Welcome to our free soulful e-zine, offering compassion, support and wisdom for your life work path.

If you like this e-zine, I would appreciate you forwarding it to your friends so they can enjoy it too. If a friend forwarded this newsletter to you and you like what you read, please subscribe by visiting yourlifework.com. Table of Contents

1. Navigating Our Way through Life Work Challenges

2. Five Practices for Positive Change

3. Remember Your Skills and Passion

4. Ongoing Guidance with Teresa

This e-zine is not meant as a quick scan but rather designed to be pondered and practiced. Ideally, I recommend you print the page of exercises and practice them over the month. Take note of the subtle, gentle changes that occur as you return more and more to yourself and to your God.

Do you at times, feel fearful, depressed, angry, confused, uncertain, grief (perhaps mixed with relief), insecure or immobilized? Firstly, realize this is O.K. This bubbling brew of emotions is called being human. You are not alone. You are among the ever-growing numbers of people who have been forced into career change, long for a change or are facing a myriad of life challenges.

Our journey is about far more than work transitions or what our surface problems appear to be. We are being called upon to find a way - “The Way” - to navigate through life’s ever-shifting experiences with more peace, compassion and acceptance. The best career decisions or goals achieved cannot buy us happiness. Through aspiring to live our lives with peace, acceptance, compassion and happiness we grow a place inside of ourselves that is always there for us – despite the ever-changing fortunes of time. We grow our beings and our connection to our God.

The place to begin is right where we are. Rather than trying to avoid, or be rid of difficult, painful feelings, we begin working with what is – in this very moment. We begin by letting wherever we are be O.K.; and hence, begin cultivating acceptance and compassion for our precious selves. We begin with small, gentle goals we can meet, that work on all aspects of our life.

I wholly encourage you to begin putting these simple practices into your daily life. These are so important for our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, as well as key to positive change. Begin with what you can, but begin… Print…. Ponder…. Practice….

1. Practice Transformative Ten Breath Countdowns. As frequently as you can, practice breathing in and out, counting down from ten - on each successive out breath - to one. By practicing this countdown throughout each day it becomes a powerful tool for re-grounding ourselves when strong emotions arise, helping us to prevent over-reacting to circumstances.

2. Meditate Twice Daily. Do not get hung up on this word or be discouraged by the grocery list, new shoes for the kids, your work/marriage problems, or whatever incessantly pops up as you begin sitting with yourself. It is O.K.. Simply, gently, acknowledge your feelings and let the thoughts go. We are simply sitting with ourselves – just as we are. Focus lightly on your breath coming in and going out. “Letting go now. Relaxing now. Trusting now.” Also, try laying flat on your back on the floor, quietly letting thoughts go, coming back to your breathing for at least five or ten, or more minutes twice a day. We are aligning our body, mind and spirit.

3. Observe Our Thoughts. Sitting with ourselves quietly helps us become aware of what is going on in our mind. Practice this awareness as much as you can throughout the day. When feeling distressed, depressed, upset… take note of your thoughts. A mind where thoughts are allowed to run wild is likely not a safe place to be alone in! Most of us have a pit full of negativity and criticism that can make a hell of heaven if we allow these thoughts to run unobserved. We need to feel our feelings but let the story-line we tell ourselves go. Simply come back to your breathing, to your ten breath countdown, to your God. Be gentle and accepting of yourself, your situation and feelings – no matter what!!

4. Exercise Regularly. This means at least a good twenty minute walk, three times a week. You can build up the pace, length and number of times per week; as you continue. This is not a fitness march. By walking mindfully – stopping and smelling the roses – we exercise our body, mind and soul.

5. Practice Being O.K. with Uncertainty and Not Knowing. "I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without ever noticing it, live your way into the answer."

Rainer Maria Rilke

If you are in career change begin building the self confidence necessary to change careers, by spending some time honoring your past work. Revisit the questions on our site under Remember Your Skills and Your Passion and begin journaling your answers. Do not rush through this; write anything that comes to mind, without judgment. Notice your feelings and thoughts. Make note of these too. Here we begin to honor our past, build self-confidence and see hurtful thoughts – just as thoughts – and let them go. Be accepting and gentle with yourself!

You know you are full of life so - do not allow anxiety to take your self-confidence away.

Rikiatu Husseini – wisdom from my friend Riki in Ghana

I would love to hear from you!

Please email me feedback, thoughts, concerns, insights you have about this e-zine, our site or your lifework journey to Teresa. If appropriate I may pass some of your pearls along to all our readers.

I would love to share my lifework wisdom with you!

If you would like ongoing, personalized lifework guidance with me, Teresa click here and we can start now. Send me a lifework concerns you have and I will write back to you with a few thoughts and suggestions – at no cost to you for the first e-mail session. This way you can get a better feel for who I am and what I have to offer you. From here you can decide if you would like further guidance from me or not – with no obligation.

If you would like more information about Teresa, click here. So, my friend, thank you for your time. I hope you enjoyed this e-zine and/or found it useful. I look forward to hearing from you. So, until next month’s issue…