Our primitive brain was designed to keep us safe. Yet, it can put the parking brake on — even when we want to emerge into making a sweet difference in the world! In this training we’ll explore how you can ease the fear and bring surprising grace and confidence to your actions.

So be ready to take notes, but more importantly, be ready to take steps!

Rick & Cathy

The post When Your Fears Get In The Way of Making a Difference appeared first on Thriving Now.

Free video presentation… see below. And be sure to learn more about how to Reprogram Your Primitive Brain in our proven coaching program!

Would you ask a 3-year-old what house to buy? Do you ask a 5-year-old who to date? If you have unresolved traumas from when you were 3- or 5-years-old, these frozen memories may have more impact on these adult decisions than you might think. You can find out what might be blocking you by watching this 14-minute video…

Most people think of “trauma” as nasty car accidents, muggings, child abuse, and war. But to a 3-year-old, Mommy suddenly “disappearing” because of a new job can be traumatic if the child feels rejected or abandoned.

Being ridiculed at Show-and-Tell can affect how we hold ourselves in public, sometimes for the rest of our lives… if we don’t release the frozen pain of that experience.

“Small” traumas can affect our self-worth, our sense of safety, how much love we allow in, and how abundant we feel.

Traumas change our vibration… often below the level of consciousness (and thus they affect what we focus on in our life.)

Why is that? What is going on and how do we change this?

We have put together a video sharing how big and little traumas are held in the body and mind, and how we can release them. Get good at this and your primitive brain can become your ally — rather than leaving you feeling stuck with the parking brake on.

If you cannot watch the video due to a slow internet connection, here is a PDF Document of the presentation and a MP3 Audio File.

The post Trauma and the Primitive Brain appeared first on Thriving Now.

“I am READY to Emerge from my Fears and Limiting Beliefs.” (tap tap tap)

In case you missed the session, you can listen now (and for the next few days) here:

The Top Three Mistakes People Make When They’re Emerging Into the World (2016-09-07)

Over the coming week we’ll be focusing on fears, limiting beliefs, and past experiences that keep us from emerging and spreading our wings with beauty and confidence.

The fact is that our primitive brain is hard at work, 24/7/365, keeping us as safe as it can. But that can FEEL like being stuck in the chrysalis rather than freely feasting on the sweet, colorful nectar of life.

Keep your antennae out for more emails and articles on this potent aspect of a thriving life.

Rick & Cathy

P.S. Our Reprogram Your Primitive Brain course is the perfect compliment for any of us ready and willing to EMERGE into generous service in the world. The details are here: http://www.thrivingnow.com/primitive-brain/

The post I’m READY to Emerge from my Fears and Limiting Beliefs appeared first on Thriving Now.

How would you cast the main characters in your movie if you had more choice? Would you change some of the roles they play or the way they interact with you?

Most humans would not enthusiastically say “Yes! Keep it just like it is!” to their life or all their cast mates.

It’s not that every moment has to be glamorous or dramatic. Honestly, it’s the quiet, courageous moments I treasure the most. The moments with gentle connection and a trueness to my being.

I’m not suggesting that you cast all your friends and family aside, either.

It’s more about how you hold yourself. The role you create for yourself.

As you emerge from fear and shame, you get to create more of your life. You get to show up for it.

All the hard work you’ve done til now, all the courage you brought when you looked at the dark places and the grief that was hidden away… That work was changing your possibilities and helping you build a path to a life you love.

What if now it’s time to clear the remnants of that old, stuck life, and emerge into your beautiful self? Living the live you’d gladly watch on the big screen day after day…

We’re inviting you to emerge. To join the world in a way that may never have seemed possible.

I know you’re longing for that. To live in purpose and passion. The many replies to our last email were full of heartfelt sharing that touched us.

It is possible for you. Truth and Purpose just aren’t always found in the places that most people look. And often, they’re hidden in the darkest, saddest moments of our lives. The place where most people fear to look, and right where you’ve been doing most of your work! You’re closer than you think!

There is a secret to creating your life… A way to making it a fabulous story and not a painful saga.

I’ll tell you in the next email. Watch for it!

Until then, feel free to email us at support@thrivingnow.com and let us know:

1) What’s in your “life script” right now that you’d like to re-write, and

2) What your life would look like if you showed up with 40% more confidence and purpose than you do now.

Cheers to You, starring in the life you would want front row seats to!
Cathy and Rick

The post Showing Up For Your Life! appeared first on Thriving Now.

We speak to people everyday who want to make a difference in the world. Who want to leave the campsite better than they found it (to use a phrase our good friend Reid Mihalko quotes often). And we hear their struggles.

