Watch this excellent 20-minute talk by Brene Brown on the topic of how vulnerability is directly related to our ability to connect.

Today I co-hosted a teleseminar with Katrina Dreamer and this topic came up. The teleseminar focused on invisible barriers that can hold women back and prevent them from growing their lifework.

At the end of the call, we opened the line for discussion and one woman said (my words, not her’s) “Where do I start the healing process? I have so many things to heal.”

She explained that she goes through periods of feeling inspired and creative, but then suddenly feels a huge block.

Maybe you can relate. I know I can.

In fact, I experienced this on Sunday. Katrina and I had spent several days in a row preparing for our teleseminar.

Even though we’d been talking about doing it for many weeks, it was a spur of the moment decision to actually offer it. We knew we had a lot to do, so we dove into the creation process.

Within one day we had an outline for our call, a day later we had our 25-page ebook written, designed and ready for delivery. I created an entire website, we wrote our announcement letter and email and we went public.

As soon as that was done, we started creating the workbook. We had less than 3 days to complete it because we told our mailing list they’d get a workbook from us in 3 days!

Although most of this happened quickly and easily, I still had one major project to do for the teleseminar but at that point, I’d hit a wall. I felt disconnected, like nothing was working properly, and I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling so down. I even felt a bit depressed.

After some self-reflection, I decided to listen to my body and let go of my entire “to-do” list.  Instead, I spent the rest of the day reading.

Within an hour I felt great. My momentary depression was gone. I felt reconnected and alive.

Apparently, all I needed was a break; I just didn’t know it in the moment.

As a self-employed person, it’s important to remember that healing can be as simple as self-care. Giving yourself a big break in the midst of a big project can actually help you focus your attention for longer periods of time.

But sometimes healing requires more effort and attention. Here are three things you can do to move through the blocks that get in your way if you experience periods of creativity followed by periods of blocks.

Notice if your blocks are simply a message from your body telling you to rest or slow down.

Your mind and body may be out of sync with one another, like if your mind works faster than your body.

For instance, I think faster than I can type so I have to write things more slowly than I would like to. I can’t really speed my body up, so there is a schism between mind and body unless I intentionally sync myself up.

Be sure to honor your body’s needs and take appropriate breaks. When I use the Pomodoro Technique, which is a time management system, I can work for extended periods of time and I get so much done! I highly recommend it.

Notice how you’re feeling about your creative genius.

If you were working on an idea and trying to turn it into reality, at what point in the process did you feel the block?

Every idea goes through a series of steps in order to become fully manifested. I call these steps:

• Plan
• Plant
• Tend
• Share

which might also be called:

• vision
• start the project
• work on the project and complete it
• then share it with the world

Upon reflection, you may notice that you get stuck at the same point or points every time you work on a project.

If you can identify the feeling that initiated the stuck place, you will have useful information to help you explore what’s going on.

For instance, if you started a project then felt fear of being seen, that gives you specific insight into your situation. If, however, you felt overwhelmed with the amount of work you had to do, that is a completely different kind of insight.

Once you’ve identified where you get stuck and the accompanying feeling it’s easier to work through the stuck place.

Investigate through dreams or your inner vision

There are some healings you can do yourself, like with dream work or even energy removal. If you want guidance on how to heal this block, try incubating a dream that helps reveal what’s blocking you.

If you’re not familiar the process, you can click here to read an article I wrote about how to do dream incubation.

Additionally, you might try working with a shaman. A shaman will tune into her inner senses to see, hear, smell or sense energy blocks. Once located, she will help facilitate the shifting or removal of the energy.

A true story

Last week a client of mine, I’ll call her Janelle, told me she was feeling lethargic and really down on herself. She wanted to feel more connected with her lifework process, but couldn’t get any work done.

I checked in energetically and saw a massive dark force holding her back. There was no way she would be able to create anything or feel good about herself with such an invasive block. This block was old and the result of an earlier trauma.

