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Maurine Patten, EdD, CMC, is a clinical psychologist and certified coach/consultant. She empowers professionals increasing self-confidence, motivation and performance by combining research from Positive Psychology, Neuroscience, Emotional Intelligence and Appreciative Inquiry. Her professional career includes: independent business owner (28 years), consultant for organizations, businesses, and education. She was an Assistant Professor at Chicago State U. and Assistant Director of DeKalb County Special Education Association. She is a certified graduate of the MentorCoach program, a ... [More]

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Are You Ready to Achieve a Life Worth Living?
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] Individuals want many things. That does not mean they will be motivated to do what needs to be done to achieve what they want. Discover how you can know if you are ready to do something. By listening for six words you and others use, you will gain the information you need to know how important something is to you and if you are really ready to say "yes" to moving forward with a plan.

2 Super Tips For Beating Procrastination
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Motivation and action are important at every stage of life. They enhance a sense of personal responsibility and Emotional Intelligence. However, there are times you may not feel motivated and are not taking action on a project.

Do You Use Social Radar?
[Self-Improvement] There are three areas in Emotional Intelligence that could be called Social Radar because they make you more socially aware. Social Awareness is often needed to survive in your professional and personal life. To sharpen your professional and personal effectiveness, there are three areas to focus on when you are trying to be more socially aware:

Antidotes For the Procrastination Epidemic
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] One of the most common requests I hear from clients is, "Help me stop procrastinating." It seems as if procrastination is a problem for people of all ages - from school age children not doing homework to Baby Boomers not preparing for retirement.

Create a Meaningful Life
[Self-Improvement] Most people want their life to be meaningful. Sometimes you may struggle finding what will give you that special feeling of meaning. To begin, consider the conditions necessary to give meaning "within" life by answering two important questions. In addition, consider the three conditions Jonathan Haidt describes needed for feelings of meaning to exist. By establishing these three conditions, life becomes more meaningful.

How Emotional Intelligence Creates Effective Leaders
[Business:Management] Important research indicates the connection between Emotional Intelligence and effective leadership styles. The key to being effective lies in learning to handle yourself and your relationships in a positive manner. This includes Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Coaching supports and enriches the process.

Weathering The Teen Years
[Home-and-Family:Parenting] For many parents, the teen years are challenging. There are both developmental and physiological reasons family life may become more stressful. There are also some things you can do that are helpful. Understand and find a balance between the two functions of parenting. Discover how to handle the dilemma of nagging about or ignoring problems. Learn how using Appreciative Inquiry can help communication so you can be the parent you want to be.

Do You Want to Increase Engagement and Happiness?
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] Are you tired of feeling like you are going through the motions in life? How would things be different for you if you felt passionate about your life? Engagement is being involved in activities that attract and hold your attention. It creates positive emotions that build psychological resources. In the work place, it is critical for the employer and employee. Discover the key to being engaged. The rewards are tremendous.

What You Need to Know About Self-Awareness
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] You might think of Self-Awareness as setting the stage for your life. There are three areas in the Self-Awareness domain of Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Self-Awareness, Accurate Self-Assessment and Self-Confidence. Steps are given to increase Self-Awareness.

3 Steps For Handling Disappointment Or Adversity
[Self-Improvement] Life is a struggle for many people. Whenever you have an expectation or hope that is not realized, you feel some level of disappointment or sadness. How you think about the situation will have a lot to do with the feelings you have and how you choose to act or behave. Discover the 3 steps that will help you successfully handle major and smaller disappointments or adversities as you embrace the opportunities ahead.

Discover What Being Curious Does For You
[Self-Improvement:Achievement] Discover what the character strength "Curiosity" can do for your life. Positive Psychology defines curiosity as the "recognition, pursuit, and regulation of one's experience in response to challenging opportunities." Everyone is curious to some degree. Todd Kashadan's book, "Curious?" explores how curiosity can be an effective way to manage anxiety and conflict. Learn how to practice being curious to increase your fulfillment in life.

