The Value of Taking the First Step

 

This post is about a dilemma I’ve wrestled with for the past couple of years. I think it’s one that many people can relate to: wanting to do something and not being able to find the way to do it, to continue to stay motivated or to push yourself into a completely unknown area to get what you want.

I’ve been trying to put my blog posts into a book for years. I wrote one each week for 10 years, so somewhere in the neighborhood of 425+ posts about a variety of subjects exists on my website.   But every time I try to get them published, many things get in my way, I lose momentum and yet another month goes by without any progress.

Maybe because I’m a coach I’ve been analyzing why I can’t seem to accomplish this project. Lots of other people publish books about all kinds of things and don’t seem to have a difficult time doing it. So where do I get stuck?

Recently, I realized that, underneath it all, I have a pretty negative attitude about self-help books and, in some ways, about the coaching profession. I walk into a book store and see all the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” type books, and they make me want to run out of the store as quickly as possible. I look at the e-mails I get from various coaching associations, federations and institutions I belong to, and the message is so often the same: “Live your best life,” “I have the secret to unlock your dreams,” or the one I saw last week “How to remember what you learned in kindergarten.” The last one made me laugh. A client once said to me, “I really don’t understand why I pay you money to remind me about what I learned in kindergarten.” Of course, if he remembered what he learned in kindergarten, I would not have to remind him, but that’s another story.

So what do you do when you love to write and, for whatever reason, this is the mode in which you express yourself, but you just can’t get it together to take a book project to completion? How do you get past the bad attitude and the cynical voice in your head that says, “Who really cares about all this stuff?” “Why would anybody be interested in reading it?”

Fortunately, I have lots of great clients and friends who encourage me to put these challenges in a book if for no other reason other than they would like them indexed by subject so they can go back and read the ones that might help them with a particular challenge they are facing. And, when I think about it, this is the whole reason I want to compile them in a book in the first place.

My good friend and sometimes coaching associate Kate Dwyer sent me this great comment by Eleanor Blumenberg, of Santa Monica, California, in reaction to a piece in the current N.Y. Times book review.

“I continue to be amazed at the number of advice books listed each week in the book review as best sellers. I have led a long, productive life based on only two pieces of advice, both of which I learned as a preschooler some 80 years ago.  First, I try to play nicely with everybody; second, if I am crabby, I take a nap.  What more does anyone need to know?”

At the end of the day, I happen to agree with Ms. Blumenberg. It doesn’t mean that I think the coaching profession is just a bunch of hooey; I’ve seen too many people derive great benefits from it. But there is a practical side of me that often feels we all talk too much, and if we could remember some basic principles with which to guide ourselves, our lives might be simpler.

If you have this difficulty in some aspect of your life,  maybe aiming to accomplish one specific project within a certain time period will help, no matter how much self doubt you experience. They say that all great things start with a first step.  Don’t be afraid to take that first step and all the steps that follow it.

 

Kathleen

 

The Dangers of Certainty

This post is about the dangers of certainty. It’s about the danger of being so convinced about something that your mind and heart become closed to any other possibility. Here’s a good example of what I mean.

I recently watched an old documentary entitled, “The Fog of War.” This was a film that included many interviews with Robert McNamara, who was the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam war. He was reflecting on how his views had changed over the years. In one scene, the interviewer asked him to speak about how his views on the war in Vietnam changed over the years. Here was a man who was absolutely certain that the Russians were behind the push of communism into Vietnam. If Vietnam fell to communist ideology, so would all of Southeast Asia, victim of the domino effect: If one falls, the entire row falls. Now, in his later years, McNamara realized how mistaken he had been and how almost all of his decisions about the war had been based on faulty thinking.

Over time, he began to see that his certainty had caused the deaths of thousands and that much of what he had based his decisions upon weren’t true. Earlier in his career, he said with complete confidence, “It would be our policy to use nuclear weapons wherever we felt it necessary to protect our forces and achieve our objectives.” He came to regret these words, and many of the actions he took during the war haunted him until the day he died.

Similarly, the Bush administration was certain that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in Iraq poised to use against the United States. Life-changing decisions were made based on the administration’s certainty. We now know that those decisions were based on false information.

I wondered why people cling to certainty and the false sense of security that comes from thinking it’s this way or no way. Why do we feel more secure when someone says, “No doubt about it”?

