Subject: Yes! Absolutely Yes!

Welcome to Celebrating the Journey!
Monday, October 23, 2000
Issue #38

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Welcome Notes
2. Yes! Absolutely Yes!
3. Coaching: How Do You Really Spend Your Time?
4. Quotes
5. Humor: Swami Beyondananda’s Guidelines…
6. Reading for the Journey

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1. Welcome Notes

I had the great joy of sharing the day yesterday with my
sister and my niece. It is rare that the three of us are in the
same place at the same time, and it was a delightful day of
laughter and silliness, hugs and memories, girl talk and
family.

As we approach the holiday season, it is an appropriate
time to remind ourselves of the true spirit of
Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a time of giving thanks
and making connections. We so easily lose the essence of
this time of year in all the hustle and bustle. How can you
keep the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas in your
own celebrations this year?

This week, in addition to welcoming our new subscribers,
I want to thank all of you who read Celebrating the
Journey on a regular basis. CTJ celebrated its first
anniversary on the 11th of this month. Subscribers
number just over 1100, four times what we began with.
Thank you to all who read CTJ and share it with the
people you care about.

I so enjoy creating this gift for you each week. It allows me
to celebrate my own journey in a way I love. Thank you
for allowing me in your lives.

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2. Yes! Absolutely Yes!

Last week I wrote about saying No. I coached you to say
No at least once each day. And I also gave you the “extra
credit” assignment of thinking about what are the top five
Yes’s in your life.

What do I mean by a Yes in your life? Cheryl Richardson
uses the phrase Absolute Yes. What does that mean?

An Absolute Yes is a priority that inspires us to make
choices that move us toward the life we REALLY want
rather than moving us away from that desired life or putting
it on hold.

In this fast, materially oriented world of ours, we often
lose track of what our Absolute Yes’s are. We say Yes to
things that are important to others and not really to us.
We make choices because of what “they” say rather than
what we value.

We put earning money to buy a bigger house in a few
years ahead of spending time with our families today.
We fill our schedules so full of “doing” that we leave
no time for “being.”
We spend so much time “looking good” that there
isn’t time for the Self-care that creates peace and
contentment.
We define success by how much money and how
many toys we have, rather than by how much freedom
and joy permeate our lives.

I am not suggesting you throw off all your earthly burdens
and spend the rest of your life meditating on a mountain
top somewhere in the Himalayas. I AM inviting you to
examine your priorities. Honestly and realistically. Are
the priorities you are living the same ones you think you
are living?

Answering this question will provide you with the
foundation for having the life you REALLY want. It will
solve the dilemma of why you never have enough time.
It will answer the question of why your dreams seem so
far out of reach. It will open the gate to living your life as
you see it in your biggest dreams rather than settling for
where you are now.

As a Life Coach, I support my clients in getting from
where they are to where they want to be. In order for that
to happen, they must first honestly appraise where they
are. Are your Yes’s giving you the life you want?

If your answer is Yes, that’s terrific! If your answer is No,
it’s time to re-evaluate.

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3. Coaching: What Are You REALLY Saying Yes To?

How do you spend your time? Where does your day go?
What does how you use your time say about what is really
important to you?

One of the best ways to answer these questions is to track
what you do with the time you have.

Create a blank calendar for the coming week, broken
down into half-hour increments. As you go through your
week, fill in this calendar. What did you do between 11:30
and noon on Monday? How long did it actually take you
to do the laundry? Did you spend as much time with your
family as you thought you had, as you wanted to? How
much did you spend worrying or being exhausted or
watching TV?

Does how you spend your time reflect what you think
your priorities are? If not, there are two possibilities:
change your priorities or change how you spend your
time.

These are the only two possibilities. Time is finite: You
cannot create more of it; you can only change how you use
it. You cannot have both your job and your family be your
number-one priority. It doesn’t work to say your well-
being is your number-one priority and then spend only 15
minutes a week on Self-care. Your children are not really
high on your priority list when you answer their request
for a story with, “Not now, Mommy’s tired.”

