Tag: United States

Want to experience peace of mind? Blogger David Kanigan and I both advocate learning Getting Things Done [GTD] principles and tools to help accomplish that objective. Follow the ‘reblogged’ link to read his post…

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Live & Learn's avatarLive & Learn

From David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, Productive Living, March 2012:

“If you want to have the feeling of freedom regularly, you’ve got to get used to it. Literally.

What’s the greatest obstacle to living in the relaxed state of mind that is possible with the methods I coach? People simply aren’t used to it. Anything your nervous system experiences as unique or unusual will likely be “rejected” unconsciously in short order, because it is not in the comfort zone.

People are more comfortable being uncomfortable than being comfortable, if they have been uncomfortable for an extended period of time. It’s simply an ingrained pattern, and familiarity is more comfortable than novelty. Most people have for so long experienced the gnawing sense of anxiety about all the un-captured and un-clarified “work” of their life, that’s what they’re used to. Then, no matter how clean and in control they…

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Freedom

POSTER-SEEK AND FIND

Many of us were oppressed and victimized as children. As adults, we may continue to keep ourselves oppressed.

Some of us don’t recognize that caretaking and not set­ting boundaries will leave us feeling victimized.

Some of us don’t understand that thinking of ourselves as victims will leave us feeling oppressed.

Some of us don’t know that we hold the key to our own freedom. That key is honoring ourselves, and taking care of ourselves.

We can say what we mean, and mean what we say.

We can stop waiting for others to give us what we need and take responsibility for ourselves. When we do, the gates to freedom will swing wide.

Walk through.

Today, I will understand that I hold the key to my freedom. I will stop participating in my oppression and victimization. I will take responsibility for myself, and let others do as they may.

Source: March 9: Freedom | Language of Letting Go

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Master your Gmail!

Image representing Gmail as depicted in CrunchBase

If Gmail is so easy, why do people still have hundreds — thousands — of unread emails in their inboxes? In part it’s because technology without good thinking and tactics means nothing…

I teach my students that email should be for ‘just in time’ information — information that affects relationships and revenue. Everything else belongs in Google Reader! My friend Dana VanDen Heuvel of The Docking Station talked me into revealing my secrets for effective email handling at an event that happens next week. Here’s Dana’s press release…

“The Docking Station, Green Bay’s first Coworking space, is inviting business professionals to take back their Inbox and attend a free course on how to master Gmail to be more effective and efficient.

“An overwhelming inbox decreases efficiency and productivity,” said Dana VanDen Heuvel, co-owner of The Docking Station. “There are quick and easy solutions to manage your email and make it work for you. A lot of people dread opening their email. This course will help alleviate email stress and make your inbox about creating relationships and bringing in revenue.”

The Gmail course will be taught by Todd Lohenry, owner of e1evation, llc, an international consulting firm that has been educating and empowering business owners and professionals for the past 7 years. “I spent two hours with Todd that will save me at least a gazillion hours. His patient coaching and time-saving processes helped me get to an inbox of zero that same day,” said Carrie Klassen, Creative Director for Pink Elephant Academy for Entrepreneurs.

The Gmail course is part of a series of free events that The Docking Station hosts as part of their mission of being an educational resource to the entrepreneur community. “Our hope is to bring professionals together and connect them to thought leaders and resources that can help them increase productivity and grow their business,” said VanDen Heuvel.

The Docking Station is one of approximately three hundred Coworking spaces in the United States that is redefining the way independent professional work. It was founded by small business owners and entrepreneurs Dana VanDen Heuvel of The MarketingSavant Group and Peter Nugent of Enlighten Financial, LLC. The Docking Station is located at 111 S. Broadway in Downtown Green Bay. To register for the Gmail course, go to http://www.thedockingstation.net/events/ or for more information call The Docking Station at (920) 644-3625.”

If you can’t make it to Green Bay, try my ebook — you can find it online at http://elevation.company/pna. Just click the register link, provide a name and email address and you’ll be on your way to a more productive tomorrow…

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English: Facebook icon Español: Ícono de Facebook

Here’s something all-American content marketers can relate to!

What makes up the ‘meat’ of an effective content strategy? Digital Strategist Mark Smicklas decided to illustrate what he believes is crucial with this amazing infographicinspired by the American Classic.

Source: Food for Thought: The Content Strategy Burger [INFOGRAPHIC] | The Content Strategist

Now I’m hungry!

Open-mouthed smile

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Get Out of the Nest

English: Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)...
Image via Wikipedia

The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and com­mit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us.
— Hannah Whitall Smith

Sometimes, the pressure comes from within us. Sometimes, it’s external. That job folds. The relationship stops working. Alcohol and drugs stop working. What am I going to do?

