CREATIVE SUCCESS NEWSLETTER, NUMBER 18-NOVEMBER 30, 2001

The Positive Choices Series

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GREETINGS
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Welcome to all of our new subscribers this month! My new book, The Power
of Positive Choices, was just featured in the December issue of Redbook
magazine, which is exciting and I have a series of wonderful new
coaching clients. Lots to be grateful for this month. I hope that is
true for you too. Take some time to count your blessings today!

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POSITIVE CHOICES STEP SIX: I IS FOR INVITATION
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Invitation is about welcoming support systems into your life to promote
the likelihood of your triumph with your Addition and Subtraction
changes. Are you having trouble Subtracting those Serenity Stealers and
making room for new adventures? If so, keep a diary for two weeks about
why you LIKE having this Serenity Stealer in your life. What is the
personal pay-off to you for being miserable? For example, a client I'll
call Marcy, has a pattern of taking on more work projects than she can
handle, so that she has to work all the time, including every weekend.
The pay-off for this stress is that she doesn't have to deal with her
loneliness. Overworking, which she chronically complains about, allows
her to weasel out of relationship-building activities like dating,
meeting new people, or getting involved in her community. When we are
ready to invite new and possibly scary experiences into our lives, we do
have to face the fear and take some risks. By keeping a diary, it became
clear to Marcy how she was purposely over-booking herself. Now she knows
the truth and can make some new decisions.

The second part of Invitation is to declare a new intention and add in
Positive Choices that support your likelihood of success. For Marcy,
joining a single's dinner group, which is prepaid for three months,
ensures that she gets out one night a week. She also made a commitment
to her Chamber of Commerce to greet people and collect money at each
meeting, so she could easily meet her fellow members AND get to meetings
regularly. Lastly, Marcy has always wanted to make earrings, so she
signed up for a class at her museum to try it out. These are all
experiments in Invitation. Even if Marcy decides that one or more of
these particular activities don't click for her, she's broken her
pattern and has new knowledge about herself and what she wants.

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CHALLENGE
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1) What Serenity Stealers are you truly ready to eliminate from your
life NOW?

2) What new activities or personal growth experiments do you want to add
to your life NOW?

3) What kinds of support systems--people, classes, organizations, quiet
time for yourself-- will support your intentions?

4) Start Inviting Positive Choices into your life today!

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EXCITING NEW RESOURCES
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Caroll Michels, author of the classic book that I recommend to everyone
called: How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself
without Selling your Soul, (which will be released in its fifth edition
in December), has an amazing new website called "The Artist Help
Network" which is packed with resources for artists including
publications, organizations, service providers, Web sites, software and
audiovisual materials. It's divided into headings such as Legal, Money,
Creature Comforts, Presentation Tools, and Career Issues, such as
Exhibitions, Commissions, and Sales, etc. with national and
international listings. She even has great info on wonderful supplies to
order. I'm delighted that she has listed Creative Success as a resource!
Check it out at www.artisthelpnetwork.com.

Barbara Waugh, who was featured in The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative
Women, has an exciting new book out called The Soul in the Computer: The
Story of a Corporate Revolutionary, published by Inner Ocean Publishing
and featured in Fast Company. Barbara is now the co-founder of
Hewlett-Packard's World e-Inclusion, a program to enable the four
billion people at the bottom of the global economic pyramid to have easy
access to the social and economic opportunities of the Internet. She is
a true visionary and a highly creative woman. Check out her book at
http://www.inneroceanpublishing.com. You'll be inspired!

Alexandria Brown, the "E-zine Queen" of AKB &Associates, a marketing
communications company, has just released a new e-book "Boost Your
Business with Your Own Ezine" which shows entrepreneurs and small
business owners how to plan, write, publish, and promote an e-mail
newsletter that gets RESULTS. For those of your interested in
*attracting new clients* and *increasing your business*, sign up for her
free e-zine "Tips From the Ezine Queen" at
http://www.netofficetoolbox.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=8509. I just took
her chat class on ezines and got lots of great ideas.

FREE SHIPPING IN THE CREATIVE SUCCESS STORE UNTIL DECEMBER 31ST!

Creatively yours,
Gail McMeekin
Creative Success: Career and Creativity Coaching and Writing
Author of The Power of Positive Choices: Adding and Subtracting Your Way
to a Great Life and The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable
Mentor and an audiotape workshop Positive Choices: From Stress to
Serenity -all items are for sale in our secure Creative Success Webstore
at http://www.creativesuccess.com.

Please forward this newsletter in its entirety to other like-minded
friends and colleagues who might enjoy it. Thank you.