Holiday Sale EXTENDED – 40% off until January 3rd at midnight CST

December 30th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

Happy Holidays from the Global Association of Holistic Psychotherapy!

Enjoy 40% off these life and business transforming memberships and products through Saturday December 31st at midnight EST  Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at midnight CST

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The Global Association of Holistic Psychotherapy (GAHP) Membership

Membership in the ONLY professional Holistic Psychotherapy association founded and run by a 6-Figure Holistic Psychotherapist: the Global Association of Holistic Psychotherapy (GAHP)

Leading the Transformation Telesummit: Amethyst, Emerald and Diamond Packages

Your Spirit is Calling—Are You Listening? We are in one of the most Transformative times on the Planet. To support you in YOUR Transformation we have gathered the World’s Top Holistic Psychotherapy Leaders to share their most powerful Holistic (Mind, Body, Spirit) tools, tips and resources to support you to FINALLY Leap into your True Spirit and share the amazing Gifts your Spirit is Meant to Share—NOW!

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Life Purpose Assessment and Strategy Session

Confused about your Life Purpose and Don’t Have a Clue How to Figure it Out?

After years of working with clients helping them to move from confusion to clarity about their Life Purpose, Shelley can help you!

Holistic Practice Assessment and Strategy Session

Are you feeling stuck in your Holistic Practice?

Shelley is able to quickly assess what is blocking you in your Practice (whether it is on the practical, emotional or spiritual level) and give you strategies to release these blocks so you can move quickly forward in creating the practice of your dreams in 2012!

I will be happy

December 29th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life. ” Leo Buscaglia

We are All Helping Each Other to Heal

December 27th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

Think of a challenging person in your life right now?  Someone who is pushing your buttons in some way.  Believe it or not but that person is trying to help you!  All challenging situations and people are helping you to grow and change in important ways.

Are you treating the experience as a learning experience or as just an experience of frustration that you would like to just go away?  Ask yourself what important things am I learning here?  What is causing my suffering—how I am thinking about this person and this situation–what am I telling myself.  What could I tell myself about this situation that could change the experience and have it make sense to me?

An example:  Let’s say that you have a person in your life who is controlling and pushy–what would that help you with?  It could help you practice setting boundaries and also learn to respond to their controlling behavior in a non-reactive way.  It could also help you practice keeping your emotional state where you want it to be without allowing what is happening with that other person affect you.

Today–ask what am I learning from this challenging person or situation–how is it helping me?

Finding your life purpose

December 22nd, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”  Helen Keller

 I believe the epidemic use of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication is a band-aid for the underlying issue of being disconnected from one’s true self–and one’s true purpose. Stifling and suppressing who we are and what we came here to do has consequences of making us feel despair, hopelessness and creating anxiety.  Our true self is filled with passion, creativity and a purpose that desires to be fully expressed.

Are you following the path of your life purpose?  Do you feel filled with aliveness, vibrancy and excitement about your life? Are you taking the risks to find out your life purpose and to pursue it? What are the consequences of NOT doing it?   There is also an incredible loss of you not following your purpose–there is your own loss of the joy of following your passion–but also the loss of the people who will miss out on what you came to share.  Everyone loses—you and the world.

Looking at some of the questions people typically have when trying to find their life purpose can help  you sort through some of the common fears and questions that may hold you back.

Questions I get asked when people come to me wanting to find their life purpose.

Will it be easy? Yes and no.  It will take hard work but you won’t mind because of you will enjoy what you are doing.  You are also willing to do some of the hard, tedious work because of the passion you have for what you are doing.  Your passion will carry you a long way.  That is why it must be something you are passionate about because it will allow you to preserve in the face of the hard work and challenges.

