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600 Personal Development Exercises

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Are we really made in the image of God?

8/21/2021

 

MIRROR IMAGE

We are made
in the image of God.
This does not necessarily mean
that God looks like a human.

But if we look closely
at each other,
we can see that God, (or love),
exists in each of us.

And when we look
at everyone,
we can see that, together,
we are all in God. 

For we are not apart from God,
but part of God.
Each one of us and all of us,
together, forever, as one.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Describe in practical 'doing' words what love looks like.
2. If we bring all of the love that ever existed together, what would that look like? 


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Day 515 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How do you say thank-you to the one you love?

8/6/2021

 

​LOVE LETTER
 

Thank you for your faith in me.
Thank you for your trust in me.
Thank you for your unfailing ability
to see the best in me.
 
Thank you for being consistent
in your love for me.
Thank you for your unwavering loyalty
and support of me.
Thank you for cherishing my
ongoing mistakes, and accepting that
these are a vital part of me.
 
Thank you for being there.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for loving me.

​​​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Write your letter and say thank-you to the one you love.

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Day 500 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the Great Love?

7/21/2021

 

THE GREAT LOVE
 
Imagine that the Great Love is water.
It is everywhere.
Is in the oceans lapping up to your feet on the beach.
It is flowing from our taps and carried around in bottles.
It helps us to wash and keep clean.
It refreshes and sustains us,
for without water we would die.
 
Imagine that the Great Love is air.
It is everywhere.
Invisible and yet all powerful.
Above us and around us.
Constantly within us.
Sustaining us with every single breath,
for without air we would die.
 
Imagine that the Great Love is the sun giving us light and heat.
Imagine that the Great Love is all energy.
Imagine that the Great Love is all living things.
Imagine that the Great Love is all humanity.
Imagine that the Great Love is all of this.
Imagine that the Great Love is you.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you imagine the Great Love to be?
2. How can you be in this, with this, apart from this - and yet, be all that this is?
​

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Day 484 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the answer?

7/1/2021

 

THE ANSWER
 
It is the pot that holds the soup. 
It is our soup. 
It is the universe that holds the world. 
It is our world. 
It is the arm that holds the child. 
It is our child. 
It is the book that holds the word. 
It is our word.
It is the face that holds a smile. 
It is our smile.
It is the meaning of life and living. 
It is our life, our living. 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Ok now, what was your question again?
2. What are the questions that you would really like an answer to? 

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Day 464 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

​What is happening under your Duvet?

6/26/2021

 

DUVET
 

Our life is meant to be
an ongoing conversation with love.
It’s the seamless, constant and
eternal fabric of who we are.
For we are love, part of love
and with love in everything.
 
However, the noise and relentless
busyness and activities of life
smother this conversation.
It’s like a duvet has been placed
over our speaker and we hear
only a muffled sound.
 
So let’s go beneath the
duvet of the world, and be
in our silence, whenever we can.
For here the conversation continues,
as we explore, ask, learn, develop,
grow, listen and become....
all, in this space.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. As you snuggle down at night, be grateful for these priceless monemts as you drift into sleep - for this is your place of peace and love.
2. When you waken up each morning say hello to love - just to remind yourself who you are - and where the real conversation is....

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Day 459​ of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Baby love?

6/11/2021

 

​BABY LOVE​
 
I marvel at the helplessness
and trust of your little baby girl,
who is totally dependent
on you for everything.
 
This is the same relationship
that we all have with love.
We too, live totally unaware
of all that sustains us.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Who is the one who looks after us? ​

Day 444 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Where there really Fires at Pentecost?

5/23/2021

 

WILDFIRES AT PENTECOST
 
Let us each be the protector
for the spark of love,
that is in all of us.
 
Let us each be the fuel
for the flame of love,
growing in each of us.
 
Let us each burn brightly
as wildfires of love,
consuming all of us together.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE?
1. Have you the spark of Love within you?
2. Can you help to fuel the flame of Love within you?
3. Can we become wildfires of Love together? 


Day 425 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Do you believe in Love?

5/8/2021

 

THE HOLDALL 
 
Love holds those
of all faiths and no faith
together as one.
Love is all faith,
open to all and 
freely available.
 
Love holds those
of all belief and non-belief
together as one.
Love is all belief,
open to all and 
freely available.
 
Love holds all those
with faith and no faith,
with belief and non-belief,
together as one.
 Love holds all of us
together as one.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Are you totally at one with those from other beliefs or non belief, or from other faiths or no faith?   
2. Can you see all of us as one in holdall of Love?   ​


Day 410 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is a Father and Son relationship?

4/2/2021

 

FATHER AND SON
 
What father would give up
his son to the most brutal of deaths,
for a people who have rejected
his message, his healing and his love?
 
What father who when asked,
by his son, that this brutal death
should be taken away,
still asks his son
to accept this end?
 
What son obeys his father
to the point where he gives up
absolutely everything,
simply because his father
has asked him?
 
What father and son is this?
What do they know?
What do they see?
Who are they on Good Friday?
And on Easter Sunday?

