LIFESTYLE

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ave you ever noticed how the human life cycle emulates the plant life

cycle?

In plant life, there are annuals that seed, grow vegetation, flower and die all

within one year. Biennials live approximately two years with a vegetative growth

cycle, dormancy and another vegetative growth cycle before the flowering and death

cycle. Perennials have many vegetative growth, flowering and dormancy cycles

before they reach the death state. Most humans, if fortunate enough, are like a

perennial plant.

What else do you have in common with plants?

In plants, the primary or terminal shoot from which everything blossoms is

called a leader. In humans, the leader inside is your heart, mind and spirit. When

working in unison, the leader inside sprouts your joy, success and unique human gift.

If you stem the leader of a plant, you will stunt the growth of the flowering cycle

or it will wither and die before reaching its full potential. The same is true of your

human potential.

True human success is a fruitful end to interactions,

efforts, or events.

You, too, are born from seed, live and grow, are sometimes dormant, and will

die. Your ability to develop quality relationships and achieve your goals and dreams

defines your ultimate success in the end. But unlike plants, each human has a unique

purpose and aim that when realized empowers a meaningful life and contribution to

humanity that only you can provide.

How do you harvest your unique purpose and aim so

you will flourish and blossom?

It is an organic process of scrambling who you A.R.E.: actions, results and

experiences; and by plucking your E.A.R.S.: experiences, actions and results with

synergy.

Early on we are taught a linear process of human achievement. Take action (do)

in order to produce a result (have) so we can have the human experience (be) that

we desire. This particular framework of goal setting and achieving results could

easily be called the human “doing” conditioning model. Yet, we are human “beings.”

While cause and effect does apply in all plant and animal life, humans are much

more complex. We think, we feel and we “be-have” in repetitive ways that shape all

aspects of our life.

Inventing a unique purpose and aim helps you take

full charge of your life experiences.

You begin with the experience you desire as a way of being. For example, if you

want joy and happiness, taking action as a happy and joyous human being will

produce a different kind of result than taking the same action when frustrated or

angry. You may produce the same result, but the experience you have of your effort

is greatly diminished. That is why people can work so hard at achieving success —

financial or otherwise — and still feel unfulfilled and dissatisfied.

Money will only buy a certain level of happiness and can’t buy positive and

fulfilling human relationships (an ingredient necessary to enrich the human

experience). Money is only a temporary fix when dealing with systemic human

relationship problems. Consider this:

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

- Henry David Thoreau

Therefore, if you don’t experience joy and happiness from what you achieve and

your relationships are in shambles, you may be trapped in the human doing model

of attaining success.

When combining the experience, action and result you want as a synergetic

(non-linear) human process you are able to have a genuine sense of accomplishment

and flourishing relationships.

In the process of plucking your E.A.R.S., your true success becomes about how

you lead your life, how you feel and what you can achieve and sustain on both a

material and non-material basis. The two are not exclusive, yet there is little human

joy in being materially rich and dying sad and lonely.

We can learn a lot from Mother Nature — if only we

pay attention.

While there are many common features and universal laws we share with plant

and other animal life, we are unique thinking, feeling and be-having human

“beings.”

True human joy and success requires you to redefine what it means to lead a life

with a unique purpose and aim that enriches your human relationships. This is your

passageway to harvesting your inner joy and success.

But remember, your ability to stem or nurture your personal growth and human

relationships is a direct result of how you choose to think, feel and behave as a

leader.

Choice is an innate human ability and makes us distinct from plant life. It is

irrefutable that we create our unique experience of life and human relationships —

regardless of what we achieve in the material world.

What experiences will you choose to harvest at the end of 2010?

HARVESTING LIFE’S TRUE JOY AND

SUCCESS AT THE END OF 2010By Debra J. Slover

Debra J. Slover, founder of the Leadership Garden® Legacy, has a goal to seed and nurture 11 million Leadership

Gardens by 11/11/11. Author of the U.N.I.Q.U.E. line of empowerment books for youth and adults, she is an educator,

speaker and advocate for creating positive home and school climates. Her expertise stems from seven years as a

classroom teacher, 20 years directing a statewide youth leadership in prevention program in schools, as well as

organizing 20 state and national youth-led conferences. A mother of five/grandmother of six, she resides with her

husband in Albany, Oregon. To learn more visit: www.LeadershipGardenLegacy.com.

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