Oh, I see. God’s teaching me to fly, again.

Thank you, God, for pushing me out of the nest.

Source: January 31: Get Out of the Nest | Language of Letting Go

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The power of signatures in email and tools for taking notes…

The power of signatures in email and tools for taking notes…

http://storify.com/e1evation/tips-for-thursday-on-1-26-2012

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Visual Loop – How To Find And Train a Virtual Assistant

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Yesterday I spoke at an in-service day for teachers at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College on the topic of social media for academic thought leaders. Here’s my preso…

Publish or Perish 2.0 http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=nwtcpreso-120111043946-phpapp02&stripped_title=publish-or-perish-20&userName=toddlohenry

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Practice Detachment

Melody Beattie shares this on detachment today…

“‘My husband is using cocaine,” a woman said. “He won’t listen to me when I tell him to stop. So, how about this?

I’ll pop the movie Blow, about cocaine abuse, into the VCR and just keep playing it over and over until he gets the message.”

“How about this,” I said. “You go to an Al-Anon meeting and get some help for yourself.”

The first time we’re exposed to the value of detaching, it can seem so improbable and unlikely. After a while, we begin to see how well detaching works. When we let go of what we cannot change, the other person begins to experience his or her own consequences. The other person may or may not do what we want them to do, but because we’ve been restored to sanity; a clear path opens for us. The things we do actually begin to help.

The first time we practice detachment is the hardest. Later, it becomes easier.

Challenge: No matter how long we have practiced the value of detachment, recognizing when we need to do it can still be the hardest part. « December 30: Taking care of Yourself” Source: December 31: Practice Detachment | Language of Letting Go

Of all the lifeskills I’ve been working on, detachment has been the hardest for me but I find the most value in learning how to use it.

In the back of my mind, I’m working on a post called ‘Everything I need to know about detachment I learned from Boo’. Boo is my cat and I love her to pieces but I don’t expect her to act like a dog. Sometimes when I’m ready to play with her, she’s not ready to play with me and that’s ok. It’s easy for me to understand healthy detachment when I think about Boo. Not so easy when I think about my wife. But I’m learning…

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Making New Year’s Resolutions? Ask Yourself 6 Questions.

The Happiness Project
Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

I just stumbled upon Gretche Rubin’s ‘Happiness Project’ the other day. She has some good thoughts on forming resolutions…

Forty-four percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, and I know I always do. I’m more inclined to make resolutions than ever, in fact, because if my happiness project has convinced me of anything, it has convinced me that resolutions—made right—can make a huge difference in boosting happiness.

So how do you resolve well? This is trickier than it sounds. Here are some tips for making your resolutions as effective as possible.

Source: The Happiness Project: Making New Year’s Resolutions? Ask Yourself 6 Questions.

Go to the source if you want her 6 questions…

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Edwards’s Resolutions in Seven Categories

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great A...
Image via Wikipedia

Jonathan Parnell shares this:

Back in 1723 Jonathan Edwards chartered a list of resolutions for his life. 70 of them. And he read them once a week.

Matt Perman writes:

[Edwards] shows us that a well lived life doesn’t just happen; it requires intentionality. And intentionality manifests itself in certain “mechanisms” that help us maintain our intentionality. Edwards’ resolutions are one example of such a “mechanism.”

So Edwards is a good example not just of a life that is lived well, but also of the “practical side” of how to actually build that intentionality into our lives, rather than just letting it remain a vague wish that never takes deep root and makes a real difference.

Refusing to be vague, Matt has organizedJonathan Edwards’s resolutions into seven specific categories. This approach is a fresh way to help us apply their wisdom where we live. The categories include:

  • Overall Life Mission
  • Good Works
  • Time Management
  • Relationships
  • Suffering
  • Character
  • Spiritual Life

The New Year is upon us. Read through Edwards’s resolutions. Print them out. Consider adopting them as your own for a Christ-exalting, God-entranced vision of all things.

Source: Edwards’s Resolutions in Seven Categories – Desiring God

How will you guide your thinking as you prepare for a new year? Better days don’t just come from singing a song…

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Don’t ask what the world needs

Dr. Howard Thurman
Image via Wikipedia

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

– Howard Thurman, was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader.

Source: Today’s Quotes: Go Through The Rite Of Passage!

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Me??? NUTS??? Not today people, not today!

