by Michelle L. Casto, Ph.D.

So you have read the books, watched the movies, and spent thousands on products that are supposed to help you finally attract what you want in life.

You have shelves of information, right? 
In fact, I bet some of those very resources remain unopened and still in the package. 

The real question is ---Do your results match your investment of time, money and energy?

Not so much?

You are not alone, my friend. 
I have been there and so have many of my clients. 
They too were seekers who were on a continual search for “the secret.” 

Lovers of knowledge must seek--- that is natural. 
However we must also FIND.

Let me use a simple analogy.
If you are making a cake and forget the eggs, your cake will not turn out the way you want it to, it may not even taste good at all! 
Just like with personal development, you must have all the necessary ingredients to experience a Fulfilling Life.

If your life is not happy and successful (the way you envision it), an ingredient is missing.

Let’s see what you have so far.

You have a secret dream of being someone bigger, brighter, happier, and more loving. 
You want to contribute your gifts and talents to the world. 
You want to liberate yourself from a mundane existence, the prison of working for not-so enlightened people, barely scraping by financially, and running low on energy. 
You want to help yourself so you can help others. 
You can imagine the happiness, love, and success in your mind’s eye, but still see the same old reality in your face. 

And still you persist. 
You absorb wisdom every day and take time to self-reflect, learn, and grow your soul. 
You are gaining new insights. 
You are seeing new opportunities. 
You are meeting like-minded people. 
You are journaling your heart out. 

Exhaustion is creeping in. You wonder: “Will I ever get there?!”

Not if a critical ingredient is missing.

Something that would bring everything together for you. 
Something to help you stay aligned with your BIG VISION. 
Something to help you fight off the demons of doubt and fear. 
Something to help you put the final pieces of your success puzzle together.

If you are spiritually smart, you know it is not some Thing at all. 
You realize you have gone as far as you can on this journey alone. 
It is time to enlist a guide. 
It is time to admit it: “I need help.”

Yes, you are only human and need someone. 

Someone who believes in you.
Someone to keep you on the right track.
Someone to walk with you as you progress towards your dream. 
Someone who has “been there, done that.”

Enter the coach. 
Ara Parasheghian once said, “A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.” A professional coach can help you shift from seeker to finder, from confused to confidence, from lost to found. 
Do yourself a favor, go to the telephone, call a Coach, and get the support you need to succeed!

Michelle L. Casto is a self-empowerment expert in the life dimensions of love, labor, leisure, and learning. Dr. Michelle is known as the Soul Diva Coach and one of the top coaches in the United States. She is the founder and principal of Get Smart! and Brightlight Coaching, a professional training, coaching, and publishing company. Contact her for a complimentary 30 minute divine life visioning session at (361) 232-3939.
WebSites
Soul-Centered Coaching to Help You Shine More Brightly 
http://www.brightlightcoach.com 

I love how the Divine speaks to me.
A great question was posed by a friend about "What is the SHIFT"
and I opened a book and received insight. This is an exerpt from Marianne Williamson, a luminary, and someone I have had the pleasure to spend a little time with personally, who I believe is such a blessing to us all.
This comes from her 1994 book Illuminata, and is in the very beginning in the chapter on Renaissance:
The antidote for what is fundamentally wrong is the cultivation of what is fundamentally right.
Should we choose to expand who we are on a fundamental level, new structures will replace the casualties of premillenial disintegration, and the next twenty years will usher in an age of light more dazzling than the world has ever known.
….Ultimately, the choice to love each other is the only choice for a survivable future. The meek shall inherit the earth because everyone else will have died upon their swords.
…The opening of the heart is an awesome personal politic, providing us with an internal strength greater than any worldly power.
As we receive God’s love and impart it to others, we are given the power to repair the world. We have begun to recognize that our individual minds create our collective realities , and we are taking more responsibility for the world by taking more seriously our individual contributions to it.
Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.
Be the change, says Gandhi.
When we change, the world changes. So Be this.

Change Happens

In life, there are two kinds of change:  voluntary and involuntary.  The voluntary changes that we choose, like moving or changing careers we tend to like better because we chose them.   The involuntary, not so much, because it feels like it happens to us. 

Career experts say we will change careers 7-10 times in a lifetime, so changing your career in not a failure, however staying in a career with no meaning is denying to your soul and cause for a lifetime of frustration and unfulfillment. 

Making a change means you are graduating with a new set of skills and knowledge and are ready to take on a new challenge.   (This is what the soul lives for!)

