Emotions are an indicator as to whether you are moving closer to your true self or farther away. They are necessary to feel, and then let them go in ‘your’ timing (moving through them). Sometimes an emotion can even be challenging to identify in times of great trauma or grief. That’s natural. The longer you deny that your emotions exist though, the longer you suffer. Allow yourself to feel; it’s not a weakness to feel emotions. It’s the exact opposite. It takes courage and strength to be authentic and transparent. It takes far more strength to recognize, honor and move through emotions in a society that pushes down emotions as if having them is ‘wrong’ or to show them in public is a character flaw or weakness. All people are incredible and our relationship with them teaches us something. However, if I had to choose, I’d rather interact with someone who is authentic, than someone who had their professional face on all the time and never felt comfortable showing anyone their authentic self. BEing real is important to our own mental health and spiritual well-being. BEing Real also effects others with whom we interact. People tend to trust people who are authentic, and they will also follow authentic leaders. Our emotions were designed as our own inner guidance system. We are supposed to have them. Understand that we were meant to feel them. Read more about recognizing and allowing yourself to move through your emotions in my book, “BEing Spiritually Intelligent” on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0988720701/ Susan Abrams Milligan, Author of the series, “BEing Spiritually Intelligent” is a Personal Development Coach, Spiritual Coach and Certified Health Coach. A successful entrepreneur, Susan has worked for over 25 years in the field of spirituality and personal development. She is internationally recognized as a mentor who powerfully guides people to rediscover who they really are as well as become successful entrepreneurs themselves based on their own gifts of greatness, heart-based passion and...

It’s that time of year again —> Reflection without judgment upon the past year. What worked well. Where can I make improvements? AND choosing one word for the new year to create my “Divine Intention”. I have already chosen my 2015 word, but will share after returning from my R&R trip next week. Why choose “one” word? Most people create a long list of resolutions and never stick with it. Within a few months their list is forgotten. However, choosing one word and incorporating it into our every day life in ALL areas of our life over a full year, works incredibly well for many. I honestly cannot remember where I heard about this personal challenge (likely a book from the mid 90s), but I’ve done it every year for quite some time. Remember the mantra, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” This is a quote from one of my leadership mentors, the late Brian Klemmer. And the word I’ve chosen over the years has interestingly played a significant role in many areas of my life: mind, body, spirit, emotion, relationships, family, friends, finances, etc. For example, my word in 2011 was ‘move’. What this means to me and how it covered many areas in my life: Move my body, move my mind, move forward on personal goals, move into and beyond my dreams, move out things not working, move relationships closer, move projects to completion, move closer to God/source, and move to a warmer climate. I highly recommend this personal/spiritual development exercise. You’ll be amazed at how your life will change over a year. To help cultivate your own ideas, here are my words over the years. BE sure that your words have meaning for you. The more meaning they have for you, the stronger your desire will be to cultivate and move through your Divine Intention in multiple areas of your life. 2018 streamline 2017 blossom 2016 natural 2015 delight 2014 relationships 2013 focus 2012 authenticity 2011 move 2010 compassion 2009 experiential 2008 explore 2007 health 2006 grow 2005 grounded 2004 speed 2003 learn 2002 responsible 2001 build 2000 entrepreneurship 1999 courage 1998 thankful 1997 trust 1996 present When I return from my R&R spa retreat, I’ll post my 2015 word. I really like my word and every day, it feels more ‘right’. But just want to be sure it’s super strong and moves my heart after I return, because I expect I’ll be in a difference place mentally, spiritually when I return. Update: My 2015 word is “delight”. Finding the delightful warm fuzzy spot in ALL things that appear in my life. Embracing the lesson while knowing there is delight in doing so....

