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Freedom with Positive Psychology Flourish

How do you know if and when YOU are flourishing?
And how does FREEDOM add to well-being and life satisfaction?
Who do you have to thank besides yourself when you are living
your 24 character strengths?

America…”Land of the free and home of the brave.” Both values upon
which we built our independent nation. Dr. Martin Seligman, positive
psychology pioneer and author of the acclaimed book, Flourish, defines
flourishing as: “…Happiness, flow, meaning, love, gratitude, accomplishment,
growth, better relationships – constitutes human flourishing.”

In the USA, this July 4th, I salute all those who have helped us flourish.
Many who have risked their lives or paid the ultimate price to assure our
country remains free.

Here is my July 4th wrapped in red, white, and blue take on freedom
and flourishing:
Freedoms ~ Free speech, free expression, free to live life your way with
well-being, your reward for your life well-lived.

Remembrance ~ Gratitude to those who serve to keep your country free
so you may walk though your world safe and secure.

Encouragement ~ Every day is yours to creatively, curiously explore.
To welcome and savor life. A “Bring it on!” attitude.

Engage ~ Enhance, enlighten, enjoy, evolve, empower, and embrace all
life has to offer you. You are free!

Duty ~ To yourself and others; To make choices that help you thrive.
Service. You pay love forward, a well-being win win.

Opportunity ~ To live, love, grow and use your strengths in a country
affording you opportunities to morph into lovely Flow.

Mindfulness ~ Pause and appreciate your fortune to live in a country
that embraces diversity. Let all spirits soar. Hope rings!

Let Freedom ring ~ mine from the Liberty Bell!

With patriotic, wave the flag, deep gratitude to all who serve to keep us free.
God Bless you all!

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My appreciation for our nation and my rights to life, liberty, &
pursuit of happiness sky-rocketed after visiting Cuba and seeing what
people there lived did not have: freedom and essentials for everyday life.

See the Cubans’ amazing spirit and beautiful scenery in my book:
Photo Adventures in Cuba ~ Unlock Your Power of Positivity!
Now a best-seller on Amazon ~ Kindle

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I’d love to hear from you!
Just send me your questions, and I will answer in a future blog.
You can also connect with me on facebook, LinkedIn, or twitter
www.facebook.com/drjudykrings

What You Focus on Grows: Another Gratitude Day!

Do you ever get discombobulated in life, too?
I wrote this blog while I was in Puerto Vallarta, but somewhere along the way,
it got lost in the shuffle. Hope you enjoy a look back to my last balmy days in paradise.

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Did you ever have one of those nights?

I woke up at 1:30 a.m. thinking it was time for my first coaching client at 6 a.m.
Wide awake, my mind raced with a litany of things I needed and wanted to get
done. Nothing new there, but at that hour of the a.m., forget-about-it! I wrote
down things my unconscious brain was reminding me to do today. I thought,
“Write them down and go back to bed.” I stopped to reframe my chagrin after I
realized I was so wide awake, I might as well stay up and DO the things my brain
was singing out to me.

Instead of playing tricks on me, I reminded myself my cherished brain was helping me get my ducks lined up for the day. I was grateful I am alive and well. My thoughtful gray and white matter, even if it was working overtime, was getting me loaded for the day. Like a field marshal, it dictated organizational orders: Cancel your USA dental appointment as you just had your teeth cleaned here. Call your doctor in the USA to get an appointment. Get emergency el. #’s for the hospitals and ambulance services here.  My terrifically generous next door neighbor, Mike, married to stunning Kim, who you see in this photo, is getting the #’s for me. Also, order a few glass gifts for folks at home, organize photos, and ditch post-it notes.

What more?  Email my book promotion coach for formal book launch 6 June ~ Be watching! Do a blog (that’s what this is!). Send Mom photos of the lovely 5 hours of in Flow bliss I had yesterday painting pottery with Kim and sweet friend, Nancy, you see here. Clean out purse. Review clients charts. Light jasmine candle to make the morning sweet. Thank Ken for the gorgeous bouquet of flowers he ordered for me, call Cheryl, my best childhood friend, add my name to Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson’s blog list (she is the brilliant motivation researcher who teaches my new Mentor Coach class). Email Sarah, my wonderful garden helper in the USA, and ask her to put Preen (weed repellent) down early as the WI winter is long gone and the weeds are attacking my flower beds. Kind friends have sent me pictures of my yard and I am forever grateful to you, Scott, Peggy, and Cheri!

OK, I could go on and on. Does your brain work solving your problems or helping you run your life on all cylinders? If so, hug yourself and be grateful you still have all the cards in your deck. You are still in the game.

I wanted to share this photo with you, because you can see and feel how happy we are. In the flow. Grateful to be together in art friendship. Creating and belonging. Two human needs and great joys, too. And I can’t forget the concept of challenge. I am competitive with myself, not others. I wanted to a good job making a gift for Mom, but I was taking a risk. I’ve done nothing like this since high school. But that is the best part of life. Moving forward…

Are you still climbing out on that limb and stretching your strengths?
Who cares if you fail? That is how you win! Keep on pluggin’ away!

An interesting story. While we were painting, a lovely young lady came in to pick up an absolutely stunning large bowl, just remarkable, festooned in red, white and blue. She is a regular at the pottery studio. Alas, she was disappointed. Why? Because she was focused on what she thought was wrong about her piece. Remember what you focus on grows. She was more and more distraught, until we all reminded her of its overall beauty. We were glad to see her shift to looking at her bowl as beautiful. She transitioned from whiner to winner, just by choosing to see what was right about her creation.

Are you a gratitude junkie, too?
Do you remind yourself of what is going RIGHT in your life as well as wrong?

