Welcome to Michele’s Daily Dash!

Words to Inspire, Support and Motivate the Creation of Your Empowered & Dynamic Life Design


    Humanity's misfortune is when we don't realize the very gifts we are! We don't serve the rest of the world or ourselves by playing small. Live your life big! Own your truth! We must embrace the knowing that we deserve to live a life we love, one that supports who and what we are. We need to be willing to say, 'Yes! I choose me!'


  • What's your "I AM"?

    Posted Mar 11th, 2010 By in Career, Change, Goal Setting, Life, Life Purpose, Shifting Consciousness, Starting Over With | 2 Comments

    While in Spain attending our friends’ wedding last week, Jim and I found ourselves being defined by our nationalities ~ or should I clarify what they believed to be our nationalities. Aside from our friends who knew us, everyone else got it wrong. Locals that we met in Madrid thought we were either Italian or Greek (not bad guesses since my dad’s side of the family is Italian and Jim’s family is Greek), and at times they believed I was Spanish. The tourists we ran into while visiting historic landmarks and sightseeing were convinced we were Spanish. What was interesting is that all of these assumptions were placed before they heard us speak a word. Strangers would begin to talk to us in a language they believed we would understand, and somehow we were able to communicate back via hand signals and gestures, drawing or writing things out on paper, and my fan favorite ~ yelling out each word and pausing for effect. What I realized toward the end of our trip is everyone was looking for our “I AM”. Those we were meeting needed to find a way to identify us in order to help them understand who we were and what we were all about. We were like books being judged by our covers.

    I’m a strong believer in synchronicities, and during this same trip I read an article in the March 2010 edition of The Oprah Magazine about the actress Eva Longoria Parker’s Aha! Moment where she discussed what truly defines her. Initially she believed it was her ethnicity, but a trip to Mexico shifted her consciousness toward knowing that her “I Am” is about who she is and who she wants to be. Within a day of reading the article, I began to receive several emails from people who had seen my NBC News interview on Starting Over. They shared with me their frustration on trying to figure out what they should be doing with their lives regarding a career, as well as confusion to their overall life purpose. How do I figure out who I am? There is significant change occurring right now globally where we are waking up and feeling unsettled and uncomfortable living inauthentic lives. We can’t always put our finger on it right away, but we begin our initial seeking for answers.

    I AM. Those two tiny words are bigger and more powerful than many of us realize, and when they begin a sentence their impact is significant. Think about how often our sentences start with the words “I am”. If you’re like me, it’s a pretty high percentage. More importantly, think about the sort of energy and belief system you are integrating along with your “I am” statements. How do you physically feel after some of your “I am” declarations? Are you empowered or do you feel defeated? Are you filled with love or fear? The reason these two words have such a significant effect on us is because when we use “I AM” in a sentence, we are taking ownership; we are claiming our identity. Our “I AM” is an ongoing creative energy ~ always bringing into our lives exactly how we see ourselves and believe to be our true self. However, more often than not our definition comes from external influences. Instead of trusting our hearts and the still small voice that knows us better than anyone, we look outward for validation from others and/or attach their opinions of us to our “I AM”. Ask yourself, what message or messages of others have I adopted as my own? What false beliefs do I replay over and over in my mind? What inauthentic statement have I owned as my “I AM”?

    When I’m begin to work with my clients on their Life Design, there are many instances where they expect a fast resolution. How long will this take? Can’t you just tell me what to do? What if I never find the perfect job, partner and/or life? My usual response is you are looking at step 10 before you even dipped your toe in steps one through nine. Part of being and living what you love, is figuring out what that means for you. Your life purpose is as unique as the gifts and talents you were born with, and the self-discovery and evaluation is a delicious and dynamic journey. Start by getting to know you. This is not the “you” your family and friends have formed in their minds, nor the “you” categorized by people whom you’ve never met. Your “I AM” is your authentic self. Begin your self-discovery by seeing how many words you can use to describe your natural essence: I AM ______________. When your list is done, determine which of the “I AM” statements, words, and descriptions are NOT you. Cross them out and write some more. Work on this for a solid week and you will begin to see a pattern forming ~ error thoughts you need to release and areas of your life you are ready to explore!

  • Oh, The Places You'll Go

    Posted Mar 1st, 2010 By in Book Review, Life, Shifting Consciousness, The Writer's Room With | No Comments

    One of my favorite books to give as a gift is Dr. Seuss’, Oh, The Places You’ll Go. Many people have given or received the book as a graduation present for high school, college or a graduate program. And while the inside left jacket reads, “For out-starting upstarts of all ages, here is a wonderfully wise and blessedly brief graduation speech from the one and only Dr. Seuss,” I believe it is so much more. This book is a beautiful gift to give to anyone who is courageous enough to demand their dreams.

