by Cherie Ray | Jun 29, 2022 | Being Human, Inspiration
How are you? Are you busy with graduations, weddings, or other big life events? I hope this email finds you well and smiling with new hope for what’s ahead.
I just returned from Taos, New Mexico where a group of incredible human beings took a giant leap exploring their creative process. During the 9 days we spent together, I was very inspired by their courage for moving into the unknown and their desire to be free from their limiting mental restrictions.
As is always the case, the brightness of their eyes starts to shine when they grant themselves permission to paint what comes naturally. The bright eyes are also fueled by the surprise of what happens when they get out of our own way.
Isn’t that true for all of us? When we get out of our own way, we connect to a vibrant aliveness that resides inside us. Who doesn’t want to experience that more? Nothing is impossible from that connection.
My intention for the workshop was for it to be “Life-Giving.” At the end of the workshop, each person was shining in their own brilliance. When I see this happen, I know the problems this world faces will be solved by people, just like these.
Thank you to everyone!
Sending smiles,
Cherie Ray
by Cherie Ray | Mar 15, 2022 | Inspiration, Thought
Who doesn’t need a good news story these days? Here’s one for you. Kids creating and being fearless or creating in spite of fear.
For many years, I have volunteered at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (rodeohouston.com) serving on their Horticulture committee. I love working on this committee because I get to work closely with the kiddos as they compete for scholarship monies.
Participants register for both individual and partner events from floral design to landscape design and planting. Each competition has strict rules and guidelines that must be adhered to in order to be judged.
The competitions I enjoy the most are the floral design events. Why? Because each scholar is given the exact same materials to create with. While every scholar gets the same materials, no creation looks the same. I find this fascinating. Each creation is unique. Just like every human on the planet!
The scholars range from 10-18 years of age, both female and male. This year we had 113 participants. Each event is timed with a specific assignment. The scholars are brought into this huge ballroom, given an apron and a creating station, while they wait for the announcements. Some tower over their table, some barely reach the table. Some look cool as cucumbers, some look like it’s a high stakes game.
As soon as the rules are announced, the timer begins and off they go. Each participant’s process is unique to them. Some start by sorting their followers, getting organized. Others just grab stems and go for it. One of the more precious sites is watching a 10-year-old boy creating a bridal bouquet! He gives it his all. HI hands are barely large enough to hold the bouquet.
With lots of monitoring eyes and cameras capturing the action, they always beat the timer and submit a creation. What entertains me so, is the amount of focus and engagement they give these events. I admire each one for getting in the game to play with life.
Being in a room with 113 creatives creating is a fun energy to be in. I just soak it up. The energy is so intense as they sit in their anticipation and subsides when to buzzer goes off. I love the idea of kids creating with their hands, freely, with no one telling them what to do and with something alive. I believe it brings them an opportunity to get grounded and connected. When kids have the opportunity to draw from within, they GET that they have what it takes. Who doesn’t need to be reminded of that?
What have you been up to? I’d love to hear from you.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
by Cherie Ray | Dec 10, 2021 | Inspiration, Offering
I wanted to take the opportunity to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving! My wish is for you to relax, enjoy, and savor all the flavors the season offers. I’m giggling because in these ‘flavors’ I’m including all of the flavors of humanity that will cross your path. Without those who are so different from us, we would live in a soup with much less texture, color, and flavor.
I’m hoping this season will hold more compassion for our differences and to see the differences as complimentary instead of problematic. Entering into the holidays standing on the truth that each person sees a world that is unique to them, we can create space at the table for everyone.
Thank you very much for being a part of this community. It has been a gift and a pleasure to share fun times with you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Cherie
by Cherie Ray | Dec 10, 2021 | Coaching, Inspiration
How’s it going? I wonder if you’re as surprised as I am that we are well into the month of November and staring right into the face of the holidays? Well, it’s true. Here we are. As we enter the holiday season (and any moment) I think this writing from Hafiz could support us all. I hope you enjoy it. This poem inspired me to resume my private dance lessons. I’m so glad I did!
