Should You Focus On Strengths Or Weakness?

I am doing a 3-part series on Should You Focus On Strengths Or Weakness? through July, August and September E-Newsletters and you can read my July E-Newsletter here; https://leadingadvisor.com/financial-advisor-newsletter/

I experienced a number of crises in the last quarter of 2011.

So over the past 18 months, I’ve been taking my personal development more seriously than ever.

Looking back I was investing so much time in coaching and speaking that I had forgotten to invest time in research and writing as I am doing now. Clearly my strengths of coaching and speaking will make Simon a dull boy without the balance of research and writing to balance the show.

On the personal development side, here are the actions that I have been taking:

• Scheduled an 8-day trip to Ecuador with Compassion – November 22 – 30, 2013
• Attending an 8-day Attitudinal Healing Retreat in Costa Rica – July 27 – August 3, 2013
• Attending 2 – 120 minute counseling circles per month for the past two months
• Doing 2 – 4 – 60 minute counseling sessions per month for the past 18 months
• Walking 3 km every weekday for the past 18 months
• Doing 4 – 45 minute cardio sessions per week for the past 18 months
• Eliminating / reducing; alcohol, caffeine, red meat, salt and sugar. This reminds me of a quote from Stephen Pressfield – The War Of Art “Avoid resistance at all cost. Resistance is an all-encompassing term for what Freud called Death Wish. Resistance cannot be reasoned with. It understands one thing. Power. Resistance takes on the form of drugs, shopping, TV, gossip, alcohol, drugs, and the consumption of all products containing alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, fat, salt and sugar. The greatest danger is Resistance knows when the finish line is in site and it will throw out one final assault.”
• Doing 3 – 75 minute yoga classes per week for the past 30 months
• Meditating first thing every morning as I have continued to do since 2007
• Debriefing my feelings and thoughts in my Journal most every day as I have continued to do since 1995
• Giving thanks in my Journal most every day as I have continued to do since 1990
• Reading books that include the work of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow and Marianne Williamson since 1995.
• Bringing my blood pressure down to normal
• Losing 35 pounds over the past 18 months
• Coming to peace of mind and heart with a renewed level of awareness

You might say never mind focusing on the negatives and the weaknesses, just focus on the positives and the strengths.

Focusing on the positives and the strengths only works if it is true coming from every cell in your being. If it is not true, you will experience false positives and false strengths along the way which will show up in the form of inconsistent behaviors, inconsistent results and the odd crisis along the way.

Present conflicts are just a reminder of past unconscious unresolved conflicts that keep resurfacing from the past that are related to unmet needs that contribute to negative feelings, negative beliefs and repeated self-sabotaging behaviors.

My purpose for both myself and my clients is to make myself conscious about the past so that I can be more conscious in the present.

For more, you can read my E-Newsletter here.