Collective Gain Podcast: tips and real-life stories to find your purpose and live your truth.

In this week’s episode, I’m sharing about softness and how it can play a role in our lives as type-A go-getters. As a group, we (and I say we because I self identify with this group) often cling to the things that are productive or forward driving, both in work, and at home. This drive is great, however, the thing that I’ve seen is that even when my day is crammed full, with back to back meetings, I feel that I still need to make my “down time” productive. So, I listen to ebooks that are about business, and sometimes even tie my running to a productivity goal. There’s an overarching sense that everything, whether it’s for work or not, needs to be in service of something else. 

This focus on productivity leads to rigidity in our schedules, and a rigidity to our days, which can feel very overwhelming.  What I’ve found is that softness, which can involve play, rest, and nurturing the connections in your life are a much needed element in a busy life. 

Softness allows for a fuller experience of life

Piggy-backing on a recent episode (How to receive the things you desire) and last week’s episode about resistance, I want to unpack the role that softness plays in our lives. While softness may feel like the polar opposite of productivity to some, I invite you to explore the many ways in which softness actually opens us up for a fuller experience of life – one that has more connection, space, and meaning for us as humans.

In this episode, I’m exploring four ways that this softness and self-compassion can play out:

* Trying things for the sake of play, without having a specific outcome in mind* Allowing myself to rest or take a break instead of pushing to do the next “productive” thing* Self Compassion: Welcoming imperfection and celebrating when I try new things imperfectly* Compassion for others: Being conscious that the connections and roles and relationships of life often require energy; it is not always easy and smooth to be a co-worker, boss, spouse, or parent

Your Practice for the Week:

For this week, I invite you to listen to the little voice or urges that pop up for you to slow down. You might find (like I did), that you would prefer to try something different, more playful, with a routine. You might notice that you’d like some quiet, or to read a book just for the pleasure of reading. Follow that voice that says  “Let’s play.”

My hope is the next time you hear that voice, which you may have heard many times, (or if it’s the first time you notice it, that’s awesome) you’ll try out what it’s asking you to do.

On last week’s episode I talked about receiving, and I’ve found what often happens when we step into receiving is that we encounter resistance. Every time we stretch ourselves in a way to try something new, to step out of our comfort zone, to do something differently, we are often met with resistance. 

There’s so much emotion around change, and this can also go for speaking with somebody, a friend, a partner, or a co-worker, where you’re offering a new idea, or a new way to do things. There was initially some resistance from the other person, right? There’s a little bit of questioning, “Is this going to make my life harder?”

As you step into more and more self development, and you go towards who you want to be, resistance is going to show up. We fight against ourselves, and it’s not that you’re not good enough or you don’t have enough self discipline or you don’t have enough drive or ambition.

It’s the difference of approaching change and new things with gentleness instead of pushing or avoiding it, and it’s what this episode is about.

Some ways to break resistance:

* Setting up a morning routine to center yourself* Breathe for a moment and decide what you want to do in this moment

Living a life really connected to myself and other people sounds blissful, and treating myself gently and being in a receiving energy is definitely a way I would like to experience life.

Resistance is something you can overcome. It is something that you will feel at times, but you are in complete power to overcome it and it doesn’t have to be hard. We don’t have to feel that it is something we have to effort our way through or just get over it when the resistance comes. We can just say, “Oh look, it’s resistance.”

In this episode I talk about:

* Resistance and the War of Art* How resistance comes in and can stop you in your tracks* That you can know the next steps you want and need to do, and the nature of resistance is to stop you from doing them* How she experienced resistance about this podcast, and publishing episodes that were already recorded and ready to go* The role of accountability in overcoming resistance* What happens when we approach something with force and “angry energy”* Approaching change and new things with gentleness* The five second rule for resistance: count backwards from five and see what happens

Resources

The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield

This week’s episode is all about one of my favorite topics: receiving. Receiving is a huge topic for go-getter, type-A, ambitious people. And if I’m being honest, it’s the one I struggle with the most.  It’s what I’m currently working on with my coach, what I work on in my relationship, and also what I work on in my business.

