The Heart Of Successful Living

Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, however old or young, and bounding out of bed because there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that you’re good at—something that’s bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again today.

                                                                                 John Maxwell

  

I believe "honoring" is the foundation of successful living ––the honoring of:

Self

Work

Others

In HONORING SELF. . .we fight against beliefs, ideas, emotions, and fears that work to prevent us from living authentic lives.

In HONORING WORK. . .we set goals, take responsibility, make choices, exert self-discipline, and tackle change.

In HONORING OTHERS. . .we recognize that all life is meeting and so we engage the other in our social and work dealings with care, curiosity, and a readiness to learn.

Through it all, we honor self, work, and the other only when we honor the present, living with self-awareness in the moment.

Something to consider:

1.     How openly and comfortably do you honor your life?

2.     Which of the three arenas––self, work, others––is it easiest for you to honor? 

3.     Which is the hardest for you to honor?

4.     In which of the three arenas do you have a fire-in-the-belly desire to become more successful?

5.     If you were more successful within that arena, how would you act?  How would you communicate––with your self and with others?

6.     Why are you afraid to act and communicate in the way you believe would allow you to be successful?

7.     Acknowledge the fear and THEN practice acting and speaking the way you want to.   

A Handful of Pennies––for 2012!

I’ve revised and renamed my website and am now refocused on spending more time here at my blog! While January is the month for typical entries on goal-setting, I want this first entry to be something special. . .and so I’ve turned to a special friend, Melissa Cistaro.

Melissa is many things and among those many wonderful things is the fact that she’s a writer and storyteller. Over Thanksgiving she had the opportunity to share the following memory on San Francisco’s Public Radio KQED (http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201111280735).

I’m biased. I relish everything Melissa writes and I especially take heart from her “perspective” on hope. My “goal” for 2012 is to hold this perspective close by in all my endeavors. . .and I hope you do, too. . .

Enjoy!


A Handful of Pennies
By Melissa Cistaro

In the early 1980s my father was raising three teenagers, and in deep financial trouble. I'd come home from school to find the water had been shut off. By nightfall the electricity might be off as well.

Now my husband and I have three children and all the financial stress that comes with raising a family and paying a mortgage. Lately, I've been putting groceries on credit. Everyday, unanticipated expenses creep like termites beneath the floorboards.
But here's what I know. Things work out. They just do. It's what my father taught me.

One morning, my father and I were driving to 7-11 before school when he confided that he was in "serious" trouble - and that all the money he had to his name was sitting on the console between our seats. I glanced at a handful of pennies that were sticky with spilled Pepsi. I quizzed him. Was this really all the money we had? Yes.

Then he told me, that no matter what, he was going "to figure things out." He was going to get us out of this mess he was in. In his most desperate hour, he found an unconventional way to save us. He auctioned off the entire contents of our house; furniture, Grandma's antiques, and every collected treasure from our front porch. He used the cash to rescue the house from foreclosure. And, I know it's drastic, but in the big picture we were all okay. We learned that if the ship starts sinking, it's better to throw the less important things overboard. My father still says that after he sold everything he owned, he felt more happy and free than he ever had before.

This current economy is fraught with uncertainty for so many of us. When I'm losing faith, I remember my father's words that morning. For now, I chart a course as best I can, hold on to the sails and believe that there is a way to weather the storm with grace.