And the Vision Board Giveaway Winners Are…

Thank you to all who entered the Vision Board Double Giveaway!!  I hope you enjoyed receiving the 10 Tips to Awaken Your Inner Muse.

And now for the two lucky winners… (and a special offer below)… Drum roll please….

The winner of Joyce Schwarz’ book The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life is Kirsten Olsen.
width=200 The winner of my Unfolding Your Life Vision Kit is Kim Nicol.

Congrats to these lucky ladies! Enjoy envisioning your bright future, Kirsten and Kim!

And since everyone is a winner in my book, I’m offering a special on my Unfolding Your Life Vision Kit for the rest of this week only: From now until midnight Pacific Friday, May 22nd, 2009 shipping is free for U.S. and Canada purchases and $5.00 off International purchases.

The Vision Board Double Giveaway

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Can you believe were almost half way through 2009? Geez, where did the time go?! Have you been making progress toward your vision for the year? How bout some extra inspiration and tools for manifesting your big visions for the second half of the year?

I’m hosting a Vision Board Double Giveaway. There will be two lucky winners:

Both are great resources for envisioning what you want in your life and making it happen.

To participate in this giveaway, please enter your contact information below by Tuesday, May 19th midnight Pacific. Your name will be submitted into the drawing and youll be signed up to receive my monthly Artizen Coaching newsletter thats full of inspiration, creativity and resources. You’ll also receive my colorful, newly re-designed free article 10 Tips to Awaken Your Inner Muse. Even if you already subscribe to my newsletter, you can still enter the drawing. We respect your privacy and will not sell, rent or disclose your contact information and each newsletter comes with an unsubscribe link in case you no longer wish to receive information from us.

Deadline to enter is Tuesday, May 19th at midnight Pacific – this giveaway is now closed. The two winners  will be announced on Wednesday May 20th by 9:30am Pacific.

On The View From The Bay: Lessons in Visioning

On Wednesday, I was live on a local San Francisco TV talk show The View From The Bay.  I talked with co-hosts Spencer Christian and Janelle Wang about balancing acts for busy moms (you can watch it here).  Janelle, Spencer and everyone at the studio are so incredibly nice which made the whole experience even that much more enjoyable.  I am extremely grateful to the several Lady Launchers who cheered me on from the studio audience and to Adryenn Ashley who was by my side backstage for extra moral support.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve reflected on a few important lessons that this experience underscores for me.  These lessons include the power of:

  • Visioning and writing things down
  • Showing up
  • Taking care of myself.

Lesson 1: Visioning and writing things down. Being on The View From The Bay was one of my goals for this year.  I wrote about it in a letter to myself from the future.  Also, in the marketing section my Right-Brain Business Plan, I included “be on The View From The Bay this year using creativity to get clear on vision.”  You bet I was excited that I got to show an Unfolding Your Life Vision collage book as one of the tips on getting more balanced!

Right before the Sacramento & Co. show and VFTB, I even wrote on my wish cards to get clear about how I wanted to show up.  My visions for each appearance included descriptions like being calm, comfortable, poised, engaging, informative, personable, positive, clear, present, relaxed, and inspiring.  I brought my cards with me and also printed out of all the lovely comments and e-mails people shared from the Sacramento show to help ground me.  It was really cool to get feedback afterward that was very much in alignment with my intention.

Lesson 2: Showing up. A few people have asked me how did I get on the show. It started simply by showing up!  Adryenn sometimes gets tickets to the studio audience, so when she offered tickets at the end of September, I said, “Yes!”  I was a geek and read up on the show and the hosts before I went.  I didn’t know this, but on commercial breaks they ask the audience trivia questions.  I actually won a prize because I got one of the questions right from reading the bios and I got to wave into the camera!  After the show, I had Adryenn introduce me to Janelle and I gave her one of my Unfolding Your Life Vision Kits.   Adryenn highly encouraged me to come back the next day and I did.  To my surprise, Janelle remembered me!  She said she had a story idea and to come see her after the show!  I worked with Adryenn to develop a formal pitch, sent it in and then was asked to be on for the end of October.  It all happened in about a week!

