The Dance of Life is an ongoing allowing of what is, in this moment, while feeling grateful for what is coming.

The resistance to what is, is merely one step in the dance.

It can stop us, when we choose to let it.

Or, we can just remember that it is just one of the steps in a beautiful dance.

Step in to the moment.

Feel the fear.

Resist.

Twirl, turn, bow and face your fear.

Step into gratitude.

Twirl and feel the fear release.

Step back to trust, and slide step slide.

Step into another moment.

Namaste

Right now today:

• Of 190 heads of state, 9 are women.
• In the Corporate sector, 15 to 16% of the top positions are held by women.
• 20% of non-profits are led by women.

These numbers have not changed since 2002 and are going in the wrong direction.

Why does this matter so much? It matters because women natively have a very different, heart-centered approach to how to operate in the world, and it is a loving, nurturing approach which is the only way we are going to adjust our relationship to the earth.

It matters because we need the balance between masculine and feminine, we need an integrated approach between yin and yang, left and right brain, head and heart.

And it is our responsibliity as women to step up, get past the cultural conditioning that holds us back, and take our seat at the table.

The cultural conditioning, for example, that for men, success and likeability are positively linked, and for women they are negatively linked. In other words – we like men who are successful, but we are not so sure about the gals. And we are not so sure about ourselves -  feel around inside yourself for any little voice that says – "Am I going to like MYSELF if I'm truly successful? Won't that make me a bitch, or pushy? I don't want to be pushy…"

Argh!

This is such an important conversation. We have so many amazing women and heart-centered men in the world whose voices need to be heard…and it is up to us individually to step up and clear out that conditioning. Come from the heart, be who we are, and move the conversation and the numbers in a much more balanced direction.

This conversation is central to my vision, which is to live in a world filled with self-actualized people who love themselves, each other and the earth, and ACT ACCORDINGLY.

The ability to do these things authentically and powerfully comes from changing your INNER conversation about how much you and your voice matters. That's where my work is. Helping you change your inner conversation, your inner vision of who you are. Whether you're a woman or a heart-centered man who wants the picture to be different.

If this resonates and you want to take charge of your conditioning, let's talk. Go to:

http://scoutwilkins.com/discover

You will find that my Discovery Session costs $197. However, if you go there from this blog post, today, and if you're a woman who's determined to bring more balance, through understanding and releasing your own conditioning, you can use this coupon code to get $150 discount on the session, bringing it to $47.00. I am offering 15 of these discounts as part of a call I am doing today, and about half of them got taken up immediately, so get in while they last!

coupon code: karen  

Just hit the buy now button, type "karen" in the coupon code box, hit "apply" and you will see the charge as $47. Answer the questions on the form you are taken to, and I will get in touch with you.

I hope I get to talk with you. Let's get our voices out in the world where they make a difference!

Namaste

But there are so many more very scary ways to come out.

It's about coming out as who you really are, your most powerful, authentic self.

Coming Out is about recognizing and claiming who you really are and what you really do, and acting accordingly.

The whole idea of "coming out" being so much more than coming out as gay or Lesbian.

Where in your life do you need to find the clarity and courage to “come out?”

Are you a coach or healer, and afraid to speak up and claim your own power?

In your heart of hearts do you secretly know you’re here to be a leader in the new earth or spirituality movements, but at the moment you’re being run by a voice inside that says:  “Who would listen to you, anyway?”

Or are you in that special purgatory of knowing there’s something really great inside you, and you have no idea what it is?
 

Here’s a really good question to ask yourself:

"What will it mean when I “come out?”

While you're asking, ask this:

"What is it costing the world, and the people I am here to help, that I have not yet done it?"

Make no mistake. It is time.

It has never been "time" the way it is now.

Right now the universe is totally sup porting people who are stepping into their individual, beautiful unique authentic personal power – and it is definitely peeling your fingers away from the edge of the pool, if you are holding on in any attempt to hang back, play small, or hide the light that wants to shine out of your eyes.

