Design Your Life On Purpose!

Do you squish together a lot of crumbs and pretend it's a whole cookie?  Do you continue to accept less than you want AND then lie about it . . . pretending that what you have is JUST FINE . . . never really getting what you want?In this podcast, Cheri talks about this phenomenon of accepting a life that doesn't make the mark.  She talks about how she finally realized this pattern in her own life when she could see all of the many time and situations where she was wiling to settle for far less than she wanted.  Worse yet, she would lie to herself.  She was squishing together those crumbs and hoping so much to make them into a cookie.    But when she finally uncovered and accepted this harmful pattern, her life turned around.Listen and see if Cheri can help you ferret out situations where you are accepting far less than you want and deserve.  Listen and realize you can have the whole cookie!

The holidays can be a stressful time.  For many it can be an over-stuffed calendar and a mega-to-do list.  For others the holidays it may be intense feeling of grief or loneliness that haunts us.  For most, we tend to raise the bar super-hero high which means we spend our time planning and doing and less time enjoying and savoring. So how do we stay present and not get hijacked by reliving the past or constantly thinking about the future.  How do we stay in the moment?  Better yet, how do we ENJOY that moment?In this podcast, Cheri gives you 5 tips you can use anytime to bring you into your body and into the present moment.  When you shift your thoughts and attention to the present, stress often simply fades away.  And isn't that the goal; to enjoy the holidays and create as many moments as possible that are stress-free and enjoyable.

Whenever we create anything . . . things are gonna get messy.  It's actually the creative process itself . . . giving birth to something new and exciting . . . that causes this wonderful and sometimes scary mess.  Like the saying goes, you have to break a few eggs if you want to eat an omelet.  And so it is with creating our ideal lives.  What does it mean to "create" your life?  It means you are deliberate and intentional about what you are, what you have and what you do.  It means you don't live by default, but rather intentionally creating how you spend your thoughts, your money, your time and your energy.  In this podcast, Cheri goes through what she feels are the five steps of the creative process.  You can apply these steps to anything, but she gives you countless examples of using them to create a beautiful life.  But perhaps just as important as the creative process, she give you three steps to navigate the chaos and messiness that will happen when you decide to step up and live a life that has more of what you truly want. She helps you embrace the messiness of deliberating being creative!

What is a right-sized life? A life that's exhilarating and engaging and also a life that doesn't require you wear a super-hero cape and have an IV of caffeine pumped right into your veins.  When are you doing too much and when are you not doing enough?  In this podcast, Cheri talks about the sweet spot between these two space . . . something she's calling tension. She's observed that people who have just the right amount of tension . . .  the challenging stuff AND the comfortable stuff . . . are seemingly the most happy.  Listen and she can help you determine where you may be right now.  This podcast will help you find your ideal place in which to live your life.

"Out of sight, out of mind" might work for a little while, but eventually what you’re avoiding will come back and demand your attention.Besides, all that stuff you’re putting off is costing you dearly RIGHT NOW!  You think you’re not thinking about it . . . but you are. You can never run faster than your clutter and undone tasks.  So why not just deal with them once and for all.Let Cheri help you.  In this podcast she gives you 4 steps to ACTUALLY get things done.  These are not your typical steps you’ve read a million times. Rather she shares with you a secret for working around the pesky part of you who wants to keep your head in the sand!

Did you know that NOT doing something uses a lot of your precious energy~that procrastinating, avoiding and putting off things costs you dearly.  You already know this I'm sure.So why do we do it?  Why do we continue to lie to ourselves and act as if we have magical elves which come in while we're sleeping and do all the hard stuff for us, freeing us from having to "adult" and do what needs to be done?In this podcast, Cheri helps you take stock in what you're putting off.  She helps you look at your own behaviors, identifying when you lie to yourself and when you allow yourself to stay stuck.  Better yet, she give you a simple process for "tweaking your thinking" so you can finally do the things you want and need to do!

Did you know you can change your thinking?  Some (maybe even many) of our thoughts are out-dated, worn out, or just plain wrong. In this podcast, Cheri takes you through 6 steps to permanently change your thinking.  She uses the same steps you would take to remodel your kitchen and applies them to remodeling your thinking.  Just like a physical remodel, these steps have a cost, can be messy and sometimes leave us exhausted.  But Cheri reminds us that in the end . . .  just like walking into your brand new, state-of-the-art kitchen, you will not regret the effort!

By the time we reach adulthood we have done two things: taken on a lot of mental and emotional baggage from family and society AND learned to hide parts of ourselves that really want to be free.  Robert Bly, from his book "A Little Book About the Human Shadow, refers to the place we sequestered these thoughts and actions the "bag we drag behind us."In this podcast, Cheri asks you three questions to help you open up that bag and lighten your load.  Three questions, that if really answered, could shift your thinking and your actions immediately.  She expands your thoughts about clutter to include not only possessions that choke out our physical environments but also thoughts, feelings and beliefs that do the same to our hearts and minds.

Disappointments are inevitable.  Darn it all!!! But how we deal with these disappointments can make all the difference in how much these bumps in the road affect us and our overall happiness. I this podcast, Cheri gives you four ways for dealing with life’s disappointments (two which her son with autism taught her!).  Four strategies she has discovered on her own journey through the ups and downs in life.  Cheri has no illusions we can completely eliminate life's challenges but with these tips and a open, present mindset, we can make our life a lot sweeter.   Bonus:  In this episode, Cheri refers to a previous podcast on Downstream Thinking.  It is Episode 9 entitled "Go with the Flow"

Are you wasting or leaking valuable, life-force energy? Most of us are. We waste energy by tolerating ANYTHING, big or small, that brings us down, makes us unhappy or stays our to-do list for too long.  In this podcast, Cheri helps you uncover your hidden leaks. She teaches you how to unearth what you're tolerating and then make a plan to plug those leaks! She reminds you when you do the important work of confronting yourself and identifying what you're avoiding, you’re gifted with your map to happiness!  Inspired by Cheryl Richardson seminal work and Cheri's 20 plus years helping people get unstuck, this podcast is sure to have you making changes TODAY to live a more beautiful life, inside and out!