Moving Ahead

OMG! I am writing this from my brand new Macbook Air! It is such an amazingly thin little laptop. For many years I have watched the laptop business...waiting until the right one would come along for me...and it is HERE! This laptop is about as heavy as a spiral notebook, and so sleek and sexy. And my experiences in the Apple store have been so wonderful. Yesterday, when I was buying my new laptop (after quite a while spent pondering size and power level) I told my young salesperson I have a crush on Steve Jobs. "So do I!" was this very straight young man's reply! I am really looking forward to taking advantage of the one on one learning sessions I will be taking. I will learn to master this mac...the movie creation for my web site...the photos...everything. This is the perfect tool for me to really be able to reach and help people!

Right now I am working with two coaching clients. Actually I shouldn't even call it "working". It is so much fun and so productive for all of us. I learn from them and they are so receptive to my coaching. Coaching really comes from a collaboration between two people. I ask the questions that help each person determine exactly what the next steps are for them...of course they already KNOW...I just help draw that wisdom forth, and they know we will talk again tomorrow and they will get to share their successes and challenges with me again!

Being accountable to a coach opens the way for huge breakthroughs. In weight loss coaching I have specific meditations and assignments. In life coaching a structure exists, but the focus is on other goals the person has, not on weight loss. This is the work I was born to do. I know the people I was meant to attract are coming my way to be profoundly helped by working with me!!!!

Last night my fabulous Buddhist District took the Entrance Examination. I am so proud of my new young Buddhists. They all studied...presented material...and took the test. Study is integral to this practice...each one of them...and all our district members are getting happier each day.

Today I have already chanted more than three hours...I am determined to break through to a deeper level of happiness than I have ever experienced. Onward and upward!!!!

New Website DONE!

OK! I did it! I designed a website for my business called spiritualweightlosscoach.com !!! Take a look at it and see what you think. I'm open to feedback. I think all of this modern technology is just a miracle that keeps getting better every single day! I love the idea of being able to reach people all over the world. I love the fact that I was able to create this website entirely on my own. Each picture is like a little miracle. "I did it! I did it!" I kept telling my son Ben.

I have my first weight loss client, and we'll start tomorrow with the "before pictures" and get into the program. I'm in the process of designing the rest of the materials...videos...mp3s...books. I'll post my book as an ebook on the site as well. I think I need to get one of those new macbook laptops that are so thin and so powerful...I think I need one tomorrow!

Big storms are coming in to the Chicago Area and I hope they don't blow all the leaves off my beautiful trees. It is a feast for the eyes everywhere you look right now. Today was warm and I walked for about an hour and a half.

On Wednesday night we have a Buddhist exam for our meeting. Study is very important in this practice...it helps us to get more benefits and see the inside of our lives.

ADVANCING!

These are exciting times. I just designed a website! Tomorrow I'll change the url, then I'll let you know what it is. It's so exciting, embarking on this new endeavor. I am using the spiritual weight loss tools I used to help others to lose weight.

I'm a Spiritual Weight Loss Coach! If I can do it, anyone can!

And I know I can help anyone who is ready, and will listen to me, to lose weight too!

My web site has been entirely written while chanting daimoku and holding a pen. The ideas have just been flowing forth. I will be adding to it, but it's ready to go right now...and I did it myself, with help from Intuit. They were great! I wholeheartedly endorse them!

Great Day for the Silver Boys

Ben ran in a meet for the first time in five weeks and came in second. He's been trying to fix an injured right foot...back and forth to the Podiatry office! He felt good today and helped get his team to regionals for cross country.
Aaron is the president of the running club at the University of Illinois and he set a personal record by 30 seconds today and his club came in first in regionals!

It was a rainy cloudy morning, but the sun has come out revealing a beautiful fall day. Lovely!

This week at our Buddhist meeting we'll be taking an elementary Buddhist exam. Study is very important in Buddhism...the more you study the stronger your faith. When you study you see your whole life as a sequence of perfect events leading to your happiness...set backs reveal themselves as benefits and it all comes together when you deepen your faith as you chant!

I have a job interview this week for a place I think I'd really like to work...and all sorts of things in the works. And I feel happier than ever.
Woohoo!

Changing relationship karma!

Wow, hasn't it been a wonderful fall?
It has been so marvelous to be free and in the Arboretum... and walking in the leaves. I'm strengthening my body and preparing my life for what's next.
I have changed some major karma. Here it is, many moons from having lost 70 pounds...and not only am I keeping it off...I am also reshaping my body through pilates. I am still amazed when I try on clothes. Yesterday I tried on a small, sexy dress at Von Maur and could not believe it fit. It was so thrilling that I took a picture! (OMG I love my smartphone) I don't have to buy every single thing just because it fits or looks good. You know ~ when you're heavy that's pretty much what you do...now I am leading a different life thanks to chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo! This karma is changed! Check!
NOW I want to help others to lose weight. I always felt that losing the weight was part of my mission in life. Now that I've done it I want to help others to do it too! I concentrated on spiritual weight loss...and the physical came after that. I didn't analyze all the reasons I ate...I already KNEW them! I just focused my daimoku and chanted and meditated. If I can do it I can teach anyone to do it...but they have to be ready and willing to do what I say!!!
What's next? Relationship karma! I really feel my Mom, and my incredible healing friend Julia, working on this with me. I know my Mom was sad in her chosen relationship...and didn't have daimoku to change that core of sadness in her life...I know many people who have had unhappy mothers too...and I know it is MY KARMA TO CHANGE...for the sake of my children...for the sake of their children...for the sake of everyone who wants to be happy in love! I am determined to be in the happiest state of loving another person...someone who truly sees who I am, practices Buddhism with me, and together we glow and grow and laugh and travel and love! He's healthy, he's optimistic and he loves to have fun. I know this is possible for me. I know he's out there...probably looking for me! I have so much to look forward to!

Feeling the effects!

My son and I are really feeling the effects of our chanting.

Yesterday he told me that there were always people at his High School that he "kind of" fit in with...but there was some sort of barrier...either in his head or imagined...he still felt like an outsider with these people.
NOW he says that all those people have become real friends...and his "group" has expanded exponentially.

I replied that I know exactly what he was talking about...only when I was his age it was my weight that was a barrier between me and others and now that barrier is gone!

Wonderful Buddhist Conference!

I just returned from The Florida Nature Culture Center and I have a gift for all the new friends I just met, and for all of you.

These two quotes were in the Ikeda Hall. They speak volumes about the Soka School System founded by Daisaku Ikeda. Read them and let me know what you think!

"Education at its best
is a process of liberation from prejudice
which frees the human heart
from its violent passions.
It is through education that young people
can be delivered from powerlessness,
from the burden of mistrust
directed against themselves.
And those who have learned to trust in themselves
are naturally able to believe
in the latent capacity of others."

And this address to the students of Soka University:

"The world in which we live today,
jarred as it is by inexorable, dramatic change
demands new expressions of creative wisdom.
It eagerly awaits the appearance
of individuals who are imbued with vision and energy,
who can be trusted to build a grander, better world.
It is you, students and graduates of Soka
who will meet the lofty expectations of our era
by serving as pioneers of a new frontier this century.
For you embrace a robust philosophy
that reveres the inherent dignity of life.
I ask you to inspire hope where there is suffering,
strengthen unity where there is conflict,
and impel progress where there is stagnation,
and in doing so, usher in a global renaissance
by fulfilling the roles you were meant to fill."