Monday Motivation - 27 November

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” ~ Booker T. Washington

What random act of kindness could you commit today?

Is there a friend or colleague you could help, someone you could call who you haven't spoken to recently?

Make someone's day!

Gratitude and thanksgivng

Being thankful is very good for you! Having an attitude of gratitude makes you more aware, and appreciative, of what you already have as well as attracting more good things into your life. And it's a wonderful way of increasing your happiness levels.

It's Thanksgiving Day in the States today - but you can have a thanks giving day every day; and here are some great quotations on gratitude to help you do so.

• "Being grateful. That's the first step to the path of Joy." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach
• "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie, Author
• "When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself." ~ Tecumseh, Shawnee Chief
• "You can never get to peace and inner security without first acknowledging all of the good things in your life. If you're forever wanting and longing for more without first appreciating things the way they are, you'll stay in discord." ~ Doc Childre and Howard Martin
• “Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what's going on outside of us, there's always something we could be grateful for.” ~ Barry Neil Kaufman
• “Today’s gratitude buys tomorrow’s happiness.” ~ Michael McMillian
• "Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life." ~ Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Monday Motivation - 20 November

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed, but with what it is still possible for you to do." ~ Pope John XXIII

Deadly Assumptions - by Steve Goodier

Joan, the town gossip and supervisor of the town's morals recently accused George, a local man, of having a drinking problem because she observed his pickup truck outside the town's only bar one morning. George stared at her for a moment, and said nothing. Later that evening, he parked his pickup truck in front of her house and left it there all night.

Why is it that most assumptions are wrong? Yet we too often act as if they are right!

Years ago, a young American at a banquet found himself seated next to the eminent V. K. Wellington Koo, a Chinese diplomat. Completely at a loss as to what to say to someone from such a different culture, this young man ventured, "Likee soupee?"

Mr. Koo smiled and nodded. Later when called upon to speak, Wellington Koo delivered an eloquent talk in exquisite English, sat down while the applause was still resounding, turned to the young man and smiled, "Likee speechee?"

His assumption about Mr. Koo was simply not true. Which is not unlike a husband who assumes he knows his wife's opinion on a matter, only to find out she thinks differently. Or a wife who assumes that her husband's silence means he is angry or disinterested, only to learn that he is worried about something else. Or an employee who assumes he knows that his boss is upset with him because she didn't praise his performance on a project, when she was merely preoccupied with another matter.

Assumptions. We all make them. They're usually wrong and they too often get us into trouble.

I like the advice of Eniong Hilario: "Things are better said than assumed." When in doubt, check it out. You think you know what was said? Check it out. You think you know what was meant? Check it out. You may think you know, but check it out.

And when you do, be prepared to be surprised!


For further information about the author, Steve Goodier, visit www.LifeSupportSystem.com

Monday Motivation - 13 November

“Each day, well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and each tomorrow a vision of hope. Look, therefore, to this one day, for it and it alone is life.” ~ Sanskrit Poem

Monday Motivation - 6 November

BE THANKFUL

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

- Author Unknown

React or respond

This often comes up in my coaching sessions - clients have reacted to an event and we discuss how to respond in a more measured way. Reactions tend to be emotional; often triggered by other things than we have actually seen or heard, and such a reaction doesn’t always give us the result we want!

Now I like to think to think that I walk my talk as a coach, but I must confess that there are a couple of situations to which I react badly, and one of these is when my email fails to work. My usual reaction involves screaming, swearing and shouting – not a pretty sight and certainly not useful or productive.

A couple of weeks ago my email went down. The day before, one of my clients had been telling me how he had lost his wallet just before departing on holiday, and he had chosen to respond calmly instead of reacting badly as he usually would, so he’d been able to start his holiday in a peaceful state of mind (albeit four hours late) and without upsetting his family.

Inspired by this, and knowing that I could react as usual or respond, I made a conscious choice to remain calm. I wrote down details of the error message and researched this on various relevant websites. When this moved me no further forward, I spoke to BT (again staying calm and also being polite), then I asked a colleague for help and he was able to identify that it was a problem with the anti virus programme. Instead of worrying about all the emails that I knew would be piling up, I chose to be pleased that I knew what the issue was and had therefore made some progress. The following day, I had several very long phone calls with various technical people, again making a deliberate choice to be calm, polite and not to worry. Eventually the problem was fixed and I was able to send and receive emails again.

What a difference in how I felt! I was full of energy, and was in such a good place emotionally; easily able to work through all my emails and reassure my husband that all sharp implements could be replaced in the kitchen (he’d moved them as soon as I said 'my email has gone down.')

So the next time something happens that could potentially wind you up – take a breath, choose how you’d like to deal with this situation, what results you want, think about the benefits of responding instead of reacting, remind yourself that you will feel so much better, and respond accordingly.