Whole Life Coaching & Flower Essences:

Partnering to Create Powerful Change in Our Lives
© 2007 Jaelin K. Reece

Wouldn’t it be ideal if every morning we could stand in a buffet line and order exactly what we want in our life that day, just like we choose our breakfast? “I’ll have a new job opportunity, a loving family dinner and a side of happiness please, light on the tension.”

While life isn’t that simplistic, we certainly do have a say in what we want to create. It is our thoughts, ideas and beliefs that shape our life. When these thoughts and beliefs are backed by fears, judgments, self-defeating behaviors and painful memories, their influence also determines how our life is formed. However, we have the ability and power to create change within. We can choose to change our stressed out, unfulfilled and overworked life into a life we love, making the quality of our life our utmost priority.

How do we go about creating that change? We start by sorting the real from the illusion, the practical from the unnecessary, in order to discover what is truly important to us in our lives. During this process, we need to remain grounded in our bodies and handling our day to day lives, like paying the bills, having relationships, a career, a purpose, etc. We need to do all that and still evolve spiritually.

How Whole Life Coaching and Essences Can Partner With You in Creating Change

Even though this sounds like quite a task, it is not something we need to do alone. We can have the assistance of a life coach, someone who can help us see clearly through the chaos and create balance while exploring our soul’s potential. A life coach partners with us, creating a plan to achieve what it is we want our life to be. They assist with eliminating any obstacles that may be in the way, turning unconscious choices into conscious decisions.

As a whole life coach, I have worked with clients for over 20 years, utilizing several healing modalities during our coaching partnership. I continually turn to flower essences as they have proven to be a valuable tool in the process of change. Clients who have incorporated the essences into their journey have seen marked changes in very short periods of time. In using flower essences, I find that the relationship between our soul’s purpose and our unconscious patterns is opened and cleared in such a way that deep soul healing takes place.

During the whole life coaching process, various emotional patterns will surface as we strive to achieve our goals. For example, choosing to create a change in career direction can be exciting and yet still have layers of fear and anxiety attached to it. Any transition or change means we face the unknown. We go from safe, comfortable and known into unfamiliar territory that is unknown, uncomfortable and not in our control. We experience a mix of emotions and require support.

Whole life coaching offers supportive partnership, talking through the feelings and assisting with the changes, however, the emotional support goes deeper when flower essences are recommended. Flower essences are remedies for soul care that encourages change, and leads the individual into a powerful feeling of self-care. They provide the support and energetic assistance, as well as the catalyst needed to stimulate change.

Overcoming Reluctance to Change

We are creatures of habit, constantly cycling in our routines, not only physically, but also emotionally. When we want to create change, those patterns must change as well. For example, those individuals who are stagnant or hesitant to move forward, Cayenne essence and Scleranthus are particularly helpful. Those who are struggling with grief and fear of experiencing loss are supported well by Eucalyptus, Aspen and Borage. There are hundreds of flower essences, each as unique as the individuals they assist.

A client contacted me while she was caretaking her elderly parents. She was overtired, worn down and was feeling victimized by her mother’s extremely critical nature. ‘Dumbed down’ and judged for every action, her natural instincts were slowly diminishing, being replaced by self-judgment and repression. She was becoming someone she did not like. She felt overly responsible to her parents even though, according to her mother, she could not do anything right. She was searching for herself once again and wanted to create a change, yet she was reluctant to take any actions.

The first step in our coaching partnership was to uncover the feelings that were buried under her circumstances. Once awareness existed, we could work together to create the change through the power of intention, choice and action. I suggested that she have some additional support while we consciously worked through many of the issues in her family dynamics. My recommendations for her first round of flower essence support included Pine for self forgiveness and acceptance, along with Sunflower and Buttercup to boost her self esteem.

Just as we peel layers of an onion, so to do we peel layers of emotion to achieve healing. We release and create change in stages, therefore, we use flower essences in layers as well. While there were several issues emotionally that were present, her healing needed to begin with a sense of knowing that she had the ability to make those changes. The Pine, Sunflower, Buttercup combination of essences were beneficial for this. Throughout her coaching work, we have utilized various essences at different stages in her process. This client continues in whole life coaching, however she is now a changed woman.

