First Word

Q: What is And It Took Two Years about? A: When new author Scott Spiess discovered he had a life-threatening heart condition, his old life began to crumble—and through that crumbling Spiess gave himself two years to make serious changes in his life. His new book It Took Two Years chronicles how Spiess went from a type A, control freak to a peaceful Reiki Master, Buddhist, and Massage Therapist. Q: Why did you decide to write the book? A: This book called to me for personal reasons. A publisher asked me to write it. I felt some resistance because of ego reasons. I had this inner battle because I was no longer allowing my ego to guide my life. I decided to write the book to help others learn through my experience how they too can make major changes in their lives. My primary goal is simply to pay-it-forward. Q. How did you allow the Universe to naturally guide you and put you on the right path? A:  I used the absence of thinking to allow the Univ...

I had this conversation with a fellow writer. We were discussing our lifestyle and aspirations. The comment was made that it's not very inspiring when your only excitement in life is TGIF. People live their lives, work, and feel happy it's Friday. It's a grind. One time when I was just starting out and had graduated from my BA I whined at my then-boyfriend, "But I don't want to work 9 to 5." I remember he burst out laughing, but it was true. I didn't want the only excitement in my life to be TGIF. I didn't want to work 40 hours or more a week for the "man" or "woman" and I really wanted to find a nice log cabin somewhere and write my stories. What I was expressing though was a desire to live a full, rich and exciting life where I followed my passion. How many of you can say you are living "the dream"? Have you settled into a life of TGIF? Does this really excite you the most? I don't work by anybody's rules anymo...

When I was younger I wanted security and family. I wanted a good, steady career path. I wanted to find a slow, gradual ascent toward my dreams. Then I hit pesky mid-life. I achieved many, many goals. Yet I found I had many more things to accomplish. In my professional life, I realized I wasn't enjoying the career I wanted. In my personal life, my relationship was lopsided and unsatisfying. Mid-life became not a crisis but a time to make some scary, but important decisions. Was I going to look back at my life with regret? Who wants to regret anything? And why not live the fullest possible life? I never considered myself a risk-taker, but in reflecting on the last several years I realized I am definitely a risk-taker. I started my own company on a shoestring budget, and I have succeeded and stayed in business even during this protracted Great Recession. I also met the man of my dreams. Instead of staying in the status quo and accepting my lopsided and unsatisfying marriage, I decid...

Do you ever feel like all you ever do is wait for things to happen? Wait for your life to change. Wait for your personal or professional life to fall into place. This last year, I feel like all I keep doing is waiting and waiting for change. I keep waiting for my business 3L Publishing to go to the next level of success.  I keep waiting for my lover to be with me. I keep waiting and waiting. The frustration mounting each day as only trickles of success happen. It's time to stop waiting and start doing ! Change is about taking action and making changes not waiting, wondering and hoping. In my book Second Bloom , I emphasize the need to take action. Action is the cornerstone to success. Establish your vision! What is your vision? Do you know? Stop and really visualize it. Meditate on that vision. You have to first know what you're heading toward (both personally and professionally). Vision #1 : To exceed my gross income and make first $10K a month followed by incremental in...

“Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.” ~ Paul Coelho I have learned so many valuable lessons on this road of life. You always have to look as your experiences as lessons. What do you need to learn about living, about yourself? In March 2012, I took a major leap of faith with one full swoop and made a HUGE change in my life. Not only that I invited someone very special to me to "take a journey with me," which was a bold, profound move on my part. Sometimes, though, you have to make bold, profound moves to change your life for the positive. I recently realized t...

I don't know maybe it's continuous sleep for over a week now. Maybe it's energies colliding. Maybe it's the shifts in my life. Maybe it's my love who set me free to finish an ugly process. Maybe it's all of these things colliding, mixing and becoming my reinvented, refreshed and renewed self. I am feeling ready to conquer the world! I feel alive again. It started last March and while there were some great "gifts" that came through, the difficulties dog piled on me with non-stop and painful drops of rain. This revelry is reflection and return and poetry ... ode to the conscious part of self. I've always guarded my private world pretty well, but in the last few moments, readers have become aware of my life more and more. The specifics still heavily vaulted. The darkness rises. The light comes in as barely cracks through the shudders -- and then the window opens in half and onto completeness. I'm at half with forward motion toward full. I did some...

I was quoted last year in Success Magazine for having said that very phrase. Opportunities present themselves all of the time to us. We have to decide yes or no. I have noticed most people (based on fear) will say no. The average person is risk-adverse and won't dive in the deep end of the pool. I spent the first 20 years of my career being risk-adverse and saying no about 90 percent of the time. In 2006, my "adverse" nature changed almost overnight. I am one of these people who stews on visions for a long time. What happens is an idea takes root, and I visually start to see it happening in my mind's eye. While on the surface some of my decisions seem sudden, I can assure you nothing ever happens on impulse here. I have been considering it for a good long time, and then what happens is the opportunity to seize the day knocks! In the past, I wouldn't have "answered the door." Now that I have learned to live fearlessly when the chance to go forward with a...

I want to tell you the secret to a happy, passion-filled life ... when you truly follow your passion you will never lose! Sometimes following that passion takes risk. It might seem scary. It might have barriers to overcome, but you never look at barriers as anything more than a puzzle to solve. Every single time and without fail that I've followed my passion, I have never regretted it. Life and change and reinvention are great things. Some people reinvent easier than others. I've reinvented so many times now, and each time something tremendous happened. I grew and changed and fulfilled all aspects of my life. When something goes out of balance, it's really a tipping point. A tipping point is an opportunity to re-balance and re-harmonize. Opportunities show up regularly in our lives. You have to have clear vision to see those opportunities. It's when you keep closing up and shutting doors and seeing something as an opportunity to change and evolve that you will unleash y...