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What does Good Friday mean for our relationships with those closest to us?

​Day 374 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

When exactly was Creation?

3/29/2021

 

CREATION

Creation was not a one-off event.
Creation continues in every
zeptosecond, and in everything
that has been created.
 
More babies are born to build love.
The Universe continues to expand
at an incredible rate.
Creation is only in its infancy.
 
God is in every single molecule
 and in every quark of everything.
For God is the eternal
ever-expanding creation of love.
 
We too, have been given an
ever-expanding role beyond
our limited human thinking,
false beliefs and fear of failure.
 
We will never stop growing in love.
For this is our mission and purpose
as part of creation.
We too, are only in our infancy.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is holding you back from becoming an eternal ever-expanding creation of love?

​Day 370 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the Good News?

3/17/2021

 

THE GOOD NEWS

The Good News is
an understanding
and an awareness of
who we truly are.
 
We are love
and we are loved.
This love can never die.
 
Jesus overcame death
by rising from the dead
to show us this,
so that we would
believe  in ourselves.
 
So, the Good News
is an ongoing call to believe
in the goodness of yourself.
It’s about you recognising
that you are a loving person
and a giver of love.
 
You also make sacrifices
for love and in turn, you too,
will go beyond death
and live forever.
 
The Good News is the
gift of eternal love
that asks nothing of you
but to believe in yourself.
 
With this understanding
and self awareness you can
do amazing work
in helping others and
in creating a kinder world.
 
These are the fruits
of the Good News,
the love that is each of us
and the reason that we are here.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How do you show love? List 5 examples
2. How do others show you love? List 5 examples
3. What could you do today to help others ?​


Day 358 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Effective Listening?

3/7/2021

 

EFFECTIVE LISTENING

I am sometimes asked how God 
is continually working with us?
How does he communicate, help,
encourage and guide each of us?

The first point is that God is love
 and we are love,
so we are intimately connected
as one.

Once we see this,
then we can begin to understand
 that we are in a dynamic
 and loving relationship.

Secondly, everyone else is also
made of love,
 and so, we are in this
human endeavour together.
 We are  all working for the same purpose.

God communicates directly with us
and directly through others to us.
Indeed, everything happening around us
 is a conversation from God,
a conversation of love.

Everything that happens, guides us,
more and more,
 to become total love,
for this is what we are all to become.

Very few people receive mystical visions,
so how does God communicate with us?
He speaks to us directly not through words
 but in thoughts, ideas, laughter, reflections,
wonder, success and disappointment.

He speaks directly to us through others,
through their encouragement, their help,
their guidance, their kindness and their support.
All of this is happening constantly,
within us and around us.

But effective communication
depends on two things,
listening and responding.

If we don’t ‘listen’ to what is happening today,
within us, around us, in the direction of our lives,
in our habits and in our work,
then how can we ever understand our journey?

And if we don’t respond with acknowledgement,
with gratitude, with conversation, with
challenging ourselves, and taking responsibility
for the love that we are,
then how will we grow?

God is speaking to you now, as always.
Love is calling you to listen, today.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How well are you listening to yourself?
2. Are you giving yourself time to grow?
3. How are others helping you on your journey to total love?


Day 348 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the meaning of St Valentine's Day?

2/14/2021

 

​SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY

Commit yourself to love
with all your heart,
for this is your passion
that is above all passions.

Commit yourself to love
with all your soul,
for this is the part of you
that is pure and eternal.

Commit yourself to love
with all your mind,
for this will uncover all
that you will ever know.
 
Nurture and cherish
the love that is within you
and the love that you are.
With all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. How can you commit yourself to love on this Saint Valentine's Day?
2. What does it mean to nurture and cherish the love within you - with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind? 


Day 327 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is waiting in our Night-time?

2/11/2021

 

WAKE-UP CALL
 

In the quiet of night-time,
at three in the morning,  
when I am supposed to be asleep.
My head is full
of problems to be solved,
and worries about those I love.
 
Instead of these worldly concerns
taking me away from God,
I find they bring me closer to him.
My worries are an open door
to be with love, and
to work out what we should do.
 
But this is more
than problem solving,
or a business meeting.
This is a joyful relationship
with love, at now, four in the morning,
whilst the world sleeps.
 
And he is there, every night,
for each of us.
Waiting to be with us.
Waiting to be asked,
to sort out the troubles
and worries that keep us awake.
 
If we look out our window
we see that the problems
that consume our thinking, are
in fact a blessing, a wake-up call,
an invitation and a joyful reminder, 
of the love that waits for us in the night.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. Is there anything that is worrying you?
2. When will you plan an early morning call?


Day 324 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is a Statement of Loss?

2/9/2021

 

STATEMENT OF LOSS
 
Today is my Dad’s anniversary.
He died eleven years ago today.
I still miss him.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. Who do you miss?
2. How will you remember and celebrate them today?


Day 322 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is our place in the Human Race?

