It's The Thought That Counts!Written by Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW
Publishing Guidelines: You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as resource box is included with a live link to my site. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. ***********************************************************Title: IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS! Author: Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW Email: mailto:editor@overcoming-depression.com copyright: by Dave Turo-Shields, ACSW, LCSW Web Address: http://www.Overcoming-Depression.com Word Count: 614 Category: Success IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS! Ever have an insight or gain knowledge that both excites and scares you at same time? I am a fact guy. Use decent scientific method, and prove it to me, and you've got my attention. Well, something got my attention this week. We've believed in therapy field for years now how powerfully impactful thoughts are on quality of your daily life. In last year I've gone as far as to publicly say that you manifest everything in your life through your conscious and unconscious thoughts. The good and bad. In doing so, I've put myself out on a limb, without my usual propensity for solid evidence to prove what I was saying to be correct. It "felt" correct so I'd begun believing and teaching this principle - YOUR THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS! We've all been superstitious enough, or around those who are, who've said, "Watch out what you ask for, you just may get it." As it turns out there's a whole lot more truth in this than we ever knew. What's scary is I'm guessing that over 95% or more of you really have no idea "what" you're asking for! What are you asking for in your daily random thought patterns? Let's pretend you have one thought every 15 seconds and you sleep 8 hours each night. That equates to 240 thoughts per minute, 14,400 thoughts per hour and 230,000 thoughts per day! I'm reminded of overdone credit card commercial statement, "What's in your wallet?" If we could spin this for purpose of this article it would be, "What's in your mind?" What percentage of 230,000 thoughts are you consciously aware of? How many are dreadful thoughts? How many are hopeless thoughts? How many have to do with what you'll never achieve? How many are grateful thoughts? How many are loving thoughts? How many are inspiring, future oriented thoughts?
| | Does Being Professional Evolve Your Audience?Written by Steve Davis
Does "Being Professional" Evolve Your Audience? Get that "lightening up" is a mark of real proThe supreme accomplishment is to blur line between work and play. --Arnold Toynbee, author-- We recently attended "MillPond" Festival in Bishop, CA. with a rather eclectic blend of musicians from all over US and Europe in attendance. The “Laura Love Band” presented one of several inspirations we received at this concert. Their level of skill to deliver on promise of evening...great music...was undeniable. Each musician in band was obviously a master. What struck us about this band, in contrast to their great music, was fact that they had to be funniest and goofiest performers we'd ever seen! Laura herself was completely uninhibited. She often acted like a child with her yelling, cackling, and joking in midst of their musical magic. One could actually view an aspect of their behavior as very "unprofessional"...if one wanted to. What I saw was a group who made play of everything, from introduction of a new song, to introduction of band members, to creating drama on stage to get audience participating. They used lyrical and poetic language in their discourse with audience ...everyone loved them and didn't want them to leave stage! This band connected with their audience like none I've ever seen. And they were just having a whole lot of fun being their creative selves...being like children and practicing their craft. Being playful AND being professional...what a concept! Maybe it's just me, but facilitators and presenters who were polished and professional have never left me with any lasting memory or value. So what's this got to do with you and I? I'll have to admit that I have fallen pray in my past to a concern about looking professional while on stage. And by way, just what heck does "being professional,” mean. We say it so often, I felt compelled to pull definition on this: Professional: Conforming to standards of a profession. Having or showing great skill. Stop acting professional, be professional and act alive! I doubt anyone would disagree with fact that a great facilitator will have mastered a certain breadth of skills in management of people and processes. What can get us tripped up though in our desire to "be professional" or "skilled," is trying to "act" professional. Modeling act of "Being Real" is one of greatest gifts a facilitator brings to their group. After all, when was last time that someone "being professional" inspired you to do more, think more, be more, relate more? What does a real pro look like? The real pros I've witnessed have found their authenticity and it shows. They tend to be most comfortable being their quirky, sometimes crazy, selves. They can let go, have fun, and help others cut through their serious masks to see that every problem has at least one solution, and that solutions can be had such that everyone's needs are met. They see world through their own eyes in a fresh new way, resisting pull of groupthink or "conventional wisdom." To be or not to be...professional. We're not saying that you should just show up to your groups unprepared and unprofessional. Get to know your group, do your homework, and be prepared so you can let go and really hear your group, and enjoy them and process. Aim for results, not just professionalism. Some clients, professional as they are, have called you in to help them with problems their professionalism hasn't touched. Some groups who pride themselves on their professional nature also take themselves too seriously. They operate with a lightness deficit, operating in a mode, which I will technically refer to as "Standard Operating Paradigms Paralyzing Effective Directions" (STOPPED). Sometimes a lighter, more serious point of view opens door to creative insights that can best solve their problem. Sometimes we need to "get crazy" to cut through stale thinking.
|
