many of you feel good about yourself I
have asked this question in front of
thousands and less than ten percent
raise their hand welcome to being human
we all struggle with insecurities and
these insecurities can really hold us
back from being engaged in our life and
I’ve always believed that to feel really
good about ourselves it’s important as i
call it to be lit up in life it’s
important to connect with our passion
and our purpose for the past three
decades i have been running a really
successful staffing organization we get
people jobs and this concept of being
passionate of life is one that I have
brought into the fabric of my
organization I am really committed to my
staff being lit up I want them feeling
good about themselves and to feel as if
they are contributing so at the core of
my being I’m really shy and I’m an
introvert more than an extrovert and I’m
very familiar with these feelings of
insecurity I want to share with you my
story today and how I move through my
insecurities and tapped into that
passion and purpose so you can do the
same I started to not feel good about
myself when I was a kid I was four of
five children and I one of my sisters
was 18 months older than me and I
constantly was comparing myself to her I
felt like she was prettier and more
popular and thinner than me to make
matters worse I in the fourth grade was
put in the lowest level reading group
though red fruit you can imagine what
that made me feel that’s the first time
that I heard this negative chatter going
on in my head it was this judge it was
this judge or this critique saying
not work I’m not good enough I’m not
smart enough we all hear that chatter
right sometimes it’s louder than others
in fact humor me and close your eyes for
a minute and I just want to ask you how
open your eyes so were you judging were
you self-doubting were you criticizing
did you feel awesome did you feel
connected those are the thoughts
constantly running through us and I
learned that there are over 70 thousand
thoughts that run through our head on a
daily basis and eighty percent of them
are negative eighty percent think about
it as a kid I really struggled and tried
to figure out what to do with these
thoughts as a Presbyterian ministers
child I went to Hebrew school and
catechism with my friends all to search
for meaning I was lonely and then I was
searching and moving through high school
and college and still searching for this
meaning of life really out not fitting
in and my family thought for sure I
would join a cult my first job in Boston
I met a mentor who introduced me to this
ancient tradition meditation and it was
through this experience of meditation
that I connected with my inner self and
I had this huge epiphany here’s what I
learned I learned that oh my gosh this
negative chatter going on in my mind is
not real these limiting beliefs are not
real it’s made up and all of the sudden
I felt like that’s what had held me back
in my life so far it’s as if i had a
speed limit on my life who wants to go
45 miles an hour and once I discovered
this I started to practice more and more
and then I started to thrive in my job
and I was in sales and I was on fire why
because I started feel good about myself
I had confidence and then when I was 26
I with this new sense of confidence in
belief in myself somehow I had the
courage to open up my own company and we
started to thrive why because I was
passionate about what I did and I was
also committed
to helping others be passionate about
what they did so I wanted to find
someone the dream job and I also want to
have people come into my company that
wanted to help create a culture that was
lit up through two recessions I got
through those two recessions practicing
meditation i had this laser focus so i
was able to let go of all of the
external stimuli and circumstances and
stay centered and this was a really
great gift and this company grew over
the next two decades and then the third
recession hit and when the third
recession hit for whatever reason i had
trouble going inward and practicing what
I knew worked and instead I panicked and
I felt like I have to fix things and I
was living on four and five hours of
sleep my cell phone was on 24 7 and I
was on it and I was absolutely exhausted
and in this time there was no meditation
experience other than what i call that
drive by experience introspection on the
go so I was totally submerged in being a
CEO a wife and a mother to four
wonderful children and I imploded and I
knew I said things have to change what
do I do and so it was one day when I was
driving home 45 minute drive home from
work and I realized I didn’t know what
rude i had taken i had no clue and this
is when i said to myself you gotta
change things have to change I was not
passionate I was lonely and I was lost
so what I did is I said I have to I have
to do something I started to go inside
and this another thing that happened in
this time is that these limiting beliefs
kicked in and I started to say to myself
I’m not a good leader I’m not good
enough I am not worthy and then I knew
that I had
turn inward for self-reflection it was
not an easy process and i had to get
quiet again because i remembered that
this is what had gotten me to this point
so far so I took time and here’s what
quiet looks like quiet is sitting with
no cell phone even in the room no TV no
papers no people no distractions and I
started to meditate again and in
meditation I discovered Wow when we’re
so stressed out why do we give up on
taking care of ourselves what why does
that happen and I became centered again
I can’t became focused again and this
experience was so enriching for me so I
wanted to make this experience permanent
I wanted this change to be permanent of
me so I knew what to do I said I have to
just set this vision and commit to it
and stick to it and take action now this
realization was both exhilarating and
terrifying first step i went into my vp
of finance and i said we will be
building a huge meditation room can you
imagine his look oh boy I said I’m
committed I want my staff to be able to
have a space where they can self reflect
so that they don’t spiral down the way I
did and furthermore I want to teach them
i want to teach them how to recognize
those limiting thoughts and limiting
beliefs so that they can learn
self-awareness and be more productive
successful and happy in life and then I
thought what if I took this a step
further what if I went out into the
community with this so I got really
excited about this I had the vision of
opening up an institute where we would
teach mindfulness and emotional
intelligence as ways to overcome
obstacles and release our limiting
beliefs and I shared this with my
leadership team my board of advisors and
my friends and family and things didn’t
go as I planned I got shut down it isn’t
the time for the
Boston is not ready for this you’ll
jeopardize your brand you will ruin your
company I was devastated I could not
imagine how connected I was with my
passion and purpose and I felt so shut
down and I knew I could make an impact
on the community so I had to go inside
again and I self-reflective and here’s
what i did i said to myself you know
what these voices that I’m hearing have
clicked in again because that you know
the the roaring lion lion of my limiting
beliefs just love what those people were
saying to me and I had to assure that to
the side and stay focused and listen to
my intuition because my intuition always
tells me the truth and so the Institute
would become a reality so I went back to
my leadership team and I said we’re
making this a go we’re moving forward
because if I don’t move forward I will
live to regret it to which they said
they were on board and that was three
years ago since that time we’ve trained
over 500 people and we have connected
people through mindfulness and teaching
emotional intelligence so that they are
released they are released and they can
live more limitless lives so I ask you
what are you passionate about and is
there anything that’s holding you back
and if so what price are you paying
emotionally physically spiritually these
are challenging times for many I wonder
what it would be like if you were able
to acknowledge those negative thoughts
and let them go and then turn the volume
and the noise down on your limiting
beliefs what would open up for you and
what would be possible unlimited
possibilities no speed limit I encourage
you to take time out everyday for
self-reflection even if it’s ten minutes
a day it can
make a world of difference and this is
where you can connect with your inner
your inner self so that you can define
and understand your passion so that
you’re able to make the right decision
for whatever you want in your life I am
living the most lid of life I have ever
had in years and I’d like the same for you