A Career in Palmistry? An Ivy League Grad Shatters Success Myths

Posted on Oct. 08, 2009 by Baeth.

I’m going to keep today’s article brief. If you’re like me, your time is precious and you want your information to be both useful and easily digestible. I’ll aim for both.

Yes, you probably guessed it. I’m the Ivy League grad who reads palms. (I decided to write this article in response to the various and curious reactions I’ve received based upon that single bit of info.)

Sure, I got a great education, no doubt. But that education was not required or necessary for doing what I love to do.

Why even mention “Ivy League” grad? Who cares? Well, some people think it “means” something. Others could give a hoot. I’d like to share with you what I’ve come to think it means.

So here are some success myths I’d like to shatter (and some success strategies learned):

1. GO TO COLLEGE, GET A GREAT JOB.

This is a common myth. If you get an advanced degree, it is statistically proven to up your earning potential. However, it is not an indicator whatsoever of your ability to choose a profession that you enjoy.

At my 10-year college reunion, many people said to me, “Wow. You have the most interesting profession. And you seem so happy.” A lot of my college classmates - now doctors, lawyers, investment bankers - admitted to having more money but little time to enjoy life. Many of them had also put on a lot of weight and had big circles under their eyes. Sounds like fun to me - NOT!!!

Success Strategy: Spend time searching for what you love.

It WILL come if you’re patient.

I could have left college and stepped immediately into a high-paying, high-stress job. Instead, I worked odd jobs until I found hand analysis. When I encountered palmistry, I said this is it! It took me 12 years. And boy! Did people give me crap along the way. They’d say, “When are you going to DO something with your life? Especially with your education!!!” I said, “When I find it.” I was busy finding out who I wanted to BE.

2. IMPRESSIVE CREDENTIALS ENSURE SUCCESS

Only among those people who recognize the credential. My college degree seems to impress two groups of people: other Ivy League grads and people who are insecure about their own level of intelligence! Everyone else could give a hoot. As a hand analyst, no one has ever asked me where I went to college! (Of course, my palmistry degree is only meaningful to other palmists! I studied palmistry because I WANTED to.)

Success Strategy: Get the credentials YOU NEED to do what you love. If you don’t need the credentials, why waste time and money on school? Go for it!

3. YOU NEED TO FINISH WHAT YOU START

Steve Jobs, creator of the Apple computer, dropped out of college officially and then unofficially audited all the classes he wanted to take, absorbing the info as his own rate, then moving onto to the next class.

Success Strategy: Follow your bliss. Consistency is highly over-rated. Finishing is only important if you’re finishing what you value.

4. IMPRESSING PEOPLE IS IMPORTANT

It’s a human need to be acknowledged for our accomplishments. Your neighbor has a green lawn and you hear all the compliments he gets. Maybe you’ve even complimented him yourself - so you strive to make your lawn greener. Your best friend is thinner than you are, so you start starving yourself. If you look at your life, I bet there is one area where you want to impress people.

I’m more interested in impressing myself. I do this by attempting to live each day according to my own values. If a green lawn gave me happiness, I’d have one. But my yard is gravel, front and back, with plants indigenous to where I live. Why? I’d rather be writing this ezine to you than weeding or paying for a gardener.

Another example. My car is paid for. This gives me much more happiness than impressing someone with my new BMW. However, I’d really love to drive a BMW. I think BMW’s are snappy looking and fun to drive. And when I can pay cash for one, you’ll see my driving it. (But I’m erring towards a hybrid car to honor my value of nature. Decisions, decisions.) In the meantime, my extra cash is going straight into my property investments. This is a personal choice. By choosing investing over monthly car payments, I’ll soon have a lump sum of cash to buy my dream car.

Success Strategy: Determine what you value in life. Is it passion, beauty, elegance, freedom? Make a list of 10 values. Then impress yourself by living those values. Go ahead! I dare you. Dare to take the path less traveled.

My grandfather was successful. He had an eighth grade education, English was his second language and he died a millionaire. He was a joyful, exuberant man who played the spoons on his knee, wore a distinctive cap, and earned his keep as a carpenter - with a knack for property speculation. His guiding principles: Laugh often. Take nothing for granted. Remember to love.

Success is defined by one thing: YOU. Your credentials or lack thereof do NOT define your success: YOU DO! What your mom or dad told you, what your teachers told you, what your church told you, etc. - none of these sources can determine your success.

Here’s to your success!
Go for it!
What are you waiting for?

