“True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.” ~ Douglas Pagels

Using our strengths and talents is a way for us to create success and be happy doing what moves our soul. Here we find alignment easily, so let‟s focus on our strengths! Sure, we all have “non strengths”, but why not focus on what we are already brilliant at? Focusing on our weaknesses is not a very effective way to evoke our super powers.

As we tap into and step just a little bit further into our strengths and talents, we develop our belief in ourselves, and awaken our inner Radiance.

One summer I took my gymnastics staff camping. One of our staff members brought a friend along. He was a sweet young man who helped out around the gym often. Around the campfire I posed the question “What are you great at?”, and one-by-one each enthusiastically answered how they were talented. Until we got to him, he dropped his head and answered “nothing”. Of course we all jumped in with 20 things that WE knew he was great at. But it was so sad to learn that he truly believed he was good at nothing, and it showed in his life and his Radiance, or lack thereof.

When we practice appreciating and using our strengths everyday it gives us the foundation we will need when life gets difficult and requires us to dig deep for strength.

When we go into a new situation or have feelings of insecurity, rather than shrinking back, we can extend our gifts to others. By leading with our strengths as an offering, we share the most sacred parts of us. We lower our arrogance and give freely what we were born to do, or talents have developed, so that we may be well used and serve the highest purpose. We contribute to the success of others.

Take a look at the list below and check off the talents and strengths that come easily and naturally to you and tap into your Radiance. Another clue that it is your strength is if you do it without self-criticism. For instance, one of my strengths is being passionate. I never say to myself, “I shouldn‟t be so passionate,” never. Another one is beauty and I never think, “Wow, I just see too much beauty in everything”; how ridiculous would that be?

Feel free to add more talents and strengths to the list!
Abundant—–Active—–Adventurous—–Artistic—–Aware—–Balanced—–Beautiful—–Brave—–Bold—–Calm—–Caring—–Communicator—–Compassionate—–Confident—–Creative—–Curious—–Dedicated—–Determined—–Earthy—–Easy—–Going—–Encouraging—–Energetic—–Entertaining—–Enthusiastic—–Focused—–Free—–Friendly—–Giving—–Goofy—–Graceful—–Grounded—–Honest—–Humorous—–Insightful—–Inspirational—–Intelligent—–Intense—–Joyous—–Kind—–Literary—–Loyal—–Magical—–Natural—–Nurturing—–Organized—–Open—–Passionate—–Patient—–Peaceful—–Playful—–Poetic—–Positive—–Present—–Quirky—–Reliable—–Resilient—–Resourceful—–Responsible—–Sensitive—–Serene—–Spiritual—–Subtle—–Supportive—–Trustworthy—–Visionary—–Witty

Discovery Question: How do I feel when I am doing what comes naturally and easily to me?

Activity: Step more fully into your strengths. From the list choose the top 3 strengths that stand out as your most Radiant Super Powers.
1.
2.
3.

Strength How I will cultivate this strength?

Go to TamaraGerlach.com for PDF worksheet

Gratitude: Show appreciation for your own strengths, talents, and inspiration as well as others.

Mantra: I have all that I need and so much more.

“The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe.” ~ Deepak Chopra

Embrace who you are right now, rather than who you think you “should” be. It does not mean that we stop being motivated to grow, but we are content with where we are in the process. When we honestly look at ourselves without judgment or criticism, we realize that we‟re not bad, and we do our best with what we‟ve got at the time. Self-acceptance opens us to receive the beauty and adventure life has to offer.

Acceptance is such a beautiful thing that allows us to be at peace with what is and even embrace those things that seemingly block our way. Embrace your age and your body. It is a fact of life that our body ages, everything changes, and like we read at the beginning of the book, we can become more stunningly beautiful on the inside. Our insides show on our outside.

There is a wonderful video called “Jessica‟s Daily Affirmation” where an adorable little girl named Jessica very enthusiastically dances and performs as she recites a litany of all the things she likes. She likes her dad, mom, aunts, cousins, hair, room, whole house, then she runs off yelling, “I can do anything!” She joyfully accepts everything in her life. It was so easy when we were 5 years old. Let‟s get back to that place where we accept ourselves for who we are, because we are cool, we like ourselves, and we can do anything.

There is a big difference between tolerance and acceptance. We tolerate our own attachment to what our false ego thinks something ought to be, but in fact is not. Imagine saying to someone, “I tolerate you”, as opposed to “I accept you”. Nobody wants to feel tolerated; we want to be accepted for who we are.

