Harness Your Power: Key Questions for 2010

As you finish 2009 and enter 2010, I want you to consider some key questions to help you get clear:

Who am I? 
What characteristics do I choose to cultivate and embody?
What do I want in every aspect of my life? 
How do I desire to feel when I wake up each day?
How do I desire to be in my relationships?

Please find an hour this week to sit silently and meditate on these questions.  Open your heart.  Release all limitations.  You are not your past -- you are who you choose to be in THIS Moment! 

Use these questions to become clear on a listen of your Daily Resolutions for 2010.  To reach New Year's Resolution takes a day-by-day commitment.  Write your Daily Resolutions for 2010 and then post them in a place you will see them every morning when you wake up and every night before you sleep.  I'd even suggest you carry a copy with you in your pocket to be a constant reminder to you.

You can be any person you want to be.
You can create the type of life you truly desire.

Take time to answer these questions and get clear...those who are clear are much more likely to experience what they want in life!

Much love to you,
Patricia Omoqui, The Thought Dr.
http://www.patriciaomoqui.com/

Harness Your Power: Enjoy Life's Synchronicities

One day this week the idea came to mind to go to a store in the area and buy myself the largest size sketchbook they have. I enjoy doodling, coloring, and journaling. In fact, last year my mom bought me a set of colored pencils and I began drawing and sketching for the first time in my life. I've never been "artsy" in any way. But, as I've started the process of doing some artwork, I've been surprised at what can emerge when I just relax and let what is in my heart flow out onto the page.

As I was driving to the store to buy the sketchbook, another idea popped into my mind. I stopped at a thrift store on the way and decided just to look around for a few minutes. I'm so glad I followed this guidance. I went in and found a big sketchbook with heavy pages at a wonderful low price. I knew it was for me because on the front cover was my symbol -- a blue butterfly!

When I attended a life coaching training several years ago in California, one of the speakers had us do a simple exercise. He had us close our eyes and do some deep breathing. Then he had us pose a question to ourselves, "What is my soul symbol?" He suggested we listen to the first answer or picture that popped into our head. The answer that came to my mind was a butterfly. Next he asked us what color our symbol was. I immediately sensed it was a blue butterfly.

When I woke up the morning after we had done this exercise, I went to check my email. Would you believe that someone had sent me an e-card and on the front of the birthday card was a blue butterfly! What! How is this possible?

Of course, after that training I began seeing blue butterflies everywhere I went.

So, back to the thrift store. I picked up the sketchbook and went to the counter to pay. The counter near the cash register was a glass case with jewelry and other small items in it. As I was waiting to pay I noticed a beautiful, silver butterfly ring and a pair of butterfly earrings with small blue gems in them. How amazing. And, they were very reasonably priced so I purchased them.

For the price I would have paid at the store I had originally intended to go to buy the big sketchbook, I instead got the sketchbook and the butterfly jewelry.

Amazing how the Universe works and guides me even in the small, fun aspects of living.

What a blessing this sketchbook has been. I am an early riser. The morning is my favorite time of day. Each day I get up around 5:30 a.m. I got downstairs to have my coffee and I sit with my sketchbook. I use whatever words and images that come to my mind to create a page that represents where I am in my life. What I love about this is recording my life lessons is so fun when I'm doing this in an artistic way!

Do you tune into the guidance you receive? When you get an urge or an insight to call someone, stop at a particular place or write to someone, do you follow this guidance? If you don't, what is holding you back? Life is so amazing and rich when we tune into this wisdom.

The more I quiet my mental chatter and release my fears, the more I hear this guidance. The more I follow this direction, the better my life becomes. There are times when I am in such awe of how I am helped with even the smallest details in my life.

Knowing and experiencing this brings deep inner peace. I feel myself relaxing into life more and more. Fighting life, worrying and fretting about things. takes too much energy. It is just not necessary to get worked up. The key to stopping this it to notice the patterns of worry, fear and self-doubt going on in your mind. Just notice them. Watch the impact these thoughts have on your life. Question the thoughts. Ask if you might be able to choose new thoughts, ones that help you to feel better.

Notice this week when you receive inspired ideas. Follow them. See what happens. Share your synchronicities with others...it is so lovely to see how we are all guided in such fantastic ways. I'd love to hear your stories like this. Drop me an email if you want to share.

Enjoying life's synchronicities and opening to experience even more of them!

Patricia Omoqui

http://www.patriciaomoqui.com/

Harness Your Power: Question Your Thoughts

I've been reminded this week of something I know so well but in challenging situations have to remind myself to practice: it is essential to question our thoughts! Our minds are often tyrants that send us into negative emotional spirals. Our old "fear and worry tapes" start playing in uncomfortable situations. The thoughts that arise (and that we buy into without questioning) can send us into mild discomfort and even deep depression.

This past week I observed myself following thought trails into deep personal suffering. I teach people a process called Harness Your Power which, in three simple steps, allows you to release old thoughts and beliefs and replace them with new, consciously chosen thoughts. I practice this process day in and day out. I'm good at it. Yet, when the deepest points of pain that remain inside me are touched, my mind still can get the most of me.

