Categories: uncategorized
Date: 09 June 2006 15:33:51
There is a website called reJesus, which invited its readers to subscribe to an email course on happiness. Tractorgirl recently encountered the author of this course at a life coaching workshop, and I have been inspired by her account to think that I should try to put down on virtual paper my thoughts arising out of my doing one of these courses. It was in January of this year; I think that reJesus sent out a mailing pointing out that the New Year was traditionally time to take a good look at oneself and one's goals, and hey! here's a framework for doing it.In fact, there were a number of courses, concentrating on different areas of life. I did the one on work.
I have to say that the actual experience of reading the emails and trying to do the accompanying exercises was not altogether happy. I suppose that you could say that the exercises were challenging. If someone had been marking my achievements out of ten I wouldn't have been doing too well. In fact, I finished the course, but felt somewhat negative about the whole thing. But in retrospect, I am realising that the effort was worthwhile. I know myself better now than I did when I started (and at 50-something, you begin to think that you know yourself pretty well). To be honest, I don't think that I made any startling discoveries, but I do think that I faced up to one or two facts.
I take Tractorgirl's point, that the author manages to incorporate some of Jesus' teaching, without it seeming contrived. He blends some up-to-date sensible advice with some timeless truths, and comes up with a package that is quite enlightening.
Am I happy? I don't know, but listening to Bruce Stanley certainly hasn't done me any harm.