Practical Wisdom

For fourteen years I have been living my mission. Coaching, leading teleclasses and writing is what I do. I am a self-avowed self-insight junkie and have been reading self-insight books for a long time-not to mention all of the audio programs in which I have invested time and money. Although I love reading, the purchasing process has not always been an easy one for me. “I already have two and half large bookcases full of self –insight books; do I really need another one? But this one looks very interesting and I wonder if it has ‘the answer’ on why I have been struggling with creating exactly what I want in my life? It may be just be the one for which I have been searching. I hope it is.” I have just replayed for you the conversation I used to have with myself every time I bought another book. Based on what I have heard from my coaching clients over the years many of you have had similar dialogues every time you are in a book store or about to add another book to your already full shopping cart on Amazon.com. Going through this self imposed inquisition about book buying can be very trying. Let me offer you several thoughts on why to buy and read the next self-insight book. “Yes you do need another book on self-sight. And no you don’t need it because the others didn’t work. You will always need another book. You will always need to learn and grow. Our reason for being in this world is to learn, grow and create. If you stop reading what happens to your growth and creativity? Your soul needs to be nourished on a daily basis. Notice what happens to your spirit when you read. Doesn’t it begin to soar? Why would the Divine have given so many authors the gift of writing if it weren’t important for you to read them?” Our souls are like the tires on a bicycle. Regular maintenance is required. What happens to the ride on the bike if you don’t maintain the correct pressure in the tires? The tires slowly lose air and it gets harder to pedal the bike. Our lives are the same way. Life gets much harder when we don’t nourish our souls and keep our faith alive or keep our souls pumped-up. Reading self-insight/spiritual books is one of the ways in which you can nurture your soul. The second question in my book buying inquisition normally was, “But this one looks very interesting and I wonder if it has ‘the answer’ on why I have been struggling with creating exactly what I want in my life?” I realized that my search for the perfect book had become my search for the Holy Grail. I knew that when I found ‘the book’ all of my problems will be solved and I would live happily ever after. Then I can stop reading all of these books. Eventually I realized that the answer was not in the books, it was in me. I had to do the changing. The book couldn’t do it for me. My search for the perfect book ended. Now the books I read are aids I use to keep the real me alive. The last statement in my self-insight book buying inquisition was “I hope it is!” Fanning the flames of hope is mandatory in living a meaningful life. Several years ago I decided that it was time to fulfill a long held desire to learn to play the piano. I purchased a used piano and found a gentleman to tune it. Once the piano tuner finished tuning it, he quietly sat down on the piano bench and began to play. To my delight out of this instrument, poured a magnificent flood of notes that were a pure wonder to my ears. Inside this used piano was the capacity to generate beautiful music and all I had to do was learn to bring it out. I ‘hoped’ to be able to play it. As yet, I have not mastered the piano. Thanks to the piano turner I know the music is there and the hope is still alive that I will bring it forth one day. More importantly this lesson reinforced that there is hope that my used body and soul will produce more joy and abundance. Your next book may either be the book that opens the floodgates of your music or it can be a part of ongoing tuning process. There is no one book that has all of the answers so that you will never have to read again. Joy filled lives are ones of constant and continual learning. So we need self insight books because - 1. Reading them is an important part of the nourishment the soul requires on a regular basis. 2. The answer to who we are and why we are here doesn’t reside in a book; however, books contain clues that will guide you to the answers. 3. Self insight books are essential elements in keeping hope alive. When hope dissipates, depression is not far behind. 4. Every book is the expression of what is in someone’s soul. Each time a book is written there is a joyful sound that emanates from the heart of the writer. So my belief is that writing books not only adds to our collective wisdom it geometrically expands the joy in the world. That leads naturally to the question, do you need “this” book. You can answer that question by reading the next few pages and see if the overview resonates with what you want to learn. In addition to coaching, I teach teleclasses that parallel the content of this book. Contained in the first minutes of each class is one of the major reasons people seek the information I coach and teach. Let me describe in terms of a fictitious client what invariably happens in the first class of the course entitled, “Change Your Energy-Change Your Life”. I was ten minutes into the teleclass and by now had introduced myself and talked briefly about the major topics for the course and it was now time for the participant to introduce themselves. As always I asked them to tell me their name, where they live and what is the most important thing they want from this series of four one-hour classes. There were 10 people on the call and Joan volunteered to go first. Joan introduced herself and said she was from Dayton Ohio. She explained her reason for attending by saying, “I am 49 years old, my kids are grown and gone from home, my job is not fulfilling and quite frankly my marriage has some problems. I have read lots of books, listened to many audio programs, gone to numerous seminars and I still feel stuck. I know I have more to offer the world. I have talents that haven’t been fully engaged. I want the next part of my life to be different from the last part. Not that the first part was bad, I just know I have something more to contribute to the world. I understand from my friend Sue who attended this course that you can help. I want to change my life!“ Joan represents the essence of what I hear from all the participants, whether they are female or male, when I start teleclass. Joan is why I do what I do - coach and write. She knows she has untapped potential, she is ready to experience what life is like when she taps into her real self. In short, she is ready to live a life that matches her talents and capabilities. She knows that something is not working in her life. Something is holding her back and she is ready to deal with it. Having untapped potential is not the same thing as saying that someone has a awful life or is completely down on their luck. Some of my clients are down on their luck and some are very well off. What they have in common is the ache inside that won’t go away and they want to stop it, they want more pure joy in their lives. This book is for all of the people that want to stop the ache and live a high energy life fueled by being on purpose and fully engaging their talents. In this book I will share with you practical bits of wisdom that will make that possible. This book is for all of you who are ready to fully engage with life and your talents. If you are not sure and want to be ‘inspired’ on why you should make a change, this is not the book you are looking for. In this book you will find how to make it happen.