Tag Archives: life coach

Keeping that New Year’s Resolution momentum going

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Failure turned to success

Failure is the greatest success tacher

There is probably nothing harder, more discouraging than the way we perceive how to carry out New Year’s Resolutions.

Last year I wrote about how many choose copious amounts of resolution and apply a ruthless military strategy keeping them, eventually burning themselves out.  I also suggested a very simple and effective way to choose only a few, group them into a few category and boil them down to 3, no more.  After all, it’s simpler to keep 3 resolution than the national average of 10.

Now that we know this, we must also look at the other irritating factor, that of burning out.  Usually by the end of January, we realize we took on too many and have dropped a few, if not all.  The good is… we can pick up new resolutions at any time and don’t have to wait for year’s end!

In my case, I’m witnessing an interesting twist.  My resolutions boiled down to the fact I am a thrill seeker, always looking for the next best thing, a typical 7 according to the Enneagram.  What I need to do is be more in the present.  “Being more in the present” means different things to different people and in my case, it simply means being more aware and enjoying this moment.  This also leads me to better meditation time.

What I didn’t take into consideration is that being in the moment means different things at different points of our lives.  For instance, being in the moment meant slowing down in the beginning of January for me.  It now means to not get caught up in the bubbling amount of projects I am currently working on.

Resolutions are simple if you make them simple and keep a very flexible mind around.  Dropping them is no sign of failure, just that it wasn’t the right one or the approach was off.  By dropping one, we often consider it to be a negative thing but that same negative experience is what tells us if we are on the right track or not.  If we are not, then nothing stops us from dropping it and choosing another, or tweaking it.

So I’m adding “being more flexible” to my resolutions :)

Fascinating 2012 myth!

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Kali,change of time

End of the world could be end of an era

It’s easy to get caught up in the intrigue and commercialism of 2012.  It’s meaning is often mired in distorted interpretations, yet most, if not all serious translators, interpreters and Mayan calendar researchers agree to say 2012 is not what it is made out to be.  Good news for us.

The gist is the end of the world, brashly announced by fanatics eager to assert their might on others, those fear spreading zealots are most probably and certainly wrong.  The “end of the world” is not going to happen.  At least, the way it is depicted.

Run Away!  If you are to listen to the vulgarization of interpretations of the Mayan calendar, and other interpretations, the end of the world is now, or 2012, or even the end of 2012.  You chose, whichever scares you most.  However, a deeper look into the Maya calendar community reveals a few interesting points.  Technically, this is as far as the Mayan calendar goes, which explains how it is to be reset to 0 next year.  It could be just a technical limitation with no other meaning than that.  The end of this era is set to officially be over December 27th 2012.

Some of the more serious interpretations talk about, not so much an end of the world but as to an end to this current era.  This last point makes more sense as it is backed by many astrologists and even more interesting, ancient Indian philosophies that depict the passing of time periods as Yugas.  According to the ancient Indian calendar, we are at the tail end of the darkest moment of human history, the Kali Yuga.  Kali is the Goddess associated with change.  Offered referred to as the “black one”, meaning dark times, she is also the consort of Shiva, also known as Kala, the bright one.

This Yuga, or period of time is all about change, going deep down, removing the old and “ugly”, heralding the new “bronze age” where humanity thrusts itself into brighter times.  The Kali Yuga is the shortest of these periods, thankfully and the next one will be longer culminating into an era of pure light, reason and wisdom, to then again continue the cycle back into a descent to darkness.  The Mayan calendar hints at the same.  It is not the end of the world, just the much welcomed end to an era that no longer satisfies us.

So what can we do?  One thing we can do is to keep that notion clear in mind, that this is just the passing of time, no more, no less.  Yes, there might be earthquakes, floods, viruses and wars, but time goes by invariably.  By keeping in mind clear what works, what would like to see become a positive reality, you activate the so-called “law of attraction” that works in a no-miracle way, that which is alike, attracts alike.  Shunning what doesn’t work and negative thoughts, we can let go of that weight, concentrating on building a positive future.   Basically, be mindful of you mind, voice and action by keeping with what works and see it unfold without resistance.