If this writing wakes something up in you, I’d love to hear about it. Lemme’ know!
Wishing you the very best,
Cherie
A Good Reminder….
From Hafiz:
I sometimes forget that
I was created for joy
My mind is too busy
My heart is too heavy
Heavy for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the sacred dance for life
I was created to smile
to love
to be lifted up
and lift others up
O sacred one
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares
Free my soul
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.
by Cherie Ray | Dec 10, 2021 | Inspiration, Thought
Hello! How have you been? I hope you’re doing well. How are you doing with all the change, unclear information, and the way life is unfolding for you?
Since March of 2020 does it feel like the world has been shifting under your feet? During this time, I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of loss, disappointment, and unmet expectations. What are you doing with it all? I hope you’re not looking for new places to stuff it.
With what feels like truckloads of LDE (loss, disappointment, expectation) lately in my world, I got really curious about how to NOT be permanently changed by these occurrences. It looks to me like life is going to do what it’s going to do, and people are going to do what they’re going to do. I decided I want to flow better with these changes’ vs creating a story and living inside my story about what’s happening around me? LDE certainly appears to be part of the nature of life and part of the human experience.
When I got curious, what sounds like seconds but felt like years, out of the blue, an insight dropped in, “I don’t want to be a pickle.” What? A pickle? I had to laugh. My intuition has a profound sense of humor!
As I considered this insight, a pickle lives inside a rigid container steeped in bitter vinegar. Well, there’s nothing about feeling confined or living with an internal environment of bitterness that interests me. So, I got curious about how to NOT be a pickle. At this moment in time, I’m seeing I have some free will in this game.
So, I exercised my free will and put my pin on the map about how I desire to feel in my day-to-day life with the unpredictable nature of life. With a curious desire to see something fresh, on NOT being a pickle, I’ve gotten some very helpful insights on how to live in more peace and joy while the world does what it’s going to do.
This same process can work for you.
I’d love to hear from you! Let’s have a conversation. The focus of my work is to teach you how to eliminate struggle from your life and to live in peace-filled joy with what you can’t change.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
by Cherie Ray | Jun 30, 2021 | Inspiration, Love
It’s a beautiful summer day in Houston, Texas this morning. The skies are full of smoky gray clouds and rain is falling hard. Enjoy and relish this day.
I just received news about a treasured friend’s health. I’ve followed their journey and all they have done to extend their hours on the ground. As I finished reading their latest news this mantra popped into my mind, ‘enjoy and relish this day.’ This mantra is just one more gift I’ve received from knowing these friends.
It’s innocent enough to be distracted by tending your current circumstances. It’s also innocent enough to believe the right circumstances will bring you a better moment. As innocent as this dynamic is, you could spend lifetimes trying to get things in place and NEVER find your happiness in your circumstances. Are you going to wait for things to be in their place or will you seize your hours on the ground to enjoy and relish this day?
This truth, peace is never in the circumstances of my life, brings me so much joy and hopefulness. Why? Because it lets me know that it’s available to me now and quick working for it. What a relief!
Enjoy and relish this day.
There are lots of fun things coming this summer. I hope you will find time to nurture yourself and join in on the fun and the community these offerings bring. You’re invited, come along!
Drop me a line and let me know what’s happening in your world this summer. I’d love to connect with you.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
I teach people how to eliminate struggle from their lives and businesses. If you or someone you know would like to see struggle in your rearview mirror, give me a call. We can have an exploratory conversation to see if working together makes sense. Cherie@cherieray.com or call 832.545.8488
by Cherie Ray | Apr 21, 2021 | Conversations, Inspiration
Are you trying to ‘problem solve’ your way to relaxation? Does it look like you have problems that must be worked on and solved before you can move on with enjoying your life? Does working to solve problems take up all your time? Do you find yourself way too familiar with feelings of overwhelm and feeling overworked? At the end of the day, are you long on expending energy and short on enjoying? This is what life feels like when you look at the world through the colored lens of problem solving.
