Subject: Adventure Is an Attitude
Welcome to Celebrating the Journey!
Monday, January 22, 2001
Issue #50
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Welcome Notes
2. Adventure Is an Attitude
3. Coaching: Seeing the Adventure in Your Life
4. Quotes
5. Humor: How to Keep a Healthy Level of Insanity
6. Celebrating Out Loud!
7. FREE Teleclass on Boundaries
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1. Welcome Notes
Thank you to all who wrote, called, connected to celebrate
my birthday with me! I received many emails and phone
calls and notes and went to sleep that night feeling deeply
loved and appreciated. The rewards for asking for what
you want are many and profound. Give it a try!
I want to remind you about the new section of Celebrating
the Journey: Celebrating Out Loud. This is an opportunity
for all of us to share our celebrations with one another.
It’s a great way to spread the joy of life!
I wish the entire CTJ family a great week!
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2. Adventure Is an Attitude
Webster’s Dictionary lists the following definitions for the
word adventure:
A remarkable occurrence; a noteworthy event; a
hazardous enterprise; activity of a hazardous or exciting
nature. To embark upon; take the risk of; dare.
Whether we talk about it or not, we all dream of having
great adventures: going to a foreign land; climbing a
mountain; sailing across the ocean; being swept off our
feet by a knight on a white horse; rescuing a damsel in
distress and riding off into the sunset; discovering a new
species of animal.
I have been blessed with living some great adventures:
climbing mountains in faraway lands; rafting rivers in
canyons of ancient rock; walking inside glaciers,
surrounded by ice that was formed thousands of years
before; starting a full time job for the first time in 15 years.
What? Wait. A full time job? That’s not an adventure,
you say. I beg to differ. There is enormous adventure in
the journey of learning how my life flows adding 40 hours
of work to my already full schedule. It’s true that I could
easily look at it with overwhelm rather than a sense of
adventure. I choose the adventure.
The commute each morning and evening could be pure
frustration. I choose to have it be an adventure of the
mind, using the time on the bus or in my car to listen to a
book on tape or visualize the climbing trip I will do in
2003. Dealing with clients who seem incapable of grasping
the obvious could be annoying and stressful. I choose to
make it an adventure of creative communication. The
situations don’t change; only how I view them.
Adventurous dreams are energizing and motivating to
our hearts and minds and spirits. Life is greatly enriched
by big dreams that we move toward one small step at a
time; daring dreams that pull us forward with their
vision; risky dreams that allow us to see ourselves as
somehow bigger, stronger, braver than we see ourselves
in the present. Who of us hasn’t dreamt of being the hero
is some great adventure? It’s a marvelous thing to do.
Living the adventures of our dreams gives us all those
gifts and more. The dreams and visions become real; we
reap the reward of putting one foot in front of the other to
reach the top of the mountain. We experience the calling
of the whales under a full moon that lights our way across
an ocean. We find that spider that no one else has found.
We are a hero.
What about being the hero in your own life, right here,
right now, in whatever adventure your life is presenting
you with today?
Adventure, you say? What adventure? I will get up today,
and feed the kids and go to work and deal with the boss
who’s a jerk and work late to finish the project for
tomorrow and go home, eat dinner, help with the dishes
and go to bed. Where’s the adventure in that?
It’s everywhere in that. It’s all in how you look at it.
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3. Coaching: Seeing the Adventure in Your Life
Photographers use filters to enhance, and sometimes
radically change, the images they see and transfer to film.
Seeing our lives as adventure versus viewing them as
drudgery is simply a matter of changing the filter through
which we view them.
But, but, but… I can hear all those buts.
There isn’t time to look at it differently.
I need the money too much to look at it differently.
My marriage is too bad to look at it differently.
I want success too much to do to look at it differently.
It will hurt too much to look at it differently.
The best I can do is get up and get through the day.
The price of our excuses for not looking at our lives
differently is loss of contentment, serenity, happiness,
success, freedom, joy. The cost of not changing the filter
through which we see our life is missing the possibilities
of that life. The expense of not putting an adventure filter
on our life camera, is over or under exposure of our lives.
