Tidbits of Wisdom

Who are you deep inside?
What do you value?

If you have ever experienced a life coaching session, you have probably spent some time looking inside to hear just what it is that really brings you alive and engages you passionately. From that place, you and your coach discovered some of your core values which, when honored day to day, make life worth living! Core values can include things like service, personal integrity, creativity, connection, security, honesty, joy. They are unique to you and drive your actions whether you know it or not.

Here are a few ways to uncover your core values:

• What makes you upset, uncomfortable, perhaps angry? Dig into what is present in the opposite. If hoarding bothers you, perhaps you value simplicity or sharing or "wearing the world lightly".
  
• Recall an experience in your life when you were fully alive! You felt whole, engaged, strong, purposeful, totally comfortable in your own skin. Look deeply at who you were at that time. What qualities were present in you? What did you stand for? From here, what do you know that you value?
  
• Find a life coach and ask for a session around core values.

You may be asking, "Why?". Have you ever met someone whose passion was evident and whose energy irresistible? Think about that experience you recalled above. Were you irresistible - even powerful - in that moment? Imagine bringing that energy into all areas of your life. What is possible when we act from our core values, our inner truth? How much more do we offer the world in those moments?

Once you have identified even a few core values that you hold dear, take some time to survey your life:

What aspects of you show up and play full out in your life?
Where are your thoughts, words and actions aligned with your values?
Where do you hold back?
Who or what is missing out on "all of you"?
What more is possible?


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Do you know that happiness is a choice? Happiness, like a skill, can be developed. Happiness, like a muscle, can be exercised. And happiness breeds happiness! It also fosters health, satisfaction, and a deep joy in living.

The recipe for happiness is different for each and every one of us. Yet research shows that play, new experiences, treasuring friends and family, meaningful activities, and appreciating what we have are some key ways that people experience happiness. It is also true that we human beings are social creatures. Around the world, the researchers have discovered that folks who spend considerable time experiencing community and bringing qualities like altruism, compassion, love and joy to community may be the happiest of all!

If you are in the Fox Cities area, please mark your calendar now and join our community in conversation spawned by the 57 minute documentary, The Happy Movie.

Monday, January 23, 3:00-5:00 pm, Appleton Public Library
Thursday, January 26, 8:00-10:00 pm, Lawrence University Campus Center
Thursday, February 2, 6:30-8:30 pm, Appleton North High School


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This morning, I was prompted to let my "future self" speak to me. If you haven't ever done this, it can be quite powerful. Imagining myself 20-30 years into the future and looking back on today, I invited that older, wiser woman to guide me.

What should I focus on today? What is mine to do?
And I heard:

From this vantage point, beautiful Jeanne, I know that you will have arrived somewhere beautiful. It doesn't matter exactly what you do - or don't do. Really it doesn't! Everything moves on, flows, shifts and changes. So every structure you build will be torn down or disposed of. The most important aspect of "now" is the journey. What are you learning about navigating the journey? What are you learning about change? What are you teaching others about these things?

Oh! Down the road, it really won't matter exactly what I do today. The physical, tangible results created today will expire.

Then what matters?
To this, I heard two things:

• How am I being on the journey?
  
• What qualities do I want more of in the world?

And they are related. I want more presence, calm, ease, and joy in the world. My part in this vision is to be presence, calm, ease and joy in all that I do. My part is to navigate this life journey in a way that allows me to flow with the changes, do "it" from a place of presence. My part is to be in all that I do.

I know this message isn't new to many of you. It isn't new to me! Yet for some reason I needed to "hear" it today. Today is a piece of the journey. What I do today is less important than how I do it. I choose to do "it" with the awareness of what I want more of in the world.

How about you?

What to you vision for the world?
How will your journey today reflect your vision?


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I recently read, in a book called Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach, the story of Mohini, the white tiger who was given to President Eisenhower as a gift in the 1960's. While the story is not new, it struck me in a fashion that got me writing to you!

In brief, it is the story of a rare, gorgeous, white tiger name Mohini who spent many years in a 12 by 12 cage at the Washington zoo. Finally, the zoo decided to build her a large, natural habitat. Despite acres of land to roam, Mohini entered her new home and immediately ran to a far corner by the wall and lived out the rest of her days pacing a 12 by 12 foot square. (Read one version of the story here.)

The truth is that each of us reside in self-defined, limiting cages. While yours may be much larger than years ago, you are still in a cage. Self-erected walls limit your vision, your movements, your full expression.

Me too! As 2011 comes to a close, I find myself resonating with sadness around the story of Mohini and making a commitment to expand in 2012, to break down walls that keep me caged and open to a more expansive view of who I am and how I am meant to serve in this lifetime. Care to join me?

What size is your current cage?
What limiting beliefs do you hold too closely?
What risk is it time to take?
What are you hiding from the world?
What size cage do you envision for December 31, 2012?


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What if "this" was easy?
What if "this" was perfect?

Today is Sunday, December 11, 2011, two weeks before Christmas Day. Whether or not you celebrate this holiday, the effects it has on everything are evident. From decorations to activities, food, music, shopping, busyness ... Christmas is everywhere!

In the last entry, I suggested that each of us could "create the holiday experience we want to have". How are you doing with that? Are you freely choosing what is filling your life these days? Do you know what you really want to experience more than anything?

Or ... have overwhelm, anxiety, craziness, "should" or habit taken over?
Today, take just a moment to stop. Step outside of whatever you are doing and close your eyes. Invite several deep breaths, the kind that slow your heart beat, slow your mind, call you inward. Then imagine what is "on the plate" for today. Imagine the people and activities that you've scheduled in. Call to mind and heart just why each is happening. Likely there is a beautiful reason! From this place of calm knowing, ask yourself:

What if this was easy?
What if this was perfect?

Then listen. Maybe you'll hear guidance that suggests a shift in the "how" of what is happening, a shift that invites ease. Maybe you'll hear a deep love that says, "Yes, this is perfect. Enjoy it!"

Whatever you hear, take another deep breath, and another. Gently open your eyes and with this bit of guidance from your inner self, smile ... and return to your day.

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