Seeing an Old Friend through Fresh Eyes

As I type this, I’m riding in the passenger seat of our Explorer, and my husband is driving us through the tall pines of Flagstaff, AZ. We’ve been on the road for two weeks, visiting with old friends, seeing new sights and re-visiting many familiar ones. This is our favorite way to travel -- although we have a few planned destinations, many days we decide before leaving the hotel what direction to take that morning. I love the spontaneity of it!

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the Grand Canyon – and it was magical! I had seen it often before but didn’t realize that my husband had never seen any of the South Rim other than what you can see from the

Village area – and once we figured that out, the plan changed and we stayed the extra day. I revisited spots I hadn’t seen since I was about 11 years old, and saw them now through “fresh eyes”. I found that although I remembered some sights clearly, there were many things I had forgotten, like seeing the ruins of a small village once inhabited by native people. I know we saw them when I was small, but it was like seeing them for the first time. I marveled at how small the rooms were, and how well preserved the foundations were after 900+ years. The round ceremonial lodge struck me especially, and I could almost see the villagers gathering in there to celebrate successful hunts and bountiful harvests. I don’t think I had that appreciation as a child.

The Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground – but what a hole! Seeing all the layers of earth that first had to be put down over millions of years, and then seeing the work of the river as it eroded through all those layers spoke to my heart. What an amazing earth we live on!!!! It is majestic and powerful, and carries on through

the eons – yet even the perspective of the earth herself shifts with time. Where once stood massive mountains of seemingly impermeable rock, now stands a canyon more than a mile deep, with the river still running through it, still working at changing the landscape. The destruction of this land by the river has given us one of the most beautiful places on our planet! And despite its destruction, the land around the canyon stands tall and strong, watching the changes and carrying on its mandate of providing living space for all. We stand against the railings and look over, trusting the rocks to hold us securely as we take in the awesome brilliance of colors and shapes that is the Canyon. Squirrels play along the very edge, surefooted and safe, knowing that the earth will hold them. And people who once lived at the top, now make a life for themselves at the bottom, enjoying the bounty of the river and its fertile banks.

It was great fun to discover the Grand Canyon once again, especially with Bob as he saw aspects of it for the first time. It filled me with wonder again, and reminded me that change is beautiful – that the worst destruction we experience is filled with opportunities for growth of some kind, and that no matter how deep the hole we find ourselves in, the climb out can be spectacular.

I hope you have the opportunity this summer to take in some new sights, or re-visit some familiar ones. Try to look around you today with fresh eyes – what beautiful opportunities are being offered to you by what seems to be destruction or problems? I would love it if you’d share with me your own discoveries about how shifting your perspective has brought goodness into your life!

Where to Start? It's Been an Amazing 30 Days!

Has it really been 30 days? I am happy to say that because of this great challenge put together so beautifully by D'vorah Lansky, I am now in the habit of turning on my computer first thing each morning and sitting down to do my marketing! Like others in our group, I had spent a month before this listening to teleseminars, webinars, downloading and printing out all kinds of free marketing information. I had volumes of notes, handouts, and I was completely overwhelmed. I did manage to start this blog, then my author page on Facebook, and finally, all on my own I designed and created my website! I was feeling pretty good about things at that point... Until I realized that no-one was finding my webpage, I only had a dozen "likes" on my author page, and the website was a ghost town. Enter D'vorah's email with this challenge -- and I took it in a big way!

I could go on for pages about all I've learned and all the things I've done as a result, but the one that stands out for me is my new ebook! Kirsten Eckstein set me on fire! I began this challenge in order to market my fiction novel, "Telling Secrets," and Kirsten was talking about promoting your non-fiction work and creating more of it. She said we already had the content in our present book for another ebook -- so I began looking at my novel. And yes, there was lots of content! It's the story of woman on her spiritual journey, who has to uncover all the secrets in her life in order to begin living in integrity and truth. And my ebook was born! I sat down on Monday morning, and began writing about exactly what steps she took on her journey, questions she had to ask herself in order to begin to see how valuable she is and claim the life she deserved. None of that was actually in the novel, but I started the same journey myself 20 years ago, and have been studying, mentoring others and teaching about this ever since! By Tuesday evening the book was finished, and yesterday, I formatted it for Kindle using KDP and uploaded it! Today, "Telling Secrets Workbook; A Guide to Discover Your Secret to the Life You Truly Deserve" is for sale on Amazon.com! After I uploaded it, I went back to my webpage and updated it to include links to the new book, and all the information about it.

