Lately, so much of what we’ve been hearing about the economy has been daunting.  It can give a person a feeling of helplessness.  It’s not that I don’t care about the big 3 carmarkers going under, the millions of people who have lost their jobs, big businessess going under, or the number of foreclosed homes that keep raising, but what “grinds my gears” is the way it’s being reported.  If you pay attention to the way news is reported you will notice that the media tends to focus on the negative.  If often gives very little in the way of facts but provides lots of opinion.  Why is it so difficult for the media to balance it’s reporting with solutions and strategies to get through these tough economic times?  Though most of us have our theories, we’ll likely never know the full answer to that question.  What I do know, however, is that if one third of what they report on focuses on solutions, I gaurantee, it will not only change consumer confidence but the economy will “fix” itself.

The daunting news is going to continue with even grimmer speculations for the first half of 2009.  The question is, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to continue allowing all of the negative reporting to determine the faith of your life, or are you going to take control by rejecting the belief that all is grim and focusing on some sure-fire solutions to help you and your family get through the tough times?

From my analysis, if you’re not in the top 3 % of the population in terms of wealth, your economic livelihood is doomed because it is directly tied to the “bad” economy.   To some extent that is true, we can’t deny the fact that many of us work for someone else for a living and if your company is impacted by the economy there’s a great chance you will not have a job, therefore, affecting your economic condition.   However,  your economic condition isn’t just tied to your employment, it is greater than that.  It is your ability, capacity, skills and talents that you can capitalize on to develop a new approach to your economic survival.    Once you understand that you are not limited by your employment status, you can take control of your life by limiting your dependence on the economy.

The “New Economy” is an economy that is driven by  your individual choice,  a shift in prespective and development of sustainable resources.  It means changing the way you are currently living your life from the types of goods and products you consume, to the food you eat and the types of activities in which you engage.  It may mean limiting your consumption which will decrease your spending, and investing in  quality resources that yield high sustainable returns.  No, I’m not talking about traditional investments such as stocks, bonds, CDs, etc.  I’m talking about people.  Yes, believe it or not your friends, family, associates are quality resources.  You can harness their time, skills, expertise, strengths to develop systems that are mutually beneficial and highly sustainable to your quality of life.

The “New Economy” means less focus on money and more focus on human potential and human connection.  Sound far fetched to you?  Well, consider this.  All across the USA there are people  living in communities that are almost completely independent of the economy.  They do not consume foods that are mass produced and instead grow their own food.  Their homes are powered by solar energy.  They live amongst other peopole that support their other phsyiological needs such as social interaction and acceptance.  Now sure this may sound a bit extreme for most, but it’s a great example of how we have the ability to control how much of an impact the economy has on our lives.

The “New Economy” means your choice between meeting a need or fullfilling a want.  It means changing your perception of what’s important.   Ask yourself, is that $50,000 car a need, or a desire? especially if you can only afford a $20,000 car.   Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with giving in to your desires every once in a while.  Our desires make us human.  But to thrive and not just survive in these times requires smart decision-making and perhaps the temporary sacrifice of a dream/desire.

In this “New Economy” the measure of success isn’t about your financial status, or fame.  It is about your economic literacy and knowledge of creating effective systems that have a positive and wide-range impact on other’s lives.  It is about changing your relationship with money by understanding it’s true purpose, an instrument use for exchange of goods, services, products, not the measurement of success.

The New Economy is offered as a workshop.  Contact me for more details at info@indigocoachingsystems.com.

I’m a person who’ve served my country and community.  I spent twenty years in the military and served as a volunteer coach for the little league baseball team in my community. 

One day I had devastating news that changed my life forever.  I learned that my wife of 30 years died suddenly and to no avail the autopsy did’not provide any reasons for her death.  Soon after I buried my wife, I got extremely depressed and I stopped living.  You see my wife was my life, she kept me motivated, inspired and alived. 

Who will be that person to assure me that it’s a dream when I have vivid images of the horrors of war? Who was going to cook my favorite dish using the right blend of herbs and spices, or fill the room with scents of jasmin and ginger?

You see, there was no one, and even if so, I would have refused to let her take that role.  So I stopped living altogether, I stopped working, stopped bathing, stopped paying my bills, after all why?  I couldn’t convinced myself anymore of the importance of these things?  In my mind, they were unecessary and I felt like I didn’t need these things any more.  Soon after her death it became unbearable for me to live in my house any longer as memories of her were everwhere.  I stopped paying the mortgage and lost it to the bank.  

