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The holidays and a new year bring many opportunities to “live in the richness of the moment”, as I call it — or to “live consciously” as Leo Babauta says in his ZenHabits post today. But most of those opportunities for conscious and rich living will go unnoticed if we stress out, multi-task and rush around getting everything “just right” for our celebrations and year-end business obligations.

To reclaim the richness of those moments, I’ve found It’s helpful to adopt the 4-step practice I call, Stop…Breath…Notice…Choose.™ And though I’d love to teach it to you in a coaching program or a Sacred Attitudes workshop next year, the holidays are already underway and I’ll bet you’d like to start reclaiming those moments right this minute. Good news is, you now can!

Announcing the arrival of my e-book! Yes, after a successful year in paperback, Seven Sacred Attitudes has morphed into its new form. For those traveling a path of personal growth and development and wanting to live more meaningful lives, here’s the e-book no “traveler” should be without: Seven Sacred Attitudes®: How to Live in the Richness of the Moment.

I am honored that wellness expert, Dr. Gerald Jampolsky, M.D., endorsed the book by saying:

“Erica Ross-Krieger’s words are wise, sensible and compelling. From the very first page, her profound Seven Sacred Attitudes will become an important part of your life. It is with admiration and acclaim that I recommend this must-read book to everyone desirous of adopting attitudes that heal.”

— Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.
Author of Love is Letting Go of Fear
Founder, Center for Attitudinal Healing

A few notes about the e-book:
With compelling stories and thought-provoking questions this e-book will encourage you to open your heart and explore your attitudes toward life. Learning the 4-step process to cultivate the Seven Sacred Attitudes will help you lead a more joyful, meaningful life. Discovering more about the attitudes will be a juicy journey. The Sacred Attitudes are:

* Use Inner Wisdom
* Accept What’s So
* Go Slow
* Do Less
* Show Up
* Trust the Process
* Be With the Questions

Each essay, fable, and story in Seven Sacred Attitudes illustrates one of the Sacred Attitudes, revealing that every step, every breath, along life’s path presents an opportunity to deepen your learning. Questions help you examine—and cultivate—energy-giving attitudes for personal growth and a rewarding life.

So, enjoy the e-book and join me in the practice of reclaiming each moment, so we can fully enjoy the season and cultivate the richness of the New Year.

P.S. Here are a few more endorsements of the e-book and mega-thanks for giving me the chance to share my good news:

“This engaging life manual teaches you to rely on Sacred Attitudes to nurture your inner wisdom, cultivate serenity, and allow happiness to emerge. Following Erica Ross-Krieger’s simple daily process of ‘Stop, Breathe, Notice, and Choose’ will help you focus on the heart-centered present.”

— Roger Jahnke, O.M.D.
Author of The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi

“As you contemplate the delicious gems inside Seven Sacred Attitudes, you will find Erica Ross-Krieger has accomplished two marvelous things: first, she reveals the Heart of a true Teacher; and second, she gives us a new model for being with ourselves, coaching others, and making our lives full and meaningful.”

— Craig Carr, CPCC, PCC

Founder, Coaching Elements, Inc.
Senior Trainer, Coaches Training Institute

“Seven Sacred Attitudes is a compelling and inspirational book. Who can resist finding out what the Seven Sacred Attitudes are and how we can use them for healing our lives?”

— Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., Author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life

Tags: Announcements, General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Spirit, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Seven Sacred Attitudes® –Living in the Richness of the Moment During the Holidays and New Year

In his Zen Habits blog yesterday, author Leo Babauta wrote a delicious post called Faith in Humanity: How to Bring People Closer, and Restore Kindness. As others who inspire me have done before, he wrote of the simple acts of kindness and “paying it forward” that help make this world a better place. In the past, I’ve responded to the idea of “paying it forward” with great enthusiasm for a day or two. I’ve anonymously paid bridge tolls for cars behind me, put money in expiring meters and volunteered my time.