Lesson 3: Taking care of myself. I really had to pay attention to this since I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  The day before the show, I was starting to get anxious so I made sure to go to yoga.  After class I felt so much more grounded, focused and ready to prep for the next day.  The day of the show, while I was in the green room, there was a moment where this introvert/HSP got too overwhelmed by all the talking that I had to go find a quiet spot to just sit and breathe.  It definitely helped me center right before going on.

Lots of great learnings here from a truly wonderful experience!  I loved being on the show and getting to share tips and ideas about something I’m passionate about.  I hope to be on again and to also venture into other shows, too…  like Martha and Oprah, of course!  I’m including that in my next future letter to myself and on my new Right-Brain Business Plan!

The Vision Board Book Launches

The inspiring book “The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life” by Joyce Schwarz launched today.  The book features nearly 100 artists’ vision boards from around the world and outlines a process for envisioning and living the life you truly want.  I’m one of the featured artists with full color images of my wo-manifesto, Right-Brain Business Plan and a workshop participant’s Unfolding Your Life Vision collage book gracing the pages.

Joyce somehow found me online earlier this year and asked me if I wanted to be featured in the book. Of course I said, “YES!” In fact, about two years ago I wrote in my Ladies Who Launch expanded vision that I created my own book on visioning that included images, collages and paintings made by me and my clients.  I’m currently plugging away at my book so it’s super cool to have the opportunity to be part of this project along side some of the teachers from “The Secret!”

I hope you check it out!!!

Backyard Yoga and Dream Boxes

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It’s been another full week and challenging for me to keep up with all the great things going on. I did make a point on Wednesday to take advantage of the gorgeous spring-like weather by practicing yoga in my backyard. With the sun shining overhead, birds chirping in the trees and the cool breeze on my skin, I was in yogi heaven! I’m amazed at how the fresh air brought me so in touch with my breath and my body – wonderful!

With another Ladies Who Launch Incubator that started last night, I’m reminded to get creative about doing more nice things for myself. After all, pampering is part of the lady launching way! So, I can’t wait for more sunny days like this to do backyard yoga ‘cuz that sure counts as a nice thing.

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Today I was at It’s Yoga for another dream box workshop with a new circle of teacher trainers. It’s hard for me to believe that it was almost a year ago that I completed my yoga teacher certification. So many wonderful things have manifested since then. One being getting to lead this workshop at the studio!!!

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I had fun laughing and hanging out with the group. They were a playful and engaging bunch! And I loved hearing about their dreams and seeing the unique ways they all decorated their dream boxes.

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One of the students crafted her own “guru-in-a-box” with a pop-up Sri Swami Satchidananda to offer inspiration and wisdom! How cool is that?!

Blowing the Lid Off of 2008

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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.

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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?

In Print AND the Power of Intention

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).

uylv-book-back-cover.jpgNot 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?!

Right-Brain Business Plan – AEDM Day 29

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How many of you cringe when you hear the words business plan? Or maybe even worse… budget, cash flow or P&L statement? If you’re like me, those terms (especially the financial ones), make your skin crawl. Yet, as an entrepreneur it’s vital to know where you’re going and what it’s going to take to get there.

So, how about approaching business planning (and life planning) from a visual, creative and fun perspective instead?

The idea of doing a more right-brain approach to my business plan came to me while brainstorming materials with my colleagues Starla Sireno and Tara Russell at The Fearless Entrepreneur. As we refine resources and exercises to use with our business coaching clients, it’s also important that we walk our talk, too. So, I revisited my business plan (originally in a boring, static Word document) and decided to update it for 2008 and beyond using my art visioning techniques.

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Above are the front and back covers of my Artizen Coaching business plan accordion book. I started off decorating the front with a really cool art studio image from a magazine. Then I thought it would be clever to have the back be more of the “zen” in the Artizen.