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Illness as a Teacher: How the Revitalization of Your Mortality Can Transform Your Life

Posted on Oct. 08, 2009 by Baeth.

I had no idea that when I saw Kari in her compromised condition - pale, bald and physically weak - how powerfully I would be confronted with my own mortality. Kari is a stellar ‘patient’ - and gives new meaning to the word. Every day, she is transfused with one substance or another - blood, platelets, medicine, fluids. She receives these vital substances through a tube called a Hickman catheter. (I met Dr. Hickman in the elevator. What a spirit! He radiates warmth and love.) The catheter inserts through her chest, near her heart, and runs directly into her superior vena cava. Kari does not complain, always ready with a smile and hello for the nurses and doctors who attend to her and the complex intricacies of her healing. As I write this, I sit beside her in the clinic as she receives a unit of lavender hued blood.

Her treatment fills every day of every week. She catches short naps between procedures and tries to sleep through the night but is usually awakened by a beeping monitor. She’s had more than one person ask her, “So what do you DO all day? You must have so much free time.” Ha. Ha. Kari spends each day fighting for her life.

Watching her fight, it is clear how precious and fleeting our time on Earth really is. We all walk the line between life and death every day. The perception that we have unlimited time is an illusion.

It is this illusion of immortality that leads to many of our soul-killing choices. But seeing Kari fight for more time, more life, I feel things more intensely. I’ve noticed that I am spending more and more time doing what I love and less and less time worrying and judging myself. The immediacy of Kari’s experience is akin to skiing down a double-black diamond slope. Death is nearby, watching, waiting for the inevitable, but life is the choice. I’ll take as much as I can get.
It is visceral, exciting and compelling. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

Here are some gems of wisdom this experience has afforded me:

1. Live each day as if it were your last.
One of my guiding life queries is: If today were the last day of my life, did I make a difference? Did I live to the fullest? When I can end the day answering ‘yes,’ I know I’m on track with my life goals and purpose. When I answer ‘no,’ I know it’s time to get busy with what is most important. Kari’s situation has made this formerly intellectual concept vibrantly real for me.

2. Celebrate grey hair and wrinkles!
Kari’s fight for another day, another breath, another chance is a reminder to be grateful for every moment I have. That grey hair, the thickening midriff, those lines around my eyes - all are indicators that I’ve been granted more time for living. Chasing youth is the denial of death and the avoidance of life, not to mention a huge waste of time.

3. Life is a mystery.
The doctors have no idea why Kari developed leukemia.
Why Kari? It could have just as easily have been me. Kari lives a model lifestyle: she eats organic food, practices yoga, walks daily, knits beautiful caps and sweaters, has a positive outlook, has loving friends and family, and graduated at the top of her class at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She also holds an MFA in Fine Arts. Her entire life has been structured around creating a balanced, successful existence.

Prevention can only go so far to protect against life’s uncertainties. Sometimes we get blind-sided by the unexpected. It is a mystery. And it’s definitely not ‘fair.’

4. Hold the ‘good advice.’
I’ve noticed that when I tell some people about Kari’s situation, they are full of suggestions about what she should try to heal her condition. Kari receives excellent care - the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is among the best treatment facilities for cancer in the world - by highly trained professionals. Her situation is very complex and requires expert supervision. In the beginning, I had my ideas, too. I’m aware that my need to solve the situation is a way to feel more in control. It doesn’t work and just confuses and exhausts the patient. A teacher I know, who lives with diabetes, expressly tells her students, “Please refrain from offering the instructor healing advice.” Healing is a profoundly personal issue. In other words, what works for you may not work for someone else. In fact, it may harm them.

5. Get good health insurance!
If you don’t have it. . . well, what can I say? “I can’t afford it” is not an excuse. Maybe make those lattes at home. Kari’s medical expenses have already exceeded two million dollars!!! Yes, you read correctly. Please don’t gamble on your future. Fortunately, Kari acquired excellent insurance BEFORE she got sick.

6. Surrendering “it” to the Universe.
When I think of my connection to God/spirit/infinity, I literally imagine the Universe in my mind’s eye. I see a vast expanse of space, filled with stars, planets, zooming comets and meteors. This image reminds me of my place in the cosmos and how small I am and how big it is. For me, this is comforting. When I have a problem I can’t solve, I turn it over to the Universe. As a mental construct, this ‘turning it over’ to infinity allows me to focus on what I can control. Kari expressed to me how tiring it’s been to be the perfect patient and figure it all out. She’s decided to turn her illness over the Universe and focus on what she can control - her thoughts, her words, her deeds. Surrender in this context is not about giving up but about asking for help and letting go of those things we cannot control.

