Carpe Diem~What Motivates You to Act--Principle or Passion?

Can you guess whether I'm a thinker or feeler?

Doing What Comes Naturally--Or Not!

'Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.'  
Dr. Seuss

I've stopped waiting, Dr Seuss. 

Carpe Diem--seize the day--is my call to action. 

At this moment in time I've been spurred into action and feel compelled to step up and speak my truth. But like so many others speaking out, I'm not a natural activist.  I'm very uncomfortable and I want to pull back daily, but then something new gets my blood boiling and I'm forced to engage and be seen when I'd prefer to hide. 

Why is that? What is it that compels a naturally easy going person like me to overcome her reticence to be seen and put her views in public and stand up for what she believes? 

And how are you the same or different from me? What motivates you to act? What words of wisdom speak to you and what sparks a fire in you? What spurs your own decision to act?

One answer is found in our preferences for coming to conclusions according to our Myers-Briggs type. Me? Like 60% of women and 40% of men, I'm a feeler, not a thinker.

Our Myers-Briggs types are based in 4 natural and healthy preferences for dealing with the world--and our preference for how we prefer to make decisions-- or 'judgments'--is one. 

CARPE DIEM

'Too often too late comes too soon.' 

 Dr. SunWolf 

What's Your Preference--Thinking or Feeling?

The judgment preference defines our preferred way of coming to conclusions--through 'Thinking'--a logical, impersonal analysis--or through 'Feeling'--a subjective considering of the human values and needs of a situation. Both are rational approaches to decision making found in both men and women, and one is not better than then other.

CARPE DIEM

'Why always 'not yet'? Do flowers in spring say 'not yet'?' 

Norman Douglas

A Key to What Motivates Us to Act

Although we all make decisions based on feeling and thinking, our preference for feeling or thinking will determine which one we are inclined to use more--and will point to what drives our decision-making and therefore what motivates us to act.

CARPE DIEM

'As you grow older, you'll find the only things 

you regret are the things you didn't do.'

Zachary Scott

Passion: Based on Human Values

If, like me, you prefer feeling, you'll spend more time coming to conclusions in a passionate, human values-based manner in which 'tact is valued over truth' rather than a dispassionate, impersonal manner.

Feelers, like me, are mission-driven about human, animal and environmental justice issues. We are moved into immediate action when a personal value is in jeopardy or when a line is crossed dealing with human, animal or environmental justice. When something is of grave concern, we 'can't not' jump in to stand up and speak up. We are compelled to act.

CARPE DIEM

'To change one's life: Start immediately. 

Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.'

William James

Principles: Logical Process Based on Impersonal Findings

If you prefer thinking, you'll spend more time coming to conclusions and making decisions in a dispassionate, principle-based manner that values 'truth over tact' rather than a passionate, human values-based manner. 

CARPE DIEM

'You may delay, but time will not.' 

Benjamin Franklin

CARPE DIEM

Why must conversations always come so late? 

Why do people always apologize to corpses?

David Brin

Understanding Feelers and Thinkers Differing Styles--The 'So What'

Know what motivates you to act, and look for ways to understand those who are different from you to find effective ways to communicate.  The more we understand our differences, the better we can get at communicating in the language of the other--if we choose to. 

➨ Thinkers are more brief and business-like in their communications; can appear curt, rude or uncaring to feelers. To communicate more effectively to thinkers, be brief and business-like when communicating with them.

💜 Feelers are warmer and softer in their communications; can appear too gushy or unbusiness-like to thinkers. To communicate more effectively with feelers, speak in stories and be personal.

➨ Thinkers' speech is unadorned and monotone; can appear strict and boring to feeler. 

💜 Feelers use adverbs and adjectives to provide emphasis and passion to their language; can appear to emotional or frivolous to thinker.

➨ Thinkers value fairness (what is right for 1 person is right for all) and principles; can appear too rigid and harsh to feeler.

💜 Feelers value harmony, compassion, and treating people individually (believing in extenuating circumstances); can appear like they lack a backbone for holding people accountable to thinker.

Do You Want to Speak or Do You Want to be Heard?

If you desire to be heard, first study what motivates you to speak out and take action, and then choose to discover how to best communicate with others so they hear you. 