I'm thankful for the past few days where I've seen my mind do this frantic dance. I know the level of mastery and enlightenment I want to attain so I recognize the beauty of moving through pain to deeper levels of healing and growth.

The last 24 hours have shown me that when our pain bodies take over (read Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth) they can overtake us--unless, of course, we begin to observe and question them.

I was guided last night to http://www.oprah.com/ and watch a series of Webcasts she did with Byron Katie as part of her Soul Series. Byron Katie wrote an amazing book called Loving What Is. In her book she teaches four questions to use in challenging your thoughts. One of the questions that I find very helpful is, "Who would I be without this thought?" I use this question often and recognize that if I stopped the worry thoughts and guilty thoughts -- fully letting them go-- I can move back into a state of peace.

As we move through this week I encourage all of us to watch our thoughts. Notice the thoughts that cause you discomfort and pain. Then, ask yourself the above question. See that as you learn to release thoughts of suffering you can find peace right now.

Let's keep learning and growing together!

{On a sweet, beautiful note, my oldest daughter, Maggie was so excited this week as we attended her kindergarten orientation. She was bouncing with delight as we left the house. The smile on her face as she met her teachers, friends and saw her new classroom helped me to see the excitement available to us in life. Kids haven't forgotten the joy -- and they haven't gotten lost in fearful thinking...let's be more like them:) }

With deep love for each of you,

Patricia Omoqui

http://www.patriciaomoqui.com/

What Sets Your Heart On Fire?

One important aspect of Harnessing Your Personal Power is to know what you are passionate about. If someone were to ask you, “What sets your heart on fire? What gets you excited about life?” How would you answer that question?

It is so easy to get lost in the day-to-day routine of life and get bogged down with the drudgery of our daily schedules. Yet, when we begin to connect with our passions, it totally transforms our lives – not to mention the way it can transform the World!

Several years ago when I was in my deepest personal despair, I would not have been able to tell you what I was passionate about. I knew what had made me excited in the past – traveling the World, learning about new cultures, working with kids, coaching. . .But, for several years I got so caught up in my personal misery, my worry and my fear, that I lost sight of how to incorporate these passions into my life.

In the past few years I have reconnected to my passion again. I wake up every day flooded with ideas, creativity and joy for the work I’m doing and for the volunteer work I am involved in. Now I can’t imagine what my life would feel like without doing those things that make my heart beat faster, my blood flow more quickly and get me smiling non-stop throughout the day.
If you are stuck in a rut in life, the beginning of 2008 is a great time to ask some new questions – if you probe your heart deeply and look for the answers, they will emerge. Please consider the following this week (pull our your journal and spend some quiet time with yourself):

• What do I absolutely love to do (or what have I loved to do in the past)?


• Have I ever felt my heart start pounding when I was about to do something I loved? If so, what was it?


• As a teenager, what causes or issues was I passionate about?


• Have I ever done volunteer work that brought me joy and great satisfaction?


• Is there an activity that I do or have done in the past that helped me feel “in the flow?”

While I was still in corporate America I began my quest to find more meaning. I got trained by the Montgomery County Mediation Association in transformative mediation so that I could mediate neighborhood disputes and other conflict situations. After that, they trained me on how to mediate Victim Offender Conferences. Each time I had the opportunity to do a mediation, I felt excited, purposeful and full of delight. It was a way I could use my talents to touch lives. It was also an opportunity for me to find meaning when I felt bored with my corporate work.

I have the pleasure now of working with some passionate people at the Book Bank Foundation (www.thebbf.org). One night last week from 10 pm – midnight we were on the phone strategizing about how to raise funds, find donors and do an even better job in 2008 serving the homeless. Though I am typically not a late night person, I didn’t feel tired at all during the call because I love talking about the ideas of helping others and because I was surrounded by people who are on fire with love and desire to bring about change in our World!

We can never truly be stuck in life – we are always a question away from finding something that excites us. Take the time this week to consider these questions and ideas. Jump out of the routine. Instead of watching TV, call an organization that you might want to volunteer for in 2008. Or, find a book that excites you so you can expand your mind and heart. Shake up your life in 2008! Why not do things that are out of the ordinary? Why not spend time and energy bringing joy to your own life?

The more of us who have our hearts set on fire for life, the more beautiful our World will become – for we will bring smiles, new energy and fresh creativity to each day! You will Harness Your Personal Power in a way you can hardly imagine if you connect to your passion this year.
Let’s BE THE CHANGE that we want to see in the World.

If you are smiling more, happier, more peaceful and joyful, you are sure to create that in your World.

Please email me with your thoughts and ideas on this subject! patricia@patriciaomoqui.com
If you are interested in helping raise funds, or get donations for the homeless, please email me and I can give you some ideas on how to help the Book Bank Foundation. Check out their website at http://www.thebbf.org/.

• Do you knit blankets? Would you like to knit some for the homeless?


• Do you bake? Want to set up a bake sale to raise some funds?


• Do you have extra sweaters, pants, coats and long sleeved shirts hanging around your closet? If you want to donate, please let me know.


• Do you have friends who would donate all their change (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters) towards helping the homeless?
  

If so, let me know!

My heart is on fire with love for you, for life and for bringing transformation to the World!

Trish

http://www.patriciaomoqui.com/