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NOTE:
The next Free
Introductory Now What?™sessions are
scheduled for: December 8 and 15th, 8:15 - 9:15 p.m. EDT Join us to move toward your new career or life direction. For more information or to register, email to info@berquistcoaching.com
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I. Topic:
The
Fish Lives - The Resilience
Factor
II.
Messages From The
Masters
III.
Coach's Top Picks
IV. Bonus!
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I. The
Fish Lives - The Resilience Factor:
After
weeks of sheepishly passing by my daughter's beta fish
tank and knowing that he was sorely overdue for fresh
water and thriving on neglect, yesterday I finally
stopped what I was doing, and refreshed little
LongTail's tank. I was so proud of myself, because
although I took care to condition the water, I did not
hyperfocus on pouring it in in small amounts nor obsess
over the temperature matching that of the tank, as they
say you really should. Everything seemed fine, and
I moved on. Later, after my daughter was home from
school, she suddenly looked at the tank and told me he
wasn't moving so well. Let's just say, it was far
more than not moving so well. It was that listing to the
side, floating-at-the-top look, that makes your heart
drop because you assume the end is
near.
This
was more than just a little fish. This was one of my
daughter's primary 6-year birthday gifts, and has become
a little member of the family these past seven
months. What you also need to know is that a month
after we brought him home, he contracted Ick. They
say it can come from stress due to change in
the fish's environment. For you non-fish-efficianados,
Ick is a nasty parasite disease, which once contracted,
finishes off even the hardiest of fish. Well,
a week of Ick drops and a few prayers later,
Longtail came back from the grips of death. This
time, would you believe that after being shocked by
the water change (over which for no good reason, but for
some reason I was feeling incredibly guilty), this
tough little guy rebounded once again by morning? Today
he is back to his perky self, and I am assuming a
full recovery as he downed his flakes for
breakfast. So, the point to this Fish Tale?
It got me thinking about
resilience.
Dr.
Robert Brooks, renown child psychologist and
bestselling author of Raising Resilient Children,
and countless experts on Emotional Intelligence
factors in adults, tell us that the ability to adapt, be
flexible to, and recover from change and challenge in
our lives can the most crucial characteristics to
personal and professional success. So, just for
pondering:
- How
do you tend to handle challenge or change?
- What
curveballs or surprises were you thrown this year, and
how did you respond?
- What
challenges were you faced with and what strengths
of yours enabled you to come out the other side?
- What
supports are there for you to access at these times?
Did you access them?
- What
were lessons did you learn - about yourself, your
resilience factor, or how you can support yourself in
the future?
This
season, as you hopefully reflect on your accomplishments
and successes from this past year, be sure to look at
the ways you have dealt with your challenges. Give
full credit to yourself for getting through the
struggles, trials, ups and downs, changes and
transitions, that have become so a part of everyday
lives that we rarely stop to take note that we have
somehow moved through them. Be gentle with
yourself if you think you could have done better. We all
truly do the best we are able to at any given
moment.
Even
if you don't have the natural resilience factor honed as
much as you would like, good news is you can always work
on it. Reflecting on how things have transpired in
the past will help you prepare for the future. In
the meantime, no matter how easy or how hard this year's
challenges or changes have been, do stop and
congratulate yourself for getting through, and
swimming down from the top of the
tank.
My
warmest wishes to you and yours for a peaceful holiday
season and whatever fills your soul with
abundance and joy.
Jill
II. Messages from the Masters
" You have to find something that you love enough
to be able to take risks over the hurdles and break
through the brick walls that are always going to be
placed in front of you. If you don't have that
kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop
at the first hurdle. " --- George
Lucas
" True joy rests on firmness and strength within,
manifesting itself outwardly as yielding and gentle. "
--- The I-Ching
" Behold a candle, how it gives its
light. It weeps away its life drop by drop in
order to give forth its flame of light. " ---
Abdu'l-Baha
III. Coach's Top
Picks
The Five Love
Languages, How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to
Your Mate by Gary Chapman. What better time
than the holiday season than to reflect on our
connections with those dear to us. Equally good book by
Chapman and co-author Ross Campbell is The Five
Love Languages for Children. These are
classics in helping us build stronger relationships with
those we love by communicating our love in a way that
others uniquely receive it best. Important books for
partners and for parents, and the second one is a great
tool for teachers as well. Both are accessible at the
link below.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1881273156/berquistcoach-20/103-8929350-7455024?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=1789&link%5Fcode=xm2
IV. Bonus Gift For
You
For anyone interested in some
end-of-year reflective questions to consider as you take
stock of your year OR for actions to take for your
business at the end of the year, send an email to jill@berquistcoaching.com
with the subject REFLECT or BUSINESS in it, and I will
pass it
along. |