YOUR LIFE A-Z: ZESTFUL

ZESTFUL

ZESTFUL means having a spirited love of life.  Isn’t it awesome that our advent list ends with this powerful word for this CHRISTMAS day? (If you are wondering how we went through 26 letters in 25 days, it is because Advent began on November 30, which made a perfect ending to this A-Z for the holiday.) Today, have a ZESTFUL day.  From the early morning hours of opening presents to the late Christmas dinners celebrate each other.  Be spirited about connecting with those around you and add ZEST to each encounter, making someone else’s Christmas experience brighter.  If you are alone today, this is your opportunity to practice ZESTFULNESS to others.  Get over yourself and get out.  Take water to the homeless or go to a movie and be ZESTFUL with gratitude that you can get out and enjoy your Christmas day.  If you are homebound then call someone and wish him/her a Merry Christmas.  Today is not a day to sit around and feel sorry for your situation.  Today is a day to bring ZEST and to be ZESTFUL.   Use today to make a positive difference in the life of each person you come in contact with.  Practice having a spirited love of life and let your ZESTFULNESS become contagious.  You do make a difference in the lives of all of those around you and you get to choose whether that difference is positive or negative.  Seems like practicing ZESTFUL interactions will make your Christmas day more meaningful.  So with that I wish you a ZESTFUL day of spirited living.  Merry Christmas.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:JOLLY

                                                 JOLLY

BE JOLLY AND ENJOY 

Happy, cheerful, light-hearted and playful are some of the words that describe JOLLY.   Santa Claus is described as JOLLY and Christmas songs tell us to have a JOLLY Christmas.  Now, that is not possible if you have spun yourself into the commercial web and built a fortress of “should” for the holiday.  Let go of the holiday stress and make JOLLY an honorable goal for you and your family this season.  What do you want to joyfully do for this holiday season?  Do that and you will find that not only are you joyful but there will be a sense of JOLLINESS inside of you. You may find yourself belting out Christmas songs from the bottom of your solar plexus and dancing around holiday lights just because there is JOLLY sense of fun and excitement in the air.  When a “should” pops up and says, “You should ________________________.”  Laugh at it and speak your mind back to that “should.” Tell it, “Hey, I am having fun.  If you need to be grumpy right now, then go ahead but I am doing what I want.”  Use Christmas bags so that you don’t have to waste time wrapping gifts that will be torn up in seconds.  Give yourself permission to order Christmas dinner if you don’t want to cook.  If you don’t have small kids get up when you want.  If you do have small kids learn to enjoy the chaos.  Have a JOLLY good time enjoying precious moments with those you love and like.  Minimize your time with those you don’t like! Express JOLLY and watch it grow.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z: KICKOFF

KICK OFF'S ARE MULTIDIMENSIONAL 

KICKOFF

Yes, KICKOFF something new in your life.  In the United States the word KICKOFF is almost synonymous with the beginning of football season.  As a result, the word has attached to it much anticipation and enjoyment.  The KICKOFF season begins early with many advertisements and much press building excitement in fans for the upcoming season. What is it that you have wanted to do and either just never got around to it or thought erroneously it was just too big for you to tackle?  Using the platform of a KICKOFF might be just what you need to get started.  Choose one thing you want to KICKOFF in your life such as a new job, a college degree, or a new exercise program.  Sit with yourself and list all of the things required to accomplish this KICKOFF.  Once you have the list begin to detail how you can celebrate an opening day to your life event.  What will the celebration entail and whom will you invite?  Have T-Shirts made or some sort of door prize that you can give to those people who you invite to be part of your KICKOFF to your life’s change.   Once that is planned go back to the Vision Board exercise under the word focus and make a vision board that details every thing that you want and need as a result of this KICKOFF.   Think about this KICKOFF not as the all in all but as a magnificent start to a season of anticipation and change in your life.  Make the KICKOFF big and celebratory in every way. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: JUBILANT

OUTER EXPRESSION OF INNER DELIGHT

JUBILANT

JUBILANT is an outer expression of inner happiness and delight.  Sometimes our parents, teachers, or even friends shame JUBILANT expression as being too over the top or us being too big for our own britches.  The TWENTY MINUTE COACH is giving you full permission to be over the top about something important in your life.  You can be JUBILANT about getting a parking spot in the busy mall or the fact that you got a call from a very important person.  Often, we minimize the “big” things that happen in our daily life as being not important or not big enough.  Yes, perhaps you can imagine being grateful for a convenient parking spot or an important call, but JUBILANT? Yes, be JUBILANT. Living life with exuberance is a JUBILANT way of life.  By practicing being JUBILANT you will feel less depressed, less anxious, and more independent of the circumstances that often make your life miserable.  Being JUBILANT is like the energy conversion of gratitude into humor and expression of delight.  Being JUBILANT should not be saved for special occasions or big events but should be a part of our daily existence.  If you were a prisoner and you needed imaginary ways to entertain yourself, you could spend your mental energy imagining your release date into a great crowd of friendly faces and emotional supporters.  Imagine situations now that will allow your inner JUBILANT self to take center stage and release you from your own emotional prison. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: FIESTA

