Let Yourself Off the Hook

Heart Solutions

Newsletter

written by Esther Hart

Inspirational Speaker and Freedom Coach

author of Journey to Personal Freedom

and Heaven on Earth

Issue # 22

Let Yourself Off the Hook

Three and a half years ago I started a business. I was sure that this was my vehicle for creating financial freedom. It's a good business and I've derived great satisfaction from being able to assist people in creating more vibrant health for themselves. Yet, I have not achieved the financial success that I anticipated.

For a long time I blamed myself, thinking that I was doing something wrong. It triggered my underlying belief that I can never be enough or do enough.

Recently, I felt that I was being advised that my leadership was no longer needed. (This was a misunderstanding that was later cleared up.) At first I felt angry and betrayed and then the thought came to me that I create everything in my life and so I created this. I also became aware that this new situation afforded me a great deal of freedom. I celebrated.

Some time later I shared this story with a colleague and she said, "So you've let yourself off the hook." For a few seconds I spiralled into my sense of not being enough. Then I heard a giggle in the back of my head and felt a smile come to my lips. The Voice said, "Esther, over the last few months you have felt more freedom, happiness and joy than you have for many years. It's not because your physical situation has changed. It is, in fact, precisely because you have let yourself off the hook."

I then had a vision of a wall with coat hooks and people hanging on the hooks flailing. I saw clearly that I had expended a lot of energy getting nowhere because I had myself on the hook of thinking I should do certain things in order to achieve certain outcomes.

My joyful experience came from doing what I'm inspired to do. It may not be the most fun thing I can think of at the moment but it's what I feel "propelled" to do. My deepest desire is to remember who I really am – infinite source. This does not require accomplishing anything from a material perspective.

I remember some time ago someone said something that I was about to use to beat myself up. Again the voice came to me and said, "Esther, nothing she can think or say about you can diminish your value." I started to sit up straighter. Then the voice said, "Esther, nothing you can think, do or say can diminish your value." I sat up even straighter. Then the voice said, "Esther, nothing you can think, do or say can increase your value." My value is eternal. Nothing in this human experience affects that in any way. WOW. I've been repeating that story for many years and yet it's only recently that it has really integrated. My moments of forgetting are fewer and they last a much shorter time.

I have been assisted greatly in trusting my knowing by reading and practicing the philosophy that Robert Scheinfeld presents in Busting Loose from the Money Game.

I now mostly live in the knowing that I can only have perfect experiences. Whatever the "I" that is the true me chooses is what I'll experience. I can't make a mistake. I can't fail. I am always enough, always doing enough. And so is everyone else.

I challenge you to "let yourself off the hook". Set a time frame – a day, a week, a month – and do only what you are inspired to do. Become the observer of what you are choosing. You might be worried that you won't do what you think needs to be done. You might be surprised. There are days when I think I want to stay in bed. Previously if I stayed in bed after that thought, I would feel guilty or justify staying in bed. Then a few minutes later something would come to mind that I wanted to do and I'd hop out of bed. I had wasted the time in bed feeling guilty. Now if I stay in bed, I watch to see what will propel me to get up. That's not to say that I ignore appointments. When I have been inspired to set an appointment, I keep it because it was inspired in the first place. It's not so much that I'm doing different things as that I'm being different. I'm treating myself as a valuable treasured being.

There is so much more to be said about how I got to this place. I'm in the process of writing a whole book about it.

I'd love to hear from you. How did you feel about reading this? If you did let yourself off the hook, what did you experience?

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To respond or to enquire about booking a coaching session, please email me at freedomcoach@heartsolutions.com.

Mentorship

Heart Solutions

Newsletter

written by Esther Hart

Inspirational Speaker and Freedom Coach

author of Journey to Personal Freedom

Issue # 3

My Experience with the Women’s Business Network Mentorship Program

I first joined the WBN in January of 1993 and that June I was awed by the stories of the successes of the women in the mentorship program as they received their diplomas. That fall I wanted to join the program but one of the criteria was to have a goal to work toward. I was in such a state of despair at the time that I couldn’t think of a single goal. My solution was to volunteer to be on the committee. That way I could attend the meetings. At one of the meetings we were challenged to voice our dreams. Instead of thinking of what we thought we were capable of achieving, we were told to challenge the universe with a dream that was too big for the universe to provide. This gave me a whole new perspective on finding a goal.

