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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My mother shared a quote with me that I thought was worth passing along:

One filled with joy preaches without preaching. - Mother Teresa

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~~ 2) Taking Action ~~
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What is it you do every day or as often as you can that you would continue to do if time and money were not an issue?

Your answer points to where your passion is. And when you're doing something because you love to do it, your enthusiasm is contagious. I think that's what Mother Teresa meant.

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~~ 3) Let's Ponder ~~
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My PC has been virus challenged lately. The antivirus software I had on the machine was up to date yet it didn't catch 2 viruses that attacked it. The PC had to be in the shop for 5 days, then it was still freezing up when I got it back. So, it had to go back to the shop where we cleared both hard drives and started over. Not a pretty picture. I feel like the poster child for doing regular backups.

But the PC problem isn't what I wanted to discuss here. You see, when the machine first started to act up, I tolerated it a while, letting the frustration of it zap my energy. Then I rushed about to print essential information before I sent it to the shop. While it was in the shop the first time, I spent every day feeling helpless and frantic. What email messages were coming in that I couldn't get to and answer? Think of all the writing I wanted to be doing! And my calendar is online. In my mind, I kept building a bigger and bigger disaster. It felt like I was running a race and getting further behind with every step. I created my own stress, and with it, my resistance went down and my allergies got a foothold.

Sound familiar? I created a full-blown thought attack, as Joseph Bailey calls them in his book, The Speed Trap. So, when it became obvious that the PC would have to go back to the shop, I took another approach. I thought about what I needed from the machine, decided when I could be ready to let it be gone again, and calmly spent a week preparing. I didn't panic or rush about or let my resistance get low. I didn't choose to disasterize. Because I was better prepared for it to be gone, it was only in the shop a day. I barely missed it!

We have so much control over how we respond to things going on in our lives. We have choices in what we think and how we feel, and these choices directly impact our physical bodies and the overall quality of our lives.

Watch your reactions to things going on around you this week. Notice how you feel and what you think. Experiment with choosing to think or respond differently or try changing an emotional response.

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~~ 4) Soaring Free ~~
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This is the time of year when many of us are doing some amount of spring cleaning. Here are a couple suggestions that can help simplify your life and help others at the same time:

* Collect any old towels and blankets and donate them to an animal shelter. When you go, take a bundle of newspapers with you. They will shred and use them in the animals' cages.

* Go through your CD and video collections. If you haven't listened to or watched something in the past 6 months, donate it to a library or school. You can do the same thing with books. And don't forget those old children's books and toys that might as well be getting some use!

* When you buy a new piece of furniture or an appliance, if the old one is still usable, donate it to a shelter, Goodwill, or some organization that assists the less fortunate.

* If you have an old bike or old sports equipment of any sort, these items can be donated and put to good use. Same goes for any musical instrument you're no longer using.

We have a rule in our house that whenever we bring in a new item (clothing, shoes, tools, appliances, etc.), something old has to go. It takes only a few minutes to identify where old items might still be useful, and you'll be protecting our environment by recycling rather than adding to landfill.

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~~ 5) Play Time ~~
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Let me leave you with this:

Humor can help you thrive in change, remain creative under pressure, work more effectively, play more enthusiastically, and stay healthier in the process. You have instant access to a miracle drug with immediate effects that doesn't cost you a cent or require any heavy lifting. - C. W. Metcalf, author of Lighten Up.

Share a joke or a fun story today. Go for a deep belly laugh!

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~~ 6) Joy Supplies ~~~
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Do you like folk music? Or songs that tickle your funny bone or make you think? I've got an album for you!

Folk singer Cheryl Wheeler has a great voice and her banter is as much of a treat as her music. Her newest album, Sylvia Hotel, has a delightful mix of ballads and just plain fun songs. The first track is about a blue-collar worker who loves what he does. Want to hear a song about potatoes sung to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance? She gives us a song that will help you get once and for all why shoulding on yourself makes no sense. Hiding at the end and not even listed is a little song about her bank experience when she bought a house. And there's even a song about cats! I haven't done the album justice. Go check it out. I think you'll be pleased.

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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Tomorrow: 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.

Check www.coach2soar.com for a list of upcoming classes.

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