A CANE ON ICE, IT'S TAX TIME

April 5, 2010

A CANE ON ICE, IT'S TAX TIME!

I attended my first Crappy Derby this year. (Remember the movie Grumpy Old Men). It exists. Trucks and building structures and people on a frozen lake; fishing.

There is a gentleman probably in his upper 80's with a cane pulling a sled with his "building and "fishing supplies" behind him. I am amazed that he is out here on the ice with a cane! I realize that he has probably been doing this annual Crappy Derby for longer than I have been alive. He was going to participate no matter what. It is what he had always done. I was reminded instantly of the power of our habits. They will put us in danger, have us ignore what is before us in plain sight. What price are we are willing to pay to do as we have always done?

Taxes, taxes, taxes, they are our friend.

Well...I enjoy getting a refund. A lump sum of money. But I used to always hate having to go through all of my receipts. I spent days going over my receipts, but the accountant always had other questions that would involve more days of looking things up. I had always been told if I tallied up my expenses and income monthly, it would make things a whole lot easier. But year after year I instead choose to do what I had always done. Tally, sort, and search through receipts and dread, dread, dread tax time.

I finally had to recognize that doing what I had always done was not working. I was tired enough of the dread to be willing to do what I had never done before. Tally my receipts monthly. Last year, it took hours to do my taxes, instead of days. This year it took less than 10 minutes!! I took note of what the accountant really needed last year and I set my spreadsheet up with those categories included. Practically, it took 10 minutes. But what was most important was that this tax season, spiritually, I had no feelings of dread!

If you have not done your taxes, please, please, please, please get them done. Aren't you tired of having to pay a price? Turn off the tv, turn on the radio, invite over a friend, pop some popcorn, get the box of receipts, pull out your check ledgers, pull up your credit card/bank statements online and start calculating. Get it over with! In many cases you are only keeping yourself from receiving your refund. If you owe and can't pay the whole amount, set up a payment plan. You must tackle practically what you have been avoiding. It is the only way for you to spiritually be free of the dread.

If you carve out time and make yourself a priority in the way that you make your job or your family a priority, it will be done. Put yourself on the calendar. If you are filing with your spouse, pull out your calendars together and mark the date and time to do it together. If it takes you five hours to do it, that will still be less than the 24 hour day after day process of living in dread from now until April 15th. Or if you think it is better to put in an extension, then you live with the dread from now until October! Please, get off of the ice.

Why are we willing to hold on to our habits that produce months and years of dread? Why are we willing to live our lives with a cane on ice?

PLAN OF ACTION:

Finish your taxes!

Allow yourself to be free of the dread.

Use the rest of the month to complete your spreadsheet. Collect and add your receipts monthly. Note what you or the accountant needed. Set up your categories accordingly. Tally your receipts, income, expenses, mileage, whatever pertains to you, each month. Use the month of April to get your systems in place for the rest of the year. (Refer to February's blog for a mock spreadsheet.)

I would love to know how you feel about tax time? Have you done them? Why or why not? What process do you use? What do you need spiritually and/or practically to get your taxes done?

PART I: SPIRITUALLY; PART II PRACTICALLY

March 1, 2010

PART I -SPIRITUALLY

My 1999 Gold Buick LeSabre is spacious and solid and provides everything I need. I drive over 300 to 400 miles per week and I just surpassed the 200,000 mile mark. Lately I've been feeling like it's a little shakier than normal. I check the tires and the oil constantly. Those are things I know how to do. I hesitate on taking it to a mechanic. Then riding home in a snow storm, suddenly the car powers down. The needle goes from 40 to 0 in an instant. I can no longer steer. I press the gas and nothing happens. I'm 45 minutes from home in the middle of no where. I put on my hazards. A few minutes later I turn the key. It starts up instantly, Practically speaking it was a smooth ride home. Spiritually, long and very shaky.