CARPE DIEM

'I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, 
while the song I came to sing remains unsung.' Tagore


Thinkers and Feelers:
What They Look Like and What Matters to Them

Focus Technical Skills	Focus Service-with-a-smile	Focus Communicate	Focus Science & Technology
➨ ST Sensor-Thinker	💜 SF Sensor-Feeler	💜 NF iNtuitor-Feeler	➨ NT iNtuitor-Thinker
Prefers  Impersonal analysis of concrete facts	Prefers using Personal warmth applied  to immediate situations	Prefers using Creativity to meet  human needs	Prefers Solving Problems
PRACTICAL & MATTER-OF-FACT	SYMPATHETIC &  FRIENDLY	ENTHUSIASTIC & INSIGHTFUL	LOGICAL & INGENIOUS

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Breakthrough Wisdom: Listen AS IF Everyone is Enlightened but You

Arlie the Wise: 

I trust myself, my friends and my life

What if You Listened as if Everyone is Enlightened but You? 

Imagine waking up every day with the intention to listen to the wisdom coming to you from the enlightened beings surrounding you. What gems would you gather from the ordinary, yet enlightened beings in your life? What breakthrough wisdom would lighten your load, raise your spirits, or move you act in ways to blast your life wide open? 

My sister-in-law, Lee and I share an imaginative and playful approach to life. We're always looking for ways to play with what we think to better ourselves--and what better way than by imagining what the animals in our lives are telling us.

Arlie the Wise is a dog-cat who graces my brother and sister-in-law's lives by agreeing to watch over them daily in a calm, yet curious manner. After I gifted Lee a bowl of affirmation hearts, she began gifting me photos of the affirmations that Arlie the Wise chose for the day. I listen intently every time--and ponder the message as if it was purposely sent to me at just the right moment--asking myself 'Why did I need this message today?'.

I trust the enlightened wisdom Arlie sends me on any given day, and see it as a measure of my openness to to accepting and acting on the wisdom of others in the present. This isn't to say I consider everything others speak is enlightened. For me wisdom is based in compassion, kindness, and doing good for others as you do good for yourself. 

Look for breakthrough wisdom from your enlightened beings to lighten your load, raise your spirits, and move you act in ways that blast your life wide open as you reach out to help others with compassion and kindness. 

For me, breakthrough wisdom you send me further motivates me to gather more wisdom from other enlightened sources, such as the Dalai Lama. Breakthrough wisdom rings true in your heart and provides a truth you can apply universally.

'Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.'
Dalai Lama

'Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.'
Dalai Lama

'Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.'
Dalai Lama

Arlie the Wise says 'STAY ON THE PATH'

Doing Good for Others with Kindness and Compassion

The Secret of Prayer for Religious and Non-Religious Alike

'Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.'  Dalai Lama

What is prayer? Prayer can be 'a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God' or it can be an earnest hope or wish. You don't have to be religious to pray.

Today my moment of enlightenment came from my friend, Gaila, who gifted me a bit of ancient Native American wisdom on 'the way to pray' as she shared her hopes for the people at Standing Rock. I share this with you as I think there is wisdom here for how to set our attitude and earnest hopes for the future.

Gaila wrote: 

I was reading again the wisdom from not only the early Hebrews' writings but also from a Native American who brought back to our attention the way to pray. Here are his words when he went to, as he said, "Pray rain" when New Mexico was in a drought.

"...our elders passed on to me the secret of prayer. The secret is that when we ask for something, we acknowledge what we do not have. Continuing to ask only gives power to what has never come to pass.

The path between man and the forces of this world begins in our hearts. It is here that our feeling world is married to our thinking world. In my prayer, I began with the feeling of gratitude for all that is and all that has come to pass. I gave thanks for the desert wind, the heat, and the drought, for that is the way of it, until now. It is not good. It is not bad. It has been our medicine.

Then I chose a new medicine. I began to have the feeling of what rain feels like. I felt the feeling of rain upon my body. Standing in the stone circle, I imagined that I was in the plaza of our village, barefoot in the rain. I felt the feeling of wet earth oozing between my naked toes. I smelled the smell of rain on the straw-and-mud walls of our village after the storms. I felt what it feels like to walk through fields of corn growing up to my chest because the rains have been so plentiful." 

The old ones remind us that this is how we choose our path in this world. We must first have the feelings of what we wish to experience. This is how we plant the seeds of a new way. From that point forward, our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks."

David was asked by Gregg, the writer of The Isaiah Effect: "Thanks? Do you mean thanks for what we have created?"


"No, not for what we may have created," David replied. "Creation is already complete. Our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks for the opportunity to choose which creation we experience. Through our thanks, we honor all possibilities and bring the ones we choose into this world."

Arlie the Wise

I expect my life to be good and joyous

"Our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks for the opportunity 

to choose which creation we experience. Through our thanks, 

we honor all possibilities and bring the ones we choose into this world."

