Thursday, April 21, 2011

Spirituality Meets Consumerism

"Be yourself. Be confident. Believe in what you are saying. Let yourself out. People want to connect with you and your story. Have fun, entertain, educate."

By the looks of the above. you would think I had just spent the last 24 hours at some intense self-help retreat learning the latest mantras towards self enlightenment, but not so. I was actually at a training to be a future on-air guest of a leading shopping network. While I went in with an expectation to cultivate my inner pageant girl, I was enlightened to learn that a rehearsed method of selling points is not actually what sells, it is connection. Connection with your audience, your host and more importantly ourselves.

It's amazing how the universe will do whatever it takes to get us to "hear" the messages we need at exactly the time we need them. I mean, here I was at the vortex of consumerim being delivered a profound spiritual insight to add to my most recent lessons learned.

Proof I suppose, that just when we think we may have some semblance of control, we are actually just pawns in this spiritual game of life. Ironically frustrating and relieving at the same time - for it is a reminder that letting go is the most direct path to that connection within. And with that, I let go of my yet to be unleashed inner pageant girl and continue to rely on good ole' fashion CONNECTION from which authenticity reigns free.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Just a 2.0 Kinda Girl

Well in the spirit of the full moon, I am completely surrendering  - in pretty much EVERY aspect of my life.  I have unknowingly taken a 2 year hiatus from my beloved Sunshine Chronicles and have had an inner calling to start spewing the massive realizations that have been bestowed upon me over this last period of my personal journey (which frankly I could use a vacation - I am spiritually pooped!).  So when I awoke with the inspiration to revitalize, it seems the old blog has some weird login required that while can be cancelled seemed a sign to start fresh. And since I am a 2.0 kinda girl having now survived and thrived from multiple entrepreneurial rebirths, I thought only appropo to start my own metaphorical 2.0 to be reflected here.  To be honest, I have no particular goal beyond sharing my most authentic insights with the typical "sunshine" flare that serves as my greatest teacher.

So as the full moon tonight invites a complete release of the need to control and encourages a need to be with our own personal "tribes" just prior to the first night of Passover, I find myself especially reflective on the topic of freedom - "Let My People Go" - the historical battlecry of Passover. While my tribe members throughout the world will be celebrating with Seders of all kinds, I will be en route to Eden Prairie, Minnesota for "On-Air Guest" training which I will soon be sharing our latest and greatest products on a shopping network. As someone who spent her childhood watching infomercials (I still claim my father is the first consumer of any kind to purchase the Nordic Track 1.0 back in the 80s), this is an unlikely dream come true of which I would have never imagined for myself. And it is exactly these unexpected moments of stretching outside our comfort zones, that is a constant theme that has run rampant for me over the last two years. And while uncomfortable and at times painful, like any good stretch, it is the release of reaching beyond our limits of which we never knew existed and finding a new space within ourselves that results in a true unexpected freedom.

While I will no doubt miss some good ole' gefilte fish with a sentimental nagging to find the afikomen and open the door for Elijah, I will celebrating this newly discovered freedom that while at times overwhelming is admittedly a blessing of mass proportions.  And with that I sign off in true 2.0 Passover style with this genius video that raises perhaps the most profound question of all - What if God did have Facebook?