In one of his interviews, McNamara explained that, as a younger man, he had been taught that indecision and lack of certainty were seen as signs of weakness. Even if you weren’t 100 percent certain, you had to show others that you were completely convinced that your decisions were correct. Where doubt existed, the potential for opposition and rebellion could occur.

As human beings, we can see how much we desire a simple, sure solution to all our questions. The desire to come up with an answer, to put something in place, is very strong. The feeling of getting it done and not having to think about it anymore is satisfying.

I’ve learned how important it is to question my thinking, particularly when I am completely convinced of something. I try to remember that there is no such thing as an absolute and that my thinking is often influenced by my present circumstances. Change those circumstances, and my thinking and feelings change as well.

It’s a worthwhile exercise to frequently question your certainties. Ask yourself, am I missing another way of seeing this situation?  Am I able to see other points of view? Are my views excluding others from participating? Are my thinking and actions encouraging inclusiveness or exclusiveness?

One of the best ways to broaden our thinking is to ask others what they think. If you see yourself being absolutely certain of something, ask someone who doesn’t always agree with you what he or she thinks. I often check my thinking with my husband. He and I have similar values, but he often has just enough of a different viewpoint to get me to open my mind to new possibilities. I’ve also used the Internet to give me new ways of viewing situations. As much as I don’t like overly conservative viewpoints, I will go to various social media sites or listen to podcasts to expose myself to what people who disagree with me think. I’m always surprised by how certain they are of their views! In scoffing at their viewpoints, I have to admit that it’s the certainty in my liberal views that makes me judge the certainty in theirs. Judge Learned Hand wrote: “The spirit of liberty is the spirit of not being too sure.”

Try asking better questions and digging more deeply into your opinions and views. See if there’s another way to look at the world around you. Remember that being flexible in your thinking and approach gives you more room to move when circumstances change, which they invariably will do.

Bertram Russell wrote, “The whole problem with the world is fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”

 

Kathleen

 

Making Your Dreams Come True

This post is about making your dreams come true.

Years ago,  I heard a program on NPR about astronauts and their experience of landing on the moon. One of the Apollo 12 astronauts, Alan Bean, who was the lunar module pilot for the mission, was interviewed with his co-writer of a children’s book about astronauts.

The interviewer asked Bean, “Does a man feel different after walking on the moon?” Bean replied, “I think he feels satisfied. I think his childhood dreams are satisfied. You don’t have to go to the moon for that. If your childhood dream is to become a doctor and you become one, then your dreams are satisfied. It all depends on what’s in your heart and what your dreams are.”

This insight raised a question for me.  What were my childhood dreams? Was there one in particular that has stayed with me all these years? Did any of my dreams come true? Have I pursued that which I held most dear in my heart?

Frankly, in thinking about this subject, I was surprised to realize that I had a hard time remembering what my life dreams were when I was a child, so I spent some time thinking about it today.

What struck me most was how distant the idea of having a dream has become for me as an adult. What happens to that incredible enthusiasm we have as children when we wish with all of our hearts and minds that a particular dream comes true?

I do remember that I wanted to travel overseas, and I’m happy to say that I’ve not only traveled to but also lived in foreign places at times in my life. I wanted to be a dancer in a big Broadway musical, but the closest I got was dancing and singing in high school musicals.  When I got a little bit older, I dreamt about becoming a race car driver. The closest I got was driving a Ferrari around a racetrack in upstate New York one summer when I worked in a booth there. One trip around the track at 120 miles per hour was enough to satisfy my dream.

On a more esoteric note, I’ve always had a deep desire to find the kernel of truth that runs through all things, to share what I learned with others, and to someday become one with the universe. No small desire to be sure, but that dream still lives in my heart as much today as it always has.

Ask yourself – what are you doing today that reflects your childhood hopes and dreams? Maybe you always wanted to be a cowboy or a ballerina. Did you wish you could fly or run faster than anyone else? Was your dream to serve other people? Maybe you didn’t have a vision of a particular activity, but rather a sense of what your destiny was. Perhaps you wanted to become a tennis champion, own your own bakery, or sing in a choir.

See if you can pinpoint one thing you wanted for yourself more than anything else.  Maybe this is the year that you finally make one of your dreams come true!

