While I knew this piece of universal wisdom to be true, I never experienced it so profoundly as I did the other day. I flew to Miami to see my aging ailing Father. I have a good, although not very close, relationship with Dad.
How To Rise Above Challenging Circumstances By: Valery Satterwhite | - Take a moment to ask yourself: What would be the best thing you could do for yourself, right now, given the incredibly uncertain and stressful times you are facing? What would best prepare you for whatever your life, the economy or other circumstances, might throw at you?
If you watch, read or listen to the media today its bad news piled upon more bad news. As a result, most people are stressed and worried.
3-step Empowering Formula For Success By: Valery Satterwhite | - There are what seems to be an infinite number of books that provide a formula for success. They will tell you to work hard, pay your dues, earn advanced degrees in your education. The Empowering Formula for Success, however, is a bit contrary to many of those strategies and quite simple.
There are 3 Essential Empowering Factors in the Formula for Success: Authenticity: Who You Really Are & What You Want to Achieve Confidence: Self-esteem and Intuition Alignment: Mind ... Tags:success, coach, mentor, empower, inner wizard, inner critic, fear, goals, stress, performance
What Thoughts Wake You Up At Night? By: Valery Satterwhite | - I asked through Facebook and Twitter "What thoughts wake you up at night?" The response was varied; from nonsensical to downright scary.
"Gee, the idea of munching on some (fill in the blank with just about anything vegetarian) sounds great." "Where is my handbag?" "Did we lock the security gate?" "Why are the dogs so quiet?"
And several matched the thought that woke me up the other night:
The Art Of Flow And How To Tap Into It By: Valery Satterwhite | - I've often affirmed, "Let go and flow." Flow generates inspiration and births the A-HA moments of your clarity and vision.
All struggle is out-of-flow experience. Where you struggle is where you have turned your back on and said NO to you. Denying who you are and what you are here to be, do and have is an act of self-loathing. Life is exhausting for the person who holds back their truth, lives the 'shoulds' and 'must dos' of others, and limits their vision of what's possible. Where ... Tags:actor, coach, mentor, inner wizard, inner critic, stress, anxiety, fear, doubt, performance
Overwhelmed? 5 Steps To Become Your Own Taskmaster By: Valery Satterwhite | - In today's fast paced hustle and bustle world you may become overwhelmed by everything that needs to get accomplished in a day, especially during a busy holiday season. A feeling of overwhelm will set in where you just can't decide what to do or how to do it to achieve your personal and professional goals. You're stuck in the paralysis of analysis and don't know what steps to take to get unstuck. Or you'd just really like to get more focused on what will get you the greatest return on your time ... Tags:actor, coach, mentor, overwhelmed, creativity, success, goals, inner wizard, inner critic, stress
4 Steps To Manage Toxic People By: Valery Satterwhite | - Do you have people in your life who sprinkle misery wherever they go? When you spend time with them, do these people suck the life energy right out of you? Do you they make you wrong, make you feel angry, deflated, belittled, inadequate or unworthy? If so, you have become their victim. As a victim you can only create more experiences of victimization. As chocolate is poison to a dog, these noxious people have the power to reinforce limitations and low self-esteem within you that will hold you b ... Tags:actor, coach, mentor, overwhelm, victim, success, goals, inner wizard, inner critic, stress
Resentment And Expectations: Big Fat Life Hold Ups By: Valery Satterwhite | - I work with a lot of people who are often in conflict with people they work, or aspire to work with, or in their personal relationships. Time and again I see people become frustrated, angry, and hostile, all a result of having fixed and expectations of one another. Some hold onto and wear their resentment like a badge of honor. It's an exhausting way to live. Helping people recognize and reframe these control-based expectations is essential to real movement toward agreement, better experiences ... Tags:actor, actress, fear, Intention, Inner Wizard, Inner Critic, goals, coach, creativity, stress
"My Mother never really cared about who I was." "My Father told me that I'd never amount to anything." "People won't like me if I don't agree with the crowd." "If only I didn't come from such a dysfunctional family."
Who Are You? Misguided Blockhead Or Masterful Wizard? By: Valery Satterwhite | - Who are you? Some say that a person is a product of his or her choices. Much like the causality dilemma of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" that evokes questions about life and how the Universe in general began, who you are can be rooted in a circular cause and consequence pattern of experience.
