Subject: What Are Your True Valuables?

Welcome to Celebrating the Journey!
Thursday, July 13, 2000
Issue #30

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Welcome Notes
2. What Are Your True Valuables?
3. Synchronicity Provides Another Perspective
4. Coaching: What Would You Save?
5. Quotes
6. Humor: Why We See So Many Lawyer Jokes
7. Reading For The Journey
8. Opportunities For The Journey
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1. Welcome Notes

The Celebrating The Journey family continues to grow
during these delightful summer months. We now
number 937. I welcome all our new subscribers. If you
like what you read, forward CTJ to 5 friends. It’s how the
word keeps spreading!

I received many emails regarding last week’s Declare Your
Independence issue. It seems the idea of doing a mid-year
appraisal of what’s working and what’s not and letting go
of what’s not hit home for a number of people. Hooray!
That’s what CTJ is all about: offering you ideas and quotes,
humor and coaching tips that inspire action. Action that
leads you to the life you REALLY want.

I again spent last weekend in a tent in the mountains and
will do the same this weekend. The weather limited our
climbing to a single 14er, so the tally now reads “2 and 4”.
For new subscribers, I have set the goal for this summer of
climbing 10 mountains higher than 14,000 feet and
spending 10 nights out in the mountains. I am
periodically reporting where I am on the journey to this
goal as a reminder for you to check in with your own
goals. How are you doing with your summer goals? I’d
love to hear about it. Send me an email at
mailto:goals@tothesummit.com and let us know what
your goals are and where you are on the path to reaching
them.

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2. What Are Your True Valuables?

Although some hard rain decreased the climbing we were
able to do last weekend, it also created several hours of
conversation with a delightful young couple. The
connection with them was as valuable as the climbing.

As we were backpacking back to the car on a cloudy and
windy Sunday morning, a question blew on the gusts that
swirled around us: what is really important in my life?
Yes, climbing mountains feeds my soul. And so does
connecting with people at a heart level. Neither is more
valuable than the other, and they impact me in different
ways. My goal for the weekend was to climb 3 14ers. The
actual result was 1 14er and a marvelous connection with
two lovely people. Different than I had planned? Yes. Less
successful than intended? No. Only different.

All week, the question has swirled in my head and heart:
what is truly valuable to me? What would your answer be
to that question? If in some completely unexpected way,
you were put in a position where you had to give up
much of what you know as your life, the way it is today,
what would you choose to keep?

Would you choose your lifestyle or your quality of life?
Would you choose your jewelry or your photographs?
Would you choose your house or your community?
Would you choose friends or possessions?
Would you choose health or wealth?

Of course these are contrived questions, and they certainly
challenge us to look at what we truly value in our lives.

Webster defines valuable as, “of great value or price.”
Which definition is yours: of great value or of great price?
Or are they the same?

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3. Synchronicity Provides Another Perspective

I took a break in the writing of this issue of CTJ to look at
the email that had come in overnight. It contained today’s
issue of 365 Days of Coaching, a daily newsletter produced
by my good friend Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee (you can
subscribe to this great Coaching newsletter by visiting
http://www.coachlee.com.) Her topic is, “What is really
important?” I laughed out loud and sent her a reply
saying that we were certainly thinking along the same
lines.

Her perspective on this question of what we value is based
on the number of families who have lost their homes to
fire in our home state of Colorado in the last few weeks.
Rachelle asks,

“If you had fifteen minutes to get whatever you
could out of your home and leave it forever, what
would you take? … When it comes right down to it,
what is really important? What matters most and
what would you be most sad about losing?”

This is a wonderful way of looking at what is truly
valuable to us. Rachelle’s answer was that she would first
make sure her husband and animals were safe and then
retrieve her photograph albums and a few special gifts
from her Grandmother and other special people.

I would take:

My delightful dowager kitty Annie
My photograph albums and slides
My journals
A photograph of myself which resides in a
needlepoint frame designed by my Mom who is
no longer living and worked by me. It is a
spiritual connection between us
A ring containing my Mom’s engagement diamond
which I have had reset into a ring that is
uniquely me. It is the same kind of spiritual
connection
A small rock which Rob Hall brought to me from
the summit of Mt. Everest.
(The Zip Discs containing my computer backup)

The last is in parentheses because it is the least important,
and yet it still felt right to put it on the list. It is the one
practical thing I would most like to save.

For both Rachelle and me, the health and safety of
ourselves and our loved ones comes first and is the
primary value. Among my possessions, it is the ones
which are a soul connection to myself and my loved ones
that truly are valuable, that I would be deeply sad about
leaving behind. And if the time period were shorter, they
would be left behind with deep sadness and with deeper
gratitude that I and my beloved kitty were safe.

What is truly valuable to you? Which of Webster’s
definitions fits for you? Is your heart creating that
definition or your head?

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3. Coaching: What Would You Save?

Make a list of of what is most valuable to you, in order of
“valuableness.” What do you value more than anything
else in your life? That goes at the top of the list. Then the
second most valuable, etc. Difficult? You bet!

Read back over your list. What surprises you about it?
What have you left off? What does not need to be there?
Edit your list until you know that it is what’s true for you.

Now write a description of the person who values those
things. Write it as though you are portraying someone
else. Who is the person who values those things above all
others?

Reread the description and ask yourself, “Is that who I
want to be?”

If it is, celebrate the knowledge that you are living true to
your values. If it isn’t, what needs to change? What parts
of your life are out of alignment with what you value?

Living in a way that is at all contrary to what we truly
value, creates great pain and can have serious negative
consequences. If your heart says bring the dried bouquet
from your mother’s wedding out of the burning house,
and your head says bring all your financial records, you
can bet this isn’t the only place in your life where this
kind of conflict exists.

