| Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine (sm) "Postive Psychology to the Rescue..." (sm) November 2006 |
| Published by Maurine D. Patten, Ed.D., CMC Founder & CEO, Patten Coaching & Consulting www.pattencoaching.com |
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| In This Issue: 1. Preview 2. How to Be More Inspired and Motivated 3. Getting into Action 4. Looking Ahead |
| 1. Preview Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine explores how to progress rapidly from dreams to action. It is a free monthly email newsletter written by Maurine D. Patten, life/business coach and clinical psychologist. Using Positive Psychology, topics are presented from the perspective of Maurine Patten and are provided to help you get the results you want. It will help you manage change, improve your Emotional Intelligence and make better decisions with less effort. During several presentations this last month, I have had the opportunity to talk about "engagement" which is one of the four types of happiness described in A Primer in Positive Psychology (2006) by Christopher Peterson. Mihaly Cxikszentmihalyi refers to it as flow. With holidays coming up in November and December, wouldn't we all like to experience feeling engaged in what we are doing instead of going through the motions? To discover your present level of engagement, go to www.AuthenticHappiness.org and take the free assessment "Approaches to Happiness". It will give you scores for three types of happiness. The second score is for Engaged. This issue focuses on how to increase your level of engagement and the rewards you will receive for being more engaged in life. Back to Index |
| 2. How to Be More Inspired and Motivated Engagement is being involved in activities that attract and hold your attention. Athletes refer to it as "being in the zone"; others say it is being focused. Characteristics of being engaged are:
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| 3. Getting into Action Being engaged in an activity creates positive emotions afterwards that build psychological resources. It can be thought of as psychological capital that will build your cognitive and behavioral repertoire for future actions. It helps you manage stressful areas in your life by creating positive emotions that can undo the physiological effects of negative emotions, such as anxiety. Cognitively, you experience enhanced verbal fluency and attention, increased openness to information, and greater working memory. Engagement can be experienced at any age level and in all kinds of activities. Whether at work or play, the activities are often perceived as voluntary. You do not have to be an expert. The key to being engaged is finding the optimal balance between skill level and challenge. The challenge must meet your skill level, and vice versa. If there is too much challenge or too low a skill level, it is difficult to feel engaged. As you learn more or become more skillled, the challenge must be increased. Students rarely experience engagement during school activities or doing homework. Watching televisioin, hanging out with friends, or playing video games does not create true engagement because the level of inspiration does not last. These activities fall more into what is called "false engagement". On the other hand, discussions or deeper conversations with friends may be true engagement if the basic characteristics are met. Back to Index |
| 4. Looking Ahead For engagement to be present, there needs to be a balance between the challenge and skill level of the activity. The higher the challenge the more support is needed. The rewards for engagement are tremendous. Whether it is short-lived or longer, we all benefit from activities that allow us to be engaged - to build the positive emotions that further inspire and motivate us. What activities can you choose to do daily that will allow you to experience this level of happiness? What choices can you make as you prepare for the upcoming holidays that will help you experience times of engagement? As a life coach, I can help you increase times of engagement. I look forward to hearing from you, mdpcoach@pattencoaching.com. Maurine Patten mdpcoach@pattencoaching.com Back to Index |
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| Contact Information Patten Coaching & Consulting Voice: 630-584-8936 Fax: 630-584-8868 Web: http://www.pattencoaching.com E-Mail: mdpcoach@pattencoaching.com (c) Copyright 2002 Patten Coaching & Consulting All rights reserved. |
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| Mission Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine is dedicated to inspiring and expanding your perspective in order for you to move forward in your personal and professional life. Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine is a publication of Patten Coaching & Consulting; CEO, Maurine D. Patten, Ed.D. CMC, mdpcoach@pattencoaching.com We would like Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine to be as interactive as possible. If you have feedback, comments, topics you would like addressed, or can suggest additional resources to benefit us all, please email us at any time. Send your e-mail to ezinefeedback@pattencoaching.com. Please forward this issue to anyone you think would find Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine interesting and beneficial. Your recommendations help us keep growing, and ensure an excellent exchange of information and techniques. Archives You can read previous issues of Achieving Personal Fulfillment Ezine in our archives on our archives page. |
| About Maurine D. Patten, Ed.D., CMC Maurine Patten is a clinical psychologist and certified life/business coach. Her professional career includes: independent business owner (25 years), Assistant Professor at Chicago State University, and consultant for education and business. She is a graduate of the MentorCoach training program and a member of the International Coach Federation. She is experienced in training and management development for large national and international firms. She has a strong background in working with individuals and couples on clarifying and achieving goals. Dr. Patten has training in coaching, Emotional Intelligence, retirement assessment and planning, cognitive therapy and health psychology. She has published articles, made presentations, and conducted workshops about:
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