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The Reset

Recently, I wrote about the power of dreams, visions or intentions for our life:

The Value of Intention

This message is for those days or weeks, months or years, when we forget or lose sight of our dreams, when we have stopped choosing in service of our vision and find ourselves mired in the muck.

It is never too late for The Reset!

What is it? The reset is simply a pause to come back to ourselves. It can be executed anytime, anywhere, any day in any way. The reset is a fresh start; it is the message to, “Begin again!” The reset includes:

  • Stop (action, thoughts, “spinning”)
  • Release judgment (there is NO place for this now!)
  • Remember (personal truth, wholeness, intention, vision)
  • Imagine possible steps toward your vision
  • Choose a step and take it

That’s it. The reset requires that you step outside the box that has you trapped and get back in touch with who you really are. So often, all it takes is just one step toward personal truth, just one step in service of our vision, to get us back on track.

What needs a reset now?
What are you waiting for?

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Daring …

How many times have you heard, “I dare you!”, especially out of the mouths of children? Actually, only out of the mouths of children! It seems, as an adult, daring has been trained out many of us. While that isn’t totally a “bad” thing as some of those childish dares were quite dangerous, the quality of daring has a place in our “grown up” world, especially for those of us who choose to be leaders on this planet. Ready?

Dare to disturb
Dare to be wrong

Do you dare to disturb the status quo, the way we’ve always done it? How else does powerful change happen? If we always do what we’ve always done, how will we experience anything but what we’ve always experienced? Actually, in this world where so much is evolving so quickly, trying to keep the status quo is nearly impossible!

Do you have the courage to be wrong? Do you dare to move forward without knowing the steps? Do you dare to be wrong in service of your vision, your dreams, your powerful intention for something better?

Today, notice where your daring is absent but needed. Notice where you go with the flow without question. Notice, too, where you are afraid to take a step because you might be wrong, you might fall down, you might fail.  Then …

Dare to disturb!
How will you shake up the status quo today?
Dare to be wrong!
Where will you feel the fear and do it anyway?

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A Knowing I Deny

How often do you find yourself saying:

I was afraid that would happen!
I had a sense this choice wasn’t the right one.
I knew it!

Every one of us comes into this world complete with a strong intuition, a sense beyond the standard five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The sixth sense which used to sound so elusive and available only to psychics and other out there folks (who some of us thought were crazy and untrustworthy!), is actually standard on all human vehicles. If you don’t believe me, think again about those phrases above. How did you know it? You didn’t know by way of your intelligence, you knew because you sensed it, your intuition was speaking to you!

The problem?
You, like many of us, ignored the message!

In some cultures, intuition is vital and honored. I think about the Native Americans who walked the earth fully listening to her messages. They knew so many things without the benefit of the TV weatherman or the Internet, without deep, rational thought. They just knew.

In other cultures, intuition is trained out of us. Early on, as we move in the world with our sensitive knowingness on display, we are told to ignore it. “You don’t feel that way!” or “It’s okay. Go to Grandpa.” Later in life, imagine telling your supervisor, “We need to do it this way – I just sense that this is the right direction.” How will your supervisor respond?

Today, I just want to invite you into a relationship with your intuition, to notice when there is a knowing you deny. For starters, just notice. Become familiar with your sixth sense and begin to honor it with, “Oh! I did know that … and I ignored it this time.” Notice how you knew it. Does your gut get tense? Do you get a headache? Does fear show up? However it is that your intuition speaks to you, begin to remain aware of the messenger and, when it shows up, rather than ignoring it, stop. Pause. Say, “I hear you.” and get curious. “What are you trying to tell me?” Listen for the answer. Then make an informed choice about how you will proceed in the situation.

What is the knowing you deny?
What if you honored it instead?

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Are you ready for rainbow swirl?

Take a moment to think about the world you live, play and work within. Browse your outer world, but survey also your inner world, the beliefs and ideas you allow to impact your choices. If your world was ice cream, would it be plain vanilla? Succulent strawberry? Charming chocolate? Maybe it’s a bit of all three and you’ve got Neapolitan going on!
neapolitan

If you do move around in Neapolitan, are you segregated:

NeapolitanAgain

allowing some ideas and beliefs in one area of your life but not another, showing up some places as plain vanilla and others as succulent strawberry?

Today, imagine expanding your scope, the colors and flavors and style that you play with on your life journey. Imagine you added orange sherbet, pistachio or rainbow swirl:

icecreamswirl

What is possible with a bit more color?
What magic will you create with orange sherbet?
What will your rainbow swirl stir up?

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How do you show up as a leader?

Each one of us is a leader. For some of us, our leadership is formal and acknowledged by the world around us; we are team leaders or managers or CEOs at our place of employment. Yet all of us, simply by being a member of the human race, by being part of a family or group of friends, are leaders. Someone, somewhere, is watching and learning from us whether we know it or not.

Think about that. Your actions, your words, the very energy you bring to each interaction – YOU are being watched and emulated.

How do you show up as a leader?
Are you willing to find out …
… and take responsibility for your impact?

We’ve all heard those famous words, “Be the change.” But do you know that being the change we want to see in this world begins at home, in you and in me? Being the change requires that we see ourselves as leaders who care enough to learn what our impact is and take responsibility for its ripple effect.

Today, I am challenging you to look deeply at one area in your life where you impact others. Then, learn about your impact by getting courageous and asking those who feel your leadership impact to help you be a better leader. For those who are willing to be honest with you, ask these powerful questions:

How do I show up as a leader (or partner, friend, parent)?
Where do I fail as a leader?
What is my unintended impact?

Our actions always have unintended impact. Growing up, my desire to do well in school, to perform well on stage, to be “good”, had the unintended impact of me being thought of as a snob! I didn’t know that until years later when someone got honest with me. When my leadership colleagues reflected on my playing small and scared as a leader, I heard, “Your unintended impact is …”:

You create disconnection.
Smallness enters the space.
Your magnificent voice is not heard.

That’s pretty powerful impact of the kind I didn’t mean to bring with my leadership!

What is the unintended impact YOU create?