Clare Josa | Author And Keynote Speaker

UK's Foremost Imposter Syndrome Expert, International Keynote Speaker & 8x Author

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Newsletter: Doing The ‘Inside Work’ That Will Change Your ‘Outside World’?

Authentically Awesome

Whats the difference between instinct intuition?Click here to read more: We were chatting over on Facebook this week about the difference between instinct, intuition and good old-fashioned common sense.

And despite having been an NLP Trainer for over a decade now, it never ceases to amaze me how a simple word can create such different meanings in everyone’s heads.

I have been amazed by the variety of answers we have had on this topic – and by the level of emotions that it evokes for people.
It all came up because I’m part of an International Summit this month where I’ll be interviewed about how I use ‘instinct’ for my business – and I realised, when preparing for this, that I don’t actually use my instinct, I use my intuition!

And this got me thinking about how I have used instinct or intuition on the EU VAT campaign we have been running since November. The breakthroughs we have achieved (even though there’s still a long way to go!) have been described by those ‘in the know’ as ‘impossible’ and ‘unprecedented’ – and we have had feedback that the way we have approached the campaign has been unique.

But we didn’t do fancy strategy work or play games or second-guess people’s motivations – all of which would have been typical in the business world, especially with my NLP and Engineering background.

In fact, intuition has played a key role in the campaign’s success. Want to know more? And how it could help you? Click here to read this week’s article.I also felt inspired to create a 7 day programme for you, if you’d like to dive in more deeply with your intuition. It’s free for everyone who registers before we go live, so if you’d like ‘in’, grab your place today on the Intuition Breakthrough Blueprint. (After we go live it will be $47).I’m extremely excited to be heading off to Turkey in a couple of days to prepare for our Authentically Awesome Business Mastermind retreat. There are still two places available, and if you want to join us, then the absolute final deadline is 5pm today. Please call me on +44 1342 777 635! And I’ve just opened the doors for advance booking for our October Mastermind Retreat – here’s where you can reserve your place.And I’ve got more for you! Get the date in your diary: I’m running a free webinar on April 30th where I’ll be spilling the beans on the 7 surprising keys to success in the EU VAT campaign. By the end of the hour you’ll have had a whistle-stop tour of the difference that has made THE difference in the campaign – and how you could use these keys to grow your business – or change your life. Here’s where you can register.

I hope you have a fantastic week. I’ll be doing my best to send a newsletter next week, but it’ll depend on the quality of my internet connection in Turkey!

With love, Namaste,

CJ SigP.S. I just checked and there are still 3 places available at the Early Bird rate for our Authentically Awesome Group Mastermind programme, which goes live when I get back from Turkey. So if you’ve been thinking of joining us, act now to get started today – and save. I’d really love to share this journey with you. xx C.

What’s The Difference Between Instinct, Intuition & Good Old-Fashioned Common Sense?

Inspirational Messages

We were chatting over on Facebook this week about the difference between instinct, intuition and good old-fashioned common sense.

And despite having been an NLP Trainer for over a decade now, it never ceases to amaze me how a simple word can create such different meanings in everyone’s heads.

I have been amazed by the variety of answers we have had on this topic – and by the level of emotions that it evokes for people.

It all came up because I’m part of an International Summit this month where I’ll be interviewed about how I use ‘instinct’ for my business – and I realised, when preparing for this, that I don’t actually use my instinct, I use my intuition!And this got me thinking about how I have used instinct or intuition on the EU VAT campaign we have been running since November. The breakthroughs we have achieved (even though there’s still a long way to go!) have been described by those ‘in the know’ as ‘impossible’ and ‘unprecedented’ – and we have had feedback that the way we have approached the campaign has been unique.

But we didn’t do fancy strategy work or play games or second-guess people’s motivations – all of which would have been typical in the business world, especially with my NLP and Engineering background.

In fact, intuition has played a key role in the campaign’s success.

For me (and I’m not saying I’m right!), ‘instinct’ is something primal that comes from the animal part of my brain. It’s that sense you get, for example, when you meet someone that tells you whether or not you can trust them – instantly. And it might get over-ruled by later logic and data, but it is a subconscious message to your thinking mind – especially when you are in danger.

The primal, animal part of your brain is specially designed to keep you safe from sabre toothed tigers and their friends, so it is brilliant at what I call ‘snap decision making’, here in the present moment, where thinking and rationalising could lead to the Permanent Exit Door.

