This is a very special post here today…

I’m going to talk about something that has incredible power to transform your life and help you truly own your greatness…

But first, I have an update to share with you

I’m writing this email to you today from Italy! Traveling to Italy has always been a dream of mine… and I feel so grateful to be here right now!

I know, I know… I totally caught the traveling bug… and I’m absolutely loving it!

Not only has traveling around the world been fun and adventurous, but it’s also been an incredible personal growth opportunity as well.

I feel as though I’ve accelerated through years of transformation and healing just in the last few months alone!

Whether your dream is to travel the world too, open up a retreat center in South America, or simply experience the peace and comfort of having true abundance in your life…

It’s ALL possible.

And I’m committed to helping you create the life that is deeply fulfilling to you.

I know you haven’t been hearing a whole lot from me lately… but just know that I’m still here and I think about you a LOT.

And over the next month, I’m going to be investing my time in a month long course here in Italy that will help me create a much bigger impact in YOUR life and a bigger impact for the planet.

I’m so excited  

I’m in Northern Italy right now spending time with one of the world’s largest intentional eco-communities. They are at the cutting edge of sustainability in areas of science, technology, economics, ecology, permaculture, and community collaboration. They are also very committed to music, the arts, and universal spirituality.

I’m here taking a month long course (curriculum developed by an amazing company called “Gaia Education”) on how to create and innovate empowered, sustainable, and collaborative communities on the planet, focusing on 4 main areas:

Spirituality (and shifting to a holistic worldview), Social collaboration, Ecology, and Economics.

It’s a holistic education that can be applied to many areas of transformation and positive change, both locally and globally.

I’m going to be learning about the most effective tools, strategies, and ideas for creating successful communities, along with some of the most cutting edge sustainable solutions that currently exist in the world…

And right now, the plan is to integrate this knowledge with the power of the internet to help create and unite communities all over the globe who are committed to their own personal transformation, as well as collaborating together to co-create a more thriving, loving, just, and sustainable world for ALL.

There’s an unbelievable amount of power in collaboration, and so many exciting possibilities ahead! So definitely stay tuned because I’ll be sharing much more about this as this vision crystalizes and moves forward!

Now, let’s talk about helping you manifest YOUR dreams…

In order for you to take efficient and powerful action towards your dreams and goals, you must first become powerful yourself… and in order for you to really own your full, true power, it’s vital for you to LOVE and accept ALL of who you are.

Self love is the foundation for success in life and is truly the KEY to unlocking the love, power, wisdom, and fulfillment that we all desire most deeply.

For me, this has been an ongoing journey for quite a few years now… and I’ve come to discover that the more I’m able to love and accept myself, the more clear, powerful, free, and loving I am. When we come from a place of wholeness in life, where we love and accept all of who we are, we are able to access more of our true power and potential in all ways.

Self love is also the bridge that allows us to feel and experience our interconnectedness with all of life. And the more connected we feel within ourselves and with others, the more love and joy we invite into our lives.

Now, there are some people in our world (and you may be one of them) who would initially perceive self love as narcissistic or selfish… or even maybe that it’s just airy fairy talk that doesn’t really produce any real results in life.

But I’m here to share with you today that this is literally THE most important and life transforming thing you can ever do for yourself, your loved ones, and the planet.

The more you are able to love yourself, the more love you have to give and share with others. Not only that, but the more you love yourself the more you can RECEIVE love from others and the world. Most people have a very hard time receiving love, and therefore experiencing love, because their hearts are closed.

I, myself, have definitely been one of them. And it’s been the journey of going deeper into self love that has allowed my heart to open more and more, expanding my experience of love in all ways.

This journey to rediscovering the love within our own hearts is what I also call the journey of healing.  It’s about healing and releasing the built up self judgements, pain, blockages, and walls that we’ve put up, that keep us from feeling and experiencing the love that is already there within us.

To heal means to become whole. And when we come from a place of wholeness, we open ourselves up to the totality of this beautiful, majestic universe!

Now, with that being said, it’s important to understand that we are already whole and always have been… it’s just our self perception that keeps us from experiencing our wholeness, or our true greatness.

When we judge a part of ourselves as bad, not acceptable, ugly, wrong, or not good enough, we literally “disown” that aspect of ourselves.  We avoid it because it hurts to feel it, and we end up hiding it from others, and ourselves.  Whatever we cannot love and accept about ourselves becomes part of our shadow…

You can think of your shadow as the part of yourself you do not want to see.  It’s like having a dark basement inside of yourself where all of the “unacceptable” parts get stored away to hopefully be forgotten about.

Because we don’t accept what’s in our own basement, we automatically assume that others won’t accept it either.  So we expend so much energy, both consciously and unconsciously, to hide pieces of ourselves we don’t love and accept in order to be loved and accepted by others.  We show only the parts we think will get the love and approval we’re seeking.  

And so, we show up in life, not as ALL of who we are, but as a fragmented version of who we “think” we are… as a representation of a distorted self image.

And what we throw away in the basement never actually goes away.  In fact, it starts collecting so much dust and grime, that it starts to cloud our perception, our filter through which we see the world.  And when we perceive unclearly, we create a whole lotta unncessary hurt and drama in our lives.

What we don’t accept about ourselves, we can’t accept in others.  So if we see that similar trait in another, we’ll judge it and most likely get very triggered by it.  We will also be unconsciously projecting this part of ourselves onto others and the world… and whatever we project, gets reflected right back to us.  

So the more we try to hide and disown our shadow, the more we see our shadow reflected back to us through other people and our life experience. Simply put, the “monster” in the basement will keep showing up again and again in various forms until we have the willingness and courage to turn on the light and look at it.

Life is beautifully designed to give us exactly what we need to grow, evolve, and become more of who we already are.  Experiencing our own shadow reflected back to us is the perfect way for us to heal and wake up to what’s really true… it’s the opportunity to bring whatever’s in the darkness into the light so we can truly own our greatness and experience the beauty of our wholeness.

