The Amazing Elephant

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Our good friend, Dave, sent me this picture of him and his wife riding on an elephant while on a wonderful vacation.  Dave said the ride was a bit bumpy!! I have never traveled abroad or ridden an elephant, but I became  intrigued to learn more about these giant creatures, elephants.

Did you know elephants can be as tall as 13 feet and weigh up to 15,000 pounds!! Wow! They have pillar like legs to hold up this great weight. I have been trying to lose a few pounds—thankfully I don’t have that much to worry about!! An adult elephant can eat 300-400 pounds of food a day.

Don’t Stand Still–Do Something!

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Albert Einsteins’ definition of INSANITY makes sense— doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Do you have dreams and goals for your life that you have not achieved or are not actively working towards? Are you doing the same things over and over thinking the results will change? How is that working for you?

Have you ever watched a baby crawling? I used to watch Kenna when she visited our office. She would see something she wanted–she loved balls- -and begin crawling toward it.  Crawling is definitely slower than walking or running…and it’s hard on the knees. Sometimes she would sit back and take a break and then start toward that ball again. We could offer her other toys, but she knew what she wanted and no amount of distraction could deter her. No matter how long it took, she would get to the ball!

Know Yourself to Achieve Success

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Do you want to be a successful in your personal life, in your work life and in your interactions with others?? Probably one of the most important things you can do is to know yourself—your strengths and your weaknesses. Learn to appreciate your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. This will help you to be more successful in all areas of your life.

I knew nothing of Personality Tests until about fifteen years ago. When beginning a new job, I was asked to take this test and was told I am a Beaver. What in the world did that mean?   As I studied the characteristics of the different personality types, I learned about Lions, Otters, Beavers and Golden Retrievers. Sounds silly, doesn’t it?

Are you a Lion? You are very fast paced and goal oriented….you are direct…you want to lead….you love challenges…you are a problem solver….you like authority and are bold. You are a natural born leader!! You will boldly and courageously go into your business!

Lions, be careful because in the process of taking authority and leading, you might dominate a situation when you should allow others to contribute. Remember to be sympathetic to those around you. Consider others (your customers, co-workers) –work with them at their level, which might not be the fast paced, take charge tendency of the Lion.

Is Life Overwhelming you?

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Just when I am feeling like the weight of the world is crashing down on me, I get a reminder that things aren’t really so bad after all!! I know that many of you are dealing with personal/family problems and over shadowing many people is the economy. It’s easy to focus our attention on only these things and forget to see the bigger picture.

I was reminded twice recently about this. We have very good friends, Jim and Debora, who are missionaries in Africa. Let me tell you—if I had to face the hardships and dangers those dear friends face all the time, I would probably have run home as fast as I could long ago. I notice that when they are in the states, their hearts and minds are back in Africa with the children in the orphanage they run. Those children have all lost their parents due to AIDS.

Become a Better Listener: Active Listening

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Most people go through their daily lives engaging in many conversations with friends, co-workers, and our family members. But most of the time, we don’t listen as well as we could or sometimes should. We’re often distracted by other things in the environment, such as the television, the Internet, our cell phones, or something else. We think we’re listening to the other person, but we’re really not giving them our full attention.
Enter a skill called “active listening.” Active listening is all about building rapport, understanding, and trust. By learning the skills below, you will become a better listener and actually hear what the other person is saying, not just want you think they are saying or what you want to hear. While therapists are often made fun of for engaging in active listening, it is a proven technique that helps people talk and feel free to continue talking even if the person they are talking to doesn’t have a lot to offer the other person (other than their ear).

Are you as good a listener as you think you are?

 

13 Steps to Better Active Listening Skills

Below you will find 13 different skills that help people be better active listeners. You do not have to become adept at each of these skills to be a good active listener, but the more you do, the better you’ll be. If you even just use 3 or 4 of these skills, you will find yourself listening and hearing more of what another person is saying to you.

1. Restating

To show you are listening, repeat every so often what you think the person said — not by parroting, but by paraphrasing what you heard in your own words. For example, “Let’s see if I’m clear about this. . .”

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