But somehow, after a day or two, I forget. This time, I have an idea for keeping the idea alive. Leo offered his e-book for free to the first 30 people to comment to his post, and a link to those who wrote about the post in their blogs (like this one) and mentioned how they would “pay it forward.” I think the best way I can “pay Leo forward” is to offer this idea to my readers:

I’ll be posting a yellow stickie on my mirror as soon as I’m done with this post. It will say: “How will you spread kindness today?”

I hope you’ll do the same. It will remind us to consciously look for ways to “pay it forward” every day…not just for a few days. Thanks for the nudge, Leo.

Tags: Announcements, General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Spirit, Wellness Coaching // Comments Off on What will you do continuously?

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. That doesn’t mean I’m not a goal-setter, it’s just that I’d rather develop new habits (personal and professional) one day at a time, keep assessing progress throughout the year, and make course corrections as I go. I encourage my clients to do the same.

Wellness Manifesto
One of the tools I use to assess my overall wellness is a “living” document that I call a “Wellness Manifesto” – my clients have caught on and love the idea, so it’s the heart of this post today. A Wellness Manifesto is a written declaration of activities (and non-activities) that support wellbeing as you define it, declared in the present tense. I say that the document is “living” because you continue to refine it and revisit it on an on-going basis, not just at the New Year.

What Does the Manifesto Contain?
The Manifesto’s key components are: The Current Date, The Next Review Date, Your Wellness Intention, Keywords (words used frequently in the intention and/or those that you used that hold lots of juice for you) and 3 Habits to Strengthen.

Frequency
I suggest revisiting your Wellness Manifesto quarterly and reading it aloud to at least one other person. Since I did so in September, my own Wellness Manifesto is already in good shape for the holidays.

Focuses Your Intention
When I glance at the Wellness Manifesto document each day, I’m reminded of my Wellness intentions. For example, I’m reminded that, in keeping with my Manifesto, I want to look back a week after Thanksgiving land say, “How wonderful it was to eat well, enjoy the gathering of friends and family, and get some exercise that day.” I’m just more likely to act accordingly if I write the Manifesto “as if” things I intend to do have already taken place. It doesn’t guarantee anything…it just helps me put my attention on what I want regarding my wellness.

Example of a Wellness Manifesto
Look through the following example of a simple Wellness Manifesto that I revised in September. Notice it is written in present tense as if these things are already firmly in place as I write it. Notice the keywords are really the top values I’m declaring to be of importance right now. Looking at this list each day (as well as having announced and read the Manifesto to my coach In September) supports the 3 habits I want to strengthen during this time.

Date: September 1, 2007

Next Review Date (three months): December 1, 2007
*************************

Wellness Manifesto of: Erica Ross-Kriegeer

I experience wellness in body, mind and spirit. I rise early in the morning so I can enjoy the quiet hours before the active day begins. I use the time to meditate, stretch, write a few words of gratitude in my journal and identify my priorities for my business. In this way, I am more focused and prepared for the full day ahead. I focus on relaxation during the holidays, build restful “time-outs” into my workday, spend time outdoors daily and also clear time to spend with family and friends. I take time to truly savor the healthy food I put into my body and know that when I do so I’m caring for the vehicle that let’s me do the work I love to do in the world.

Keywords:
Quiet
Priorities
Focused
Relaxation
Body, Mind, Spirit
Healthy Food
Savor
Enjoy Friends & Family
Exercise

3 Habits to Strengthen:
Rising at 6am
Daily time outdoors
Business Priorities set each day

A Gentle Yet Powerful Reminder
I don’t suggest using the Wellness Manifesto to give yourself a hard time – I figure Life can be hard enough as it is some days. Just use it to keep your eye on what’s important.

For instance, let’s say you’re currently working on developing the habit of getting up a half-hour earlier than you used to (like I am). You can keep your manifesto by your nightstand and your alarm clock. On the manifesto will be a few keywords that you want to emphasize in your life right now – words that could include: quiet time, priorities, and focus. You might glance at the document before bed, taking a minute to imagine those qualities as already present in your life.