I have two dreams:
1. That Kari’s recovery is complete. She has stated explicitly that she wants to live and I fully support her choice.
2. That Kari comes to know the depth and breadth of her generosity. Even in her compromised physical condition, she gives abundantly of her love and spirit. Sometimes when a person has a life-altering illness, they may feel uncomfortable relying on the support of others. The irony is that we, the others, feel so blessed to be able to help.

May we use the time we have and make the most of it!
To paraphrase Oprah, “I believe you have a responsibility to you and your Creator to be your very best self.” If not now, when?

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What Is Emotional Authenticity?

Posted on Sep. 29, 2009 by Baeth.

Whenever I really want to understand a phrase, I like to look up the words in a dictionary. (A side benefit of my word obsession is that I’m a HOT scrabble player. :-)) So before we get into the practical experience and applications of emotional authenticity in your business, let’s look at what it MEANS.

According to the Farlex Free Online Dictionary, “authenticity” is a noun meaning: the quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine.

Here are two relevant definitions for “authentic:“

1. conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief;

2. having a claimed and verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit or copied.

“Emotional” is an adjective meaning:

1. Of or relating to emotion: an emotional illness; emotional crises.
2. Readily affected with or stirred by emotion: an emotional person who often weeps.
3. Arousing or intended to arouse the emotions: an emotional appeal.
4. Marked by or exhibiting emotion: an emotional farewell.

Taken together, “emotional authenticity” could be described as the genuine exhibition of emotion. Emotional authenticity is a common Life Lesson that shows up in people’s fingerprints when I do hand analysis sessions. It also happens to be my Life Lesson. As a result, when I sometimes attempt to describe the lesson, my mind goes a bit fuzzy, even blank, since this issue affects me at my core.

Emotional authenticity is the foundation for unconditional love of one’s self. If we judge any part of our emotional experience, those emotions get stuck, creating emotional baggage. You then get to haul the emotional baggage around with you. Emotional baggage is heavy and it’s exhausting for you and the people around you.

Ideally, emotional authenticity works like this:

1. You have an experience that triggers an emotional response
2. You ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”
3. You acknowledge the feeling with FEELING words: sad, angry, happy, joyful, guilty, anxious
4. You express the feeling by:
   • expressing it to the person you felt triggered by: “George, I feel anxious when…”
   • expressing it fully and completely
   • expressing it appropriately (You learn what “appropriate” is ONLY by practicing emotional authenticity.)
   • doing it AGAIN if you don’t succeed the first time

However, what happens for most of us when we’re in the “lesson” experience of emotional authenticity is that we don’t feel the original authentic emotion but default to another emotion that is an imposter emotion - a mask - for our real feelings. For example, let’s say you’re afraid people won’t like the new product you’re rolling out for your business. You fear that if your customers don’t like it, they won’t buy it. If they don’t buy it, you’ll go out of business. That’s how fear works… right down the rabbit hole to the worst-case scenario.

So, instead of feeling your fear, you get anxious instead. You’re not sure why. Maybe you find you’re not sleeping well at night or you’re obsessively going over the details again and again with your partner - effectively driving them and yourself crazy. Maybe you find yourself wrapped up in activities that have little or nothing to do with your primary work goals (”procrastination”) or you’re blaming someone for your anxiety. “If so and so hadn’t said such and such, I wouldn’t be feeling this way. It’s their fault I’m feeling this way…” Uh-huh.

NOW… if you’d like to get back to that yummy, scrumptious, at-one-with-yourself feeling called unconditional love, you’re going to have to feel the yicky, yucky, gross feelings. You cannot bypass them. I repeat: YOU CANNOT BYPASS YOUR AUTHENTIC FEELINGS.

If you do bypass your authentic feelings, you are apt to do so in the following ways:

1. Stuff ‘em (I’ll just hold this in and pretend “I’m fine.”)
2. Deny ‘em (Anxiety? What anxiety? I just feel like working all night tonight, okay???!!!)
3. Blame yourself or someone else for ‘em (If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be feeling this!)
4. Hide out from ‘em (I’ll just wait ’til this blows over. Nap anyone?)
5. Rationalize, justify and explain ‘em (You see, the reason I’m feeling this way is that my mother and father spent too much time correcting me in my youth and blah, blah, blah…)
6. Take responsibility for someone else’s feelings (Oh, I wish I hadn’t said that. Now George is upset. If only I’d kept my mouth shut.)

