December 22, 2008



SMOOTH GLIDING
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


I just spent 45 minutes trying to get into my own parking space. Yesterday after a half an hour I gave up. But today after 10 minutes I had already gotten in further than I had the night before. That was reassurance that it would be worth it for me to hang in there this time and figure it out. I came prepared with a broom and a dust pan ready to tackle the ice. Instead I used the heels of my shoes. A woman sitting in her truck across the street, was clearly upset by my using my shoes and suggested that I should really just back in instead. She and her nice black truck were exactly across from my space which made backing up an impossibility. I decided not to tell her "yeah, great idea lady but you're in the way." It's the holidays after all. And instead for 20 more minutes implemented the back up, drive, back up, drive rocking momentum I learned watching my mother as a child, an excellent driver. Yesterday I had given up after only a half an hour but today after each rock, I got a little further, enough to feel that there would be a "potential" click and my car despite ice and snow would glide right in. Just about the time that I was starting to doubt myself and the potential of my rock, the lady and her black truck, who made the suggestion that she herself was the cause of blocking me from, decided to drive away. Yes, I thought, NOW I can back in. Did I mention that my parking space has two poles on either side of it and is on an incline. But I happen to love backing in, another great trait I learned from my mother, that reverse can really be your friend. Bounce, bounce, slide, I'm almost in. But not quite enough since I'm blocking the sidewalk. But now I'm stuck, oh so close but not quite in far enough. So out comes my broom, dust pan and the handy dandy heel of my boot. Now I can pull all the way out so that I can pull in again. I envision a nice smooth glide in to my own space. But wait I think let me just take one more glance at the lay of the land. The ice is shining where my tires got stuck so I decide to kick a little snow, maybe that will help with some traction. I look at one tire and then the other - I kick some more snow, what can it hurt. I envision a nice glide in. I go to the wheel, rock forward, shift to reverse and wow a smooth glide in.

I thought it was a perfect playing out of the events of my life this past year. In life we sometimes give up pretty quickly when things appear to be a slippery slope. But we try again and isn't it funny, how we can feel even if we haven't made it to our destination, the potential for it to all fall in place. Feeling the potential is enough to keep you going. Someone (often a friend or family member) shows up to give you all sorts of advice. They are the ones we allow to block us and be directly in our way. When they leave or when we can, get rid of them, we are then free to try another approach and the potential is so exciting. We're bursting with possibility. We decide to take a moment and do some final, "just in case", tweaking. We envision what we want, it's suddenly so clear, we get behind our own goal and ta da everything clicks in place, and mmmmm it's a smooth glide in.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and no matter the stage you are in on this drive of life, remember some tweaking, a vision and some time may be all that is required. To align with who we already are and glide, that is the space awaiting our surrender and arrival every moment of every day.

May this be your last year of being committed to suffering and struggle.




ANNOUNCEMENTS
SACRED CENTER NEW YORK
If you are in any need, and/or believe that who you are is a sin, please, please, please go to www.sacredcenterny.org.
Every Sunday 11:00am-12:30pm.





APARTMENT AVAILABLE
Great 2 bedroom sublet available (1 full size, 1 kids room) for 3 months, off 63rd Drive & Queens Blvd-5 min walk from R & V train, & all shopping. 30 minutes into midtown Manhattan. Rent $1600 negotiable. Heat/Gas included. Cable available at extra cost. Contact Natalie via email, npinto@escapebeyond.com.








__________________________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com. Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues please post and join in the conversation. To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line "unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra Am Management."


Copyright 2008

December 15, 2008

THE REOCCURRING BATTLE

Someone shared this letter with me. I thought it was perfect and wanted to share it with you. So many times, when we notice that we are battling with the same issues over and over and over again there is a past hurt that has never been healed. This week, I have had or been witness to many conversations where we're all dealing with the external affects instead of focusing on the root of what is going on for us. As we head into the holiday season which is known for being one of the most depressing times of the year for many, I hope that this truthful exploration may help you uncover what may be at the root of what is going on for you as well. May it allow you to have compassion for youself and whichever shame may be at the root of your reoccurring battle.


