Do you really mean it (when referring to receiving gifts) when you
say that its the thought that counts?

I was speaking recently to a talented, courageous woman who took
the entrepreneurial plunge to live her dream. She is struggling
financially. A comment she made really stuck with me.

"There's no money for Christmas gifts this year."

For several days I thought about that comment. I've often said,
that when you catch yourself saying, "I can't..." change it to
"How can I...?"

How can I create gifts when there is little or no money?
Thoughtful gifts. "Intriguing, Memorable Presents" says The Imp.

By the way, even if you have lots of money, something personal and
homemade is often treasured and remembered long after the store-
bought gift is forgotten (put away and never used?)

The Imp, at this point, is fairly jumpin' up and down with ideas
he wants to share. Go ahead, little one!

1. If you are in business for yourself, find someone willing
to exchange gift certificates. This works very well if you are
both providing a service.

2. Write a poem, print it out on parchment paper, frame it or
roll it up as a scroll tied with red and/or green yarn.

3. Not a poet? Then write the letters of the recipients name
vertically and for each letter write an adjective - a quality
or attribute. Same as above - parchment, framed or presented as
a scroll.

4. Create jewelry from broken necklaces, brooches, that one
earring, or from thrift store finds.

5. Make a collage of photos. Perhaps add captions from magazines.

6. Search online for free e-books. Print them out, put in a binder
or create a cover and staple. You are invited to do this with mine.
Ten Tips for "Including My Passion in My Life" at
http://www.TheImpLady.com 

7. Search for book titles in a subject that interests the
recipient. Provide the list with a handmade bookmark made from old
greeting cards (double thickness, crochet or blanket stitch around
the edge).

8. Make up a crossword puzzle with words related to the person
receiving it. My son did this one year for his grandpa.
(Grandpa's favorite sport = h_ _ _ _ _.)

9. Put your own spin on games such as Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit.
One of my sisters made up Trivial Pursuit questions about each
member of the family. (Yes, in all the categories!)

10. Offer to provide a service - write it out on your own
personalized certificate. Child care, running errands, taking a
shut-in out for a drive... You can be creative and make the
activities or outings fun and wacky.

11. Throw a potluck party for someone else and and play the tacky
gift exchange game.

12. Provide a riddle a day in sealed envelopes. (12 days?) The
answer is included with the next day's riddle. Put the answer
to the last riddle in the first envelope. It's easy to find
riddles online.

13. Write any number of appreciation notes. Seal in envelopes.
Date them for the days to be opened.

14. Give something you already own - a gift need not be new.
One year I gave my guitar to my son.

You get the idea! Have fun and The Imp and I would LOVE to hear
about the creative solutions to gift-giving that you used.

Many of these gifts could be created in a few evenings at home.
To me, that's preferable to shopping in frantic crowded stores.

In fact, for many years now, in lieu of gift giving, I contribute
to charities. My choices for this year are:

1. "Free The Children" Association founded by child rights
activist Craig Kielburger. http://www.freethechildren.com

Brent, on the Free The Children website writes: Growing up, it
was always great getting video games, movies, toys or money.
After playing with each item, though, boredom would quickly set
in.

Now I’ve realized that the best gifts don’t always involve money
or even a lot of time. This year I have a fun idea for a unique
gift for family and friends: I am going to interview them.

Interviewing people is one of my favourite things to do. If you
think about your best friend in the whole world, there are
probably many things you don’t know about him or her. By asking
questions about your friends’ and family members’ lives, you can
learn wonderful stories.

And what’s better during the holiday season than story-telling?!

I will never know what life was like growing up for my Grandpa,
how my parents first met, or even a good friend’s favourite
fruit… unless I ask. Every person in the world has something to
share. It’s just up to us to listen.

Thank you, Brent!

2. The Canadian Harambee Education Society
http://www.canadianharambee.ca
Intelligent, ambitious female students in Kenya and Tanzania can't
go to high school if they can't afford the fees. The Harambee
Society provides scholarships for poor female students, supports
special projects and sends volunteers.

I've chosen these two charities because The Imp is all about
realizing human potential - Incredible, Magnificent Potential.
It's in every one of us! Including those in third world countries.

The Imp and I urge you to check out the two websites. Something
there just might connect with your heart, your passion.

And The Imp is urging me to add two more ideas spawned by Brent's
suggestion.

1. Record and then transcribe the memoirs of a grandparent (or
other individual) and turn it into a book for family members.

2. For a child create a book of Christmas stories - of the
childhood Christmases remembered by grandparents, aunts, uncles,
friends.

Just remembered another thoughtful gift. A few years ago a
friend came over to use my tape recorder to sing the German songs
her mother had sung to her as a child.

I'm well aware that some readers are Bahai's. I trust you, and
readers of other faiths, will adapt these ideas to your own
special gift-giving days.

Lisa wrote:
"Here's the challenge I'm facing. I'm without motivation and am
really at a loss as to how I can get some passion back into my
studying... into my life. I'm in a 10-month diploma program that
is completely online. I am being funded for this program and
failing is not an option.

"I do not have a strategy in place to do my assignments. Every
single day I'm panicking. It's embarrassing and I don't even tell
my friends how unorganized I am, Bev.

"If I were sitting in a classroom, I'd be flying... at the top of
the class and thoroughly enjoying the interaction. I'm a people-
person."