How does this apply to your business? Just yesterday, a client emailed me. He was upset. He’d misunderstood our verbal agreement on a proposal. No formal work had been contracted for. At first, I got upset in response to his upset. But when I took a step back, and really felt my feelings of fear and anxiety, it was readily apparent that my client was having a rough day and that his anger had very little to do with our verbal work agreement. When I called him and simply said, “Hey, how are you doing?” He said, “Ah, I’m going through a lot right now.” And we worked out the agreement in about three minutes. I didn’t take responsibility for his feelings, nor did I blame myself for his upset. My feelings are my feelings and only I am responsible for them.

My client said to me later that day, “I was really impressed by your emotional sensitivity. Your reaction surprised me. You didn’t blame me or get upset in response.” By honoring MY feelings and expressing appropriately - in this case, realizing I was getting upset over something that had nothing to do with me, I was able to find a calm space to communicate with my client. That calm space held the energy of unconditional love.

What would unconditionally loving yourself and your clients do for your business???

The reason emotional authenticity is a LIFE lesson is that the people who own this lesson, at their core, fear that if they are truly, 100% themselves and “out there” with their feelings, they will be judged, corrected, rejected or at the very worst, found “unlovable.” Since that’s “unbearable,” the hamster wheel spins and spins as the person attempts to outrun their authentic feelings and dives into smokescreen feelings to hide from the source of their emotional unrest.

Here’s my Coach’s Challenge for you this week:

The next time something or someone causes a strong emotional reaction in you - positive or negative - ask yourself, “What am I really feeling RIGHT NOW?” See if you can stay with your authentic emotions before getting sidetracked into more comfortable modes of behavior.

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“Are YOU A Bitch, A Crone or A Harlot? (… and what does this have to do with your business?)”

Posted on Sep. 25, 2009 by Baeth.

Susan Schachterle, author,
The Bitch, The Crone and The Harlot
Click on Susan’s picture to buy her book.

Each of these uncommon beings lives from an aspect of the feminine that is often left either undeveloped, or underdeveloped. As a deeper exploration of each reveals, all are available to every woman.”

Considering Your Life Purpose:

Now imagine being able to access action/bitch, wisdom/crone and creative passion/harlot all at once! That, honestly, is my personal quest. So when Susan crossed my path, it felt like an answer to a silent prayer, a prayer I didn’t even know I’d been making.

Which energy does your life need more of now? How will this more fully express your Life Purpose?

Considering Your Business:

Amanda told me she wanted to start her own business after her husband passed away suddenly. With the Life Purpose as the Visionary Paid Healer, she wanted to start her own healing business to help women heal their relationship with money through body work.

Although she could see her successful practice in her mind’s eye, and feel the urgency of her soul to move into action, she found she didn’t trust her ability to take action. She didn’t want to “be a bitch” and hurt anyone’s feelings. The key here is that feelings will probably get hurt anyway if you actually DO something, because other people have expectations you couldn’t possibly fulfill. Secondly, Amanda felt dowdy after losing her husband and thought she’d ‘wait’ to start her business until she lost some more weight. Hmmm…

A little ‘bitch’ and a little ‘harlot’ energy could give Amanda the courage and fortitude she requires to take her dream from vision to reality.

What energy could make your business come to life? Let us know by please posting your answer to this question: “Which type is most you right now - the bitch, the crone or the harlot? And tell us why if you dare! :-)”

You can ORDER Susan’s book by
clicking on the book image here:   

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Mentor = Short Cut

Posted on Sep. 23, 2009 by Baeth.

That’s me with one of my dearest friends and mentors, Ali Brown. What we’ve accomplished in the past four years blew past what we’d achieved in the previous seven years in our businesses!

Why? Because we gained access, both internally and externally, to the right support, tools, mindset and MENTORS.

What Ali discovered allowed her to grow her low six-figure business into the multiple millions and she’s currently listed at No. 263 on the Inc. 500! That’s amazing growth. And that growth occurred because Ali put the right elements in place at the right time with the right guidance. She did not try to do it all herself. In four years, Ali went from around $350,000 a year to $4 million a year. This is divine evidence of her Life Purpose as the Visionary Mentor and Healer in the World Community Spotlight! She’s inspiring women internationally to dream bigger, reach higher, grow their businesses and live their lives with style and spirit.