Ref. Huffington Post


Dear Oprah,



America (and quite possibly the world) has been watching your private battle of the bulge for the last 20 years, and we feel your pain. Having battled an eating disorder myself (along with other addictions), I understand what you're going through. Now, as a health & wellness educator, I often work with people who are going through hard times with their weight. So I hope you'll forgive my presumption here and allow me to offer a few words of advice.



But before that, let me say how much I appreciate the way in which you share your private journey on such a public stage. When celebrities are willing to show their weaknesses, it makes it much easier for the rest of us to admit we may have the same problem and to take the necessary steps to heal. So thank you for courage.



I know you plan a mea culpa address on January 5th on The Oprah Winfrey Show to kick off Best Life Week. Please stop apologizing for your inability to keep off the weight you lost through the drastic liquid diet that helped you shed 60 pounds. You've gained back 40 of those pounds, but it's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. You don't have to be mad at yourself for "falling off the wagon." Addictions are impossible to heal when you haven't fully addressed the original wounds that created the addiction in the first place.



Because you have shared your story with the public, I feel safe in observing that the trauma you experienced as a child growing up in Mississippi, moving a lot and shuffling between households, and being sexually abused by your uncle, cousin, and a family friend all left deep scars. Becoming pregnant at fourteen and having your son die shortly after birth was an enormous emotional burden to bear at such a young age. As you have said in the past, "I've felt safer and more protected when I was heavy. Food has always been comforting."



More nutrition and/or exercise gurus won't help you get to the root of the problem. It's important to remember that the power to heal the original wound that created this behavior and the power to heal the emotional pain lies only within you. The abuse you lived through as a child left you with a deep well of shame. In my healing work, I would call this a distortion of the second chakra, the energy center most related to substance abuse and addiction. If the healthy flow of energy is blocked in the second chakra, we can develop poor boundaries with others and within ourselves. The second chakra also governs how we find pleasure.



When you are unhappy, not feeling good, you go back to food.



You are an educated woman, a brave woman who brought sexual abuse out in the open in many of your shows, but you have not yet dispelled all the lingering shame from the early abuse. It's that place that can get triggered. Look at what happened around the time you started to pack the pounds back on. Did it coincide with the awful abuse scandal at your girls' leadership school in Africa? When you went racing to Africa to deal with the situation, you apologized to the pupils and parents at the school "I've disappointed you. I'm' sorry. I'm so sorry." As if their abuse was your personal shame.

"I was, needless to say, devastated and really shaken to my core when I first heard this news," Winfrey said. Young girls being shamed and abused in a place you had established as a safe haven for them would have brought up all the past demons of your life, and triggered your shame. Food would have been the natural way to self-medicate from the pain of the reopened early childhood wounds.



As we get older, the emotional pain and traumatic experiences that we have buried deep within come back to haunt us -- frequently as physical problems. Thyroid conditions are rampant among women because most women never vocalize the shame and pain of their lives. Here you are, possibly the most vocal women on the planet today, who has spoken out often about abuse and acted swiftly to fix the situation in Africa, and yet there are still things you can't say -- even to yourself.



Thyroid problems relate to the fifth chakra, the energy center located at the throat, and are commonly connected to blockages in the second chakra. Accessing and releasing the buried shame would not be hard for you with a little help. You have become so much more conscious over the years, and so much more aware of the way the dots connect between emotions and physical difficulties.



When you go back to food for comfort, it is a sign for you that your energy field is out of balance. You speak of balance in O magazine, and external balance between work and the rest of our lives is important, no doubt. But, first and foremost, the balance of our own energy field is vital if we are to be healthy and happy.



Let's also acknowledge the difficulty inherent in being a food addict. Those addicted to booze or cigarettes or drugs can live without those substances, but we need to eat in order to live. And as we addicts know, a little something often leads to a lot more of that something. And we don't have the option of staying away from food altogether.



Many people are not willing or able to look inside and see the reason they are starving or stuffing their bodies. They are trying to stave off the hurt and the pain without confronting and releasing it. Far more powerful than fitting into size 10 Calvin Klein jeans is the feeling that you don't ever have to be ashamed of what happened to you. Shame is such a dense energy. Children wear shame as if it belongs to them. The longer they carry that trance of shame into adulthood, they will unconsciously find ways of shaming themselves over and over again. "I was talking the talk, but I wasn't walking the walk. And that was very disappointing to me," is said by someone who still feels the shame of her lost little girl.



