Okay, I hear your first thought – What?

Take a moment and think about it.  The over arching want and need of every human being, the general conclusion to all our journeys, is to be happy, fulfilled, and contented.

Happiness is more than a pleasant moment or an agreeable sensation. It is a way of Being and of relating to the circumstances and events of your life. It transcends your momentary and your life-long conditions.

Happiness is a choice and a discipline which defines the manner in which you experience your world. Authentic and enduring happiness is contingent on what’s inside you rather than on outside situations. It is a byproduct of cultivating your inner peace and strength.

Practicing the Art of Happiness sets you free—not from experiencing negative emotions—but from being enslaved by them.

But how do you reach this place of Happiness when you “don’t know” what you want and how to make it happen?

Well, you start sorting this out by first learning or relearning what makes you Happy and places you in a state of “Being Happy”. This life altering exercise allows you to discover all the answers to the above.  It is your gauge, your “Internal Happiness Gauge”, to help you weigh each experience and sort through to find your answers.

Here is a way to put this to work for you.

First, set up your “Internal Happiness Gauge”.  Create a scale from 1-10 with 1 being the lowest Happiness you received from an item or occurrence to 10 which would represent Ecstasy, Supreme Happiness and Joy.  Decide what each increment of the scale will represent for you in your definition of Happiness. Then, it’s suggested you start and make a daily entry into a “Happiness Journal” and rate it according to your “gauge”.

In addition, you will want to make a place in your journal each day to write down what you are grateful for. In essence, your journal will be a “Happiness and Gratitude Journal” all-in-one, since they compliment and support one another and are beneficial in your discovery process.

Now, I know you hear a lot about journaling but this process can take a while and you need a tool to help you remember how you felt about a particular thing or circumstance. It also allows you to go deep inside to sort out and record the many possible levels of insight this will bring.  So I strongly encourage you not to skip these steps.

After doing this preliminary set up, start your process by writing down and “gauging” the things you already know make you Happy and that you are grateful for. In addition, start taking 5 to 10 minutes, at minimum, each day to do something that is “outside your box”, so to speak, to find out if it makes you Happy and where it falls on your “Gauge”.  Get very creative here and don’t be afraid to try new things.  These will help you to arrive at your answers faster when added to the things you’ve not done in a while or forgotten.

Some examples might be:
-a walk in a creek while barefoot
-skipping rope
-singing a song you just created on the spot at the top of your lungs
-coloring in a coloring book with crayons
-walking backwards
-calling an old friend
-trying something new like a sport or a new way to drive home

This list could go on and on and as I said, let yourself get really creative here.  Then record what you did and how it felt by your “Gauge” and record any other thoughts or feelings which come up around this for you.  If something particularly seems to hit a button or a right spot for you, dig a bit deeper and explore what underlies what you are feeling and experiencing.  You can see here how important the journal is to help you remember and sort through all of what you are experiencing.

This will begin your process of knowing what makes you Happy and you build from there.

As you start seeing areas or thoughts that reoccur for you, you will begin to differentiate what makes you Happy and what does not.  It allows you to begin to see answers to what you want and how you want to do it.  It allows you to begin to make conscious choices and decisions based on what makes you Happy so to operate from a state of “Being Happy” to find out how to “Be” continuously Happy.

Remember, Happiness is a choice and a discipline. By practicing the art of “Being Happy”, it sets you free from being controlled or ruled by fear or other negative emotions and helps you in your growth of inner peace and strength.

As I said before, this can be lengthy process, all meaningful personal growth and development work has that possibility.  However, you can be helped and supported along the way to facilitate a faster breakthrough.  This is where I can be of service.  If you feel you are not moving fast enough, are coming up with more questions than answers, are encountering a fear, are unfocused, are finding excuses not to do this process or are feeling blocked, then contact me to discuss possibilities and options of how I can be of service to you during this life altering, very important process.

Learn to change “I don’t know” to “I do know” and Be Happy by Being Happy!

Over the past few months, I have been putting a lot of thought and effort into re-shaping how I conduct my work and business. However, I realized recently that I was procrastinating for some reason in doing some of the work on my To-Do list and was having trouble zeroing in on just what my problem was.

Well, the Universe to the rescue! My friend, Rhonda Hess, must have been picking up on my vibes and I received an email from her with her latest blog entry, “What Are You Putting Off Now?” and boy did it help clear the cobwebs out of my way.

In the article she asks 3 powerful questions to get your juices flowing again and to get back in action.

