It is also not about becoming paranoid if you have a negative thought. (For the record, negative and positive are relative terms of judgment). The idea of positive thinking is not new, as there were many books written about it even decades ago.

It is very important to realize though that your thoughts do absolutely contribute to the “reality” that you experience and this is now science. If this still sounds like “woo-woo” to you, I have to tell you that you simply don’t know what you don’t know.  In business and life, if you can make your life easier and more enjoyable and on purpose, why not learn how to do so? One of the main missing ingredients though is the energy of feelings.

You see feelings carry far more magnetic and electrical energy than thought alone. It acts as the glue that wires thought into the body’s nervous system and thus, cellular memory. Once we wire our brain, either with strong emotional response or through repetition, it goes into the subconscious mind. This is when you go on autopilot as far as the action or behavior that is wired is concerned.

This is fine if you like the response and it serves to help you experience your hearts desire. If you have all of the love, joy, peace and abundance you desire great – though we all know that circumstances in business and life are constantly changing.

So if your current situation is not expanding you to your next level of purposeful evolution, you may want to consider the following keys as you consciously intend to use the Law of Attraction to affect change. This list is not intended to be inclusive; I just want to point out 3 important yet common mistakes that are made when attempting to consciously shift in areas of your business or personal life.

Three reasons why positive affirmations generally do not work:

1. As I mentioned, it’s been reported that the magnetic energy of feelings are 5,000 times greater than thought alone. We store our memories at a cellular level based on PERCEPTION. If your judgment or perception is based in shame, rage, guilt, self-loathing etc, and years ago you unwittingly wired these feelings into your body, simply trying to stuff positive thoughts on top of these hardwired thoughts/feelings, which now form your belief, is doomed to fail. You need to learn tools and process to dump this old energy out of your body AND learn the wisdom you need to evolve and grow in doing so when you can. Then new affirmations can be wired into the brain easier (when emotionalized, that is).

2. Most people are not really clear about what they DO want. They can tell you in a heartbeat what they don’t want. The brain/mind thinks in pictures or images. The more clarity you have of the end result, the easier it is for your brain to help you to find it. Of course, again, the more passion you have and expectation that you WILL receive it, the more likely your brain will zero in on evidence in your environment that aligns with your desire. You will also start to match energetically with the outcome. Everything is energy – again, this is now Quantum Physics. The Law of Attraction is based on energy. By the way, thought and feelings are energetic also; remember what I said in number one above?

3. Many people are not really enthusiastic about what they think they want. I say “think” because sometimes we are just so influenced by what others do or have that we think that we “ought” to do, be or have certain things. Also, we do have an “Authentic Self” that just may not align with our ego’s version of what we think we want, in which case, you will struggle to get the ego’s wish list filled. The key here is to take the time to go within and listen to your own intuition and come from your place of authentic desires and talents. This is more fulfilling anyway.

My business is a vehicle for me to express my unique purpose, gifts and talents. If I co-create what I “think” I should, instead of what is authentic to me, I am not very likely to be content. This is one reason why some people push and become successful, yet feel stressed and dissatisfied.

Also, when you take the time to deal with those blinds spots that keep you feeling small and insecure, you are more likely to create more wealth, health and happy relationships. Learn how to make friends with change and emotions, and I can tell you, that the empowerment, peace and prosperity attracted, or shall I say manifested, (actually that is revealed from within you – it’s there already) is more than worth the effort. What do you think?

Core confidence comes from the inside out as does empowerment. Empower is just that, power coming from within. When I refer to core, I’m referring to the Authentic Self AND I see an acronym within the word.

C is for Courage, O is for Open-mind, R is for Reflection and E is for Enthusiasm. Within the word enthusiasm is “theos” which refers to God/Spirit and “en” is “in”/within.

So, in order to be truly empowered, your confidence and sense of self-esteem has to start from the inside out. As long as you look outside of yourself for security, love and self-esteem you are in trouble. Why do we allow others to tell us who we are and what we can do?

