Monday, January 31, 2011

Choose Goals and Achieve Them

Greetings Purposeful Ones!

There was a time when having goals and writing them down was the popular thing to do. There were books, workshops, and the like. Now people have coaches which I think would work better because you have some you have to be accountable to or at least honest with as to why you haven't made much progress.

Since many of us don't have coaches, maybe the old fashion way can still work for us. The only challenge is however how to actually work towards your goals. The author of the book "choosing happiness" gives some wonderful how to's on page 141. Your action steps are to do them.

However the questions for today are:
. Do you feel you have a purpose in life? What is it?
. Do you feel you are on point?
. What would you like to do that you are not doing? What would it take for you to do it?
. How do you approach achieving your goals? Wat is your process?

Well, enough. I have things to do today!
Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Friday, January 28, 2011

Who needs goals?

Greetings awakened ones!

Well, it is almost the end of the first month of this new year and the question is, have you maintained or followed through on those intentions and resolutions you set on January 1st?

We all love the idea of goal setting or making promises or stating our intentions but do we actualize them? Do they serve us?

For goal setting to be effective our author says: it needs to be "Authenic" - they need to be goals you desire for yourself, not to impress or please someone else. They need to be "Inspirational" - they should stimulate your sense of potential. They need to be "Realistic" - a stretch but not entirely out of reach. They need to be "Clarifying" - they let you sort out your priorities and act decisively. And, they need to be "Integrating" - they align you with your purpose and values.

The questions for the day are:
. Did you set any goals at the beginning of the year and, have you kept them?
. Are your goals, intentions, wishes, promises, hopes serving you? Have they inspired you to action?
. What is standing in the way of you actualizing your goals, dreams, etc.?

Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Thursday, January 27, 2011

More than your business card

Greetings Beloved Ones!

I remember when everyone would whip out their business cards at social events, meetings, or any gathering. It was "hip" to have a card. However, as we more than likely know, you are more than a name or position on a card.

If we are not careful, there may be a tendency to become identified with the job we do or the position we hold. We loose ourselves in something that looks impressive. But the question is who are you really? Do you know?

The questions for today are:
. What gives your life meaning?
. What is the imprint you will leave behind when you depart this life?
. Who are you?

Enjoy the quiet of the day and make it a valuable one!
Rev. Sylvia

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

First Be Who You Really Are

Greetings Beloved Ones!

We have a saying that you are always "in the right place at the right time", (or else, you would be somewhere else). But what about the work you do or the job you have? Do you feel like you are in your right place, doing the right thing for you?

The author states, "It is a privilege to have work that supports your grow as a human being; it is a privilege to have work that lets you make a social contribution. It's a privilege to have work that challenges and extends you. Most of all, it is a privilege to have work that reflects your values and develops them" !

Wow!!!! This really hits home because outside of the tremendous sress and work load, I truly am privileged to be able to do the work I do because I could say yes to all of the above statements!

The questions for today are:
. Do you feel your work supports your growth as a human being?
. Do you feel your work offer the opportunity to make a social contribution?
. Does your work challenge and extend you? In what way?
. Does your work reflect your values or develops them?

Well, make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Not Ambitious Enough?

Greetings Awakened Ones!

Your life is your ultimate creation! What kind of life are you creating?

Some people may be overly ambitious and others not ambitious enough. They are just rolling along not concerned about going or getting anywhere. While it is fine to "go with the flow", we may want to choose what river we are in!

It is ok for us to choose what kind of life we want to live, what direction we want to go in, and where we would like to end up!

Action Step: Let yourself fully imagine the life you would want to be living. Until you can imagine it, you will never achieve it.

The question for today is:
. What would you most like to be remembered for, especially by the people who love you most?

Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Monday, January 24, 2011

Workplace Insights

Good Day Beloved Ones!

Let's continue our thoughts on ambition. What is it and are you in touch with your own ambitions in life? There are so many driving forces in our lives and when we are not aware of them they simply drives us more. What is important is to understand whether our ambitions are moving us to good places in our lives or are we leaving people lying in the wake of our prescence? Are we getting somewhere and finding when we arrive we are empty and have no one to share our achievements with?