Or is it?
The answer is, it depends. It depends upon how you choose. Are you creating your choices or are your choices creating you?
Fakin' It? Not Really Makin' It? By: Valery Satterwhite | - As I was driving along the Malibu coast Paul Simon's "Fakin' It" blared through the radio. I had the volume cranked because I had the top down and was singing loudly and badly along with the song. It's such fun to let go and sing, especially if the sound of your voice could turn wine into vinegar, but I digress.
When I screeched the verse:
"I've just been fakin' it, I'm not really makin' it. This feeling of fakin' it- I still haven't shaken it."
Penelope Cruz makes no secret that she's terrified when she embarks on a new project, a new role. Inner thoughts of not being talented enough and anxiety over the sureness that she will be fired for one reason or another engulfs her mind as she prepares for those first few days on the set. While there is the occasional thespian who musters the temerity confidently to embody a cha ... Tags:actor, Penelope Cruz, Inner Wizard, Inner Critic, coach, mentor, creativity, stress, anxiety
Stuck In What The Heck? How To Unstick And Flow By: Valery Satterwhite | - You've worked long and hard at developing and honing your craft. You've put your fears aside and went to audition after audition even for roles you knew you didn't have much of a chance of landing. You've struggled yet managed to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly. You even got some recognition as an "artist to watch". And just when you think you're finally in a position to finally get a break - one that will catapult you into the career and lifestyle you've longed for - the indus ... Tags:actor, actress, fear, Intention, Inner Wizard, Inner Critic, goals, coach, creativity, stress
Actress Emily Blunt - A Power Of Intention Wizard By: Valery Satterwhite | - Actress Emily Blunt walked into her audition and firmly announced "I'm here to play Queen Victoria and I'm not leaving until you give me the job". She then focused and commanded every scrap of energy and talent within her to deliver her best performance possible and did not leave that audition until she was awarded the role.
To risk is to be exposed to the possibility of a loss or harm. To be risk adverse is to say to yourself, "If I do this thing I might lose something I value or something bad could happen to me. Better to stay right where I am or take a safe route, follow the path of least resistance." Remaining stagnant sucks the life energy out of the creative person. To churn out safe, predictable work that will elicit familiar and e ... Tags:actor, authenticity, creativity coach, artist block, anxiety, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
The Best Halloween Costume Ever! By: Valery Satterwhite | - I love Halloween. It is perhaps the most empowering holiday of the year. For fun, think of the person you admired most when you were a child. It could be Spiderman (or any other movie character - animated or not). It could be a favorite character in a book, a celebrity, a favorite Aunt or Teacher. Think back to when you were able to complete this sentence: "When I grow up I want to be _______."
That's often my first reaction when I open up the daily Calendar Section in the Los Angeles Times in the wee dark hours of each morning. This Monday morning's edition was no exception. Matea Gold reports that celebrities are taking their egoist rants about each other to the public stage and often rue the day they ever discovered Twitter. No longer do we need the paparazzi to hide in the bushes hoping to get a shot of celebrity self-sabotage. Superstars and those seeking super ... Tags:Demi Moore, Perez Hilton, Inner Wizard, Inner Critic, coach, actor, Twitter, self-sabotage, self-esteem
Rip Off The Bandaid And Take The Note: Sage Advice From A Hollywood Wizard By: Valery Satterwhite | - I was sitting at my table enjoying the pile of fruit on my plate at an early morning breakfast meeting when all of a sudden I recognized a Wizard before me. I was there to listen to guest speaker, Krista Vernoff, Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe-winning head writer and executive producer of the television show "Grey's Anatomy" talk about her road to success. I had been to many such gatherings over the last several years and while I've learned a lot from the various successful people I've listened ... Tags:actor, Krista Vernoff, creativity coach, artist block, Grey's Anatomy, inner wizard, inner critic
Where Emotional Fear Comes From And How To Move Beyond It By: Valery Satterwhite | - Fear is THE source that holds you back, how you get in your own way, from fully and successfully investing yourself in your creative endeavors. You may have found excuses and reasons that are external to you to explain why you can't do what you want to do, have what you want to have and do what you want to do. It's the economy, the glass ceiling, the proverbial boys club. You "can't because" you're not young, old, pretty, smart, rich, s talented, whatever - enough.