In my life experience, there have been many things I stored away in my inner basement that I wasn’t able to love and accept about myself. And most of these things were self judgments that started in childhood and adolescence. In fact, much of our self image is sourced from these younger life experiences, when we really don’t have a strong solid foundation for understanding who we really are at all.

When I was a young child, I formed the perception that I was ugly… I had red hair, pale skin, and freckles, which to me looked much different than everyone else around me. So growing up, I felt ugly, unworthy, and had very low self esteem.  

Once I became a teenager and started wearing makeup, I was so happy to finally be able to “look prettier” and hide my true face.  Makeup became a mask that made me feel better about myself from the outside… and after time, that mask became my identity… I could finally see myself as “beautiful”, according to society’s standards anyway. Once I started wearing makeup, I never left the house without it. It became my safety blanket.

So deep down, I really didn’t feel authentically beautiful, no matter how much makeup I had on or how many compliments I would get on my appearance.  Deep down, I had a dark secret that no one else knew about… my secret was that I was still “ugly” underneath it all.

Over the years, I’ve been able to love and accept more and more of who I am, recognizing and honoring the unique expression of the Divine that is me… including different aspects of my appearance, personality, and core feelings of worthiness.

But it wasn’t until last month that I had one of the most liberating and transformative experiences of really discovering my true beauty like I never had before…

I went to a 5 day retreat up in the beautiful forests of Northern California.  And when I arrived at the retreat, I was asked to give my cell phone, car keys, and makeup to the retreat leader for the entire 5 days!  

At first I was really nervous and even upset… I was being asked to do one of THE most vulnerable things I could do at that time… not wear makeup for an entire 5 days and really face one of my biggest insecurities. But deep down, I was so GRATEFUL… I knew this was exactly the experience my soul had been asking for.

Now, I understand that for you, this may not seem like a big deal at all… but for me, it was extremely challenging.  I really started to see how much of my sense of self was still wrapped up in my outer appearance. Even though I had done so much deep inner work on other things throughout my life, this seemingly “superficial” challenge really stung at my core.

When I first took the makeup off, a part of me was still hiding energetically… not wanting to fully be seen out of fear of not being accepted. But I saw that this fear was only there because I had not fully come to love and accept myself.

I allowed myself to feel all of the self judgment, the self condemnation, and the pain I was hiding inside about feeling ugly.  And then, I consciously decided that I was going to make peace with myself… that I was going to fully love and accept myself just as Creator made me.  

I shared my vulnerability with the other people at the retreat, and even broke down crying in front of them.  I let my guard down, and set my emotions free… emotions that had been trapped inside since I was a child.

And after the 5 days was over, I felt like I got in touch with my true inner beauty more deeply than I ever had before… a beauty that sparkles and shines so deep inside, beyond any self image I could dream up.  And the liberation I felt from it was life changing.  I had been keeping myself enslaved by holding onto this deep dark secret from my childhood that was something I had completely made up in the first place.

I needed this experience to truly have a breakthrough into deeper self love.  And I’m so grateful for it!  It was one of those lingering “monsters” in the basement that I was finally able to face and set free.

And honestly, I’m not ready to never wear makeup again… In fact, I really do enjoy it. So I still choose to wear it, but it’s from a different place now… Instead of wearing makeup because I feel like I have to, I wear it from a place of loving and honoring myself for who I am. It’s become a ritual of self love rather than a ritual of hiding. It’s been so empowering and liberating!

Thank you so much for listening to my story here today and allowing me to share my vulnerability with you… I’m sharing all of this to show you what’s possible when you face your shadow, those parts of yourself you don’t love and accept, and truly choose to embrace ALL of who you are. It’s such an important and very personal journey for all of us to embark on.

And again, this is the KEY to wholeness… and coming from wholeness is what will allow you to live and experience your true, unbounded potential.

So I encourage you to also go through this process of going deeper into self love.

To keep it simple, here’s what I suggest doing:

1.  Ask yourself:  ”What am I not loving or accepting about myself?  What do I believe about myself that would be so embarrassing or horrifying if anyone found out?  What am I hiding in my shadow?”

2.  Choose one answer (belief) for now and give yourself the time and space to fully FEEL it.  Most likely, you’ve been avoiding feeling the pain, guilt, embarrassment, shame, anger, or fear that’s associated with this belief you have about yourself, so it’s going to take courage to face it… to fully feel the emotions you’ve had locked away for quite some time.  
But you need to allow yourself to fully feel these emotions if you want to move through them, otherwise they’ll stay locked up in the basement, becoming a wall that keeps you from really feeling the love you have inside. Let those tears flow if that’s what’s real for you!

3.  Inquire into what’s really true. Is this belief or judgment you’ve had about yourself really true?  And before your mind jumps in to validate your unworthiness and tell you it’s true… I really suggest reflecting deeply on this.

Take some deep breaths, feel into your body, and consciously get in touch with who you are beyond the physical.  You may even want to close your eyes and visualize being able to see yourself from a bird’s eye view.  When you see and feel the bigger, more expanded YOU, your self judgment will start to naturally fall away. You’ll start to see that any self image you have of yourself is simply an image that you made up in the first place! It’s not who you really are

4.  Embrace, love, and accept ALL of you!  Your judgment about yourself may not be true, but the part of yourself you’ve been judging is still a part of YOU!  So love and embrace it fully!  For example, my self judgment about being ugly without makeup isn’t true… yet I still love and embrace who I am and what I look like, with or without makeup.

So maybe for you there’s something you did in your past that you judge yourself for… and feel guilty over.  You can inquire into the judgments you have about yourself of being a terrible person, etc. etc. until you can see that none of them are true.  Then, choose to fully forgive, love, and embrace all of yourself, even the part you judge.  

