Welcome to the magical world of transformation…

I “stumbled” across this video on Facebook and even though it is 10 minutes long I decided to watch it because the topic of surrender has come up a lot in my life as of late.  You see, a few months back I decided to close my private coaching practice.  I haven’t talked about it much because it hurts.  But, when I was watching this video I felt something within me start to move, to shift, to awaken.

“God can dream a bigger dream for me…
for you…then you can ever dream for yourself.”
~ Oprah Winfrey

In the months that followed my decision I’ve been searching for what’s next and I’ve made a lot of surprising progress.  I’ve also learned that it feels different when I am trying to control my future versus discover it.

“When you have done all that you can do
and there’s nothing left for you to do…give it up.
Give it up to that thing that is greater than yourself
and let it then become a part of the flow.”
~ Oprah Winfrey

I’ve also learned that when I’m not trusting in the magic and grace of the Universe that there is always something to stress over, to doubt, and to fear.  I’m tired of being in that controlling space.  It’s small.  Restrictive.  I can’t breathe.  My soul can’t breathe.

“The wanting of it and the surrendering of it
taught me how to live in the space of letting go.”
~ Oprah Winfrey

So today I let go.  I recognize the power in the wanting of it and the power in surrendering of it.  I can still want it and let it go at the same time.  I can allow myself to be in the space of trusting God and making choices for myself.

“What should I do? Should I do this?
The bigger question is…
What would you, God the Universe, have me do?”
~ Oprah Winfrey

And so today I stand, with Oprah at my back, and  I ask, “God what would you have me do?” and I open my heart to receive the answers that are on their way to me…that are here now.

Is there something in your life you’ve been holding onto?  Do you feel the weight of it?  Are you ready to surrender?

Tags: dream, Oprah, success, surrender

See the rest of my photos on flickr

Have you ever wanted something so much you were afraid to go after it? Yeah, that’s me right now.  I’m in the process of redesigning my coaching website & blog and I really want it to reflect my true heart’s desire.  But, I feel so vulnerable with it all. You see, I want to explore the topics of:

• Connecting with your Soul
• Receiving your Calling
• Creating your Success

But, I’m afraid I’ll fail. Oh my gosh.  It just hit me that I’m making myself a failure before my site has even been published.  Ouch.  Why am I torturing myself?  I guess the torture feels safer than actually opening my internet doors {read: heart} to the world.  It reminds me of this quote:

“Known hells are safer than unknown heavens.” ~ unknown

I wonder…what am I really afraid of? That people won’t like it?  That people won’t hire me?  But, those are all external factors.  If I were working with a client on this challenge I would ask her to focus on the internal factors: her desires, her message, and her heart.  I would ask her to trust her Soul, her Calling, and herself.

Another aspect to my stuck-ness is that I feel like I have to choose between business or spiritual coaching.  Over the last year I’ve worked mainly with women business owners.  In fact, people refer to me as a business coach.  I do have one foot in the business realm and one foot in the spiritual realm.  The business realm feels so easy in that I know the language and where to go to meet people.  It feels so tangible.

The spiritual realm feels so out of reach. I don’t know exactly how it will work or where to go to meet people.  Wait a minute.  That’s so not true!  I mean, it is how a part of me feels.  But, it isn’t true.  The truth is…I’m a part of a national spirtual community that has totally transformed my life.  I’m taking classes in preparation to enter the Licensed Practitioner program.  In fact…

I am an aspiring spiritual leader!

Whoa.  I “said” it out loud.  Yowza.  It wasn’t even that hard or scary.  You know what?  This is one of those times when thinking about it is worse than actually doing it.  I just need to go claim my Calling, write my web copy, and put it out there.  Wahoo!  I’m outta here…

{fyi ~ my blog is moving to SimplyFearless.com ~ more news to follow when I launch}

Tags: confidence, courage, decisions, fear, Life Coaching, spirituality, success

81. {12/11/09} I charged $5 admission to my Simply Fearless Fempreneur Brainstorming Party!  This was such a stretch for me.  Whenever money enters the picture things get all weird inside.  But, the truth is I offer a valuable service and it’s okay to charge for it – even when the context is a party.  This was a great first step for me as I grow more confident as a life coach and business owner.  Whew!

p.s. People were totally willing to pay admission and I made money while supporting amazing fempreneurs!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, finances

Oh my goodness…I inadvertently called myself one of the most successful FEMpreneurs on the planet! And guess what? I’m not taking it back.