1/25/2021

 

​HUMAN RACE

The wheels of generations turn,
as older ones retreat,
and new little ones join in.
All is played out between us.

The baton of love passes,
gently and seamlessly.
Yet it never leaves the giver,
nor stays with the receiver.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. What are you doing with the baton of love that has been entrusted to you? 

Day 307 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What was Shakespeare's famous question?

1/6/2021

 

​TO BE OR NOT TO BE

May love be today
in all that I say,
in all that I do,
in all that I think,
and  in all that I am.

May love be today
in all that I don’t say
in all that I don’t do
in all that I don’t think,
and in all that I am not.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. 'To be or not to be' -  that great line from Hamlet by William Shakespeare. What does it mean to who and what you are?

Day 288 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Does Hell exist?

1/5/2021

 

HELL
 
There is no Hell.
 
Hell has already existed
for many in this life.
There has been enough suffering.
 
There is only love to come.
Open to all, really available,
warm, welcoming and joyful.
 
Love will consume all hatred,
all evil and all our distress.
Love will renew our hopes,
cherish our loved ones,
and restore all as it should be.
 
There has been enough fear.

​The only hell that exists
is the one that we create,
and love will conquer this.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What would you like love to restore or renew for you?

Day 287 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How is Love shaping you now?

12/9/2020

 

​RELENTLESS

Love is the toughest thing ever.
It challenges all aspects of who we are.
It confronts our ego and our focus on self.
It challenges our behaviours in every interaction.
It calls us to change all that we are and do.
It demands we give all that we hold onto.
It reminds us of our failings and
the pain we cause others.
Love is relentless.
This is how it shapes us and guides us.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How exactly is love shaping you now? 

Day 260 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is Love what you imagine?

12/5/2020

 

VISIONARY

​Imagine that the great love is water.
It is everywhere.
Is in the oceans lapping up
to your feet on the beach.
 
It is the water flowing from your taps
 and carried around in bottles.
It helps us to wash and keep clean.
It refreshes and sustains us,
for without water we would die.
 
Imagine that the great love is air.
It is everywhere.
Invisible and yet all powerful.
Above us and around us,
constantly within us.
Sustaining us with every single breath,
for without air we would die.
 
Imagine that the great love is the sky,
giving us light and heat.
Imagine that the great love is all energy.
Imagine that the great love is all living things.
Imagine that the great love is all humanity.
Imagine that the great love is all of this.
Imagine that the great love is you.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What does love mean to you? ​

Day 256 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Does Love have a Short term Memory?

9/12/2020

 

SHORT TERM MEMORY​
 
Love forgives us
for everything,
unconditionally.
No matter what.
Right from now.
 
Love then forgets
everything that it forgives.
We can start again, afresh.
No matter what.
Right from now.
 
Love insists that you too
forgive yourself, and forget all
that you carry as a burden.
No matter what.
Right from now.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you still need to forgive yourself for? Do it now.
2. There is no longer any burden to carry. Are you ready to start afresh, right from now? 


Day 173 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How should we start each day?

7/23/2020

 

ALARM CALL
 
Started in work mode.
Straight onto my phone.
Planning the day.
Checking my appointments.
Writing my to do list.
Forgot to smile
and say good morning
to the one I love.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is the first thing you do each morning when you awaken?  
2. Where is your smile?  


Day 122 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the future of the World Wide Web?

6/27/2020

 

WORLD WIDE WEB
 
The World Wide Web has existed
since the beginning of time.
It has enabled people to link up and
help one another without limitation.
 
If we say a prayer today
for someone in need who we don’t know
we can reach out with love
and we will change the world.
 
For our gift of love will explode
like a million  meteor showers,
exploding together at once
and covering the whole world.
 
And these explosions of love
will in turn create more explosions of love.
In an instant we can change,
help and support the lives of everyone.
 
The exponential growth of love,
beyond culture, countries or technology
is personal, direct and transformative.
It’s our world wide web of love.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Send out a message on the World Wide Web of love.
2. Where will your meteor showers land?


Day 96 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How would you describe 'Your Way'?

6/14/2020

 

SCENARIO PLANNING
 
There are many ways.
You have your own way.
And your way has
many options and possibilities.
 
Stay on your own path.
It may be muddled or uncertain now
but it will become clear.
Be yourself.
 
Stay true to yourself
and to all those who love (and have loved) you
for they too are on the path
of love and uncertainty.
 
Love all others
for your kindness (with a smile and a helping hand)
can be a signpost on their journey.
And yours.
 
You have a fixed amount of time
so take every moment to work for love.
All else will pass.
Love is.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are your options and possibilities?
2. How would you describe ‘your way”?


Day 83 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the Gift of Grace?

6/3/2020

 

TRIAL AND ERROR

My failings remind me
that I am still on the right path.
They point me again
in the right direction.
They encourage me
as I start again.

This is not about
determination or effort.
Rather it is about
the gift of grace
which opens the window
to let the light in.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are your failings?
2. How would you describe the gift of grace that enables you to start again?


Day 72 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
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