Well, the culprit could be a simple misunderstanding. Innocently, you can fall asleep to your mind making all these rules around how to live, what it means to be a decent person (partner, mom, dad, boss, employee, etc.) and how to be OK in the world. Good news, as easily as you fell asleep to this invisible policy maker, you can wake up to it.
Life is not one long problem-solving assignment. Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. What can you do? Do a gut check and see if you are over oriented to problem solving and take these points to heart:
- You won’t find your happiness or relaxation on the other side of solved problems. It doesn’t live there.
- Problem solving will take all your time and all of your joy.
- Training your mind to solve problems creates a habit and trains your mind to look for problems to be solved. It never stops.
I hope this takes some struggle off your plate. If you know of someone who is struggling in their life or business and they don’t know where to turn to gain insight and relief? Please send them my way. Struggle in life is optional.
I always love hearing your comments and reflections. Drop me a line and let’s connect.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
Teaching people how to eliminate struggle from their lives and businesses.
Let’s have a free exploratory conversation, cherie@cherieray.com.
by Cherie Ray | Apr 19, 2021 | Coaching, Inspiration
Just the presence of her boss would set her off like a firecracker. With every interaction, she suffered a litany of “feeling criticized,” “getting hooked into her bad feeling,” or “watching my self-esteem erode under my feet.” Working in such an overwhelmingly toxic environment painted the picture to her that this is just the way it is when you work for someone else. She could only see two options: suck it up or quit. And she had tried sucking it up for long enough; there was no space left to stuff the stress. She was mentally and physically exhausted from dealing with the dissatisfaction in her work life – that had annoyingly wormed its way into her home life as well.
Jean came to me because she was at the end of her rope. Wearing an unyielding scowl on her face and with her hands frequently thrown into the air in frustration, she didn’t know how to maneuver her only apparent choices. She was not at her magical retirement age, nor was she financially prepared to stop working altogether. But Jean just couldn’t imagine sludging along, ticking the days off her calendar until it was finally time to cue up Johnny Paycheck’s glorious song, “Take this Job and Shove it” as she went a-walkin’ out the door.
When Jean and I began working together, I invited her to temporarily shelve the idea of quitting. We knocked around the idea of using her present situation as a laboratory for her learning. This was a challenging and problematic task because Jean wanted to feel “100% happier,” which she was certain could only happen if she exited her current circumstance. She reluctantly agreed to give it six months.
Our next conversation began with Jean declaring, “I quit. I couldn’t take it anymore.” With a glimmer of hope, she wondered what was next. Was there another way to eliminate the stresses and struggles she was up against?
Through our work together, Jean achieved results that are out of this world! She negotiated a re-hire with a 30k annual pay increase. She added 300k – minimum – to her retirement bucket by staying in the workforce longer. She had previously wasted 80% of her day distracted by the office culture, which only allowed a small portion of her time to be spent performing her duties. Today, efficient work blissfully dominates her workday – only 20% is distraction!
Jean is now leading a satisfying, centered, successful life and career. This is exactly why my clients come to me. Bringing a deep understanding of the way people universally operate and a keen capability to transform complex mountains into simple molehills, I offer creative solutions and fresh perspectives to eliminate struggle and inspire true living!
by Cherie Ray | Mar 24, 2021 | Coaching, Inspiration
How are you? I hope this newsletter greets you with a fresh excitement for Spring. The clock did its jump forward so fresh newness can’t be far behind. Here in Texas, this is the time when the wildflowers start to introduce brilliant colors on the highways and fields with the presence of bluebonnets. I love this time of year because Mother Nature pulls out all the stops and starts to re-colorize the landscape.
Seeing the natural cycles of freshness and new growth in the landscape is a very outward sign of what’s happening inside you, all of the time. Luckily, you are designed to have fresh ideas, insights, and inspirations come to you all year long and not just in the spring. These new ideas and inspirations colorize your personal world.
