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SIMPLICITY and SUCCESS:
Creating What Matters MOST in Life & Work
Vol. 4, #6, April 11, 2006 All rights reserved.
Bruce Elkin: Personal Life Coach/Success Coach for 20 Years
http://www.BruceElkin.com

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"What is it you plan to do with this one wild and precious life?"
-- Mary Oliver
 
Hi Bruce,
Greetings from Saltspring Island , BC .
 
It's springtime on the Island . Tulips and daffodils are blooming.
Cherry and plum trees are heavy with blossoms. It rains one day,
and is bright and sunny the next. it's great!
 
The last few months were pretty confusing for me, but also a time
of great learning.
 
I got my new website up, and mostly debugged. I moved the site to a
new host. I changed my email address. I got a new computer, with a
new operating system and new programs. I changed my mailing
system. And, after I lost half my list in the change over, I am
now working to rebuild it. Whew!
 
Dealing with the confusion these changes precipitated involved a
long, slow slog along the flat part of the learning curve.
 
But, by persisting, and practicing what I preach about emotional
mastery and creating results, I made it to the steep part of the
curve. The steep part of the curve, contrary to what many think,
is the good part. It's where big results come from small efforts.
 
That's where I am now. The curve has turned up. I'm enjoying the
flow, looking forward to creating better results all the time, and,
joy of joys, finding time to write.
 
Thank you for staying with me during the change-over. Or if you
just signed up, thanks for that. Your support is much appreciated.
I'll do my best to provide you with useful and interesting content.
 
Bruce
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Gift.s for You!
2. Coaching for Creating What Matters MOST
3. Feature Article: "This Is Not All There Is To Life"
(An excerpt from my new ebook Emotional Mastery)
4. Simplicity and Success -- My Other Book
5. Speeches, Seminars, and Talks
6. Useful Resources I Recommend
7. The Last Word: Quotable Quotes
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> 1. GIFT.S FOR YOU. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
===================================
On my new website, anyone who signs up for this newsletter
automatically gets a couple of gift.s from me:
- Chapters 1 & 2 of Simplicity and Success,
- Chapter 10 of Emotional Mastery adapted as a 20-page article,
"Creating What Matters Most"
 
If you would like either or both of these gifts, e-mail me with
"Gift.s Please" in the subject line, and I'll send them to you
straightaway.
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> 2. "COACHING for CREATING WHAT MATTERS MOST!"
Personal and Professional Success Coaching Program
===================================
* Stuck? Stalled? Drifting? Unsure of purpose or direction?
* Thinking about simplifying but not at the cost of success?
* Or maybe you just want help living up to your dreams?
 
> If so, consider my personal/professional coaching approach.
I provide skills, structure and support for creating rich, yet
simple, healthy, and sustainable lives and work.
 
"What you taught me/continue to teach me profoundly affects how I
approach my world and the influence I have on others."
-- J. Menard, Victoria , BC
 
> I have space for 4 new clients in April/May. Interested?
FOR INFO, e-mail me at Bruce@BruceElkin.com
with "Coaching Package" as the subject.
 
 
 
> 3. FEATURE ARTICLE:
===========================
THIS IS NOT ALL THERE IS TO LIFE!
(An excerpt from my eBook Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods
and Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You!)
 
Do you ever feel stuck? Stalled? Unsure what to do next?
 
Are you working too hard for too little? Too tired to get it all
done? Does your body get the blues?
 
Do you ever feel resigned that this is all there is to life?
 
If you do--and such thoughts frighten and depress you--you are not
alone. "The mass of men," wrote Henry David Thoreau in 1854, "live
lives of quiet desperation."
 
More recently, Nicci Gerrard says, "More people die of depression
than of AIDS, heart disease, pneumonia, cancer and strokes put
together. One in 10 people in America is on drugs to help their
moods. Five percent of teenagers are clinically depressed."
 
This is the bad news. If you feel bad, you really are not alone.
But there is good news, too. For starters, it is not all your fault.
Genes incline some toward optimism, others toward pessimism. But
gentics only accounts for 50 percent of our approach. What we do
with the other half is up to us.
 
The really good news is you can take charge of that half. You can
learn to rise above pessimism, anxiety, depression, and distress.
And change your life!
 
