Helping others in order to help myself

I am going to give it a try...

I have been in a funk lately and I don't like it. The tickertape that is running through my head is overwhelming and nothing good is coming from it. Even though I am thinking about how good I would feel if the thoughts in my head were positive and productive, I so easily come back to the list of to-dos and expectations associated with every move I make.

Instead of trying to make myself think of something different and stop and recognize my accomplishments, I am going to stop thinking! Well, not completely. I am going think enough so I get things done that need to get done but I am going to get into action. This action is going to be focused on OTHERS and not on myself.

I have been here before. If I get out of my own way and do things to help others, then I will feel my goodness and see my accomplishments. I know when I talk to others and make it about them, it makes a big difference in both of us. I smile more and see more reasons to smile. This, of course, creates a domino effect of smiles and good things.

This morning it started...I stopped at the store and bought a vase of flowers for my co-workers/friend's birthday :-) It was such an unexpected surprise for her and I can hear her telling everyone about the surprise and how pretty the flowers are!

This is going to be a nice day!

The universe is sending me messages :-)

I love it when I have my eyes open and I get signals that I am doing the right thing! I was on the phone 2 weeks ago for one of my coaching classes and I was talking about taking my idea of a women's support group further. I had a "kick off" with a pot luck and we watched the first episode of Oprah's new life series. We learned about putting ourselves back on our to-do lists. That was a great time and I wanted to talk about how I could keep it going and do a good job to benefit both the attending women and myself.

This other coaching student referred me to Cheryl Richardson's web site. She is a life coach and has lots of experience - and has written a book - on forming groups and how to run them so they are successful. On her web site I noticed this book called The Art of Extreme Self Care. It sounded like such a great book that I bought it for myself.

As soon as I get this book and start reading it, a friend from work sends me a link to Cheryl's segment on Good Morning America! She did ran a group there (I don't know how long it was) but the video clip showed her interacting with some of the women and common issues we face in always saying YES and spreading ourselves too thin and not taking care of ourselves.

Amazing the trail that I have been on with talking about this support group, heading to Cheryl's web site, ordering her book and then having someone in my support group (who didn't know about this person/book otherwise) send me a video clip of her and her work! It's meant to be! I am so excited and sure now that this is something I should be doing :-)

Oh - and loving that I posted twice today from my corporate job! Capturing the emotion of the topic in the moment! I love it!