What I’ve found is that receiving is the hardest for these type of people. It is hardest for me, and you may be wondering “What does that even mean, receiving? I don’t understand.”  When I talk about receiving, I’m talking about grace, ease, and flow without efforting to get what you want. 

This could be a coincidence, a surprise, or a miracle, anything that shows up and makes things easier. You can call it divine intervention. 

And I’m not necessarily talking just in a spiritual sense. I’m talking about it as as it pertains to nature, too, all over the place. I like to say “the tree doesn’t make its own sun.”

Presence allows us to receive

When you’re in moments of stress and problem-solving and wanting to take action, you are not open to receiving. Presence allows us to receive the inspiration and experience the amazing things in our life. Instead of holding tightly to the outcome, look for ways to pause and receive inspiration, leaving room for the natural outcome, a better idea, or a more efficient way of doing something.

The next time you’re in a moment of wanting to jump into problem-solving, take a minute and just lean back, and pause. Create a little space and relax. I immediately go into a state of receiving. You can call it space for other people to come support us or for our mind to just process what we have to do next. 

Your Practice for the Week:

This week, I’m going to slow down, lean back, and breathe. I invite you to take a moment. Keep in mind what you want to create, and allow a little space, and serendipity and luck to come your way. I’m going to allow that to happen and I invite you to join me. 

I would really love to hear how your week goes! Did this resonate with you? Let me know in the comments!

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

* Receiving * Nature’s way of receiving – how trees grow, receiving sun, and don’t stop to ask if it’s right or wrong* Being in a relaxed state to receive fully* How letting go of attachment can lead to breakthroughs* The energy that you bring to something can impact its outcome* How to present your ideas in a way that others can receive and accept them* The way to be open to receiving feedback and the difference that it can make* Pausing can give you the space to put your best work together, faster* How to use a pause to allow yourself to receive creative inspiration at work* What happens when we grip and white knuckle our way through things* Being fully present when receiving inspiration

Welcome to Season 2 of the Podcast

As we close out Season 1, which has been full of interviews with other awesome people I have met, I thought it would be interesting to have someone interview me. It’s been a year full of growth, both for Collective Gain and for me personally. So, I’m excited to have Paula Jenkins on to interview me for the season finale. 

I started Collective Gain after experiencing  incredible awareness and shifts in my life from working with a private coach. Because of this experience, I wanted to find a way to share the amazing benefit of having a private coach with others. It was my desire to make the coaching I wish I would have had in corporate readily available to people at all levels of an organization, and, to give employees the opportunity to experience the benefit of unbiased support as they navigate the realities of modern work and life.

Season One of the podcast has been all about sharing my curiosity on a variety of topics related to coaching and self-development by sharing conversations with some people who have been influential in my life. You’ve heard from people who have found support through new spiritual awareness, who found freedom by sharing their experience, and who have also offered insights into their “secret tips” that help them thrive on the daily.  It’s my hope that in sharing these guests with you that you’re starting to expand your thinking on what’s possible for your life and are developing your own “rule book” to support your own personal growth.

Season Two is going to be all about community, and I’m excited to share that with you. We’re going to do a deep dive on the things I’ve been trying out (and the results), and I’m excited to make the next season more conversational. You’ll be betting exercises that will provide you with insights for your life, and hopefully lead you to some shifts that will help you look at your life and the world as something that’s working for you, that’s on your side.. What I ultimately hope is that by the end of season 2 you have experienced the power of giving yourself space, and allowing for ease and calm, to be the energy that drives your success. It doesn’t have to be hard.  And, we’ll end Season Two with a big feel-good event that brings us together, me + you and the larger Collective Gain community. 

In this episode, Lizzie and Paula talk about:

* Lizzie’s experiences in corporate America, and how they led her to coaching* The evolution of Collective Gain over the past three years* The positive impact of coaching on employees at all levels* Looking at nature for inspiration* Growing a business based on referrals and trust

Resources

Collective Gain Website

The Biggest Little Farm (movie)

A special thanks to Paula Jenkins of Jump Start Your Joy for being our guest interviewer.