She stepped up and told her family she could no longer care for her parents, they supported her decision and made other arrangements that have worked to benefit everyone involved, especially her parents. Our next step is to work through the many layers of criticism received throughout her life. Presently she is working with Willow essence to address the resentment that she holds toward her mother. I am confident that her conscious work through the coaching process, combined with the flower essences will help her to move quickly through this process of change.

Change Happens

Life is constantly changing and whole life coaching means working with the changes as they happen, so no two people are alike. Whole life coaching is based upon you, and you are ever changing. Flower essences support the emotional changes as you work together with your coach, consciously engaging the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical bodies to focus on a clear life path. The result is that you feel lighter, determined, motivated and focused on the path in front of you. Whole life coaching is based upon the concept of “whole,” therefore you are receiving support and guidance in all areas of your life, not just your career, or relationship, etc.

Life does not come with a set of instructions. However, through deep listening and conscious intention, we can illuminate the path and choose which roads to take. Working with a whole life coach, you’ll have a personal tour guide leading the way. While there are various life coaching niches, whole life coaching approaches individuals as part of the greater whole, integrated energetically with all that is. This form of life coaching combines practical life coaching techniques with a metaphysical approach. The whole life coach walks between the worlds of the physical and spiritual, helping their clients to create balance and energetic alignment.

About the Author:

Jaelin K. Reece is a Whole Life Coach, intuitive and guide.

Jaelin uses these complementary skills to facilitate people in realizing their true potential in their personal lives, relationships, career, and prosperity. She assists people in transforming their lives and creating the life they love to live. Jaelin serves as a mentor, consultant and success partner for her clients. She combines her coaching and intuitive skills with over 20 years of professional experience with clients, to help them create a life of passion, joy and empowerment. You can visit her website at http://www.illuminationsnetwork.com

NEW ITEMS: Inspirational Pendants

Business Intuition: Avoiding the Cosmic 2 x 4’s

What’s a cosmic 2 x 4 you ask?

It’s actually a phrase that’s been used in the ‘new age/ metaphysical’ world for the past 15 years or more. It refers to the lessons we learned the hard way when we didn’t listen to our intuition.

In the process of our intuitive development, we learn to listen more deeply and follow the guidance that comes from within. Because conscious awareness is building during that time, whenever we choose not to listen and go against our intuition, the lessons learned seem twice as powerful and painful than if we had listened.

When it happens, it feels like a 2x4 hitting you right between the eyes. It’s especially powerful because ‘you should have known better’. These are lessons that are meant to get our attention either consciously or intuitively. It is infinitely preferable to have it come through the intuitive realm, then take action upon it.

Choosing to ignore, or bypass your intuitive sense will have repercussions that can lead to self blame, resentment and red ink in the business world. Have you ever sat in a business meeting and listened to a proposal knowing the entire time that it ‘felt wrong’ somehow, yet you didn’t say anything? Later you aren’t surprised to watch the plan fail, thinking you should have said something when you had the chance before the company took a loss.

Intuition is like our inner guidance system or a GPS. We all possess intuition. We didn’t exactly come into this life with a set of operating instructions, however we do have an inner road map. Each time we have a ‘feeling’, or what I call a ‘knowing,’ it’s a signal that we are on the right road and headed in the right direction.

Think about a time when you had a bad experience and you caught yourself saying afterwards, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that! I had a feeling, but I did it anyway!” We’ve all had experiences like that throughout our lives. Generally it’s something we want to ‘make happen’ or something we want really badly, so we ignore those inner feelings. Not listening to our inner voice can be detrimental to our wellbeing, and to our bottom line! It’s the repercussions of our inaction that I call the Cosmic 2x4.

Paying attention to your intuition is one thing, however acting on it is another. Why do you think you have an inner guidance system? It’s not meant to sit on a shelf and look pretty, only being dusted off once in a while. It is meant to be used everyday.

Our lives require constant course adjustments or corrections, similar to the automatic pilot on airplanes. In order to stay on track and reach the correct destination, we need to make constant small course corrections. This is where our inner guidance system comes in really handy! Just listening isn’t enough however. Taking action on the intuitive message is just as important. When we don’t listen, we steer off course. Usually those sort of off-road detours are very bumpy and filled with potholes. It’s a lesson in learning.

