Rise in Your Greatness
You are born great, however, many of you play small. You are born with amazing potential; unique gifts and talents to share. It’s up to you to realize and appreciate your uniquely YOU greatness. Life’s experiences may have you feeling less than, not deserving, fearful, lacking confidence or self-worth. As long as there is breath in your body, a new experience is possible… What kind of experiences do you desire to create in your life?

When you rise in your life, you can assist others to rise in theirs. When you do less than you are capable of, you have less to contribute. This “less” not only affects others, but is a direct feedback to you. You are your own worst enemy or your best friend. It’s up to you to help yourself, to see yourself through your child’s heart…curious, creative, and open. Are you ready to feel different, do different, and do better? Decide now and commit to your decision. Your life matters and you are worth it.

Allow me to assist you on your journey inward. My book, Straight to the Heart of What Matters, is a guide and companion; a resource to educate, motivate, and inspire you. Available online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com

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Website: www.victoryinaction.com                    Contact me at www.deborah@victoryinaction.com

Let us take a moment in quiet thought and reflection to send our prayers and sentiments to the family that has just lost a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a cousin, a friend, a best friend…

We all affect each other with our comments and criticisms. A little kindness and compassion can go a long way. We do not know the details or depth of others thoughts and feelings to the extent that one would consider ending their life.

What was this young girl’s perception of reality that she saw no better option than to end her life? How does her family and close friends view this situation?

What is your Perception of Reality? This has nothing to do with being right or wrong. It’s how you see your situation. Book Excerpt from Straight to the Heart of What Matters: “Your personal perception—founded on subconscious and conscious programming, and your belief system—serves to provide you with a baseline reference for how you see yourself, others, and circumstances, as well as how you interpret and interact with life’s events.”

Do you recognize where your viewpoints originate? Why are some people quick to judge others and their behaviors? How does it make you feel when you judge someone? How would you feel to have people judge you? Can you open yourself to appreciate a point of view that is different than yours?

How do you view your life today? Your state of mind matters. Stress, emotional distress, and depression are a few considerations that contribute to our outlook. As a society, we can assist and support each other. We must become more mindful and considerate during our interactions with one another. According to 2007 U.S. statistics, a person dies as a result of suicide every fifteen minutes. As for our youth, between the ages of 15-24, suicide is the third leading cause of death. Keep in mind, for every suicide, there are numerous attempts at suicide.

For immediate help or support Call Hotline 1-800-273-8255
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/                                                                    www.suicidehotlines.com/  

Our emotional and spiritual health contributes to our physical health and our outlook on life. My recently published book, Straight to the Heart of What Matters, can help you to gain a new perspective on life and your life’s circumstances. In addition, I desire to support and assist you through my Straight to the Heart of What Matters(SM) workshops. www.straighttotheheartofwhatmatters.com  (click on workshops-seminars)

Contact: Deborah@victoryinaction.com  

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It is my intention to provide you content that is thoughtful, educational, engaging, inspirational, and empowering. As you read the blog articles on this site, may you find support and encouragement; receive food for thought that can assist you in gaining a new perspective on your life experiences.

There is a great deal of pain today. I desire to help you tap into another way to look at your life experiences; find a way to appreciate your experiences. Your increased awareness and insight will contribute to your personal growth and have rippling effects on all of your relationships, especially the relationship you have with yourself. I feel that if you connect with me in any way or resonate with any of the articles I’ve written, you make available that space within you that says yes…yes to an opportunity and to the possibility of a deeper connection to yourself….to find healing, passion, and purpose in your life. I believe in possibilities, I believe in miracles, and I believe in YOU!

We affect each other’s lives. I appreciate the wonderful comments from my readers.

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Are you ready for positive change in your life? Delve into your heart and soul, connect with your authentic self. Allow me to assist you. Join me by participating in the 2011 Victory in Action® Challenge!

The mission and vision of Victory in Action® has been set in motion. Please join me on: www.facebook.com/victoryinaction and www.twitter.com/victoryinaction

An OPPORTUNITY to LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE POSSIBLE!

RISE and TRIUMPH over ANY CHALLENGE in YOUR LIFE!

It’s YOUR TIME to…

DISCOVER a NEW and EMPOWERED YOU
OPEN to CREATIVITY and CLARITY
Go BEYOND limited BELIEFS and PERCEPTIONS
ALIGN with your PASSION and PURPOSE

PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT COACHING & MENTORING

(3 Part Series)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYktbhWhRQ0

1. FIRST: FREE series of 12 Bi-Monthly Group Tele-Seminars (January through June)

60-90 minute Sessions with Q&A on each call (Surprise Guest Speakers)

1 Private 30 minute Coaching Session (Schedule phone consult with Deborah)

2. SECOND: Those who participate in the tele-seminar series are eligible to participate in a “LIVE EVENT”

Recognize – Release – Restore – Revive
2 Day Weekend Retreat

(Fees and Location TBD – West Coast: June or July 2011)

Receive Companion Workbook and Surprise BONUS you will truly appreciate!!!