It’s primarily because we don’t trust ourselves. We’ve forgotten how to listen to our own intuition and guidance from spirit. We don’t “trust our gut”. This tends to come from years of not believe aware of how e wire our beliefs and just giving away our power out of fear of rejection. While rejection is particularly scary for children, and I do understand why, as grown adult women, we can make a decision and then set an intention to learn how to let go of the old stories that are wired into our own brain, nervous system and hence body.

Yes, this does require courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. FEAR here as referred to is Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality – it’s psychological in nature. When I first started this journey, I had to first open my mind to new ideas. Trying to get a new result using the same information and doing things the same way really is a form of “insanity”.

I had to reflect on the thoughts feelings and emotions and stop judging them and running away. There is much wisdom to be gained from reframing our stories.   I learned how to make friends with them and “update” my belief system.

Lastly, instead of looking for transient artificial happiness “out there” somewhere, I realized that as I dropped the old stories that my body felt different, my perception of self and others changed, and I started feeling natural joy within – and it was more often than not independent of what was going on around me.

This is true enthusiasm. It comes from within, from the Authentic, spirit self. You see you do not need to seek the Light outside of you; the Light is already within you. Our behaviors and attitudes are not the same as who/what we are. They are just a reflection of what we believe. In fact, at your core, you are already “ok” right now – just because you breathe. What do you think?

Empowerment and confidence is about choice. It’s about awareness at it’s foundation as if you are not aware that you have choice, you will not exercise your will and your will will become flabby.

While I think that we have natural gifts and talents and that we have a purpose that is unique to us, I believe that whether or not you live out your purpose or just your fate (meaning weaknesses, strengths, environmental and genetic tendencies) will be determined by how clear you are and how much courage you have. Courage and confidence does not mean you have no fear.

Fear is ubiquitous and is just a part of the human game. What will determine if you can feel the fearful feelings and proceed forward anyway is based upon how awake and aware you are about the options that you have. Do you believe you are “only human” or are you also tapping into your intuition and spiritual nature?

If not, you are weakening yourself and doing yourself a disservice. Are you are of how to consciously operate your own brain and mind? Or is it set on the default button of FEAR: Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality? Either way, there is no judgment from me, I don’t think it’s “good or bad”.

The question is, do you want to live an abundant whole life or do you want to continue to play the role of the hapless victim and miss out on the incredible experience that you could have if you would choose to stop listening to the outer voices that keep you stuck, struggle and playing small.

You too can begin to Empower UP and Play Big when you learn how to get in touch with your CORE confidence from the Authentic YOU and learn how to operate the greatest “supercomputer” on the planet – your own brain and mind. Who do you think you are? It’s time to “Breakthrough to the Real YOU”! What do you think?

Empowerment involves awareness. Becoming aware of how to consciously operate the greatest “supercomputer” on the planet is very important, more now than ever. Guard your focus, because what you focus on expands and if you want an abundant, whole life, focus on what you want and learn how to get excited and expect this.  I use to think that the way I saw life was “just the way it is”.  Actually, perception, HOW we see the facts that show up in our lives, or what we think we can have or not is relative.  It’s relative to what we believe about ourselves and the way “life is”.  I have lived in the “hostile” universe model and I am now living in the “friendly” universe model.  As Einstein said:

“The most important decision you will ever make is whether you live in a friendly or hostile universe”

Yes, you get to decide.  It depends on how you see it.  Let me tell you, friendly is much better and peaceful.  No, I can’t control everything, and I no longer try, when I stay aware and present (happening more and more these days, yeah!).  I do what I can do, feel good, get clear as I can, and release it to the Universe to take care of the details.  This is making for an adventurous life instead of a life full of fear, resistance and struggle.  You interested?  Come join me.

This can actually be a trap, because since we are so conditioned to reject ourselves, especially women, if we refuse to look at our feelings honestly we will never be able to release the stories about our self-image that are holding us back.

They are only stories, as there is really nothing “wrong” with you. What you think and what you do, is not the same as WHO you ARE. At our core, our Authentic Self is “powerful beyond measure”. Unfortunately, if we don’t peel away the “cataracts of the soul” as I like to call them, these stories, we will stay blinded to our true potential and we will tend to continue to believe that we can’t be as successful as we could be.