You can do this by breathing and feeling into your heart, and allowing your heart to expand with love. Give this love to yourself and especially to that part of yourself you’ve been disowning. I’d even suggest making this a regular practice to really sink into deeper self love and acceptance.

5. This is optional, but HIGHLY recommended… Find someone in your life that you love, trust, and feel safe with and muster up the courage to share this part of your shadow with them. Choose to be vulnerable and you’ll see that it’s your willingness to be vulnerable that truly helps set you free.

In sharing this with another, the belief you’ve had about yourself loses its power… and in turn, you also help the person you’re sharing with heal as well. This is because we’re all human, and we can all relate to each other through our humanness… so even though we all have different life experiences, beliefs, and insecurities on the surface, deep down, they all have the same roots.

So in choosing to be vulnerable, you give your loved one permission to do the same And the ripple effect of embracing true self love and acceptance will grow and expand, reaching more and more people. This kind of deep emotional sharing and healing is just one of the many powerful possibilities of coming together in community.

When we stop fragmenting ourselves and choose to fully love and accept ourselves ALWAYS and ALL-WAYS, we embrace our wholeness, our greatness. And we start to experience the depth, beauty, and magnificence of who we really are, beyond any self image we can ever conceive of.

Imagine that you are like a prism… when you refuse to accept all of your many sides, the aspects of yourself you don’t accept will build up layers of dirt.  And when you shine a light through a dirty prism, you’ll get a fragmented, incomplete rainbow on the other side.

But when you choose to go into your shadow with courage (into your inner basement) and look at those sides to yourself you haven’t been accepting, choosing to fully embrace all of who you are… you become bright, shiny, and complete again.

Then, when the light of life shines through, you’re able to reflect a magnificent, whole, and beautiful rainbow.  This is who you are, your true greatness.  And it’s your birthright to be ALL of you!

And the more we embrace our wholeness, the more we able to love and accept others for who they are. We start to discover as well that our wholeness actually INCLUDES the other. We are all intimately interconnected… and in healing the walls of separation within ourselves, we also help to heal the walls of separation in the world.

I hope this post was impactful for you today. Truly reflect on it, let it sink in, and make the commitment here and now to always love and accept who you are. Again, it’s the most loving thing you can do for yourself, for others, and the world!

Ciao for now! Talk to you again very soon…

Love,

P.S. If you got value out of this post today, please make sure you share it with the close friends in your life and your friends on FB.

And PLEASE leave a comment down below with your thoughts, feedback, or any stories you’d like to share! Thank you so much! I appreciate you!

P.P.S. And if you want more information on this course I’m taking, you can visit: www.GaiaEducation.org

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Life is our mirror… and the people, situations, and circumstances that show in our lives are reflections of US.  These 5 mirrors that I’m going to share with you today will undoubtedly help you become a more empowered creator and gain great insight on the path to personal mastery.

This information has been a game changer for me… and I know you’re going to get so much out of it!  Click play down below and enjoy!

Did you have any great insights come through?  Any feedback, comments, questions?  I’d love to hear from you!  And if you liked this video here today, share it with your friends and followers by using the buttons down below!

Thanks so much and I’ll speak with you soon…

Yours in Mastery,

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There are still quite a few “myths” out there about what personal development is really all about… And it’s definitely time to let go of the old, false misconceptions and beliefs about what we think personal growth can “do” for us, and embrace the TRUTH about what it means to be on this very special and sacred journey of self discovery.

It’s a journey that never ends, but fulfills the deepest longing we have as human beings to really KNOW who we are at our core.  And when we understand more about who we really are, we stop creating and perpetuating stories of struggle… and we can let life flow through us in incredibly magical ways!

I just returned from a personal growth event in Costa Rica… And I’d love to share my insights and reflections with you about the myths and truths of personal development and why I’m so darn passionate about it!  Click play to hear more…

So what do you actually “discover” along this journey?  Well… again, that’s for YOU to experience for yourself!  But let me tell you… you’ll feel a deeper sense of personal freedom, authenticity, creativity, love, power, wisdom, and connection with all of life. And it really can’t get any more beautiful than that!

I’d LOVE to hear from you!

What does personal growth mean to you?  Leave a comment below and “share the love” if this video had an impact on you today.  Thank you for being you!

Yours in Awakening,

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Let me ask you… What “masks” do you put on and hide behind in your life?

Are you afraid to speak your truth when you know it might be upsetting to someone else?  Do you pretend to be confident when deep inside you feel insecure and unsure of yourself?  Do you speak and act differently around certain people to gain their approval and acceptance?

When we are wearing a “mask”, whether we’re conscious of it or not, we feel isolated, fearful, and out of integrity because we are not allowing our true self to come out.  We are hiding… And not only does this keep us from experiencing fulfillment in relationships or creating the success we’re looking for in life… But we end up living in a state of internal struggle and pain. We can’t possibly be truly authentic because we are molding ourselves to be the “person” that others will love, accept, and approve of.

I was inspired to make this video today because Halloween is coming up soon… But it’s an extremely powerful message that is applicable and appropriate any time of the year!  So click play on the video below to  hear more about how the many masks we wear can destroy our sense of authentic confidence and how to put the mask down and let the REAL you come out to play!

When we look to others to give us love and approval, we have lost awareness of our own self love and self acceptance.  Wearing a mask, or presenting a “contrived version” of yourself to gain approval from others keeps us in a state of internal struggle… And even when we “get” the approval we think we’re looking for, it’s never enough… Because only through true self acceptance and love can we come into full awareness of our own worth, beauty, and power.

So are there any masks you’ve worn in the past that you’d like to share with us here today? Or any new realizations of masks you didn’t even know you were wearing?  And even if you just want to share your Halloween mask (or costume) this year with us, I’d love to hear from you!  So leave a comment below and please make sure you help spread this message today by sharing it on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Have an amazing Halloween!  And remember… How can you be the REAL you even underneath your costume or mask this year?  Because the real you is perfect, complete, and beautiful just as you are!

