What are you waiting for?

I believe each of us can make a difference, even if there are days when we don’t know what difference that will be or how we will accomplish it. I have been giving this a lot of thought lately and wondering what I can do. And wondering how I can help others see and take action on what they can do to make a deeper difference in the world so that we feel like our lives are contributing to the greater good and leaving a legacy we are proud of. One idea I came up with is to think about what gifts we have; you know what I mean when I say gifts, right? I mean our talents, our sparkle, the things that others adore about us, the unique touch that we have and have had our whole lives and sometimes don’t use to its fullest potential. We each have multiple gifts that we have been given or have developed over the years. And there are many ways for us to express these gifts in our personal and professional lives. I don’t know about you, but I spend too many days, wondering and fretting over the most ridiculous things, most of which I have no control over anyway.

So this morning, I am immersing myself in the question, “Which gifts could I use more and what might I actually do that I am not doing or not doing well enough now?”

And what gift and talent will you immerse yourself in expressing bigger, stronger and with more courage?

My life would have been different

Judith Duerk writes in her book, Circle of Stones; a Woman's Journey to Herself, "Long ago before the patriarchal period, in many places on earth, the Goddess was worshiped." Wow, I am intrigued by this concept. I wonder what life might have been like back then and I especially wonder what MY life would have been like.

She writes more to intrigue me further. And I notice I yearn for a circle of wise nurturing women in my own life.

"How might your life have been different, if, long ago when you were still a tiny child, long before you began to come to the Women's Lodge as the normal cycle of your life, you had been brought here especially by your mother and aunts...and you and your girl cousin entered shyly into this place you had overheard so much about?

And, after the fires were lighted, and the drumming, and the silence, you heard, for the very first time what the women called the Naming...each woman speaking slowly into the stillness, sharing her feeling of how she saw her life and what she wished to say of it...sharing it with the women around her...weaving the threads of her life into a fabric to be given and named.

And, as the shadows of the day lengthened into dusk and you leaned your head against your mother's shoulder, you pondered in your heart a different sense of a woman's life...

How might your life be different?"

What to do about the Economic Crises

This morning I woke up and thought before I started the day being busy, doing errands, and running around like a crazy woman getting ready for the holidays, I would spend a luxurious hour immersing myself in the question, “What do I really think is next for me on my personal journey?” “What do I want to do with myself that will make a deeper more meaningful difference in my life and the lives of others I touch?”

You know when you finally decide to buy a hybrid car, like a Prius, every car on the road seems to be one? Well, everywhere I turn there are women and men too trying to answer the question, “What can I do with my one precious life that will make me feel fulfilled and help others? What am I dreaming about and yearning for that I have not yet done? And if not now, when?”

All is going relatively well in my life at the moment, and yet recently I notice again an undercurrent of restlessness. I think my restlessness is fueled by the financial crises and economic chaos we find ourselves in no matter where we live in the world. I feel we must make some changes to the way we are running our businesses and living our lives in order to sort things out and create a new sustainable way of living on this planet. And I think even my small individual attempts to help in this time of huge world transition will be welcomed. I believe we each can make a difference, even if we don’t yet know what difference that will be. I believe that the way to make this difference where we could change the world and impact the lives of others is to do it with our gifts, our sparkle, our unique touch that we’ve had our whole lives; you know the essence of who we are.

So let’s start simply and ask ourselves two questions:
“What’s your gift?”
“What are one or two things I can do this week to use my gift to help others?”

So what are you waiting for?

International Coach Federation Annual Conference

This year's International Coach Conference in Montreal in November was like no other. This is my 12th year attending the annual conference and I'm always happy I attend as I learn alot and meet amazing people from all over the world. Coaches from over 46 countries gathered this year to deepen their learning and contribute to the growth of their fellow coaches on many levels! Wisdom Circles, live coaching demos, workshops, and master certified special coach training session were all part of the venue. Being a Master Certified Coach allows me to participate in some advanced training I would not otherwise have the opportunity in which to participate. The conference opened each day with a super session with three amazing world leaders; Vandana Shiva, Peter Senge, and Matthieu Ricard, "The World's Happiest Man. These keynote speakers provided us with new wisdom, scientific research, and insights as they shared refreshing new ways of expanding our perspectives and how we can each have a ripple effect globally.

