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What don’t I know?

I-dont-know

Today’s thoughts come from ideas I am exploring in the book, The Zen Leader by Ginny Whitelaw. Before you stop reading because you don’t see yourself as a leader, wait! Everyone is a leader and that includes you! (More on this another day…)

Now that you’re with me, the simple idea for today is this:

What don’t I know?
What would be different in my life experience if I kept this question constantly at the ready?

If you are like me, you are an expert at approaching situations and trying to figure out what you know, what is familiar, the answer. From here, of course, you know what to do and how to handle yourself! But if we remain focused on what we already know, how does anything new come into being? How do we expand? How does humanity move forward if we only act based on yesterday’s knowledge?

Great leaders explore the unknown and vision what’s possible. How could this leadership trait impact our day-to-day lives? Imagine waking up to another day filled with family commitments, work, personal self-care, volunteer opportunities, … all the usual activities on the calendar. Now:

  • What if you open your eyes in the morning and ask, “What don’t I know about the possibilities for my physical body today?”
  • What if your child or significant other comes to ask a favor and you think, “What don’t I know about his or her inspirations, dreams, desires?”
  • What if you go to your job and ask, “What don’t I know about my coworkers? What don’t I know that might make my efforts more efficient or easier?”
  • What if you pause to think about your future and ask, “What don’t I know?”

What is the power of “What don’t I know?”? I think it is an opening, a crack in limited thinking, a ray of hope and expansion and possibility in a world that sometimes feels small and hopeless. I believe it is also an opportunity to open ourselves to others, to collaboration, to the awareness that we are not alone and that we have much to learn and many ways to work and grow together.

Care to play this game with me today?
What don’t YOU know?

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Power In Perspective

Good morning! Yes, it’s morning. And it feels “good”. Yet it didn’t feel that way a short 30 minutes ago. In fact, with a day wide open with choices, few commitments and a lovely weather forecast, my being felt depression instead of joy, excitement, pleasure or curiosity. And I didn’t want to stay there. I wanted to find a way to be with the moments, activities and the day ahead of me that was closer to pure delight than the depression that was present.

What shifted? It was quite simple and I want to share it with you. First, I decided to remove the “depression” label. Okay, gone! Then, aware that there were feelings that reminded me of depression, and knowing that those feelings color my view of life and everything in it, I asked myself:

How would I feel about the day ahead if the depression glasses were off?

Immediately, I realized that:

  • I would be grateful that I get to be with a dear friend at 7:00am
  • I would be excited to dig in to the possible projects on the list.
  • I realized that the day would not be long enough for all the possibilities so I would be in delightful anticipation with the giggles and joy of a child.

Wow! With that one shift in perspective:

How would I feel about the day ahead if the depression glasses were off?

I found myself out of the box of depression, open to possibility, and excited to be alive!

How about you?

What activities are you anticipating with dread?
What feelings are walling you off from the joy of life?
What change in perspective would you like to entertain?

There is power in perspective. We can choose the perspective and claim personal power to create our life. Or, we can let circumstance choose the perspective and find ourselves disempowered in a box that is not of our choosing.

What perspective will you choose today?

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The Void

Last time, I wrote about THE LIST, that never ending wellspring of ideas of where to invest your energy, your time, talent, and financial resources. You may have such a list for your life, your business, your family and home.

You don’t have such a list? Are you in that place of feeling stuck, not knowing which way to turn because you believe you have exhausted your options? Maybe you don’t believe you are creative and are waiting for someone else to tell you what comes next? Or perhaps you have been on the treadmill and exhausted yourself, checking things off the list and now feel empty, drained, without ideas?

I’d like to share an idea about the creative process that can help. I suspect it has been written about many times before (because it works!) yet my most recent encounter was in The Intuitive Way by Penney Peirce. Simply, it is a cycle of creation that requires listening. We must listen to the energy inside and notice when it says:

“Yes! Do it!”

and when it says:

“This doesn’t feel right. What is really needed now?”
or “I’m tired. Take a break.”

Simply put, the cycle is this:

  • BE – return to the void and listen; allow space in your activity to hear intuition, that still small voice within, and to be inspired
  • DO – once inspired in the listening, we know the steps to take
  • HAVE – having taken the steps, we experience completion or “having”

Sometimes, the cycle looks like this:

BE – DO – HAVE – BE – DO – HAVE– BE – DO – HAVE 

Sometimes it looks like this:

BE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – BE

Often, when we are too focused on completing the list, it looks like:

BE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE – DO – HAVE …

and we never return to BE.

