How open are you to sharing your life, your possessions, your wisdom, and your pain? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.”
“Ideas, bread, and books are all the same. They’re better when they are shared.”
Image from Unsplash by Pille R. Priske
Taking a daily walk and meditating each morning are habits I’ve had for many years.
These activities begin most days stress free and mindfully aware.
When the rest of my day gets going and things heat up, I can sometimes lose my balance and my cool.
To regain my centeredness, I often find the mundane chores of cooking and cleaning help restore my well-being.
The act of chopping vegetables for a stir fry and simply tidying up does wonders to restore a bit more Zen in my days.
EXERCISE:
What are some of the mundane actions you take throughout your days to restore and renew yourself?
Feel free to reply to this post if your care to share what works well for you.
Image from Unsplash by krakenimages
Who do you want to lead and influence in your life? Perhaps there are co-workers and professional colleagues, or some family members you hope to inspire in a particular direction.
Where would you like them to go and what would you like them to do?
When you speak with them, what types of reactions and responses do you usually get?
How engaged and enrolled do they seem when your actions don’t always line up with your words?
EXERCISE:
Where and how do you model the behaviors you wish others to take in your various communities?
How can you adjust your coach approach to make an even bigger impact on those you wish to influence?
How often do you question the things you hear or read? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
“What was the key takeaway from the specific situation?”
“If you have a pulse, you have a purpose.”
How vulnerable are you? How do you react to vulnerability in others? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
“You don’t protect your heart by acting like you don’t have one.”
“When you connect with people from the core, you learn a whole lot more.”
How often, and how quickly, do you take action? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
“Without jumping off its perch, the bird would never fly.”
“You cannot talk your way out of something you behaved yourself into.”
“Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, you can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.”
How often do you offer help to others? How often do others help you? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
“All kids need is a little help, a little hope, and someone who believes in them.”
“People who need help sometimes look a lot like people who don’t need help.”
Image from Unsplash by Caspian Dahlström
Imagine spending a month or more completely alone, with no one to talk with.
The Netflix series “Alone” places ten individuals with expert survival skills in remote locations. Their goal is to live off the land and outlast the other nine participants, whom they never meet.
In the early stages of this adventure everyone is stoked, positive about the opportunity to challenge themselves, become the last one standing, and receive a $500,000 prize for their effort.
Building shelters, sourcing food and water, and braving the elements keeps everyone pretty occupied, especially during the daylight hours. At night their thoughts often go to a darker side of the experience, given their complete isolation.
With their two video cameras and their efforts at documentary filmmaking, we see their wild journeys that include the physical and mental aspects of starvation and loneliness.
EXERCISE:
Describe the company you keep in your personal and professional worlds.
How much alone time do you experience?
How successful are you at befriending yourself during periods of isolation and loneliness?
Please reply to this post with your thoughts and feelings.
Image from Unsplash by Pablò
Whenever I think of concentric circles I see an archery target.
As a kid, I had the terrific opportunity to go to Camp Indian Lake in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania every summer.
Archery was a skill we all had the chance to experience. Drawing the bow and setting our sights on the bullseye was always the goal, and no one ever got hurt.
Today, the thought of giving a bunch of 10-year-olds bows and arrows seems pretty crazy!
As an adult, playing darts fits nicely in this concentric circle concept, where the spokes and areas beyond the bullseye come into play.
EXERCISE:
How can you change the world by applying this concentric circle idea to yourself and the world around you?
Image from Unsplash by PCM
What did you want to be when you were a kid? Who were your heroes, and how often did you imagine being them?
What about these days?
How often do your thoughts detour to trading places with the rich and famous? If you were to find a magic lamp, how would you use those wishes to swap out your life for some alternative picture of perfect?
Where do you currently feel the pangs of envy and jealousy?
Who are the people you actually know that seem to have it all? How do you feel around them when your habit of making comparisons kicks in?
EXERCISE:
Take a closer look at your life.
If possible, dig below the surface of your initial superlative assessments of others.
Perhaps they may actually be a bit jealous of you.