This newsletter is intended to support the work of people who are engaged in developing the careers, vocations, livelihoods, jobs and/or work of other individuals. It is our belief that everyone's work life can and should be molded and crafted to be the expression of our finest gifts and a source of great joy. Towards this end, we hope that the content of these newsletters will support you with both practical tools and inspirational ideas.

Hello.
Welcome to our January 2012 edition!
Please pass this on to interested friends and colleagues!

January's Gift: Anyone, Any Time, Any Place  

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

What is it about January that beckons us to set our gaze beyond our feet, up the road, past the fence, and towards the horizon? What is it about the ringing in of a new year that makes us regard the Future like children with a ball of colourful Play-Doh - warming it, kneading it, stretching and bending it, until it becomes something useful, beautiful, or just plain silly. What pleasure it gives us to approach something as vague and innocuous, and yet, as full of potential, as a “new year”.

Who of us has not, in our own mind’s eye, sat atop the brim of the New Year’s clock as it ticks its first tock, legs swinging carefree beneath us in the bright night air - nothing but stars to wish upon in the silver light of the moon, eyes twinkling with the promise of a new tomorrow? With or without champagne, hope bubbles to the surface, betraying our most guarded, cynical selves, as we welcome each small stroke of the clock as a welcome guest. During this brief annual truce, we regard Time as a companion and a friend, - not the foe it became in the year past, as it ran leaps and bounds ahead of us on its long, tireless legs. Even if only for this one night, we enjoy sitting side by side with Time, toasting to the great things we will do, and be, and become in the months ahead … not in spite of Time, but on account of it. Ah, the clean slate of a new year in which no mistakes have been made, no hopes have been dashed, no vows have been broken. Just the tender sprout of possibility leaning its slender green neck towards the light, all promise of color, bud, and fruit. Such is the Gift of January.

1. Okay, snap out of it. We’re mid-month already. Reality check. Humor me. Which of the following categories best characterize your current position/status with regard to your January intentions?

2. You made and have kept your New Year’s resolution(s), the blush of the New Year’s rose still glows in your cheeks.

3. You made a few half-baked resolutions, the kind that sounded great on the eve of the new year, but failed to inspire any real change in the ensuing days and weeks. (Still, you haven’t given up hope that you will re-board that train. Or, you’ve determined that it’s the kind of train you get on and off of at will… uh huh.)

4. You gave up on that “resolution stuff” years ago, knowing that you’d just be setting yourself up for failure or disappointment.

5. You resent being asked to categorize yourself, and thus, hereby to refuse to identify with any category. (Trick question.)

I recently heard a keynote speaker share the following: “Research shows that as many as 75% of people in North America make New Year’s resolutions, and 80% of those who make them, will break them by the third week of January. Another 10% will wait another 3-4 weeks before abandoning their pledge. Maybe one in ten will hold to and keep their intended resolution.” I waited around afterwards to inquire about the source of this research, but failed to flag the guy down. In the end, I realized, it doesn’t really matter what the research says, the heart and soul of it is this: January presents us with an irresistible gift that is bright and beautiful on the outside, but often exacts too high a price for many of us to truly enjoy and benefit from the treasure inside. We’ve been there. Few of us are strangers to the 9 in 10 who have disregarded January’s Gift.

In my mind, that’s because we have misunderstood the nature of the gift. What January offers us can be redeemed by anyone, at any time, any place, if we can disavow ourselves of two terribly misguided notions. The first is allowing ourselves to be more entranced with the shiny packaging of a new number, (e.g., 2012), mistaking the wrappings for the true treasure. What calls to us in January is the gift of new beginnings, a second chance, a fresh start, the clean slate, an open field of possibility. With the notion of a “new year’s resolution”, we are hopeful that we can make good again on the promises we’ve made and failed to keep. It is a gift of redemption.

What’s false is not the notion of the opportunity for change and new beginnings, but the notion that it has anything to do with the calendar. For sure, January 1st, 2012 has a lovely ring to it as “the day inviting new ways, new patterns, a new you.” But if we would allow it, January 21st, Feb. 7th, March 22nd, May 11th, or Nov. 17th could hold just as promising a tone of possibility!

Time is always on our side. It never asks to be the foe, and it’s not in a race with anyone. It doesn’t speed up like the rabbit or slow down like the turtle. It has no tricks up its sleeve. It is as constant and consistent as our very breath. With our first breath came the initial ticking of our life’s clock, and with the last breath, the final tock. In the meantime, it offers itself to us, free and clear, without agenda. Every year we celebrate the anniversary of our birth, and every year we pass what will be the anniversary of our passing, treating it as any other day. Who has the power to tell us what day is treated as sacred and what is not? Every day is sacred! Every sunrise we are given the gift of a new day, unlived, with no footprints - no mistakes yet made, no hoped yet dashed, no vows broken. What would it take to dawn on us that we are offered the gift of a new beginning with the dawning of each new day, just as we are, each year, on the first day of January?