I also designed (as I was writing the ebook) a 5-week workshop for those who want to continue their own journey more directly with me. It includes 6 one-hour calls together, a weekly "Travel Guide" of tasks, exercises and additional information they will need for that week's work, a daily "Travel Itinerary" email that will help keep them focused and give them tips on what to accomplish that day along with lots of upbeat motivation, and membership in my "Travel Group", for those who want to continue this relationship with me long term. I am on fire!!!!

The fact that I created all this content, now have a second book for sale, have the beginnings to really build this business I have been struggling with for years -- and I did it in less than 3 days just blows my mind! I have a lot more to do to really launch this book in social media, get my media press kit online and sent out to local media, and several teleseminars recorded with the next content. But I am off and running.

I know this wouldn't have happened without this wonderful opportunity from D'vorah. She has brought together some incredible experts to teach us, and put so much time and energy into this! I try to live my life in gratitude, and I am so deeply grateful to D'vorah for this gift. 

I have come out of this challenge with clarity and a vision for where I'm going, how to get there, and how VALUABLE I am! I am an expert at what I do, and it is time to claim it and share it. My books will sell, I'm already working on my signature speech to get out on the speaking circuit, I will be able to help others along the way, and I will make money. This has been for me a "guide to discover the secret to the life I truly deserve!"

I hope to see all of you out there -- I know we have what it takes to influence the world in awesome ways!

ABOUT PEG: (this is my new bio -- my confidence after this Challenge inspired me to shine my light and claim my expertise! This is why clients will want to work with me!)

Peg Hubbard loves learning and teaching - and she is continually expanding her mind with new areas of exploration. Ever since childhood, Peg understood her deepest life purpose -- to live a life of integrity and joy, and to be of service to others. Over the years she has worked and studied with incredible teachers, mentors and spiritual guides. Since 2000, Peg has studied with Lynn V. Andrews, best-selling author and contemporary mystic. She graduated as a certified Spiritual Healer from Lynn Andrews’ four year Mystery School, and continues her own studies in the graduate program, even as she serves as mentor to currently enrolled students. Peg is an ordained minister with the International Congregation of Spiritual Healers and Earth Stewards (S.H.E.S.), and has organized and led workshops for groups of women and men in her local area and beyond. Peg also takes private clients.

In the corporate world, Peg's experience has been diverse and exciting, but always focused on mastering new skills. She spent years in Toastmasters International, learning and practicing the skills of speaking and writing. She has scores of certifications from training in leadership and management skills. In Southern California, Peg helped to create an educational program that trained several hundred women how to race large ocean-going racing sailboats (at a time when women weren't accepted as actual members of the crew), resulting in women today being included in even the professional sailboat racing circuits. As a Girl Scout Leader, Peg logged in over 250 hours of leadership training, and served as manager to over 40 troop leaders in her area.

Peg's love for writing has inspired her whole life. During her career in the corporate world, she wrote numerous technical manuals, and prepared, edited and proof-read scientific articles for publication in journals. She has written newsletters for organizations, won prizes for her speeches in regional speech contests, and developed marketing materials for a variety of businesses. She loves poetry; several of her poems appear in anthologies, and she has won several prizes there as well.

Peg lives in northern Texas with her wonderful husband of 44 years, happily surrounded by her three children and 10 grandchildren, dogs and birds.

