Did you ever stop to notice that honesty takes a whole lot of courage? 

There is a growing concern I have been observing lately - the avoidance of sharing honest feedback.  It seems to be happening because of a fear in hurting the feelings of others or that maybe that others won’t like us anymore when we speak our truth.

People resist change. Most times people even resist talking about change! However, this element brings the potential for life altering transformation. What is your attitude and movement towards a current change you need to make in your life?

Why seek change?  Because change brings growth and opportunities. Even if it seems quite uncomfortable and unwelcomed at first, our life progresses towards a new direction. The truth is we can get too comfy and cozy in our lives and this time of year it’s always a good reminder to see where you are standing when it comes to creating change for yourself.

Have you been noticing all the birds flying around in massive flocks these last couple of weeks in your part of the world?   As the fall season gets into full swing here in Colorado I have watched the robins, geese and black birds hanging out with each other – sometimes literally hundreds together at a time.

Part of their gathering together is migration patterns as they begin to move to different climates.  Some of it as well is that they are foraging together to get the abundance of the fall harvest from seeds in my garden to the corn leftover in the nearby fields.

This time of year can be exhausting as we leave the quieter days of summer behind. The noise of our life can be distracting, including the “dirty feet” of others who pull us into their wants and needs as Gandhi shares in today’s quote.

Cuddling into my sweaters on these cold mornings brings a new essence which makes me look further into the changes within the inside world of my mind as well.

To honor the summer coming to a close I attended a yoga retreat with my daughter in a beautiful spot here in the mountains of Colorado.

Hopefully you have had time over the weekend to quiet your mind and are now ready to get back into action with all the tasks that need your attention. 

As you look at your week ahead, what are the absolute items that you must achieve in your life to make you feel satisfied? Perhaps it’s that big project that must be started, the content that needs to be created, or maybe those people you recently met that you want to follow-up with.   

It’s great to put together that list at the beginning of the week and feel motivated to get all those to-do item done, but as is true with my own life it seems that there are always a few things at the end of the week that even with 12-hour work days I just can’t seem to check off the list. 

In the Victory Letter last week I shared some thoughts around creating good habits to help us from our distractions. This week how about we talk about distractions that have become a bad habit?

First, let’s clarify what quantifies as a distraction. The dictionary states that it is, “A thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else and creates extreme agitation of the mind or emotions.”

Last week I disconnected my home phone number, a landline that I have had since we moved into our home 24 years ago. What I had come to realize was that it had in fact for the most part become a distraction. Something I had been putting up with for a number of years.

Last week our Victory Circles embarked on a 30 day-challenge to create an audio recording, or photo or video every day.  The goal is to get focused on creating content that will drive their marketing efforts.

Not an easy challenge to be sure, however, the end results will be extremely beneficial for each person who actually does it.  The key and the reason to do any kind of a challenge is to get yourself into the habit of doing something of value in your life: whether it is to get healthier or to build your business skills.

We did it!  We lost our minds a bit, opened our hearts a lot, and become proud new parents of a furry baby girl that we have named Luna Marie. 

The many new elements of this 8-week old yellow lab coming into our lives have me looking at the world a bit differently. Reminding me a lot of my early days as a Mom to other puppies along way and my human kids as well. 

It has re-energized my respect for parents everywhere and all they do in juggling parenting with everything else.  Especially those who run a small business – a baby all in itself at times! 

Here’s a simple question that hopefully does not require a complex answer… 

Who has got your back?

As we have watched the Olympics over the last few weeks one thing remained clear throughout: not one of those amazing athletes got to Rio on their own. 

In fact, there was probably a whole team who got them there. Their parents, coach, friends, and teammates who cheered for them through the good times and the bad.

The key element for these athletes to get past their fear and compete on that world stage is that someone had their back.  They knew if they were to fall, someone would be there to push them back up and keep them going forward.

As I began my meditation practice at daybreak on Tuesday morning, this problem was sitting right there with me. I was having trouble with letting go of the angst this problem was causing me.   

I opened my eyes and in front of me was one of the beautiful sunflowers that are throughout my garden. It’s beauty and energy brought a smile to my face as it reminded me of the beautiful yellow finch that has been flying around the garden since my sunflowers have arrived.