3. THIRD: Will be revealed at the LIVE EVENT!

Register Now to Participate!!!    Contact: Deborah@VictoryinAction.com

As we care for others, it is essential that we care for ourselves too. We are to recognize our strengths and weaknesses and seek to gain an appreciation for the lessons offered through our life experiences. We are to accept ourselves as we are and open ourselves to believing in possibilities beyond measure, beyond our greatest imagination, and even beyond rationale thought. It is important we take personal responsibility for the choices and decisions we make. We can help ourselves by establishing a personal honor code, which includes healthy personal boundaries and healthy, nurturing habits that lend to life-enhancing relationships, especially the relationship we have with our precious self.

How do we care for ourselves? We care for ourselves through Self-Love, Self-Appreciation, and Self-Awareness: Be Aware of how you treat yourself; become conscious and mindful of your attitude, behaviors, influences, perceptions, and beliefs. Be your own Best Friend. PAUSE, take a Deep Breath and “BE” where you are–as you are–this very moment. Be Present with the Moments of your life; be Quiet and Listen. There is a STILL, small VOICE inside speaking to you, desiring your attention, desiring to connect and communicate with you. Be Kind and Patient with yourself. OPEN yourself to Growing and Flowing… Appreciating “All that is,” all that has been, and all that is yet to be. ALLOW your HEART to expand its CAPACITY to Love Unconditionally, Forgive, Heal, Renew, and Restore.

As we close out this year 2010, let us REFLECT… let us take time for Quiet INTROSPECTION…               What are you grateful for? Is there anything new you have discovered about yourself? What has this year revealed to you? What realizations have you made? What contributions have you made with your time, energy, talent, resources, etc.? Have you grown as a person, moved forward or moved through any major challenge or adversity? What life lessons have you learned? What goals have you accomplished? What are you bringing forward into the New Year?

As we look forward to 2011, let us RESOLVE to EVOLVE…                                                                   What are your dreams, goals, and desires? What are your abilities, talents, interests, etc.? Are there any areas you desire support or assistance with? Do you have a support network? Who is in your support network? What IN you is seeking to come forward; to be expressed through you? Are you willing to grow and stretch yourself? Are you ready for change? Are you truly committed to your success, to feeling better, to doing better, to doing differently?

I welcome your comments and look forward to assisting you along your journey!

Stay tuned for information on the upcoming 2011 VICTORY IN ACTION CHALLENGE!

Deborah S. Howell
Author: “Straight to the Heart of What Matters”

Please Visit: www.victoryinaction.com
I invite you to join me on www.facebook.com/victoryinaction and on www.twitter.com/victoryinaction  for a “Dose of Deborah”

At any age, we all seek a fundamental truth, a truth we initially look for outside ourselves, a truth we derive from others to validate our lives; the truth of unconditional acceptance and validation of our being, of our worthiness. The truth is we “know” our truth, but often times get disconnected from our truth.

I had the most amazing soulful connection with an 80 year old woman this past week in the therapy clinic. This woman has been questioning the struggles she’s had over the past few decades of her life, although she was very successful in her business before retirement. In my brief observation and through conversation, I sensed she had been allowing herself to die slowly and painfully with the aging process; dying to self; denial of self; deprecation and destruction of self; denying herself the joy that stems from living her passion, a passion that moves her spirit and fills her soul.

She questioned, what was the point anymore, what was the purpose to her life? She questioned what it was to have faith or to “trust in the process.” She said that getting old was painful and nobody really cared.

For years, she has had difficulty sleeping and feels depressed when awake. One would think she was simply depressed, which is a common occurrence with aging. She recently had surgery and her body was healing, but in addition to the physical healing, she was dealing with many emotions that were surfacing; feelings of unrest and uncertainty.

I asked her what she enjoyed doing. She told me she spends time with her family. She has been married for over sixty years, and has children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She told me she looks at old pictures of herself and sees a young girl who is no longer present. That profound comment immediately caught my heart’s attention. I looked directly into her eyes and said, “That girl is still very present, she still lives inside you, she has never left you, it is you who have left her, denied her.” She looked at me, there was a moment of silence. As I continued to talk with her, I found out her interests and talents, which are indeed, her passion…poetry and art, painting and drawing. “How beautiful,” I remarked. I shared that this natural ability to creatively express, was a gift, uniquely hers.

“What’s the point,” she said, “no one cares about this kind of stuff anymore. They are too busy with other things, with gadgets and interests elsewhere. I don’t want to bring people down with my views on life. My views are not like yours.”

I asked her how she felt when she used to write poetry and paint. She said she felt alive, she was inspired. The creativity came through her onto paper and onto canvas. I gently brought to her attention that while she was expecting others to find value with her inspired works of art, she was not appreciating and valuing these works for herself.

Although her outlook was pessimistic and doubtful, it was her reality being expressed, her feelings and perspective that had me intrigued and inspired. I was greatly inspired by our connection, the enriching content of our heart and soulful communication. She expressed feeling inspired by my outlook but said she could not connect with it. I challenged her on this, for I knew on a deeper level, she was truly moved and engaged but was resisting her own authentic truth… for the truth that she has known and lived with for eight decades, a truth told to her in her youth by her father, a person she dearly loved and respected, had prevailed throughout her life. I asked her to consider that the intention of our meeting was to bring attention to her symptoms of restlessness and depression as a message from her body, to open her to a new perspective that the possibility her truth did not match her father’s truth. She acknowledged me with a look, neither denying nor confirming the possibility. To be continued…

HONOR yourself. CHALLENGE yourself to change…OPEN to a new perspective.