When the alarm goes off in the morning, and you’re tempted to hit the snooze button one more time (or turn it off and go back to sleep) just glance at the manifesto again. Ask yourself if those qualities of  quiet time, priorities, and focus are important?

If so, glancing at that list might just be all you need to get going and further solidify your habit of getting up earlier. If not, and you choose not to get up, don’t beat yourself up about it later on. Just re-group and course-correct. Maybe 15 minutes earlier is a better target for a while. Maybe getting to bed earlier is where you really need to focus. Just revisit the manifesto, revise it, declare it to someone again, and gently get back in the saddle.

Your Turn
I invite you to use the example above as a guide to create your own Wellness Manifesto and put it into place before the winter holidays this year.

It could just be one of the best gifts you give yourself.

What will your Wellness Manifesto say? Send a comment and let us know.

Oh…and do you see how you could do a Wellness Manifesto for your business? (Another topic for another post:)

Tags: Body, General Wellness Tips, Meditation, Mind, Spirit, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Your Wellness Manifesto – Don’t Wait for the New Year!

Liz Strauss wrote an elegant and powerful post today called Life and the Universe that inspired me to heed some of my own wellness advice and head outside for a time out. It was a reminder for me to do the “come to your senses” exercise I wrote about in my ezine last year…with the luscious addition of focusing on my connection to the world.

Liz mentioned looking at the stars and since it was morning here and the stars weren’t out, I looked instead at the clear blue sky and golden sun. I took a deep breath, stood barefoot on the grass and took a moment to feel my feet connected to the earth. I took more moments and felt my connection everywhere…including my connection to the amazing post that inspired me and the talented soul who wrote it. Thank you Liz.

Tags: General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Wellness Coaching // Comments Off on Entrepreneurial Time Out

Contributor Glenn Townes wrote a juicy article on November 2 in the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) business toolbox. He starts with this appetizer:

“Entrepreneurs are used to working long hours and occasionally ignoring their health, all for the sake of making their small business a success.

“With the holiday season quickly approaching and leftover Halloween candy, Thanksgiving pies and Christmas goodies all racing through our heads, now is the time to establish healthy holiday habits that will make your New Year’s resolutions last well beyond the first slice of pumpkin pie.” For the rest of the banquet, read Glenn’s full article.

Take Action:

Choose one of the following tips and habits (some from Glenn, some from me) and take action:

– buy a pedometer, learn how to use it, and get moving
– bring fresh fruit to the pot luck
– go for a brisk after-the-holiday-dinner family walk
– drink plenty of water
– opt for soup as an appetizer to curb your appetite
– hire a certified nutritionist or wellness coach before New Year’s Day
– select some energizing music (rock, jazz, oldies, you call it), and take an late afternoon office break to get up and move around for 15 minutes.
– enjoy the gathering of friends, family and colleagues in abundance and the food in moderation.
– count your blessings instead of a total focus on counting calories.
– take an information and technology break for 24 hours — no email, texting, cell phones, blogging, Twitter, newspapers, and all electronic games and computers. [Get past the first go-round of this, (where you’re likely to be worrying if you’re missing out on something) and next month you’ll look forward to repeating this one.]
– practice Dr. Andrew Weil’s Relaxing Breathing Exercises

My plan’s to outsource some more of my work to my VA starting this week — a gift for me and a gift for her.

What healthy habits will you start?

Keep us posted.

Tags: Body, General Wellness Tips, Nutrition, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Healthy Holiday Habits for Entrepreneurs

Got any business questions hanging around?

For many entrepreneurs, unanswered life questions in general cause anxiety — and business questions?…let’s just say “wellness” is not the word I’d use to describe our states of being when we are “wrestling” with an unanswered business question. In this final post of the series, I’d like to explore another perspective about questions.