When Lisa and I spoke on the phone, she said her text books had
been two weeks late arriving and that she'd been sick for a week.

Lisa has a high degree of self-awareness about her learning style.
She described herself as a global learner - needing to see the
'whole picture' and then look at the parts.

Lisa left our call energized, excited and prepared to take four
steps.

1. Create a Vision Statement.
Lisa wanted to keep the big picture in front of her for motivation.
The big picture went beyond the 10-month program to her future
career and lifestyle. She intends to use her Vision Statement as
an affirmation. (Lisa is also a Writer so this works for her. If
you are a more visual person create a collage and view it daily.)

2. Build a Support System.
Lisa had a friend come over the night before our call who brought
her a binder for each course. Together they organized Lisa's
papers by subject, 3-hole punched them and put them in the binders.

Before Lisa's call, I checked the collage website. They have
resources for students on campus but no support services for
distance education students! We talked about this. Lisa even had
difficulty contacting instructors. She did reach one who later
asked if Lisa would work with her to see what support services
could be put in place for the online students.

Lisa's commitment is to ask several friends to help with account-
ability. She will phone in the morning to state what she will be
working on for the day. Then she will phone later to report on
what she accomplishes. Two other aspects of getting organized are
to plot out on a calendar the due dates of assignments and to
prioritize the assignments.

3. Start from a 'feel good' resourceful state.
When first sitting down to work on assignments, think of a time
when you were successful, got the job done and felt good about it.
Take a few slow deep breaths and re-experience those feelings!
Maintain those feelings as you work.

At the completion of the day's tasks, organize the things you will
need for the next day. Much easier the next day to get started.

4. Use the "Questions Guaranteed to Get You Unstuck".
These questions I provided Lisa come from an article that Kalinda
Rose Stevenson gave her classmates in an online course I took
last year. Kalinda made some modifications to questions
originally from the book On Writer's Block by Victoria Nelson.

The first is: Why should I do these assignments? That's an easy
one to answer. We all seem to know our 'shoulds'!

The second is: Why am I refusing to do this? Instead of saying
you can't do the assignment, assume there's a part of you - your
authentic self - refusing. Your authentic self won't do it
because doing it feels, somehow, like a violation. You need to
persist with the idea that your authentic self is refusing until
you unearth a false assumption. Once you understand the
assumption is false, you're no longer blocked. This question
requires digging. (and perhaps the perspective of another person
to identify why the assumption is false.)

The third question is: Why would I love to do this? Usually, this
will connect you with your original passion for the subject.

Kalinda doesn't always stop at Victoria's three questions. She
adds a fourth: Why would I NOT love to do this? This let's your
authentic self refuse 'shoulds'!

There are 3 ways to... "Bev!" interrupts The Imp, "let's tell
everyone what's in my Inspirational Mystery Package!"

Yes, let's! These packages went to ten people who re-subscribed
early to our online double opt-in system.

This edition should be the last newsletter going out under
the old system. Re-subscribe and gain access to new resources.
One is an e-book, Ten Tips for "Including My Passion in My Life".

Heather Fredericks had this to say when she re-subscribed, "Wow...
I've just read your tips for living with passion and had to say
hello to you. The book you referred to... 'Time Management for
Unmanageable People'...though I haven't read it, it sounds like
it were written for me!"

http://www.TheImpLady.com/newsletter-subscribe.htm

What? Oh, The Imp again. The Mystery Packages.

We've mentioned The Law of Attraction several times - some of the
books and the DVD, The Secret.

Have you heard of 'dream pillows'? For almost three years I've had
one tucked under my pillow at night.

However, I have dreams I want to turn into realities - thus was
born the wee 'Imp Pillow', the first item in the mystery package.
With your Imp Pillow comes a little booklet outlining a proven
three-step process using The Law of Attraction.

Many years a go I thought of running a Tea Shoppe (combined with
a Craft Boutique) and calling it 'Tea and Impathy'. The main idea
is to provide a listening ear along with the tea.

A simpler way is to package a special blend of tea and provide the
information about listening. That's the second mystery item.

I had blank note cards printed along with the book cover. One is
of The Imp in a teapot. That's also included.

These items have been sold locally for a few weeks. The website is
not yet set up to take orders but if you are interested, email me
and we'll see what we can do for you.

There are 3 ways to win a "Live a Life of Inspiration, Magic and
Passion" tote bag.
1. Request game cards and mark your location on The Imp's guest
map. It's fun! There's only one rule to this game - don't get
caught doing it!

http://www.theimpjournal.com/where-in-world.htm

2. During the first 2 months as a new subscriber.

3. When you purchase The Imp Journal: Guided Journal Writing for
Personal Empowerment, Vol.1

Last month's totebag was claimed by Zaelyn Bear of Texas. I love
learning more about our Imp Community members. If you do, too,
check out Zaelyn's websites.
http://www.NotTheAverageBear.com
http://www.FamilyFriendlyHomeBusiness.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/creative_parenting

This month's totebag is waiting to be claimed by "ginger-lily".
Contact me with your postal address, ginger-lily, and I'll have
your totebag in the mail to you promptly.

Did you know The Imp Journal provides a step-by-step plan for
personal growth with 23 weekly themes? And online bonuses!
Get yours now at http://www.theimpjournal.com/order-journal.htm