To The “Authentic You”,

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Think about it… When you “like” someone, or you feel a connection with someone, you’ll likely be open, responsive, and will truly “listen” to what they have to say.  This is rapport.  When you are “in sync” or on the same wavelength as another person, and there’s a feeling of commonality between you, you have rapport.

With rapport comes influence.  And with influence (when used with integrity), comes great success.  So rapport is an extremely important thing to cultivate with the people you’re working with, partnering with, or selling products/services to.

So how do you build rapport?  Click play below to learn about an NLP technique that will help you build instant rapport and ultimately have greater influence with people in your business and your life…

Rapport is power.  Meet people where they are, see them for who they are, and lead.  This technique is very valuable, but again, it’s not to be overused or abused.  Be yourself, be authentic, and approach life and everyone you meet with an open heart… True rapport is really just about connection.

Any thoughts, comments, or feedback to share?

Hope this was of great value to you today!  I sure know how valuable it was for me when I first learned about this!  And if it was, please share it!  Tweet it, FB it…  and spread the word! Thank YOU!

To Your Unstoppable Success,
Katie Freiling

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The Blockbuster hit movie, Avatar, has not only broken records at the box office, but is now starting a MOVEMENT…

The messages contained within the movie are profoundly deep and it is now impacting millions of people all over the world. My friends and I recently had an ‘Avatar Celebration’ out here in San Diego to celebrate the true message of Avatar… We’re all connected.

I made a very special video for you to watch where I tell you all about it… Enjoy!

I SEE You… Yes, I really do!

Tell me, what did you think about Avatar?  What message did you take away from it and how has it impacted your life? Please do share, I always love hearing from you!  And please share this important message today with as many people as you can… We’re starting a movement towards true unity, and if you’re IN, speak it loud and clear!!

Thanks a bunch for spending time with me here today… I appreciate you!

Yours in Unity,

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If you want to master business or master your life, you have to first learn how to master yourself…  Inner self mastery is what will help you cultivate immense strength, internal calmness, and authentic power in everything you do.  You will become like an oak tree, so firmly rooted in the ground, that no wind or storm can move you.

During my Kauai journey, I spent the first 2 weeks alone, really delving deep into myself and releasing the patterns and beliefs that were keeping me from expressing my fullest potential. But what I learned was that the real practice of inner self mastery happens in every day life. In each and every moment, you have the power and the choice to choose internal freedom or choose internal slavery.

And it all comes down to implementing one essential practice… Click ‘Play’ on the video below to hear more about it:

My journey is really just beginning… I grow and learn more and more about myself every single day.  Life experience is the real teacher… Only then do you really know how far you’ve grown and what you’re really made of!

I open myself to infinite possibilities!  And I see no limits for my life because I am the CREATOR… And so are you!  You are the master, the artist, painting on this canvas called life.  What kind of work of art do you choose to create?  One of unlimited potential, unconditional love, and peace?  Or one of limits and fear?  Awareness is the key and it will empower true choice in your life.

Thank you for spending this time with me here today, I really appreciate it!  And as I keep growing and learning more about myself, I’m going to keep sharing my insights with all of you!  And believe me, I definitely don’t know everything!  So please contribute your ideas, insights, and comments down below… What have you learned about yourself and inner mastery?  Are you ready to really choose the life you want to create?

Stay tuned for one last Kauai video to come… I have a very special one planned for all of you!  

Yours in Mastery,

P.S.  Oh, and please do me a favor… If you liked this post today, share it with your friends online!  You can use the Twitter Re-tweet button below or feel free to share this on Facebook, Digg, or any other social site you hang out on often!  I know they’ll appreciate the flow of empowering content!

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What would your life look like if you could live each moment without any baggage from the past? Our pasts shape, define, and become the filters through which we experience reality.  Our minds operate very much like a computer, collecting data and information about ourselves and the world, as we accumulate one life experience after another.  Since this accumulation of experiences, patterns, beliefs, and emotions become the filter through which we perceive the world, our sense of reality can often become quite distorted.

Whether you’re conscious of it or not, odds are that you’re carrying with you quite a bit of ‘baggage’ from your past… If you formed the belief at age 15 that you weren’t a good writer, you most likely still believe that about yourself today.  If your best friend betrayed you when you were younger, you might still be carrying the pain of mistrust around with you right now. All of the people in your past, along with the situations and events that you experienced, might still be affecting you today and keeping you from living a life that’s fresh, alive, and new in each moment.

Truly successful people are not just successful because they learned a few new skills or got lucky… They most likely have had to do quite a bit of digging, or personal ‘work’ on themselves to clear out the cob webs and grow.  They’ve had to face their fears, get outside of their comfort zone, and also challenge the old disempowering patterns and beliefs that were keeping them from creating more success…

Personal growth is absolutely essential for anyone looking to create wealth or success for themselves as an entrepreneur… It’s about fine-tuning the power force within that is capable of creating and manifesting in the external world.

I’m quite passionate about personal growth (if you couldn’t tell already!) and that’s why I decided to take a trip to Kauai… I wanted to really dig deep and cultivate a deeper awareness of the source of my power, strength, creativity, and potential.  And so, realizing that my past still had somewhat of a grip on me, I decided to do a ceremony to release it…

It was incredibly powerful, I have to say.  And I’d like to invite you join with me in the finale… You’ll also get some great insight as to how you can release your past and clear space for your true potential and power to shine through and manifest in your business.

Click ‘play’ on the video below to hear more (and get a look at my new cottage out here in Kauai with an awesome private hot tub!)…

The past is history… It doesn’t exist!  We can remember the past and learn from it, but there’s no need to carry it with us any longer.  In order to live more fully in the present moment as an aware, empowered, and fully expressed human being, we’ve gotta let go of the beliefs, emotions, and people from our past that keep us from seeing the truth of who we really are.

