I recently connected with Garrett Gunderson, the transformational author of Killing Sacred Cows. And, he called me this morning to tell me that his radio guest cancelled and asked me to fill in.

I figured that my blog post was about “Taking Chances” so I better walk my talk and I said yes! So, tune into KTALK 630AM here in Salt Lake City at 1pm today for some intriguing conversation about money courage.

“Got a little light that I hide in my pocket for rainy days” is the first line in my song SHINE. Why did I hide my light the first place? No matter what words I use, it ultimately comes down to one thing… fear (but only every time). But fear of what? Fear of getting hurt? But wait a minute… I put a lot of energy into pretending I’m fearless!

These past few weeks I realized that I was no longer hiding my light – instead I was using my bright shiny light to try to hide my fears from the world… especially from myself. It turns out that I have been playing small, really small – playing to keep my heart safe – playing to not get hurt. The danger is that there is no such thing as safety, it’s a lie to my Soul, love can only be given and cannot be controlled (I started writing a song).

When I live my life from the context of “trying to not get hurt,” I stop taking chances. What’s so scary about taking chances? Fear of losing what I have (the known) or fear of not getting what I want. When I don’t get my own way do I pull a temper tantrum, ration my love and withdraw from the very thing I really want?

Whenever I stop sharing my gifts and focus on what I want or can get, I realize that my ego (my little self) is running my life and not my truest Self (my biggest Self). I’ve found that wanting to know the outcome right now is really just a fear of not getting what my personality/ego thinks it wants. When I lose my mind and really listen to my heart and Soul, I start to relax into the love that I already am – I call this heaven on Earth. Now who I am Being is someone giving my gifts… fearlessly.

The trouble in relationships is that as soon as I think I know something like “he is the right one for me” my mind/ego goes to work to prove that it is right. In this “knowing,” I create a whole new context/illusion for my life where I selectively choose to see what matches my illusion and exclude what does not. This is where expectations are born, and expectations are toxic, they are premeditated resentments. Then I choose to be hurt because he did not live up to my illusion, then the ego starts a new mission to prove that he is wrong. No possibility here.

True freedom and love is found in possibility, being willing to not know (because in reality we don’t anyway). Courage is the passport to the land of new possibilities which is where I experience true love; a love beyond belief, reason and proof. This is where I connect authentically heart to heart in the present moment, which in reality is the only moment we ever get. It takes courage to let go of the illusion of control – until I accept that life turns out how life turns out, but only always.

The secret to amazing relationships is loving what is, right now and staying out of the future. The future is scary because it is a projection of the mind, it’s not real, and we cannot do anything about it because it does not exist. We can only deal with real problems in the present moment in reality. Would you rather hold on to your fears or surrender and allow the love that you already are to appear?

What’s the worst that could happen if you take a chance? In reality, the worst that can happen is a thought – how you interpret what happens. I took a chance and now I’m a singer who is singing and not just talking about it (and for me, not singing is a lie to my soul).

What do you say to taking chances?

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In the past, I’ve bought lottery tickets thinking if I just could win even a million dollars I would finally have enough – I can finally do whatever I want and that means I can finally feel successful and be happy! (Or maybe that’s I’ll finally be enough). I was living my life backwards! This is called Have – Do – Be… Which means that I was waiting on the world, circumstances or even others to make me happy.

Creating financial well being is not a place that I can ever “get to”… it’s a place, a state of Being -where I come from. This huge shift takes a lot of courage to make because it makes me 100% responsible for my own happiness. This is called Be – Do – Have, which is actually great news! Because even though I can no longer blame anyone for my problems – it also means that no one can take my happiness away, because it’s who I am Being. Happiness is the way, not the destination.

So, who am I Being when I believe that “I need money?” I am someone that is worried, rushed, freaking out about an imagined future, or wallowing in guilt and regret of the past. I am anxious, frustrated, missing obvious solutions, stuck in my victim story of “not enough” (and the real reason this hurts so much is because it’s a lie to my Soul, I am not powerless). There is not enough is how I am viewing the world - lack is what I am looking for. Can you imagine how these thoughts are working for me?