My client, Wendy (not her real name), once said to me, “Questions are like passports…they take you into new territory.” I don’t think she’s the first one to have ever said it, but since she’s the first one I heard it from, she gets the credit. Anyway, since the first moment I heard those words I’ve recited Wendy’s quote to myself more times than I can count. I do so whenever I consider making changes in my business and I’m stumped by the questions involved.

You know the ones…”should I spend X on marketing? Should I start a blog? Do I hire an assistant? Is this the right course of action this year?”

When I’m surrounded by questions (which is often), can’t find answers (even more often), and have a gnawing sense of unwellness because of it all, I remember the “passport perspective.” I take a breath, employ a few techniques (I’ll share them below), embrace the state of suspense, and am finally able to relax into the unknowing. When I resist, and insist on pushing for an answer before its time, I wind up miserable.

As I said, I’ve got several techniques and inquiries I draw from when traveling in the territory of unanswered questions [Pamela Slim (who writes the phenomenal Escape from Cubicle Nation blog) refers to this turf as “wandering in the desert” in Psychology Today’s December cover story that features her.) Quite often, the techniques and inquiries I use transport me from fears of making a wrong decision or getting stuck “answerless” forever, to a state of acceptance. I have no idea if the same tools will foster “passport travels” with your questions…but give them a whirl and see what happens:

Try this: Take a Question for a Walk Exercise
This coming weekend, consider taking a question out for a walk. Write a question that you are facing on a small piece of paper. Simply notice how you feel about that question in your life. Now, place it in your pocket, put on your favorite walking shoes, and head out the door.

As you walk, move briskly and concentrate fully on all that surrounds you. Notice everything. Notice the color of the sky, the feel of the air on your skin, the pebbles on the ground, the shape of the neighbor’s roofline, the sounds coming from your left, the number of telephone poles you pass. Notice it all. Continue doing so for at least 15 minutes and then head for home.

Back at home, take the question from your pocket. Notice how you feel about it at this point. Did something change? Is there another question that now comes forward? Let that question, or the original one, percolate for a few days. Practice the art of what I call in Seven Sacred Attitudes, Being with the Questions.

Try this: Explore these inquiries this week:
• What questions are you living with?
• What would change if you viewed those questions as “passports” to
another phase of your life?
• How will you give gratitude (even for the questions) this month?
• What is it to enjoy the unknowing?

The realm of unknowing is often paved with discomfort. Embracing unanswered questions and learning to relax into the uncertainty is grist for the mill of a daily practice. Wishing you many blessings as you hone your practice.

Table of contents for Living in the Richness of the Moment™
1. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Come to Your Senses
2. Living in the Richness of the Moment: What’s Important?
3. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Slow Down to the Speed of Life
4. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Do Less
5. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Trust the Process of Life
6. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Count Your Entrepreneurial Riches

Tags: General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Mind, Spirit, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Living in the Richness of the Moment – Part 7: Use Questions as Passports

In the first post of this series, I suggested that Coming to Your Senses was a great way to begin the wellness-enhancing practice of Living in the Richness of the Moment. But you’ve read 4 additional posts in the series since then, and you’re beyond beginning…so today, in post #6, you’ll learn to turbo-charge your practice of Living in the Richness of the Moment.

And true to form, being willing to heed my turbo-charged advice means that you’ll be revving down, not revving up.

Get Set
So before you read any further, go ahead and grab a pen and paper, or open a clean document on your desktop. This post contains an invitation to do a bit of writing…right smack here in the beginning. Take a minute now and get things ready.

Okay, here we go.
Suppose I told you that there are riches within your entrepreneurial business that you haven’t even noticed. And suppose I further told you that noticing those riches would contribute to your overall wellness. Chances are you would ask me to point those treasures out to you. “Where are they?” you could be asking.

Challenge
Well, since you are there and I am here, sitting at my desk, and I like to encourage exploration…how about undertaking a challenge right where you are? Let me turn the question right back your way and ask you:

Can you identify (and make a list of) 50 things, right now, that are present in your business, that you have not recently (or ever) stopped to count as riches?

