- You see people rocking it on Facebook.
- You see reality shows where people are living extraordinary lives.
- You see your own debt.

That is when it is easy to get overwhelmed or feel down.

There is another way!

Let me share with you a little story that just happened so you can see how easy it really is to receive!!

What about you? Are you ready to live (or already living) an abundant little life? Share with me how.

The truth of the matter is I am eager to get my book done.  In fact, I told my editor it would be done by early next week.  My fear was making me push myself.  I started questioning myself and became frustrated.  The chapter wasn’t feeling right.

Thankfully, I know how to understand my frustration from the higher consciousness of love.  In fact, my upcoming book Feel Every Emotion as Love teaches how each of your negative feelings presents themselves in order for you to get back on track from living from a state of love.  Each negative feeling has a specific message to guide you back on course.

My frustration was there to notify me that what I am doing isn’t going to work for me.  You see, in my quest to get my book finished, I have been lacking nurturing myself.  That’s when I realized how I had fallen back into basing my worth on fear rather than love.

Oh how often I do this – because I am a doer.  Doers are great and yet in order for our doing to be effective, it must be balanced with time to receive nurturance, love and care.  For me that is often taking time to read in the middle of the day, go for a walk, color, or turn on Ellen (I love her!).  I am only nurturing myself for 20-30 minutes and then I feel revitalized.

When I base my worth on fear, there is no time for nurturing myself.  My worth, I believe in that moment, is about getting things done at nearly all costs.  My frustration came in to remind me this is no longer my way.  Sure I will still get triggered from time to time when deadlines loom.  The truth of the matter is I wasted a ton of time yesterday pushing myself.  Way more time than the 20-30 minutes I usually give to myself as a nurturance break.

Not today – Today has already been magical and will continue to be so.  As I was rushing to get to yoga, another plan arose in me.  I knew I needed to get outside. I went for a run and I swear to you the butterflies were dancing with me.  The birds were singing, dragonflies twirling and bees humming along.  What a gift!

I came home and laid on the lawn.  Even though it was cool, I took off my sweatshirt and allowed the sun to soak into my bare arms and face.  I felt thoroughly connected again to the love that surrounds me as well as the love that radiates from within me.

From this place of where I stand now, where I am thoroughly connected to love, I am once again reminded of the important choice we all have.  We each have a choice, and it truly is your choice, to base your worth on love or fear.

I choose love.  From love, is where we can all be our best and truly be of service to others.   I am so grateful for the magic that occurs when we remember to love.

And now, I can’t wait to dive back into my book and share more deeply how our fear is here to serve us!  So I am off to share more of my insight there.

Before I go, I would love to hear from you.  Have you been basing your worth on fear rather than love lately?  What ways do you nurture yourself?  Please share because we aren’t on this journey alone and your messages impact others (whether your ego allows you to realize it or not)!

With great love and appreciation for you-

Michelle

Wow!  Think about what life would be like if you lived it like that!

I am not saying you must always live with an untamed heart every single moment of your life (although you could).

My question is:

* When was the last time you allowed your untamed heart to be expressed?

* When was the last time you expressed this part of you in your day to day life?

* Do others get to see, taste and feel the bold, wild you?

* Do they get to experience your unbridled power?

I am not just talking about romantic love either.  This wild spirit of yours wants to be expressed in your work, with your friends and family – in all areas of your life.  You have the spirit of a wild horse running within you and so often you are trying to keep it tame.  Why?

The reason why we all unconsciously tame ourselves is because we’ve been programed by our fears.  Fear we will not be loved, liked or accepted should we show this untamed side.

Here’s the cost:

• Lack of self-trust and confidence
• Lack of joy and laughter
• Lack of bold action that initiates much needed change in your life & in the world
• Lack of true intimacy
• Lack of passion and purpose

And so much more…

So, how about we change that?

Here’s how:

1 A. Imagine yourself sharing this bold or wild side.

B. What do you fear people will judge about you?  What might you feel ashamed about?

C. Name how that part of you is important, needed and necessary. In other words, how does that part of you serve and support you when expressed from love?

2 A. Image yourself afraid to share your bold or wild side.

B. How do you judge or shame that part of you?

C. Name how that part of you is important, needed and necessary.  In other words, how does that part of you serve and support you when expressed from love?

Every aspect of you is needed and necessary.  You need both sides.  Yet, too often we want to hide in our fears.  At times, this can be okay because that allows others to take care of us.  Of course, being taken care of can feel nice.  Yet, when we stay in our fear too long, we won’t feel good because there is unexpressed potential waiting to be shared.

