Joyful Soaring Tips

By Coach Barbara Luther Of Wind Beneath Your Wings

Email: Barbara@coach2soar.com
Web Site: www.coach2soar.com
Phone: (314) 878-4044

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In This Issue:

1) Joy Juice
2) Taking Action
3) Let's Ponder
4) Soaring Free
5) Play Time
6) Joy Supplies
7) Class Offerings

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Good Morning! I hope you enjoy this issue of Joyful Soaring Tips and find something that helps you have a Joy-Filled week!

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~~ 1) Joy Juice ~~
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It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones. - Jean Webster

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~~ 2) Taking Action ~~
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Our pets are such great role models! After a busy play session of wrestling, my two cats usually end by grooming one another then throwing themselves on the floor in a favorite warm spot or in a beam of sunlight and taking a nap. Consider following your pet's lead: find a warm, sunny spot and lie down for a cat nap. Or spend 5 minutes watching the birds outside your window. Light some candles and snuggle with your honey.

Declare a personal holiday and do absolutely nothing! Or select a day to be totally news free. Spend an evening going through photos and updating a photo album. It's spring, walk barefoot in the fresh green grass. Go for a picnic. If the weather is bad, take a blanket and spread it out in the living room and have a picnic there.

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~~ 3) Let's Ponder ~~
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I was browsing in a bookstore the other day (one of my favorite things to do!), and a book title called out to me: How Much Joy Can You Stand?

Now that's a challenging question. What about you? How much joy can YOU stand? I'm a pretty typical American woman of my generation. I love to laugh and I take pleasure in life's little things. But Joy - lots and lots of Joy? Like many of Americans, I'm afraid my capacity to take in lots of Joy is under developed. How about your Joy Quotient? Would you like to raise it a few points?

The dictionary defines Joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires, a state of happiness or felicity. Gaiety, Delight, Bliss. A source or cause of delight.

If we want to improve something, we need to focus more attention on it and practice a bit. Let's see if that will work when it comes to raising our Joy Quotient. Take a note card and make a Joy Quotient scale on it. Something like this:

JOY QUOTIENT

0_____1_____2_____3_____4_____5

Then, near the end of each day this next week, take out your card, reflect on your life, and mark with the date where your Joy Quotient is for the day. Just this act of noticing will probably raise your score. Don't forget to spend a minute in giving thanks for your Joy, too.

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~~ 4) Soaring Free ~~
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Last night, we had one of the most beautiful lightning shows I've seen in a long time. The clouds were rolling in fast from the west, and the lightning lit the clouds from behind. It was glorious. The booming of thunder was off in the distance, and we could see jagged bits of lightning high up in the clouds. Just spectacular!

Our home is surrounded by trees which were blocking our view of this incredible light show, so we jumped into the car and drove to a nearby school playground with a huge open field. There we parked, sat out on the hood of the car, and just delighted in the incredible show Mother Nature was providing.

We watched for maybe 15 minutes then dashed back home just as the downpour started. The entire experience was no more than 30 minutes of our evening, and yet it was precious. How nice it was to sit with my partner and exclaim about lightning and how it lit the clouds. It was almost like a Texas version of the Northern Lights without the colors.

This little piece of a weeknight evening is forever etched in our memories as a special time together. Such a simple pleasure. We didn't have to schedule it, or pay money for it, or even get dressed up. What we had to do was be open to our environment and willing and able to step outside our routine and be in the moment. I hope you'll be more alert to your environment and the incredible opportunities to enjoy the little things this week.

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~~ 5) Play Time ~~
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At work tomorrow, change your routine a bit. Park somewhere different, go to lunch someplace new or with someone you don't usually go with, and go in the front door rather than some back or side door. Do some part of your work in a different order or trade work with someone for the day. Notice and acknowledge someone who helps you.

Check out the reception area where the public comes to your business. Do you like it? How does it make you feel about working there?

When you get home, try the same exercise. Go in the front door, change a routine.

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~~ 6) Joy Supplies ~~~
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This is a very important week: We've just had Palm Sunday. I believe Passover begins this evening. We have Good Friday coming up and Easter on Sunday. And Saturday is Earth Day. I hope you'll participate in the celebrations that are important to you. Enjoy a creme egg or chocolate bunny for me, too. Have a truly Joyous week!

NOTE: Barbara offers links to many of the resources referenced here from her web site, www.coach2soar.com. If you cannot find some resource mentioned, contact Barbara for help at Barbara@coach2soar.com.

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~~ 7) Class Offerings ~~
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YOU'RE INVITED! Come join me on Thursday, April 27th at 5pm EST for a free Happy Hour Telebration for anyone who wants to come celebrate the miracles, shifts, wins, and overall happy things they've experienced during the past month. It's an open, drop-in time to visit and share life's good news with new and old friends. Put it on your calendar now! It's the last Thursday of every month at 5pm EST. The bridge number is 702-257-2699.

I'll be posting a new set of teleclasses on my web site soon. Stop by and check them out!
Copyright (C) 2000 by Barbara Luther. All rights reserved.

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To contact Wind Beneath Your Wings
Coach Barbara Luther:
Email: Barbara@coach2soar.com
Web Site: www.coach2soar.com
Phone: (314) 878-4044
(Central Time Zone)
Fax: (208) 988-2142
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o o o o o o o o Tired of Winging It Alone? o o o o o o o o

Call Barbara to discuss a coaching partnership today. Barbara Luther is a Master Certified Coach and a Certified Mentor Coach who specializes in working with successful professionals, tenure-track faculty, coaches, business owners, career types, creatives, and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. She coaches via telephone and the internet, and in person for corporate teams.

Barbara is a graduate of Coach University, a virtual training organization, and the Optimal Functioning Institute, a virtual training organization for ADD coaches. She is also a member of the International Coach Federation and an ICF chapter host. She leads teleclasses for CoachU and Corporate CoachU, as well as teleclasses of her own. Prior to coaching, Barbara ran her own consulting business for 8 years, designing and developing online help and performance support systems for companies such as American Express, AAA of California, Bank One, Los Angeles County Employee Retirement Association, Wendy's, Pioneer, Utilicorp, Gap, and Bank of America. With a Master's in English, she has also taught college-level writing and worked in the corporate world as a technical writer, trainer, and project manager.

Along with Dr. Francena T. Hancock, Barbara is co-founder of the ADD Coach Group, an organization created to provide knowledge about the business-oriented positive qualities of adults with ADD, ways to identify employees who have ADD traits that impact their performance, and strategies and techniques to support to their specific needs. (Web site www.addcoachgroup.com coming soon.)

Barbara also hosts a coaching special interest group -- the GLBTQ SIG (Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender/Questioning), and she writes articles for their newsletter, Reaching for the Rainbow (To subscribe: send an email to: ReachingfortheRainbow-On@lists.webvalence.com)

Barbara says: My passion is assisting people in recognizing and embracing their power. My vision is a world where every person embraces their special talents and enjoys a life built around their passions. My mission is to assist people in identifying their special gifts and designing their lives to enjoy and share them. My life purpose is to provide a loving, safe space for self discovery.

Email: Barbara@coach2soar.com -=*=- Phone: (314) 878-4044