If you dare…
Grab that sheet of paper, or your keyboard, and compose that list. Do so as an exercise in expanding your mind. Do so as an exercise in expanding your heart. Don’t just think about it, write the list. Ready? Go!

**********

A phenomenon you might notice
If you’re reading through the whole post before you get started, here’s what you’re likely to notice once you actually start the exercise. When you begin, it’s common that the first 10 items on your list will come out of your brain quite quickly. The next batch, a bit more slowly.

But after listing about 35-40 items (if that many), pens tend to come off the page, or fingers off the keyboard, faces scrunch into frowns, and shoulders begin to shrug. You might have noticed the same thing if you’ve done this already. We just run out of things to list.

Time for a reminder
This is when I remind myself (and I’ll remind you here too) of a statement that I once heard Bob Proctor mention in his Goal Achiever® CD series. (btw I’m not an affiliate, though I probably should be, I talk about it so much.)

Paraphrasing here, Bob reminds his listeners that we don’t just set goals in order to achieve the things that the goals describe. He said that we set goals for who we will become in the process of achieving them.

Then I let the words sink in. I remind myself (and you too) that the same is true about our businesses…we don’t just run our businesses for the financial results they yield, we engage in our businesses for who we become by engaging in our businesses.

I’ll get quiet again and let that sink in as you re-read it.

Turbo charge the exercise
So at the point in the writing exercise where I run out of entrepreneurial riches to put down on my list, I ask myself (and I ask you now):

– what riches WITHIN YOU have shown up while you have been engaged in your business?

Sure, in workshops I frequently get blank stares for a while. Usually, I remain quiet. Undoubtedly, after a moment of awkward silence, someone will suddenly blurt out: “Oh. You mean like how I am much more PATIENT (or HONEST or ORGANIZED or COURAGEOUS) since I have been running this business?

And I smile.

Slowly, the lists fill. (Yup, yours will too.)

And often, years later, clients will tell me how that one simple exercise helped them live in the richness of the entrepreneurial moment and even rekindle their passion for their businesses. For some people, including me, this exercise is one of the things I do to complete the last day of work each quarter.

Taking the time to notice the details of everyday existence often brings us into a place of both wonder and gratitude. There is a way I soften when I notice things anew — doing so in a spirit of simple observation and appreciation fills my heart. Likewise, when I slow down to appreciate and give gratitude, I also find myself in a receptive, humble and softer stance.

Take time to enter both states today – simply noticing things anew as well as giving gratitude. Doing so can become a daily practice. Doing so will help you live in the richness of the moment.

Let us know what you discover.

Table of contents for Living in the Richness of the Moment™
1. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Come to Your Senses
2. Living in the Richness of the Moment: What’s Important?
3. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Slow Down to the Speed of Life
4. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Do Less
5. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Trust the Process of Life

Tags: Matters of the Heart, Spirit, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Living in the Richness of the Moment – Part 6: Count Your Entrepreneural Riches

In the previous post of this series, I invited you to clear the decks and Do Less. Today’s post is designed to further your thinking about Living in the Richness of the Moment by exploring another wellness tool: the powerful act of trusting the process of life.

Flip Side of Trust
First, let me say a bit about the flip side of the trust coin. One of the key ways we rip ourselves off from living in the richness of the moment is by engaging in worry, doubt, and fear. And there is nothing that tends to bring those creatures of the mind to the entrepreneur’s foreground more than: being in-between projects or contracts (a common state); or having to face the unknown or tackle something we know little about (part of the definition of entrepreneur in my book.)

When that all-too-common “messy” space of the unfamiliar and unknown enters my business, or my daily life, and taxes my “trust” muscles, I take comfort in a story from long ago. I put the story in an essay and offer it here as food for thought:

A SAFE ADVENTURE*
by Erica Ross-Krieger

When I was eight, we took a family vacation to Disneyland. I’d been before and I looked forward to seeing the Magic Kingdom again.