The questions to consider are :
. How do you define ambition?
. Can you identify the areas where you feel driven to succeed?
. Are you competitive or cooperative? (honesty please)
Where you see yourself in your workplace in relationship to other's positions? Are you comfortable there?

Well, make it a valuable day! Blessings!
Rev. Sylvia

Friday, January 21, 2011

Fresh Ambitions

God's Day To You!

Well, let's continue talking about ambition and what it is you believe drives you in life. Is it all about success? And what are you trying so hard to succeed at? And, are you happy? Do you have enough time for your inner life and are youngest as ambitious about relaxing and discovering the joy of living?

This is all about helping us to remember that we have choice! We do not have to live life unconsciously or frantically or without time to savor the freshness of life!

The author gives us plenty of questions to ask ourselves today:
. Who am I trying to please/impress/persuade through my ambitions?
. Do my ambitions express and support the best of who I am?
. What and who do I need to sacrifice to achieve this ambition?
. Am I choosing my ambitions or are they choosing me?
. Could I achieve my ambitions less painfully - driven by delight in the process rather than anxiety about the outcome?

I hope you are able to dig deep and see what comes up and if you think you have no ambitions, look again.

Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Reviewing Ambition

God's day to you!

Everybody wants to suceed. From early on we are given the message that we should strive to not only be good, but to do good; to be good at everything we do; (Which of is next to impossible!). Yet we drive ourselves as if our very lives depended on it.

The questions to consider are:
. What is success to you ?
. What drives you in your life?
. Would you say you are ambitious? How does it show up in your life?
. How do you handle failure?
. What is your greatest failure or embarrassment?

Take a look and make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Quantity Time

God's Day to you!

Wow, where did the time go? I bet you have said that a thousand times. And yes, time is moving quickly and it seems that there aren't enough hours in a day to do all that we need and want to do.

Our plates are so full that we are out of touch with the joy and beauty and grace of life. The author states that we feel as if we are slaves to time and that we have forgotten that we have choice! We can choose go do things differently so our quality of life shows up differently!

The questions for today are:
. Can you identify what is driving your life? What is driving you to do more and more?
. What are the choices you can make to have your life on a better track of grace and ease? What are you willing to change?
. How are you choosing to live your life?
. What happens when you don't have quality nor quantity time for you life?

Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Take your body to work

Greetings Awakened Ones,

Wherever you go, there you are! On most mornings you get up, get dressed and go to work. You pamper you body in preparation for work and once there you forget about it. Your mind takes over and begins to fill itself with tasks, ideas, frustrations, concerns, problems to be solved, etc. Before you know it, your body is tense or reacting with a headache or some other physical malady.

We have to also bring our bodies to work and give them some attention when the mind begins to over work itself. Stretch, do so breathing exercise, take a walk, shake up you body and focus on it for a while. It will balance you and relax you as well. It will energize you and have a centering effect. Bring your body to work or any activity you are engaged in that requires your attention.

The questions for the day are:
. How do you soothe yourself at work? Do you do anything physical?
. What do you do to help you remember that you are a threefold being, Spirt, Soul (mind), and Body? How do intergrate the three while at work?
. Do you love your body?

Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Monday, January 17, 2011

Workplace Values in Practice

God' Day to you!

The vaules listed in today's reading were awesome! If we could apply just some of them consistently in our lives, we would be transformed! I am thinking about asking the author if I can put them on a poster.

Before heading out to work, what if you identified or set your intentions for the day regarding how you were going to treat people that day, or, how you were going to respond to people no matter what the circumstance, or how you were not going to "make" anybody wrong even if they made a thousand mistakes, or if you were going to be solution oriented only, or you were going to challenge all of your assumptions that day.

I bet you would have an outstanding day. So...why not look at the list, pick a few statements and commit to applying them today and see what happens!

The question for today is, what is your favorite nugget on the list of workplace values in practice (p. 127)

Make it a valuable day!
Rev. Sylvia

Friday, January 14, 2011

Paid to Grow

Greetings Beloved Ones!

Think about this, every experience, every circumstance, every situation, is designed to provide an opportunity for growth. Life is about understanding and working with our "growing edges". And where is the place that offers us the most time to have those experiences, circumstances and situations? Well our place of work of course!

