Archive by Author

Posted on May 12, 2013 by in Uncategorized

The One Who is at Play Everywhere said,

There is a place in the heart where
everything meets.
Go there if you want to find me.
Mind, senses, soul, eternity,
all are there.
Are you there?

Enter the bowl of vastness
that is the heart.
Give yourself to it with
total abandon.

Quiet ecstasy is there –
and a steady, regal sense of
resting in a perfect spot.

Once you know the way
the nature of attention
will call you
to return, again and again,
and be saturated with knowing,
“I belong here, I am at home here.”

Guest Post – “The Shift”

Posted on January 28, 2013 by in guest posts

The Shift by Brittany Johnston

It has been in the making for over a decade. Oprah’s living it. Wayne Dyer created a film about it. Deepak Chopra shaped an entire business around it. So, what is it?

THE SHIFT: More specifically, the cosmic shift in mankind’s consciousness. Thousands upon thousands have already made the shift and millions are feeling it. The shift is your awakening or transcendence from external circumstances to internal conviction. Your perception on certain situations has drastically changed. You are no longer bothered by the fact that he didn’t call for a second date, that you don’t have a laundry list of friends, that you aren’t making millions of dollars right now. While those things can be viewed as important, the shift actually shifts the attention from yourself and what you think you lack, to feeling grateful for what you already have and viewing others’ needs as more important

images

than your own.

The shift is everywhere: This cosmic shift of consciousness has been referred to in Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future. He recognizes a new era comprised of empathy, story telling, and meaning. Gabrielle Bernstein hosted a lecture titled, “Meaning is the New Money” for Women’s Health Magazine. Oprah Winfrey has created an entire cable network around this miraculous shift which include the shows, “Super Soul Sunday” and “Oprah’s Lifeclass”.

So, now you’re probably wondering what to do once you’ve experienced or are currently experiencing the shift. Here are a few tips that will help guide you on your journey:

Tip 1: Accept it.

Accept that there is something out there that is bigger than yourself. The days filled with selfishness, self-doubt, and pity are long gone.

Accept that people are searching for meaning rather than money. Your self-worth is now greater than your net worth.

Recognize that you will be called on to find your purpose. And when you are called, answer back accordingly.

 

Tip 2: Embrace it.

Embrace these miraculous changes as they come. Emerge yourself in the knowledge and insight provided on Super Soul Sunday.

Come from a place of yes and try new things. This will shift you out of your comfort zone and into a self-confidence boost.

Remember, change is a good thing if you perceive it to be.

 

Tip 3: Keep calm and shift on!

There is nothing more overplayed than the “keep calm” expressions so why not throw another one in the mix.

Shift on baby! You are in GREAT hands, God’s hands to be exact, and his plan is much greater than your own.

Once you actually believe that everything will be ok, it will.

There is a greater force at work here and cannot afford to be interrupted, so stop butting in with your negative thoughts.

Stay calm, everything is going to be better than expected.

 

How have you experienced the shift in your life? Comment below to keep the conversation going.

 

—

You can read more about Brittany and the shift  by visiting  www.sheerspirit.com for daily shift~spiration.

Home for the Holidays

Posted on November 20, 2012 by in Uncategorized

What do you say when you are asked about your teaching? This week many of us will return home for turkey, football (well at least I will), and reconnecting with families. Many new teachers will be expected to report on the fruits of their new training, but, many new teachers are still in their old careers or have not broken into “teaching” just yet. It can be tough – especially for those who do not have support 100%. So how can you talk about your teaching career if you are not actually teaching?

Speak of your plans: It’s okay to have a great plan that is not yet executed. Speaking about it might actually get you more excited for what’s to come. Tell about what you would like to do, where you want to teach, who you plan to contact, when you plan to do it. Show your love of yoga and excitement with each word.

Only teach one class? That’s great!: Whoever said that you need to be teaching 10 classes to be considered a “teacher” was wrong. There, I said it. Now you can believe that teaching 1 class is great (think about all of the special attention you give this class since you only have one to plan for). Speak of how much you love your students and why the class is special: “I teach one early-morning class at the gym and my students are so devoted. They always show up and give me their all.”

Be yoga: There is always a yoga-critic, a misbeliever and even a doubter. Just be who you are and be a yoga teacher in whatever way works for you. Maybe it is in practicing kindness. Maybe it is through being present as you play with the children. Maybe you wake up early to give yourself some “you” time before you spend the day giving to others. Just be you and you will be okay. 

Begin Again

Posted on November 5, 2012 by in Uncategorized

I am a New Yorker by heart and soul and everything in between.

Watching my city and the surrounding areas be destroyed by the hurricane has made me incredibly homesick.

