This is the first time I have ever looked back and truly reflected on my life as a year closes. Normally, I'm always on the go, focussed on what I want.
2009 is different though, and it seems to be that way for a lot of people. Perhaps it also has something to do with being 50 as I was told recently.
I realise again as I write this, that the intensely painful stuff I lived through this year has faded. I have learned so much this year, as you can see in my 96 lessons learned in 2009. The list amazed me.
And I was able to come up 50 things for which I'm grateful in one day. That's progress when sometimes I couldn't find 5! Due in no small part to many people whose words supported, inspired and guided me, and provided food for thought and nourishment for my soul as I worked through my shit.
The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
I realise again as I write this, that the intensely painful stuff I lived through this year has faded. I have learned so much this year, as you can see in my 96 lessons learned in 2009. The list amazed me.
And I was able to come up 50 things for which I'm grateful in one day. That's progress when sometimes I couldn't find 5! Due in no small part to many people whose words supported, inspired and guided me, and provided food for thought and nourishment for my soul as I worked through my shit.
Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance; but revelry is the same flower, when rank and running to seed. Desiderius Erasmus
Here we go with my 42 favourite posts of 2009.
CHANGE HOW YOU COMMUNICATE
The Challenge makes you aware of your thoughts, words and actions. I discovered that I mentally criticise others when things aren't going right. That's refusing to accept what is.
2 - ANNE NAYLOR's The ABCs of Good Communication
"Listening can involve hearing behind the words, to something more profound, to whispers of the heart."
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR LIVING WELL
4 - WAKEUP CLOUD - 121 Ways to Improve Your Life and Be More Awesome - Henri Junttila's post is simply delectable. I live most things on the list but I'll take dogs over kids any day.
5 - SUSUN WEED's Wise Woman's Ways to Boost Your Energy - Practical, inexpensive, unexpected, nourishing and loving advice. Try them.
LIFE LESSONS
6 - BOB PERK's I Wish You Enough - Sublime!
7 - LIFE IS ABOUT LIVING - Tearing Away the Veil of Illusion: The 24 Hour Perspective by Jami Sell. Wisdom in our age.
8 - DO IT YOURSELF LIFE COACH - James M. Lynch's The Most Important Day of the Year - This post is a doozy. Read it and be surprised, maybe;)
9 - FINER MINDS - Spirituality Gets down and Dirty: Why Staying Clean isn't Always Possible Gabrille Lim and Gary from ToltecSpirit.com explain.Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. George Bernard Shaw
10- GIVING 101: THE WHITE ENVELOPE PROJECT - The Man Who Hated Christmas - Be inspired!
11- ENTREPRENER'S JOURNEY - Yaro Starak's three posts on Creating Positive Change were surprising, honest and very insightful coming from someone I considered a savvy "marketing" guy.
He talks about self-awareness (the key), thoughts, action, perseverance, determination, desire, choice, smart choices, persistence, and knowing what you want.
I have lived through a major shift in consciousness over the past 15 months and that's how I know that what he says is accurate. I highly recommend the process. Yaro's phrase says it all:
"...often it’s the internal shift, the growth we go through on a personal level, that turns out to be the most valuable outcome."
WAKE UP AND TAKE ACTION
12 - LEAD THE WAY - Shawn Driscoll's The Power of 10 describes a simple technique based on what do you think would happen to your life if you did nothing in the next 10 minutes, 10 days or 10 years.
From her post I realise that many of us are experiencing a similar flagging energy in our drive to accomplish more in 2010. She says:
13- DEEPAK CHOPRA's Just Listen! Your Body is Speaking To You, and
14- THE JOY OF GIVING.
15- MARCUS BUCKINGHAM's Words of Wisdom from Strong Women
17- WAYNE DYER's Restore Your Faith - It's time to change your thinking.
18- JAMES M. LYNCH's The Hamlet Secret: Joyful Living! - Take 100 percent responsibility for your actions and improve your life, joyfully.
19- JACK CANFIELD's "How Am I doing?" The One Question that can Change All of Your Relationships - Ever heard of ask and you shall receive? Ask for feedback in the right way to get ahead.
20- MATERNAL MORTALITY - A reminder that 60 million women the world over do not have medical care in childbirth. 500,000 of them died last year in childbirth; one woman every minute, every day. All preventable circumstances!
FIND THE REAL YOU
Seeing within changes one's outer vision.
