Oh, I’m indulging these days…  My wanderlust is in full swing and I have to say it is FUN!

I have visited: Chicago, Portland, New Orleans, Copenhagen and Oslo in the last 2 months.  Next up is Cork and Dublin Ireland, HOME to San Francisco then Maui and Lake Michigan in the next 2 months.
Funny thing is…  I NEVER thought I could do this.  Never.
I never thought I could travel to all these cool places period, but all in a row?  With plenty of space in between to play, explore, take AND facilitate classes… Nope.
I was of the mindset that to travel you needed a group (or at least a partner), huge amounts of extra cash, plenty of time (i.e. retirement), and a whole host of other reasons…
Then I got tired of limiting myself with all the reasons why I couldn’t.  I got bored with telling myself no.
I applied the tools I learned and now teach from Access Consciousness.  I chose to start creating my life.
How?  I started to ask questions…
Where would I like to go?  What would be fun?  What’s required to travel with ease?
Things started to show up.  Invitations.  Classes.  Extra cash.  Possibilities.
And then I started to choose.  And guess what?  More showed up…
What have you been desiring to do?
Travel?  New job?  Start your own business?  Change your body?  Create a relationship?
Have you decided that you can’t do it?  What mindset do you have that is standing in the way?  Are you tired of telling yourself no?
My advice?  Start asking questions.  This is one of the basic tools in Access Consciousness and the one that has been the most dynamic for me personally.
Ask: What’s required to create this with ease?  Then start choosing what feels light and fun for you.
You, like me, may be surprised by what starts to show up!
Ease and Joy,
Lauren
P.S.  I’m introducing new on-line individual coaching programs!  They are a mix of my different session types and are designed to provide you with the support, tools and empowerment you need to start to create your life on your terms.  There are 1, 3 and 6 month options.  Click here for more details on the specifics! https://laurenpolly.com/kick-ass-coaching.html
 

As some of you know I have been writing my book about overcoming Bipolar and coming off medications.  The first part of the book was fun, easeful and just flowed out of me.  This second part is different…  It has been irritating, jagged and illusive.   Quite frankly it’s game of hide and seek has been pissing me off for months…
I’m in New Orleans now facilitating classes and was wondering through the French Quarter talking to my book.  What is it going to take for you to come out with ease?  What would you like to be?  What does this final part look like?
I was getting nothing from it except a blank mind to go with my blank page…
Then I turned the corner and the sign “Faulkner’s Book store” jumped out at me.  The golden historic sign told me that this was where he lived and wrote.  A bubble of excitement ran through me.
I went in.  I explored classics and newly published novels.  I held and cradled poetry books, children’s books and biographies.
The JOY of CREATION was so palpable.  Then it hit me…  The difference with writing part 2 of my book…
The joy of the creative process was gone…
Part 1 is amazing – will part 2 be as good? JUDGEMENT!!!!
I’m almost finished – what will it take to be done?  DASHING to the FINISH line – not enjoying the journey…
Will people like it?  Looking for an outcome and approval…
My trip to the bookstore changed my questions:
Book – how much fun can we have together?
What else can I create that would contribute energy and joy to this project?
What joy of creation is there that if I would engage with it would allow the book to speak to me and flow out with ease?
Notice a different energy in those questions?
What have you been creating that if you were to take away the significance and reclaim the joy would increase the ease?
What if you took your focus off the finish line and enjoyed where you are in the creative process?
What could you do to or where could you go to find inspiration?
What would be fun?
Off to write a chapter or 2…  I wonder what will show up.
Ease and Joy,
Lauren
P.S. My first publication is coming out next week!!!!  I was invited to co-author a book with Self Help big wigs Jim Britt (Toni Robbins first mentor) and Jim Lutes.  The Change Books are a series of books focusing on insights into self-empowerment.  I’m in Book 6 with a chapter on ‘Breaking the Rules of Engagement with How You Communicate.’  What if there was a more expansive way of engaging with the world then how you were taught?  You can tune into my radio show tomorrow evening at 7pm PST to hear more about this topic and to celebrate the book launch with me.  Just click here to listen in…    http://a2zen.fm/listen-now/