A few years later I had finally remembered that I had a passion to be a speaker. I started to tell people about my dream and some would ask if I were going to join the mentorship program. I kept saying I should join but at that time I was so happy to have found my dream that I was afraid to go after it in case I didn’t succeed and then I wouldn’t have a dream any more. I knew that the mentorship program catapulted people forward and I was still very tentative. I

In October 1996 I was the speaker for the WBN dinner meeting. My topic was Journey to Personal Freedom. After the meeting one of the women asked if I would be her mentor. I agreed and decided that I should go to the Mentorship Program meetings with her to support her. When I got to the meeting she wasn’t there. In fact she never came back. But I was presented with a sheet to fill in my goals and target dates. It was powerful.

Over the next seven months my life changed. Because of the support of women in this group I sought out more opportunities to speak. In April I started writing my first book also called Journey to Personal Freedom.

The following year I chaired the mentorship program and was empowered even more to continue pursuing my dream. During that year my book was published, I continued to develop my speaking career and became a freedom coach to many people on an individual basis.

I am immensely grateful for the WBN mentorship program’s influence in my life and I encourage everyone to experience the benefit of a mentor or coach to make their journey immeasurably easier than going it alone.

Hitting the Brick Wall

Heart Solutions

Newsletter

written by Esther Hart

Inspirational Speaker and Freedom Coach

author of Journey to Personal Freedom

Issue # 2

Hitting the Brick Wall

In the late 1980s I gave a talk called Success Without Guilt. The response was overwhelming. For years afterward people would refer to the talk and say that they would never forget what I said. Lyn even recommended me to the Royal Bank to speak at a dinner recognizing graduates from one of their programs. I thought I had found my calling and the speaking engagements would come pouring in.

IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!!!

So I convinced myself that it had been an ego trip and that I was not meant to be on stage. A few years later I had the opportunity to re-evaluate my life. My marriage had ended, I was without a job and I was free to do whatever I chose with the rest of my life. I have never been so terrified. When you have lived your whole life living up to other people’s expectations it is frightening to start making all your decisions for yourself. Not only do you have to accept responsibility for your failures, you also have to accept responsibility for your successes.

I kept hearing “Live your passion and the rest will fall into place”. I wanted to live my passion but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Finally through a long process described in my book, Journey To Personal Freedom, I came to realize that speaking was my dream and that out of disappointment I had buried it very deeply. I realized also that I had not been ready before.

This time I put my full commitment behind becoming a world famous inspirational speaker. In July I contracted with Uncommonknowledge to represent me and we planned an event in Vancouver to kick off a national tour. I spoke to my angels and told them that I would prepare the work and they had to sell the tickets. I was finally on my way to fulfilling my mission.

IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!!!

Not enough tickets were sold and the event was cancelled.

It could have felt like hitting a brick wall. I could have been devastated, disappointed, discouraged, angry, furious, confused. Instead I sat on my couch and prayed, “There isn’t anyone on the planet more willing to do what they came here to do. Just show me what it is and I’ll do it.”

Part of the answer was to write this newsletter article to let people know that there is no shame in changing plans. When we are willing to do what is in our highest good and put our full commitment behind it, everything we do is perfect. Sometimes a closed door is to save us from a possible disaster. Sometimes a closed door is to redirect us to a much more rewarding situation.

I have stopped banging on closed doors. Instead I take the angels by the hand and let them guide me through open doors. I live every moment in joy knowing that everything that comes to me is a gift.

I know that my gift is to speak to people and I know that when the time is right the appropriate opportunities to speak to large audiences will present themselves. In the meantime I live every day sharing the joy of my freedom with everyone I meet. If I ever have a day when I feel that I would like to accomplish more, I do a meditation that radiates love to every part of the universe. In the end I know that sending out love is far more powerful than any speech I could give and I know that I am living my purpose.

We are all living our purpose every moment of every day. Live yours in joy.