This educational evening is an opportunity to learn more about setting realistic financial goals and being able to maintain your goal direction. Since you know that goal setting is important to me, you shouldn't be surprised that I'm encouraging you to take advantage of this opportunity. In my relationships with other professionals, I realized that my female clients often need more education on financial goal setting. This program content is being made available at my request. The presenter, Lisa Kueng, wrote this educational program for women like you and has presented it around the nation.There is a 28 page workbook that accompanies the presentation. I will be attending the event and I'll share a few words about goal setting in your life. Also, there is a evening meal served without cost to you. I hope that you see the value and choose to attend by following the directions below.
Peace be with you, Beth Eden Abel

Life Maps Prosperity is about being successful. Not just with your money, but with your life. This interactive workshop will focus on both, and provide you with actionable tools to create your own personal "Prosperity Picture". You'll leave the workshop with a five step system, chock full of ideas on how to: Create your vision - remind yourself of what's most important in your life and how your money can help you with it. Know Where You Are - take advantage of clear, concise worksheets and tools to review your current financial profile. Design your plan - apply fresh insights and principles to your financial situation - whether you need to finesse an existing financial plan or build a brand new one. Make it happen - set up a strategy that will help turn your plans into reality Enjoy the journey - allow yourself to enjoy the process - this step will focus on ways to do that, as well as on gratitude and giving back. Join us to learn more about how to apply these actionable ideas and innovative tools to your own life and get closer to using your money to help create the future you want for yourself. ___________________________________________________________

Host: Jason Ogden, Invesco
Advisor Name: Bradley Dartez, Edward Jones
Location: Texas Land & Cattle Restaurant
Date/Time: Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 6:30pm
RSVP: Teri Hoyt 512-892-0070

Now is the time to reflect on your experience of 2011, with your eye on learning more about the specific life experiences that bring you passion for living. The greatest and most common barrier in planning a happy future for ourselves is the initial step of knowing the innermost answer to the question - "what makes me energized about daily living?" In my twelve years of conducting goal setting courses, I've found that 95% of the participants know very little about the answer to that question, when the course begins. Most people assume that everyone else has their question answered; and they're the only person that's clueless.

Instead of first focusing on 2012 New Year Resolutions, first do the all important step of reflecting on the past and how assessing your experiences will inform and ground you. Look for positive reflections and write down what specifically gave you experiences of joy, laughter, fulfillment, peace or competency. Notice the negative reflections as well. Look for what specific experiences caused feelings of fear, dread, confusion. This information is valuable once it is translated from the negative to it's opposite - the positive. Write down what the positive experience would be. Hold on to this written reflection activity for a week or so, adding thoughts as they come. By late January, your written reflections will have simmered in your consciousness long enough to become the notations of the passions for living that you seek more of in the new year.

Here's a Nelson Mandela quotation that will inspire your reflections:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.... As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

In this season of being thankful, we can rediscover inner peace and strength from a focus on life's positives. It's challenging to maintain a positive life approach; a discipline that takes years of practice, yet it is never mastered. However, steadily looking at "the glass as half full rather than half empty" is a skill that, with just a little habit formation, will improve your lifestyle.

Through practicing the skill of encouraging others, you will quickly formulate the attitude of thankfulness. As the old adage goes, "if you teach it, you will learn it". In this case, if you encourage others, you will develop an attitude of thankfulness.

When we encourage others, the very act requires noticing a positive behavior and then being an enthusiastic and verbal witness to what you've seen. As we express these positive truths that are often overlooked and minimized, a thankful viewpoint about life emerges. The focus of our own world view shifts to a grateful and thankful place that is grounded in specific positive human behavior.

The most common application of this life skill is parenting a child, teen or young adult. Remember, we all, adults included, need a shot of encouragement in daily life. We want encouragement from others, not just from a parent figure.

Here's an analogy that will stick in your memory bank. Giving encouragement is much like attending a loved one's long distance race. We don't just wait at the end of the event, the finish line, giving out judgmental praise that evaluates performance in comparison to other long distance runners. No. Those remarks of praise leave the recipient questioning and comparing one's effort with the performance of others. Though accurate evaluation of performance has its place, it is not nearly as valuable as encouragement. I'll finish the analogy to further explain encouraging others as different from giving praise. When we give encouragement, we're the spectator in someone's life that walks the race path sidelines saying "you can do it, keep it up, way to go, you've got it ..." and so on. The runner is inspired by this approach and the positive energy it creates is contagious. As soon as the words are spoken, we're feeling just as inspired and positive as the one encouraged!

