It’s June 30, 2009, and you are called into someone’s office.  You did not see this coming.  It’s not that you are not a great employee.  You are!  But you are laid-off anyway – effective immediately.  The projects are drying up; the economy sucks; every industry is affected.

And there you are:  bereft, in shock, still disbelieving.  Oh, and give me your blackberry and your lap-top (your entire communication system with your world).  They don’t belong to you; they belong to the company.

What do you do?  If you’re married, you have to tell your spouse.  This may be easy or it may be really difficult.  That depends on your spouse.  And, if you’re not married, you need to go somewhere, tell someone.  Or, you can just go home and tell your dog.  Then what?  Oh, what was that again?  I get 2 weeks severance pay, only 1 month, 9 months, or none?!  The benefits for my whole family?  Oh my.  By the way, we’ll pack your stuff and get it to you or you can come back and get it another time.  No hard feelings – it’s nothing personal.

This scenario has been happening entirely too much in the past year.  Leading a job club for a year, I have personally seen it, and it continues.  And where do these people go?  Some are sent to an outplacement company (paid for by the company who just let you go).  Many people do not get that; they just get the door.

It is a heck of a situation to be in, and everyone is tired … so weary of it happening to them or to so many they know.   Happy Independence Day!!  You have been let go.  You are free!

Is there a place for people to go, in Kansas City, when this happens?  A company that will provide excellent guidance, solutions, and hope?  It’s coming!  Come back August 1st to find out.  Oh, and HAPPY 4th of JULY!

A week or so ago, I had a pea-sized lump removed from my left breast.  I had to wait 2 ½ days to find out if it was benign or malignant, which also meant putting my life entirely on hold while waiting.  I could not help but reflect back to another lump, but this one was the size of a grapefruit and it was in my mother, not me.

My Mom died 32 years ago today of ovarian cancer.  She had had a lump the size of a grapefruit which her first doctor unbelievably did not detect, but her second doctor most certainly did.  Thank goodness I have a thorough and aware doctor!  A pea is harder to see than a grapefruit!  I was ready to fight this thing and face this detour if it was malignant.   Luckily, it was benign!  My Mom fought hers, even flew to a special hospital; she had wanted to live.  So, I have another chance to move on and make the most of my days.

The message?  How many fears or how many problems do you have today?  Will they fit into a pea or a grapefruit or perhaps a huge pumpkin?  Whatever it is, stuff it or squeeze them into that thing where they fit AND flick it away!  Visualize sling-shotting it into outer space!  Be grateful for what you have; you have everything you need.  Enjoy the day!

With all of the bleak news about the economy and the large volume of lay-offs, the doomsday feeling is so easy to inherit.  It’s just right there-  it seems we are ‘suppose’ to be scared; weary about our future.  All we have to do is pick up the newspaper, or turn on the news….. and this has been going on for awhile.

Please try with all your might to not buy into it.   It is that simple.  I think there is a reason that this is happening now.  Our country has been living in excess for too may years;  many of us have been.  Also, we all seem to be looking for the answer outside of ourselves.   Oh, if I just had a job (or that particular job); if I could just have that career; if this relationship was better -   all external things!

Look inside.  You have what you need within yourself.  It has just been ignored.  You have many gifts.  You have been tricked into thinking that the answer was outside of yourself.  It is not!  You have unlimited potential; there is more to you of which you are aware.  We just have been living a bit unconsciously.

So, it’s good news then.  There will be new businesses starting.  Companies will begin to hire again.  And in the meantime, you will have learned more about ‘you’.   You will have a better understanding of your strengths, interests, values, and motivators.  You may have realized your life purpose, and can now weave that into the new job.  There may be surprises every day, as you learn something new about yourself.

Be gentle with yourself.  Take this time and enjoy this time.  There is much still to learn about yourself, and it’s all good.   The potential is waiting to be discovered, polished, or renewed.

Nursing a bad cold on a Saturday night, I decided to watch a movie, Taking Chance.  It is about a young fallen Marine being escorted back home to the U.S.  It’s a sad movie about a man dying so young while serving his country, yet it’s an honorable and respectable story.  It made you feel proud of our country.  And prouder still, I felt, for another man who served his country, yet was blessed to live many years thereafter.   I was to pause and remember the last few weeks, months… actually years.

You see, my Dad, Vernon E. Hauser, died exactly three weeks ago today, on Saturday, January 31, 2009.   He had suffered a severe stoke on July 30, 2008, but we got to have him for another six months.  Just two days after he died, I found myself staring at a worn, old newspaper article dated January 31, 1945, titled “Comes Thru on Tough Bombing Mission”.  Quoted:  “When those two engines went out on us while over Bleckhammer, Germany, I thought our number was up” said Sergeant Vernon Hauser.’  We were planning our Dad’s funeral - my sister, Donna, my brother, Dale, and myself with Pastor Steve.  In this small black Pocket Prayer Book which belonged to my Dad, there were some old articles about his missions (he had flown fifty) tucked alongside little pictures of all of his grandkids.  How perfect!  Thank God his number wasn’t up that day and that so many of us had him for another 64 years!

As sad as I have been for losing him, I was overcome with such gratitude by watching this movie that he had lived thru World War II and went on to have such a wonderful life.
Another worn out article fell out of his Pocket Prayer Book.   It spoke of his overseas rotation furlough back home to be with his wife, Avis Hauser, our Mom in 1945.  They were married before the war in August of 1941; he was just 21 and she 20.  A little more than a year later, he was off to war.  Our Dad survived the war and came home again to his wife.  They went on to have three children and even though our Dad lost our dear Mom in 1977 to cancer, he kept picking himself up by his bootstraps to enjoy life as much as he could.

