Mini #154
In Mini Makeover #28 Journaling and Creating an Idea Bank we explored the fulfillment, direction, and clarity that can be found through journaling. In this Mini, we continue on with additional journaling prompts, ideas and exercises to help you explore fulfillment, balance, stress-reduction and self-discovery.
Mini #136
If you have ever wanted to try creative writing for self-discovery but find journaling leaves you with a blank page, you might enjoy Creative Compositions. Creative Compositions aims at drawing forth your creativity through poetic and expressive exercises. This Mini contains five exercises/prompts, complete with reflective space and samples. The exercises focus on helping you explore and discover your life, character, thoughts, and feelings on a deeper level.
Mini #124
One of the obstacles that most often holds back our creativity is the blank page. Sometimes we may not know where to begin, while other times a blank page can be intimidating to fill.
When I first heard of inchies I loved the concept, because I knew no matter what, I could easily cover an inch of paper! So what is an inchie? Inchies are collectible 1 x 1 inches of art in any media from traditional to altered art collage to fabric to polymer clay and so on.
In this Mini we will explore digital and handmade inchies. We will work on 4 different projects, share our work (optional) and explore inchie creativity resources.
Mini #121
In our quest for contentment and balance one of the most important areas to focus on is the power of each moment. We cannot change the past, and the future is not yet here–the moment is where we truly can impact powerful change. Often moments become filled with stress or anxiety if we cannot maintain balance. In this Mini we will look at exercises to help us stay grounded in the now so we can make the most of every day.
Mini #118
by Rhonda Miga
For as long as I have had children, I have been a fast eater, otherwise, I would not have eaten. Lately, I have also been an emotional eater. Put these two components together and it is a recipe for disaster. Fast eating often leads to overeating because we consume too much food before our brains receive the message to STOP eating. Fast eating while you are emotionally stressed can often lead to unsatisfied overeating. This habit can make a person unhealthy both mentally and physically! In this Mini I will share how awareness and knowledge can help us make decisions that support our mental and physical health. Through the use of exercises and worksheets, you’ll learn practical strategies to implement mindful eating in your own household.
Mini #120
Often our lives feel like a push-pull as we struggle to find a centered-place from which to make healthy decisions. We know that being balanced is a great goal–and a great concept… but how do we figure out what balance looks like for us? And how do we identify the boundaries we need to maintain that balance when we find it? In this Mini we will explore those questions and more with tips to help you find and maintain balance.
Mini #119
Each day we are inundated with decisions. How we respond to those decisions is one of the single-most important factors in shaping our lives. Some decisions are little-others can be quite challenging. The more we hone our decision making skills, the better equipped we are to maximize each day and move forward in life. In this Mini we explore the key factors of decision making as well as tools, handouts, and decision making techniques to help us hone our decision-making skills.
Mini #115 - April Featured Mini
One of the ways to maximize your time in the Make Today Matter program, and your time in general, is through a routine of Priority Planning. While it takes a little time, this planning is key to helping us stay on track throughout the month. Done thoroughly, this planning allows us to stay focused in spite of adversity and to focus on what truly matters. Priority Planning also reduces stress and helps us manage our time better. The five steps of Priority Planning can be accessed by all MTM Members in Phase II by following the link in the blue “quick links” menu. This Mini is an additional workshop that provides an audio version of each of the five steps, and also provides a location to share and encourage one another with our plans!
Mini #113
Please make sure you have taken Attitude Makeover Pt 1 (Mini # 111) before taking Pt 2 (There are references to Part 1 in Part Two)
Days 6-10 of our 10 Day Attitude Program
Feeling blue or “out-of-sorts?” Negativity, stressful environments, worry, anxiety, fatigue–all can take a toll on our attitude leaving us feeling drained, irritable, anxious, or moody.
Fortunately, we do not have to settle for a less than stellar attitude. We can take quick and concise steps to reframe our perspective and make over our attitude. This Mini Series (Part 2 will be released April, 2010) is designed with a simple goal: To get out of the “muck” quickly.