We miss the richness of what is there under our very
noses.
Enrich your life by creating an adventure in it today. Just
one.
Opening the can of Spaghettios for your children can
be creating a feast for the princes and princesses of the
kingdom.
Making the bed becomes the first step to redecorating
your house exactly the way you visualize it.
Getting some exercise is the next step toward your
trek in Nepal.
You get the idea.
Adventures are not always dangerous and huge and
exotic. They often come in packages wrapped differently
than we imagine and so we miss them. The internal
adventures available to us on a daily basis, the ones
packaged less flamboyantly, offer discovery, joy, energy
and contentment, and the path to having the life you
REALLY want.
What adventure will you create in YOUR life today?
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3. Quotes:
There is no obstacle that true grit and Amazing Grace
cannot overcome.
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Adventure is not outside man; it is within.
David Grayson
A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this
little span of life, by him who interests his heart in
everything.
Laurence Sterne
Before enlightenment chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment chop wood, carry water.
Ancient Chinese Proverb
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5. Humor: How to Keep a Healthy Level of Insanity
1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car and point a hair
dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. (Don’t disguise your
voice.)
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if
they want fries with that.
4. Encourage your colleagues to join you in a little
synchronized chair dancing.
5. Put your garbage can on your desk and label it “IN.”
6. Develop an unnatural fear of staplers.
7. In the memo field of all your checks, write “for sexual
favors.”
8. Reply to everything someone says with, “That’s what
you think.”
9. Finish all your sentences with “In accordance with the
prophecy.”
10. Don’t use any punctuation
11. As often as possible, skip rather than walk.
12. Ask people what sex they are.
13. Specify that your drive-through order is “to go!”
14. Sing along at the opera.
15. Find out where your boss shops and buy exactly the
same outfits. Wear them one day after your boss does.
(This is especially effective if your boss is the opposite
gender.)
16. Send e-mail to the rest of the company to tell them
what you’re doing. For example: “If anyone needs me, I’ll
be in the bathroom.”
17. Put mosquito netting around your cubicle.
18. Call the Psychic Hotline and just say, “Guess …”
19. When the money comes out of the ATM, scream, “I
Won! I Won!”
20.
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6. Celebrating Out Loud
Thanks to all who emailed me their celebrations. Some
are listed here. Some will follow in later issues of CTJ. Be
a part of our celebration! Email your birthday or
anniversary or shift or ah-ha or joyful moment to
mailto:celebration@tothesummit.com
We’ll include your email address with your celebration
unless you request otherwise. Our intention is to create a
network of celebration that will spread far and wide.
Know someone who’s celebrating a great occasion? What
better gift than to forward them a copy of Celebrating the
Journey with a celebratory wish in it. Let’s spread the joy!
Jan 12: Sue N. celebrated walking in the doors of 12-step
programs and “ending the yuckiness in my life” 14 years
ago today. mailto:suzyodat@yahoo.com
Jan. 15: Irene Morris celebrated her son Ron’s 31st
birthday. mailto:morris@megalink.net
Jan. 22: Rena begins her new career with schooling to
learn Medical Office Records. Her tuition will be free!
mailto:reggie@janics.com
Leedia Macomber celebrates the heart and hard work of
Mary McFadden in leading a small group of citizens to
establish the first private land bank in the town of
Wareham, MA.
Leedia: mailto:Macombers@mediaone.net.
Mary: mailto:mcmarython@aol.com
If you mailed us your celebration, and it doesn’t appear
here, please be patient. It will!
To share YOUR celebration, send an email with the details
to mailto: celebration@tothesummit.com. Let us know
what great stuff is happening in your life!
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6. FREE Teleclass on Boundaries
Beginning in February, Margo Chisholm will be offering a
series of FREE Teleclasses designed to help you identify
and eliminate the obstacles that are in the way of having
the life you dream of.
