Fear Gateways - December 08 Newsletter

Fear Gateways
This last month I and most of my clients and students seem to be experiencing more pronounced waves of fear. After teaching and living genius over the last 5 years I'm now recognizing this as a process that occurs before something new and expanded comes in. For example I sometimes get shaky, scared and tense before a new speaking gig, and within about the first 5 minutes that fear has turned to passion that is transmitted through me to the audience. I feel like when this happens I'm being prepared to hold more space and there is more energy moving though me. I'm not even totally sure that it is fear, it's simply big waves of energy. It becomes fear when I constrict. The image I have is of a rocket getting ready to take off, building up its power and energy. I invite you to see your waves of fear and uncomfortability as your body supercharging you, getting you ready to explore uncharted territory.

Tips and Tools
Can't you just feel the changes coming? In my own life things feel fast. I feel like so much is happening so quickly. I feel excited and sometimes overwhelmed. I notice that it is so important right now to do the things that ground me. When I take the time to check in with myself I can really take in all the shifts and new energy coming through. I notice that when I haven't taken the time to journal, meditate, or bounce on my new mini tramp is when I feel like everything is happening so fast and I get dizzy. My wish for you this season is that you take time to ground and ready yourself for this brilliant new year full of possibilities.

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Peeking Out

I am peeking out now since taking time to play and wonder. Grateful to myself for not moving forward until a clear vision and passion emerged. I'm so excited and passionate for what I'm co-creating. A genius community..a community of people who are supporting each other to reach out, step out, go deep, and live large. I invite you to go to www.geniuscommunitynest.com to see some of our genius players. Why just hire anyone when you could hire a genius?
I realized that it's not enough to create success for myself. It's way more fun to take people with me. I hope you let your dreams gestate too.
There will be more updates later.
Merry Merry
Megan

Do You Serve Your Own Heart - June 08 Newsletter

Aloha
The other day I was sharing with my partner Annabeth that I’m just not that in to anything right now and that all I want to do is go sit on a beach in Hawaii. Always ready to support, she replied “Go do it.” I responded with a litany of "buts". I struck a compromise and decided to take a break from all the projects I’m working on and I committed to go sit myself up the canyon by a river.

The next morning I was playing tennis with my friend and colleague Carol Tuttle. I told her about my conversation the night before and she said, "I’m going to Hawaii next week why don’t you come and stay with us." I started in with my "but" parade again and she started laughing saying the universe is giving me what I asked for and I’m still “thinking about it.” So about ½ hour later I shot her a text saying: “Aloha.”

Follow Your Heart, Not Your Money
After about a month of “trying” to make a bunch of projects happen, I got clear about what my heart really wanted (to sit on the beach) and it appeared. It doesn’t make sense for me to take off to Hawaii at this time, and yet it is the only thing that makes sense. It's super easy to get caught up in making a living and checking off things on the to do list; just going through the motions. Even if we are doing something that is important to us, this is survival living. I caught myself going through the motions and forgot to follow my own wisdom. In my genius work I encourage people to follow their bliss and money will follow. If we go after money, we give our power away to money. If we follow our heart, we empower and value ourselves at the deepest level. I believe that money is energy and as such it is here to support us in fulfilling our purpose. We are not here to be in service of money.

Tips and Tools
Take a look at your daily activities. Are you serving your heart or are you serving money? Are you passionate about what you do every day or are you going through the motions? Is there something you really want to do but keep telling yourself there is not enough time or money for? Make a commitment to take a step towards this. Do something that your heart wants to do today, even if it is small. This will start the process of honoring your heart first. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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SITBATICAL

So hello everyone. I notice that it's been awhile. Just thought I would update you on where I've been. I became aware recently that I've been going through the motions with a bunch of projects in my life. I got it that I need to take some time to check in and see where I really want to focus my energy. At last week's LifeWorks (my company) meeting, I told my team that I was going to take a few weeks away from all the business stuff to get clear about the future direction of the company. I playfully shared that I was taking a sabbatical from my own business. As it turns out the only thing I'm drawn to do is go sit on a beach and so that is what I plan to do. I shared this with my friend Dan Howard and he said it looked like I was really taking a sitbatical. That felt more appropriate. So I'm going to go sit and see what's next.

There is so much that I can share and teach from my last 13 years of being a life coach and facilitator and what I get now is that it is time to refine to see what is the juiciest thing that I want to share and teach about.

I will be checking in from time to time to give you updates as I have them. In the meantime, I suggest you take some time to see what it is you are really about. I'm getting that living in my genius means that I am continually refining who I am and what I'm about. So what is most important to you at this time?