Do you think vulnerability is a weakness?  I know I did.
As I was growing up I had “mental issues.”  I spent years going to doctors, being medicated and undergoing weekly therapy for my brittleness, fragility and sensitivity to other people.
It was wrong to perceive others.  It was dangerous.  I was being over taken and becoming lost in their worlds.  I was told that I had this problem because I was too open.  I had to learn to draw boundaries.
The purpose of these boundaries were to give me a sense of who I was, a way to protect myself from other people’s actions and energies and to be able to decipher what was okay to let in and what had to be kept out.  Over the years I became an expert gate keeper.
It wasn’t until I started working with the tools of Access Consciousness TM that I discovered what a limitation these boundaries are.  And how much energy I was using against myself to keep them in place.  They had become a huge barrier in knowing myself for who I really am, seeing where other people are functioning from, being able to receive from others and finding a clear path to the creation of my living.
Through the tools of Access consciousness TM I have flipped this view point on its ear.  I have been exploring my willingness and ability to be open and vulnerable as a strength, not a weakness.  I have been more willing to stop manning the gate of what to let in and what to keep out.  I have become more willing to take down the walls for good.
Have you been looking for a way to create a greater life for yourself and others?
What if vulnerability was the first step to access that potential?
I’m launching an international 7 day exploration into the world of vulnerability where we will explore all of this and more using the power house tools of Access Consciousness TM.
Would you like to join me?
7 days of questions, exercises and tools via
2 Live 60 minute tele calls on 6/1 and 6/7 both at 2pm PST
1 Clearing loop
Closed Facebook group to share, inspire and encourage each other.
Investment in you: $70
Event information and registration link here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/7-days-of-vulnerability-with-lauren-polly-cfmw-june-1-7-tickets-17127803722
What if you were willing to drop the walls, false fronts, lines of defense and be vulnerable with yourself and the world?
What could you create then?
Ease and Joy,
Lauren

I went to a Yin yoga class today here in Chicago. Yin is all about NO EFFORT. It uses your body weight and gravity open you up. The teacher keep saying “No muscles tension allowed!” This was a little strange for me coming from 17 years of classical dance and yoga training where muscles tension was a must.
But something interesting occurred while breathing deep, being encouraged to moan or sigh my tension out and bending into yoga postures with ‘no muscles allowed’… I relaxed into me.
This “me” I relaxed into is very different then the “me” that I’ve been living as for most of my life. It’s an energetic awareness I have discovered throughout my work with Access Consciousness TM. It’s like taking whatever effort I use to think a lot, act like I’m ‘supposed to’ and project myself into other people’s lives to give them what they need down a few notches. What I find in that space of relaxation is the ability to turn the real me up. Not through pushing out but resting back into myself, allowing that energy to invite possibilities into existence and to choose my actions from there.
Take a look at what you are creating: your body, a business, a relationship… How much effort are you using? How much of a push or force is there? What would occur if you relaxed into yourself? What if you took the projected push that so many use as their operative state in this reality down a few notches and relaxed into you? Would that look different?
What if creation didn’t require any effort at all? What if living didn’t require it either?
Today I needed a reminder of that and my body required the space to play with it that the yoga class created. What could you and your body choose to allow you to stop efforting and start relaxing into you? And that reminder/space may look very different then you think it will…
Are willing to live and create effortlessly?
Ease and Joy,
Lauren

I did it. I left my stable 40 hour work week at the hospital to take off on an adventure.
I don’t have much planned… A few classes over the summer in fun locales that I’ve never been to before (Chicago, Portland, and New Orleans)… A trip back east to see family and friends… 2 books in mid writing process…
I’m not used to having this much space in my schedule. I’ve always worked 9-5 Monday through Friday, had my stable paycheck to be able to balance my budget and the PUSH of creating my business and projects in the spare moments in between.
Now there is open space… It’s unnerving and freeing at the same time.
It has me wondering…
What adventure lies in the unplanned space in your life?
If we schedule things to the hilt and have only spare moments to be spontaneous then are we really open to life’s surprising adventures?
What if the universe has something in store for you beyond what you can plan?
“Empty” space in peoples schedule so often gets drilled down to “no money coming in” “stagnation” or “wasted time.”
We like color in the picture in advance so we know what to expect, know that we are doing something and to give some sense of safety/familiarity in this unpredictable world.
But what if this is a limited viewpoint on life and the world?
What if the open space we so often identify as empty is actually full of possibilities?
What adventure lies in the unplanned, spontaneous and open space in our lives?
I don’t have an answer for that… Only the question… But I’m excited to explore…
Ease and Joy,
Lauren

This is a common phrase… You may have heard it once or twice…
How often is this your first choice in creation?
How often are you choosing the path of least resistance for the creation of your relationships, businesses, communications, etc?
Or do you typically go to the harder path?
Do you pick a path and stick to it even if resistance forms later?
This is something that came up today for my friend and I as we were trading Access Bars. She was commenting on how nature always chooses the path of least resistance and was wondering why people usually choose the opposite… Interesting, right?
What is it about force, push and hard work that keeps us choosing it? What’s the value in the struggle that keeps us thinking we will succeed in the end? Or that we will enjoy or deserve it more if we struggle first?
Water doesn’t ever run up stream – it always goes down… Plants will choose to grow in the space in the concrete, not push through it… Animals migrate to where there is food, water and ease with weather patterns… Why do we humans make life so hard?
What if there were a different way?
I’ve been playing with this a lot in my own life and business and am making CHANGES!
I’m choosing the ease and flow that is more fun to play with. I’m looking to the world of nature, instead of the world of man, which has always felt more expansive to me.
How about you?
What if you could change anything that brought resistance to your life and creations?
All you have to do is start asking questions and exploring the possibilities…
Here are some that I have been playing with:
How can I create this with more ease?
Am I really creating what I desire?
What would actually work for me?
If I didn’t love hard work what would I choose here?
What would be FUN for me?
(THAT LAST ONE IS ONE OF MY PERSONAL FAVORITES!)
Here’s to the EASE of living!
Lauren

