lights on 500x
Lights On!
The "Illuminator"
January/February 2010 - Vol 10, Issue 1
IN THIS ISSUE:
Sign Up
Quick Links

Lights On! is all about Path-finding! It is about helping individuals find the personal and professional paths each has been seeking. It is also about teams, groups and organizations working together with clarity, coherence and respect. Lights On!...Especially for Women: Coaching, Consulting, Facilitation, Presentations, Retreats.

Claire Pic Niagara Falls
"Choice" has been a resounding word for me lately, and the phrase, 'by choice' (of one's own volition) seems to resonate too.

In just the few hours I've been up and about today, I've made numerous 'choices'. That is, to have selected or made a decision when faced with two or more possibilities. Examples from today: to take a longer-than-usual morning walk, to have strawberries 'and' bananas at breakfast, to deep clean the tile floors with my steam-cleaning machine, to make a very difficult personal phone call, and to end my procrastination--carving out the time to consciously put pen to paper about this word, 'choice'.


Think about all the 'choices' you make in your current life---from the superficial choices to ones with deeper meaning, to ones that involve others, to ones that have life-changing impact.

In a recent Lights On! Workshop, I asked a group of women to each think deeply about important and critical 'choices' made in their personal lives. What was that pivotal point? What difference did that 'choice' make? How did just one 'choice' co-create her future?

The important learning to me, about 'choice', is that we all have it! (in equal measure). We each have 24 hours a day to deliberately 'choose'---to co-create our own lives for the better.


Barry Schwartz in "The Paradox of Choice", notes that every choice we make is a testament to our autonomy, to our sense of self-determination.

Dee Wallace, in her book, "Conscious Creation", underscores that we are all creating. Every thought, belief, and action (choice) is a creation---but most of us are not creating 'consciously'. Creating and living out our lives is an on-going process---one in which our 'choices' matter---one wherein we must be conscious (aware) of our thoughts, our beliefs, our fears, our wants. Essentially, (Dee Wallace notes), we are always 'at choice'.

I like that---'at choice'. Lights On!
Just a reminder....February is American Heart Month! It is the month of our year that specifically draws attention to the heart and all its domains. On many levels, we're asked to 'think with our heart"....to do something "good" for ourselves....physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually.

Here's to your heart---and to good choices!
It would be great if every day was the most wonderful of days and that each day carried only happy news. We all know that is not the case. As children we're exposed to the dualities of life....we experience the human difference between being happy and sad, of having laughter and tears.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was this: It is not what happens to us in life that is so important, but rather, how we choose to respond to it. This is huge.... making the best of things that do happen is the key difference in coping and finding inner resilience.

So what might help to inspire happier moods? Here are some changing-attitude tips from a January 2010 issue of Parade Magazine. * Act happy---even if you aren't (yet). * Seek out positive distractions. * Do one thing at a time - at least for 2 hours per day. (Multitasking can make you feel tense; focusing on one thing can be calming and help your sense of accomplishment). * Spend more time with (positive) people. * Take action. (Passivity tends to make you feel worse. Choosing to change, even with a very small step, is itself a mood enhancer).

At times our own light goes out and we are renewed by a spark from another.

Here's to turning your lights on!
Claire Knowles
Lights On! and Lights On! Workshop

email: info@lightsonworkshop.com info@lightsonworkshop.com
Email Marketing by