By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

I teach a diverse range of subjects, each designed to deliver actionable steps and tangible results. My teaching journey began over three decades ago, initially in the public school system before transitioning to private classes. However, it was my passion for teaching adults philosophical subjects that truly ignited my deepest joy. With extensive experience in crafting courses, I prioritize implementable strategies aimed at achieving meaningful outcomes. My goal is to provide valuable content that meets the needs of those engaging with my coursework.

I am continuously refining how I present my expertise. In 2023, I discovered the concept of “evergreen” material for on-demand coursework. Some of these evergreen offerings tap into your creative side, such as “Feng Shui Your Vision Board,” while others delve into spiritual exploration, like “Finding Your Purpose Using Intuition and Ikigai Methodology.” Additionally, I provide presentations on building resilience and confidence, exemplified by “Relationship Resilience: Five Steps to Cultivate Confidence.” However, what truly sets me apart is my specialization in toe reading. From foundational courses like “Toe Reading Basics” to specialized programs including “Toe Reading for Business” and “Toe Reading for Wealth,” I offer a comprehensive range of toe reading instruction. My Master’s Certification program, consisting of six courses such as “Toe Reading: Elemental Reflexology” and “Toe Reading: Soul Coaching,” solidifies my reputation as a leading expert in this field.

Whenever the topic of toe reading arises, my enthusiasm shines through. This method of personal discovery is so uniquely captivating and often unheard of, sparking intrigue in those who encounter it. I’m fascinated by the way discussions about our toes and feet prompt people to question the reasons behind life’s manifestations and empower them to transform what no longer serves them. Furthermore, toe reading provides an opportunity for deep introspection into the role we play in shaping our lives. After all, we are the common denominator in all our experiences – prompting this reflection: what changes within me could alter my external circumstances?

If you ever become curious about delving into the world of toe reading, I invite you to schedule a chat with me (through my Calendly Link).

The post March 2024 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

Perception is a peculiar phenomenon, a guiding force that often steers us towards uncharted territories, especially when emotional struggles are at play. When we allow ourselves to look at challenges we experience in hindsight, awareness is often positive in the face of perceived setbacks. Like a complex video game, we believe we hold the reins of control only to discover that the outcome is predestined. The twists and turns that feel awkward at the time, instead act as beacons of light, guiding us towards our highest purpose. For me, one revelation came in the unexpected form of a divorce.

On the journey of life, we make choices, take calculated risks, and sometimes face unexpected setbacks. The breakup set me spinning out of control with personal doubt, questioning my decision-making and forcing me to wonder what I was going to do with my life. At a mere 29 years old, I had already failed at marriage, failed at a life target of having kids in my late 20s, and failed at my career goal of becoming wildly successful. In the realm of personal relationships, the illusion of control can be particularly harsh.

A divorce, though emotionally tumultuous, can serve as a catalyst for personal growth and self-discovery. The pain and heartache I felt seemed insurmountable at the moment, but within the shadows of adversity, there were opportunities for resilience and transformation. These moments are a reminder that setbacks are not roadblocks; instead, they are detours redirecting us back toward our higher purpose.

Navigating challenges helps us confront the inevitable and move forward with newfound wisdom. The journey post-divorce was not a linear path but rather was a maze of emotions, self-reflection, and gradual healing. My divorce became a pivotal moment that reshaped my life, leading me toward a path of self-discovery and personal empowerment. Like a player advancing to the next level, I emerged stronger, more aware, and better equipped to face the uncertainties that lay ahead.

Life’s journey may not adhere to the script we envision, but in the face of setbacks, we find the flexibility to adapt and evolve. Much like the video game metaphor, the ultimate goal is not to avoid challenges but to embrace them, knowing that each perceived setback is a stepping stone on our destined path.

Since that divorce, I married my dream guy, birthed and raised an incredible kid, and have genuinely enjoyed the past 24 years of my life. Things happen for a reason because (repeat after me), “Everything is always working out for me.”

The post February 2024 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

In 1989, as a high school senior, I unknowingly started chasing a lifelong dream. Despite appearing to have it all, my life was chaotic, dealing with family troubles and toxic relationships. Given a research project on the homeless in Los Angeles, California, USA, I interviewed caregivers and homeless individuals, including my father facing addiction and homelessness.

Caregivers found inspiration in family or friends and stressed the importance of an individual’s willingness to seek help, especially in addiction rehabilitation and counseling. Homeless individuals revealed varied circumstances, from job loss to abuse to addiction, with mental health being a common struggle for 89% of them.