During Financial Upheaval - Keeping Your Resolve
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Many have been affected by the downward spiral of our country's financial sector during the last year. Our world is changing. We are in a transition. Perhaps it is time to look at life as it if were a marathon race - not a sprint. Understanding the stages in the process of a transition and what you can do helps you be more prepared and resilient.

5 Secrets to Make Change Positive
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] Change is all around us. It affects your budget, work environment, your social and personal life. Sometimes change means changing habits. This requires self-awareness, effort and perseverance. When you have a choice about the change, it can generate positive feelings.

How Do You Want This Year to Be?
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] What do you want in your personal life and career for this year? Research in Positive Psychology suggests that how you think about yourself and your situation will impact your results. Before you decide what you hope for or what you want to be optimistic about, you need to discover what is important to you. What is important determines your values. Completing the suggestions will set you on a path that will help make your hopes a reality.

How Do You Want Your Holidays to Be?
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] This is the season of Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. How you approach this last month of the year will depend on your attitude. Negatives do happen in life. It is possible to recognize when they are happening without letting yourself dwell on them. Keeping a positive frame of mind during stressful times is important.

Will Gratitude Boost Your Happiness?
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] It is easy to think from a scarcity mindset and yearn for times when life was better. However, continuing to do either of these things is not helpful. Gratitude connects you to goodness. Discover the many benefits of gratitude. Learn what the obstacles to gratitude are and how to feel more grateful. Specific ideas are given for practicing gratitude so that can experience emotional prosperity.

Do You Want to Live a Meaningful Life?
[Self-Improvement:Success] Living a meaningful life is possible. The search for meaning and purpose in your life is essential for you to thrive. It is important to feel needed, appreciated, and noticed for good mental health. Meaning comes from using your strengths to achieve your purpose. Discover how to determine your purpose and choose meaningful activities. It will increase your sense of well-being and fulfillment.

Are You Resilient?
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Resilience is the ability to maintain stable, healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning in the face of loss or stress from disruptive events. It is a skill that can be learned - even at an early age. Discover how your thoughts and beliefs affect your resilience. The way you choose to cope with what cannot be changed makes the difference in how resilient you can be. You can regain your momentum and feel good about who you are.

You Can Stop Feeling Frustrated
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Feelings of frustration are something we may feel occasionally. Because they hamper success, it is important to know what to do when this happens. It cam happen in your personal or professional life. If it isn't stopped, it will drain your energy. You can stop feeling frustrated and experience more satisfaction and fulfillment in your life by following four steps that help stop frustration, renew energy, and enhance productivity.

What Positive Psychology Can Do For You
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Humanities] The term Positive Psychology was basically unknown five years ago. Now there are books, newspaper and magazine articles mentioning how we can be happier and live a more meaningful life based on the research from Positive Psychology. Chris Peterson, author of "A Primer in Positive Psychology", speaks about what has been learned about how to have a meaningful life. Learn how a more satisfying life is now an option with effort and support.

Use This Checklist to Increase Your Happiness
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] It is possible to be happier. On-going research in the area of Positive Psychology is helping to identify thinking and behavior patterns of happy people. The good news is that forty percent of your happiness level depends on choices you make. Learn which choices will enhance your happiness level. Use the included checklist to discover what you are currently doing and what you might want to add to increase your sense of well-being.

6 Proven Secrets For Effective Goals
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] Positive Psychology research indicates that there is value in setting goals. Learn how goals direct your attention by clarifying where you are going and motivate you to take action when you follow six proven secrets for effective goal setting. Think of a goal as a dream with a deadline. Start by looking at the possibilities in your life. Choose something that is meaningful, uses your strengths, and matches your values.

Too Busy? Try These 6 Tips
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] People talk about not having enough time to get things done they need or want to do. While being busy makes you feel important and needed, it can fool you. Discover 6 tips that will help you manage your time more effectively. Authors Loehr and Schwartz stress the need to balance expending and renewing your energy to be at your best. Following one or more of these tips, you will find that you are accomplishing and enjoying more of what you do.

3 Principles Of Success
[Self-Improvement:Success] Success is personal. When you are successful with something, you are pleased with the outcome. Principles are guidelines to help you achieve something that is important. They simplify data so that you do not get overwhelmed. Following three principles of success from personal development experts will help you keep steadily moving forward so that you will achieve the success you are striving for.