In order to create a life that is based on your Absolute
Yes’s, you must first discover and acknowledge what you
are actually saying Yes to in your life right now. Only then
can you compare where you are with where you want to
be and begin the journey across the bridge between the
two.

That journey is a sacred one. It begins with a single step.
Use the diagram you’ve made of your life today to create
the image of how your life will be tomorrow. Then take
one step in that new direction.

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4. Quotes

Every choice moves us closer to or farther away from
something. Where are your choices taking your life?
What do your behaviors demonstrate that you are saying
Yes or No to in life?
Eric Allenbaugh

Every time I close the door on reality, it comes in through
the windows.
Jennifer Unlimited

Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things
you don’t want.
Hannah Whitehall Smith

Too many people today know the price of everything and
the value of nothing.
Ann Landers

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5. Humor: Swami Beyondananda’s Guidelines for
Millennial Enlightenment

1. Be a fundamentalist. Make sure the Fun always comes
before the Mental. Realize that life is a situation comedy
that will never be canceled. A laugh track has been
provided, and the reason why we are put in the material
world is to get more material. Have a good laughsitive
twice a day, and that will ensure regularhilarity.

2. Remember that each of us has been given a special gift,
just for entering – so you are already a winner!

3. The most powerful tool on the planet today is Tell-A-
Vision. That is where I tell a vision to you, and you tell a
vision to me. That way, if we don’t like the programming
we’re getting, we can simply change the channel.

4. Life is like photography. You use the negative to
develop.

5. It is true. As we go through life thinking heavy
thoughts, thought particles tend to get caught between the
ears, causing a condition called truth decay. So be sure to
use mental floss twice a day. And when you’re tempted to
practice tantrum yoga, remember what we teach in
Swami’s Absurdiveness Training class: Don’t get even,
get odd.

6. If we want world peace, we must let go of our
attachments and truly live like nomads. That’s where I no
mad at you, you no mad at me. That way, there’ll surely
be nomadness on the planet. And peace begins with each
of us. A little peace here, a little peace there, pretty soon all
the peaces will fit together to make one big peace
everywhere.

7. I know great earth changes have been predicted for the
future, so if you’re looking to avoid earthquakes, my
advice is simple. When you find a fault, just don’t dwell
on it.

8. There’s no need to change the world. all we have to do
is toilet train the world, and we’ll never have to change it
again.

9. If you’re looking to find the key to the Universe, I have
some bad news and some good news. The bad news is:
there is no key in the Universe. Thee good news is: it has
been left unlocked.

Author Unknown

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6. Reading for the Journey

Take Time for Your Life: A Personal Coach’s 7-Step
Program for Creating the Life You Want by Cheryl
Richardson.

I recommended this book last week. Although it is rare
that I recommend a book two weeks in a row, Cheryl’s
Chapter Two, “Get Your Priorities Straight” is packed with
wisdom, great coaching and exercises to guide you in
discovering what your priorities are and creating your life
around them.

This book offers a concrete, step-by-step approach to living
your life on your own terms without having to shirk your
responsibilities to do it. You can have it all! Take time for
your life — and begin living the life you REALLY want.

Cheryl’s book is available for only $16.10 by clicking here:
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767902068/tothesummit.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives
by Dan Millman.

I read this book when it first came out 20 years ago, and it
rocked my world, loosening my tight hold on several old
beliefs that had kept me stuck for many years. It was the
light that first shone on the possibility that what I thought
were the Yes’s in my life were actually No’s.

Dan Millman writes of the journeys that took him from
world-champion athlete, into realms of “flesh and spirit,
romance and terror, light and darkness, laughter and
magic.” Guided by a powerful, eccentric, old warrior
named Socrates, Millman faces confrontations which
demand that he live in a new way — or perish. This classic
tale embodies the importance of knowing and living our
Absolute Yes’s. It will move you to laughter and tears,
even to moments of illumination, as you rediscover your
life’s meaning and purpose.

Find out why this book has been changing lives for 20
years for only $11.65 by clicking here:
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0915811898/tothesummit.

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Give yourself the gift of saying Yes 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 create 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
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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 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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