What? What’s this all about? Does Terrie have a traffic sign fetish? No but the traffic metaphors have been very helpful in explaining life’s happenings in metaphysics.

The Stop Sign is a perfect example. Right there in front of us are those four letters – S.T.O.P. “Stop” means a cessation of movement or operation. When the sign says STOP, it means come to an end or cease to happen. Ceasing to happen means not moving any more when we’re talking about a vehicle.

So why do we insist on “rolling” through the stop sign? Do we think the sign says or actually means “roll through me”? No, we fail to appreciate the meaning of the word STOP and we have interpreted this “rule” the way we choose to interpret it.  That’s always dangerous – when we make our own interpretation of the rules. Are you saying that your interpretation is the correct one and that everyone should follow your example? What if you feel it’s ok to roll through the stop sign at 5 miles per hour? What if the next person sees you roll through it but can’t tell your speed? So they think it’s ok to roll through at 15 mph.  Then a few minutes later another car comes along that yesterday rolled through at 10 mph and had no problem and didn’t see any other traffic coming so that person now feels it’s ok to roll through at 25 miles an hour. Do you see how this can blossom into a total mess? Why even have the sign there? It must have been placed for some reason? What was that reason? Was it to facilitate people moving through an intersection? Was it to protect pedestrians trying to cross the road? What was the reason? We don’t know do we?

Why do we have this temptation to make our own rules? Do we think we know more than the officials? Do we think we know more than those who “rolled through” before? Do we definitely think we know more than the person who actually stops at the sign? What’s your answer? Do we think it’s ok “because” you see no one else at the intersection or no pedestrians? Are there different conditions for which you think this rule should apply?

Do you think these questions are stupid? If so, think about them. How many have ever crossed your mind and dictated your actions.

Of course this post is a follow-on to the one earlier this week where I talked about the Universal Laws are not made to be broken even though many people feel that rules are made to be broken.

The Universe doesn’t really care if you break the rules. What it does care about is delivering what you are asking for. So, if you are only following the rules (rolling through the sign) some of the time, then you will not receive what it is you really want. You will receive what you’re putting your attention on.  You can try thinking you’re prosperous a lot of the time but if you spend any significant time and gather momentum from thinking about all the bills you have and how you’ll never get them paid off, then your prosperity will continue to be at bay.  You will not get the prosperity because a large portion of the time you are focusing on the lack of it (rolling through the sign instead of obeying the rules).

Do you obey the traffic signs? Do you text while you drive? Do you go through stop signs or traffic lights if no one’s there and there’s no sign of police? What other examples can you think of. Let us know in the comment box below.

Terrie

The post The Stop Sign Says “Stop” NOT “Roll” first appeared on Getting Unstuck, LLC.

I want this year t o be YOUR year! I want to help you in any way I can.  I know that each of you has a story or a question and feel that you want to help others but perhaps, don’t feel that you have an entire book inside of you! Well, here’s the answer.

So what does that have to do with you helping me write my book?

Simply this – I want this book to be about you, about what you want, what you need, what you’ve experienced, what you’ve succeeded at and anything else you can think of!

Metaphysics is much more than the Law of Attraction but “The Secret” did the world a very big favor by bringing the basic concepts of metaphysics or New Thought to the attention of everyone.  However, many people still think that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work. And the reason they feel that is because they don’t understand that there’s other concepts that go along with it that have to be working too. The Universe operates like a well – oiled machine. I want to be the WD-40 for people to get that machine working, keep the cogs turning smoothly or get the rust out of the machinery so that it can work.

How can you help me? This book is about using the Universal Laws (all of them) and how they affect your life. Here are a few of the ways you can help:

1) Ask me questions. They can be general questions about how does this work or why doesn’t that work. Or it can be something specific to your situation. If you’re going to ask a question specific to your situation, you need to provide enough information that I can get an idea of all the factors involved. Or, if you give me your contact information (which I hope you do anyway) I can ask for clarification. This is a first “attempt” to involve you in my endeavor. By the way, I won’t be able to answer you directly -that is not the purpose of this. However, if it’s a pertinent question I might do a post here on the subject as well as include it in the book (or perhaps instead of including it).

