Greetings Creative Mamas,

Life here in my world is spring tender. The dark purple lilac outside my window reminds me of the abundance of life, the ever present life force wanting to express itself through each of us every moment. As I sit with my Dad struggling so bravely with his cancer, as I make faces at my daughter (never so she can see me) for her adolescent Mommy directed anger, as I love myself as I work to build my business in a way that feels clear and sustainable to me, I remind myself of this life force and to be in service to it -- even when I want to run and hide, even when I'm sure I can't bear the intensity of it, even when eating an entire Toffee Crunch chocolate bar seems like a far better choice.

In chocolate covered service,

P.S. I'm Waiting for Your Call! If you subscribe to SIRIUS Radio, you can now hear my radio show online! LoudenClear is on Martha Stewart's Channel, SIRIUS 112 on Sundays @ 11:00am, EST. And, starting this Sunday, the 14th, you can call into the show with your questions and comments! The call-in number is 1-866-675-6675. I would LOVE to have Self-Care Minder readers call in! Even if you can't hear the show, you can hear me and JOAN ANDERSON, AUTHOR OF A YEAR BY THE SEA so it will be enriching and fun!!! WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT RETREATS, HOW TO RETREAT, AND I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR RETREAT STORIES OR QUESTIONS. It will be the best Mother's Day ever--guaranteed.

P.S.S. My last comfort wish held an idea that a long time reader Starla helped me see needs clarification. When I said, "Jim invited a grumpy co-worker to lunch (took ten invites before he accepted and he still never said more than a few words--we don't always get to know or see if our vitamins bring them back to life; that doesn't mean we stop giving)" I DID NOT mean to reinforce the trap of giving and giving and giving until you are pancake flat with exhaustion and grim lipped with resentment. I meant to suggest that giving without ever seeing a result does not mean your efforts are in vain--spiritual wisdom has told us this for eons. You often never know the effect your actions have. Yet, you and I also need to be in relationships were we are given too and we allow ourselves to receive. Plus, it always a good idea to give to others in ways where you get some strokes. Volunteers, for example, who are in contact with the people they are helping and can see that they are making some difference report much higher satisfaction and desire to continue to volunteer than those why don't. So, as always, it's a dance of grace and need, letting go and taking in, celebrating and grieving...Thanks Starla for pointing this out!

Self-Care Minder

If any of you have read Comfort Secrets for Busy Women, you know that I struggle with books like 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in that goals, five-year plans, and mission statements always have eluded me. Maybe because so many of these books are written by men and have such a linear approach, and as a self-employed creative chick, I seem to need a more heart centered, less structured approach. Yet, as I've written about here and in my blog, I also want to build a more steady foundation for my business and not live in the "lottery syndrome" where I keep thinking one big thing will happen that will take care of me forever.

Working with my hot business strategist Lena West, I've come to understand that I need to articulate my mission if I truly wish to build a business as a grown-up (or at least impersonating a grown-up) and so I work smarter, not just harder and so I can help change the world. So I worked with Nicole and her AMAZING Miracle Project to create the miracle of clarity in my creative business life. It worked -- I got my miracle! A gift. A hand beneath me, a wave to ride, an endless energy to float upon and with which to merge. For the first time in my life, I'm more willing to place my faith in the idea that God is real and available to me. In what form or how or what "God" is -- my mind still has no good answer. But my heart vibrates and trusts and I'm listening.

My miracle moment: I had a powerful, powerful conversation with my friend Giselle after my retreat ended at Kripalu about owning my gifts. It helped me see how I'm hiding from my power by expecting myself to be perfect. I then enjoyed a hot rock massage gifted from Karen Leary who attended a retreat of mine last year. Back in my room, it came to me: what I do and want to do in my creative work. The energy had been growing and it gently popped: I nurture women to bring out their creative potential (glory, gifts, talents, divinity) so you can help change the world. The corresponding thump of recognition I had been waiting for in my belly was there. It is the right mission, my body confirmed clearly. Lena rewrote it to be, "Jennifer Louden nurtures women to summon their creative power, find their true voice and use that new-found voice to help change the world." I like them both!

After seven years, it feels so lovely to have a clear mission! I now have a way to filter and focus my business choices -- do they help me do this or not? If not, then no go. Just think of how much impact we will all have as we articulate and own our missions with all of our being -- we will not be able to find a scale to measure the heart world impact! Some steps in that direction as we approach Mother's Day are to bless women in all of their many forms and incarnations, find some small way to rally against the advertising and media manipulations that make us constantly feel "less than," and carve out time to "bovinate." Just be, stare, rest, breathe, listen, note, and sigh. Don't find your mission because you are less than without it...find it because you never know how high you already are until you try to go up even further!

Comfort Wishes
May you allow life to shine through you
Until you become as transparent as love
And as powerful

Are you struggling to make your business a success?
Is fear keeping you from promioting your work?
Do you love what you do but go blank when you try to tell others about it?

Then stop by my friend Molly's web site and order her new program Authenic Promotion. I can't tell you what an effect Molly's work, heart and mind has had in my own life and I hope you make the investment in your business so that you can feel the same way.

Authentic Promotion is an evolutionary marketing program that turns marketing and promotion into a path of increasing self-awareness, authenticity, and right livelihood. It shows you how to achieve authentic prosperity, taking you step by step through the new ways of thinking and being, so you can promote your work with integrity and authenticity. Now through the end of May, 2006 Self-Care Minder readers and LoudenClear listeners can get 30% off the normal program cost of $140. So, that's the ENTIRE program for $99! (whoa!)

To take advantage of this most generous offer, go to AuthenticPromotion.com and click on the LoudenMouth Listener Special icon at the bottom right-hand side of the screen (you might have to scroll down a bit) You'll have instant access to your text book, workbook, outlines, and mp3s immediately via download.