If this is a hard task for you, let’s talk it over.  I have some experience in that domain :)

The Summit’s Winter Well Being now until March 22nd

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A Winter Wellness from Tap The Source and The Shift Network

Continue your winter by empowering you

Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know about the new Winter of Wellness Summit – another great free virtual quality event from The Shift Network that helps empowering you with practical tools and inspiration to create true wellness in all areas of your life!

You’ll hear world-class pioneers Joan Borysenko, Bernie Siegel, Harville Hendrix, Dan Millman, Marianne Williamson, John Gray, Bruce Lipton and many more experts sharing their latest insights, practices, tools and advice for your optimum health.

Please, register for free here.

The Summit happens January 9th – March 22nd – and you can listen in live via your phone line or computer to as many sessions as you’d like.

Join me and let’s dedicate the season to our greatest health & well-being!

See you there, Nicolas

What a way to spend New Year’s Eve!

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Goal setting by understanding who you are

Picture by Nick Zart

Sick, with a cold and still went out with friends, which sets me back two days recovery time.

4Th Street Vine, in Long Beach was great and the ambiance matched our moods.  Friends showed up and in a whirlwind, left 15mn before midnights, leaving us feeling empty, alone and awkward.  Go figure what goes through the mind of people, no matter how close they are.

Tuesday now and I’m fighting the urge to constantly cough, which is the natural progression I’m used to with my colds.  First the tonsils, then the nose and finally the lungs.  If it gets worse, it continues the loop.

Things I look forward to this year.  For one thing, I’m making a very conscious effort to be more in the moment and less in anticipation mode, always running after the next thing.  This also implies a will to seek out positive things to do that resonate with my core self.  Having said this, I’ll revamp my Coaching practice and will start to look for more clients.  I’ll also start writing for TorqueNews.com, which I highly recommend you go check out.  Their articles are good quality and after being burned by the Examiner ever dwindling pay, this will be a good change.

A few others things I look forward to are working more closely with Shyam, a wonderful friend I’ve learned to discover over this past year.  He is a long lost brother of sorts, with whom I have much to build during this life time.  We are currently working on a few projects, ranging from websites, including our own about electric cars for enthusiasts, a High-Performance Computing venture and a range of equally fun adventures.  We are offering website for individuals and professionals at a very competitive rate, considering they are customized.

Somewhere along the lines I will finally get around to rewriting and redo my website, a much deserved endeavor.  My website was created very late last century and has barely changed, only added to.

And the list goes on…

How Star Trek continues to pave the way forward

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As entrepreneurs know, thinking, feeling, sensing and anticipating “the next big thing” is hardwired in our genes.  However, sometimes we go about the wrong way.  Sometimes?

The gist is as I watch Star Trek The Next Generation for the umpteenth time, I am stunned to see the visionary acumen Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek’s creator had.  Gene tapped into the future and in many ways, helped shape our future.

Case In Point.  Everyone knows about flip phones, fad of the late 90s and early 2000.  My original Qualcomm was one and had amazing features for the time, such as recording voice notes without forcing me to send them to my email, as my Blackberry would incurring charges.  The Original Series had the famous flip communicators.

What is even less known are the round storage disks found on the the very last episode of The Original Series.  20 years later, they show up in our lives as CD Roms.  The list goes on and my favorite is the iPad, which mimics very well The Original Series, The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine’s pads.

What’s Next?  This is where we shouldn’t be afraid or ashamed to look to visionaries and see what we can glean from our future needs.  Visionaries with their stories hint at what people will use in the future.  I am willing to bet Steve Jobs watched Star Trek more than once and got an inkling.  The best way to do it is to play the game: “What if…?”  It starts with the notion that we are doing something in a very convoluted and difficult way.  How can we achieve it better?  Henceforth, the CD Rom, the flip phones, the iPad, etc.  One thing to consider is the following, we have only “taken” technology from Star Trek but not its very rich philosophical questions and fundamentals.  We could surely use some of the wisdom expounded in those shows, in light of the current circumstances.

I’m personally waiting for the transporters as I toy with the notion to write a bible of sorts based on the fundamental principles exposed in the many Star Treks.  Remember, philosophy teachers from ivy leagues asked their student to watch Star Trek episodes to discuss them the following day.  Talk about a Prime Directive!  But in the meantime, I’ll go back to reading Steve Jobs’ biography with the hope I will receive some distant future idea we can implement now… as I nurse a sore throat two days before New Year’s Eve!