It’s a cleansing process and it’s necessary!  I’m not saying that everyone needs to do any specific ceremony, but I do encourage you to dig up the past if you’ve never done it, make amends with it, and let it go once and for all…  You’ll be amazed at the clarity and lightness you’ll feel!

Again, thank you so much for joining me in the finale of my ceremony!  What did you think? I’d love to hear any comments, questions, or feedback so please share with the community down below.  And also please make sure you ‘re-tweet’ this post using the button down below and send this out to your Twitter friends and followers (as well as Facebook, Digg, or any other social site you visit often!)  This message is definitely one that needs to be heard and it’s much appreciated!

Thanks a bunch and we’ll speak again soon…

In Joy and Aliveness,

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If you are open and ready, this post could be one of the most transformative, empowering, and liberating posts on personal growth you ever read… Enjoy!

So what is authentic power?  Authentic power is what will set you FREE… It is the source of your happiness, fulfillment, personal success, and depth of the love and joy you are able to experience in life.

Authentic power does not come from money, fame, control over others, or being ‘better’ or ‘stronger’ than anyone else… Authentic power is completely sourced from within yourself.

It is your inner knowing and inner guidance that perceives life from a perspective of love and trust.  An authentically empowered person does not depend on anything external to feel complete, worthy, or fulfilled.  He or she chooses to live for the highest good of all and sees the interconnectedness of all of life.

People with true authentic power do not judge, criticize, or blame anyone or anything else for their emotions, experiences, or circumstances… They take full responsibility for their internal state and understand that everything they experience, whether good or bad, is a result of the way they perceive and process life.

They see every life experience and every emotion as a means to learn more about themselves… Everything is a lesson and they trust in the universal flow of life to give them exactly what they need to grow.

Because they look inward for their source of worthiness, love, and security, their external reality becomes a reflection of the truth, love, and trust they feel within.  They are able to attract relationships that reflect true love and care, and they live and operate from their internal power source, resulting in more external success, wealth, and abundance.

The Opposite Of Authentic Power…

Someone who lacks authentic power and only pursues ‘external’ power seeks fulfillment in their external world… They have a deep need to feel worthy, secure, and loved because they have not yet realized the source of everything they seek is within themselves.  Because of this, they seek fulfillment through acquiring material possessions, clothes, a nice car, a big house, their appearance, approval from others, feeling more successful or superior than others, or needing another’s love to feel worthy.

The pursuit of external power does exactly the opposite of what the person seeking it actually hopes for… It leeches their power and they continually feel the need to restore it, perpetuating the cycle of external seeking and loss of power.

This person will wonder why their life does not look differently… They’ll wonder why they are so unsatisfied with their job, their relationships, their happiness, their personal success…

They’ve been giving their power away, probably for longer than they can remember, because they are placing their power in the hands of other things, people, and circumstances, hoping that they will make them happy.  They look to rearrange and control their external world to satisfy their insatiable hunger for love and security.

I know what this feels like all too well because this is the reality that I used to live in… Growing up, I became so consumed with what others thought of me and I sought to please them in order to feel good and worthy about myself.  I got into the bad habit of giving my power away and it’s taken quite a bit of self-reflecting, exploration, and inner work to really break this lifelong habit.

Most everybody alive today has been conditioned to seek external power for their happiness and fulfillment.  Some may seek control, more friends, a better reputation, a better physical appearance, more money, more success, a ‘perfect’ relationship, or even a ‘spiritual identity’…

Although we all may seek different things, the source of all external seeking is the same… It comes down to looking outside of ourselves to feel worthy, secure, and loved.  And at the heart of all external pursuits, is a deep, and sometimes quite unconscious, insecurity.

Anyone who seeks external power in any form is looking to fill a void of insecurity.  They do not know who they are and look to other people, things, and events to feel worthy.  Even the most confident, outspoken, and seemingly ‘empowered’ person who ‘has it all’ still feels, at her core, insecure.

The insecurity is covered up a wide variety of ways, but what is most important and what is most needed for humanity right now, is to heal those places within us that cause the perpetual insecurity.  It takes courage and trust to go within and find the sources of pain and suffering… But once we do, we can pull out the roots of fear and insecurity once and for all and start living a life of true empowerment, unconditional love, and real happiness.

So the path to authentic power is really about healing the deep insecurities within ourselves.  It is about mastering our emotions and taking responsibility for our lives.  I’ve put together a 5 step process that will help you discover, uncover, and free the parts of yourself that cause you to suffer…

Even though I’ve laid it out as a step by step process, this is not a “one time does the trick” type of work… Sometimes it can take months, years, or even a lifetime to really understand the inner workings of our thoughts, emotions, patterns, and habits.  But once we do, we clear out space for our true, infinite, ever loving, and ever powerful Self to shine forth.

It is in getting in touch with our true Self, not the image we have of who we are or who we hope to be, that truly leads to authentic empowerment. 

Ok, so here it goes… 5 Steps to Becoming An Authentically Empowered Human Being:

Step 1:  Become Aware Of Your Intentions.

In order to become aware of our insecurities and the way we mask them, we have to become aware of our intentions… Why do you do, say, and act the way you do?  Throughout your day, start asking yourself these questions…

• Do I do or have this to feel more secure? 
• Do I do or have this to feel better about myself?
• Do I do or have this to feel better than others?
• Do I do or have this to feel loved or worthy?

If you can be brutally honest with yourself, you’ll start to unravel a buried truth behind your true intentions for how you live, operate, and maneuver throughout life. 

If you realize that, for example, the real reason you drive the car you do (or desire the car you want in the future) is to feel better about yourself, be happy and proud that you were able to be honest enough to even admit it to yourself… Don’t judge it.  Try your best to observe without judgment.  Awareness in and of itself is all you need to start making more authentic decisions in the future.