Why Want is Better Than Don't Want, but WILL is Better than Want

We’re at the time of year when the resolutions we made earlier are falling by the wayside. The weight we were determined to lose hasn’t dropped enough, and we find ourselves giving up the diet. The debt we promised to get rid of hasn’t really changed. Sound familiar? Don’t feel bad – it happens to us all.

But there are still those things we want to bring into our lives – we want to give our family new experiences, nice things, a beautiful place to live. Or perhaps our desires go deeper; how many of us want to bring more sacredness into our lives, but  find the day gone before getting to it? We all have a purpose for
being on this earth-walk, but how often do we get so enmeshed in the distractions of everyday life that we never get around to fulfilling it.

How do we turn those vague wants and wishes into strong intentions? It takes a shift of our energy flow and mental story-telling to attract what it is we want. It’s shifting perspective in a way that focuses on the ultimate desire, and leads us to our  passion for something.

Sometimes we talk about what we don’t want in our life, but we’re not clear about what we want to replace it with. We hear all the time about self-talk, positive affirmations – what is your self-talk? I think one of my favorite quotes of all times comes from Yoda, in Star Wars. He says “Do or do not. There is no try.” So often we tell ourselves things like “I’m going to try to lose weight”, or “I’m going to try to write every day,” or even “I’m going to try to be nicer.” Guess what? We are telling our brain that we will TRY, not achieve! And we will try – but with dubious results. Eliminate the word “try” and “want to” from your vocabulary. Do, or do not. Choose which self-talk will move us forward, not hold us back; should we say:

“I don’t want to be in debt anymore.” OR “I live with abundance and financial security.”
“I don’t want to be fat anymore.”    OR  “I will live a long, healthy life with energy and stamina.”
“I don’t want to fight anymore.”   OR   “I live in peace and harmony.”
“I don’t want to be so materialistic (or petty, or unhappy.)”    OR    “I live a sacred life of joy.”

Either way, unless we are clear about what we do want in our lives, we’ll never get there. So I don’t want to  be in debt – let’s get past the focus on “debt,” and translate that into a positive state of being. Then, let’s go a step further. If debt were not looming over you, what would come next? Perhaps a sigh of relief, a sense of freedom from struggle – but what possibility has the new space opened up?

Believe me, we fill that space – and too often we fill it with new debt! People don’t want to get out of debt,  really, they want to arrive at a place of power to freely express their real desires. But if we don’t have a clear vision of what comes next, we most often re-fill the newly created space by falling back into the same old patterns. We succeed at losing weight, but as soon as we go off the diet, the pounds start piling back on.

How do we interrupt this cycle? How do we create a positive outcome where the debt is released, and we begin to save money, or the pounds come off and we begin to enjoy the freedom and health that results? How do we bring sacredness into our daily life and keep it there? How can changing your outlook bring you positive outcomes, even spiritual growth?

We all know we need a plan. But the plan has to be so precise that when we work our plan, we release the old patterns and claim the new. Deciding what we want to release from our life, be it pain, debt, fear, weight, bad habits, or addiction, is the first step. Next we need to look realistically at all the things we do to self-sabotage ourselves, and plan 10 clear steps that will get us to our goal. Finally, we need to have a clear vision of what our new life will look like! Having that vision means that when we work our plan, and achieve our goal, we will recognize it!

How do you self-sabotage? Do you tell yourself that you’re going to try to quit smoking, or try to meditate each day? How can you change your self-talk to order your brain to work for you, not against you? Let us know – we’d love to cheer you on as you take charge and move into the life you’ve always envisioned for yourself!

Next time: Planning 10 Clear Steps That Will Get Us to Our Goal!

Why I Decided to Spend Time on Social Media

Why I Decided to Spend Time on Social Media

04/21/2014

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It's been several weeks since I've been here, and it bothered me to seemingly ignore my blog. But I spent time trying to connect with more folks on social media, getting to know LinkedIn, GoodReads, and even improving my Facebook Author page. It's so much work for a newbie like me, and I've been tempted more than once to just give it up. Perhaps I'll just blog here, hope someone finds it, keep writing my books and hope someone finds them. What's the use? All this time out on LinkedIn, Facebook, learning how to use things like SEO, checking out other people's blogs -- It feels at times like sticking a fishing rod in the sand, and hoping a fish will happen by and grab the hook. Does it help at all?

