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Christine: You are listening to the Your Empty Nest Coach podcast with Coach Christine, episode number 90: The CEO Toolbox Part 3, Presence. I work with mothers of high school students and beyond, who are in the trenches with sad and possibly, overwhelming thoughts about what their life will look like when their baby heads to college and begins to leave the nest. My clients’ big question is what will I do with my time? Is this you? I’ve been there, and I get it. Empowering you to write the next jaw-dropping, amazing chapter in your life is my passion. I am energized by leading you in the process of exploration and am thrilled when you unlock the power that lies within you. This podcast is my gift to you.
00:00:47
Hello, my empty nest friend and CEO of Your Life! This episode is in a series of episodes about the toolbox for your life. If this is your first time here, know that I reference topics introduced in prior series of this podcast, in this episode, making this episode a more advanced topic. If you find yourself wondering what I’m talking about, head back to the prior series and work your way through. I’ll have links in my show notes.
00:01:15
A quick reminder, before we get started, that if you find yourself talking back to me at any part of this episode, or if something resonates with you, please take the opportunity to leave me audio feedback either through SpeakPipe or my Google Voice number. You’ll find the information to do this in the description of this episode: on Apple Podcasts click “Details”; on Spotify click “See More”; on Overcast press the I for information button. Get the idea? Of course I always have full show notes with links to anything I discuss in the episode, and a full episode transcription on my website. Those reside at YourEmptyNestCoach.com/P (for podcast) and 90 (for this episode’s number). (YourEmptyNestCoach.com/P90) That’s 9-0.
I can’t wait to hear from you!
00:02:02
Thanks! Thank you! It’s time to thank our sponsor. This episode is sponsored by my membership community, The GPS Support Flock; Your Flight to Success in the Empty Nest. If you are ready to find the GPS of your life, sign up to receive an immediate and free download of my PDF, “How to Find Yourself in the Empty Nest,” our GPS Life Principles document. You will also have the opportunity to learn about our community. See the link in this episode’s show notes or fly on over to my website, YourEmptyNestCoach.com. Click the GPS Support Flock button. See you soon!
00:02:45
To continue with thank yous, I have another review of my podcast to share with you today. This one was posted on Podchaser. This is a super-fun podcasting platform. You can listen to podcasts, review them, if you are a guest on a podcast, you can put your image there and notify people that you’re a guest on the podcast. So even if you’re not a podcaster, it’s a great platform to be on.
00:03:15
Anyway, Elaine Best shares on there, “Christine is such a positive light in my daily routine! Her episodes are full of inspiring tips for mom’s heading toward the empty nest, and I’ve recommended her podcast to so many of my friends who are about to send their kids off to college. Prepare to feel at ease about the future, learn more about yourself, and yes–believe that you ARE amazing!” Thank you so much Elaine, for taking the time to do that. You’re the best!
00:03:41
So far in this series, we’ve discussed having a toolbox for your life, and we’ve considered our top-tray items in the toolbox. Those items that help us in a pinch to get to the deeper work, the foundational level, needed to illuminate our life. Consider now what it is that you may, or may not, have in that bottom, foundational level of your toolbox. What are the things that combined together in your life, allow you to function peacefully? Have you found those things? Have you found anything at all?
00:04:16
I invite you to consider a permanent placement of presence in the foundational level of your toolbox, if you don’t already have it in your life. If you are a regular listener of my podcast, you know that Eckhart Tolle’s book, “The Power of Now” has had a profound impact in my life. I have an entire episode about it, episode number 44. I thought I would share a few audio snippets from that episode here, right now.
00:04:42
The work I have done up until now, on myself, and that I share with you, has been a gift that has clearly shown me that my thoughts don’t have to control me. Just because a thought enters my mind, doesn’t mean I need to entertain it. The work to get to this point, has hugely impacted my life. I think I was ready for the next level in my life, and while listening to Eckhart speak on Oprah’s YouTube video (I’ll put a link in the show notes, because there are a few) he said, “Make friends with now.” He speaks much about presence, but for some reason those four words “make friends with Now” really struck a chord with me. Make friends with Now.