I am now free of the identity story that “something is wrong with me” or that I am not “good enough”. I suffered through life unnecessarily believing this for most of my adult life. Now that I’m free of it, it is much easier for me to change, take risks and have the confidence to throw off the opinions of others – just think about it a moment.

As women, we are bombarded with comparison of ourselves to other’s standard very early in our childhood and it only gets worse as adults. The media is constantly telling you to change something about yourself and it profits greatly off of our insecurities. Men of course, are not conditioned in these ways to reject themselves.

Just notice the ratio of the references to the image or self-esteem of men compared to women as it relates to the need to “improve” something and you will see implied deficiencies in women far, far exceed those made for men. What is self-image and why does it matter in business? We cannot rise above our self-image and stay there in peace.

Self-image is just that; it’s the way you see yourself. In the days that I had inner turmoil around worth, being enough etc, though I used a lot of will power and determination to achieve my goals, I tended toward self-sabotage or stress in attempting to maintain my station. If you are not obsessed like I was with proving I was good enough, chances are, you will not be able to overcome your inner self-image in the first place.

I find that what defines self-image is so often misunderstood, and there seems to be outright ignorance around why it is so important to life success.

Here are a few facts and myths about self-image that can be related to business success. The facts about low self-image are:

1. Contributes big time to worry about what others think and say about you
2. A MAJOR contributor to stress, and this has been studied in science
3. The reason why many, many women do not speak their truth or speak up
4. A cause of poor or dysfunctional relationships, fear of networking
5. A contributing factor in fear of risk taking or expanding business growth

Here are some myths about self-image:

1. Physically beautiful women always have high self-image
2. Intellectually advanced women by default have healthy self-image
3. Having lots of education and degrees eliminates self-image issues
4. All wealthy women/people have high self-image
5. Arrogant people have a high self-image or they would not be arrogant and rude (this is one of the biggest myths going on out there – just the opposite is true)

This list is not complete. There are other facts and myths as well. The point I am making is that until you understand what the symptoms of low self-image are, you will be inclined to think that “it’s just the way I am or the way life is”.

Life is a mirror to what you believe at a subconscious level and until you recognize this, you may continue to live in unnecessary struggle and emotional pain. Awareness is power. I know from experience that most of the myths are false, as I lived them. My self-image was so low I could not even fake arrogance.

I had an “I am not good enough” complex that was generally pretty obvious if I even dared to let you get close enough to figure it out. Truth really does set one free, free from the nonsensical stories that we believe to be true, yet are only one way of seeing life. If you believe it then it’s true for you. I believe what I believe – until I change my mind.

You have the ability and the right to change your mind. This is the ONLY way you will grow and expand. Whatever you have in your life is there by right of your consciousness, your awareness. Want more abundance and peace in your life? Be it unto you, as you truly believe.

We will become more successful as women entrepreneurs when we get to the heart of the matter and let go of the myths and deal with, without judgment the facts that we see before us in our lives. And here is the good news. You already have “got the Power”. You’ve just been looking for it in all the wrong places – hint: look within you. What do you think?

Empowerment is just that – power within, coming from the inside out. This blog post is introducing my new video series, “BreakThrough to the Real YOU”. Do you know that there is an area in the brain known as the area of “autobiographical memory”? It is the STORY of who you think you are. When I wrote my book, “Empower Up and Play Big: Winning at Life from the Inside Out”, I called it the “Mental Me”. You can also call it “ego”.

Ego is just your personality and even in the word personality is the word “persona” which means, “mask”. Ego is not “bad”, in fact you need it to play the roles in life that you play, and unless you plan on eliminating this area of your brain via a stroke or something, you WILL have an ego to manage. The ego serves an important role.

You just need to understand that it is not the Real YOU and that these stories that form the ego often need to be updated and rewritten as they often disempowered you. I used to think of myself in very negative terms; notice I said THINK of myself. This is what forms our self-image. And the cool part is that we are really making it all up.

