We are NOT all free! So all the more, Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. While some people make it a tradition to jump on a Freedom Train to celebrate, this also made it the perfect day to bring to light a topic I have known about only on its periphery for the past five years in every state in America (and around the world): Human Slavery Trafficking. While most of us associate it with sexual slavery trade, the numbers show that only accounts for about 20% of the slavery occurring, oftentimes, right under our very noses. Domestic slavery still exists! It’s 2012, our culture is not used to seeing or thinking about slavery as a current practice. 

Dr. David Bastone, PhD, professor at USF, took a year sabbatical to travel and research this modern day event, and figure out ways people can come to action. He calls it the Re-Abolitionist Movement. His site NotForSaleCampaign.org is chockful of eye-popping info, and actionable options. The social site SlaveryMap.org notes real sightings and case notations of documented slavery cases possibly in your neighborhood and all across these free United States.

No one is free until we all are.  —Simone

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Calm Ass(ertive) Goddess & LoA Coaching.

Blowing a gasket stuck revving at Neutral? Stop struggling, it doesn’t have to be so hard! Learn how to align your enerCHI and get what you really want. Transform—modern life. Email me at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

 © 2009-2017 ManifestGroup and Simone da Rosa. All rights reserved.

Healthiest and expansive 2012! It’s all about raising your vibration, babies!

2012—Mayan hype aside—promises to be the hinge year in this 9-year, likely evolutionary, cycle of change even the biggest deniers among us are experiencing. Are you ready?

I’m no doomsayer. Just sayin’: think of yourself all warmed up and stretched out over the last three years, for the rest of this marathon of transitions. These cosmic sign posts urging us all to grow and expand. And that is what 2011′s “losses” and transitions showed me professionally but mostly, personally, that it’s not the hard changes that we resist as as we’ve been taught to dread or outright fear, it’s the long transitions in between, where we have to do all the work that tests the mettle of us mere mortals. But really it’s not even the transitions that worry us, it’s how we react as indicated by where we focus our attention. Remaining focused on what doesn’t work or how things used to be can be reframed with where you want to be and feeling a true gratitude for what does work in our lives. …and, I’m no Pollyanna, either! Where attention goes, energy flows—raise your vibration, babies.

So, lovlies and gents, set or right your course, show up and do the work every day, no need to fight it, then you can…raise your sail (aka vibration) and let the wind and currents carry and flow you where you are meant to be…

If there was ever a time for your Inner Optimist to make a jail break, think of our times as a youthful-revealing exfoliation!  —Simone

P.S. Yes, one of my transitions included amicably, with celebration and mutual respect, “breaking up” with Lakenda (nee GoodWitch) this year. Our separate but parallel business paths will surely serve us both best. “GoodWitchBadWitch” was a name I (branding maven) envisioned as “encompassing both” (I’m also embracer of life’s paradoxes)—I’ve just come full circle. It’s all good. Will update you with her new site and info when she’s ready. Peace.

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Calm Ass(ertive) Goddess & LoA Coaching.

Blowing a gasket stuck revving at Neutral? Stop struggling, it doesn’t have to be so hard! Learn how to align your enerCHI and get what you really want. Transform—modern life. Email me at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

 © 2009-2017 ManifestGroup and Simone da Rosa. All rights reserved.

Actually, we’re working dang hard to integrate all our recent fabu personal and professional changes, including actively putting together a custom de-stress program for medically-based clients. Be back soon to fire up our blog machine in earnest…and a lot more. Now, pardon me while I move the pumpkin, it’s street cleaning today. Thanks for your support and, ta ta for now! — Simone

“I pretend I’m one of the royal family when I’m in a hotel and that the hotel belongs to me – it is a palace.” ~ Martin Short
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Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders.

What’s jamming your juice in life? What emotion is hardest for you?  Tell us what’s important to you, what you think about. How we can help you thrive—not just survive—modern life. Email us at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

Thanks for the love,

— BadWitch

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Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders.

