Changing Course Newsletter: Issue 99 Date: Sep 20, 2004
Subject: Changing Course Newsletter: Issue 99
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Changing Course Newsletter Issue 99 September 20, 2004
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The free newsletter from Brought to you by Changing Course
http://www.ChangingCourse.com
Dedicated to helping you:
~ Live Life on Purpose
~ Work at What You Love
~ Follow Your Own Road
In this issue:
1. Featured Article: Making Things Happen
2. Featured Resource: Finding Your True Calling
3. Ask the Expert: Travel Writing Expert, Jen Stevens
4. Guest Article: Take Time To Fill ‘Er Up
5. Products & Services You Might Like to Know About
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TODAY’S WISE WORDS
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Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up
every time we fail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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1. Val’s Picks & Ponderings
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By Valerie Young
Making Things Happen
A great place to look for clues to your calling is in the compliments
you receive from others. If you’re forever being told that you’re
funny, have a great speaking voice, are a good organizer, a natural
coach, have a knack for fixing things – then pay attention. The
characteristics and skills others see in you may be telling you
something about your gifts.
I’m not sure I’d call it a gift necessarily, but by far the greatest
compliment I’ve ever received came from my long time friend Sue. At
the time I was still toiling at my corporate job but had launched the
then hard copy version of the Changing Course Newsletter on the side.
A few years earlier I’d created my own line of humorous greeting cards
which I’d managed to get into stores in New York, San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Boston, Provincetown, MA and elsewhere.
Apparently Sue found my enterprising spirit unusual among her friends
and coworkers. “Everybody else I know talks about the things they’re
going to do,” said Sue. “You do them.” To say I was surprised – and
deeply flattered – would be an understatement. When something comes
naturally to you, it’s often easy to dismiss. Sometimes we take this
tendency to the extreme. Like the woman in a workshop of mine who
said, “I figure if I can get a Ph.D. in astrophysics from MIT then
anybody can.”
Someone who made things happen in a big way is Frances Alexander. In
1984 Frances, a Brit, started Women Welcome Women (now known as Women Welcome Women World Wide or 5W for short)
http://www.WomenWelcomeWomen.org.uk Her idea was a simple one – to encourage international friendship by enabling women to visit one
another in their own homes.
That was twenty years ago. Today 5W has more than 3,500 members in 70 countries. According to the web site, the northernmost member lives
within the Arctic Circle in Norway, the southernmost lives in Santa
Cruz, Argentina. More than 100 languages are spoken from Arabic to
Zulu and members range in age from 16 to 80+ and come from all walks
of life. They are homemakers, students, retired people business,
professionals, artists, farmers, office workers, and unemployed. What
they share in common is a wish to befriend others from other parts of
the world.
Frances was clear from the start that 5W would not be about helping
women take cheap vacations. Instead her vision was to make the world
community a little smaller by, among other things, fostering
international understanding through cross-cultural friendship and
helping women gain confidence to explore the world.In addition to her work with 5W, this former nurse, midwife, nursing
staffing agency owner, and girls’ career adviser has been active in
local, national, and international politics for over 25 years, even
serving as mayor of High Wycombe. Asked why she has been involved in
all these things, Frances replies: “I like to see things happen!”
You don’t have to change the world to make things happen. Nor do you
need to run out and quit your job or start your own business tomorrow.
There are innumerable small ways to make things happen. For example:
Instead of watching the Apprentice on television you could sign up for
a course on woodworking, or bookbinding, or web design and actually
“be” a kind of apprentice.
If you’re surrounded by people who think your dream of escaping the
j-o-b world to work at what you love is crazy, make things happen by
actively reaching out to people who think you’d be crazy not to go
after your dream.
If you have a passion for cooking, a curiosity about real estate
investing, or a love for animals, spending a few hours researching
these also comes under the category of making things happen.
When it comes to your dreams, you can either make things happen for
you or you can stand on the side lines and watch others realize
theirs. The choice is yours. If you picked the former, take two
seconds right now to answer the question: What’s one small thing I can
make happen today? Then do it. You can always make it more complicated if you like, but it really is that simple.
Off the beaten path career counselor, Valerie Young, abandoned her
corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at
http://www.ChangingCourse.com , offering free resources to help you
discover your life mission and live it. An expert on the Imposter
Syndrome, she’s presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable as
Everyone Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people. Find
more articles written by Valerie at
http//www.ChangingCourse.com/articles/
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2. FEATURED RESOURCE
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You May Be All Grown Up... But That's No Reason
You Can't Find Your True Calling, and Live It
When you really love your work, you don't need an alarm clock in the
morning because you can't wait to get out of bed and dive into another
day where the work feels like play.
Maybe you think it's too late for that. Maybe you believe that you've
somehow missed your True Calling and that, well, you're not getting
any younger. Nonsense. As writer George Eliot once put it, "It's never
too late to be what you might have been."