Common sense doesn’t mean spending millions

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Find real food at supermarketsThis following story highlights the creativity of man but especially how we can get caught up in the systems we created for ourselves.  Case in point when NASA had to engineer a pen that worked in space, meaning absolute cold, no gravity.  After millions of dollars spent, they had their product.  Russia on the other hand used pencils!

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside.  This was due to the way the production line was set up.  It is very difficult to have everything happen with timing so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time.  Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get annoyed and buy another product instead.

Understanding the importance, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months and $8 Million later they had a fantastic solution—on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time.  They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should.  The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the line.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results!  No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place.  Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share.  “That’s some money well spent!,” he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use.  It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report.  He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct.  The scales really weren’t picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.
A few feet before the scale, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin.

“Oh, that,” says one of the workers,  “one of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over… every time the bell rang.”

Simple coaching techniques anyone can use

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Picture, Nick Zart

Here are some tools you can use with and outside of coaching.  Some of them are free, some of them are available for purchase.

Meditation.  Here is a topic that is so often misunderstood.  While some view meditation in the strict sense of Zen Buddhist, rigid, static, striving for that illusive spontaneous self, other see a way to relax.  The bottom line is that meditation helps you connect back with your self, take scope and regroup.  It’s a must for anyone wanting to reclaim their runaway life and none other than high up successful executive and business owners know its merit all too well.

You can start simply on your own by devoting 15 minutes every day by yourself, with yourself.  Find a secluded spot in your home.  If you can, buy yourself something to shield any lights away from from you.  I found MindFold to be particularly effective and anyone can actually build one from scrap.  You can also use noise cancelling headsets, such as Boses Quiet Comfort or others.  Once comfortably seated, close your eyes, and start by observing yourself.  Observe your breath.  Don’t be disturbed by thoughts coming into to your mind.  Simply, in a detached way, let them slip away.  They are not you, nor do they define you.  The are just thoughts.

Binaural Beats:  Binaural beats are interesting and for those who have been reading this blog, I wrote a little about it a year or so ago.  What they do is put a tone in one ear and another one, slightly off-tune in the other in order to balance both hemispheres.  This allows you to go into deep states of relaxation, meditation and even concentration.

The Monroe Institute pioneered this type of work and perfected it over the decades.  Their CDs are available.  Mark Certo hails himself as a sonic alchemist and worked closely with the Monroe Institute.  His CDs called The Tranquility Training Method (TTM) are fantastic and I’ve particularly enjoyed them.

Soul Contract Reading.  The new tool I added for my practice is called Soul Contract Reading.  The system, also called the Holy Numerology of Moses goes back to millennial and has been “reintroduced” in order to facilitate this forward momentum the human race is experiencing.  By phonetically translating each letter to its Hebrew equivalent, a number and “energy” is given and put on a chart.  This charts helps you understand why your life works the way it down and how to make full use of it.  My initial reading was so fascinating and intense, I felt this would be an amazing tool for coaching.

Listening to your heartbeat is very helpful, so is your breath.  After sometime, you will find that inner peace many speak of.  In these states, everything becomes relative and problem solving is done with great ease.

Those are the basic free, if not at least affordable techniques anyone can use.  Still, nothing replaces a certified, professionally trained Coach.

Soul Contract reading available to our readers

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Tap The Source

Tapping the source for better decision making

I’m very happy to announce that we are now offering a free reading for you specific Soul Contract for those of you who have subscribed to the bog.  We will open the reading to everyone else at a later date.

The gist is I came upon Soul Contract when Nicolas Ngan at Center for Conscious Ascension gave me a reading which was both profound and so uncanny, it picked my curiosity enough to learn how to do it.  After a few months of intense studying (and I mean INTENSE!), I would like to open the reading to a select few of you who have signed up for this blog.

What Is Soul Contract?  Soul Contract is an ancient holy tool called the Numerology of Moses.  In essence it is a direct Spirit, Life, The Source, God or whatever you feel more comfortable calling it given to humanity in order to accelerate our development by reading what we have chosen to experience with our lives here on Earth.

What Can You Expect?  The reading will take about 20 minutes and will touch upon the major parts of your life, why you have chosen this life and to accomplish what.  You will then have a better idea who why you are the way you are, how to turn anything in your life into a positive tool and better realign yourself to your original goal.

