600 Personal Development Exercises
do one a day - every day!
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FORGETFUL Older people are sometimes viewed sympathetically or in a patronising way, when they seem to struggle to remember dates, or names, or events. But what younger people do not yet know is that as we grow older, we can be blessed with ‘the cloud of forgetting’, which is often given other names. An unknown 14th century mystic set out clearly for us, how the cloud of forgetting awaits us all, as we move upwards to become one with eternal love. Once we have this understanding, we too can experience the gift of forgetting, now. We can also look to forgetful older folks with a sense of wonder and learning. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. How might you learn and appreciate the gift of forgetting?  Day 537 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises PARADOX You do what you do, because it’s what you must do You do what you do, because you are only here once. And you do what you do, knowing that, none of this matters. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Write down how the paradox of life applies to you.  Day 520 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises MY WAY You will find the path to your inner self. Others can make suggestions but only you know what is real. It’s not in any pre-packaged structure or methodology, for you are your own solution and will find your own way. St Ignatius of Loyola famously said ‘just do what works’. And Frank Sinatra sang about ‘My Way’. So, keep asking or listening, looking or reading, being busy or sitting still, and uncover your inner self. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Think about 'your way' and 'your path' to your inner self. What have you uncovered so far? 2. Start a conversation with yourself in your Journal and you will notice new thoughts every day.  Day 451 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises THE GREATEST PRAYER The greatest prayer is in our silence where we have no words and no thoughts. Where nothing happens. So, sit and say nothing. Think of nothing, as best you can. And just be there with the love you are. For prayer is not about religion, nor any set of words. Prayer is the place of love within each of us. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Sit in silence for 20 minutes. Sit and say nothing. Think of nothing, as best you can. And just be there with the love you are. Day 446 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION The great transformation of your life is about to begin. You will see things in a different way. You will think about things in a different way. You will relate to others in a different way. And there are no words to describe this transformation. For all words limit, and reduce what you are about to become. Your transformation has begun. Hold the seed gently. Be quiet. Walk slowly. Give this process a chance to take root in your busy brain, and predictable life. For you will never think the same again. You will never act the same again. You will never be the same again. Today you have received the invitation of all invitations. Begin to get ready. Clear the decks. Be willing to grow. For everything you do from now on, will speak to you of transformation. The words you hear will be of encouragement for your transformation. The people you meet will be the helpers for your transformation And every day will give you the next stage, the next piece, and the next step forward in your transformation. You have nothing to do but to be ready, to be open, and to say yes each day, to your great transformation. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. How can you begin, in this moment, your Great Transformation? Day 432 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
ORANGES We are more than one thing. We are not defined by our job, or the work that we do. Each of us is like an orange that we can divide gently into separate segments. Each segment is a different piece of who we are. Each piece looks the same from the outside. And each piece fits together as one. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE? 1. What are your segments? Day 422 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
NOTHING It is when there is no activity, that all activity happens. It is when there are no outcomes, that the real outcomes occur. It is when there is no thinking, that there is no need to think. It is when nothing gets done, that everything is done. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE? 1. What does nothing mean to you - in all aspects of your life and who you are? Day 420 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD It is only in the place of total silence, that we can hear words spoken without sound. It is only in the place of total darkness, that we can become the brightest light. It is only in the place of total emptiness, that we can touch what is really here. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE? 1. What do you hear in total silence? 2. What do you see in total darkness? 3. What do you touch in total emptiness? Day 413 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
WHITE SPACE When I feel the automatic urge to pick up my phone, switch on the TV, or browse the net, I now pause. For I realise that these are habits I’ve learned. I fill my brain and use up my time, with activities. It’s all other people’s content, and although some is good, to be honest, most is not really the food of life! I 'm trying not to give away my time and my focus to external content. I'm learning to be more selective in my choices. My freelance graphic designer has spent years telling me about white space, and urging me to see things differently. ‘You don’t need to fill every piece of the page with text, images or content,’ she says. I’m now leaving empty spaces in my day, replacing the urge to fill every moment. It’s my white space time. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. When is your White Space time today? 2. How much are you filling up on other people's content? Day 400 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
THE RULE OF ONE The center of the universe and of everything is in each of us. All power and powerlessness lies within each of us, in our own measure. All resources and lack of resources lie within each of us, in our own measure. All opportunity and struggle lies within each of us, in our own measure. All joy and pain lies within each of us, in our own measure. All hope and hopelessness lies within each of us, in our own measure All love rests within each of us, overflowing beyond all imagination, embracing each of us, without measure. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What is your measure of power, resources, opportunity, joy and hope? 2. Where is our embrace for those who struggle, are in pain or powerless in our world? Day 398 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
INNER AND OUTER LEARNING There are two parts of your self. There is a busy part that we know well and lasts a lifetime. The quieter part is hidden and it lasts forever. This is the part that we must find. These are the two aspects to personal development. Outer learning shows us how to survive and grow in the world. And Inner learning teachers us about who we really are. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What are you doing to develop your inner learning? 2. What are you doing to develop your outer learning? Day 392 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
