“Chickens”…”wimps” our northern friends think! Yet apprehension mounts as reports of near freezing temperatures circulate and our vegetation takes the covers…literally.

Several years ago I made a major change professionally. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy what I did, simply that there was something I wanted to do more. So I moved from my comfortable spot inside with more than adequate lighting and regular watering into the big outdoors. As I began to put out new roots without the confines of my former planter…it was scary. Used to a regular watering schedule and climate controlled comfort, a few of my leaves yellowed and dropped off.

Interesting that what fits in a lovely little pot on a windowsill in New York (like a pencil cactus) may grow 10 feet tall in my yard! In contrast to that, some gorgeous foliage (like hostas) won’t survive outside down here, regardless of the coaxing.

After about two years, I love where I am at in my life. I help people make changes. I help them see that there are more choices than they thought. I watch people and businesses grow and thrive and am thankful to be a part of their process. I look at my life and see the changes that I have made and can’t imagine going back. Am I done growing? Not even close in this climate.

**This post appeared several years ago in my Joy Beyond Freedom newsletter and I believe is even more relevant today! STAY TUNED for more “Climate and Growth News.”

“Chickens”…”wimps” our northern friends think! Yet apprehension mounts as reports of near freezing temperatures circulate and our vegetation takes the covers…literally.

Several years ago I made a major change professionally. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy what I did, simply that there was something I wanted to do more. So I moved from my comfortable spot inside with more than adequate lighting and regular watering into the big outdoors. As I began to put out new roots without the confines of my former planter…it was scary. Used to a regular watering schedule and climate controlled comfort, a few of my leaves yellowed and dropped off.

Interesting that what fits in a lovely little pot on a windowsill in New York (like a pencil cactus) may grow 10 feet tall in my yard! In contrast to that, some gorgeous foliage (like hostas) won’t survive outside down here, regardless of the coaxing.

After about two years, I love where I am at in my life. I help people make changes. I help them see that there are more choices than they thought. I watch people and businesses grow and thrive and am thankful to be a part of their process. I look at my life and see the changes that I have made and can’t imagine going back. Am I done growing? Not even close in this climate.

**This post appeared several years ago in my Joy Beyond Freedom newsletter and I believe is even more relevant today! STAY TUNED for more “Climate and Growth News.”

The New Year is here and the list of things that you are going to do and accomplish is formidable. I applaud you for thinking big. Yet, one of the most common causes for failure is trying to do it all now!

In goal setting with clients, we create a list of all we want to achieve…to experience…to share in the coming year. Then we take a simple one page overview of the year with only the titles of the months on it and divide the objectives from our yearly “to do list” under the titles. There is a desire to want to place most of the items in January…let’s get them done and get them done NOW!

However, most of us have heard the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” and know the answer is “One bite at a time!”

This last year has been challenging to most everyone. Whether business has been good or bad, everyone has had to make some changes of some sort. For many the list of changes to incorporate is long. Instead of focusing on how far and how much still needs to be down…talk about an elephant…what one thing could you do today? What one thing would be a good choice today to make the most difference in your life, in your business? And then tomorrow, choose one thing.

What makes the difference between those that become and those that don’t?

• They have a vision for something that is bigger than just them and extends beyond just today. It is a dream fueled by passion and connected to action.
• They deal with the uncomfortable, awkward and negative issues, situations and relationship challenges that arise. They know that simply waiting for it to go away could leave them waiting for the rest of their life and time is precious.
• They understand the power of consequence and so not make decisions solely on the comfort and convenience of today.
• They take action…EVERY DAY! They have accepted responsibility for the realization of their vision and move toward it step by step day by day. They don’t despise the small steps, but are thankful for even small increments of progress.
• They have not only defined what they like, BUT ALSO what they don’t like. They don’t focus on the “NO’s”. However by clearly defining what “NO” looks like, they are able to recognize what carries negative influences much sooner.
• They operate with grace. Because they choose to forgive, they are free to move forward in the NOW and are not tied to the past.
• They know what it is to be a part of a team. They know their own strengths and weaknesses and are not threatened by others whose strengths and weaknesses are different from their own.
• They are not afraid of change and they are not trying to make everyone happy. As they move forward there will be others who are not supportive and who do not agree with the choices and decisions that they make. They understand that old adage, “You can’t please everyone all the time.”

