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Celebration—The
Pilgrims Had It Right!
By Bonnie Henriksen, Life Coach,
Trainer & Group Facilitator
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November brings our thoughts to
Thanksgiving and the story of the pilgrims celebrating
their survival in the new land.
That first Thanksgiving celebration was much
like the celebration life coaches encourage of their
clients to fully honor wherever they are in their
lives. Celebration
allows a person to appreciate his/her own successes
and failures, wins and disappointments. That first
Thanksgiving was likely filled with all of those.
The pilgrims had suffered failures and
disappointments. They
had lost friends and family members.
They had given up whatever comforts
England
had offered to eke out a meager existence in a rugged,
unsettled, hostile place. They had put up with
discomfort, loss, pain, agony, exhaustion, starvation,
illness and more.
They were on a life journey.
They were in the process of making a better
existence for themselves.
Celebration for them brought attention and
acknowledgement to their personal journeys. Life
coaches encourage their clients to this same kind of
celebration. It recognizes where one has been, how far
he/she has come and also gives him/her opportunity to
look ahead to new possibilities. |
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We often forget to celebrate failures,
disappointments and losses and only plan feasts and
parties around the successes in our lives like
graduations, promotions, and retirements.
What would happen if we took time to also
celebrate challenges and disappointments?
What would a celebration look like of the
rejection letter… pink slip…failed exam….failure
to make the team…or loss of the game?
All of those losses have been part of my
life’s journey.
I made it through all of them.
As bad as I may have felt in the moment, there
was a celebration in each event.
I could celebrate the rejection letter because
it really wasn’t the right job for me and something
better would come along.
The pink slip:
I was ready to move on when my organization had
financial problems and had to cut the payroll.
Hurray! It
freed me to do something I was more excited about and
relieved me from the stress of the old position!
The exam: I studied harder. I practiced more. I
learned more and passed on the second try.
My daughter didn’t make the team: she was a
better singer and actor than an athlete so we
celebrated as a family that she would have time to
invest in music and theater.
The lost game: we all learn from our losses and
come back stronger to try again against a new
opponent, on a different field. |
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All of these are reasons to celebrate!
They acknowledge where we are in our life’s
journey. They
catch us in the moment and make us think.
Celebrating our disappointments nudges us to
assess where we are and inspires us to look ahead.
To celebrate challenges is as valuable to our
life journey as a graduation party or a promotion
dinner. Those
make us feel good and give us opportunity to share our
joy outwardly with special people in our lives.
They are meaningful.
The celebrations of our challenges and failures
are also meaningful. |
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Celebration is a valuable tool.
Each of us can define celebration so it is
meaningful to us and appropriate to the situation we
are celebrating. Celebration
isn’t always a party.
It might be a nice meal or a night out in good
company. It
might be treating oneself to a small gift or quiet
time alone. It
could be indulging in good chocolate or time with a
friend. Celebration
is whatever you choose to bring your full attention to
where you are in the flow of your life.
Celebration gives you time to honor your
success or failure, to acknowledge you and your
journey. Be
intentional about celebrating you.
The pilgrims were and look what happened! |
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As always, it’s nice chatting
with you. If
you’d like to learn more about life coaching or
discovering a more compelling life, visit my website
at www.lifesongcoaching.com.
or give me a call at 218-327-2691. We’ll make a
plan! |
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.pdf
version of this article |
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| More Life
Notes on the reading page! |
Life
Notes
articles may be reproduced when
Bonnie’s byline and web contact
information are included.
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