2)  Allow me to interview you. If you have had successes or a process that’s worked really well for you, share it with us via interview. This is a powerful way to get your success out there and when you send out the successful vibrations to the Universe, you will receive even more back. Plus, your story will help others that you may never know about but may make a big difference in their life. I don’t know about you but that thought sends goosebumps up and down my spine.  The interviews are very informal and are just between you and me – they are not on the radio or in front of others. I may get them transcribed and use them in the book. But I will either get your permission to use your name and story or if that’s not something you want (and I certainly understand) I will change the names and particulars of the story for your privacy.

 3) Send me your story. Similar to number 2 but without the audio interview. Just tell me your success or your story and the same principles apply. Help others. That should be our theme for this year. In helping others we receive so much back from  the Universe.

4) Send me a process or method. You may not think you have a “whole story” but you have a particular technique/process/method you use to help you in certain situations (for example, some people use Abraham-Hicks’ placemat process to help eliminate overwhelm. Many use EFT but use it doing something consistently. Others have other clearing techniques they use).

5) Send me affirmations that have worked for you and helped you change your thinking.

6) Send me a list of your beliefs, whether limiting or empowering. This will be one of the most helpful things for other folks out there – because many people have the very same limiting beliefs. Also you can tell me

• How you’ve identified your limiting beliefs.
• How you’ve changed those limiting beliefs.

7) Volunteer to be a part of a group involved in creating this book. I don’t know any more specifics at this point because I don’t know where it’s all going but the more people involved, the better.  As you get more involved, you might remember what’s worked for you no matter how small. The more you read about other successes, the more you go “oh, yeah, this is what I did the year that I found that great job”.
8) Anything else you can think of!

Are you willing to help us help others? As this evolves, those that are willing to help will have special access to material and me. There will be teleseminars (I’d love to have a monthly question and answer teleseminar for all of you but need your questions in order to do that), articles, audios etc and if your submission helps me with this, not only will you be a part of that special membership area but you’ll also receive an advance copy of the book when it’s ready (may be digital at first). This offer is for those who are serious about helping and willing to provide their names, email addresses and physical addresses. I will determine who is part of the membership area based on the contribution.

You can email me (use the contact button on the home page) but even better would be to comment here so that you can help stimulate the minds of others.  If you’re on our email list, you will be getting several emails about this because often people don’t read the first one or two that are sent because they’re so busy or because of spam or whatever other reason.

I’m excited and I hope you are! I know there is a story inside of you, a success, something you are just itching to share with others.

Thanks in advance! I’ll keep you posted.

Terrie

The post Help Me Write My Book – 2014 Is The Year of You! first appeared on Getting Unstuck, LLC.

 Welcome to the greatest year of your life – EVER!

Why have I “waited” so long to write this? Why didn’t I get it out there on 1 January?

I’ll tell you why and there are two reasons:

1) I was doing a six day run (and am proud to say that I covered 200 miles during those 6 days – it was a terrific moment for me) called “Across The Years” – meaning it started in 2013 and ended in 2014. So, I was a bit out of commission at the first of the year.

2) I really loathe the hype that surrounds the New Year. People make it out like it’s the only time of year you can (or should) make changes in your life. Why? Why can’t you decided today to make changes? Why can’t you decide that you don’t need to make any changes, you don’t need any resolutions, that maybe you’re ok as you are? Why oh why does everyone HAVE to make some sort of resolution to change every year on 1 January?

This superimposed “you must change” edict that you see all over the TV, the papers, the internet (must be true of course right?), and in the conversations all around you is enough to make you feel guilty if you don’t want to participate in “changing your life forever”.

