True Balance Life Coaching

Happy New Year!

This is the the time of year when life coaches and personal development bloggers have a field day sharing tips and ideas about how to strut your stuff and live your best life. With the new year comes a clean slate. A blank page.  The chance to begin again.

If you are ready to improve the quality of your life, chances are you will begin to make changes in January. With transition comes the comfortable pull of ‘the way things have always been’. This force is strong and can often overpower newly minted resolutions before they have a chance to germinate.

I choose to live in a resolution free zone.

I prefer to evolve and improve my life with incremental steps toward profound change. Reflecting on my successes and failures in 2011 helped define my personal intentions for the new year. While I have lofty intentions and enormous dreams, I expect occasional setbacks. I believe you can correct your course of action and begin again at any time. Falling off the wagon does not mean you’ve failed.

If you are ready to make some changes, check in with how you feel about the following areas of your life to determine which area needs the most attention.

• Relationships
• Health and Wellness
• Career and Business
• Finances
• Spirituality

When I look at each area of my life I see that improving my health and well being is most important. And while I improved my nutrition in 2011 with whole foods, super foods and healthy tonics, I let my active yoga practice and physical activity falter. This is not a new experience. I’ve played tug of war prioritizing regular exercise  for many years.

Currently, I am marveling at the increased size of my Buddha belly. When the waistband of my favorite yoga pants began rolling off my waist,  it was time to get moving again. Excuses,  self-sabotage and getting away from the ritual of moving my body each day lead me here. Can you relate?

Here’s what I know. When I regularly move my body,  I am a much happier and healthier version of me.  The rituals that lead me back to this place of out-of -shapeness must be altered. I know how great I feel after practicing yoga, taking a brisk walk or going a few rounds with my heavy bag. I plan to get my ass out of my comfy chair more often in 2012. I’ve created a new ritual that will support my success. And when I inevitably fall off the wagon, I will dust myself off and get back on again.

Self Improvement begins with clear and focused action.

• Identify what you wish to change
• Get real about where you are you right now
• Identify where you want to go from here
• Create a new daily ritual to get you from where you are now to where you want to be.

Another thought about Personal Intentions….

Brilliant entrepreneur and marketer, Chris Brogan recommends contemplating and claiming three meaningful words that represent your intentions for the new year. I love this approach. When you identify your three words they become guideposts to help you stay on course with your personal evolution.

My Three words are:  Simplify – Practice – Generosity

This year I plan to simplify my life by letting go of the past. I plan to practice what I preach and move my body. I intend to be extremely generous with everyone I have the good fortune of sharing my time with.

My young daughter proclaimed her three words (fun, surprises and dominance) while standing on top a giant mound of snow.  You know what they say about apples…

• What area of your life needs the most attention right now? What are you going to do about it?

• What three words will you choose to represent your personal evolution in 2012?

The Artist’s Way Workshop Series presented by True Balance International.

Are you seeking a way to energize your creativity, engage or re-engage your sense of artistry, and connect to all of the divine creative power you have within you? This 12 week series of workshops based on the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron will provide you with the focus, dialogue, coaching, accountability and connection that will support you on a spiritual path to higher creativity.

The Artist’s Way workshop series will be facilitated by transformation goddess, author and life coach, Shann Vander Leek of True Balance International at the beautiful Tribalive Studios in Traverse City, starting Thursday, January 12th through March 22nd, 2012 from 6:00-7:30pm.  Each weekly session includes an energizer, deep and detailed conversation about your progress as a creative artist, a review of your application of the exercises in the book, and support with staying true to your creative spirit. We will meet at Tribalive on Thursday evenings for a lively exchange with kindred spirits on a sacred path of discovering and recovering your creative self.

Please bring a copy of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, notebook and pen. Shann recommends reading the introduction and first chapter before the first meeting on January 12th.

Interested in more details?

Come to Tribalive on Thursday, January 5th at 6:00pm for a free taste of what’s to come in this supportive creative circle.

To Register Call: 231.668.9850 or email Shann 

Space is limited to the first 10 registrants.

The Tribalive Studio is located at 124 N. Maple Street, Traverse City, Michigan

I am considering a Virtual Offering for those of you who live outside the Traverse City area. If you read this blog and are interested in  participating in this workshop series online, please let me know.  Cheers.

Dalai Lama

At the start of the new millennium the Dalai Lama shared eighteen divine rules for living in harmony. Have you read them yet? Check it out.

• Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
• When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
• Follow the three Rs: Respect for self - Respect for others - Responsibility for all your actions.
• Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
• Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
• Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
• When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
• Spend some time alone every day.
• Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
• Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
• A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
• In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
• Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
• Be gentle with the earth.
• Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
• Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
• Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

I think you will agree this manifesto is spot on! I encourage you to copy the list and display it in your home or office for daily inspiration.