This past Monday was Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and events throughout Los Angeles and nationwide celebrated this civil rights leader and his contributions.  I was pleased to see President Obama joining with others to help correct the words added to the King memorial on the National Mall in Washington.

Mr. King wanted his words to be clear to the public then, as it needs to be now, that all of us must be a drum major for justice.  And all of us can help and serve others.  (It’s currently quoted as if he was speaking about who he was and what he did).

President Obama painted King’s accurate quote on a school yard wall along with the phrase, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

How important these messages come at any time, but especially at the start of this new year.

I am following up the long Christmas and New Year’s holidays with a visit from my niece who will be with us for a week.  It was at first challenging to think of how I’d find time to spend with her, since I’ve returned to working, but I said yes to her visit anyway.  I’m pleased to experience how this has s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d the holidays, which can normally zoom by too quickly.  Beth even gave me time to work, such as taking my dog, Tula, and joining in a doggie play date with the neighborhood kids.

In what ways can you get the pleasurable holidays to s-t-r-e-t-c-h?

If your family doesn’t live near you for you to visit this holiday, or friends are all away seeing their family, you still want to experience the spirit of the holiday season – and that means connection with others.  Here’s 6 ideas how:

1. Start with any friends who live locally and see if they’ve got any time to get together even in-between their other plans.  Even if they’ve only got a half hour, call them and swing by with some eggnog for a chat and to view their decorations.  You’ll be glad you did.

2. Decorate your own abode with others.  You don’t have to use expensive items, in fact making the old-fashioned paper chains, hanging strung popcorn, or old cut-out Christmas cards, looks nice and can be fun to make.  Invite some grammar school kids on your block who want to do this with you.  Set a time, put in the supplies, introduce yourself to their parents and have fun being playful with your own decoration creation party. (more…)

Video from KarmaTube, 4:51 minutes.  Courtesy and in appreciation of You Tube.  Women in Nepal apply the Heifer.org approach to community interaction, knowledge and training and sustainability to end hunger and poverty in Nepal.  These women share their experiences as they now have an ”us” and “ours” mentality, spurring them to “pass on the gift” with joy and hope.

There’s nothing wrong with quantifying your goal - setting a very specific goal that has numbers attached to it, i.e. three projects completed by the end of the day, $$ met by the end of the month, fifteen responses to your special offer by the end of two weeks, etc.  Setting an aim for the numbers you really want can be motivating and help guide your actions to complete benchmark steps along the way to meet your final goal.  Sometimes this approach works very well for me or my clients.

If you fail to meet your ideal number, it more likely means one of two things:  You didn’t do all you could and you can exam what to change for the next time, course correct and set a new goal.  Or it could be that you did do all you could do and you met some level of achievement versus if you hadn’t been focused and been purposeful in your actions or bothered to set a specific goal at all. (more…)