Good. Better. Best. Which self do you want to be?

The 3-Minute Coach

December 5, 2001, Issue #30
Every Day's A Party

Welcome to The 3-Minute Coach

Welcome friends, old and new. Thank you for continuing to forward 3MC to your friends. We currently have over 5400 subscribers and are now read in 63 countries with Belgium, Turkey and Zimbabwe being the latest additions.

This will probably be the last issue for 2001. I'll resume publication early in January.

Whatever you're celebrating in the next few weeks, may your heart be filled with love and joy and gladness.

In joy, peace and gratitude,

Louise

Food for Thought

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." --- Sir Winston Churchill

Keep It Simple

This month, I am combining 'Keep it Simple' with 'The Welcome Mat', articles from colleagues and friends that I know you will enjoy, because I can't think of anything simpler than

Gifts That Do Not Cost a Cent
By Michaela David

The Gift of Listening
And you must really listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

The Gift of Affection
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

The Gift of Laughter
Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say, "I love to laugh with you."

The Gift of a Written Note
It can be a simple "Thanks for the help" note or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

The Gift of a Compliment
A simple and sincere, "You look great in red," "You did a super job" or "That was a wonderful meal" can make someone's day.

The Gift of a Favour
Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

The Gift of Solitude
There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone. Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.

The Gift of a Cheerful Disposition
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone. Really it's not that hard to say, Hello or Thank You.

© 2001 Course of Action. All rights reserved.
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Michaela David is a therapeutic life coach and clinical psychotherapist, with twenty-five years of experience in workshop leadership, facilitation, and keynote speaking. She has a private practice, designs and delivers workshops, and writes a column entitled Surviving Work, dealing with day-to-day workplace issues, for a monthly corporate newsletter. Prior to changing careers at age 50, Michaela was the Chief Financial Officer of a high-profile engineering firm with offices across Canada. Ms. David is a cancer survivor and brings the wisdom gained from this experience to all aspects of her work in the form of humour, presence, and openness.

Michaela David, Course of Action, 484 Avenue Road, Suite 1108, Toronto ON M4V 2J4. Michaela can be reached at 416-964-9408 or email survivor.specialist@sympatico.ca

Feature Article

Every Day's A Party!

If you have access to the Food TV Channel, then you are familiar with Emeril Lagasse. His winsome smile, culinary expertise and passion for cooking have skyrocketed him to the top echelon of TV cooks. And not just on TV. Our visit to his "Delmonico's Steakhouse" remains the highlight of our Las Vegas honeymoon.

Recently, a friend of mine noticed that several recipes from an Emeril Live! Show were from his "Every Day's A Party!" cookbook. She further concluded that the title appears to be his secret recipe for success: Live every day like it's a party! Live life to the fullest. Enjoy every experience to the max. Find the joy in every single thing.

What a way to go through life! And it's infectious. It's hard to watch him and not get caught up in feeling good. This is particularly true on the shows when he has a live audience, but happens when it's a closed set as well.

What would happen to our lives if we approached everything with the same "joie de vivre"? How would life be different if you treated everything - work, play, home, people (family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, people you pass on the street), EVERYthing - like the most marvelous gift you ever received?

What doors would open up? What sadness or illness would disappear? What people would be drawn to you? What would sleep after a day, week, month of that be like? What would it be like if everything that happened to you was an opportunity? No wonder phrases like "bam!" and "let's kick it up a notch" have entered into the vernacular.

I am thinking this might be a great way to look at life and may well become my theme for 2002. If you've read my newsletter for a while, you know about themes. For the rest of you, I've included a previous article on using themes since this is the perfect time to start planning for next year.

If you decide to try it out, please share your experience so I can pass it on to the 3 Minute Coach community.

Til next time, have a "party" day!