Does this inspire you to perhaps begin to consider maybe getting more ready to think about possibly coming out? 

I hope so.

I am pretty familiar with the coming-out process.

I did come out as a Lesbian, about twelve years ago, after a long trip through deep unconsciousness on the subject. In spite of how long it took me to recognize what was true for me, once I figured myself out, the actual coming out was easy.  

It was simply an “aha” moment that changed my life.

My next “coming out” was a very different story. It was scary, it was huge, it took me a LOOOOOONG time and a lot of help.

That "coming out" was when I claimed myself as a healer. And let me tell you – that was a far, far harder experience.

The difference was that I was questioning myself on all fronts. I was full of self-doubt and recrimination.

All kinds of gremlin voices were asking things like:

“Who in the heck do you think you are, anyway!?”

You know the voices:

    “Who would want to listen to you?”
    “Don’t get above yourself young lady…”
    “You are such a fraud.”
    “It’s all been said before. You don’t have anything new to offer. ”
    “Besides, you don’t ever finish things. What makes you think this will be different?”

yada yada yada.

Well – I figured out what I needed to do, to get past those voices, and to start doing my real work in the world.

It’s been amazing. I am SO GLAD I did.

And that's exactly how amazing it will be FOR YOU, when you come out as who you really are, doing what you are here to do.

There is no difference between you and me.

We both have gremlin voices.

We both have fears and doubts.

Are you ready to move past yours and get on with the next amazing part of your life?

If you are having trouble claiming your own power – please stop beating yourself up about it.

It is HARD.
It is SCARY.

Just don't make the mistake of thinking you are less than me or anyone else, or that you "don’t have it."

If you are here reading this, you have it.

You want it.

And you would not have been given that desire if you could not fulfill it.

You can do this.

Come connect with the biggest possible version of yourself,  so you get the courage to come out.

Let’s talk.

Simply reply to this email, with answers to the following questions:

1. What would you really love to be doing, when you let your biggest self come out to play?
 
(If you don’t really know, that’s OK, it’s fairly normal to have that hidden. Tell me anything you can imagine about it.)

2. Beyond all the usual reasons and excuses, what’s really holding you back?

3. How determined are you to come out in this way?

And then give me this info so I can contact you for our call:

Name:
E-Mail:
Phone (in US)
Skype (outside of US)
Time Zone and best time to call:

I hope I get to talk with you!
 

Warmly,

Scout

Want to listen in to more on this subject? Here's a link to an interview I am doing with Karen Rauch Carter on this subject, Wednesday March 13, 2013. If you miss the interview, you will get the details to hear the replay when you register. It's all totally free.

http://scoutwilkins.com/coming-out-krc/

I'd like to offer a different thought.

In the natural energetic rhythms of a woman's life, as mothers and partners, we give give give of ourselves all our lives, literally being prepared to give our body away each month.

When menopause comes, we stop giving it away in the same way. We step back into holding our own power. All that creative energy becomes ours to hold, and to use for ourselves, to build our inner wisdom for sharing as the wise women we have become.

If you are going through menopause, what if you let it be an incredible time of deepening into knowing and loving who you are, and connecting with what you have to give to yourself? Only in this way can you distill what you have learned in your life, so you can offer it to the world in a new way. With a full loving heart that loves and honors YOU, first.

It is now time for your voice to be heard in a new way.

Welcome!

We are all walking around in a trance all the time.

This thought is from Milton Erickson, arguably the greatest hypnotist who ever lived.

All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. All your internal decisions are self-hypnosis.
All of life is self-hypnosis.  You have convinced yourself that things in life are a certain way. You have a story of how the world works. It is your own personal story, and it is absolutely unique.

It is your personal trance, your personal story.

Is your personal trance empowering, or disempowering?

Really, the only question that really matters is how soon it will be time to choose to hypnotize yourself into a more empowering story. How soon will you choose to hypnotize yourself to be who you really are and want to be, to do the things you long to do, to have the things you really want. Most of all, to feel the way you really want to feel.