What happens if you’re just not “in the mood” at this time of year (which many people aren’t – it’s a big time for depression but that’s not talked about as much) so you don’t make any New Year’s resolutions? You feel guilty and unworthy and not “part of the crowd”. You feel as if you don’t belong. It seems that making resolutions keeps you in the mainstream of human nature so you do belong and are just like everyone else.

But the other thing that happens if you don’t participate in the “New Year’s Resolution” process is that then you feel that you can’t ever make any changes, any alterations to your life until “next year” – where you will probably repeat this same process and set of emotions. So you put off making any changes even when you ARE motivated for it – because it’s NOT the New Year.  Why don’t you do it then? Because there’s no hype, no being part of the process, no belonging if you decide in June that you have something in your life that you want to alter. You feel foolish telling people you’ve made a resolution. Their response might be “now?, why?” And that will help defeat you before you even start. You won’t have the support that you would have had if you had started when everyone else did – even though your heart wasn’t really in it.

So, let me ask you this – did you make resolutions? Where are you with them now  that we are half way through January?

More importantly – have you taken an inventory and listed everything that’s great about you and that you’re grateful for? That should be your first step for sure. Because you have to focus on the good parts of you more than the “bad” things, the things that you think have to change and have to change right this minute.  Once you’ve taken this inventory and expressed your gratitude, you can list the areas you want to examine that might show you areas you’d like to concentrate on. I don’t want to say change because that word often implies significant effort and obvious (to others) alterations.  To concentrate on something might mean simply focusing more on a process such as keeping a gratitude journal or making sure every day you say your “gratitudes” even if you don’t write them down. So what can others see to know you’ve accomplished something? Probably nothing immediate and the change  in you they might not attribute to this action/concentration. You might not either but it will most likely be because you have paid attention to gratitude.

I want everyone to spend January thinking and writing about how great they are and all their terrific qualities. Write them down. Make a list of all you have accomplished – you can start with 2013 but go back all the way through your life and write, write, write.

This is your starting point. You can alter how you feel and think about things just by taking this life inventory and dwelling on all you have and all you’ve done. Stop focusing on the bad or negative things.

2014 will be the best year of your life and you will NOT have to put much effort in it. Stick with me and I’ll show you how this will happen. Are you willing to take that risk?

Terrie

The post Find A Way in 2014 first appeared on Getting Unstuck, LLC.

You’re sitting there kind of zoned out and all of a sudden someone says “what are you thinking?” and it pulls you out of your reverie. You probably answer “uh, nothing. What’s up”?

Does that sound familiar? You may actually believe the “nothing” part of that story but it’s not true. There is almost no moment during any day that you are NOT thinking something.

The challenge I have for you is to pay attention to what you are thinking ALL the time.  Decide to be diligent for at least ONE day this week (preferably more) to monitoring your thoughts – be your own “Big Brother”. You’ll be very surprised.

It’s pretty simple – you can use a small notebook you can carry in your pocket or your purse or you could even use a portable recording device (there are many apps for your smartphone that would serve that purpose).

Yes, I know you have to work and you have to take care of your family and more. But these busy times are the times when you’ll usually find the most revealing thoughts – things like:

• “I can’t believe it, I don’t have any time to myself”
• “I’m so overwhelmed”
• “Gees, what more do they expect me to do”?
• “Get out of my way damnit, I’m in a hurry”
• “I’m so stressed out. I can’t take it any more”
• “I hate this job (or fill in any blank)”
• “It sucks to be me”
• “Why me”?
• “I can’t win”
• “I can’t catch a break”
• “How did I get myself in this mess”?
• “I’m so angry/mad/p.o’ed”
• “I’m afraid that ……”
• “I’m so tired”
• “I’m sick and tired of …….”
• “You’re killing me with all this”
• “I’m so ashamed that….”
• “I”m so embarrassed”
• “I wonder what he’s looking at”
• “I wish I weren’t so ….. (fat, dumb, stupid, lazy, etc)”
• “I wonder what would happen if…”
• “I’ll never get all this done”
• “That’s ugly”
• “I wish I had that”
• “God I’m starved”

These are just a few common thoughts I came up in a few seconds. There are millions more that you have going through your mind repeatedly.  The key word is “repeatedly” – we think the same things (perhaps with minor variations” over and over again. And if you remember how Abraham defines a belief, it’s “a thought we keep thinking over and over again”. So, guess what? You’re creating or reinforcing beliefs with all these “simple” thoughts.

