What is Success

Wow! I can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted! I've been busy learning new skills and preparing articles for my website. I'll let you know soon when those are all ready. It'll be a rich resource not only for stress reduction but for meditation, loving yourself into success, and more!

Tomorrow is my birthday -- a big one, and it's cause to reflect.

What is success? To me, it's doing exactly what I'm doing right now, taking my next steps on a daily basis in the unfoldment of my goals of providing excellent information and services to help you with loving yourself into success, less stress and more happiness and well-being.

Some people would say that's all fine but very fluffy!

Ha! It sounds fluffy when you just read the words. But having spent over thirty years applying the techniques I share, I know that in the experience level, the steps of loving yourself are anything but fluffy. They are practical and doable.

Last night, I stayed up very late reading a fantasy novel, so I was extra tired this morning. I had planned to attend the local Unity church, but when I checked inwardly (while still under the covers) I intuitively got "No," don't go. Well, I knew that might just be "tired" speaking, so while getting dressed I tuned in again.

This time, I got "Yes, go," so a bit later I set off driving to the church. Twenty minutes into my drive, I realized I had made a wrong turn and was almost into Burlington. It was now almost time for the service to begin and if I drove over I'd be 20 minutes late. So I checked intuitively again and got "Go home." I went home and spent the next couple of hours sitting with my husband doing Spiritual Exercises (like meditation).

Now, I don't know why this happened the way it did. I don't know why I got confusing and contradictory answers from my usually clear intuitive self. I don't know why I spaced out and missed my very familiar route. I do know that I had a lovely drive in the spring sunshine. I know that I deeply appreciated doing SEs for two hours. I'm choosing to believe that this experience is exactly what I needed today!

Looking at my day as just perfect, including confusion and missing my turn, is one way of loving myself into success. When I can stay peaceful and loving in the midst of confusion, and when I can look for the best in whatever is present, I am indeed loving myself (not judging any of this). In the loving, in the self-compassion and self-acceptance, I find greater wherewithal for letting success emerge.

How, I muse, did I learn to love myself? Well, I practiced, a lot. I'm still practicing.

I suppose most of all, it's a choice. I keep choosing loving responses. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's very hard. The hard ones are when I feel like I'm not in control and my ego wants to be in control to feel safer and more secure! When I feel out of control, it's easy to start judging myself as stupid, incompetent, unspiritual, etc. And those are the times when I most need my own loving and acceptance. Those are the times when I need my inner support to help me keep going with integrity and enthusiasm, past the obstacles and into success. So I move back to choosing the loving responses as fast as I can. And it is generally much faster than a few years ago.

I invite your comments, questions and responses. Do my comments inspire you, encourage you, make you think? Are there other related subjects you'd like to hear about?

Joy and Peace to you,
Dr. Ilenya

Causeway Reflections on Peace and Success

Yesterday on my walk on the Colchester Causeway, I noticed stagnant, brackish water on one side and fresh clear water on the other.

I actually paused to inspect the clear water carefully, as it was not perceptibly flowing. A light breeze tickled the surface, water bugs skated in random patterns, and reflections of the still winter-sparse trees danced in the late afternoon sun. But I couldn't see this water moving in any particular direction.

As I pondered, some analogies seemed obvious. Ifyou are a typical harried and overcommitted person, when you think about slowing down to reduce stress, you fear turning into a murky puddle of going-nowhere bog-water. Where is the action, the excitement?

I believe that's a secret fear for many of you who procrastinate on taking next steps for personal peace. You are afraid to miss anything, afraid to say no to anything, afraid of losing out on something important. You want it all, even at the expense of your health and well-being.

Do you experience life now as a rather head over heels rush but you're not sure where you are going? Are you putting energy out in a dozen directions and they all sort of fizzle out or dry up before going too far? If so, you're expending a lot of energy but not necessarily getting the rewards that you want.

What if you slowed down and became like the crystal clear water I saw on the other side of the causeway? Even better, what if you set up your life such that you experience a gentle flow toward a larger goal? What if you create more balance and inner peace and at the same time, give yourself a direction for success? What ifyou commit to gently following a dream, or creating your heart's desire?

I know that my walks help me to slow down and"gather myself" inwardly. They allow me time to reconnect with nature and more importantly, with myself and my experience of the Divine. When I take time to connect with the earth and the majesty of creation, I renew my direction. My life is very full, and I manage several projects. I can easily get caught up inthe busy-ness of all my tasks! Taking time for me, through meditation and prayer, through walking, and sometimes through "just sitting," is essential for maintaining balance and my own personal peace.

Loving myself through all the crazy, frustrating and upsetting times is part of the process too. We're human. As long as we don't shut ourselves off from loving, I don't see how we can turn into the brackish bog-water. The more we choose loving ourselves into peace, the better our chances for a gentle flow into our larger selves.

