Making choices or living on automatic?

It is that time of the year again when we take a moment to look at our life, where we are and what direction we are headed.  When we make conscious choices that reflect what our goals and vision for our life is, we are taking charge of our life and thinking about the  affect of our choices on our future. 

But when we forget about our deepest desires, we may find ourselves running our life from an automatic mode that generally will find us following the patterns of the past.  This trance we find ourselves in takes no effort, it is very familiar to us.  We just go about our days doing the same thing we always do, without consciously considering the  long term vision we have for our lives. 

What about this year 2010?  What if we were to begin choosing our path?  What if we wrote down our real goals –  ones from the heart – and then consciously made choices that brought us closer to those goals?  The other choice is to spend another year asleep at the wheel, allowing our past way of doing things and our fears  to limit our future and take away our dreams.

That is what Live Like a Champion is about.  Taking one year that we choose how we are going to live and reach our goals.  A year that we gather around ourselves a team of others who want to do the same and that encourage each other to do so.  When we choose the direction we are going it always helps to have others around to support our efforts.  Join me this year in Live Like a Champion.

Christmas Jar project

I have been moved by the stories I have heard this season about the use of the ‘Christmas Jar’ by families in communties around the United States.  I would like to propose that we start our own tradition at Balanced Life Skills with all of our classes.  The concept teaches a number of lessons that are valuable for all of us.

One lesson is how a little bit of action on a daily basis adds up to a total that yields great results.

Second lesson I draw from this is an awareness we can develop of the needs of our neighbors and the satisfaction we gain by taking action to be kind to others.

Third lesson is taking a moment each day to contemplate what we are grateful for that day.  I would suggest that taking a moment to consider all we have to be thankful for would reduce the desire we have for wanting more. 

I added a page to our site – Christmas Jar Project.  If anyone in our community would like to join in this project please do so on a personal level or with us.  What a great way of practicing kindness.

Can you teach children empathy?

I found this question to be quite interesting.  It was an article in the New York Times Magazine and I was reminded that it is what we will be discussing in the month of January.  This is a very good time of the year to talk about empathy – thinking of others and not just ourselves.  Watch this column for our starting subject What is empathy and how do we read and understand feelings?

open-mindedness: we are all the same

Over the past couple of weeks I have used an artistic symbol for tolerance when discussing the word open-mindedness.  In reality tolerance is not one of my favorite words.  To me it sounds or feels like we are just putting up with something, while not really having respect for the rights of the other person to think or do things in a manner that is right for them. 

In my studies of both religious and secular teachings, of people from all walks of life, it just amazes me how all of them (that I know of) teach much the same things about how to treat each other and how to be successful in life.  Their cultures may be different, their traditions may be different but the bottom line values, ethics and morals are the same. 

One of the subjects that I enjoy studying is peace, both personal and community.  The teachings of all that I have reviewed all come down to some very simple things.  When we mix with others who think differently or express ideas differently it enriches our own beliefs and strengthens our own respect for humans and life.  I once thought about writing a book about how different and yet how much we are the same. 

Here is a challenge for you.  Find someone to tell you how they celebrate holidays or about their traditions, challenges, concerns of the world.  Listen deeply and share your own traditions and ideas with them.   See what you learn and how you feel.