PART II - PRACTICALLY

Begin gathering your receipts so you can know specifically where you are spending your money. That will provide you with information you can see and trust. Only from there can you begin to make a plan. From what I have seen with my clients, in most cases they have more than they think they do. The item they have been holding off on, they have spent four times that amount on other things. In one case I had a client who wanted to get her own apartment. She was living with roommates and wanted to be on her own. When she began looking for an apartment, she looked for places that she didn't really love thinking that that was all she could afford. She hired me, expecting to be told why she needed to remain living with her roommates. After two sessions together, she discovered that she had been short changing herself. Once she completed her weekly assignments, she saw she had more than enough funds to go for the apartment that she REALLY wanted. Because she wasn't willing to face her finances, she kept herself in a habitual box depriving herself of what she wanted. Though financially, practically, she had all she needed. Spiritually, she was shaky, doing only what she knew to do; keep herself in lack.

PART I & II EMBRACE, LET GO, BE SPIRITUAL & PRACTICAL

Practically: Did you try any one of the Action Steps from February's blog? Spiritually, do you know why or why not?

Sometimes we're riding along smoothly. Other times we're riding along but we have a sense that there is something shaky underneath. Usually there are hints provided and eventually we're powered down. We can turn the key and as long as it keeps going, we pretend that everything is ok. We do what we've always done until we're stranded at the side of the road. Don't wait until then. Facing our finances provides the balance of the spiritual and practical. Reread February's blog. Complete the practical spectrum of this financial journey so your spirit can Embrace, Let Go & Be Free!

PLAN OF ACTION: See Above!

KNOWING

February 1, 2010

It's one month into the New Year. How are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions? Have you already forgotten what you said you wanted to accomplish this year?

New Year's day I found myself stranded in Erie Pennsylvania in two feet of snow. My financial plans wrecked, and my spirit in the toilet, I thought, "how can this be happening?" This was going to be the check where I was going to... But life as always had its own plans. We can make resolutions, we can set goals, but at the end of the day LIFE will do as it chooses. This is a given. However, when there is no system, plan or goals in place, all we find ourselves doing is reacting, reacting, and digging ourselves further in the hole.

We can not stop life from happening but we can help ourselves be more prepared. AVOIDANCE IS NOT PREPARATION. I know that is the system that most of us have in place to deal with our finances but it does not work. I know it is scary to face the bills that never seem to stop coming, but how much better will you feel knowing each month that on this date this amount will be due? How much better will you feel tallying up your credit card debt and seeing what the number is versus every month paying the minimum and never understanding why the balance just doesn't seem to move anywhere? The solution IS NOT to simply ignore it and charge something else. I was angry on New Year's because my "financial plan" was wrecked. But because I had had a system in place, for once I wasn't financially wrecked. I was just really angry and so sad because I was going to be ahead of the game - make an extra payment, put money in savings, get my sweetheart a gift...none of those plans were possible. But I also didn't spend to ease the pain. I knew based on the system that I had in place, to go on an emotional spending spree would only cause me pain for much longer than just the weekend. I didn't plan on being trapped in another town, but I was prepared for it.

If one of your New Year's resolutions involved you getting your financial picture together, I invite you to take action NOW. If it wasn't on your list but you have a pile of "avoided" mail, I invite you to add it to your resolutions list. NOW is the perfect beginning, You're at the beginning of the month very close to the start of the new year. One of my clients followed through on her New Year's resolution to continue her work with me. I won't ever forget the smile on her face this week when after we opened the "avoided" mail she discovered out of 6 envelopes, 4 were reminders or statements and two were bills but both less than $50. One was going to be due the next day and had she not opened it, it would have been late so by time she faced it, there would have been late fees. After the "avoided" pile was off of her shoulders she was freed up and ready to place her monthly bills on a one month calendar. In an instant she found herself automatically making a financial plan. The habitual anxiety she faced each month "not knowing" was immediately replaced with peace of mind. She could now "see" that she was in control of her finances, something that she had never in over 50 years of her life had ever experienced. There has not been one client in three in a half years that faced their finances who did not end up with a smile on their face. Not one, no matter their financial earnings and positions. The physical money is not the point. YOU ARE. Turn and face it.

KNOWING what you have will help you have some control instead of simply being the victim to your bills and having to react over and over, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If you have no idea where to begin, choose any one of the below items to get you started:

1. Gather your bills and write the company and amount due on a month to month calendar.

2. Keep your receipts, don't throw them away. (Ask for it, if its not given to you.) At the end of each day/week/month separate them into categories i.e. groceries, eating out, entertainment, etc. and get a monthly total for each category. At the end of the year you don't have to scramble to get your records together for the tax person. You don't have to wonder where your money went.