Write down (make an effort) or record all your thoughts. It is important that you pay attention to all of them, not just the good ones, not just the bad ones – all of them. The idea is so that you can see how your thoughts balance out – what percentage of the time do you spend thinking positive thoughts and how much time do you spend thinking less than positive thoughts. And then, what thoughts are you repeating throughout the day – whether positive or not. Those are the ones you’re cementing in your subconscious as beliefs. You really want to make a conscious choice about what beliefs you cultivate, don’t you?

When you write these thoughts down, pay attention to what’s going on at that time – are you stressed, relaxed, working out, in the car, what? Make sure to pay attention to any follow-on thoughts and actions. For instance, if, after you think, “God I’m starved”, you head to the snack machine or the refrigerator and pick something you wouldn’t necessarily describe as “healthy”, write down what thoughts (if any) are going through your mind as you hit that button or pull open the frig door. Is it “I really shouldn’t be doing this” or is it “some chips or ice cream is just what I need right now”.  Perhaps you’re not even thinking – you’re just rushing to the machine so that you can take the food to numb the feelings. Unfortunately, you may be using the food to numb the feelings (stress, overwhelm etc) but you’re probably still thinking while you’re doing it. And you’ve made a conscious choice to pick the food regardless of the negative thoughts because feeling the pain from the emotion is worse than feeling the guilt or shame from having eaten that ice cream.  Some people use cigarettes, alcohol, food, drugs, abuse, exercise or many other actions to keep from feeling certain emotions.  Do you want to keep using your “drug of choice”? Or do you want to change your behavior? If you want to change your behavior you have to change your thoughts.

Here’s a short example. Yesterday was the day runners could try to get into a popular 100 mile race (Umstead- one I know I could do well at). I had planned the day around the “registration attempt” time (11 am my time) and I’d used affirmations and beliefs that I was definitely going to get in. I had written in my gratitude journal every day that I was grateful that I got into Umstead 2014 (being specific so that the Universe knew that this was the one I meant, not sometime in the future).

11 a.m. came and I tried and to make a long story short, I didn’t get in. I could have spent the rest of the day being really bummed out and saying that all this stuff really doesn’t work and I’m just a hypocrite, blah blah blah. But you know what? That would have done absolutely nothing but bring my mood and vibration way down. I chose not to experience that so I realized that “everything always works out for me” (Lord knows I’ve experienced that so many times in my long life) and began to think about the alternative runs I could do or apply for. And my day improved. It took some conscious work but I chose to feel good, not to plummet to the depths of despair which I could easily have done had I not paid attention to my thoughts.

Are you up for this challenge? Can you commit to at least one day and hopefully more? Let us know by putting your comments in the box below.

Have a great day!

Terrie

The post What Are You Thinking? first appeared on Getting Unstuck, LLC.

 What do you think Diana Nyad would say if you asked her if she had failed in her other attempts to reach Florida from Cuba? She’s very smart so I don’t know what her real answer would be but my answer would be that it depends on what you mean. Do you mean, “did I not succeed in actually swimming all the miles from Cuba to the Florida shore” she would probably say “no I did not swim the distance those other four times BUT I did not fail”.

As usual with words there are several definitions in the dictionary. Here’s one for failure: “omission of occurrence or performance” – so by that standard and to answer the strict question  of did she swim to the other shore, the answer would be no and that was a failure.

But here’s another definition of failure: “a subnormal quantity or quality” – All of her attempts were anything BUT subnormal. She has attempted more than most of us could even conceive of – that is not subnormal. Diana Nyad is very much supernormal!

