Welcome to Judi Moreo’s monthly ezine, developed specifically for people who want to be the best they can be and enjoy much success in their lives! Please feel free to forward this to associates, friends, and family!

• Feature Article: The Fear Factor
  
• Product of the Month: Conquer the Brain Drain
• Mind Workout: PNP Thinking
• What Judi's Customers Are Saying

Hi ,

As Halloween is fast approaching, it occurred to me that you might be as curious about it’s origins as I was. Here’s some of what I found.

October 31st – the evening before All Hallow’s Day (also known as All Saints Day) and sometimes called Hallow’s Eve.  All Hallow’s Day is a Catholic day of observance of saints. In the 5th century BC it was believe that  the disembodied spirits of all those who died throughout the preceding year would come back on the last night of summer – which just happened to be the day before All Hallow’s Day - in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be these spirits only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

Not wanting to be possessed, Celtic villagers would make their homes cold and undesirable by extinguishing the fires in their homes.  Dressed up in all manner of ghoulish costumes, they would parade around the village with noisy destruction in order to frighten away any spirits that might be looking for bodies to possess.

When the Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own, the thrust of the practices changed over time to become more ritualized. When belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts and witches took on a more ceremonial role.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, noisy destruction in New England took the form of tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.

Over the years, Halloween has become a uniquely secular, American holiday with little but its name to connect it to the Celtic pagan end of summer. Ghosts and goblins, monsters and fairy princesses can be seen wandering the streets of most American towns…in search not of souls to possess, but of treats to devour.

Have a Happy Halloween,

Judi

What frightens you?  What ghosts and goblins of your past are lurking in the deep recesses of your mind? What monsters do you fear are blocking your path to your future?  We all have fears.  It is what you believe about them and how you face them that will determine your course in life.

There is a direct correlation between our achievement in life and the confidence we have in ourselves. And, our confidence is directly related to how focused we are on our fears.  We perform as well as we believe we will.  Whenever we feel good about ourselves and are doing well…whether in our relationships or our careers…we are demonstrating our self-confidence.  Whenever we allow our fears to influence our actions and, therefore, our results, we give up our power and base our self-image on false ideas and concepts.  Many of us are still allowing the fears we had years ago to affect our reality today.  Give them up.  Challenge yourself to bring your fears out into the light of day.  Examine them closely. The clearer you are about what they are, the easier it will be to overcome them or simply let go of them. Often, when we turn on the porch light, the ghost we fear the most is simply a small child shivering beneath a sheet.

You know in your heart you can either accept things as they are or take the responsibility to change them.  You will be happier if you feel you have control over your own circumstances. Don’t be a victim who sits around being stuck in fear and bad habits…just waiting for your luck to change, believing you are always in the wrong place at the wrong time or even thinking you must wait for the planets to align.
 

What It Is
A powerful thinking tool that will enable you to deliberately direct your attention first toward the Positive points, then toward the Negative points and finally toward the Possibility points. When used deliberately and in a disciplined manner, this exercise will accomplish an extensive exploration of an idea.

What You’ll Need

1. Flip Chart
2. Markers

How It Works
A PNP can be done in three minutes. You can use the PNP in one of two ways: either on your own or in a small discussion group with your team members.

P stands for the Positives
N stands for the Negatives
P stands for the Possibilities

Example: Do a PNP on the reasons why schedules should be changed to flextime.

"The class was a good success! I've had many employees tell me how reluctant they were to go, but ended up really liking it. Judi did a great job of keeping it fun and interesting. Thanks for everything!"

Linnea Emery
Human Resources Manager, SideMark

"The training was so very helpful. I learned a lot about my communication skills strengths and weaknesses. Judy was excellent."

Joven Lubina, SideMark

"I would highly recommend Judi as a motivational speaker to any group. Excellent!"

Jill Knapp, SideMark

We don't want to unnecessarily clutter your in-box
so if Motivational Tidbits doesn't meet your needs,
simply unsubscribe by going to:

http://www.judimoreo.com/ezine/unsubscribe.htm

We encourage you to forward this message to friends
or colleagues who want to be the best they can be and
enjoy much success in their lives!

http://www.judimoreo.com/ezine/subscribe.htm
  

© 2005-2006 Judi Moreo. All rights reserved. Feel free to use text from the Motivational Tidbits eZine in whole or in part as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site and e-mail links. Please also do us the courtesy of notifying us of where the material will appear.

Privacy Policy: We do not share any information about any subscriber with anyone for any reason. Period.