Acceptance gives us the ability to recognize that we are infinitely empowered to do whatever it takes to overcome any situation. It gives us the foundation to deal with any perceived problem whether it concerns relationship, money, work, or whatever. All we need to do is accept ourselves as we are.
________________________________
Believing that you deserve good in your life will
open the door to an abundant flow of Radiance.
________________________________

When we accept ourselves, we can stop treating ourselves like a rented mule. When we stop self-abuse, acting like a victim, or maintaining other negative beliefs, we then have space to create what we want in our life. We learn to truly accept ourselves as we are. This may take practice, especially if we have spent years criticizing ourselves.

When you look in the mirror, notice if it is covered with the “dust of delusion”; those thoughts keep us from seeing our Radiance. Then get out your cloth and remove the dust so you can see your true reflection.

“To say something nice about yourself, this is the hardest thing in the world for people to do. They‟d rather take their clothes off“ ~ Nancy Friday

Dance a life-force through you, dance with what you want to embrace whether it is jealousy, shame, abundance, or joy. Feel it in you and let it move you. Let go of old, lower vibrations to make space for Radiance.

We can learn to accept and embrace our duality; we all have feminine and masculine power, intellect and intuition, light and dark, joy and suffering. With acceptance of ourselves we integrate all of our parts to create our Radiance. It is when we are at odds with or fight against certain parts of us that we get out of alignment.

Accept yourself even when we are dealing with some of the things our culture does not typically see as Radiant, like fear, doubt, or shame. We can go to the core of the feeling and love it. Be willing to sit with your shame for eternity. Do not resist or release it, just hear it. What is it saying? What lesson does it offer? Validate and love ALL parts of you.

This unconditional love for yourself allows you to be with anything, and turn it into light. Magically, when we accept all of our parts, the ones that used to get in our way lose their power.

An elderly farm woman had two large pots. Each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.
“I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.” said the pot. The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your “flaw”, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaws. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting, rewarding, and Radiant.

Discovery Question: What would I like to accept about myself?

Activities: • From the list above, choose one thing per day to accept about yourself until the list is complete. Then, keep adding to it.
• Practice accepting and being grateful for any situation for what it is teaching you.
• Write a letter to your present self from your 90 year old self. What might they tell you is important to cultivate?

Gratitude: Show appreciation for your flaws and Radiance that helps flowers bloom.

Mantra: I love and accept myself exactly as I am.

Chapter 1 I’ll See It When I Believe It

“I understand that what I believe to be absolutely true becomes true because I believe it.” ~ Patrick J. Ryan

Our beliefs are so powerful that as we become aware of or change what we believe, what we see begins to align with it. Since so many of our beliefs are unconscious and habitual, our challenge is to create awareness of what motivates our behaviors. The things that consistently show up in our lives that we seemingly do not want usually have an unconscious belief.

There once was a wise sage who lived along the path at the edge of a village. One day a traveler was on his way to the village and stopped to visit the sage. “I have never been to this village. Can you tell me about the people here?” asked the traveler. The sage said, “Sure, but first tell me about the people in the village you came from.” “Oh, they are terrible, rude, unfriendly, and cannot be trusted. That is why I left.” The sage said, “Well, I have bad news for you. The people here are exactly the same.” Later that day, another traveler was heading to the village and stopped to visit the sage. “I have never been to this village. Can you please tell me about the people here?” asked the traveler The sage said, “Sure, but first tell me about the people in the village you came from.” “Oh, they are wonderful, kind, loving, and generous,” replied the traveler. The sage said, “Well, I have good news for you, the people here are exactly the same.”

So, assuming that the first traveler consciously truly did want to be happy and connected to cool people, his unconscious beliefs kept him from achieving it. He could go from village to village and always find the same thing. In just the same way, people can go from job to job, or relationship to relationship, and keep finding the same things. The world is full of our mirrors, reflecting back to us what we are giving.

We create our environment through our beliefs. If you want to know about your past, look at what is happening in your present. If you want to know about your future, look at what you are doing in the present. What messages have you been unconsciously sending? What beliefs are behind those messages?
________________________________
Until we believe in ourselves, we undermine everyone else’s belief in us. It is our responsibility to set the foundation of our own life.
________________________________

Our mind does not know whether our beliefs are “real” or not, so our body reacts physically to our beliefs. As a child we believed many things that felt very real to us, we could‟ve “sworn” by them; beliefs such as Santa Claus or that our teachers live at school. As we get older our beliefs change as we collect evidence that tells us differently.

