Time, Stuff, Relationships

Issue No. 36

December 2011

Time, Stuff, Relationships

Dear Friends of Balancing Act,

Here we are, in that sliver of time between years. It's the perfect moment to take stock and look forward in three big categories: time, stuff and relationships.
Read on and see how you fare.

Also, as you look forward to 2012, there's time to recruit a friend for an important exercise to keep you on track, called The Morning Question Game.

Finally, if you plan to spend your New Year's Eve quietly and would like to engage in exquisite self-exploration, I'm passing along a boatload of quick inventories on everything from politics to relationships. They come courtesy of University of Virginia professor Jonathan Haidt, who lectured last month to our positive psychology class and whose focus is morality, religion and politics. Yes, they do go together.

All the best for a balanced and happy 2012!

Pat

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Maybe you're the New Year's Resolution-making kind. Maybe you give yourself the luxury of a retreat to set goals for the next year. Maybe you give the coming year a theme, like "My Year Of Adventure." Or maybe you do none of the above.

Whatever your style, a useful exercise is to take inventory of your time, your stuff and your relationships.

Here are a few sample questions to get you started:

What am I spending my time on? Does it still have value for me?
What would I like to spend more time on? How can I do that?
Is there stuff I no longer want or use? How and when will I dispose of it?
Are there people I'd like to reconnect with? When will I do that?
Are there relationships that no longer serve me? How can I change those relationships or let them go?
Is there someone I need to forgive? Express gratitude to?

Have some other questions you'd like to suggest? Please share them on The Dog Journal.

The Morning Question Game

So you think 6 a.m. is too early to start thinking and talking in inspiring ways?

Not so for those who play The Morning Question Game. A favorite in my positive psychology class, Morning Question is pretty simple. You find another person at home or via phone and agree on a good mutual morning time to ask each other a question or two to start off the day.

For example, What are you especially proud of? What's the one thing you could do today that would make it feel like a success? If you're trying to start a new routine, such as daily meditation, it could be about that. You might ask how the meditation is going, or what's the plan for meditation that day.

You negotiate the groundrules, but reports are that those who play the game stay on their game. All day.

What's Your Moral Profile?

The political silly season is upon us, and one thing's for sure. We'll be spending a lot of energy reacting to the inevitable news blitzes and mud fests that accompany it.

A new way to look at the news is through an understanding of how our moral minds work and why we react so strongly to candidates' positions and issues.

Thanks to professors and graduate students in social psychology at the University of Virginia, University of California (Irvine) and University of Southern California, you can go online to YourMorals.org, and learn how your moral views stack up against others', and better understand where other folks are coming from. There is no charge of take the tests, on a wide range of subjects from politics to sacredness, and your answers contribute to the research on morality.

Copyright 2011 Pat Snyder

In This Issue

Looking Forward

Morning Question Game

Moral Profile

Quick Links

Pat's Website

Dog Journal

Latest Column

NEED A COACH
FOR 2012?

If you'd like some extra support in setting and reaching your goals for 2012, Pat's taking on a limited number of new clients.

She's a Certified Professional CoActive Coach and a member of the International Coach Federation.

She's also a degree candidate in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more about her coaching services, including client testimonials, on her website.

LEASH LAW

NO. 36:

RETURN THOSE

GIFTS?

Unless the item's a budget-breaker, don't beat yourself up over unreturned items unless you also fail to donate them to charity. This is particularly true if you're too busy to stand in the return line because you're working so many hours. Your act of charity can assist both you and a person who's less fortunate or not well enough to have an adequate source of income. A double bonus.

This is one of 74 leash laws offered in Pat's book, The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life.