Here’s a short list of the good stuff I thought about this a.m.:
~ I have great friends here and home who share my life.
~ I get to email and talk to Mom every day.
~ Whole family is well.
~ Ken is a great husband.
~ I am surrounded by beauty, eat amazing food, and see happy people everyday.
~ I love being a coach.
~ I adore my myriad of gifted and talented coaches and friends.
We learn by sharing and caring.

So what will you pause and feel grateful for today?

I know you are dying to ask me what I painted at the “Fire Works Potter” studio.
Yes, I know you are the curious type. Sorry, but you are just gon’na have to fire
up your patience strength, no pottery glaze necessary. Hint. It’s for Mom.

I pray my 5 hours of painting pottery paid off and created pleasing dividends.
But you know what? It already did. I was in heaven when I was there. I felt lucky
and blessed. Even if the colors run and it looks a mess, Mom will tell me, “I could
care less. There is love in what you made me, and I am grateful for it!”

Mom used her own positive reminiscing yesterday when we talked about how I
spent my day. She mused, “You know I used to paint…” We discussed her terrific
talent, her art lessons, and her wonderful bygone memories. Thank God her brain
is still so pliable and running full steam ahead. Mom is optimism personified.

You know the best thing in my whole life? My Mom! I couldn’t blog about
gratitude without the image of her lovely, appreciative face overtaking my
happy heart.

What other strengths will you paint into your life today?
Is that you I see running to get chartreuse, turquoise, and hot pink?

Flash me an email and let me know what you created today, pretty please.
What strengths did you don? What motivational muscles did you stretch?

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Immerse yourself in the colorful, artistic work of the Cuban people
and gratitude that they express for the simple pleasures of their lives
found in Photo Adventures in Cuba ~ Unlock Your Power of Positivity!
Now a best-seller on Amazon ~ Kindle

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I’d love to hear from you!
Just send me your questions, and I will answer in a future blog.
You can also connect with me on facebook, LinkedIn, or twitter
www.facebook.com/drjudykrings

Fun Quiz: Am I Ready for Coaching?

Have you ever thought about getting a coach?
How do you know if now is the right time?
Take this fun quiz. No wrong answers.
Goody! Be bald-faced honest with yourself.
This is not the time to be humble.
It’s time to own up to your own awesome authenticity.

Every answer is a lovely leap towards becoming your Best Self:
 1.  When do you feel most energized? What engages your senses so time flies
by and you go into FLOW?

 2.  What are your personal limitations? How active is your little gremlin,
your inner critic, who stubbornly stymies you?

 3.  What do you love about your work (or life’s journey if you are not working)?

 4.  How are you unique from others? (Ask others to tell you and be ready for
some surprises! This was life-altering for me.)

 5.  What is going right for you? What are you passionate about? Proud of?

 6.  What causes you stress? What are your challenges personally and professionally?

 7.  Which challenge is the big hairy monster who needs to be slain immediately?
Which challenges can you send out to pasture till later?

 8.  What are 3 opportunities you have but have not taken advantage of?
What are roadblocks to your decision-making?

 9.  What are 5 goals you want to accomplish in the next 3 months?
Light-weight or heavy weight, no matter!

10. What strengths do you know how to utilize to help move you forward?

So how about it? How did you do?
Did other questions bubble up as you did this quiz?
Remember you can always go to my site at www.coachingpositivity.com
to see all 24 strengths. Or get a copy of my new book and
see strengths in fascinating action in picturesque Cuba.
Photo Adventures In Cuba: Unlock Your Power of Positivity
Print book on Amazon  or  Kindle book on Amazon

 

One more thing…
When you make the joyful decision to transform your life into the dream
you have imagined, and you get a coach, always let your coach know about
how you like to be coached:  Gentle nudge; Energetic encouragement, Direct
suggestions, Pedal to the metal and full steam ahead;  Saunter and savor;
Send me information emails; or Nail me if I am not accountable!
You direct your coach’s traffic. I love your feedback and appreciate every
comment. What’s whipping around in your plans turns my cream into savory butter!

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I’d love to hear from you!
Just send me your questions, and I will answer in a future blog.
You can also connect with me on facebook, LinkedIn, or twitter
www.facebook.com/drjudykrings

Mexico Mahi Mahi With A Mojito Twist

© 2011 Dr. Judy Krings

Joe Jack’s is our favorite Vallarta fish and chips folly. We always sit downstairs in the tiny seating area to watch vacation folks in flow saunter by. They read the specials, and decide if fish day is today. The 2 for 1 mojitos offer is often the decision-making factor. Those who have not yet savored them, not to mention the best mahi mahi on the planet, are in for the a terrific taste bud treat. And hand cut chips, pure heaven.

Today, I decided to engage in a little experiment. I’d pause and really scan the bar area to see what strengths I could spot. There it was! How could I have missed this magnificent mirror? I had never seen it. Isn’t it fascinating that when you turn your attention to a different angle, life joyfully opens up in colorful way.

OK, I can hear some naughty friends who know I am 5’1″ spouting off hot-to-trot humor, “Judy, you are too short to have spied it!”

Do you love a surprise? I do. Like the first time we received a $5.00 coupon for our next Jo Jack meal!

What stage will you purposefully study to see your life show in a new performance?

You always did look good in the spotlight!

A Tip To Make Work Play

© 2011 Dr. Judy Krings

I don’t know about you, but I keep 3M’s Post-it Notes division in business. Not bad since my step-daughter works there!

I always said if I wrote a book, I would title it, “The Post-it Note Princess”.

Want to make your life a whole lot simpler and easier to manage? Check this out: workflowy.com

Play with it and see if it lightens your load.

Atlas never did like your competition. He likes to hold the world up all by himself!

Start today to make work play!