You are walking the walk. It just isn't a straight path. Our life challenges spiral back around again and again so we can face them from a slightly more conscious place each time. You are a brave lady for putting it front and center so all those who watch you can be inspired to take on their own demons. You're a warrior in the cause of self-improvement!

Find a beautiful dress for the inauguration and go with your head held high, your heart full of hope for a better world that you are instrumental in creating. Whatever your size, you will always loom large in minds and hearts of us all. When you finally wipe away the remnants of old shame, the pounds will melt away!

Warmest regards,

Deborah King

PLAN OF ACTION:
Compassion for yourself as you honor how far you've come.
This week gift yourself a nice hot bath, a day in your pj's, a potluck with friends...




UPCOMING EVENTS:
SPACES WHERE YOU ARE WELCOMED AS YOU ARE:

SACRED CENTER NEW YORK
Every Sunday 11am
Visit www.sacredcenterny.org

Enlightennext
Every Thursday 7-10:30pm
Meditation, Meal & Conversation
Visit www.enlightennext.org



TURN ON TO LIFE
Curtis G. Schmitt from Turn On To Life presents INTEGRITY DAY!
Get ready to HAVE FUN and GET STUFF DONE!
December 16, 2008 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
December 18, 2008 (Thursday), 8 AM ET
December 19, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET
To register for one of these dates, visit:http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html




___________________________________________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com. Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues please post and join in the conversation. To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line "unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra Am Management."


Copyright 2008

December 8, 2008

"LET THE ROADRUNNER GO ON BY(E)"

"Remember in times of economic uncertainty, true passion is your greatest security."
by Tama Kieves.

"It's supposed to be hard. When you struggle, it proves how much you're willing to fight for it." I can't tell you how many different versions of this phrase, I have heard this week. Why is it that we believe that things are supposed to be so hard? I USED to believe the same thing. Until my very stubborn Aries self was ramming into so many walls that after so many years of doing it, by the age of 27 I literally prayed to God for death. Literally. Death did come, but not in the way I thought. The death that came was of the belief that I was destined to spend my precious time on earth frustrated, angry, depressed and so tired I just couldn't ram and slam to PROVE myself anymore. The universe must have shouted “she's finally out of the way.” I suddenly started meeting people who believed in a different message, I ended up leaving my home town, my husband, old friends, my career and suddenly there was a lot less ramming going on. (I can't say that there is no ramming now, I am still an Aries and find myself slamming sometimes especially when it comes to relationships BUT I don't slam for nearly as long.) I know and believe to my core, by experience, that if I'm slamming, it is only because I'm not willing to let go of something that isn't actually mine and/or I'm heading down a path that may not be right for me. If we believe that our life is supposed to be struggle, then it will be.

This week, a few weeks before the new year begins, I invite you to take these next couple of weeks to see what different decisions and actions you might take if you didn't just start from "it's supposed to be hard." What else is possible? When you watched the coyote on the cartoon try over and over and over and over again to catch the Roadrunner, wasn't it amusing at first? But over the years, didn't it just seem silly? Most importantly didn't you reach a point when you no longer laughed or felt anything, you were just resigned to the fact that the coyote wasn't going to get the road runner. You already knew the ending and watched "blindly." That is often how I believe we live our lives. We may get a rush every once in a while but if you truly believe it's going to be a fight to get it then, eventually you numb your emotions to keep yourself from the rush because you already know it's not going to work out. Or you know your partner, friend or family member won't approve. You believe you can't have it or aren't supposed to because it sends a little thrill inside of you. Funny, how over and over it doesn't work out and we come to the conclusion that "we weren't supposed to have it anyway." Not realizing that from the beginning we believe it's supposed to be a struggle and we charge after the things we already believe we aren't supposed to have. Maybe we should practice charging towards the things that thrill us internally and lay the "struggle belief" down for a moment.