After 30-minutes, I had successfully removed the negative energy, but didn’t tell her what I saw, I only mentioned that I removed a block of energy that was holding her back.

Since then she has reported an increasing amount of positive energy and self-confidence. She has more clarity about her lifework and is feeling uplifted, more confident and more aligned with her purpose.

Working with Energy Blocks

Energy blocks are real. Since people in the Western world are not trained to see them, it is easy to dismiss their validity if you do not have a natural ability to intuit what’s happening.

In fact, if you feel something is holding you back and you can’t name it, you or others in your community are likely to dismiss it or think you should just “get over it.” But it doesn’t work that way because the energy blocks are real and often require specific methods of removal.

If you feel a block in your creative process, try working with it to see if you can remove it yourself. If you need help, I’m available to help you through shamanic healing. Just email me for more details.

It’s the story about a nine year old boy and his cardboard arcade, a creative endeavor so ingenious it makes me wonder what’s going on in his brain.

But the cardboard creation isn’t the only aspect of this story that is genius. It’s really about a series of events that unfolded in a magical way.

Here are three lessons we can all learn from Caine.

Have a Great Offer Your Clients Can’t Refuse

Caine sells opportunities to play his games. He was smart enough to create two ticket “packages.” For one dollar you get 4 turns at a video game. For two dollars you get a fun pass which gives you 500 hundred turns.

That’s a significant difference.

This kid really knows how to set the standard for value – 4 turns has a $1 value – and then create a deal so enticing you just can’t refuse.

Have a Limited Time to Use the Offer

The fun pass expires after one month, which means you can’t come every day for 500 days.

This is a good disclaimer, one you might want to incorporate into my your offers if you have packages like 3-hour long sessions for X amount of dollars.

The reason is that you don’t want people to pay for something, use one hour and then wait 4 years to use the other two hours.

Obviously, you might not be offering the same services in 4 years, but also, when people have paid for several hours of your time and they haven’t used them, they are energetically filling up your calendar.

You might feel “full” and energetically shut down to new clients.

So follow Caine’s example and have a specifically stated time limit on your great offer.

Go with the Flow

The only reason this video was created was because Caine’s Dad had an auto part’s customer who needed a car part. When he visited Caine’s Dad’s store, the customer saw the arcade and asked to play. He then asked if he could make a video of the arcade.

When the video got going, the family started asking for donations to Caine’s college fund. From the looks of it, so far they’ve raised over $170,000.

They’re asking for $1 donations, which is pretty easy to do. They’re using PayPal so they will not need to pay a percentage to a merchant. (I think PayPal has free donation system.) And since the video went viral, they’ve had a lot of viewers which means a lot of donations.

But, to make things even more enticing, they somehow secured a matching fund. The Goldhirsh Foundation is matching up to $250,000 in donations.

So you can give money to Caine for being an early bloomer who is already following his dream and you can simultaneously give money to other kids and help them go to college.

It’s a psychological trigger that makes you feel good and makes you feel like you’re getting more for your money. When people feel good and sense they’re getting a good value, they’re more likely to buy something or be supportive.

Anyway, that’s what I gleaned from watching Caine’s Arcade. I’m sure there are more lessons in there, so if you see any, share them below.

During class we discussed the challenge of committing to a lifework path. Usually when this happens the person has a long list of interests, skills and talents, and continually changes her mind about how to focus her work.

But constantly changing one’s mind can lead to frustration and lack of clients. It’s a common problem; one I’ve faced myself.

Although there are many reasons for this, and therefore many possible solutions, there is one question that might help you if you are experiencing the same dilemma.

Basically it’s this: if you ever having a hard time committing to a lifework path or creating a focus, ask yourself what you are denying or omitting, consciously or unconsciously (of course, the unconscious part may be hard to determine … you may have to ask a friend to help you).