What if I did not need money and I just starting making money instead? What if instead of fearing that I need money to survive – I turned it into a game of giving the most value to another in exchange for pieces of paper with numbers and pictures of dead guys  on it? In reality (not in an imaginary shameful past or in an anxious future) making money is matter of giving someone value (solving a problem) and they give you money for it. Now I am Being the fearless creator of my life in service and joy.

If you would like to find out how to get to the root cause of creating your financial well being and security, join Justin Rohner and me for the Mind 4 Money – How to Create Both More Money and Meaning. On Fearless Friday, Nov. 13th at The Downtown Sheraton from 1-5 pm registration starts at 12:30. Register at www.ThriveInUtah.com or at the door. Tickets are only $55 and if you don’t get at least 5 times your value we will refund it.

Join us and start Your revolution in personal finance and self reliance.

P.S. Come and find out why Justin’s coaching clients gladly pay him $50,000 a year to coach with him. This workshop will rock your financial mindset!

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“Only when we are no longer afraid, do we begin to live”
~Dorthy Thompson

Courage allows billows of life to push past our curtains of darkness and entice us with passions unexplored.  Courage untangles us from the twisted sheets of slumber and allows us to swirl on the dance floor of life.  Courage allows us to say goodbye to the sorrows of yesterday and hello to the sunlit skies of today. Courage allows us to plunge heart first into our own magnificence.

Saying yes to courage transforms our life from a battlefield into a playing field. The light of courage allows us to ‘play’ into the night without fear. Courage allows us to venture into our shadow and dispel the beliefs that have held us captive.  We are no longer at war with ourselves because we left our old stories back in the trenches. Life has awarded us a purple heart and stands as a reminder that our courage comes from within. 

Carl Jung reminds us the most courageous thing that we can do is to accept ourselves completely. The good, the bad and the ugly because we realize the bad and the ugly are only an illusion.  We so often reserve the title of courage to the heroics of a soldier, a firefighter or someone who defends and saves another.   But real courage is becoming the hero of our own life and stepping into our role as a creator. As a creator we no longer allow fear to color our choices because courage is our paintbrush. The time is now.  Courage is calling our name.  Will we answer the call or will we put it off, once again, until tomorrow?  

I have found that one person’s fear is another’s fun.  My friend, Julie, loves to sing Karaoke. I on the other hand do not have a trained signing voice and the thought of intentionally singing into a microphone in front of a group of strangers has never been my idea of fun.  In fact I would tremble at the thought. Why would I place myself in a situation where I could look foolish, be made fun of and possibly be laughed at? But because of my overriding desire to be the courageous creator of my life, I knew it was something I had to do.  It was time for me to conquer the fear of looking foolish.  Last week, mic in hand, I boldly sang These Boots Were Made For Walking.  Singing karaoke took courage for me and required me to take bold action.  For others karaoke doesn’t require any courage at all. Since our fears are nothing but our stories, it doesn’t help us to compare ourselves to others.  We must conquer our own fears and shine our own light.

(My shining moment ~ watch out Barbara Streisand!)

One of my favorite poems is by Matthew Arnold, Self- Dependence about a sailor who is ready to give up his stories and desires an expansive existence. He cries out to the heavens and the heavens counsel him to stop looking around and pining to be someone else. The heavens explain to the weary sailor why the stars and the waters are so vast.

“Bounded by themselves, and unregardful
In what state God’s other works may be,
In their own tasks all their powers pouring,
These attain the mighty life you see.”

It is time to pour our power into our own tasks and create the mighty life we desire.  It is time to stop comparing and wondering why we weren’t born with another’s beauty or intelligence.   It takes courage to be boldly, fully and fabulously who we really are.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
- Anais Nin

Courage is expansive; it broadens our horizons and opens us to the land of limitless possibilities.

