Last night was the session one of our January/February Oakland Incubator Intensive. We’ve got an amazing group of 10 women who are up to really cool things. We are in for an exciting and inspiring month of expanding visions, clarifying direction and moving forward! Having just come back from Ladies Who Launch leader training, I am raring to go.

My second dose of Girl Power came tonight. I just got home from the “Girl’s Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear” book signing where I got to meet Caitlin and Kim in person (photo above). I love that they bring a feminine perspective to the workplace and that their mission is to create a “New Girl’s Network” that blows the old boy’s network out of the water and helps us gals increase our confidence, fulfillment and prosperity in business. Their tips, stories and advice aim to level the playing field - no more women earning 77 cents to men’s dollar. Kim and Caitlin urge us women to ask for what we want, promote ourselves more freely and support each other. Amen, sisters!

It’s been cool that over the last couple of weeks I’ve been able to spend a little time with amazing women leaders of amazing companies - Karen Kimsey-House - the President of The Coaches Training Institute, Victoria Colligan - co-founder of Ladies Who Launch and now Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio of YMC Media and The Girl’s Guides. They are all inspirational and each are promoting strong female leadership with their own unique voice. What an honor to be amongst such tremendous Girl Power!

While rain drizzled lightly outside, 11 vibrant women gathered for my Dream Box workshop at fellow Lady Launcher and coach/therapist Laura Parker’s Creative Action Center. We christened her lovely office space with positive energy and creativity as the women visioned their goals and collaged colorful dream boxes.

I love witnessing everyone in their creative process.  In the beginning we discussed  how as successful women we’re so conditioned to have very specific and practical goals (often brought on by others outside ourselves). But by rolling up our sleeves and getting messy, we’re able to tap into our intuition and childlike creativity. Our imagination and right-brain helps us dream big!

One of my favorite parts of the workshop is the show and tell at the end. We get to hear about what each woman is creating in her life and what action she’s taking to continue moving forward. It’s always cool to see how unique everyone’s dreams are and also where there is synergy and opportunity to support one another on their journeys. I can’t wait to see these dreams of health, travel, meaningful connections and creative projects come true!

How are you blowing the lid off of 2008? What creative ways can you tap into your big dreams? And what support do you need to move forward?

The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of excitement, connection, fulfillment and fun! I visited Washington DC to be a Circle Coach for Quest, returned home to lead a dream box workshop at It’s Yoga and then flew out to Cleveland for our Ladies Who Launch leader training. I had a great time at all the different events. And this weary traveler is happy to be home (where it’s not snowing!).

Quest was amazing. What an honor to help shepherd our Questers on their journey of discovering their leadership essence and taking action on their inspiring Quests. I look forward to seeing how they each continue to make their unique impact on the world!

The icing on the cake was meeting up with my friends John and Marie last Saturday night in DC. I hadn’t seen John in about three years and this was my first time meeting Marie in person. What a treat!

Had one day back home to make dream boxes with the yoga teacher trainers including students from Mexico, Israel, Japan and all across the US. I’m always so moved by what the participants dream of and create!

Next up, Cleveland! On our first day there, Launy, Corinne and I ventured to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m no music buff, so much of the paraphernalia was beyond me. But I did get a kick out of seeing a letter that Madonna wrote to a friend while she was at the University of Michigan, Jim Morrison’s report cards from grade school and drawings that Jimi Hendrix did as a kid.

California girls Launy, me, Corinne and Claire braving the snow. It was so much fun to be at the training with these smart, savvy gals. And we’re so excited to bring all our launching energy back to our fellow Bay Area launchers.

Oh, and I just had to take a picture of the infamous chocolate cake that magically appeared after every meal. Good thing we had yoga class Friday morning to work off such decadence.

And finally, a beautiful shot of all 14 leaders in training from across the US and Canada along with our awesome trainer Stella. What an amazing group of women!

The third installment of the best-selling Girl’s Guide series comes out today AND I’m featured in the book!!! The Girl’s Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio offers practical advice for taking charge of your career - whether it’s getting to that next level, switching careers or deciding to work for yourself.

As the featured coach in Chapter Two: Getting where you want to go, I provide some creative exercises for envisioning what you want from your job and offer suggested actions to take. (Note, I’m listed under my former coaching brand Change Journey Coaching due to publishing lead time).

Not only am I thrilled to be in print, this opportunity exemplifies the power of intention… Last year around this time, I had just finished a great book about using collage to set dreams and goals. I thought to myself, “Hey, I really could write a book about my approach to art visioning!” I got inspired to do some art visioning of my own around the book idea and planned to create a mock book jacket for my future book. It was late at night, so to make sure I didn’t forget the next day, I wrote an e-mail to myself on 1/7/07 with the subject line “mock up a book cover/jacket w/ headshot, bio, advanced praise, etc.”

Well, I woke up the next morning to find in my inbox an e-mail with the subject line, “book interview.” I had to do a double-take. Was this what I called the note to myself about my book? I was beside myself when I realized it was one of the Girl’s Guide authors asking if I wanted to be interviewed for their next book! I was amazed that in less than 24-hours, a wonderful opportunity presented itself that was a great first step toward writing my own book!!