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Here are some detail shots of the interior.

Typically a business plan has sections such as: an executive summary, company description, industry analysis, target market, financials, marketing and sales plan, etc.

In the first couple of pages I wanted to just set the tone of my business and also list out the different products and services I’m offering or working on.

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Next, I got clear on my strategic alliances and affiliations – who I’m working with and what organizations I belong to for networking and support. It’s a relief to know I don’t have to go it alone!

For the finances, I really wanted to concentrate on abundance and chose images/words around that. I have my P&L statement folded up in the little manila envelope so I can pull it out and look at it when I need to.

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These last pages are about marketing and getting myself out there. Part of what triggered doing this project now was that today I received galley copies of the book that I’m featured in: The Girl’s Guide to Kicking Your Career in Gear and I got excited about next year! I also want to write a book, so there’s a little 3D book attached to one of the pages.

Tomorrow, I’m going to write out more details on the back of each page. Now that I have visuals and the emotional connection to what I’m wanting to create, I can articulate it more clearly in words. I’ll probably write out my strategy and tactics in a creative way, too, and have some images as well.

How do you plan out your business and personal goals? What if the process was more fun and engaging? What else would be possible for you if you let your creativity and intuition run wild?

[tags]National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, Art Every Day Month, business planning, right-brain business plan, art visioning, expressive arts coaching, business coaching, entrepreneurship, collage, book arts, accordion book[/tags]

Magic Wand – AEDM Day 21

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Every Wednesday, Jamie invites people to share their hopes and dreams on her Wishcasting blog. In the spirit of wishcasting, I decided to finally make my magic wand. Since it’s from a kit, I personalized it a bit by stamping the words, “wish” and “believe” on the front and back.

I’m a fan of wishing. My collaged wish boxes encourage people to hope and dream and I use them myself to help visualize what I want to manifest in my life. I write my goals and dreams on little cards and revisit them every once in awhile to see what’s already come true. And even though I give myself permission to wish (many people struggle with the pie in the sky thinking), I also place tremendous value on believing in myself and on taking action to move forward. And when I’m doubting myself, I turn to my blessings box to remind me of all the things I already have in my life to be grateful for. That usually helps me shift my perspective from doubt and worry to abundance and appreciation.

If you had a magic wand, what would you wish for? What bold actions would you need to take to help this dream manifest?

[tags]National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, Art Every Day Month[/tags]

Out of the Box Part II – AEDM Day 10

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Today I was at It’s Yoga again leading the dream box workshop for the weekend teacher trainers. Cozying up with crafts and some cool jazz was the perfect antidote to the pouring rain outside. I can’t believe that I get to say this is my “work!” – it’s so much fun and I love helping people tap into their inner teacher and creative wisdom.

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The snapshot above is of one of the student’s dream boxes. She wants to create a green yoga studio in her community to bring together yogis in a beautiful, peaceful and sustainable environment. I want to come visit!

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Now that I’m home, I realized I needed to do my art for today. So, I decided to do the final steps of my dream box that I created yesterday. In my workshops, I have participants write their dream on a lavender card (honoring Larry Schultz‘s lavender dream pillow). So, I wrote my dream of bringing a new approach called Art Visioning or Expressive Arts Coaching to the coaching profession at large (including writing a book and offering training on how to use creativity to manifest your vision and dreams).

I then used small cards in the colors of the chakras to write down strengths I see in myself. That way, if I’m ever doubting my dream, I can pull out a strength card and remember that I call on this quality to keep me moving forward. I had fun doodling some images to go with the words.

What strengths can you draw on in yourself to keep you connected to your dream? If you’re having trouble thinking of any strengths, ask someone close to you for their insights. Often times others are able to see things we don’t see in ourselves.

[tags]National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, Art Every Day Month, It’s Yoga, Law of Attraction, dream box, art visioning, expressive arts coaching[/tags]