After all, when you’re sprinting from a life-limiting carnivore, you don’t want to be fussing about next week’s ‘to do’ list. So the primal part of your brain is designed to handle immediate, short-term decision-making. And, for me, that’s my ‘instincts’.

But if you’re in business, short-term decision-making is unlikely to be a successful long-term growth strategy. It’s what I have seen leading to near-permanent chaos and fire-fighting, back in my corporate days.Instead, I prefer to rely on my ‘intuition’:

For me, intuition is something that feels like deeper wisdom and insight. It comes from outside of my ‘thinking’ brain. It’s something I just ‘know’ – and it always brings with it a wave of clarity, Truth and, often, relief.

It comes up when you get a sense of what is really needed in a situation – of what is ‘deeper Truth’, where the masks of ‘ego’ have fallen away and that intuition is something that just ‘is’, rather than something you ‘figured out’.

That is what has kept me going throughout the EU VAT campaign – often defying what my Inner Engineer’s rational common sense was recommending – and even what international lobbying and campaign experts were recommending.

By reconnecting with that deeper Inner Wisdom, I could somehow access a hidden depth of understanding about which actions were needed – and when.

I have lost count of the number of times when we have done the exact opposite of what rational common sense would recommend – and thereby achieved breakthroughs.

And I was hugely blessed to be supported by thousands of businesses who were ok with going with what might not have seemed immediately logical, but which somehow we all knew ‘felt’ right.

Just imagine being able to apply this to your business!

As I said, there are other techniques I have used, too, and I’ll be sharing the step by step ‘how to’ of my personal insider secrets with my Mastermind Members in an 8 week programme over May and June, but intuition is where it always starts.

But most of us are disconnected from our intuition, having been trained instead to put our faith in our Monkey Mind and its logical stories.

Yet, as Einstein said, a problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created it.

True breakthroughs happen when you shift to your intuition – that level of ‘being’ that the Ancients call the Vignanamaya Kosha – the ‘wisdom body’ where you connect with the aspects of your Being that the conscious mind cannot understand.

And it transforms the way you approach your business – and life, in general.

That might sound a bit ‘woo woo’, but we’ve all had the experience of it. It’s the times when you wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly know the solution to a knotty problem. It’s when you’re in the shower and suddenly see the next step you need to take to leap to the outcome you were dreaming of. It’s when you somehow just ‘know’ who you need to phone – and when – only to find out that the person was about to call you, too.

Want to get some ‘how to’ for all of this? I’d love to make it easy for you!

And if you’d like to discover how connecting with your Intuition could transform your life – and business – then make sure you join me for the 7 day Intuition Breakthrough Blueprint programme – and experience for yourself why over 300 people have already fallen in love with it.

In just 10 minutes a day over the seven days, you’ll discover how to clear out the blocks to be able to access your intuition more reliably, when you need it most.

Here’s where you can grab your place now – and please share this link with anyone you know who would love to be part of this.

I’d LOVE to see you there! Click here to register now.

And I’d also love to hear from you, via the comments:

  • There’s no right & wrong – what is the difference between ‘intuition’, ‘instinct’ and ‘common sense’ for you?
  • How different does your life or business feel, if you use your intuition, rather than your rational mind?
  • Do you consciously connect with your intuition or just leave it to chance?

With love, Namaste,

CJ Sig

P.S. The Intuition Breakthrough Blueprint programme also covers how to handle your Inner Critic! Here’s where you can grab your place.

Is Meditation Stirring The Pot For You? How To Take Your Practice Beyond ‘Navel-Gazing’ Into ‘Life-Changing’

How To Change Your Life

Some people cheekily call meditation ‘navel gazing’. There’s something about sitting around, with eyes closed, allegedly coming up with profound insights, that provokes a sense of the slightly ridiculous in those who haven’t yet tried it.
Although meditation techniques can include looking at your life, your reactions, your emotions, your behaviours and your thoughts, it isn’t about ‘navel gazing’. You’re looking at all those aspects of yourself with a clear intention. Through these practices, you are choosing to set ourselves free from the habitual way we normally live life; to see the truth of how things really are; to reclaim your choice about how we experience life; to reconnect with that divine spark, deep within.

When we are in that quiet, still space of relaxed, accepting, focused concentration, we can find that our habits, our beliefs, our assumptions may come up for questioning. It helps us to have more clarity in life and to be able to spot where we’re telling ourselves ‘stories’, rather than basing our decisions on ‘truth’. And this new level of self-awareness can cause the ‘pot of emotions’, deep inside, to have a bit of a stir.