One of my courageous mantras is: Oh yes I am! Oh yes I can! For instance if I hear myself saying, “I’m not a public speaker.”  I recite Oh yes I am! Oh yes I can!  Or I’m not radiantly confident, “Oh yes I am, Oh yes I can!  I’m not a Karaoke singer…O.K. maybe I’m not, my heart is not drawn towards Karaoke but my heart is attracted to the courage it takes to sing it.  And who knows one day I might really desire to fully step into my Karaoke diva. 

Courage is a soul quality.  The Nike commercial below about courage always gives me goose bumps because it reminds me that everything I need is already inside of me.  Enjoy!

And until we meet again…Love Boldly ~ Live Boldly ~ Act Boldly

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Elese Coit with New Mindset Coaching hosts a radio show called “A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything” and she has invited me to be a guest on her show on Friday, August 28th at 10:00am Pacific time. Elese is amazing and one of the most dynamic women in business that I know. She formally is a “Certified Integrative Coach” – however to engage in a conversation with Elese is to experience transformation… something a mere certification cannot do.  Elese is a powerful example of someone that creates tremendous value by who she “shows up as” for her clients.

Please join us if this sounds interesting to you…

A NEW WAY TO HANDLE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING 

August 28, join host Elese Coit with very special guest Julie Blake for The Soulful Entrepreneur

Is your project or business really developing in the ‘soulful’ way you intended?   Are you madly marketing or are you making a difference in the world? Julie Blake knows three things are the key to unlocking your life and business:  boldly asking, getting real and total authenticity.  Julie and Elese will talk about how Julie helps others create real and meaningful success – and how YOU CAN TOO.  We’ll be talking about the kind of success that we all want, the kind that doesn’t compromise our core values and selves.

To listen Friday 10 am Pacific go to http://www.contacttalkradio.com/hosts/elesecoit.html and click LISTEN NOW. 
Dial in live on 1 877 230 3062 to be part of the show.
Find out more about host Elese Coit at www.newmindsetcoaching.com
Find out more about guest Julie Blake at www.gotcourage.com

This is going to be an unbelievable show! Elese is currently in Byron Katie’s 9-day School and I am attending Insight Seminars II in a few days! You may want to have your sunglasses close by for this broadcast.

If you are ready to shift from struggle to success we will reveal the core causes of how to take the leap! We’ll be talking about how to own your value, fearlessly charge what you are worth and create the courage to ASK for it!

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I started my first business in 1992, and since then I’ve created some great success and made some amazing mistakes catastrophes.  Then, somehow I forgot about my success but had no trouble vividly remembered my apparent “failures.” For awhile I even bought into the whole “security and comfort” lullaby… the advertised glamour of retiring and being free to do nothing with my life, taking no risks and for heaven sakes not venturing beyond my comfort zone to help another.

Licking my wounds – I threw a little pity party for myself and imagined how selfish I was to go chasing my foolish dreams and how much my family had suffered because of it. Poor me. I even wondered if maybe I should get a “real job?” gasp! 

Like an artist that is born knowing they must paint or create music – I believe that entrepreneurs are born to give birth to their ideas. We hear a call from our Soul to play a bigger game, to make a bigger difference and attempting to ignore this call is like locking ourselves up in prison… of course we do get maximum security.

The moment that my business became truly successful was when I realized that the only possible problem with my business was my thinking. I then started working with a master coach, Steve Chandler (www.SteveChandler.com). I realized that because I was a solopreneur I did not have anyone to bounce my ideas off of and I fell in love with my ideas and my ideas could do no wrong. Steve coached me into reality. I learned to ask new questions and how to shift my mind to create my business from the inside out instead of reacting to life outside of me.

It was so freeing to realize that my thinking was the real source my problems. Because it left me 100% empowered to be the solution. If my thinking was the problem… then it was also the solution! Even though I have little control over what happens in life, I have complete control over how I respond and create with whatever life throws at me.

