The BEST New Year’s Resolution

When I was a little girl, I asked my mother what should I be. I wanted her answer to be about my future profession, like a butcher, a baker or candlestick maker.

She always replied that she wanted me to be happy, which seemed at the time a lame response.

The older I get and the more I know about life, though, I realize what a wise answer it was.

Why being happy matters

As like attracts like, the more we’re happy, the more happy experiences we’ll attract.

Feeling good allows us not only to achieve our goals but to create a better life.

We can be rich, powerful, famous and living the dream, but if we’re not happy, well, life isn’t much fun. Living in stress, worry, fear, sadness or struggle can destroy our physical, financial, mental and emotional health and well-being.

Happiness doesn’t come because we have everything we want; we won’t enjoy them and may find that they slip away if we don’t feel good.

Stress, anxiety and worry are only habits that don’t serve you or anyone else.

Feeling afraid because of lack of money, love or health won’t change when you have everything money can and can’t buy. If these ways of thinking are habitual, you’d find something to get you bent out of shape.

Ever notice people (maybe you) who always have a reason to complain or feel bad? Even when things are great, they find something that’s not good enough.

Be happy. Find a silver lining no matter what.

You might be thinking that I don’t understand. You’ve got a lot of problems. You’ve been done wrong. You’ve experienced loss, and you’re afraid the proverbial other shoe might fall. You’ve been living in pain. You’ve had terrible things happen to you.

I really do get it because when everything in my life was falling apart, I knew I’d lose it all if I stepped onto the slippery slope of fear. My negativity would have made things go from bad to worse.

So I made a decision to feel good. To feel good in spite of it all.

Step at a time, sometimes baby steps, my life got better and better and better.

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The BEST New Year’s resolution is to resolve to feel good. With this decision all things or something better are possible. It really is a choice.

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You have complete control over your perspective, regardless of the situation. Your interpretation of events, your life, your success or manifesting your dreams is your key to the door of happiness, misery or getting what you most want.

Your energy will draw to you more of how you feel.

How in the world can you feel good in spite of the odds? Be grateful.

A client gifted me a handmade journal with an embroidered peacock on the cover that she bought in one of my favorite museums. It’s so beautiful that I decided I only wanted beautiful words in it. Another client on her team suggested a journaling exercise that makes her feel good.

Write what’s working in your life.

Soon after, on a day when everything was uncharacteristically out-of-synch, I couldn’t leave town to go to a party for me! Instead of having a hissy fit, I grabbed my new journal and wrote on the entire first page the many things that are going well.

Focusing on gratitude shifted my energy, allowed me to let go of the stress and be in present time. Of course, the change in plans turned out to be way better.

HAPPY New Year to you.

Hint: the clue is in the greeting. The first word is HAPPY.

The BEST New Year’s resolution is to feel good and be happy.

You can use feeling good as your inner GPS to know if you’re on the right track or not. It may be that the only thing needed for you to be happy is an attitude adjustment.

Also, how you feel can be an indicator that you’re on the right path or heading in a direction that no longer serves you or maybe never did.

If you decide a change is needed, feel good about where you are, even if you don’t like it. Then line up your energy by feeling good about your new direction and take actions for something better.

Happy New Year! It’s your choice to parrot the words or make them come true for you!

May you enjoy your happiest year ever!

P.S. Know someone who might enjoy this post? Please share.

www.soulgoals.com

I work with people
who choose to share their gifts
or business in a BIGGER way
but don’t know how, feel stuck
or would benefit from new tools
or support.

I help them be richly compensated
doing what they love by aligning
with their Soul’s goals.

Copyright © 2021 Soulgoals, All rights reserved.

A Breather From Chaos: My Peaceful Greeting To You

Dearest Friend,

During the last few days, I enjoyed hours online looking for a heartfelt greeting for you.
 

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You might know these quotes from the 1946 movie “A Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. 

“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

“Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.”
 

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I could have coupled this last quote with one of countless videos of bells ringing representing you, my angel.

There also were funny, animated, Santa video cards that carried messages to stay focused on your goals (for Santa, it was his Christmas cookies) and don’t give up.

I saw Charlie Brown Christmas videos starting from the 1960’s, ancient Christmas greetings, flash mobs in malls and city streets around the world, and heard magnificent music… but none of these would inspire Santa, Rudolph and the reindeers to jump off a rooftop to dispatch my missive.

For many months, I saved the above photo to share with you this Christmas. I named it “Peaceful – A Quiet Hush.” 

It brings back teenage memories of a moonlit night, watching in wonder a silent snowfall from my bedroom window in upstate New York.           

Then as the time came to make a decision, an idea popped in to search for Christmas Peace Poems. Not having a television, I wasn’t familiar with what I found. Maybe you have because Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem is a bestseller. 
 

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Maya Angleou, during her interview on the Today show, recited a portion of her poem.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.
 

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May you celebrate peace and joy in your heart.