When you have an untamed heart, you are fearless.  What the world needs from each of us is to become less fearless of ourselves.  In other words, we become brazen – meaning, we don’t carry shame toward ourselves.

Without this shame, you are able to truly lead.  This is what the world is begging for – more who are willing to lead during times when challenges seem impossible to surmount.  Guess what?  To do that, they’ll need the bold & empowered you to step forward.  This is how you can give of yourself and serve fearlessly.  So whadaya say?

There is nothing about you that needs to be shamed.  We are all one, carrying the same fears, questions, doubts and insecurities.  We do this until we find our truth – that we are each love.  To find this truth, you must consciously chose love over fear.

Whenever you feel your love tank can use a little boost, or whenever you need a little self-confidence, choose to express your wild, bold & brazen self.   Each time you do, you step further away from the safe persona you have built and more fully awaken to your joy, beauty and power in revealing all of you!

Happy Valentine’s Day Wild One!

With lots of love from me to you-

So the question was, “How could I give more deeply?”  As I took a moment to reflect, I saw how tired I have been now that the holidays are over.  When night comes, I feel wiped out.  I reflected on how some of my silly bedtime rituals of tickle bugs and other important nonsense with the kids have been cut way back.

What I was reminded of was presence.  Maybe you are like me, where you find you have moments of presence and then it slips away. Suddenly you find yourself thinking about what else is on your list of things to do.  Rather than stay in the moment, you find your mind going off into some other place.

Others of you may rarely find presence if you are like I was, an ultimate multi-tasker.  As a parent, I found it challenging not to try to do twenty things at once.  There is so much going on at once that you become good at juggling or sink.  Many of you may feel like that is also the reality of your job as well.  This is where you get addicted to living at a pace that keeps you away from your presence.  Then you find yourself in those rare spare moments that you have, checking your email rather than just being present.

This is why it is important for all of us to ask in each moment “Am I giving deeply of myself?”  In other words, are you fully in the moment?  Are you playing full out in the everyday components of life?

Don’t forget about yourself either.  Are you giving deeply to yourself as well?  Are you listening to your needs?  Are you listening to your feelings and how they are loving guiding you?  This is where many fall short.  You simply aren’t willing to give yourself this loving attention because your ego had you believe there is too much other components to your life that need your attention.  What you are really saying to yourself is that your needs are not that important.

Now ask yourself this, if your needs aren’t that important, can you really be present?  You can’t. If you can’t be present, you really can’t truly give of yourself as you desire. Your needs are going to find some way to be addressed, unconsciously or consciously.  If your needs must find an unconscious way to be met, you will find your efforts being sabotaged.

This is part of the transformation that is occurring this year, to let go of old habits that keep us away from living more fully connected to ourselves.  You give more deeply when you are fully present with yourself first.  Being present with yourself is what allows you to be fully present with others.  This is how we truly and deeply connect.  It is through present connection that you tend to find the fun just by truly being where you are.

You have so many gifts and so much love to give!  Allow your emotions to guide you back to your truth. Your truth has huge plans for you!  What you are hearing allows you more fully understand your essence, which in turn, supports you to truly share of yourself.  You can be more open, more exposed, and more vulnerable.  In doing so, you will find yourself more deeply able to give in ways that bring you the joy and fulfillment your heart craves!

Here’s to you giving of yourself more deeply!  Please share the ways that arise within you to share of yourself in this loving and generous way below.  By giving of yourself through sharing, your heart may inspire another to give more deeply in the same way!

With love and appreciation for your giving heart -

The darkness within you is not bad or negative.  It is simply those parts of yourself you don’t want to address.  In our day to day living, you are most likely not going to want to address this part of you.  Maybe you feel you don’t have time to address this part of you or perhaps you judge that this part of you exists.   Add in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and these parts of you are sure to go ignored.  Yet these parts of you that desperately want your attention are likely going to make a holiday appearance –    like it or not.   Here are some common examples of what you may be feeling inside you:

• You feel saddened from missing someone you were once close with that is no longer in your life.
• You feel saddened and frustrated that you cannot afford to give as much as you would like.
• You feel like a spoiled brat because a part of you has so many things you want to receive.
• You feel undeserving to receive a gift.
• You feel stressed out by all the demands the holidays bring.
• You feel alone.
• You feel like Porky the Pig because you haven’t been eating well or exercising.
• You feel angry or depressed because you aren’t getting along with a family member and they are ruining your holidays.