Your Body Talks To You. Do You Listen And Flow Or Ignore And Struggle? By: Valery Satterwhite | - Your body talks to you all day long. What you feel in your body is an indicator of whether or not you are moving towards or away from achieving what you desire. Your gut instinct will tell you what steps to take, what choices to make, that will get you what you want. Your stomach will tell you if you're headed in the wrong direction.
Are you listening? Are you paying attention, tapped into what your body is telling you?
The media is filled with bizarre tales of rude and downright bizarre behavior that was once exhibited by self-loathing attention seeking narcissists and now may be used as a clever inexpensive tool for massive publicity. In the age where 'all publicity is good publicity' are high profile outbusts a result of an emotional dysfunction or a clever media attention grabbing ruse? One has to wonder.
2 Ways To Discover Your Raison D'etre - Reason For Being By: Valery Satterwhite | - Raison D'Etre is French for reason, or purpose, for the existence of someone or something. Each and every person comes into this world with a purpose, unique talents to achieve that purpose and the inner wisdom to guide them along the way. This is a birthright. Without exception. Since everyone walking this Earth exists, you would think that everyone knew his or her purpose in life. Unfortunately many people are disconnected with their Raison d'etre and are plodding along, successfully or not, ... Tags:actor, authenticity, creativity coach, artist block, anxiety, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Develop Your Inner Actor To Get Out Of Your Own Way By: Valery Satterwhite | - It's a funny thing. Actors are driven to perform, to take on roles that bring a world of imagination, fantasy and mirrored life reflections into believable existence. In order to achieve the performance of a character well told, the actor has to commit to the unknown, get out of their own way, and be in the present moment. This power of presence and authentic self-assurance in the role create the charisma that draws us to actors and the stories they tell.
Struggling-anxious-procrastinating? Stop Telling Your Inner Being To Shut Up! By: Valery Satterwhite | - How much time and energy do you spend treading the proverbial waters of the stream of creative expression and meaningful experience? How often do you ride the roller coaster of two progressive steps forward and two steps back in your efforts to expand beyond your current unfulfilling comfort zone? What do 'over the rainbow' masterfully successful people have that you don't have?
Cowardly Lion? Tap Into The Wizard Within To Transform Fear By: Valery Satterwhite | - If you are at all familiar with the story of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz you know that among Dorothy's fellow travelers along the yellow brick road to find the great and powerful Wizard was the Lion. The Lion wanted the Wizard to give him courage as he was afraid of nearly everything he faced in his life. Here he was the king of beasts yet he cowered and hid from any ever so slightly perceived threat to his survival. The Lion believed that if he had the gift of courage he would be able to step ... Tags:actor, wizard of oz, creativity coach, artist block, anxiety, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
How Actress Courteney Cox Empowers The Wizard Within By: Valery Satterwhite | - Hardly a day goes by when I don't read or hear of some celebrity or politician publicly humiliating themselves in an unconscious act of self-sabotage. Some get up, brush themselves off, learn a few life lessons and go on to reach even higher levels of achievement. Others take a few steps back towards recovery only to rush head first into the desperate wall of self destruction again and again. It is disheartening to see someone who takes the dream that they've passionately pursued for so long an ... Tags:actor, authenticity, creativity coach, artist block, anxiety, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Don't Believe Everything You Think - How To Change Misguided Thoughts By: Valery Satterwhite | - Right now, in this moment, you have everything you think you deserve. You are living the life you believe you are worthy of. Your life experience mirrors your internal self-esteem. If you have an unhealthy low self-esteem you will never enjoy the life you dream of. Even if you achieve success in the accomplishment of a desired goal you will self-sabotage until you are back at a level, a comfort zone, that reflects how you feel about yourself. If you have a healthy high self-esteem you will a ... Tags:actor, authenticity, creativity coach, artist block, anxiety, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
The Key To Creative Flow: Learn The Four C's To Enhance Your Creativity By: Valery Satterwhite | - Just as learning your ABC's are fundamental to a basic education, learning the Four C's of Creativity are essential to life as a powerful and deliberate creator of your art and your life experience. If you are not living a life abundant with new inspiration and enthusiasm for your creative challenges then it is likely you are missing one of the C's, a key ingredient to the recipe for boosting your creative flow.
