WHAT WE FIND INTERESTING
March 2022
We now enter a new Spring season, and with it comes a release of our pent up energy for two long years of living in a pandemic. As I write this new blog post I am feeling my usual hopefulness at the birth of a new Spring season, but, truth be told, I am also conflicted and saddened at the death of so many in Ukraine. The assaults on our weary souls can be daunting. I am confounded at the fact that wars are being fought with archaic tactics used so long ago to navigate conflict. How can we have come so far as a society with technology and yet resort to fight battles of bloodshed? I have begun a new practice of sitting with my Tibetan sound bowl when I begin to feel the tension. I find the soft vibrations and beautiful sound immediately transport me into a meditative state. Here I can allow the stress and tension to flow through me and I become more grounded and present in my space. Have you started a new practice this year? If not, perhaps you might like to explore a new way of being this Spring and create some new neural pathways.
May 2021
HOPE. With the blooming of Spring I feel a sense of hope. Something very symbolic happened to our family recently. I planted a Royal Empress tree in our front yard over 11 years ago from a small “buggy whip” graft ordered from an online company called “Fast Growing Trees.” That it was! It grew like a jack in the bean stalk to over 15 feet high. A little history-we bought the tree as a nod to the adoption of our daughter from China as these trees are planted upon the birth of a child and bloom each Spring with beautiful orchid like flowers. Folklore has it that upon blooming a Phoenix would come and bring good luck to the household. It is a tree of life. Unfortunately, our tree never bloomed due to colder Spring weather and late freezes—until this year! Feeling as if we had finally reached and crested the summit of this pandemic and beginning to put it in our rear view mirror—our Royal Empress bloomed and produced one beautiful blossom! It sprung from the barest of branches against a darkened sky. Perhaps we can take this as a suggestion to grow as we move forward from the darkness of the past year. I believe the phoenix has landed!
Royal Empress Blossom
HOPE
January 2021
Time appears to be standing still. Questions I hear often are: “What day is it?” “Did I write that email or was it in my head?” “It feels like Friday, is it Friday?” “Where is the Zoom link?” “Can you resend the Zoom link?” Lots of confusion and disruption as our brains form new neural pathways on these uncharted waters-constantly learning new ways of being. A book that has caught my attention seems to be perfectly timed to address these disruptions.
Be Water, My Friend— The Teachings of Bruce Lee written by his daughter Shannon Lee
An excerpt from the book spoke to me:
“People have to grow through skillful frustrations, otherwise they have no incentive to develop their own means and ways of coping with the world.”-Bruce Lee.
And it’s true. If you never attempt anything hard or challenging, the first time something hard or challenging happens to you, you will be knocked on your ass and not know what to do. Or you might want to curl up in a ball and cower on the floor. So try to look upon frustaration as your teacher or, dare I say, your friend. Try to listen to what it has to say to you and about you, about your capacity, about your beliefs, about where you need to stretch a bit, about what you really want and love, and let it guide you to full understanding of yourself. I promise you that over time your life will open up and you will start to feel more powerful and more free.
—Shannon Lee
September 2020
Health and Wellness is at the forefront of my coaching now. It is top of mind for our friends and relatives as we enter an unknown winter. How has the last seven months changed your thinking? Resilience to changing work schedules and school schedules is front and center now. Heavy is the word lots of people use to describe how they are feeling now—the weight of the world on their shoulders. This podcast from Tom Fazio addresses the idea of becoming weightless in our pursuit of balance.
https://www.coachesrising.com/podcast/unlocking-mind-body-peak-performance-to-become-weightless-with-tom-fazio/
May 2020
CHANGE! How do we reckon with this new normal? Where do our thoughts lead us? During these unprecedented times we are all experiencing there is one thing for sure—we will have lived history like never before! Our routines have been turned upside down and sideways. What are we learning from this experience and can we quiet our minds enough to be open to expansion and new growth?
I am drawn to nature during times of stress and it is ironic that my pruning habits somewhat relate to what is happening now during this pandemic. The cutting away of the old branches and dead wood brings beautiful new growth, sometimes right away and sometimes it takes a season to reveal the results of my hard work. It seems we are all finding ways to readjust and cut away old systems of being to adapt to the changes we are facing. I’m confident that in the future we will see progress from the sacrifices we have made and new ways of being in the world and with our families. God bless.
February 2020
Thinking about change in the New Year. What drives us to change? Is it an uncomfortable feeling or situation? Perhaps we have failed at something or we keep digging a deeper trench and feel as if we are getting nowhere. Or perhaps we aren’t asking the right questions of ourselves. Here is an excerpt from Jennifer Garvey Berger’s blog regarding this topic, which I highly agree with.
An adaptive change requires that you replace old ways of thinking and acting—and your old worldview—with a new one. Now this isn’t like trading in your Dell for a new MacAir. This is not about replacing anything, because to replace your worldview would be to get a personality transplant. Rather, it’s about enlarging your worldview, making room for slightly different outcomes, slightly different possibilities. It’s about seeing the world a slightly different way and practicing some habits which keep that worldview fluid and not stagnant.
Checking in with our views and perspectives is always a healthy way of moving forward. When we begin an exercise program we all know that if we keep the same workout routine we will eventually hit a plateau and cease to experience movement toward our goal of losing weight. Why might we think our brains are any different? How is your perspective and world view helping or hurting you? What questions will you ask yourself to move in a new and unfamiliar direction?
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change The Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
Want to get great at something? Get a coach by Atul Gawande
Late Bloomers The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed With Early Achievement by Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes Magazine
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