So it's the NEW YEAR... And... Your Resolutions Are ?

So here a Few questions I have seen Floating around and being Asked about New Year's Resolutions ?

***"What do  you regret not having achieved last year ?"
My response: I don't regret anything Everything I achieved was AWESOME and... Anything I didn't served it's purpose...  I learned and grew.

***"Have You  Set Your New Year's Resolution's Yet."
Personally, I feel the whole Hooray about Resolutions is a complete set up for Failure... Unless... a lot of things are in place to support them.

Things to think about:

-What is your intended Ripple Effect ? -What are Your intentions for the particular Resolutions ?
-Do You have a support system in place for the Resolutions ?
-Do You have a TEAM in place for the Resolutions ?
-What are the Outcomes you are looking to Achieve ?
-How Committed are You to these outcomes ?
-Does Your Environment Support Your outcomes ?
-Does What You Think on a Daily Basis Support Your outcomes ?

As I am sure You have heard many times - the saying:

What we think about most of the time we become... we create...

Another question I would LOVE to ask -

What sounds better to You ?

-Resolutions or Intentions ?

-Goals or Outcomes ?

Personally, I feel both Intentions and Outcomes sound and feel much more personal and Mindful than Resolutions and Goals. 

And... I Love Outcomes as when we become Soooo Focused on a Goal we can get TUNNEL VISION and miss out on all of the opportunities that are all around us to achieve that Outcome.  Like a Dog with a Bone, we become so fixated we won't let go of a certain way and can truly miss out on some amazing things.

*Being Open - Minded and Embracing the Both And Mentality...  Realizing we all have our own unique perspectives... Yet being willing to see all points of View, sometimes within another's point of view some Gems can be found.

*Taping into Your Senses... Really Listening, Feeling, Seeing, Communicating from our Inner Most Authentic Self.

I would like to Close with, be sure to Create the mentality of

Let's Do it, versus Do it....

Let's is Teamwork, Sharing, Collaboration

Do it... Is a Really hard way to do it...

Remember Every Action we Take Creates a Ripple...

Wishing Everyone an Amazing, Awesome 2013

Another Midnight Production

Enjoy the Journey

©Carly Alyssa Thorne

Does it Pay to Be Honest ?

While Randy Gage has been on Vacation he has had some Amazing Speaker Guests do his Daily Wisdom Blog Posts.

About a week ago Joachim DePosada and International Speaker and the Author of "Don't Eat the Marshmallow"  a book I highly recommend wrote a blog on "Does it Pay to be Honest"

Direct Link to Blog POST by Joachim DePosada

Direct LINK to JoachimDePosada if You Would Like to find out more about Joachim and or his books etc...

One of his points was that "more often than not, dishonesty is provoked by fear or danger."

