“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” -- Dalai Lama
Perspective - Add Value and Meaning
The purpose of the Life Solutions Network is to “add value and meaning to people’s lives”. For LSN, “adding value” is about life skills and volunteer solutions...targeting volunteers, volunteer leaders and service professionals who want to build capability. We each give and receive value in a unique way. Sometimes it is “just being there” or listening, sometimes it is teaching or mentoring, maybe it is solving a problem or putting a personal system in place. “Adding meaning” is featuring the message of purpose and potential.
I’d like to share a personal experience with this idea. While volunteering at a local senior care facility I observed the “elders” living lives of loneliness and boredom. Using the idea of “adding value and meaning”, various ideas were brainstormed and then I offered to develop and teach a computer literacy class. The class of six people lasted about a year and everyone learned and had fun. The social side was more important than the computers.
Value looks different to a retiree, elder, parent, teen, unemployed, or someone in recovery, etc. It takes many forms for LSN: wiki, learning events, blog, Facebook, networking and more. It must satisfy our heart, mind, body and soul for each of us. Some love the learning and others the social interaction. I hope LSN adds value and meaning to your life.
Network Updates A significant update of the LSN Toolboxhas been posted. You will find it grouped into 3 sections: Life Skills, Volunteer Solutions and Manage & Lead. Many things are freely available on-line; others need to be requested.
Planning is underway for 2017 and there are a lot of good ideas being discussed with the Core Team and the Volunteer NKY Planning Team including:
• Host 3-4 volunteer fairs at different locations
• Develop a process to link skilled volunteers and interns to needs
• Create a Speaker’s Bureau
• Host 1-2 Volunteer Leader “retreats” to include networking and learning
• Continue to rollout the Volunteer Vision and Best Practices work
• Develop a Mentoring Workshop
We seek to balance the needs of volunteers with those of volunteer leaders and the needs of organizations that need them with those that supply them. Do you have a request or feedback on the above ideas?
Book Recommendation The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion. Who hasn’t asked the question “How can I find and follow my true calling?” Elle Luna frames this moment as “standing at the crossroads of Should and Must.” “Should” is what we feel we ought to be doing, or what is expected of us. “Must” is the thing we dream of doing, our heart’s desire.
Here are some of my favorite parts:
“Must is who we are, what we believe, and what we do when we are alone with our truest, most authentic self.”
“We unconsciously imprison ourselves to avoid our most primal fears. We choose Should because choosing Must is terrifying, incomprehensible. Our prison is constructed from a lifetime of Shoulds.”
“We each have unique potential that was given to us at birth…Must is why we are here to begin with, and choosing it is the journey of our lives.”
My public speaking, blogs and wiki feature “living to our purpose and potential”.Click the above image to get a "roadmap" and detailed description of the life skills related to Purpose.Know Yourself Deeply is a life-long “mining for gold exercise”.Adding a written Life Plan then sets the stage for truly living to our God-given potential.
Save the Dates Mark your calendar for some upcoming events and watch for Facebook event postings. Some of my speaking engagements are for the local organization only.
I am interested in supporting your local organization. Click here for my speaking topics.
250 Words
My blogs are about life, life skills, service and living to our purpose and potential. I aim to write about 250 words (the amount an average adult can read in one minute).
Joy. There is a spiritual aspect to joy and a link to purpose. When “heart, mind, body and soul” are nurtured and aligned, life is beyond happy.
Expectations and Collaboration. Collaborative capability-building means two or more parties are involved in the growing.
Mistakes. Learn from mistakes. Own them. Celebrate mistakes because they are an input to personal growth, even if painful.
Recent Social Media Postings
Unlike the LSN Blog which is original content, the Facebook and LinkedIn postings are articles gathered from the internet. The themes match the blogs. Here are recent favorites:
Live with Purpose: Moving Out of Fear and into Your Life. Fear can be one of those hurdles that continues to limit people from scaling greater heights.
Volunteer NKY: The Care Closet opened in Northern Kentucky, providing clothes and other items for homeless children who have nothing. Note that I try to share most NKY volunteer needs that are posted on Facebook or brought to my attention.
Click on the icons at the bottom of this page for more.
Recommended Web Site Lift My Skills was founded by Kate Mason, born out of her love to develop and help others achieve success. She strives to improve people’s everyday life. Her portal collects information on how to develop vital skills in different areas such as writing, interpersonal, building self-confidence and others.
The Life Solutions Network encourages “purpose, passion, positivity and potential” in the form of capability-buildingservice to our community. If you want to become a Member, send me an e-mail. Membership is free; I only ask that you commit to “capability-building”. Thank you for your friendship, partnership and service.
The Life Solutions Network is a collaboration of volunteers and organizations in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area working to improve life skills capability with people in need. This newsletter aims to present information, ideas and tools to grow personally and better serve to "add value and meaning to people's lives".