A year after her death, I still found myself longing, needing her love and attention.  Everyone around me told me to move on, there were other things to live for, but I couldn’t.  I just didn’t have the strength or desire to live anymore.

It has now been twenty years since here death and I still grieve the lost of my wife, who was my best friend and my love.  I sometimes wish for her memory to be erased from my mind, at least I would be released from the pain and maybe I could put my life back together.  But her memory still lives on like it was just yesterday.   

Who am I you may ask?  You may have met me before and didn’t recognized me.  You might have passed me in the streets and turned your face away from me because you couldn’t stand the sight or even the smell of me.  You may have even thought when you saw me, get a job, get clean up, get off of drugs, do something worthwhile with your life.

You see, I am one of the millions of homeless people living in America with a story.  I am a person just like you, but I’ve suffered a terrible lost in my life and never recovered from it.  I’m the homeless man who sits on the corner everyday dreaming that one day my best friend will be returned to me.

Don’t feel sorry for me because it was my choice that got me here, just count me in and remember my brothers and sisters.  They too are people with personal stories.  Some more devastating, others not so devastating, just poor choices. 

Count me in and the millions of young children all across the world that are loosing their parents to AIDs, war, terriosm and senseless violence.

Count me in when you’re spending your money on things you don’t need, but want.  Think about giving it to a charity that addresses these types of issues.

Count me in when you’re shopping for clothes.  Buy an extra pair for my little sister who’s running around in a disease infested street in one of the poorest country of the world, Haiti.

Count me in by supporting the organization that removes land mines from fields so my little brother can play without the threat of danger.

Count me in when you’re buying food.  Support a church or organization that feeds families in need.

Just count me in, either in your thoughts or actions.

BUILDING A BUSINESS

THAT

WORKS

A business that works and keeps on working successfully is no accident—it takes a plan, not just any plan, but a plan that is realistic, timely and effective. This teleseminar may be the most important thing you can do to build a business or dramatically move your existing business to a new level. In this program Deborah George-Feres, Life Coach and co-author of Blueprint for Success will share how to build a business that works, more importantly, she will tell you how to be successful in your business by using 7 powerful principles.

 Is this another “run of the mill” teleseminar on business planning

and development?

No!

Deborah knows how to present the information in an interactive and fun format. 

Why would Building a Business work for you?  

It works for some very simple reasons. 

First, many of the strategies are taken from America’s leading experts on small business and have worked for over 10,000 small businesses across the country.   

Second, it doesn’t provide you with a long list of to-dos that get you bogged down in the complexity of business development.  It will demonstrate what to do, instead of what not to do.  

Lastly, it will provide you with tactical and practical steps that are easy to execute.  All they require is a commitment of time to building your business that works.  

Learn how to create a blueprint for success that will help you become the envy of all of your competitors. 

SIGN UP FOR THIS INFORMATIONAL TELESEMINAR

Overcoming Fear To Achieve Success

F.R.E.E.

October 29th, 2008

1:00 PM EST

You will also learn:

• the difference between a fear, anxiety and a phobia,
• the difference between real and perceived dangers,
• 3 Common kinds of fears; and
• a successful strategy for addressing and confronting your fear  
  

This teleseminar is facilitated by highly sought after business and life coach, Deborah-George Feres of InDiGo Coaching Systems.  Deborah’s energy, zest for life and desire to see others succeed combined with her expansive knowledge of personal and organizational development provides that boost you need to take your business and your life to the next peak of success.

SIGN UP FOR THIS LIFE-CHANGING TELESEMINAR

From Functional to Exceptional

November 18th, 2008

1:00 – 2:00 pm EST

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Why is my life the way it is and what can I do about it?”

This powerful session will help you answer this question and will challenge you to think outside of your intellectual, logical, rational, and spiritual frameworks and move you towards your own truth, inner wisdom and help you design your blueprint for success.  This one hour teleseminar will shift your perspective about your problems and motivate you to take action.  In this powerful teleseminar you’ll also learn:

• Why your life is the way it is and how it affects your business
• Techniques for assessing your life
• How to create the new you: from functional to exceptional
• How to develop your success-base business and personal strategy

If you are ready to be an exceptional person, then this teleseminar is for you.

