Monthly: February 2014

Feb27

Business Stress – 3 Ways Intuition Can Help

by Cheryl Brewster

As a conscious minded business person, your goal is to provide the highest quality products and services in the most efficient, sustainable methods possible, with customer satisfaction and healthy profit.. But what happens when challenges come up that rock your world? Our knee-jerk reactions take over. Big Time. While some reactions can be  effective, most are not.  Intuitive Development plays a critical role in catching those gut-wrenching situations and transforming them into effective learning experiences. The caveat here however, is that we must be willing to re-frame how we look at ourselves and stress.

How Intuition helps to  reduce business stress:

1. Rule number one in intuitive development is to breathe.
Over time we learn to look at breathing in a whole new way:  slowly, deeply, consciously and deliberately.
This kicks us out of the “fight or flight” sequence and gets us connected back to our body wisdom. Otherwise, the huge rush of chemicals released in the body can take over our perspective and we all know what happens… we react (based on the past) rather than respond (based on the present). Without taking time to breathe, we simply repeat old patterns again and again. We’ve heard this a million times… breathe deeply and slowly, but are we actually doing it?
TIP: Use association. Choose something that happens frequently and use it as a reminder… for example…. every time your phone rings, use it as a marker to check-in and breathe slowly, deeply, consciously and deliberately before you answer it.

2.  How would you feel if everything was really okay?
Our intuition has access to the bigger picture that the five senses don’t.  Just take a look at nature’s beauty and perfection – there’s an invisible harmony that runs our world – when we breathe into that inner harmony, we operate from a success minded perspective. Our job becomes less fear-driven and more purpose driven; by allowing this inner harmony to emerge through us, we become aware of possibilities we didn’t see before..  We think more clearly.  Intuition draws from this creative space while fear prevents our access to it.
TIP: Re-frame stress as a  signal to refocus on the inner harmony already inside of you; it builds supreme self trust and improves the thinking process.

3. How would you act if you were already successful?
Ask this simple question in any situation and see what happens! You’ll feel instant relief and guidance and find it easier to drop ineffective thinking patterns.
TIP: Make this question a new practice by using your tea or coffee break to sit with the answers. Be sure to keep a journal handy!

The bottom line: Intuitive Principles reduce stress and add an element of self discovery. They increase profit by creating a new perspective of trust and freeing up stuck energy. Intuitive Development takes time and practice but it’s affects can be felt immediately.  Our biggest challenge as entrepreneurs is to give ourselves the same time, care and attention we give to our customers. Start small and build from there… these three simple steps can have profound affects on your business!

Cheryl Brewster is a Business Intuitive who provides intuitive mentor programs and workshops to support entrepreneurs  in being less stressed and more productive.

Inspiration:
If you focus on the negative in any situation, you can expect high stress levels. However, if you try and see the good in the situation, your stress levels will greatly diminish.”  –Catherine Pulsifer

Feb13

How do I love Me? Let Me Count the Ways!

by Cheryl Brewster

Do you love yourself as much as you wish to be loved?
Do you gift yourself the nurturing that you most crave?
Do you allow yourself to receive even when it feels uncomfortable?
Are you willing to be present with your pain and let blame go?

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Rumi

While Valentines is traditionally for lovers and romance, Rumi’s quote invites introspection whether you are in a romantic relationship or not. Are you willing to find the barriers within that prevent love’s full experience?

In my mentoring with clients and in my own life, the significance of self-love is HUGE! We live in a society that is rush, rush, rush…. I’m beginning to believe that the highest form of self-love is extricating ourselves from the death grip of frantic, frenetic over commitments and schedules. To that end, Valentines becomes a very important Self-Love Day:

1. What can I give myself today, that contributes to my own self acceptance?
2. Imagine never saying an unkind thing to yourself again! What would that do to your outlook?
3. Tap even more to the divine mind within. What’s there? What’s life like from this expanded perspective? What would the goddess/god within say to you about you?
4. What regret or judgment can you let go of, to love yourself/others more fully?
5. If you had no barriers to loving yourself/others, how would that change your perception of “reality?”
6. What is that rare, unique quality within you that you have been shy of sharing? Could you share a bit of it today in celebration of the Love you have for you, for the sheer joy of life itself?