3. I have attached a modified version of my actual spreadsheet. Begin by using my categories: plug your numbers in and adjust/add/delete the categories that pertain to you.

4. If you try any of the 3 items listed above and you find yourself in tears and/or hyperventilating. Stop. Give me a call and I will help you take the first step (free of charge).

If I had known then what I know now, my financial situation would be so much better. But since I started facing it, I KNOW 3 years from now, as long as I keep facing it, it WILL be better. The sooner you start the better. Tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us. So commit to taking the action right now. Try it for one month and you will have a smile on your face. The greatest thing that can help our economy in the long run will be each of us individually taking responsibility and facing our financial situations truthfully and consistently.

We can't predict the future; life has its own plans, but we CAN know where we stand in the present. When we don't know where we stand now and we simply wait to react, we have no solid foundation on which to build our future.

Don't waste more time "thinking" about it. Just pick one of the four items above and begin taking action on it TODAY.

I'd love to hear your insights, questions and/or comments on what occurred for you one day, one week, one month after following one of these action items.

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.

It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

William Jennings Bryan, American Politician

HAPPY NEW YEAR

January 8, 2010

Thank you to all of you that have joined Core Conversations In Action. There haven't been many conversations amongst us, but I hope that at some point throughout the year, there was a word, phrase or quote here that provided you with what you may have needed.

New Year's Day I was stuck with a broken down vehicle in Erie, PA with two feet of snow. I was heading to Columbus, Ohio to retrieve the last of my grandmother's things. We never made it. Three days later, money and time lost, and we only made it ten minutes outside of the New York state line. Life is funny, that is for sure. We just never know. I know I am late writing and I apologize for the delay.

This blog was created to share and have conversations about approaching life from a place of inspiration and hope even when it seems that fear, lack and pain are all there is. Life is a cycle.

I wish everyone, peace, love and may you find within yourself and from your loved ones all that will inspire you to the next minute, the next hour, the next day, month, season and year!

Remember "time doesn't heal, truth heals." (The 6 Secrets of a Lasting Relationship by Mark Goulston, M.D.) May you find the courage to be and act from your core; upon what is TRUE.

Happy New Year!

BEING

This was sent to my blog list on Monday, December 7th. Due to technical difficulties with Blogger it is just being published here on December 10th. To ensure you receive it on the first of the month be sure to subscribe to my email list by sending me an email with "subscribe to blog" in subject line at ccnaction@gmail.com. I hope you enjoy it and if so please pass it along!

“The process of getting there is the quality of being there.”

Creating Money, Keys to Abundance by Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer



The resistance to facing the root of our issues is where we spend most of our time. And in turn our habitual patterns reign. The thought of facing our fears terrifies us because we believe it is going to come out worse than where it already is. But the opposite is true. When we choose to not be authentic, to hide from ourselves, we are simply allowing the hurricane of our lives to continue to swirl. We pretend that we are happy in our relationships, we pretend we are not in debt and continue shopping, we choose to say nothing to our molesters and have to sit with them at the dinner table every holiday. We hold onto our jobs that bring us misery and pain and we tell ourselves "everything is fine", or "just a few more years". Because we are in denial, afraid to face our truth, it surfaces in other ways; we gain tons of weight, are in the hospital with one illness or another, are agitated and stressed and constantly reaching for a drink, or numbing ourselves looking at the tv/computer screen all day.