 Register here http://functionaltoexceptional.eventbrite.com.

Everyday the news reports on what’s wrong with the American economy.  Whether it is about the stock market crashing,  the housing market plummeting, large financial institutions such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch going under, consumer confidence being low, or unemployment increasing, the news is letting us know how bad things are for the American people.  

I can’t help to feel discourage when I listen to all that’s wrong with the economy.  There is an internal conflict that goes on every time I hear how crappy things are.  The struggle goes something like this.  The monologue from my conscious, logical and rational self says: well Deborah, things are gettting worst and there isn’t anything you can do about it.  It is bigger than you, you might as well accept the enevitable and start changing your course of action.  No need for hope or optimism, the economy is what it is and there’s nothing you can do that will make it better.  However, contrary to my conscious self, my spiritual self vehemently refutes this and label it as noise.  It refuses to allow me to give in and just accept the way things are.  Actually, it doesn’t allow me to hold on to this thinking for more than a minute.  My spiritual self keeps reminding me that there is always hope, there is always another alternative, and there are choices.

So I ask what choice does a person has who is either facing foreclosure, has no retirement, no health insurance for a sick love one, or no money to feed, cloth and keep a roof over their children’s head?  How do you convince them that they are choices, alternatives, or even opportunities, especially when they are in the mist of a crisis?  I may not have the right answer, but there is something to say about a person’s will to survice, a person’s faith in something bigger and more powerful than themself, something that goes beyond their own rational thought and reason, something that can transform systems and people, something that perform miracles when they need them the most.

And that is what we do in times of dier need and despair, we keep the faith, we create our own good news and we look for the smallest blessings in our lives and be grateful for them.  We look for guidance from within and don’t put much emphasis on the Bad News that keeps bombarding us.  And if we are the victims of such bad news, we look for the one small good that is in it.  Whatever we do, we don’t give in and we don’t give up.  We hear stories of people defying the odds, people that have survived horrible situations.  The two common elements in these stories are they never gave up, or a miracle happened.  You know, it blows my mind everytime when I hear there are survivors of a plane crash.  The only explanation in my mind is a miracle. 

It’s okay to feel discourage, even hopeless, but we shouldn’t give in to these feelings and allow them to control our actions.  We can begin to make better choices with the little resources we have and begin to tap our creativity for new ways for living a better life.

The current economy is a living nightmare for some of us, but we can control some aspect of that nightmare by making better choices everyday.  We can eat out less, find natural health remedies for our sick love one, spend less on entertainment outside of the house and introduce some of our childhood games to our children.  Read more, watch less television, turn off the light when we leave the room, drink more water instead of fruit juices and sodas, buy in bluk, open up a window instead of turning on the AC, or cook more meals at home. 

You may say, this is a simplistic approach to complex problems and I may even agree.  I’m not saying this will change the economy or your situation now, but it gives you choices, however minute they are, which may place you in a stronger financial position in the long-run.  

So have I taken some of my own advice?  Yes, my husband and I agreed to eat out as a family only once a week, and he is now taking breakfast and lunch at least three times a week to work.  We’ve cut at least $70 off our weekly expenses, which amounts to $3640 per year.  We are taking a prevention approach to our health and is undergoing a natural cleansing for 30 days.  We are also reading more with our son and finding creative ways for us to have fun as a family without spending lots of money.  We buy what we need and reward ourselves accordingly.  We are simplifying our life in drastic ways, resulting in less dependency on the economy and less burden on our planet.

And even with feelings of discouragement when I hear all this bad stuff at times, my faith lives on and I create my own Good news.

I would love to hear how you are couping with the “bad” economy, post your comments here:

One of my clients is writing her memoir and shared a chapter with me.  I was truly touched when I read it;  so much so that I  wanted to post it on my blog.  I thought if it touched me so deeply, maybe it would touch you too.   

Memoirs of a women after God’s heart:

Everything was crystal clear.  My career was on track, I knew what I wanted to do with my life and I knew God’s purpose for my life.  For much of my life my dream was to become a director, president or vice president of someone’s company.  I longed for the five meeting days, long hours and late nights at the office.  As I progressed in my career and aged, I decided I wanted to have my own company and/or a non-profit.  Again, along with that would come long hours and late nights.  For as long as I remember I have always lived my life five years ahead.  I never saw where I was now my only concern was where I was going or what I could be until one day someone asked me “what do you see when you look in the mirror?