Below is Webster's dicitionary Definition of Honesty - Noun

http://www.webster-dictionary.net/definition/honesty

Hon´es`ty n. 1. Honor; honorableness; dignity; propriety; suitableness; decency. She derives her honesty and achieves her goodness. - Shak. 2 The quality or state of being honest; probity; fairness and straightforwardness of conduct, speech, etc.; integrity; sincerity; truthfulness; freedom from fraud or guile. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. - 1 Tim. ii. 2. So the question is - DO YOU BELIEVE IT PAY'S TO BE HONEST ? And does Fear and or Danger play a Role in the decision making to be  dishonest ? I do Agree with Joachim DePosada that a lot of people Lie out of Fear and Or Danger...  There are quite a few degrees of difference between Fear and Danger - Are You in Fear of ? A- Hurting somebody's feelings ? B- Losing a Friend, Job, Spouse etc... ? C- Being Physically Hurt ? Obviously, A & B are very Different than C however, if one's Emotions are running high - to some A & B could feel like C.  They could feel like they are being personally attacked. Regardless, of whether it is A, B or C - I,  personally believe "HONESTY" is Key in all communications, and that in the end, it is for the greater good. And... YES... I am NOT perfect and I am sure when I was a Child I said my share of Lie's and even as an adult I know I have in the past told some lies for the same reasons listed in A, B and C. And... I am speaking from personal experience as I have personally been in the situations of A, B & C... Yes even "C" and when I was in "C" it wasn't until I was willing to be COMPLETELY "HONEST" that I was actually SAVED... And... the Cost was Extremely High... I Lost everything in the process - Friends, Family, House etc... Long Story, I did write a blog about it, however let's not get sidetracked, and get back to this Blog post.  Was it worth it ?  Absolutely 100% Yes... I got my life back literally... Today, however I have to say... I truly do attempt to be HONEST regardless of the cost and here are some of the tools I use to that, and I will also share a Story that just recently happened.  Tool One:  *Speak from a Compassionate Passionate Place. *Be Clear on Your Intention before engaging in the discussion. *What is the Purpose of this conversation. *Are you Attempting to PROVE Your Point ? *Or Are You wanting to Improve a situation that will help empower  both parties ? Tool Two:  *Look at the person's body language. *Are they going to be OPEN to  hearing what you have to say.   *Tap into Your Multi-Sensory Awareness. *Do they have their Arms crossed in front of their chest ? *Are they raising their voice ? *Are they automatically responding with a defense tone ? *Are they getting emotional - Crying ?  Here is an Article I did on The Art of Communication, What are You Saying ? Personally, I also ask someone if they are "OPEN" to Feedback and Immediately let them now that I TOO... am OPEN to all feedback... And I also never use the word "BUT" when I am sharing feedback as the word "BUT" tends to create more triggers... Example: See if you can feel and or hear the difference in this sentence.... "I Love You, But..."  "I Love You, And..." When we say the Word "BUT" the unconscious inner child comes up with waiting for the other shoe to drop if you will... We are waiting for the Criticism or we are thinking OH NO... here comes the... and then what happens is the person's ARMOR goes up and they are MORE on the defensive and ARE NOT going to hear what you are saying... Versus when we use the Word "AND"... it is a much Softer word and ALLOWS for more communication to happen...   Tool Three:  "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz The Biggest challenges in Speaking Honestly is NOT allowing yourself to go to two places: 1- Assuming 2- Taking things Personally Ask Questions instead of assuming and... Realize that we are all UNIQUE beings with UNIQUE perspectives on Life... and what might mean one thing to us might mean something COMPLETELY different to somebody else... I wrote a Blog Post about  Is it Criticism or Feedback ? Tool Four: Always Attempt to do important Feedback in Person. I always ATTEMPT to do feedback in PERSON or if I have to, the next best choice is via Phone... Text, Emails etc... are literally like opening Pandoras box if you will... Text and Or Emails and even the phone sometimes does not fully portray and or convey Full Intentions or Emotions. Tool Five:  In all relationships... Say THANK YOU, and Give Praise, Inspiration, and Empowerment as Often as possible. So, here is an example of a Recent Actual Facebook situation where I held true to being Honest and Authentic: An old friend who I had a Falling out with decided to Block me on Facebook, and when I was asked by various Mutual Friends I told them the TRUTH about why I had "Unfriended him" and then eventually I had to "Block" the person. That  person went onto to spreading some "UNTRUTHS" and even posted a "RANT" on their wall.  As a result, some of our "MUTUAL" Friends unfriended ME and even "BLOCKED" Me...  So, I attempted to reach out via Phone with not much success and then eventually emailed a few people and asked "Why" and that is when I found out about the person's untruthful rant.  I then proceeded to tell them my Truth and my side, however; since they had been friends with this person longer, they still choose to side with the other person... UNTIL...that person's TRUE Colors started to show... AND... I got an Email which then led to a Phone call saying... "I and the others are Soooo Sorry we didn't believe You... We have since found out You were telling the truth... Please forgive Us, we feel so bad... You have never done anything to hurt us and You are such an amazing person..." I was also asked to please add them as friends again.  I said no problem and that I understood, and that I was glad they finally saw the person's true colors and added them back as friends per their request. I also wrote a blog post on Social Media Etiquette, as a lot of problems can arise if you don't follow a few simple rules. Social Media: Who - Why - When - What - How Etiquette Another Midnight Production Enjoy the Journey 2012©Carly Alyssa Thorne

Does Success = Freedom

So, I Re-Posted this to my Facebook Today and somebody Wrote:

"Except, I would view this more as FREEDOM than success, don't you think?"

So, I replied with:

"I think it is a BOTH And... Success is FREEDOM..."

And then he Replied with...

"Success is freedom? I can see how successes could lead to freedom, but not how it is freedom. Please help me to understand"

My Reply to that was:

When You are Successful in many ways that gives us the Liberty to do more of the things we LOVE - if You plan your Success right... Create a TEAM so you aren't Slaving at something...  When You do what you what, when you want, with whom you want... that is pretty damn Successful... Most Never ATTAIN this in there life's...