I’ve been watching one of my favorite t.v. shows – Once Upon A Time. The main characters are fairy tale heroines, heroes and villains all on the same quest – to find and achieve their own personal happy ending.
It’s interesting to watch… these characters are more than willing to endure battle, after drama, after mishap, after pain – as long as it is on the path to their happy ending. As if enduring the upsets will make the hard won happiness even greater.
It had me wondering… Is a happy ending enough? What about the beginning and the middle? What about the journey that is life?
How has this been playing out in your life? What upsets have you been creating and willing to endure on the quest to and the WAITING for your happy ending?
Once I _____ then I’ll be happy…
Once I: find the perfect partner, pay off my debt, grow my business, change jobs, have kids…
Is that really true?
Does this point of view lead to happiness in the moment or the waiting on an elusive promise?
What if happiness wasn’t a destination but a choice to be had in every 10 seconds?
What if happiness wasn’t an ending but an operative state in which you could create your life?
Just something to ponder… What would you like to choose?
Ease and Joy,
Lauren

I just returned from a 2 week adventure in magical Venice (see photo above). I took 10 days of advanced classes in Access Consciousness, played with people from all over the world, opened up new spaces and energies in myself, explored a new culture, ate the best lasagna EVER, rode a gondola, danced alone to an orchestra in San Marco square at midnight…
And my world is different…
I woke up this morning in my bed disoriented and thought “Who am I?” This question brought butterflies to my stomach and a sensation I would have labeled as panic in the past.
Ever wondered that? Ever made yourself wrong or gone into anxiety at not knowing the answer?
I wonder…
What if not having a definition of who you are is the space of creation? What if it was the open ended question, wondering and musing that allowed you to create yourself moment to moment?
I have come to recognize the butterflies and open ended “uh????” to that question as the excitement of standing on the edge of creation. The moment before exploding into a different possibility. The space where I can choose to create anything I desire. To BE anything I desire. And to have FUN doing it!
How much more fun could you have every day if you woke up and asked:
Who am I today? What would I like to create? What and who would I like to play with? What could I chose today that would create the future I would like to have?
Ease and Joy,
Lauren
P.S. – Exciting news!!! I have been asked to be a co-author in Jim Brit’s (he was Tony Robbins first mentor) and Jim Ludin’s new book series “The Change.” I’ll send more info out as the book gets written and released but WOW! What else is possible? I wonder who out there is awaiting your message and what you have to contribute to the world? Whatever you do don’t ask for the universe to support you in your endeavor – you may get a random call from cool experts asking to collaborate with you like I did!

What if your hesitation to engage kept you from living fully?
I was in dance class yesterday. I love my teacher – she is WAY outside of the box in her perspective on the body and ways to move it. My kind of lady…
We had just learned a new combination and were performing it in small groups. It was interesting to watch everyone dance small… Being unsure of the combination, the musicality or just the new kind of movement had everyone bracing and pulling away. They were unwilling to engage fully with the material, be present and just GO FOR IT!
How many of us are living our lives this way? Tip toeing, skirting the edge, and standing on the cliff not willing to jump and see if (KNOW) we can fly…
My dance teacher asked a great question, “What if you had fun with it?”
Everyone’s body relaxed, smiles came out and the next time around people MOVED!
How much pressure are you putting on yourself, your choices and your creations that has you bracing or pulling away just in case you fail? Are you so afraid of making a mistake that you aren’t willing to engage fully? Do you never take a chance because you are fearful of screwing up?
What if there were no mistakes? What if there was only the joy of discovery, exploration and adventure?
I had so much fun dancing yesterday – dancing BIG regardless if my arm was up 1 second before it was supposed to or if I was 1 beat off the music. The joy of movement, engagement and exploration far outweighing my fear of any ‘mistake’ that could be made.
What have you been shying away that if you engaged fully with it would change everything?
I’ll be exploring this more in depth on my FREE radio show tomorrow night at 7pm PST. You can listen here: http://a2zen.fm/ or join the live chat room to IM me during the show at http://a2zen.fm/chatroom
Ease and Joy,
Lauren