See, I moved to Boston 5 months ago, during a time when I hated New York. It literally had spit me out, because I let it. My life felt hard, and I didn’t have an accepting bone in my body anymore. I knew I needed to get out so I could love New York again.

Watching the rain fall on the news this past Monday, I realized what would had been if I was in New York. The truth is my apartment would have been flooded, and I would of lost memories and probably my cat.

I do believe in karma and I have cursed it when life didn’t go easy – but maybe this time my boyfriend and I were not meant to be in the middle of the storm.

It would of sucked and I am grateful that I didn’t loose everything (even though I don’t feel so grateful, and I really feel homesick).

I only lost my website, somehow. This website. And I have been trying to get everything back up and running but felt an innate resistance. Not the kind that tells me no, but the kind that sees an opportunity: here, I can pause, and create the website I really desire. I can do better than I had done before.

I started to think that this blog could also be better. It could be more honest and more consistent.

Why not.

What have you lost? What are you working on right now? Where do you need to pause and reset?

 

 

Dear Jessica

Posted on August 6, 2012 by in writings

I have a confession to make. 

I bit off more than I can chew. Put too much on my plate, and on the table. 

And did not think rationally. 

It has been two months since I sent out a newsletter. About one month since I edited my website. And even longer since I wrote a blog post and published it.

I thought about what I should be doing every day. I should automate my posts. I should post on twitter. I should just run a webinar. But I didnt. I didnt feel like it was coming from my heart, and Speak Your Inspiration is about being true and realizing what is going on inside causing you to react outside.

I didn’t want to make it seem like I was so busy and so happy. I was stuck deep inside a severe case of writers block and lack of inspiration. 

So, I let myself explore, hoping whatever I was going through would help you. After two months of digging deep I realized I was stuck between my dreams and my reality.

 

My reality was that I just moved to Boston from New York. I had a new gift (website design) but I felt lost in the yoga world. For the first time in my life, I was technically unemployed. The dreams I had of coming here and being a lead yoga teacher seemed far feched, especially at first. 
I needed money. And everyday as I applied for jobs I felt as if I was giving myself a spiritual beating. When asked, over and over again, “Why do you want to [insert job I never would want here]? I really wanted to say “I don’t even know what I want.”

I decided to ask myself the question as if I was a Speak Your Inspiration follower:

Dear Jessica,
I just moved to Boston from New York city two months ago. 
I feel like I failed myself. 
I wanted to move and teach. Freelance write. Get my name out there and really live a life I wanted to live. 
But the money is dripping away. My back is injured and yoga is painful. I feel really unconfident in my relationship with my boyfriend as my bank account goes down. 
I sub classes and people ask me where I teach, and I have nothing to say. 
I feel like I had such a great teaching career in New York but an unhappy life. Since I moved I am happier, much happier. But I miss teaching. 
I really do feel like I failed myself and my dreams. 
Please help me break through this.Thanks,Jessica
 

Dear Jessica, 

Give yourself a break. You didn’t fail, you realized reality, and it is good you did, so you can return to balance. 
Maybe your life right now is exactly what you need to prepare yourself to be a lead teacher, one that Boston has never seen.
You have to remember the best teachers are rational. Many people teach “you can have your dream now!” but can not answer your cries when you are down to your last penny. 
My advice? Get a job but keep your dreams. Have goals. What can you do to keep your dreams afloat? Can you devote 10 hours a week to web design and teach two classes a week? 
Take time to heal and refind the beauty in your yoga practice. When you feel best inside you will teach best.

With love,

Jessica

 

Writing to myself helped me uncover what I was trying to hide and open my mind to what is actually going on and what I needed to take action on. 

The results? I feel rejuvinated. 

I laugh, and I mean it. 

I got a paying job, one that actually works around my schedule. 

Website requests are coming in weekly and my portfolio is growing. 

I have been subbing yoga classes and will be teaching at South End Yoga weekly.

My email has been flooded with people asking for advice and I am so happy to help.

I feel better and more in touch with my true message.

 

If you have a question, need help, or want to connect, please write into the contact form. Whatever you write is confidential. It will be sent right to my email.

Hello world!

Posted on June 27, 2012 by in Uncategorized

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Breakthrough story!

Posted on June 6, 2012 by in writings

Breakthrough story!

“The moment you say yes to acting on your desire is the real beginning.” – Danielle LaPorte, The Fire Starter Sessions

I am excited to tell you that so much is going on at Speak Your Inspiration!

I am writing you this week because I have an amazing breakthrough story to share with you.

In the past few months I have had the pleasure of hearing the dreams of many aspiring teachers. I feel so grateful to be part of their path. I want to share a breakthrough story that was really an “a-ha” moment for me too.