What we believe effects how we behave. Let go of self-limiting beliefs and, like the second traveler, tell the story of ease and delight. So, believe that you can change every aspect of your life to create more Radiance. Believe that you are fabulous and Radiant and everything around your will mirror it!

Discovery Question: What positive beliefs about myself serve me well? Why?

Activity: Sit comfortably and take some long, deep breaths. Get in touch with your body and become aware of your energy. Then ask yourself: How Radiant am I? Where could I cultivate my beliefs?

Gratitude: Appreciate the people who have taught you the most about believing in yourself.

Mantra: I see the world as Radiant.

As Grace grew older, people would say things like “stop day dreaming”, “get serious”, or “No, you‟re doing it wrong”. Even though she resisted it at first, little by little, her light grew dimmer.

And then one day Grace became a teenager. People would say “you don‟t look right”, “you don‟t fit in”, or “you‟re not good enough”, and Grace began to believe them because suddenly things didn‟t feel right, so she started to separate herself from the other kids. She felt as though everyone else was on the boat, but she was in the water, and didn‟t even deserve to climb aboard. She began to doubt if her life mattered. What Grace didn‟t realize is that everyone felt like they were in the water too.

Her light grew dimmer.
…and dimmer, through several failed relationships and unfulfilling jobs. The voices of self-doubt and self-criticism seemed to be omnipresent and exhaustion was the standard. Grace always felt like she should be doing it all and that she never did enough, which robbed her of energy and confidence.

This went on for way too many years, until one day the now grown-up, weary, but hopeful Grace decided it was time to change her story. She wanted to reconnect with the joy and light that came so easily as a child. She wanted to believe in possibilities again, and have passion and purpose. Grace wanted to be alive.
And so, our daring and magnificent Grace began the journey of self discovery and Cultivating Radiance…

________________________________
As my outside ages, my intention is to become stunningly beautiful on the inside. ________________________________

What does “Cultivating Radiance” mean? Cultivating is to develop or improve by education or training; to refine; to promote the growth or development of; to devote oneself to. Radiance is brightness or light; warm, cheerful brightness. It is the light that passes through, is emitted by, or reflected from you.
So, Cultivating Radiance is developing your inner light.

Why Cultivate Radiance? If you are a bright, cheerful person who has positive beliefs and attitude and lives in alignment, and with passion, you will have a more fulfilling life, healthy relationships, and you will be “in the flow”. You will be “on the boat”…with all the Radiant people.

This book was born out of a self-care strategic plan that I had been using with my life and business-coaching clients for many years. It seemed that there were so many brilliant people with great potential that were stuck, lacked confidence, or were just plain exhausted. Their light had dimmed. The self-care plan helped them come back to life, and I sensed there were more like them.

There were also certain people in my life that really stood out as Radiant, living their lives fully present, with happiness and joy as their foundation. I set out on a journey to learn their secrets. I discovered that while what they do is very similar, how they do it varies dramatically, from meditation to regular adrenaline rushes.

So, we will focus on the what and why. I will give examples, stories, discovery questions, and activities to help you to create your own personal how based on your life and what works for you. As I went through months of interviews with these Radiant souls, I began to implement what I was learning, and discovered that this stuff really works! I am giddy about sharing it with you.

We all have access to unlimited Radiance. Know that ALL Radiant people have suffered disappointment, made mistakes, hurt others, cried (usually a lot), been stressed, felt depression and fear, but they learn to appreciate the lessons and never give up on themselves or their dreams.

Mindful Cultivation of Radiance is a sensual practice. In your mind, see and feel yourself as a Radiant person. Not as a person who may have lost their Radiance in certain parts of their life, but as someone who already has it and is turning it up and making that light even brighter. See yourself as Radiant, then create it. You are all that and so much more.

Each chapter is designed to take you on a journey to discovering your Radiant Nature. They often begin with a quote to get you warmed up. Next, the body will inspire ideas and possibilities. Then, you will answer a “discovery question”, this is to help you deepen the learning and bring it into your own life. The “activities” are designed to help you get into action around the learning, to challenge and stretch you. After that, there is a “gratitude” piece because gratitude is so foundational to Radiance that it was important to include it into every chapter. Lastly, there is a “mantra” or mind tool (“man” means “mind”, and “tra” means “tool” in Sanskrit); it is a way to consistently send ourselves positive thoughts and create momentum in our intended direction.

