"I'm in"

'Life to me is a journey - you never know what may be your next destination'

David Russell

Week 47

Wow…I have already gotten a great response from many of you that are interested in ‘signing up’ for the summer seminar. If I haven’t already heard from you, I hope ‘you’re in’ and have accepted the invitation to join us on our journey on cleaning up the toxic waste in our thoughts, actions and attitudes.   By the way, if you know someone else who you think might want to join in, feel free to invite them. 

To answer a few of your questions:  Yes, the seminar will be on-line and last for 12 weeks.  You’ll hear from me each week about the topics we will be focusing on and our homework assignments that we are responsible for.  Although I will be leading the seminar, I am just as much of a student as you are.  I don’t pretend to be an expert, I am only a participant who has agreed to facilitate this.

If you have decided to be a seminar participant, here is what you’ll need:

Although not mandatory…I’d suggest you purchase, or check out, the book titled, Who Switched off My Brain,  by Caroline Leaf.  This is a very quick read and Dr. Leaf does an extraordinary job of breaking down the neuroscience in helping us to understand the brain and our thoughts.  I can tell you for sure that I don’t have that ability and so I won’t spend much time trying to explain the dynamics of the brain.  None-the-less, I believe that the more information we have about how our mind works, the more likely we are to be able to tap into its potential.  ‘Amazon’ shows that you can buy this book new for less than $10 and used for less than $5.00. 

Once you get the book, begin reading it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=who+switched+off+my+brain+caroline+leaf&sprefix=who+switched%2Cstripbooks%2C272

You’ll need a journal/diary:  Either purchase, or scrounge up, a journal to use for homework activities and reflections.  A good name for it might be ‘my detox diary’.   If you already have a journal that you currently write in…I suggest you still get another one and use this separately for the activities that are specifically designed for steps in detoxing.  Perhaps you can treat yourself to a shopping trip in order to find a special journal that represents this journey in your life.

Piggy bank: In my previous blog, I gave you an example of some of the topics we will be covering in our seminar, scroll back and review them if you would like.  The last item on the list is ‘pamper yourself’.  In order to be prepared for that particular focus area, I’d like you to begin today to start saving $ in order to treat yourself to a ‘pampering session’ at the end of our seminar.  Decide what amount of money you are comfortable putting aside each week. 

You’ll need to find your own special piggy bank to keep your cash in: Whether it be a glass jar, envelope, vase, tea pot or a pillow case under the mattress… whatever you choose to put your $ in, and try and personalize it.  Maybe a trip to a dollar store, a swap meet, Salvation Army or grandma’s attic in order to select an appropriate cash container. You may decide to ‘stash your cash’ by putting left over change each day in your ‘pot’, or a pre-calculated single amount at the end of each week, or tips you make at the coffee shop that you work at, perhaps money you saved in coupons……you decide… but at least once a week you need to put your money in. May I suggest that $5.00 is an absolute minimal amount per week to consider…. more if you can swing it.   The more you save, the more pampering you can afford.

Regarding your pampering money, you must agree to the following two rules.

Rule #1.  You must put some money in your container each week. Don’t wait until the end of our seminar to put your money in, you need to contribute weekly to remind yourself that you plan to celebrate your success by treating yourself to some kind of pampering at the end.

Rule #2.  You may not take any money out of ‘the pot’ and borrow it for something else during the process.   No matter what!  You may want to hide your ‘stash’ if it’s too great of a temptation to you or others in your household.

Finally, as we cover the detoxing steps each week, we are going to continue to refer to these six essential principles.  In order to keep them at the forefront of our mind, let’s write them on the first page of our journals and begin to ponder their significance.

1. Awareness of the need to change

2. Desire to change

3. Commitment to change

4. a Plan for action

5. Action

6. Reflection

So that’s what you need to do to prepare for the launch of our summer seminar which will begin next Monday.  I’m looking forward to it.               

Feel free to post your responses on my blog or email me at: smallsteps4bigresults@yahoo.com