Purposeful Growth

Tel Asiado, an Australian freelance writer, blogger, and Great Thinkers Feature Writer at Suite101.com interviewed me recently and posted the following on her Life’s Tiny Tips & Hints blog.

Tel: Recently, I completed a stimulating and insightful eCourse on Balanced Life. Quite timely too. I’d like to share my insights on the 10-week self-study course, through an Interview by Jerry Lopper, Personal Development Feature Writer at Suite101.

Tel: Over the last few weeks I’ve had the

pleasure of getting to know Jerry Lopper, a writer and life coach from the US. Jerry had developed a self-study course for people whose lives are out of balance. He calls it The Balanced Life E-course . I volunteered to test the course by taking the lessons, which are delivered weekly by email.If your life is feeling out of balance, if you lack energy and enthusiasm about each day, and feel overwhelmed and unfulfilled, I strongly recommend this course. It’s an insightful and engaging exercise. It inspires and motivates as you seek that balance for your life! It challenged me a lot as it hit hard certain areas that need looking into.Jerry took an already good product and made it great by incorporating many suggestions for further improvement from more than a dozen beta testers, myself included.

The best news is that Jerry has offered my readers a 20% discount. Jerry and I conducted this email interview, which I’d like to share with you.

Tel: What prompted you to develop this Balanced Life course Jerry?

Jerry: I had written several articles on life balance, and the more I wrote the greater my insights about what real life balance is and how to obtain it. Researching the subject brought up lots of helpful tips, but they mostly seemed to address symptoms, not the fundamental problem of life imbalance. So I took the themes from several articles and began outlining a self study course that gets to the root cause of imbalance.

Tel: What is a balanced life and how does one get it?

Jerry: I like to start with what a balanced life is not. It’s not learning to work more efficiently, though that helps. It’s not learning to manage time better, though that helps too. And it’s definitely not learning to multi-task. That can make things worse!

A balanced life is a life that feels right and appropriate to the person living it. Each person is unique and a balanced life is uniquely different for each of us. The way to get a balanced life is to focus on the fundamental building blocks of a good life, what I call the five P’s.

Tel: I’ll give you the straight line, what are the five P’s?

Jerry: First and most important is life purpose. A person’s life will not feel balanced unless it’s built upon and well aligned with their unique purpose in life. So Purpose is the first P. Next is Passion, the activities that we love to do and naturally gravitate towards. We can often see a thread of passionate activities beginning with childhood.

Third is Power, not power over anyone else, but a person’s unique strengths, the talents and abilities that give a person the power to accomplish. The fourth P is Principle, the rules of life that we assimilate that help us live our lives with integrity. The fifth P is Perspective, the set of life beliefs that guide us. When our lives are built upon Purpose, using our Powers doing our Passionate activities, and our lives are aligned and honoring our Principles and Perspectives, we’re living the balanced life.

Tel: How does your course teach this to people?

Jerry: The five P’s are important, so I devote one lesson to each, with discussion, examples, exercises, and homework. The homework serves to reinforce learning and help people assimilate and gain insights in the week between lessons.

Tel: Self study sounds like people are on their own. What do they do if they’re confused or have questions?

Jerry: During the ten week duration of the course, I encourage comments and questions by email, and I respond to each one personally.

Tel: How about time management and being able to say no sometimes so we don’t take on too much out of kindness or hesitation to disappoint?

Jerry: The course also covers five critical life skills that are helpful once the five P’s are in place. The five skills are Positive Thinking, Self Awareness, Using Powers Effectively, Setting Boundaries, and Time Management.

Tel: This sounds like a lot of work Jerry.

Jerry: I won’t kid you or insult your readers intelligence by claiming life balance is just ten minutes of light reading away. It takes self reflection, insight, an open mind, and the intention to gain life balance to get there. But it’s worth it! Each lesson will take around an hour to complete, but a person should also expect another couple of hours of time during the week for homework and self reflection.

Tel: Thanks Jerry. I can personally vouch for the value of The Balanced Life E-course and appreciate that you’re providing my readers with a 20% discount. Subscribe to the course and receive your 20% discount at this special web page for my readers.

[Note: Purposeful Growth readers can obtain the same 20% discount here.]

Cheering up friends not only lifts their spirits, it lifts yours, too. Your unique gifts, when offered in support of another, will benefit giver and receiver. How do you cheer up when you’re feeling down and blue? A great way is to help cheer a friend up. Cheering friends up helps to move the focus from you to someone else. The personalized gift of your time and

energy on behalf of someone else will do wonders for lifting your spirits. You and your friend both benefit; win/win always feels good.

Research Studies Verify It

Research studies show that an orientation to the welfare of others is, in the long run, more satisfying than an orientation to one’s own pleasure. And when you’re feeling down, there’s a tendency to focus on your own problems and your own unsatisfied wants and needs. Shifting to help another person gives you the opportunity to connect and foster a relationship. Strong relationships correlate with personal happiness and life satisfaction.

Tips for Cheering Up

A nearly instant way to lift your own spirits is to focus on gratitude for what you have. Acknowledging gratitude and appreciation for even the simplest and most basic aspects of your life will lift your mood. To translate this to a unique gift you can give another person, express to that person those aspects of themselves for which you are grateful.

• Gratitude: A Unique Gift Idea

Recall a time this friend helped you with a kind word, an extra pair of hands, or a thoughtful gift. Express your appreciation for that and how much it meant to you. Recalling the event and circumstances will lift spirits for both of you, reinforcing the value of a good friend.

• Your Unique Gift

Find a way to offer your unique gift to someone in need of a lift. Perhaps your gift is simply that you’re more physically able than your friend. An elderly friend or relative can always use help with house and yard chores. Running the sweeper or mowing the grass removes a physical demand on your elderly friend and also eliminates the mental and financial burden of finding a way to get the work done.

You probably have talents and experience in many areas that can help a friend who’s down in the dumps. A small, personalized, hand crafted gift shows you care; always a sure way to lift one’s spirits.

• Everyone Can Listen

Sometimes a friend just needs someone to talk with. Burdens are lighter when shared. Your gift of listening supportively will cheer up your friend simply because you’ve helped them be heard. You don’t need to solve their problem, just be an empathetic listener.

• Give and Receive

When you give you also receive. The old saying, “what goes around comes around,” is another way of expressing the Law of Attraction. If you cheer up a friend you will also be cheered up.

If you or your friend are feeling overwhelmed, feeling as if you’re on a treadmill going as fast as you can but not getting anywhere satisfying, your life is probably out of balance. The Life Balance E-course can help you get your life back in balance and keep it that way. This ten week self study course has helped others just like you. Find out how to get your life back in balance in ten weeks.

This article first appeared in the Personal Development Topic at Suite101.com.