Gifts in the moment
By Sandra Post | 3rd July 2008
Moments are flashes of time not precisely measured. Quick, often lasting just an instant, they can be incredibly valuable and important. Kim Keenan and Denise Urycki are passionate about them. They see “every moment and every person as an opportunity to learn or to teach. Each moment is purposeful. We strive to see these moments for their true blessings.”
They’ve coined a word “gitm,” gifts in the moment. They believe firmly in those moments and gifts and are eager to share their well-considered beliefs with others.
The purpose of gitm is “to teach the importance of using God’s gifts in our everyday lives. A gitm moment is an experience that stops you with enough force to ask yourself ‘What does God want me to do?’”
Kim says their goal is to help people recognize the gifts they’ve been given, and everyone receives them but recognition may take time, and to use them for the betterment of others. While God is mentioned freely and lovingly in their workshops, conversion is not an issue. Neither is denominations or doctrine. Their path is spirituality and hopefulness.
Kim Keenan received a Masters Degree in social work from the University of Illinois and is currently an adjunct professor there. She maintains a thriving family therapy practice and is a national speaker, educator and freelance writer.
Denise Urycki received a full athletic scholarship from Drake University and a B.S. in Pharmacy. She coaches high school girls track and is locally known for coaching abilities and sports photography.
Their work with children, Kim through counseling and Denise through coaching, enforces their individually held principles. Kim says she sometimes felt she was just “patching up” families and she wanted to “instill hope in people.” Denise noted a serious lack of self-esteem in the girls she coached, saying “They didn’t believe in themselves or anything greater than themselves.” The two women joined forces to combine their talents and passion to help make a difference in the lives of others by helping children and adults recognize their gifts.
Gifts in the Moment is a local business designed to bring warm educationals to the community, provide personal lifestyle coaching and mentoring services to children and adolescents. (A portion of all proceeds goes to help fund Gift N Fit Health, a program developed to help at-risk children with obesity.) Gitm offers workshops for parenting, family, business, and speakers for group events.
Kim and Denise believe “Reaching our fullest potential requires us to master the present moment and appreciate our greater gifts. We can strengthen our awareness through eight gitm principles:
*Be Genuine: Being genuine invites a life of compassionate trustworthy, and honest living.
*Foster authentic relationships: Help others to listen to themselves, physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Encourage them to help themselves and one another.
*Anticipate change: Be flexible with goals. Ask the “what if” questions and prepare mentally.
*Physical preparation: The physical steps prepare the body and give foundation to recovery when needed.
*Mental rehearsal: Review and rehearse the event mentally. This can be done in a matter of seconds, like a fleeting thought. When this imagery comes quickly and fully, we are in the moment.
*Emotional rescue: Let the process become the goal. Move from the sole emotional payoff of reaching the goal to the payoff of engaging in the activity itself.
*Spiritual routines: Comfort and safety can be found in engaging in a spiritual process with meaning and focus.
*Rest as an active process: The key is to recognize opportunities for rest and utilize them. “The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and we imagine, to other. To be unavailable to our friends and family, to be unable to find time for the sunset (or even to know the sun has set at all), to whiz through our obligations without time for a mindful breath, this has become the model of a successful life.” (From Wayne Miller’s book “Sabbath”).
Denise says one of the most difficult messages to convey effectively to young people is “I’ll treat you the same whether you succeed or not. It’s okay if you’re not successful (with a certain goal or project.) I will not change how I treat you.”
Kim believes passionately that everyone has to have hope that things can be different. She says hope always out powers circumstances. On one of the handouts they give their workshop participants is this reflection: “Be open to receiving the positive feelings that come from hope.”
For additional information and schedules on workshops, please visit their very creative and unique website at www.believegitm.com. Or call (309) 229-9373.
Life coaching enrollment starts August, 2008.