Beginning the New Year Attentively

The New Year 2015 is just starting.  It is like a blank canvas upon which to paint.  But what shall you paint? 

 

It can be helpful as you begin this year – this “painting” – to pay attention to your desires, your designs and your details that you might place on this blank canvas called 2015.

Here is one way to begin to envision what your masterpiece could include:

1.      Some learnings and experiences from last year (2014).  Jot down five or more that you value and can inspire your creation in this New Year. Include some things that didn’t work out which can be valuable learnings.  And remember your successes!

2.      Some things you want to accomplish in this New Year (2015).   Write down at least seven things you aspire to be and do.  Be as specific as possible and listen attentively to what you “really want.”  Dream big!  Pay attention to what “already is” as well as “what could be.”

3.      Your first three actions to take for your top 3.   This step allows you to move from a “nice idea” toward an “actuality” that you are creating.  It is useful to include people and coaches in your planning.  Then begin.

These things you have attentively chosen allow you to begin to sketch the picture you will be painting in this New Year.

So….what will you create?

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Dr. Jim Robey, Professional Certified Coach

Jim@AttentionalGrowth.org

+1   205-960-3157

My Journal 11/19/2013

To fears and memories of my past 

  which weigh me down

     I now say

"No more!  You are not the future!

   The future is God - and God 

      promises the gift of forgiveness

          and abundant life."

"No more!  You are not the future!

   This will not stand.  I trust 

in God's holy presence 

and gracious favor."

Re-Start in 2012

As this New Year begins, I choose to Re-Start my life. 

Re-Start.  “To start anew.”  Much like rebooting a computer system, halting the operating system and then starting it up again so it can begin fresh.

So to, for me, 2012 is a Re-Start.  All that has happened for the first 60 years and 42 days is remembered and from that certain areas of focus become clearer for me.

I re-start my life by letting go of some things:

• The excessive worry about finances 
• The distractions from my focus on my passionate work of coaching 
• The clutter I allow in my life.

In re-starting my life, my main emphasis is on:

• My life with my wife Betty and sharing new experiences together 
•  My health, though sleep, exercise and healthy eating
• My passionate work of coaching clergy globally.

My Re-Start is prompted by God’s continuing call upon my life to be in ministry to others.  I was privileged in November, 2011, to participate in the Grubb Institute’s leadership event entitled Passion,Purpose and Potency Conference in England.  There I experienced the clarity that at this time my sacred calling and passion is coaching and developing clergy leaders throughout the world.

So, I begin 2012 with this as my ministry focus:

1. Coaching clergy leaders 
2.  Training coaches 
3.  Co-creating a Global Clergy Leadership Initiative…Empowering 21st Century Clergy Leaders through Coaching & Community

And, always being open to where the Spirit may lead me.

Jim Robey  1/02/2012

"Begin Again" in 2011

“Begin Again!”

Those are words I often heard in The Coaches Training Institute’s Co-Active Leadership Program and they are also very appropriate for us as we start off the new year.  “Begin again!”  These words are similar to Jesus’s call to Matthew to “follow me” and the effects of his healing the bleeding woman.

 We do get the opportunity to begin again and do things differently. Often we vow to make the new year “better” than the previous.  In order to prompt your own thinking about what it will take for you to CREATE A REALLY GREAT 2011, I offer you these 3 questions to ponder.

1.      What am I bringing from last year into this new one?

·         what joys and sorrows, what is working and not working, hopes and dreams, sense of calling and following where God leads, unfinished business and new possibilities...

2.        What would make this year “wildly successful” for me?

·         my dreams and God-given yearnings, the “hunger of my heart,” specific goals that are pulling me forward...

3.        What additional resources will help me “be” my best?

·         people, experiences, spiritual practices and structures that will help me “be” what I desire in order to pursue my dreams...

I invite you to “begin again” with new clarity and intentions.  This year you could “do different things” or “do things differently.”  As the author of the Book of Hebrews wrote, “... and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith....” (Hebrews 12:1b, 2a) (NIV).

Begin Again!

Dr. Jim Robey, ACC (Associate Certified Coach, International Coach Federation)

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Jim Robey, a United Methodist minister, was the first clergy to be endorsed by UMC for the Ministry of Life Coaching. (He is also endorsed as a Pastoral Counselor.) His appointment is as the Executive Director of ATTENTIONAL GROWTH INC, a non-profit organization which he founded. Jim is a renowned speaker, seminar leader, teacher and coach with a profound commitment to help others grow in their ministry and connection to God. Additionally, he serves as the CCO (Chief Connecting Officer) for the United Methodist Coaching Connection, a newly formed group of lay and clergy who are passionate about bringing coaching more fully into the UMC.

Jim earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Emory University and is a graduate of the Co-Active Leadership Program of the Coaches Training Institute. He brings a passion for helping people become more of who they are called by God to be.   Included in his coaching is his humor, life experiences, 39 years serving churches, love for God and the church, and a profound commitment to partnering with others in their own ministry. Jim and his wife Betty live in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and can be reached at Jim@AttentionalGrowth.org and 205-960-3157.