Do we really care about the dictionary definitions? Not really. Because it’s your outlook that means everything in life. Your outlook reflects your attitude, your vibrational state. And it’s your vibrations that determine your outcome in life.

How do you look at things? How do you view what happens when you attempt something? Is your feeling and attitude dependent on the outcome – is your day measured by how well you stuck to your diet, by the number on the scale, etc? We use numbers so often to determine whether we succeeded  at something. And worse yet we do it subconsciously because it’s been so ingrained in us. I noticed that last week when I was doing my long run. I was feeling good about the run, I felt happy and was really enjoying everything. Then I glanced at my GPS (to see the distance but my eyes caught the time) and when I saw the time (a number) I was bummed out big time. If I had not been paying attention to how I reacted to things I would have let that one number ruin my entire day and run. How stupid could I be? How often do we do that? Instead of focusing on the good and the fun and the progress, I was about to focus on a stupid number as an artificial measure of my success or failure. I have to say that that’s pathetic (and this will be a big part of learning to hand our emotions surrounding weight in my upcoming coaching program). Fortunately because I had been attuned to this “number” issue over the past few weeks, I decided to do some EFT and get the concept that I failed  out of my head and go back to enjoying the great day!

Diana’s strategy, techniques and equipment changed with each attempt. I imagine some of her training may also have changed during the hiatus between jumps into the Cuban waters. But more importantly she noticed what she experienced that adversely affected her while she was on the swim and analyzed it to see what could be changed and then set about changing it. She took a medication for a sore shoulder that caused her to have an asthma attack. She investigated that and found the medications that she could take without having problems. She had already researched how to deal with the danger of sharks but I imagine that has even improved over the attempts, how to get hydrated and fed was most likely refined all this time (especially after swimming longer and being seasick and having all the salt water ingested), how to handle bites and stings were dissected and analyzed. And as you know, great research with many groups of people went into fighting the box jellyfish and they were finally conquered (thanks in part to Mother Nature).

Diana also went deep within to find ways to continue to swim in the face of hallucinations and sleep deprivation and immense fatigue. She created mantras (“Find a Way”) and the one I like the most – she used one hand to pull Florida toward her when stroking up and the other hand pushed Cuba behind her with the other direction stroke. How clever that was.

She also beefed up her social media team and they did an outstanding job during the swim. That not only generated more people following her but also kept those devoted followers (like me who was pretty much glued to the computer all weekend) constantly informed – much different than the other attempts.

All of these are successes – in no way can they be considered failures. Perhaps the only “failure” would have been to not try again this time. Everything else was training and she took all the results and made something special and positive of them!

Take a look at things you’ve considered failures in your life. Change your outlook and your vibrations regarding them and see what successes came out of them. Remember that everything always works out for you!

Terrie

The post Is It Really Failure? first appeared on Getting Unstuck, LLC.

 Diana Nyad is very close to achieving her dream and I am not only in awe of her and her accomplishment but have also learned a lot about life from following her for the past 4 years. Here’s just a few of those things (feel free to add whatever lessons you’ve learned – post in the comments section):

