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To Lead a Rich and Meaningful Life

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quapanAs we go about our daily lives we cross paths and interact with people almost continuously.  Sometimes these interactions are obvious – we have a conversation in person or on the phone, we connect via email and social media etc.  Other times, our interactions are far less obvious, for example when we take an action which has an indirect effect on someone else or where we take no action and maybe someone was hoping we might connect with them.  These latter interactions are silent and invisible in our everyday lives and we may remain completely unaware of them, or, they may come to our attention in unexpected ways.

In this vein I was thinking about how we enrich, or add value to our or other peoples’ lives, directly or indirectly.  There are many different ways of looking at this, but I’m interested to consider how our actions or lack of action can enrich our lives and those of the people around us.

On looking up the word ‘enrich’ in the dictionary, I came across the following definitions:

  1. Improve or enhance the quality of
  2. To make fuller, more meaningful, or more rewarding

[Read more…] about To Lead a Rich and Meaningful Life

5 Reasons You Should Take Action on Your Goals NOW!

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fiveTaking action on our goals doesn’t only provide the benefit of seeing our goals brought to fruition and the joy we will feel when we reach that point.  Between the start and the end, or, between now and then, there are many other excellent reasons and/or benefits which we can enjoy en route that will help to fuel our resolve to keep going.  Let’s take a look at five of these reasons.

1.  Your positive motivation will spill over into other areas of your life!

Yes, that’s right!  Once you pull yourself up off the sofa and start doing something, anything, towards your goal, you will find that your overall energy will increase.

There’s a general belief that we don’t have enough time and energy to cram anything else into our lives and so setting and pursuing a goal will only add to the sense of overwhelm we already feel.  But, the opposite is actually true!  By doing some work on one of our goals, we will feel more energised and this will provide the additional energy, and by default, time, that’s needed to help us keep on top of all the other ‘busy’ work we need to attend to. [Read more…] about 5 Reasons You Should Take Action on Your Goals NOW!

Bravery v Conformity: Where do you fit?

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5486393061_f7bf0e18f7Bravery…it’s a peculiar concept.  The word conjures up images of brave knights and shining armour, of soldiers going into battle, but is it more than this?  This vague and narrow application of the word bravery has been perplexing me somewhat this week, because we see bravery in so many more guises, but often they are quiet and easily missed, or, most often, just dismissed by the person who is demonstrating this sentiment.

I’m thinking of the people who face incredible health challenges in their lifetime, but learn not only to live with the difficulties, but also who go on to challenge the definition of their illness and achieve astounding accomplishments in their lives.

Or those who are willing to stand up to adversity on behalf of others and protest in the face of opposition from people, companies or even governments.

These are indeed brave actions.  Sometimes the mantle is given to us with little or no choice as is the case with illness, and other times we can be moved to action by the unfairness of a situation. [Read more…] about Bravery v Conformity: Where do you fit?

Why it’s Good to be Making Messy Progress!

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8265824612_b77814f5f5Set the kind of goals that will make something of you to achieve them.  Jim Rohn.

When we set goals, and then set about achieving them, we usually feel a certain amount of resistance at some point into the proceedings because we will be stretching ourselves beyond our comfort zones.  This is a natural feeling, although for a lot of people, the experience can be so uncomfortable that they give up on their goal believing that they are not doing the right thing for themselves (it just feels all wrong, they say).  However, this just isn’t the case.  As Jim Rohn points out in the quote above, in progressing and achieving our goals, we will actually become a different person.  We will know more, we will have experienced more, we may have had to make some tough decisions about things which need to be dropped from our lives etc.  Is it any wonder then that we initially feel uncomfortable with the changes?

As we know, change of any kind can be difficult to accept and then to integrate into our lives.  Sometimes change is imposed upon us, and whilst we may fight for things to go back to how they were, this might not be possible.  There could be unwelcome changes in the workplace resulting in a new boss or a change in our responsibilities, perhaps the children leave home allowing us far more time to ourselves and it feels strange, or maybe the perfect relationship we thought we had with our partner isn’t what it seemed and suddenly and unexpectedly it’s over. [Read more…] about Why it’s Good to be Making Messy Progress!

Getting Over Self Pity

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getting over self pityGetting Over Self Pity

I’ve caught myself out this week…I’ve been caught behaving in a way that my higher self disapproves of, and for very good reasons.   But it’s not as if I’ve become this way on purpose.  Instead, it’s gradually crept up on me, quietly and stealthily and I’ve given in to the feelings it has created without so much as a minor challenge, but the time has come for getting over self pity.

The frustrating thing though is that in response to the feelings that this behaviour has brought about I’ve felt out of control and consequently unhappy.

You see, due to a series of less-than-positive life events, I’ve succumbed to the expectation that someone will come along and rescue me, rather than me taking the initiative and getting over self pity.  In effect, I’ve allowed myself to drift into a thought pattern that fixes me as a victim.

Self Pity and Victim Mentality

Succumbing to victim mentality is a real frustration for me.  Some years ago, I made a promise to myself that I would not attend my personal pity parties and instead I would find solutions to the problems and obstacles that were threatening to stop me living the life I want to lead.

There was a particular incident that led up to this promise which had affected a close member of my family.  I remember thinking at the time that the situation was extremely unfair and that in the future I, or my family would no longer to ‘held hostage’ (this was how I saw it at the time) to the whims of other people or organisations. [Read more…] about Getting Over Self Pity

Get Real!

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Get Real and Be Your Authentic Self

Have you ever heard the phrase about ‘being true to yourself’ or ‘acting authentically’?  When I was younger, I was confused by the idea of acting authentically.  I didn’t really understand the meaning, let alone know whether I was someone who acted authentically.

As time has passed, I’ve come to understand the phrase and, more importantly, its importance to our personal sense of wellbeing.  However, living up to the condition of being my authentic self is still something which often eludes me.  And I think it’s fair to say that consistently acting authentically is something that a lot of people struggle to achieve.

Strictly speaking, living authentically would mean that we would behave exactly in line with the beliefs and values we hold.  But, in actuality, this probably isn’t possible if we want to live a life where we can be accepted within a group whose beliefs and values might be slightly different to our own.  As we know, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but sometimes, when that opinion is different to those around us, we keep quiet in order to maintain the peace and remain part of the group.  In this situation, I guess being part of the group means more to us than venting an unwelcome opinion. [Read more…] about Get Real!