    Oh, The Places You’ll Go, is about living your life purpose with empowerment and determination. It’s about the journey of wanting, knowing and claiming all the wonderful things we deserve. I think, too often, we tend to make short or “this will do for now” lists because we don’t dare to dream the possibilities of impossibilities, we fear being disappointed or rejected, and some were raised to believe that asking for what we want is selfish. But if we are going to be wishy washy with what we want and not be specific, how can we expect to ever leave what Dr. Seuss has coined “the waiting place.” Waiting for something to happen; waiting for the Universe to give us a sign or proof; waiting for someone else to direct what we should be doing or where we should be going.

    Think about how and where we place our energy. Are we waking up in the morning, stretching, and saying with joy filled exuberance, “Today is going to be amazing!” or are we waking up in the morning, slamming the snooze button twenty times and saying, “I don’t want to deal with

    The places we’ll go is limitless when we step out on faith and affirm with a joyful noise, I AM on my way.

  • A Review of The Shift ~ Taking Your Life From Ambition to Meaning

    Posted Feb 25th, 2010 By in Book Review, Change, Hay House, Life Purpose, Shifting Consciousness, The Writer's Room With | 1 Comment

    “And your body is the harp of your soul, and it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it, or confused sounds.” ~ Kahlil Gibran. So begins the first of four chapters in Wayne Dyer’s new book, The Shift – Taking Your Life From Ambition To Meaning. As someone who speaks and writes often about shifting our consciousness and the importance of it aligning with our thoughts, words and actions, I was very excited when I read the title and looked forward to Dyer’s interpretation and insight. He takes the reader on a journey exploring the process of shifting from Ambition to Meaning, but also addresses “From” and “To” as an integral part of the progression. The Shift is a companion book to the movie of the same name, and I had some initial concerns that because I had not seen the movie I would feel disconnected if references to the movie were mentioned. This proved not to be the case, and the movie references only served to strength his position.

    Within the first few pages of chapter one, entitled “From”, Dyer tackles the big questions many of us have pondered and often felt frustrated by: Who am I? What is my purpose? What happens after death? Who or What is God? And while he points out that he might never fully grasp the answers to any of them and can only offer his own interpretations based on his years of study and living, the one question which transcends all others is Where did I come from? Wow, did I latch on to that one. How many of you have said out loud or to yourself that you believed you had been switched at birth? While you loved your family, you felt foreign to your surroundings. Although you physically resembled each other, you thoughts and beliefs weren’t aligned, so you kept them to yourself. I actually re-read the “From” chapter twice because I was intrigued by Dyer’s take on how we all originated from something that is formless. He pointed out that both the scientific and spiritual communities similarly agree that we began from something that has no boundaries, no beginning and no substance. He continued that if this is indeed the case we are all spiritual beings having a temporary human experience. As such, we don’t really come from our parents, which offers up the explanation as to why we’re not like, or don’t have to be, like them. Throughout our “human experience” we are on a journey to get back to the state where we are one with Spirit ~ our true essence where ego has yet to enter and take control. I must say if you are new to metaphysical teachings and new age thought, chapter one might feel overwhelming. I encourage you to take your time absorbing the words and take frequent breaks.

    The chapter entitled “Ambition” takes on our ego and how from the moment we are born our “false self” begins to form. As we grow up and learn from our parents, teachers, siblings and environment we begin to base our reality on false truths ~ “Who I Am is What I have”, “Who I Am is What I Do”, “Who I Am is What Others Think of Me”, “I Am Separate from Everyone Else” and “I Am Separate from What’s Missing in My Life.” I agree with Dyer that we are all connected in Spirit, and in my opinion it is why when tragic events like Haiti occur we push aside “human” differences and work to help one another selflessly ~ with huge hearts we do care and love one another. Yet it’s the ego driven ambition that causes many of us to forget. There were times when I felt Dyer was contradicting himself regarding ambition and believing that because it’s driven by ego we are not following our authentic self. Although I do believe that ego has made many of us believe we are about what we have versus who we are, I also don’t believe it is horrible to want grand things in our life. I do not believe God created us so we would suffer and have lonely, uneventful lives. God, Spirit, or whatever word you feel most comfortable with, wants us to achieve our divine goals and dreams. In the end, Dyer does state his belief that our receiving good is cyclical as we are giving back and expressing gratitude for all of the blessings in our life ~ even those that have yet to show up. It is when we have reconnected with our authentic self and know that we are separated from Spirit that we are able to see that we are more than our possessions and relying on others to confirm our self-worth isn’t necessary.

