Look, See, Move - Are You Ready?

What happens when you are faced with an opportunity to do something different? Do your palms sweat? Does your mouth go dry? Do you feel like you are going to be sick? That was me - the queen of indecisiveness. Not making a decision was easy and I could blame the results of my inaction on everyone else. "I didn't do anything. It was them."

For those of you who are regular readers of LifePrints, maybe you noticed the absence of posts in the last two weeks. There is a reason for that. I've been making decisions and all of them kept me away from my blog. Let me explain....

Two weeks ago I left for a seven day seminar in the mountains above Napa Valley, California. I went to PSI7, the second course offered by PSI Seminars. Along with 95 other people on my team, I learned what it meant to trust myself and to trust others. I left tons of emotional baggage in the valley below a spectacular cliff line. I figured out why I do many of the things I do that slow me down and get in the way of my goals and happiness. I also figured out I don't have to be that way.

We make hundreds of choices everyday. We decide between thousands of options, mundane things, really. But for me, the choice to speak up with a solution or join in a conversation were paralysing moments in time. I knew if I just stood still the opportunity would pass and I'd be safe.

Something interesting happened to me on the third day at the seminar. I'd been confronted over and over with the clear knowledge that based on results, the way I normally ran my life wasn't working so well. I decided to do something different and throw myself completely into the events and lessons that remained during the week. Every chance I had I chose to do what my heart told me was right...I made friends - I spoke up when I knew what I had to say was important - I contributed to the events instead of hanging in the background. And here's the clincher, when it all came together...

I have never been an athletic person and I have an intense fear of heights. Ask anyone who knows me. During one event, I harnessed up and climbed a 30-35ft telephone pole, balanced on top and leapt for a trapeze bar hanging out in space. I caught it and I found myself when I did. I literally danced as my belay team lowered me to the ground. Best of all, I have pictures to prove it. My favorite is me, perched just below the top of the pole. I love the look of determination on my face as pushed past my terror and I set my mind to standing up.

"This is the look, see, move seminar people! Didn't you know that?" I can still hear the staff shouting those words. Well, my life is the same..."Life is look, see, move, Lisa! Didn't you know that?"

I do now. I get it. So since returning from this transformative, empowering week, I've been using my time to reconnect and truly connect with the people in my life. I'm learning that it takes much more effort to "be engaged" in each day than it does to just trudge through it, head down, eyes cast on the sidewalk.

So I'm reordering my priorities. I have some great stories percolating for LifePrints. They will be up very soon but computer time now falls squarely behind family time.

Here is in a nutshell what I want to convey to you, my precious blogging friends - When you look at a situation, see the potential, and move before the opportunity passes you by. Be it as small as a smile to a stranger, a kind word to the checkout clerk or as risky as starting a business you know will make you happy or telling that special someone how you really feel about them.

Follow your heart. You'll be glad you did.

PSI Seminars - My Weekend of Discovery

When my staff partner and I opened the doors on the September Basic PSI Seminar, we saw a lobby full of nervous, apprehensive people. From all walks of life – real estate agents, mothers, constructions workers, nurses, teachers, retirees, teenagers –they filed quietly into the auditorium. PSI doesn’t advertise so the students were there on the recommendations of friends, family, or business colleagues.

They were nervous and frankly a little scared because the Basic Seminar isn’t easily described or encapsulated in a brochure. It’s an experience. And as I watched the weekend unfold, I was reminded that the individual experiences are as unique as blades of grass in a field . The “ah-ha” moments the previous students discovered might be completely lost on this newcomer. By Sunday night the mood changed completely and each one left with a proven set of tools for reaching their goals, a deeply personal inventory of themselves, and a renewed excitement about the future.
They came in looking isolated and left with hugs. We had to shoo them out of the auditorium because they were having so much fun exchanging email addresses with eighty plus new friends. They left knowing that the aloness they’d felt before was just an illusion. We are all connected.

This morning I discovered a quote from a graduate named Mark Montoya. He said this about PSI Seminars - “Crucial to my development as an adult and a successful sales and marketing professional was my enrollment in the PSI Seminars, a series of seminars that empower people to change their lives. Attending the PSI Seminars helped me hone my leadership skills, understand the importance of goal setting, expand my capacity for success, and develop real integrity.”

I witnessed the transformations and empowerment Mark spoke of. I watched as, in a safe environment, the students won back lost integrity and self respect, taking personal responsibility for their lives. They set goals for the future. This was like a foreign language to many of them. Decades had passed since one woman had dared to dream of anything for herself. I listened as they shared about their lives, each story resonating with me and others in the room. A few brave souls allowed people to really KNOW them for the first time in their lives.

As a volunteer staff person, I took part in the exercises, too, giving me the opportunity to do the personal work again and set my own 90 day goal. I took a clear look at where I am and the greatest clarifier was the students. I uncovered my answers through their stories and my interactions with them during the exercises.

All of them are awesome, wondrous human beings. I’d love to have a big party and invite the whole group! Helping out with a personal growth class or any personal development work you believe in is a gratifying way to make a difference in the world. Take someone you care about to a church retreat or tell them about a support group that worked for you and accompany them there. Go with friends to see leaders who motivate you or get an extra ticket and invite that person at work you hardly talk to. Give back to them some of the valuable information that’s been passed on to you. Better yet, go learn a new concept together!