Your Exhaustion Is Really Inner Critic Fear By: Valery Satterwhite | - Many people come to me complaining that they're tired, exhausted, unable to find balance in their life. Some have incredibly busy schedules and others live a life of casual leisure. Yet, both are exhausted. I also know people who have either busy or leisurely schedules who are not tired, they are full of energy and rarely, if ever, tire. What's the difference?
How To Let Go Of Being Right To Get What You Want By: Valery Satterwhite | - Your Inner Critic, that nagging internal voice of self-doubt and fear loves to be right! Being right, to that egoistic nagger, is associated with being worthy. In order to feel worthy you have to be right! At the expense of everything else you want in life. Would you rather be right or happy?
The Key To Financial Freedom For Artists, Actors, Writers & Musicians By: Valery Satterwhite | - Well-meaning, yet woefully misguided, advice from parents, teachers and other loved ones such as "You'll never make a living as an artist" has become the foundational belief and mantra of the artist's Inner Critic. What's worse is that this also woefully misguided Inner Critic loves to be right and will serve up proof and evidence of this belief and beat you up with it day in and day out to make sure that you do, or not do, what it takes to keep this foundational belief in place. Acting upon the ... Tags:creative, authenticity, creativity coach, artist block, anxiety, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Empowerment Tips From George Michael - Pop Star By: Valery Satterwhite | - Spending an entire day at an airport dealing with one flight delay after another was once a nightmare for me. I have since learned to look for the gift in every experience. My recent, and much anticipated, trip to Italy began with such an unexpected day. Instead of pouting thinking my entire trip was off to a bad start I decided to look for the gift; and found it.
Top 3 Creative Sinkholes By: Valery Satterwhite | - In my conversations with artists, actors, writers, singers and musicians I've noticed a pattern of three 'sinkholes' that suck the creative energy right out of a person. There are various nuances and sub-categories within the top three but for the sake of brevity I've sorted the big energy drainers into the following three funnels:
1. Living a Conditioned, Nurtured Life
"Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is." - Albert Camus
How To Discover True Nature Vs. Conditioned Nurture By: Valery Satterwhite | - The most empowering question anyone can ask of a child, or even an adult, is "Who do you want to be when you grow up?" A child will respond with wide-eyed wonderment and enthusiasm while the adult will often respond with a woeful look of that was then, this is now retort.
"He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away." ~ Raymond Hull
You Are Enrolled In A Cosmic Grade School By: Valery Satterwhite | - Welcome to your life, the attendance in a universal elementary school of sorts, where you are here to learn, develop and enjoy your being. You are here to learn your ABC's of Abundance, Being-ness and Consciousness. In the rich generative soil of physical reality you are meant to grow and blossom.
Are Power-sites Sucking Your Life Energy? By: Valery Satterwhite | - "The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future." - Eric Hoffer You have the power to shape your future the way you want it to unfold. You are a magnificent and magically powerful being. You are blessed with the gift to create all that you desire to experience in this life. You live in a world rich in abundance that is yours to enjoy and to contribute your unique expression. You were given this power to enable you to assert your full potential.
Life is a series of ups and downs, twists and turns. You can approach the roller coaster of life with arms high in the air; willingly and ready for whatever comes next. Or you can grip the handlebars and fear for your life. The choice is yours. A "next" is guaranteed if you are still breathing. As such, change is inevitable and certain.
How To Slay The Fear Monger Through Creativity By: Valery Satterwhite | - Fear cripples creativity. Nothing new there. We've all experienced fear as we reach for inspiration, motivation and satisfaction. Fear dwells at the bottom of the pit of desperation. Fear is the lowest of lows.
I have a client who came to me and said that she felt like she was stuck in a vat of peanut butter, unable to make any headway in her career as artist. She was frustrated, exhausted and, most of all, disappointed in herself. What little energy she had left was spent beat ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, intuition, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Stuck? You May Be Alice In Wonderland By: Valery Satterwhite | - I encourage everyone to reread the stories that awed and entertained us as children. I guarantee you will find new meaning as an adult in the works of Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss, Frank Baum and his Wizard of Oz series, and more. These authors delivered powerful life affirming messages to us as children. Often we missed, or simply didn't understand the profound wisdom, in the words of our bedtime stories.