By the way, the authors will be holding a book-signing/workshop in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 30th from 7:30-9:30PM at Books Inc. on 2251 Chestnut Street. Maybe I’ll see you there?!

Now that I’m easing into my yoga practice again, I’m going back to basics. I can hear Larry asking, “Where are your hands and feet?” Reminding me to pay attention to my foundation on and off the mat. Where am I placing my intention and how consciously am I holding myself up?

I’m reconnecting with my drishti (sanskrit for vision or focus). Drishti is something I can easily lose sight of (pun intended!), especially when I’m in a class and going into comparison mode. With my home practice, though, my focus seems sharper. A soft gaze helps me stay connected to where I’m headed in my pose and in life. A great metaphor for clarifying my vision at the start of the year.

And, I can’t forget about breath and bandhas! Pranayama is the heart of the practice, linking mind, body and spirit. Engaging the bandhas (or locks) reminds me to come from my personal stake (what I stand for). When I come from my core in my practice and in life, I’m much more solid and grounded.

Having to slow down and be more conscious of my practice has allowed me to revisit fundamentals of yoga. I’m grateful for these lessons on and off the mat! Namaste.

(Apparently an adorer of alliteration according to the post title! Heehee!) I’m a little behind in blogland and there’s so much to catch up on! First off, awards…. I’m so incredibly honored to receive a “You Make My Day” award from three of my very favorite bloggers: Jamie, Leah and Marilyn. You guys inspire me every time I read what you’re up to. You are at the top of my list for my “You Make My Day” award recipients. So right back acha!

Here are the rules:

Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

In addition to Jamie, Leah and Marilyn (I’ve linked to some of their other sites so you can see more awesome stuff that they’re up to!), the following lovely souls make my day: Serendipity Squared, Invisible Lives, Under a Pink Sky, Be Alive Believe Be You, Diary of a Self Portrait, and The Skeptic Yogi.

Speaking of yoga, I am so happy that I re-discovered my practice. And what great timing considering I just stumbled upon World Yoga Practice Month where you practice yoga everyday in January! Also, yesterday my friend Brad, who I met at a dream box workshop I led for It’s Yoga, sent me some super cool information on a new yoga teacher training he’s created. It’s called the Yoga Exploratorium at Yoga Sol. Imagine learning about asanas, meditation, anatomy, etc. in a fun, hands-on environment like SF’s Exploratorium. The first line of the course description says it all, “Yoga is curiosity & a creative process.”

And as for abundance, wow, 2008 is off to a fantastic start. I’m ever so grateful! I’m working with amazing clients, I just gave a talk on Wednesday about creative goal-setting at a networking group and in the next two weeks I’m off to DC to help facilitate Quest and then Cleveland for my official Ladies Who Launch leader training. The rest of the month is going to be filled to the brim, so I must remember to build in some recoup time, too. Ahhhh!

One powerful skill in coaching is making distinctions. Sometimes we’ve unconsciously collapsed multiple definitions or ideas together into one big fat limiting belief. “Since I got passed over for a promotion, I must not be worthy.” “I didn’t do my meditation today, that means I’m lazy and undisciplined.” Oh and my favorite, given the title of this post, “I suck at math, so I must be stupid.” Sure those are perspectives to hold AND they’re likely to keep you feeling very stuck or sorry for yourself. Not very productive or compassionate for that matter.

By untangling these definitions from each other, we’re able to see what’s really true for us and are opened up to a whole new world of options.

Here are some collapsed definitions that I sometimes trip myself up on. Creativity = Art (and the subset of that… Art = Visual Art). With the help of our handy transitive equation from algebra class that means I am only creative when I’m doing visual art. Wow, that’s incredibly limiting, wouldn’t you say?

Here’s the latest collapsed definition that I’ve been challenged with. Yoga = Asanas (and only of the Ashtanga variety since that’s what I’m trained in). For the last several months I’ve been dealing with a possible stress fracture in my foot. I’ve been extremely frustrated. I’ve made up that I can’t do yoga because it’s too intense and I need to stay off my feet. Well, over the past couple of days I’ve come to my senses and realized I’ve been in the grip of a collapsed definition. Simply by naming that, I feel more hopeful. I’ve reminded myself that yoga is also about breath (pranayama) and yoga is also very restorative. I can modify poses any way that I want and that will serve where my body is at. And developing my own sequence of healing poses is indeed a creative process (which blows my above collapsed definition about creativity out of the water, too!).

Which collapsed definitions trip you up? If you tease them apart, what new options do you see?

Artist and creative blogger Leah Piken Kolidas has rallied the creative community once again with her new challenge, Creative Every Day 2008. I got so much out of participating in her November Art Every Day challenge that I’ve decided to say yes to a whole new year of conscious creativity.

One of my big lessons from AEDM 07 was being reminded that creativity is so much more than artmaking. That we are creative in everything we do - from how we dress, how we live, how we work, how we relate to ourselves and others, and so much more. I like to think that, in the grandest sense, we are the artists of our own lives.

So, my creative act for today was spending quality time with my husband co-creating a shared vision for our relationship. We’ve been together for about 14 years, married for more than six. And through the years we’ve learned so much about ourselves and each other - we’re so different yet very much the same. I feel so fortunate to have him in my life and love that we are committing to consciously co-creating our shared vision together.