•  All strength comes from within – it starts within and although it may spread outward, it is always anchored within and you have to keep coming back there.
•  It’s not about age, gender or any other distinguishing or separating feature – it’s about dream, drive, determination, dedication, destination, development, and gathering the forces around you. The human spirit is so resilient once we wipe away all our limiting beliefs.
•  You’re never too old. If there is anything that Diana Nyad has taught us is that you are never too old to accomplish feats that many feel are impossible even for younger folks. There are many other older people that have achieved such accomplishments but Diana has made it a crusade to reach out to the older generation to give them hope and to tell them NOT to give up no matter what. You really are only as old as you think.
•  Don’t give up – The actual quote, I believe, was “When you are going through hell, keep on going. Never, never, never give up” when Winston Churchill said it. I ask people this all the time – what if Columbus had given up and given in to the fears that he would fall off the face of the earth if it really was flat? Another quote: “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie
  These people have said it so much better than I could ever. I just know that you will remember when you gave up and have the “what if” syndrome forever. Don’t succumb to that syndrome. If it’s important to you, it doesn’t matter if it’s important to anyone else – it’s yours and yours to do. The Universe doesn’t just give out ideas for the heck of it. You got this idea and dream for a reason! Now achieve it! And remember Thomas Edison’s quote too: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
•  Follow your dream – Don’t bury your dreams. keep them alive and find a way to make them work. “Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer.” Marcia Wieder.  How many of us have dreams and then say “nah, I could never do that”? And then you file the dream away. Diana had that dream for 35 years. It may have been buried since she didn’t swim during that time but it was in there buried in the soil of her soul, being nurtured like the rose. And finally it has bloomed. Make sure your dream is nurtured and never forgotten.
•  Think of others – give of yourself and you’ll get so much more back. Gratitude, as I’ve said many times before, is the most powerful force in the universe. When you reach out to others, especially in times of your own struggle, the Universe will reach back and provide you with more strength to rejuvenate your energy banks.
•  Have a plan – know what you’re up against and make appropriate plans as well as having contingency plans. Don’t consider failure as failure. As Thomas Edison said about all his attempts to create the light bulb – “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas A. Edison
•  Be prepared – Goes along with contingency item – but need to be prepared – do your research so you know what you might be up against. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games, 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot … and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan. If you’ve tried and “failed” go over every step of that attempt and find out what you should have planned for. Then make changes in your plans and preparation in accordance with that.
•  When you think you don’t have anymore, you probably do – just dig deep. Remember all those quotes from above and the ones that say that if you just keep going when you’re about to quit, success will be right over the top of that hill. Diana is having to dig really deep to cover these last “few” miles – they are not “few” at all as anyone with any experience in endurance sports can tell you. But she is trying to go deeper within than anyone ever has in order to complete her dream. This is so important to her and she will find her strength. You can and should also pull strength from others on your team or from the universe.
•  Have a team and a coach – you can’t operate in a vaccum. you have to have a team and preferably a coach. Surround yourself with people of the same attitude and spirit. There are multiple teams working with you when you are trying to achieve something great – intimate team (probably you and your coach), close team (your support), research teams or work teams that serve one function per team (such as creating the prosthetic mask for Diana, the other jellyfish research that was done news, the team that created her special suit so that it met requirements), the world supporting you – it’s important to get the word out. There can be many different groups of teams – any successful organization has many teams. Always surround yourself with people who have the same values as you do.
•  Don’t let people tell you differently – don’t let people tell you you can’t do something or that you shouldn’t do something. Remember Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”
•  Don’t be defeated before you start. If it’s a dream, it’s your dream and it was given to you to accomplish. Don’t think of all the obstacles or the reasons you can’t do something. As someone wrote about Diana – she’s the “anti-excuse”. There is no excuse other than giving in to your fear and you do not want to do that. Confront your fears and realize that your dreams are priority over your fear and over anything else that threatens to get in the way.
•  Things will get tough but you just get tougher – know this ahead of time. Here’s another great quote for you: “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Have a solution based attitude – not a problem based attitude. If you keep looking at something as a problem, you won’t be able to find a solution because you have to be looking for a solution. That is vital. Switch your mindset once you identify an obstacle.
• Don’t let anything stand in your way – If you find something that seems to be an obstacle, find a way around or over or even under it.
• Get support from others at large – there is great energy out there in the universe – let’s harness it – this goes along with the team concept but draw energy from the Universe. Ask for support and help. There are many people out there who want to help and want to do whatever they can for you. But you have to ask them.

There are many more lessons from Diana’s Extreme Dream. What lessons have you taken from this experience? Post in the comments section below.

Terrie

The post Follow Your Dreams – Lessons Learned From Diana Nyad first appeared on Getting Unstuck, LLC.