I spoke to a woman this week who taught yoga to her mother as she was passing. Her name is Stella.
Her mother couldn’t move much, but she used yoga to help her move easily and simply in her last months.
In honor of her mother she wanted to continue to give this service to the elderly but “didn’t know how” and “felt stuck.”

We were on our weekly call, talking for about 10 minutes diving and into the root of what was making her stuck. After a few minutes I interrupted Stella.

“Do you have a website?” I asked
“No,” Stella said. “I’m not tech savvy.”
“Then how are nursing homes, retirement homes, hospitals and concerned families going to contact you!!?” I continued, “a website will set you apart from the people who just go by word of mouth. Potential employers will be able to go on your website, read your story and see how they can contact you.”

“Wow,”  she said, and after a long pause, “I didn’t even know I was closing myself off like that.”

The energy on the phone changed immediately.

I felt like we made real progress toward her goal. Not only did she see multiple avenues that want her business, Stella saw that this idea could really turn into a business.

But we were still stuck. My not-tech-savvy client didn’t believe she could build a website on her own. And if she did she was positive it would cost her way too much.

***
I sympathized completely because I knew how she felt. I wanted a website when first began teaching and asked two graphic designer friends for help. The first one agreed immediately and refused to accepting money.  A month or so went by and he started it, but then never finished the site. My other friend set it up for me but it looked like a blog, not a website. Nothing was manageable. Nothing was ever updated. I emailed him often and he never responded.

So when I first wanted to create Speak Your Inspiration I felt stuck too because I also wasn’t tech savvy.  But my desire to create this community trumped my belief that I could not learn how to create a site. So I decided to pay to learn how to easily create and self manage a website. I fell in love with how easy it was as I practiced, creating more and more sites, and now I am happy to announce I will be offering website creation (that you can easily manage) going forward as part of Speak Your Inspiration.

I have found many teachers have AMAZING ideas and communities to share them with – but no platform to share it on. Having no web presence where you write about what you believe in and who you are prevents you from connecting with other teachers and students who are looking for you.

So if you have a dream, a specific dream, who will it serve? how will you reach them? you may feel unconfident because you have not tried to reach out yet, but once you get moving, get people interested, and get the ball rolling, you will feel better because your idea will be in motion in the world – and not just in your head.

I DO NOT want this blog to be a place where I sell any products or services. My true intent is to hold a community of inspiration and advice. However,  I offered to help Stella begin her website that she can then manage on her own through WordPress. All of the details listed here. It is very cheap, and I wanted to offer them here, once, in case you need help with the tech-stuff. For the purpose of not making this a sales pitch – I will just ask you to contact me at my personal email address: jlynnedaniels@gmail.com and we can discuss further. 


this post is more about me than it is about you

Posted on April 17, 2012 by in writings

this is about listening to your heart, even when it comes to money

I just left a job fair in Manhattan called “How to Land a Job in International Development.” I am almost embarrassed to say I left early. But I guess I really am not, if I am saying it here.

I hold a masters degree in Middle Eastern Historical Studies with a focus on Iran pre and post revolution. My work is primarily based on how Amercia views the Middle East and than persuades the public to lobby behind a specific view (take veiling, for example) to turn the Middle East into “bad” and the U.S “good.” Last week I spent $11.99 on Time magazine because it had coverage of the Middle East during Arab Spring.

I spent $100,000 on 6 years of schooling and countless hours reading, writing and researching. I have so much passion that I can barley sit when conversation arises around any topic that relates to the Middle East.

But I walked out of a job fair on how to get a job in International Development. Why?

It didn’t take this seminar to show me that a career in International Development is not for me anymore. I knew that before I went into it. I think I knew that before I got my Masters. For both, I just promised myself ill follow through with my commitment and go with an open mind.

Unfortunately I learned that the career I desire is, as I anticipated, is hard to get. So even though I need the money and finding a career that relates to your degree is what I am “supposed” to do, I am not going to do it.

I don’t want to go into an entry level position where I’m an administrative assistant. I would like to travel, but apparently you need 7-10 years of feild expeirence. Which means you really need to work in a job for about 15 years before you are qualified. But first of course you need to get hired, which now that I’m thinking about it, people really should get paid for job searching because it can take up more time than a full time job.

So by the time I qualify, I will be a mom,  and I will not be able to, nor will I want to, leave my kids and husband go to work in Saudi Arabia. I wanted that life when I was 20, but now that I am 25, I don’t anymore. 

I don’t want to wake up one day and wonder where my life went for what I love the most.

I think a lot of times the jobs we stay stuck in are just because we are stuck and afraid to change (I am facing this now, but I will save that for another post). I remember when I was getting my degree the career I imagined was all about feeelance writing, researching what I want, consulting the big wigs and forming an amnesty international type organization.