IDENTITY PARADE It’s not that I don’t care anymore, about what others think of me. It’s that I care more than ever, about who I am. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. How would you describe how others see you? 2. How close is this image to the real you? 3. What is stopping you being open with others about who you really are? Day 384 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN Life doesn’t come neatly packaged in different boxes such as work, relationships, spirituality, health, happiness, children, career aspirations, money or hobbies. No, everything is mixed together. So, when it comes to personal development do not limit yourself to courses such as communication skills, or books on the latest business idea, or webinars on income generation. Our life isn’t one dimensional. It has multiple jigsaws with pieces all mixed together. These pieces sit alongside each other, slotting together, overlapping and creating multiple pictures, all of the time, for us. We all have pieces on self-improvement, emotional development, inner learning, mental health, spiritual development, fitness programmes, vocational training, personal wellbeing, career progression, and so much more, to explore and enjoy. Develop every aspect of what speaks to you, what you love and what makes you happy. Create new pictures. Personal development is your call to play with all of the different pieces that make up the unique person that you are. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Make a list of all of the aspects of personal development that you would like to explore. 2. Put a series of actions against each one of these - and start to play! Day 379 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercise
CONSCIOUSNESS Our consciousness consists of just two elements. The journey of life that has taken us to this point, and the moment that is now. Both are reinvented and repositioned every second, as we grow and change. We are continually being recreated in all that we are. This moment informs and defines the pinnacle of our lives. This moment is our end point. Our journey, has all been for this. And that is why, this moment holds all that we are, and ever will be. This is why this moment is so precious, as the amazing gift that is now. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What is growing, changing and being recreated for you in this moment? Day 371 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
DISTRACTION All life is distraction from who we really are. All activity is distraction from what we should do. All thinking is distraction from not needing to think. All distraction is a reminder of looking in the wrong place. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What does distraction mean for you? Day 367 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
WITHIN AND WITHOUT There is something too deep for words that is part of us. There is something too deep for thoughts that is part of us. There is something too gentle for words that is all around us. There is something too gentle for thoughts that is all around us. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. What is too deep for words or thoughts that is part of you? 2. What is too gentle for words or thoughts that is all around you? Day 355 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
CONCENTRATION You cannot fill a full glass. So empty some. Empty out some more or start with an empty glass. Leave space within you for new thinking. Do not dilute your new thoughts Concentrate on your true way. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Are you too busy, chasing around and trying to fit everything in? Have you little time for your own development? What could empty out? Day 344 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
WRITER'S BLOCK I have never suffered from writer's block. I have never worried about the words not coming, or writing a daily quota. You see, for me the words are a by-product, and not the main objective. My aim is to sit quietly and this is the process that may, or may not, produce words. The real joy, wonder and contentment comes in the process of sitting quietly. For this is the block we can all build upon each day. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. When do you sit quietly? 2. When do you write the words that are within you? Day 340 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
INVERSE PROPORTION By stepping back from the world. By spending time on our own. By moving further into our being. And by going deeper into ourselves, we in fact move away from all notions of self, to be closer to where we truly belong. By going inwards we really go outwards, and we see more and more, that we are connected to all that ever was, and ever will be. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. How are you learning to go deeper into yourself? 2. What is your 'self'? Day 338 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
BECOMING Be with me at the start of the day. Be with me throughout the day. Be with me at the end of the day. Be with me in all our thoughts. Be with me in all our actions. Be with me in all our relationships. Be with me in all we were. Be with me in all we are. Be with me in all we will become. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. Define what each of these means for you - be, being and becoming? 2. What is the practical day to day outworking of each? How are they each made visible in your day? Day 334 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
SCALES What if in the bigger scheme of things, failure, is just as important as a success? What if in the bigger scheme of things, inactivity, is just as important as activity? What if in the bigger scheme of things, poverty and pain, are just as valuable as riches and fame? What if in the bigger scheme of things, failure to achieve anything, was just as important as achieving something? What if in the bigger scheme of things, periods of desolation and depression, are just as important as times of excitement and jubilation? What if in the bigger scheme of things, we are using the wrong scales? What if there are no scales and that everything is one? PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. How do you measure what is important to you? Day 323 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
DAYDREAMING There are times when our minds wander off beyond thoughts, into nothingness. It seems like we have gone beyond daydreaming. These are precious moments, not a time of lost activity. For beyond daydreaming is the place of all nothingness. When for a few moments, we journey beyond ourselves PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. How are you developing the skill of going beyond daydreaming? 2. When will you next sit in silence and journey beyond yourself? Day 316 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
HEADS OR TAILS? There is no success and there is no failure. There is only the outcome that is here with us now. There is no past and there is no future. There is only the process that is here with us now. There is no other and there is no self. There is only the one that is here with us now. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. What does success and failure mean to you? 2. What does your past and your future say to you? Day 312 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
COLLECTING MY THOUGHTS It’s like trying to capture snowflakes, in the wind. Different thoughts arrive together, and I grasp my pen. I’ve missed one. It’s melted and gone. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. 1. What thoughts can you collect right now? 2. What will you do with these? Day 305 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
SITTING ROOM I used to think of this time just sitting quietly, as taking a chunk out of my day when I had so much to do. Now I know that this time just sitting quietly, is the most important part of my day and is all I need to do. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 1. When are you going to sit quietly today? Day 291 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
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