Craffies Coaching

Are you a jigsaw puzzle aficionado?

If you have ever worked a complicated jigsaw puzzler, you know three things about them.

First, they take time.

Few people can put several hundred pieces of a puzzle together rapidly.

Most large and complex puzzles take several days, even weeks, to complete.

The fun is in the process, the satisfaction in the accomplishment.

Second, the starting point of a puzzle is usually to identify the corners and edges,

the pieces with a straight edge.

Third, jigsaw puzzles are fun to work by oneself,

but even more fun to work with others.

When a “fit” is discovered between two or more pieces,

The excitement is felt by all the participants.

Consider the day ahead of you like a piece in the jigsaw puzzle of your life.

Indeed, its shape is likely to be just as jagged, its colors just as unidentifiable.

The meaning of today may not be sequential to that of yesterday.

What you experience today may actually fit with something you experienced several months ago,

Or something you will experience in the future.

You aren’t likely to see the big picture of your life by observing only one day.

Even so. You can trust that there is a plan and purpose.

All the pieces will come together according to a greater design and timetable.

On some days, we find straight-edged pieces of our life’s puzzle – truths that become

a part of our reason for being

On other days, we find pieces that fit together so we understand more

about ourselves and about the greater work in our lives.

And on all days, we can know the joy of sharing our lives with others

and inviting them to be part of the process of discovering who we are.

The main thing to remember is to ENJOY the PROCESS.

LIVE today to the fullest, knowing one day you’ll see the full picture

Author : Unknown.

Books enable us to gain from the knowledge base of other men and women who have lived in the past and the present. However we must be prepared to be open to new learning as we read to be able to see the world through their eyes, else we will stay stuck in our own way of seeing.

It is said that the way we look at the world, will result in our way of doing and that will lead to the results we get.

So what will keep us from getting new perspectives on life?
Let’s listen to the stories we hear, read and learn, and be open to see the world in a fresh perspective. Remember then to try it out…else it was nice to know

The question most probably can be asked what happiness is. Neil Kaufman writes in his book, Happiness is a choice, that the following six principals are central to happiness:
Make happiness the priority
Personal Authenticity
Letting go of judgments
Being present
Being grateful
Deciding to be happy.

Looking at principal two to five, it leaves me with the thought that Mindfulness will be key to these principals.

Mindfulness can be described as the ability to stop for a moment or minutes and just to be, to be quite and to be aware of one’s thoughts but to direct it back to the moment or to one’s breathe.

“Mindfulness/Meditation can do that which nothing else can do, it introduces you to yourself.” Swami Rama.

What a way to stop: To learn one better, to be aware of our thoughts, to develop the discipline of presence and lastly to develop the skill to be able to evolve to a being to life live to its fullest.

Secondly to be grateful for the small things, I heard of somebody that got into the practice to say thank you everyday for something that they did not say thank you for before…. Make one think.

This morning I heard an interesting way The “Kleipot Gemeente” run their way of interacting as a Christian community, based on values, with the following metaphors:
1 : God is central with, God’s massage of love,
Clock : God is 24/7 Central to each members life,
Plug : Time spend with God, to connect with God and get his message and power for one’s life. Prayer and “Being quite” before God.
Bread: Community with people, to share with the people one like and do not like.
Puzzle: Accept all people for their unique gifts they can contribute.
Shoes: Carry out the message of God, but also putting yourself in the shoes of other, to really understand their world.
Downward slope: Move away from the EGO, and always ask what Jesus will do in the situation.

This was a beautiful message that I will take with me on my journey through life.

I pray that your week be blessed, with God’s graze.

The “Kleipot community” blogspace is: http://www.kleipotgemeente.org/

Language is actually profound, the words desire and need at first site had more or less the same context for me at first glance. However with some reflection I now see them quite differently and it will also make some decision much easier, in future.

You see the question I will ask myself in future is the following: Do I need something or do I have a desire to have it?

Desire then ego centric; I want vs. a specific need….

Whilst reflecting on the rat race we are engage in every day… With responsibilities as husband, farther, a job and I enjoy it by the way and the list goes on.

Being realistic we all just have twenty four hours per day, so what we keep ourselves busy each day will determine the outcome of our lives. The question most probably is then what are the actions in our do lists?
Is it actions that take us nearer to our goals?
Is it actions whereby we live out our gifts?
Is it actions that create a legacy for us or is it to please other or to please our own ego’s?
Is our actions balanced to contribute to the following parts of our lives?

We must reflect on what we do to ourselves in this rat race, our days could be filled with joy living to the fullest each day, our just surviving.

What will people say looking back at your live, it was a live lived to create a legacy or will they put an inscription on your tombstone:

To do done
Dead anyway!

Yesterday I had to go and do a presentation in the Rustenburg area. My customary way of planning would normally have let me to work out on a map what is the most appropriate route to drive, also to take into account the road I am most accustomed to.

However this time I trusted the GPS. So on my way, GPS set on the shortest route to the venue. So initially it took me on the roads I usually would have travelled. Then it started taking me on roads I did not now, and then on a fourteen kilometer dirt road and then another thirty k’s of dirt road.

Plus minus four k’s along this road, I got a sign; “traveling along this road is at your own risk.” So what now, do I go along or turn back and trust the “recalculation” for a better road. So I thought let I go ahead, the road was bad but the scenery beautiful.

Driving slowly and enjoying the scenery despite the adverse road conditions, my thoughts wondered to the words I so easy pray: “ Lord let your will be done.” As with the dirt road, I so easy start to wonder if the road is not what I expected, however the Lord will always get me to the destination in His time and in His way. So what would the reason be that I do not enjoy the ride? Is it that I do not trust, or is it that my Ego get’s in the way, or could it be that I just don’t want to let go?

May you have a wonderful weekend.

God bless.