It is a good idea to have a journal or notebook as you go through the chapters to help you focus, bring a deeper level of learning, and to allow you to manifest your ideas from your mind, onto paper, into reality.

As you go through the chapters, reading, answering the discovery questions, doing the activities, and repeating the mantras, you will learn to turn on all of your senses and really experience your own Radiance in a very physical way, awakening what makes you come alive to a fulfilling, joyous life.

You will recover your natural alignment and inner light as you increase happiness by expanding your freedom from obstacles, explore possibilities and choices, and step into your Radiant essence, connection to Source, and oneness with all.

An advantage to Cultivating your own Radiance is that you not only create your own spectacular life, but you get to share it with the world, everyone benefits.
________________________________
The light is always there; sometimes it just needs a little cultivation. ________________________________

Be mindful to take each bite slowly. Read a chapter, then let the learning sink into every cell of your body and do its magic.

An important skill is to keep asking yourself “why” at every step of your journey. Why do I want to be Radiant? Why do I want to deepen my understanding or compassion? What do I want to gain from doing these things? What will I do with more Radiance in my life?

As you begin to change ask: How does it feel to be more Radiant? What changes do I see? When you change your energy in any situation, the energy of everything around you also changes, especially if it is the way you think or feel about something. Discover your “what” and “why” and the “how” will come naturally.

Invoke your Radiance Super Powers
All superheroes are able to connect with their power and get into action to save the day. Your super power is your light. So, get into your proverbial phone booth and come out dressed and ready to take on the world.

We cannot think our way into Radiance, we must begin to ACT differently. When you are hungry, you could think about food, but it„d be much more beneficial for you to actually eat it. So it goes with the exercises in this book. It will not benefit you to look at each section and then just think about it. Don‟t think about how nice it would be to take care of yourself, or how you would like to someday implement some of these concepts. DO IT! Do it now. Begin to create habits that will last for the rest of your life. YOU ARE TOO IMPORTANT to let another day go by without fully honoring your self, your health, and your connection to the rest of us. We need you, ALL of you.

The sections include the 5 essential elements; Beliefs, Optimistic Attitude, Passion, Self Care Alignment, and Vision.
Creating your personal Radiance Plan will bring you into the flow of balancing your inner self with what is going on around you. The good news is that YOU are the expert on yourself and you KNOW what you need to be in alignment. You are able to take care of yourself with ease and grace, create serenity without guilt or force, and become empowered. Please don‟t take my word for it, take what you like from this book and discover for yourself what Cultivating Radiance is about.

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Element I Beliefs
• I‟ll See It When I Believe It
• The Radiance of Self-Acceptance
• Appreciating Your Radiance Super Powers
• Plugging Into Source- Connection with your Radiant Nature
• The Empowerment of Possibilities
• Creating Space for Radiance by Exposing Limiting Beliefs
• Letting Go of What Dims Our Light
• Finding “Center”
• Faucets and Drains
• Enough
• Our Global Family

Element II Outrageously Optimistic Attitude
• Living with an Outrageously Optimistic Attitude
• Cultivating Playfulness
• If You See Someone Without a Smile…Give Them Yours
• Be A “Yes” Person
• “I Love It”
• Life is Good and Keeps Getting Better- Living with gratitude and appreciation
• Using Obstacles As A Springboard
• Well, Excuse Me
• Delight In Change
• Practicing Infinite Patience

Element III Passion
• Cultivating Passion- Passion in Action
• Dream Big
• Radiant Inspiration is Everywhere
• NGU- Never Give Up
• The Passion of Adventure
• Living With An Open Heart
• The Passion Of Our Life Purpose

Element IV Self Care Alignment
• Foundation For Radiant Alignment

Physical Alignment
• Taking Care Of Our Radiant Body
• Radiant Nutrition
• Honoring Our Environment

Mental Alignment
• Being Fully Present
• Inspirational Input
• Become An Olympic Learner
• Taking Mental Break Days

Spiritual Alignment
• Giving
• The Energy of Breath
• Clarity Through Meditation

Element V Vision
• Radiance Vision
• Setting Intentions
• The Non-Negotiables
• Innovation And Creativity
• Choreographing Your Radiance Plan
• Creating Your Team- Who will you invite to the party?
• A Radiant Front Row

• Radiance Wheel
• Radiance Chart

Resources
About the Author