The Secret To Understanding How Your Dreams Can Give You The Edge in 2012!

December is a month of long night and shortened daylight hours.  The Winter Solstice is an ideal time to slow down and reflect on the year before moving into the holidays filled with celebrations of gratitude and abundance.  Reflection allows us to make peace with the past, gain clarity for the moment and build confidence in the future.  Taking a cue from Mother Nature, the extended hours of darkness, expand your dreams beyond limitation. Where dreams expand so does the heart, the mind and the soul making space for the new things we desire as the New Year approaches.

Mediation begins with listening to the noise that surrounds us and releasing it as easily as it comes. Begin reflective meditation by noticing all that is going on in the mind, allowing thoughts to come and go.  There may be thoughts that linger longer than others asking for more attention. There may be feelings in varying degrees of intensity that ride along with the thoughts. Notice all of that is connected to each thought or strings of thoughts.  You may choose to write them down at this time or simply take notice, however, be aware of the serendipitous nature of the process, desire for the whole self to explore, gather and sort the information into useful material.  

Using the process of exploration, gathering and sorting create a reflections page in your strategies journal (SMASH book) of those things that you found to be significant is similar to “kicking the tires” of your car before setting out on the road.  Becoming familiar with the quirks of a vehicle before you take a long trip, (or a short one), allows you to enjoy the ride by reducing perceived risk making the journey more enjoyable and less stressful. In life, understanding how you process events and sort information will help you to create objectives, strategies and tactics to meet your goals with greater success, less stress, and enjoy the journey.

As the mind becomes increasingly still there is a temptation to fill it with new thoughts. Take a moment to let the system rest and reach beyond your perceived limits to retrieve inspiration.  Listen to the breath of the body and the rhythm of the heart as your mind and body settles in and adjusts to the stillness.  Consider the quiet to be the gift of peace to the whole soul offering it with gratitude for a job well done. As inspiration reveals it’s self the imagination will expand it into a dream. Follow the dream and expand it in all directions until you reach the boundaries of the dream, and then push it out even more.  Experience the dream in as much detail as possible, interacting with the dream with all of the senses.  Deepening the experience sends the mind and body to the fringe of reality where it will return with endless possibilities from which to realize the potential of the dream. Record this information in your strategies journal in vivid detail.

Sort the information you have brought back from the dream into categories, such as;

1. Center/ Spirituality/ Self
2. Partnerships/Love
3. Creations/ Children/Homemaking
4. Travel/ Service/ Declarations
5. Work/ Career/ Activity
6. Information/ Knowledge/ Self-Cultivation/ Culture
7. Health/ Money/ Traditions/ Habits
8. Wealth/ Abundance/ Distribution/ Growth
9. Personal Power/ Security/ Longevity/ Integrity. 

This is a springboard list to identify objectives, build strategies and implement tactics that will move you to realize the dream. 

 

6 Steps Toward A Difference Only You Can Make #charity #volunteerism

iVolunteer Video from iVolunteer on Vimeo.

This post began to take shape after I read a couple of articles I found in my twitterfeed, SocialEdge"Right brain or left brain?" http://htl.li/6UqPG and 'The value of water in Mali'  http://bit.ly/qgaTdF  by CharityWater. I have a personal connection to Mali, West Africa and am always watchful of new information on assistance for the country. I am also interested in the way people quantify the predicted results and reasons for what they do. These two articles stirred up a particular passion I have about how we create change in our world on a local and global level.

At the beginning of LYFE Empowered 2.0, February 2011 my objective was to live big to give big.  I am an advocate of volunteerism and have been a volunteer for many years. When I was raising my children I had the opportunity to be on several committees in my community.I was involved on a city, school, and neighborhood level engaged in various ways that brought value to my community.

Having my fingers in so many pies I found that I was also engaged in conversations with the curious and the furious everywhere I went. I indulged the curious and to the furious I would often ask."When can I pick you up on Tuesday for the next City Council meeting?" or, "I have several places I could use you, can I put you down as a volunteer?" These questions often closed the conversation quickly and rarely did I ever see anyone at a City Council meeting or recruit a new volunteer. 

It is always easier to complain than it is to dig in and possibly make a change..... or is it?

How do you begin to make the change that only you can make? It is simple. The biggest changes begin close to home. Schools, local organization, charities, and communities are always looking for people interested in trading a little time to make a small difference. Every bit counts.

1. What are you passionate about? 
2. Where are you already spending the most time? Work, School, Church, Government Offices, Parks or recreation outlets?
3. Where do you see opportunity for the most improvement?
4. What are three things you can do in the next seven days that will move you closer to having an impact on this environment? Consider your resources; who, what, and where. Who do you people you know? What do you have to give? What resources do you have in the area where you would like to see the change? 
5. On a scale of one to ten, rank these three things based upon how important they are for you to complete. If any of them fall below a five, re-evaluate your tactics. 
6. Take action on your plan. Make the time, the calls, and put the resources together that will move you closer to accomplishing your objective.

And so, with the season of giving in full swing and the time for a new year's resolution right around the corner, I encourage and challenge you to consider these things and how you will make a the difference only you can make.

Live Big to Give Big,

Elle

 

Resources to get you started: (google is a beautiful thing)

www.handsonnetwork.org/

www.volunteerguide.org

www.volunteermatch.org/

www.crossculturalsolutions.org

www.serve.gov/

www.getinvolved.gov/

www.womenow.org