21- The Mahvelous MARTHA BECK's Your Best Life is Waiting: The 4 steps are very intensive and are not a 15-minute affair. Get to know yourself and differentiate between what you want and what your soul desires. Enlightening!
22- HEALING CODES offer a free Heart Issues Finder Assessment. Take it and get what you need to take you to the next step. That's how I was able to create this Release the Need to Control affirmation. And by the way, you would be wasting your time if you lie on the Assessment.
23- SANDRA MANGSAMEN's Live Your Passion - Indepth, concise and well-thought out. Follow the 7 steps and dazzle yourself.
24- CHERYL RICHARDSON's Steps to Finding Your Passion
25- MARCUS BUCKINGHAM's What Does a Strong Life Look Like? It's all about us ladies. Take the The Strong Life Test for Women - it's the pink icon.
EVERYDAY SPIRITUALITY
26- ANNE NAYLOR's 10 Tips for Being the Best that You Can Be, and
27- How to Have Fun with a Wish List
28- OPRAH SPIRIT NEWSLETTER's 3 Ways to Master Your Universe - sweet and stunning in it's simplicity. It highlights how we distract ourselves with negativity and what to do about it.
29- SUSAN A. ANDERSON's 10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Day - Wonderfully simple, energetic techniques to prepare yourself for each new day.
30- WAYNE DYER's 5 Ways to Be More Spiritual Every Day
31- MISSION COACH: COACHING ON PURPOSE - Activating the Feminine Energy from Love and Compassion - 5 Tips to face your fear, accept it and watch it fade away.
32- ED AND DEB SHAPIRO - 3 Mini Meditations to Help You Through your Day or Night - From 3 breaths to 10 breaths, it's your choice. So don't wimp out by saying you have no time!
33- WILLIAM HORDEN's Inner Activisim: Three Tricks for a Happier New Year - Simple, magical and enlightening - "A teacher of mine once asked me, "If you were locked away in a prison, would you be able to find inner freedom?"
34- KAREN LELAND's Mindful Eating: 4 Ways to Practice.
Dr Susan Albers: Mindful eating is a not a diet. There are no menus or recipes. It is simply about being more aware of what you eat. When you are eating mindfully, you enjoy your food, savor it and also feel more in control. It's the polar opposite of binging.
35- EVOLUTION EZINE's wonderful Cyndi Krupp posted Meditation Techniques Video Series – Pranayama Breathing Exercise: Pauses - a fabulously simple breathing technique demonstrated on video.
From her post I realise that many of us are experiencing a similar flagging energy in our drive to accomplish more in 2010. She says:
"Instead of pushing for big changes, instant solutions, and unquestionable signs that you’re on the right track—savor the small victories, take the baby steps, and follow the seemingly uncertain path with confidence, joy and curiosity."
13- DEEPAK CHOPRA's Just Listen! Your Body is Speaking To You, and
14- THE JOY OF GIVING.
15- MARCUS BUCKINGHAM's Words of Wisdom from Strong Women
16- ANNE NAYLOR's Self Esteem Booster: Stand Up for Peace! Stand tall and live from the heart.
17- WAYNE DYER's Restore Your Faith - It's time to change your thinking.
The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect. Robert Louis Stevenson
18- JAMES M. LYNCH's The Hamlet Secret: Joyful Living! - Take 100 percent responsibility for your actions and improve your life, joyfully.
19- JACK CANFIELD's "How Am I doing?" The One Question that can Change All of Your Relationships - Ever heard of ask and you shall receive? Ask for feedback in the right way to get ahead.
20- MATERNAL MORTALITY - A reminder that 60 million women the world over do not have medical care in childbirth. 500,000 of them died last year in childbirth; one woman every minute, every day. All preventable circumstances!
FIND THE REAL YOU
Seeing within changes one's outer vision.
Joseph Chilton
21- The Mahvelous MARTHA BECK's Your Best Life is Waiting: The 4 steps are very intensive and are not a 15-minute affair. Get to know yourself and differentiate between what you want and what your soul desires. Enlightening!
22- HEALING CODES offer a free Heart Issues Finder Assessment. Take it and get what you need to take you to the next step. That's how I was able to create this Release the Need to Control affirmation. And by the way, you would be wasting your time if you lie on the Assessment.
Knowing others is wisdom; knowing yourself is enlightenment. Lao Tsu
23- SANDRA MANGSAMEN's Live Your Passion - Indepth, concise and well-thought out. Follow the 7 steps and dazzle yourself.
