.

TIP #2. Go with Your Flow

Hand-in-hand with commitment is compassion for your natural flow. While those who succeed stay committed to their transformative work, they do not aggressively push themselves or beat themselves up when there is simply not enough energy or ability to show up on a given day or in a given week.

Honor your flow and remember that when you are actively campaigning for change, or engaging in healing - either with a professional, a course or book, or with self-healing... once the healing has occured, the body and psyche need time and rest to receive the healing.

What that means for you is that after you complete certain steps for change or healing, you may enter what we call a Growth Period.

This is a length of time that could be a few hours to a few weeks in duration where your physical body, psyche and brain chemistry are catching up to the healing you've done at what is typically the energetic level.

This can affect your energy levels, make you sleepy or cause temporary insomnia. You might feel stuck emotions as they leave the body or have a burst of joy and energy only to get mildly sick the next day.

When these growth periods occur, some people fear that the healing didn't work, or that they're a failure in their attempts for change.

Yet that is NOT the case! It's actually a sign that you are successfully turning your world right-side-up again.

It just shakes loose a lot of stuff in the process.

What might a growth period look like?

Well a growth period will look different for every person, and they are often different for every healing.

And make no mistake: While your focus may be on reaching a new goal... breaking a bad habit... changing a challenging circumstance or starting a new project...

If you want to create something different from what you've experienced in the past, at some point you will be healing layers of past conditioning and past experience in order to achieve new success.

When you feel a bit off, a bit unfocused or unmotivated... if random emotions seem to come up or you cry or laugh but can't quite figure out why... these are all signs you might be in a growth period.

When you are able, the best thing you can do in a growth period is to Rest & Reflect.

Journal what you're experiencing if it feels good to do so. And allow whatever is coming through. There are no wrong ways to heal or to integrate that healing. Try to be mindful of what your body or inner being is needing in any given moment.

TIP #3. The Tortoise Wins the Race

It's okay to go slow. It's encouraged to rest and take breaks.

When you feel the need to rest, to check out mentally and watch a movie or play a game... when you simply can't get excited about doing one more damned thing on your to-do list...

These are important signs from your inner being that REST is the order of the day.

These are all fabulous signs that transformation and healing have occurred for you, and it is only through heeding these calls to pause or rest that you can integrate and receive the healing.

Think of it like a workout that builds the muscles of your body: To build the muscle, you must first tear it during your actual workout. This creates space for expansion and breaks up the rigid "what is" of your muscle so that it can grow into something different ~ "what you want."

But the muscle cannot actually repair and hence grow stronger and larger, unless you follow that workout with a resting period.

It is the same with tackling big changes in your life, and the healings and cleansings that happen along the way.

So be compassionate and gentle with yourself. Take time away when you need. And come back when you are ready.

TIP #4. Know the Difference Between Rest & Resistance

Have you ever been so thrilled to start a new project or learn something new, diving in day after day for hours, only to get sidetracked or way-laid by life at some point... and suddenly it's weeks... months... maybe even years before you think to return to it?

Say hello to Resistance.

Usually when we feel the need to rest or pause, it is a genuine growth period. However self-care can easily slide into self-denial when our old conditioning, programming, and deeply embedded beliefs begin to fight for their survival.

I do not mean to say that we are attacked by, or at war with, these negative influences. However, programmed thoughts, beliefs and responses ~ by definition ~ are closed loops with pre-determined patterns. These closed loops can trap your consciousness into their patterned thinking or feeling when triggered... and once they are hardwired into your brain's pathways and biochemistry, these programs actually feel more comfortable and "easy" for you than the transformative work of unraveling those programs and creating new pathways.

That difference in energy requirement can feel like a lethargy that is often a hallmark of resistance.

To pave the way for real change you will want to be mindful of when rest slides into resistance, and to climb your way back towards this course and all that you desire.

A few signs you might be in resistance include:

• Fighting for your limitations, justifying all the reasons why it's not worth trying to improve or change anything right now
• You begin to fall into auto-pilot ~ resistance makes us go unconscious and reduces our awareness
• Feelings of frustration, depression or boredom

Everyone experiences resistance, so it's okay when you do. It's part of the process.

Just be sure to address that resistance and have a reliable way for overcoming it.

TIP #5. You Already Are Everything You Need

As a human being, you have already been given the Universe's most powerful technology for shaping your reality.

There is, thankfully, a "buffer of time" delay on what you manifest since none of us really got a User Manual with our baby blanket when we were born into this world...

However you already possess in your energetic anatomy an inner technology designed for manifesting.

You intuitively know how to use it!

And the parts of this innate wisdom that you may have forgotten will be remembered as you continue your journey ~ as we are all re-awakening to our power and our truth.

So don't worry that what you need to succeed is too hard, beyond your capacity, or that you might be deficient in any way.

Because it isn't, and you aren't.

You don't any outside authority or system to create the life you want. {And yes I include myself in this ~ I am just a fellow journeyer walking this path with you!!}

The whole wonderful {if annoying} challenge of being human is that your brain and energy system at some point hard-wired around the beliefs and negative conditioning that things are too hard... or that you're not enough... or that it can never really get THAT good...

And so the deficiency isn't with you. It's that your power is SO GREAT ~ and it's been given over to those subconscious blocks and beliefs.

So remember... and I will be here to remind you of it often:

You are enough. You've got this. You are deserving of your greatest dreams and desires and, by the way, you're designed to create them.

You can't do this wrong! Just DO YOU.

And if your campaign for change ever gets too overwhelming or difficult, know that I've got your back.

It's just a matter of clearing out what's held you down... and then you can't help but rise!!