| | Newsletter March 2007
| Success Strategies for Living Your Life ON Purpose |
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Creating the Life You Desire
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 Greetings!
Welcome to Success Strategies for Living Your Life ON Purpose written specifically for people who want a better relationship with themselves, their partners, children, friends, and co-workers. Please feel free to forward this issue to anyone you think will enjoy it!
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 LIFESTYLE- CHOICE NOT CHANCE
"What do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
How would you answer this question posed by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver? What a wonderful thing to be able to respond that you would spend your life exactly as you spent your day.
"The way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives."
Your answer could be anything: doing work you love, caring for and giving love to your family, contributing to your community or the world, creating art, building a business, climbing mountains, making music. Anything. The key is that how you lived today is how you would choose to live tomorrow and the next day and the next.
For some, the life they live day to day is not the life they would describe if they were asked Mary Oliver's question. Instead, they might use phrases such as : "As soon as...," or "I'd like to...," or "I used to dream....," while explaining a daily life tangled up in too many demands, and never enough time or energy toget to the things that matter most.
According to Jinny Ditzler, author of Your Best Year Yet, what drives most people is the ambition to improve the quality of our lives while being true to ourselves and what's really important to us. She writes that "Although we may not be conscious of these basic motivations as we live day to day, these hidden drives are the strongest in our lives. The more conscious we are of them, the more we can empower ourselves to make the necessary changes in our lives."
Values are personal principles or standards - those qualities that are most important to us. A life based on values rather than reacting to others' needs and wants or the acquisition of material things enables us to live in integrity with ourselves. This is how to create a rich and fulfilling life.
Identifying your values can be as simple as asking yourself how you want to be remembered by others. As a person who cared about others, who made a difference in the world, who kept promises, who was honest and trustworthy. Think of the qualities you most admire in others; these may be the values you claim for yourself.
Once you become aware of your values, you can begin to restructure your life. With your values as your touchstone, you can create and live the life you really want, achieve your goals and realize your dreams.
Within the boundaries of your values:
1. Become clear on what you really want. Be specific; vague and undefined goals are difficult if not impossible to achieve.
2. Commit to give what it takes. Saying "yes" to one thing means saying "no" to another. Acknowledge and accept what you must give up to get waht you want.
3. Re-commit to your goals every day. Begin your day by reminding yourself what your priorities are. Be mindful as you go through your day that you are making choices.
4. Do something every day. No matter how small, take some action toward achieving your goals. Remind yourself that a book is written word by word, a marathong run step by step.
"If we don't change our direction we are likely to end up where are going". Chinese proverb.
If you're caught up in a lifestyle that's not the one that you would choose, choose again. |
TOP 10 WAYS TO STAY IN TODAY
"Most of the time we are lost in the past or carried away by the future," says Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk and poet. Staying in today will bring a more peaceful, joy-filled life. Try these ten ways,
- Be present in the present. Pay attention to the details; notice the food you eat, the sun on your back, the quality of the light. Literally, stop to smell the roses.
- Make a list of what you want to accomplish today. List only the portion of a major project that can be completed today. Include pleasures as well as tasks.
- Concentrate on the task at hand, not the outcome. Give it your best, knowing there is no perfect outcome.
- Write "morning pages," author Julia Cameron's method to empty your mind of worry and chatter. Three pages every morning, first thing.
- Let thoughts and feelings come and go without judging them. Neither cling to nor reject them.
- Don't hang on to mistakes. Fix what needs fixing then move on.
- Make notes to yourself. When you think of something you don't want to forget, jot it down. Don't try to juggle everything in your mind.
- Be where you are. When you find yourself drifting off elsewhere, a gentle reminder to "be present" can help.
- Take a moment to transition yourself from place to place and task to task.
- Let go of the past. Make amends, forgive, grieve. Ask for help if you are unable to let go.
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Until next time, remember The past is history, tomorrow's a mystery, today is a gift - that's why it's called the "Present".
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Harriette Lowenstein, LMFT
260 Maple Ct. Suite 153
Ventura, CA 93003
(805) 339-9809
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260 Maple Ct. Suite 153
Santa Barbara, CA 93003
(805) 339-9809
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260 Maple Ct. Suite 153
Ojai, CA 93003
(805) 339-9809
[ View a Map ] |