Step 2:  Start To See YOURSELF As The Source Of Your Worthiness.

This step will definitely not happen overnight.  But as you become more aware of the inauthentically driven parts of yourself that seek security, love, and worthiness in other people, situations, and things, you clear space for the truth of your own worthiness to shine through.

Spend some time reflecting on the true nature of who you are… Are you just a bunch of molecules that have taken the shape of a body?  Or are you more than that? 

If you’re open to it, try and spend a few minutes alone each day in silence and just feel the aliveness of your internal body.  The more you do this, the more you’ll start to feel that you are more than just a body.  You are the awareness that realizes it has a body, a mind, and a place on this earth.  

You, me, and everyone else on the planet is worthy beyond comprehension.  Where we all got this idea that we weren’t, I don’t know!  But it’s time for the truth to start spreading like wildfire and touching everyone who is open enough to hear it.

YOU are the source of the love and worthiness you seek.  Once this is realized, you are not seeking to fill a hole in your heart any longer.  You’ve filled your own self first and now you have a much greater depth and openness to even experience what true love and joy feels like.  You no longer feel it’s missing and look to find it elsewhere. 

Nothing or no one else ever has the power to make you worthy or unworthy.  You are already it… Claim it!

Step 3:  Become Aware Of Your Emotions.

Most people have no clue how to get in touch with what they’re feeling… They’re so used to avoiding their emotions and burying their pain, that they don’t even realize they have any emotions until they blow their lid one day and rupture in anger, grief, jealousy, or irritability.

Contrary to what most people believe, our emotions are not a result of outside, external circumstances.  They are products of the way our energetic composition processes energy.  So when you feel angry, it’s not because someone else ‘caused’ it.  It’s completely due to the way you perceive, process, and release energy.

The same provoking situation that resulted in your release of anger could have resulted in an entirely different release in someone else.  The anger that you feel now is essentially the same anger you’ve been feeling all your life… The only thing that’s different is the situation provoking it.

So why is it important to become aware of your emotions?  We experience so many different forms of emotion on a daily basis, that when we’re not aware of them, they will end up directing and dictating our behavior.  If there’s unsettled anger or fear that we’ve buried within us, that anger or fear will erupt and lash out at the slightest bit of tension. 

Negative emotions, such as judgment, jealousy, anger, sadness, and frustration are all sourced from fear.  So if we ignore and refuse to feel or acknowledge these emotions when they come up, fear will end up running the show.   Allowing fear to fester and grow can become incredibly unhealthy… physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Emotions are meant to teach us about ourselves if we listen.  They are fleeting, temporary moments of expression that show us how our internal state is perceiving and reacting to the world.  They are incredible teachers and messengers.  If negative emotions are buried, we are holding onto them and creating more suffering.

Authentic power is when you are aware of everything you’re feeling and all of the decisions you’re making, moment by moment… It’s conscious, whereas un-dealt with emotions will result in unconscious behavior.

So being able to recognize our emotions and what we’re feeling is critical.  Practice feeling your body next time you feel an emotion rising to the surface… Where do you feel tightness?  Do you feel it in your head, throat, chest, or stomach?  Our bodies are incredibly interconnected with our emotions, so you’ll be able to understand a whole lot about your emotions just by observing where you feel it in the body.

After you learn how to observe emotion, the next step is detaching from it.  Without detachment, you can become consumed in your emotional state and get swept away.  Think of this like being in a river of water, where the water represents your emotions.  If you’re in the water, you could potentially get tossed around, without control, and all you can see is the water that surrounds you.

But if you take a moment to detach, or step out of the water and onto a bridge overlooking it, you can take on a whole new perspective that you couldn’t see earlier.  You can now see the water clearly, but you can also see the land, the bridge, the sky, and everything else.  You have a much more objective perspective at that point and you can become the master of your emotions.

When you detach though, it’s important to remain open and feel the emotion completely… Feel it in it’s entirely without resisting.  When you do this, your emotions will start to flow through you without getting lodged in your emotional or energetic body for any longer than is needed.

Emotions are healthy.  Holding onto, avoiding, or burying emotions is not.  Emotional awareness will help you become a much more conscious and authentically empowered being.

Step 4:  Shift From ‘How Can I Change Others?’ to ‘How Can I Change Myself?’

When we experience an unpleasant emotion, the conditioned response in us wants to immediately seek to change or alter our external circumstances.  We want others to change, the situation to be different, or we blame others for the way we feel. 

“If only he/she would treat me differently, then I’d be happy” is an example of responding to emotion by wanting to change others.  This is refusing to take responsibility for the way we feel and at the same time, covering up and hiding the pain that we feel inside.

An authentically empowered person experiences unpleasant emotion and asks, ‘How can I change myself?’  They understand that they alone are the source of the unpleasant or painful feeling and look to shift their perspective.  In this way, you are maintaining your power because you don’t look to anyone else or any outside situation to make you feel better.

You are responsible for your happiness or unhappiness and whether you know it or not, no one else has the power to make you unhappy or happy unless you give it to them.

We always have the opportunity to take responsibility for the way we feel and use our emotions as a means to learn more about ourselves.  Negative emotions are messages that show us the remnants of fear, insecurity, and unworthiness that are left inside.  And positive emotions show us when we are choosing love and evolving ourselves into more conscious, authentically empowered human beings.

Step 5:  Shift From Fear and Doubt To Love and Trust.

Anytime you feel bad or you’re experiencing a negative emotional state, you are releasing your emotion in fear and doubt.  You don’t trust the world, you feel alone and isolated, you feel powerless, and you blame other people and other circumstances for the way you feel.

If you’re feeling jealous, for example, you are fearful of losing love or losing your imagined source of worthiness.  Don’t resist the feeling, feel it in its entirety, but also know that you have the power to shift your energy at any moment you choose.