If someone says something to you, about you or does something that doesn’t serve either one of you, posting about it on Facebook (directly or subtly) is drawing more of the same to you. People, who are confident about their decisions and actions in life, don’t need to gather their friends around to ‘agree’ with them. If someone told me I have purple hair, I’d say ‘With all due respect, I don’t agree with you.” That’s it. I wouldn’t spend time talking about that incident to other people, writing about it on Facebook, etc. I wouldn’t give it another thought. Why? Because I’m confident my hair isn’t purple, and I’d rather invest my time and focus my attention on the creative process. (Note: The creative process isn’t just about what you do. What you think and say as well as your intention behind what you do is a far more important part of creation.) Even subtle posts to ‘get them back’ or ‘show them’ that others agree with you, creates more of the same drama you don’t want. What you focus on will grow – always and in ALL ways. What option serves you better? … Let it go. Some people may consider this a meek or passive response, and that’s okay if they choose to live in that reality. In my world though, it’s the highest form of intelligence … Spiritual Intelligence. There exists a part of you that is not physical. It is your highest self. Your highest self is always calling to you to live life with the highest level of Love for yourself and others. Why waste time attempting to convince anyone of anything. Would you rather be right or at peace and happy? Perhaps you think that being ‘right’ does make you happy. Or perhaps you are able to see beyond the obvious, and realize that any time we dwell on something obsessively we are taking precious energy and time away from our own life. We cannot be in the process of creation and looking backward at something that happened in the past and attempting to prove someone wrong about it all at the same time. A minute later everyone is a different person then they were in the past. Moment by moment we are regenerating our cells and creating a new person: body, mind, spirit, emotion, etc. Give them grace. Allow them to BE in their own space on their own path that leads to the ultimate same destination. Their journey will take them through lessons that are different than yours. Allow them that experience and BE okay with it. It’s a win-win. Now … that’s Love....

Resistance is NOT our friend and never has been. Allow me to explain … Any war-like activities and thoughts will always be met with resistance. Why? Because like attracts like. It is a Universal Law no matter how much we want to call it bunk, fairy dust or my fave: “new age” LOL. War-like thinking attracts more war-like thinking. Violence thinking attracts more violence thinking. Looking at what we don’t want (or want to eliminate) attracts more of what we don’t want. The fight against against drugs, fight against crime, fight against obesity, war rooms, punching fear in the face, and so many other war-violence-like phrases and slogans are simply setting our society up for more resistance and the attraction of more of what we don’t want. Hello? Why continue to attempt “to fix” something with the same mind-set and behavior that didn’t work before. On the other hand, when we look at the process of creation, it will take as long as we CHOOSE. We choose to manifest something into our reality by focusing on the process of creation. And it can be done quickly – as soon as we make the decision. Imagine what we could do as a society if we collectively shifted our mindset. How can we help create a happier society filled with peace and love? We start with ourselves. We start by being aware of what we are saying, thinking, doing. That’s called personal response-ability. That’s called a cooperative society where everyone WINS. Read more:...

Your self-worth is not dependent on anything outside of you. Here’s what I mean. Be mindful of people who put conditions on your relationship with them. (At another time I’ll explain WHY they do this and it isn’t about you. If you’ve read my book, “BEing Spiritually Intelligent”, you already know.) Here are some examples of how people put conditions on themselves based on outside sources: – The need to feel good about yourself only when you have someone else’s or a group of people’s approval, attention or praise. – Self-esteem is only elevated when you feel you are part of the ‘crowd’ or accepted by the ‘team’ often going to great lengths to do or say anything for a pat on the back. TIP: A heart-based team doesn’t put conditional expectations on its members – obvious or subtle. Example: “I’ll only accept you as part of the team if you meet criteria that makes me feel better about myself or what I’m doing.” If this is the case, this is not the right group for you. – Feeling less than or left out if you don’t have a significant other, pet, children, etc. – Feeling that ‘if you only had’ that job, shiny job title or a specific square footage in your home, an X brand car, met a specific goal, in a specific tax bracket, and on and on and on. This is all drama-like stuff we make up that puts conditions on ourselves, which is why we continually look outside of ourselves for acceptance and acknowledgment that we are ‘okay’ or loveable, etc. It’s an illusion – a power(less) loop that will not stop until we start understanding that NONE of it matters, and it’s all a lie that we tell ourselves or someone is wanting us to believe. Stop the insanity and self-abuse. Help yourself. BE respectful of yourself by valuing your strengths, noticing without judgment your weaknesses and strengthening your weakness IF it suits YOU. There is no rush to do it. Life was not created to hurry up and get to the destination – death. It was created to enjoy the process of life. Truly, you have everything you need right now, all you have to do is choose to recognize it and use it. It’s okay to go out and collect data from others – that’s how we learn to strengthen our own intuition. But do not idolize anyone. Bring the data back and try it on for size – for you. Keep what works for your own core values, morals and ethics. Discard the rest, because it does not fit the reality YOU choose to live in. That’s key to developing...