It’s vital to our happiness and inner peace to really have clarity about what’s real and what’s just our projection.

Regular meditation can bring about focused observation of our own habits and behaviours. It awakens a desire within us to be able to choose how to respond, rather than being at the mercy of uncontrollable auto-pilot emotions and stress, as we react to life. This can mean that when you get good at meditation – when you’re able to access that still point – the old habits, behaviours and beliefs that no longer fit with who you really are can come up for examination. Depending on how you’ve been experiencing life so far, some of that might be quite uncomfortable.

Some people might find, for example, that they’ve had a habit of feeling irritated or angry very easily and that regular meditation practice can bring that to the fore.

I remember, when I was starting my ‘real’ meditation journey (rather than just doing guided visualisations or deep relaxations) that I often found myself feeling more irritable and angry than usual. This had the knock-on effect that I would beat myself up, because – of course – I was meditating every day and I’m an NLP trainer, so ‘how dare I’ feel irritated? I was supposed to be ‘blissed out’ and happy, not grumpy and snappy. I was ‘supposed to’ know better.

Well, there is no such thing as ‘supposed to’, for a start! And, secondly, the meditation had allowed me to get myself to a place where I was ready to handle the causes of why I was walking around feeling irritable and angry. At some level, I had made an unconscious decision that I was ready to deal with the triggers for those emotions – and suddenly nearly everybody around me became an Oscar-winning actor, helping to ‘press the buttons’ for me. Their behaviour helped me see the games I was playing, the stories I had been telling myself and the habits I had created, to keep me stuck with those emotions, over the years. (Thanks guys!)

This is a very common situation on a meditation journey.

The danger, if ‘stuff’ comes up (and it doesn’t matter which emotion it is), is that you can end up projecting your anger / irritation / sadness / annoyance / guilt / regret onto other people. For example, you might snap at the next person who crosses your path when, in reality, your emotion was nothing to do with them. It’s like your experience of life becomes overlaid with a movie of that emotion, changing your view of what’s really going on.

“Meditation is not meant to help us avoid problems or run away from difficulties. It is meant to allow positive healing to take place.” Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Is meditation 'stirring the pot' for you?Meditation is about learning how to stop being carried away by past pain and regrets – to stop running away from our problems – to stop being lost in despair about the present time or worrying about our future.
Regular meditation practice helps us to realise that we have a choice: to feel angry or to feel happy. It helps to make that choice easier.

If you catch yourself experiencing a strong emotion that is clouding the reality of what is happening, practise your mindfulness.

Here’s a really useful technique for times when you need to process uncomfortable emotions:

Emotional First Aid Technique

This technique is all about using your breathing as an anchor in a storm of emotions. It helps you to rest; to stop; to reflect; to heal.

  1. Bring your focus back into your physical body.
  2. Be present, without telling the story, without engaging with the emotion, without resisting it.
  3. Breathe. Really focus on your breathing.
  4. Breathe out the emotion, breathe in calm and a sense that all will be ok. It works! Keep going, until you feel a sense of relief.
  5. If you need someone’s help, get it! You don’t have to do this on your own.
  6. Be kind to yourself, open your heart, and perhaps ask:
    • “What would love do, right now?”
    • “What would kindness say to this emotion, this habit, this belief?”
    • “What would ‘courage’ or ‘trust’ say or do?”

They might sound like strange questions, but if you let the answers bubble up, without critique, then you might be surprised by your insightful answers.

Don’t judge yourself. Just observe whether it is one of your old auto-pilot programmes that is causing you to react the way you are used to. Perhaps your deepest being is trying to tell you that this is not who you are anymore? You don’t need to keep doing that – which means you’re getting the chance to set yourself free from that old habit.

This short technique can work in under a minute, once you’re used to using it. It will work for you unless, at some level, you’re unconsciously choosing to hold on to the emotion; if you don’t want to let go of the story…
It helps you to release the emotions, so you can move back to a level of clarity that helps you to see the difference between the story; the drama; the projection; and the truth of the situation. It helps you see ‘what’s real’ about whatever has been going on.
If you’d like some more ‘emotional first aid’ techniques, there are links to more in the bonus resources for this book. One is a deeper-acting emotional first aid process, similar to the one above. Another is a guided visualisation, which is specially designed for emotions and memories that keep coming back. It is designed to help you gently, but effectively, release the old story and move towards the future.