Even if you are more pessimist than optimist, the emotional mastery
and creating skills I describe in Emotional Mastery will help you
manage your moods and create results you really care about.
 
With practice, you will find it easier to cope with, even dissolve,
depression and anxiety. You will be better able to create results
that truly matter--in life, work, and relationships--with whatever
you have to work with, and however you currently feel.
 
Creating results helps you feel good about yourself. It helps you
avoid the epidemic of distress sweeping over us. Your life, or the
life of someone you know, can get better. A lot better!
 
I know. I went through such distress 30 years ago. And by
learning and practicing the skills I describe in Emotional Mastery,
I came out happy, creative, and successful on my own terms.
 
How about you?
Would you like to master your thinking and emotions, and make them
work for you? Would you like to create results that matter?
 
Would you like to be happy, creative, and productive--with whatever
life gives you?
 
If so, read on. I will show you how to get started, keep going, and
follow through to results you truly want to create.
 
 
A Brief Overview
Emotional Mastery is not the last word on stress, distress, or the
problems that flow from them. It is not a treatment for these
things. Rather, it lays out a practical approach to prevent and
rise above stress, anxiety, depression, and other distress.
 
Much distress is self-created. It comes from a distorted view of
current reality. For many reasons, we--especially the
pessimistically inclined--often describe reality in self-defeating
ways.
 
But here is the really good news. If you create distress, you
can--with skill and practice--create its opposite.
 
You can create emotional mastery, which leads to clarity, flow,
effective action, satisfying results, and authentic happiness.
Instead of fighting what life gives you, you can learn to make it
your ally, and work with it.
 
I wrote Emotional Mastery to help you, or someone you know, see
your current reality as the raw material out of which to craft the
results you long for.
 
Thinking and talking about reality in realistically positive
ways makes your feelings positive. That makes it much easier to take
effective actions, learn new skills, and produce successful results.
 
Thinking clearly helps you interact better with friends, family, and
coworkers. It makes your relationships better. It helps you get
fit and healthy. It helps you produce better results in work,
sports, family, or the organizations you volunteer with and
support. It even helps you deepen your spiritual connections.
 
Developing emotional mastery can turn what can be a downward spiral
of distress and desperation into an upward spiral of success, real
self-esteem, and deep and lasting happiness.
 
In Emotional Mastery's 10 chapters, I explain how to take charge of
your thinking and emotions, and manage your moods. I describe how
to increase realistic optimism, and bounce back quickly when
adversity strikes. Most important, I outline skills with which you
create almost anything that matters to you.
 
In Chapter 1, "An Epidemic of Stress--And How To Avoid It," I argue
society is gripped by an epidemic of stress, anxiety, and
depression. I describe how many of us do not know what to do about
it--other than numb ourselves with nicotine, alcohol, and other
drugs, shop and eat to excess, get addicted to TV, or turn our
lives over to experts.
 
In Chapter 2, "How Changing My Thinking Saved My Life," I share how
I let myself get so wrapped up in problems, issues, and victim
stories I felt trapped, helpless, and hopeless. I recount how
taking my own life often seemed more appealing than living it. I
also describe how I dug myself out of despair by changing my
thinking and my moods, and learning to create results I wanted.
 
In Chapter 3, "What Happens To Us Is Not What Makes Us Miserable," I
show how what happens to you does not, by itself, cause bad
feeling. I show you how you create such feelings by how you think
about what happens. And how to change your thinking so you create
better feelings, actions, and results.
 
In Chapter 4, "The ABCs of Emotional Mastery," I introduce the
simple yet powerful skills I used to pull myself out of despair. I
show you how to use the ABCs of Emotional Mastery to manage your
moods. I help you recognize dysfunctional thinking, and change it
to
useful, realistic, yet optimistic thinking.
 
In Chapter 5, "The Power of Practice: From Insight to Action," I
explain why insight is not enough, and why you have to practice
these skills. And how, with practice, even practice can become fun.
 
In Chapter 6, "Mental Paths to Emotional Mastery," and Chapter 7,
"Physical Paths to Emotional Mastery," I describe mind and body
exercises that reduce stress, improve moods, and shift you from
pessimism to realistic optimism.
 