If it is keeping you small, then learn how to Self-correct it. I say “Self” in that the True You, the Authentic Self is the real you anyway. I call it the “Magnificent Me”. In Quantum Physics it is called the “Observer” or “Consciousness”. This is where your life force power comes from. When you make the time to listen to your intuition and nurture this spirit self, your essence, you can get in touch with your unique soul “blueprint” so to speak so that you can live the life you came here to live.

Not a life that is weak, fearful and disempowered, but the life you were meant to live – one that is creative, adventurous and fun. Aren’t you tired of struggle and feeling insecure? Comparing yourself to everybody and everything around you? This is no way to live.

I think all of this change going on in the world is a good thing. It just gives us all more incentive to stop playing small and to breakthrough the Mental Me stories, or “Cataracts of the Soul” and live our lives at a more empowered level. What do you think?

It’s like the old Flip Wilson comedian who use to say “The devil made me do it” (by the way, devil is “lived” spelled backwards which is the way we often think about money in the first place). Money is often at the root of marital problems, particularly when there’s a shortage of it, social status and quality of healthcare and lifestyle.

People are blatantly in a love-hate relationship with it and to the degree that you are unaware of your unconscious beliefs about money; you can sabotage your business and relationships success as well as run your health into the ground. The idea that money is “bad” is one reason why many women entrepreneurs struggle with achieving the level of business success they desire, yet they really want to have more money to provide for their families and yes, go shopping without getting into debt. Why is this? How did money get blamed for what we choose to do with it?

Notice the keyword here: choice. The catch is, to the degree that you are aware or not is the degree to which you can manage money in a healthy, abundant manner. Money cannot tell you what to do with it, and it cannot “make” you do anything. The issue is that we project our values and beliefs onto it and then use it accordingly. If we believe we are “good people” and money is “bad”, then we will tend to either struggle to attract it, or lose it almost as fast as we receive it.

If we think we are unworthy and that only “lucky” or “good people” have abundance, then we again, will manage to keep money out of our lives. Then there are the “but what will they think about me if I have it” stories. These are linked to our perceptions that others will reject us if we have more than they do. What about power? We are taught that money is power, yet those who secretly feel internally insecure are often the most likely to hide behind their money or strive to maintain “power over” others with their money.

So, money makes them do this, right? I say “wrong”.

Money is energy and it is a tell-tell indicator of the consciousness of the person controlling it. It is actually a type of teacher in that it shows you what you unconsciously believe about your personal power, worth and ability to interact with others in integrity. It’s energy in that it solves or creates problems, again based on the mission it was sent on.

And what I have experienced is, the healthier my self-image became and the more I actually dealt with my unconscious limiting beliefs about money, the more generous I became and the more money I have. Money is only one aspect of living the abundant, whole life. It makes life easier when you have a consciousness based in gratitude, spirit and the awareness of the unity of life.

We can do great things or destructive things, we can provide employment or we can go out of business – all based on how we perceive money. An abundant whole life is going to be contingent on having the energy, the money, to cover whatever the outflow or expenses are. How much is enough? When you are coming from a place of love and abundance, you are far less likely to fall to greed and you can recognize that there is more than enough to meet your heart’s desire.

The Mirror of Life will reflect to you your hidden money relationship. Money is the bystander that is standing on ready to reveal to you where you need to expand the vision for your life – if you would only be willing to perceive it! What do you think?

You could also call it career or whatever suits you. Just as the Universe continues to evolve and expand, so do we as we are a part of our grand universe. We can either focus on the figment of our imagination known as our past or we can embrace the inevitable change that we are faced with now. Why do I say “inevitable”?

If it has shown up, then it is already here – so it has happened. We suffer when we resist what “is” or refuse to change our perception about these “facts”. Remember, your reality is based on your perception. If you see the glass half full or half empty – you are right!

I have come to make friends with change. Sure there is some change that I only accept and then there is some change that I am outright enthusiastic about. At the very least, my goal is to stay present to what is and while I may have preferences, I do my best not to get attached to having to have things just a certain way or trying to micromanage my world.

