Newsletter:Right Now! Coach

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LifeRhyme Notes
December 2001
By Rev. Rochelle Melander, Coach
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WELCOME!
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Welcome to December's LifeRhyme Notes. I hope you will share this special holiday issue with your friends, family, and coworkers. Visit www.LifeRhymeCoaching.com and click on the LifeRhyme Exchange. Take a moment to share your New Year's Wish! What do you hope for in 2002?

WHY BUY YOUR BEST FRIENDS MORE SWEATERS WHEN WHAT THEY REALLY WANT IS MORE TIME, SPACE, AND ENERGY TO DO WHAT THEY LOVE?!

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I've been to the mall lately. Believe me -- this is a better deal! I am offering you, my subscribers, the exclusive opportunity to purchase a gift certificate for coaching at a wildly reduced price. You can do this for yourself or for a friend. The offer is good through January 31st, 2002. For each of the packages, I will provide my free half-hour of coaching in addition to what you purchase. To order, call me (414-771-1408) or send me an e-mail (rochelle@liferhymecoaching.com). Three half-hour coaching sessions, a copy of our book Dancing in the Aisle, and a gift card for $100. Two half-hour coaching sessions and a gift card for $60. One half-hour coaching session and a gift card for $30.

IN THIS ISSUE...
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SPEND THE DAY! Single Step Challenge (TM) Brief Book Reviews Quote for the Journey

SPEND THE DAY!
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I think that the way we spend our holiday seasons reflects our daily lives. If we expect our holidays to be perfect, we probably expect our daily lives to be the same way. If we cram our holiday season with too much busyness, we most likely spend much of the rest of the year doing the same thing.

On a similar note, I suspect that our hopes for the holiday season mirror our hopes for the rest of our life. Our vision of the ideal holiday is also our vision for our ideal life. If we want to spend more time with our family at the holidays -- then that's probably a reflection of what we want each day to look like.

This year, instead of letting my usual to-do lists direct my days -- I am going to make a "to-be" list. If a to-do list is a guide to our external lives -- the stuff we gotta do to get through the day -- then a to-be list is a guide to our inner life. A to-be list reflects the way we need to be in the world to be connected to ourselves, to God, and to others.

My son, like most five year olds, has a way with words. When he has a free day, he asks me, "Today are we going to SPEND THE DAY?" "SPEND THE DAY" is his phrase for family time. I don't work, he doesn't go to school -- we simply spend the day together. He says it with great vigor and joy -- like it's the best thing in the world. It usually is. When we spend the day, we usually honor what we really want instead of what we think we want or what others demand of us. When we spend the day, the ideal and the real meet and in that meeting place we get exactly what we have always wanted. + I'm taking Sam's phrase as my holiday philosophy this year. With my "to-be" list in hand, I'm going to "spend the days." I will share my holiday "to-be" list with you -- and then I hope you will create your own.

1. Be myself. It sounds deceptively simple -- to be yourself, to be who God created you to be. Are you? Being yourself? Or do you have different faces, a variety of masks that you haul out to face the people in the multiple compartments of your life? Do you check your speech twice, making sure that you don't offend anyone by being you and saying what you think? It's quite exhausting to do this. How much easier (and full of risk) to be the person God has created you to be -- not just at home in front of the bathroom mirror -- but all of the time.

2. Be still. What might it be like to simply be still for a minute or ten? What might you hear that you have not heard before? The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." What can you know of God when you are still that you cannot know when you are movin? What might you learn about yourself?

3. Be present. You fret about past mistakes and furrow your brows over future problems and concern yourself with how you are doing in comparison to others -- and totally miss your own life. What might it be like to simply be present to your own life? What blessings would you find? What might you want to change?

4. Be grateful. What might life be like if we thanked God (and those we love) for all that we have (and all that they are for us) instead of whining about what we haven't received (and what those we love cannot do or be for us)?

5. Be delighted. Watching Sam take in the holiday decorations this year has taught me something about delight, about taking in the world without critiques or edits. He exclaims and dances and points, "Look!" What would it be like if you were seeing all that surrounds you this holiday season for the very first time?

There it is dear readers -- my annotated to-be list, notes to myself for how I'd like to spend these days. I hope that as you reflect on this season, you will design a to-be list that is absolutely perfect for you. + Now go forth and SPEND THE DAY!!!!

Blessings to you, Rochelle

SINGLE STEP CHALLENGE (TM)
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Some thinking and a task -- that's your assignment.

Think for a moment. What does your holiday celebration tell you about your life? What do your dreams for this holiday teach you about your vision for your life?

Create your own "to-be" list. Let it be a reflection of your vision for both your holiday and your life!

BRIEF BOOK REVIEWS
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"God's Quiet Things" is a picture book by Nancy Sweetland that helps the reader to listen for the many ways that God is present to us in our daily lives.

Open "Markings" by Dag Hammarskjold this holiday season. This book is not for rushing through -- getting to the place where one finds out whodunit. This is a being book. Savor it bit by bit.

"Living Juicy: Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul" by SARK is a collection of tiny instructions to help the reader nourish his or her creative spirit.

QUOTE FOR THE JOURNEY
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"Perhaps God who is eternal, old beyond our imagining, wanted to marvel at the creation anew and realized that the best way to that would be through the eyes of a newborn. And because of that experience, because God once peered out at this world with the vision of a child, even now God continues to see the creation anew each day. God sees each of us -- young and old, healthy and sick -- as though looking at us for the very first time, beholding works of wonder and beauty."

NEWS
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The LifeRhyme Exchange on our website is up and running. Visit www.liferhymecoaching.com and register your thoughts and ideas about how to have a more spiritual holiday season!

A great Christmas gift for parents: "Timeouts with God: Meditations for Parents" by Rochelle Melander and Harold Eppley. This gritty look at parenting will remind parents that raising these little ones is doing the work of God!

A FREEBIE
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+Needing to create the time, space, and energy to do what you love?
+Wanting some guidance as you discover what you want from life?
+Looking for someone to encourage you to stick to your goals? Newsletter recipients are welcome to a free coaching session, done by telephone, with Coach Rochelle Melander. Groups in the Milwaukee area are welcome to a free speaking session. Call 414-771-1408 or e-mail Rochelle at rymhwe@execpc.com for more information.

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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LIFERHYME NOTES 2001 is a free monthly e-mail newsletter designed to consider how we can integrate spirituality into our daily lives. It is written and produced by Rochelle Melander, personal and professional coach. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to: rymhwe@execpc.com. I would love to hear from you.

Feel free to forward your copy of LIFERHYME NOTES to anyone you think might enjoy it. I do request that you keep the entire newsletter intact, including my contact and copyright information.