Day 332 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises MEANING I seem to spend so much time searching for meaning and looking for happiness. Perhaps I need to start in a different place. For when I see myself at the centre of everything, it’s easy to lose my way. The first step I think, is to go deeper within myself to that place of nothingness. It is here that I find all that I need. For here is the reservoir of love, where I can become, at the same time, both all powerful and yet powerless. When I then act, or talk, or interact from this place I do so from a position of all-ness rather than self. By trusting in love, I become one with love. For all becomes possible, when it is no longer about my narrow definition of self, or purpose. I find the meaning of all in this place within me, in power and powerlessness, in all-ness and nothingness. For I am no longer separate from everything, adrift on the sea. I am the sea. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Can you shut out the world and go deeper within yourself? 2. Can you sit for a few minutes in the place of nothingness? Day 331 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises TEAMWORK You must work with us. If you go off on your own to do your own thing, then it’s solely about you. If we could all work together then everything becomes about us, We can help each other to achieve all that we should. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Who is on your team? 2. How are you helping them to achieve all that they should? Day 330 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises VALUE ADDED When we go through our list of previous jobs and roles, we tend to think of the title, responsibilities and payment. We may even reflect on the people we worked with and some of the work we did. And if we keep going we get to that same point in every role, and hope that we did something good, something that lasts. We also realise that our presence becomes embedded as value added in the lives of others, who after we leave, take their turn and make their contribution. So remember, our job outcomes are realised long after we are gone. And when we look back we see that we did something good, something that lasts. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Who did you add value for? 2. How are your job outcomes growing in each role or job that you had? BIRTHDAY PARTY There is a party in our village when a new baby is born. Families all get together on a Saturday morning at 11am to meet the new arrival, and welcome this new person to our world. We celebrate with smiles and hugs giving thanks for all our lives. We shed a small tear of remembrance for those who have left us. These little parties are literally, staging posts, and the lifeblood of our village. We call this a 'Birth Day' party, for the time of our first days. It’s the informal coming together of family, friends and community. It’s our call to journey with the child and for us all to begin again. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. How might you 'journey' with us and 'begin again' this Saturday morning at 11am? 2. Who would have been around at your Birth Day - and what do you imagine they said? GLASS BOOKCASE He must have been a senior lawyer or perhaps a judge. The extensive law library housed in a beautiful glass bookcase across three walls of his study, bears witness to a serious role and a long commitment to his work. His large oak desk still has the files of papers he was working on. He died two years ago and his ground floor apartment remains largely untouched, although the conservatory wall is in need of some paint. We view the property as potential buyers and see family photos of a grandad, and a bedroom left as if it was just tidied up for our viewing. His home is full of outdated furniture and we learn that, after our judge lost his wife, he lived on here for years, immersed in his retirement. This flat will be sold and cleared out, except for the glass bookcase, which I think, will remain, waiting for new books to arrive. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. What books would you treasure and keep in your glass bookcase? 2. What in your life, is your long term commitment to? SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY Commit yourself to love with all your heart, for this is your passion that is above all passions. Commit yourself to love with all your soul, for this is the part of you that is pure and eternal. Commit yourself to love with all your mind, for this will uncover all that you will ever know. Nurture and cherish the love that is within you and the love that you are. With all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. How can you commit yourself to love on this Saint Valentine's Day? 2. What does it mean to nurture and cherish the love within you - with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind? ENERGY SWITCH Don’t get consumed by it. Don’t get overwhelmed by it. Don’t give all of your thoughts, energy and time to it. It is passing through. It will soon be gone. And you have more important work to do. Switch your thoughts, energy and time to activities worthy of your gifts, your generosity and your love. For this, by far, is the best deal. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. What is consuming your energy and taking up so much time, that you do not need? 2. How can you make better use of your gifts, your generosity and your love? AUTO START Open your eyes. Turn on your ears. Unleash your tongue. Unfold your hands. Switch on your speech. We start up our five senses every morning, in a seamless routine, without acknowledgement or thanks, for these most amazing gifts. So, let us pause and say, Thank you for my seeing today. Thank you for my hearing today. Thank you for my taste today. Thank you for my touch today. Thank you for my voice today. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. Which of your five senses are most important to you? 2. Can you describe other senses that you have? I have a sense of ... WAKE-UP CALL In the quiet of night-time, at three in the morning, when I am supposed to be asleep. My head is full of problems to be solved, and worries about those I love. Instead of these worldly concerns taking me away from God, I find they bring me closer to him. My worries are an open door to be with love, and to work out what we should do. But this is more than problem solving, or a business meeting. This is a joyful relationship with love, at now, four in the morning, whilst the world sleeps. And he is there, every night, for each of us. Waiting to be with us. Waiting to be asked, to sort out the troubles and worries that keep us awake. If we look out our window we see that the problems that consume our thinking, are in fact a blessing, a wake-up call, an invitation and a joyful reminder, of the love that waits for us in the night. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. Is there anything that is worrying you? 2. When will you plan an early morning call? SCALES What if in the bigger scheme of things, failure, is just as important as a success? What if in the bigger scheme of things, inactivity, is just as important as activity? What if in the bigger scheme of things, poverty and pain, are just as valuable as riches and fame? What if in the bigger scheme of things, failure to achieve anything, was just as important as achieving something? What if in the bigger scheme of things, periods of desolation and depression, are just as important as times of excitement and jubilation? What if in the bigger scheme of things, we are using the wrong scales? What if there are no scales and that everything is one? PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. How do you measure what is important to you? |
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June 2021
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