The second notion we need to question is the idea of simply “making a new year’s resolution” and expecting change forthwith! If that were such a good idea, entire industries based on notions of “goal-setting”, “mission and vision statements”, “management by objectives”, “risk and reward systems”, life coaching, job coaching, and motivational leadership would be eradicated, swiftly deemed redundant. Consider the fact that synonyms of the term “resolution” include pledge, oath, or vow, as are exchanged in a wedding and other sacred ceremonies, or spoken in the presence of a King Arthur when being knighted a member of the Round Table. In other uses of the word, the term “resolution” is interchangeable with a decision, a motion, a ruling, or a declaration, as would be handed down by a judge in a court of law. Think about it: conjuring up “a resolution” while sitting around the holiday table with one’s buddies, cronies, and immediate or extended family, (intoxicated or not), is probably not the wisest way of forging a new life path, taking a solemn vow, or making a serious declaration.

In my estimation, the chances of our sticking to our resolutions would multiply greatly given the benefit of some sincere reflection and purposeful planning. Doesn’t it make more sense that a true-blue resolution worthy of one’s genuine commitment would best be achieved through a conscious, calculated and intentional process? Rarely will we be able to make significant and enduring changes in our lives without the benefit of stringent self-awareness with regard to our motives and intentions, our perceptions of risk and reward, our plans and expectations, and finally, the truth about where our real commitment lies. Among the questions and considerations I would include in the deliberate honing, shaping, and defining of what we may, in the end, resolve to act upon, I offer the following:

1. What are my truest, deepest intentions for the change I would like to make? With the idea of “having the end in mind” – what hopes and desires do you I hold with regard to this change? What is it I desire at the heart of this change? What would be different in my present life if I succeeded in making this change?

2. What do I aspire to achieve in this arena in the short term and the long-term? What target or results am I aiming for? What are my goals in this regard and how will I will measure my progress? What will I have to sacrifice in order to achieve this goal and what are the benefits I hope to enjoy as a result of making this effort?

3. What is my plan for achieving the goals as stated above? Is it challenging enough to inspire action, but gentle enough to be doable? What are my objectives in the short term? What specific actions will lead to those outcomes? What are ten small steps I can begin to take in the direction of my goals? What is the first step?

4. What am I willing to commit to in relation to this change? What am I absolutely resolved to doing, being, or becoming in order to make this happen?

5. What are my expectations in relation to making this commitment and following through on this resolution? Can I remain hopeful and positive in relation to my goals without setting yourself up for disappointment? Am I guarding myself by lowering my expectations, or can I proceed with enough faith in myself to set my sights high, prepared to deal with whatever life throws my way?

6. If I am not ready to fully commit to this resolution, what needs to happen before I will be willing to make that commitment? Can I commit to taking the next step that will lead me to the next decision point?

Does every change require the kind of deep reflection and the lengthy measures described above? Of course not. Some venture out on a whim … others experience an epiphany of sorts and “Voila” - all is different. Others will go through a seemingly never-ending painstaking process before taking the tiniest of steps. To each his own.

Still, the power we have to continuously shape and define how we live our lives through the choices we make is not a freedom to be taken lightly. The fact that we can, at our own time and place, exercise the liberty to create changes in our lives, is one of the true glories of being human. Whether it’s breaking an old habit or starting a new one, or developing a new pattern of thinking, acting, doing or being - all human hope lies in that great frontier land we call the free will. Assisting others to pioneer their futures is part and parcel of the important work that many of us are privileged to be a part of and to have a hand in. Perhaps it is a blessing that we have no choice but to practice what we preach, as together, we step into the unknown of each new day. Among my wishes for you, dear readers, is that you listen for and respond to the quickening of your own heart that calls forth change… redeeming and fully responding to the Gift of January, making a friend of Time, knowing that Hope is never out of season.

To new ventures and joyful furtherings,

~ Denise

Read Denise's previous (November/December 2011) newsletter...

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Thoughts to Consider

  "As if you could kill time
without injuring eternity."

- Henry David Thoreau
 

Poem of the Month

A Blessing for Longing

By John O’Donohue
 

Blessed be the longing that brought you here
And quickens your soul with wonder.

May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.

May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease
To discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.

May the forms of your belonging – in love, creativity and friendship-
Be equal to the grandeur and the call of your spirit.

May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.

May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.

May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness
With which your body inhabits the world.

May your heart never be haunted by ghost structures of old damage.

May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.

May you know the urgency which with the world longs for you and awaits your gift.

- Excerpt from “To Bless the Space Between Us”, Doubleday, Copyright 2008, John O’Donohue

Coming Soon: Free Webinar

Denise will be joining David Zinger of the Employee Engagement Network for a 45 minute webinar on February 10th entitled Seven Essential Questions for Wholehearted Engagement at Work. In a lively discussion with her esteemed friend and colleague, Denise will challenge and inspire attendees to bring fresh vitality to their everyday work by engaging in questions that go below the surface of our ordinary experience of daily work. (Watch for the email containing registration information which will be sent out a week before the event. Limited registration.)
 

Some of Denise's Confirmed Upcoming Appearances

** Winnipeg, MB ** Nanaimo, BC ** Vancouver, BC ** Surrey, BC ** Beaver Dam, WI ** Bethlehem, PA ** East Grand Forks, MN ** Lake of the Ozarks, MO

See all of Denise's Scheduled Events...

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