When we arrived, I ran through the entry gates and hugged Mickey. Throughout the day, I found Disneyland to be as wonderful as ever. Well into the night, Disneyland kept its promise of magic. But things had changed since our last visit.

As we walked toward my favorite ride, a small but distinct sign grabbed my attention:

Welcome!
Please excuse our mess—
This attraction is being completely refurbished.

A brightly colored drawing of Mickey, sporting a pair of carpenter’s overalls and holding a hammer and nails, illustrated the message. The captivating sign helped me add a new word to my vocabulary. Refurbished.

My Dad gave a further explanation and then herded us into line. We endured a forty-five-minute wait with other kids and families who weren’t put off by Mickey’s warning.

When we got inside we overlooked the boards, the scaffolding in the background and the strips of yellow plastic tape that sectioned off the work zones. We were excited to get to the front of the line and to hear the familiar music.

I guess we trusted Walt Disney. Despite the refurbishing signs, we climbed right into those little wooden boats. Off we went, expecting nothing less than a grand time. And that is what we had.

When we got out, we talked about the magical characters, the music, the swift rapids that the boats navigated, and how we couldn’t wait to come back. We trusted that any Disneyland ride being refurbished, no matter if it looked messy right now, would somehow turn out to be an even better ride when we came back…even if it looked different from what we’d known. After all, it was the Magic Kingdom.

So I wonder, why don’t we sit back in our midlife or entrepreneurial boats and trust the “Magic Kingdom” of life?

*This is a modified version of the original essay that appears in Seven Sacred Attitudes®

When I view spaces of transition or the unknown in the same light as a Disneyland “refurbishing” experience, they seem less daunting. Seen in this light, I am much more able to relax into this entrepreneurial and wellness journey of life, and so are my clients. Seen in this light, we may even be able to enjoy the ride.

INQUIRIES FOR THE DAY:
• What is it to view entrepreneuring as a safe adventure-vehicle in the “Magic Kingdom”?
• What would change if you were to trust that you are “right on schedule”? (…with your business, with your wellness, with your life.)
• When something has you baffled, and you can’t figure it out, what helps you relax into the unknowing?
• If you Trusted the Process, what new adventures would you try?

Keep us posted.

Table of contents for Living in the Richness of the Moment™
1. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Come to Your Senses
2. Living in the Richness of the Moment: What’s Important?
3. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Slow Down to the Speed of Life
4. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Do Less

Tags: General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Mind, Spirit, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Living in the Richness of the Moment – Part 5: Trust the Process of Life

In the previous post of this series, I invited you to Slow Down to the Speed of Life. In this post, I’ll be talking about the importance of leverage, focusing and working smarter – what I call in Seven Sacred Attitudes, the Do Less Attitude.

Working Smarter
In his book, 365 Tao, author Deng Ming-Dao includes a Chinese fable about an ancient king who had much to learn from a common butcher about working smarter. As entrepreneurs, we can heed the same advice.

My short version of the fable is this: Rumor had it that this butcher could dismember an entire ox without much effort. As a result, he only had to sharpen his knife once a year. As the king’s own butchers had to grind their blades daily, he asks this village butcher how such results are possible. The butcher tells him that “he inserts his knife in the spaces between the muscles, thus parting the body along its natural lines.”

The Law of Least Action
The Do Less Attitude is founded upon the Chinese Law of Least Action. This Law advises the acupuncturist to choose to place needles in only those acupuncture points that will get the energy moving — no more, no less. The same law advises us to Do Less of the unimportant stuff. To Do Less of the unnecessary. To do only those things that have the greatest leverage for us—just as the wise butcher did in China when he dismembered that ox with just four simple cuts of his knife.

Not About Laziness
When high achievers (a.k.a. entrepreneurs) hear the phrase Do Less, we often squirm. We often (erroneously) think that Doing Less means being less productive. But if we take a minute to consider the fable above, and the times when we are most productive, we know there’s much to be said for Doing Less. The Do Less Attitude has to do with focus. It does not have to do with being lazy, letting important things slide through the cracks, or abdicating responsibility.