Reflecting on my findings, I prioritize mental health in my dream. In an ideal world without financial constraints, I envision educating children and caregivers on emotional, financial, personal, physical, and spiritual wellness. I also aspire to establish free artist communes worldwide, offering detox, 24/7 healthcare, mental health support, homegrown sustenance, self-help seminars, and artistic education.

My dream, rooted in personal experiences and my father’s struggles, aims to provide thorough healing to individuals, including homeless addicts. Despite achieving sobriety, my father faced unresolved psychological trauma, prompting me to consider the impact of comprehensive healing on lives.

My vision is encapsulated in “Randy’s Artist Palace,” where artist colonies offer a plethora of support for genuine transformation. While uncertainties linger about individuals shedding addictions and confronting emotional baggage willingly, the dream persists—a beacon of hope where inclusive care breaks societal barriers, helping individuals reclaim their lives, regardless of age.

The post January 2024 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

Focusing on the theme of ‘Joy’ for 2024 is an exciting prospect for me, especially as the calendar flips from December to January. This transitional period radiates with joy and enthusiasm, marked by a shared sense of generosity as we gear up for both giving and receiving. This time of year offers us a moment to tie up loose ends and embrace the infinite possibilities that the future holds. This is an exhilarating season for charting plans, setting goals, and defining intentions for 2024.

As an entrepreneur, I often allow my business to take precedence in my life. However, this year is poised to be different. The reason I embarked on an entrepreneurial journey was to attain time freedom, and it’s high time for me to prioritize reinstating that foundational element into my business.

With this newfound commitment to joy in mind, I began planning my 2024 calendar by prioritizing personal travel, outings, and engagements that bring me joy. Next, I added my consistent volunteer commitments (sources of joy). I then identified events and experiences, such as coursework, concerts, and theater, that I wish to attend in the coming months.

To my surprise, I discovered a significant oversight, not just in my own practices but in many businesses: the reluctance to publish schedules well in advance. This realization hit home for me. As a planner, I understand the joy of choosing opportunities deliberately and waiting until the last minute to finalize schedules is often counterproductive. While I remain open to spontaneous experiences, I’ve found that committing to events and classes months in advance, including my own, leads to a higher level of commitment, better follow-through, and more joy.

This awareness prompted a shift in my approach for 2024. I am currently updating my website to include a comprehensive schedule of the classes and events that I will be involved with throughout the year. By sharing this information, I aim to bring joy and empower others to plan and participate in advance. Through fostering a sense of anticipation and inclusion, the sharing of my plans becomes a simple yet impactful adjustment that I believe will enhance both my personal and professional life with joy.

Thank you, Cheryl Clark, for your blog prompt that triggered this “Ah Ha!” moment in my 2024 planning journey. KUDOS to all of us for prioritizing continued improvement and the joy it brings!

The post December 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

It may not be a popular opinion among those in the healing arts industries, but I’ll take a chance and suggest that there are both good habits and bad habits. Good habits are those that help us follow our highest-purpose path. Bad habits are those that take us off track from the path that serves us best. Bad habits might include eating habits, reckless driving, or excessive drinking. Good habits might be laughing, dancing, or meditating. When it comes to a habit I can be proud of, I am delighted to share that I have added breathwork to my regime.

If you know me, you know that I have a faithful morning routine – Jack Canfield’s Power Hour. I do 30 minutes of meditation and 30 minutes of exercise while listening to educational audio. I’ve been doing that routine for the last five years, and it has served me very well. I stay calm, I have a good attitude, and I remain emotionally neutral. All of those bring peace to my life. Over the past three months, I have been practicing breathwork when I wake up… before I even start my power hour. I spend a minimum of five minutes deeply breathing into my diaphragm, and I’ve noticed a big difference in my ability to focus during the day after my breathwork sessions.

If you’re looking to start a new habit that will serve your mental, emotional, and spiritual health, I highly recommend starting with deep breathing every morning. Before you even get out of bed, take a deep breath, hold it, then breathe even deeper, and hold it. Start with one deep breath and make that a habit. Once you’ve mastered adding one deep breath, add another and master those two breaths. Then add another and master the three of them. Continue adding a deep breath until you feel complete. It may seem a bit obvious, but oxygen really does help your brain function efficiently.

The post November 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

In 1996, I was newly married, working full-time, and married to a golfer. For folks who know golf, there is a common and aptly created title used when referencing the spouses of those prone to chase around a tiny ball on a field of green known as a “Golf Widow.” Our household was no exception. He was gone from 6:00 am until 10:00 pm almost every day of the week. Which is why I had plenty of time on my hands to experience several DIY Projects. My favorite was a popular (at the time) furniture paint creation that reminded me of Mary Englebreit’s artwork, colorful patterns with lots of whimsy.

