Today I invite you to explore a question with me — have
you placed your soul/spirit/beingness on a starvation diet?
And if the answer is yes, no fret, you’re not alone and
that realization is the first step to turning things
around.

Also, if you’re an experienced coach don’t miss the start
of my Top Ten Reasons for Becoming a Life On Purpose Coach
— my take-off on David Letterman’s top tens. And learn
more about Life On Purpose Coaching during next week’s
Teleclass — Being a Masterful Life Purpose Coach. Register
at:

http://www.wbradfordswift.com/lop/telesamplers

And last but not least, you’ll learn the unique and
unexpected way I went from getting 16 mpg to over 40 mpg
under Personal Reflections. So, let’s get started.

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LIVING ON PURPOSE: Have You Placed Your Soul on a
Starvation Diet?
==============================================
Remember, the old adage about how important it is to “eat
three square meals a day?” While I’ve never quite figured
out what a square meal is, I do know that the main point is
that, if we want to stay physically healthy, we need to
feed our bodies a healthy diet on a regular basis.

Pop quiz time. (Don’t worry, it’s an easy question to
answer.) On average, how many times a day do you eat?

Your answer goes here:

Now, if you’re like most people, you probably answered
somewhere between 2 – 4 times per day. In other words, we
all know that we need to eat on a regular basis to keep our
bodies fed and fit.

But how about your soul — your spirit — your ‘beingness?’
Are you regularly taking time to feed it or do you have
your soul on a starvation diet?

We all have heard about the ‘body-mind-spirit’ triad and
how all three of these aspects of ourselves are
interconnected — a bit like the 3 legs of stool. In just
the same way, if one of those ‘legs’ is getting the short
end of the stick in the area of nurturing and nourishing,
then you’re going to end up out of balance — maybe a
little, maybe a lot.

Now I’m going to make a bold assertion so hang on (and keep
reading) —

“Many people in our Western Culture are significantly out
of kilter when it comes to the degree to which they nourish
and nurture their soul/spirit/being.”

Now, granted my view point may be a bit slanted. After
all, a lot of my work is with people who are either
overwhelmed, overworked, burned out and/or who have lost
their sense of purpose and meaning. So, granted I’m likely
to see more than my share of emaciated souls.

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The Cost of a Starved Spirit
==========

I have a long term client who has also become a friend over
the 15-plus years we’ve known each other. We recently
resumed a coaching relationship in part because of the
challenge of dealing with some health issues with a family
member, coupled with a severe dry spell in his business.

Though he’d been one of the most successful real estate
brokers in his region for the past several years, he’d been
experiencing a dry spell like never before. He was trapped
in a viscous cycle of worry — worry about his family
member’s health issues, which adversely affected his
effectiveness at work, which led to more worry about his
work slump.

All of which led to his feeling like he needed to work even
longer hours to make up for the lost revenue, thus
escalating the downward spiral.

Meanwhile, his soul/spirit/being was starving for
nourishment.

==========
Why Vacations Often Don’t Restore the Soul
==========

Unfortunately, many people, when they are feeling a bit
frazzled about their life, use a strategy that can makes
matters worse — they take a vacation.

How many times have you heard someone returning from their
vacation comment that they now need a vacation to recover
from their vacation because, once again, they tried to cram
too many activities into their time off. And, as if that’s
not bad enough, they often then return to a massive amount
of work that was put on hold pending their return. Urgh.

No wonder we Americans take the fewest vacation days of any
group in the world. So what does work?

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Creating a Balanced Diet for Your Soul
============

After discerning that my friend/client’s soul was starving
for some nourishment, I asked him what he felt would be a
balanced diet that could revive his spirit. Here’s the
list we created:

1- Sharing compassion and love with others
2- Times of quiet serenity (without feeling guilty about
not being at work)
3. Quiet time to read, write, and exercise (mostly alone)
4. Time for some adventure and exploration (parts of his
true life purpose that had been being ignored)
5. Time with the family for traveling.

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The Good News — The Turnaround is in Process
============

While my client’s spirit isn’t fully rested and restored
yet, there has been steady progress. He informed me during
a recent coaching session that he’s closed on his first
sale in quite a while with others pending. And
interestingly, the family member with the health crisis is
beginning to improve as well.