Breakthrough Wisdom from the Dalai Lama

💜 My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

💜 The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

💜 Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

💜 In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.

💜 If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.

💜 If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. 

💜 When you practice gratefulness, there is a sense of respect toward others.

💜 Too much self-centered attitude, you see, brings, you see, isolation. Result: loneliness, fear, anger. The extreme self-centered attitude is the source of suffering.

💜 In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.

💜 Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

💜 We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

How to Keep Going Despite a Bruised Spirit and Heavy Heart

As President Obama said in his goodbye speech to his staff,

let this time be a comma, not a period.

TRICKY LIFE LESSONS: COMMA, NOT PERIOD!

I have a trick ankle that acts up when I least expect it. I can be walking along feeling great and in a blink of an eye, my ankle suddenly twists and I'm down for the count.

Like my ankle--life is sometimes tricky--taking your spirits down when you least expect it.

But I've learned a very important lesson from dealing with my ankle I apply to life: The proper response to being taken down is to get back up, shake it off, and keep on trucking. The injury you endure from your fall will be lessened when you just keep going. When you get up and just keep going, you allow your falling down to be a comma--or moment in time--not a period--or ending--in your life story.

 

Be Boyant~
Get Back Up and Just Keep Going 

FALL DOWN--COMMA--GET BACK UP AND KEEP ON TRUCKING

Just as the R.I.C.E. principle of Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation is prescribed for the early treatment of acute soft tissue injuries, such as an ankle sprain or strain, the four R.I.C.E. steps can be used to guide you in recovering from an acute injury to your spirit--acting as your momentary 'comma' to give you time to regain your strength and composure to carry on.

Rest your Spirit

R.I.C.E. FOR ACUTE INJURY TO THE SPIRIT
A comma for your life story

Rest your spirit. Give yourself down time to calm rather than inflame your emotions and spirits. An Epson salts soak can help remove the aches and pains, and calm you after a fall from grace or a bruised spirit.

Ice--Apply a 20 minute period of 'chilling out' every hour as needed for the first 48 hours after injury to your spirit. This is the ultimate 'comma' experience. Do something else to take your mind off your problem. The larger the issue dragging you down the more important it is to apply this momentary comma regularly--like for the next 48 years!

Compression--Contain the injury to your spirit by pulling in and creating a safe place to just be. Compress the time you dwell on the problem as you regain your strength and resiliency. After you step up to take action on things of importance, pull back in and rest.

Elevation--Look up from your problems to find the the solution for moving on. The recommendation for healing an injured ankle is to elevate it at or above the level of the heart. It is the same for healing your tender spirit--elevate your view above the level of your heart. 

THE 4 S's FOR LIVING LIFE AS A COMMA

💜  SHOW UP

💜  STAND UP

💜  SPEAK UP

💜  STAY ON TRACK

When things that really matter to you aren't going your way, learn to get back up and keep going. Live by the 4 S's: show up, stand up, speak up, and stay on track. Learn to act in ways that make this a momentary comma in your life experience~keep it simple...and keep on going. Period.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over~it's about learning how to dance in the rain.

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Show Up. Speak Up. Don't Take the Bait.

'Let This Moment Be a Comma, Not a Period'

President Obama

What Storm is Brewing in Your Life?

What issue has stopped you in your tracks? Where do you need to gather your resources so you can turn this moment in your life into a comma, not a period? 

Perhaps you're dealing with an every day problem such as:

• Dealing with a bad boss or work place; 
• Trying to jump-start your career or finish college so you can get on with making a life; 
• Dealing with the break up of a marriage or relationship gone bad.

Or perhaps you're dealing with a more overwhelming issue freezing you in place. Perhaps you're one of the millions of men and women upset with the direction the country is going under a new administration and you want to stand up for what you believe. 

What ever it is you need to deal with to move your life forward in a positive direction, keep your strategy for being calm and effective to three simple rules: 

💚Show Up.
💚Speak Up.
💚Don't Take the Bait.

Show Up

'A simple definition of life: 

The chance you've been waiting for.'

Robert Brault

Speak Up

'Be Impeccable With Your Word. 

Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. 

Avoid using the word to speak 

against yourself or to gossip about others. 

Use the power of your word 

in the direction of truth and love.' 

Don Miguel Ruiz

Don't Take the Bait

'Speak when you are angry

and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.' 

Laurence J. Peter

Speak with a Calm, Bright Heart


'The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others 

and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, 

the divine floods of light and life 

no longer flow into our souls.'

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I wish to live a life that causes my soul 

to dance inside my body

Dele Olanubi

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list.