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It doesn’t mean that you want to stay where you are. It means you accept where you are, and choose not to resist it. The resisting of the present moment is what creates our unhappiness.
00:05:47
Either way, we are on life’s journey. Either way, we experience things that we aren’t expecting, but one journey brings peace and another leads to potential road rage. Road rage in life. My empty nest friend, if you are sitting in the simmer, while making friends with Now, you open yourself to tapping into energy that wouldn’t exist otherwise. By choosing to make friends with Now, you gain a clarity and peace that doesn’t exist when you are in a reactive mode.
00:06:20
Being aware of how present you are in life, in the Now, the current moment provides you with the opportunity to see the happenings in your life free of resistance which reduces the drama. An example in my life is that as I assemble my podcast each week, I have thought deliveries that pop into my mind such as “what if someone doesn’t agree with me,” “Oh, Christine, you said this before,” “no one is going to listen to this, why are you even bothering,” or my favorite “you are all out of ideas, Christine.”
00:06:52
I could allow myself to focus on these thoughts by letting my Protector boss me around and shine their flashlight on one of the thoughts, which would drive me to inaction. However, armed with the ability to quickly become present, I see my thoughts for what they are; thoughts. I’m in this moment, sitting outside of my house on my deck. I feel my fingers type the keys of my computer, I listen to the birds singing, I feel the heat of the sun on my skin, and smell the spring day. As I breathe in I feel the outside air hit my lungs. A bee flies by my head, and I look over the top of my laptop to see the beautiful green leaves that are beginning to fill the trees behind our home. This. This level of presence is always the first tool I reach for in my life’s toolbox, in that foundational level. It allows me to keep those thought deliveries in perspective.
00:07:47
I may use top-tray resources before I head to the foundational level of the toolbox, but as I build a pattern of my go-to items or resources, I begin to move quicker into presence. I begin to appreciate my top-level tools in a way I wasn’t able to when they are all I could focus on. A time in my life when I thought that those top-tray toolbox items were the cause of my happiness; that that is how I became happy. So, my beautiful friend, Presence. I suggest learning how to be present. Find what helps you to be present, whether it is a few deep breaths, walking away from where you are, closing your eyes and opening them to find details you didn’t notice before. Maybe it’s a formal meditation. Whatever works for you.
00:08:38
Presence: it is incredibly powerful, and when combined with the rest of your well-stocked toolbox, it will serve you incredibly well. If you haven’t already, check out episode number 44, all about presence. If you would like to dive deeper into presence, of course, you know I’m a fan of Eckhart Tolle’s book, “The Power of Now”, and if you would like to read through that book while going through a book discussion, I have the archive of our book club discussion available to all GPS Support Flock members. It’s waiting for you!
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The questions I have for you in this episode are, is presence a part of your life? How is your toolbox inventory going? Fly on over to our Facebook Group to share your answers to these questions with our amazing flock there. Our Faceboook Group name is Green Popsicle Sticks. Want to know why? Listen to episode number 17. Or head to my website: YourEmptyNestCoach.com/community for links to join that flock. We look forward to seeing you there!
00:09:38
Christine! Where are you? Christine? Christine, where are you?
I recently stopped by LearningSuccessSystem.com with a ten minute video on the topic of “How Parents Emotions Affect Their Children and What to Do About It.” I am honored that not only they accepted my submission but I got word that they will be adding it to their upcoming documentary. I had no idea that was even a possibility. How fun is that? If you want to watch my video, with me speaking super calm, you’ll find the link in my show notes.
00:10:15
Well my empty nest CEO of Your Life friend, if you enjoyed this episode, I invite you to take a moment to subscribe to this podcast. It is free after all! As always, I provide content to make you think. My hope is that I am able to provide you with thoughts that positively impact your life. Before I say good-bye, remember, you are amazing! See ya!
[Bloopers!]
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