I found a 1970s solid wood side table at a garage sale and proceeded to invest my time, effort, and energy into making a magical piece of artwork… er, I mean furniture. I sanded down all the surfaces until the varnish was removed. I primed the piece and then lightly sanded down any paint strokes that might show through the final paint job. I mapped out the patterns and proceeded to paint with intense precision at least three layers of paint… sanding each layer between to remove any obvious paint strokes. A mere 100 hours of labor later, I produced a piece unlike any other.

I took pride in the work. I loved the whimsical nature of the project, and I was impressed with the dedication I had to the project. When a work colleague of mine offered me a handsome dollar amount for the piece, I gladly accepted… certain I was getting an amazing deal. After all, I only paid $10 for the piece. Right!? But as I handed it over, I calculated my hourly rate at less than $2.00 an hour and my heart sank.

Still, I know it ended up in the home of someone who loved it, and that’s what matters.

The post October 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

I have an entrepreneurial spirit and a service-oriented heart. I have run lemonade stands, sold my art, and cleaned houses since I was old enough to ask the neighbors to pay me for services rendered. I started being my own boss at 8 years old, and my mom might tell you my business mindset started before that. I have always made a good living as a side hustle mage. But the nagging question was always, “When was I going to grow up and get a real job?”

Working an 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. job bores me – the mundane schedule, the routine tasks, and the clock-punching. YUCK! Office work in Corporate America is my personal version of hell on earth. At my first officially full-time, benefits-paid, post-college job when I took three personality profile tests that all said I was 99% likely to be successful as an entrepreneur, the career counselor on staff pulled me aside and said, “You know you won’t ever be satisfied working in an office, right?” I agreed. So, I started my first business.

The year was 1996, and faux painting was very popular in the South (of the United States – I lived in Georgia at the time). I applied for a business license and started working evenings and weekends as a faux painter. In my spare time, I painted floorcloths (front door/kitchen sink mats) to sell at local festivals. I found myself excited to meet with clients, come up with sample boards of their ideas, and then paint a floorcloth or a whole wall in the style they chose. It was exciting and unique, and it was definitely outside the boundaries of a normal job. It was just my cup of tea!

After almost a decade of painting, my business venture changed, then changed again. In the last 40 years of my life, I have run several businesses, and all have brought me knowledge about what I like, what I do not like, and how best to serve my clients and community. Whether I am providing art designs, personal or professional guidance, or teaching something valuable, my mantra has been and will remain, “How may I be of service?”

The post September 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

My first purchase supporting a small business was a big deal to me. Spending my precious and hard-earned allowance was a test of my faith in my ability to regenerate the cash. Back then, most kids spent their allowance on music and clothes, or perhaps on movie tickets and junk food. In the 1980s, when Licorice Pizza was an actual store on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, California, all the kids hung out there, thumbing through the vast collection of records, and begging the young adults working the counter to play their album of choice.

“Just this one song… plleeeaaaassssseeeeee!?!?” were the words that echoed off the walls filled to overflowing with the coolest posters of the most obscure bands on the planet.

Those records were not what I ended up spending my money on. Instead, while walking through my favorite place to browse, I came across a stunning and unique lapel pin I simply had to have. It was on display at one of the few stores still there on Ventura Boulevard called the Sherman Oaks Antique Mall. No store has ever measured up to this one – and I have visited a lot of antique mall shops across the United States. There is something about the way this particular antique mall is set up that makes it special. The care each vendor takes to display their found objects seems to showcase their deep affection for them. If you ever find yourself in the area, I highly recommend that you stop in for a peek at some of the most loved antiques in California.

The lapel pin was a beautiful and delicate horse and carriage made to mimic Cinderella’s transportation to the ball. It was a lost wax cast piece of sterling silver set with embedded marcasite gems that sparkled brilliantly in the display case. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and though I had no idea where or when I would ever wear it, I was drawn to make the purchase. In fact, it took four weeks’ worth of my allowance, so you can imagine what a big deal it was for me to make that decision. I am so glad I did!

I felt like a princess going to a ball when I finally had the courage to place it on my sweater. While I am certain most youngsters would have made the same life-altering mistake I made, I was devastated to find that when I wore the pin for the first time, I forgot to remove it from my cardigan sweater before it ended up in the laundry bin. And, so, my coveted piece of fine jewelry ended up devoid of sparkle and mangled beyond repair after the laundry was done. I don’t think I ever wore that sweater again, and I must confess I cried my sweet little eyes out when I found my precious purchase in that sorry state of repair. I was not sad about the loss of money. Even then I knew money was replaceable, but my goodness was I hurt by my own mistake and subsequent loss of the item itself.