He outlived two more wives; was even engaged again.  He had 7 grandchildren
(6 grandsons & 1 granddaughter) and 3 great granddaughters.  He played golf, volunteered for many things, served Meals on Wheels, was president of his Kiwanis Club, was active in his Asbury United Methodist Church.  He was always helping others and had a wonderful sense of humor.  What more could you want?  Still, he is missed.

So watching this movie and feeling the pride for the respect and honor shown our fallen military men and women, I am renewed by the thought of the wonderful funeral service for our Dad on February 3, 2009, as it was awesome.   This tribute was followed by the appropriate Veterans’ send-off with the goose bumping gun salute and trumpet playing at his burial… where he would be laid to rest next to our mother.  We think she was smiling; she got him back again!

Come to a woman who knows women and their issues.   There is probably not an issue with which she cannot help.  Come to a woman for coaching who has experienced many life situations first-hand.   Susan is a woman who has survived many things yet still keeps evolving and helping others.   Having lost her own mother when she was only 26, she knows what it is like to have children (three sons) and never having a mom to help you with that, or just having that grandma for the kids.  She has survived a divorce when two children were only 3 and 5 years old and went on to become a single parent having to make a living quickly.   Child support was not something to rely on….. it was either nil, or inconsistent, or small in amount.   Leaving the world of social work and the graduate studies that she wanted to continue, she had to go into sales to survive.  And survive she did.   Being in a commission-only sales job and being a single parent, she made it happen.

Susan has owned a business,  helped some go out on their own, sold the business;  worked for other people;  recruited and placed people in jobs,  career counseled, and has become certified in a couple of areas.  An empath … she also is.

Years pass and numerous experiences continue.   Are you starting over?  Do you feel lost?   Are you stuck?  Are you living the life you want?   Invest in yourself;  it may be the best investment you have ever made.   Bring out your best!  Find your Hidden Potential. For a coach that will be your partner, confidante, encourager and more, call Susan.

When someone is emotionally intelligent, they are able to use their emotions in positive ways; they are learning and evolving.   It is not something that just happens to us, it takes a willingness to know ourselves more, and to get introspective.   It may mean that we need to unlearn some things and relearn other things.

People at every age can experience chaos in their emotional life at one time or another.  This is why treating the four quandrants of our life is important.  These four are Body, Mind, Spirit, and Emotions.   Many have heard of the body-mind-spirit connection before, but it seems that the fourth segment gets overlooked.  The Emotion Section is important.  All of these areas are important to attend to, each day.  We don’t have to knock ourselves out about it, but just being aware of it will help.

If this is new to you; if you have ignored your feelings; or if you are in flux about something and cannot pinpoint it, talk with someone who knows you well or talk with a professional.  Another thing to do is begin writing in a journal; write anything down in any kind of a notebook or journal.  This process of writing each day will help you begin to see something.  You may start to get clearer about this ‘thing’.  It doesn’t matter what your issue may be- a person or an event or just a nagging thought – write it down.  Just get it on paper.  Go back to it later.

You are getting emotional courage!  Congratulations!  Keep at it!

We may find that we can live on less.  We may find that we can even make more money than we did before, or not.   Paying attention to things that are not our monetary needs or wants will help you.  I want to bet that you can learn to enjoy life more.  Find out what you are here to do.  Do NOT worry about money right now.   Begin with a journal – go ahead and buy something to write in, and then write- every single day.   Begin to brain-dump each day in that journal.

Even if you don’t think you have a thing to say, start writing anyway.    IF you did not have to have an income, what would you do with your days?  IF money just appeared in your bank account to cover your expenses, THEN what would you do?   Would you work for someone for free, or volunteer?  If you could do anything you want, what would that be?   What would that look like, feel like?  This may be the first time in your whole life, where you are asked to really really dream.  If there were no obstacles, what do you like to do with your time?  I realize that you may be stuck; that you may have no idea what you want to do, or for that matter who you are…

No worries.  So many people feel this way.  We are adults and we have been programmed for so many years to do certain things.  We have had responsibilities; bills to pay; other people to think about.  So, we put ‘ourselves’ on hold.   But we were not put on this Earth to NOT pay attention to ourselves.  There is a reason you are here.  We were not taught to concentrate on what we want, or to change our mindsets, or to realize our potentials.  We got caught on that bus where the wheels go ‘round and ‘round.  But luckily, you are now here.

This is not just one day; it’s a whole day – an entire day on the way to tomorrow.  It is going to get better; this ‘present’ of yours will help you have a better future.

All of us can get caught up in whatever ‘life situation’ we may be involved in at the moment. Or, it may be a situation that lasts for weeks, months, even years. But that does not mean that this is ‘our life’. It doesn’t mean we should start thinking as if this is the way it always is. Stuff just keeps happening, maybe, but that is not ‘who’ you are.

All of us will experience some bad times, but that does not define who we are. One of my favorite sayings is this: “The worst thing that happens to you can be the best thing for you, if you don’t let it get the best of you.” OR

“Let your setback be your setup for your comeback!”

It is very easy to let these hard things get the best of us. We have to work harder to ward off the negative effect that they ‘could’ have, if we let them. It’s easy to start believing that this is ‘what’ we get in life. There is an exponential component to this spiraling way of thinking. Is this what we get because we can’t switch our thinking? Sometimes.

How many ½ full people do you know? How many ½ empty people do you know?

Most of us don’t go around figuring this out on a daily basis. But it IS worth considering. If the people that you associate with are ½ empty people, then the effect can be insidious, and you haven’t even realized it. Get a coach; get a good coach. Call Susan.