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Greetings!

September- fall already! It's hard to believe another month has passed- a month filled with wonderful experiences. I've been to two very different weddings (three in six weeks!), participated in a dragonboat race, gave 4 workshops, one jointly with a wonderful woman, Hilary Drummond, at the Wise Women Weekend in Naramata.

I met some incredible women there- welcome and helloes to you, it's great having you here! I attended the most incredible experience I've ever had- Enlightened Warrior Training Camp. It truly was life changing, challenging me physically, mentally and spiritually, pushing me through barriers that held me back. It helped me realize what incredible strength I -we- all have readily accessible to us- if we go through the fear, take one step at a time, stay focused, look past the goal and ask for support.

And I've been following my training program to run the marathon.

I've found the marathon training and fundraising a good example of the learnings I got from training camp- feeling the fear and doing it anyway- one step at a time- staying focused and looking past the goal and asking for support. I don't like asking for money, so raising funds for a worthy cause was a stretch for me. Waiting so long to commit to doing it added more pressure. I've learned that sometimes it isn't as easy to get support for our dreams as we think. I thought it would be relatively easy to raise $4000- there are over 200 subscribers to my newsletter, and I sent an email to all my friends and associates- another 200 people. $10 each would have done it. As well, I put a request out to the local Chamber of Commerce members. The local Curves for Women agreed to sponsor me by letting me put up posters and they are collecting donations. Sounds like incredible support to me! So far I have raised $674, so I have a long way to go yet. The Arthritis Society wants the entire amount raised by Oct 15th. Sounds foreboding, doesn't it? I haven't given up- I'll continue requesting and trying new tactics, take it one step at a time, and raise the funds needed. I can visualize people being helped by the funds, and me crossing the finish line, and that keeps me moving forward.

I also hadn't thought how long the running would take, how that would fit into my schedule. There's been many mornings I haven't felt like getting out of bed and running, because it was cloudy or rainy out, or my day is booked up and I don't know how I can fit a run in. I schedule it in, and I go, (all but one particularly wet morning!), taking one step at a time when I feel like giving up, and pretty soon I'm done and feeling great!

An important lesson I learned was to focus past the goal, not on the goal, to look through it rather than stopping at it. It is amazing how well this has worked for me. For instance, my husband and I were biking a sandy stretch of the KVR trail. Normally I would walk through the sandy spots. This time I thought, 'focus through it to the other side', and I rode right through. Amazing! And that is what I am choosing to do with the fundraising- rather than focusing on how much I haven't collected, I'm focusing on actually having the funds and them going to research and community resources, so people like my friend James can have a wheelchair or other needed equipment. I'm focusing on having completed the marathon and planning my next venture. I know I can raise the funds and run the marathon, one step at a time. Woohoo!

I thank you for your support in reading my newsletters and forwarding them on to others. I am also asking for your support in another way. I've committed myself to helping improve the lives of people with arthritis by joining The Arthritis Society's Joints In Motion Training Team to run the Honolulu Marathon this December. I need to raise $4000 for the Arthritis Society in a very short period. So far I have raised $674. This is a great start, and I thank the readers who donated $410 to the Arthritis Society on my behalf. All donations, big or small, are gratefully accepted, and you will receive an income tax receipt, as it is a charitable donation. I hope you'll help me accomplish this worthy objective, helping people with arthritis turn some of their dreams into reality. I am offering a special incentive- if you donate $250 or more, I will provide a month's free coaching. You can donate online or via snail mail at the following link. Please give generously to this worthy cause- I'm sure you know many people who are affected by arthritis- over 4 million people in Canada alone are! Arthritis is the leading cause of long term disability. Help me turn my dream of raising $4000 for Arthritis research, and running the Honolulu Marathon this year, into reality.

If you could forward this newsletter on to others who may be affected by arthritis and want to donate to this worthy cause, I would greatly appreciate it. I thank you in advance for your support!

Please donate to the Arthritis Society

This section is reserved for articles, pictures, quotes or ? contributed by readers. This newsletter is for you- please contribute what you would like to share!

Thanks to Cindy for submitting this interesting article on women and the power of support. This confirms what we already knew!

UCLA STUDY ON FRIENDSHIP AMONG WOMEN by Gale Berkowitz

A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more.

Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach- quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research---most of it on men--- upside down. "Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible," explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors. "It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers."

Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just fight or flight. In fact," says Dr. Klein, "it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the fight or flight response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. ...
"Every time we get overly busy with work and family, the first thing we do is let go of friendships with other women," explains Dr. Josselson. "We push them right to the back burner. That's really a mistake because women are such a source of strength to each other. We nurture one another. And we need to have unpressured space in which we can do the special kind of talk that women do when they're with other women. It's a very healing experience."

I experienced that 'special kind of talk that women do' at the Wise Women Weekend, it was wonderful. If you haven't connected with a friend lately, my challenge to you is give one a call and enjoy each others company. You'll be doing you both a great service! Blessed be!

Read the whole article here:

I am Norma Reid, a Certified Executive Coach, and owner of From Dreams to Reality Success Coaching. My dream is to help you fulfill your professional and personal dreams and live the rich, full life you are meant to! I want to reawaken you to your magnificence!

If you need some help in creating more balance in your life, connecting with your vision, values or purpose, or creating an action plan to get moving in the direction of your dreams, call me for a sample coaching session.

Thank you once again for letting me share part of your journey with you. Until next time, enjoy the incredible wonder and beauty this time of year blesses us with! If you haven't taken the time to play lately, add some playtime to your daytimer and your life! Let your spirit soar and make it incredible!

More info on Norma... »

The Enlightened Warrior Training Camp is one of T. Harv Eker's programs. His flagship program is The Millionaire Mind Intensive. T. Harv Eker will be giving away over 100 free tickets to this event at his upcoming Millionaire Mind evenings and telelclasses. This is your invitation to participate in his Millionaire Mind Teleclass or Live Evening T. Harv Eker is the world's #1 guru in helping people develop a "Millionaire Mind" so that you not only have the inner capacity to create a million dollars, but more importantly, to keep your wealth and grow it. When it comes to financial success, you can have the greatest tools (strategies and systems) in the world but if there's a tiny leak in your "toolbox" (your mind), you're going to have a problem.

In this seminar you will learn:

The secret psychology of wealth
How RICH people think differently than the poor & middle class
The hidden cause of almost all financial problems
Why knowledge & skill do NOT create wealth
How your childhood conditioning is affecting you financially today
How to train your "mind" to work FOR you instead of against you and much more

When I attended the Intensive, I was irritated by the amount of marketing he did during it. I realized it was my stuff about sales, and stayed. Am I glad I did! The third day knocked my socks off! It truly has changed my financial beliefs and picture, I encourage you to check it out.

Register here:

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