Wowza, the above examples that are coming from your ego don’t give you that warm holiday sensation does it?  Some of these feelings are harsh and judgmental, others feel downright sad.  This makes it even more likely that no one, not even your consciously evolving self, wants to pay attention to how that part of you feels.  Yet the darkness beckons us to reconcile these parts that we have left out of our light.

To reconcile, you want to listen to your feelings and understand their meaning beyond that which the ego is demonstrating to you.  Your ego wants to berate you to keep you small because smallness equates to protection in the ego’s world.  Yet as you learn the higher consciousness messages to all that you feel, you know that these messages are trying to tell you that these aspects of yourself need your love.

That part of you that feels undeserving is begging for self-recognition.  The part of you that feels like a spoiled brat simply needs to be shown by you in your day to day life how special you really are.  The part of you judging your weight wants to be nurtured and taken care of rather than have your needs cast aside.  You get the point now don’t you?

The holidays are about celebrating and calling forth the light within you and within the world.  This is what miracles are made from and they can occur within you as well.   By bringing the light into those parts that you would rather remain hidden in the dark, you call for a miracle from within.  This is the miracle of unconditional love.  By more fully giving this to yourself, you are going to be able to more fully give unconditional love to those most important to you.  In doing so, you have learned to create the inner peace, joy and presence we all crave – especially during the holidays.

You are the all encompassing gift of light.  Remember this by bringing forward the light within those dark aspects of you.   As you do, the more light you bring into the world.  What better gift can there truly be than more light and love?

Wishing you a special holiday season filled with love and joy for the miracle that you are!

There is a way, however, to figure out what is being called for you to do next that is coming from your song.  All you need to do is being willing to see the one area of your life that your heart has longed to create change toward and hasn’t been able to make it happen.  This is your next step, the next move for you to master.   You do this by following these steps on how to more fully      dance to your heart’s song:

1. List out the reasons and ways you have tried to make that change happen that didn’t work.
2. Honestly reflect how those attempts have made you feel.  Oftentimes we get into a story that turns us into the victim or poor me.  If you see this, this is great for two reasons:  a) because you are not denying it & b) because that is where you have room to claim more of your power.
3. In what way would it feel good for you to take more responsibility toward creating the change that you desire?
4. What is your song leading you to do next?
5. How does it make you feel when you listen to your song’s lead?
6. In what way do you try to tear apart and void out messages in #3, 4 or 5?
7. What is getting you closer to your goal, following #2 & #6 or sticking with #3, #4 & #5?
8. Claim and affirm your choice.  Set up reminders that support your new decision and new level of responsibility toward your life!

Here is how this has played out in my life recently.  I have longed to create greater financial stability and savings in my life.  Even though I tried to live consciously regarding how I spent money, I didn’t feel like I was getting where I wanted to when it came toward saving for our retirement and college or being able to comfortably afford international travel with my family.  My past failed attempts made me feel like saving and investing weren’t my forte and so I put them on my husband to worry about, after all, he did that naturally =)!  “Plus,” I told myself “I trust I will always be taken care of by God/Universe.”  Yet, deep down,  a part of me knew I wasn’t doing my part.

When I asked myself how I can begin taking more responsibility, I came to realize the power I had to set an even stronger tone in my family toward living in greater alignment with our core desires and values.  When I listened more fully to my song, what I heard was an even stronger desire to serve and lead at a new level.  This made me feel energized, alive and excited about my path.  My song gave me even greater clarity.  Right then, I knew the old reasons that told us we were already doing enough were really just excuses.  My husband and I set new boundaries around our spending AND that we would affirm our songs by asking each other two questions each night: Did you serve today?  Did you lead today?

I can’t tell you how inspiring it feels to take action toward living in even greater alignment to our hearts’ songs.  We celebrated by going down to Lake Michigan with a bottle of wine, chips and salsa, talking for hours.  It was a super inexpensive date indeed, but one of our best ever!

No matter what age you are, you too can listen in more closely to your heart’s song.  Listen to what it is reminding you about yourself and how you can live your life.  Then DANCE full-out along with it!

Dancing together in love, leadership and service,

PS: Ever read Oriah Mountain Dreamer’s “The Dance”?  I have it in my office and encourage you to check it out for additional inspiration to DANCE to your heart’s song!