    The final two chapters, “To” and “Meaning”, focus on maintaining our connection to Spirit and our authentic self in “form”. Our “To” leads us in a new direction away from that which ego wants us to take and toward our true selves. Have you ever achieved great success which you thought would make you feel complete and when it was done you look around and say: Is this it? This can’t be all that there is? We don’t understand why we don’t feel fulfilled. Dyer believes we must make a conscious commitment to halt the momentum of our ego and toward a direction of meaning and feeling filled with purpose. One of my favorite Dyer quotes is “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” As we leave ego driven ambition we feel empowered and connected, we’re motivated by peace and quality of life, we shift toward the possibility of impossibilities, we understand the importance of silence, recognize ourselves in harmony with the universe and utilize our powers of understanding and forgiveness. Meaning brings it full circle and when Dyer shared the Emmanuel quote: “Our mind doesn’t know the way, Our heart has already been there, And our soul never left. Welcome home!”, I understood the impact of discovering our life’s purpose. While I don’t agree 100% with his take on material possessions, I do believe giving away those things we no longer use that can and will benefit others. And, of course, we again end up benefiting because whatever we give back, we end up receiving anew in larger quantities.

    The Shift is a must read for everyone who recognizes we are living in a world where we are all connected, as well as one ready to embrace change. You will find yourself underlining and dog-earing pages that you’ve always known to be true but had forgotten. While I don’t believe it’s necessary to have seen the movie, with the same name, the book has intrigued me enough to check it out.

    Peace, Joy & Creativity,

    Michele

    Want to learn more about The Shift and/or order the book online?

    Hay House

    Barnes & Noble

    (As part of the Hay House New Release Reviewer’s Program, all books I receive from the Hay House are free and I do not receive any financial compensation.)

  • Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes

    Posted Feb 25th, 2010 By in Change, Life, Shifting Consciousness With | 3 Comments

    As a Life Design Coach, I’m often asked about the process of change as it relates to improving and enhancing our lives.  While some tackle change with ease, there are many who feel challenged just by the definition of the word.  Although we might not be happy with where we are right now and want change to occur, fears and obstacles can creep in which cause us to doubt our reasoning for moving forward.  We’ll think: Is it really all that bad, What if I’m still not happy after I change, and then there’s my favorite, Well, it is what it is and at least I know and understand “it”. Although this mental chatter is frustrating, know it’s your ego trying to freak you out.  Often our ego is the equivalent of a five year old that wants its own way and will resort to tantrums in order to be heard.  What I find interesting is that we are in a constant flow of change ~ forever evolving and growing whether we are conscious of it or not.  Can you honestly say you’re the same person you were five years ago let alone one year ago?  The way we are changing might not be in the direction we want, and when we do decide to consciously transform our lives we want it quick, easy and painless. Yet if we don’t first shift our consciousness and align our thoughts, words and actions with the “change” we are seeking, we will find it to be a struggle and maintaining any sort of permanence will feel unattainable.

    For many, many years, I was a fan of “it takes 21-days to form a habit”.  It was my mantra whenever I attempted a shift: eating healthier, exercising, etc.  And while, in theory, after the 21-days I wasn’t as cranky about the change and there was a rhythm to this new process, the change usually lasted about three or four months before I returned to my old ways.  After all, my old habits had been a part of my life for years and these new, albeit better, choices didn’t have any real “legs” or any solid history that they would indeed improve my life.  My challenge was I hadn’t addressed the issues behind the change I believed I wanted.  Dedicating twenty-one days to shift anything doesn’t do any good if a shift in consciousness isn’t aligned as well.  Actually, I know many people who’ve made long-lasting change, and it took less than twenty-one days to form their new routines.  They had taken the time to address the change and their role in it before they moved forward with any plan.

    Here are some things to consider and questions to ask as you prepare to embark on your life changes.  I see the process in two parts:  Investigation and Past Successes

    Investigate the Change

    1. What pattern/habit has been a challenge to overcome?
    2. How do you benefit by changing this pattern/habit?
    3. What do you get by maintaining this pattern/habit? (There’s always a payoff for staying stuck.  If there weren’t, we would have moved on.)
    4. What loss do you experience by changing this pattern/habit? (As we grow, often times the very people we thought would be in our life forever are unable to make the journey with us. We all have our unique paths.)
    5. What does it cost you to not change this pattern/habit?
    6. On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to change this pattern/habit? (10 being the highest?)
    7. What immediate steps could you take this month to change this pattern/habit?  Make these steps S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-limited)

    Look at Your Past Successes

    1. What one positive change have you made in your life?
    2. Close your eyes and remember your process for making this successful change.  How did you go about it?
    3. As you remember the energy and enthusiasm surrounding this positive change, how can you detach yourself from your new challenge and utilize the perspective that brought about the success?