The mirror is a reflection of who you are not just how you look physically, but the mirror allows you to look deep into your soul and spirit and discover what your strengths, your fears and the your weaknesses.  That day in the mirror I saw a future size 6, successful, powerful woman, who spent her days walking with God. In the same mirror, I saw a young lonely, chubby girl longing for acceptance, and scared of rejection.  But what I did not see is who I was at the moment.  I did not see all the good that others saw.  I did not see success or beauty. It seemed as if there was a gap between the past and the future, there was no present.  For many years, I professed knowing and walking with God, but that day I realized that you cannot walk with God if you are absent from the present.  In the chapter of Matthew, Jesus said “Don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow is not promised to you”.

That is the question that changed my life and at that point I became a woman after God’s heart. 

Last week I told you about my big dream, which was to meet and hold at least a 20 minute conversation with 10 of the most influential people of our time by July 2009.  The question you are probarbly pondering is how close am I towards reaching that goal?  Well I am about 20% there, so I still have a long way to go.  But I believe in miracles, divine intervention and appointment so my 20% can go to 100% percent in a nanosecond, well maybe not a nanosecond, but with a miracle it can happen pretty quickly.

I also requested your participation in an exercise given from one of the folks on my list and said that I will share my outcome.   So here it is:

1) What are the opportunities worth pursuing?  Surprisingly, there were plenty of opportunities that came up for my clients, none for me.  These opportunities were clear as a bright summer morning and I recommended that my clients pursue them.   I was surprised because I thought that the exercise was very personal, it was intended only for the participant and I was expecting something that will directly make it self available to me.  However, showing others the opportunities that are in front of them were so much more rewarding.  

2:  What’s missing in this picture?  What came up for me as the missing elements were tolerance and acceptance.  I feel that there is a spirit of intolerance in the world and I think it is more pervasive than ever before.  In my picture I saw people, including myself at times, being intolerant.  Interestingly enough during the week of the exercise my patience was tested in multiple ways; one being a gas station attendant who refused to provide her duty of service with a pleasing and helpful attidtude.

Another event occured which also showed me my intolerance was when I escaped a near head on collision because the other driver was going the wrong way.  At that moment, I was so angry and all I thought about was my own safety and the other driver’s incompetence in navigating the road improperbly.  It never occured to me when I was infruriated that perhaps the driver was new to the area and was desparately lost, or something even worst.  When the police (who was in the right lane across from me) pulled him over immediately I felt a sense of satisfaction.

We aren’t very tolerant of others who are different, not very tolerant of people making mistakes, people cutting us off when we are driving or waiting in line.  We aren’t tolerant of other people’s prespectives, some of us will vehemently defend our political, religious or scientific views.  We will even go as far as imposing them on others.   So what does this mean?  Should you and I tolerate bad behavior, crime, poor legislations, road rage and the like?  Well, no.  No one should tolerate bad behavior, crime or anything else for that matter that take away something of value from us. 

What it means is that we suspend judgment until we get the facts.  As people we often judge others by the way they look, act, talk, walk, work and so on.  We almost never suspend our judgments until we get to know the person.  Most of our judgments come from our own limited understanding and the lenses we see the world in.  We instantly size others up and get to an opinion even before they get to hello.  Now there is credit to be given to our gut feelings about a person.  But intuition doesn’t come from a place of judgment, it comes from Spirit, and Spirit doesn’t judge, it gives us wisdom so we can act accordingly. 

Since we are all guilty of judging others here’s something you and I can do this week.  When we are introduced to someone new before we formulate our first thought about the person, what if we suspend that thought and operate on the principles of acceptance and understanding.  What if we begin the introdutions by asking a question that will provide us with a little more information about the individual? And how about we apply those principles from here on out?

One of my biggest dream is to meet and have a 20 minutes conversation with 10 of the most influential and inspirational people of our time by July of 2009.  Hopefully, I don’t die any time soon as it requires much planning and plenty of time to make this happen.  I want to ask them the one question that I ask successful people (I’m sure you want to know what the question is, but I’m not telling, at least not yet, not untill I meet them all).  I believe in learning from the best and even the worst so you know what to do and what not to do.  The people on my list are mostly authors and business gurus, people that have added value to the world.