Do you acknowledge yourself, your deeper authentic self that you “know” intimately OR are you afraid to open up and reveal for fear of misunderstandings, judgment, criticism, or ridicule? Are you wrestling or resisting your truth, your authentic truth? Are you questioning something someone told you, a belief that you made your own? Are you revisited by your conscience, your intuitive guide?

At any age, our authentic truth remains the same. There is value and meaning to our lives, our life matters, we embody a Divine Spirit, that which is love of the purest kind. This loving Spirit nurtures us, keeps us “Whole.” We are worthy of giving and receiving love, we are magnificent in design; we are remarkable, there is value and meaning to our lives. This is Our AUTHENIC Truth!

Commitment to your honoring your authentic truth takes courage, patience, loving intention, appreciation, and trust in the process. Be gentle with yourself.

Our body communicates with us. The terms we use to describe our life, our situation, or our circumstance, mirrors what is happening on the inside of our body. The tensions, restrictions, adhesions, compensations, holding patterns, and disease processes that occur inside our bodies due to injury, neglect, abuse, and trauma whether physical or emotional have us languaging in a way to bring our attention inward; to bring our attention to what we are really feeling on a much deeper core level. Most of us are not aware of this until our attention is directly or indirectly brought to it.

The energy we expend to compensate, hide, resist, brace, hold on to, and harbor, is significant. Its effects can be direct, indirect, and subtle on our health and well-being both for the short term and long term without our awareness. When we are out of alignment within our body, out of sync, not flowing freely and comfortably, this has effects on how we view our world outside our body…how we view our lives, our situations, and our relationships.

Our cells, tissues, nervous system, and all our systems are constantly interacting and responding to our experiences; responding to our environment both on the inside and the outside of our body.

I ask you now to give your attention to the light presence that is within you; the light that is you, that radiates through you and beyond you. Raise your vibration to align with your highest self, your higher intuitive knowing self, the self that longs and cries for your attention. Embrace and appreciate all that makes you unique.

May you find peace within.

With gratitude for the Divine inner guidance that is within us all.

Deborah S. Howell

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Recovery from a spinal cord injury is a process…moment by moment. The initial shock after an accident, the initial fear and uncertainty of survival, the subsequent fear and uncertainty of recovery are real and immediate. The life altering changes in functionality are BOLDLY evident. The body you once knew has drastically changed and is now unfamiliar.

It’s so important we take time to appreciate the abilities we have. The ability to breathe, think, interact, eat, drink, taste, smell, touch, feel, move, walk , talk, control our bowel and bladder…the ability to be independent, get up and go where we want to and when we want to, to drive, to travel, etc. are things we must be mindful of and take care of. Appreciate the moment. We must take time each day to express gratitude for all of our abilities and opportunities.

Every day is a gift, a blessing, and a present. Stay PRESENT!

For several decades now, as I use my youth as a period of reference, I’ve noticed a slow disconnect over time–a disconnect from self and others. We’ve seen a significant increase in the dreaded “D” list: despair, depression, devastation, doubt, divorce, disease, delusion, disillusionment, drugs, “drinking”, and death. What has happened to our neighborhoods, or should I say the sense of neighborhood and the sense of community? The hierarchy of respect we used to show as kids when talking with adults, referring to them as Mr. and Mrs. is a thing of the past. The overall regard for authority has greatly diminished. There is increased force and brutality as a means of communication.

We’ve manifested into a culture of high tech – low touch which has influenced the devaluing of life and of SELF, has shown to increase stress and stress related illnesses, and has contributed to decreased self-esteem and decreased job satisfaction. There is a greater emphasis on keeping up the “image” which has affected our ability to authentically communicate because of this external “mask” effect. There is an underlying fear of not being good enough, pretty enough, or worthy enough, so individually and collectively, we’ve learned how to compensate for this “lack.” This compensation, however, does not truly fill the void of what really matters, the love and connections we desire in our lives, the feelings of self-worth and self-confidence that enable us to walk and talk with authenticity. Our abilities, behaviors, and outcomes are a result of our thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes.

Currently, in our daily lives, we are seeing heightened states of frustration and intolerances, lack of compassion and conscientiousness, desperate acts for attention, increased acts of violence and more… However, what I am gradually noticing through conversation and observation is a desire to return to feeling connected, starting with the connection to self. Through the chaos, a SHIFT is taking place, a desire to stop feeling sick and tired of being sick and tired. There is a growing awareness that change is necessary. The heart is calling for our attention, is longing for true connection- that connection to self which allows us to discover our personal truths, authentically connect with one another and connect with the very essence of life itself.

My recently published book, “Straight to the Heart of What Matters,” lends itself as a resource to deeply engage and awaken to this shift. This book is intended to help us make sense of our life experiences, to discover our personal truths, to live our best life possible.