How is it that some people who are faced with challenges move through them and grow and thrive.  And then there are others who are faced with challenges and they let the challenges destroy them.

Working with many clients over the last 20 years and studying the most current research on neuroscience, how the brain works, there is only one conclusion I can draw.  It depends on what you focus on.  You may think, well that’s easy for you to say but……..

I too have had my challenges, so I appreciate how if feels when you find yourself in scary, uncomfortable situations.  I was a single mom when my daughter was 6 months old and my son was 3 years and I had breast cancer twice, to name a few. But I knew I had to rise above these situations in order to move forward.

I’ve been asked many times how I was able to do that and create a happy, fulfilling and successful life.

It wasn’t easy, but it was simple.  Here are a few things that will support you in living the life you want.

1. You have to be clear about what you want your life to look like.  What experiences do you want to have in all areas of your life.
2. You have to take full responsibility for your life.  This is not about blaming yourself, it’s about recognizing you have the strength and power to create the life you want.
3. You have to be willing to do what it takes.  You have to make changing your life a priority.  You have to have a deep desire to create the life you want.
4. You have to know who you are at the core.  What are the qualities and characteristics that are your true essence and then make decisions based on your core identity.
5. You have to remove any internal obstacles such as negative emotions and limiting beliefs that are stopping you from living the life you want.  You have to do the inner work so you can create your outer world the way you want.

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), which gave me the tools to change my life.   This is why I love sharing this with others.   If this inspires you to change your life please contact me about my NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner Certification and Identity By Design Workshop.

Lynn Robinson
NLP Master Trainer, Coach, Consultant, Author

https://TheRobinsonGroup.ca

I’m so excited to be working with these amazing women.  We’re already developing new programs and we’ve just gotten started.  There is a magic and a synergy that happens when things are right and this is an example of that magic and synergy.

I also decided I would commit to walking in the mornings and that I would look for someone who wanted to walk with me.  One of the ideas our team came up with was to have our master mind meetings while walking or jogging together 3 mornings a week.  That way we get to exercise our mind and our body.  We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

2011 is off to a great start for me and I hope for you as well.

This has proven to me again how important it is to hold on to your vision.  If you really want something, have patience and trust that it will happen.  Don’t let anything stop you from dreaming.  One day when you least expect it, it will happen.  And trust me, it’s worth the wait.

When we’re young and innocent, we see the world as a place of possibility and at some point, for many people, that changes.

We just spent the afternoon at our granddaughter’s school concert. She was so excited about the concert. She was in the choir. She has been practising and practising and couldn’t wait to perform.

The best part was that she was telling her mom what a good singer she is, really good. And because she felt good about being a good singer, she sang her heart out.

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When did it stop being ok to be proud of what we can do well? And to tell other people that we’re good? When did we begin to hear the words “it’s not good to brag” or “don’t be conceited”. Why is it only ok when we’re very young? So many teens lack self-confidence and have low self-esteem, which often stays with them into adulthood. What if we continued to encourage them to share when they feel good about an accomplishment?

Why do we have to play small and hide our joy and pride in our abilities to do well?

When I was in my teens, I was Miss BC Lions. I didn’t invite anyone to the event when I was chosen, not even my family. It was years before I would tell anyone about being Miss BC Lions because it would have sounded as if I was bragging. How sad. I was so conditioned that even now I think twice about it after alllll…….. these years. No I won’t tell you how many.

What would our world be like if we could share our accomplishments that bring us joy, as well as our challenges. Imagine the confidence we would build within ourselves when we could acknowledge our own wins. Who says it’s not ok. Everyone has things they’re proud of. We all have different natural abilities and skills. Why hide your greatness.

The more you acknowledge your greatness the more you’re able to acknowledge other people’s greatness. That is one of the indicators of high self-esteem.

What are you proud of? What accomplishments have you achieved that you really want to share? It doesn’t have to be something big, just something that makes you feel good when you think about it.

I’d love to hear some of the things that you really feel good about and haven’t felt right about sharing.

In the last while I’ve had an opportunity to explore the structure of our beliefs more fully. In particular, how our beliefs impact our business success and our leadership abilities. The subject has fascinated me for a very long time. I’ve watched how beliefs can make or break a person. I’ve watched people who from my perspective are amazing and accomplished and yet they believe the exact opposite of themselves. And it’s not what I believe that counts, it’s what they believe. I’ve seen how this limits them in their life. Not necessarily with what they accomplish, but in how they feel about what they’ve accomplished.

Often the people who have achieved the most feel they’ve achieved the least.

Self-worth and self-esteem are also tied to our beliefs about ourselves. Your self esteem is based on how you think and feel about yourself based on our self concept. Your self-worth is based on your evaluation of your self-concept. And your self concept is what you believe about yourself . This is very powerful since your beliefs shape your destiny and guide your behaviour.

I met an amazing young woman in Hawaii a number of years ago. She was 29 at the time. She was an artist. I met her at the Kona Art Center in Holualoa. She was very successful with her paintings. Her originals were so much in demand that they limited the sale of them to only once a year.

