Seven soulful secrets.Use them to your life's benefit At one time, Karen Taylor Karen Taylor is an English comedienne from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. She is a former finalist in the prestigious Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award[1] and has fronted her own sketch show on BBC Three, entitled Touch Me, I'm Karen Taylor. , 33, was running away from her purpose in life. After spending several years as an entertainment publicist pub·li·cist n. One who publicizes, especially a press or publicity agent. publicist Noun a person, such as a press agent or journalist, who publicizes something publicist , Taylor ventured into marketing only to discover publicity was her true career path. "I thought publicity was an avenue to something else but I realized that publicity took a certain gift and passion. I had to accept that I had this gift and that this was one of my purposes," says Taylor, who launched her own public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most firm, Newark, New Jersey-based TaylorMade Media, in 1999, and counts Grammy-nominated, neosoul singer Jill Scott among her clients. "Purpose" is one of the steps--and is also the acronym for all seven steps in Stephanie Stokes Oliver's new book, Seven Soulful soul·ful adj. Full of or expressing deep feeling; profoundly emotional. soul  ful·ly adv. Secrets for Finding Your Purpose and Minding Your Mission
(Doubleday, $22.95). "Finding your purpose is discovering what
makes you happy, what you have a passion for, and how you can serve
others," says Oliver, editor in chief of Niaonline.com and author
of Daily Cornbread: 365 Secrets for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit
(Doubleday, $22.95).
According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. one passage: "If we look at the lives of great people, their purpose seems so clear. It could be said that Martin Luther King Jr. was born to give this country--and the world--a vision of equality for all, and to work toward making it a reality. Yet he lived with doubt and insecurities brought on by the high cost of having that purpose. But his triumph was in never letting that adversity stop him from pursuing what was embedded in his soul." The other soulful secrets are "ultimacy," "which means being your unique, unusual, unequaled, unbought, and unbossed self"; relaxation; "positivity"; optimum health; spirituality; and esteem. While Seven Soulful Secrets targets black women, Oliver offers universal advice along with helpful exercises. A chapter is dedicated to each secret, taking readers on a journey of self-awareness. For instance, there are nine steps to being the ultimate you. Here are just a few of them: * Be unique. It's our uniqueness that sets us apart and defines our own purposes. * Try the unexpected. This means try something out of the ordinary like volunteering at a retirement home, or going to a hospital to hold boarder babies board·er baby n. An infant, often the offspring of drug addicts or AIDS victims, who remains for months, sometimes up to a year, at the hospital where he or she was born, waiting for placement in a home. . * Be unequaled. "When you do whatever you do better than anyone else, you'll always get ahead." * Go for the unusual. There is nothing wrong with being something different from what the world thinks you are. Taylor puts the secrets to use daily. She tries to find the positive in negative events. "I've always had good self-esteem, but I make myself be still so I can appreciate how blessed I am and to give thanks," Taylor explains. She also makes time to exercise--even if it's just a walk--and gets eight hours of sleep per night. "When I travel, I build in extra days just for myself. It's important to rejuvenate re·ju·ve·nate tr.v. re·ju·ve·nat·ed, re·ju·ve·nat·ing, re·ju·ve·nates 1. To restore to youthful vigor or appearance; make young again. 2. , refocus Verb 1. refocus - focus once again; The physicist refocused the light beam" focus - cause to converge on or toward a central point; "Focus the light on this image" 2. , and relax," she says. "You can't work hard unless you relax hard," Oliver agrees. "If you're always in a meeting or on the phone, it's hard to move forward. You need to take time for strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. ." Oliver concludes: "Reaching your full unique potential ... is your purpose in life. And the path you take to do so is your mission." |
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