Will I feel uncomfortable? Yes and no.  You will feel a sense of peace and deep knowing that you are on track and doing what you came here to do.  You will also be challenged to grow and expand beyond your comfort zone.  You may need to learn new skills–are you willing to be a beginner again?  You may be a novice at the skills you need to develop.  Are you willing to go to school, learn from others, read and study? Just because you may be a beginner doesn’t mean it’s not your life purpose or you can’t be successful.  A willingness to be a beginner and go through the learning process is an important part of pursuing your life purpose.

 You may need to move past limiting beliefs about who you are and what you are capable of doing.  You will be called to release all the limitations that hold you back from manifesting your full potential.  You must be willing to heal and step into more of who you truly are.   It will be both exhilarating and at times scary —but well worth it!

What if the people in my life don’t support me? Some people will be able to support you wholeheartedly and others—because of their own fears, won’t be as supportive.  Trust that as you move forward that the support will show up for you–reminding you that you are on track and not alone.  At times you may feel alone as you pursue your passion–but these times are opportunities for deepening your own connection with yourself and your spiritual support.  It is a time to go deep within and connect with the strength and vision of your own Spirit.

 I also encourage people to look for a support group of like-minded people who are also pursuing their passions.  You can give and receive support from people who really understand what you are going through.  I offer these kind of structured groups to help people while they are in the process of finding and pursuing their life purpose.  Learning both to access your own inner strength and also getting enough support are essential to make the process easier for you.

What if I can’t figure out my Life Purpose—what if I don’t have one? You cannot NOT have a life purpose.  Your life purpose will look different from someone else’s life purpose.  Let go of thinking it has to look a certain way to be your life purpose.  I find that people who struggle with figuring it out have not connected deeply enough with themselves to gain the clarity they need. If you are searching externally for your life purpose you will more than likely go around and around in your search.  You will find your purpose through getting to know the authentic you more.  We all have been trained to look externally for answers rather than connecting with the wisdom we have inside.

Sometimes someone’s life purpose can be right underneath their nose.  I remember one time in a session with a client and she was going around and around about figuring out her life purpose.  I asked her to be quiet and connect with her Spirit and answer from her Spirit what her life purpose was—she stated it simply and clearly and opened her eyes in disbelief.  She didn’t think it could be that easy.  What was blocking her awareness was all of the clutter of the fears about pursuing her purpose.  She kept herself from knowing so she wouldn’t have to face her fears and take action to pursue her purpose.

What if I pursue my Life Purpose and fail? You will be supported as you move in the direction of your life purpose.  The only thing that can block you is your own negativity and limited thinking.  The more you clear this away and operate from your authentic self you will succeed.  Your own negativity can cloud your vision of your next step and the opportunities all around you that are supporting you.  Your negativity can cause you to give up in the face of a challenge or obstacle.

Remember what I said above–you will be required to stretch and grow as you are living your purpose.  If in the face of an obstacle and you move into negativity and give up—you will fail.  But instead if you look at it as an opportunity to learn and grow—and continue to move forward–you will succeed.

Persistence and perseverance are key in being successful at your life purpose.  Mark Victor Hanson and Jack Canfield presented their idea for the Chicken Soup for the Soul book to 100 publishers before it was accepted.  Can you stay true to your purpose in the face of rejection?  What I have found is that these kind of experiences can help people move more into a deeper belief in themselves and their purpose.  Do you have the courage to believe in yourself when no one around you believes in you?  Many successful people are successful because of their ability to do just that.  This belief in themselves allows them to persevere when others would give up.

There is a book titled “The Luck Factor” by Richard Wiseman which documents the common traits of lucky and successful people.  One of the traits is that they would persist in the face of challenges and have confidence that the obstacles were actually helping them achieve their goals.  They viewed challenges differently than “unlucky” people.  He found that lucky people are able to transform their bad luck into good fortune by using different psychological techniques.  For example, they see the positive side of the challenge, they do not dwell on the challenge, they are convinced the situation in the long run will work out for the best and they take a proactive approach to the situation.

So your “Success” in following your life purpose will be determined a great deal by your own mindset and the positive action you take.

