Hello to our wonderful Women On Fire community!

Women on Fire Tea in Columbus last week led by Jan Allen — From left: Jennifer Tewell, Jane Juergens, Arlene Alexander, Roxanne Crocco, Cheryl Hooker, Sara Diehl, Julia Prudhomme, Mary Ann Crawford, Jan Allen, Teresa Tyson, Lis Gibson, Patricia Wynn Brown, Kathy Nutter, Tricia Simpson, Mary Beth Ingram and Laura Tiberi.

Speaking of the power of our community, congratulations to everyone who attended the Women on Fire gathering led by Jan Allen in Columbus, Ohio last week.  I look forward to meeting many of you and seeing you at the Retreat in Chicago on Oct. 26-27!

This week I want to share a strategy with you that has changed my life and the life of many clients I coached over the years — and the strategy is one simple question!

You may already practice this strategy and good for you, if you do.

If you don’t or aren’t sure, by simply applying this question to your way of thinking, you’ll see positive results very quickly.

Before I tell you the question, here’s a little background …

I come from a family of positive thinkers. Parents from meager beginnings who believed — and I’m proud to say proved — anything is possible.

How was it for you?  Were your parents primarily positive or negative?  No matter, you can choose to change which direction you’re coming from at any time.  And it’s important for your success … and your health.

The Mayo Clinic reports that people who focus on the positives instead of the negatives live longer, have lower rates of mental illnesses and depression, are less likely to suffer from colds and cardiovascular disease and cope better with stress.

Still, I was a cranky teen-ager whose father marched me to the mirror and told me it would be good for my attitude if I repeated into my reflection: ‘I will greet each day with love in my heart.’

No matter how much fuss I made, my Dad just lovingly guided me to the mirror and never waivered in his view of the world as a happy, positive place and our individual duty to uphold that.

So I developed some very good habits, thanks to both of my parents, to see the glass half-full instead of half-empty.

Even so, now that I’m an adult I shudder to think of the times I’ve complained about what I don’t want, don’t like, don’t want to see happen in my life.

Wrong strategy!

Instead, how I find my way forward is to ask this simple question:

What do I want?

That’s right.  That’s the question to ask yourself.  What do I want to have happen? What do I want to be in this world? What is the result I’m looking for?

Things always seem to click right into place when I go with the more positive aspect of what I want!

So how are you doing when it comes to saying what you want instead of what you don’t?

There is a slight twist to this.  I’m reminded from the joyful, ever-positive Esther Hicks of Abraham-Hicks that if you only know what you don’t want, just consider what the opposite of that is — and transform it into what you do want!

Every time you hear someone go on and on about what they don’t want, you can even gently ask them: ‘what do you want?’  Be prepared for blank stares, but you will be doing those you care about a great service!

Good luck with knowing what you want.  And feel free to share your dreams and heart’s desires in the comments section below.