And his Last Reply was:

Yes, but I think Tony Robbins is misleading. SUCCESS is an accomplishment. SUCCESS is achievement. Success comes from something we do, but freedom is a state of being. 

What Tony suggests above is an illusion because no degree of success will produce that quality of freedom and any successful people who attempt to live according to that risk losing both their success and their freedom.

So.... The Question I pose to YOU is ?  Do You believe "Doing What You want, when you want, where You want, with whom You want, as much as You want.,"

is Freedom or Success or Both and... ?

Personally my opinion is: If Your Product and or Service is providing massive Value and therefore is generating massive abundance and... You put together an Awesome Team and You are a Good Leader that Collaborates with Your Team... That would be a definition of Success and... That would give You the Freedom to: Do what You want, when You want, where You want, with whom You want, as much as You want - therefore Success = Freedom and I would also say Freedom = Success.  Bottom line Freedom = Success and or Success = Freedom Both AND...  is all a part of personal Perspective and Language - Semantics... 

And... I have found those that actually do- "do what they want, when they want, where they want, with whom they want, as much as they want" create their own freedom and success.  

Freedom and Or Success are both a STATE of Being just depends oh what You define "State of Being". 

The other side of that would be in doing "what You want, when You want, where You want, with whom You want, as much as You want" if You don't have a team in place, and or an organization and or Life that is time oriented and or structured to some degree - You will have NO TIME  and hence NO FREEDOM... 

Another Midnight Production

Enjoy the Journey

2012 © Carly Alyssa Thorne 

Just Because I Love what I do... Doesn't mean I will do it for Free...

I have been wanting to write about this for awhile and have been asked many times because I have a few interesting thoughts about this.

Some agree and some don't and that is all good.  

So here are a few of my thoughts on this subject.

First let me start off with:
I ABSOLUTELY AGREE WE ALL DESERVE TO GET PAID FOR WHAT WE DO...

Now... How to get paid Abundantly and what you Deserve for doing what You Love... Well... This all depends on many people's unique version of what they hold true for themselves as to what is getting PAID Abundantly, what they Deserve, what Values they hold and in what currencies they are willing to get paid in and what that all means to them personally...

Ok - before we go on let me address the BIG PINK ELEPHANT in the Room... Yes- we are living in the 20th century in which actual currency is in the form of $$$ - Money and we all have Bills to pay and a certain lifestyle we have chosen. I am also going to say upfront that Yes, You can be Spiritual and Abundant.  And... Will add to that, that the more wealth you have, the more Flexibility you will have to help others... It is what it is... 

Now... 

Having grown up overseas, seen various cultures and having myself been very Wealthy, and Very Poor, even on Disability a few times due to medical issues,  and having Lived off the Grid, Off the Land, Owned several businesses, did the 9-5, Self Employed, Full Salary, Only Commissions, Part Salary-Part Commissions, Part Barter, Full Barter etc... 

Grown up in Mansions-Like the one Above - Seriously I used to get LOST in my own homes as a kid sometimes... Ridiculous..  I can also say I didn't grow up with a Silver spoon in my mouth, quite the opposite. The Houses where Amazing, yet I wore hand me down clothes, never went to summer camps like everyone else, except Once... etc... etc.. etc... Not the time or place.. Just providing reference points of talking from experience... I Left home before graduating High School and got creative housing by Babysitting and House Care taking in exchange for Room and Board while I still went to school.  Over the years have owned several large houses, Many toys, and also have Lived in a ONE Room Flat, Lived and slept in the middle of a Jungle for up to 6 months with a screen in kitchen, an outhouse etc... etc... etc...  So- I can talk from experiences from all sides of the situation.  I can't claim to having ever been a Multi-Millionaire however, worked with many and handled Accounting and Funds in the Millions for clients, and have created massive abundance for clients and an abundant living for myself when not  in Medical Crisis and having multiple surgeries that is a another topic... Yet regardless of setbacks I ALWAYS Rose back up thru the ashes if you will...

I can AGREE on the Following:
When we PROVIDE:

-Massive Value
-Quality
-Authenticity
-Growth
-Experience
-Problem solving
-Solutions
-Creativity
And... All of the above done with excellent Customer Service with an Open Mind and Heart...  I absolutely AGREE we all deserve Payment:
Now here is where I am more of a BOTH and... 

-Some only Choose to work with Extremely Wealthy Clients.
-Some only Choose to work with the underdogs.
-Some only take Cash
-Some do Smaller Front Ends, and bigger back ends once they have proven
their theory and or success for their clients.
-Some will do a Larger Front end and then a certain lower back end.
-Some do not believe in Sliding scales
-Some do not believe in Charity
-Some refuse to do MLM's
-Some Swear by MLM's

etc... etc... etc...

