MaXIMIze - Spiritual Charity Begins at Home

I know I've reminded us before of what flight attendants teach us about the oxygen masks in airplanes - we have to put our own on before we can help other put theirs on.

Spiritual self-care is just as important as self-care in all other areas of life. Our spiritual selves are an essential part of the battery that keeps us going, that keeps our light lit from within.

If we do not tend our spiritual selves, we find ourselves depleted, jaded, starting not to care about what goes on in our lives or the lives of those we care about. We may find ourselves sucked into the shallowness of inane TV shows or gossip or other one-dimensional ways of living instead of going out into the world and making our little piece of it better, instead of letting our light shine as a beacon to others.

We each need to take the time to shut out the world and connect with our innermost selves - that small, still voice that lives within each of us - in order to be our best selves and to share our best selves - our light - with the world.

My challenge to you this week is to take 15 minutes a day and find a quiet place where you can just sit and be with no distractions. Settle in, and do some breathing exercises to still your body and quiet your mind - inhale to a count of eight, hold to a count of four, exhale to a count of eight. Do this three to five times, as many as it takes to quiet your mind.

Then, on the inhale say "I am," and on the exhale say "enough."

Inhale - "I do"

Exhale - "enough"

Inhale - "I have"

Exhale - "enough"

Repeat the sequence three to five times.

Then, just sit quietly and let the small, still voice within you share its wisdom.

If you find thoughts coming in, let them slide through with no attachment. If you cannot yet do this, go back to the breathing and then the "I am, I do, I have...enough" mantra.

Just 15 minutes a day spent in this manner can have a profound effect on how you view what unfolds over the course of your day.

I hope you take up this practice, this challenge to live your best life right here, right now.

Next week we will discuss journaling as a way to clear our mind and focus our energy.

Until then, namaste!

MaXIMIze - Circle of Perception

So, how are you all doing with powering up the personal prose using the tips and thoughts from last week's blog? Absolutely fantastically, I hope! 

Now on to the Circle of Perception exercise that I use in my coaching practice. I also use this exercise myself at least annually to regain perspective on the various areas of my life and to see how I'm progressing based on what I had said previously.

For this exercise you'll need a blank 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper (a sheet of regular printer paper will do nicely) and a pencil or pen. 

First, draw a circle - make it at least 3-4" in diameter. Then, draw three lines through it in order to make six equal slices of pie (or pizza if you prefer). Now label each of these pieces as follows:

Career

Relationships

Financial

Health

Spiritual

Well-Being

So, how does each of these slices taste to you currently? How satisfied are you with each of these pieces of your life? On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest, rate each area of your life. 

Now to put that in a different visual perspective, mentally divide the pieces of the pie into ten slices each, radiating from the center of the pie outward, so you essentially end up with nine smaller circles within the original one. Then, for each piece of the pie, each area of your life, starting at the center of the pie, shade out the rating you gave that particular piece. 

Now, flip the image from a pie to a wheel - is your life pretty evenly rated all the way around, or is your wheel uneven? If you rated all areas evenly but rated them at, say, five or six, or even seven, then your life is like riding a bike with low tires - pedaling for all you are worth, yet taking longer to get somewhere than you really could if your tires were fully inflated.

For those areas that you rated your satisfaction as 8 or above - they might need a little tweaking here or there - could perhaps be better - however, we are going to focus on those areas that you rated 7 or below - those areas causing the tire of your life to be low at best or totally off-kilter at worst.

DISCLAIMER: This blog is about coaching - NOT counseling. I am not here to fix the ills of your past. I AM here to help you focus on your future and gain knowledge, skills, and abilities to set, pursue and gain the goals to make your life better - something you can rate all around at 8 or above. If the ills of your past are something we identify as a roadblock to that success, you will need to pursue counseling with a trained professional to deal with those issues. I am NOT such a trained professional.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

As you review each of the six areas of your life, here are some questions to ponder until next week:

- What are some of the most immediate/pressing and/or important goals you'd like to achieve in each of these areas?

- What would achieving these goals mean to you - how would you feel?

- What will happen or be different once you achieve these goals? How would that manifest in your life?

- Who/what do you need to help you accomplish these goals?

- When do you expect to achieve these goals?

- When you achieve these goals, what will be the impact to other areas of your life?

- What are the potential or actual roadblocks to achieving these goals? 

- What skills and resources do you already have to achieve these goals?

- What else do you need?

Last - what steps will you take to ensure you achieve these goals?

This is your life and you have the power to live your best life now - are you ready to seize that power?

Next week, we will discuss the mechanics of setting and attaining goals - until then, Namaste!