The #1 cause of stress is work-related.  A recent study showed that at least 75% of the working population is “actively disengaged”  meaning that they show up in body, but definitely not in spirit.  I have coined a new term for the unique stress that this is-- “job dread.”  Job dread is that awful feeling inside where you detest the thought of being in that “cubicle” one more day. 

Fear of anything = a lack of understanding.

Most people fear changing careers or starting a business because they don’t understand it. Once they learn the process, they feel brave and can move forward.   What I have seen as a life coach, is when you reach understanding, fear naturally fades away and a deep sense of “knowing” finds its rightful place inside your heart.

The other thing I know is that in order to experience more happiness in life requires one thing:

Change.  

Because if you were already Happy, you would have everything you really wanted already. 

To be more happy, you can choose to make more positive life changes.  

I have been where you may be, stuck in a job that was sucking the soul right out of me.  Fortunately for me, I decided to make some lasting changes and go for it by becoming self-employed many years ago.  It has not always been an easy road to hoe, however, I would choose this over a “job” just over broke, any day of the week!

If you are reading this far, there is something within you that is emerging, will you call it forth and grow with it? 

The ultimate accomplishment is to discover yourself—your strengths, dreams, desires, and skills. And then to learn to put them to good use for the healing of yourself and others.

Doing what you don’t want to do in any area of your life, and especially your career is a drain to your life energy. 

Learn to unleash your passion, purpose, and power with Soul Coaching.

If you don’t feel like you are in the right place in the world, doing the work that is yours to do, fulfilling the role you were created to fill, then I can help you get back on the right track.

Bright Michelle

At the essence of any great career is love and passion—it is literally a labor of love.   ---

Michelle L. Casto

 

special offer for Gaians:  http://www.smartcareerchanges.com/changemycareer.html

4 Ways to Be Kind to Your Soul

1. Honor Your Core Values
People, circumstances, and things that are not good for you cause you to constrict and withdraw your love, power, and passion. If you keep living a default life, you become more and more disconnected from your True Self and Souce/God/Goddess. The more disconnected you are from Source, the more disappointing results you attract over and again.

Your nurturing soul stuff (like enjoying healthy positive relationships, doing work that has meaning for you, staying in balance, attracting financial abundance, having a spiritual practice) allows you to expand into your divine essence.
always be adjusting to see what fits you now.

2. Nurture Your Soul with Positive Environment
Identify the state of being that creates an environment of success for you.
Now create supportive environments that honor your values (people, opportunities, places that inspire you and move you forward). Too many times we are fighting against-ourselves, other people, or circumstances that are contrary to our inner nature and then we wonder why it is so hard to make changes and become the human beings we are meant to become. Environments and associations (who we hang out with) are 100x more important than you realize---can pull you forward or drag you down.

3. Discover Your Life Purpose
You cannot talk about caring for your soul and not mention living with purpose. A native American saying is Everything on earth has a purpose. Every person a mission.
You have a song to sing. It may only be a little song but there are people who will like it. You were born to do something great and to help someone or perhaps a group of people.
Your purpose often seems much bigger than you and affects others in a positive way. When you are on purpose, you help greater humanity.

4. Write Your Own Fairytale (complete with happy ending and all!)
Who remembers the fable Goldilocks and the Three Bears? What was the story----three beds, certain bed, certain porridge. Not too hard, too soft, hot or cold, but just right. She had to try out various options before choosing one that suited her tastes. What I call a lot of research!
You are the author of your own success story and can edit anytime you feel like it.

If you need help with any of these 4 ways, a professional life coach can help you look inside and identify what your soul is longing for.


***Special announcement, just in time for VDAY, you can receive my book, Get Smart! About Modern Romantic Relationships : http://www.smartlifechanges.com/romance.html

What a happy day for us all, as President Obama and his family has moved into the oval office, a huge sense of HOPE has been resurrected.  

Change Has Come. 

His message of Conscious Responsibility and the emphasis on getting to work to heal and rebuild America brought tears to my eyes.

For we are all at a Choicepoint.
We can choose the easy road  (we already see what that has given us) or the higher road, the one that may be a little uncomfortable, but in the end,  will bring us the most peace and prosperity; not to mention make us into bigger and brighter human beings.


I vote for the higher road, and so I wanted to check in with you to see if you are willing to step up to be part of the SOULution and share your piece of the puzzle.

Here is a passage that represents how I believe the world really works and where I am coming from these days……

Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle and so it goes.
Souls going this way and that
trying to assemble the myriad of parts.
But know this.

