postcards from nowhere

Greetings and Happy New Year!  And a hearty welcome to each and every new
subscriber who's come on board since the last postcard was delivered.

Oh, gosh, there are so many new and exciting developments in the works for
2004!  First of all, you'll notice that this postcard is in a different 
format.  My mailing list has become too large to efficiently manage with my 
former method, and I'm testing out a new newsletter delivery system.  Please
let me know your thoughts on how this looks and feels from your perspective.  
I welcome any suggestions or comments you may have regarding the change.

Second, I've fallen in love with email coaching!  (Not everyone enjoys online
interaction, so don't worry, phone sessions are still available!)  Many of my
clients have elected to interact with me exclusively by email, and it's proved
itself to be an extremely effective and efficient method for creating a
coaching relationship that stimulates and supports transformation.  

So, I issue an invitation to you, dear reader: During the month of January, 
come on over to my inbox and give it a try!  Just send me an email describing a
change you'd like to make, a perspective you'd like to shift, a problem you'd
like to solve, or whatever is on your mind.  Type 'free email coaching trial'
in the subject line, and I'll write back.  If you don't hear from me within 
48 hours, please resend.  It's rare, but every once in a while my mail gets
lost in cyber limbo.

Third, I want to update you on the new, improved, pricing structure for my
coaching and parent mentoring services.  (This info and more is also 
available on my website at http://www.karenalonge.com)

For coaching by phone or email, on a schedule and frequency customized 
to your individual needs: $200/month.  
For one email exchange per week (which includes my response to your 
original email and a follow-up reply from each of us): $100/month.
Pay as you go telephone sessions are $55 each, and pay as you go 
emails are $30 per exchange.

OK, that's enough exciting news for now.  On with the postcard ... 

Normally, I'm not big on New Year's resolutions.  Changing the numbers 
on the date line of my checks doesn't inspire me to make changes to
the rest of my life any more than any other day of the year.  But this year, 
for some mysterious reason, I've seized upon the coming of the new year
as a time to anchor some changes I've been mentally toying with into 3D reality.  
I call them New Year's intentions.

Last week during a trip to my favorite bookstore, I purchased a deck 
of Louise Hay's Wisdom Cards.  Since then, despite the gentle annoyance 
of the rest of my family, I've creatively engineered all kinds of ways to
fasten these inspirational sayings all over my house -- inside and outside 
my kitchen cabinets, in drawers, on the washer and dryer, and of course, 
right at eye level over my computer.  One particular card keeps drawing my
attention again and again:

I now listen to what I say.  I don't say anything that I don't want 
to become true for me.

As my family brandished long and unwieldy forks over our traditional 
New Year's Eve fondue-fest, I invited everyone to share something they 
wanted to learn, be, or do in 2004 ... something that did not depend on 
anyone else's compliance, cooperation, or support.  (This ruled out 
my daughter saying she wants to get a horse, and other things like that.)

When it was my turn, I shared the affirmation on that card, and said 
it was my intention to do my best to put that into practice every day.
And that if anyone noticed me forgetting, I'd love a reminder.  

My son looked at me with wide eyes and said, 'gee, Mom, that's pretty major!'
I was thrilled that he understood how big this challenge was, and how
correspondingly big the implications of it would be when I succeeded.

So here we are on day 2, and so far it's been even more fun than I expected.
Bringing conscious intention to my speech has refocused my awareness 
in a delightful way.  Answering the most benign questions requires a 
much longer pause than it did before.  How am I feeling today?  Last week, 
the answer might have been 'well, I'm feeling a little bit tired and 
achy and I sure hope it's not the flu!'  Today, I might say, "well, 
I'm looking forward to getting some extra rest and taking especially 
good care of myself today."

Last week's answer to a question about how my new workout regime is
going: "Well, it's going OK, but I'm disappointed that I'm not losing 
weight as quickly as I expected."

2004's answer:  "Great!  I feel myself getting stronger and building 
more endurance every day!"

These are subtle semantic changes, but powerful ones.  Even as these words
leave my lips, I feel so much better than I felt while uttering the former
replies.  And I'm a huge fan of immediate reinforcement when it comes to
implementing changes!

The news flash streaming across my mental screen today is this: 
There is always, ALWAYS, in any situation, something positive to focus on.  
It may take some digging to find it, but it's there.  What else do I have 
to do that's more important than finding the bright side?  If what I focus 
on will grow, and so far that's been my experience, then finding the 
positive in every experience might be the single most significant 
application of my intention and attention.

My friends Bob and Virginia, who select a theme for every year, have 
declared 2004 to be 'The Year of Magic.'  We spent New Year's Day at 
their lovely mountain home/studio creating personal magic wands.  
This change I've decided to make in my language feels like nothing 
less than verbal alchemy ... for doesn't every manifestation begin 
with an idea?  And don't we most often express our ideas to ourselves 
and each other in words?  So doesn't it make good sense to be choosy 
about what we say?

So, even though you and I aren't simultaneously trying to immerse 
our pineapple chunks into the chocolate fondue, I'd still love to 
hear what YOU would like to learn, be, or do in 2004.  I hope 
you'll think big!  

take care,
karen