The moral of this story is that cosmic 2x4’s are painful and avoidable.

Tips for working with your intuition:

1. Sort and distinguish Intuitive messages from the regular mental chatter that goes on in your mind.
2. As you actively acknowledge your intuition it becomes easier to recognize.
3. The more you listen to your intuition, the louder the volume.
4. Trust your intuition will always guide you in the right direction.
5. Acting on your intuition brings rewards.

© 2005 J.Reece

This article was originally prepared for Ivy Sea Online by Jaelin Reece, a visionary consultant and spiritually guided Life Coach, offering unique knowledge, techniques, intuitive abilities and expertise to provide solutions for small businesses, organizations and individuals.

www.IlluminationsNetwork.com

Publisher's Guidelines: You may freely publish this article online, in email newsletters, or in print so long as the resource box and byline are in tact. Author would appreciate a notification, but that is optional.

Orange you Blue?

Why Brand Your Business?

More and more people are leaving the job market and creating their own business, whether by choice or necessity, so the competition continues to expand. Therefore it is increasingly important to stand out among your competition. You want your business to be memorable!

Customers remember images and feelings that are evoked more than just a name on a business card. What type of feeling do you want your business to evoke in your customers / clients? How do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be the first one your customer thinks about over your competition? Of course you do. But what do you want to be remembered for?

• Your excellent customer service?
• Your winning smile?
• Your product?
• Your prices?
• Your logo?

How are you different from your competition? What makes your business special? Ask yourself these questions and then look at the answers. Maybe you are already projecting a particular image. It is cohesive, or is it sloppy? Do you even have an image? Do you have a brand name? Do you have any sort of identity?

What about your services? Does each one have a different look, feel and image, or does it tie into the image of your business? Can you look at your services and see the brand name, image or theme running through each description? Choosing to use the same logo on all your materials, sticking with a consistent color theme and playing off a specific theme is part of branding.

For example, a recent episode of Taking Care of Business on TLC television highlighted a company that custom designed baby gift baskets. Their logo, color scheme and theme were brought together to expand their image. The professional business mentors assisted the owner with creating press releases and media kits for his baby company that were done like birth announcements. This created visual interest, continued the theme of the company and along with the logo and color consistency, the branding was top notch. As a result, he had several articles written about his business in key magazines that target his specific market.

What about your company? Does your image reflect your product? Do your customers recognize you by your business name or a product name? Are you consistent with your marketing message? These are ALL important questions whether you are starting a business or looking to expand your existing business. So, ask the questions, listen to the answers and create a plan for branding your business!

Curve Balls or Scrabble Tiles??

Universe Thrown You Any Curve Balls Lately?

Ever had one of those days when you started out really good and then suddenly it felt like the Universe threw you a curve ball coated in disappointment?

We've all had them. Some disappointments are small, others are large, but they still have the same yucky feeling that gets triggered inside. You thought it was going to be one way, then it changed. And sometimes- change stinks!

I think disappointment makes us feel like little kids again.

Remember when you didn't receive something from Santa that you really wanted? Or when someone didn't do what they said they were going to do? It can certainly feel devastating at the time.

How do you handle your little kid inside feeling disappointed?

You stop, sit down, and remember that you're OK. You are an adult and you know that change happens, sometimes unexpectedly, but you can handle it. Life is a river that keeps flowing regardless of the obstacles in its path. Even if it seems the path that you were counting on has suddenly become blocked, the river will find another outlet. Be open to receive it in another form.

Remember the old saying, "When one door closes, another will appear?"

Don't stay trapped in the disappointment. You stopped, acknowledged it, gave it space and now it's time to get moving. Pick yourself up and keep flowing. Open the next door when it is presented. Be open to receive, and trust that you will always be provided for.

© Jaelin K. Reece, Spiritually Guided Life Coach & Counselor

___________________________________

** Jaelin does great work if you are looking for a Life Coach. Her approach is not the same as others... she uses her intuitive abilities to go right into the core of what is really taking place for you. Then she helps you uncover it, and work with all the information discovered to create actions to move forward with healing and empowerment.