Discover the work you were born to do... learn how to reawaken the
"unique genius" within you... find out how to redesign your life one
step at a time... and more. This lively and accessible handbook
provides proven guidance from the experts plus real-life stories from
average folks who are already living their dreams.
Click here to learn more about Finding Your True Calling:
The Handbook for People Who Still Don't Know What
They Want to Be When They Grow Up:
http//www.ChangingCourse.com/findcalling.htm
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3. ASK THE EXPERT
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What if you could get paid to visit white sand Caribbean beaches...
wildlife sanctuaries in Borneo... Indian Ocean hideaways...Rome...
Paris... London...?
Good news: You can! Listen in as Jen Stevens, writer and contributing
editor for International Living and author of the Passport to Romance:
The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course explains exactly what it takes to
get paid to travel for a living as a freelance travel writer. Also on
hand will be Lori Appling, manager of the American Writers and Artists
Institute’s travel-writing training program.
If you love to travel, be sure to join us Thursday, October 14th from
8:00pm – 8:50pm EST for this FREE teleclass! Click here to register:
http//www.ChangingCourse.com/courses.htm
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INSPIRATION TO FOLLOW YOUR BLISS
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Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its
strength. ~ A.J. Cronin
Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what
happens to you. ~ Aldous Huxley
We are what and where we are because we have first imagined it.
~ Donald Curtis
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4. GUEST ARTICLE
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Take Time To 'Fill ‘Er Up'
By Rhonda Hull
Have you ever been late for an appointment thinking there wasn’t
enough time to stop for gas, only to sputter, cough, and run out along
the way? You then spend three times as much time cursing at the side
of the road waiting for help than it would have taken to stop and
‘fill up’.
In our busy lives we operate by the myth that speed is a requirement
for success. Although it is a perspective that elicits a gasp from
hardcore overachievers, the real truth is that focus is more fruitful
than speed. Often what appears to be speed is instead a refined art of
spinning our wheels. This blind spot leaves us driven by an
ever-increasing volume of information with the expectation that we
must go faster and faster to handle it all. We mistakenly believe that
if we figure out how to do more in less time we will somehow be able
to get it all done! Honestly, is there ever really an end to the TO-DO
list?
Less than100 years ago over a two year period of time people took in
information equivalent to what we are bombarded with each and every
day? No wonder we feel so overwhelmed! We force ourselves ahead by the
false belief that we must keep up with and digest the ever-increasing
speed of information. This mode of traveling the road of life is a
certain method of self-sabotage and doesn’t leave much time to enjoy
the scenery along the way.
Durable happiness and authentic productivity become our traveling
companions when we learn to identify our personal values, accept our
worth, embrace our strengths and nurture our own well being.
If we don’t stop to refuel our inner spirit we will get nowhere fast.
We will be no further ahead, running on empty in the fast lane, and
eventually will run out of gas still stuck in the same old rut.
Even though stress related illnesses are one of the leading causes of
death, for some of us it would take a miracle to slow our pace.
Although we often aren’t quite sure where we are going, we’re making
such good time we refuse to consider stopping.
The bad news is that we will stop one-way or another! The good news is
that miracles are time efficient. They are prompted by a shift in
perception that allows us to realize the benefits of a more conscious
pace. Durable happiness comes to us rather than is something we chase
when we dare to drive-in rather than search outward for answers.
Happiness is not something you figure out, but rather invite in. When
we take a YOU-TURN inward we are more likely to hear the wisdom and
intuition that was shut off in our hurry. When we coordinate our head
with our heart, balancing our inner values with outer demands, we
actually move forward with greater energy, clarity, productivity and
joy to everyone’s benefit.
The greatest gift we can give another is to choose to take full
accountability and responsibility for our own happiness. The miracle
of greater happiness is ours when embrace ourselves as worthy enough
to take time for ourselves. If you don’t start your journey from this
point you wind up fulfilling everyone’s dreams but your own.
The road to joy is paved by being fully who we are in everything we
do, having the courage to fully honor ourselves and by savoring the
present moment. When we clarify our own dreams and values we can more authentically be our self. When we are more genuinely our most loving self, we best serve others. When we know that we have lived well, and loved authentically we create the legacy marked by our journey.
Rhonda Hull, Ph.D. is a professional speaker, happiness mentor, and
author of Drive Yourself Happy: A Motor-vational Maintenance Manual
for Maneuvering Through Life. Using her expertise combined with her
light-hearted spirit, Rhonda turns everyday road signs into memorable
signs of happiness and points us in the direction of joy, personally
and professionally, regardless of our circumstances. You can find
Rhonda at http://www.DriveYourselfHappy.com
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Changing Course Newsletter Copyright 2004
Lisa Tarrant, Editor
Valerie Young, Publisher
info@ChangingCourse.com http://www.ChangingCourse.com
7 Ripley Road
Montague, MA 01351
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