I could hypnotize you in about three minutes into feeling the way you want to feel, so deeply, that it would seem absolutely real.

To your inner mind, in fact, it WOULD BE absolutely real.

And you know what? You can do this for yourself as well. Right now. All it really takes is changing the story.

Let's explore: Loving Yourself

What if you could go through your day, hypnotized into loving yourself so deeply that you can then love everyone around you just as deeply?

Loving those other people is the natural outgrowth of loving yourself, and until you love yourself, your love for them will always be conditional.

Your love for them will be based on what they might give you, which you hope might fill in the holes where you do not yet feel whole.
 

Based on your hope that they might somehow heal the places where you do not yet love yourself.

As long as you don’t love yourself, you will find it impossible to love them unconditionally.

So you can see now that loving yourself is the greatest single most generous, loving act you can perform.

Loving yourself is the most selfless act, the greatest gift, you can give the world.
 

Refusing to love yourself is to set yourself at war with everything.

I invite you to consider how deeply it would serve you to make a different decision.

What if you decide to use this new thought to hypnotize yourself into loving yourself?

What if, as you read this, you decide to experiment with how very, very easy you can let it be to go into a different trance than the one you operate in right now, in your day to day life.

Decide to let go, and dive deeply into this imaginary adventure. One in which you love yourself unconditionally. All the good stuff, all the hard stuff, all the strong stuff, all the weak stuff – ALL OF YOU. No exceptions.

Let it be real.

Set this one clear intention:

Let Go.

Let go of any judgments about yourself.

Let go of any need to direct your thoughts.

Lovingly let go of the need to control this.

Set the intention and let the movie begin to play.

You will be well, well served by letting go of the illusion of control.

Because there is a part of you that knows exactly how beautiful you are. It may be waiting for other people to discover it. For sure, it is hidden under the blanket of your fear and doubts. And it is strong. All you have to do it let go of holding it down.

It will stand up.

Love it yourself. Love yourself.

Soon you will be deep into a very empowering trance indeed.

You can choose to live in a disempowering trance,
or you can choose to live in an empowering trance.

This is your choice.

We are all in trance, all the time.

You are in trance all the time.

Which will you choose?

I love you. You are a beautiful soul.

Do not take my word for this fact – that only makes you more dependent on my words, which does not serve you.
 

Let my words do nothing more than provide a safe place where you can stand and look around.
 

As you look, you will see all kinds of evidence of how beautiful and amazing and loving and lovable you are.

Let it in.

Let go.

Let it in.

Namaste.

If this served you, please consider sharing it as far and widely in whatever way you can.

Thank you!

(I know, big surprise, huh?!)

When that happens, I lean into my trust that they're coming out just the way they are supposed to.

Let me tell you a story.

I have become totally willing to admit that I may never know what the bigger purpose is, or that it may be years and years before I get a glimpse at why things happened the way they did.

There are reasons for my deep trust of this. Here's one:

In 1973, just out of high school, I dropped a friend off at the airport in Rapid City after a Rocky Mountain adventure together, when it was time for her to head back to California, and me to continue east to my new job.

In 1995, that experience gave me a single anchor point in my life, when I was helping another friend – my best friend – escape an abusive situation. I was scared out of my mind.

We had left Wahpeton, ND on the sly, throwing what we could grab in a little U-haul trailer while her husband was at an appointment in Fargo. Her friends were all too scared to come help. One of her students, bless him, was willing to come – that was it. When we were packed and ready, we gathered her daughter from school, and hit the road.

Barely breathing.

Over the next two days, our progress slowed and slowed, as she sank into the paralyzing emotional collapse that follows an escape like that.

We finally hit Rapid City, and things HAD to change.

Here's the scene:

We had two cars.

She had disintegrated emotionally and couldn't continue on.
Her 7 year old daughter was completely melting down.
All of this in the middle of winter in the middle of South Dakota, with an unstable, very angry gun-toting man at our back. Or somewhere.

Who knew where or what was happening on his end.

And we had fifteen hundred miles to go.