In four years, I went from making $60,000 a year to over $1.6 million this year - and that’s being conservative based upon projections. That’s 2500% growth! Most businesses aim to grow by 10% a year. Hmmm… I think maybe we’re on to something, eh? My Life Purpose is the “Successful Business Woman and Spiritual Leader with an Inspirational Message in the Spotlight.”

Ali shared with me with what she’d discovered via her mentors who shared with her what they’d learned and implemented as a result of their mentors. And so on, far, far back into history. As my husband, Mark Richter, likes to say, “Mentor equals shortcut.”

If you want to shave years of missteps, agony and trial and error off your track record, you MUST have a mentor. And not somebody you BARTER with either! If you are bartering with a mentor for business, de facto, they are not a mentor. The mentor, de facto, needs to have more expertise under their belt than you. And if you are in business and working with a BUSINESS MENTOR, they need to be making serious money in their business or they probably can’t teach you too much. Makes sense, right? Always, always, always consider the source of the advice you receive.

Last night, Ali Brown hosted a FREE CALL on the need for RISK in your business with myself and another special guest, Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach. Entrepreneurs that risk consciously WIN BIG. But they don’t do it all alone. They do, however, do ALL they must - EVERY STEP of it - to succeed.

Today, I want you to consider where you need to risk and have been scared to do so. What would be POSSIBLE for you and your business if you took this risk? Maybe you need to make an important phone call, raise your rates, fire a team member, hire a team member, get a bigger office, get married, get divorced, move to a new location. Whatever the risk is - you KNOW what it is - you need to get it done. NOW.

But will you? Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, the wimpy, the whiner or the wisher. Entrepreneurship is for the service-minded, spirit-hearted soul who TAKES ACTION and RISKS to WIN. Is that YOU?

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An 11 Vacation!

Posted on Sep. 23, 2009 by Baeth.

It’s been an interesting month of vacation with some work thrown in. (After working 75 hours a week for the past eight months, it was TIME for vacation! Yes, I know how I talk about having time to play – but work IS play for me so I don’t really know how to respond to the question, “Well, what do you do for fun?” It’s ALL FUN! Every bit of it! I work hard, play hard, nap hard, eat with relish. No guilt –just do it all to the hilt! Bring it on!)

Pictured are my husband, Mark Richter, me, Krista Hearty and her sweetie, Michael McLean, at the fantastic Bistro Italiano in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Michael recently won “Marketer of the Year” at the 2009 SuperConference in Chicago, IL. Those of us who knew him knew he would win. Absolutely no contest. The other participants didn’t stand a chance at winning – and it wasn’t for trying!

Michael’s “win” revealed more about the REAL secrets to entrepreneurship than any book I’ve read on business success. His story is one of the inspirations for today’s article.

See the grin on my face in the above picture? Krista and Michael gifted Mark and I with box seats for the AC/DC Concert in Ottawa to celebrate my birthday!!! What??? I had to suppress my scream of joy in the restaurant so as to not terrify the other patrons.

You might be saying “big deal” but those of you who attended my recent Life Purpose Spiritual Summit saw me rock out on stage to AC/DC’s big hit, “Back In Black.” I’ve loved that song since I was 10! I wanted to have my ballet recital to that song, but my request was, oddly, refused.

The other inspiration for today’s article is Angus Young, guitarist for AC/DC. Standing in the Canadian Television’s private box at the stadium, Mark and I were dancing, screaming, shouting. BEST concert I’ve ever been to! Hands down – the best! What made it truly great was the undying passion, energy and EXPERTISE of Angus Young.

He’s put in well over 10,000 hours on his guitar and it shows. He is a master of his craft. Imagine the energy produced by 20,000 people pouring out their love and appreciation to one man, who gave it back through his guitar? Many folks commented on how they were vibrating with the positive energy in the stadium. (We were also semi-deaf and hoarse the next day! Worth it.)

As Michael said at the concert, “On the scale of one to 10, this was an 11! An 11!”

Is your life an 11? What would make it an 11 if it’s not already?

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Were YOU at my June 2009 Life Purpose Spiritual Summit?

Posted on Aug. 18, 2009 by Baeth.

Here’s a little story about the necessity of valuing your contribution to others and being paid sufficiently, yes, abundantly for that contribution.

Are YOU Being PAID for Your PASSIONS?

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