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Balance... More Focus... More Sanity.
Holiday
Greetings!
Welcome to
Discoveries — my newsletter of
personal insights, ideas and ah-ha’s for living creatively
and working with satisfaction and success.
Please forward to
your friends and colleagues
if you think they might have an interest.
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The Gift We Give of Ourselves
It’s been some
time since I’ve written to you. Much has happened in South Florida,
including a few storms, as you may have heard! Even as busy as I
am, with getting the parts of my house that blew away replaced and a
full professional schedule, Thanksgiving always brings me back to my
personal touchstone.
As difficult as
it is coordinating the insurance and getting the repairs, as
frustrating as it is going for days, even weeks without water,
electricity or even traffic lights — I look at life after other
recent disasters, much worse, and think ‘thank heavens!’
 I noticed that within a day or
two after the storm blew literally every leaf and palm frond away,
there were green shoots coming out everywhere I could look. The
nature of Nature is to thrive and survive with a resiliency to keep
going forward. Being part of Nature, we share all those
characteristics.
Yes, Mother
Nature occasionally comes along with a broom for housecleaning, but
afterwards, that new growth happens, somehow even better than
before. Growth and creativity only happen in the cauldron of chaos
and change. It’s helpful to me to bring myself back to the
realization that my distress is nothing more than the interval
between one time of balance and another, that my distress is the
feeling of healing — the worst has already happened and this is how
it feels while the new is growing.
For me, there is
a great peace and comfort in surrendering to my true center of
gravity. It’s a place of compassion that can be the point of
contact for everyone I come in contact with — a smile and a kind
word to the harried checkout clerk, patience in a long line of
frustrated holiday shoppers, and extra long hug for my partner.
Unlike
Nature’s storms, holiday stress, is something we create so we have
complete choice in the matter! Conscious choice is the key
concept here. It’s a choice to start shopping early, or not. It’s
a choice to find compassion for ourselves, or let our frustrations
run amuck. It’s a choice to share that compassion as we go through
our day.
 And it’s all a gift to
ourselves! Try it — remember to have a smile and a few friendly
words of understanding with the next frustrated clerk you encounter,
an extra smile of encouragement for your assistant, a smile of
welcome and greeting for your coworkers in the morning — you’ll find
it changes your entire day! It feels so remarkable, that it
snowballs and you keep remembering to do it again and again! Pretty
soon that becomes a new habit.
You’ll find more tips, guides and worksheets of Self-Improvement and
Living and Working in Balance in our online
Resource Library.
Speaking of Gifts, I
have a holiday gift for you —
a
vacation in Hawaii!
 Yes! One of my
clients had collected incredible
video footage of the magnificent natural settings in Hawaii. I
executive produced a video tape with him with beautiful, calming
music and breathtaking scenery from dawn
to dusk in this
crucible of natural creativity.
We’ve added this
video to our web store and as a special gift to you and our web
visitors, I’ve had the tape edited to a 4 minute streaming video for
an “Instant Vacation.” View it now. Bookmark the link in your
Favorites and in the middle of your busy day at the office, or the
rush to read email before you need to take the kids someplace, click
on this link and relax into the Aloha Relaxation Meditation.
¹
3:33 Min. Windows media
format.
Here’s your gift, click on your connection speed
Dial-Up (WMV 1 MB)
Broadband (WMV 12 MB)
Books and
tapes are gifts that keep on giving throughout the year and you’ll
find more great items in our
online store for gifting. You’ll find links to books
and videos by Dr Joan Borysenko, a self-described recovering
Perfectionist and Over-Achiever. You can also watch a video clip
from her PBS special as she describes how she spent a year of
coaching with me. What she learned for herself applies to us all.
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One of
the gifts I give every year are SPOGA exercise tapes. Using techniques and moves
from yoga, dance and other traditions, Melinda Lee and her
team have created a unique workout experience that nearly
everyone can and will want to do!
I’ve
given this DVD to so many clients and friends over the
holidays that I’ve included it in my
Web Store! Similar
to my own experience, they really enjoy it and report
increased vitality, stamina and physical and mental
alertness and flexibility.
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Our website
continues to grow and you’ll find new tips and suggestions for
finding more balance and satisfaction in your work and personal
life. Almost every week we’re adding worksheets and other valuable
tools from my various workshops and, as my associates and I find
books and interesting links on the web, we’re adding these and other
helpful resources to my online
Resource Library.
I welcome your
comments on my newsletter or web site — I’d really like to know what
you think. And if you’ve got an inspiring story or some great
strategies that have worked for you for bringing your dreams to
life, send them along — you just might see them in a future
newsletter.
To discuss ways
that I, or any of our associates, can personally help you live or
uncover the passion of your dreams in your life and career, please
contact me directly or through our
website.
Richest
blessings,
Dr.
Donna
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