Whenever a client of mine has a hard time focusing, I ask what she’s denying or omitting. There’s usually something.

Over the years, I’ve noticed this pattern occurs mostly with spiritual leaders and healers. Often it has to do with being called to do work that is not culturally recognized; like white Westerners who are called to shamanism or Catholic women who are called to become ordained ministers.

When a person’s inner world doesn’t resonate with the outer world it can cause friction which in turn can result in anxiety, fear and self-doubt. These feelings lead to confusion, which make it difficult to make decisions.

Additionally, when there are no role models for the work you feel called to do, it can take longer to bring it to fruition. Forging new territory is often a laborious process. There are no step-by-step plans. No guidelines. It can take a lot of trial and feedback to find a path that fits you just right.

This is exactly what happened to my client and colleague, Katrina. Awhile ago, I was working with her to help her figure out her lifework path. We had a major breakthrough and she immediately started writing a sales letter and ebook to promote her work on her website.

Within a day or two, though, it became clear something wasn’t quite right. Even though she’s an excellent writer, she didn’t want to write the sales letter or the ebook. It felt like a chore and she just couldn’t get herself to do it.

I immediately suggested the lifework path and ebook topic were off a bit. Sometimes when there is resistance, something’s not aligned.

So, after some self-reflection, Katrina realized the lifework path we’d crafted together was missing one key element, specifically nature, but she wasn’t sure how to integrate it into her work as a shamanic healer.

We discussed her options, and while I listened she had another breakthrough, but this time it was permanent. We could feel the difference.

The result: instead of doing shamanic healings on a massage table inside an office, she’d do them outside, on the earth. She’d work directly with the elements, earth spirits, animals and ancestors to help facilitate the process.

I suggested she call up a few friends and ask who would be willing to be guinea pigs. She did and the results she had were remarkable. In fact, they were quite powerful and you can read about them here.

One of the reasons Katrina had a difficult time creating a lifework focus was because her calling was completely original, at least to us. Although both of us have felt healed by being in nature, neither of us had a role model for earth-facilitated shamanic healings and as a result, it wasn’t part of our conscious thought process.

After she figured it out, though, everything shifted. Within a day she had written all about her new service. She started a different, more creative ebook, called the Dream Divination Kit. It integrates her skills as a photographer, dreamer and nature lover. She wrote it almost effortlessly and is about to go public with it.

Venturing into the Unknown

Many of my clients are in similar positions to Katrina. They have no role models for the work they feel called to bring into the world and as a result, their ideas are somewhat slow in coming to fruition.

Additionally, it’s common for many of my clients’ callings to fall outside modern day paradigms and as a result it takes extra courage to embrace the full scope of their unusual and creative talents.

If you’re experiencing this challenge, my best advice is to reflect on the following questions and see what happens:

What gut instinct might you be ignoring?

Are you being called to something that doesn’t fit with your current understanding of who you are or your projection of who you think society wants you to be?

Are you following the rules when your intuition is telling you to do something else?

If you are having a difficult time committing to a path, it’s entirely likely you’re missing a key element. Find that element and you may find a whole new world opens up to you.

Anyway, due to the interest we’ll definitely be having a teleseminar so everyone – including those of you in Australia – can attend! We’ll be sure to give you a bit more notice next time.

In the meantime, we know what we’d like to talk about, but we’d also love to have your input on the topic in case we missed something.

So here’s the question:

What, if anything, is holding you back?

Specifically, what energetic, emotional and spiritual blocks do you, or other women you know, face when it comes to being visible and sharing your wisdom with the world?

For example, some women have difficulty getting clear about their lifework direction, or feel like something is holding them back, but can’t figure out why or what it is.

Others experience extreme doubt, but don’t know why.

Truly, it could be anything.

Feel free to respond in the comments section below or email amy@amybrucker.com to let us know.

P.S. This class will not focus on the business side of lifework, like self-promotion or organization, but on energetic blocks like doubt and fear.