No one has within themselves all the pieces to their puzzle.
Like before when they used to seal jigsaw puzzles with cellophane.
Ensuring that all the pieces were there.
Everyone carries with them at least one and probably many pieces to someone else's puzzle.

Sometimes they know it.
Sometimes they don't.

And when you present your piece, which is worthless to you, to another, whether you know it or not, whether they know it or not You are the messenger from the most high.
(Lawrence Kuchner, Honey From the Pot)

Working together is the wave of the future, will you catch it or let it pass you by? And then wonder why nothing in your life looks of feels any different?

It takes courage to change.   It takes support. It takes doing something different.

Join the VEP and share your piece/peace http://www.brightlightcoach.com/vep.html

Conscious seekers and light-workers have been aligning with 'Truth' for many, many years now.  Conscious Responsibility means digging deep and stepping into our role as light-bearers.
And sometimes peaceful but determined 'rabble-rousers'!
Hey, sometimes the status quo needs shaken up ;)

Before the membership drive ends, take a look at the immense value you will not only be getting (old matrix reality) to the value of what you will be giving (new matrix reality).

It takes a community of people in unity to create higher outcomes.

Come join us.  
http://www.brightlightcoach.com/vep.html

Standing For Your Soul’s Success,
Michelle


ps.
President Obama says,
"there has never been anything false about hope." 

2 million people can't be wrong.


When Oprah had the webcast promoting the New Earth movement, and, millions of people all over the world tuned in to learn how to release their ego and allow their essence to be more present, I smiled.

I am so excited because that means more of us are awakening.  And when more of us are awakened and in action, life is going to get really interesting and fun!

You may think just because you are waking in the morning and walking around, you are "awake." 

However, what I know is that if your life isn't everything you dream it can be, then you might not be as awake as you think.

Actually, I spent much of my life "asleep at the wheel."  Even though I was pretty intelligent and even very into "self-help." I still had my blind spots.

During that time, I let life happen TO me instead of consciously creating everything I wanted my life to be.  I experienced the roller coaster ride of ups and downs, highs and lows, successes and set backs, all the while walking in a trance instead of ENJOYING THE DANCE!

Something (finally) woke me up. Actually several something's...a divorce, financial challenges, and two totaled vehicles!  All of this shook me to the core and woke up me to the realization that it was time to make some changes and begin co-creating the life I wanted to live... on purpose.

And my life has NEVER been the same since.

Tolle said during the webcast, that everyone has a spiritual teacher-suffering.

And that is true--- most of us have not experienced enough pain to learn a new way. 

We have to attract "wake up calls" in order to get our little rears in gear, and moving in a more divine direction.

Why is the process of awakening so powerful?

Take this story:

The  student asked the Buddha, are you God?

Buddha said no.

The student asked Buddha, are you an angel?

Buddha said no.

The student asked then what are you?

Buddha said, I am awake.

You can be "Buddha like" and choose to awaken (naturally) before the alarm clock goes off in the form of an accident, disappointment, break up, or other less than pleasant wake up call. 
How?  By getting a coach and turning on the light to take a good look at how your life is progressing.

Michelle L. Casto is a self-empowerment expert in the life dimensions of love, labor, leisure, and learning.  Dr. Michelle is known as the Soul Diva Coach and one of the top coaches in the United States.  She is the founder and principal of Get Smart and Brightlight Coaching, a professional training, coaching, and publishing company. Contact her for a complimentary 30 minute divine life visioning session at (361) 232-3939.

To accelerate your spiritual awakening, enroll in the Divine Life Academy which begins 1/20/09 go to Divine Life Academy

 

Michelle's Prayer 8/2/08 (reprinted from shiftinaction.com)

This came to me today while I was lying in the sunshine....

Dear God,
Hear my prayer.

Heal me. Teach Me. Guide Me.

Heal my mind of all negative and irrational thoughts.
Heal my eyes so I can see only goodness and higher potential.
Heal my ears so I can hear only positivity and joy,
Heal my heart so I can only feel love and compassion.
Heal my body so it attracts only like-minded and soul-centered human beings.
Heal my soul of any generational beliefs or programs of separation and anxiety.

Heal this planet, oh lord, of narcissism sexism, hatred, jealousy, greed, and unconscious consumption.

Allow me to play a part in the evolution of consciousness.
Teach me what I most need to know and understand about being a being of Light.
Teach me to activate myself and others into inspired action.

Guide me, God/Goddess, to whom I can help and to where I can do the most good.

May my will be aligned with your will.
As the light of the U that I am, I bless the world and claim Success, Happiness, & Righteousness.