Mindfulness this Valentine’s:
1. Being present with your experience without judging it.
2. Paying attention in a particular way.
3. Being on Purpose

Happy Valentines to your Inner Lover… when we move to the divine heart within, we let go with more ease, release the need to control, we give ourselves the most amazing gift of all….

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” Rumi

What does a soul-centred relationship, business, daily schedule look like? We’ll know by how much joy runs through it. We’ll know by how much we’re trusting our soul’s voice, and acting on our intuition.

Like this post? We’d love to hear from you… send us your comments or a “like” on Facebook: The Intuitive Life

Feb06

4 keys to Mindfulness in Business

by Cheryl Brewster

Mindfulness is the act of bringing your awareness to whatever you’re experiencing in the present moment. Mindfulness is critical to successful business practices.  It increases alertness, awareness and effectiveness that comes from a higher plane of wisdom. Without  it, we’re coming from a lesser version of ourselves and our vision. We’re coming from the local mind rather than the nonlocal mind (in other words, coming from our human perceptions of appearances, rather than the expansive, creative power of our inner genius…. a.k.a., our Intuition).

How mindful are you?
Four important questions to ask yourself in regards to your business or career:

1. Am I paying attention in a particular way?
For example, am I paying attention in a particular way that……….(you fill in the blank):
… is coming from the deep wisdom/intelligence/guidance inside of me?
… in a way that is evolving the quality of my experience?
… that is in alignment with my highest ideals?
… that is allowing my highest wisdom to express itself in new ways in my business or career?

2. Am I on purpose with this thought/action?

3. Am I truly present in my business or am I distracted, stuck in the past or worried about the future?

4. Am I non-judgmental?
Example:when I become aware that I need to course correct, how do I respond to challenges or mistakes: do I shut down, react and maintain old patterns that need to be challenged?

Think of it this way; you know what you want from your business or career, but how mindfully are you really allowing and creating it? Are you coming from the local mind (personality) that is pressured by habit or judging appearances? Or are you willing to cross that discomfort threshold of stopping everything, to pause and “really” listen to the nonlocal mind – that vast, calm  guidance and knowing  inside you? This guidance knows and sees the bigger picture beyond the logical mind and always points to peace and solid solutions. When we choose mindfulness, the power of the logical mind with  self awareness and self discipline, can then serve to support – to be the faithful servant rather than the  driven, controlling task master.

We spend so much time at work,
But our level of mindfulness may be sadly lacking, especially if we’re going through a hard or challenging time. Defining what Mindfulness is to you in your business is important. One of the best definitions I’ve seen comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn who says it’s about paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

Mindfulness helps us stay, present,
And focused, effective, on target and in flow with what builds us up and not on what tears us down It ensures we stay on track with what is best for us and our businesses; it keeps us connected to our inner business genius that we all have, whether we’re trained in business or not . It brings clarity to confusion, resolution to challenge, but most importantly, has a transformative quality that keeps building and fine tuning our intuition and effectiveness.

As Wallace Wattles in the Science of Getting Rich identified, “There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made…. The resources of supply are at the command of the man or woman who will act and think in a certain way… (but)… you must begin to live in harmony with the laws governing the universe.” In my experience, mindfulness keeps me connected to these resources of harmony and supply.. it ensures I align myself to the laws governing the universe.

Mindfulness becomes an important practice.
not always easy to initiate and like any good thing, it takes effort to maintain, however with practice, it becomes a pathway in  life that is extraordinary…. It takes us out of the mundane and into indescribable possibilities that we would have missed otherwise. It truly cultivates innovation, creativity and solutions not accessible by the linear, logical mind. And that’s what’s needed in today’s business economy, our efforts personally and locally, affect our world  globally.

Mindfulness helps us become aware of what we may be overlooking.
It keeps us in our centre… and that’s a powerful place of evolution that moves striving and struggle into doing business with more ease.  In asking the 4 questions listed at the top of this blog, we slow down, we ensure alignment with our core principles and values, we make space for what we don’t know to grow ourselves and our business.

“Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom. You don’t have to be swept away by your feeling. You can respond with wisdom and kindness rather than habit and reactivity.”  ~ Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Interested in learning more on how Mindfulness contributes to your career, business or company?
Cheryl Brewster is a Business Intuitive, Mentor/Coach and Speaker. She  specializes in supporting  those  keen to expand personal and professional effectiveness through the power of intuition and soul-centred business practises. To join her mailing list or to learn more: TheIntuitiveLife.com