Find the Extraordinary in You!

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Do the Work of a Master

Church in South America

In the early evening, the natural light is just so that a photograph taken by a master will be stunning in its beauty. Every photon and atom aligns to make what might have been lovely or dramatic become even more. It’s the power of talent, skill, energy, and a giving up of oneself to the work.

When we do something with whispering passion the universe responds.

We see it in the church that isn’t our own that makes us feel still, as if we know something holy. We hear it in the unfamiliar music that brings us home. We feel it in the fabric so well woven that it feels like a child’s face when she’s smiling. We smell it, taste it, days after a fine meal has been shared.

Human hearts, human thoughts, and human hands consume themselves to make something of integrity and love. If we start with the integrity and the love, the rest comes without a glance. It becomes just what we do. We breathe the difference into life.

It’s extraordinary — extraordinarily human.

When we hurt, when we laugh, when we win, lose, or learn something we never knew, we look for each other. We look for what only another person can add.

We change the world just by being. Imagine what happens when we do what we’re meant to do.

It’s not ordinary.

Nothing human is ordinary.

Find the extraordinary in you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Image sources: top-ETStrauss

Reviewing the Internets in Our Heads

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Thinking about What We Think

Personal Identity logo

As I sat down at my computer, I looked over at a teacher’s guide for a writing program that I worked on a few years ago. It was open on my desk to page with of teaching tips. One section was called Using Internet Resources. In the introductory paragraph it said,

Explain to students that the Internet does not undergo the same kind of scrutiny and review process that books and professional publications do. Voyages in English, Grade 6, p. 147

That sentence got me thinking about how we think. The information highways of our brains process ideas, thoughts, and concepts at incredible speed. Those messages transmit efficiently, but our “scrutiny and review process” has only our own context and experience to determine whether the information is flawed or faulty, incomplete, biased, or inaccurate.

As a source, we can be woefully limited, inexperienced, or out of date.

How do I know what I think I know?
Am I doing this out of habit or is it what the situation requires?
How did I form my opinion about that person?
What makes me think that I’ll never be good at doing that?
Am I sure that what I know from the past is still true?

How do you review the information on the Internet in your head?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Give to Yourself First

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 12 Comments

I've been thinking . . .

about what we give away. Most folks I know give away what they need most.

If we need to feel we belong, we give that feeling to everyone. If we respect, we’re respectful in every way. If we need a hug, that’s what we give.

Does that make us saints? . . . people pleasers? . . . victims?

The answer is in whether we give to ourselves.

When we give away what we need — that connection, that respect, that hug — to everyone, but ourselves we still need what we give. We give from weakness. We hope that someone will see and give back. Other people control whether our needs are met. We end up trying to please them. If they don’t, we can feel used.

If we give to ourselves first, we give from strength. That connection, that respect, that hug is given without needing a return gift. It’s easier to choose who deserves such gifts, because we’re giving without need. We’re stronger and more attractive.

Appreciation. Respect. Trust. Love.

Give them to yourself first.

The world needs us to do that.

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Wanting Things for Business and for Life

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Wanting, Found Wanting

Personal Identity logo

We begin using the words, “I want” around age 5. It’s not hard to spot a child who has found them. Stand near a discount store checkout line on a Sunday afternoon, you’ll soon see a child reaching and hear the “but I want it” whine.

Are you in that “wanting” stage with your business and your life?

We all want things for our success. We want to achieve, to believe we’ve made a difference by the work we’ve done. We reach for ways to grow our relationships and our incomes. Sometimes we yearn for whatever meets our eyes. Wanting has an effect on a business and a life.

Positive or negative depends on “the why.”

If we’re wanting to grow a meaningful life or a business, accomplishment brings satisfaction. We celebrate before we find the next mountain to climb. If we’re wanting to measure up, we may achieve the world’s esteem, but the result will be found wanting in our eyes.

How do you keep your positive wanting and lose ideas that you’ll be found wanting?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Know where you’re going with your business and your life.

Let Your Self Join the Human Race

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 11 Comments

So Many Self Words

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Self-consciousness, self-promotion, self-sacrifice, self-preservation, self-abuse, self-indulgence, self-importance, self-deprecation

It’s hard to see words that start with s-e-l-f, without wondering how they relate to me — this individual self.

Self-esteem, self-centered, self-awareness — once upon a time those words didn’t exists.

It seems that self-respect, self-confidence, and self-control are stronger personal traits when they become respect, confidence, and control.

I’m wondering about the ego that fuels these self-oriented words. The list is self-serving and self-involved in that it’s used to define us. But is it a good thing to separate ourselves like that?

Looking glass

We might believe we have one relationship with ourselves and a distinctly different one with others. I don’t buy that Look around. You can tell what someone needs by what he or she gives away.

How these “self” words throw us out of balance.

It’s harder to relate to people when we subconsciously see ourselves as separate from them. Imagine if we had no special “self” vocabulary — no “us” and “the rest of the world” words — simply words for all of us instead?

The words are stronger and more human without the “self.”
Conscious, promotion, sacrifice, preservation, abuse, indulgence, importance, deprecation, esteem, centered, awareness, respect, confidence, control, involved.

So I’ve decided. I’m dropping that “self” syllable. I’m becoming one of the whole. Are you ready to let your “self” join the human race?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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