To experience coaching for yourself, and get matched with a Collective Gain coach, take our matching survey. (link to:https://collectivegain.com/who-we-are-2/)

Laura Greenberg is a coach with a Master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. She’s also a certified massage therapist, a Reiki 1 and 2 practitioner and she works with clients in business and personal development. I’m really thrilled to have her on the podcast this week as a guest.

Having been in and out of the hospital for several months in 2006, she found herself diving into alternative healing modalities, spirituality, and anything she could get her hands on to get better. Laura became a coach as part of her own journey of healing, and her curiosity of how to connect with people through communication.

I love what she shares in this interview, “I wanted to learn how to communicate with people. I just wanted to learn how to talk to people and how to have empathy and compassion and work through some of my own stuff and that’s what I spent two years doing on a really deep level.“

As a coach, Laura holds space for clients as they look for their own purpose, and explore the things that are holding them back from sharing themselves with the world. As she works with them, her favorite question that she shares with me is  “What if none of that is true? What would you do differently?”

In this episode, Laura and I talk about:

* Her path to becoming a coach* How her curiosity around how to respond to someone telling her that someone had died led her to a deeper personal inquiry* Her experience with Reiki massage* How we store emotions in our bodies, and what that energy is like* How to let go of the shoulds that are often running the show, and setting us up for stressful thoughts* How shifting our thinking from limited to unattached can shift our experience of events, people, and ourselves* Stress manifesting in our body, and how to address it* Self-sabotage* Our zone of genius, and how to get there – looking at Gay Hendricks’ book The Big Leap* Fear’s power to hold you back from your purpose* Why it is hard to dive into personal, inner work* Why it’s important to start from a place of connection, flow, and abundance in life and in work

Resources

Laura Greenberg’s Website

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

Deepak Chopra

Wayne Dyer

To experience coaching for yourself, and get matched with a Collective Gain coach, take our matching survey.

Melissa Eliyahoo and Sarah Nehamen are a couple of amazing entrepreneurs who came together to create a business called H2Life that is focused on raising the collective vibe through impacting the water that we drink. I’m delighted to have them on the podcast this week to talk about their business, and their vision for what is possible when we focus our thinking on what is positive, supportive, joyful, and loving.

Melissa and Sarah were inspired by the solar eclipse of 2017, and they set out to create a sticker that people could place on re-usable water bottles that highlight a positive message. What started as an idea to create one sticker quickly became 16 different stickers, and eventually a line of sticker keepsake cards. And, very soon after that first meeting, Sarah and Melissa were brainstorming a name for a new company that eventually became H2Life.

I loved learning that the foundational principle behind H2Life is based on the work of Dr. Masauro Emoto, who studied the effects of positive and negative words on water and rice. His findings were well documented: when affirming words such as love, joy, happiness, and unity were said to, or written near water, it had an impact on the molecular structure of the water. These water molecules formed beautiful, well built crystals. When negative words were shared with water, a very different kind of molecular structure formed – one that was less structured, less supported, and less life giving.

Using these findings as an inspiration, Sarah and Melissa offer a line of positive and affirming stickers that people can place on their water bottles. The messages remind all those who see the message to be a positive force, and, it has an impact on the water inside of the bottle as well.

The part of this interview that stands out the most for me is near the end of our conversation, when we got to talking about the importance of setting intentional goals for your life and your business. Melissa recounts a quote that guides her, from Earl Nightingale about two boats leaving Alaska. One boat sets a destination and arrives on time. The other boat floats aimlessly.  

In Melissa’s words, setting your sites on a destination “helps us to make sense of, and understand the importance of knowing where what we want for our Lives. Having an intention, and doing some digging, researching, writing, and figuring it out if we don’t know what we want, makes me happy. That’s the most important thing ultimately. We’re here in this moment, and in this moment is pure love and light and joy and everything beautiful and perfect and we should be enjoying every moment of it.”

