I don’t know about you, but I love Spring. It’s my season! Maybe it’s cause I’m a May-day baby, but I come alive this time of year. Right now I’m celebrating on so many levels. Not only am I feeling free-er than I have in months, but also I’m celebrating my 23rd year in business.

If you’re ready to break through to shining brighter than you ever have, I hope you’ll join me on this journey. I’m offering a 23% off coupon on three of my flagship programs through May 1st.

Just use ANNIVERSARY in the coupon code spot on these programs:

If there’s a book in you and you’re ready for some mentoring and accountability on the writing, publishing or marketing process, this program’s for you.

If you’re struggling to identify who you are, who you serve, and what you bring to the world, this program will help you do that. You’ll also start thinking through products, programs and services you can offer.

I’ll be getting real, raw and relevant with a small group of individuals about my journey through the Transparency Phase of the Light Bearer Cycle. I’ll be helping you navigate this difficult phase of the process with more grace, ease and hope. Come on! Let’s cross over!

If you’re ready to embrace and celebrate your freedom to express your truth, your highest and greatest self, I hope you’ll join me in May for one or more of these programs!

In the meantime, enjoy this fun song from Jason Mraz and celebrate your freedom!

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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One of the most fascinating excuses I hear from people about why they don’t want to collaborate is that they don’t trust other people. They are afraid to go into collaborative arrangements for fear of being hurt. Often the people who tell me this are Potentials (in Lisa Rae Preston’s STEP Core Passion Assessment). Primary Potentials are highly creative visionaries who are wired to inspire. We comprise only about 10% of the population. Thus, we are different than the norm. We tend to be pioneers and march to the beat of our own drummers. Few people really “get us.” (You can take the STEP Core Passion Assessment for free here.)

“Fitting in,” isn’t likely to occur unless we happen to be surrounded by other Potentials. For example, the majority of the world is comprised of Services (the do-ers) and their brain patterning is the direct opposite of Potentials. Most Potentials spend their lives being told by the rest of humanity what they “should” or “should not” do. For example, they might hear, “You should buckle down, get a steady job and let go of your pipe dreams.” Nothing grates on a Potential’s nerves quite like being “should upon.”

This alienation and inevitable wedge sends us into our own little worlds. And we do have quite the imaginations! We can entertain ourselves there, but in this place there isn’t as much human interaction as we crave.

Another aspect of the Potential mind is that it is wired to spot patterns and see connections. Potentials who have a secondary brain patterning of Truth, tend to see patterns and connections in things and ideas. Potentials who have a secondary brain patterning of Empathy, tend to see patterns and connections with people.

Potential-Empathies, in particular, crave human interaction. We need people. We are born collaborators. So, if we’ve been alienated and wounded to isolate ourselves, we often end up depressed, lonely and afraid.

But for those who can push past their fears, and reach out to others, great rewards await. Simon Sinek talks about how Mother Nature has wired us to help one another. We actually release a feel-good hormone in our bodies (Oxytocin) when we spend time and energy helping another person. In order to survive as a species we must learn to help one another, and so it’s hard-coded into us to feel fulfilled when we do.

This could be another reason why Potentials who feel alienated and then withdraw, suffer from depression, anxiety or other disorders. Their fear of alienation prevents them from engaging in relationships fully, and thus they produce less Oxytocin (also referred to as the “love and bonding hormone”) which then results in fewer moments of happiness.

“Oxytocin is a hormone that helps relax and reduce blood pressure and cortisol levels. It increases pain thresholds, has anti anxiety effects, and stimulates various types of positive social interaction. In addition, it promotes growth and healing.” (Oxytocin hormone benefits and side effects by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Here’s an illustration of the power of this naturally occurring drug.

My son Joshua was diagnosed with Crohn’s at 13. It’s an auto-immune, inflammatory bowel disease. Since getting married in December 2012, he has been doing much better. He says he’s healed. My family was joking around on Easter about how his wife, Elise, is healing him with her love.