Here are my Both ANDS...
In today's society there is this merging bridging with Eastern and Western ways. And... There is a Large gap in Abundance cross culturally and economically...  And with the economy being the way it is...
WHY would one ONLY Choose ONE way...  

There are a few books I Love that speak to this - of course in their unique 
perspective, and discuss Values, Giving, Authenticity, Out of the Box thinking +++  I Love reading them because they always make me smile, because I have always gotten a lot of BS if you will for not doing things the typical, dogmatic way when it comes to Abundance or Livelihood if you will:

Here are a few of my Favorites: 
-The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
-Up, Down or Sideways by Mark Sanborn
-Risky is the New Safe - The Rules Have Changed by Randy Gage
-Don't Gobble the Marshmallow... Ever ! by Joachim Posada
and Many More...

I encourage anyone to read them if they haven't.

Now back on topic... So where I am going with this well I absolutely Love to work with Amazing, Intelligent, Abundant People and Companies of all walks of Life, Cultures, and Abundance... Not just the wealthy, not just the underdogs...  I have learned VOLUMES From both and...

I do have some boundaries when it comes to the both and...
I also do believe that boundaries have a purpose and can serve to empower both parties...

***I do not give services and or product away for free, unless I have chosen to donate my time to a charity or an event for a specific reason.
Let me Clarify:  Writing Blogs Posts, giving information of value for free I think is great, however giving away actual product and services I have found... 
***Most people DO NOT get the value if something is given to them for free. 
They don't take it as seriously so think they can do the tasks etc... whenever it so suits them etc... 
***And... Studies show you just wind up creating an Email list that the industry has called: - The Freebie List.  

I want to Empower, Teach and Give to people who REALLY want it, will follow thru and understands, values and respects themselves and the services I am providing.

I have therefore done all sorts of creative ways of payment when working with people who in my opinion don't need a Hand-OUT... Need a Hand-UP if you will either thru knowledge, skills, connections, Love, Self-empowerment, Inspiration, Guidance etc...  Keeping in Mind when I say Payment that does not ALWAYS mean $$$.  ***I do make sure to keep the percentages of unique payment arrangements in check with actual physical currency to meet my responsibilities.

***I only turn people away for lack of commitment, due diligence, and not following thru with appointments etc... If someone shows me commitment, drive, willingness to learn and have an open mind, I will find a way for both parties to be happy.

**I do not tolerate passive-aggressive, I know it all, constant negativity behavior.

I believe that Deep down we all Crave, Inspiration, Empowerment, Love, and Success... and all of those things mean Different things to everyone... and if I am not willing to meet people where they are at and ONLY Choose ONE WAY
I too am loosing out on a lot of Learning, Inspiration, Empowerment, Love and Success...

I hope you all find your own Unique ways of making you Happy, Successful, Healthy and Abundant doing what you Love...

As always Enjoy the Journey...

Another Midnight Production

©CarlyAlyssaThorne

Life Can be like A Box of Crayons...

Life Can be like A Box of Crayons...

I had a Dream last night and literally woke up with you have to write a blog post about "Life is like a box of Crayons" so after lots of other editing etc... I had to do today, here it is night time once again and so we begin with...

Why Life is and can be like a box of crayons...

Have you ever watched a Child with Crayons, truly watched them...  

Ever child is different:

-Some Kids have to keep all of their crayons is a certain order...

-Other kids pour them out all over the floor or table...

-Other kids pour them out and then make different piles

to Categorize the colors...

-Some kids even go so far as to sort the crayons and actually

Choose all of the colors they like and throw the rest out.

-Some kids request a plastic bin to keep all of their crayons

in so they dig in and grab the ones they want.

-Some have to keep the crayons in the box at all times, and just

pull one out one crayon at a time, use it and then put it back in...

-Some kids will color using every single color...

-Some kids will only color with one color...

-Some color in the lines...

-Some color outside the lines...

So....

How does this apply to Life ?

How doesn't it apply to Life, would be my question ?

How we approach Anything - A relationship, a business project 

is unique to how we Process...

Are we Left brained or Right brained ?

Are we Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic, Audio Digital etc....

Now... Imagine if we STRETCHED Ourselves and made ourselves Choose or Do something differently...

-Practice writing with our other hand...