Four months ago, I (Cathy) almost died. It was so bad my Mom was trying to figure out how to get my cat back to New York from California after I was gone. She was crying because I might never see my garden again.

While I felt poignant about the experiences I might miss in the future, I was also very peaceful.

I’ve created a lot of changes I’m proud of. I’ve touched people’s lives and left the campsite a bit better than I found it. And there’s lots more I’m eager to do!

When I look back at the person I was 10 years ago… I wouldn’t have been peaceful about anything. My life was so stuck. I hadn’t realized most of the things I wanted to experience or create.

I felt like a caterpillar stuck in a chrysalis.

I KNEW there was more. My heart was driving me, pulling me forward, but I didn’t know where to steer. I didn’t know how to emerge from my fears, self-sabotage, and mis-aligned beliefs.

Do you feel like you’re stuck? Like you want to come out of your chrysalis and make a powerful difference in the world? Do you want to be able to look back at your life and feel peaceful and fulfilled, knowing that your existence matters to others? That you’ve made the path smoother and brighter for those who follow after?

The world is full of noise and struggle for far too many people.

I believe in you. I know your light can help create direction and clarity for others.

Rick and I were talking yesterday… And we’re curious how many of you feel stuck around this.

Do you feel like if you could just some traction, some clarity, you could light up and empower yourself and the part of the world you interact with?

Would you email us at support@thrivingnow.com and let us know?

1) What do you feel like holds you back?
2) What would you create if you weren’t stuck?

We can’t answer every email, but we do read each one with loving hearts.

We want to live in a world full of bright lights, including yours. And we want to know what would help you.

Warm Hugs,
Cathy and Rick

The post What Legacy Will You Leave? appeared first on Thriving Now.

Consider for a moment all the people who label themselves men. Tall short, beefy lean, playful serious, emotional stoic, flexible rigid, devoted wild, wise fool.

Is there something that all men have at their core… that is an aspect you must deal with in any relationship or interaction with a man?

Yes, there is.

His Primitive Brain.

And you can’t avoid it. How a man handles his primitive brain determines whether he’s Fighting the world (and you at times) or Loving it.

Primal survival parts of him will either let him focus and engage in long-lasting devotion to the mission and intentions you share… or compel him to flee.

And then there are those triggers from past trauma, self-criticism, and fearful phobias that can stop him, freeze him, and deplete his vitality and libido until you’d rather have a statue of him than “what’s left.”

Now, imagine you’re wanting a Juicy Safe Lovership with a man… who has a primitive brain that has all this fight-flight-freeze nonsense going on?

I think about this every single day. I live as a man… with a primitive brain that I don’t want to ruin the love connections I hold most dear. And it’s a Big Deal. It takes awareness, skills, acceptance, and compassion to be in relationship with someone with a primitive brain.

Oh, and you can replace “man” above with woman, boy, girl, they, them, US ALL. We ALL have a primitive brain and WE ALL bring it to every relationship we have… including the one with ourselves.

I know that understanding can lead to healthy compassion and empathy. Even more so, I value co-creating lovescapes that nurture us ALL…

When the primitive brain is active, human beings behave in ways that can be abhorrent. And even people who have that part pretty under control can close off to the kinds of deep safe juicy intimacy possible between people of any and all genders who WANT to love each other…

This work is CORE for me. It’s why I tap, why I chose this field… and why my gratitude for you (who just spent a bit of your life reading these words) is so inexpressibly vast.

I crave your engagement as part of this exploration. If you’re willing to share your experiences with men and their primitive brains, and how yours has interacted and been triggered too, Cathy and I are taking this exploration to the next level, and we welcome your thoughts and replies to support@thrivingnow.com.

Warm smiles,

Rick

The post What do ALL MEN have in common? appeared first on Thriving Now.

And when you feel good about yourself, have you noticed you have more energy to be kind, focused, and get things done that matter?

What if you could change how you feel about yourself so you had MORE of that kind of energy?

It’s worth learning how to create it. It’s worth building muscles of intention around.

Rick and I lead tapping around presence and focus all the time. We teach people how to be present with their bodies and their lives — so they can have that energy and joy.

Shifting your energy is a BIG part of this. And adding new skills around things that are key parts of life can make a big difference too.

It’s kind of a continual flow between A: Release Trauma, B: Learn New Skills, C: Experience Life.

Once the blocks have been eased, it’s important to learn how to move forward… or we stay stuck.

Sadly, when people are in primitive brain, its hard for them to learn things. They feel frozen and it’s hard to integrate skills. So even if the fear is cleared away, they may feel like there isn’t anything they can do… So they feel powerless, which can lead to new trauma.