With gratitude,

Virginia

Edited from Soulgoals’ Archives December 25, 2013

If you’d like help finding peace,
contact me for a free consultation at:
virginia@soulgoals.com

I work with people who choose to share
their gifts or business in a BIGGER way
but don’t know how, feel stuck or could 
use new tools or support.
I help them ignite their Soul’s goals
and be richly compensated doing what
they love.”

Copyright © 2020 Soulgoals, All rights reserved.

Be Master of Your Fate

A family man in his early thirties was happily employed at a well-paying job for seven years. The young couple was ecstatic when they were able to purchase their own home.

Six months later, the business closed its doors. Tired and scared, his three replacement jobs weren’t generating enough income to meet expenses.

During our casual conversation, he detailed reasons why his former job was ideal and unique… and he hasn’t been and wouldn’t be able to find anything that would replace it. His story centered on loss and lack.

An undercurrent of fear crashed against his quiet desperation.

Unbeknownst to him, his portrayal of “telling it like it is” was launching him on a hopeless trajectory of not enough, dooming himself to repeat his cycle of things not working.

I gently brought up alternate perspectives. Other possibilities were available. It would be hard to find them if he thought they didn’t exist.

A couple of days later, I was told that his attitude was much lighter and optimistic. Feeling stuck shifted to how he could find better employment. He started writing plans to follow his passion as a musician.

Don’t fall for the ego’s seduction!
 

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The ego is a false identity and a clever bugger. It knows how to bamboozle you into feeling bad about yourself, regret your choices and wonder if your life has any more meaning than a slug.
 

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When you believe your sad emotions are telling you the truth, you can get lost in thinking, thinking, thinking, and trying to figure out what you’re going to do about… anything. Everything. That’s the ego for you; but it’s NOT you!

The ego will lure you to doubt yourself into believing that you can’t break free of your situation.

When you buy into negative “logic,” you feel bad. You can feel like you’re on a hamster wheel of you’re not enough, nothing you do is good enough, and you don’t have enough. You obsess and feel like chopped liver (especially unpalatable to vegetarians). You then attract more of the same. The cycle continues.

Remember, you are master of your fate.

Stop arguing with your thoughts of doubt, limit, confusion and fear. Instead, boost your confidence, and appreciate yourself! Look at the good you do and have done.

If you’re not finding positives in your finances or work, look to what you might consider simple things, such as being kind to animals. Build from there. Little steps add up to big ones.
 

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It matters not how strait the gate, 
How charged with punishments the scroll, 
I am the master of my fate, 
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley, 1849 – 1903
 

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TIP:  Be Master of Your Fate

Listen to conversations that repeat in your head. Journal to let the negative ones go AND continue to write to gain perspective.

Next, write about your ideal outcome and feel the enthusiasm as if it or something better were already happening.

Set an intention that insights and direction will emerge. When they do, take action.

No matter what’s happening in your life, starting now, choose to be the master of your fate.

So be it!

Edited repost from Soulgoals’ Archives December 3, 2015

If you’d like support to change
your circumstances
(it is truly possible!) and 
master your fate,
contact me for a free consultation at:
virginia@soulgoals.com

I work with people who choose to share
their gifts or business in a BIGGER way
but don’t know how, feel stuck or could 
use new tools or support.

I help them ignite their Soul’s goals
and be richly compensated doing what
they love.”

Copyright © 2020 Soulgoals, All rights reserved.

LisaBeth “LB” Thomas on the Front Page!

Journal Profile: LisaBeth Thomas is a behind-the-scenes star

TV producer celebrates decade as co-founder of Texas Women in Business

LisaBeth Thomas at her favorite Austin restaurant, Chinatown. It’s also where the group she co-founded 10 years ago, Texas Women in Business, first met. To Thomas’ surprise, 157 people showed up for the first meeting: 
ARNOLD WELLS / ABJ

I’ve been privileged to coach LisaBeth “LB” Thomas for over 10 years. While she’s always been dynamic, I’ve watch her grow through extraordinarily challenging times.

Within four months, she lost her 14-year business along with her house where her children grew up, and her mom passed away. Although she was homeless as well as financially and emotionally devastated, these experiences planted the seeds that later created her metamorphosis.

In the midst of other accomplishments, this year she harvested one of the fruits that grew from the soil of those hard times — her online course called Outwitting Fear. www.outwittingfear.com

While celebrating 10 years as a co-founder and current Austin chapter president of Texas Women in Business (TWIB), this month she was profiled on the front page of the Austin Business Journal.

When I interviewed her for this blog post, LisaBeth offered these kind words:

“Virginia, you’ve helped me get through these challenges and encouraged me to transform what I’ve learned to impact the world.

“Thank you. As my coach and friend for over 10 years, you’ve seen me through even when, after so many losses, I didn’t see the light at the end of many tunnels. I did the work, but you walked me through.”

“Let people know that they can get through their challenges, too.

“Source is our source.”

I’ve taken her online course, and I LOVE it!  Outwitting Fear is a great value, too, because the process can be used repeatedly whenever challenges arise. We can discover and release core fears behind what’s holding us back.