CELEBRATE YOU WITH ALL THAT IS COLORFUL

FIESTA

The Twenty Minute Coach is lightening the mood a bit with this word FIESTA. That brings immediate images of party, parade, food, dance, music, and good friends to the mind.  Did you know that the original Latin and Spanish use of the word was derived to worship a saint? I am sure there is more to that story.  However, in the meantime of all of this politico stuff, celebrate yourself with a FIESTA!  You don’t have to wait for your birthday, Cingo DeMayo, Fourth of July of any other reason to have a FIESTA.  You don’t even have to be saint.  You might want to choose a Greek god or goddess to celebrate.  But for no reason at all have a FIESTA.  THIS IS COACHES ORDERS:  celebrate with a FIESTA of food, fun, dance, music, many brilliant colors and friends.  Have your own personal FIESTA and celebrate the fact that you are still breathing.  To start, choose at least three people to invite.  There are at least three in your life if you choose from work, family, and acquaintances.  Next, choose your favorite colors and use that color scheme to decorate.  Choose your favorite foods and use that as your food theme and add your favorite music.  Choose a date and time and voila, you have a FIESTA in the making.  Now, enjoy the creation of this FIESTA.  Who is on your list? What does the invite look like?  What recipes from your favorite foods and is music via speakers or do you want your own DJ?  See, there are endless possibilities.  Enjoy all of them. 

YOUR LIFE TO A-Z: VICTORY

VICTORY IS BEING YOUR BEST SELF

VICTORY

VICTORY is defined as an act of defeating an opponent or defeating a competitor.  The Twenty Minute Coach has over 120 blogged words at this time.  If you go back and look at them you will happily discover that you have put into action many of the words by applying the suggested steps.  It is usually a good idea to review where you have been so that you can re-define where you go from here.  But more importantly, it is essential to celebrate your VICTORY.  These past few words have been very action orientated such as Rigorous, Task, Simplify and Unilateral.  All of them require applied action steps.  Examine your successes.  Be blatantly honest with yourself.  Do not focus on any of your so-called failures right now, only focus on your successes and improvements.  Remember you are not looking for all or nothing; you are looking for well-measured steps to your goal.  What VICTORIES can you list right now?  List at least three VICTORIES.  Then enhance it to five and then stretch the list to seven.  You have VICTORY.  You have just been programmed and socialized to focus on your imperfections and failures and often told that celebrating a VICTORY will make you vain.  That is not true.  Celebrating your VICTORY will pump you up and make you want more VICTORY in your life.  You will look for ways to compete with yourself and others to have the opportunity to celebrate VICTORY.  Have a VICTORY party for yourself.  Celebrate your VICTORIES weekly.  Enjoy. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: IMPROMPTU

IMPROMPTU DOES NOT SIT, IMPROMPTU IS A HUMMINGBIRD

IMPROMPTU

In the TWENTY MINUTE COACH, YOUR LIFE A-Z, I have covered the necessity of spontaneity, rest, break, and experiment.  IMPROMPTU is a very important word.  It means doing something without planning it. IMPROMPTU requires risk taking but not calculated risk taking.  It implies seeing the lake and jumping in it.  It implies following your intuition.  It implies going to the store and then deciding to drive by it and go to a different store even though it is further away.  Actively look for things to break up the monotony of your day today by doing something IMPROMPTU.  Have plans for dinner?  Change them, go somewhere else instead.  Going to the gym?  Go for a walk or hike instead.  Pick up the phone and call (DO NOT TEXT) someone in your contact list you have not talked to in a very long time.  Invite someone you don’t know very well to lunch.  Go to church, walk a labyrinth, read a science fiction book if you are a novelist, wear different colored socks.  Whatever it is, practice doing something out of the ordinary today and everyday.  Your life is in a rut because you keep doing the same old thing. You have dug in track marks that now feel impossible to get out of.  Turn the wheel of that car and apply some gas even though it may be a bit bumpy for a moment or two. Get out of your daily grind with IMPROMPTU acts of doing it different.  At least, walk backwards for a few steps.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:TRADITION

MAKE IT SPECIAL, WHATEVER IT IS!

Tradition

Tradition is something that builds connection and internal affluence.  What are some of the traditions (stories, actions, rituals, thinking) that you practice today from your parents or grandparents?  Do you have new traditions that you have created in your adult life or the current relationship you are in?   I encourage you to start a tradition.  It does not have to be big, elaborate, or troublesome.   Allow it to be significant enough to produce positive feelings inside of you when you think about doing it and when you remember doing it.  

The easiest tradition to start is something that only you have to participate in.  For instance, if you were start a tradition for celebrating your birthday that is something you can do every year from this day forward, what would it be?  The only difference between a ritual and a tradition is that a tradition is something that you keep remembering and repeating as way of building positive blue prints in your daily and annual life.   A ritual may be completed often and regularly or it may be something that you only do once, such as baptism.  Tradition lives on forever and sometimes even after you are long gone. 

This word deserves your reflective time, planning and preparation as you examine what it is inside of that you want to add to your life on a regular basis that will become a meaningful tradition.  Matter of fact it may take a few times of experimenting with what tradition really nourishes, feeds, and helps you feel positive.  What tradition do you want to start?