Ezine: Jump Into Life!

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Jump Into Life! E-zine
Pump Up Your Energy, Creativity and Joy
This is a monthly "as I can get to it" newsletter with ideas, resources, stories and inspiration. If you are like me, you find it hard to get to those weekly ezines you subscribe to. (I either save them to read all at once or delete them feeling guilty because I might be missing something important. My hope is that this will arrive JUST when you are ready for a boost of energy and inspiration.)

July 2002 Volume #4
Kathie Hightower
kathie@jumpintolife.net

IN THIS ISSUE
Energy Tip: Exercise Incentive
Creative Thinking at Work at Arm & Hammer
The Joy of Travel
Fun Products
Workshop Info

Exercise inspiration — and incentive
I went for a walking meeting with a new writing friend last week. As we got to the turn-around point at the end of Ruston Way here in Tacoma, Linda looked at what I had assumed was a pager attached to her belt. I thought she was checking the phone
number to see if she should return it. Instead, she said, "That was 4200 steps."

She was wearing a pedometer. I said, "Oh, I’ve been thinking about getting one just to see how much I walk during the day, especially going up and down the many steps in my house. Hey, can it show if you are going up stairs?" Unfortunately, no.
But she went on to describe the big difference this little tool has made in her life.

"I’m not a natural exerciser like you," she said.

"Hey, I’m not at all a natural exerciser," I protested. "I’ve changed my habits consciously over time to become one because I know now what it does for my energy level and my stress!"

"Okay," she said, "But you HAVE the exercise habit ingrained. Even though I know I need it, I tend to avoid it. This gives me a measurement and incentive."

We discussed it further. As she pointed out, many of us might say that we get lots of exercise just going through our day, chasing airplanes or chasing the kids — and running all our maintenance errands every day. But do we?

"I read that you need to take 10,000 steps a day for health and fitness," Linda went on. "That has been the magic number for me."

Here’s what has happened for her.
1. If she’s been at her computer all day working on a project and notices that she isn’t even close to her 10,000, she goes out for a walk after dinner rather than sitting down to TV or reading.
2. She finds herself purposefully parking further away from the store to add to her steps.
3. She finds herself naturally making better food choices — and taking up other activities like bike-riding that she hasn’t done in years.

"I’m certainly much fitter and feel better, I sleep better," she says, "and I’m getting to experience my neighborhood in a deeper, richer way. The real magic is in the experiences I’ve had because I was walking rather than driving — minor miracles I call them."

As she stopped to literally smell the roses at one house in her neighborhood, an older woman came around from behind a bush. "Would you like some?" she asked. Eighty-year-old Annie proudly took Linda on a tour of her glorious back yard full
of flowers, fruit trees and vegetables. It was obvious she didn’t get to share it with other people often enough. Linda left with an armful of roses, an invitation to return at any time, and the knowledge that she’d brightened this woman’s day and made a new friend.

While walking along the water of Commencement Bay early one morning she saw people throwing flower petals in the water and heard a minister blessing a sailboat. Going over to investigate, she found out that it was a handmade sailboat being launched for the first time — and heading off on a voyage to France. She felt a part of their excitement and anticipation as they followed their dream.

And all it took for Linda was this small $20 pedometer that she found by typing the word into her search engine.
"It’s built-in accountability," she adds. "I might be able to fool myself about how much movement I’m getting each day." This keeps her honest.

I’ve decided to order one myself. What a fun way to jumpstart your daily movement.

Footnote: After I wrote this, serendipity led me to an article comparing different pedometers. It was in a Wall Street Journal that showed up in my newsbox as part of a marketing campaign. Based on the comparison and recommendation I decided to order one at www.sportline.com.

If you try this or if you already use a pedometer, let us know how it works for you. If we share your report we’ll send you a free Joyful Living Booklet, full of 75 ways to add more joy to your life. Getting out and smelling the roses in your
neighborhood is one of those ideas.

Creative Thinking at Arm & Hammer®
I often use Arm & Hammer® Baking Soda as an example of two of the creativity tools I share in my Creativity workshops: "How else can we use it?" and "How else do our customers use it?"

I mean, think about this. Arm & Hammer® Baking Soda came out in 1846 for baking. I expect their sales these days are not powered by home baking. I know in our house the baking use is rare. But we use it daily for the refrigerator and cat box and other cleaning type things. I find audiences are quick to point out other uses: "brushing teeth, stopping the hurt of bee stings, as a shampoo additive to get rid of residue."

Arm & Hammer® obviously listens to it’s customers. First we added the baking soda to our kitty litter box. Now they sell Arm & Hammer® kitty litter with the baking soda already included. Folks used to brush their teeth with it. Now there is toothpaste with it included. And more recently dental chewing gum with it included. We all tore open box tops and put the box in the refrigerator. Now they make a more effective model, a box with screens on both sides to keep the baking soda from spilling out and to allow for more effective air flow for freshening.