You know the saying, scared out of your mind? Well, that was me – truly, I was stressed and scared beyond being able to think.

I could not solve this problem.

It was beyond insane.

I looked at the map, and my body knew, when my mind didn't:

In Rapid City, people get on airplanes.

The solution unfolded from there.

As far as I am concerned, a major purpose of that trip in '73 was to have me ready for '95.

Of course, I can't know that, really.

What I DO know for sure is that this experience gives me incredible trust in the way things roll out, and an ability to trust and go with them.

I have far too many stories like this in my life not to.

How about you? Ask yourself where you've seen things unfold in a way that you could never have predicted, never have planned. Things that served you in unexpected and unforeseen ways.

Use that to help you trust this moment right now.

One time I heard Marianne Williamson ask an audience this question: "For those of you who have gone through a major hard life experience – experienced a huge setback or failure, had a terrifying disease or accident, and it was at least a year ago (perspective is critical) – how many of you would NOT go back and undo that experience, given everything you have learned, all the ways you have grown, since then?"

85% of the room raised heir hands.

Hope this helps!  If you find it useful, I'd sure appreciate you commenting, or sharing it with people you care about!

Thanks and Namaste,

Scout

Simply ask yourself one new question, as regularly as you can.

"What positive, powerful changes have I seen and experienced because of the work I have done?"

Often people refuse to let themselves celebrate and feel good until they've gotten to some milestone that's "Out there". The trouble with those milestones, for we high achievers who carry that old story that nothing is every quite good enough – the danger is in never letting yourself just be there, where you are good enough. So you never celebrate, and so – it's never enough.

See the cycle?

You are good enough, of course, right here right now.
You are in the right place.
By definition.

Because you are right here, in the middle of your path. How in the world could it possibly be different? How could you be anywhere other than where you are right now?

Why not let that be good enough for right now? What if you let it be just fine – or maybe even (gasp) perfect? Leave the future in the future. Sure, have goals and dreams and aspirations. Just don't sacrifice feeling good in this moment, recognizing what you have done, who you have become.

You can get there by asking this question:

What positive, powerful changes have I seen and experienced because of what I have done?

You can always find evidence in either direction. We all can.

I certainly have my big moments on focusing on "Oh Sh*t what have I done, what a screw up, how could I have done that?" etc. I am no different than you.

And – the other side is ALWAYS there.

What will change your life is focusing on the positive, powerful changes you have created and experienced because of what you have done.

I promise, I am talking to myself at least as much as I am talking to you. I am having a heart to heart with my own coach this afternoon to get fully back to appreciation, and then back into to forward action. (Yes, I have a coach. Why would I be offering something I don't 100% believe in? We all need both sides of the coaching model. Appreciation for what is and action for what's next.)

So – let's take a deep breath together and find the answers.

What changes have you seen and experienced because of the work you have done?
Because of how you stepped up, because you would no longer accept the way things were, and determined to change them, to change your
focus, to release some old demons.

Ask yourself: "What's different now? Where have I seen shifts and changes, where is there more possibility?"

And then take it a step further – do yourself a  favor and stand up publicly and claim your shifts – there's a perfect forum right here. Add your celebration to the comments. I would LOVE it. What's gotten better for you, because of what you've done?

For me – the biggest celebration for the work I have done is that I am so much clearer about who I am, I am so much more willing to speak my mind, to follow my own preferences as I celebrate other people following theirs. I'm far better at healthy compassionate powerful boundaries and I am much more compassionate with myself most of the time. I get to watch myself helping other people get to the same place of self-compassion, so they can move ahead peacefully and powerfully toward what they want next.

How about you? Your turn!

And even if you don't end up sending it to me, be sure to ask yourself those questions regularly.

It's what I do with my morning pages when I am in touch with doing what moves me forward – which I, like you, like everyone, am not always in that place. So let that be OK too.

What I do  know without the slightest doubt is that keeping these questions handy and asking them again will put me back in that place. They help me remember the bigger picture and my movement forward toward the greater peace I want to feel.