If you want the energy to show up for life, for yourself and the ones you love, balance clearing fears and blocks with learning new skills. They don’t have to be hard!

And cheer yourself on!

We hope to help you upgrade your skills and your life!

Warm wishes
Cathy and Rick

P.S. Our Thriving Now Team is an awesome community and process for changing the way you feel about yourself.

The post Changing the way you feel about yourself… appeared first on Thriving Now.

You are not typical, either.

Have you ever rolled your eyes at some of the notions about “what it takes” to have awesome relationships?

For me, I needed a way of seeing love as co-creating a life that is thriving, delicious, and an eco-system that nourishes me day-in and day-out.

So ideas like Lovership and tuning into the deep Presence a partner is offering (or not) when we hook pinkies is core. Safe, consensual, healthy loving touch is essential in my emotional world and with those closest to me.

Cathy has shared vulnerably her journey of freedom and self-acceptance. Her dating profile, for example, includes words about her size as a big being that you’d THINK would turn everyone off (if you believe the media’s portrayal of what’s beautiful and what’s ugly) and yet her authentic truth-telling filters and identifies people who are compatible with the love-style she’s artistically expressing.

How do YOU want to relate?

Our ways may not be YOUR ways. Yet, there are people relating and engaging in love and pleasure and co-creating across a wide spectrum.

For Cathy and I our lovescapes include beings of all genders identities and relating choices. Indeed, people who relate in “atypical ways” expand our notion of what is possible and how much of our own range of energies we can bring to our connections.

Tired ways of “man like this, woman like that” are being re-formed… and the new forms of relating are being consciously chosen by people who want to be THRIVING across their emotional world.

We would LOVE to hear your thoughts and how you see yourself cultivating sweet and supportive love in your life. You can always email us at support@thrivingnow.com. We invite connection!

Warm hearted hugs,

Rick & Cathy

The post Is how you want to Love… typical? appeared first on Thriving Now.

And “too many” books can weigh down your energy and clog you up. (The “too many” is by YOUR definition, not anyone else’s. If they give you joy, perfect. If you feel overwhelmed or weighed down, that would be the emotional clue we’re talking about here.)

Right now, we’re going to explore how clearing a book clog can change your life, too. Ready?

It’s as simple as this: if there is an area of your life where the energy is out of balance – let’s say the cluttered bookshelves overflowing with books unread or no longer important – chances are really good the same energy applies elsewhere in your life.

For example: can’t let go of a book you didn’t even like that much? Does that feeling remind you of any FRIENDS that you don’t even like that much? (Like that person still on your Facebook Friends list that leaves comments that annoy you?)

The GOOD NEWS is…

If you tap and consciously engage the stuck energy around the books you can’t let go of, it will be infinitely easier to do the same with friends who don’t serve you, too.

You’d also find it easier to let go of other joyless stuff in your home and office. Email newsletters and print magazines. Even stale, no-longer-inspiring dreams.

How?

1. Take a book from the shelf that you liked at less than a 7 on a 10 point scale.

2. As you think about letting it move on… what emotions come up and where do you feel them in your body? TAP on those!

3. Put the book in a box labeled with a destination you feel okay about: gift to library, thrift shop, used book store.

Then take a break and do another book the same way an hour later. Rinse and repeat until you feel ease and flow.

This works. Thriving Now team leader Jean Maurie is in the process of Right-sizing her possessions for a move. After a recent clearing clutter call, Jean reported that two full boxed of books she previously “couldn’t get rid of” went easily and gladly to the local spiritual book store… and she got money for them!

Aren’t we all right-sizing? In my life I know that finding balance with something physically tangible like books helps me find the balance with food, work tasks and projects, social activities, TV time, and more.

There’s a reason spring cleaning is a healthy ritual… and it is not just about dirt.

Clearing Clutter refreshes our energy system.

Right-sizing restores balance in our flows.

Creating space allows for fresh ideas and inspiring projects.

I’ve seen this over and over and over again. It’s why the program Clearing Clutter with EFT covers so many aspects of being emotionally trapped and clogged with our “stuff.”

http://www.thrivingnow.com/clutter

Carol Look and I invite you to let us be your coach this season to really free up the clutter in your emotional connections. This comprehensive tapping program gives you what is needed to free up your energy and clear your spaces.

Right now with your purchase I’m including the recording we did this month that helped Jean get unclogged and clearer with her book right-sizing. And, we’ll have another recording this month for clearing clutter from your emotions.

http://www.thrivingnow.com/clutter

I going through this process this month myself… taking items from my world and tapping and getting clear on whether to keep, recycle, sell, gift, or discard… so if you have questions or want to share successes or stuckness, feel free to email me at support@thrivingnow.com or leave a comment below.

