Don’t Settle For Less Than Your Personal MissionWritten by JoAnna Carey, The Rat Race Relaxer
Success is not an easy concept to define. What does it take to be successful? How does success look? When should a person feel like a success? Once success is achieved, how can new goals be set without diminishing value of one’s previous accomplishments? Can success ever be realized when time is finite and obligations seem endless? These questions may be answered best with following question, “Who is person defining success?”Take initiative to define your own success by developing a personal mission statement. A personal mission statement is developed by focusing on qualities that make you unique, such as, who you are, what you would like to do, your hopes, fears and wishes. It can be as ambitious or as simplistic as you desire, and it is ever-changing. What if you don’t feel confident enough to create a personal mission statement? Start with a group of goals you would like to accomplish over next year. Keep experimenting until you find an idea that you believe you were meant to relentlessly pursue. Remember, it is your mission and it can change as you grow and excel; you are only limit to what you can become. Still having trouble defining personal success? Imagine that a genie were to grant you three wishes. If all you can come up with is, "I would like to be rich and thin," you haven’t taken enough time to know your true goals. Ask yourself what you would DO if you were rich and thin and you will see a hint of your true mission. Now ask yourself if any of things you named are things you can do right now and, if so, why do you choose not to follow through.
| | It’s the Most Wonderful Gift of the YearWritten by Joy Fisher-Sykes
It’s most wonderful time of year. As we deck halls and fill malls, we’re filled with anticipation, joy, and excitement. The holiday season is upon us, and it’s a special time we choose to show our appreciation and share our love with special people in our lives. However, with all of joy holidays bring, this still tends to be one of most stressful times of year. Why?Could it be because it’s intoxicating to buy loved ones whatever their hearts desire – and we’re willing to rise in dark of night to shop in pre-dawn hours for “gift of year”? Ah, yes, mad dash to 5 a.m. sale where you’re guaranteed to be pushed, run over, stepped on, and after a long wait told “Sorry sold out;” only to then have pleasure of standing in a check out line as long as east coast. Hum. Do you ever question sanity of a day like this in a life that seems to have so little time, and a world that’s filled with job insecurity, war, and economic ups and downs? If so, why do you still feel so torn? Could it be because we’ve allowed marketers, advertisers, manufacturers, and retailers to shape our outlook and convince us to buy into their vision of perfect life? This life where you shop to create perfect body, so you can be with perfect partner, live in perfect house, and drive perfect car to perfect job so we can afford perfect lotions and potions to forever live perfect life. Wake up and smell perfect hype! The holidays are not about being manipulated into believing in some artificially created image that drives sales; it’s about your vision of giving and sharing joy your choose to create. Stress of season happens when we fret about how our gift will be received. A disconnect exists when we fear if our gift is disliked, then somehow we too will be rejected and denied friendship, affection or acceptance we so desire. Although intellectually, we know nothing could be further from truth, we may still feel need to explain away or apologize for our gifts of love. I say if you hold this to be your truth and also believe that worth of your relationships is based on monetary value of gifts exchanged, then I strongly urge you to re-examine and re- evaluate your relationships.
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