The course begins with a before evaluation to assess your current coping skills and 5 Lessons (which is Mini #111), then, in this Mini you will receive lessons 6-10. These are the same lessons shared in our Attitude Makeover course.
Over the course of these 10 lessons you will learn:
… how to audit your thinking for negative thought patterns
… the 5 habits of negative thinkers (and how to avoid them)
… how negative thinking spirals (and how to stop it)
… how to use affirmations for a quick pick-me-up
… how action conquers despair
… how to use the 5-Minute Motivator
… how to design Mini-Missions for the mind
… how to recognize negative-triggers (and stop them)
Mini #109
Soul Food 2: Creative Ways to Use Soul Food, Inspirations & Affirmations for Self-Improvement…In this Soul Food Mini we will work through five exercises to help you use Soul Food to inspire and encourage you everyday. I’ll share examples of how I have used Soul Food to remind me of my priorities during “rough patches,” and we will look at how to use Soul Food Cards to work with the priorities of your Snapshot.
Mini #106
This study will open on 1/10/2010
For many people practicing spirituality can get into a set routine– Sunday’s at Church, Bible Study, or a blocked off prayer time. In this Faith Matters Study, Brook explores simple ways we can work to constantly connect and unite our daily steps with God throughout the course of the day. The study is comprised of simple connection-techniques to use and reflect on throughout the month. In addition to an increased closeness with God, these techqniues help us reduce stress and keep perspective inside the demands and pace of daily life. These techniques can be especially useful for those who are looking to increase their closeness with God but are unsure of where to begin.
Mini Makeover #105
If you are ready to do an in-depth analysis of your strengths and weaknesses to help you “go beyond the Snapshot” then this is the Mini for you! Brook developed the Life Profiler Mini to help people pinpoint what specific steps they can take to improve life areas of concern. The Profiler includes over 200 questions and can be downloaded in Microsoft Excel format. After answering the questions, you will be able to see how well you score in 17 different life areas as well as learn what MTM solutions and strategies can help you improve! This is a great in-depth review to do once or twice per year.
Mini #94
This is an audio mini you can download onto your computer or mp3 player or listen to online.
It has been said that, “Life is what happens while you are busy making plans.” Often when we create a plan or chart a course, shortly after our first few steps “life interrupts.” Sometimes these interuptions or unexpected changes are easy to adapt to. Sometimes they are overwhelming, life-changing, and seem like an insurmountable hurdle. Losing a job, an unexpected change in finances, the end of a relationship, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a pet, an unforseen health challenge, a legal issue, a move– there are just a few examples of big life changes that can shake our foundation. Then there are many smaller-scale challenges that happen more often: a two-week illness that leaves you tired, a disagreement, new demands on your time that interfere with your plan, something breaks that you did not budget to replace–I am sure you can add a few of your own.
The truth is these challenges are part of life. As long as we are living we will have unforseen and unwelcome changes come our way. In order to thrive and get the most out of life, we need to build our resilience and skillset for handling unexpected twists and turns. In this audio Mini I share a handful of examples on interuptions from my own life, strategies for maintaing healthy thinking during times of change, tips for keeping events in perspective, and exercises you can use to put things back together when they seem to be falling apart.
Mini #91
Available 9/3/09
One of my favorite Bible passages comes from 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13: 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails
In this Faith Matters Study we explore what Love Is and how to live each day with love– love of God, love of life, love of self, love of others.
Mini #88 - September Featured Mini
Available 9/3/09
Includes Audio
and Month of Magic Worksheets
Special online event with Brook Noel: Join Brook Noel from 7:00PM-8:30PM on September 23rd for a special chat event.
Often when we think of making change we think BIG. Sometimes SO BIG that we paralyze ourselves from taking action. This Mini is designed to show you how simple taking positive steps can be–and how a well thought-out plan can help you promote and maintain balance, contentment, joy and organization.
In this Mini you will create a special set of “10 Minute Cues” using a template that encourages you to give a little focus to several important life areas. These cues will then become a grab bag for creating a month of magic. Each day you will choose a 10-Minute Magic Prompt at random and paste to a calendar. You will be amazed at how much magic you can create in a single month with a little concerted effort!