Speak without words, work without doing
Few realize how much how little will do.
–Lao Tsu

Do Less Applied to Business Wellness
As an entrepreneur, you already know that your business is at its best (I call it business wellness) when you have a clear and focused vision of where you are heading, know which activities are closest to your bottom line and delegate or dismiss the tasks that are not the best use of your time. This is the Do Less Attitude in action.

Do Less Applied to Pesonal Wellness
When it comes to your personal wellness regime, the same Do Less idea applies. Eating less “empty-calorie” foods and more energy-packed nutritious food; doing less of the couch-potato or computer-hunch activities and more high-leverage physical activities (take the stairs, walk more briskly while heading to appointments, power walk with light weights) are all examples of the Do Less Attitude in action.

Do Less = Greater Wellness Overall
You’ll actually come to work, life, and the richness of the moment more fully when you adopt the Do Less Attitude, because there will be more of YOU (your energy, passion, creativity) available. You will be, as author Chin-ning Chu wrote almost 10 yars ago in her wise little book, Do Less, Achieve More, “…elevated from the ordinary agitated state of consciousness into an extraordinary level where desired objectives and results unfold with an uncommon ease of effort, thus positively effecting our practical day-to-day performance in all arenas of life.”

As I’ve been emphasizing in this series, when we are bombarded by more e-mail messages than ever before, new information arrives every minute, and everything seems to be urgent, it can be easy to get distracted. It can also be easy to become addicted to busy-ness. But distraction and busy-ness are not requirements in life.

The keys to focusing and the Do Less Attitude are:

• Identify what’s important (I discuss this in detail in the second post of this series.) This means getting clear about which activities in your work environment are closest to your bottom line and which wellness activities will help tone your physical ”bottom line.”
• Identify the activities that you can delegate or dismiss.
• Ask yourself what price you have been paying for trying to do everything.
• Ask yourself how important is for you to be more relaxed, productive, efficient and clear-minded.
• Commit (preferably to someone else who is interested in your well-being) to saying No to those items that are not worth your precious energy.
• Commit (also to someone who wants the best for you) to saying Yes to those items that have the biggest payoff to you (however you define this.)
• Keep it simple at first. Cut out a few things at a time. Once you get the hang of this and make it a habit, the Do Less Attitude will become a new way of life…a new daily practice.

The question is: When would NOW be a good time to identify those high-leverage activities?

I’ll be cutting a few unnecessary words from this post and focusing on a high-leverage article today. How about you?

Keep us posted.

Table of contents for Living in the Richness of the Moment
1. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Come to Your Senses
2. Living in the Richness of the Moment: What’s Important?
3. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Slow Down to the Speed of Life

Tags: Body, General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Mind, Spirit, Wellness Coaching, Wellness of Your Business // Comments Off on Living in the Richness of the Moment – Part 4: Do Less

Living in the richness of the moment means we are living life and not just thinking about it. Living in the richness of the moment means taking in every luscious drop of life that’s right here, just because we’ve been gifted with breath and just because we can. Living in the richness of the moment is also called mindfulness and I’m certainly not the first one to write about it. But mindfulness is a passion of mine, a major component of wellness in my view, and a life-long practice. And so it’s the topic of this 7-post series.

In the first post, I explored the topic of Coming to Your Senses as a tool to use for living in the richness of the moment. Doing so plays a vital role in the degree to which we experience personal and professional wellness. Next, I challenged you to consider What’s Important and to do so daily.

Today, I’m inviting you to Slow Down to the Speed of Life. Just in time for the weekend.

Popular Hypnotic Suggestions
In the span of one single day, I recently heard the following three statements:

• “Life is so hectic these days…”
• “It’s amazing how the pace of Life has gotten so crazy…”
• ”The speed of Life is ten times what it used to be…”

I won’t tell you which of those delightful phrases came out of my own mouth, but I will say this: each of the three phrases is untrue. As my mentor, (and author of Taming Your Gremlin), Rick Carson would say, these statements are subtle “hypnotic suggestions” that most of us have adopted.