Jaelin is also the featured "Ask a Life Coach" at about.com

Check out her site: Illuminations Network

Random Acts of Curiosity

Alice In Wonderland

Working on photo quality

I am spending some of my day today working on the quality of my photos. I have a lightbox and I am going to purchase a couple of new spotlights to use. I have a photographer friend who has made some suggestions, so I'm going to play with my camera settings and lighting.

I'll hopefully have some wonderful new photos to upload later today!

Get $10 bonus--- that's even MORE Scrabble Tile Pendants...

Be my 1st sale at ARTFIRE & I'll add $10 worth of bonus items!

Visit JesseJanes's ArtFire Shop

Just tell me you found me on twitter!

Do you twitter? Come follow me... jessejanes

Looks good enough to eat....

Delectable goodies from Artfire sellers that look good enough to eat...

Check out this spotlight and many others at found-handmade.blogspot.com

Excellent Customer Service - a necessity

How do you stand out in the midst of your competition when the economy is influencing how your potential customers are spending their dollars?

There are several ways:

• Have an Excellent Product
• Have a Competitive Price Point
  
• Excellent Photos ( I'm working on this myself)
• Get the word out! advertise, promote, twitter, blog, etc
• Have Excellent Customer Service
• Ask for Referrals
• Offer services that your competition doesn't
• Communicate with past customers
• Offer a special for returning customers
• ___________ (fill in the blank)__

I'm sure there are many more things to be added to this list. I participated in the Etsy Chat room the other night, something called the 5 minutes FS.... What is the 'FS' mean? It stands for "Featured Seller". For 5 minutes you get to promote and everyone in the chat visits your shop, views your products and helps promote you, andhopefully sales result from your time in the spotlight. I was in the FS position twice that night and I did have 1 sale, along with many new hearts and potential customers that had never viewed my shop before.

One comment I received was regarding my number of sales. I have had over 2600 sales on Etsy in the past year. In fact next month is my 1 year Etsy anniversary, which I will be celebrating with special deals!

Many asked what I did to get such a high number of sales. I gave them the list that I have posted above. I also mentioned that my sales where quite high before Christmas and things have slowed down since the first of the year, as they have for everyone. I also have seen in many forum threads that historically February is the slowest month of the year. That is good information to have as well.

What can you do when things are quiet?

• Promote, advertise, blog, twitter, chat, etc
• Create new designs, new product lines
• Get organized
• Prepare a plan for this years sales
• Work on enhancing your photos (this is what I'm doing)
• Enhance your Customer Service
• ____(fill in the blank)_______

Excellent Customer Service is extremely important to the health and longevity of your business. Customers are not purchasing just a product that is handmade. They are purchasing the craft of the artisan that created that product and they want to 'feel' the energy of the artisan when they purchase. Excellent customer service includes the beautiful packaging and timely shipping as well as the email confirmation, thanking them for their order and assuring that it will be shipped promtly. Also, that customer service is continued in the packaging, by including a personalized note, instructions for the care of the product if required, etc.

Customer Service continues beyond the purchase and initial shipment. It is extended to any further communications with the customer, especially if they have difficulty with their shipment, with USPS delivery, etc. I make it a priority to make sure each of my customers is satisfied and happy with their purchase and experience of shopping handmade with Jesse Janes. If I lose money on a sale in order to rectify a shipping problem or any other difficulty, I generally create a return customer because they appreciate my prompt attention and the fact that I go out of my way to assist them. I call this "Excellent Customer Service". It pays off in the long run. It's better to have a custmer who returns several times and tells their friends and family to shop with you, rather than have an unhappy customer who will never return, leave unhappy feedback and possibly share that experience with others.

How could you improve your customer service?

...into Twilight....

Twilight inspired creations by Etsy & Artfire Sellers.

Scrabble Tile Pendant Winner Announced!

Congratulations goes out to Shauna!
She's our lucky winner of 2 Scrabble Tile Pendants.

Next blog giveaway begins on Monday... stay tuned.. Even better, sign up to follow my blog on the left side bar. This way you'll keep posted about all our giveaways!

Planning a Wedding or Shower soon?

Check out the fabulous labels from my friend at Ladybug Labels!

Custom Designed labels for your occasion! What could be more perfect for your wedding or party? Check out these wonderful custom monogrammed labels that are available in 48 different colors!