When we are able to face our fears, our truths, only then can we discover that there are infinite possibilities. When we look from our habit, from our fear, the option is usually “I have no option, I have no choice.” When we look from the root, suddenly we enter the world of the unknown and instantly an infinite number of possibilities exist. Possibilities that provide healing and release. Possibilities that allow us to get healthy, turn off the tv and put down the drink. Are you planning on charging up your credit cards for the holiday? Are you planning on spending the year running from your fears? Just ask yourself how long you have spent running and pretending? Has it worked so far? If not, consider "facing it" and see what happens. You'd be amazed. I've watched clients who've avoided their taxes for 3 years, once facing it, getting them all done in less than 3 months only to discover that they have a huge refund coming even with the late fees. I've watched someone give up their toxic relationship only to discover and engage in activities they enjoyed which in turn brought them abundance financially and the peace of mind to have abundance spiritually. I've watched clients choose to face their molesters which allowed them to shed their shames, pain and blame. I've also watched clients choose to not go all the way to face their root fears and truths. And although they have a glimpse of some release, they don't experience the eye popping transformations that create abundance in all areas of their lives. This formula works 100% of the time. When the root isn't faced, the habitual patterns resurface again and again and again. When the root fears are faced, extraordinary transformations take place again and again and again. 100% of the time. Which cycle would you like to be on this year?!


Start the year 2010; start right now, getting to where you want to be by allowing yourself to experience "being there." You can be there when you know you've chosen to send a card instead of charging a $500.00 gift you know you can't afford. You can "be there" when you are moment to moment to moment comfortable in your own skin. Secrets, hiding and robbing Peter to pay Paul is exhausting. Please take this year to STOP and allow yourself to shed the shames, pains and blames so you may get to the real YOU. Face your root fears because YOU, is a very beautiful thing. HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Plan of Action:

Sit quietly with yourself at least 15 minutes every day. Practice BEING. Spend your day noticing in your actions and interactions how often you are pulled away from yourself. Pay attention to YOU. Practice actions and interactions that allow you to BE. (Remember they may not be the actions you think or the actions you've spent years engaging in. That is okay).

If you need support, please call me for your free consultation at 718-350-6095

Dedicated to building communities living inspired, fulfilled and free!

ENDEAVOR TO ANSWER THE CALL

November 2, 2009


"Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavor, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions, courage that could be described as "grace under pressure" - grace renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure."

By Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize, Burma

What an incredible month it has been. A loved one asked me basically, "what in the world are you doing?" You are focusing too much on your "job" and not doing what you said you wanted to do, your business -your work - your passion. In denial, I emphatically defended that I was doing everything that I wanted to be doing. Usually my two options are being in hell, sitting at a desk in front of a computer or speaking to a client which for me is heaven right here on earth. The moment when they see themselves for who they are and GET that it is their own habits that are standing in the way of their every desire...heaven right here on earth. But now I am not in hell, my job isn't sitting at a desk. I'm loving my job -I'm watching lives change, it's exciting. I defended my case for 45 minutes and said I want to do both.

I mentioned this conversation to my accountability partner. "Guess what my loved one said to me...?" She was quiet and challenged me with the same observation. I defended it again but with a little less gusto. Some days had passed and the conversation wasn't leaving my consciouness. She didn't let up and the final blow..."five years from now when you envison your future, what do you see? What do you want to be doing?" Tears came to my eyes, because I saw SM Management. I was immediately filled with a sense of fear. I rattled off the reasons why I couldn't only do the business - my work - my passion. I rattled off my fears. It was purely terrifying to think that I could literally spend my days in this conversation. It is my greatest desire and dream. I believe that people are living in misery and suffering silently and in some cases (very loudly) only because they believe that they are supposed to. It is what I used to believe. The habit still presents itself and causes me (us) to believe that we are getting what we deserve. We are quietly ashamed and/or afraid of facing who we are at our core. If we could just understand that the power of the fear is in what we are afraid of, not in the thing itself. Once we face it, it is released. Grace.

The tears kept flowing. The fear remained but also a tremendous joy surfaced imagining the world engaged in a conversation about their passions, their true core selves, which then requires that they take action that will allow them to live inspired, fulfilled and free. And then I was trying to figure out what to do and my accountability partner said "nothing." Being with what is true for you is where you need to start and the rest flows from there. I see it over and over again, clients wanting to get into action, and skipping where they are, which leads to more of the same habits and suffering. But by being where we are, grace...joy...comes in and the rest flows from there. Amazed that as many things as I've faced, as many times as I've endeavored, here I was having to endeavor again. Grace. Two days later, my first draft of my collection of blogs is completed, former clients have agreed to share their incredible experience on my upcoming teleseminars, a new client has been signed, a 3-week intensive teleseminar that I'll be attending perfectly in alignment with aiding me in my next steps, two books resurfaced that remind me of who I am and...by being called to be with my core self, the rest flowed instantly from there.

