We all experience setbacks now and then. Here are a few setback-related posts you may have missed. Click to read the full message.
“Temporary setbacks boost your skill to open locks with previously unknown combinations.”
“Their ‘Can’t’ is my trumpet.”
“The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.”
Image from Unsplash by Alejandro Piñero Amerio
For the past few months, I have added Calm’s daily trip to my meditation practice. Jeff Warren, the author and narrator of these ten-minute segments, put the practice of meditation and mindfulness into an edgy and contemporary perspective, which I find novel and engaging.
Today’s quote is satisfying and reassuring. It reminds me to more fully appreciate where I am and what I have. This feeling and knowing helps in my happiness efforts and expands my capacity for gratitude.
How would embracing the idea that “someday” is not actually a day of the week help you live more fully today? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves — we might miss something very important.
Image from Amazon
The pandemic and its economic repercussions have caused many a family and business to tighten their belts. Being mindful of diminishing or scarce resources has created levels of frugality not seen since the Great Depression.
At the same time, this shared experience has spurred many to extraordinary acts of generosity and selflessness to support those in need.
What examples of frugality and generosity have you observed in your personal and professional communities? Where have you been both frugal and generous at the same time?
What life lessons have you learned this past year regarding the virtues of frugality and generosity?
Please reply to this post to share your own stories and insights.
Image from Unsplash by Gigi
Of all the tools in a coach’s toolbox, none gets used more often than powerful questions. Open-ended question — those that begin with who, what, where, when, why, and how — are very handy in establishing and deepening relationships for the rest of us as well.
Today’s quote is commonly used by seasoned interviewers when evaluating candidates for various job opportunities. This question seeks to determine the applicant’s openness and receptivity to various inputs and types of feedback from significant experiences and events in their past.
How can and will you use today’s question to squeeze more teachable moments out of your communities? Please be sure to ask and answer the question yourself, to act as your own coach.
mage from Unsplash by Markus Winkler
Each year for the past decade I have reviewed the book, Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler. One of its many exercises is to list all the roles you currently play in your personal and professional communities. The exercise then challenges you to determine your intentions for each role in the year ahead.
Taking time to examine our efforts and progress in the previous year shines a spotlight on our capacity, willingness, and promise to do and be better.
Given this year is well underway, how can and will you “spring” forward with greater intention, focus, and effort to improve in at least one area of your choosing?
What are the benefits you get from worrying? Here are three worry-related posts you may have missed.
“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.”
“Worry is interest on money never borrowed.”
“Worry is just imagination used in an unproductive way.”
Image from Unsplash by Clark Van Der Beken
How often do you experience the feeling of being upset? Examine your world and note things that are not where they should be, based on your beliefs and expectations. How often do you point your finger and blame others for the situations and events that are not proceeding as you wish?
The act of observing your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, can be troubling. Practicing our capacity for equanimity and accepting things as they are rarely satisfies us for long. We simply revert to seeing far too many things out of place.
Consider a recent day in which everything seemed right in your world. Think back to your levels of intentionality and efforts to move things forward. How many T’s did you cross? How many I’s did you dot?
Where is your world showing you a puzzle with some pieces missing? Where is it time to do something about it, bringing a better picture of your world into view?
What are your personal or professional areas of excellence and high achievement? Which of these activities stir the passions in which you often lose track of time, expressing your gifts and mastery?
Where also do you find the expression of these capabilities serving the needs and desires of others in some meaningful and value-producing way?
Jim Collins — author of Good to Great — might describe this scenario as a personal hedgehog. It points us toward an expression of ourselves that could be more fully developed and expanded to contribute to the world.
How and in what ways can and will you be an impresario to find a need, define a service, and be the bridge to bring it to the world?
Image from Unsplash by krakenimages
I have a friend and client named Tim who is a highly successful business leader. He exemplifies many strong qualities of leadership and personal character that most of his customers, colleagues, and even competitors admire.
Among his most positive attributes is his willingness to take initiative and proactively put himself out into the world to see the people and make things happen.
Where do you find yourself on the introvert-to-extrovert spectrum, especially given the constraints caused by the pandemic?
How have you continued to reach out to connect despite your efforts to be physically distant and keep one another safe?
Where have you not made the effort to be out in the world in some essential way?
How can and will you get out there and (safely) see the people in the coming months?
How can and will you encourage others in your personal and professional communities to do the same?
Marvin Demp
On March 7 at 1:47 a.m., my father Marvin passed on to be with my mom and other loved ones in Heaven. The morning of his passing, I asked Google to play some of his favorite songs. A direct message came from my dad when “Cheek to Cheek” played — it begins with the words, “Heaven, I’m in Heaven…”.
As we cried and celebrated the life of this wonderful man, my family, friends, and the many loving and generous caregivers who supported him experienced the value and joy of our many human connections.
What are some of your stories of extraordinary and simple moments of human connection? How can you more fully embrace the richness these moments offer you each and every day?