So, make a habit of freely giving encouragement - pass it on! By practicing this life approach, you'll cultivate a thankful and grateful lifestyle.

All kinds of secret keeping can be harmful to your well being. Everything from secrets about eating habits and hidden debt to telling or concealing a lie create an unstable lifestyle that is most likely deteriorating slowly.

What can you lose by keeping a secret? What can you gain by coming clean?

Here's what you can lose:

1. By keeping a secret, over the years you become insulated from who you really are. It actually stunts the process of maturation - the ability to be authentically self confident.
2. When you are keeping secrets, you can only get so close to others before the secret causes you to stop; fearing judgment if someone knows you better. Eventually, your relationships become shallow and therefore unable to meet your needs.
3. Cloaking important facts about yourself will cause stress at a physical level as well. Chronic stress increases adrenaline and cortisone levels - two hormones which cause inflammation and damage the immune system.

Here's what you can gain by coming clean:

1. By practicing truthfulness with yourself, you are holding yourself accountable to a clear self image that is validated by others as authentic. You can begin a healing journey that results in a happier and more authentic life just enjoying being yourself.
2. When you don't keep secrets your relationships become more healthy or you choose to terminate them. If you've carried inappropriate secrets for a loved one and choose to free yourself of this self destructive behavior, you will quickly feel your life burdens are much lighter. You will enjoy being in relationships because you know what healthy relationships feel like.
3. When you practice a lifestyle that avoids secret keeping, your body's immune system will be more resilient and healthy as a result of this choice.

As a Life Maps coach, I am a qualified professional ready to help you begin this healing journey.

Make your life more fulfilling by seeking a free consultation appointment to address the burden of secret keeping.

Now available, an excerpt from the Life Maps Workbook, "How I Got My Map" by Beth Abel. Click the image below to download the PDF!

My five year old struggled to climb onto the big school bus steps and follow his sister. With tremendous anxiety, I reached to help our youngest child with his first task of being a student and he quickly put me in my place, "Mom, I can do it by myself". And he did! September is full of new beginnings for all ages and many stages of life. But we humans usually handle these new beginnings poorly because we want to avoid conflict with ourselves and/or with others.

Constructive conflict happens when we face beliefs that we've carried a long time and examine those beliefs before taking action in a new situation that occurs. Unfortunately we go through life on autopilot with little awareness of change happening in us as well as in the lives of those around us. Those who frequently hold this awareness are able to adapt in life more easily, letting new beginnings be informative. That's called maturity.

Constructive conflict is the high octane fuel of:

• Personal growth and maturing
• Relationships shifting to a new stage and dynamic

Whether the issue is job related or one in your private life, you'll tune into a necessary new beginning by:

• Knowing your emotional needs
• Clarifying your existing beliefs
• Constructing new beliefs that are relevant
• Discarding and letting go of the old beliefs
• Expecting resistance until the new beliefs are formed/used.

Here are the steps for new beginnings using the example of my 5 year old son and me:

• I need to control my child's safety.
• If I don't control my child's safety, he won't be safe.
• At age 5, he is capable of creating safety sometimes and he can ask others for help.
• I must discard the old belief that if I don't provide safety, it won't happen.
• The resistance mostly came from within me because I still wanted control.

My son showed me through conflict how important it was to him that I update my beliefs about him. By the way, he is a successful businessman today!

Awakenings course helps people increase self understanding of their personaltiy and how it differs from the personality of someone else. This information is particularly helpful in times of conflict and confusion. Course participants can obtain a customized report on Personality Type and Conflict Style.  ( Click here to view reports in the middle of the homepage) or other topics of choice. The course fee includes this customized report.

Personal Goal Setting course for Women helps women find life direction in the midst of awkward life transitions and thus take responsibility for their futures. Women learn to expect conflict and resistance as they create life directionin their personal goal setting. Managing conflict well is a key ingredient of the curriculum as the women develop leadership of otheir lives. Register today at the website for the free consultation.

Peace be within you,

Beth Eden Abel

Contact Beth Abel for a free consultation and/or course registrations
Beth@LifeMapsWorkshop.com
512.327.6677