I understand why it is easier to stick with our habits. That is something that we can do over and over and over again. But when we commit to a journey that is about our growth and living from our core, there is nothing static about it. We have to keep being reminded who we are and we have to keep being willing to go towards what we don't know, we have to keep jumping off the cliff and we have to surround ourselves with those committed to us living from our core. We have to sit and cry and feel the terror of the unknown. We have to keep journeying. We have to keep being authentic, even when we think we "don't wanna." We have to be willing to admit when we're wrong, be willing to apologize, be willing to say "I don't know." Be willing to say "I'm scared." Be willing to take responsibility. Endeavor to have the courage and be open to love and grace. Be willing to take responsibility to be who we were meant to be when placed here on this earth.

We are all under pressure, the world is calling us to be who we truly are. Don't give into the fears preached by your friends, family, on the news and mostly by the voices in your head. Habits are deadly, the world needs us to be bigger than our minds, the world is pressuring us to live from our SOUL. Endeavor to sit down, shed a tear and enjoy your life inspired , fulfilled and free!

Plan of Action: Please imagine what it would be like to bring in the New Year no longer resisting WHO YOU ARE. Pick one thing that you have been avoiding (bill, conversation, person, place or thing). Sit down and look at it for what it is. Don't try to figure out what to do (habit). Be where you are with it. Why are you afraid? What do you want? Has it been there for five years...five years from now do you still want it there? Be where you are with it. The rest will flow from there.

Join the SM Management Community's Free Teleseminar on November 30th from 9pm to 10pm to hear Tim Mendes, actor and business man share his experience of before and after working with SM Management. He is now "...loving reality!" Conference Call Line: 218-486-1616 Passcode: 931969#

If you'd like to be apart of the Core Conversations in Action discussion group on Facebook please send me an email at ccnaction@gmail.com and I will send you an invitation.

YOUR FREEDOM OR YOUR SHAME

Monday, October 5, 2009

Our unconscious plans manifest. Are your habits, systems and patterns leading you toward your freedom or toward your shame?


This has been an incredible couple of months for me and my clients. We have watched our dreams come true. Because together, we have made a committment to what we want, our actions has lead us towards our freedom; purchasing a second apartment, enjoying a planned vacation for the first time without the "need" to follow it up with a punishment, landing a part, moving out West, coming into BEING who you are and no longer feeling the need to be afraid, hide, or to punish ourselves for it. Consistently choosing to follow our core in spite of our fear of the unknown.


When we started this journey we had no idea where it would lead but it started for us all with our finances. Somehow we can let ourselves get away emotionally, where we can't financially. Having the conversation from the root . Facing the debts, the unopened mail, the true numbers of income to expenses, balancing checkbooks, and knowing what money is coming in and what money is going out. By facing and knowing our finances, the grip of shame we have around ourselves is confronted and therefore released. The fear and the "stories" we tell ourselves fade away because we've opened the mail, paid the bill, answered the phone and made arrangements, we've faced ourselves at our core. By knowing, we have the freedom to make a plan and feel as if we have some sense of control. Holding yourself accountable financially and realizing that you do have control, makes it possible to understand that you have that power in all areas of your life. Every week you are accounting for what came in and what was spent. Every week you are holding on to your receipts and placing them in the proper category and every day, week, month you are reconciling to the penny. Reconciling with yourself the "stories" of avoidance and shame.



PLAN OF ACTION:

Start preparing now to ensure that you bring in 2010 living your life fully and freely. Leave the baggage behind. Open the mail, answer the phone, make a plan. FACE YOUR FINANCES/FACE YOURSELF. Join those of us who have made a commitment not just in words but in actions to live fully. Don't wait for the new year, bring in the new year having already left your baggage behind so your year can start...FREE.

Sign up for a free consultation http://www.healingfinances.com/

Join us for the next Core Conversations In Action Teleseminar on Monday, October 26, 2009 from 9pm-10pm in the comfort of your own home.

218-486-1616

Passcode: 931969#