The Real Pace of Life
When we stop to think about it, we can see that the pace of Life has not changed one bit. It still takes 365 days (most years) to go around the sun. It still takes however long it takes for a caterpillar to create a cocoon and turn into a butterfly. And (when you aren’t stressed) your breath still comes in and goes out at the same pace it did several years ago. The building blocks of Life have not changed.

So, what has changed?
The things I’ve been discussing in this series: our activity levels, the amount of information now available to us, and the demands we’ve put on ourselves – in other words, the conditions of our lives — are all that’s changed. But Life itself has not. I think this is an important distinction to remember. And when we are mindful of those hypnotic words we use, it can help us remember the distinction.

Evidence is all around us
Last year I wrote an article in my ezine with a similar title to the one I’m using on this post. And when I told a colleague that the article was called, Slow Down to the Speed of Life, she looked at me with a frown.

“But the speed of Life isn’t slow,” she said.

I asked her to put her hand on her 3-year-old child’s chest the next time he was napping—to watch the rhythm of his breath. “To me,” I said, “that rhythm is Life. And that has not changed—despite cell phones, high-speed-internet connections and the five after-school activities your middle-school-age daughter attends.”

She nodded and sighed. “Hmm. Never thought of it that way.”

We continued to talk and our exchange helped me flesh out the article. It also helped remind me do to so with a gentler pace. It’s still reminding me to do the same as I craft this post.

So be on the lookout. The next time you hear yourself remark about the pace of Life, remember you’re hypnotizing yourself and you’re more than likely commenting about the circumstances of your Life.

Then stop and observe your breath for a while. And also observe a squirrel, a tree, flowers or the ocean…and you will see the real pace of Life.

Stop…Breathe…Notice…Choose™
Observing the differences between real Life, the circumstances of your Life and/or your concepts about Life, will help you remember that you have choice over the activity-level and busy-ness with which you fill your days. More importantly, you have choice about where you place your attention.

So go ahead. Just for today, practice what I call the Go Slow Attitude…and Slow Down to the Speed of Life.

Try this: Savor the Flavor Experiment

Here’s a dining experiment that accentuates the Go Slow Attitude. Because it requires silence, try it the next time you are eating at home alone or where you will be uninterrupted by a waiter, waitress, or dinner companion. Hopefully you’ll find the right moment this weekend.

Upon sitting down to your meal:

Take a moment to observe the food on the plate before you. With gentle curiosity, just notice the colors, textures and aromas. Give silent thanks for the food in a manner that suits you. (You will remain in silence throughout the meal.)

• Pick up your utensil and gather your first bite.
• Place that bite in your mouth and
• set your fork or spoon down and then begin to chew.
• Chew slowly. Savor every taste of that one bite. Notice all aspects of the food—flavor, texture, temperature, aroma.
• After you have swallowed that first bite, pick up your fork or spoon and gather the next bite.
• Continue the practice of mindful eating (putting down your utensil between each bite) until you are full and have finished eating your meal.
• Enjoy!

I once attended a residential retreat where we engaged in this mindfulness practice for five days, three meals a day. After putting aside my resistance (which took two days) I began to look forward to each meal. I found I enjoyed my food in a way I hadn’t before, did not eat beyond fullness, and was more present to the moment before me throughout the day. Every now and again, I do the exercise simply to remind myself about the real pace of Life. I’ll be joining you this weekend.

Let me know how the experiment works for you.

Table of contents for Living in the Richness of the Moment
1. Living in the Richness of the Moment: Come to Your Senses
2. Living in the Richness of the Moment: What’s Important?

Tags: Body, General Wellness Tips, Matters of the Heart, Meditation, Mind, Spirit, Wellness Coaching // Comments Off on Living in the Richness of the Moment–Part 3: Slow Down to the Speed of Life