That dream job and life is not really what my heart wants anymore. I know you know what my point is but I am going to say it: I want an easy life. 

I want to always work and always be involved in something my heart believes in.

And I really believe if I am meant to do that work: consulting, research, writing, then I will do it my own way. And the dream will come true as long as I stay happy and as long as it is best for my life. 

I know what working on what you love feels like. I can spend all day working on my website, reading up how to write more effectively, learning the tools that the most successful entrepreneurs have, etc.

The same goes for teaching yoga. I always want to be a better teacher: more driven, more confident. The works.

I am choosing to become a school teacher when I move to Boston this summer. I am excited to write my cover letter and tell people about my plans and how I am excited to still keep teaching yoga and mentoring, but work on paying off my loans at the same time. 

I promsie to always have this enthuasiam when it comes to work. 

So what I really got today out of the seminar is that my passion and love of the Middle East is here and vibrant, and I don’t need a job to prove it. I was so excited to come home and finish my teaching cover letter explaining why I have a specific masters degree but I rather use my knowledge and skills to teach. 

This is about listening to your heart, even when it comes to money

Posted on April 17, 2012 by in writings

I just left a job fair in Manhattan called “How to Land a Job in International Development.” I am almost embarrassed to say I left early. But I guess I really am not, if I am saying it here.

I hold a masters degree in Middle Eastern Historical Studies with a focus on Iran pre and post revolution. My work is primarily based on how Amercia views the Middle East and than persuades the public to lobby behind a specific view (take veiling, for example) to turn the Middle East into “bad” and the U.S “good.” Last week I spent $11.99 on Time magazine because it had coverage of the Middle East during Arab Spring.

I spent $100,000 on 6 years of schooling and countless hours reading, writing and researching. I have so much passion that I can barley sit when conversation arises around any topic that relates to the Middle East.

But I walked out of a job fair on how to get a job in International Development. Why?

It didn’t take this seminar to show me that a career in International Development is not for me anymore. I knew that before I went into it. I think I knew that before I got my Masters. For both, I just promised myself ill follow through with my commitment and go with an open mind.

Unfortunately I learned that the career I desire is, as I anticipated, is hard to get. So even though I need the money and finding a career that relates to your degree is what I am “supposed” to do, I am not going to do it.

I don’t want to go into an entry level position where I’m an administrative assistant. I would like to travel, but apparently you need 7-10 years of feild expeirence. Which means you really need to work in a job for about 15 years before you are qualified. But first of course you need to get hired, which now that I’m thinking about it, people really should get paid for job searching because it can take up more time than a full time job.

So by the time I qualify, I will be a mom,  and I will not be able to, nor will I want to, leave my kids and husband go to work in Saudi Arabia. I wanted that life when I was 20, but now that I am 25, I don’t anymore. 

I don’t want to wake up one day and wonder where my life went for what I love the most.

I think a lot of times the jobs we stay stuck in are just because we are stuck and afraid to change (I am facing this now, but I will save that for another post). I remember when I was getting my degree the career I imagined was all about feeelance writing, researching what I want, consulting the big wigs and forming an amnesty international type organization.

That dream job and life is not really what my heart wants anymore. I know you know what my point is but I am going to say it: I want an easy life. 

I want to always work and always be involved in something my heart believes in.

And I really believe if I am meant to do that work: consulting, research, writing, then I will do it my own way. And the dream will come true as long as I stay happy and as long as it is best for my life. 

I know what working on what you love feels like. I can spend all day working on my website, reading up how to write more effectively, learning the tools that the most successful entrepreneurs have, etc.

The same goes for teaching yoga. I always want to be a better teacher: more driven, more confident. The works.

I am choosing to become a school teacher when I move to Boston this summer. I am excited to write my cover letter and tell people about my plans and how I am excited to still keep teaching yoga and mentoring, but work on paying off my loans at the same time. 

I promsie to always have this enthuasiam when it comes to work. 

So what I really got today out of the seminar is that my passion and love of the Middle East is here and vibrant, and I don’t need a job to prove it. I was so excited to come home and finish my teaching cover letter explaining why I have a specific masters degree but I rather use my knowledge and skills to teach. 

i dont think it just “is what it is:

Posted on April 17, 2012 by in writings

You might of guessed by now that the reason you have trouble speaking in front of the room is because you are uncomfortable with yourself. 

This is not to put you down or anything, I totally know how you feel (remember, the only reason I am in this place right now is because I went through it).

So this week, marinate on the idea that if you got rid of your excuses of “why not,” what would you be left with?

If you comment I WILL respond. I promise it will help you and other people. 

Much love <3