Mr. Peanut

Adrienne shares a great post over at ‘12 Steps; Think About It’ and it gives me a tool I’m going to hold on to for a long time…

When things get crazy in my house and I feel like shouting, “Stop the world I want to get off!” I have often struggled to find something that makes me stop and think.  Sure, I can say, “Stop!” or I can think “Stop!” but the world still keeps going around. What that does to me is put what is at odds with what I want as the focus in my mind.  That doesn’t work for me.   Most often the stop the world I want to get off feeling  has to do with my children.  You know, they get to that age where it doesn’t matter what all the evidence says, what the book says, what the rest of the world knows is correct, or what the teachers say, in their eyes they are RIGHT.  Or they are at that age where their answer is always “No!”.  With four children under 12 this happens quite frequently in my house.  So I do my best to try to move forward. Usually with a statement such as, “I’m going nuts!”

Yep, you guessed it.  Well now when I say that I will forever start laughing.  NUTS now means…Not Using The Steps.  Best acronym ever!  Because truly when the world gets crazy around me and I start to feel it affect me, that is what I’m doing, or not doing to be more precise.

So think about this for a minute. Think about in our lives all the opportunities we might have to use this acronym. And if you think of more please feel free to share the phrases!

Someone does or says something completely incomprehensible to us..and we think “That’s NUTS!” We find it incomprehensible because we’re “Not Using The Steps.”

Source: Me??? NUTS??? Not today people, not today! « 12 Steps – Think About It!

When you feel yourself getting NUTS, remember that just for today you can do something for 12 hours that would appall you if you felt you had to keep it up for a lifetime. Read more of the ‘just for todays’ here…

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Appreciating ourselves…

LOVE and CARE for you , my Dearest!!!“We are the greatest thing that will ever happen to us. Believe It. It makes life much easier.” – Codependent No More

It is time to stop this nonsense of running around picking on ourselves. We may have walked through much of our life apologizing for ourselves either directly or indirectly feeling less valuable than others, believing that they know better than we do, and believing that somehow others are meant to be here and we are not. We have a right to be here. We have a right to be ourselves. We are here. There is a purpose, a reason, and an intention for our life. We do not have to apologize for being here or being who we are. We are good enough, and deserving. Others do not have our magic. We have our magic. It is in us. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in our past. We all have a past, woven with mistakes, successes, and learning experiences. We have a right to our past. It is ours. It has worked to shape and form us. As we progress on this journey, we shall see how each of our experiences will be turned around and used for good. We have already spent too much time being ashamed, being apologetic, and doubting the beauty of ourselves. Be done with it. Let it go. It is an unnecessary burden. Others have rights, but so do we. We are neither less than nor more than. We are equal. We are who we are. That is who we were created and intended to be. That, my friend, is a wonderful gift. God, help me own my power to love and appreciate myself. Help me give myself validity instead of looking to others to do that.” Source; November 29: Appreciating Ourselves | Language of Letting Go

These words should not be as important to me as they are, but they are! Hey, relatives — you know who you are: “Others have rights, but so do we. We are neither less than nor more than. We are equal. We are who we are. That is who we were created and intended to be.” This holiday season will be the best in a long time because I’m giving myself permission not to play a role in their drama or buy into their bullsh!t…

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Crossed fingers and coercion

I first became aware of the international ‘sign of coercion’ when I saw this picture in 2005…

Here’s the backstory;

“The picture shows that this soldier has been thru Survival School and learned his lessons well. He’s giving the sign of “coercion” with his left hand. These hand signs are taught in survival school to be used by POW’s as a method of posing messages back to our intelligence services who may view the photo or video. This guy was obviously being coerced into shaking hands with Hillary Clinton. It’s ironic how little she knew that he would so inform us about the photo—perhaps because she’s never understood our military to begin with.” Source: Picture of a U.S. soldier shaking hands with Hillary Clinton but not happy about it-Truth!

All of this to explain my current Facebook profile picture. I lost a bet to my son’s girlfriend’s father last year when the Packers lost to the Lions 0-7. He was kind enough to purchase the hat for the picture, so at least it didn’t cost me anything except my pride and a few hundred Facebook friends in Green Bay…

As good as the Lions are playing this season, I think we’ll still end up having the last laugh in February. In the meantime, I’ve got a great hat that actually fits — hard for me to come by — that I can use for mucking the stalls, etc., when I’m working on the farm…

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Positive Energy

“It’s so easy to look around and notice what’s wrong.

It takes practice to see what’s right.

Many of us have lived around negativity for years. We ye become skilled at labeling what’s wrong with other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, ourselves, our conduct, our recovery.

We want to be realistic, and our goal is to identify and accept reality. However, this is often not our intent when we practice negativity. The purpose of negativity is usually annihilation.

Negative thinking empowers the problem. It takes us out of harmony. Negative energy sabotages and destroys. It has a powerful life of its own.