Here’s something fascinating I found while investigating Oxytocin, which is released when people are in love or during social bonding of any kind. Look at this fascinating footnote from Wikipedia:

“Social behavior and wound healing: Oxytocin is also thought to modulate inflammation by decreasing certain cytokines. Thus, the increased release in oxytocin following positive social interactions has the potential to improve wound healing. A study by Marazziti and colleagues used heterosexual couples to address this possibility. They found increases in plasma oxytocin following a social interaction were correlated with faster wound healing. They hypothesized this was due to oxytocin reducing inflammation, thus allowing the wound to heal faster. This study provides preliminary evidence that positive social interactions may directly impact aspects of health.”

Elise IS healing Joshua! Or perhaps his love for her is healing him!

So here’s what I’m thinking for those who have been wounded so deeply they are afraid to collaborate… Perhaps you don’t trust everyone, but is there even one person you trust? Reach out and serve that person. Better yet, find someone to serve without any expectation of return. No need for trust then. Expend your time and energy to help that person in some way. Use your gifts and your imagination! This will make you feel better – literally releasing Oxytocin in your brain.

Do this enough, and you will begin to heal. Then you will start to attract more people you can trust into your life. And then you can serve them too, and they will serve you in return. Gradually, over time, you will collect your own tribe of people who believe what you believe and whom you can trust. THEN, you can start tapping into the power of collaboration – which is accessing infinite possibilities and resources.

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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Have you ever taken time to get clear on the Who, What, Why, When, Where and How of sharing your message with the world? This is a fun exercise to help bring greater clarity. It’s not necessarily something you need to share in your marketing materials or on your site, but it will help YOU remember what you do so you can stay focused and get better results. Keeping your answers to these questions handy will help you avoid getting sidetracked on projects or ideas that take you away from your goals.

To give you an idea of what I mean, here’s mine:

Who: I work with Light-Bearer entrepreneurs – those with valuable experience and knowledge to share. They usually have innovative messages, methods or systems that liberate those who are experiencing limitations in some aspect of their lives.

What I Do: Work to facilitate a FreedomShift by fostering entrepreneurship, innovative thinking and tribal leadership.

Why: To play a role in bringing about the ultimate FreedomShift. Here’s my logic…

1. Experiencing freedom in one aspect of life, leads to the ability to proactively choose freedom in other areas until one is ultimately free to act, think, create, and express their highest/best selves.

    

2. As people step into their own power and take responsibility for their freedom to choose, they learn to respect the freedom of others. Individuals discover that you cannot destroy another’s freedom without destroying your own.

    

3. The end result of a society of individuals who appreciate, understand, protect and proactively use their freedom to create and produce worthwhile things is greater peace, prosperity and enlightenment.

How: Creating Caring Collaborative Communities that foster entrepreneurship, teach people innovative truths, and produce tribal leaders. I create communities that equip and mobilize Light Bearers to light the way for and liberate others.

When: Now!

Where: Online collaborative communities, online/offline training, IgnitePoint.com, MarniePehrson.com, and live events.

Give it a try. Who do you serve? What do you do? Why do you do what you do? Where will you serve? How will you do it? When will you get started?

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the last few days. I recognize it as the “Rest Phase” of The Creative Cycle. The typical symptoms are: I start to doubt myself, think negatively, and develop a good case of “amnesia” about who I am and what I’m here to do. In this phase I tend to procrastinate things… the smallest details can overwhelm me.

I’m coming out of this phase, thanks to

a) Time. Remember when you’re in a funk, “this too shall pass.” In fact, what follows the Rest Phase is a Flow State. So the best part is just around the corner! Look forward to it!

b) Relaxing into the rest. I took a 3 hour nap yesterday and watched 3 episodes of one of my daughter’s favorite series (Merlin) with her.

c) Implementing a few tools I use to “remember who I am” when amnesia sets in.

It’s these tools for overcoming the amnesia that I’d like to share with you.

Dream Work Profile. Back in August 2012, I had a Dream Work Profile session with my friend Anastasia Montejano. I came away with crystal clarity about my strengths, what I’m here to do in the world, and how I can choose to show up in life. Specifically I had a clearer understanding of where I am right now and how the last year and this year fit into my overall path. Anastasia recorded our session, and anytime I start to feel the amnesia coming on, I listen to this audio and “remember who I am.”