They are:

1. What exactly am I putting off?

2. What are the possible reasons why I am putting this off? (She lists 8 possibilities)

3. What little step am I willing to take right now?

Asking myself these questions made me realize I was on big time overload and needed to take a break, regenerate and wait for more inspiration and clarity while all my plans come together. Now I know your saying that I should have known this and yes I did know it to a point but sometimes you can be too close to understand the full depth of where you are when you are in the middle of it. It’s always good to have something that wakes you up!

There is much more to this article, so I encourage you to read it here on her blog. And then ask yourself, “What AM I putting off now?”

If you are still uncertain why you are procrastinating or need accountability or support in your process, I can help. Please contact me to arrange an informational chat to determine how I can help you put the word “action” back in your work.

The one thing that seems to be missing most in life today is Happiness, true HAPPINESS!

As a gift to YOU to help in your search for daily Happiness, here is a list of 15 Actions.

It is in pdf format so you can download and keep it for reference.

ENJOY!

15 Happiness Actions

]]> http://elainelockard.com/2012/02/25/15-actions-for-happiness/feed/ 0 http://elainelockard.com/2012/02/21/where-positivity-meets-peace-revelri/ http://elainelockard.com/2012/02/21/where-positivity-meets-peace-revelri/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:31:33 +0000 Elaine Lockard http://elainelockard.com/?p=2842

Here is a review of a New Website called Revelri which I highly recommend checking out!

It’s the Perfect website to support and compliment the Age of Change we are in currently!!

Utopia – the very word kicks up a feeling of euphoria and brings to mind a perfect setting where happiness is a norm. Revelri, a newly launched website that provides daily tips with a twist, aims at sowing the seeds for a utopian world by injecting some fun into people’s lives. The portal does this by kindling awareness about the smaller things in life, through everyday actions that bring pleasure in the minutest of quantities.

Revelri caters to a wide range of people who act as functioning pillars in the fabric of our society, with a target that’s not only community oriented but even individual-oriented. Revelri is a FREE website, and when people sign up they gain access to the different features of the website like Actions, Synergy, Wish Tree and Gratitude Journal and get an idea about their journey through self discovery.

Check it out NOW! (jv link)   —   tinyurl.com/revel2012

—–Actions and Gestures, With a Pinch of Fun

When was the last time that you went for a calm walk with your wife?

Or stayed up a bit late in the night listening to your favorite songs before drifting off to sleep?

Are you in touch with your relatives, and friends of the family who were an integral part of your life when you were a child?

As time passes, we all tend to get sucked into a materialistic lifestyle where relationships slowly falter and become meaningless, while previously trivial entities like virtual lives overtake personal goals and values. One of the key things about Revelri is its actions – the website offers daily actions for all its users, just small tasks that they can do on an everyday basis to make their day a little bit more cheerful.

There are tips and tasks for the health conscious, actions that are specifically meant to improve personal relationships and familial ties. There are even actions that are designed to rouse people and get them out of their daily fears and insecurities to make their outlook much brighter, changing their perception of what they’re capable of.

From dancing when no one’s watching to rolling down the car window to feel the breeze, the website must be commended for providing simple actions for people to do, and effective ones at that!

Get more details here!  –  tinyurl.com/revel2012

—–How Unique Are These Actions?

The actions in Revelri are diverse and apply across all cultures, and they are rooted more in human emotions and feelings. Another aspect is that these actions are tailored specifically for different users across the website, a smart move that makes them a lot more doable.

Women who have signed up don’t have to worry about sporting a beard to work – Revelri makes sure that such actions only apply to an audience that can successfully pull off a goatee – men!

The finer actions among these are the ones that cater to parenting. The tips provided are neatly classified by the website into those for boys and those for girls. This will surely prove to be useful for clueless parents of the modern age who’re struggling to establish a rapport with their children.

Revelri strikes the right chords when it dishes out actions that can make the world a better place to live in, urging people to go green, reduce their waste, recycle materials that they use daily and passionately work for a cause.

There are different levels that Revelers (a fancy name for its users that’s very catchy) can reach over a period of time, and these levels are pegged as Clouds. Revelers can start off from Cloud 0 and slowly work their way up to Cloud 5.

These little tweaks give the website a very positive vibe and contribute towards making the entire experience an engaging one.

See for yourself here!  –  tinyurl.com/revel2012

—-A Gratitude Log on the Virtual Space

Apart from its actions, Revelri goes a step further by providing a Gratitude Journal where Revelers can note down their gratitude for all that they have in life. The website also has a Wish Tree where users can jot down their desires and wishes, and strike them off once they are fulfilled. These neat little features add on to the site’s overall feel, although a little more attention could have been paid in this direction.

