Self Improvement Newsletter
Issue # 434, January 3-4, 2007
FREE Self
Improvement Newsletter, Click here!Please Visit Our Sponsors
Self Improvement Newsletter
Issue # 434, January 3-4, 2007
FREE Self
Improvement Newsletter, Click here!
Please Visit Our Sponsors
* Self Improvement and Personal Growth Weekly Newsletter
* Issue # 434, Week of January 3-4, 2007
Publisher: David Riklan -
http://www.SelfGrowth.com
In this issue:
-- Quotes of the Week
-- Personal Growth Products and Services
-- Article: The Secret Hidden in Your Favorite Pastime – By Leah Grant
-- Article: 54 Words, 67 Notes and Tackling Your Unfinished Business – By Jill
Koenig
-- Book Review: Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying – By Ram Dass
-- Brief News of the World
-- How to Subscrïbe and Unsubscrïbe from this Newsletter
Current Subscribers – 252,645 subscribers.
Remöval instructions are listed at the end of the newsletter.
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*** Quotes of the Week ***
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One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at
politeness. – Josh Billings, 1815-1885, American Humorist and Lecturer
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken
seriously. – Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911-1978, American Politician and Former Vice
President of the United States
In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything
we say or do. – Stephen R. Covey, American Speaker/Trainer/Author of "The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People"
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*** Personal Growth Products and Services ***
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*** Article: The Secret Hidden in Your Favorite Pastime – By Leah Grant
***
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Sailing. Reading. Biking. Sewing. Cooking. Singing. Golfing. Everyone has
something other than work and tending to home responsibilities that they love to
do.
Think of your favorite pastime, but not quickly--slow down and really put
yourself in the moment of teeing off on an ideal course, or hitting that high
note, or adding just the right touch of oregano.
Are you there? Do you feel the rush of endorphins flooding your system as you
imagine doing something that brings you joy? If you're like me, you lose track
of time, you wish the experience would go on forever, and you have the feeling
that you are exactly where you're supposed to be.
There's a reason for this feeling of contentment that accompanies participating
in your hobby. It's an amazing secret that your pastime has been keeping for
you.
How I Learned My Pastime's Secret
In 1994 I left my corporate job to enter the freelance jungle. I tried several
different things. I succeeded at a few and I failed at a few before landing in
the coaching profession in 1997. My business started off with a bang, and I was
satisfied with my career choice. It allowed me to use almost all of my skills
and talents. It provided me with my social circle. It met all of my needs. I
couldn't have chosen something more perfect.
But there was a problem. I had this little niggling in the back of my mind.
"Isn't there more?" a disembodied voice would ask.
On more than one occasion I investigated the question. I took career
assessments, discussed options with my coach, changed my target market, added
new products, and even took some side jobs to "try on" a different profession.
No matter what I did to change the way I made my income, the voice kept asking
the same question.
After a few years I just stopped listening. I was happy as a coach.
Then something profound happened. I belonged to a writing critique group of four
women, and we had traveled to several conferences together and had even held our
own retreat. At these events we had taken pictures. I decided that a nice gift
would be to make a scrapbook for each person.
Since I'd never scrapbooked in my life, I'm not even sure where the idea came
from, but it sounded like a good one.
Although my parents owned two art galleries when I was growing up and I had
minored in art in college, I hadn't spent any time in my adult life doing art
that wasn't on the computer as part of my short-lived job as a graphic designer.
However, I knew the hiatus from creating with my hands and using my artistic
talent was over when I spent three plus hours in the craft store selecting the
items I needed and oohing and aaahing over many others. If asked, I would've
sworn I'd been there less than an hour. I emerged feeling refreshed.
Over the next three months I spent every available moment working on the
scrapbooks. I hadn't realized what I was getting into when I decided to create
not one, but four identical scrapbooks. It was a lot of work, and I loved every
minute of it.
Something else happened also. The voice was silent.
When I had completed the gift-making project, I felt a little sadness that I
wouldn't be scrapbooking anymore, but I shoved that feeling aside and returned
to my rewarding coaching work of helping other people. I even used my creativity
to design a new logo.
"Isn't there more?" the voice asked. It was back. And it wanted to tell me the
secret.
I semi-ignored the incessant questioning for a few months, until one day, while
journaling, I realized the voice had disappeared during the time I was
scrapbooking. This phenomenon fascinated me. Scrapbooking wasn't something I
could do to make a living. It was a hobby--a pastime, like golf or hiking or
writing poetry.
That was when the secret was revealed to me.
Pastimes stem from your values, and therefore pursuing them reconnects you with
your innermost self and brings you fulfillment. The question "Is there more?"
was really asking "Is there more than just feeling satisfied?" The answer is
yes--there is feeling fulfilled.
My career provides huge amounts of satisfaction, and the pastime provides
fulfillment. They are both necessary for living a balanced life. I now spend at
least one full day a week scrapbooking, and I'm voice-free.
Needs and Values
Everyone has a set of core needs and core values within them. All humans share
Maslov's hierarchy of needs for food, water, and shelter, but after that,
everyone has a set of core emotional needs unique to him or her. Psychologists
usually connect these items back to needs that weren't met during the formative
stages. They can include things like attention, acknowledgment, safety,
security, and guarantees. Most people choose partners or careers that meet these
needs.