You are invited to an interactive conference call entitled 3 Keys to Successfully "Begin Again" on Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 2pm ET.  Jim Robey will be joined by his friend and fellow coach Dr. Larry Ousley.  To register click on this link: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/TVDKE81QOZA8H5QM  

ASH WEDNESDAY

ASH WEDNESDAY

I live on the Alabama gulf coast where Mardi Gras is a big thing. After all, we started it and New Orleans copied us. Parades, throws, costumes, moon pies, beads, etc. are signs of Mardi Gras celebrations. Suddenly they stop on Ash Wednesday when many of us go to our churches for a service that includes having a cross marked on our foreheads with ashes. It’s a visible sign that reminds us of two things:
(1) Our humanity: “remember you are dust and to dust you will return.”
(2 )The gift of God’s forgiveness and new life: “repent and believe the gospel.”

During the forty days of Lent, we are given the opportunity to intentionally discipline ourselves to let these two things find deeper root within our lives. For example, to claim our humanity with its time limited opportunity on this earth may propel us to savor the sunrise/sunset; to take great delight in our loved ones; to reach out beyond our divisions to others; to live in the here and now more than the then and there; and to really live our life with gratitude and courage.

Likewise, to be more consciously aware of God’s forgiveness and strength for beginning again can motivate us to cultivate our relationship with God; to find ways to help others to know that they too are loved and given new life; to serve the least, the last, and the forgotten ones as if they were Jesus in disguise; and to live more congruently with our words (beliefs) and our actions.

After the Ash Wednesday service many youth and adults who leave the ashes visible find people in stores mentioning to them “Did you know you have a smudge on your forehead?” It becomes an opportunity to say “Yes, and this is what it means to me.”

We live in a world that needs a visible reminder of our humanity and God’s forgiveness. The forty days of Lent lets us “be” the ashes others will see. So my question to you is this...
“How will you make a ASH of yourself?”

"BEGIN AGAIN!" - A Coaching & Christian Perspective For 2009

"BEGIN AGAIN!"

Those are words I often heard in the Co-Active Leadership program of The Coaches Training Institute (CTI), and they are also very appropriate for Christians and other people of faith as we begin the New Year. "Begin again!" These words are similar to Jesus' call to Matthew to "follow me" and the effects of his healing the bleeding woman.

We really do get to "begin again" and do things differently. Usually we vow to make the New Year "better" than the previous. In order to prompt your own thinking about what it will take for you to CREATE A REALLY GREAT 2009, I offer these 3 questions. I invite you to take time to ponder them as you begin 2009.

1. WHAT AM I BRINGING FROM LAST YEAR INTO THIS NEW ONE? - joys & sorrows, what is working & not working, hopes & dreams, my sense of calling & following where God leads, unfinished business & new possibilities...

2. WHAT WOULD MAKE THIS YEAR "WILDLY SUCCESSFUL" FOR ME?
- my dreams and God-given yearnings, the "hunger of my heart," specific goals that are pulling me forward...

3. WHAT ADDITIONAL RESOURCES WILL HELP ME "BE" MY BEST?
- people, experiences, and structures that will help me "be" what I desire in order to pursue my dreams...

I invite you to "begin again" with new clarity and intentions. As the author of the Book of Hebrews wrote, "... and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...." (Hebrews 12:1b, 2a) (NIV).

Begin Again!

Jim Robey is the first United Methodist clergy to be officially endorsed by the UMC for the Ministry of Life Coaching. Jim earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Emory University and is a graduate of the renowned Co-Active Leadership Program of the Coaches Training Institute.

Dr. Jim Robey is the Executive Director of Attentional Growth Inc. Jim brings a passion for helping people become more of who they are called by God to be. Included in his coaching is his humor, life experiences,37 years serving churches, love for God and the church, and a profound commitment to partnering with others in their own life on purpose. He has been involved in ecumentical and inter-faith activities.

An Advent Prayer for YOU

I am a life coach and a United Methodist minister. In our Christian tradition, we use the four Sundays before Christmas to prepare us for celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus. My own Advent reflections this year focus on Mary and Joseph and their roles in the God’s great Christmas gift to the world… Jesus.

If I could be a life coach to Mary and Joseph, these are some powerful questions I would ask:

MARY: What was it like for you, a young teenager… to be visited by the angel? …To be told you were to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit? …To tell your fiancé Joseph what the angel had said? What helped you to believe the angel’s words and continue on as “the Lord’s handmaiden”?

JOSEPH: What was it like for you… to have your fiancé tell you her pregnancy was from “the Holy Spirit”? …To face embarrassment and humiliation? …To have an angel visit you and confirm Mary’s story? What assisted you in believing the angel’s message and to continue your engagement?

As Christians and coaches we are privileged to work with people to create more fully their God-given life. Christmas reminds us that God cared enough to send the very best…his own son…into our world. God was, and is, and will be, at work in our lives also.

So my Advent prayer for YOU:

As Mary was attentive to what was
happening in her,

and Joseph attentive to the
possibility of God at work in the events of his life,

so too may you be attentive to God’s
Spirit at work in you. Amen and Amen!

Dr. Jim Robey, CPCC, ACC