 Path & Practice |
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The Transformational Journey
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 Greetings!
Welcome to "Path & Practice" our e-newsletter for individuals interested in the transformational process.
This month's e-newsletter focuses on beginning your journey and how to let go as well as the value of gratitude as a practice on the journey.
In "Is It Time To Answer The Call?" we explore the cost of not answering the call to transformation and the role a potential mentor or guide could play in preparing you for your journey.
Our feature article, "Let Go & Lighten Your Load" is about the need to let go of the past as you make your way on the transformational journey.
Finally, in "Rituals of Gratitude" we explore the practice of gratitude as a way creating a life of happiness while at the same time, using gratitude as a pattern interrupt to fear, anxiety and worry.
I am glad you decided to join us for the journey.
Warmly, Laureen
"Every calling is great when greatly pursued." ~Oliver Wendell Holmes |
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Featured Article | |
This month our featured article is about learning to let go of the past .
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 The Journey: The Departure Is It Time To Answer The Call?
Most people about to embark upon a transformational journey often do not even know they are about to go on a journey.
An opportunity to do something different or out of the ordinary occurs and you must choose to accept or say no. You have an experience in your life that could alter or change your life dramatically depending on how you respond. You don't realize it yet but you have been called to go on a transformational journey. Change is a scary thing. Life as you know it is comfortable and so, you ignore the call.
Ignoring The Call
 You ignore the call because, to answer it you must be willing to surrender to the call--to let go of everything you know, believe and perhaps most importantly, everything that you possess. You ignore the call because you are afraid of the unknown. The anxiety and uncertainty about where the call may lead you keeps you fixated in staying safe--even if you are unhappy and miserable.
The cost of ignoring the call is your authenticity. The call you are ignoring is a call to being and becoming your potential. The cost is often paid out in boredom, disappointment and/or depression.
Answering The Call
The call is persistent. If you continue to ignore it, the call will get louder.
 Sometimes a guide or mentor will appear who will encourage you to answer the call. Your mentor could be a teacher, a friend or family member. Most likely they have also traveled the hero's journey and now offer you wisdom from their experience. Your mentor can help to build your confidence and give you guidance but the mentor can only take you so far. Your mentor can provide you with a map and/or some tools or tips on how to make the journey, but eventually your mentor must step back and you must cross the threshold to your journey on your own. No one can travel the hero's journey for you. It is a path you must walk for yourself.
Sometimes life will intervene and force you to answer the call. Events happen in your life that give you no other option but to answer the call. For example, you lose your job, you get divorced, you experience a death in the family. These experiences serve to push you on your transformational way--with or without your consent.
Answering the call is an act of courage. As you cross the border into the realm of the unknown, it can be terrifying. With every step forward though, you are walking towards your transformation. If you are ready to change, now is the time to answer the call.
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The Transformational Journey Want to learn more about the transformational process?
Every fourth Wednesday of the month, meet up and join in the conversation with other travelers on the journey to transformation to discuss the application of transformational concepts as it relates to your life. Club membership is free and all are invited to attend and participate in our monthly Tele-Circle calls.
November 2012
TeleCircle: October 24, 2012
Time: 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time
DVD: "Shakespeare Behind Bars"
Director: Hank Rogerson & Jilann Spitzmiller
"Shakespeare Behind Bars" is a compelling film that follows an all-male Shakespearean theater company composed of convicted felons. For one year, while incarcerated at Kentucky's Luther Luckett prison, the cast rehearse and perform a full production of Shakespeare's great last play, The Tempest. To learn about what books and DVDs we will read or view for the next couple of months, check out the calendar of events below.
Want to register for this month's book discussion?
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 Success Strategies For Your Journey Let Go & Lighten Your Load
"Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."
~Eckhart Tolle Letting Go
On the journey to transformation, you will initially spend a lot of your time and energy letting go. Soon after beginning your journey, you will come to realize that every step you take on the journey is weighed down by all the "baggage" you bring with you. Eventually you figure out that you can lighten your load by letting go of some of that baggage.
The largest bag in your travel luggage is the baggage you bring with you from your past. In many ways, your past is simply a historical collection of roles that you have played out and that, over time, have come define you. For example, in your past you may have been married and you have come to define yourself as a husband or a wife. Or in your job, you may have been a manager or a teacher.
The roles you have played in the past also limit you. If you define yourself as a husband, wife, manager or teacher, you are limited in what other roles you can play. If you are recently divorced or widowed, you must let go of your role as husband or wife. If you have recently quit or lost your job, you must let go of your role as manager or teacher. Holding on to these roles keeps you stuck in the past and stops you from moving forward.
Grief
Letting go of your past represents a loss. All major loss in life is requires a period of grief.
Everyone feels grief in their own way. There are, however, common stages to the process of mourning. It starts with recognizing a loss and continues until a person eventually accepts that loss.
 In her book, "On Death and Dying," Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross identifies five stages of grieving or rather, five emotional thought processes that are typically experienced during the grieving process:
-Denial
-Anger
-Bargaining
-Depression
-Acceptance
These stages do not necessarily happen in a sequential order. Nor does everyone who is grieving go through all of them. Rather, these stages can be used as a way for understanding and processing your feelings when you experience loss.