And just when I began to believe that no, it doesn't, I found "Kristen Lamb's Blog", entitled "Social Media, Book Signings & Why Neither Directly Impact Overall Sales". You can check it out yourself at her blog, HERE

I have several hundred copies of my book arriving this week, and it's time to plan my book launch and book signings. Why bother? Because, as Kristen explains at the end of her blog, it's not about selling hundreds of books. It's about connection, meeting people, letting them meet me, hear what I have to say. Maybe they will buy my book. Hooray! Maybe they will tell someone else who might buy my book. Hip-hip-hooray! But come what may, my life will be enhanced by the experience, and that is what I'm after.

I have met so many people on social media, and the connections are all valuable. When I hear your stories, it contributes in some way to me shifting perspective on something that is happening now, or may occur in the future. It's all about personal development, and there is always learning in each new friendship. I am so grateful!

So thank you, Kristen, and I will continue to read your blog, just as I hope you will read mine. If I can contribute in some small way to changing your outlook, focusing your perspective or some positive outcome in your life, I am a totally success! And then, if the book does sell, that's the gravy!

How about you? Has social media enhanced your life? Or is it just another thing that has to be checked each day with no apparent benefit? Can we experience spiritual growth from connections on Facebook? I'd love to hear your experiences!

Letting Go -- A Lesson in Loving

This has to be my hardest lesson. Letting go of the things that no longer serve me  -- letting go of the people who no longer "serve" me.

By nature, I am a collector. I love things, and I love to have beautiful things around me. I especially love dishes, tea pots, the beautiful hand-painted serving pieces that were my grandmothers'. Each season, I pull out different pieces, putting them where I see them daily, and loving each one so deeply. They still serve me. They bring beauty to my environment, and when I see them I feel the connection to my grandmother, whom I still love so deeply. 

I used to collect people as well. I love being part of a group, so I created groups, and filled them with people of like-interests. Each time, though, eventually either the group broke up, or I moved on to something else. None of them lasted very long with me. There were several book groups, where my love of reading was satiated along with my need for company. There were several writing groups, but I soon learned in each of them that the others in the group were writing for their own enjoyment, whereas I wanted so badly to become a Writer, write a book, get published. I moved on. But each time I left a group, I felt abandoned, alone, lost. Why didn't these people want to help me? And so I began looking for the next group to create or join. But I would try to hold onto the members of each group, and felt rejected when they would move on without me.
 
It took me until well into my 50's to begin to understand that I was not being abandoned. I no longer served a purpose in their life; the thing that had brought us together was no longer being shared, and they were seeking their own path. That awareness allowed me to begin to understand that collecting people just to say I have friends is no different than collecting silverware, just to be able to say I have five sets of it. I began to understand that people come into our lives, and most of them only stay for a short while, and then we no longer need each other. Do I need five sets of silver? No! Do I use them all? Yes, for different events. So perhaps its not yet time to let them go....

When I shifted my perspective, when I began to see myself as Enough, I also began to realize just how precious my long-term friends are, and how essential the short-term friends are to my spiritual growth and theirs. My awareness of myself as Divine allowed me to recognize that even though I let go of things, or people, a part of them always stays with me. I choose which part -- if they are people who upset me, then the lessons I learned from them becomes their legacy to me, and I can let them go in peace. It's in choosing what to keep in my life that I create myself anew each day. 

The day will come when I'll pass the beautiful dishes to my daughter, gifting her with my energetic connection to my beloved ancestors who are hers as well. She will look at them, and feel my presence, just I have felt my grandmothers'. But if they don't delight her, if they become a burden to store or to care for, I'm okay if she passes them on to someone who will enjoy them. Because I want her to be able to let go of things that no longer serve her, just as I have learned to do.