Meditation is a wonderful way to reach that still point, so you can see those habits for what they really are: just habits.
Those old habits are not real – you can’t pick them up and wrap them in paper and tie a bow on them. You can let them go.
All you need to do is choose.

And if you choose from a position of love and kindness towards yourself, instead of anger and beating yourself up over it, you are much more likely to enjoy the process of letting go of that old habit.
If you find that meditation is stirring the pot for you, make sure you get the support that you need to let go of whatever that habit or emotion is that’s been coming up – and then celebrate letting it go.

arrow-no-bgIf you want to join us and really create a life-changing meditation habit, then you’ll love my online course: How To Meditate

Affirmation:

I choose to set myself free from old habits that no longer serve me.

With love, Namaste,

CJ Sig

Newsletter: Are You Desperate For Exposure? Are Freebies Killing Your Biz? And Don’t Miss The Authentically Awesome Business Podcast!

Authentically Awesome

The EU VAT Campaign moves forwardsWelcome to this week’s Authentically Awesome newsletter!

I hope you’ve had a great week.

I’m really excited to be in Brussels, as I write this, presenting a Keynote speech at a European Parliament dinner on the EU VAT mess, followed by a day of key-influencer meetings. It’s wonderful what a group of committed people can achieve (including the lovely Juliet & Rosie in the photo), especially when they have so much moral support. Thank you! Keep an eye on my Instagram feed if you want to see the full photographic evidence!

Click to go to the discussion threadAnd today I’d like to share with you the instant-access replay of a webinar I ran on Saturday. It’s all about how positive thinking sucks and your beliefs are keeping you stuck – and what you can do about it. I’m honoured that so many people have already found it really helpful and if you haven’t watched it yet, here’s where you can register. It’s my gift to you if you register this week. But from next week it will be £29 – so dive in today!


authentically-awesome-business-podcast-clare-josaI’d also like to introduce you to my new podcast: the Authentically Awesome Business Podcast. It’s for passionate business people who know that changing the world is an inside job. And I share with you a blend 0f NLP, demystified Ancient Wisdom, gems from 12 years as a Business Coach and practical common sense from my Inner Engineer.

If that sounds like something you might enjoy, here’s where you can find the latest episode. And you might want to subscribe, via iTunes. (Please feel free to tick that little 5* box, if you’re in the mood – just a cheeky request!)

How desperate are you for exposure?And finally for today, I wrote an article recently that I have had rave feedback on – it has been helping people to set themselves free from the cycle of giving away their best work to grow someone else’s business, in return for ‘exposure’ – aka feeding the freebie hunter. If that sounds like something that might be useful to you, here’s where you can read it.


I hope you find today’s goodies useful. I’ll be back next week with your next instalment. In the meantime, I’d love to say hi over at our Authentically Awesome Facebook group.

With love, Namaste,

CJ Sig

P.S. Last chance to join us for our fantastic Mastermind Retreat in Turkey next month: Book now

Are You Too Tired To Meditate? (Hint: For Most Of Us, That’s A Yes!)

Be, How To Change Your Life

Do you ever find you’re too tired or stressed to meditate?

Back in the days when I was training to become a meditation teacher, I was on the course with my husband Peter. He was famous for his ‘nodding dog’ impressions. You would get 15 to 20 minutes into a meditation technique and suddenly there would be a nearly-silent giggle from the tutor at the front of the room, as they saw him nodding away, falling asleep. As usual, he was too tired to meditate.

 Now that might seem strange, because we might wonder, “It’s meditation: I am sitting still; I’m relaxing; I’ve got my eyes closed, how can I stay awake?”. . . But actually meditation is about relaxed alertness. That’s the difference between deep relaxation – which is intending solely to relax you – and meditation, which is about relaxation with focus and concentration. And it reminded me of my meditation mentor, and a story he once told.

A severely stressed executive came to him, wanting to learn to meditate. It didn’t take long to see that the guy couldn’t sit still: fingers twitching, body fidgeting, fast upper-chest breathing, super-fast talking… You could see his mind was racing and the bags under his eyes told tales of stress-filled sleepless nights. And, once he got to meditate, he would pretty much instantly fall asleep. If anyone ever needed to tap into the de-stressing benefits of deep relaxation, this guy was a prime candidate.

But my mentor turned him away.

“Why on earth would you do that?” we asked him; a stunned class of trainee teachers. He smiled gently as he explained that to be able to meditate there are three stages you have to go through.

 

Meditation is about relaxation, acceptance and then focused concentration.

 

Until you can relax, you can’t meditate.