Your personal core values are different from cultural, religious, or even family
values, although there can be some crossover. These three to five primary values
per person are items you must have in your life in order to feel fulfilled. You
can have what you want and need but still not feel fulfilled because your values
aren't represented strongly enough in your life.
Values can be anything from accomplishment and control to teaching and serenity.
They are unique from individual to individual.
Hearing Your Secret
To determine what values reside in your pastime, you'll need to explore why you
enjoy it. For me, scrapbooking is about interacting kinesthetically and bringing
many different components--the photographs, title, frames, paper,
embellishments, journaling--into a cohesive and attractive creation. Therefore
creation, collaboration, beauty, building, designing, and assembling could all
be possible values revealed by my hobby.
When I read the list aloud, two stand out: creating and designing. Since I have
the ability to be creative in my career and creativity is a trait I possess, I
determined that designing is the value that is revealed by my love of
scrapbooking. I confirmed this by recalling other times I was able to design and
how I felt. A few years ago, when I was designing the interior for my home, I
felt the same sense of fulfillment.
Let's take another popular hobby to see the secret it could be revealing. Golf
is a widely played sport that people engage in for different reasons. Some of
the values golf could represent are precision, nature, skill, solitude,
socializing, competition, and challenge. If you will only play on the best
courses with the most expensive equipment, it could also reveal values of
prestige and wealth.
Now take your favorite pastime. What is it about for you? Why is it enjoyable?
What possible values could it represent? Make a list of possible values, then
read them aloud and choose the ones that resonate with you. Next, confirm them
by recalling other times that value was represented in your life. How did you
feel?
No matter what your pastime, it has a secret to tell you about your innermost
self. Lean in and listen to reveal your core values and provide the pathway to
fulfillment.
About the Author:
This article was written by Leah Grant, contributing author to "101 Great Ways
to Improve Your Life: Volume 2." Leah is a business and marketing strategist for
small home-based business owners and an avid scrapbooker. She is the author of
"Overnight MBA," a home study program for the new business owner. Visit her
website at http://www.leahgrant.com
for free business tips, monthly specials, resource recommendations, and to
purchase "Overnight MBA."
Her article above is one of 101 great chapters that can be found in "101 Great
Ways to Improve Your Life: Volume 2." This powerful compilation book -- with
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countless other experts -- contains 101 chapters of proven advice on how to
improve your life.
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*** Article: 54 Words, 67 Notes and Tackling Your Unfinished Business – By Jill
Koenig ***
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Back in 1939, a Russian Jewish immigrant songwriter was away from home for an
extended time, working on a movie in Beverly Hills.
Legend has it he was homesick while separated from his wife and children, and at
that time, wrote some parts of a song and then stored away the incomplete, half
written work in a "song trunk."
After two years had passed, he dusted off the half written song and put the
finishing touches on it.
He called it the best song he'd ever written.
It was a simple song.
54 words.
67 notes.
The songwriter was Irving Berlin.
The song was White Christmas.
It became the best-selling song in the world.
To this day, it is an enduring symbol of Christmas, the spirit of the Holiday
season and evokes warm, loving memories for millions of people around the world.
It has been recorded countless times by countless artists and featured in
countless movies.
Ivring Berlin could neither read or write musical notation but still managed to
compose over 1,000 other songs, which are considered the foundation of our
American songbook.
Think about it.
The biggest selling song in history, the definitive Christmas song, written by a
Russian Jewish immigrant who had no exposure to the Christmas holiday as a
child.
The biggest selling song in history (and 1,000 other songs) written by someone
who couldn't read or write musical notation.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something.
You can achieve anything you can conceive.
Anything.
What unfinished "song," idea, or project do you have stored away somewhere,
perhaps in a drawer, in a box, or even in your own imagination?
What dream lives in your heart that you long to share with the world?
What gifts have you been blessed with that you're not giving yet?
Perhaps the time wasn't right, or you were not quite ready to step into your own
greatness yet.
Perhaps now is the time.
Perhaps 2007 is the year you are meant to bring it to life.
What dreams could you reignite if you dusted them off and brought them to life?
Now is your time.
As we head into 2007, you are given the chance to begin anew...
You.
Any dream.
A New Year brings New Life...
New Year, New Life.
Live Your Dreams
About the Author:
Jill Koenig, the "Goal Guru" is America's Top Goal Strategist. A Best-Selling
Author, Coach, and Motivational Speaker, she is an expert on the subjects of
Goal Setting, Time Management, and Business Success.
Make this your Best Year Ever and get your FREE ebook at
http://www.GoalGuru.com
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*** Book Review: Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying – By Ram Dass
***
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After being introduced for a lecture, Ram Dass eschewed the stairs and, from his
front row seat, leapt up on to the stage--or tried to, anyway, but age and
gravity brought him crashing back to earth. Like other baby boomers, Ram Dass
has learned the hard way that aging is unkind to the body. But he has also
learned that it can be an opportunity for growth.
While others begin to devalue you, you can reconnect with the spiritual, grow
into wisdom, and create value for yourself.
In "Still Here," Ram Dass offers a philosophy for aging that teaches us how to
diminish our suffering despite the aches, pains, and limitations of age. This
becomes possible when we step away from the ego-self and into the soul-self,
where we can witness our thoughts and emotions and evaluate their effects on us.
If aging has brought challenges to Ram Dass, it has also brought him wisdom,
which, through his personal anecdotes and stories of others in the struggle
against aging, he shares with great generosity. --Brian Bruya
-------
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