24- CHERYL RICHARDSON's Steps to Finding Your Passion 25- MARCUS BUCKINGHAM's What Does a Strong Life Look Like? It's all about us ladies. Take the The Strong Life Test for Women - it's the pink icon.
Your true self is an expanded state, and you can only reach it through experience. Deepak Chopra
EVERYDAY SPIRITUALITY
26- ANNE NAYLOR's 10 Tips for Being the Best that You Can Be, and
27- How to Have Fun with a Wish List
28- OPRAH SPIRIT NEWSLETTER's 3 Ways to Master Your Universe - sweet and stunning in it's simplicity. It highlights how we distract ourselves with negativity and what to do about it.
29- SUSAN A. ANDERSON's 10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Day - Wonderfully simple, energetic techniques to prepare yourself for each new day.
30- WAYNE DYER's 5 Ways to Be More Spiritual Every Day
31- MISSION COACH: COACHING ON PURPOSE - Activating the Feminine Energy from Love and Compassion - 5 Tips to face your fear, accept it and watch it fade away.
Only when the clamor of the outside world is silenced will you be able to hear the deeper vibration. Listen carefully. Sarah Ban Breathnach
32- ED AND DEB SHAPIRO - 3 Mini Meditations to Help You Through your Day or Night - From 3 breaths to 10 breaths, it's your choice. So don't wimp out by saying you have no time!
33- WILLIAM HORDEN's Inner Activisim: Three Tricks for a Happier New Year - Simple, magical and enlightening - "A teacher of mine once asked me, "If you were locked away in a prison, would you be able to find inner freedom?"
34- KAREN LELAND's Mindful Eating: 4 Ways to Practice.
Dr Susan Albers: Mindful eating is a not a diet. There are no menus or recipes. It is simply about being more aware of what you eat. When you are eating mindfully, you enjoy your food, savor it and also feel more in control. It's the polar opposite of binging.
Stop and breathe and remember why you're here.
Ed and Deb Shapiro
35- EVOLUTION EZINE's wonderful Cyndi Krupp posted Meditation Techniques Video Series – Pranayama Breathing Exercise: Pauses - a fabulously simple breathing technique demonstrated on video.
It clears your mind, decontaminates the mental clutter, and reconnects you to your centre. The length of time you practise is up to you. Also try:
36- 15 BRAIN BOOSTING ACTIVITIES, and
37- HAVE A BRAIN WORKOUT 10 MINUTES A DAY as well. Yeah!
Evolution Ezine is chock-a-block of such great stuff, it boggles my mind. I've not seen the like anywhere else.
38- MASTERING ALCHEMY - Jim Self's extremely effective energy tools, for free download, to clear destructive energies, build up your own and protect them.
39- THE SECRET OF INTENTIONAL WEALTH - Margaret Lynch's Double Your Income and Tap Into Your Brilliance video.
Margaret is an EFT Master and has posted free EFT videos (Emotional Freedom Technique) which identify and clear your unsuspected blockages to wealth. The key in EFT is connecting to how you FEEL.
I've used a lot of her stuff and they are very effective. More videos are at the bottom of the post. If you are not familiar with EFT, Learn EFT and how it could benefit you.
40- FINER MINDS - Hani Khaursar's How to Clear Negative or Limiting Beliefs. The questions are a bit stilted; you can tell they were written by a scientist, but continue anyway. If you are honest, you will get great results which would lift an unsuspected weight off your shoulders.
It takes a lot more energy to fail than to succeed, since it takes a lot of concentrated energy to hold on to beliefs that don't work. Jerry Gillies
MARKETING
41-
HOW TO TIPS FOR PROMOTING YOUR eHOW ARTICLES - Even though this is about eHow articles, Julie Murchie's excellent advice is useful in other arenas for self-promotion.42- MARKET LIKE A CHICK (one word) 10 Best Social Media Tools for Brands and Solopreneurs
I follow Coree because she provides information from a woman's point of view. I cannot deal with the "crush 'em, brute force" style. She gives good value and as a neophyte, I need all the help I can get.
I follow Coree because she provides information from a woman's point of view. I cannot deal with the "crush 'em, brute force" style. She gives good value and as a neophyte, I need all the help I can get.
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. Confucius
Feel free to tell me what you think, and what worked for you in 2009.
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1 comment:
Thanks a lot for the info David. I already know about Deepak's new iPhone app.
Cheers
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