Just this week I decided to dedicate my life coaching practice to  FEMpreneurs {women business owners & founders} and so I rewrote my bio blurb.  Check it out:

If you were to look at Coach Cassandra Rae’s life on paper you would think that she’d be living in the projects and on welfare. In fact, there were many a peeps who told her just that. You see, her life has taken her through domestic violence, homelessness, the welfare system, teenage pregnancy, miscarriage, divorce, drugs, and abortion. And yet, she has risen above it all. As a single mother, she put herself through Hartnell College and the University of California, Berkeley. She has learned how to turn all of her life’s challenges into stepping stones. Today she thrives with her husband and daughter in Sunnyvale, California where she runs her own Life Coaching Practice. She is one of the most unexpected and successful FEMpreneurs on the planet. If she can do it, so can you!

I really only intended for “the most” part to apply to the unexpectedness and not the successful piece, but now that it’s published I am going to leave it as-is.  Oy! The voice of fear is totally piping up, but I am not going to let it stop me.

Do I see myself as one of the most successful FEMpreneurs on the planet? Well, yes and no. Do I qualify in terms of dollars? No. But, do I qualify in terms of talent, passion, and dedication? OH HECK YES!

So I am putting down my editing pen and letting it stand as a declaration to the world {and myself!} that I am one of the most successful FEMpreneurs on the planet.  Here I come, Oprah!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, business, business development, courage, fear, FEMpreneurs, Life Coaching

In this video {2:15} I talk about feeling like a failure {yuk!} and how I moved through it.

Now that you’ve watched it, what do you think? I’d love to hear about your insights and struggles.

Tags: career, confidence, courage, failure, inspiration, meditation, pressure, procrastination, success, VLOG {Videos of me!}

Dear Alex ~

I don’t know exactly why I’m writing this here on my blog.  I just am.  And I wonder if it was inspired by this beautiful tribute post.  You know what? It doesn’t really matter why…

A few years ago you gave me a manuscript to read.  I’ve always thought of it as the Dearest Rook manuscript as those are the first two words of the prologue.  Anyway, I never read it.  I don’t know why {I’m sensing a theme here.}  I just didn’t.  In fact, I’ve moved it around from pile to pile of paper in my office until finally it made its home in an upright paper organizer on my desk just behind my laptop.  Whenever I gaze off into la-la land to give my mind a break I often rest my eyes on “Dearest Rook.”

Well, this afternoon while I was waiting for my computer to reboot I rediscovered your manuscript.  Before thinking about it, I picked it up and read the first paragraph.  And there was simply no way I could put it down after that juicy adventure of an introduction.  I have now spent the last hour reading every single word, sentence, and suggestion {there are notes in the sidebar.}

One of the final notes written about your manuscript was “very good” and I must passionately disagree.

It’s not very good.

Alex, it’s beautiful.

No, that’s not the right description.

It’s amazing.

No, that doesn’t sum it up either.

Alex, it’s literary.

It’s genius.

It’s literary genius!

And I *LOVE* it.

You are a master at crafting words to create a vibrant and very real scene in the reader’s eye complete with physical and emotional sensations.  You are a magical story teller.

I’m so sorry that I didn’t take the time to see this when you initially gave me the manuscript.  I can only trust that right now, today is the absolute perfect time for me to realize that you are a talented writer.  This is print worthy fiction and I am dying to know how the first 3 chapters fit together in the bigger picture of the novel, how the characters meet one another, if Yuri is murdered, how Edwin comes to believe, if Jennifer lives, and so much more.

Alex, it is no coincidence that you now work in a library surrounded by books.  I know that you are meant to write, to be published, and to be a part of a library long after you’ve physically left this world.  You are talented beyond description.  And you don’t have to wait to become a writer.  You already are one.

Please write more.  And if you’ve already written more of the Dearest Rook manuscript please send me a copy.

I love you.

~ Tia

Tags: advice, career, Family, inspiration, Relationships, talent, tribute

Today I faced a super yummy fear!  It was that excited fear you feel right before you speak in front of a group of people:

I know, it’s not the best picture and I look all slouchy…but, who cares? I got to speak to 100 people at Chrystal Bougon’s SoMe Bootcamp!

Here’s how I got the gig…listen up because this is tricky…

I asked for it.

Seriously, that’s all I did.  I sent her an email and asked her if I could lead a short centering exercise.  Okay, I also recorded an audio and sent her a link to listen to with my request. By the way, I also used the audio as a blog post so that it was available for everyone to hear as well. I love leveraging my efforts :~)

Now, she said no to my initial request.  But we agreed that I could do something as long as it wasn’t too woo woo.  And you know what? I think it turned out way better than a centering exercise!

I didn’t even know exactly what I was going to say when I got up there.  But, I knew I was going to bring the group back to the learning state of mind while waking people up after eating lunch.  So I allowed the details of what turned into a Mental/Emotional Stretch to emerge on the spot {I do love improv and it turned out beautifully.}  And what’s even sweeter…she included a link to my website in the emails sent out to all of the participants both before & after the event.  How freaking cool is that?