Soul Contract reading is a great tool for Coaching.  It takes a direct look at what we signed up to do and experience before birth, what can we do to achieve it and how.  It is my hope you will take the opportunity to try it.  I’m sure you will derive as much as I have.

Thank you, Nicolas

Maneuvering the iPhone plans from the big three

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This is going to be a different post but my Blackberry, affectionately called Crackberry due to a crack on the screen is finally walking on its last leg.  The tracking ball fell off the other day, which spells the end of its usability.

The gist is the problem with Blackberrys is once the track ball is gone, your cell phone is close to worthless and can’t maneuver it leaving you stuck.  If Blackberry’s fame is email, without hosting your own servers or using theirs, it’s a corporate tool.

iPhone Plan Hell.  If you think shopping for an iPhone plan is easy, think again.  First you need to see if you really need to have an iPhone, then decide which one and finally which three carrier makes the most sense.

Which iPhone.  You can currently get 3 iPhones as of December 2011, the 3GS, the regular 4 and the very cool 4S.  The difference is the 3GS and 4 don’t have the famed artificial intelligence SIRI the 4S has.  The specs are not the same but a regular user won’t feel much difference between all three.

All iPhones come with a 2 year contract, although AT&T is the only one that offers the 3GS, which you can get for free from Apple, if you sign up for a 2 year contract.  All three offer the 4 and 4S.  Sprint and Verizon use a same technology iPhone, while AT&T a different one.

OK, But What About The Plans?  Sit down, brew yourself a cup of tea.  It will take time to decipher them.  Verizon has the most confusing website and wants you to buy without seeing the complete price first, so avoid it.  Their chat service is slightly better.  AT&T trails behind as far as the complexity of explanations and Sprint has the clearest descriptions.  As of December 2011, Sprint is the only “unlimited” carrier, meaning you should be able to use it’s web without being throttled (slowed down).

Here is a recap of the most basic service plan you can get for an iPhone 4S.  Numbers are per month:

Sprint

Single line: $80 text, web, nights 7, unlimited, 700mn talk time, AAA 10%, roughly $80 per month, roughly $90 without AAA.  Activation fee (?)

Family plan: $150 with the extra iPhone, any mobile unlimited from any carrier, 1500mn talk time and same as above for both lines, AAA 10%.

Verizon

Verizon insists you buy voice and texts seperatly from data.

Single line: $30 will get you 2gb of data, $40 450mn mobile Verizon calls, $10 text 1,000 verizon to Verizon, $70, $100, activation fee $35

Family plan: gives you 700mn for $100 or 1400 = $120, the same data per line for $60 2gb altogether for $200

ATT

The basic plan: text and cell phone is $20, $40 will give 450mn of calling landlines how you would know is your guess, free AT&T mobile to mobile, and a neat feature not seen in a while with roll over minutes, $25 gives you 2gb ($10 for additional gb), $95 per month, with an activation fee of $36

Family plan: $150 will add another line, with 700mn land line calls, 2gb per, not shared.

Finally, I decided to have a look at Metro PCS which claims the best price and to be truly unlimited, unfortunately no iPhones are available.

Metro PCS

There is no contract, you pay on a month to month, whatever day the service bought, you pay the follow month’s day before.  For instance if you buy you phone and service on the 15th, you will pay on the 14th of the following months.

To use their 4G spectrum, Metro PCS has an LG phone that costs $440, the unlimited $60 a month plan, you can add $10 for unlimited international calls for a total of $70.

In the 3G spectrum, there is a Samsung for $141, with $50 regular unlimited, a $60 plan which adds some TV station streaming and you can also get international calls for $10 more.

Family plan: You subtract $10 for both, i.e. a two $60 per month plan becomes $110 a month.

How Much Do I Need?  Therein lies the real problem I suspect Verizon and AT&T want to cash in on as much as possible.  As a rule of thumb, roughly 200 MB will be 10,000 normal emails (no intensive media attachment there), or you could view about 1,150 web pages, or 105 minutes video streaming.  2gb of data will allow you to send about 100,000 emails, or view 11,500 web pages, or 1,050 minutes of video streaming.

Final Thoughts.