Do You Want to Be Wiser?
[Self-Improvement] Wisdom is defined as judging rightly and following the soundest course of action. Some researchers believe it is a "master" strength which guides your other strengths. It is learned through experience, not taught. Wisdom grows by the successful resolution of crises and hardships. Choose from a checklist of ways to improve practical wisdom. You will benefit by having an increased sense of calmness about choices you make in your life.

You Too Can Enhance Your Relationships
[Relationships:Love] Having healthy relationships is an important sign of Emotional Intelligence. Learn how to express caring, appreciation, and/or love to the people who are special to you by discovering how to use Gary Chapman's Love Languages. Six tips will help you become more proficient in using love languages with your partner, friends, coworkers or children to build trust, heal past hurts, provide a sense of security, self-worth, and significance.

Do You Want To End A Tough Year With Gratitude?
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Are you looking forward to the New Year? New research points to gratitude as a key to your health and happiness. Robert Emmons book, Thanks! (2007) sheds light on the benefits of gratitude. For a life changing experience, specific suggestions from Positive Psychology research are given to help you tune into what is good in your life.

Do You Know the Key Ingredient to Make Your Holiday Season Bright?
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] The months of December and January are a time of religious significance for many people. Numerous religious holidays will be celebrated during a six week period of time. All of the additional busyness and preparation for the holiday can actually detract from the day itself.

Do You Need to Balance Your Life?
[Self-Improvement] Living in a world that keeps changing almost faster than time itself, can cause a time crunch to get things done. To avoid being overwhelmed, it is important to strive for balance and stay focused. However, focusing on something can cause you to lose the sense of balance in your life. There is a way to consider what needs to be done and how each item is tied to your values. Six additional suggestions help create a feeling of inner balance.

The Route to Happiness
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Research indicates happiness can be learned or increased. It is something you make happen. Seligman defines 3 types of happiness that can lead to a pleasant life, a good life, and/or a meaningful life. Having all three leads to a full life. Positive emotions broaden your intellectual, physical, and social resources. Follow the route to happiness by learning the important internal states which can be controlled to increase positive emotions.

Do You Know the Key Ingredients to Feel Fulfilled?
[Self-Improvement] During the last 5 years there is increasing evidence supporting the association of happiness/fulfillment with life and being able to use your strengths. Now, there is information which tells us which strengths are necessary and the ingredients the brain needs to experience fulfillment. Do you have these five strengths? If you are not strong in these strengths, it is possible to increase them, and find the key to increasing your fulfillment.

What You Need Before You Are Motivated
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] It is wonderful to feel motivated. In contrast, you probably have had times of feeling unmotivated. While different people are motivated by a variety of things, there are three decisions you can make that will help you be fully motivated. If you find it difficult to make one or more of these decisions, there are small, beginning steps you can take to move you in the right direction.

Do You Want To Ask Powerful Questions?
[Self-Improvement] We all ask questions on a daily basis. Some you direct to others and some to yourself. If you want to get the best answer to your questions, you need to be sure you have asked the right questions. Some words have more power than others. A good question provides the information you need and satisfies three requirements. If change and action are what you are looking for, asking more powerful questions can alter your perception and attitude.

Are You Stuck?
[Self-Improvement:Success] How do you know if you are stuck? There are 5 symptoms of being stuck. Each has a remedy that can help you reach your goal. It is important to have good self-awareness, to be honest with yourself, and listen to feedback from people you respect. Discover if you have any of the symptoms of stuck performance and the appropriate remedy. If noticed at an early stage, there are steps you can take to begin forward movement and ensure your success.

Sharpening Professional Effectiveness
[Business] Emotional Intelligence (EI) may determine as much as 80% of a person's life success. It influences success in four areas of life: productivity, health, relationships, and quality of life. It determines who excels in a given job and is the basis for outstanding leadership. Upbeat moods boost cooperation, fairness, and performance. EI is learned and can be retained through motivation, effort, practice, and repetition.

