Posts Tagged ‘motivation’

Self-Mastery Tool: Enjoy The Present

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

In my last blog I talked about the value of making a commitment to yourself.  When we are truly committed to something  we don’t feel the need to strive.  I shared how I have made a commitment to exercise regularly but I did not accomplish a 30 day blog challenge.  The difference was that I had impulsively agreed to the challenge without really making an internal commitment to accomplish the task. With  commitment comes a sureness that makes the task  something you just do.

This leads me to my next point. Goals are future focused.  And that is fine. It only becomes a problem if the future becomes our reality.  For instance lets assume that Molly’s goal is to lose 25 pounds.  If she sees herself as being OK only after she loses the weight she is going to have a hard time sticking to the goal she has set for herself. The reason is that she is future focused.  Far better is she can accept herself in the present.  By  liking herself just the way she is in the present she will look at her desire to lose weight differently.  She will choose to work on losing weight because she wants to be healthy.

Life becomes richer if we truly live in the present and make the most of every day. If we do that the future will evolve in ways that we may not even imagine.

30 Day Challenge Good for Self-Growth

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

One of my mentors, Connie Ragen Green, has just presented a thirty day Power Blogging Challenge. That means making a blog entry daily until Jan. 7 when the challenge ends.  Not an easy assignment when it falls right during the holidays.

Yet many of us accomplish the most when we have a challenge.  I know that it motivates me.  Consistency is something that I have struggled with.  After an initial overwhelm feeling  as I think about the next thirty days I shifted my attitude to seeing this as a welcome challenge.

In my work with individuals and couples I frequently give assignments.  I talk about how it takes 21 days to change a habit.  I have never found out how this was determined but I do know that doing something daily makes all the difference.

I am coaching a woman right now who wants to change her  habit of keeping quiet when she knows she needs to speak up.  She chose as her assignment  the task to bring a concern  up daily with her partner.   She shared as to  how she had learned to silence her voice as a child.  This silencing  happens primarily in close relationships because she uses her voice effectively professionally  She realized that she was still repeating a habit form childhood that she no longer needed.  Instead it was limiting her authenticity  in this relationship.

Now 14 days into her assignment she told me today that speaking up is getting easier and she likes how she feels when she does it.

Over the next thirty days I would welcome questions from my readers.  In addition to writing about self growth and strengthening relationships I will also share  tips for dealing with holiday stress.

Recharge Your Life and Renew Your Spirit

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Recently I was asked by several people why I use the word “Recharge” rather than change. The reason I settled on recharge is that I feel strongly that we all have wonderful parts inside that we are not using.  I can look back on my own life and know that over the years I had stopped expressing parts of me that used to energize me.  I  think that as the years have gone by most of us have settled into a way of life that works but may not bring us the joy and challenge that we deep down long for.

What you want to do by recharging yourself is to bring forth and use all parts of you.  It is not changing yourself because you are deficient. Rather it is discovering the full dimension of yourself and being who you deep down know you are. It means not being stuck in assigned roles or limited by expectations of others but rather risking to live by your values. It is in the second half of life that we experience the internal push to undertake this journey.  Some people will say to themselves that it is too late or not worth it.  Others will willingly invest the time and energy to recharge their life. The result will be that they will feel changed through the process of recharging themselves and experience a renewal of spirit.