From her website: “I want everyone to find freedom from fear as I did. So that they can have the life and success, and the opportunity to fulfill your dreams, the ones you’ve always had.”

You can watch LisaBeth’s video and find more inspiration by following this link: www.outwittingfear.com

Here’s the link to her Austin Business Journal profile: 

https://bizj.us/1q7d0i

This is how it begins:

By Patricia Rogers – Research Director, Austin Business Journal
Nov 5, 2020, 8:47am EST

A lot can happen in 10 years — just ask LisaBeth Thomas. 

A decade ago, Thomas’s career as a film and video producer was in high gear. Her credits included a wide swath of work from movies like “Hope Floats” to TV shows “Real Life with Gerald Mann,” plus commercials like a campaign celebrating the 20th anniversary of Amy’s Ice Creams.

Referrals, such as from GSD&M to produce Anheuser-Busch commercials for the Keep Texas Beautiful recycling campaign, fueled growth that turned her little Austin production company, LBTJ, into a seven-figure agency handling everything from marketing to media buys.

But of her creations, she is most proud of being one of the original five founders of Texas Women in Business, a nonprofit women’s group dedicated to fostering personal and professional growth along with pooling resources to give back to the community through philanthropy. The group celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2020.

“[We] took the idea to 20 of our friends, and from there it grew to Houston and Lubbock — and 10 years later, we’re still here,” said Thomas, who is once again leading the charge as chapter president during its anniversary year. Collectively, the Austin chapter has donated more than $40,000 since its start.

For this special year, TWIB has partnered with the governor’s office and women’s groups across the state to create an awareness campaign and fundraiser to help fight human trafficking. The “Not On Our Watch|TX” campaign will culminate with an event at the Texas State Capitol next June.

Thomas is also rebuilding her life and her business after a 2015 divorce forced her to shutter the company and sell her home. Her mother also died around the same time, leaving LB — as Thomas is called by friends — devastated, homeless and jobless. She recalls keeping it all to herself and how liberating it was when she finally opened up about her struggles to the TWIB faithful and faced her fears.

“My identity was completely tied to the business, so I thought their love and respect for me was because of the business,” Thomas said. As she worked through her own insecurities, Thomas began to understand how much unconscious fears had sabotaged her and influenced her actions. Thomas has taken what she has learned from her own journey and turned it into a motivational program to help others called Outwitting Fear.

Now, Thomas sees herself as a corporate dropout, preferring instead to pursue opportunities on her own. Thomas is producing again. She calls herself The Big Cheese and her new production company is called Big Cheese TV.

What productions are you working on now? Right now, I’m working with a technology company and we are creating the first “shoppable” hunting and fishing show. You literally can watch the video and click any item you see and are able to read about it or buy it right then. It is very cool.

What are your three favorite productions you had a hand in? “Hope Floats” with Sandra Bullock. Montana Rib & Chop House, we flew Pat Green up to Montana to shoot the commercial — so fun. Grand Roatan Caribbean Resort, we shot Conni Reed of Consuela at the resort. She was being photographed for the cover of Austin Woman Magazine so we did some behind-the-scenes footage and also created commercials and videos for the resort while we were at it.

I have to add a fourth. We produced all of Amy’s Ice Creams 20th anniversary commercials and we had a blast.

What do you like most about your career? I love producing. I have a gift of seeing what’s in the client’s head and creating a film strip in my mind and then bringing it to life.

What has helped or hindered your career? Creating long-lasting relationships has been instrumental. What hindered me is thinking I could do it all. So, when my husband/partner and I divorced, I should’ve gotten someone to handle the operations and let me do what I do best. I thought I could do it all and that impacted my creativity.

What inspires you? Seeing people go for it. We all have setbacks, but what inspires me is when someone turns that setback into something life changing for them or for others. Or when they face their fears or hurts, that’s when you heal.

How would you describe your management style? Making sure everyone feels valuable and what they say or do matters.

How do you start your day? A cup of French-pressed coffee, about 15 minutes by myself in the courtyard then David and I do devotions. Even if I’m traveling, we call and do them together.

Search Results for “LisaBeth Thomas” – Austin Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Titles: Owner and founder, Big Cheese TV; co-founder and current Austin chapter president, Texas Women in Business

Age: 61

Hometown: Stevensville, Michigan

Family: Three children, Sarah, 37, Paul, 28, and Kacey, 27; four grandchildren

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Central Michigan University; studied at Lee Strasberg School of Dramatic Arts in New York City

Phone: (512) 923-4574

To read more: https://bizj.us/1q7d0i

If you’d like help transforming your challenges into successes,  contact Virginia for a free consultation at: virginia@soulgoals.com I work with people who choose to share their gifts or business in a BIGGER way but don’t know how, feel stuck or could  use new tools or support. I help them ignite their Soul’s goals and be richly compensated doing what they love.

Copyright © 2020 Soulgoals, All rights reserved.