Will I be able to make Mon-ey at my Life Purpose? (Mon-ey is spelled with a hyphen–otherwise this newsletter would get stuck in your spam filter:) Yes, and you have to be willing to learn how to do this.  For some professions, the path to making mon-ey is pretty straightforward and clear cut.  For other professions you may be doing something unique and so the path to make mon-ey may not be as clear.  It is important to find someone who comes close to what you want to do and is doing it very successfully and learn from them.  Or you can connect with a business development program in your area that supports people starting businesses.  They can be great resources on how to translate what your passion is into a mon-ey making business.

You may be a pioneer in the field and could use extra support and your own creativity to find a way to make mon-ey at your life purpose.  You may want to pursue a field that has a stereotype of not being lucrative–like: being an artist, musician, healer etc.  The good news is we are living in the era of the creative entrepreneur and thousands of people around the world are taking these professions into a new realm of mon-ey making possibility.

Find someone who is doing this and learn from what they are doing.  Use what they are doing as creative inspirations for your own ideas as well.

What if my relationships change as I follow my purpose? Your relationships will change.  You are growing and expanding as you pursue your life purpose.  You have chosen the path of vitality and aliveness.  As you grow you will inspire those around you to grow and follow their dreams as well.  These relationships will get closer.  Other people may take longer to grow—or may grow in a way that is different then you.  Trust that the relationships that are meant to be long term for you will adapt and grow with the change.

As time goes on it will become clear which relationships are growing and which ones you are outgrowing.  Trust that when you get to that point of having to let go of some of your relationships it will be a natural letting go process that will just make sense.  There are some people we are meant to journey with our whole lives and some that come to be with us for a certain period of time.  I have seen clients who have stopped their own growth because they fear that if they keep growing they will outgrow their relationships.

 It is unpredictable what will happen–you can’t guarantee that someone will not grow along with you–you will be surprised.  The only way to know for sure is to take the leap and trust that whatever happens will be in the highest good for everybody involved!

What if I don’t have the talents or skills to do my Life Purpose? Trust that you have all that you need to fulfill your life purpose.  It wouldn’t be a desire of yours if you didn’t have the capabilities to do it.  Like I mentioned above you may need to learn new skills and work at it–but you will have the desire to do this because it is your life purpose.  Again, you may need to release false beliefs about yourself.  You may not be viewing your capabilities accurately.  You may be viewing yourself through the eyes of your conditioned self–which is full of false beliefs and distortions.

Doing some work to clear these distortions away and see yourself clearly will help open the door for your self-worth to soar.  You will be amazed at how much you are truly capable of.

Now that you have more clear information about finding and pursuing your life purpose–are you ready to take the leap?  See if you can identify one small step to move towards finding and pursuing your life purpose.  It might be something like setting aside a few hours of quiet time for you to journal and connect with yourself.  Or it might mean doing research on an area that is of interest to you.  Write down what step you would like to take and make a promise to yourself to follow through and do it.

Wishing you all the best on finding and aligning with your unique Life Purpose!

Be Bold in the Face of Fear

December 20th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

How often when fear takes over do you feel immobilized?  One of the ways to counteract this and actually help yourself shift out of the fear is to take a bold action—act as if you are not afraid at all.  Think of a situation in your life that brings up fear for you–if you would take a bold action in the face of this fear–instead of holding yourself back–what would you do?  Instead of being afraid of losing your job take a bold action of looking for a different one.  Instead of feeling afraid about the economy take a bold action to rise above and think of a creative way to bring money in.  Instead of being afraid in a relationship–take a bold action and speak your authentic feelings.

Be Bold in the face of fear.  What is your Bold step for today?

Are you having enough fun in your life?

December 15th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

“Fun is Good.” Dr. Seuss

Are you having enough fun in your life?  Belly laughs that make your stomach hurt, laughing so hard that you are crying (one of my favorites), that light open feeling in your body of pure fun.  You will probably know the answer to this quickly and if you are like many people today, the answer will be NO.