Maybe you prefer labels for your little ones? Ladybug Labels carries a wonderful line of animal stickers, cupcakes, personalized child's name with age, and more... perfect for kids of all ages! They also make great cupcake picks for birthday parties.

What about Baby Showers? or personalized labels for Baby Announcements?


Can't you see these wonderful labels on your announcements?? I have several different styles of labels from Ladybug Labels, including custom address labels and Thank You labels for my business.

Stop in and visit Ladybug Labels... turn around time for customized orders are 3 - 5 business days and everything comes carefully packaged and ready for gift giving.. you can't go wrong ordering ALL your label needs from Ladybug Labels!

Contest ends tomorrow for 2 Scrabble Tile Pendants

My blog giveaway ends tomorrow-- Friday, March 6th! You have until midnight tomorrow to enter to win 2 Scrabble Tile pendants from Jesse Janes.

Visit this link to register.

Craft Gossip.com March Madness over 440 Prizes

CraftGossip.com is giving stuff away-- a lot of stuff! Handmade goodies & more... over 440 prizes! Included in those prizes are 2 gift certificates for $10 each to Jesse Janes!

I've been working with Craft Gossip for the past several month, sponsoring giveaways and now their March Madness is the Ultimate in Giveaways!

It's easy to register to win.. First you need to visit Craft Gossip at this link and view all the wonderful prizes. Write down the title of the prize you'd like to win and then... all you have to do is e-mail comps@craftgossip.com with the prize title as your subject line and your full name and postal address.

It's that easy!

What can you win? Gift certificates, craft kits, jewelry and LOTS more... check it out!

Has Etsy seen the light?

Beta testing starts today on a new function-- paying your Etsy bill with Paypal! How long have sellers been asking for this option? ...a long time...

According to the Storque article today, the beta testing will begin with a small sampling of sellers and will be available to all sellers soon. It only makes sense that we want to pay our bill from the account that are sales dollars go to! DUH!

I ran into an interesting event when attempting to pay my etsy bill yesterday... I wanted to split the payment onto 2 different cards, but etsy wouldn't take the 2nd payment. Did you know this? You have to wait 24 hours before a 2nd payment can be made... ??? One would think they would make it easier to give them money... they certainly make enough from all the sellers..

I've been working to enhance inventory in my Artfire shop... I feel the site will take some time to build to really compete with Etsy, and I do like their set up.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has been selling on Artfire. If you have a shop, please comment and let me know your experience.

Well, I'm off to bed early tonight. I was up early to make sure my boyfriend was up in time to get to the airport. He's off to the UK for a week... lucky him! I'm still here... hopefully I'll get to California in May. That will be nice. I haven't been to the west coast for 5 years. I really do need a vacation! LOL

New Spotlight...

Great new Etsy feature... & Giveaway reminder!

Have you spotted the new feature yet? I have... it's in the recent listings photos that run along the bottom of the Etsy.com home page. It's a small link on the right hand side that says "See even more recent items..."


If you click on that link you have the option to open to a full screen with live photos filling the screen as sellers list them... how cool is that? and when you hover your mouse over an individual item, a larger photo pops up... I'm loving it! Thanks to the admin who thought this one up!

Today is March 2nd... only 4 days left to enter my blog giveaway to win 2 scrabble tile pendants. Take a moment to enter if you haven't already done so... Enter now!

My recycle pendants were recently featured as a giveaway on CraftGossip.com.... recycling has become such an important requirement for our environment, it's great to see it create such a surge in the indie community as well! The winners have already been chosen for that contest.

March Madness or what???

Last night the weather forecast said a dusting of snow and just a snow flurry on Monday.. no big deal. This morning I wake up and they are saying 15" + ... what the heck? I guess we can always count on Mother Nature to have her say in things and not have to answer to any of us! LOL

So, what did I do? I went out to the drugstore, got a few groceries today and am set to stay in for tomorrow. I am so tired of snow! By the first week of March I usually have such bad cabin fever that I am aching to go anywhere-- I don't care where. AARGH!

I did go out yesterday to visit my brother & SIL. My little nephew is 1-1/2 and he's so cute! We played basketball for the afternoon... what a hoot! His big brother is 16 and passed his driver's test this week... so he's driving. That's a big deal for him.

I'm off to work on some web design for my 'other' job.