Showing posts with label personal development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal development. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Roll Over!
Okay. I admit it. I'm a proud Nana showing off the 4th of my grandsons...Hunter William Johnson! My daughter-in-law, Kristin, sent me this video and it made me think about how much we lose when we become adults. Let me explain. You see how Hunter has discovered he can roll over? Once he figured it out, though, he didn't stop short of rolling because ... What if I can't do it again? What if nobody likes me now that I can roll? What if this is all I'll ever be able to do? What if the other babies call me a 'show off'? Nope! Hunter is just going with the flow and tapping into his natural ability to roll over with a little coaxing from his mom.
What about us? What have you and I figured out that we can do if but for just a little determination? What's holding us back from tapping into our own God-given talents and abilities to make a difference in the world around us? How many times have we just needed a little encouragement to enable us to conquer a brand new world? How often have we "poo-pooed" someone's pep talk and stubbornly stayed stuck? Mmmmmm..........
I believe as we grow older we forget just how much we really can do. We stop discovering and get stuck in mediocrity. So, my friends, my word to you today is this: BE CURIOUS, GO WITH THE FLOW, GET YOURSELF A SUPPORT SYSTEM and just like my grandson, Hunter, let your natural abilities rise up and ROLL OVER!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Does Silence Have A Purpose?
In a world of iPhones, video blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace -- all designed to get information to you f-a-s-t -- I think it's safe to say that we are a busy and noisy society. Plus, we are a very communicative society; we like to talk! So have you ever noticed how irritating silence can be? Or how much it bothers us when no one is talking? Or when we don't get that person on the phone immediately? Or ______ -- you just fill in the blank! It all boils down to noise. We like noise.
Is there a purpose in silence? I think so. In fact, I believe that learning to be silent is a prerequisite for learning how to listen. Because we like noise and we like to make noise, oftentimes we just flat out don't listen. To help us reframe our thoughts on silence, I offer you this tip: Cease to think of silence as irritating and start to think of silence as active listening.
Active listening defined is learning to tune in to the person speaking. An even broader definition is learning to tune in to our environment which may or may not include a person. Make a note of the five steps of active listening:
Is there a purpose in silence? I think so. In fact, I believe that learning to be silent is a prerequisite for learning how to listen. Because we like noise and we like to make noise, oftentimes we just flat out don't listen. To help us reframe our thoughts on silence, I offer you this tip: Cease to think of silence as irritating and start to think of silence as active listening.
Active listening defined is learning to tune in to the person speaking. An even broader definition is learning to tune in to our environment which may or may not include a person. Make a note of the five steps of active listening:
- Ask yourself what is the real content here?
- Ask yourself what is the real intent here?
- Pay attention to the nonverbal cues of the person you're listening to.
- Pay attention to your own nonverbal cues -- what vibes are you sending off?
- Listen just to listen -- discard judgments and be emphathetic
Until next post,
Dr. Angela aka "The Purpose Professor"
http://www.lifeonpurposellc.com"Life with no purpose is no life at all!"
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
One Way To Deal With Change
I'm sure you know as well as I that change is inevitable, it's continuous and it cannot be ignored. That being said, why is it so difficult for us to deal with it?
Well, this is certainly not a scientific answer, but I think we are such creatures of habit until we just hate disturbing the status quo. The vast majority of us do certain things a certain way all of the time. To suggest doing those things differently is to upset our apple cart, so to speak, and we resist it.
Maybe change wouldn't be so hard to deal with if we were to examine and adjust (change?) our view and attitude. Let me explain, change has the potential to bring some wonderful opportunities into our lives. For example, losing a job could result in someone going back to school and getting a degree.
So, here's one little tidbit of information to help you handle change more effectively: find a way to focus on the gift inherent in the change, rather than the negativity attached to it. Evaluate the change and determine how will it affect you. This will help to remove the emotionalism and replace it with rationalism.
Change happens, but it's up to us to see the potential otherwise we're sure to fall into the pothole!
Well, this is certainly not a scientific answer, but I think we are such creatures of habit until we just hate disturbing the status quo. The vast majority of us do certain things a certain way all of the time. To suggest doing those things differently is to upset our apple cart, so to speak, and we resist it.
Maybe change wouldn't be so hard to deal with if we were to examine and adjust (change?) our view and attitude. Let me explain, change has the potential to bring some wonderful opportunities into our lives. For example, losing a job could result in someone going back to school and getting a degree.
So, here's one little tidbit of information to help you handle change more effectively: find a way to focus on the gift inherent in the change, rather than the negativity attached to it. Evaluate the change and determine how will it affect you. This will help to remove the emotionalism and replace it with rationalism.
Change happens, but it's up to us to see the potential otherwise we're sure to fall into the pothole!
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