What you don’t do determines what you can do. Tim Ferriss Feel like you are treading water to stay afloat? Are demands on your life leaving you feeling besieged and depleted? One remedy is the ‘Don’t List’. Most of us need to say NO more (however, there are some of us who need to say Yes more. I highly recommend a TED talk on...Read More
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. Goethe The 3 Things We Can Control In my coaching practice, I spend my days listening to people. Deep listening has taught me a lot about the human condition. When...Read More
Mistakes are the portals of discovery. James Joyce I came across an astonishing document published by Engineers Without Borders that applies to the human condition as much as engineering projects. The Canadian division produces an annual “Failure Report” in which they make clear that well- intended engineering projects go bad, often. The topics include forthright...Read More
In a scientific dialogue amongst social scientists and the Dalai Lama, published under the title Destructive Emotions the notion of American compassion was raised. It was explained that in the U.S., many people have great compassion for others, yet suffer greatly with low self-worth and self-contempt. Our American understanding of compassion applies only to others...Read More
I’m not a mean person, but I have a capacity for it. Tina Fey A Cherokee grandfather tells his grandson about violence and cruelty in the world. He describes it as two wolves fighting inside a person’s heart, one is vengeful and angry, the other is understanding and kind. When the boy asked which wolf will win, the grandfather responds, “the one I chose to feed”. I hear stories everyday about large and small...Read More
Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it. Bob Dylan It is estimated that the average person can comfortably maintain stable relationships with 150 people (known as Dunbars number). It is our human cognitive limit, mostly due to the size of our brains, that the number of people...Read More
Banishing Hangry: Finding Freedom by Creating Space Hangry=Hungry + Angry An empty stomach is not a good political adviser. Albert Einstein A client I am working with has been struggling with her weight since adolescence. Determined to do something about it, she committed to interrupting her pattern of living and eating. Right away, she...Read More
Its Always Hard to Leave Home: The Challenge of Change Change always comes bearing gifts. —Price Pritchett, PhD Change Management Expert Five months into the “New” year how many of us have broken promises to ourselves? New research suggests that it is not due to inertia, laziness or lack of willpower. Harvard professors Kegan and...Read More
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. —Viktor Frankl Besieged at every turn with stress, work, family, and traffic? Ambushed by the emotional wake of others or a toxic food environment? Have you tried to...Read More
The Rise and Fall of Urges: Surfing the Emotional Wake It is more difficult to murder a phantom than a reality. —Virginia Wolf A recent study in Germany suggests that we spend a full quarter of our waking hours resisting urges. Yes, our desires are frequent, variable in intensity and largely unproblematic. Our urges create...Read More