If you find it really hard to sit still, if you’re finding it really hard to accept your mind, if you’re finding it impossible to manage those pesky thoughts, it could be that what you need most right now is actually deep relaxation and not meditation. It takes a lot of energy to manage and accept your thoughts. It takes energy to concentrate and focus. That’s why we make more mistakes, for example, when writing a message if we’re tired, than if we’re feeling refreshed. So feeling too tired to be able to meditate effectively is a common problem.

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution: no, it’s not sleep! It’s deep relaxation.

 

Doing a 20 minute progressive tense and release deep relaxation every evening, even just for a week, can transform your experience of life.

 

I’m not exaggerating!

It can have the most profound effect on your body’s production of adrenalin and other stress hormones, allowing you to relax and recharge your batteries.

Once you are able to relax, then you will find meditation MUCH easier. It might be that you need to go and spend a month doing that, before you come back and maybe re-start the 28 Day Meditation Challenge (I’m not trying to get rid of you!). Or, if you are prepared to carve out the time you could do both at once.

Deep relaxation is absolutely key to our health, especially when we are running on adrenalin. This constant, low-level stress means that – for many of us – our adrenal glands are nearly empty and our mind and body are close to burn-out. We survive on a diet of stimulants – usually caffeine, sugary foods and high carbohydrate foods, to give us the ‘boost’ we need to keep going. But we’re paying a big price.

 

Aside: if this is resonating for you, you might want to check out the best book I have ever found on dealing with long-term exhaustion and adrenal issues. It’s called ‘Adrenal Fatigue’ by Jim Wilson and reading it changed my life – despite the fact I thought that, as a Meditation Teacher and NLP Trainer, I already knew all there was to know about dealing with stress…

 

The other thing that can make a huge difference to being able to relax is your posture – as I cover in detail in my online course “How To Meditate“. If your back posture is activating your sympathetic nervous system (fight / flight) without also triggering your parasympathetic relaxation response, you could end up too tense and ‘fired-up’ to be able to meditate effectively.

Watch out for your emotions

Often, when starting a new meditation or mindfulness habit, we have been feeling tired for a very long time. Our monkey mind drowns out the tiredness with its constant commentary. When we learn how to stop and rest, the old tiredness and even long-suppressed emotions can come out to play. If you’re feeling very tired, do a deep relaxation. If you’re feeling emotional, there are some great techniques later in the 28 Day Meditation Challenge.

 

So what happened to the super-stressed executive?

He went away and spent a few months working on deep relaxation and dealing with his stress habits. When he came back, ready to meditate, he got fast results. His body was able to relax easily, which made it much easier to accept his environment, his thoughts and his physical world. And then the focused concentration was much simpler for him.

 

And, as for Peter?

You can always tell when he’s too tired to meditate, because his now-infamous nodding dog returns. It’s his personal tip-off that he’s been over-doing things and needs to shift down a gear for a while.

 

So my invitation to you today is to think about how you are living, how your body feels, how your mind feels and to see whether deep relaxation and de-stressing might be what you’re secretly craving right now.

Want To Do A Guided Deep Relaxation Today?

There are plenty of good deep relaxation CDs / MP3s out there. And as a bonus, in case you need it, I have included one on for students on my online programme: “How To Meditate“. I hope you enjoy it! If you’d like to join us, here’s where you can get started:

www.ClareJosa.com/how-to-meditate

Affirmation:
I choose to look after my energy levels.

With love, Namaste,

CJ Sig

Soul-Sized Wednesdays: Are You Suffering From Should-Itis? And How Gratitude Could Be The Secret Key

Videos

Welcome to this week’s Soul-Sized Wednesday video. And today I’m sharing with you an insider secret on whether you’re suffering from ‘should-itis’ – and what you can do about it! It’s really, really, really worth 3 minutes of your time!

And, once you’ve watched it, if you’d love to learn how to use Gratitude to turn around your experience of life – and even grow your business, as I hint at in the video, then make sure you join us for the May Authentically Awesome Mastermind Module. There are still the last few places for annual membership available at the crazy no-brainer price, but I expect them to be gone in the next couple of days. Here’s where you can join us.

And if you really want to dive in and make changes, here’s where you can book to join me in Turkey next month – last chance!
I hope you have a fantastic week and I’d love to hear from you, via the comments:

  • Are you suffering from ‘should-itis’?
  • What usually triggers it for you?
  • And – having watched this video – what are you going to do about it?

With love, Namaste,

CJ Sig

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