The process of discovering and living in accordance with
what you truly value is a difficult one to do alone. If the
description you wrote is not who you want to be, hire a
coach to assist you in discovering what is truly important
to you and creating a successful and fulfilling life based on
that discovery.

Honor yourself and those around you by living in
integrity with your values.

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5. Quotes:

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our
exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the
place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves,
but in our attitude towards them.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me
there lay an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus

All changes, even the most longed for, have their
melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of
ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into
another.
Anatole France

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6. Humor: Why We See So Many Lawyer Jokes

NINETEEN REASONS WHY WE SEE SO MANY
LAWYER JOKES

The following questions were actually asked of witnesses
during trials:

1. “Now, doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in
his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next
morning?”

2. “The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?”

3. “Were you present when your picture was taken?”

4. “Were you alone or by yourself?”

5. “Was it you or your younger brother who was killed
in the war?”

6. “Did he kill you?”

7. “How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the
collision?”

8. “You were there until the time you left, is that true?”

9. Q: “She had three children, right?”
A: “Yes.”
Q: “How many were boys?”
A: “None.”
Q: “Were there any girls?”

10. Q: “You say the stairs went down to the basement?”
A: “Yes.”
Q: “And these stairs, did they go up also?”

11. Q: “How was your first marriage terminated?”
A: “By death.”
Q: “And by whose death was it terminated?”

12. Q: “Can you describe the individual?”
A: “He was about medium height and had a beard.”
Q: “Was this a male or a female?”

13. Q: “Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to
a deposition notice that I sent to your attorney?”
A: “No, this is how I dress when I go to work.”

14. Q: “How many autopsies have you performed on dead people?”
A: “All my autopsies are performed on dead people.”

15. Q: “All your responses must be oral, ok? What school did you go
to?”
A: “Oral.”

16. Q: “Do you recall the time that you examined the body?”
A: “The autopsy started around 8:30 pm.”
Q: “And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?”
A: “No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was
doing an autopsy.”

17. Q: “Mr. Slatery, you went on a rather elaborate
honeymoon, didn’t you?”
A: “I went to Europe, sir.”
Q: “And you took your new wife?”

18. Q: “Are you qualified to give a urine sample?”
A: “I have been since early childhood.”

19. Q: “You were not shot in the fracas?”
A: “No, I was shot midway between the fracas and the
navel.”

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7. Reading For The Journey

Both these recommendations appeared in CTJ last week. It
is a sign of how valuable I believe they are, that I include
them again.

Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav.

With lucidity and elegance Zukav explains that we, as a
species, are evolving from a base of external power to one
of authentic power which is founded in the perceptions
and values of the spirit. Using his scientist’s eye and
philosopher’s heart, Zukav shows how infusing the
activities of life with reverence, compassion, and trust
makes than come alive with meaning and purpose. His
concept of authentic power is the essence of living from
our true values.

This is essential reading on the journey to discovering
what we truly value and creating a life which reflects that.
We are all on a remarkable journey to our spirit. This
book describes that journey in a way that is inviting and
transformational. Let Gary Zukav tell you how to discover
and live the life you REALLY want, a life based on your
soul’s values and desires. You will never be the same!
Order it in paperback for only $6.50:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067169507X
/tothesummit
or hardback for $16.80:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684865181/tothesummit

Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler.

How would you like the next 12 months to be your best
yet? Who wouldn’t, right?

This book has been described as “Simple Abundance”
meets “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Ditzler
leads you through 10 thought-provoking questions on a
cognitive journey to creating a simple one-page plan for
having the next 12 months be Your Best Year Yet. It has
received the highest 5 star rating on amazon.com, a rare
occurrence.

A big hole in most goal-setting models is the missing idea
of establishing what your values are before you set goals
for yourself. Setting goals that are in conflict with what we
value is a setup for disappointment, failure and
resentment. Your Best Year Yet clearly addresses your
values and offers numerous reminders and examples
about creating goals that support your values rather than
conflicting with them. This book is a life changer which
grew out of the Your Best Year Yet Workshops (see
Opportunities for the Journey). It is available for only
$10.36:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446675474/tothesummit.

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8. Opportunities For The Journey

Your Best Year Yet Workshop

John Gray said about Your Best Year Yet, “Personal success
does not have to be years away. [Your Best Year Yet]
masterfully guides you from thought to action and
inspires you to start actualizing your heart’s desires this
year.”

Can the next 12 months of YOUR life be your Best Year
Yet? You bet it can! This 3 1/2 hour workshop leads you to
a simple one-page plan for exactly that, and provides
tools to support you in following the plan. It’s a small
investment with a big return! And it is the ideal
opportunity to examine your values at a new level and
design a life that aligns with them. The cost of the
workshop includes a copy of the book of the same name.
The two together provide an incredibly powerful model
for creating Your Best Year Yet.

I am offering the Your Best Year Yet Workshop in Aspen
on July 29th from 8:30 am to 12:15 pm. Any CTJ subscriber
receives a 20% discount.

For details visit
https://www.tothesummit.com/YBYY.html,
email mailto:YBYY@tothesummit.com, or
call 1-888-704-9336.

I have 2 slots open for motivated clients who want to
create a successful life and have the time to enjoy
it. Every dedicated athlete has a coach. Why not
have a coach for the most important game of all: the
game of life. To schedule a consultation, send an email to
mailto:margo@tothesummit.com

Give yourself the gift of knowing your true valuables 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 to 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 emails at
mailto:margo@tothesummit.com.

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Copyright © 2000, 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 email 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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