And it would have never happened if I didn’t ask.  So keep facing those fears, Peeps, and ask for what you want because you just might get it!

Tags: 100 Things I Fear, courage, fear, social media, solopreneur, speaking, success

One of the things that The Hubs and I talk about a lot is the pressure to be productive at work.  There seems to be this incessant need to prove our value by a myriad of things: projects completed, deadlines met, hours worked, hours billed, jokes told, ideas presented, etc.  And yet, what if I told you that it was this need to prove, this pressure to be productive, that was actually keeping your productivity down?

It’s true.  Because productivity isn’t a product of pressure.  Nope.  It’s a product of intention, which is how you approach a job.  It’s where you’re coming from.  And from what I’ve learned, the lighter you approach a job (i.e. the less pressure), the more you can accomplish.  It’s one of the Universe’s cosmic jokes: when you stop trying to prove your worth, you discover your value.  And it’s not that it wasn’t there all along.  It’s just that you couldn’t see it – or more importantly – you couldn’t feel it.

So if you really want to increase your productivity at work, then stop pressuring yourself and start trusting that how you are is just as important as what you are.

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If this topic speaks to your heart (or your pressure :~), then I invite you to check out this coaching call I’ve got coming up in September. Click here to see the invitation on SimplyFearless.com

Tags: business development, career, pressure, stress, work

This is one of the best self-discovery books I’ve read and it’s all about “creating the work you love.” She poses this powerful question:

If you’re this successful doing work you don’t love, what could you do with work you do love?

If this question stirs something within you, then I invite you to stop reading this blog post, take out your journal, and write about it.

The really cool thing about this book is that Tama shares so openly about her journey. She tells the truth about the ups and downs of leaving the “comfort” of a socially-praised career in order to follow her heart. I found it inspiring and so helpful even though it wasn’t filled with worksheets for the reader to use. But, it is filled with poetic and wise words. I’ve known for quite some time that when an author has hit a deep understanding of a topic that she can write in a concise and simple way. This is one of those books with an added poetic bonus.

As a life coach, I pick up self-discovery books all the time. In fact, I have a library of ones that I haven’t had a chance to read yet. Lots of times I begin, get distracted, and haven’t returned to them yet. Well, this particular book I bought because Tama was a guest speaker at my spiritual community The Center for Spiritual Living in San Jose and after listening to her message my 16 year old daughter asked me to buy it. That right there says leaps and bounds about the power of this book.

Learn more about Tama Kieves on her website at AwakeningArtistry.com

Tags: Book Reviews, books, cancer, change, courage, fear, inspiration, job, Life Coaching, life purpose, transformation

Here is the latest invitation to the Simply Fearless 8 Week Program. Please consider joining us or passing the word along.  I am only writing invitations to those that I am super passionate about supporting so know that you, your friends, and family will be well taken care of. Thank you!

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Are you miserably successful?

Do you wonder why you aren’t happier since you have all the things people say should make you happy?

Would you like more purpose and meaning in your work?

If so, then we’ve got just the program for you and hope you will join us for…

The Simply Fearless
8 Week Program

Before I became a certified professional coach I was a tax accountant.  And I was really good at preparing tax returns.  I was also miserable.  Yes, I could pay the bills, live a comfortable life, and find work easily.  But, that “comfortable life” turned into pain when I wasn’t answering a deeper calling within myself.  The thing is, we need both.  We need deep fulfillment and financial security.  And I’m here to tell you that it’s possible.

Hi there, my name is Coach Cassandra Rae and I have created an 8 week group coaching program to help you design, create, and live Your Simply Fearless Life!  This revolutionary program is all about teaching you the skills and tools to tap into your inner guidance system, to identify your unique talents, and to build the courage to put them into practice.  The world needs you to use your talents and answer your calling.  The real question is: Are you ready?

Here’s how the Simply Fearless 8 Week Program works:

• 8 weekly sessions over the phone or in person in Sunnyvale
• You pick the days & times
• Only $35 to get started

The weekly topics are:

1. Uniquely Equal ~ different roles, equal value
   Compassionate Honesty ~ truth with heart
2. Part 1 Awareness ~ honor your inner knowing
3. Part 2 Acceptance ~ let go of what’s hurting, embrace what’s helping
4. Loving Boundaries ~ saying no with ease
5. Freedom Structures ~ external guidance for internal freedom
6. Responsible Risk ~ smart and inspired action
7. Connected Independence ~ stand on your own together
8. Celebrate! ~ an ending and a new beginning

The program is open to men and women.  Participants will pick their specific focus area along with the days and times of our weekly sessions.  Click here to learn more and register.  Registration is open until Sunday, March 15, 2009.

Simply Fearless ~
Coach Cassandra Rae
408.206.1662

Tags: career, comfort zone, courage, fear, job, misery, success, work