When Failure is a GiftWritten by Angie Dixon
I wanted, for many many years, to be a mystery writer. Finally I wrote a mystery novel. I got a best-selling novelist to be my mentor and help me with rewrite. I got an agent. They sent book out. And sent it out. And sent it out. And it went nowhere.I tried writing another book, and my mentor told me to dump it and start a third book. I did, but couldn’t get into idea and book never materialized. Which is all okay, because today I’m a life coach, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and which allows me time to write if I want to, and I never would have gotten here if that book had been published. You see, I can write part-time while I coach as a profession, but if that first book had been published, I would have seen myself as a mystery writer and nothing else. That’s mindset I had at time—“I’m going to be a mystery writer full-time.”
| | What Being vs Doing Really MeansWritten by Angie Dixon
So often we hear about “being” rather than “doing.” Often it’s given as advice when we are overwhelmed, overworked and overstressed. “You should just ‘be.’ You’re doing too much.” Well, yes, obviously, but what does that MEAN? How do we just be?I happen to think people saying this don’t even really know what it means and are just giving it as a platitude, trying to help, but it doesn’t help if you don’t know how to implement it. Here are some ways in which being is different from doing. Hearing vs. Listening If I really “hear” you, I understand what you’re saying and, more importantly, what you’re not saying. I grasp full import of your words and silences. I’m not just listening with one ear. I’m really getting you. Learning vs. Studying I can study all day long, but if at end of day all I really know is what’s going to be on test, it doesn’t do me much good. Learning is about absorbing what’s being taught. Once I’ve learned something, I don’t need to study it next time. Coming to Believe vs. Deciding Decisions can be arrived at two ways—by coming to believe this is right course, or by “deciding” this is right course. You’ve heard term “executive decision.” Often that means I’ve just decided something without reference to any outside sources or even to what I really think. By coming to believe something, I’ve made an authentic, informed decision.
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