Lesson learned.

This story has a lovely ending I am pleased to report. As I looked up an image to convey how beautiful my bobble was, I found a similar pin and purchased it for myself… some 40 years later. I cannot tell you how much I look forward to wearing the sparkly trinket once again, and this time I guarantee its safety from ending up in the washing machine.

The post August 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.

By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

Something you may not know about me is that I have bad days, too. The version of Jamie you may witness online is bubbly, accommodating, and hopefully a little bit inspiring. That is the real me. I genuinely feel happy and positive most of the time. I honestly am that person. I am joyful. I am giving. I am excited. I am straightforward. I am silly. I am eccentric. I am likable. I am a mirror. I am… me.

Have you ever read the book or watched the movie Pollyanna? I am a Pollyanna, which I take to mean I always see the silver lining on a stormy cloud, view the world through a lens of possibility, and see the good in every situation. Being a Pollyanna means I have unwavering faith that everything is always working out for me (…and for all parties involved).

But it’s not always easy to see life positively, and even I, like Pollyanna herself, can get caught up in my head… feeling doubt, worry, depression, and unhappiness when it seems like everything is going wrong. Having a bad day – here or there – is a natural and instinctive reaction to certain experiences. Being aware of what triggers us into that space is the key to unlocking how to release those feelings and discover the why behind the reaction. Not easy, but doable.

When I see the truth about my life and it seems bleak, I repeat the mantra: Everything is always working out for me.

Remaining true to the core of my being, the Pollyanna within, helps me navigate the challenges and obstacles that rear their ugly heads on occasion.

What do you do to shift your mindset when things are more challenging than normal?

The post July 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.

Mindset is the key to life and while having a fixed mindset can mean comfort to some, having a growth mindset is what makes life genuinely happy. To meet and exceed the needs of my clients, they must be willing participants in changing their mindset. That is why my title is “Mindset Coach” rather than Business Coach or Life Coach. While we do work on business and personal goals, I want it to be clear that our work together involves mindset above all other goals.

If there is a lack in my client’s life – a lack of happiness, a lack of love, a lack of money – they are (without a doubt in my mind) stuck in a pattern of self-sabotage. The only way I know to shift a “lack” experience is to embrace a growth mindset.

But growth isn’t easy. Think of your favorite plant seed that must shed its outer protective shell to sprout, then grow down into the soil forming its roots, then grow up into the world where it showcases its unique talent. There’s a lot to unpack in this analogy, and that’s why it’s a great metaphor for mindset. We must dig deep to have the foundation needed to grow a stable, healthy, and happy life.

In 2010, I had a client who came to me for help with her relationship. She was in a state of crisis.  Her health was struggling, her relationship was a mess, her child was ill, and her employment situation was a challenge. She was at a difficult crossroads, and her decisions would be life-altering – for more than just herself. (I felt so honored to be called upon to help her through this difficult time.)

In any relationship, making the best decision for you can sometimes feel like you’re hurting someone else, but that can also be a false perspective of the situation. The truth is that a decision best for you (your highest self, not your ego self) is ALWAYS best for all parties involved.

Here are a few examples. You want to be vegetarian, but your support system doesn’t believe in a plant-based diet. Who does your choice affect most? You want to volunteer every other year for Doctors Without Borders, but your family wants you to stay home, settle down, and “grow up.” Who does your choice affect most? Your business is struggling, and your family prefers that you “get a job.” Who does your choice affect most?

The thing is, when our decisions do not align with our family, friends, or significant others, there is not just one avenue we can take. There are multiple decisions that can be made. You can be vegetarian and still attend family BBQs. Or, better yet, you can meet for activities instead of meals. You can participate with Doctors Without Borders AND have a family life. It may not be a conventional life, but it’s a life that suits you perfectly. You can get a job AND focus on the uncomfortable steps necessary to grow your business.  It all depends on your perspective and mindset. Assuming your family wants what is best for you, they will adjust to any change you make that helps you thrive.

I am happy to report that my 2010 client is healthy, and appreciating her relationship more than ever, her kiddo is doing great, and they all live in a whole other state. She worked on growing herself deeper, setting up a stable foundation of love and respect for herself, and her decisions have created a life where she is thriving. (I couldn’t be prouder of her for getting the help she needed to work through the challenges.)

When we stand firm in our decisions with love and respect for ourselves and others, we create an environment where we can thrive, not just survive. That is why a shift in mindset is the need my business meets for my clients.

The post June 2023 appeared first on Led Me to This.