Fear Success? Top 5 Indicators By: Valery Satterwhite | - "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us." - Marianne Williamson
It's strange to think that fear of succeeding could be such a big issue and do much damage. I've found it to be a common underlying source of paralysis and a unyielding block for many of the creative people I mentor each day. What's even stranger is that the people who suffer most profoundly from ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, procrastination, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Blocked Creatively? Here's A Get Out Of Jail Free Card By: Valery Satterwhite | - The most damaging restrictions on a creative person's freedom are self-imposed. What may have started out as a new idea, a new methodology, becomes routine, a habit, after awhile. Habits are the comfort zone. Once snuggled into a comfort zone there is a tendency to stay. However, this is not what a creator is here to do. Staying in a comfort zone habitually creating the same kind of thing over and over again does not feed the artist's soul. Comfort zones are safe. Comfort zones bore creative pe ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, procrastinate, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
When you show up naked, vulnerable, authentic and open, you allow others to genuinely see who you are. You've heard the old adage, "Actions Speak Louder than Words". It's true. When you fully realize that what you do is the fullest expression of who you are, you are enlightened. You honor the integrity of you. What you do honors your authenticity. You live consistently with the highest realization of wha ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, empower, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
These are questions creative people in the visual and performing arts ask themselves every day. They are the questions that stop an artist from starting a project. Stop an actor from going out for a major audition. Stop a musician from completing a score.
If you look up the word "integrity" in the dictionary you will learn that it comes from the Latin word, "integer" which means "whole". Integrity is an unreduced or unbroken completeness, wholeness, totality, incorruptibility. It is an unimpaired condition and the quality or state of being complete and undivided. Integrity is fou ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, empower, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Stress Relief: Take Up Cog-knitting By: Valery Satterwhite | - Granny may be on to something that our comparatively inexperienced presence may not be aware of. We often run to Granny for her sage, sometimes cryptic, wisdom. And Grannies knit. Are the two related? Would we be well served by picking up a pair of knitting needles and a skein or two of yarn? Perhaps, through knitting, we are really weaving together deeper levels of consciousness and self-awareness disguised as a misshapen turtleneck sweater. In other words, do we find relief for the monkey ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, empower, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
For many artists, challenges are very personal. And one of the biggest challenges is the Critic in the room, the Inner Critic. This gnarly Inner Critic is the voice of your self-doubt and fear. It is the emotional ties that bind you, hold you back, keep you stuck, limit you in what you think is possible for you as an artist. This Inner Critic will critique and beat you up more than any audience o ... Tags:creative, creativity, creativity coach, artist, artist block, stress, empower, empowerment, inner wizard, inner critic
Stuck In A Rut? Stop Dragging The Reluctant By: Valery Satterwhite | - Are you: - stuck in a rut? - often tired even though you get enough sleep? - procrastinating even the easy things? - finding excuses and reasons why you can't be, do or have what you want in life?
If you answered yes to any of those questions then you are spending your days dragging The Reluctant along. And that's exhausting! Sometimes the reluctant weighs so heavy upon you that you can't move forward at all, so you're stuck, right where you are, unable to achieve much of anythi ... Tags:empower, empower women, procrastinate, stuck, self-awareness, confidence, Inner Wizard, Inner Critic
The Intuitive Mind: Albert Einstein Quote By: Valery Satterwhite | - "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein
The intuitive mind is the Wizard Within. It is the voice of your intuition and inspiration. The rational mind is that of the Inner Critic - the voice of your self-doubt and fear. The Wizard Within makes choices and takes action based on gut instinct and creative inspiration. The Inner Critic makes choices ... Tags:empower, empower women, self-awareness, confidence, Inner Wizard, Inner Critic
You Have A Knowingness: Empowered Unrealized Knowledge By: Valery Satterwhite | - Have you ever looked at your pet and knew exactly what he wanted to "say" to you? Have you ever noticed someone's body language that communicated something contrary to what they were saying? Have you ever had a gut feeling that something you were about to do wouldn't result in a good outcome? Have you ever had a hunch that turned out to be right?
How Do I Get Rid Of My Inner Critic? By: Valery Satterwhite | - One of the questions I get asked most is "How did I get an Inner Critic?" That question is usually followed by "How do I get rid of it?" These are both great questions and since I get asked about the Inner Critic so often I'll answer these questions here.