To achieve a more balanced state, we need to consciously choose to shift gears from always pushing or forging ahead to opening ourselves up to a state of allowing, which is often called “flow.” From a flow state, there is room for spontaneity, intuition and creativity to come forward.

If this sounds too touchy-feely, or all fun and games, it isn’t. Although a flow state is known to occur for more artistic types, athletes, sales people, even doctors have shared how they enter a “flow zone.” In this zone, you feel “on,” where you trust what is coming forward from inside of you and lose yourself in the process. The result is you are more effective at what you do.

My guess is you are wondering “How on earth do I make that happen?” Well, here’s the deal – you can’t make flow happen. Flow is an authentic state that cannot be forced. There are, however, ways you can encourage more flow states in your life.

Here’s my top 3 Ways to Shift from Control to Flow:

#1 Listen to Your Feelings

I can’t say this enough – those who are in the know when it comes to personal growth recognize emotions as a HUGE, POWERFUL ALLY! Too often times, you ignore or set aside feelings because, well, you don’t like what they are saying. Let’s face it, feelings, especially those that challenge you, can occur at inconvenient times. A much easier approach is to ignore, deny or try to rise above what you feel. In doing so, however, you are not aligning yourself with your authentic self. Instead, you are subconsciously judging and unconsciously choosing fear. Your fear is in what these feelings mean to you, or what they bring up within you that you don’t like.

There is another choice, which is to listen to your feelings from a higher consciousness perspective. From a higher consciousness perspective, challenging feelings are viewed as a signal with an underlying message that is present to support you. In this way, you can stay true to how you feel without getting lost in fear or ego drama. What this is doing is actually moving your internal energy from a place that doesn’t serve and stifles you to one in which your internal energy flows in congruence with your higher self.

From a higher consciousness understanding, your feelings are present to get you back in alignment with your authentic self. Challenging feelings indicate you are buying into fear more than your truth. They also give you the direction you need to move back in alignment with your authentic self. By learning to follow the higher consciousness message, you create internal balance. From this place of internal balance, there is room for passion, new insight and energy to come through – all of which are present to support you to live from a flow state more and more often.

#2 Prioritize Your Essence

Listen to your essence – that authentic, wise, love-filled part of you. What does that aspect of you desire? This part of you often gets ignored (sometimes for years!). Let’s face it, you have responsibilities that are always seeking and winning your attention. I am not talking about being irresponsible here. You still have things that need to get done yet, who says joy, play and your essence can’t come first?

#3 Practice Allowing

What do you like to control or plan? What would it be like for you to let go of the grip a bit? Rather than go, go, go how about rest, observe, listen and witness? Make room for spontaneity and see what life can bring you.

Just compare the two pictures and decide which feels more fulfilling, abundant and power-filled.   Allow your essence to be your guide that you trust over your ego’s need to control and in turn experience more of you and the life your heart desires to create!

Thank you so much for connecting with me here. I am happy to be on this journey with you!

Living Emotionally Conscious Together -

Take this quick quiz to determine how much of your energy you give away to be liked and what this means for you.

The following questions should be answered with the following choices:

Often (The majority of the time)

Occasionally (About half the time)

Seldom (Rarely – less than a handful of times a year)

1. How often do you alter your behavior or words to come across as more likeable or accepted by others?
2. How often do you worry about what you said after having a conversation with someone?
3. How often do you feel misunderstood?
4. How often do you feel a need to self-protect?
5. How often do you feel concerned about others potentially judging you?
6. How often do you struggle with remaining present and focused on another when conversing because you feel self-conscious?
7. How often do you feel apprehensive to share how you really feel?

What your responses mean:

If the majority of your answers were responded with “Often,” this means:

Your energy is subconsciously geared toward fear of your true self rather than self-love, acceptance and approval.  To live your life more freely and at peace, it is time for you to address what you really feel about yourself.  Ask yourself: What are you judging about you?  What aspects of yourself do you not fully understand and therefore hide?  It is time to unravel the shame you carry toward you!

If the majority of your answers were responded with “Occasionally,” this means:

Certain situations are energy leaks for you.  Although you have worked through some blocks in the past, there is still a core aspect that needs your attention and nurturance.  To understand more about your ego block, ask yourself: What types of people or situations trigger your defenses?  What is the sense of lack that you believe in during those moments or situations?  Although you don’t feel completely drained by your energy leaks, it is important for you to find the leak in order to have the internal energy to empower you to be your highest version of you!