Related Quotes

"I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day's work like a happy child at play." -- Albert Einstein

"Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys." -- Andre Gide

"Some men never seem to grow old. Always active in thought, always ready to adopt new ideas, they are never chargeable with foggyism. Satisfied, yet ever dissatisfied, settled, yet ever unsettled, they always enjoy the best of what is, are the first to find the best of what will be." -- William Shakespeare

"To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?" -- Katharine Graham

"Getting there isn't half the fun - it's all the fun." -- Robert Townsend

"When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things." -- Joe Namath

"The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life." -- Charles M. Schwab

"It is funny about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will very often get it." -- W. Somerset Maugham (

"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it." -- Pearl Buck

"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined." -- Johnny Carson

"Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing." -- William Shakespeare

Encore Presentation

Using Themes To Propel You Into The Life You Want

[Originally published in the January 8, 2001 edition of The 3MC]

The beginning of a new year is a time when many of us make resolutions for the future. Unfortunately, most of these are based on shoulds and therefore very seldom get realized. Yet, for a short time each year, we dig those old chestnuts out of the closet: exercise regularly, lose weight, quit smoking, complete something that's been hanging on, etc. For a few days or weeks, we actually find some motivation and work on those items. But, with a very few exceptions, we soon forget all our newfound focus and motivation and we hide them away for another year.

For 2001 and again in 2002, I am not making resolutions, but am selecting a theme for the year instead. A theme as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern. Selecting a theme is a way of looking forward to the future, but at a higher level than most goals tend to be. It gives a focus to my personal development, but allows for more freedom in expressing and realizing that focus.

Some examples of themes are: Extreme Self Care, Effortless Living, Living "In" Integrity, Financial Independence, Completing the Past, Get it Done in 2001, A Perfect Year, Go For the Gold, Simple Pleasures, One with Spirit, Nurturing Network, Bolstering Beliefs, Match Made in Heaven, Looking Good & Feeling Fine, Integrity is Job One, Excelling at Excellence, and Dreams into Reality.

These examples are items that I'd like to create or enhance in my life, but I hope they give you a feel for creating themes of your own. As you can see, they are larger and more comprehensive than specific goals. I'm not sure I can express it as well as I'd like, but for me a theme lifts me up and carries me along. It sings to my soul and pulls me forward. Goals very often feel more like I'm being pushed, and the energy just isn't the same. I find I have more success by focusing on the bigger theme or feeling I'd like to create than by narrowing my scope to a few detailed goals.

Once you select a theme, write it down and post it in as many places as possible. Some good places are in the bathroom, the kitchen, on your computer, or any place that you know you will see often. The more often you see and 'read' the theme, the more cemented it gets in your unconscious. You definitely want to post it at work as well, since you spend so much time there. If you are not comfortable posting your personal theme where anyone could see it, I recommend finding an object (a stone, crystal, candle, picture, anything you might normally see on a desk) and 'anchoring' the theme to it. Just spend a few moments holding the object and reflecting on your theme. That way, every time you see the object, you will think of your theme, but no one else will comment on it.

You will find that working with your theme becomes effortless. The stronger your focus and intention to create your theme, the more you will find yourself making the choices that support it. For example, if your theme is Extreme Self Care or Fit as a Fiddle, or some other health-related theme, you will find that you start taking the actions that you intuitively know are intrinsic to being healthy: you remember to take your pills, you eat foods that nurture you, you take the stairs instead of the elevator, you make it to the gym, you park as far from the door as possible, you get the rest you need, you schedule appointments with the appropriate medical professionals... the list is endless. We all know what's involved with getting and staying healthy, yet we often don't do it. Staying tuned in to your theme, the end result, helps pull you towards that goal effortlessly. These actions no longer feel like have-to's. They become want to's.

You may find that you have a number of themes you'd like to work on and aren't willing to wait a year to work on the next one. If that's the case, I would recommend identifying your top 3 or 4 themes and then rotating them. Work on the first one for one or two months, then switch your focus to the second theme. The momentum you build by actively focusing on one area for 30 or 60 days should keep the first one going while you start to work on the second one.

Louise Hay Power Card of the Week

Louise L. Hay is a metaphysical teacher and the best-selling author of 27 books, including "You Can Heal Your Life" and "Empowering Women". She has recently created a set of 64 Power Thought Cards, with beautifully illustrated affirmations. Each newsletter, I will share one of these wonderful thoughts.

Power Card:	My future is glorious.
Affirmation:	I now live in limitless love, light and joy. All is well in my world.

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All That BIZ

Louise Morganti Kaelin is a Life Success Coach who partners with others to help them turn their dreams into reality.
Phone: 1-617-984-2868
Email: louise@touchpointcoaching.com
Web: http://touchpointcoaching.com
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Copyright (c) 2001, all rights reserved. The 3-Minute Coach is a publication of TouchPoint Coaching. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute this newsletter provided that The 3-Minute Coach is kept intact, and this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author are attached.