Why Words Fails Us
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No one sees what you see, even if they see it too.
~Unknown
EMBRACE, EMBODY & EXPRESS YOUR LEADERSHIP WISDOM
Give Yourself Permission
/Decide
So, do it. Decide.
Is this the life
you want to live?
Is this the person
you want to love?
Is this the best you can be?
Can you be stronger?
Kinder? More Compassionate?
Decide.
Breathe in.
Breathe out
and decide.
~Meredith Grey
Resilence in the Rubble
/When So Much Seems Lost
You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
On a memorable trip to Nepal I witnessed the results of resilience in the people of this small country with 8 of the 14 highest peaks on Planet Earth. Their resilience seems to be grounded in their way of responding to changes in their natural environment rather than just reacting.
In 2015 a deadly earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 stuck Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring almost 22,000 in Nepal. This earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing 21 and making April 25, 2015 the deadliest day on the mountain in history.
Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese suddenly were homeless. Entire villiages were flattened. Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In response to this devastating destruction Nepalese leaders wisely tapped into the natural strength of a people whose nation includes 25 different ethnic groups. That strength is their Resilience.
Past and current generations of Nepalese view the earth as a place where nothing is permanent. In the aftermath of the quake Nepalese resilience expressed itself in rebuilding, repairing and restoring what had been destroyed or damaged.
Wisely, leaders tapped into this strength of the Nepalese people to coalesce their individual and collective efforts into a national focus and way of engaging: “Resilience in the Rubble.”
3 years later the Nepalese continue to labor diligently in the repair and restoration of brick and wooden homes, temples, palaces and other buildings. For them “Resilience in the Rubble” is more than a shared endeavor. The Nepalese embody resilience as a natural way of being — fortifying them for more hard work still to be done.
The quiet diligence evident in this inclusive culture shows us that human resilience can lead to positive responses when we experience sudden, exceedingly destructive, and tragic events along with formidable disruptive challenges. The question is…
In the midst of devastation what gives you the strength to be resilient — responding instead of just reacting — in life, leadership and business?
Escape the Madness
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Mindful Practices for Insane Times
Finding a Way Forward
In these volatile, reactive, troubling and dangerous times, we are assaulted daily by the latest unholy madness.
As a society, our interactions with each other in business, government, culture and life are profoundly unhealthy. Fear, hatred and hostility run rampant and out of control. At the core of this insanity sits a degree of self-loathing that turned outward resents and despises ‘the other’. It maniacally insists on unjustifiable separation—creating extreme harm and a cancerous denigration of our humanity.
Like a plague, egregious, insidious and fatal horrors keep us from finding a way forward out of this horrific mess . Yet... there is a way forward.
A way forward begins with you engaging in practices of inner peace.
Imagine what could be different when with practices of inner peace, our nervous systems calm down, and—Being Human—we intentionally engage in random and frequent acts of kindness, generosity, and inclusiveness. With commitment, resilience, and endurance we could consciously create together a world and a future that we and our descendants really want to live in.
That is the Big WHY behind these 1-minute inner peace practices. They help my coaching clients—intensely busy business women, nonprofit leaders and global change-makers—turn tough choices into smart decisions and complex challenges into simple elegant solutions without forfeiting who they are or what they value.
Allow these 1-minute practices to help you see a way forward and move with clarity of intention and impact to higher ground.
Engage in Conscious Leadership
The Conversation is the Relationship
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Intention & Impact
If we can’t feel safe enough to have difficult conversations in an open and honest way, we will never get to a place where we can transform our culture. -Judith Glaser | Conversational Intelligence
What conversation have you been avoiding?
You've probably spend a fair amount of time focused on the problems of this difficult conversation. Since that drains your energy and rarely works well, experiment with shifting your focus. Consider what's possible by asking yourself:
- In what ways could that difficult conversation support the relationship?
- What would be different if you listened to connect, rather than primarily to understand?
- What conscious intention and impact could you bring to that conversation to facilitate mutually desirable outcomes?
Full Moon Blessing
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Eclipse in Aquarius
"Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions." ~Hafiz
Photo by Caique Silva on Unsplash
Quote by: Joe Martino
Photo by Caique Silva on Unsplash
Surrender to Courage
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Release Yourself
As a leader, it's easy to forget the power in letting go of the familiar. Because letting go takes Courage. Yet in the end we only regret the chances that we didn't take. So in what way could you surrender to a positive change in your leadership, business or life by simply letting go?
Find Your Way Forward
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There's Always a Way
It may not be the way you want.
It may not be what you think you need.
Yet, when you're willing to let go of expectations and allow what wants to emerge to come forth, there's always a way.
The Power of Your Attention
Years of research by physicists tell us that what we focus on expands. Finding your way begins with you shifting your focus from the problem to what could be possible if you became very curious about solutions. For as Einstein said...
No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.
This change in your inner state of being frees you to trust your inner guidance and lead with resilience in the direction your path is taking you.
We meet our destiny on the path we take to avoid it.
When Being Leads to Doing
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You know how...
You know how you carefully think through what you want to say and do, and the positive impact you’d like to have with someone with whom you’ve experienced some tension?
How you’re anxious or agitated and not intending to display or express any of that?
Then you begin to speak or write to this human with your well-planned words, or you show them whatever it is you think they need to see or read…
And the s**t hits the fan.
They are not pleased or grateful or enlightened in the slightest.
You scratch your head and wonder why your sincere intentions and truth-telling has had the opposite impact you intended. “What did I DO wrong? ..."What happened?”
If you’re still relying on the combination of your brain – chock full of biases, cultural conditioning and lies, and traumatizing memories – and your action-taking to create positive impact, you need to take a quick listen to the wisdom of Sylvia Warren in this 3-minute gem of a recording.
The Essence of Leadership
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A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.
Being Human
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Compassion
Compassion moves us beyond empathy to stand in another person's shoes. And, the elegantly provocative poems of Nayyirah Waheed invite us into the depths of Being Human, where our vast capacity for compassion awaits our arrival.