Each 3-week teleclass will consist of three one-hour bridge
calls spaced one week apart and will be open to all callers
on a first come, first serve basis. Each class will offer a lot
of information, thought-provoking questions, and lots of
dialogue and wisdom from Margo.
FEBRUARY: Boundaries: The Self Protectors
Do you often say, “yes,” to things you don’t really
want to do? Do people treat you in a disrespectful
manner? Do you put up with almost anything to avoid
confrontation? Do you feel guilty when you put your own
needs first?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it’s time for
you to learn to set better boundaries.
A strong boundary is like an energy field of protection that
you draw around yourself to protect your heart, mind,
body, and spirit. Coach Cheryl Richardson, a regular guest
on the Oprah Winfrey Show, says that, “If I were asked to
name the one action step that would most improve life
for the better, it would be to create stronger boundaries.”
This teleclass teaches what healthy boundaries look like
and how to create them. Topics will include:
Examples of weak boundaries
What happens when your boundaries are weak
The benefits of having strong boundaries
How to set a boundary
Boundaries don’t have to be serious!
Practice with setting a boundary
HOW IT WORKS
We will meet via a bridge telephone line on 3 Mondays:
February 12, February 19, and February 26.
The time of the call is 10:00 am, Eastern time. (That’s 9 am
Central, 8 am Mountain, 7 am Pacific). The only cost to
you is the telephone call.
The number to call is 702-565-8327. If you’d like to reserve
a spot on the call, send an email to
teleclass@tothesummit.com stating that. Otherwise, the
class is on a first come, first serve basis.
If you’re unable to attend all 3 calls, feel free to join us for
as many as you can.
The first time you participate in a Teleclass, you will be
entitled to a free follow-up coaching session with Margo.
Work one-on-one with her to solidify and expand the
shifts that have occurred during the teleclass!
FUTURE TOPICS
MARCH: Free Your Life: Become A Toleration Free Zone
We humans put up with a lot of stuff in our life. Most of
it just isn’t necessary. Putting up with tolerations wastes
our time and energy, keeps us stuck, causes us grief and
generally gets in the way of having what we really want in
our lives. This class is about getting rid of what’s bugging
you! Topics will include:
What is a toleration?
Why do tolerations drain my energy?
Benefits of being Toleration Free.
How do I identify my tolerations?
Now that I know what they are, what do I do about
them?
Eliminating tolerations
(You will eliminate at least 5 tolerations during
the teleclass.)
Maintaining a toleration free zone
APRIL: Standards: Raise Yours To Attract High Quality
People and Opportunities
February’s Teleclass on Boundaries deals with how others
treat us. This month we will talk about the behavior and
actions to which you hold yourself.
What are high personal standards?
Benefits of having high personal standards.
What happens when one’s standards are too low?
Who do you admire and why?
Aligning your standards with your values.
Choose and live a new standard.
For further information send an email to
mailto:teleclass@tothesummit.com.
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Give yourself the gift of adventure this week.
Namaste, Margo
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My purpose in publishing Celebrating the Journey is to
provide you with resources, motivation, inspiration and
energy for YOUR journey of creating success and freedom
in all areas of your life. CTJ will use stories from my life
and others, coaching tips and resources, quotes and
humor to deliver a learning experience that can enhance
your life. I am always looking for comments, ideas and
ways to improve CTJ. I welcome your e-mails at
mailto:margo@tothesummit.com.
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Copyright © 2001, all rights reserved, by Margo
Chisholm
I invite you to share Celebrating the Journey with your
mailing list, friends, and associates. We ask only that the
entire e-mail with copyright and credits be included. The
author of this article is Margo Chisholm. You may contact
her at (970) 704-9336 or at mailto:margo@tothesummit.com.
—
“At every moment of our life we have an
opportunity to choose joy.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen
Margo Chisholm
Coach, Speaker, Author, Therapist
Partnering you in having success,
freedom and joy in all areas of your life
970-704-9336 fax 970-704-9346
margo@tothesummit.com
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