When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~ Viktor Frankl 

I recently read about a pill being developed that would erase unpleasant memories, kind of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-ish. Of course I was appalled.  It’s bad enough the American public is seduced by quick fixes to deal with many physical ailments that a simple change in diet and exercise, a reduction in stress, self-love and a little mind/body/spirit elbow grease would take care of.  Now they want to get rid of negative memories?!?!  We’re already a society who over-eats, over-drinks/drugs, over-sexes, over-technologizes, over-works and over-realityshows to avoid what we’re feeling!

There’s a saying that many athletic coaches and trainers use: No pain, no gain. Yes, that can certainly apply to losing 20 pounds or training for a marathon, but it applies to our inner workouts as well.  As humans we like to avoid pain as much as possible, but pain can be a very useful tool if we let it.  Emotional, mental, physical or spiritual/soul pain shows us where we’re out of wack and where attention needs to be paid and adjustments made in order to learn and grow in any area of our life.

To the extent that you are ‘asleep’ is the proportion in which the Universe is going to use some big ‘ole version of its alarm clock to ‘wake you up’ and give you a big kick in the butt to do something about it.  And a kick in the butt doesn’t feel too good, but we all need one now and then to propel us into action. Most of us don’t want to endure prolonging suffering, so the pain forces us to take action. In other words, as I mentioned in the Well & Good.com article I was featured in, we often need to have a breakdown in order to have a breakthrough.

And remember that without pain we wouldn’t know joy.  When we are experiencing something akin to the ‘dark night of the soul,’ think of the caterpillar who thought the world was over just before it became a butterfly, and that ‘it’s always darkest before dawn.’  Sometimes we just need to ‘go there’ – these are the times that are meant to test our mettle and force us to rise up like the phoenix from the ashes in order to evolve into a better version of ourselves – and who wouldn’t want that?

So if you’re feeling like you’re about to crack, have been sleepwalking a little too long, or need someone to push you off that diving board, just Let Go, jump in, what are you waiting for? Give me a buzz and we’ll find the amazing beauty in whatever type of breakdown is occurring in your life.

P.S. For related thoughts on this topic, check out my posts: Fear Factor,  And S/he Was,  The Roof is On Fire

P.P.S. In case you didn’t see it last week, I was featured in an article What I Learned Working with a Career Coach now on Forbes.com!

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Massive quakes, record rainfall, perilous flooding, topsy-turvy temperatures. There is no doubt that Earth – displaying her power with last week’s volcanic eruption* as a kick-off to her special “Day” on April 22nd – is going through something. Whether you think of it as climate change, global warming or that crazy concept Al Gore invented, shifts happen.

If you think of each human as his or her own self-contained world, you could say our North Pole is our mind with its thinking/rational way of doing things, and our South Pole the heart and gut, our more intuitive, creative M.O.

We have always looked to the North Star to lead the way, but what about the Southern Sky? There would be no North without the South! One is not more important than the other. And what if the North is a little tired of doing all the heavy lifting, and is starting to pass the baton to the South?

In honor of Earth Day this week, think of yourself in the process of shifting and changing, just like the planet – be aware, take care, go with the flow and notice what happens. The Earth is crying out for ways to heal, and if you have been living a less than balanced life, so will you. I’m here to help, so think of me like Mother Nature with a super-special compass that can reset the magnetic North and South within you.

(*Today’s PGG was originally posted on April 20, 2010)

Visit your own personal  ‘South Pole’ this Saturday at TWM’s Visioning Workshop!

 P.S. For related thoughts on this topic, check out my posts: Tiptoe Through the Tulips,  Leap of Faith,  Just Go With It,  A Fool’s Errand 

P.P.S. In case you didn’t see it last week, I was featured in an article What I Learned Working with a Career Coach now on Forbes.com!

Work With Me, People! Special coaching offers now until May1st  

No, I’m not the Broadway director of a ‘Smash’ hit, but I will make you the star of your own life!

Love reading my Personal Growth Gabs? Been thinking about working with me but not quite sure what you’ll take away?

Check out the testimonials below or on my LinkedIn profile, or read the Forbes.com article where I was the coach featured in What I Learned Working with a Career Coach.

Interested and want to get started but not sure how?  There are oh so many ways!

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Contact me to schedule your session today so that you can spring forward with purpose, clarity and the support you need in whatever changes you want to make in your personal and/or professional life!

There are many options for you to work with me this Spring so I sincerely hope to have the opportunity to show you that where you are right now is exactly where you need to be, and then help you get to the place where you want to go ne

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P.S. For those of you looking for your weekly dose of PGG, just scroll down or click on the archives to find all of my past posts.

I recently attended the funeral of a good friend’s father.  He was Ukrainian, along with most of his relatives and friends, so everything was conducted in his native language.  At the brunch after the burial, a woman stood up and read with great emotion what she had written on a few sheets of loose leaf paper while many of us choked up.

I saw her by the ladies room soon thereafter and mentioned how beautiful her speech was.  In broken English she went on about how she messed up and it didn’t come out the way she wanted etc.  I stopped her mid-sentence and said, “I don’t speak a word of Ukrainian.”  Puzzled, she replied, “Well, I just spoke from my heart.”  And I said, “Yes, that’s why it was so beautiful.”

I often begin my seminars reminding the audience that someday, hopefully in the very distant future, they will die.  Perhaps it’s morbid, but like change and taxes, death is one of the few certainties in life. When you look at your existence through that lens, before a crisis forces you to do so, it can be extremely powerful in helping to organize your thoughts and actions in a way nothing else can.

When we can accept it, our own mortality, or that of those closest to us, really puts things in perspective: what is it that we value, what and who do we hold dear, what is real and meaningful for us?  And when you look back on your life, how do you want to have used your time and energy while you were here?  What is the mark that you want to leave on the world? How do you want people to remember you when you are gone?

It reminds us that when all the external stuff falls away – what’s left?  You can’t take that designer bag, fancy car or impressive job title.  It cuts to the core and brings us to the one essential thing that every human being desires: to love and to be loved in return.

At the end of the day all you have is the impact of the life you led, mostly found in the close connections with others and memories you’ve shared.  We may never know the affect we’ve had on strangers, and family dynamics can of course be complicated, but remember, you choose your friends, and true friends who have been a part of your journey are precious; they are there regardless of too much time having passed or petty misunderstandings.

A crisis will always give us clarity as to what’s important and what we can offer one another.  If you let it, all that comes to the surface is love and compassion.  And to be there for someone, to have the opportunity to be a healing presence in whatever form that may take, is a gift for both the giver and receiver.

As we approach this significant week in two of the world’s major religions as well as embrace the energy of Spring, think about which parts of yourself can bite the dust, giving way for the rebirth of and deeper commitment to honor and cherish your relationship with yourself and the healthy ones you have with others, to cultivate new connections that will enrich your journey, and to reaffirm your relationship to life itself.

Not sure what you would want to hear when you go or simply want to develop more fully all that you can’t leave behind?  Give me a buzz and I’ll help you Walk On, and be able to feel good about it all, here and now.

P.S. For related thoughts on this topic, check out my posts: The Passion of Passover, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and Joni Mitchell Never Lies

P.P.S. In case you didn’t see it last week, I was featured in an article What I Learned Working with a Career Coach now on Forbes.com!