On July 2nd I participated in a teleseminar with Michael Gerber, renowned author, The E-Myth.  This teleseminar was very powerful in that he described how we as individuals limit ourselves by our own beliefs about what we can accomplish in our lives.  He said that many of us don’t want to go outside of our comfort zones.  How true. I usually think of myself as a person who takes risks, makes bold moves and challenges conventional wisdom, but after hearing Michael’s views about limiting beliefs, I have much streching to do with my vision for my business.  So I’m going to implement a very basic exercise he suggested.  He said that this exercise will awaken the level of consciousness that is needed to birth new products, services, etc. but is lock.  Beginning this week I will look for opportunities worth pursuing and make observations in terms of what is missing in the picture.  He suggested to do this for 7 consecutive days.  So please join me in doing this exercise.  In your journal this week write 1: Opportunities worth pursuing and 2: What’s missing in this picture.

I would like to hear what you’ve came up with, so please post your results and I will do the same.  Want to know whose on my list and want to work with me to help make my dream come true?  Contact me at info@indigocoachingsystems.com. 

Interested in dreaming with Michael Gerber in his Dreamingroom, here’s some information:

Greetings!As you know, for the past 31 months, small business owners. and people who want to start their own business have been gladly investing $3,000 – $5,000 for the opportunity to spend 2 1/2 life-changing days with me, Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth, in our spectacular Dreaming Room Intensive!    Many speaking opportunities have been converted and are being expanded into full Dreaming Rooms across the Globe – London, AU, New Zealand, Jersey Island, Wales, Cardiff, etc.     The E-Myth Revisited book has been introduced and implemented into a 3 year curriculum in a London University!     We have added a “Mentoring Program” which is taking Intentional Dreamers from Dream to Launch in 6 months.     We have began the process of “Duplicating the Dreaming Room System” and now have our first Licensee!     Our Affiliate Program has tripled!     We have opened new Dreaming Room Intensives in new horizons     Dreaming Room, Manhattan, NY     July 9-11, 2008 Dreaming Room, Manhattan, NY     July 25-27, 2008 Dreaming Room, Houston, TX         August 1-3, 2008 Dreaming Room, Flagstaff, AZ        August 21-23, 2008 Dreaming Room, San Diego, CA    August 29-31, 2008     AND MORE…   “A Business Without a Dream is Like a Life Without a Purpose!” - Michael Gerber “With the E-Myth, Michael Gerber created the seminal business development system for the small business owner. Now, with The Dreaming Room, he is offering us the next level-the opportunity to awaken the entrepreneur deep within us and dream bigger than we ever have before. When I heard I could spend three days with Michael Gerber and receive personal coaching from the world’s #1 small business guru I literally jumped at the chance. I experienced a total transformation that has had an immediate and explosive effect on my business. I implore you – please – don’t walk, don’t run, but sprint to The Dreaming Room. You and your business will never be the same.” Come dream with me Michael E. Gerber and The Dream Team         See You In The Dreaming Room!

Come Dream With Us In The Dreaming Room®… “Where All Great Ideas are Born”

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We make ourselves rich by making our wants few.  Henry David Thoreau, American writer

Most of us consume much more than what we need, whether it may be food, clothes, shelter, etc.  We buy more house than we use, eat more food than our bodies can handle, resulting in obesity and other types of diseases, and we generate so much waste which produce tons of trash that are overflowing our landfills.

If you are a “consumptionist” ( a term I like to use) the one thing you can do now is simplify your life.  To do this, you must achieve a clear understanding of your needs, not your wants.  Understanding your needs will help you choose things that are important for your survival and happines, not for your ego or for the status quo.  Get started on living a simplier life by eliminating 2 or 3 things from your life that you don’t need.  This could be clothes that you haven’t worn in years, monthly pedicures, 2 cups of coffee that you drink to keep you awake, or what about that 5 bedroom house you purchased for your wife and one child? Eliminating the extras will also help you to reduce your expenses, a benefit in today’s recessive economy.

Living simplier changes your life.  You will not only know what’s really meaningful and important to you, but it frees you from society’s definition of what’s important in life.  When you choose to live a simplier life, the Universe will always send you exactly what you need and when you need it. But what you must realize is that what you need may not always be what you thought you wanted. Don’t reject what the Universe sends you, thinking that something better is supposed to be on the way. Live everyday with a sense of gratitude for your blessings, and yes, even what you think are curses.