The classroom of silence is an amazing place to go and an amazing place to find the answers to so many questions that we ask every day. There are so many answers that can be found when we get away from all the noise in this world and we step into the classroom of silence.

Before we go any further I want you to understand that I write to make a living, but this article is not a profitable article for me. I am not going to make a single penny from it. I want you to understand that my only goal with this article is to introduce a strategy of finding yourself that has been used since the beginning of time and will always work.

Silence is one of our allies that we have forgotten about. We are always filling our days with noise of Television, Radio, traffic, co workers, bosses, friends, and many other distracting things. We never find time to step into the classroom of silence. We never give our minds a chance to really think and answer the questions we have inside of us.

There is more that can be learned in the classroom of silence than in any book, magazine, television show, radio program, movie, or anything else. Silence is where we discover ourselves, our dreams, our desires, and our God. Silence is where we find the courage to face another day and it is where we cope with our bad habits and allow ourselves to change.

Without silence we lead a life of desperation and we are constantly searching for answers without finding them. I challenge you to step into the classroom of silence once a day for 10 minutes. That is not very much time to spend for the amount of peace, happiness, and the answers you will find in that silence. Take my challenge and begin discovering yourself.

If you like what you just read, then go to the following website to read about books from the author that has inspired many of my writings, Matthew Kelly:

matthewkelly.com/mkf_index.html The Matthew Kelly Foundation

When we’re asked to list the attributes that make a great coach some things spring to mind straight away. Words and phrases like empathy, great at listening, non-judgemental, challenging … you know the sort of thing.

For me, right up there near the top is the gift of ‘curiosity’ (also known in some less kind circles as ‘nosiness’!). This is an attribute which feeds into every level of what we do as coaches. It enhances our practice, sends us out into the world finding information and tools which will encourage our clients and help expand horizons, and feeds a spirit of adventure which in turn helps us develop our businesses.

At the coal face it is by applying curiosity that we can look at our clients’ issues from every side. It is by being intrigued by and curious about what makes people tick that we can become great coaches. Always digging a little deeper, uncovering more and more, peeling away the layers.

Through curiosity we can establish all the resources which are available to us, and learn how to use them in the best possible way. Curiosity aids us in our research at every stage. It sends us straight to the index of every text we read, so we can quickly identify the most useful passages to read. It takes us to Google to look things up and then carries us forward into the unknown, following obscure links, and finding riches in the form of great tools and resources to use at work.

To illustrate this, let me tell you about a good friend of mine who always has a really eclectic selection of music to play in her car. She always has albums we’ve never heard of and they’re often quite fabulous. She finds them through applying curiosity – she searches on Amazon for what she likes and then follows those ‘other people bought this’ links, deeper and deeper until something catches her eye (or her ear). Through following these fascinating trails into the unknown she has built herself a unique collection of music.

Of course, it is curiosity also which will ensure we do the research required before putting our energies into developing new coaching products. If we’re curious we’ll find out what our market really wants, deliver it and then evaluate it every step of the way, constantly asking for feedback, constantly seeking ways to add further value. It is curiosity which has us clicking through on every interesting link to see what our colleagues around the globe are coming up with in terms of new ideas, how they are driving their businesses forward. It is curiosity that drives our desire to see just how we can make our own unique mark on our profession – to discover just how much we can achieve.

Curiosity’s where it’s at.

Jan Scott – Coaching Kitbag
coachingkitbag.co.uk www.coachingkitbag.co.uk
It’s amazing how some people can project their personality and energy through the medium of the internet – you are one of these people! Angela Dunbar angeladunbar.co.uk

It is very likely that you have heard the term mission statement described before. You may have even noticed, or worked for a company that has its own mission statement in place.

In case you are not familiar with what a mission statement is let me share the following definition I found with you.

Mission Statement: A statement that outlines the vision.

Obviously, a mission statement can comprise a lot more then the few simple words described above, but I want you to consider that having a mission statement isn’t something that is unique to the business world.

I’m a firm believer that we as individuals would benefit greatly from developing a personal mission statement for ourselves as well. In order to differentiate things a bit you may even choose to refer to it as your personal vision statement.

Whatever you choose to call it, really isn’t what’s important. What matters is that you take the time to define for yourself the overall direction you want to go in your life. What things do you place the most value on? What would give you a sense of joy, if upon looking back on your life, you would know you had lived a solid and worthwhile life during your time here on earth.

This is no small question I admit. Taking the time to answer these questions honestly will take a bit of personal reflection time. This is not meant to be some quick exercise that only takes a few minutes to complete. It is also very likely that as you move through your life, you will find yourself adding to and perhaps even redefining your personal mission statement.

Why you need a mission statement …

Once you have your mission statement you will have an excellent measuring stick for your life with which you can measure the goals you set for yourself. Your mission statement will literally keep you on course and making sure you are doing the little things that are in line with your strongest beliefs and values.