In Chapter 8, "Beyond Adversity: From Quitter or Camper to Climber,"
I show you how to cope with problems, obstacles, and difficult
circumstances. I help you assess whether you are a quitter, camper,
or climber. And how to keep going in spite of adversity and reap
the rewards of resilience and perseverance.
 
In Chapter 9, " Creating Positive Emotions," I explain how to create
positive emotions that provide a solid platform for action, and make
you feel great. I explain why positive emotions are key to the
foundation on which all health, wealth, and well-being rest.
 
In Chapter 10, "Creating What Matters Most," I outline skills and a
framework for creating almost anything. I show you how emotional
mastery and creating reinforce each other and create an upward
spiral of results and happiness.
 
Finally, I show you how mastering creating and emotional mastery can
empower you to create the life you most want--with whatever life
gives you.
 
> Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods and Create What Matters--
With Whatever Life Gives you is available as an ebook on my
website at http://www.BruceElkin.com/emotional-mastery.html
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> 4. SIMPLICITY AND SUCCESS:
Creating the Life You Long For [Trafford, 2003]
======================================
- "Wonderful!"
- Greg Seaman, Ed., Eartheasy Magazine
 
- "Highly Recommended!"
- David Heitmiller, co-author of Getting A Life
 
- "I've read this book twice and each time I learned much about how
to create what matters. I'm sure I'll read it again andagain."
- Donna Nicolson, Seattle , WA
 
> If you'd like a personalized, signed copy of SIMPLICITY AND
SUCCESS, send: CAD: $20 plus $4.00 S&H; or US: $17.50 plus
$4.50 S&H. It is also available as an ebook on my website.
 
 
 
> 5. SPEECHES, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS:
==========================
I am available to do keynotes, seminars, or workshops for
your organization or team.
 
"I highly recommend Mr. Elkin. His framework for creating the
life we long for provides great inspiration. I sincerely hope he
is invited back for a repeat of his exhilarating workshop."
-- E. R., Mt. Royal College , Calgary , AB
 
> Call 250-537-1177 or e-mail me to discuss your needs.
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> 6. RESOURCES I RECOMMEND:
==============================
* MARKETING AND WEBSITE TOOLS:
Thinking about upgrading your website and marketing
approach? I've used these products with great results and
recommend them without reservation.
 
* For info or to purchase a copy of THE WEBSITE TOOLKIT,
please go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714
 
* THE ACTION PLAN TOOL KIT can make designing and
implementing a marketing plan easier, effective, and fun.
Check it out at http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=73714
 
* A GREAT NEWSLETTER BY AN EX-CLIENT OF MINE:
If you are interested in Health, Environment, and Negotiation,
please check out the eNewsletter HEN. Written by Julia
Menard, a Victoria-based coach and mediation expert, HEN is
an excellent source of info. E-mail < julia@makeandbelieve.com >
with "sub.scribe HEN Musings" in the subject line.
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> 7. THE LAST WORD: QUOTABLE QUOTES
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"It's not the stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it."
-- Hans Selye, MD, Stress Without Distress
 
"Stress is an untransformed opportunity for empowerment."
-- Doc Childre and Howard Martin
 
"The ability to find joy in life is a tremendous strength. The
people who can laugh are the strong ones. The people who can throw
their heads back and delight in the joy of the moment are going to
live a lot longer than those of us who are stressed and pushed and
taking ourselves terribly seriously."
-- Claire Cloninger, ' A Place Called Simplicity'
 
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to
the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the
power to revoke at any moment."
-- Marcus Aurelius
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> THANK YOU FOR FORWARDING my newsletter and short posts. I
appreciate the support. If you received this issue from a friend,
you can sign up for your own sub at
http://www.bruceelkin.com/newsletter.html
 
Please feel free to send me comments and feedback. Thanks!
All the best!
Bruce
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>BRUCE ELKIN: Personal/Professional Coach
Author:- Simplicity & Success: Creating the Life You Long For
- Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What
Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You
 
"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely."
- Karen Kaiser Clark
 
http://www.BruceElkin.com 250-537-1177
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All material herein is copyright © Bruce Elkin, 2006.
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