You always have the power to take a step back, take a few deep breaths, and determine whether or not the provoking situation is worth giving your power away and feeling bad. 

In every moment, you can shift your fear into trust.  You can choose to trust life and all of the lessons and experiences you are experiencing.  You can choose to see your emotional state as a message and a lesson for how you can further grow and evolve… And then choose to use your pain as a catalyst for change.

When you consciously choose love and trust, your body will relax, tension will dissipate, everything will seem much lighter, and you surrender in knowing that everything you’re experiencing is for a reason.

If you can choose to see all experiences, emotions, relationships, successes, and failures as lessons in growth, you’ll be living and operating as an authentically empowered individual.

Ground yourself in love and trust and you’ll no longer be swept away by fear, or the unfulfilling promises that external power never seems to keep.  You’ll know what it feels like to be intimate with life and you’ll experience an underlying joy in every moment, no matter what emotion you might currently be feeling.

Authentic empowerment is the ability to see, live, and embody the truth.  And in order to know the truth, we have to be willing to face our fears, feel our pain, and grow.  Otherwise, our lives will be run by unconscious, buried fear and we’ll continue to attract exactly what we don’t want in life.

An authentically empowered person does not seek fulfillment in anything else but the love and light that shines from within.  And because of this, he/she is able to attract more authentic love, wealth, and success than ever thought possible.

Thank you for taking the time to read this entire post today… The ideas outlined here have honestly changed my life.  They have helped me to shift back into my natural place of true, authentic power.  And my hope is that it will impact and help transform your life as well…

Yours in Authentic Power,

P.S.  The ideas shared in this post today were inspired by the book, “The Heart of the Soul : Emotional Awareness“ by Gary Zukav.  If you’re interested in learning more about emotional awareness and authentic power, I highly suggest this book!

P.P.S.  Please share this post today with everyone you care about.  Email it to your family, your friends, and share it with your Twitter followers, your Facebook friends, fellow entrepreneurs, and with anyone else you feel compelled to.  This is a message that everyone needs to hear… The more authentically empowered people we have in our world, the more love and peace we will all share together.  It’s time to evolve and start expressing more of our true power and infinite potential!

And please leave me a comment, even if it’s just a quick shout out!  I always love and appreciate feedback! 

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This is a guest post by one of my top blogging students, Eric Goldstein.  To learn more about Eric, visit his blog at http://CreateWithEric.com. Enjoy!

People are running around looking for the big SECRET to building their business using social media and internet marketing.  Is this you?  If it is… you’ve had the secret all your life.  You just might not be using it effectively.

Do You Want To Know ‘The Secret’?

Isn’t it funny… Here I am telling you that you already know ‘the secret’ and I’m asking you if you want me to tell you what it is.  I just found that comical!

So the thing that I believe is the most IMPORTANT ingredient to building your business online is creating strong RELATIONSHIPS.   Not much of a secret, huh?  If you are like most people, you were waiting for me to give you something that would knock you back off your chair.

It’s usually the simplest things in life that are the most POWERFUL.  People are always looking for the complicated strategy or technique… because if they don’t understand it then it has to be something huge.  Let go of that belief if it’s one of yours… it will destroy you!

Why Is This So Powerful?

Building great relationships is by far the BIGGEST skill you can learn that will EXPLODE your business… and IT IS a learnable skill.  No matter how you look at it, you’re going to be building relationships.  You’re either going to build long lasting meaningful connections or inauthentic empty ones.  It’s your choice…

Take a look at the people who are successful in the business you are in… or any business.  What is the one common trait that you find in all of them?  Really think about this for a minute, this is important…

They’ve learned the skill of building strong relationships with their business partners, their clients and the people on their list.  I’ll bet if you interview these people and ask them what’s the skill that has contributed most to their success; the common answer you will get is building good relationships.

It really doesn’t matter what business you are in, this is the thing that is going to determine if you succeed beyond your wildest dreams or fail miserably.  I really hope you’re paying attention here because this is the information that has and will continue build fortunes!

This is the one skill that is TIMELESS!  All other strategies, tips and tricks stop working after a while as times change and new technology comes on the scene.  Once you master this area, you will see MASSIVE changes in the results you are getting in your business!

An important thing to remember is you can have all the best strategies for driving traffic to your blog or website, but if you don’t know how to build and nurture a relationship with those people, you’ll have WASTED your time and energy!

Let’s Take A Journey Back In Time…

Let’s go back to the time when you were in school.  Get a clear mental picture of the person that was the most popular kid in school.  I’m talking about the person that ran the school and everyone wanted to hang out with.  Have this person in mind?  Maybe that person was you J

What about this person made everyone want to be friends with them?  What made them so ‘attractive’ that others wanted to hang out with them?  If you really look at it, they were GREAT at building relationships.  I bet if you tracked that person down today, they’re probably doing really well in whatever business they are in.

Is Building Strong Relationships Really A Learnable Skill?

The answer is YES!  It’s just like baking a cake… if you know all the ingredients that someone used to bake a yummy cake, then YOU can bake the exact same cake.  You just have to know what to do and you can create the same success as them.

I’m going to go through the steps on what it takes to build these strong relationships.  If you refer to this list often and really put this stuff into action, you will see a SHIFT in the direction of your business… and that direction is UP!

The 4 Keys To Building Strong Long Lasting Relationships:

Key #1: Always come from a place of GIVING and adding VALUE

It’s really funny… I see all of these network marketers running around online slamming their business opportunities down everyone’s throats.  Did they ever look up what the word ‘networking’ means? The definition is ‘The cultivation of productive relationships for business’.

Spamming everyone with their business opportunity does not fit anywhere in that definition!  Yet if you go to Facebook or Twitter right now, the walls are filled with people telling you how they can help you make a million dollars by Friday… it’s ridiculous!