She was very excited about her art and very goal oriented. She was always striving to learn more and achieve more. Beyond her art, she won 23 medals swimming, performed in the local theatre and had a desire to go to college and become a playwright.

What makes her even more amazing is that she was born with what is commonly known as Downs Syndrome. She believed that she could overcome this and didn’t want to use it as a crutch in her life.

Are you using any crutches in your life that are stopping you from living life to the fullest? Do you have beliefs that are sabotaging your success? Do you want to want to break free from the beliefs that are holding you back?

Imagine what your life could be like if you did.

As I was standing up to deplane at Heathrow airport, I hear a voice behind me calling quietly “Is that you Lynn Robinson?” When I turned around, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Last year when I was speaking at the CANLP Conference, there was another speaker who I had always planned on meeting and never got around to it even though she lived fairly close to me. There we were speaking on the other side of the country and we finally met. We had both heard of each other and had planned to connect and just never did.

We were so excited to finally meet and hear each other speak. We made an instant connection and decided we had to get together as soon as we returned home. We both felt we were meant to do something together.

We did connect once on the phone, and our schedules just didn’t match up so unfortunately, we never did meet.

So there I was, hearing my name called behind me and when I turned around, guess who was there. Yes, the same person. What are the chances?

Once I turned around we talked non-stop until we had to separate because they were going on to Rome. Now you could think this is just a coincidence, or you could think that something’s up and we are definitely meant to connect and explore how we might work together.

I’m not sure how many times we have to be placed in front of each other miles from home to get the message.

I’d say it’s time to pay attention and take action.

I’ll keep you posted on how we progress.

What about you? Are there things in your life that keep showing up and you keep ignoring them? Is it time for you to pay attention and take action?

We had separated a few months earlier, which had been a surprise to me at the time.

My daughter was around 9 months old and my son was just over 3 and I didn’t know how I was going to cope with being a single mom. Especially when my heart was breaking.

At some point as I was sitting there, I seemed to hear this inner voice that said “you have a choice to either focus on what you have in your life which you love, or you can focus on what’s missing.” At that point I had a flash of what my life would be like if I focused on what I loved, which was my children and what my life would be like if I focused on what was missing, which was my husband. I could see two different paths leading in opposite directions. I instinctively knew which path I would take and I also knew that I had to consciously focus on the love I had for my children otherwise it would be too easy to go down the other path. I had to trust my inner guidance without question.

I decided at that moment to focus on my children. Because of that one choice our life was filled with love and joy. I’m not saying that at that time I wouldn’t have rather stayed together as a family, but since that wasn’t the case, it was up to me to create a life filled with love and joy for myself and my children.

That was a pivotal life-changing decision for me and impacted everything I did from that point forward. It was definitely an ”Oh Shift” moment for me.

I often think back to that time and am so grateful for the choice I made.

Sometimes life’s challenges can be overwhelming and not exactly what we had hoped for. No matter what happens, we always have a choice as to how we will respond and that choice will impact the direction of the rest of our life.

When shift happens what will you choose?

2001 started out as my best year as far as business goes. I had been hired by a company out of New York and London, England to develop training programs and deliver them in some of the most amazing venues I had ever worked in.

At the end of August I was presenting in New York and flying on to London to present the same program. We were delivering a leadership program to clients in the financial markets.

As usual I met some amazing people in each of the workshops and spent time with the leadership team doing some strategizing.

When I left London, the team was also leaving to set up for a trade show in the world trade center in New York. They were so enthusiastic about the show. Some of them were attending for the first time and were very excited about being a part of the event.

One of my best friends and also a business colleague, was supposed to be there for the set up. He decided he would instead go on September 11^th.

As we awoke to the newsflashes about the twin towers, all I could think about was all the people who I knew would be attending the tradeshow.

I had no way of knowing if my best friend had already arrived or who was in the building at the time. I tried to call London to find out if anyone knew anything only to find all circuits busy.

As I waited for news along with so many others, I remembered how each day we went through the World Trade Center to get the subway to the office. I remembered the first time I went to Windows on the World in the trade center on the 107 floor of tower two, watching the planes fly at the same height we were at.

Finally I heard from my friend, he was just about to board when the first plane hit. I was so grateful for his safety. Now the wait for the rest of the news.

Unfortunately we lost most of the people in the New York office and the team from the London office.

The personal loss was very sad for so many people and yet everyone had to carry on.

I was asked to help coach the people who were left. This was a great challenge and meant that I had to first reconcile things within myself before I could help others.

I had no idea just how much this would personally impact my life. At the time all I could think of was the others who were impacted and how I could help.

Eight years later looking back there was no way of knowing the positive impact of this tragic event that would permeate our lives.

We saw differences put aside, acts of kindness, generosity, an outpouring of love and a real appreciation for the special relationships we have in our own life. We cherished those special people and took nothing for granted.

Are we still living like that or have we forgotten?

Treasure each day because there is no going back.