Our Innate Capacity to Have Fun
The capacity to have fun is something that we are born with, it is innate.  Just looking at small children and you will see the natural capacity to play and have fun.  What happens to this as we get older?  Some people are able to retain this ability to have fun, play with others and laugh easily.

For many people this capacity gets lost with increased responsibilities of a job, having children, caring for elderly parents —feeling overwhelmed with the stress of everyday living.  There can be an attitude that the fun will happen when the work is done—but you know the work is never really done.  Fun tends to get put on the back burner—and for many people it is on the back burner for so long they forget even how to have it or what it is like.  I have clients who say to me “I don’t even know how to have fun, I don’t even know where to start.”

This article will give you ideas on how to start having more fun, but first I want to share with you some compelling reasons why Fun needs to be a priority in YOUR life.

WHY FUN IS GOOD FOR YOU
1. Having Fun is your Natural State-We were born to have fun.  Look at little babies they are giggling and laughing—they are little fun machines—having fun is like breathing for them.  This is who we are deep inside—we are little fun machines—wanting to have fun and play.  That is why it feels so good to be around babies and children—they remind us of who we really are and we connect with that energy just by being around them.

2.  Having Fun Helps Your Life Work Better-  When we are more aligned with our natural state our lives work better, we are  more in the flow.  When our bodies are tense with being serious, worrying, being so busy– life becomes hard and a struggle–we are out of alignment with our natural state.  When we are relaxed, having fun–things flow easier—solutions to what we need to do in our life come easier to us in this state.

When we are in alignment with our natural state are bodies can be healthier and stronger.  Just like a car out of alignment doesn’t function optimally—we too function better when we are in alignment with our natural state—how we are designed to function.  We are designed to function with having a lot of fun and ease in our life.

3. Having Fun Gives You More Energy- Having fun feeds your Spirit.  Using the car analogy again-just like a car needs certain things to give it energy to operate.  We need basic things for our body to function- like air, food, water and shelter. But we are much more than our bodies, we are Spirits housed in our bodies.  We also need fuel for our Spirits to thrive and feel uplifted.  You know what it is like to feel like your Spirit is sagging—life becomes dull and lifeless and you think—”what is the point?”  That is when you know you need to feed your Spirit.

What feeds our Spirit is the intangible but crucial aspects of living—love, fun, pleasure, intimacy with others, and connection to Spirit.   I have health conscious clients who are doing wonderful things to support their physical bodies, yet they are still feeling sick or have low energy.  That is because they are not attending to the feeding of their Spirit.  By starting to feed their Spirit with having fun they are amazed at how much energy this brings.

4. Having Fun Attracts Good Things to You- Years ago I was out to dinner with some good friends and we were having so much fun that other people in the restaurant would come up and talk with us.  One woman came up and said that she couldn’t keep her eyes off of us, we were having so much fun that she wanted to join us.  Everybody likes to have fun and when we are having a lot of fun—we are a like a magnet to others—they want to be around us and have fun too.  We are like the Balinese Gods and Goddesses—wanting to come near when there is fun and celebration.

Fun attracts in another way as well.  Fun is a higher frequency. To explain  what this means—think of a time when you walked into a room where people were getting along and having a lot of fun—didn’t the energy of the room feel “lighter”  Now think of a time when you walked into a room where people were arguing and there was anger—didn’t the energy feel “heavy” and dense.This is an example of the difference in energy frequencies that we can be in.  Like frequencies tend to gravitate towards each other—light energy tends to draw light energy—dense energy tends to draw other dense energy.  So when we are having more fun, our energy is lighter and will tend to attract other light  energy things—whether it’s other people who are having fun, or experiences that are more positive and “light.”

5. Having Fun has a Positive Ripple Effect on Those Around You-  Think about what it is like to be in a room with someone who is really happy and having fun—this energy is contagious and pretty soon you start to feel good too.