 

Kathleen

 

The Advantages of Full Engagement

 

Today I read an interesting commentary in a publication called “Reflections, The SoL Journal, on Knowledge, Learning and Change.” It was written by Anne Murray Allen about her experience working for Hewlett Packard for 16 years. Here’s what she discovered at HP, which is the heart of this post:

“When I first joined HP, I was delighted to become part of an informal, creative, relatively egalitarian social structure. Characteristics and things that human beings yearn for were very present in the work environment. Specifically these included a feeling of well-being, a sense of meaning, and moments of fulfillment at work. I would call it a very loving environment, where ‘love’ is defined as being ‘legitimate in the eyes of another.’ Working in collaborative social systems within a decentralized company, we had the luxury of autonomy and focus, and tremendous results were accomplished.

“And then the world changed. The most noticeable force was the establishment and broad adoption of the Internet. Change in technology and quick access to others around the globe meant new rules in an increasingly more complex and interconnected world. HP’s response to increased competition was similar to that of most multinational companies. The divisions were reigned in, and the company began the journey of learning to be one clear presence to global customers. The idea was to reduce complexity to our customers and stakeholders, but the cost was increased stress, complexity and fatigue for employees. It became impossible to see the larger social system, let alone know if each of us was having an impact.

“Governance of the business became more hierarchical, and work lost meaning for most employees. Many people felt, ‘My job isn’t hard, it is just hard to do my job.’ Paradoxically people became bored, underutilized, and their ideas less legitimate. Yet corporate success was increasingly and precariously measured on short-term profitability, and the connection between long-term financial, social, and environmental well-being was overlooked.

“Regardless of societal shifts over time, humans remain social beings. Simply working for a corporation that pays a good salary is not and will not be enough. The best and brightest want fulfillment, meaning, and an inspiring social structure.”

Anyone who has watched Hewlett Packard’s rise and fall over the past 20 years understands what Allen is saying. Originally, she worked for a company that encouraged her to take ownership and supported her creativity. She felt legitimized by her colleagues. But over time, the company, through increased global competition, created a more hierarchical environment that became overly complex and stressful, and she, like many of her colleagues, lost her desire to commit and engage. A company that was one of the leaders in the technology revolution in this country dwindled and is no longer a significant player in the world it helped to create.

Ask yourself if you see similarities in your work situation to what Allen has described. Are you working for a company that encourages your engagement in things that have an impact? Do you see the rewards of being committed to your job? Do you feel that you’re making a difference? Is it getting more and more difficult to do your job? How often are you encouraged to see things differently or to take a more creative approach? Has the process for getting things done become so complex that it creates undo stress for you and your colleagues?

If you’re in an executive position, are you sacrificing long-term profitability by focusing on short-term fixes and a focus that’s too narrow? Perhaps you’re making decisions about the company based on fear rather than your mission.  Are you encouraging your team members to take ownership and helping them see how they can make a difference?

Try to find new ways to engage your heart and mind. Encourage your team members to join you in this engagement. Maybe you redesign a process that no longer works, but that everyone still uses out of habit. Perhaps you suggest that your team members take more ownership for a project and set a goal to finish a week earlier than expected. Sometimes setting tougher goals can reactivate a team and increase engagement. Try helping others see the connections between their daily activities and the company’s overall results. You’ll find that by doing so, it’s easier to see how your own efforts also make a difference.

Allen reminds us that we will need full engagement if we are to create a future in which we can thrive rather than becoming increasingly more worn down and disenfranchised. Although AI now provides us with access to so much information,  knowledge and expertise, it’s easy to forget that social interaction and collaboration is the life blood of any company.

The successful companies of the future will provide leadership that supports both our hearts and minds as well as demonstrating a moral backbone.

 

Kathleen

 

Acknowledging The Kindness of Others

 

The post is about noticing and acknowledging the kindness of others. I was reminded of this virtue, after a frightening experience in which my husband and I needed emergency help. Here’s what happened.

Early one Sunday morning, a nasty grass fire broke out at our ranch in the Columbia River Gorge. We were fast asleep at the time, but due to a combination of a prophetic dream, a popping sound, and my sense of smell, I awoke at 2 a.m. to discover the field across from our house ablaze. I immediately knew this was no small fire, and as my husband, David, rushed to the scene with hoses in hand, I called emergency services.