This is probably the most important key that we will go over.  You want to come from a place of adding value to someone’s life.  People like to connect and follow people that help them and contribute to the growth of their life.  Be giving of information that will make a difference in their life.  You don’t always have to sell someone something to help them.  Ooooh, that’s a big lesson to learn.  When an entrepreneur’s ‘GIVING’ becomes more than the price they are asking for their goods or service, then they’ve arrived… as a true entrepreneur.

Think about this for a minute…  Who in your life do you look up to and respect?  Do they come from a place of ‘take’ within your relationship?  Or do they contribute to you and add value to your life?  We all know this stuff because these are the people that we are ‘attracted’ to, but sometimes we’re just not conscious of it when we’re out there mingling online.

Key #2: Create TRUST between you and your prospects, business partners, etc.

Trust is everything!  I don’t know how else to say it.   People don’t join companies, people join PEOPLE.  They do business with people they know, like and TRUST.   For there to be a strong relationship, trust is vital.  Without it you have nothing.

Your prospects want to know that they can trust you to guide them in the right direction.  There are so many people online scamming people today; they want to make sure you aren’t one of them.

You can build trust by ALWAYS following through on what you say you’re going to do.  Integrity and Authenticity baby!  If you tell someone that you’re going to call them Wednesday at 6:30PM… guess when you should call them?  Wednesday at 6:25PM… early!  I get people telling me they will call me at that time and then my phone rings at 8:30PM.  Right there they’ve lost my trust because they didn’t keep to their word.

Goes back to the old saying…  ‘Say what you will do, and do what you say’

Key #3:  Learn To Become A Good Listener

There is nothing more ANNOYING than when you’re speaking and someone is talking over you.  Or they just aren’t present in the conversation because they are doing something else.  Everyone has a million things to do, and they are parading around saying what a good multi tasker they are.  You can only focus on one thing at a time… if you are speaking with someone and you start doing something else while you’re talking with them, you are no longer focused.

I can tell when I’m on the phone with someone having a conversation and they’re just not paying attention.  Maybe their checking their email, reading Facebook messages or tweeting.  I know you’ve had this happen to you?  And I know that you’ve done this to other people as well!

People can tell when someone isn’t present and listening to what they are saying.  People want to be heard… they really do!  When having a conversation with someone, step away from your computer or whatever you are doing.  Give them your undivided attention…. or don’t have the conversation at that moment.  Pick one!  You’re energy is split and the person on the other end can feel it as some level of their being.

Focus intently and listen to the messages conveyed behind and between words.  Powerful listening connects us emotionally to whoever we are speaking with.

Key #4: Be Yourself… Act Authentically

Don’t try to be someone you’re not.  There is so much POWER in being yourself!  When you come from an authentic place, you’re honest with others as well as yourself.  Authenticity is a place of freedom.  When you are being ‘real’ you can connect on a very deep level with people.  When you’re not, people can feel it… either consciously or unconsciously.

If you’re not being you, then you’re creating relationships on fluff.  This isn’t the type of foundation that long term business relationships are made of… and that’s what you’re out here for, to build long term relationships, right?

If you learn to practice these skills, you will see a MAJOR INCREASE in your business.  You will notice a difference in the way people interact with you.  People will all of a sudden be ‘attracted’ to you and will want to join you in business or buy from you.  You’ll wonder where all of these people have been hiding all this time!

One thing to keep in mind, DO NOT under-estimate these tips…  Don’t let the simplicity fool you!  The skill of building relationships is the KEY reason why some will succeed and some will never achieve their dreams.

Most people will go from one business opportunity to the next, thinking the company they were with was the reason they didn’t succeed.  When you come to realize that people join you in your business because you have created a relationship with them that is authentic with deep levels of trust, you can jump into ANY company and be successful!

Let me give you some examples…

I really want you to get this! So what I’m going to do is point out a few friends in the industry, who are leaders in their businesses because they are practicing these principles each and every day.

First of all, the wonderful Katie Freiling…  You already know of her, since you’re reading this post on her blog.  If you look closely at why you are attracted to her blog and her information, it’s because she is a true GIVER.  This girl adds VALUE to her community like I’ve never seen done before!

Look at all she shares with you and everyone within her community… cutting edge marketing strategies that she is currently using, insights that have shaped her into the empowered entrepreneur that she is and the products and services that she personally uses to build her business.

If you just learn to model the way Katie contributes way beyond herself, and nothing else… you will see a drastic change in your business!

Now head over to the blog of Mr. Kary Rogney. This guy knows how to create and build TRUST with everyone around him.  Kary has built a super loyal following that knows he will guide them down the path to success.  Remember trust is EVERYTHING… people join and do business with people they believe in.

Last but not least, Michael Feil… If you want to meet someone that is 100% themselves and lives an authentic life… then this is the guy to check out!  Michael has built a strong following because he DOES NOT try to be someone he’s not, and always speaks and trains from his heart.  He really has mastered this skill.

If you are always conscious of how you’re communicating with other people, and  remember these keys to building strong relationships, you will NEVER have to worry about making money in your business again!

Let the games begin!

So are you going to implement the information I just shared with you?  I challenge you become a relationship building machine!  Are you up for it?  Why not start right now… the information within this post is valuable informationthat can really make a difference in other people’s lives.  Click the ‘retweet’ button at the bottom of this post and share this with all of your Twitter followers.

Also, I want you to share something of value with the community here by leaving a comment below.  This is NOT a pitch fest, so DO NOT spam everyone with your business opportunity!  Maybe share something with everyone that you do on a daily basis to empower yourself.  One of the things that I’ve learned in life is that if something works for me, there is a GOOD chance it will work for someone else.

I appreciate you for taking your time to read this post today.  Time is the one resource that we all have the same amount of, and I thank you for sharing yours with me.

Yours In Success,

Eric Goldstein

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