If the majority of your answers were responded with “Seldom,” this means:

You are living your life authentically because you have very few times when your energy leaks toward fear.   This means you know and are connected to your inner wisdom and truth very intimately, which is a beautiful way to live!   As a person committed to consciously evolving and growing, you will still encounter fears.  Keep utilizing F.E.E.L: Feel Every Emotion as Love to guide you back to your truth when those occasions happen or you find yourself in an emotional “growth-spurt!”

Additional Optional Recommendations

If the majority of your answers were “Often,” personal support would be a great option for you.  Currently you have core beliefs that are more aligned with your false self rather than your authentic self, which personal support can help you shift.  If you are interested in personal work with me, please fill out my evaluation form and I’ll get back to you shortly. http://michellebersell.com/evaluation-form/

If the majority of your answers were “Occasionally,” you won’t have energy to give toward your potential, when your energy is being leaked.  Nip your energy leaks in the bud through my F.E.E.L. Virtual Mastery Home Study Program.  This is the perfect program to support you to pull the blinders away from your ego blocks!  http://www.michellebersell.com/feel/

If the majority of your answers were “Seldom,” keep doing what you are doing!  Find continued inspiration through events (both live and virtual) with like-minded people to keep your spirit recharged and energized!

Live Emotionally Conscious – Live Exceptionally Well,

So, today’s tips are not about how to fake confidence but to really gain inner confidence.  Inner confidence allows energy to flow from you.  The result is you authentically feel good about who you are and the gifts you bring to the world through your presence, without even trying!

4 Steps to Gain Greater Inner Confidence:

1. Take risks – Be willing to do things you aren’t good at, where you lack skill and where you have the opportunity to learn.  That is after all what expansion is all about and what your spirit really enjoys experiencing.  It is a part of living that leads to exhilarating moments that make you feel alive.  Ego worries about messing up or being perfect, shut you down, make life boring & predictable and not fun =(

2. Don’t judge or compare yourself to others.  Judgment is ego based.  We all have to start building up a skill.  Image if you saw a baby learning to take her/his first steps and you were critiquing the kid on not doing it right or well.  Keep this image with you as you take your next step toward your heart’s desire.  Remember notions such as  “ I should know how to do this by myself” or “This should be easier” are ego messages.

3. Don’t try to project something that you are not feeling: This is an advanced step to take when you want to truly live emotionally conscious and authentic.  Your tendency is to pull out the false self when you feel fear.  We all do it.  Instead, allow yourself to be who you are in that moment.

One of my long-time mentors is Sonia Choquette.   I remember a story she shared a long time ago.  She was doing a presentation in front of business people, which were typically not the type of people interested in having a psychic speak.  She started off by saying to them “You scare me.” In turn they responded, “You scare us!”  They shared a big laugh and most importantly Sonia’s willingness to be authentic allowed them to connect.  If she would have pretended to be confident, the energy would have been much different.  The reason is because there would have been unconscious defensiveness that would have inhibited the relationship formed, as well as the degree participants were able to receive Sonia’s guidance.

4. Honor what you authentically have got going for you: Another advanced step is to set aside what you feel you lack and focus in on that which you are authentically feeling that feels supportive.  Maybe you aren’t feeling confident, but you feel excited or perhaps more attuned to others, even humble.  Honor the gift this feeling brings forward within you and the uniqueness of the connection it offers.

What these steps do is provide you with ways to authentically gain inner confidence.  What you are doing through these steps is choosing your essence/authentic self over your fears and ego blocks.  The more you do, the more inner confidence you generate, the better you feel and connections are made easier and effortlessly!

Living Emotionally Conscious & Exceptionally Well Together,

1. Understand Your Reaction: What is my reaction about?  What am I defending?

2. Me, be defensive?: You defend that which feels vulnerable.  What is that vulnerability in you that you don’t want others to see?

3. Acceptance: How can you apply greater acceptance and  non-judgment to that vulnerablity?  What is the benefit to you having this vulnerability?

4. Tell the Difference between Truth vs Falsehood: What about having that vulnerability isn’t true that feels inappropriately put on you?

5. Honor More of You: By acknowledging the truth vs the falseness to what is pushing your button, you are able to honor yourself more fully.  In other words, you create further acceptance of yourself, which allows you to more honestly discriminate what is and is not your truth.  As you share your acceptance and clarity with the person who once annoyed you, you will find your internal button diminishing right before your eyes!

Live Emotionally Conscious & Exceptionally Well,