Reiter Coaching Letter

The Reiter Coaching Letter

For Creating the Life You Want

Issue 2

www.stevereiter.com

October 3, 2001

The Reiter Coaching Letter: a bi-weekly newsletter of inspiration, resources, humor, and challenge... and a quick read.
Written & Published by Steve Reiter, MS, PCC www.stevereiter.com
To send a message to me, click here.
I would like your help to increase my subscriber list to 750 by the start of the new year (currently it's 273). If you like what you have read, please forward this to others who might be interested. Thanks, I appreciate your support.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please do so on my website: click here to go directly to the page.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90%
how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of
our Attitudes.
- Charles Swindoll

Dear friend, client, colleague...

I don't know about you, but the last two weeks feel like a whirlwind rushed through my life and turned it upside down. "The war." It has been hard to stop thinking about “the war”… or whatever it is. Without my permission, my psyche attends to all sorts of thoughts and details that previously would have been relegated to the proverbial back burner.

All sorts of questions run through me begging for answers: political questions, strategic questions, moral and ethical questions, and questions of survival. They all lead to worry.

Worry is like a rocking chair - it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.
- Dorothy Galyean

Worry woke me up at night in its attempt to resolve all my concerns… and did a lousy job of it, I might add. Of course, as the quote above points out, worry doesn’t really help.

What helps for me is taking action: political, social, emotional, and economic action. To my surprise, it didn’t take much action to make a difference. I paid my bills and started exercising again. I participated in a community historical re-enactment, family celebrations, and vigils. I talked to lots of people. That all helped. But action, it seems, was not enough.

I received a letter from one of the two public radio stations I support, the one that plays classical music virtually all the time. They wrote to inform me of their reasoning behind maintaining their regular programming, which I will paraphrase here: a) there is a lot of information readily available from other fine sources, and b) we provide a respite from the din of voices and information which are driving you to distraction.

I wouldn’t have known, as I was listening to that din of voices and information on the other station.

Granted, it is crucially important to be informed. But, how much information is enough?

In my church newsletter this week was the article “Tending Your Spirit” by Rev. Meg Riley. I would love to reproduce her entire article here, but in honoring brevity ask that you e-mail me for it. She says, “It is important to tend to our deeper selves in a time of crisis,” and offers 13 “tips for spiritual wellbeing.” Number One on her list is the suggestion:

“Turn off the media. You do not need to know what every pundit on the planet has to say right now.”

Well said.

Making it Happen
Where is your attention?
Is that where you want it to be?
What do you know helps you connect to yourself?
What do you know helps you connect to the beauty that still exists in the world?
Which of these will you build into your life this week?
What do you need to set up in your life to support this commitment (e.g., the help of a friend, unplanned time)?

Closing Thoughts
I continue to find this quote (from the previous Letter) to be powerful for me, and so am including it here to give you another look:

If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.
-- Hazel Henderson

I welcome your comments.

Steve

Steve Reiter is a Life Coach. He gets his kicks by helping executives, entrepreneurs, professionals, and other dynamic individuals to create the lives of their dreams while learning a whole lot about themselves. Interested? For a complimentary coaching session, call 315-472-0504, e-mail to: coach@stevereiter.com, or visit his website at
<a href=http://www.stevereiter.com>Click</a>

The Reiter Coaching Letter is published by Steve Reiter on the first and third Tuesday of each month. The purpose is to challenge you and support you in creating success and fulfillment throughout your life.

The names of newsletter subscribers will never be shared or sold.

Unless otherwise indicated, all content is written and edited by Steve Reiter, MS, PCC. You are welcome to republish any or all parts of this newsletter; I ask only that you honor the copyright by including full acknowledgment and a listing of my contact information (name, e-mail, web site).