You Can Be Happier Now
[Self-Improvement] Research on happiness indicates that once your basic needs are met, money does not make you happy. An exciting discovery is that there are things you can do to increase happiness without making major life changes. Reasearch also indicates that how you choose to think about things can affect your level of happiness. Reap the benefits from an improved sense of well-being and feeling happier today by choosing to follow some of the suggestions.

Do You Use These Strategies to Manage Your Mood?
[Business] Stress is our reaction to people or things going on around us. Sometimes the situations are positive and other times negative. When you are unhappy about how things are going, there are three strategies which will help you move forward in a positive direction. To mange your mood, consider your needs, wants, and values before you choose one of the three strategies. Then take positive steps to move forward confidently.

Unlocking the Secrets of Happiness
[Self-Improvement] Do you want to increase your happiness set point and avoid the hedonic treadmill? In the past, researchers believed your level of happiness was 50-80% inherited. New research indicates that with commitment and effort, you can influence 40% of your happiness. When you are happy, there are social, mental, and physical benefits. Learn specific things that will increase your level of happiness and move your set point higher over time.

Are You Using Emotional Intelligence When You Parent?
[Home-and-Family] Emotional Intelligence is the ability to access and make use of your feelings in order to be motivated and make good decisions. Researchers have discovered that emotional awareness and the ability to handle feelings determines your success and happiness, including family relationships. Emotional Intelligent parenting focuses on five main principles. It is not too late to learn how to put these principles into action with effort and practice.

Do You Want to Stop Being A Workaholic?
[Business:Management] There is a need to have balance in your life for good physical, mental, and emotional health. You can get caught up in what you are doing and not even realize you are neglecting important arts of your life. If work becomes an addiction, life tips out of balance. Discover if you are a true workaholic and strategies that can help you balance the different areas of your life.

Do You Need Leisure Time?
[Self-Improvement] The choices you make in how you spend your leisure time can increase your level of happiness and enrich your participation in the flow of life. Having time for leisure is a basic human need. Life without leisure depletes you quickly. All leisure activities are not the same. Learn which leisure activities increase meaning and which lead to apathy. The choices you make have the potential to recharge and renew you.

Do You Want to Build Your Emotional Strength?
[Self-Improvement] Life is not always fair. It can be hard to know who and what to trust because we live in an imperfect world. One thing you can do is build your emotional strength. Even when you cannot control a situation or influence those who do, you can choose to manage yourself. The way you choose to cope makes the difference. It is possible to build your emotional strength and live an engaging and meaningful life by following these recommendations.

Increase Your Ability To Focus Today
[Self-Improvement] Distractions happen. Multitasking is needed more in our busy lives. Yet, research indicates it increases the possibility of interruptions derailing us. Multitasking decreases productivity and efficiency. It can be detrimental to your physical and emotional health. There are basic things you can do today to sharpen your ability to focus and increase your energy. You will be amazed how sharp your focus can be.

The Key to Creating Meaningful Relationships
[Self-Improvement] It is important to know how to create and sustain meaningful relationships. The kind of relationships you have affects the quality of your life. Relationships require two types of energy. Psychic energy is key. This means investing attentnion in the other person's goals by taking time to listen and share activities, ideas, emotions, memories and dreams.

Do You Want a Beautiful Life
[Self-Improvement] Your life is more than days and years. It is what you do with your time and how closely your choices match your values. How do you manage the surprises in life? Focusing on emotional and mental well-being, you are encouraged to become aware of your purpose for being here and to follow five suggestions for making your life beautiful.

Do You Want More Vitality?
[Self-Improvement] Vitality has to do with our feeling of energy or aliveness. It correlates strongly with satisfaction with life, happiness, and well-being. It indicates optimal human functioning. Discover the factors that contribute to higher levels and how to increase your vitality.

Baby Boomers: 6 Major Issues You Need To Address In Retirement Planning
[Home-and-Family:Retirement] Are you planning to retire in the 21st Century? Discover the six major issues you need to address before retiring. In addition to understanding your finances, there are five more reasons to plan ahead for this next exciting stage in your life.