Just recently I had a few fresh insights come to me that were not ‘topic specific’ but the truth and wisdom that dropped in will serve all areas of my life. I smile and chuckle when this happens because the depth and breadth of an insight of any size can shift how I see the world, effortlessly. It’s like getting a free upgrade for a higher functioning life. I’m both amused and very appreciative when this happens.
The best news of all? This system works the same in every human being on the planet! This includes YOU.
I’d love to support you in understanding more about eliminating struggle from your life and receiving the solutions you’re looking for. Let’s connect for an exploratory conversation, Cherie@CherieRay.com.
I’d love to connect with you and catch up.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
by Cherie Ray | Mar 10, 2021 | Coaching, Inspiration
Can you believe it’s March? It was one year ago that I was volunteering with the Horticulture Committee at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo when one of the rodeo’s directors walked up to the team and asked us to quietly collect our things and leave the rodeo complex. I remember thinking it felt just like an old-school fire drill but there would be no returning in 15 minutes! The rodeo was officially cancelled for the remaining 3 weeks! This was the day when COVID-19 started making its impact in Houston. What a packed 12 months it has been.
With all the changes in the world and workplace, I felt a very strong desire to invite my friend and colleague, Gina Anastasi, to do a webinar with me. I thought it would be beneficial to learn what puts you in a leveraged position to never look for work again and to learn what qualities are needed to take a leadership role your career and personal life. The qualities are the same for both!
Gina is the founder of Gina Anastasi, Inc., (GinaAnastasi.com) which provides advisory and coaching services to executives and companies at all stages of development. Her passion is to provide guidance to maximize financial results and reach strategic goals through leadership support and operational efficiency.
Gina’s most well-known company is Rent.com, for 6 years through launch date through acquisition, she led the company as COO through a major internal restructuring and growth increasing revenue from $2MMto $60MM. Rent.com became the #1 rental site in the U.S. and was acquired by eBay in 2005 for $435MM. This is just one achievement in Gina’s phenomenally successful career.
Having been an employee and an employer, I’ve always been a witness to success in the workplace. As a coach, I want my clients to experience the richest experience possible in both their careers and their personal lives. If your desire is to move ahead or be sought out, we will share what it takes to be advanceable, invaluable, and desirable.
Invite your friends, loved ones, and colleagues to join the conversation. Bring your questions! Complete webinar information is below. Advance registration is necessary.
Let’s have some fun and connect! I look forward to seeing you Friday.
Smiles,
Cherie
I teach people how to eliminate struggle from their lives. Let’s have a free exploratory conversation, cherie@cherieray.com.
by Cherie Ray | Feb 24, 2021 | Inspiration
Here you are! February is wrapping up and March is just around the corner. When I think about March being just around the corner, I’m even more amazed at the crazy weather that hit the country last week. I hope you’re doing well and navigating what’s required to get your world shored up! When I think of March, I think of spring and warm sunny days. Hopefully, they are on their way.
Valentine’s week I hosted a webinar titled, “Are Your Relationship Concepts Getting in the Way of Real Relationship?” Lots of people mentioned that they thought the webinar was about romantic love relationships and didn’t feel it applied to them because they aren’t in a romantic relationship right now.
Romantic relationships are just one in a basket of many. Like it or not, you are in relationship with everything and everybody. You are in relationship with yourself (most importantly), your friends, neighbors, customer service reps, vendors, employer, siblings, parents, children, checkout clerk, spouse/partner, and so many others.
Do you carry a lot of ideas, definitions, and concepts about the rights and wrongs in these relationships? These personal truths get in the way of creating and experiencing REAL relationship. If relationships are a sore spot or a struggle for you, please check out the webinar,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oNEJ0wBqFo. It’s also available on my podcast, Connected Living with Cherie Ray on Spotify, ITunes, Google.
