I was insulted. Then I decided to have some fun. I surfed around and found reviews of half a dozen books that he could read. One was a mentoring guide for dummies. He got message, I felt great and we're still friends.

Wet blankets reflect your inner fears. "You'll hate living there," your friend predicts. And, privately, you wonder if he's right.

"What if there's nothing to do in that tiny little town? Can I handle eighty degrees and humid? What if I can't get another job?"

Your Inner Critic chimes in with, "What makes you think you can run your own business?"

Finally, use imagery. As you feel a wet blanket smother your fire, replace it with a soft, light, warm quilt. Be warm, comfortable and protected as you complete your journey.

Don't worry about saying "I told you so!" to wet blankets. By time you've achieved your dream, you'll have only dim memories of that soggy heap in corner.

This article is based on my ebook, Nine Magic Keys to Career Freedom: http://www.movinglady.com/freedombook.html

Truth 4: Being present takes practice. As children, we felt we had command of our day, at least until bedtime. Summers stretched into hide-aways, street games, lightening bug hunts, marshmallows over campfires, and inner tubes in pools. What would happen if we could capture, practice, and re-frame present so that at end of a day, a week, or year, we felt like we have lived life -- with it’s joys and sorrows -- in a manner of our choosing? Plenty.

How to Get Started

Here are two examples of what you can do to be here now:

1. Create a sacred space for regrouping. This could be your car, your bathroom, your backyard. When you enter this space, ban anything that distracts your attention from simply breathing and noticing your surroundings.

2. Try and discover something you have never seen or heard before. There will always be something. This is like any exercise. The regular practice will allow you to stop at any given moment and be in control, centered, and observant. Keep a journal, and joy a few words of some event, person, experience or observation that struck you as meaningful. This is part of being in now.

Being present means seeing with new eyes and looking beyond obvious to that metaphorical magic which takes an event in time and earmarks it as a memory. By collecting these moments and capturing them in word or picture, at end of a year, you’ll be amazed at how much you have won by being present. You have won back a portion of your life.

© 2001 by Eileen McDargh. All rights reserved. Reprints must include byline, contact information and copyright.