To feeling spacious and free!

Rick

The post Books! Books! Everywhere! appeared first on Thriving Now.

Of course, there was THAT pile… that felt strangely overwhelming.

Yeah, and the closet… that made my whole home feel less comfortable every time I went into it.

If we define “clutter” as anything that feels out of place, that drains our energy, or that is painful to hold onto yet even more painful to let go of… then yes, I had clutter. Do you?

I’m going to recommend that you stop looking at clutter as just “stuff.” Instead, observe its effect on you emotionally. What does it do to your vibration?

Then, dig deeper. Look at individual items. What do you feel you’d lose if you let go? What is keeping you holding on?

Use EFT on those emotional blocks to clearing the clutter from your life, your work, your computer, and your relationships.

Five years ago Carol Look and I launched Clearing Clutter with EFT. I love knowing that thousands of people live today with more ease and less noise because they invested energy in changing their relationship… with stuff.

This unique approach to clearing clutter goes step-by-step through a deeper understanding of why you’ve held onto the clutter, and we help you clear the blocks to clarity so you can know… in your head, heart, and gut… what to do with what you have.

And we TAP together in a way that permanently shifts the energy and releases emotions like guilt, shame, fear, scarcity, and doubt.

http://www.thrivingnow.com/clutter

The other side of clutter feels so… freeing. My closets stay organized now. People who tap on the emotions around their clutter find — as I have — that clearing happens naturally and at the right pace rather than having to force it. Piles are fewer and far between, and when they appear, they longer cause the distress they used to… they get cleaned up when the time is right.

My inbox also stays remarkably under control; after the EFT tapping on clutter years ago I found it easier to follow the sorting techniques I knew would work but for “some unknown reason” never before applied so consistently.

Better yet, it’s lasted. And it’s continued to improve. Over the years I’ve passed along dozens of books, CDs and DVDs, clothes, artwork, furniture, training materials, and more. It is such beautiful RELIEF.

It also still fascinates me was how emotional overwhelm over one item can stop a person from doing anything at all with the whole pile. And also how a little bit of “rebelliousness” creates a huge block to doing anything.

I encourage everyone to try this approach if you want to clear clutter for yourself or your clients.

http://www.thrivingnow.com/clutter

If you’d like additional support in clearing clutter and raising the vibration of your home, office, and relationships, consider our group coaching program. Our coaching calls are perfect for that… and we are having TWO CALLS in April 2016 to individually support members in clearing the emotions from their clutter… and clearing the clutter from their emotions.

http://www.thrivingnow.com/team

BONUS: Whether you become a team member right now or not, I’m including these two calls and recordings as bonus when you purchase Clearing Clutter with EFT.

Clutter is one of those emotional drains that depletes a person. Please know that if you do choose to engage with this program, I’m here to support you in clearing this issue and freshening the energy of your home, business, and heart. The program includes a place where you can ask questions and get support personally from me.

Warm smiles and clear spring energy flows,

Rick

P.S. If you have a serious clutter problem, this program is a perfect place to start. Get emotional relief FIRST, before you struggle through the piles using sheer willpower.

http://www.thrivingnow.com/clutter

The post Clearing Clutter… Are There Emotions in Your “Stuff”? appeared first on Thriving Now.

The questions seemed simple enough.

“When was the last time you were touched in a nourishing way?”

Silence.
Then more silence.
Then sobs.

It had been… forever.

So many humans have lost one of the core essentials to a thriving life… the confidence and skills (and the community) that support healthy, nourishing touch.

For touch to be nourishing, it needs to be WANTED. It needs to be SAFE. And a person needs to be free to change or opt-out at any time. Healthy touch is AWESOME! Unhealthy, unwanted touch is… dreadful, hurtful, and often needs tapping support to clear from our system.

Helping people experience such touch is why Cathy and I are both Official Cuddle Party facilitators, and on Saturday, March 26 at 730pm Pacific in San Jose California we’ll be exploring the rules of healthy touch engagement together. If you can attend live or want to learn more:

http://www.thrivingnow.com/cuddleparty-2016-03-26

We’re also curious whether there’s sufficient interest for us to have a small workshop with tapping and practice exercises around healthy loving touch before the cuddle party.

If you want to have more confidence when you touch others, sexually or non-sexually, we’ll share ways to be present and tuned in that will enhance the connection and pleasure of you and the receiver. If you would be interested in possibly attending live in San Jose, please click here. If you’d be interested in a video livestream, click here… and send us an email. Feel free to include your own experiences with touch so we can tune in to what would be helpful to cover.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Warm smiles,
Rick & Cathy

The post When was the last time you were touched in a nourishing way? appeared first on Thriving Now.