So does positive energy. Each day, we can ask what’s right, what’s good about other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, ourselves, our conduct, our recovery.

Positive energy heals, conducts love, and transforms. Choose positive energy.

Today, God help me let go of negativity. Transform my beliefs and thinking, at the core, from negative to positive. Put me in harmony with the good. ” Source; November 19: Positive Energy | Language of Letting Go

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Enough for everyone…

Bondi Beach
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One sweltering summer day, I sought escape from the heat at a nearby beach.  Lying there with my lemonade, I looked at all the people soaking up the sun.  No matter how many people were on that beach, there would be enough sun for everyone.  I realized that the same was true of God’s love and guidance.  No matter how many people seek a Higher Power’s help, there is always enough to go around.  To someone who believed that there was never enough time, money, love, or anything else, this was amazing news!

This awareness was tested at an Al-Anon meeting when someone spoke about his Higher Power with a personal love and intensity that matched my own.  I felt as if his intimacy with God would leave less love for me.  But I think that the opposite is true.  I often feel closest to my “Higher Power” when I hear others share about how well a Higher Power has taken care of them.  Today I try to remember that there is enough love for us all…

via 12stepsthinkaboutit.org

Follow the ‘via’ link above for another recovery blog that I think you’ll enjoy…

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Sometimes, Relief is Just Around the Bend

Two people on the shore of the Pacific Ocean
Image via Wikipedia

I needed to go into the city for errands. It was a chilly morning at the beach, not even 70 degrees. I put on my jacket, got in the car, and headed out. I made the turn onto the canyon road and was struck by the beauty of the fog burning off, playing peekaboo with the canyon walls. It was 94 and sunny when I arrived in town.

I ran my errands and stopped at In-and-Out Burger for lunch. When I got back in the car, the thermometer read 102. It was hot. Traffic was bad, the temperature reached 106 on the freeway, and even the air conditioning didn’t help much.

Finally, I turned back onto the canyon road. The grass was brown and I worried about wildfires they get so bad here.

Soon, I noticed the temperature was down to 94 again, then 90, then 88. The hills turned green. I rounded a corner and could see the Pacific Ocean. The temp was 82. By the time I made it home it was back to 74

I was surprised at the big difference a few miles made. Sometimes, a small change can impact the way we’re feeling a lot. Feeling overwhelmed or pressured? Do something else for a while. Give yourself a treat. Sometimes, the smallest change in our routine can do wonders to change the temperature in our lives.

God, help me see any changes I can make that will have a positive effect on my energy and on the way I feel.

via melodybeattie.com
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Dump it

thues 3
Image by thierry llansades via Flickr

Sometimes, we don’t have one clear feeling to express. We have a bunch of garbage we’ve collected, and we just need to dump.

We may be frustrated, angry, afraid, and sick to death of something all in one ugly bunch. We could be enraged, hurt, overwhelmed, and feeling somewhat controlling and vengeful, too. Our emotional stuff has piled up to an unmanageable degree.

We can go to our journal and write this whole mess of feelings out, as ugly as it looks and as awkward and ungrateful as it feels to put it into words. We can call up a friend, someone we trust, and just spifi all this out over the phone. Or we can stomp around our living room in the privacy of our own home and just dump all this stuff out into the air. We can go for a drive in our car, roll the window down, and dump everything out as we drive through the wilderness.

The important idea here is to dump our stuff when it piles up.

You don’t always have to be that healthy and in control of what you feel. Sometimes, dumping all your stuff is the way to dean things out.

God, help me understand that sometimes the only thing preventing me from moving forward in my life is hanging on to all the stuff that I really need to dump.

via melodybeattie.com
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10 Ways to Get Your Wife to Trust You

Walterignez
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Two brothers live at home with their parents. Don, 17, has a strict curfew. Dan, 16, is never told when to come home. The difference is trust.

Mom and dad know Dan will be home around 10:00. If he’s going to be late, he always calls. But Don never lets them know what he’s up to and he’s lied consistently for years.

For all his openness and detailed communication, Dan feels free as a bird. Don, however, even though he keeps many secrets, always resents what he experiences as a short leash.

Marriage is a similar dance of trust and credibility. Partners who demand “freedom” and push the limits to see how tethered they really are never experience the sense of liberty experienced by those who respect their spouse, keep no secrets, and keep one-another informed about everything.

Non sequitur? Not really. Trust is a sticky issue, but it’s an irreplaceable element if relationships are to experience the kind of freedom and confidence that can only be grounded in mutual respect.

Here are 10 ways to foster trust with your wife…

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Follow the ‘via’ link if you’d like the 10 ways. Me? I’m working on it…

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