Aloha...
Megan

Boston or Bust

So, I'm off to Boston to give a speech at the Financial Planners Association's National Conference. It's the night before take off and I'm running around getting things ready for the trip. I suspect that I am keeping busy so that I don't feel my fear. I've been playing a lot with fear as this is my first big travel speaking event and is a result of a commitment to be an international speaker.
In my genius work, I teach people about fear gateways, which are sort of a right of passage as we reach into our next level of genius. The cool part is that when you understand this you can use that fear as fuel as you step through the opening. (To learn more about fear gateways go to my website www.megansillito.com and click on genius.)

People have asked me why I feel scared as I know this material so well. My answer to them is: "It is not logical, it's just what I'm going through as I step in to this new arena. In my experience, people who commit to take the big step forward in the direction of their genius and life purpose all go through some sort of rabbit hole which becomes its own refiners fire.

One thing that I have learned from this particular fire is that I can choose what I want to feed. I realized the other day that what I was feeling was exactly the same feeling I had as a teenager the morning of a big basketball tournament which was the odd combination of total excitement and total fear. Basketball was my favorite thing in the world at that time. I loved the thrill of competition and that was always accompanied by a hill of fear. When I realized this, I got it that I was also very excited about this speaking trip. I had only been focusing on the fear part. However, I can choose to give the excitement more focus. Like the old saying: If you have two wolves at your feet the one that will stay is the one you feed.

So I've been noticing when I feel scared and taking a moment to tune in and breathe in to the excitement as well. As the famous psychologist Fritz Pearls said, "Fear is excitement without the breath." It's been a delicate balance to face directly in to the fear while also giving attention to my excitement.

Hope this might serve any of you who might be in the middle of a leap or transition in your life. Let yourself also feel the excitement of the adventure as well.

Bon Voyage
Megan

April Showers - April 08 Newsletter

April Showers
We’ve had a lot of rainy weather here in the desert of late. As in the saying "April showers bring May flowers," Mother Nature is preparing itself for growth. In this phase, the ground is being made ready. In our own lives this is a very important phase that many of us often skip in favor of "doing" and trying to make things happen. The thing I have learned by watching nature is that it is always seeking balance and it never forces. I know that when I have skipped this preparation cycle I end up pushing and forcing things. When I pay attention and nurture the incubation process of the ideas that want to be birthed that they easily and naturally come to fruition. In this way I am a steward for what is coming through me as opposed to trying to make something happen. For me, this is the difference of being in flow and being in the struggle. When I notice myself struggling I can be sure that I have skipped the vital process of incubation. What this process of incubation looks like for me is noticing my thoughts, noticing what’s grabbing my attention and noticing what my natural impulses are. These things all give me clues as to what is wanting to come through me.

Reverend Deborah L. Johnson says in her book, The Sacred Yes, “What is being birthed has it’s own timing, it’s own gestation period, it’s own sense of when it is ready to spring forth. No amount of forcing, planning or setting of time lines and schedules will alter this one iota.”

So let it rain. Clear your mind so that the Divine ideas wanting to be birthed through you can take root.

Tips and Tools
If you want to know what it is that wants to come through you, try this on:

Take a small notebook with you for about a week. Write down the themes in your thinking and the things you are drawn to. Areas may include:

• Music
• Books
• Colors
• Movies
• Foods
• Places

What are your natural impulses? Do you want to:

• move
• rest
• dance
• simply be quiet?

Just notice the process that is happening through you. What is extraordinary to me is that this is all happening without our conscious effort or intent. Paying attention is a fabulous way to nurture the process unfolding within.

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Heart Matters

Today is my fathers 91st birthday, a young buck really when you consider my mother who turned 95 on January 1st. They are in the hospital together, my dad went in for a stroke and my mother, not to be outdone, came in a day later with pneumonia. My father has also been diagnosed with dementia. He sang songs that made no sense and he joined me in singing happy birthday to him. He came in and out of lucidity and yet this was one of my favorite conversations with him. During his life he was a brilliant man, a scholar, a bishop and father of 14. But since a heart attack and subsequent quadruple bi-pass about 15 years ago my father has come out of his head and into his heart.

As a little girl I always saw his big heart. I used to write him poetry. "Dear old Dad, only one I've ever had." (My poetry was quite profound even then.) I used to call him cuddly and he and the the rest of the family used to think that was the funniest thing they had ever heard, as he was quite a stern man. It wasn't until I became a teenager that I lost my ability to see who he really was.

I'm glad I'm back in my heart now so that I can enjoy this time of nonsense and tenderness. He told me today that he always knows it's me on the phone because I call him POP. I said, "Is that because I'm the only one that calls you that?" He said "Not only that but I can feel the tenderness of your heart beneath the word."

I'm hoping that I can keep cultivating conscious dementia so that I can continue to appreciate the important parts of life.
Happy Birthday Pop
I love you forever
Megan