    Carry this quote by Maria Robinson with you today:  “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”  What will be your new ending?

  • What's my secret? How did I get so lucky? Who do I know?

    Posted Feb 24th, 2010 By in Life Purpose, Shifting Consciousness With | No Comments

    After appearing on NBC News Channel 4 Monday night (technically Tuesday morning in the wee hours) following the Olympics to talk about “Starting Over”, the in box of my email was filled with congratulations, people sharing their inspirational stories and questions.  A majority of the questions I received were “what’s your secret?”, “how did you get so lucky?”, and “who do you know?”.  I’ve yet to answer those emails because I believed they warranted some thought; plus, as blessed as I felt to be interviewed by Ida Siegal and the new opportunities that within the last 24 hours have shown up, I needed to spend time in gratitude.  Late yesterday, I closed my office door to sit in the stillness and absorbed the events that led up to my interview, as well as all that occurred from watching myself on TV (wondering if my voice really sounded like that) to working on next steps.  There are still so many emotions whirling about, and I realize that all of them are aligned with the very questions I’ve yet to answer.  So in as much brevity as I’m capable of, let me give it a shot:

    What’s my secret? I know that I know that I know.  Does that sound confusing? I know that my Life’s Dash (the precious time between when I arrived and when I leave this body) is meant for something bigger.  I have a divine plan, a life purpose, and I took the time to figure out what it was.  The answers to what inspire me, my passions and the realization and appreciation of my unique gifts and talents were not provided to me from external influences and outside opinions.  No one knows me better than my spirit and to go outside of that for approval, recognition and confirmation means that I’m not ready to tell my ego to shut up and sit in silence to hear what my heart has to say.  There’s a lot of self-exploration and self-evaluation involved, as well as asking questions like: what would you do now if you knew you could not fail?  I embrace my absolute truth without apology and live the best me I can be and live in the now.  Additionally and probably more importantly, I am grateful.  I am grateful for all that I have now and all that I know is showing up.  I am grateful for all of the wonderful opportunities arriving that I SHOW UP FOR and say, yes, my time is now.  I am grateful for the “teachers” in my life who challenge my belief system because I know they are there for a reason and I focus on my personal growth from the experience.  Every night I write in my gratitude journal to remind myself of all the persons, places and situations who blessed me that day.  It never fails that on a day where I believe nothing significant happened, I’ll remember that someone held the door open for me or said thank you.

    How did you get so lucky? I don’t know that I believe in luck because I know each and everyone of us deserve grand and dynamic lives.  It’s the knowing and being open, aware and willing to allow good to not only enter into my life, but to give back and make a difference.  Right now, I’m in the flow of prosperity and success, and, for me, those words mean doing what I love, being what I love, and the consciousness of living in a world were lack and limitation does not exist and knowing there is more than enough for us all.  Prosperity and success mean more to me than the typical definition of financial abundance.  I align my thoughts, words and actions with my divine dreams and goals.  I get out of my own way and trust in the unknown (not an easy feat for this control-loving gal).  Long ago I accepted that I don’t need to have all of the answers on a conscious level and all that I do need I already have.  The answers show up as I need them and when I let go, they show up effortlessly.  I stopped focusing on the “how” of things and instead turned my energy to focus on what I know I want in my life.  Spending time in meditation and centeredness led me to networking events or experiences that built relationships.  I allow my authentic self to be seen and heard and don’t compartmentalize.  Professional Michele shows up in the same way as Personal Michele, Writer Michele, Speaker Michele, Coach Michele, Wife Michele, Friend Michele, etc.

    Who do you know? I know me.  Sorry, but that’s really the only “somebody” I need to know.  By my knowing who I am and loving who I am, the rest of my life falls into place.

    There’s not a doubt in my  mind that several people reading these words will respond with “well, I know all of that” or will be frustrated that I’ve not written out a specific prescription to follow.  While I have many stories and examples, as well as practices and assignments that I use personally and give to my clients, if you don’t live the basics everything else feels like a struggle.  Shifting your consciousness to positivity and erasing old tapes where we learned false truths is challenging.  Life takes work, and right now, most of you are seeing and meeting me after years of being on this delicious journey.  The me now is not the me I was five years ago, let alone five months ago.  The me I am is forever evolving and growing.  The greatest gift you can give yourself right now if you feel uninspired or stuck is to start asking yourself the tough questions and shutting up long enough to hear what your heart has to say.

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