What do you collect? Do they serve a purpose in your life? Is that purpose meaningful, or is it a "security blanket" of some kind that you really don't need? I'd love to hear from you!

How is My Life Like a Mobius Strip?

Do you know what a Mobius Strip is?
According to Wikipedia it is: a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface. It was discovered independently by the German mathematicians August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858.

A model can easily be created by taking a paper strip and giving it a half-twist, and then joining the ends of the strip together to form a loop.

If I take a strip of paper, and on one side I write "Soul" and on the other side I write "Role", when I give the paper a half-twist and glue the ends together to form a loop, I have created a Mobius strip of my life. My inside life, which is marked "Soul" flows seamlessly into my external life, marked "Role". One doesn't end, neither has a beginning. They just are together. An ant traveling this strip of paper would move from my spiritual life to my external life without ever being aware....

So often  we forget that it how we are made. There is no differentiation between our inner life and our external life -- and when we create a differentiation, the loop is broken and our focus splits, choices become harder, and our life becomes difficult. Instead of smoothly flowing, we have to keep flipping back and forth from inner to outer, from soul-based living to role-based living. Usually what happens, what happened to me, is that we lose touch with our inner Soul life, and just hang out in our external Role-based life. That keeps us from moving forward with personal development, and prevents the positive outcomes that come from spiritual growth.

How do we know where we are -- how do we really visualize our life as integrated, as a Mobius strip? Take a strip of paper, a rectangle, and on one side write "Soul" and on the other write "Role". Have a goal you want to achieve? Want to wake up and live a life of awareness? On the side marked "Soul", write down all the strengths you have that will allow you to achieve what you want. These are expressions of your inner self -- words like courage, perseverance, intelligence, will-power. Be honest and give yourself credit -- we all have everything within us we need to create the life we desire!

On the other side marked "Role", write down all the influences from your outer world that will confront you and try to put you back to sleep. Things like peer pressure, the need to please others, work stress, lack of time -- it can also be things like the beliefs that others have indoctrinated you with, bad habits that you adopted that no longer serve you or represent your inner truth. Be honest!

Now take the strip, and twist it into the Mobius strip, and tape the ends together. Read the strip -- and see how one side is all you need. See how the Role side has no boundaries of its own -- it has no more power than the Soul side. They work together. So what on the Role side are you willing to release -- let go of -- stop doing or believing, so that your Soul and Role will lead you to the goal you desire?
It's seeing ourselves as integrated -- that Soul and Ego need to work together harmoniously for us to live in harmony. Keep your Mobius strip as a reminder to yourself -- live who you are no matter what in life you are doing! Shifting your perspective just a little is like changing your outlook on your whole life!

Living a Whole Life

A truly passionate life is integrated -- a whole life that isn't divided up into categories. How many of us walk through the world, putting on different masks for different situations, assuming each role as its character? We are Whole when we are born, and then as we become "civilized", we begin to put different aspects of our life into separate categories or compartments. A child at school, for instance, may be this person, but when she gets home, becomes a seemingly different person. We create compartments for whatever role we are in.  As we get older, the walls between the compartments get stronger, and it gets harder to re-integrate. This creates stress. Stress creates dis-ease, which we then try to balance through comfort behaviors. So we gain weight, or get into debt, or become a control-freak, or take on everyone else's problems. But we aren't whole anymore, and that is the root of what is to come.

I'm not talking about, for example, a career person who is also raising a family. Of course, at work, you don't speak to your colleagues or clients the way you speak to your toddler. That isn't compartmentalizing -- that is just adjusting your approach for the situation. I'm talking about what I experienced as a young girl. I had learned to be the "nice girl". You know -- "Nice girls don't talk like that", or "Nice girls let everyone else talk and learn to listen." We all got the "nice kid" messages. But I took them in and lived by them. So I took all the not-nice kid thoughts and feelings, and boxed them very carefully, then built a wall around them. I didn't allow myself to feel anger or talk back when I was being discounted in some way. I just stuffed it all behind the wall. And I wasn't whole. I was sometimes outgoing, sometimes introverted, sometimes fearful, sometimes peaceful and happy. But it wasn't situational -- it was all related to the role I was in, the mask I chose for this group of people in my life.