I hope you’ll take a listen and I hope you hear something helpful. Getting real and eliminating struggle is what I do with my clients. If you are living in struggle, you don’t have to. Let’s connect.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
by Cherie Ray | Jan 27, 2021 | Conversations, Inspiration
What’s new with you? I hope you’re doing well and exploring new inspirations that are coming to you in the richness of possibility that seems to come with the beginning of a new year. Possibility and potential are ever present, but the attention of the world seems to highlight this as we greet January.
What I’m seeing new in the balance of this pandemic is INVITATION. So much has been taken off the table that was innocently leaned on to feel OK, to distract, or bring comfort. With all that’s been edited in your life, there’s a fresh invitation on the table to locate your peace and joy. Not within your circumstances, by having the right partner, job, living arrangement, location, but where it has always been and will always be. Beneath all of that in the depth of your being. Isn’t that intriguing? You can tie your well-being, peace, and joy to your circumstances, but you don’t have to. Isn’t that a rich invitation?
I would love to hear from you on this topic. Kindly RSVP by January 31st. LOL!
Have you or someone you know, “Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” for their work, their current life, or their relationships? I would love to connect with them. Big changes on the outside aren’t necessary to experience the joy you seek.
Sending smiles,
Cherie
by Cherie Ray | Jan 4, 2021 | Events, Inspiration
Here we are at the end of 2020!
I think this year speaks volumes about RESILIENCE. Resilience is your innate ability to rise to the occasion. Whatever the occasion is. It’s the spiritual nature of life that delivers to you unseen abilities in the exact moment that you need them. I know for a lot of us this year has served up plenty of surprises, losses, and unimaginable circumstances. Some so unimaginable that if you could have imagined them you would surely believe you couldn’t survive them. But you do.
Resilience is a gift we all carry, and it is at the ready when we need it. With that in mind, you can relax with what the New Year will bring and put your attention on what you would like to explore in 2021. What would you like to play with? I’m going to spend some time considering what would plump my heart and what are the qualities of a life well lived. These things will be put in my recipe for a meaningful 2021.
I would like to express my deep appreciation to each of you for participating in so many great events and conversations this year. I hope the New Year greets you with a big smile!
Happy New Year!
by Cherie Ray | Dec 16, 2020 | Conversations, Events, Inspiration
I hope you’re feeling strong and vibrant. Are you planning your holidays, celebrating the Festival of Lights, or readying to launch a fresh new year?
I hope you’ll take a break this Friday, December 18th at noon CST, 10am PST, 1pm EST to join in the conversation, Drawing a Line in the Sand, When will finding fault in yourself no longer be an option? It will be a rich conversation that could add to the gifts you give yourself this holiday season or what you want to include in your New Year reset. Please register in advance to attend.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMudO2tqzsuHNcFRA7APDfI0bGRtggTgB-t
It’s been a full year with more highs, lows, and changes then previously experienced. I hope you’ll include yourself on your gift-giving list by gifting yourself large doses of love, acceptance, and compassion.
I look forward to seeing you on the call this Friday!
by Cherie Ray | Oct 23, 2020 | Coaching, Conversations, Inspiration
What are you hungering for? Community, connection, creativity, fresh aliveness? Well all of that can be done safely and virtually. During this time of Covid we’ve discovered that a fun, welcoming community is created when people come together to explore. It’s been wonderful to get together with you for webinars and for workshops. I appreciate all the comments you’ve shared on how virtual participation has supported you through these quarantine times. Thank YOU for participating in making community where community can happen these days!
I want to share this fresh conversation I had with Michele Cassou.
A Candid Conversation with Michele Cassou on Point Zero Intuitive Painting and her life of exploring creativity.
Michele Cassou has authored 10+ books on creativity, as well as numerous audio and video recordings. She has explored the operating principles of creativity for over 50 years as well as being the first art workshop offered at Esalen over 45 years ago. Her work continues to grow and evolve, which is the nature of creativity.
LINK to PODCAST here:
Podcast: Connected Living with Cherie Ray
Truths and Understandings for the Business of Life
This conversation is available on my podcast. Please share this link with anyone you know that is interested in creativity or living life more creatively.
I love hearing from you. Let’s connect for a conversation!