MaXIMIze - Fall has Fallen - Harvest Time

Fall has fallen. A new season is upon us. Time to regroup, see what we've harvested for the year, and start to plan for next year.

Time for me to pull out those coaching tools and get them moving again.

Time to set achievable goals.

Time to invest in ourselves and where we want to be by this time next year, the year after, five years out, and so on.

For myself, I am looking at being retirement eligible in three years. Will I want to retire then? If so, what will I need to do between now and then in order to be truly able to retire and move on to the next phase of life? What will retirement look like - what will I do with my time, where will I live, what goals will I pursue?

What is coming up in your life that you need to pause and think about?

This is a good time to pull out those Manifestation Boards and re-evaluate them. For more on those, see the post from March 2016 here.

Also a good time to re-evaluate your satisfaction level, on a scale from 1-10, in the six areas of your life from the Circle of Perception: career, relationships, physical, spiritual and overall well-being, and finances. If any area is below an 8, what needs to change to increase the satisfaction level there? What are some achievable goals you can strive for in the next month, 3 months, 6 months, year to get there?

Fall is a time for harvest and reflection. As we move into the holiday season, it is also a time for gratitude and extreme self-care.

Lots to contemplate, so I will close for now.

Until next time, Namaste!

MaXIMIze - 7 Questions to Ponder

In the last blog post I mentioned seven questions that will help you focus on living your best life now.

I had written these down during a training course I was taking for work back in about 2010 or so, rewrote them in a journal entry nearly three years ago to the day, and shared them in a post in the previous iteration of this blog. Here they are:

• What are the three most important things in your life right now?

• What are your three main goals for life?

• If you had only six months to live, what would you do differently? (I've thought of this one a lot recently, with the story of the 90 year-old woman diagnosed with cancer who chose to live life and see the world rather than go through treatments that may or may not extend her life.)

• If you came into a lot of money, what would you do differently?

• What have you always wanted to do but where afraid to try? (again, the 90 year-old woman mentioned above...)

• What activities give you a sense of importance (purpose) and/or a sense of joy?

• If there were no boundaries, what would you want to achieve, do, and/or have?

Take the time to answer these questions.

Then, in another session, answer THIS question - what is stopping you from doing/having these things right here, right now? And I mean what is REALLY stopping you - not the first blush, superficial answer.

To really get to the heart of what is stopping you from having and/or doing what it is you truly want to, I recommend employing the "5 Whys," which have been discussed in several posts on this blog.

Once you get to the heart of what is really preventing you from attaining or doing what it is you want or feel you need to in order to live your best life now, then you can see what the true roadblocks are, and you can develop action plans to deal with those roadblocks effectively.

One way to do this is to "keep your eye on the prize." This is where manifestation boards come in. A manifestation board will put a visual reminder of what it is you want or need to live your best life now in front of you - to enable you to see the "prize" you are aiming for

We'll go into a bit more detail on these in the next post.

CALL TO ACTION: Answer the questions in this post; then use the "5 Whys" to get to the heart of what is stopping you from living your best live now.

CHECK-IN: How are you doing with the other Calls to Action thus far? Has this exercise caused you to reevaluate your vision or goals, or has it brought them more clearly into focus?

NEXT TIME: We will discuss manifestation boards in relation to the six main areas of our lives.

Until then - Namaste!

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Questions? Comments? You can contact me at the e-mail below:
Beth Henderson, MaXIMIzer
maximize.beth@gmail.com

MaXIMIze - Relationship With Self

Everything comes from your relationship with your Self.

How are you practicing extreme self care?

Do you put yourself first, last, or somewhere in between depending on the day?

If you've ever flown, you've heard the flight attendant tell you to put your own mask on before helping those around you - even your own child!

Those who take care of themselves are better able to care for and help others.

Self care is not only the physical acts of eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, etc., but also the emotional acts of believing in yourself, knowing you do enough, knowing you have enough, knowing you are enough too.

Self care comes from self love, which comes from within.

So, how are you caring for yourself today? Are you putting your own oxygen mask on first?

CALL TO ACTION: Here are seven self care habits that will enrich your body, soul, and pocket book every day - how many of them can YOU practice every day?

1. Getting enough sleep.

2. Eating breakfast.

3. Getting daily exercise - at least 30 minutes per day.

4. Flossing and brushing your teeth.

5. Reading.

6. Saving money.

7. Eating more fruits and vegetables.

CHECK IN: A quick check to see how you are doing with the previous calls to action:

How are you coming with moving out on your goals for this year?

How are you doing in the gratitude department - can you think of three things right now you are grateful for?

Are you tackling change in your life from the inside out or from the outside in?

What can you do right here, right now to take better care of your Self?

Are you reacting or responding?

NEXT TIME: Well, it's March - time to think about that spring garden. What seeds do you want to sow this year? What do you want to grow in your life this year?

Until next time, Namaste!
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Questions? Comments? Feel free to contact me at the e-mail address below:
Beth Henderson, MaXIMIzer
maximize.beth@gmail.com

MaXIMIze - Relationships - Communication

Relationships are about communication. Communication is about action and reaction - OR - action and response.

I've touched on this topic before in this blog, however, as I was working through a section of the Life Purpose Coach Certification course I am taking through Udemy, I had one of those "Ah Ha" moments. I even wrote down the words "knee jerk reactions" to remind me to blog about communication in relation to, well, relationships.

We tend to color our perceptions and reactions to people, places, things, and the words and actions of others by how we see our experiences - our lives - to date.

However, we can make the choice to respond rather than react. When we react, we are in fact re-acting past experiences, our perception of which may - or more likely may not - be correct in the current instance we are reacting to.

Responding rather than reacting means taking responsibility and looking at the current instance with new lenses and not painting the action with the brush of the past.

Also, responding rather than reacting puts the present you in control, not your past experiences. You become the victor in the situation rather than the victim.

By taking responsibility and responding rather than reacting, we can enhance our relationships with others - and grow ourselves.

So, will you continue to re-act to the actions of others based on your past, or will you take the time to responsibly respond to others based on your present?

CALL TO ACTION: When you feel yourself beginning to react to someone else's action. take a moment, breathe, and determine if your action is truly an appropriate response to the present situation or if it is a knee jerk reaction based on past experiences.

CHECK-IN: Last week we discussed loving our Selves and taking care of our Selves. So, how did you do this past week with taking better care of your Self?

NEXT TIME: We will close up the theme of relationships with by discussing how the way we relate to the world comes from our relationship with our Self. Or at least that is the topic that has caught my attention at the moment.

If you have a specific topic that relates to the theme of the month or is related to living your best life now in general you would like to see addressed, please feel free to post about it in the comments or send me an e-mail about it.

Until next time, Namaste!

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Questions? Comments? Feel free to contact me at the e-mail address below.
Beth Henderson, MaXIMIzer
maximize.beth@gmail.com