What I believe is that we are easily influenced by the emotional states of those around us.  Like my example above–holding a positive state of having fun and lightness can easily shift those around you into a lighter state as well.  And isn’t this the kind of effect you want to have on those around you!

HOW TO HAVE MORE FUN
1.Make a List of What You Love to Do for Fun- Even if your list is short, still write it down.  It is like priming the pump to write these things down.  Then what happens is your inner fun machine will start to come up with even more ideas.  Give yourself permission to write down anything, even if it seems silly to you.  Then begin to integrate these fun things into your day and see what happens.

2.Make Fun a Priority in Your Life-Begin your day with an intention to have a lot of fun.  People who have a lot of fun in their life—have made
fun a priority and routinely do things that create fun throughout their days. It could be turning a boring meeting into one that is fun and productive.

I have done this with meetings I have attended.  One meeting where we were going to be working on a difficult situation–I suggested we start the meeting with telling jokes and goofing around.  Everyone was game to do this and we had a lot of fun for about 10 minutes then we shifted into the issue we were trying to resolve.  Much to everyone’s surprise, we resolved the issue quickly and easily because we were in a more relaxed creative state because of the fun we had at the start of the meeting.

If you make fun a priority in your life you will be more productive with your time.  One way to understand this is using the analogy of having a child inside of you.  If you just work all of the time–the child inside of you begins to get frustrated because of the lack of fun–and begins to rebel.  This rebellion shows up in your life as procrastination, low energy, lack of focus—it is like a drag on your energy.  It is like the child says–”If you don’t listen to me, I’m not going to cooperate with the things your trying to get done.” Integrating fun into your days satisfies this child inside of you and then it cooperates with the other things you want to get done.

Even though you are taking time to have fun—you actually don’t lose any time because the time you do work is very productive.  I have seen this work over and over again with clients—the more fun they have, the more they get done.  Try it and see for yourself!

3. Let Go of False Beliefs  About Fun- What kind of beliefs do you have about about having fun?  List these beliefs on a piece of paper.  They could be “It’s irresponsible to have too much fun.”  “Fun is just for kids, not for adults.” “I’ll look stupid if I’m having fun” “I don’t have enough time to have fun.” “Having fun is a waste of time, it’s frivolous.”  Examine these messages and decide if you want to continue to hold these beliefs. These false beliefs can be holding you back from a world of fun.

Write new messages about fun that you want to embrace-i.e. “Having fun helps me to be more creative and productive in my whole life.”  “Fun feels good and I deserve to feel good.” “Fun brings me closer to those around me.” “Fun leads to great things happening in my life.” Embracing these new beliefs will open the doorway for more Fun in your life.

4. Be a Fun Initiator in Your Life-Think of ways that you can bring more fun to yourself and others throughout the day.  When you are in conversation with people use humor and lightness to create fun rather than letting the conversation slip into negativity.  Many people are in the habit of connecting with one another through discussing problems and gossiping.  Just notice if you are in this habit by monitoring what you tend to focus on in your conversations with others. See if you can allow yourself to connect with others with fun and joy.  When others ask you how you are doing say “I am having so much fun in my life, I am so happy!”

Think of fun activities that you can do with your friends and family—have a theme party that has a silly theme or designate a day to celebrate something fun.  I heard from some friends that there was a day a few months ago that was “Talk like a Pirate Day” and they were having fun planning a party on that day.  Be willing to take risks and try new things.

Re-connect with that fun-machine inside of you that is just waiting to have more fun than you have been having.  Click into what you knew innately as a baby and a child—that having fun is a big part of what we are here for. So don’t waste another minute and —-go have some fun!

I would love to hear what you have been doing for fun lately–post it in the comments section below.

An Inspired Life Can’t be Planned

December 13th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

I love to laugh, it keeps my soul alive.” Mark, River Falls, WI

“An Inspired Life Can’t be Planned”

We are Spirits housed in human bodies.  There are things that fuel our bodies and things that fuel our Spirit.  If you neglect feeding your Spirit –you will feel drained and like you are a robot going through life.  Being inspired is a powerful way of nourishing and uplifting your Spirit.  What inspires you?  How often are you around the things and people that inspire you?  Just reflecting on what inspires you and making sure you are surrounding yourself with these things will lift your Spirit and energize you.