Hugs all around!!!!!  I'll be watching for your celebrations – bring 'em on!

Here's what I think:

Surrender is letting go of the story of being small.

Releasing the idea that you are negatively special.

That you are all alone, you're different, you don't belong, or don't matter.

Surrender is deciding to release those voices, habits and decisions that have kept you from stepping up to being as brilliant a light as you actually are.

Surrender to your brilliance.

It's a scary thought, to admit that you are brilliant. That when you really let what is in your heart come to the surface, you are a genius of love. That you can really make a huge difference, just by standing up and speaking the knowng that is in your heart.

Marianne Williamson said this brilliantly, of course:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?  Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. …As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  

What if surrender is letting go of the story of how small you are, and stepping into your brilliance?

Who would you be, what would you do, when you surrender your story of being smaller than you really are?

If you'd like to hear more about this, including some real world tips about HOW to do it, here's a link to a free call I'm doing on the subject, on Saturday January 12, 2013 at 10 AM Pacific. All the details are in the link – and if you miss the call, you'll get the recording.

Hope to "see" you there!

Surrender to your Brilliance

Find Your Best Ideas and Solutions through Creative Play

Feb 8 & 9, 2013

Live Workshop
Alexis Park Resort,
Las Vegas, Nevada

Connect the dots of your life in fun new ways.

Find your best, most brilliant ideas and creative solutions.

Imagine stepping out of your normal routine long enough to dance with your creative spark.

• Slow down and relax
• Envision what you really want
• Investigate what is in the way to you getting there
• And developing solutions to take you around those obstacles.

All in a very safe space, while having a fun time playing with art, making new friends, building a new support network, and enjoying yourself deeply.

Woven into this weekend will be trainings, explorations into and openings of:

• Trust
• Inspiration
• Gratitude
• Flow
• Forgiveness

This will be a guided process, using cutting edge Mind-remapping tools to take you where you need to go, inside, to release the outdated fears and beliefs that are holding your dreams hostage.

What is the value of taking two full days to get the breathing space and opportunity to listen to yourself and find your great answers? Priceless – and yet,

Only $197.00

(Note – this workshop is limited to 20 participants)

The ship has sailed on the early bird pricing, and the workshop is STILL a great deal!

Did miss the boat on the early pricing? Did you really want to come, but something was making you hesitate? Fear, doubt, deservingness: what was the critical voice of choice this time?

Are you holding back from this workshop because you're not an artist and part of you doesn't want to get out there showing how much you suck at art?

Well – here's the deal.

We're not creating art.

We're creating metaphors. Metaphors which will sink into your awareness and lead you to solutions that you will not think of any other way. And the god news is – you just show up. You don't have to DO anything but play, and let the metaphor create itself. I will be asking questions and guiding you, when you are deep I play, which will magically open doors in ways you could not have imagined.

This little image, I hope, will dissuade you that we're going to be called upon to be great artists. I wanted to have a fun way to remind you that the early bird pricing ends tonight. I pulled out some fabric I have, got the idea for a boat, Googled how to fold one, (using an ordinary piece of white paper) found some little people (yes it pays to have a lifetime's worth of creative gatherings at your disposal, and I will handle that for you) and voila – ten minutes and here's a really great metaphor.

Which also leads to the question: Where else in your life are you missing the boat? A fundamental principle of behavior is: How you do anything is how you do everything. (Which is why art works so well as a way in to solutions in other areas)

I get that there may be "real" issues – timing, money, all the usual suspects. And as a coach, let me ask you – where else in your life are you missing the boat? And what is the cost of that? And what are you going to differently today to change that?

If you won't do it today, why think that you'll do it tomorrow?

We'd LOVE to have you come!

Only $197.00

Workshop details:

All art supplies and materials are included.

I will have tea and coffee and some snacks available through the day.

You will be responsible for your own food and lodging.

What to Bring

Please bring along a small treasure that you can infuse, over the weekend, with your creative energy. You will take this creative talisman home with you.