Another striking feature about Revelri is Synergy, where cases of concern can be posted by Revelers and can be healed by fellow Revelers. This serves as a platform where people can pray for each other’s well being, and feel like they’re part of a larger scheme of things. This is a very interesting and unique feature from the website that focuses towards bringing Revelers together in a tightly knit community.

The idea is novel – imagine you’re feeling low due to certain unfortunate circumstances and are hoping that things will change for good. All you need to do is post about your problems, and fellow Revelers are sure to spend some moments praying for your well-being. As a Reveler, you’ll have unending access to such positive vibrations.

Revelers can interact among themselves within the community through features like Messages, and the website provides a platform for like-minded people to get together and share their thoughts and prayers.

With such refreshing concepts, Revelri is quite different from the regular self help groups that crowd the internet. What’s more, the website offers all its services for free, while other websites often charge users for accessing their creamy features. With a little bit of tweaking and some more online prominence, it can soon grow into a platform to reckon with, thanks to its positive content!

Click below to join Revelri for FREE!!

tinyurl.com/revel2012

]]> http://elainelockard.com/2012/02/21/where-positivity-meets-peace-revelri/feed/ 0 http://elainelockard.com/2012/02/06/2012-age-of-change-age-of-choice/ http://elainelockard.com/2012/02/06/2012-age-of-change-age-of-choice/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:45:29 +0000 Elaine Lockard http://elainelockard.com/?p=2743

2012 Is Here!

It is an Age of Change but also, and more importantly, an Age of Choice.

Listen to my podcast presented here and learn more about this incredibly amazing Age we are living in and the Choices it presents to us to evolve and choose our destiny!

Enjoy!!

We have all heard that changing what you say and how you say it is so important. This goes too for what and how you think and say internally to yourself. Well, this photo, with it’s list, certainly explains it all in a nutshell.

How will you change your words and thoughts today to be more successful?

The other day, a friend of mine sent me this video. I was amazed at this wonderful lady and all that she has accomplished and the beauty she has created in her life with the immense challenges she faces. And she handles it all with one of the most positive mental attitudes I have ever witnessed. Kind of made me think twice and even a third time about my complaints I make on a daily basis. It’s nice to have a “splash of cold water in the face” from time to time to get your thoughts and priorities in place.

Enjoy this wonderful, incredible video!!

Most of us at one time or another have dreamed of owning our own business and being our own boss. We love the thought of working on our schedule, not someone else’s. We can take vacations when we want or spend time with the family in the middle of the day. We want the satisfaction of creating something that is ours and succeeding at it.

But the one thing we don’t often fully understand and think through is it takes a lot of time, investment, and hard work to get to the point of being able to do these things. It can take years of working seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours or more a day, spending less time with the family and going on less vacations just to make a sustainable business and living.

So why do we do it? Why do we want to be an entrepreneur so badly?

Well I already touched on a couple of reasons. One is money. We hope and dream that we will become so successful that we can afford to have whatever we want. Money is so seductive, it draws us in to pursue as much of it as we can or as much of it as we need. The world runs on money and we have been led to feel it gives you more power and control over and in your life and business.

Our society instills in us that one goal for success and a happy life is money and plenty of it. We are brainwashed to an extent and will pursue it whenever and wherever we can.

Secondly, the independence and flexibility factor is so enticing. We all want to work our own hours and not account to anyone else. If we want to get up in the middle of the night and work and go to the beach during the day, we can make that choice. If you have a family with young kids, you can choose to spend more time with them and not have to pay for daycare or a babysitter. Whatever you wish to do, at whatever time, fully becomes under your control.

Lastly, and this is a very big one, probably the single biggest reason for entrepreneurship is passion. You have an interest or hobby that you so love, you want to immerse yourself in it and make a living from it.

Just think, if you don’t love what you are doing, then how are you going to spend long days, weeks, months and years working your business? How are you going to succeed if you start slowing down or putting off work because you’re not liking what you’re doing or it has become boring?

Whatever your passion is, from an interest or hobby to just loving the fact of running a business whatever the business is, passion is your motivator, you’re driving force to succeed and have the previous two goals happen for you in your life.

There are other reasons to work for yourself but these three are the biggest. So, what’s your passion? Who knows, you may decide to become an entrepreneur yourself.  

Do you find yourself frustrated in your progress toward whatever goal you have set for yourself?

Does this lead to you pushing forward to the point of forcing this goal to happen only to have the outcome be the opposite or worse of what you wanted or expected?

Here is a simple analogy. I have often been in backed up traffic on the highway and saw a person switching lanes to move forward more quickly. It usually happens however, that I get to where they are going just as fast, if not faster, by going with the flow and not forcing the outcome. The other person, upon seeing me, usually just has their frustration doubled and they get angry for all their wasted effort.

