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Volume 12
Welcome to Volume 12 of Living on the Edge, the fortnightly newsletter from Living Edge Life Coaching, designed to inform, educate, challenge and inspire you!
For previous volumes click here.
Please forward onto your friends/colleagues and encourage them to subscribe.
Annabel Varvel
Life Coach BA.LLB
COACHING CORNER
Spring Clean Your Life
Being the first day of spring today, got me thinking about what I would write about in this fortnight's Living on the Edge. Spring is a time of new beginnings, new life, freshness and vitality. We wake up out of winter ready to thaw out (unless you live in Brisbane where there really is no real winter!) and get ready for summer! As I thought about these things I was reminded of the following story that I'm sure many of you will have read, but is worth repeating....
A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full?
They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous yes. The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour the entire contents in! to the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
" If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. Play another 18. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal."
" Take care of the golf balls first - - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented????? The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers !!
So, I thought that now as Spring begins (or Autumn/Fall for those Northern hemisphere dwellers amoung you - it's still a new season) it would be worth doing a little priority spring clean! Sit down and work out what or who your golf balls are - what do you value most and does your time allocation reflect that? Why not get out your diary and schedule in some time over the next month for the things/people you have identified as most important to you..... everything else will just fall into place and after all, there will be still time for a beer or glass of wine or two!
THANK YOU
Thank you for all your kind wishes and comments about the birth of Alexander! We certainly are biased and think he's very cute but I'm discovering the pride parent's feel when other's think so too!! He's been a very good baby - he sleeps well at night which is great and he has been giving us lots of joy already.
GOT A QUESTION?
QUOTE
If you have a question or situation that you would like a life coach's perspective on... email it to coach@livingedge.net and I'll answer in Living on the Edge.
The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet
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