You Must Come First

One of the loudest debates within the personal development and self-help communities is whether or not devoting time to your development is a selfish, self-centered activity. I have addressed this in other posts over the last few years, yet I was recently drawn into conversations with several different people on several different topics, so I decided it was time – yet again – to share my thoughts.

I have written that I devote a lot of uncompensated business time to promoting the use of books to aid and continue an individual’s personal development. You will notice I wrote ‘uncompensated’ business time. That is because at the core of my teachings is not some new profound learning, but the insistence that I and everyone around me move from realizing something about ourselves to making the learning real in our lives.

Two of the easiest areas for others to notice whether or not you are taking care of yourself is weight management and drinking.

At the base of personal development and self-help is the assumption that you care for your body and mind in a way that only helps to bring your spirit alive and keep it connected to your values and beliefs. How you take care of your body is a direct reflection of how you are taking care of yourself. Just think about what you said the last time you saw a friend who had put on a lot of excess body weight or who was drunk when everyone else was just enjoying their alcohol. I would put money that you whispered something like:

“Something must be wrong. He’s not taking care of himself.”
“She has ‘let herself go.’
“That is ‘not like her’ to get drunk when we go out.”

These statements are not moral condemnations but vocal recognitions of something to be concerned about.

Of course, just because you realize a friend or loved one is not taking care of themselves, or you know it about yourself, does not mean they or you are ready to make real the awareness so healing can begin.

That is where the debate about needing to put yourself first before you can begin to take care of anyone else comes full circle. If I don’t care for myself, how can I care for you? If I don’t care for myself and insist that you take better care of yourself, can you really trust my judgment? And if you can’t trust my judgment on something so supposedly unimportant will you every be able to trust me as a life partner, or business partner, or community leader?

Dr. Success Challenge: On a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being the best), rate how well you tend to your personal development. For the next 7 days put your mind, body and spirit first on your daily list of things to do. At the end of the 7 day period, using the same scale of 1 – 10, rate how well you tended to your personal development. Which score was higher? Which one make you feel better about yourself as a person?

Thank you,

Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
1 866 975 3777
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
http://www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.Facebook.com/DrSuccessPhD

A special note of thanks to author Katherine Saux for her July 12, 2010 daily guide which seeded this blog content.

The Change Is Good

Many have asked how I can maintain my positive perspective given the erratic state of affairs in all areas of our lives and the world.  My answer can be easiest explained by a real life example.  What follows is an portion of a newsletter from Honeybee Capital written by Honeybee's founder Katherine Collins.  Katherine may not be typical of those creating their livelihood within the financial markets, yet she is an example of who is there waiting to take the spotlight.  Bet you have not been reading about this from Bernanke! 


BERNANKE SPEECH ON HAPPINESS:
Does all this talk about ‘enoughness’ and ‘business vs. profession’ sound like a
bunch of fluff to you? I can hear you now -- fulfillment, schmul-fillment! Well, Ben
Bernanke cares, and you should too! Here is a link to his Commencement speech
at the University of South Carolina – did he talk about monetary policy? No! The
risk of unsustainable US debt levels? No! How much he hates the name
‘Helicopter Ben’? No! He talked about happiness, and more importantly, about
sustained happiness, or satisfaction. Read his thoughts on the value of relative
prosperity, of friends and family, of having work that puts you “in the zone”, of
feeling some sense of control over our own lives. I do not think Ben Bernanke is a
flaky touchy-feely hippie, yet Ben Bernanke wants you to write in a gratitude
journal. Think about it!

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20100508a.htm

If Bernanke is a big enough man to write in a journal, how about you?

Thank you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success
1 866 975 3777 Toll-Free
http://www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.FaceBook.com/DrSuccessPhD

The Power of Few Words

One of the most enjoyable keynote speeches I ever heard was designed around quotes that made a point about the speakers life.  The speaker was a trained actress so there was extra power in her delivery, yet I have always felt the very few words that constitute most quotes contain as much significance as an entire chapter in any book. 

This week I had the pleasure of reading the daily thoughts of Katherine Saux, a licensed professional practitioner at the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living. Here are some of the lead-in quotes she used to introduce her thought of the day: 

I am very brave, generally, only today I happen to have a headache.  Tweedledum
Idolatry is believing that what exists now is the only possibility.  Rabbi Michael Lerner
All your pain, worry, sorrow will someday apologize and confess they were a great lie.  Hafiz
"What is grace?" I asked God.  And he said, "All that happens."  St. John of the Cross
The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be to just keep moving.  Pema Chodron
Which goes along with an old Quaker favorite of mine, "When you pray, move your feet."  and finally...

A grateful mind is a great mind, which eventually attracts to itself great things.  Plato

Dr. Success Challenge:  What quotes guide your life?  If you were to develop a 15 minute speech about your life right now, what quotes would you use to highlight the significant moments?  Play with that.  Have some fun. 

Thank you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
http://www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
1 866 975 3777 Toll-Free