Tips To Get Yourself Inspired
1. Who are the people in your life that inspire you?  What about them inspires you?  This is a quality that you value and more than likely possess yourself but maybe you aren’t expressing in your life. Use this to open up more to this quality in your own life.  Make sure the people you have in your life inspire you.

2. What music inspires you?  What about the music uplifts you—is it the voice of the singer—the words–the rhythm?  Do you like music that you can dance to or music that is calm and soothing.

3. What things visually inspire you?  Is it certain things in nature—the ocean, mountains, trees?  Is it certain colors?  Is is certain architeture of builidngs?

4. Which restaurants inspire you?  What food do you love?  What decor do you find appealing?  Do you make sure to go to restaurants that inspire you.  I love going to Cafe’ Mario’s because I love how they have decorated it, the music they play (Andrea Bocelli–my favorite:), the smells of the food, the laughter and connection that happens there.

5. What books do you find inspirational?  What words uplift you?  What authors inspire you?

6. What creative activity inspires you?  Dancing, painting, playing music, singing, making jewlery.

7. Do you inspire yourself?  Are you daring to live your dreams, express your creativity–living with passion?  Are you committed to a vibrant, inspired life?  Like the quote above–an inspired life can’t be planned.  Are you willing to let go and allow yourself to be inspired—and more importantly to act on these inspirational impulses?

8. What geographic areas inspire you?  Does your Spirit lift just thinking about Italy, Hawaii, Alaska or the California coast?  Make a plan to travel to the areas that inspire you.  There is a reason you are drawn to that area—it is a place that will feed your soul.  If you can’t travel there just yet, put up pictures of that area that you can see every day.

9. What movies inspire you?  Look for movies that inspire you—don’t settle for anything less than that .
For those of you who have read the ”What Do You Really Want Workbook”, I mentioned one of my favorite inspirational movies, “Miss Potter”, about the amazing life of Beatrice Potter (the artist who created Peter Rabbit).

10. Talk to your friends and family about what inspires them—you will deepen your connection with them from having this discussion.  Ask them “What inspires you?”

11. Surround yourself with things that inspire you.  When you look around your home—are you inspired?  Put up pictures that uplift you–buy art work that inspires you.  Buy flowers that you love.

Open up to feeding your Spirit with all the the things that inspire you—and watch your energy level soar and your life expand into grand new possiblities!

I would love to hear what Inspires YOU.  Please share this below (in the comments section).

Declutter Your Home, Change Your Life

December 8th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

Our outer surroundings are a reflection of our inner world.  What are your surroundings saying about you?  Is it peaceful and organized–or cluttered and chaotic?  I have been studying this for years and see over and over the relationship between our outer world and inner world.  Many of my clients who transform their inner worlds feel a strong urge to transform their outer world as well.  They may have a strong urge to declutter, getting rid of objects that reflect more of their past and who they used to be.  Or they may have a strong urge to renovate their home or change how they have decorated their home–the current way their home is just doesn’t fit anymore.  Or I have worked with clients who feel stuck in their life who begin to delutter their surroundings and they are able to make profound breakthroughs that transform their life.

I have used the power of decluttering as a way to transform my life over the years.  2012 is going to be an amazing year for me–I have a lot of powerful intentions that I will be manifesting and I don’t want anything blocking me internally or externally–so I have decided to do a major decluttering and transforming of my home.  I am taking what I call Massive Action in this area of my life to help clear the way for things to move clearly and easily for me.

Would decluttering and addressing your home help you move forward in your life?  If so, make a plan and enlist support for yourself–you can hire someone or ask a friend who is naturally organized to help you. Give the gift to yourself of having your surroundings support you in manifesting your dreams!