Discover and have the courage to follow YOUR true passions. The market,
he/she said, husband/wife said, boss said, father/mother said........in the end there is YOU. Stop slamming into the wall and see it for what it is, a "belief" that can be let go. You may ask, as I did, in terror, what if something worse appears, at least I know the wall. I don't know what will replace the wall for you but what if, like it was for me, whatever it is A LOT less painful than the wall, would it be worth it to start your new year letting the road runner go right on by so you can discover the thing that you were actually meant to have & to hold so that YOU MAY LIVE and BE in ease?


PLAN OF ACTION:
1) Notice how often you and those in your close circle not only speak of struggle
but brag about your survival of it.
2) Practice a few moments a day engaging in what gives us a thrill internally. (I'm not referring to thrills gained from people or things outside of yourself.) Thrills gained from you being with you. For instance, every time I write a blog. Every time I workout, every time I develop a new package for the business....
3) Practice believing that YOU were placed here for something other than simply to be able to say you are strong because you survived all the struggles. The strength, is being able to not need the struggle and to live passionately with purpose and in alignment with YOUR core and discover and live YOUR dream.


NEW UPCOMING EVENTS:
TURN ON TO LIFE
Curtis G. Schmitt from Turn On To Life presents
INTEGRITY DAY!
Get ready to HAVE FUN and GET STUFF DONE!


December 9, 2008 (Tuesday), 9 AM ET (TOMORROW)
December 10, 2008 (Wednesday), 11 AM ET
December 12, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET
December 16, 2008 (Tuesday), 8 AM ET
December 18, 2008 (Thursday), 8 AM ET
December 19, 2008 (Friday), 9 AM ET

To register for one of these dates, visit:

http://www.turnontolife.com/integrity_schedule.html


STERLING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC.
Visit our website http://www.sterlingchoices.net.
To participate in an upcoming tele-seminar, join our mailing list.

Our TalkingLive series resumes this month with a two-part tele-seminar:
"Converting Financial Stress into Financial Success"

Session One: "Half Full" is a 45-minute open call.

The financial crisis has affected each and every one of us, even if not equally. Tough times such as these provide a fertile ground for sharing, learning, and growing. As we wind down 2008 and gear up for 2009, we are hosting this call-in to provide a platform for you to share how you have responded to the financial crisis - what changes, tactics, and/or ideas are you employing to help you confront your financial challenges? Whatever you are doing or experimenting with to convert your slow-downs or setbacks into opportunities just might be what someone else on the call needs to hear or try... and vice versa!

Join us on Tuesday, 9 December, (TOMORROW) at 8:00 p.m. for the "Half Full" call-in.

Session Two: "Mortgage Hell No More" is a 60-minute tele-seminar session designed exclusively for mortgage holders who are in need of their own bailout plan. My guest this evening is Harold Ford, president of Global Real Estate Holdings, specialists in foreclosure consulting and workouts with banks.

Do you owe more than your house is worth - in other words are you under water?
Are you struggling to make your mortgage payments?
Has your mortgage lender already begun the foreclosure process?

If you answered "yes" or have a relative or close friend who would answer "yes," this is a session you won't want to miss. You will learn what you can do to save your home and regain your peace of mind, and/or gather valuable information on behalf of someone for whom you care deeply.

Join us on Wednesday, 10 December at 8:00 p.m. for the "Mortgage Hell No More"
tele-seminar.

To get the call-in details please sign up on their mailing list at www.sterlingchoices.net.


Congratulations to Andrea Reese (the designer of my logo and angel to me and many, many others) for her featured interview on W-NBC-TV on Saturday Today in NY.
www.jackieoshow.com

Although the show is now SOLD OUT please visit her website to stay tuned for further updates on future shows.
"Cirque Jacqueline" on December 18th and 19th at
The Players Theatre
Call 866-811-4111 or
Visit Theatermania...
http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/148666
For more info on the show, please visit...

www.jackieoshow.com http://www.jackieoshow.com/bv




___________________________________________________
Any affirmations, suggestions, requests, job notices, teleseminars or events please email me at emotionalmoney@gmail.com. Any comments regarding any of the weekly "Emotional Money" issues please post and join in the conversation. To unsubscribe to "Emotional Money" weekly ezine type in subject line "unsubscribe Emotional Money." To unsubscribe to all notices regarding Samarra Am Management events type in subject line "unsubscribe Samarra Am Management."


Copyright 2008