I'm working on a new article and also on new workshops. To help me with these, I would love to hear your answers to the following questions.

What is the biggest obstacle you face right now in having what you want?

What is different about your life in mid-life; what changes do you notice?

Are you happier or unhappier at mid-life than you were in your 20s and early 30s?

Email your answers to maf@lifeunfolds.com and thanks!!

DISCOVER AND LIVE YOUR DREAMS Do you know with crystal clarity what you truly desire? Do you know what makes your life meaningful? This workshop is all about exploring and defining your dreams. Not only will you discover what you really want, but you'll find out how to achieve it with ease and joy. Find meaning and purpose, what makes you light up and how to have more of that in your life. Includes questions, creating a dream board, exercises and experiences to further your understanding of your life purpose and your dreams. Held on Saturday November 18th in the Heights.

QUANTUM GOAL SETTING GROUP COACHING Are you ready to change your life? To live your dreams? To have what you truly desire? Quantum Goal Setting group coaching is for a small group of committed individuals who are ready to begin creating their best lives, no matter what that entails. Quantum goal setting is clearly defining your dreams and goals, using the law of attraction to set them in motion, and ultimately receiving and achieving more than you thought possible. It’s about thinking big and winning. The goal of this class is for you to discover and experience your dreams in the easiest and quickest way achievable. You get lots of encouragement, support, coaching and group accountability to speed you on your way. The class will include exercises, sharing of experiences, and boatloads of fun! We meet weekly for one hour with email between sessions. Meets Tuesdays in the Montrose (day 10-11 am & evening 7-8 pm available) November

DREAM BOARD WITH A TWIST! A dream board is a simple, powerful way of making your dreams become real. It is the perfect tool to help you clarify your desires, see your goals vividly, to provide focus, and to imprint this visualization in your psyche. You will be led through questions that help you clarify your desires and the steps to create the dream board. A really fun class with very serious results! If you’ve taken one of these before, Mary Anne does it differently! Check it out and be surprised! Supplies provided. Held Thursday evening, October 19th from 7 to 9 pm. In the Heights.

I CREATE MY DAY – SETTING THE STAGE FOR EXTREME PRODUCTIVITY In this workshop, you will explore and discover the perfect wake-up routine for yourself. How you start your day drives how you spend your day. Each of us has activities and habits that work in our favor to create a vital, energetic and productive day. Creating your own personal environment based on your needs and what works for you can change your life. This class focuses on your wake-up routine and includes a statement (or meditation) of what you would like to create that day in your life. It’s powerful and fun. Held Thursday, November 9th 7 to 9 pm in the Heights

***FREE WORKSHOPS!!*** Want to attend one of my workshops for free? Just gather six friends, family and colleagues for the class of your choice and you attend for free. It can be held at your place or mine (within 25 miles of downtown) and at your choice of dates and times. This applies to in- person workshops only. Contact me for more information at 713.528.5971 or maf@lifeunfolds.com.

And if you are in the Houston area, check out the great workshops at Wild Heart Art at http://www.wildheartart.com. Kay Kemp has added a number of new workshops for the fall.

Each and every day we have a thousand opportunities to be grateful. We even know this is good for us and good for the world. But do we practice it? Typically we wake up and eat breakfast, drive to work, work all day, come home, watch TV or read, go to bed to sleep and start all over again. Not one bit of gratitude felt or expressed.

I call gratitude (or appreciation) the base-note of the Universe. It is the feeling tone that we must aspire to. Gratitude felt and expressed tells the Universe I WANT MORE! Being grateful for kindnesses, for plenty, for love, for goodness is the way of ordering up more of it. The more grateful you are, the more riches you'll have in your life.

One of my recent articles, Business Failure in Ten Easy Steps, has been published in the October issue of the Holistic Business Journal. I'm proud to be able to share it with you. It's funny, motivational and useful...what a deal!

What are you settling for? What are you just tolerating in your life? How did your expectations for happiness and joy get so diminished? As youngsters, we lived life as if we had a tiger by the tail. We wanted things and we went after them. We fully expected great things to be ours. We thought we could be and do anything. You can see this with a young child: simply ask them what they want to be when they grow up? Even a child in a poor environment with uneducated parents might say "an astronaut" or "a doctor". As we grow older, reality seeps in. We are faced with obstacles and our own limitations.

By the time we are in our thirties or forties, we may have stopped expecting anything more than what we have. We've let ourselves be boxed in, whipped by life and events, seemingly out of our control. Many of us are caretakers, never getting what we need, only meeting others' needs. Some of us lack self- confidence and believe we are not worthy of more. Some of us lack the energy, drive, ambition or time to seek more. Some of us lack assertiveness skills or live with confusion so that important decisions are not made and kept to.

As we get older, and as our life situation changes, we often stop doing one thing or another that was a part of our lives before. For example, often in retirement, we trade using analytical skills at our jobs for relaxing, socializing or traveling. We may stop or start exercising based on the weather or on where we live or how we feel. We may start and stop socializing because we changed jobs or moved to a new location. These things are usually not changed with a lot of conscious thought; the situation just demands the changes.

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom." -- Greek Proverb

"Anything in life that we don't accept will simply make trouble for us until we make peace with it. " -- Shakti Gawain

"Everyone is an explorer. How could you possibly live your life looking at a door and not open it?" -- Robert D. Ballard

Read more articles and get more fr*ee resources in both my blogs:

Mid-Life Unfolds Blog

Solo Biz Buzz Blog .

Perfectionism in a business can be a killer. Your products and services have to be good enough for your clients and customers. They do not have to be perfect. In fact, I don't think it's possible for them to be perfect. Someone will always find fault, not be attracted to your business or criticize. No matter how much time and energy and money you invest in perfecting it.