Based on my experience, you can create an "upward spiral" of loving yourself into greater peace, and from that place of balance within, allow your creativity to bring forward your personal path to success. Creativity and success will encourage you to expand, and you may become overcommitted again. But that can be a reminder to come back to your process for personal peace, and onward and upward again.

Note: I'm working to expand my website with articles of related to loving yourself into greater peaceand success. Stay tuned!

Joy and Peace to you,
Dr. Ilenya

Success from the Inside Out

Success from the Inside Out

If I had known last August all that I'd have to be learning by now, would I have lept into internet marketing so freely?

The answer is, I don't know. I like to think I would have, but I might have been intimidated.
I keep saying the learning curve is vertical! For a non-techie, I've made amazing strides.

I've sort of backed into a new career. First, a couple of years ago, I was tired of starting over in a new community as a social worker or psychotherapist each time my husband got transferred. Frequently when I would sit for spiritual exercises, I would lovingly pose some version of the following questions, "What are my next steps for my career? What is God's will for me?"

I got the notion that I needed a "portable career" and thought writing and speaking would be a way to go. I began to hold an intention for this in a very loose and general way, always with my "insurance clause" prayer -- in the Light for the highest good of all concerned.

I drafted a book, was told it was really two or three books in one, and I eventually extracted one slender volume and have more to finish with the rest! Then last August, my life coach Richie Lyon nudged me into checking out a Three-Day Quick Start Ebook Authoring class by Ellen Violette, The Ebook Coach. Richie's idea was that Ellen's class would help me put the finishing touches on the book I was completing.

When I started Ellen's class, she suggested using the time to write a book from scratch! I rose to the occasion and produced a brand new one, The Power of Personal Peace: Reducing Stress by Loving Yourself from the Inside Out. I also caught the vision that with internet marketing of my book, I could build the portable career I wanted! But I was such a newbie regarding the internet that I waited (impatiently) for six or seven weeks, until Ellen's 10-week internet marketing class began in October. Then I simply started doing what she said to do, practicing many new suggestions as they floated across the radar screen of my learning.

By December, I had a designer finishing my website, and I squeaked into participation in the 12 Days of Christmas gift promotion, so I got a start on building a list of people interested in stress reduction. I started blogging, sending occasional notes to my newsletter list, and now I've done two teleseminars. I'm learning the basics of doing my own web pages. I've started sending articles to article directories.

The learning curve is still pretty much straight up, but I'm doing what internet marketers do.

One of my recent articles on stress reduction builds on the idea of first Being, then Doing, then Having the positive results. Right now, I'm thinking of that in terms of success.

My process has surely been an unfolding from the inside out. First I had the intuitive awareness (from the center of my Being) that I needed a "portable career." I would mull this over periodically and eventually used it as part of my impetus to start a new writing project about two years ago.

As I started writing, (Doing) I did a pilot project of a six week workshop to test my processes and materials, and to create working deadlines for myself as an author. Then we moved again! This time it was from the Detroit area to the Burlington area of Vermont. I did a little crisis counseling to get acquainted with the community, I taught a college class, filling in for a professor who was ill, and I've had a handful of private clients. Once more, being a highly qualified professional starting over in a new community left me frustrated and feeling I didn't fit in.

Less than nine months ago I discovered the possibility of writing an ebook. Six months ago I started to learn internet marketing. It's filled a big void in my life. I get to help people from all over the world, be creative, use my writing, speaking and people skills, and keep learning every day! I need to be organized and manage myself well, but I am my own boss. I'm loving it!

I'm doing my best to stay attuned with my inner direction, going step by step, and starting to enjoy my process and reap the rewards! This is truly success by loving myself from the inside out. It's a gentle and gradual progression with rich rewards all along the way!

Joy and Peace to you,
Dr. Ilenya

Success from the Inside Out

Loving My Learning Process for Success

Ah, it's been a busy couple of weeks -- so much so that I forgot to come here and post to my blog! And believe me, I've had many opportunities to practice my techniques for maintaining my personal peace!

The teleseminars went quite well for a first venture. I had a good time, gave excellent information, and learned more than I ever expected! I made a few mistakes, but those were the areas of greatest educational value.

Starting a new business, learning internet marketing, learning many new technical skills, maintaining my creative flow, doing some volunteer work and running a home is quite a package. Yes, I've felt some pretty intense stress in the last two weeks, especially getting everything prepared for my teleseminars and launching that process, then analyzing and learning so I can do it better next time!

A key through all of this was to remind myself that I'm learning mountains of new information, that it's ok to make mistakes and learn from those too, and that I can't increase my success without taking some risks!

Focusing on the learning process is a way of loving myself as I keep tackling one challenge after another. Then, in the midst of frustrations and tension, I can take a deep breath and remind myself to relax, put one hand on my stomach and one on my heart and say, "I love you, Ilenya," and regroup!

In other words, as long as I remember, "I'm learning," it's easier to remember "I don't have to do it perfectly, I just have to do it so I can learn from it."

More soon, and as always,
Joy and Peace to you,
Dr. Ilenya