This is what surrender is; it does not mean that you have no preference and just take what is handed to you. It just means that you in this moment weigh your options and make a conscious choice in the present moment to shift in your inspired direction. Then, whatever happens, you notice it, and adjust. Inner peace for me is rooted in my awareness that there is more to life than meets the eye.

From a practical point of view, I always thought that I would grow up to meet interesting people, travel the world and be a lifelong learner. Ironically, as I became a young adult and chose the “safe” and socially acceptable path as the physician, little did I know that ultimately it would start to evolve into a career that boxed me in to a limited way of being.

While I enjoyed it very much overall, ultimately, I found myself not growing very much as between being crazy busy and loaded with responsibility, I also was only meeting other ophthalmologists or physicians in my small little niche. My only reprieve was when I went to my husband’s business dinners. Well, ultimately, as my guidance led me on, I listened and followed.

Was it scary? Some days it was. Am I glad I sold my practice and moved on? Yes.

As I write this I am sitting in the airport, leaving a business group meeting that I am currently a part of. Within this group, I have met a former Princeton University professor who is now doing interesting things online, another physician who now empowers middle-aged women on mind, body spirit issues, a clinical psychologist who is starting her own empowerment education institute, a corporate trainer (who is also an actress) who is now building her coaching practice to help parents get their children into acting who is glamorous and fun, and this is only a small list of the many interesting people I’ve met in the past six months.

None of us were particularly Internet savvy and some of us had no professional experience in our new arenas that we could claim when we first took the leap. Yet, since I had a vision, and learned to trust my own inner voice, I am now feeling that I am continuing the journey toward my destiny instead of staying stuck in my “fate”.

Either way is not so much as wrong or right. It’s just that I am enjoying expanding the vision for my life and regardless of where it takes me, I am happy to continue to live with passion and growing personal power, inner peace and life experience instead of hanging on to a career that I had outgrown. Life is a series of choices not chances; if I were to “fall down” I’ll just get back up.

To me, this is better that staying stuck like a deer in the headlight and dreading another day. While this was not my mindset, I’m glad that I had the courage to move on instead of waiting until I did resent living in a world that I needed to expand beyond. Is career transition a place that you are finding yourself right now? Go ahead, take the plunge, the water is great, if you are willing to go with the flow and grow more into your true potential. What do you think?

I heard someone I know say over the weekend how much she dreads Mondays because she hates her job and her boss. This is no way to live. So why is it such a common problem? At the core of the matter is mindset. We don’t know what we even want as our soul’s desire is often buried under a ton of “shoulds”.

Do you know what you really want? Have you even asked yourself this question? I truly understand where this fear comes from as I have had to muster up lots of courage over the years to arrive to where I am in life and that is still constantly changing. My secret?

I felt the fear and moved on through it, while at the same time dealing with the stories that were creating the feelings in the first place. I’ve learned to make friends with change and feelings. I also discovered that there is a little known secret to how thoughts, feelings and emotions wire our brains and our nervous system.

Yes, we are “spiritual beings” having a human experience, yet if you don’t understand the practical implications of how to manage the greatest “supercomputer” on the planet – your own brain and mind – your spiritual power cannot manifest into form – at least not the form you want.

You have a body/mind for a reason and your spirit, your Authentic Self, must express itself via this outward body form. The unfortunate thing is that if you wire your brain with faulty information that disempowers you, your brain does not stop you. Your brain is going to go after what you focus on and when it becomes your belief, your “reality” will just keep showing up!

Your reality is really what you have trained your perceptual system to believe is true for you by holding your thoughts and feelings onto ways of thinking long enough, or with enough emotion that it gets wired into your body at a cellular level. This is science, not woo-woo. We just don’t know what we don’t know and until we change this, we will keep getting whatever we’ve been getting – for better or for worse, again the brain does not judge. So you want to be an entrepreneur? Here are 3 ideas to consider:

1. Get clear about what you want – Do you have a vision? I coach my clients on how to get clear, and go deeper and eliminate “cataracts of the soul” that block their vision for business and relationship success, and then help to point their missile-like seeking brains in the right direction.

