Jan 22, 2010

What's the title of YOUR book?

I was evaluating a class on Monday night ... Session 11 of a Dale Carnegie Class and I am responsible for helping the new trainer become certified to teach.  For those of you familiar, 11 B is "Emotional Power" and it's always one of my favorite sessions. 

We encourage people to talk with their hearts and not just their heads.  Over the years, I have heard some of the most powerful talks you could imagine.  Many, many stick in my head for years.  Some I will never forget. 

This time was no different.  People shared moments in their lives - sad or happy, grabbed opportunities or missed ones.  I am always struck by the thought that EVERY message involves relationship with someone else.  The birth of a child, the death of a mentor, the sickly mother, the brother who just OD'ed.  Every story involves an interaction with another human being.

At the end of the talk, we ask people to give advice.  I heard the familiar themes of living life to the full, making each moment count, etc.  But I also heard something put in a new way this time:

Every moment not spent on love is wasted.


That struck a chord with me.  I thought about my life and how intuitively that is what I'm trying to do.  Whether it's spending that extra few minutes with Kaley before I put her to bed, rocking Zoe when I have dishes to do, sneaking that extra cookie to Lukey when no one else sees.  I'm also building the rest of the world that way too ... time at church, counseling on the phone, giving advice on the internet, and creating a non-profit to help share the love of God the Father with His children in China.  I felt a peace that yes, I AM on the right track. 

The other advice that struck me was:

Live your life in such a way that if it was a book, people would want to read it.


That makes a lot of sense to me.  So many people live this careful, planned, "perfect" life.  It's almost as if they're trying to get no bumps, dirt, bruises.  But they also have no adventure, no "life".  Their clinical calculations make their life sterile.  Who would want to read THAT book???  Not me!  And I certainly don't want to live it. 

I'm NOT talking about being crazy, illegal, immoral, etc.  There is another ditch on the other side too, of course.  But most of us lean towards the "safe" side.  Me included ... or at least, the OLD me did.  But lately, I've been doing the jump off the cliff thing.  I'm doing the it's way bigger than I can handle thing. 

My new model (since about 2 years ago) is - if I have the choice between DO or NOT DO, I choose DO! 

So hearing this advice made me realize I was on the right path for this too.  I have a feeling that if my life was a book, people would want to read it! 

I can't wait to see how this chapter unfolds and what other chapters of my life are yet ahead. 

What about YOU?  What is YOUR book about? If you don't like it, you stil have time to change the title of the next chapter. 

1 comment:

  1. Nicely stated, Beth. I realize that I really have very little idea of what you do, but I do know that you are a complex, multi-faceted, fascinating person, whom I am glad to count as a friend. Carry on and know that I am pulling for you all the way!!

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