The ICF is really an amazing organization with over 14,000 coaches from many disciplines, backgrounds, and countries. Check them out at www.coachfederation.org

Women's Weekend of Spirit and Healing recap

It was wonderful. It was inspiring. We learned alot about so many things that matter to our lives as women; ranging from how to deal with change better, how to heal ourselves, how to move our bodies with passion, how to eat to be healthy and sexy!, how to find our voice, and how to take care of our precious breasts so they remain healthy. We got free gifts and chocolate too! It was wonderful. It was truly inspiring. Plus we had a wicked good time! In a stunning inn and spa at The Stonehedge Inn.

"Thank you for having me. I loved the retreat. I really learned a lot and experienced a lot of connections last weekend." Bridget

"I can't wait to tell my girlfriends for next year!" Sue

"The presentations were amazing. The food & setting spectacular. I enjoyed the gifts, thanks!" Marie

"I loved it all, the support, the beauty, the love, the living testimony of what's possible for healing and wholeness." Melanie

Pilgramage and Traveling Your Life Path with Jen Cohen

Dear Magic Party women!
Thank you to those of you who came to the last Magic Parties’ Women’s Circle in September. If you weren’t with us, I am sharing thoughts with any of you on a journey, on a personal pilgrimage, or at a crossroad. If you were with us, we would like to hear what is opening up for you, what questions got evoked, what answers flooded into you from sitting with these question, how you are feeling on your path today, which lesson you think you are learning most directly now? If you were not with us, read the lessons and questions below in this blog as they will help move you forward along your life path.

Some thoughts on pilgrimage:
Some of us go willingly at first at least. Some of us go kicking and screaming. Either way the pilgrim is compelled by the forces of blank ( you fill in the blank that fits for you) to step onto the path and walk. What you find along the way will make you forget why you wanted to walk at all, it will make you wonder if it mattered at all, will force you to go beyond your current ideas of who you are and how you are. And that dear ones, is the point I dare say.

I thought I’d also post the questions I asked at The Magic Parties Women’s Circle. Some of you may want them for future reference.

The lessons and The questions:
1. Entering the unknown: What do you know for sure? Are you willing to trust that completely?
2. Letting go: What would you have to let go of to take this pilgrimage? Are you willing to let that go?
3. Dealing with fear and scarcity: What would you have to confront on this pilgrimage? What would you need to have with you to be able to confront that?
4. Letting desire be bigger than fear: What is already dying or dead but you are willing (using your will) yourself to do anyway? What is calling to you from your future that you are avoiding hearing?

We’d very much love to hear from you!

Blessings on your way to mecca........Jen

Poems from the Women’s Circle

For A New Beginning
John O'Donohue's To Bless the Space Between Us, A Book of Blessings

“In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you”

Ready to Lead?: a story for leaders and their mentors pp.63-64– Alan Price

“We all reach the point where we dream of packing our bags, walking to the shore, and setting sail for new worlds. But few of us actually set sail.

Many get lost in the dream and never take action. Many pack, unpack, and repack their bags, but never walk to the shore. Many walk to the shore, enjoy the breeze and the view, only to walk back home. Many step onto the boat, load it with provisions, check the maps and instruments, but never pull up the anchor. Many set sail but only go out far enough to look back at the land from a new view.

A few sail off and break free of the land. They go with the deeper currents, follow the stars that call them, and reach new worlds. Let us set sail for new worlds. Let us reach them together. “


Let us know what’s up with you. Use this space to blog and comment to our community.

Work Life Balance

In our "Turning our Dreams into Action" teleclass, we've been working our dreams for the last 10 weeks. Our dreams are varied as we are individuals on our own journeys. Some participants dream of a deeper relationship with their husband, some dream of being a well known author, some dream of creating health and well being in their lives, some dream of the contribution they have yet to make in the world, and I've been dreaming of my own television show.

One participant is dreaming on creating work life balance. We each have a partner that we work with as our "buddy" for the 12 weeks to be accountable to, to make us feel better when the going gets tough, to witness our challenges and accomplishments. Here is what one buddy said to her partner that I thought was worth sharing.

Work/life balance doesn’t mean you get up every day and 50% of your day is work and 50% of your day is life (non-work). Work/life balance is about ebb and flow. Some days you can invest more of yourself into non-work and some days you’ll need to invest more in work. Look at work/life in chunks of time vs on a daily basis. The challenge is once you get through a heavy work period, think about swinging the pendulum more towards “life” for a little while to even things out. Ebb and flow.

I think this perspective on ebb and flow makes many of us not feel like a failure daily when it comes to my work/life balance challenges.