After I was molested, I needed another room to stuff all that into. Bigger, thicker walls. Stronger door, good lock. I couldn't let any of those feelings out! Abused kids, bullied kids, they all become such great architects of strong-rooms within themselves.

By the time I moved out into the world as a young adult, I was totally confused. Had no idea who I really was -- yet the rest of the world saw me as mature, a take-charge type woman who really knew what she wanted and went after it. I knew I was a sham. And I lived in fear that the rest of the world would find out. So I became a control freak, and I took on everyone else's problems. What a great way to convince myself that I was Whole!

Fortunately, it all fell apart. Took decades of type-A personality behavior, coupled with strange bouts of illnesses, as I moved up in my career, strove to be a super-mom, worked at being a perfect wife, and gave all my "spare" time to serving my community. Finally, wham! The Universe said "Enough, Peg," and took it all away. Lost my job, my husband lost his two weeks later. Three kids in college, the big house on the side of the hill in Southern CA, a racing sailboat and yacht club membership, horses, dogs, birds, five cars; over the next two years, we went through the savings, the college fund, and found ourselves bankrupt, the house gone, the sailboat gone, the horses and dogs and birds gone, and we weren't finding a place to live because no one would rent to us while we were still in the process of a bankruptcy.... My health failed during those two years, and I was nearly in a wheelchair, racked with pain, gasping for breath due to asthma.... I had lost all control. The kids got jobs, and moved into apartments. College was no longer a for-sure thing for them.

I'm so glad that all happened! That is when I finally surrendered control, and looked up. "I need help," I prayed, not sure if anyone was listening. Within 24 hours, a friend showed up who signed a lease for us on a little condo we could afford. "I need a teacher to show me what to do" I prayed, this time believing a little bit that someone was listening. We got a job offer for my husband, in Kentucky, and we moved there. More fear, but this time, I faced it -- even moving away from our children -- leaving them to fend for themselves! I found my teacher, a wonderful woman who heard my story and invited me to join her woman's spirituality group. I found a doctor who understood that my illness needed more than western meds, and added acupuncture, sacral cranial massage, osteopathic manipulation and Chinese herbs to the regime. And slowly, I began to heal. Within three years, I no longer needed a wheelchair at all, and the asthma was gone. Within another two years, I got rid of my cane and began to live a more normal life, with support that kept the pain at a functional level. That was the physical sign of what was happening inside me. So much growth, so much personal development that I hadn't known I needed....

I found the keys to the doors that held all my darkness, all my fears, all my anger, everything I had been running from my whole civilized life. With loving support from my teacher and friends, I opened those doors and began to experience that side of myself. My husband, bless his heart, stood by me, silent mostly, allowing me to go through this, cheering for me when I'd hit a milestone worthy of celebrating, holding my hand when I needed some extra strength. But he let me, made me, do it myself. Such a gift!

When we left Kentucky to move to Texas, I was terrified! Losing my doctor and my teacher!  But I had built enough confidence by then, and I knew to look up again. "I need a new teacher, and a new doctor" I prayed, knowing that someone was listening. I found both. I truly began to understand how shifting perspective led me to spiritual growth, that changing your outlook does lead to positive outcomes.

I have discovered that perspective is so important, but that we need to shine our Light, our Inner Light in order to see the proper perspective. When I was living in fear of my own darkness, I was actually dimming my Light to the point that I couldn't see my Whole self. As I faced my fears and let them go, as I took down the walls and opened the boxes I had carefully protected for so long, my Light began to illuminate the beauty they contained, and the importance they held.

I had boxed myself into a closed system of sorts; I had created for myself a self-made Hell. And the best gift I ever received was losing everything -- it opened the doorway into myself, my Self, and allowed me to shift my perspective on what being a Nice Girl really means. And now I understand that I can laugh so much because I've known sadness.