Choose to grow to to greatness!
Sara Hand

Around this same time period, spurred on by the adventures of Marco Polo, men began to consider that the world might be other than they had imagined.  Christopher Columbus, through his exploration of the New World proved that our world was, in fact, not flat either. Life would never be the same as man’s consciousness embraced new dimensions.

Several hundred years later, man again would move into the unknown and impossible. This time, concepts initiated by science fiction writers such as Jules Verne with their voyages to the bottom of the sea, outer space and time travel would be incorporated into investigative procedures. These would allow man to not only travel to great depths and heights, but to actually work for extended time periods in environments that would further a multitude of industries.

It is said, “What the mind can conceive and believe… man can achieve.”

Yet do you ever feel like your life is flat? Perspective can be defined as a view of things or facts in which they are in right relation. When you look around, do you ever feel that your life may be slightly out of focus? Do you ever wonder if there could be more beyond your current experience? Are there things that you have only dreamt of, but have not really considered possible?

Changing your perspective is changing the way you view things. New dimensions that can only be imagined are simply over the horizon if you can only get past the gatekeepers of “shouldn’t” and “couldn’t”. Begin to add richness and increased depth to your life by identifying priorities, and incorporating goals and an action plan.

Then with accountability relationships, regularly reexamine those projections and make adjustments as necessary to keep your course to a new world.

 My world of yesterday was a world of comfort.

I knew who I was and what I was to do. Expectations were clear for me and I knew what to expect from the others in my life. But things are different now. I have grown. As an adult I grow as a person. This may not be as easily identifiable to the people in my life. They may see a few changes on the outside. But much of the change has been an inside job, only visible to someone looking at my heart.

 How do I make it through this time you ask? For if we are really living life; we will go from one state of change to another. There will be times of settling in, but these will again lead to more change.

Don’t make major decisions when you are tired. When you are tired the good is too good and the bad is too bad. Rest brings objectivity.
Have an accountability person in your life, and expect them to hold you to the goals you have set previously.
Continue to reevaluate and measure goals against “life values”. Although goals will change, “life values” will not. These will act as a compass in the midst of whatever may come your way.

Remember that whether your opportunities were chosen or thrust upon you, it is not so much what happens to us but what happens in us that matters.

 The better the change…the worse we tend to feel about any feelings that aren’t “all good.” In fact, often we just want to bypass or detour this part of the journey. However, a detour won’t take it off your map, because to fully embrace the future, the past must find its home.

 In going forward, there is always leaving behind. There is a part of you that is now only a memory, as the new you goes on. This “feeling” is completely normal, and although often uncomfortable, we all experience this “grieving” when dealing with significant change…even the good stuff.

It is time to do something. And you are going to do whatever it takes, or so you thought! Now you are wondering…do I really want this that bad? Is it really worth it?

All my friends know about this caterpillar thing. How I killed the prospective butterflies and kept the weeds…so much for transparency. Then, having learned my lesson, I publicly proclaimed that I would no longer care more about the appearance of my front flower bed and would allow the caterpillars to eat to their hearts content knowing all along that the leaves on my bushes would grow back…they did last time…and that I would be the butterfly benefactor.

However, because I killed those nasty pests last time…I did not fully appreciate how bad the front garden would look. They have been eating my bushes for about 6 weeks and they’re huge! Last week I was having a party…a friend suggested I put a sign up front, “Feeding in Progress.” It has been a tremendous joke.

