YOUR LIFE A-Z:ELVES

Employ and Delicate some Help This Holiday Season

ELVES

There are several lessons that we can learn from Santa’s ELVES. They do not wait until the last minute to prepare for the holiday season; they work hard all year long making toys that Santa will deliver across the world on Christmas Eve.  The ELVES make an abundance of toys, so as the children’s Christmas list come in, the ELVES can quickly fill children’s orders and wrap them so that Santa’s sleigh is full on Christmas Eve. By Christmas Eve everything is complete and only the fun and delight of delivery waits. How many ELVES do you have helping you this year with the holiday?  It is more fun to decorate, bake, cook, shop and wrap if you have some ELVES to help you along the way.  It is also less stressful if you plan all year long what Christmas gifts you are going to purchase. You can even wrap them as they are purchased.  Santa can’t do it all by himself and you should not have to either.  ELVES flourish in a community rather than staying isolated and task orientated.  They have fun while they work so hard.  They feel a sense of importance and valuable to Santa.  Make your ELVES feel this way too.  Then of course, since 2005, we have become familiar with the ELF on the Shelf.  This ELF is so very important because he goes back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa as whether you have been naughty or nice.  Use this ELF to build personal responsibility in your homes, helping all family members get into to positive energy of the holiday season.

YOUR LIFE A-Z:QUALITY

BREATHE DEEPLY

QUALITY

QUALITY seems to be subjective opinions based on personal likes and dislikes as well as some educational understanding of that object you are judging as good or bad QUALITY.  Art and architecture fall into the eye of a trained and educated eye, but if you don't like Picasso then QUALITY won't matter.  Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, drives himself and sometime me, the reader, to the brink of insanity trying to define QUALITY.  It seems simple to me.  We seem to recognize QUALITY and often produce QUALITY.  Allowing ourselves to take Pride in our work will empower us to continue to produce QUALITY.  If we are not invested in what we are doing we usually do not produce QUALITY.  If we care about what we are doing then we invest more energy and Pride in it, thus QUALITY.  As Pirsig points out, it is really impossible to have "more" QUALITY.  QUALITY either is or is not.  What is QUALITY in your life?  What do you do really well that you take Pride in?  Where are there places of QUALITY in your home?  What images come to your mind when you hear the word QUALITY?  Clearly, QUALITY is sought after by everyone, even a redneck seeks a QUALITY beer.  That QUALITY may not necessarily be judged by taste, but might be judged by inexpensive and cold.  See QUALITY is truly subjective!  

YOUR LIFE A-Z: PRIDE

Take Pride in Yourself!

PRIDE

Wikipedia says PRIDE is an inner directed emotion, from a positive connotation is a satisfied sense of attachment to ones Own choices or actions.  PRIDE is also a sense of belonging to a group or family where one's positive feelings of connection run deep within each other.  An example of that would be the GBLTQ community celebrations of Gay PRIDE.  Pride is a bubbling up of positive emotion   that naturally expresses itself through a wide smile and relaxed facial expression.  In yesterday's word, Own, I spoke about the PRIDE of ownership, taking responsibility for the decisions and choices you are making.  Today, I am asking you to dig deeper and allow a sense of belonging to yourself make you feel PRIDE deep within. It is true that when we feel PRIDE we Invest more self-care into whatever it is we feel PRIDE about.  A new car gets washed and waxed more often than an old beater car.  Take better self-care of your self today.  File your nails, get a new haircut, or take a bubble bath. Do something today to make yourself feel PRIDE in who you are.  Take a hot lunch to a homeless person or write a check to your favorite organization to Invest something of your success into the lives of others.  Allow yourself to take PRIDE in who you are, not just what you do.  Self-care and care of other are two sides of the whole, Invest in both to achieve PRIDE in yourself.   

YOUR LIFE A-Z DILIGENT

BE DILIGENT IN ALL THINGS

DILIGENT

It is my impression that if something feels too hard or becomes too difficult that often the shame (interruption of the positive experience) makes us feel as if something is wrong with us.  “What is the matter with me that I can’t get this?”  The reality is that we can “get it” or re-direct our intention by being DILIGENT. Being DILIGENT is showing constant attention and effort in the project at hand.  Don’t give up.  If it is not working, go back to the A word of Analyze.  Step away from your situation and ask, “What about this is not working?”  “What do I need to Tweak or do differently to obtain my desired outcome?”Then move forward with your goal by being DILIGENT.  There is nothing wrong with you if it requires more work than you originally thought. Or if the project or goal has to be re-designed or re-directed.  Either way, go for what you want by being DILIGENT.  Pay attention to the detail required. Do not get sloppy, instead, move forward one step at a time and by being DILIGENT and you will get your desired outcome.  Being DILIGENT is not easy but it is not shameful either.  So what if it requires more effort than originally thought?  Don’t let yourself off of the hook. Practice being DILIGENT.  Your only competition is you, so be DILIGENT in all that is necessary to be your best self.  Be DILIGENT!