Leadership Development Newsletter Week Eight

Happy Memorial Day!

I trust you enjoyed a beautiful weekend. I had the opportunity to sit with a great friend and enjoy a picnic by the pond and just be present in the moment. We just sat in silence and listened to the bullfrogs’ croak, the fish jumping, the birds calling, and the wind as it rustled the leaves in the tree.

As we sat there enjoying our time in nature listening to the sounds and being present, we came back inside and reflected. We spent the next several hours in deep reflection as we discussed things happening in both of our lives.

As we reflected, I continued to ponder this quote that my Dale Carnegie mentor and instructor shared with us in his Daily Thought:

If you spend your time chasing butterflies, they'll fly away. But if you spend your time making a beautiful garden the butterflies will come to you. When you focus on improving yourself, everything you want will come to you. We attract based on who we are, not what we want. Don't chase, attract! - Author Unknown

During my reflection time the next day, I asked myself the following questions:

• What am I chasing in my life right now?

• What do I want to attract in my life right now?

• What do I want to attract; however, I am choosing to chase after it?

• What steps do I need to take to attract what I would like more of in my life?

• What do I need to stop doing to attract what I want in my life?

• What changes do I need to make to routines or habits to begin the attraction process?

Over the last couple of months, some of my realizations were brutally honest and actually painful as I was beginning to reflect. I was realizing that I was falling into old patterns and habits that were not in my highest good as the person that I am becoming. I was falling back onto the person that I was.

Here are some brutally honest realizations:

• I have been chasing some dreams that others projected onto me.

• I have been allowing others to define my path rather than me defining my own path.

• I had to say no to some things that I had alrea dy said yes to.

Here are some things that I had to do in the last couple of months:

• I let go of my coach and the coaching program that I was a part of.

• I said no to writing a book that was not meant for me to write at this moment.

• I submitted a speech for feedback so that I could take an action to get on the stage for the Maxwell International Conference which is a dream of mine.

• By submitting this speech, I became clearer on the story that I am submitting to be an author in a book that is going to be published later this year. Again, I had written out that I would be a published author this year.

As you can see, when you take the time to get quiet and begin to reflect, you will discover the hard truths that you are allowing distractions to cover up at this moment. You begin to discover your truths.

I am very grateful for the gifts that I have received recently which helped me to undercover these truths. Has it been hard to speak it out loud? Absolutely. However, by speaking it out loud, I discovered that new opportunities replaced what I let go of.

As I was writing this newsletter, I received an email introducing me to a high-performance coach that I have been following and who has opened up some opportunities. I admire her coaching style. Is she the coach that I am looking for? I am not sure. However, I have time to work through the process as I currently have an amazing business coach that I am working with through a program to keep me moving forward. Curiosity definitely has me scheduling a time to learn more about the program that this coach has to offer.

May you have a blessed rest of your week!

Your Guide,

Michele Coy