Today, consider breaking the cycle. Set the list – or the non-list – aside. Perhaps just gift yourself with 15-60 minutes of solitude. Go for a walk. Sit alone under your favorite tree. Go for a swim and treasure the feeling of floating on your back soaking up the sun. Sit in the chair with your pet in your lap and quiet music in the background.

Whatever you choose, the gift is one of being in the void. Invite your mind to rest. Deepen your breath. Calm your inner agitation. Just be.

What do you notice here?
What feels easy to release from here?
What inspiration is present here?

Finally, before you leave this place, make a date with yourself to return. Then do it!

 

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The List

to-doList

Did you grow up with the “to-do list”? Every morning in the summer, Mom would go to work. But before she left home, she left “the list” for us kids to do before she returned. Oh how I hated that list and most of what appeared on it:

Weed the beans
Dust the house
etc.

Yet, before Mom returned, we needed it to be a “to-done” list – or else!

Well, I realize today (some 40 years later!) that I learned my lessons well and “the list” has become a key piece of my organizational skills and my ability to get stuff accomplished. (Thanks, Mom!) It has also become, however, a source of overwhelm and fear despite the tricks I’ve learned to manage it.

As I look down on those childhood years, I see that Mom managed THE LIST, you know – the BIG list – the one that was never ending and lived in her head. I only saw the list, the segment that formed the to-do’s of today and which Mom believed was manageable.

Today, as an entrepreneur, I now manage THE LIST, and I manage the list. On top of that, I need to manage “me” and discern what I need for balance and well-being. Play? Rest? Work? Creativity? Meditation? I’m pretty good at this discernment day-to-day and can create the list that serves my balance most days. It is THE LIST which wreaks havoc with me.

How about you? Do you have a never-ending set of home remodeling projects? Is your business in that start-up phase where every time you turn around there are three new tasks for every one completed? Are you a creative like me and ideas for “what’s next?” come faster than a locomotive and creative time disappears at that pace as well?

Here are some things I know that I would like to put into more regular practice:

  • Celebrate creative ideas! What if I had none to choose from?
  • There will always be more options, more ways to spend time, energy, and money than I could ever follow through on.

In other words, expect more and more and more ideas! Treasure the energy in you that sees possibility. Know deep inside that you never want this list to become a “to-done” list. (Jeanne, are you listening to yourself? Are you learning here?)

Consider also these thoughts related to your LIST:

  • Today’s ideas might be great – and they might be the spark that ignites an even better idea!
  • Today’s ideas might not be great. Does this one even go on the list?
  • A great idea today might have come at the wrong time and need to sit on the back burner awhile.
  • A great idea not executed today might need to be released tomorrow because it simply isn’t great anymore.

Take a look at your LIST. Consider:

What have you already completed without realizing it?
Celebrate!

What ideas naturally group themselves together into larger themes?
What no longer fits at all in the grand scheme?
Let it go!

What still feels exciting, creative or necessary,
but now is not the time?
Can you guesstimate a time frame?
Express gratitude for this future work.
Release any pressure you feel to get it done now!

Finally, return to today and the list that serves you and THE LIST.

 

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Masquerading as a normal person …

KickButt4By6

Today’s message is simple: In what ways do you hide YOU? Where and with whom do you masquerade as something you are not? Perhaps you’ve been following the rules of life for so long that you don’t even know what “masquerading” as YOU would look like! Maybe you really don’t think you can.

Well, I am here to say: YOU CAN! For today, start small. Look at things that you have 100% control over:

  • Whose thoughts am I thinking? Mine or someone else’s?
  • What do I really believe? Where have I taken on another’s belief system unconsciously, without personal evaluation?
  • Where do I take on your emotional energy, the way you move in life? Where do I hide my inner spirit and refuse to sing and dance down the street?
  • Which clothes in my closet are there because they are in style or because that’s what I am supposed to wear to work or church or wherever?

Do you get the idea? Today, find one way in which you have been masquerading as someone else and dare to be yourself! And, just in case removing your mask is visible to others, have some fun!

What looks do you get when you dance down the street?
What happens when you smile at their questioning glances?
What does it feel like to be YOU?

(*) For additional inspiration, check out the Kick Butt! Inspiration Card