CREATIVE SUCCESS NEWSLETTER NUMBER 27 - October 15, 2002

CREATIVE SUCCESS NEWSLETTER
Gail McMeekin, LICSW
Career/Creativity Coach and Author
Mailto:gail@creativesuccess.com
http://www.CreativeSuccess.com
NUMBER 27- October 15, 2002

The Positive Choices Series: S IS FOR SYNTHESIZING

ANNOUNCEMENTS

I can scarcely believe it, but this newsletter issue is the last one in
the Positive Choices Series, ending appropriately with Synthesizing as
the lesson. In our next issue, which will come out on December 15th, we
will start a new series called Success Strategies and explore mastering
crucial skills such as Self-Marketing and Positive Management Techniques
to help you to manifest your own creative success. It will be an
exciting exploration!

I will be on medical leave beginning this week (hence no November 15th
newsletter) and not accepting new clients until January 2003. I have had
a flood of calls and emails from women and men wanting to begin coaching
this fall. When they learn that I am not available for several months,
they continue to call and write back asking about how they can "get
ready" for career, creativity, or life choices coaching when I return.
In my two books and my workshop on audiotape, I have very consciously
packed them with more than 40 self-assessment and personal growth
exercises, as well as created three guided visualization exercises (set
to original music by my talented brother) in my audiotape, to help you
to visualize and begin working towards reducing stress in your life and
manifesting your goals one by one.

As you know, awareness is the first step in the change process. So to
enhance your life NOW and to help you to prepare for tackling your
personal/professional, and creative challenges, treat yourself to this
trio of empowerment. These materials will give you all the tools you
need to begin "self-coaching" right away and inspire the cycle of change
in your life. All three catalysts: The Power of Positive Choices, The 12
Secrets of Highly Creative Women, and the 90-minute workshop on tape
Positive Choices: From Stress to Serenity can be ordered from my website
http://www.creativesucceess.com. You can read more about these materials
in detail as well as comments by the endorsers such as Cheryl Richardson
and Jennifer Louden on my site. You don't have to wait-you can start
your journey today.

Check my website again in the next week or so and order your own copy of
the new guidebook for women called The Kali Guide: A Directory of
Resources for Women ($29.95). The Kali Guide is a beautifully
illustrated directory with contact information for over 1,300
organizations and covers topics such as creativity, culture, life work,
health, spirituality, sexuality, travel, and leisure, which I described
in last month's newsletter. It makes a lovely gift as well, so buy one
for a friend.

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POSITIVE CHOICES STEP FIFTEEN: S IS FOR SYNTHESIZING
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So how has your life improved over the past fifteen months of working
the Positive Choices Program? What have you Subtracted from your life
that has made room for more Positive Choices? Take some time to review
your gains! One client told me that she had "forgotten" that she had
eliminated so many stressors from her life: a woman's group that was not
working out, disorganized files, a hairdresser that irritated her, and
buying junk food that ruined her Weight Watchers program. With the time
and the new mental and physical energy she gained, she has joined a
volleyball team and met new and interesting women, put her financial
records on Money software, and is taking a class on landscape design in
hopes of starting a business in the future. She says she feels much more
in control of her life and it feels wonderful!

So celebrate and acknowledge yourself for the life changes you have made
already. You now have the tools to re-create your life with exciting
meaningful, and spirited choices that reflect your original self. The
bridge of The Same is hopefully now only a distant memory. This is a
great time to synthesize your discoveries and new life adventures. You
want the crucial step of adding Positive Choices to your life to become
a habit! As you become more empowered, share this simple formula of
Addition and Subtraction with others. If you are a manager, help your
employees learn to delegate responsibilities to others so they can
advance to more challenging projects. If you are a parent, help your
child identify his/her personal style and carefully select activities
and relationships that support his/her goals. Be sure to honor everyone
else's individuality and encourage their own creative choice-making
strategies.

Be glad that you've chosen the bridge of Positive Choices. You've chosen
to transform your own life into a jeweled treasure chest!

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CHALLENGE
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1) Plan a celebration for yourself to honor the life changes you have
made so far-both Additions and Subtractions. Take yourself out to
dinner, get a massage, or take an art class-whatever feels special to
you. Resolve to do this life review every six months and treat yourself
to a reward for your accomplishments. I've had letters from readers who
re-read The Power of Positive Choices every December so they can plan
new Additions and Subtractions.

2) There are still two and a half months in 2002. What Additions and
Subtractions do you want to commit to now? Are you truly enjoying your
holidays or are they getting lost in the haze of too much to do or
family dysfunction? You have a right to enjoy your holidays, so create a
new and daring plan for a more satisfying, relaxed holiday season and
enlist the support of your family and friends in your quest.

3) Synthesizing means living from your core values. What have you
learned on this Positive Choices journey about what is most important to
YOUR fulfillment? Put these lessons on a file card where you can see it
everyday. When our life choices and our values are in sync, our lives
work! Best of luck.

4) Join us in December for a brand new journey!

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RESOURCES
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I was recently contacted by a wonderful new magazine titled ARTIST'S
STETCHBOOK published by The Artist's Magazine folks. It is full of
fascinating articles about creativity and personal growth and subtitled
"Your personal guide to discovering the artist within". It is not yet
available by subscription, but you can find it in all the major
bookstores. They will be excerpting my chapter on creative rituals from
The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women in their April issue. I loved
it!

One of my favorite writers, Maureen Murdock, who was profiled in The 12
Secrets of Highly Creative Women, has edited a new book called Monday
Morning Memoirs: Women in the Second Half of Life with writings from her
own writing group. The book description reads: "Monday Morning Memoirs
is a dazzling collection of intimate stories written by ten remarkable
women who first met in a creative writing class and in the mid-nineties
and have continued to write together ever since. This wildly different,
yet amazingly similar group of women, aged forty-five to seventy-nine,
have provided a unique view of the second half of life across several
generations. They have crafted their memories with exceptional
compassion, humor, insight, and attention to the cultural changes that
have occurred in the last four decades. An introduction to each chapter
describes the elements of memoir writing contained in each piece so that
you can begin to write your story too". This book is available through
Amazon.com, Barnes&Nobles.com, and Xlibris.com. Maureen has another book
coming out in June 2003 called Unreliable Truth: Turning Memory into
Memoir from Seal Press. I'm delighted that Maureen has continued to
share her wisdom with us!

IF YOU ARE RUNNING A 12 SECRETS GROUP OR A POSITIVE CHOICES GROUP, LET
US KNOW SO WE CAN HELP YOU PROMOTE IT!

MAY YOUR LIFE BE FILLED WITH MANY POSITIVE CHOICES THIS FALL!

Creatively yours,
Gail McMeekin