2. Stop putting yourself down – Self-doubt and negative self-talk is deadly to career transition. Did you know that research shows that negative self-talk is a major cause of stress and stress is even linked with brain cell damage and cancer? You won’t have confidence doing this, yet we have been conditioned to think that we keep ourselves “humble” this way. This is not even what humility is from my point of view. You can’t get out your box playing small.

3. Learn how to shift your energy and drop the drama so that you can attract more of what you want – I can tell you that it takes more than just rolling up your sleeves and collecting information on the Internet to be successful. The question is, who are you attracting, is the information appropriate for our day, and can you take action? Knowledge is not power; application of cutting-edge “right” information and good relationship skills pave the way to success. You can accomplish more easier as you learn how to shift your energy to a higher way of being.

These are 3 ideas to consider and if you look carefully, they are ultimately related to “how” you see yourself in relationship to life and others. It is also important to note that simply working hard will not do it. In fact, I’m learning by experience more and more that my mindset and energy is the golden key to allowing my Authentic Light and power come through.

Sure this is a process, yet it moves as fast as your clarity and internal shifting moves, and this is based more on intention and listening to your own inner guidance than anything else. Are you listening? The power has always been within, yet with the challenges we are faced with today, it is imperative that we learn how to tap into our inner resources, as business as usual is no longer working. Career transition can be an adventure and expand your personal power when you come from the inside out!

I tend to come from the core of what makes us stay healthy or get sick – mindset. Yes, even disease is related to how you think and feel. In fact, it can make or break you and holistic/integrative physicians already get this.

When we become aware of the role of thoughts, feelings and emotions, we become even more empowered to make healthier choices and actually apply them in the first place. Also, intuitively doesn’t it just make sense that if you think and feel joyful and connected to life, you will feel and be healthier than if you are full of worry, judgment and anger?

In our changing times this information that I am sharing is critical. We are generally conditioned to fear change and by the time the “survival” instinct kicks in, we can find ourselves overwhelmed with worry and anxiety if we are not aware of how to deal with our own brain and nervous system. We think that we have a “right to our opinion” and we certainly do.

The question to ask is, what would you rather be, “right” or healthy? In fact, does it really even matter as to what other people are doing in the details of their life and why waste time looking over the fence into the lives of others? Does our opinion about what others are wearing, doing (particularly if it is legal and not harming others) or how they live their lives, really matter?

Will our opinion change them? Does complaining, worrying or gossiping really create the abundant, prosperous life that you desire? Actually, what I know for sure is that our opinions can be hazardous to not only our body’s health; if left unchecked, they can drain our entire lives. On the other hand, becoming consciously aware of the power of what we think and feel to attract the health and wealth we seek is the most economical and quickest way to achieve it, and this is science, not woo-woo.

Here is a powerful point: Every thought you have has a type of quality of feeling associated with it. When you send out negative opinions with negative feelings about others out into the universe, you ALWAYS feel it in your own body first. This should give new meaning to the ancient proverb: “Do unto to others as you would have others to do unto you”.

You see, what we send out to others in terms of what we think and feel, has to run through our own body’s energy system first. Check how you feel the next time you have an opinion about someone, positive or negative. And, you don’t even have to say it; just think it and you will still feel the response.

Ask yourself the following 3 key questions to assess whether or not your opinions are harmful to your health:

1. Do they (your opinions) uplift and inspire you? Do they bring feelings of joy? If not, how do you feel? Your feelings are your guidance system as to what kind of energy you are currently running through your body.

2. Do they create the feeling of connection to, or separation from others? Love is connection and stimulates health; separation is fear-based and stimulates disease.

3. How do you feel in your body? Do an energy check – Angry? Irritated? Drained? Or Peaceful, Loving and Happy?

It really matters how you feel, as it is the first step in releasing chemicals in the body that lead to more or less health. Health is your natural state. Disease comes from mismanagement of our power as a rule. Remember this the next time you think that you “feel irritated” because someone dyes their hair a color that you disagree with. Is it really worth it?   Stay healthy by keeping your focus on your health (not disease), what you want and how you can learn how to live your version of the abundant, whole life.  What do you think?