I’ve never had to call 911 before. After half a ring, a reassuring voice answered. She immediately notified the fire chief and volunteers in our tiny, unincorporated community and verified that no one was hurt. She assured me the fire crew would arrive as soon as they could.

Five minutes later, our nearest neighbor, Mike, drove up in his truck. Barely awake, he promised the fire crew was right behind him. Next came the fire chief, efficient and friendly. In a few minutes, four fire trucks barreled up the road. Then Mike’s wife, Brenda, and another friend and neighbor, Leroy, arrived. All of them were either part-time or full-time volunteers, and included retirees.

When everyone got to the fire, David was still working the hoses, trying like crazy to put out the highest flames.  We had had 40 mile-an-hour winds earlier that day, and each time a gust of wind came up, it would ignite the embers and create a new path of fire in seconds. A fire already about 260 feet long and 50 feet wide was expanding each time the wind blew. You really don’t get a sense of how powerful flames are until you see them in action.

The firemen (and -women, I might add) turned on the big hoses, and the blaze was soon under control. The volunteers spent the next two hours digging a trench around the fire, making sure that every possible spark was out, and then went back with an infrared camera to make sure there were no embers lurking under the soil.

I stood at the edge of the field and looked out at the seven volunteers spread across our field in their yellow fire suits, each with a shovel in hand, working feverishly to put out the remaining remnants of fire. Thick smoke burned their eyes and, I imagine, parched their throats. At times, all I could see were the lights from their headlamps through the smoke and ash lighting up small patches of burnt earth, as they worked with great concentration and determination to save our field. Someone mentioned to me that our fire chief makes $500 a month to do his job and, of course, the volunteers don’t make a thing. I was in awe of these selfless folks from our little community who were helping out people they had never met before.

When they were done, we shook the volunteers’ hands and hugged our neighbors. Big smiles broke out on their grimy faces as they remarked variously, “It’s nothing. Just glad it didn’t jump the road”; “Could have been worse. It’s still the start of summer, lots of green on the ground”; “Glad you were here”; “Good thing you’re a light sleeper.”

As they drove away, I had tears in my eyes, and my heart was full from the display of kindness I had just experienced. I will never forget what each of those wonderful people did for us in the early hours of that summer morning, for no reward other than to be here when we needed them.

Over the next week, I tried to acknowledge any act of kindness I observed. When someone at a restaurant held the door open for a bunch of us as we passed through the doorway, I stopped and told him how much I appreciated it. At the grocery store, as a woman turned sharply, her purse hit the avocados, and they came tumbling down. People in the produce section bent to help her pick them up. I joined in, and we all smiled as we re-stacked the avocados. Later in the week, I noticed that a young man stopped and parked his bike to help an old woman in a wheelchair cross the road. I gave him a thumbs up as I passed by.

Try seeing the acts of kindness that are going on around you and take a moment to let people know how great it is that they are performing these acts. It doesn’t have to be verbal: It can be a smile, a wave, a wink or even a high five. You don’t have to worry about the right thing to do; believe me, the right response will come.

If you want to contribute a couple of good deeds yourself, feel free. It’s amazing how good it feels to help someone on the spur of the moment. When they look you in the eye and give you a heartfelt thanks, remember how good it feels to receive help when you’re in need.

 

Kathleen

 

Factors That Create High Performing Teams vs. Teams That Under Perform

This post is about some of the factors that create high performing teams vs. teams that under perform.

There’s a great article entitled, “The Science of Happiness,” by Barbara Fredrickson in the Sun magazine that explores some of these factors.  Fredrickson is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has spent more than 30 years investigating the relatively uncharted terrain of positive emotions, which she says can make us healthier and happier if we take time to cultivate them. She has recently published a book about many of her findings, “Positivity.”

I have long been interested in understanding group dynamics in business teams.  I’ve spent many years observing the behavior that occurs when teams work together and often wondered why some teams are successful while others are not. What factors create high-performing teams? What factors create teams that spiral down to a dead end?

In her work, Fredrickson was introduced to Marcial Losada, a well-known business consultant who has developed mathematical models of people’s ability to broaden and build their capacities, resources and resilience. In many years of studying 60 business teams during their annual strategic planning sessions, Losada ranked their success based on the number of positive and negative statements made during the meetings.