So I am struggling. I mean when are they going to do this cocoon thing anyway? Do I really want to go the distance? Herein lies the power of Weight Watchers, AA and all groups that provide true accountability…it doesn’t matter whether I feel like it or not today…I will persevere. I have shared this story with all sorts of audiences…hundreds of people. It doesn’t matter how messy and unattractive this growth process is…the caterpillars stay…at least until they become butterflies.

<— Weeds #1: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
<— Weeds #2: The Bugs are Back!

I had shared with you my secret…how I had desired my own version of Sunken Gardens.

I was fostering this lush, somewhat native landscape that would attract a multitude of wildlife, including birds and butterflies. I planted a harmonious blend of foliage, and relished my emerging paradise…only to discover that insects had devoured the plants in my front planter down to the ugly stems. Very unhappy with the quite unattractive view I now had to share with all my neighbors, I had pride-fully gone to Wal-Mart to pick up an extremely toxic beverage, and had celebrated as each of those bugs had fallen dead to the ground.

Who knew what I was thinking. Except that several weeks later at a butterfly event at Sunken Gardens, it hit me…black and yellow caterpillars make great butterflies. My garden has prospered over the last couple years, and we get some great and somewhat rarer butterflies…but it wasn’t until just recently that the caterpillars returned. There are not near as many as there were the first time.

However….I am careful not to disturb them, even when I am watering. Hopefully, they will enjoy eating the bushes out front. I am just excited that sometimes in life, you get more than one chance to appreciate the beauty of transformation.

The leaves are quite different, much narrower, and prolific and stand up higher; but again these pull out fairly easily and make great bouquets for small children wanting to please their mother.

”So what,” you are wondering. I just reach over and pull the weeds out, it isn’t a big deal. However, all weeds are not created equal! After these come another much closer to the ground. They look like small roses, tolerate extreme heat and little rain, thriving even when all the grass has given up. Just try just pulling these out…good luck. Just as there are seasons in the plant world, so there are seasons in my life. As much as I work towards life balance, there are periods of time when there will be an abundance of opportunities.

When we moved into our new house several years ago we chose to clear the back portion of our property ourselves wanting to create a lush Florida friendly yard…our version of Sunken Gardens.

The first year I had mixed results. We had these beautiful lavender flowers on a stalk that somewhat resembled a sunflower. Going for the natural look, I left them excited about the beauty that was already available on my developing sanctuary. However when the black and yellow caterpillars began to strip my “snow on the mountain” down to bare stems, I have to say I wasn’t near as tolerant, spraying them with incredibly toxic substances and celebrating as they dropped off.

The funny thing is that the lavender flowers turned into these horrible stickers. (Have you ever just wanted to throw the clothes away rather than face the tedious chore of trying to get those things off?) And the bugs that I eliminated were the larvae for the butterflies I had wanted to attract. I had gotten so caught up in the ugliness of stripped plants; I had eliminated my opportunities to see the beauty that could have come.

The funny thing about weeds is that what one person might consider a weed, another person might plant. And where some gardeners hate and spray for insects others plant to attract them.   Yet what defines something as prized or rejected is not necessarily the thing itself, but the viewer.

Weeds #2: The Bugs Are Back! —>

Well, I am incredibly fortunate to have phenomenal coaches, counselors and accountability people in my life…however there was this one thing that had been nagging at me for a couple months. I had all this material; I was wading through it, but just couldn’t seem to find a common thread…voila…an hour with a friend earlier this week made it all seem so simple and so obviously apparent.

If you don’t have someone in your life who can give you objective feedback from a point of some expertise…find someone who does it well, whatever it is. Spend time with them; give them permission to give you feedback and to hold you accountable to follow through on your discussion.

Life changes when I do!

Joy Beyond Freedom is a Journey!

I have realized recently that the reason many people don’t recognize the first step out of balance is because you can’t live by a measure you don’t have. You can not recognize that your priorities are blurring if you have never fully identified what your real priorities are. Priorities have to do with the things you most value, not the most recent crises you think you must solve.

Pretend for a few moments that there are no fires to put out. Take a few minutes, and make a list of the relationships and people that are most important to you.  Write down the activities that most energize you and give you the most joy. How do you feel about the quality of your life? Are you able to operate at a maximized physical condition for yourself, and if not, why?

