After learning about packages & pricing, she raised her prices and clients are now paying in full!
Presenting Bootcamp STAR Graduate – Rev. Dr. Patricia Keel, Spirit Matters Coaching
Patricia is one of our Top 11 students in this past session—the “cum laude” of the bunch who launched her businesses with our support and who is now thriving!
3 Wisdom Tidbits from a 70 Year old Rock Star
I turned 70 last week and now I am a Bootcamp Rock Star! How great is that? I feel I’m getting younger and more engaged and involved in life everyday. I love my life. I’m off to India for a 9 day Spiritual Journey. My life is a frigging fantastic miracle. Oh JOY!
It wasn’t always like this. For a long time it was a Bumpy Road of overwhelm, stress, resentment, fear, confusion, frustration, anger, cluelessness. I was pretty much a mess through my 40ies. I’ve been waking up a little more each year. They say, “With age comes wisdom,” so I have three life tips to share. Tidbits of love from me to you, learned the hard way, but solid advice if you’re willing to experiment and try them on.
Before we look at the 3 Tips I have for you, let’s see if my wisdom and advice will be useful for you. Are we a match?
If you’re at all like me, you see yourself as a thoughtful, conscious woman. You have it mostly together at home and at work. You’ve read lots of self help books over the past few years, probably gone to therapy to help solve your problems, or marriage counseling for your relationship. You have some kind of spiritual connection. And you understand the power of the present moment, even if you can’t find it. Maybe you’ve listened to Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra on Oprah’s Super Soul Sundays. You’ve tried yoga and meditation, but that hasn’t calmed the restlessness inside you.
It’s hard to pin down, to explain what’s happening. There’s maybe a feeling of anxiety, scattered thinking, a little confusion and some self doubt. You feel something is UP for you – a change, a shift, a something different in your life, but you’re not clear WHAT it is, HOW or WHY it is happening, what to do about it, and more importantly do you want it, are you ready for the change?
For some women the shift happens first in our relationships. We find that the person we are closest to, our spouse, our partner, a family member or close friend begins to bother us. We find ourselves more and more sensitive to little comments or we tire of their same old jokes. Routine behaviors, petty small things start to annoy us. We find ourselves taking their comments personally and become defensive or aggressively fight back. Or we retreat and find ourselves avoiding certain conversations or even cutting that person out of our lives altogether.
Over time our connection and sense of trust and closeness fades. We begin to wonder why were are in the relationship if it is going to cause us so much pain and suffering. Clearly the other person has changed, and not in the direction we expected. We want them to be they way they used to be.
These are early warning signs. For some this is the ultimate rationale we used for initiating a divorce, or shutting a friend or family member out of our lives. Stress in the relationship seeps out into every other area of our life. It can lead to sleep issues, as we stay awake analyzing a particular situation over and over in our minds. Our health begins to suffer. It can lead to loneliness and isolation as we pull away from others so that we don’t have to address what is bothering us. At worst we drop into anger, resentment, fighting and arguments in front of children, further destroying the family as our relationship continues to self destruct. Ultimately we feel alone, at a loss to deal with what is happening.
For other women the first signs of an internal change, a shift occurs at work. It might be that we’re not satisfied with the career path we have chosen. We find fault with the system or with our boss or staff. We aren’t feeling fulfilled in the day-to-day routine of our job. We come home exhausted with little or no energy to enjoy our family or friends, even yoga class doesn’t revive us. We feel we are living for our paycheck. What seemed exciting when we first began is now routine, even boring.
We feel we‘ve outgrown the work and are no longer making a contribution. Discontent in the workplace leads to potential challenges and power struggles with our co-workers. Lack of enthusiasm and energy feeds our sense of lack of purpose.
Each of us needs to feel we matter and that what we are doing in the world matters. When this need is unfulfilled we find ourselves in the limbo of a life transition. Conflicting demands for financial resources, family obligations, and our inner discontent at work can cause major upheaval in many areas of our lives.
For some women the problems and issues we are trying to solve in our relationships, or in our work and career are complicated by low energy, low mobility, and body pain. Adding the physical pain and emotional stress of an injury or chronic condition to everyday life can further reduce our available internal stamina to step out and consciously make changes in our lives. Chronic health issues can mirror chronic issues that have not been addressed in the emotional and spiritual body. Victim consciousness can develop when there is a sense of helplessness combined with physical pain.