People on high-performing teams had a 6-1 ratio of positive to negative statements, whereas the low-performing teams had ratios of less than 1-to-1, meaning that more than half of what was said was negative. The high-performing teams had an even balance between asking questions and advocating for their own points of view, and also an equal measure of focusing outward (for example, on customers) and focusing within the group. The low-performing groups had asked almost no questions and almost never focused outside the group. They exhibited a self-absorbed advocacy: Nobody was listening to anyone else, they were all just waiting to talk.

Ultimately, Losada took his behavioral data and wrote algebraic equations that reflected how each stream – the questioning, the positivity, and the outward-inward focus – related to each other. He learned that his equations matched a set of existing equations called the Lorenz System, which is famous in nonlinear dynamics because it in turn led to the discovery of chaos theory, sometimes called “the butterfly effect”—the idea that the flap of a butterfly’s wings in one location can set in motion a series of events that causes a hurricane on the other side of the globe.

Underneath the dynamics of the high-performing team was what physicists call a “complex chaotic attractor,” which produces unpredictable or novel outcomes. So high-performing teams produced novel creative results. Underneath the structure of low-performing teams was a “fixed-point attractor” that caused the teams to nosedive. What’s interesting is that the negativity always arose within the realm of self-absorbed advocacy and not asking any questions. That’s where the fixed point attractor lies.

Ultimately, using the Lorenz equations, Fredrickson was able to predict that a ratio of three positive events to one negative event is the tipping point where things become chaotic, which is a good thing, since it’s only in this environment that people can be truly interactive and creative. And as a team interacted more and experienced more creativity, positivity spiraled upward.

Fredrickson tested this 3-1 ratio over the next few years to see if it was actually true. In each case, the theory held. She also applied it to her own life in raising her second child and found it to be a much better method of child-rearing. If she could balance the number of times she said, “No” to her son with three times as much positivity, his ability to express himself and pursue his creative interests was much higher and he was happier. She found this to be true in marriages as well.  Research suggests that married couples who express about a 5-1 ratio of positive to negative emotions have much more solid marriages than couples who exchange greater amounts of negativity.

So what’s the point here? Try seeing how much negativity grabs your attention and how often you express it. Then take a look at how often you express positivity and what tends to draw you in more. Fredrickson’s research shows that negative experiences tend to demand our attention more, and it takes self-discipline, will power and practice not to focus solely on them and to choose a positive outlook instead. So negativity tends to happen to us, whereas we need to intentionally choose positivity.

Observe what’s happening in your team meetings. Do the negative comments far outweigh the positive? Do people seem disengaged? Do they ask questions and share new ideas, or do they just sit there and choose not to participate? When they do speak, is it to protect their territory or is it because they want to share an insight or encourage creativity within the group?

If you see a lot of negativity in your life, here are some simple suggestions from the article for experiencing more positivity:

1.    Be aware of the present moment, because most moments are positive. We miss many opportunities to be positive because we’re thinking about the past and worrying about the future rather than being open to what is.

2.    Pay attention to human kindness—not just what others do for you but what you can do for other people.

3.    Go outside in good weather.

4.    Practice mindfulness or loving kindness meditation.

5.    Arrange your life around your strengths. Ask yourself: Am I really doing what I do best? Being employed in a job that suits your strengths is a great source of enduring positive emotions.

Assuredly, there are many factors that create high performing teams vs. teams that under perform. Positivity is just one factor but it appears in the research, to be an important one. Check out the amount of positivity you experience in your life, both personally and at work. Try injecting more of it into your life and see if it makes you happier. As Robert Ingersoll wrote, “My creed is this: Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so.”

 

Kathleen

 

The Tale of Two Wolves – Which One Do You Feed?

 

This post comes from an old Indian tale entitled, “Two Wolves.”

“One evening, an old Cherokee man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

“The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf wins?’ The old man replied, ‘The one you feed.’

How often are we faced with a choice about how to react to each day’s challenges? Do we rail at the outrageous winds of fate that pound us from time to time, falling in the pit of self-pity, or do we look upon these moments as opportunities to learn and grow, and broaden the humanity within us?