We spent a great part of our waking hours at work. We engage the most amount of people at work. The majority of our tasks and responsibilities are carried out at work. So.....with all of this happening at work, the work place gives us the perfect opportunity to work on, and work out our growing edges. Ha! We are being paid to grow! How good is that!

So, the questions for the day are:
. What are the values that you most need in your particular work place?
. What are the life lessons you are learning at work? What are your growing edges?
. What or who challenges you most and what does that say about where you are and what you need most?

Well, go and grow! Oh, and do a little work also.
Make it a great day!
Rev. Sylvia

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Workplace Values

Great day beloveds!

Well, i spent an hour on the first blog, lost it, so here is a shortened version of today's lesson. The lesson itself is so powerful because I think we all have been there, done that!

The author states, " behaving in ways that feel compliant rather than authentic in order to keep a job or gain a promotion can add huge stress to your life". And yet, who among us has not done that or felt that? We can't really say what we feel about the company, or our boss, or the unwritten policies because we don't want to rock the boat, or stand out negatively, or worse, loose our job!

How do you maintain your inner integrity and your job at the same time? Well, you just might have to be courageous enough to find a way to be authentic in your values and true to yourself and to bring those same qualities to your work environment. It is when we try to separate who we are from what we are doing that we find challenges or conflict between our stated values and visible actions!

The questions for today are:
. Do you have any internal conflict of values in your work environment? And if so, how are you handling it? How is it affecting you?

The questions the author posed at the beginning of this lesson are oh so powerful so be sure to address them:
. Did you choose your current profession, or did other people or life choose for you?
. How do you behave toward colleagues, bosses, clients and customers?
. How do you view your paid work in relation to all other areas of your life?
. Is your "work" your primary identification?i.e. (lawyer, teacher, secretary...)
. Do you give your best self to work, and bring home what's left over?

Well, have a great day and work "with Spirit"!
Rev. Sylvia

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Resolve Conflict

Good Day Beloved Ones!

The moment we talk of relationships or just two people interacting, we must also talk about conflict. Conflict has become a dirty word and yet it really is a natural phenomena. It is how we usually handle conflict that gives it a bad reputation.

What if we truly learn conflict resolution skills from an early age and had to continues the learning steadily through our educational training. We most likely would have learned to engage the process in a less attack a d defend mode. We could listen more, empathize more, understand more and be understood more.

The author gives some very good tips on engaging in healthy dialogue with whomever you have had a disagreement or conflict; practiced them the next time you are at odds with someone.

The questions for the day are:
. How do you deal with a difficult person in your life?
. How do you get your point across in a difficult relationship?
. Do you avoid conflict or do you end to meet it head on?

I'm sure you have plenty to reflect upon. Make it a peaceful day!
Rev. Sylvia

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Harmony at home

God's Day Beloved Ones!

Our author say, "We generally feel most 'at home' with people who more or less share our most treasured values". Well that is probably true, after all, "like attracts like". But then again, it is also true that "opposites attracts".

However, have you ever found yourself in a relationship where you thought it was "like alike" attracting, but what you end up with is just the "opposite"? And, you find yourself in conflict after conflict.
Or, you may wonder how it is that two people who are complete opposites, are together and get along well. It's the values! They share things that are
extremely important to them other than just the physical attraction.

The questions for the day are:
. Examine the people closest to you an see if you can identify values you may have in common.
. Likewise, examine the people you may be in conflict with and see if you can identify uncommon or opposites values. (of course this is all subjective but it may offerngood insight).

May it a wonderful day!
Rev. Sylvia

Monday, January 10, 2011

Considering Forgiveness

God Day Beloved Ones!

Well, today's topic is right on time considering the recent display of horrendous violence and insanity that is creeping into the fabric of our everyday lives.

How can we find more ways to be tolerant, inclusive, understanding and accepting of diversity? How can we become more open hearted and forgiving of our humanity and lack of demonstrated perfection?

Well, our author asks us to "consider forgiveness". She states, "our development, including the development of our highest values, entirely depends on how we deal with the hardest, toughest, and least welcome situations in our lives; not the easiest. In stretching ourselves to forgive others, we may also learn something vital about forgiving ourselves".