10 Strategies For Letting Go
1. Give yourself time for grieving; anticipate and allow yourself the time you need to grieve.
2. Change your perception of yourself; proactively redefine yourself in terms of new roles.
3. Take responsibility for your behavior in the past; acknowledge how your behavior contributed to who you are and consciously choose to change any negative or dysfunctional behavior with healthier, more positive behavioral strategies.
4. Learn from the past: identify and honor the lessons you have learned from your past and commit to apply those lessons in your new roles.
5. Focus on moving forward; visualize who you are and how your life has changed 5 to 10 years from now.
6. Take baby steps; channel your energy into small but positive action towards letting go and moving forward.
7. Recognize your progress: keep an ongoing list of the significant things you have done to let go of the past and to move forward.
8. Learn to live in the present moment; make today so full and meaningful there's no time or desire to dwell on the past.
9. Engage in physical activity; get out and exercise. Physical activity is known to decrease stress hormones and increase endorphins--chemicals your body produces that will improve your state of mind.
10. Avoid numbing your pain; seek professional help if you are tempted to drink, drug, eat or otherwise hurt yourself through the pain and grief of your loss.
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The Transformational Journey Meet Up
Living In An Empty Nest & Loving It!
Earlier this month we held our first session of Living In An Empty Nest & Loving It! During this meeting we:
1. Defined empty nest syndrome;
2. Explored the grieving process parents may experience as their children grow up and leave home;
3. Examined the hero's journey as a transformational process through which parents can redefine both their relationship with their adult children as well as a NEW life for themselves.
Meet ups will be facilitated by Laureen Quick, Transformational Life Coach whose own two adult daughters have "flown the coop" and left her living in an empty nest. Meet ups will briefly focus on theoretical concepts and focus primarily on providing practical tips and strategies for overcoming the pain of "losing" your child to their adult life and the joy of creating a NEW life for yourself.
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Practice: Tools For Transformation
Rituals of Gratitude
November is the month of Thanksgiving. It is a reminder to us that we should stop and take time out from our busy lives to express appreciation for the blessings in our lives.
 On the transformational journey gratitude becomes more than something you do once a year. It is an essential skill set for focusing your attention on who and what is important in your life. At the start of the journey gratitude can also serve as a "pattern interrupt" for when you find yourself experiencing fear, anxiety or anger.
There is a great deal of research today that shows a strong correlation between gratitude and happiness. From this this research it is clear that those who tend to be grateful rather than angry or bitter are generally more positive and more satisfied with their lives.
Despite this understanding of the importance of gratitude, it is very easy to allow the fear, anxiety and stress of transformational change to override your sense of gratitude.
Developing Gratitude Through Ritual
Gratitude rituals are one way to build a sense of gratitude into your daily life. Three strategies for creating gratitude rituals in your life are as follows:
1. Begin your day with an affirmation of gratitude. For example, "I appreciate and give thanks for all the blessings in my life." OR "I am filled with a deep and profound gratitude for all the abundance in my life."
2. Say a prayer of gratitude when you eat. Make meal times more meaningful by getting into the habit of saying a blessing or giving thanks before each meal. Resist making mealtime prayers routine and boring. Keep a book of mealtime prayers by the dinner table and select a different prayer each evening when the family sits down to dinner. A great source of mulit-faith meal time prayers can be found by going to: Multi-Faith Mealtime Prayers
3. Keep a "Gratitude Journal" and end your day by writing out a list all of the things that you noticed in your day for which you are grateful. Strive to write down at least one thing for every day in your journal.
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Calendar of Events
November 2012
Living In An Empty Nest & Loving It!
Tele Series
Part 1: Empty Nest Syndrome & The Hero's Journey
Date: Monday, November 5, 2012
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time
Note: This is the first meet up of a series of six meetings. It is not necessary to attend all meetings in the series.
Living In An Empty Nest & Loving It!
Tele Series
Part 2: Discernment & Reframing
Date: Monday, November 19, 2012
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time
Note: This is the second meet up of a series of six meetings. It is not necessary to attend all meetings in the series.
Transformational Journey Traveler's Club
TeleCircle: November 28, 2012
Time: 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time
DVD: "Shakespeare Behind Bars"
Director: Hank Rogerson
December 2012
Living In An Empty Nest & Loving It!
Tele Series
Part 3: Overcoming Fear & Cultivating Courage
Date: Monday, December 3, 2012
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time
Note: This is the third meet up of a series of six meetings. It is not necessary to attend all meetings in the series.
Living In An Empty Nest & Loving It!
Tele Series
Part 4: Your Life's Purpose & Your NEW Life
Date: Monday, December 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time
Note: This is the fourth meet up of a series of six meetings. It is not necessary to attend all meetings in the series.
Transformational Journey Traveler's Club
TeleCircle: December , 2012
Time: 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time
Book: "The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself"
Author: Michael A. Singer
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The Transformational Journey
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FREE
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If you are interested in exploring how one of our coaching packages may be assistance and support to you while on your transformational journey, contact Laureen Quick at 208.761.1812 or via email at laureenq@thetransformationaljourney.com.
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