The Power of Being

I spend time every once in a while, trying to see myself in the mirror of my life. Not simply looking in a mirror –(kind of shocking some mornings), I look to find myself, and I see that I am happy with my life and where I am. If you know all about me, you would know that this makes perfect sense. I am living in a new place physically, and in a great place mentally and emotionally. It took me a long time to understand that I am a pretty good person. I love and support my family, my job allows me to help others grow, along with my husband we teach our kids about what is good and right, we teach them that they can be whoever they want to be and to not limit themselves. It is the power of BEing.
What on earth is the power of BE-ing, you ask? The power of BE-ing is finding yourself physically present in your life. Putting yourself in touch with each person in your life and understanding that your time and attention means the most to them, and it is important to BE in their life with them. How wonderful is that?
Looking at the examples from my life, perhaps there are ways you can apply the power of Being to your life.
• Take Risks: the company I worked for closed and I was already starting my own business the following week. A little crazy in this economy - maybe. Fortunately my husband has a good job and we have been able to let me work through start-up to get it off the ground. Don't get me wrong, I loved my old job - had lots of fun, loved the people and it is really what inspired me to focus on being who I am at heart.
• Try New Things: failure is simply a step on the way to success. I have tried a few different marketing ideas for my new company. Some not producing the results I was expecting. I haven’t stopped marketing though. I have taken what I have learned and applied it to new projects and am starting to see positive results.
• Learn: to get rolling in this new world of entrepreneurship, there is a great deal to learn. Whether it’s about accounting or internet advertising or how to blog….my days are full and very interesting. The more I learn and try, the more I want to do. Interesting thing is, by learning, I have been able to teach my family about blogging and now they are all actively participating in cyber-space through their own blogs.
• Listen: put down whatever is in your hands or move away from whatever is in front of you, look the person in the face and really listen to what they have to say. My youngest son likes to watch horror movies – I do not. He also likes to talk about them, so no matter what I am doing I stop and listen to his descriptions of the movie he has just finished watching, even if I can’t stand it and he understands that, he knows how I am ready to listen, for anything he is ready to discuss. Having teenagers in the house, it is amazing how they appreciate your ability to listen when you least expect it. All of a sudden they confide in you. Not usual for most teens. I set the listening example early in their lives. They understood that I would always listen to whatever they had to say. They knew that at times this would be difficult if there was a problem or situation to resolve. I explained to them that sometimes listening may upset me, but I would let them talk until they were done and then I would respond. This built trust – a valuable resource. One time, I even had to walk away before I could respond so that I could think about how to handle the situation. In the end, they came to me with 3 options on how to handle the situation and together we agreed on the best route.
• Participate: this is the essence of Being. Finding time in our busy days to participate in each other’s lives actually helps us to stretch and grow. Taking time to pick up my son’s friend to take them to soccer practice helped me meet new people and get involved with the team because of my quasi-expertise on website management. Not to mention the fact that this is the first activity that my son has willingly engaged in outside of his Xbox and actually enjoyed. Is he the best player on his team? Not yet! But he is excited to be a part of this team!
• Share: our dinner table conversation is full of excitement and interest because we share how are day went, ask lots of questions, plan for the next day and have conversation. It is an amazing change that happens in a family when there is time to eat together. And no matter hwo much the boys bicker and argue at the table, I let on that I am aggravated by their lack of communication bu they know it is music to my ears. It is genuine, each member of the family supports the other and they actually want to know, to celebrate successes together, listen and exchange ideas.
• Laugh: everyday – no excuses! Life is way too short to take it so seriously. Sometimes even when you really want to scream and yell if you take a deep breath and laugh, the problem or situation does not seem so bad and you can work through it easier.

By setting the example by taking risks, laughing, participating and sharing, you can see that anything is possible if you just believe in the power of BEing. So have you found yourself in the mirror yet? Are you ready to subject yourself to the amazing and wonderful things life has to hand you when you give in to the power of Being? Go ahead and look in the mirror…see who you are…and BE.