What Can I Do? How Can I Get What I Want?Written by Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology, The EQ Coach
Aunt Bettie agreed to look after my house while I went on vacation. She isn’t my Aunt Bettie, she’s Etta’s Aunt Betty. Etta is my neighbor across street, who’s a doctor, and Aunt Bettie, who is in her late 70’s, comes over and takes care of Etta’s garden. When I returned from my vacation, Aunt Bettie had taken my hanging basket across street to care for it, and things otherwise looked fine. As I chatted with her, to thank her for looking after house, she was pulling plants out of Etta’s garden, live healthy plants. “Giving others room to breathe,” she told me when I inquired – after all it isn’t that easy to grow anything in South Texas in August – “so there can be new growth and life.” Hmm, I thought. “I’m dying to get my hands on YOUR garden,” she said. No fool, I jumped on that one! I had vague misgivings about my garden, knowing something should be done, but that was as far as it went. I have other priorities. Within 5 minutes Aunt Bettie was over at my house with her gloves, lopper and shears, pruning and pulling and teaching me. An hour later we had removed a lot of this and that, including pruning all roses down to core, and as we stood back and surveyed area she said, “There. Now it looks like it’s ready for something to happen. And all these things will come back fuller and stronger. You need to prune.” “In my life,” I asked, as she is a wise woman and doesn’t miss a trick. She gave me a wink and went on with her digging. Of course I applied this to my life, and to my profession – coaching. It fits right in with tolerations, removing obstacles, and attraction principle. Also with taking action – taking first step. Most important to me was to realize that I would be doing what needed doing if I knew what it was and how to get started. Gardening is Aunt Bettie’s world, as coaching is mine, and she simply knows her stuff and knows what to do. And most important thing she did was come over there with right tools and do it with me.
| | The Joy of SpiritWritten by Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
The following article is offered for free use in your ezine, print publication or on your web site, so long as author resource box at end is included. Notification of publication would be appreciated.Title: The Joy of Spirit Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D. E-mail: mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com Copyright: © 2003 by Margaret Paul Web Address: http://www.innerbonding.com Word Count: 645 Category: Spiritual Growth/Inspirational THE JOY OF SPIRIT By Margaret Paul, Ph.D. I have counseled individuals, couples, families and business partners for past 35 years and authored eight published books. All this experience has resulted in development of a profound healing process, called Inner Bonding, which anyone can learn and use throughout day (free course available - see resource box at end of article). One of results of practicing Inner Bonding process is much more joy in your life. What brings you joy? What really brings you joy, as opposed to what you think brings you joy? We have all been taught that we will be happy when we: find our soulmate, make money, work at something we love. Or, we will be happy and fulfilled when we have a house, have a child, do service. Yet I have worked with people who have and do all of above and are still not happy, and I know of people who have little or none of above and are frequently joyful. You might try to find your joy with substances such as alcohol or drugs, but I have never met anyone using these substances whose energy was truly joyful. You might try to find your joy through getting love from others, or through sacrificing yourself and caretaking others, but I have never met anyone who was a taker or caretaker who was truly joyful. So, what creates joy? Joy is not result of what you do. Rather, you can find your soulmate, make money, work at something you love, have a house, have a child, or do service with or without joy. Joy is a state of being that enters your heart when you are open to learning and taking loving care of yourself.
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