How do you define courage? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
“I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: Turn Back!”
“Follow your heart but take your brain with you.”
Take your own yellow brick road and meet your own inner wizard.
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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.
Image from Unsplash by Daniel Watson
When I was eleven, I started my first business.
My dad loaned me $75 to buy a Sears Craftsman lawn mower, and I got busy knocking on all the neighborhood doors.
Prior to my gas-powered efforts, I used one of those rotary mowers that would always get clogged with grass if it was too long or wet. After one multi-hour effort on a neighbor’s neglected lawn with only three dollars to show for it, my rotary mower was history.
Where in your life have you and do you trade your time for money?
Where over the years have your learned to use your money to more efficiently and effectively allocate your time?
EXERCISE:
Where and in what ways have you learned that time is the coin of life? In what ways can you spend and invest it more wisely? How can you use your money and other resources to get far more bang for your bucks?
Image from Unsplash by Banff Sunshine Village
Do you or have you participated in winter activities such as skiing or sledding? Although I tried my hand at skiing in my late teens and made it down a few bunny slopes, sledding was my thing as a kid.
When our wintry prayers were answered for snow days, I was out the door with my friends to visit venues we named Suicide Hill and Dead Man’s Drop.
As fast as we would race down each run, we would immediately dart right back up each incline again and again, holding on tight to our flexible flyers, snowboards, and toboggans.
We couldn’t get enough and only frozen toes, growling stomachs, and looming darkness would have us head home.
EXERCISE:
How many good runs have you had in your life? What intentions and actions are you planning and taking to make the most of every day you wake up to see the sun?
Image from Unsplash by Towfiqu Barbhuiya
Of all the coaching tools I’ve come to value most over the years, one is the good old open-ended question.
I love that the trigger words of Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How allow us to dig deeper into answers that can differ widely for each person.
When we combine questions like these in sequence with sincere interest and honorable listening, we often discover many of life’s most important answers.
EXERCISE:
Consider picking up a copy of The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stainer or A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger to help you and others live into the answers of your life.
What expectations do you carry for yourself? How do you react to the expectations others hold for you? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.
Image from Unsplash by Mario Doberman
Being still seems like such a passive thing to do. How could the lack of movement get us where we want to go and accomplish the things we desire?
Without a careful aim we certainly miss our targets.
Without new ideas we are destined to keep circling back to the ones whose time has passed.
Without greater perspective we are unlikely to pursue paths meant for today and our future.
Without our connections and communities, we are left as lone rangers, isolated and alone.
EXERCISE:
How could you squeeze greater benefits out of stillness in your life?
Where can it act as a quiet place to reflect and improve your world in so many ways?
Image from Unsplash by Nick Fewings
As a child I was fearful of going to the doctor. The unfamiliar surroundings, the strange smells, and the anticipation of getting a shot from the scary nurse was something to dread.
Doctor Wiederman was always kind and gentle, with a reassuring voice. On one visit, he let me use his stethoscope to listen to my heartbeat. This pulsing sound seemed to let me know that everything was OK and that he and his staff were only there to keep me healthy.
As I’ve gotten older, my perspective on my heart has expanded from a blood pumping organ to the source of my soul. Taking the time to be quiet and listening to its messages is something we can all practice daily.
EXERCISE:
Where and when do you take the time to listen to the whispers of your heart?
How can you quiet the noisy voices of your mind to embrace this inner wisdom?
Image from Unsplash by Logan Weaver
How old are you?
When was the last time you took a good look in the mirror?
How does your self-appraisal compare when you view yourself from the inside versus the outside?
Without question, entropy is having its way with all of us and many of us are grasping desperately for our younger days.
Today’s quote can be a wonderful way to re-frame our perspective on the aging process.
It helps us see what we’ve been given and gained with all the days gone by.
EXERCISE:
How can you more fully embrace the process of aging and look to the happiness you have fostered in the lives of others along the way?
Image from Unsplash by Joshua Hoehne
One thing that stood out on our recent return from Florida was the reckless drivers we saw everywhere. Among their most notable traits was how rarely these motorists ever came to a full stop at stop signs on side streets.
Perhaps they saw the red hexagons as mere suggestions, and rolled right through.
Stopping completely has considerable value in both driving and in life. It gives us time to not only look both ways but to also look within.
Assessing our realities, clarifying our intended destinations, and then proceeding with care seems like a wise way to go.
EXERCISE:
Where in your life and world do you roll through the stop signs?
How would applying the brakes more often — and more fully — create a space for something new to show up?