A Vision Map. Monday evening I came home from my daughter’s music lessons to find a cylinder container in my office. Inside it was the Vision Map my friend Laura West made for me a few months ago. I’d already seen the digital copy, but she just mailed the physical one to frame and put on my wall. Its arrival could not have been more serendipitous. The amnesia had begun and this gentle reminder was just what I needed to remember my big vision.

Meditation. When I’m in the Rest Phase, and I’m starting to forget who I am, I like to take time to meditate and ponder upon my life and where I’m heading. I’ll be honest with you, most of the time, all I get from meditation in the Rest Phase is a peaceful assurance that all is well. But when your mind is prone to negativity and self-doubt, that peaceful knowing is priceless. I get my best inspiration and answers from meditation when I’m just coming out of the Rest Phase and cycling back around to Flow. I might add journaling in conjunction with meditation is extremely powerful.

Gratitude. Even though I don’t feel particularly grateful in the Rest Phase, I force myself to go to gratitude. I’m grateful for my warm, dry car with a toasty heater on a dreary, rainy morning. I’m grateful for my children, for a roof over our heads, a warm bed, food to eat. The basics! A lot of people don’t have these things. When I’m prone to get into a gripe fest, I count my blessings and the negativity stops.

Read a Book That Reminds You Who You Are. For me, it’s Tribes by Seth Godin. This morning I was reading it on the elliptical at the gym and I could feel myself starting to remember what it’s all about for me. One line in particular resonated so strongly, I felt like an amnesia victim with a flood of memories returning, “Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.”  Oh yeah, I remember! That’s who I am!  Find a book that helps you remember who you are and read it often!

Music. Sometimes I feel I chose to come to earth in this time period just because I wanted music on demand! I shudder to think what my life would be like without music! Yesterday, I was in the gym and a Kelly Clarkson song came on. I used my Shazam app to discover the title, “Catch My Breath” and clicked to go to iTunes for her Greatest Hits album. After listening to a few songs, I felt a strong impression to buy the album (for only $8.99). I rarely buy entire albums. I’m more of a this-song-that-song kind of gal.

This morning as I was driving home from the gym, listening to “Breakaway” I felt myself shift out of the Rest Phase and into a Flow State. I instantly remembered who I am, why I’m here and what’s possible when I step into my highest, best self.

So there you have it, my tools for combating amnesia. I’d love to hear what you use to remember who you are!  Please share your thoughts below while you enjoy Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway.”

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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My friend Laura West and I are passionate about the possibility of creating your own future — intentionally shaping your world! We put our heads together Saturday in Atlanta and part of what we came up with were some affirmations for women entrepreneurs.

Today I gathered some of these together for you in a video. Remember, what you can believe, you can achieve. Really let these affirmations sink in as you watch them. Anything is possible! And don’t forget to join Laura for her upcoming 30-Day Passion Project!

“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is, everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you … the minute that you understand that you can poke life … that you can change it, you can mould it … that’s maybe the most important thing.” – Steve Jobs

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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Can you hear me celebrating? Today is a fantastic day, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Why am I so excited? Let me explain…

If you’ve seen me speak, heard me on video, or read my blogs in the past three years, you know I’m a raving fan of the STEP into Destiny core-passion test.

This cutting-edge program, created by my amazing friend Lisa Rae Preston, reveals how to read the brain patterns of others in a way that helps you understand them powerfully.

In fact, Lisa Rae shows you how to crawl inside someone’s head and see exactly what’s going on in his/her thought processes.

As a member of the research team behind STEP, I was privy to discoveries as they happened. And I’m thrilled to tell you that Lisa Rae has just launched her new STEP program which details exactly how to read others like a book.

It’s been life-changing for me. I use STEP every day to connect deeply with my family, colleagues, and clients.

That’s why I’m so over-the-top excited to be the first to share this cutting-edge information with you!

You won’t want to miss out on this. I promise you your life will never be the same!

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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Have you ever come up with an idea that seemed so incredibly imaginative it filled you with an inexpressible joy?  Yet, the time, money, resources or connections weren’t there to make it happen yet.  This is common for inspired creatives. It can make you feel very frustrated to have such an amazing vision, yet know that you don’t have what it takes to bring it into reality yet.

