Monday Motivation - 29 January

“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.” ~ Isak Dinesen

On tolerations

Having set my goals for the year, one of the areas on which I am going to focus is that of dealing with the various things I have been tolerating. I’ve made a great start already and it feels wonderful!

The first change was, for me, quite major – I have a new car. My old car, which I’d driven for 13 years, was contributing to my list of tolerations. The electric window on my side occasionally didn’t work (embarrassing at the car park ticket machine), the clock is never accurate as it spins round when I re-set it so I go with the closest time, the heater only kicks in just as I get to my destination, and sometimes the boot won’t open – usually in summer time when I have shopping including frozen goods, necessitating the removal of the rear seats. Oh and there’s the moss growing along the window edges….. However, she has been a great car, and I am sad to see her go. The replacement is a joy to drive and it is such a relief not to have various things niggling me.

This also lead to a change of mobile phone, after debating the best way to move my hands free kit from one car to the other. That itself would have been something to tolerate so, swayed in part by the rare treat of speaking to someone in the car phone shop who was over 20 years old and who didn’t patronise me, and mindful that my old phone was very out of date and had shut down a few times after I’d spent ages carefully crafting a text message, I succumbed to a new model and a new, up to date hands free kit.

Minor things have included getting my favourite boots mended, throwing away broken kitchen utensils, putting new batteries in my main phone so the machine once again flashes when there’s a message - well you get the idea, lots of things that needed fixing.

And it has really boosted my energy! I feel inspired to clear some clutter so am currently clearing my backlog of filing by dealing with five items a day – fairly slow but this daily target is easily achievable and I usually exceed it. Spring cleaning may happen early this year in my household!

So – what are you tolerating in your life right now? What have you been putting up with for a while, knowing deep down that it’s draining your energy? What needs fixing, cleaning, changing, finishing, sorting or discarding? What is one step you can take today to reduce your tolerations?


Jackie

Monday Motivation - 22 January

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

How you're like a pencil - by Steve Goodier

HOW YOU'RE LIKE A PENCIL

Did you know that you are like a pencil? Here's how:

1. Like a pencil, you can correct your mistakes. You can't change the past, but you can rectify it. And though you can't erase history, you can erase guilt and anger with forgiveness.

2. Like a pencil, painful sharpening can serve to make you better. Your difficult times can actually sharpen your skills or shape you into the person you were meant to be.

3. Like a pencil, you can do great things when you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand.

4. Like a pencil, you can leave your mark whenever possible. That is what you're here for -- to leave your mark. It may be in small ways, it may be in the lives of people you have touched or nurtured, but you must leave something good behind whenever you can.

5. Like a pencil, it is what is on the inside that matters. Whether it is understanding or intolerance, love or bitterness, peace or unrest, kindness or self-centeredness, hope or despair, courage or fear, what is on the inside matters most. Next time you use a pencil, pause and think about that little writing tool. It teaches some great lessons about living.

By Steve Goodier
http://lifesupportsystem.com

On doing your best - by Martin Luther King Jr

“If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday Motivation - 15 January

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

More on dreams

“We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true." ~ Woodrow Wilson

“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” ~ Napoleon Hill

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall at last unveil." ~ John Ruskin


What are your dreams? What is one action you can take this week towards making them a reality?

Monday Motivation - 8 January

"All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them." ~ Walt Disney

Closing the year and moving forward

Here are some questions to help you reflect on 2006 and make your plans for 2007. I’ve been thinking these through myself, and started work on them last month with my coaches (thanks Jon and Miriam!). You may want to start reflecting on them now, or wait a few weeks until the Christmas rush is long gone and you’ve settled into the new year. Whatever timing you choose, be objective, true to yourself, and use the process to clarify your intentions for the year - to create and live the life you really want!


1. What were your achievements and successes during the year (large and small) and how have you acknowledged them? What was the most wonderful thing that happened to you in 2006?

2. What personal insights and learning have you gained?

3. What are you grateful for?

4. What worked very well during the year and is worth repeating?

5. What didn’t work during the year and what can you do differently next time?

6. What was disappointing or stressful during the year – and what did you learn from that?

7. What is outstanding from 2006 that you’d truly like to finalise?

8. What could you let go? What’s not serving you, what are you tolerating, what can you leave behind?

9. What is your biggest dream for 2007? How will you know you have achieved it? How will it transform your life?

10. What are your goals in the following areas: health, wealth, career, personal development (this can include spirituality and contribution if you so wish), relationships and fun? Are your goals meaningful and in line with your values? Do they take account of your various roles in life (parent, partner, friend, employee/boss, son/daughter etc)? Imagine it’s 31 December 2007 and you are writing about your happy, satisfying year, perhaps a letter to a friend, or in a journal - what do you want to be writing?

11. How will 2007 be different from previous years?

12. What changes do you need to make in order to achieve your dream and make 2007 different? (Include habits and behaviours to drop as well as qualities and attitudes etc to adopt.) What could stop you? Do you need to do some clutter clearing – either tangible clearing or the intangible clearing of limiting negative beliefs?

13. What’s your strategy? What support, skills and resources do you need? Who will you share your goals with?

14. In what ways does your environment support you or detract you from your goals?

15. What’s the first step you are going to take towards your goals?


You are welcome to email me with your answers to the above questions (Jackie@transitionslifecoaching.co.uk) as it is very powerful to be writing down and clarifying your thoughts and goals, and to share them. Please also contact me to explore how coaching can support you in achieving your goals, designing how you want 2007 to be and making it your best year yet!

Warmest wishes
Jackie

Ann Landers on the New Year

"Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you've always wanted to do but couldn't find the time. ... Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. ... Vow not to make a promise you don't think you can keep. ... Walk tall, and smile more. You'll look 10 years younger. Don't be afraid to say, "I love you". Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world." ~ Ann Landers

Monday Motivation - 1 January

“Now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been...” ~ Rilke

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Happy New Year to you all!