The most courageous risk I’ve ever taken as a solopreneur was to ASK for help, to start working with a coach. Steve Chandler pulled my Soul out of the lost and found and he dusted me off and reminded me that I am here to shine. In my heart I always knew that I was here to help many others transform their lives. The gap between my inner knowing and my outer reality created a living hell for me. Steve’s coaching, books, audio CDs and Club Fearless were and still are a MAJOR part of how I continue to transform who I am Being – so that who I am Being creates the possibility for transformation in others. I now work with several coaches… I will always work with coaches.

Would you like to stop marketing and start making a bigger difference instead?

If you would like to know how to create more clients by serving instead of selling… read and apply the profound wisdom in “How to Get Clients” eBook by Steve Chandler. It’s just one click away compliments of Steve… https://www.box.net/shared/e4ufrvccjt

I invite you to email me to share the results you create or with questions Julie@GotCourage.com I’d love to hear from you!

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Have you ever stopped to think about the patterns in relationship with your kids (or anyone for that matter?) Well, awhile ago I realized how much fun I was not being with my son Josh every time we got in the car to go somewhere. It was a repeat drama of “Put your seatbelt on.” One day I started to wonder what I must sound like to Josh. Thoughts of “Blah, blah, blah, blah” and then I thought of the Charlie Brown cartoon and how the parents always sounded like a muffled “whaumpha, whaumpha, whaumpha.” 

This is when I started to take myself and life much less seriously and I started to imagine what life was life for my delightful 7-year-old son that had an unbridled imagination. So, instead of trying to prove that I was wiser, bigger and the boss of him – I thought, hummm… “Why not join him in his world?” I mean, really, he is never stressed out, he wakes up each morning looking for something to look forward to… and any happy thought would do. Seriously, my good friend Jean Chu once said to me “Joshua is calmer than you” – he was 3 years old at the time and it was quite true.

So I joined Josh in his imagination and asked “How can I make it more fun and more like a game to inspire Josh to put his seatbelt on?” I dusted off my imagination and came up with a very clever strategy, that I must say still works like a charm! It’s fun and all of Josh’s friends and his cousins all love to play along and I have not spoken the words “Put your seatbelt on, now!” since. It’s revealed in the “How to Get Your Kids to Wear a Seatbelt – 3 Somewhat Clever Strategies video below…

How to Get Your Kid to Wear a Seatbelt – 3 Somewhat Clever Strategies

Please join the conversation! Rate the video, share tips that have worked for you, we’d love to hear from you! Or, even try it and share your results!

Live and Play with Passion!

~Julie

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What exactly does it mean to be fearless? Does it mean you will never feel afraid again?

For me, it means that I am functioning in reality and not in my imagined limitations and obstacles. It means that I have discovered how the mind works and I no longer believe my thoughts and allow them to run my life. Because I know that the worst thing that can happen to me is a thought, my mind is free.

Being fearless does not mean that I will never feel fear again, it means that if a stressful or fearful thought comes up, I know how to question it and get in reality where I can take an action. Because I know that when I believe my fearful thoughts it throws me into the depths of worry… the land of no productivity… Vicitimville.

“Reality is always kinder than the stories we make up about it.”
~Byron Katie www.TheWork.com

In April 2007, I attended Katie’s 9-day School in L.A. and I discovered that I had been creating my own living hell my entire life. And through this process of inquiry called “The Work” at her school, I found heaven on Earth… and the funny thing was it was always there – I had just imagined that it wasn’t… I was someone believing their thoughts.

Got Courage.com was created to tell my story and show you the way out, the way I ended my own suffering. What I am offering is a glimpse into the process of how I actually unraveled my stressed out mind and show you that if I can do this, anyone can. If you are searching for true freedom and ready to unleash the real you and live your life with passion and love, please subscribe to this blog and I’ll share my journey with you. Thank you!

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