What would your life be like if you stopped trying to control it?

Really consider what it would be like if you approached professional and personal situations from a place of ease and grace, in the full knowledge that the effort you put in is enough. Once you have taken the necessary action toward the intended goal, you simply release any anxiety or expectation about the outcome. You let go.

One of the core goals of our workshops for women is to be of service by sharing tools that empower–including understanding the power of surrender and trust. For me, this lesson came from the workshop of life as a part of a health crisis. And I’m not alone. Health data, especially for women, shows we are getting in our own way with steady states of stress, anxiety, over-exhaustion, over-responsibility and dis-ease that can result in full blown diseases in our bodies if ignored long enough.

So how do we do this?

Consider focusing more on the feeling you will experience once you have achieved the goal—I mean really imagine already being there!

Your brain cannot distinguish between reality and a well-imagined fantasy–it will release the same life-altering organic chemicals (dopamine, oxytocin) as if you had just heard those kudos, received that promotion or won that new business. So, when we shift our attention to the place of already having accomplished the goal, we move it away from the endless todo list and the anxiety we create by worrying about how we will ever get it all done. Imagine it done and you are literally programming your brain for that success. Put in effort, then focus on the empowering feeling of well-being and freedom that is a result of achieving your desired outcome. Actually make time to practice this way of “being” and cut back on an unbalanced amount of “doing” that leaves us depleted and spent.

There is a blessing in this approach that will leave you in awe. I promise.

*A note of gratitude: Thank you, J, for attending the workshop and sending this Joseph Campbell quote as a follow up. I am inspired by you and so many other amazing women daily!