Our questions for today are:
. What was the hardest thing you had to forgive?
. What is it that you are still holding onto thatnyou need to let go of?
. Why is it so hard to forgive?
. What does forgiveness mean to you?

Make it a loving day!
Rev. Sylvia

Friday, January 7, 2011

A Betrayal of Values

God Day Beloveds!

I bet it is safe to say that all of us have felt the sting of betrayal in our lives. Someone we trusted violated our confidence, talked about us behind our back, was inappropriate with someone we love, set us up in some way. It happens, and while it happens in various degrees, it hurts none the less.

Our author says, "When you have assumed that you shared values with someone close to you, maybe someone who shared your life in an intimate way, and those values are betrayed, this causes suffering of quite a different order".

Our questions for today are:
. When was the last time you felt betrayed and how did you handle it?
. Have you ever betrayed someone? What was going on within you ?

So, honesty is the name of the game today!

Be Blessed,
Rev. Sylvia

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The "Greatest" values are there for you

Greetings Beloved Ones!

What you think about affects your state of being and your state of being will find its way into expression or plain and simple, into your life experiences.

Our questions to consider are:
. What do you think about yourself?
. How do you see yourself in relationship to high values or lofty values?
. What is the best quality you possess?
. What is the highest potential have reached as a result of activating and expressing your highest value?

Hmm, looks like we have to go deep within to answer these questions. Happy traveling!
Rev. Sylvia

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

One Value at a Time

Good Day Precious Ones,

How do you make a trip of a thousand miles? One step at a time! We are all familiar with that saying. Yet I know that often times we want to rush ahead of where we are to get the place we want to be. But doing that causes us to missmthe joy of the journey!

Being present in the moment and to the moment will certainly help us not get too far ahead of ourselves. If we can deal with one thing at a timenyounwould be surprised at how much we can accomplish. I know the emphasis is on "multi-tasking" these days but there is nothing like being fully present in the moment. It actually gives you more time, greater clarity, and more energy.

The questions for the day are:
. What is the one value that you will focus on today?
. How will you stay focused on your tasks at hand when you have a million things to do?
. Looking at your needs today, what is the one value that will support you?

Make it a positive day !
Rev. Sylvia
.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Wholehearted Living

Greetings Beloved Ones!

As we approach this new year we are filled with hope for the best. Yet we all know that life brings us it's fullness; joy and sorrow, ups and downs, bright moments and dark moments.

We all know how to enjoy the happy moments in life however, how do we get through the challenging and darker moments?

Our author says, "To live wholeheartedly is a value. And it takes genuine, minute by minute courage. The great thing to know is that courage is alwayslearned on the run and never a moment
before it's needed".

What that says is that we will usually muster up the courage, know how, and energy to do what must be done in the moment. God always shows up when we need it and in a way that is for our highest good.

The advise for the day is, "Pay attention to what will support you rather than to what's defeating you"

The questions for today are:
. What values do you use to move you out of a low state od mind?
. How do you embrace the wholeness of life and deal with all it brings?
. How do you cultivate the courage to recognize that you are enough--that you are worthy of love, belonging, and joy?

Have a great day!
Rev. Sylvia

Monday, January 3, 2011

Crazy Contradictions

Happy New Year and many blessings!

Well, I am back on line! Had some connections issues but they are all worked out now. I wonder what that all could mean metaphysically? Hmmm...

Well today's lesson is about crazy contradictions! If we are honest, we ace go admit that we too have conflicting values. We too have mixed messages we tell ourselves and others.

But the truth of the matter is that we will yield mixed results in our lives as a result of our mixed consciousness! How can we come to terms with the things we say we value and the things we do that are in contradiction to them? I guess being aware is a good place to start.

The questions for today are:
. Consider whether you are happy with your existing private values. Do they truly represent who you are, or are they a replication of values held by others who have influence you in your life?
. If so, are you satisfied with that, or do you think that it might be a good idea to change some to more suitably reflect your own sense of self and purpose in life?
. How can you move from giving lip service to your values to actually start living by them when even when it isn't convenient?
. Are you are of your conflicting values? Can you identify a situation where you experience a contradiction in hour stated values?

Well, make it a great day!
Rev. Sylvia