The good news is that we do have a choice. We can choose to feed the wolf of envy and resentment or the wolf of humility, benevolence and compassion. We can choose to be happy or to be miserable. The choice we make colors our days, our work and our relationships to those around us. Which wolf will you choose to feed today?”

Observe what your state of mind is throughout the day and choose what serves you best. Which wolf are you choosing to feed? In some cases, we don’t make a conscious choice but rather find ourselves in a state of negativity that creates a bad day. If you recognize that a difficult state has come over you, then you can choose to do something to get yourself out of it. In that moment you can choose the good wolf, rather than have the evil wolf to determine how your day will go.

The opportunities we have to choose our state of mind and heart are endless. Events throughout our day create all kinds of reactions in us. But if we are self-aware enough to observe what we’re thinking and feeling, we can ask ourselves, “Does this state serve me well?” Just by asking the question you will have an opportunity to choose which wolf you want to feed and which wolf you can tell to find its food elsewhere.

 

Kathleen

 

What To Do When You Get Stuck In The Creative Process

 

This post is about what to do when we are creating something and get stuck.

In the process of creating something, we often find some parts tedious and difficult to get through. The free flow of energy that comes when your muse sings to you is often not compatible with the order and discipline that all creative endeavors require.

When my husband bought his new Yamaha keyboard—quite an advanced instrument of technology—he had to spend many evenings painstakingly reading the manual and experimenting with it before he could access all of its capabilities. Once he had it figured out, he could then use it to support his creativity in composing, playing and arranging music. Without the determination to slog through the manual, he would not have been able to create what he wanted.

When I’m designing a new program or upgrading an existing training, I often get stuck in the creative process. My solution is to get up from my desk and move around. Sometimes just going outside briefly is enough to change the energy that’s stopped me, and I can then move forward. I’ve concluded that creativity doesn’t just flow through us. When it does, it’s a glorious feeling, and one that we are grateful for. But part of creating is also knowing what to do when you get stuck, how to break through the obstacles that stop the process.

In his book “The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship,” David Whyte writes:

“From the outside, especially to those who long for a more artistic life, a writer looks to be involved in what looks like unscheduled imaginative adventure, but what she needs above all else is structure and a goodly amount of space within that structure. It takes a good, settled sense of what we are about, first to think that we deserve the time and then to arrange our day so that what we want comes about.”

When I read this passage, I thought about all the times I had been on deadline to create a PowerPoint presentation and the stress that came from waiting until the last minute to do it and then not having enough time to make it as good as I wanted it to be. Part of the discipline involved in creating anything is to give yourself enough time to really get into it and then to finish it.

It’s worth it to take a hard look at your creative endeavors and output. Do you give yourself permission to engage in that creative pursuit that draws you in? If so, are you giving yourself enough time and space to allow your creative juices to flow? How about the structure in which you create? If you’re an artist, do you show up in front of your easel on a regular basis?  If you’re a writer, do you make yourself sit in front of your pad of paper or in front of your computer to write consistently each day, or each week? Maybe you enjoy creating with crafts. Are your boxes of beads or fabric or yarn stored away in the attic or the spare bedroom, unopened for many months, taunting you each time you see them? Try to draw up a schedule so you can make time to create something with them.

It may sound funny to merge these two opposites, creation and discipline, but they work well to support the creator throughout his or her process. And when it comes to being more creative on the job, try not to wait till the last minute to work on that presentation or project. Your best energy for creating is often when you don’t have any clue yet what you’re going to do. By sitting down while you’re still relaxed about the deadline, you allow your ideas to flow and off you go. The journey of discovery fuels your creativity.

All creative pursuits include experimentation, taking risks and making mistakes.  But they also include having an enormous amount of fun. Give yourself the time and space to have some of that fun this week, in whatever creative process you enjoy.

 

Kathleen

 

Find That Poem That Reminds You of Peace and Freedom

 

This poem comes from Walt Whitman, who is considered one of America’s finest poets.

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, and lived a fulfilling and challenging life for the next 80 years. We know his poetry, but many people are not aware that Walt Whitman traveled hundreds of miles on foot, state to state, visiting wounded soldiers in make-shift camps during the Civil War. He sat with these soldiers, held their hands, prayed with them, spoke to them in poetic terms and then walked to the next set of tents that had been hastily erected on a blood-soaked hillside to console and love yet another group of soldiers.