Mini #83
When engaged in the creative process, it’s common to find ourselves surrounded by creative materials. This is fine and natural—until we find ourselves surrounded by materials that have nothing to do with the project at hand. These “extras” soon take over our working space and we all too often succumb to the temptation of “scooping” them into a pile—or moving ourselves to a different space. This move-or-scoop process is then repeated—and goes on indefinitely—unless we take control of space and design a creative area that supports our project priorities.
In this Mini you will learn how to synergize time and muse to create a creative space and efficient system for organizing (and working on) your arts and crafts projects.
Mini Makeover #70
8 pages
I have used Mind-Maps for the past 18 years for various purposes. Mind Maps can help us
break through creative blocks
discover solutions and new approaches to challenges
facilitate thinking outside the box
brainstorm
take notes (great for right-brained learners)
help us break down a project into manageable parts
What is a Mind-Map?
Wikipedia defines a Mind-Map as: “a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea.”
Mind-Maps are most often used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, and decision making. Buzan, a pioneer of the Mind-Map, claimed that the mind map utilizes more of the right and left brain hemispheres. The process of using words and diagrams utilizes attributes of the brain that are often not found in standard writing. This technique has been successfully applied to note-taking for students and brainstorming for companies.
In this Mini we will work through a general mind map and then look at ways to apply the technique to the aforementioned areas.
Mini #68
6 pages
“Historically more than 80% of resolutions are abandoned by late February, Many women believe they are doomed before they begin. A resolution becomes another pressure in an already pressure-filled life.
As I waited for the clock to strike midnight this year, I was deep in thought about this challenge we face when reaching our goals. With statistics like these, it seemed creating a resolution is a way for many people to procrastinate on the very thing they resolve to do for another year.
If you have been discouraged by goals and set them half-heartedly or not at all, then the technique I present in this Mini offers a new approach for creating fun, Mini goals. You can use this technique to set goals for a week, a month, a quarter or an entire year. It is a great technique for regaining focus that flows with life.
Mini #67
13 pages
Includes positive and negative reinforcement worksheet, habit analysis, and obstacle exercise
Almost everyone has some habit in their life that robs their day-to-day life of a little (or a lot) of joy. Sometimes the habits are obvious—overeating, procrastinating, over-spending, drinking too much caffeine, smoking—other times they are less obvious like avoidance of health-enhancing behaviors (exercise), making excuses, spending too much time on a computer, blaming others, getting angry quickly, not taking care of ourselves… just to name a few.
Over time the word “habit” often becomes synonymous with “excuse.” We begin to feel that we cannot change an area because it is a “habit,” and stereotypically habits are hard to break. However, if we have the power to create a habit, then we also have the power to un-create it. How do we know if a habit needs to be broken? When it begins to negatively impact our relationships, self-esteem, finances, career, or any other area important to us, then a habit has become a hurt.
Habits are not formed overnight, but through repetition. Each time we repeat a behavior, whether positive or negative, we strengthen neuro-connectors in the brain. Fortunately, science has shown that we can “rewire” our connectors and thus rewire our habits. Breaking a habit takes focus, awareness and intention, since we need to turn off the “autopilot” we have created and make deliberate new choices.
In this Mini I’ll walk you through the science of breaking a bad habit. Of course reading the Mini is only the first step. Taking deliberate action on each step over a realistic period of time will be the key to unlock your life of negative habits.
Mini #62
How often have you caught your breath at the sight of a flowerbed in full bloom?
Most likely the gardener has arranged the flowers according to their color for
extra vibrancy. Have you ever seen a movie in which a coordinated color
scheme helps the film create a world unto itself? Color is light, and light is energy.
Colors can stimulate, excite, depress, tranquilize, increase appetite and create a feeling
of warmth or coolness.
This Mini will enhance your knowledge of color, how you are influenced by colors,
how to use colors effectively for design, and to convey emotion in your visual
journaling pages, collage, treasure book or artwork.
We will explore how combinations of color create different visual impact through a combination of creative exercises.