According to their website, www.armandhammer.com, there are literally hundreds of uses for their baking soda. They include quite a few that I never heard of on their site.

And then they take it that extra step further. "But we want to know how you use Arm & Hammer® Baking Soda around your house. Do you have a favorite use? Have you tried uses your neighbor, relative, favorite newspaper columnist told you about? We want to hear from you!!" And the new ways to use it keep flowing.

Yesterday I noticed they have a two-pound box with lots of different cleaning and "home spa" ideas on the back. That’s creative thinking and expanding your market.

Free Copy
Share an example of a creative use of the two questions at the beginning of thearticle — it can be your own company or a local, national or international firm. Just for sharing, you’ll get a free copy of my Joyful Living Booklet — with 75 ways to add more
joy to your daily life.

So You Dream of Traveling to…..?
In June my husband and I enjoyed a long-planned, long-awaited full-month sabbatical, traveling in Italy. It’s been one of our dream goals for quite awhile. I promised to share some of the tips and tools that helped us turn it from dream into reality.

Those tips just might help move your own dream trip from "someday I’ll" to "today I’m heading to…."
Start a fund. For years my husband would dump his pocket change on the dresser every evening. I collected those coins in a big jar hidden in a nightstand. After a year or more, I took it to the bank and started an "Italy fund" account with a little over $200 in change. From then on each time we received money we didn’t expect, from a birthday gift to even the smallest rebate, we added it to the fund. And we kept collecting those coins. I found myself taking the time to send in those box tops that offered $2 rebates. Visions of Tuscany made it worth the effort. You’d be amazed how that can add up over time.
We started "exploring Italy" through books and tapes, immersing ourselves in books like Under the Tuscan Sun and Italy Through the Back Door, as well as library travel videos. We took notes of places and experiences we wanted to have — and foods we wanted to try.
I signed up for a local Italian language class and bought some tapes to listen to as I drove. I didn’t learn enough to be fluent but enough to make the effort and get by.
We started asking anyone who’d traveled or lived in Italy for their favorite tips and places to explore.
We started to try even more Italian recipes and foods than before.
All of those things started to make it more of a reality. And if we’d never taken the trip, we were enjoying the planning all along the way.

It’s amazing to me how serendipity always seems to step in when you start towards a dream. By chance, friends of ours got a year-long assignment to Rome. We were able to spend our first week in Italy staying with them in their apartment in Trastevere, a great section of Rome, experiencing Italian life and learning the customs and habits from experts before we headed off on our own. It was a fabulous trip — a bit of La Dolce Vita.

So…what are you waiting for. Don’t keep saying "someday I’d like to travel to…" — start the ball rolling.

Share a Tip
Do you have any energy or creativity tip or resource to share? If I use it in a future ezine, I’ll send you a Simple Joys Booklet in thanks. Email me at kathie@jumpintolife.net

Fun Products
While we work on our Follow Your Dream While You Follow the Military™ book, we have some other products that can help you create and live your dream! To order any of these call Kathie tollfree at 866-569-5695 or email or fax in an order— see contact info at the bottom. And, yes, I can take Visa or MC (does that make us professional or what?) The easiest way to order is to go to the product part of the website, www.jumpintolife.net, and download an order form to fax or mail or call in.

Creative Living Audiotape Set:
2tapes (120minutes) on the joyful living concept & goal achieving tools, tips & resources) $12

Your Enchanted Life: A Journal of Discovery & Delight (a playbook full of exercises & action steps) $18

Simple Joys: Little Things That Make a BIG Difference (a pocket-size book with one idea per page) $6
*similar ideas in a booklet that can mail in a #10 envelope are in the Joyful Living Booklet $3

Magic Rainbow Glasses (see the good in Everything) $6

As Is pewter pins (Show the world you are already quite wonderful just the way you are – faults and all!) $25

A Jump Into Life Workshop at your company or organization?
I do one-hour, four-hour and all day programs (and I prefer the longer ones — so much great info to share). Check out the workshops at www.jumpintolife.net/workshops.html.

Forward this Ezine
Feel free to forward this ezine to your friends. I’m happy to have you use any of the articles in this ezine (or any posted on my website) in your newsletters or publications providing you ask me first, include the byline I provide and then provide
me with a copy for my records and celebration!

Copyright 2002 Hightower

List Maintenance
To subscribe:
Send an email to kathie@jumpintolife.net with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you’d also like to be on my snailmail list for very occasional mailings, include your snailmail address and a note of how long you expect to be there.

To unsubscribe:
Send an email to kathie@jumpintolife.net with unsubscribe in the subject line.

Contact Me
Kathie Hightower
Jump Into Life Seminars
kathie@jumpintolife.net
2908 N. Warner Street, Tacoma, Wa 98407;
Tollfree866-569-5695; 253-761-8161; 253-759-4009(fax)

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