What’s jamming your juice in life? What emotion is hardest for you?  Tell us what’s important to you, what you think about. How we can help you thrive—not just survive—modern life. Email us at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

“A joy shared is a joy doubled.” ~ Anon.

“I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.” ~ CS Lewis

“Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.” ~ Richard Wagner

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Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders.

What’s jamming your juice in life? What emotion is hardest for you?  Tell us what’s important to you, what you think about. How we can help you thrive—not just survive—modern life. Email us at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

Readers Are Spellbound & Perplexed…

Dear GWBW — Our daughter and son are 2.5 years apart. The older is 6 and in first grade where she’s now being influenced by some of her friends in ways we’re not so excited about like never before. How do we help both our kids learn how to share? — Alpha Influentials

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Dear Alpha Influentials,

Welcome to the world of school age children. Yes, your little one is growing up and stepping out into the big wide world and unfortunately, not everyone raises children with the same standards. Your children will be influenced by classmates, television, movies, and even you and your friends in ways you least expect.

Your job is to give your children a stable foundation they can springboard off refer to. Sharing is a classic. Most kids do not share without training. As they see new way (read: excuses) to not share, they will try to work these new ideas for themselves. The best way to combat that is to be vigilant in your correction. The more your child realizes that not sharing, maybe loses them the toy all together, the less they will try the new ideas. If the outcome does not work, your child will learn  sharing brings more joy than not sharing.

Remember to be vigilant and loving. Remind them that you love them no matter what, but you do not like the behavior being displayed. It’s important that kids know they are loved unconditionally, especially when they are facing discipline and correction. It doesn’t mean they get off light. Discipline and correction are necessary to raise strong, self-assured, good people from childhood to adulthood. Kids with no boundaries rebel more and more to get attention.

You can not really stop outside influences. You can only make your influence more compelling through your own actions (show sharing, donations and generosity in your own behavior), as well as correcting when less than ideal new ideas come into your home.

Good luck!

GoodWitch

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Dear Alpha Influentials,

Hey, ‘rents, teaching sharing is both instructional and influential (how and what you value) as it is associative (a “chair” = “for sitting”). Having said that, as you teach your kids to share, you are sharing your own knowledge base. This is how humans develop. Sharing is beyond “things” and goes straight to the heart of your emotions, what you know, and how you believe the world “is.” What you teach about sharing is important. No doubt. Balancing that with good parental guidance is key, and learning how to share is forever (her future employers thank you). And then, you have to let go and trust your own lessons.

Be aware of your daughter’s influences: from media exposure to close friends (du jour) she spends a lot of time with (especially out of the classroom). Try to get to know their parents. Set a standard both your kids can understand and follow, such as you must speak with a new friend’s parent(s) before spending time at their house, you must meet new friends, etc. Let your kids see your concern around the sharing issue/lesson by exemplifying sharing within your family. Utlimately, you can talk until you’re blue in the face, but kids copy what they see you do, not what you say.

No foolin’ about sharing today or tomorrow,

BadWitch

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Image: Tania Liu

Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders.

What’s jamming your juice in life? What emotion is hardest for you?  Tell us what’s important to you, what you think about. How we can help you thrive—not just survive—modern life. Email us at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

Not only is Joy important, a thing of gravitas, and…fun!…it is an extension of ourselves like the state of our wellness/fitness/health. Body, mind, spirit.

Raise your Joy quotient by noting how you think, speak and (re-)act to things on a daily basis. Instead of, “Of course that parking spot just got taken. I always lose out to other people.” Choose to think more along the lines of, “OK, let me drive a little more and see if I discover anything new. Maybe there’s something I’m supposed to see or do (e.g., walk more) if she got that to that space first. Adventure is opportunity. I just have to keep reminding myself that some opportunities seem inconvenient in the moment.” Then FEEL Joyous while opening your eyes to see spaces of opportunity opening up wherever they will. Practice. Practice. Practice.

