One of the most constant conversations I see on the social and professional networks I belong to is which networking support group is best to join for 'transitioning'. In case you haven't heard, 'transitioning' is the euphemism now being used for 'out of work and looking (desperately) for a job'.
It is as if people everywhere were having the worst year of their lives and I'm not putting up with it anymore so I'm declaring: today's the day.
Two things are going into place as of now: The Star of Your Own Life Journey begins on Sunday, August 2, right here on Chicago's north shore with a 6-hour, 10 week and 51 exercise program aimed at helping people HAVE THE BEST YEAR OF THEIR LIVES. Can't make it here? Let me know where you're at and I'll bring it to you.
One year of applied and supported weekly exercises and journaling will build new muscles, add passion and create joy and we'll do the whole thing for about $7 a week. More info is available at http://www.starofyourownlife.com/self-help-seminar.html and if you're tired of being told whether things are 'good' or 'bad' by the news headlines each day, there's room for you.
As I quoted Shakespeare's Hamlet previously, 'There is nothing, either good or bad, but thinking makes it so'. But we'll also be self-determined and draw the line of being affected by circumstances and making our lives happen the way we want them to as in another quote from Hamlet 'From this time forth, my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth'; which means 'I'm getting serious starting NOW!'
The second thing I'm offering to make a difference is The Hamlet Secret: A Self-Directed (Shakespearean) Workbook for Living a Passionate, Joy-Filled Life. Seventy or more quotes from the play Hamlet have been selected for their 'direction' and I've added a brief coaching lesson for each one, plus exercises that will help you take the idea from the page into your life.
It's enough material for about a year and a half and if you're tired of being 'at the effect' of circumstances, this book will give you self direction.
Here's a sample chapter with one of the many exercises:
All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.
Hamlet, Act I, Scene 2
Life is short -- what are you doing about it?
"Passing through nature to eternity ..." Whether you believe in the after-life in any of its many forms -- heaven, rebirth, hell, and purgatory -- you might believe in the laws of physics; energy can neither be created nor destroyed. So what becomes of this life force once we "shuffle off this mortal coil"?
Believe anything you want about life, but right here and now, today, and in this present "act," choose the life you have and get on with it. Recently I heard it said that in relative terms of scientific discovery and breakthroughs, it is possible that the first human to live to be two hundred years old could already have been born. BUT he or she will still die sometime, and what happens between the cradle and the grave is a daily choice we must make in order to make it all worth it. Start living from "today's the day" and taking on everything in life that you've been avoiding -- either do it or cross it off your list forever.
No time for regrets, anger, or fear, unless you like that sort of thing. I mean, no one really LIKES that sort of stuff, do they? Then why would they fill their lives with it? Got me? Perhaps this will help before we get to the exercises: What you do today is what your life will become tomorrow. That ought to get you moving, eh?
All that lives must die exercises:
Exercise 1:
For one week, do at least one thing a day that is new or that scares you, even just a little bit. For example, I am not knowledgeable about baseball, but I had a chance to coach third base for an inning in my son's little league team. I said "yes," even though I was unsure of what to do. The third runner I signaled home was my own son, and seeing him poised on second base was the high point of my day! Journal each night about what you did and your reaction to it.
There are two other exercises in this chapter and plenty more. If you are enjoying my weekly blogs I'm pretty sure you'll like The Hamlet Secret: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1438960662
What are YOU doing TODAY to get the world on track?! Let me hear from you, ok?
Come on, 'from this time forth . . .' Today IS the day!