How Difficult Can We Make The Plans?  Both Verizon and AT&T score very high on the confusion factor.  Sprint ranks better but I assume it is because they are new into the game and want to snatch the new lucrative market.  Nonetheless, it is very, very confusing shopping for a cell phone plan and it feel carriers deliberately confuse on purpose to make it hard enough for anyone to eventually give up and buy any plan.  The complexity of the explanations is enough to make sure 80% of clients will not understand everything.  Verizon’s website is the worse example.  Maneuvering it was a lesson in futility, luring you “buy” the plans without seeing the complete price.

Unlimited.  Here is another catch phrase that means very little these days.  Unlimited is not really unlimited and so far the only truly unlimited service is Metro PCS and it would seem Sprint, although I’m not sure if they throttle you after a certain amount.  What this means is that when the carrier tags you as a heavy bandwidth consumer, you are throttled.  Instead of getting full speed, they slow you down.  I’m witnessing this with my home internet with Clear Communications.

To make things worse, these findings only apply for this month!  You can be sure that after the holiday, prices and plans will change.  There is really little to no competition in this industry, which we’ve come to see over the decades.  AT&T has the biggest global coverage but Verizon might have you covered in that little tucked away city.  Sprint has a strong Internet back bone and Metro PCS is riding on Sprints network.

Will we see an iPhone on T-Mobile, my current carrier and Metro PCS?  You bet, st some point at least.

Confused yet?  In the end, and for this month only, if you want the latest iPhone, Sprint is the way to go with $80 a month with a AAA membership.  If Android is your choice and coverage is not an issue, i.e., you will say within the confine of big cities, it’s hard to beat Metro PCS prices.  AT&T makes sense for global businessmen and Verizon if you travel to smaller cities within the US.  Watch out for Verizon’s soon-to-come Hotspots.

The Kybalion, a guidebook to understanding this Universe

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I could have used a more pompous title but after living decades with this little book and having met some of the most amazing people related to it, The Kybalion is truly a priceless life guide.

The gist is far away from the controversy of who wrote it, the book is inspired by ancient hermetic philosophy and does a good job at synthesizing its basis.  Simplistic on the surface, overwhelming when you realize its complexity, The Kybalion is the perfect guide for those who have dabbled with esoterics but have gotten lost in the often contradicting paths.  In many ways, it is the unifying glue.  So what is it anyway?

All Is Mental.  With such a powerful underlying axiom, The Kybalion clearly sets the fundamental basis that all is mental.  Period.  After you have wrapped your head neatly around this concept, the rest falls into place.

The Seven Principles.  And therein starts to unfold the amazing Universe of hermetics and how these “ancient” ones had either unfolded life’s mysteries or had been taught its whys.  The seven underlying principles are down to earth, observable facts that have far reaching consequences, beyond our plane of existence.

  1. THE PRINCIPLE OF MENTALISM.
  2. THE PRINCIPLE OF CORRESPONDENCE.
  3. THE PRINCIPLE OF VIBRATION.
  4. THE PRINCIPLE OF POLARITY.
  5. THE PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHM.
  6. THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT.
  7. THE PRINCIPLE OF GENDER.

The Secret.  By now, some of you might liken The Kybalion to the famous movie; The Secret.  Yes, The Secret borrows heavily on The Kybalion and more with Napoleon Hill’s work, as with the Abraham-Hicks books, yet The Kablion stands on its own.  There are no Kybalion schools, temples, nor masters, and teachers, at least to speak of.  Beware of those pretending to be.  Hermetics starts with observations and is a lonely road until you meet like-minded students.  As said in the book, never equaled, much copied, it has never been surpassed.  There might be schools pretending to be Hermetic, but the real masters shy away from the public.

It can take some time to understand and live the philosophy expounded in The Kybalion.  It takes a lot of observation, freed from bias, almost in a practical scientific way.  This is what appealed to me most with hermetics.  It’s the bridge between science and esoterics, the way it should be taught and never been separated.  But then again, things happen for a reason and this separation has probably taught us that all is indeed one.

Read the book once and put it away.  Give it no more thoughts.  Come back to it later.  Months, even years and start to see how the Principle of Mentalism applies to everything around you.  See how what you and others think affects the world around you.  Find the clever subtlety in that statement.  Then tackle the next, the Principle of Correspondence and write a comment or two to share to the wealth of what has already been built upon this marvelous little book.