May 27, 2009
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In This Issue
Featured Article: Celebrate Who You Are
Announcements
Speaking Schedule
Daddy's Little Girls
Welcome to this week’s issue of Appreciation (and Authenticity) in Action.
The release of Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken continues to be fun, enlightening, and exciting on so many levels. I’m grateful and honored by the positive feedback I continue to receive from readers, the media, and more. I’m off to New York this week for the annual Book Expo – it will be fun to talk about my new book and the power of authenticity while I’m at the show!
This week’s article focuses on Celebrating Who You Are, which is Principle #5 (of my Five Principles of Authenticity) from Be Yourself. Enjoy!
Thanks for being on this list. I love being able to connect with you each week. Have a great day and rest of your week!
With Appreciation,
Celebrate Who You Are
How often do you truly celebrate who you are? Because many of us, myself included, spend so much time and energy focused on what we think is “wrong” with us, celebrating ourselves doesn’t often come that easy.
For me, I’ve spent much of my life – as a student, an athlete, in business, in relationships, and in general – demanding perfection of myself, and of course, falling short and feeling inadequate on a regular basis. Most people I know and work with have some version of “I’m not good enough” that runs their life. Even though many of us understand this, living our lives from a true place of self acceptance, self appreciation, and self love is often much easier said than done.
The ultimate goal of being ourselves in an authentic way is actually about loving ourselves in a generous way. If we truly love ourselves, most of what we worry about and even much of what we strive for in life becomes meaningless. We may still have some worries, and we’ll definitely continue to have goals, dreams, and desires. However, from a place of true self appreciation and self love, the fear behind our worries and the motivation for our goals dramatically changes from something we have to avoid or produce in order to be accepted and valued, to something we we’re genuinely concerned about or really want to accomplish.
On the flip side, if we don’t love ourselves, nothing much really matters. No matter what we conquer, create, or experience we’re never able to appreciate it, ourselves, or to be fulfilled in the process, because we’re constantly striving to be validated in an insatiable way.
Self love is what we’re all searching for. Sadly, we spend most of our lives thinking that someone or something else can give us what only we can give ourselves. To be truly fulfilled in life, we have to find that love within us and give it to ourselves. No other person, amount of money, material possession, or accomplishment can do it. It’s up to us. We have an opportunity to celebrate who we are for any reason and at any time.
Write a Love Letter To Yourself
This is a simple but powerful exercise I do in workshop and share in my new book, Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken. This process will allow you to take some time to celebrate who you are and to practice appreciating yourself!
Step 1 – Write a heartfelt letter of gratitude, appreciation, and love to yourself about yourself. Take some time, put some conscious and generous thoughts and feelings into it, and allow yourself to boldly express your love for yourself.
Step 2 – Put the letter in a sealed envelope with your name, address, and a stamp on it.
Step 3 – Give the letter to someone you trust and ask them to drop it in the mail to you at some point in the next year (without telling you when they do it).
It will show up in the perfect time and probably on a day you could really use some appreciation and acknowledgement. And, the best part is that the love and validation will come from you!
How can you celebrate yourself today? Share your thoughts, feelings, questions, and more on my blog here. 
Great New Books:
Training Camp, by Jon Gordon
My friend, international bestselling author Jon Gordon, has a brand new book called Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else. It’s an inspirational story filled with invaluable lessons and insights on bringing out the best in yourself and your team. Whether you are in business or ministry, management or sales, play sports or the piano, these lessons apply to everyone who must climb the mountain before reaching its peak. To order copies of this wonderful new book today and gain access to free additional tools for the success of you and those around you, click here.
Excuses Begone, by Dr. Wayne Dyer
In his brand new book, Excuses Begone: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits, Dr. Wayne Dyer reveals how to change the destructive thinking patterns that have prevented you from living at the highest levels of success, happiness, and health. Through this book, you’ll realize that there are no excuses worth defending, ever, even if they’ve always been part of your life—and the joy of releasing them will resonate throughout your very being. When you eliminate the need to explain your shortcomings or failures, you’ll awaken to the life of your dreams. For more information about this book and to order copies today, check out this link.
My New Book – Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken
As you know, my new book, Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken: Transform Your Life with the Power of Authenticity, came out last month. I’m super excited about this book and about sharing some important ideas, principles, and practices that you can use to live your life with a deeper sense of authenticity, fulfillment, and confidence. To order discounted copies of my new book today and receive free bonus gifts from amazing authors like Michael Bernard Beckwith, Marci Shimoff, Gay Hendricks, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and many, many others, click here.
Where I’m Speaking:
Below is a list of where and when I’m speaking for the next few months. Many of these events are for my corporate or organizational clients (i.e. not open to the public). The ones in bold, however, are public events….most of which are book related events. I hope to see you at one of these!
For all of my upcoming public events, click on this link. If you live in any of the cities where I’ll be traveling and want to contact me about setting up a speaking engagement for your group or company, or doing a book related event while I’m in town, feel free to contact me.
5/29/09 – New York, NY
6/3/09 – Mountain View, CA
6/7/09 – Corte Madera, CA (GGCSL)
6/8/09 – San Francisco, CA (Commonwealth Club)
6/9/09 – San Francisco, CA
6/10/09 – Oakland, CA (OCSL)
6/16/09 – San Francisco, CA
6/17/09 – San Francisco, CA
6/23/09 – Concord, CA
6/25/09 – Palo Alto, CA
7/22/09 – Tempe, AZ (Changing Hands Books)
8/7/09 – Columbus, OH
Again, for a full list of my upcoming public events, check out: http://www.beyourselfbook.com/events.htm.
“We celebrate ourselves (and each other) all the time!”
- Samantha and Annarose Robbins