For some of us the discontent we feel is directly connected to a spiritual crisis. Perhaps the death of a parent, or serious illness in the family brings us into deep questioning of our faith. We question our existence and what is the meaning of life. All these existential questions that can never be truly answered can take us into a depression and bring with it a deep sense of separation and disconnection with life, from ourselves and our spiritual source.
Can this be all there is? Not a pretty picture! Yet so many of these challenges and more are faced by women everywhere. Do you see yourself? Is this discontent and longing part of what you struggle with every day?
Are you this woman? I was her 25 years ago: two divorces, 2 kids, different dads surviving as a single working mom, overcoming addiction, changing careers at age 45, going back to school at age 55, starting a church in Berkeley and discovering my passion and purpose in my early 60ies. I know that feeling, that inner discontent, I had it bad and tried to fill it with Chardonnay, dating men I really didn’t love, and staying in a job I hated. I spent lots of money on therapy and read every book in the self help/change your life section until I finally found a path that felt right. Eventually I finally found someone and something I could resonate with and that brought me some relief from my own craziness and my self-destructive behavior.
What if you could stop feeling like you had to do it all?
What if you could let go of some of the stress in your life and get a good night’s sleep? When was the last time you woke up feeling happy and ready to enjoy your family and your work? It’s what you deserve.
What if your relationships were built on companionship and sharing, rather than competition and judgment? What if you could really trust yourself and your partner?
I know this is possible for all of us, and it is a goal of mine to support women on the path of happily ever after. The AFTER doesn’t mean we have to leave a relationship, or a job, it means we have to see what is happening inside us and be willing to fully accept it and experience it. We have to wake up to ourselves.
So here are my 3 Tidbits of Love from my 70 years of trial and many errors
- Every perceived problem is calling forth some higher quality inside you. Your greatest challenges are your biggest opportunities for growth. Rather than rush to solve your problem, first look inside and see your perception and perspective.
- Don’t look to change the outer world to solve your inner discomfort, your stress and pain. Look in the mirror to find what is bothering you and feel it fully. What people, situations, and challenges bring the most intense feelings? These are your best teachers. Be humble and don’t run away.
- Stillness and silence create an inner and outer stability that form a foundation for you to assess where you are. In the stillness you can to listen for guidance and experience the subtle energies inside your body, From that place of calm center you have freedom to move forward in the direction of your dreams.
I am so happy to share with you. Let me know how it’s working in your life, patriciakeel@gmail.com. I have lots of free audios and online radio archives that you can listen to and find more support. I also offer weekly Livestream video broadcasts of the Oneness Meditation and here is the link to watch an archive or join me live. My podcast Relationship Fix airs on iTunes, Stitcher and many podcast channels. . I am taking a group on a 2 week spiritual course to India in June, 2017. My online webinars, courses, and coaching programs are on my SpiritMattersCoaching.com. Sign up to receive my free gift Taking the Next Step: Courage to Change, or a complimentary half hour Jumpstart session to see if working with me is a fit for your life right now
On my last trip to India, June 2016
Oneness University in So. India
================
Rev. Dr. Patricia Keel has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Matthew Fox’s University of Creation Spirituality, now known as Wisdom University. Her doctoral project was based on bringing the Art as Meditation focus of Creation Spirituality into Unity churches with a dynamic 7-week program series called Living The Creative Life, based on Eric Butterworth’s book. Patricia has been creating curriculum for churches since 1995 as Founder of SpiritMatters, a church growth program company.
Since retiring in January, 2011 from her role as minister at Unity of Berkeley Patricia has been traveling to India 14 times to participate in courses, trainings and deepening processes at Oneness University, a small spiritual school in southern India. She also traveled to Shantikunj, an ashram in northern India operated by All World Gaitri Pariwar. Learn more about Rev. Dr. Keel
Get your free copy here of Patricia’s Free Gift: Taking the Next Step COURAGE TO CHANGE, Oneness Meditations online
Watch Patricia’s interview: