The other day I saw a slogan that said, “I’m not opinionated. I’m just always right.” I haven’t stopped smiling about it. Especially as I am writing a particularly controversial book, it is impossible to not be opinionated. As a matter of fact, I absolutely need to be.

In looking at whether it is being opinionated, passionate or dogmatic which has a negative connotation of being arrogant along with being opinionated, it can be hard to know when you’re supposed to “go with the flow” and when you’re supposed to state your opinion.

What I have noticed is that many people have lost the feistiness, the spark that lights up their eyes and fuels the passion in their soul. Being more concerned about fitting in, not rocking the boat or the fear of being seen as opinionated, radical or maverick can over-ride the knowingness deep in our soul that what we feel is right and to say something about it. It can be much easier and safer to just stay quiet. It also takes a lot of energy to have an opinion and even more to vocalize it.

It’s a subject that best-selling author and activist Marianne Williamson raises frequently. In speaking about the apathy of the women in America (I apply this to both sexes in developed countries) and their desire to change something, she says: “they are disconnected both internally and externally from their power and the collective power of women to make the change”.

She explains that the female hyenas surround their cubs until they are fed and don’t allow the males anywhere near the food. Today with 17,000 children dying each day, one every 5 seconds, Marianne simply asks: Can the women of America not do better than the hyenas? In other words, will we find our power, our passion and our opinion personally and collectively to stand up for what we know is right?

Complacency is a subtle enemy. It’s like the frog in the water that doesn’t jump out because the water gets gradually warmer and warmer and eventually he is boiled to death. We’re being boiled to death as we tolerate more and more, gradually becoming accustomed to what would have horrified us before.

If you doubt that fact, just look at the current rating of movies or the television shows including the nudity and graphic language that is currently allowed on TV. We would never have tolerated much of what is now accepted as the norm a few decades ago.

Having an opinion can definitely be offensive when it is coupled with arrogance, that “if you don’t believe my way, you’re wrong” or a lack of respect if someone doesn’t believe the way you do. My dear dad is about as dogmatic as one can be about the rightness of his religious beliefs and the dangerous, deadly path I walk in my spiritual path. There is nothing subtle in his emails to me and he completely ignores that I am an adult entitled to my opinions. However, at 87 years of age, I just send him love and know he really thinks he’s saving me.

On the other hand, there are so many issues I believe we need to get opinionated about. I’ve just chosen one tiny little issue in my upcoming book but I could think of a hundred things I could stand up and be passionate about. What about you? If you’re having a hard time thinking of anything that you would stand on the mountaintop and declare with all of your life force, then you may need to recharge your opinion battery.

What good comes from having an opinion? Lots! First of all, I believe we are here for a reason. Especially, if you are reading newsletters like mine, you did not come to twiddle your thumbs and contemplate your navel. Trust me, you are here for a reason and it’s probably bigger than you are currently thinking.

So having an opinion lights the fire in your soul, finds your passion and sets you on your purpose. It gets you using your sacred gifts, your talents and blessings you are here to share with the world. It gives you a reason to move beyond yourself and your problems and challenges. It’s why you get out of bed in the morning with energy and vigor. An opinion will help you find meaningful goals and the fuel to reach them.

Yes, having an opinion does all of those things.

Are you ready to get opinionated? I hope so! We need more energized, passionate, driven people in the world who have a cause they are opinionated about and are willing to share with others. These are exciting times! You really need to find those opinions inside of you and start sharing them with others. See what they say, how it fine tunes you and makes you stronger and even more passionate.

And remember the next time someone shares an opinion with you, even if you don’t agree with it, bless them for having the courage to speak up and thank them for sharing it with you.

We can do better than the hyenas, can’t we?

In front of the restaurant overlooking the bay in Santiago

It turned out to be a busy weekend as I continued to explore the lake area. On Saturday morning I headed down to the dock to catch a water taxi to San Pedro where I would catch a second boat over to Santiago. My landlord Pierre, had his boat loaded with cartons of baskets he had designed, had made here in Guatemala and were being sent to a Japanese customer.

Pierre is a designer from Paris and has quite the repertoire of talent. He offered to give me a lift to Panajachel first where he would be dropping off the cartons and then continuing on to Santiago. As it would probably not make any difference in my travel time, I decided to have the adventure of crossing the lake in his small speedboat.

It´s an interesting experience to have the wind in your hair, the spray in your face and be bouncing along the waves with not a life jacket in sight. However, we made it safely to Panajachel where the cartons were picked up by a broker for their journey to Japan. He then warned me that the crossing to Santiago could be scary. Although it doesn´t look dangerous, apparently the entry to the bay is notorious for the high waves and precarious conditions.

Needless to say, I was hanging on but Pierre has been doing this trip for years and handled the big waves well in his small boat. However, I very much appreciated his warning to be sure and take a big boat back to San Pedro. I wouldn´t have known that last year 4 people died coming out of the bay when the captain panicked and tried to turn back in the high waves. It´s certainly not written in the guidebooks or talked about at the docks.

In Santiago I visited Maximon, the rum drinking, cigar smoking idol that has quite the reputation. It was definitely a different experience. I will have some photos posted to my Facebook fan page later this week so watch for those. Then after some wandering through town I headed out by tuktuk to a wonderful restaurant called El Bambu. Right on the bay, I had a front row seat to a beautiful view, great food and even had my first glass of wine for the year. Maybe it was a bit of the nervousness about the boat trip back that prompted the desire. It turned out to be wonderfully relaxing. Then I was off to find the “big” boat to get me safely to San Pedro. Am I ever glad for Pierre´s admonition as we did rock most of the way to San Pedro.

Sunday morning I headed back to San Pedro for market day. I had such a blast as I tried green (unripe)mango and bought another new vegetable I have yet to cook. People love educating me and it helps that I can speak the language fluently enough to get a real conversation going. I talked to old people who had to have my Spanish translated into their native tongue, I carried on conversations with young children and I was taught by the very wise women at the market. It was a wonderful morning.

For those of you familiar with Sacred Gifts, you are probably smiling as you know which of the Sacred Gifts is showing up when I write that. Many of my Sacred Gifts are present when I travel but this one is what makes traveling for me so very special. It´s also why doing a formalized tour is so unappealing. I need to be getting into the lives of the local people, not driving by in a sterilized bus full of other foreigners.

From there I took a tuktuk because my bag of vegetables and fruit must have weighed about 20 pounds. I headed to Zoolas where I had more amazing food and sat and relaxed, reading my book for a couple of hours as I drank wonderful hot chocolate, ate fabulous Israeli food and topped it off with a chocolate and ice cream dessert to live for. I figured that I would be burning off a few calories hauling my groceries up the hundreds of steps to my apartment.

Monday morning I experienced a most incredible body work session in San Marcos where Paul, an English fellow, did things to my body that I have never had done. Wow! He has worked on celebrities, Olympic athletes and high level military personnel just to name a few. Whatever he did, I feel like a new woman. It was almost ridiculous paying him $30 for close to 2 hours of amazing work. Then off for a wonderful lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in San Marcos called Fe.

Today our internet is back to where it should be as we were on and off the fair usage system since last Wednesday. Someone in the building was inadvertently downloading the news off of a little itouch and creating the havoc. At least that´s what it looks like, so hopefully we have resolved the problem and we are back to full speed (at least full speed Guatemala style!). Consequently, I have alot of work to catch up on but there´s blue sky, sun and a fridge full of amazing food to be enjoyed today while I work.

Watch for my newsletter coming out later this week. I think you´ll be surprised at a decision I´ve made. In the meantime, go create your amazing life. It starts with getting clear what it looks like. I was clear that this is what I wanted this year and it´s happening just as I envisioned. Actually even better than I envisioned. You can do the same! So go do it!

In preparing for the upcoming The Invitation: How to Have the Life You Really Want workshop, I sent out a survey to the attendees. It has been interesting to note that many people don´t have a dream to bring to the workshop. The workshop is about putting “feet to the dreams” but you need a dream to put into action!

Some people commented that they were afraid to dream for fear of being disappointed or discouraged if they couldn´t create their dream. So rather than try and fail, they felt it was easier to not try and thereby not fail.

However, I always remember Oprah´s words that perhaps the greatest risk of all is not to risk at all. If we´re not willing to risk going for the dream, then that is a really big risk.

Sometimes we just need to chunk down the dream into bite-size pieces so it is more manageable and doable. Maybe we need to accomplish one little piece of the dream to give us the confidence that we can do more.

I am absolutely convinced that everyone has a purpose, an Assignment or Assignments that they came to Earth this time around to accomplish. If you hold back and don´t move towards that purpose and dream, you feel a yearning, a sadness, longing, anger, a pissed off feeling that often gets diagnosed as depression, PMS or menopause. But it is really your soul wanting to do what it came for and create that amazing life.

Let go of the fear of taking the risk, stepping into the dream and go for the gold. Settling for anything less than full out action just isn´t going to give you what you came for. Promise!

I have driven from Vancouver to Seattle. I have taken a coach, a plane and a ferry. But this time when I needed to go from Victoria on Vancouver Island to Seattle to catch my flight to San Diego, I decided to take a seaplane. Wow! What an experience.

On the trip over, we were in a tiny 6 seater plane. On the trip back, it was the bigger plane with 10 seats. Both times, I got to sit in the co-pilots seat up front which was fabulous. The views were magnificent and it was the most fun and exciting trip I have done between the two countries.

Yes, it cost a bit more and I was only allowed 24 measly pounds, but it made the trip an experience rather than just another boring trip to Seattle. I do alot of those trips because my partner Greg is in Seattle. Consequently I fly in and out of Seattle often so we can see each other as I am on my way to some other destination in the world.

What about you? I bet there are areas of your life that are downright boring. How can you spruce them up, make them more exciting and turn something ho-hum into an adventure? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Start thinking outside the box and turn on the creative juices with just one area of your life.
2. Brainstorm with a friend, partner or business associate how you can do something fun with a routine item in your life.
3. Commit to doing one thing this week differently. Maybe drive to work on a different route, eat something new for lunch, buy a fruit or vegetable that you have never tried or wear a different clothes combination.

Boredom is a major contributor to depression, lack of joy, no excitement or fun in people´s lives. Turn off the boredom channel and log onto a fun, adventuresome, exciting wavelength in your life.

If money is an issue right now, you can still have fun. Take a small amount of money and see how much fun you can have with it or what new recipe you can make or how many clothes you can buy at the second-hand store.

If you want to create an amazing life for yourself with more fun in it, then you need to start doing some things differently. Boring is out! Fun is definitely in!

John Milton asks the question, “which do you prefer, bondage with ease, or strenuous liberty?” What does he mean? No, this isn´t anything sexual – promise. This is about creating an amazing life that is abundant and prosperous, free and fulfilling.

How do you do that? Most people will take bondage with ease. The majority of the population will remain in the 97% that is struggling and broke, that loves playing the victim and blames everybody else for their financial woes.

Will you be one of the 3% that attains financial freedom? Will you take strenuous liberty? What do you need to do to be one of the 3%.

The first thing you must do is decide unequivocally that you will be in the 3%. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It´s not open to discussion, it´s not dependent on the economy, the boss or the government. Financial freedom is yours, period.

Once you know that in every cell and fibre of your being, then you can move ahead to acquire the financial freedom. Do you know how much financial freedom is for you? How will you benefit other people with your prosperity? How old will you be? You need to need about this as financial freedom doesn´t happen by accident. It happens by choice, decision and action.

How strenuous does your liberty need to be? That all depends on you. Some refuse to be coached or learn from others so they learn the hard and long way. Others model successful people and sidestep many of the challenges and delays.

I´m always looking at how people are creating their wealth and learning from them. It´s much easier than pioneering the way yourself.

Today, abundance abounds. Mentors that have become very successful financially are everywhere. Pick someone or a number of people who resonate with you and do what they did.

To be free financially is a gift everyone of us is offered in the 21st century. This is unprecedented. Never before can anyone, anywhere, at any age, regardless of gender, become financially free. However, it´s possible today. Is liberty in your near future?

My partner Greg came into Sedona a week ago to celebrate my birthday with me. We had a fabulous time but one of the highlights was climbing Cathedral Rock with him. He has a fear of heights and had fallen on a previous hike, nearly sliding down the mountain. That was an exciting moment to say the least! So he was nursing a sore hip most of the week. However, he didn´t let that stop him.

Having climbed Cathedral Rock with my friend Brenda about a month ago, I knew the challenges of going up the 700 climb. I knew the places where it was hard to get a foothold and where you really had to use some arm muscles to pull yourself up. Arm muscles I don´t honestly have but somehow found! I knew where the shale was slippery and how with one slip you could get hurt. I also remembered the thrill of reaching the top and seeing the incredible view from two sides of the mountain and looking down at the car park – now miniscule in comparison.

There will be bumps and falls, challenges and some fear to face along the way as you create your amazing life. That´s the way life is. It really depends how much you decide to focus on the challenges. The journey can still be more than fabulous! Every time my heart was pounding or Greg yelled down to me, “I´m not liking this” and then took another step forward, I smiled and my heart sang with an accomplishment we will talk about for many years to come.

At the top, I laid in the hot sun and relaxed! That felt really good. We all need time off to rejuvenate and celebrate. It can´t all be hard work. So ask yourself, “when was the last time I celebrated my successes, took some quality time off and rejuvenated?” If you can´t remember, then it´s probably long overdue. I recently read that 24 hours off of your business increases your output for the next 18 days! That´s a great payday for playing!

I just had 6 wonderful days off and I feel fabulous! I´d love to help you create an amazing life for yourself with more money, less stress and more fun! I´m offering a complimentary teleseminar next Wednesday evening, September 23rd at 7 p.m. PDT. Register for it even if you can´t make it live. It will be recorded, although I heartily suggest you listen in live as it will be a very fun and participatory teleclass.

Go here to register now! I know that you will receive some phenomenal information that will help you create an even more magnificent life.

If there is one word with which I would describe the past 2 1/2 months in Sedona, it would be TRANSFORMATION. It has been an amazing summer and it just keeps on coming!

There is alot of magical things about Sedona but one of the aspects I love the most is the spirituality that pervades every aspect of life here. It really is in the air here and is part of the conversations around the pool, at the hair salon or with the massage therapist. Sedona is probably one of the few places in the world where you walk down the street and people actually notice your aura.

So having a snake come into my livingroom the first week I was here was not just a snake. Oh no! According to my shaman friend, Maya, a snake is a symbol of transformation and great change coming in your life. And interestingly, I would say there have been lots of signficant changes in my life this summer…big ones!

Next came the rats that liked my little water fountain on the back patio. But they aren´t just rats – they are a sign of wisdom and gathering. Funnily enough, there has been a gathering of an amazing team in my life, women who are here to help me realize my vision. The wisdom has been pouring through me and my healing sessions have been stupendous!

This week I´ve had bats building a nest above the front patio. Yesterday morning there was one literally hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, the photo didn´t turn out clearly enough to post but it was for real! However you guessed it, bats are not just a nuisance as they have left their droppings all over the front patio. They are a sign of increased vision and a heightened awareness of what is around me so I don´t make mistakes on the path but have more clarity. They are an important symbol that my “radar” is being worked on.

I could laugh at Maya at she translates the significance of all of these animals showing up in my life. But I take her words seriously. In my opinion, transformation is one of the most important aspects that we can have in our life. Change is inevitable but progress is not. So I see transformation as part of the progress, moving forward and closer to my big visions.

Yesterday, I took the plunge and got blonde highlights put in my hair. I no longer have short brown but rather shoulder length kind of blonde hair! It´s a transformation alright! Do blondes have more fun? I guess I´ll be finding out!

One of the biggest failures I see people make in their lives and businesses is that they get stuck. They dig their heels in and aren´t open to seeing possibilities. They don´t invite transformation into their lives.

Transformation is critical to creating the amazing life you want. You want more money in your life, then you need to go out and create it. You want more fun in your life, then go create it. You want less stress in your life, then you need to create it. All of those things will demand, yes demand transformation from you.

At the end of the day, the question will be: How badly do you want your life to be different? You need to want that transformation and change like a thirsty person in the desert. It needs to be in every cell of your body, in every thought in your mind and in every emotion you experience. You need to live and breathe the changes you desire.

Then transformation has no choice but to happen. And that is definitely worth any cost in creating the life you really want.

I just finished having my main website www.janjanzen.com redone (yes, go and have a look!) and there are three other projects being worked on simultaneously! It has been a very busy couple of months.

With all of the technology I have been learning, the courses I´ve been doing and the people I have been bringing onto my team, it´s easy to have my head spinning some days!

I asked myself this question this morning as what needs to be done this month is fairly daunting. Am I too busy?

I have been listening to Tony Robbins and his time management CD series. I loved his quote: Activity Without Purpose is the Drain to Your Life of Fulfillment. So a question to ask alongside the “Am I too busy?” question is: Does the activity have purpose? In other words, does the busy-ness of life have a reason, a higher purpose than just checking off a To-Do list or are you just getting your thrills running around like a chicken with their head cut off, appearing efficient?

Every task that I set out to do must answer these two critical questions: Does this fit in with my higher purpose? Next: Do I have to do it myself? As I go through Tony´s course, I´ll be sharing some of the highlights with you because to create that amazing life, we really need to be asking ourselves quality questions.

Many people think that they need to know their mentor personally. That is not necessarily true. I´ve met Ellie Drake but I have never met Joyce Meyers or Ali Brown personally. However, I still look to them as mentors.

How does that work? As I watch how people run their businesses, do something I want to emulate or have a style that I particularly like, I will choose them as a mentor. I may then get to know them through their books, workshops, teleclasses or newsletters. I watch Joyce on her website as she speaks to large audiences and learn from how she teaches. I am attending the RISE event with Ellie October 2/3 where I am sure I will learn alot about how Ellie came into the US as an immigrant and became a millionaire through network marketing. I read their materials and study their habits. Even though I haven´t met many of my mentors, they can still have a positive impact on my life.

Pick someone who you really admire for one or more reasons. Then learn more about them through the internet, their course materials or through their newsletters. Start to apply what they are doing to create their amazing life in your life. It´s really that simple. However, it is very, very effective!

Do you have a mentor or mentors in your life? A mentor is someone who you look to for guidance and direction. I have several mentors that have never met me personally and others that I have built a personal relationship with over the years.

The importance of a mentor in creating your amazing life is to have someone who is doing what you want to do. They can be the forerunner for you in a certain aspect. It´s unlikely that any ONE person will be everything you want to be in EVERY aspect of their life but there are usually areas where they are a great role model.

For example, I love what Ellie Drake is doing with building a woman´s community focused on making a massive difference in the world. She´s a great mentor for women. Ali Brown is my mentor for creating a multiple seven-figure income online. She is brilliant at what she does and it shows!Joyce Meyer is a great mentor for ministry as she fills auditoriums around the world, has over 70 books in print and is a dynamic teacher.

These are just a few of my mentors. I could go on and on about my mentors and how they have helped me take my life to the next level. But we´ll save that for future posts. In the meantime, ask yourself, who do I have in my life that is helping me to create my amazing life in every aspect?