In this episode, Lizzie, Sarah and Melissa talk about:

* How Sarah and Melissa met, and came up with the idea for their company* The impact of positive and affirming words on water* How positive messages can impact the health of the planet * The work of Dr. Mausaru Emoto, a Japanese Scientist* Quantum Physics* The synchronicities of how Sarah and Melissa picked a name for their company

Resources

H2 Life Website

H2Life on Instagram

Dr. Masauro Emoto, Japanese Author on Wikipedia

On this week’s podcast episode, I’m excited to have coach Gwen Dittmar joining me to talk about her journey, and how she’s become a breathworker, spiritual coach, energetical healer, and Reiki master. 

Gwen grew up as a seeker, aware of her spiritual gifts, but unsure of what to do with them. As a teenager she faced Meniere’s disease, and had a near death experience, both of which profoundly shaped who she is, and how she sees the role of healing in the world. She found herself drawn to helping others heal, and after college she found a match to that passion in pharmaceutical, biotech, and device research from 1999 to 2009.

Having experienced so much hardship early in life has given Gwen a unique point of view about the role that choice plays in our human experience: that you are in choice about how you respond to any given event in your life, no matter how painful or uncomfortable it may be in the moment. She shared with me the point where she realized the power of choice to be sober, and how it has been her choice to “die or live a completely different way” that has allowed her to be reshaped and reborn, again and again.

“It was a matter of me being in enough pain and drinking, and then coming to my knees and realizing, ”You know, it’s like I either have to die or live a completely different way.” And, I feel like that’s probably part of the process to being a spiritual being, having a human experience is that we have to be willing to die over, and over, and over again in order to rebirth into this new being that we can be.”- Gwen Dittmar

In reflecting on this discussion, I know that so many of our clients and coaches have gone through a version of this realization in their lives. It’s often in these hard moments, and in the moments where you make the choice to let go of what is not working, and what’s causing you pain, that you evolve.  I especially love that she shares what I hear from so many of our high achieving coaches and clients: that the climb and the perfectionism “worked until it didn’t.”

In this episode, Gwen and I talk about:

* How Gwen saw Visions as a child, and how that formed her experience * Meniere’s disease, and how she understands that it had both physiological and spiritual roots in her life* Her discovery of her gifts of clairvoyance and clairsentience* Her choice to become sober * How and why it’s important to let go of some friendships that aren’t serving you* The role of perfectionism and how it impacts ourselves, and the people around us* How and why Gwen became a coach * How Gwen’s own decision to explore her spirituality, and getting sober informed her path* Growing up with empathetic parents* What to do when you’ve grown past a set of interests, and it’s time to let to of things, as a natural part of your process* How our lives reflect the work that our soul signed up to do in this life* The benefits of working with a coach to get to your authentic truths

Resources

Gwen Dittmar’s Website

Maslow’s  Hierarchy of Needs

Deepak Chopra’s Website

Nene Burns is an executive and holistic coach who has been working in the field of coaching for 20 years. In this conversation, we talk about how our perception shapes our behavior. She uses a framework called Circles of Influence to help us understand how to know where our personal responsibility starts and stops – a great tool to help reduce anxiety and a habit of over responsibility.

She also reminds us of the importance of knowing the system you’re in – and being conscious of how you show up in that system. In fact, the context of our experience dictates 90% of our behavior. This is a great podcast to listen to to get a jumpstart in your own strategy for work, effectiveness and overall happiness. Plus she shares a simple tool that will help you take a positive step toward what you want.

Listen to the Podcast

Kea is a professional and purpose-driven coach who draws you in with her warmth, honesty and determination to live her truth. In this podcast, she speaks about how to get from a path of drag to a path of purpose – the process and the feelings that go with it. Kea also shares what inspires her and the guiding compass she uses to stay true to her purpose.  We talk about lessons we learned from our parents, from our ancestors and how we can step into our own power that has been given to us. It’s like listening in to a deep conversation between friends that will leave you feeling inspired and like you were there, with us, in the room.

To learn more about Kea view her profile: https://collectivegain.com/listings/kea-meyers-duggan-2/