How could you have felt more joyous this morning? How can you benefit from tapping into your own innate Joy — that emanates from within you, and is not contingent on external events and other people?   — BadWitch

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Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders.

What’s jamming your juice in life? What emotion is hardest for you?  Tell us what’s important to you, what you think about. How we can help you thrive—not just survive—modern life. Email us at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

Joy is an appreciation of everyday. It’s more stable than the rollercoaster highs of a first date or a special event. Joy is knowing that your life, despite the ups and downs, is exactly what it’s suppose to be, with just the right people to love who love you. If anything is missing, you know you can create it. Joy is knowing unequivocally, “Life is good.” — GoodWitch

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Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders.

What’s jamming your juice in life? What emotion is hardest for you?  Tell us what’s important to you, what you think about. How we can help you thrive—not just survive—modern life. Email us at: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” ~ Aristotle

“A book is like a piece of rope; it takes on meaning only in connection with the things it holds together.” ~ Norman Cousins

“And I don’t want to begin something, I don’t want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the novel are known to me. As if the story has already taken place, and it’s my responsibility to put it in the right order to tell it to you.” ~ John Irving

“Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.” ~ Joseph Brodsky

“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.” ~ Albert Einstein

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Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders and Individuals.

Mondays money, work, purpose dilemmas. Thursdays family, relationships, love dramedy. Send your brewing questions on how to thrive—not just survive— modern life to: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.

Readers Are Spellbound & Perplexed…

Dear GWBW — I want an unconditional love relationship with my boyfriend. I’m convinced he’s “the one.” We both come from divorced but loving families. You know how they say we become our parents, and end up repeating what we grew up seeing? How do we not repeat our parents’ mistakes in our relationships? — One & Only

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Dear One & Only,

Annnd…what does he want? Have you two even discussed your longer view(s), and if so, do you feel mutually about your relationship? Spend some time chatting out your individual back stories. Is one of you successful at not repeating family dysfunction and/or history? Help the other. Share and come up with ideas as to how you two can do it “better” than you may have seen it growing up.

If you and your boyfriend feel mutually that you each are The One, then the only way to break the habits of your families’ worst patterns is to recognize them fully. Be aware vigilantly. Practice diligently. And keep talking (as the relationship evolves, so will the old issues’ impact and your expression of them) about these things (on both sides) frequently together. If your man is the rare one who enjoys doing these things, then he really may be The One…for a lot of us!

Relate consciously, be mindful,

BadWitch

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Dear One & Only,

Be aware! Remember that being in an devoted, unconditional relationship means seeing the person as he or she is—not just as a boyfriend or husband.

It is easy when we are in long-term relationships as the holder of social mores. Suddenly he is suppose to act like the typical (read: cookie-cutter romantic comedy suitor), perfect mate. Flowers, candy, never a cross word and great declarations of love are necessary for the relationship to seem steady. Bullshit.

Don’t put the masks of “husband”, “wife”, “boyfriend”, “girlfriend” over the clear view of who you are in relationship with. See the truth. Unconditional means without judgment so you and your partner can be accepted as you are—not as someone else would have you be. Set your boundaries. Talk through disagreements and realize that both of you will have to contribute to the good and the bad times.

If this person is truly your one and only, realize hat there will be no violins or rainbows because you are together. It will be two people ready and aware of persona faults, past history and how to be fully respectful to each other.

You can break the chains of family history, but only through awareness, practice and personal responsibility.

Good luck,

GoodWitch

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Image: of the Hatfield & McCoy’s children’s reunion

Juicy Relationship Coaching for Leaders and Individuals.

Mondays money, work, purpose dilemmas. Thursdays family, relationships, love dramedy. Send your brewing questions on how to thrive—not just survive— modern life to: coaching@stillsitting.net.

© 2009-2017 ManifestGroup. All rights reserved.