So be this now and eternally.

Response from Charles: 

Everything you've been inspired to pray, is already prepared for you to receive at an appointed time in your genetic development.

This is an unrealized truth because we rarely consider the linear path of our inner desire to be connected to a larger whole, and the outer part of us that is drawing our awareness and will bring our consciousness back to wholeness.

I really hope you remember this prayer you've poetically crystallized so you are prepared to witness the transformation you've requested.
It's very important that you become aware of yourself becoming what you've prayed for Michelle.
That is what "actualization by activation" is, okay?

I don't remember his name but, one the speakers in "what The Bleep Do We Know?" mentioned this process a couple of times.
We ask, and then observe opportunities to become.
And always express gratitude when you see something different about you.

If you ever feel the need to modify such a wonderful request for wholeness and unity with the invisible creator of all that is visible...

Add to your prayer, "show me how you..." or, "show me the way to..." or "open my understanding of...", "so that I may comfort others, with the comfort by which I myself have been comforted."

When ever I've requested any knowledge, wisdom, insight or understanding with this sincere intention...I've never been disappointed.

So, despite what we've erroneously been taught to believe for generations about life, living and successful survival:
Humanity's true intent for seeking Truth is to know Joy...
Our true intent for seeking Joy is to know Love...
Our true intent for seeking Love is to know we are One in the eternal reality.

That's why any and all of life's difficulties, disturbances, and dangers are so we will get to know the best of our better intentions

I love how the Divine speaks to me.
I had several people ask me, what is this SHIFT I keep hearing about.

I opened a book and received insight. This is an excerpt from Marianne Williamson, a luminary, and someone I have had the pleasure to spend a little time with personally, who I believe is such a blessing to us all.

This comes from her 1994 book Illuminata, and is in the very beginning in the chapter on Renaissance:

The antidote for what is fundamentally wrong is the cultivation of what is fundamentally right.

Should we choose to expand who we are on a fundamental level, new structures will replace the casualties of premillenial disintegration, and the next twenty years will usher in an age of light more dazzling than the world has ever known.

....Ultimately, the choice to love each other is the only choice for a survivable future. The meek shall inherit the earth because everyone else will have died upon their swords.

...The opening of the heart is an awesome personal politic, providing us with an internal strength greater than any worldly power.

As we receive God's love and impart it to others, we are given the power to repair the world. We have begun to recognize that our individual minds create our collective realities , and we are taking more responsibility for the world by taking more seriously our individual contributions to it.

Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.

We are learning, loving, lighting, shifting, being, and maturing into our TRUE SELVES.

MW says "We are looking not so much for more ground to conquer, but for a truer ground of being on which to stand inside ourselves. The most positive breakthroughs of our times are internal.

This history of the world is the history of control.... seizing someone's soul is the ultimate form of control, because without soul we are without love. Without our love, we are without our power."

So in my estimation, when each of us does what we each are called to do, in my case, free people's souls from any imaginary form of imprisonment, then all those soul seeds start sprouting, and when the time is ripe, a new earth is born.

Be the change, says Gandhi.
When we change, the world changes. So Be this.

1. What worked in my life this past year? What did not work?
2. What brought me happiness/disappointment?
3. Where was I successful?
4. What were my greatest challenges/lessons?
5. What am I most proud of ? What do I most regret?
6. What attitudes and actions will I take with me into the new year? Which ones do I want to keep in this year?
7. What limiting beliefs did I shift? What negative emotions did I shift?
8. When did I follow my intuition?
9. How did I grow, improve, and expand myself?
10. How much love did I share?
11. What do I want my intention to be for 2008?

Michelle L. Casto, Ph.D. is known as the Soul Coach, because she helps people get in touch with the work that ignites their inner fire, and empowers them to shine their bright light in the world. As an inspirational speaker and author, she teaches people how to gain a higher understanding of themselves, and uses a unique Soul-Centered and Integrative process that taps into their passion, purpose, and power. Her latest book, Get Your Career on the Fast Track: A Navigational Guide for the Modern Manager is a comprehensive and interactive book that covers career management from A-Z.

Enroll in the Career Change Academy: http://www.smartcareerchanges.com/ or visit any other of her life-transforming websites: http://www.brightlightcoach.com/ to help you shine more brightly in all dimensions of your life. http://www.smartlifechanges.com/ to transform any area of your life NOW http://www.getsmartseries.com/ articles, books, and resources to live wisely See me on http://www.youtube.com/brightmichelle Follow me on http://www.twitter.com/brightmichelle Friend me on Facebook 

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