I have always felt that Walt Whitman was a patron saint for me. We share the same birthdate. As a child, I saw a picture of him in a book of my grandfather’s. There he stood, with his long white beard, in a cock-eyed hat and well-worn vest, looking straight into the camera with a curious look. I liked him instantly and asked him silently if we could be friends. He responded with a whole-hearted, “Yes!” and we’ve been buddies ever since.

When I was little and something really frightened  me, I would imagine myself lying in a field of wildflowers and high grass with Walt, my head resting on his chest. I could feel bits of his beard tickle the top of my head as we looked into the high blue sky, the bright sun warming our faces, chatting about the day and how fine everything was. This always made me feel better and, I must confess, I still call upon him as an adult when anxiety tries to overcome me. His poetry inspires and settles me at the same time.

Here is a poem from Walt that I want to share with you for this challenge.

“Out of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me,
Whispering I love you, before long I die,
I have travel’d a long way merely to look on you to touch you,
For I could not die till I once look’d on you,
For I fear I might afterward lose you.

Now we have met, we have look’d, we are safe,
Return in peace to the ocean my love,
I too am part of that ocean my love, we are not so much separated,
Behold the great rondure, the cohesion of all, how perfect!
But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us,
As for an hour carrying us diverse, yet cannot carry us diverse forever;
Be not impatient – a little space – know you I salute the air, the
ocean and the land,
Every day at sundown for your dear sake my love.”

Try finding a poem or essay that gives you a moment of peace and freedom – words that offer you a break from the daily grind. Build it into your week, your month, your year. Like coming up for air, allow yourself an opportunity to surface above the weight of your daily responsibilities and take a breath. Rest for a moment in that place of tranquil joy. Find the word that inspires you and allows you to see things from a different perspective. Take a few moments just for yourself.

 

Kathleen

 

The Necessity of Limiting How Much Time We Spend On-Line

This post is about setting up some healthy rules for yourself regarding how much time you spend on-line.

I often think about how much time I spend on my digital devices. Is it four hours a day or more? I know it’s the first thing I do when I have my morning coffee. I log into my i-Pad to read the paper and catch up on emails. I reach for my phone to read any current texts. Once I get to work it’s more of the same log on, get more e-mail, check the texts on my phone, and then I’m in for however long it takes me to sift through the messages and respond appropriately. Next is usually a coaching session via Zoom or Teams or on my phone, and then back to more emails or chats.

Sometimes I just seem to hang out on my device. You know how it is: You’re in that blank space, staring at your screen (like staring into space) and just sort of surfing around with no particular aim in mind. It’s comforting in a vacuous way, but I find that I often feel guilty if too much time goes by, the way I do when I watch stupid stuff on TV.

One of the ways I’ve counteracted too much time on-line is to read a real book.  I love the feel of a book in my hands – the way the paper looks and feels, the particular type-face that’s used, the pleasure that comes from turning the page, especially when you can’t wait to find out what happens next!

I’ve also found that when I spend too much time on-line,  my neck starts to hurt, and that’s my wake up call to get up and move away from my device. I also try not to use devices before I go to sleep at night. Once I’ve left my work, I leave it behind. But, the texts still pop up on my phone and there are still times when I need to respond to someone after normal working hours.   If I don’t discipline myself, it all creeps up on me and I find that hours have gone by without my even looking up from a screen.

What are your on-line habits like?  Are you regularly sending friends a text instead of calling them on the phone or going to see them? Try limiting the amount of time you spend on line or, at the very least, try adding other methods of communication to your day so your digital devices are not your only source of interaction. One client of mine has found that blocking off times during the day when he’s not on any of his digital devices helps him to fill that space with more beneficial pursuits. As he says, “There’s a lot that goes on at work and I need time to myself to digest what I’ve heard and learned. I can’t do that while I’m on my phone or computer so I take a time out from all of it regenerate myself. ”

These devices are, after all, machines, and I find that if I spend most of my day interacting chiefly with a machine, I feel rather empty when the day is done. I marvel at their many uses and the wealth of information they make available to me in a nanosecond, but I second this thought from a friend who asked, “Who ever curled up on a rainy day with a good computer?”

 

Kathleen