For example, if you are given an opportunity, but upon measuring it against your mission statement you find that it doesn’t fit with your long term vision you will know that it is likely to be something that you should pass on for now — or let go of all together.

Your mission statement will keep you in check as you move through your life. Certainly at points in our life we will find ourselves veering off course when it comes to the things we strive to accomplish in our mission statement. However, we will find it that much easier to get back on course and moving in the right direction since we can refer back to our vision statements as we need to.

Basically what you are looking to do is to build an overall blueprint of how you want to lead your life. Think of your vision statement as a living thing in the sense that as you grow in your life, new things will become more important. You should re-evaluate and adjust your mission statement accordingly to make sure it is in-line with who you are, and want to become.

Once you have written out your personal mission statement, spend time with it each day. Give thought to it often, ask yourself and recount times in your life where you are living in accordance with your personal vision statement, as well as those times that you are not. The point in doing this is not to get down on yourself when you find that you are veering from what you have listed as most important, but rather to use it as a time to correct your course and get back to doing the things that are most likely to give you the results of achievement that will come as a result of living in accordance with your personal mission statement.

Take the time now to write out your personal mission statement. Keep it handy and make an honest commitment to review it from time to time. Give yourself the room to adjust it as your life changes.

Just so that we are clear on what I am talking about when it comes to developing a vision or mission statement I would like to share the following example of my own in the hopes that it will further clarify what I am talking about.

My personal mission statement reads as follows:

My mission statement is to positively impact as many people as possible and help them untap the vast potential they have inside them. This is something I strive for both in my business and personal life.

While my mission statement isn’t all that long, it sums up what I view as most important. Now that I have defined my overall view of what I believe to be of most value, I can and do set my goals and take actions that are fully in line with my mission statement. Does that mean that I never get off track? Of course not, but because I have my life’s blueprint in place for where I want to end up, I have a much better chance of making the necessary corrections and taking the needed action to get back on track towards what I have
defined for myself in my mission statement.

Take the time now to define your own personal mission statement. Don’t put it off — there is simply no better time then right now to begin.

It’s your life, LIVE BIG!
-Josh Hinds

(c) All rights reserved

Josh Hinds is a speaker, trainer and coach. He is the author of ‘Why Perfect Timing is a Myth: Tips for Staying Inspired and Motivated Day in and Day out!’ — grab your copy of this life changing booklet at getmotivation.com/booklet/” target=”_new GetMotivation.com/booklet/ now!

For many of us, it’s all too easy to get stuck and frustrated in many areas of our lives by falling into ways of thinking that are based on “conditional happiness”.

For example, we may believe that we’ll be completely happy and totally worry free when and ONLY when we have a certain amount of money, or when we meet the right partner, or when we finish a creative masterpiece.

Another variation on this is saying “I’m going to start that project “WHEN I have the right inspiration”, “…WHEN I’m in the right mood”, or the eternally popular “…WHEN I have enough time”.

Are any of these sounding familiar? Well you’re not alone!

By believing that these fixed pre-conditions are necessary for our happiness – often things that we don’t actually have specific or clear measurements of anyway – and then finding they never quite arrive when and how we expect them to, we set ourselves up for much frustration, procrastination, even anger, and can trigger off spirals of negative inner thoughts and criticism.

The fact is, the idealistic conditions we set out in this way will NEVER arrive, because of the way we’re thinking. And even if we get very close to them, by being in this frame of thinking, we inevitably will add other conditions to the list.

“Yes I’ve got enough money now, and I have the time, but I can’t start today because I got out of the wrong side of bed this morning and the planets are in COMPLETELY the wrong alignment…”

So what’s the alternative, how can we overcome this?

Consider the words of the Taoist Philosopher Lao Tzu -

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

By taking the first step towards what we want to achieve and then taking regular consistent action thereafter, as well as moving towards our goals or dreams, we also gain greater clarity about what they are, and make them more real.

Each time we take action, we can look at how it’s moved us towards what we really want and whether it’s right for us.

If we feel we’re heading in the right direction, that’s great, we can keep taking successive action steps in this direction and build momentum and motivation.

If we come to a point of feeling “this isn’t quite the right direction for me”, that’s great too, as eliminating something we know we don’t want gives us greater clarity about what we DO want.

So we can re-adjust our focus, try something different and take action in that direction. And soon we find we’re back on the right track again.

So how can you incorporate this into YOUR life?

What is YOUR first step towards one of your goals or ambitions going to be?

Maybe it’s to write an outline for a book. Maybe it’s research a course in something new you want to learn. Maybe it’s to make that phonecall to a useful new contact you’ve been putting off?

Whatever it is, write it down with a date and time you’re going to do it and commit to it.

Make that first step TODAY.

You’ve got nothing to lose. And then, take another step tomorrow. And the day after that and the day after that…

Be bold, be brave, don’t wait around for the perfect conditions to arrive, they never will.

You have the power and resources to create your own!

© Copyright 2007 Dan Goodwin

Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at CoachCreative.com CoachCreative.com