-Choose to get a bit more organized - linear...

-Choose to not only read that book, however next time, to also listen to the book via Audio.

-We as a culture do NOT use a large portion of our brains...

-As we have gotten older we have become FIXED on our points of view.

Studies have shown that if we STRETCH ourselves we engage and or train, wire if you will different pathways in our brains, therefore gaining access to further creativity and problem solving etc...

I invite everyone to get creative and messy...  To Literally Learn, Play and Grow like when we were a kid... Get Silly, Laugh, Sing, Dance... and YES COLOR...

My invitation or challenge to you would be to do this ONCE as soon as possible by yourself... Then do this Once a week with your kids, friends or Team...

Now I want you to think about after you did this by yourself-

***How did it feel doing that ?

***Where you attempting to clean up the entire time ?

***Did you go to the place of Judgement - and say this is silly

I am not doing this ?

Pain Attention to what came up for you...

My Favorite has been to hold a weekly Meeting - That day is dress casual day and you have a meeting that is with Crayons, Paints, Markers, Silly Scissors, Blackboards etc.. and each week the team picks a project to do it on... I have personally seen some amazing, awesome, brilliant ideas, campaigns, problems solved in some of these Colorful brainstorming mastermind meetings - sessions...

It is amazing what an amazing positive impact this can have.  I have led many of these at corporate trainings.  Yes, you heard me RIGHT... Corporate Trainings...

Here is some of the results and or impact it has had:

-Greater Creativity

-Group Rapport

-Looking forward to the Weekly meetings

-Outside of the box thinking

-Teamwork

-Sharing

-Collaboration

-A more Positive Atmosphere

Another Midnight Production

Until Next Time... Enjoy the Journey

Carly Alyssa Thorne

When Would be a Good time to start...

Authenticity, Integrity, Choose

Authenticity and Flexibility and Communication

Authenticity and Flexibility and Communication

I did a fun Podcast interview today My good friend Raphael Love 

and we talked about

Choices, Paths, Flexibility and Authenticity.

What Path are You on ??? 

In life it always comes down to choices...

What are You choosing to have in Your life ??? 

What people, places, things are You creating in Your life and how are they showing up for You ???

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to staying on Your path is being willing to be Authentic and Flexible. How often are You wearing a mask when You are in Public ???

Think of this... How do you expect people to be authentic with You, if You aren't the REAL You in any given situation. You have to be willing to truly be You at all times, it doesn't matter if You are on Stage giving a presentation or at home with Your loved one...

In life, You will find if You are Authentically You, Strong and grounded and are willing to go with the flow, remain open minded and not fixed minded, and don't take things personally,You would have a lot less stress... And... things would be manifesting in a much bigger and quicker way...
How often are You willing to ebb and flow with situations, instead of having a fixed point of View ???

Think of this.. A tree has a STRONG trunk yet when storms blow their branches-limbs go with the flow of the wind, if they didn't, we wouldn't have any trees because every time we had a storm the trees would snap and fall over...

People are not mind readers, You have to be willing to communicate anything and everything, if You don't share Your ideas, thoughts, feelings You will find that the whole creative process gets shut down and clogged up. In not expressing what You are feeling You are feeding a silent volcano that will eventually erupt.

Realize You aren't going to be able to Please everybody and the sooner You stop attempting to do so and remain Your authentic self, and Learn to embrace the terms Let's Do it, Delegate it or Delete it, your life will be filled of unnecessary drama that is a lot of wasted energy...

Get real with Yourself and others... Be willing to put Yourself out there... Stretch Yourself... Explore putting on a new habit, idea, inspiration and see how it feels... Open Your mind to new possibilites... Dream... Write... Become... Do...

The Muses of Carly Alyssa Thorne Copyright © 6/2012

How Many Masks are You Wearing ???

How Many Masks are YOU Wearing ???

Do You wear One Mask in Private and

One Mask in Public ???

Authenticity, Means Being Yourself to All...

Yes, Playing different Parts are part of LIFE...

However, You can still Play Multiple Parts as in 

a PLAY and Still come from YOUR Authentic Self...

Actors for example if they aren't coming from

their Authentic Self, You can tell they are ACTING...

It is when an Actor is in total Character, and coming

from his/her Authentic Self-Heart, when You forget

they are Acting...

Honor and Value Yourself Enough to Show

the WORLD the REAL Authentic YOU...

Team work is what Makes the Dreams Work, Enjoy the Journey

~ ♥ ~Carly Alyssa Thorne