Making life changes is not about getting it All right. This road involves opportunities. You will fall. To believe you won’t is unrealistic. However, babies don’t quit walking the first time they fall, they just have to keep getting up until they get it right.

 Are you living life or is life living you? Do you spend a lot of time running from one fire to the next, so busy taking care of “have to” that you don’t remember what a “want to” looks like? Find out what the measure for your life is. Find out the things that you would die for and then live for them. That is Joy…Beyond Freedom!

I can’t live in the past or change one moment of it, and neither can I live in the future. Although intellectually that all makes sense, what I know in my brain may not be truth for my heart. Sometimes I am so busy scurrying towards the future I miss NOW. I miss the beauty of the Florida sun shining on Tampa Bay. So I am working and I don’t have the day off to go play in it, that doesn’t mean I cease to recognize its existence.

Or maybe the pain in my past has been so great that each day I wake with it right in front of me. The wounds still so fresh, that each person I talk to reminds me of my pain. Although time presents me with a tomorrow, I cannot see mine for the yesterday in which I live.

Great achievements come from men and women who understand living in Now. There may be pain in my past, but that is my history not my future. My future may be bright, but it is not NOW. My TIME is MY LIFE. This is it. I do not get a do over for this time around. This is not dress rehearsal. The curtain is up and the show continues whether I choose to run off the stage or not. So I will look at my history, my experience of yesterday to help me plan for tomorrow. But I will choose to be present…I will choose to live in today.

Bob, an uncle tells a story of laying pipe within a nuclear power plant. In their calculations, they would measure off of a pencil dot. As a supervisor, he spoke to the men of “centering” off that point. A younger worker insisted that they “were centered”…Bob let it go…sometimes your staff learns best by experience. Although it was only the outside edge of that point, several hundred yards later that equaled almost an inch…in a nuclear plant that is a lot!

”Vacation habits” like souvenirs of summer, love to “stow away” in my day to day activities. Unless I am vigilant and periodically take inventory…it could be Christmas before I notice. So every so often, I revisit my goals and action plans to see if I am still on track.

Hidden in my daily routine are the secrets to whether I am successful or not. Periodically, tune your instrument, calibrate the thermostat…take an inventory. When I am where I am not supposed to be, I am vulnerable to bad choices and quick fix solutions…the lotto is never the answer to “bad” money management habits, just as the vending machine is not a good answer to a missed meal.

Many contemplate freedom as some incredible destination. But beyond freedom, what then? The journey is about enjoying the trip to freedom, about the changes we make along the way, and about “what then”. What happens when we get there and what comes next?

“It’s about change!”

Imagine you went on vacation…where would you go and what would you see…in your own backyard?

Crises: figurative a point at which a change must come, either for better or worse; deciding event

In my life I identified a moment, when a change needed to happen. That change would take place in me, however initially I had no idea what this change would look like. I am still walking this process out, but day be day the components of this change become more evident. For many people I work with, this moment, this epiphany of “something has to give” is what they would call a crises.

 Crisis is not generally a conscious choice. However, once there, the very definition of crises indicates the necessity of choice. This “choice” is where the opportunity lies. Will I choose the easiest way, will that be the best choice for me? Or will I choose to do the hard things?

 Mothers Against Drunk Driving…The Amber Alert… The National Kidney Foundation… Easter Seals… Alcoholics Anonymous… Susan G. Komen for the Cure… Organ donors “leave a life that keeps on living.” Only a few of the choices made.

 Each one of us will face points in which change must come. Will our choices be mired in our own pain? Or can one person, one decision at a time make a difference?

LLSA Chamber of Commerce
Nominee Small Business Rookie of the Year 2008 & 2009

Venice Chamber of Commerce
Nominee Small Business of the Year 2009

In January 2009 Awarded Appreciation for Outstanding Service
Eager Beaver Award January 2009