Love In Your Life

When we hear the term 'self-aware," do we truly understand what it means? Do we consider that it is far more than knowing how smart you are and what degree you attained and which job you managed to land?

I am certain that you are aware of that self. The one that is attached to worldly identification of who you are. How you are identified. But that's not the kind of self-awareness that really matters. The one that matters greatly is that which answers the question, how in touch with your feelings are you? Do you know how you get triggered emotionally and what your "auto-response" is to that trigger? Can you identify your triggers and manage yourself in the midst of being triggered? Do you understand that unless you acknowledge your emotions and their source, you are unable to manage your own emotion and likely not able to understand anyone else's?

Finally, do you understand how critically important this all is?

We can't hear this enough! The actions we take are predicated on our attitudes created by our thoughts.

We either name something a "problem" or we don't. But the problem is really not the problem; it's our perceptions or attitudes about the 'problem' that are running the show. There is where the pain is!

So where does emotional honesty enter in? Well, depending on how willing we are to be honest with others and especially with ourselves, we can name it, claim it as something we created and therefore can change!

And what do we get out of the change? The value is in the quality of relationships we maintain with others and ourselves. Being honest and real with ourselves and those in our lives brings us greater intimacy and that feels great!

The author describes how in retrospect, she could have used early cues from self-observance to guide her own career.

You can simply notice, observe what you do "when left to your own," for the same cues that you may discover with an official assessment.

What is this simple process? It could be an "ah-ha" moment or you could have easily come to the conclusion on your own.

How we frame what happens makes all the difference. The problem is not the problem; it's our attitude about the problem that changes everything for us. We have choice in how we think.

So why do we so often choose negative thoughts? If all we need do is make a choice to think positively, why is it that we have any occasion when we choose otherwise? Is it possible that we feel someone else or something else is controlling our choices?

Awareness is the first step. If you are ready to know, is it possible that you are also ready to change the way you think?

Where living with fear and resistance leads to a negative experience, living with love and acceptance is sure lead to a happier life.

Letting go of resentment and fear allows our hearts to open, while holding onto it is sure to close our hearts. We are better to never allow anything to close our hearts.

We have a variety of systems that provide illuminating insights to help us with self and other awareness. Astrology is just one resource for us to consider.

For example, right now there are energies present that help us understand what is happening from a global perspective in addition to how it is affecting us personally.

Many young people realize that "there is work to be done" and demonstrate a willingness to access available resources, including astrological input.

Your head may help you define what makes you feel a sense of happiness and success, but it is your heart that will confirm it.

If you achieve success at your work, it may not necessarily mean that you are happy. But if you are happy with your work, it generally means that you are also successful. This is because personal happiness has a spillover quality that work success does not.

If your work attitude is "I have to" rather than I "want to" (go into work), then you understand the difference.

As career stories go, Geri's is an interesting one. With little guidance early on (like most of us) and lots of initiative, Geri takes us through her upwardly mobile career to result in creating her own Executive Coaching business in 2001.

So how did Geri, perhaps unwittingly, use her own emotional intelligence to inform her ability to become a sought after executive coach? And how is it that the Emotional Intelligence model is precisely the tool she uses today to help good leaders become better?

Geri makes a convincing case for lifelong learning and maintenance of a hard work ethic. She expresses her thoughts on competitiveness, curiosity and remaining open to what you don't know. She also uses her own story to show us how standing up for yourself is critical in being recognized.