Do you have anything you'd like to share? Do you live in a place that has special little stones or shells, do you collect anything that would be fun to contribute? If you have anything that you would like to add to the mix of materials, to share with others that would be delightful. It's a really nice way to let the rest of us know a little more about you, and who you are.

Also, please feel free to bring anything of your own you might want to use in your exploration. Just know that the room will be a wild chaos of creative materials, so if you have something that you really treasure you'll be responsible for your own self-care around it.

Clothes.

Be comfortable. Plan to wear clothing that allows you to move and be easy. Colors are encouraged – get a little wild if you want! This is the place to wear that crazy colorful shirt or blouse you bought and don't really have anywhere to wear.

Schedule

We will start at 9 AM Friday, go to 5 PM with 90 minutes at lunch time.

Friday evening the room will be open and I will be available from 7-9 PM. This is totally optional – it will also be a wonderful evening to go to a Cirque de Soelil Show and get blown away by what is actually possible for people!! THAT will open the flow!

If you choose to stay in the room, that time will be self-paced, just time to get quietly creative and contemplative…there'll be no talking or guidance, just quiet music playing, and personal play and introspection happening.

Saturday, we'll start at 9 AM and go to 3 PM, so people have time to catch planes.

Venue

The workshop will be at the Alexis Park Resort. You can make arrangements for your lodging here: http://www.alexispark.com/

I love the Alexis Park because it is very reasonably priced, it is a non-casino resort, so the energy is much more placid, and you're only a few blocks off the strip if you want to catch a show or go play. Alternately, if you want to stay on the strip, it's an easy walk to the workshop. It is easy access to the airport and there's a shuttle to get you there. Of course, you can stay where ever works best for you – you don't have to stay at the venue. It does set up nice opportunities to connect with others, when you do.

Free call. Come experience your own creativity in action.

Rethinking Creativity

Encore Call:

Saturday, January 12, 2013

10 AM Pacific, 11 AM Mountain, 1 PM Eastern
6 PM UK, 8 PM Israel, 5 AM Sydney

The original call was Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

I had a huge response to this call, and there were some audio issues, so to get a better recording I am offering a new call on Saturday. It'll be a new call; since I work off a rough outline rather than a script, and allow room for new ideas to flow through in the moment, even if you came to the first call, consider listening to the second.

Here's a comment I got this morning, from one of yesterday's particiapants:

Creativity is not about whether or not you are a great artist.

It is not about whether or not you can paint or draw or sing or write.

Creativity is about whether you will live in service of what most matters to you.

Whether or not you will own and speak your message clearly enough that people will be magnetized to follow you, so you can you will influence others and make a difference.

Whether or not you do what brings you joy, and live with passion,

Living the life that fires you up, and makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning.

Whether or not you do those things depends on whether or not you are willing to do these two things:

1. Own your creativity.

Surrender to your brilliance.
Admit that you are a deeply creative spirit.
That there is actually a lot more going on inside of you than you have been willing to admit, even (especially) to yourself.

2. Express your creativity.
Let yourself be vulnerable enough to expose your creative ideas to the world.

You are a deeply creative being. I promise you this. You are swimming in a sea of inspiration that is unique to you, eagerly waiting to get expressed.

For one minute, quiet the voice inside that is telling you who you're not and what you can't do.

Just for one minute, surrender to your brilliance, even hypothetically, and say,

"What if she's right? How does that feel? Is this true?"

And allow your bigger self to answer.

You know. You know who you really are.

Life is short. Bring it on.

Come on this call to:

• Learn specific methods how to connect with your creative self,
• Deepen your willingness to claim your creative fire and speak your truth
• Get bolder with your creative spirit.

Connecting with your creativity is connecting with your purpose.

My heart-felt intention with this call is to help you re-imagine your relationship with your own creativity, so  you tap into it in an even bigger way.

Register here: 

(If you registered for call one, you do not need to register again. I'll send you the new details.)

If you can't make the call at this time, register anyway and I will make sure that you get the recording.