It is the same way in life as on the highway. Yes, you need to purposefully move forward to achieve your goal but do so in a manner that does not force the outcome. Often when you have a goal, there are pieces of information and/or things you need to do, or learn how to do, to fully achieve the goal. Rushing forward, getting ahead of yourself, can cause you to cut corners or totally overlook this needed information. In turn, it may seem as if you reached your goal but, because you have not set up a firm base and learned along the way, it has a greater chance of not lasting and being all it could have been.

Also by forcing, you are placing a subjective expectation and judgment on the outcome. Ask yourself, how can I judge something when I don’t yet know what it is or is suppose to be? How will my forcing influence the outcome? By doing this, whether consciously or unconsciously, you are actually creating an outcome rather than letting it happen and naturally evolve. And often, since you are coming from the subjective place of where you are now, you end up producing more of what you are already going through rather than solving your issues. Just as the driver, he tried influencing where he was in the line of traffic only to be set back even further than when he started.

Additionally, forcing sets up negative energies and possible blocks that will only drain you and cause more discomfort and frustrations along the way. If you stay in the flow of events and be aware of all that is happening around you by paying close attention, you will learn more along the way and have more ease in getting there.

There is the Universal Law of Cause and Effect at work here. The more you “cause” an outcome, the more “effect” YOU create within the outcome.

So, what is an advisable way to handle a situation such as this? It all lies in the Intention you set prior to embarking on your journey to your goal. Just take a few moments, breathe deeply and say to yourself and to the Universe, “Whatever is in the highest and best good of all involved, so let it be!” This takes your ego out of the equation and allows circumstances to organically be created and flow for the best outcome possible.

Will the outcome always be the way you want it? NO

Will you always like or understand the “why” of the outcome? NO

We can’t always know and understand why things happen the way they do. But by setting the proper Intention and coming from a non-judgmental place, we create the positive atmosphere for the best outcome to emerge.

If you suspect that you are unduly influencing or blocking your outcomes, then I encourage you to save time, money and resources by working with a mentor and coach to quickly uncover your hidden judgments. It is common for people to stop themselves from trying out a new mindset because of the possibility of unknown or unforeseen consequences. Let me help you to Live in a place of grace and gratitude to foster the positive atmosphere in which all your outcomes will be the best possible for YOU.

To discuss possibilities, you can contact me by calling 757-877-1440 or by submitting a contact form.

To Your Bright, Shining Outcomes!!
Elaine

When you have decided to start your own business, one of the necessary steps in starting is writing a business plan. This can prove daunting especially if it’s a small, at-home business or you are a solopreneur. Who wants to write a multi-page document with projections of future income and products when you have not even sold anything yet?

Up until now, I had never found a shortened version I cared for. But thanks to Tory Johnson, workplace contributor on ABC’s “Good Morning America”, that has all changed.

In her article, “Skip the 40-Page Business Plan”, she outlines 10 questions to answer to give you the copy to create a one-page business plan.

While I strongly suggest reading her article for all the information and explanations of each question, here are the 10 questions:

1 – What primary product(s) or service(s) will you provide?
2 – What will you charge for your products(s) or services(s)?
3 – What does it cost you to deliver this product or service?
4 – How many pieces must you sell or how many clients must you secure to generate the revenue you desire?
5 – Who is the target market for your product(s) or service(s)?
6 – Why will they buy from you?
7 – How exactly will you reach your target market to sell to them?
8 – How will you get going right now with your currently available resources? What do you absolutely need that you’ll need help with?
9 – What could stand in your way of generating sales—and how will you overcome such obstacles?
10 – What benchmarks must you reach to qualify your business as a success?

These questions not only give you a structure for your business but ask you other very important questions such as who your target market is and what obstacles could stand in you way of success.

This last one about obstacles, question 9 and additionally, question 10 are real sticking points for many!

In being in business for yourself, you have to do everything, at least at first, until you can afford to hire help. If you don’t know how to do something related to your business operations, this can hamper your success. If you are having difficulties working with customers or other service providers, i.e. personality conflicts or you are shy or introverted, this affects your success.

Quite often the reason for failure in a small or solo business, leads back to the owner. Answering these questions by a thorough, honest exploration of yourself, will help greatly in having the business and success you desire. If you need assistance with this exploration or with answering any of the other questions, this is where I can help you as a Business Coach. Just contact me to schedule a complimentary conversation.

My wish for you is to have a happy, joyful, passionate and profitable business or career!