Don’t despair. There’s something a bit prophetic about these inspired ideas. They set the stage for what can be in the future. Almost like a seed planted in the mind, an inspired idea goes into the ground and begins gathering everything it needs to become a full grown tree.

Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden on old bridge - from Atlas Shrugged Part 1

There’s a scene in Atlas Shrugged where Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden are standing by an old bridge in front of her freshly laid railroad track. Dagny knows the bridge needs to be replaced with one made of Rearden Metal. Then it would last another century. But her designers tell her that it’s too costly. Not only that, the designs they come up with are antiquated and do not adapt to the lighter, stronger metal’s capabilities.  She decides to just reinforce the existing bridge with Rearden Metal and hope it lasts for another five years.

She stands at the bridge with Hank Rearden who tells her it won’t cost as much as she thinks to do the job right. He shows her pages of sketches and mathematical formulas and explains how his vision of an innovative bridge made of Rearden Metal could span the gulf and last another century.

Hank,” she asked, “did you invent this in two days?”

“Hell, no. I ‘invented’ it long before I had Rearden Metal. I figured it out while making steel for bridges. I wanted a metal with which one would be able to do this, among other things. I came here just to see your particular problem for myself.”

Notice that the vision of the bridge came years before Hank Rearden ever invented Rearden Metal. That vision, planted like a seed in Rearden’s mind, led him to the invention and accumulation of everything he needed to make it a reality. Dagny’s need became Rearden’s opportunity to see the fulfillment of his vision.

Success is when preparation meets opportunity.

So hang onto those visionary ideas. Don’t discard them. Don’t let anyone tell you they are impossible. In time, as you take action, everything you need will be brought forward to make it a reality.

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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It’s funny that what some people find romantic, others find boring. Inspired creatives (who are often Potentials in the STEP Into Destiny test) are wired a bit differently than others. I believe our deepest craving is to be understood at a level where our joy resides. Perhaps everyone craves to be understood at this place. The challenge for Potentials is that perhaps only 10% of the population will ever be able to truly “get” what brings us joy. Hence, we’re ever searching, but rarely finding someone who gets us at this core place of joy.

This scene between Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden in Atlas Shrugged is a classic illustration of a “romantic scene” between Potentials. It may be that you’d need to be a Potential to truly appreciate it though…

Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart in Atlas Shrugged

They stood at the window, watching silently, intently. She did not speak, until another load of green-blue metal came moving across the sky. Then the first words she said were not about rail, track or an order completed on time. She said, as if greeting a new phenomenon of nature:

“Rearden Metal…”

He noticed that, but said nothing. He glanced at her, then turned back to the window.

“Hank, this is great.”

“Yes.”

He said it simply, openly. There was no flattered pleasure in his voice, and no modesty. This, she knew, was a tribute to her, the rarest one person could pay another: the tribute of feeling free to acknowledge one’s own greatness, knowing that it is understood.

She said, “When I think of what that metal can do, what it will make possible…Hank, this is the most important thing happening in the world today, and none of them know it.”

“We know it.”

…

“They spoke of the metal and of the possibilities which they could not exhaust. It was as if they were standing on a mountain top, seeing a limitless plain below and roads open in all directions. But they merely spoke of mathematical figures, of weights, pressures, resistances, costs.

She had forgotten her brother and his National Alliance. She had forgotten every problem, person and event behind her; they had always been clouded in her sight, to be hurried past, to be brushed aside, never final, never quite real. This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope.

This was the way she had expected to live — she had wanted to spend no hour and take no action that would mean less than this.

She looked at him in the exact moment when he turned to look at her. They stood very close to each other. She saw, in his eyes, that he felt as she did. If joy is the aim and core of existence, she thought, and if that which has the power to give one joy is always guarded as one’s deepest secret, then they had seen each other naked in that moment.”

Are you a Light Bearer? Take the FREE Light Bearer Assessment. It's a quick and easy way to find out where you are in the Light Bearer Process... Marnie Pehrson is a best-selling author, speaker, certified SimplyHealedTM practitioner, platform builder and publishing coach who shows you how to ignite the WOW-Factor in your life and business through the power of synergistic relationships and collaboration. Find out how you can work with Marnie here.

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