Take a plunge into your senses

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Take a plunge into your senses. Note what you are seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and hearing. What is the present moment offering you to experience more fully?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Aaron Burden

Autumn is a perfect time to plunge into your senses. It’s not too hot or too cold to get outside and appreciate mother nature in all her glory.

Consider taking a walk outside at different times of the day from before dawn to after dusk to experience all the sights, sounds, and sensations available.

Be sure to leave your phone at home and consider traveling alone at a leisurely pace to take in and savor all the wonders many of us often rush past.

Make a few stops along your way to turn around and look up and down so as to not miss out on the show the world is always offering.

EXERCISE:

Share your adventure with someone close to you and consider taking them along on your next sensory outing to offer them a taste of the gift you just received!

Friday Review: Imagination

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Friday Review: Imagination

What role does imagination play in your life and career? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.

“Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are.”

 

 

 

 

“Worry is just imagination used in an unproductive way.”

 

 

 

 

“The past is a place of reference, not a residence. The past is a place of learning, not a place of living.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking naps sounds so childish. I prefer to call them horizontal life pauses

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“Taking naps sounds so childish. I prefer to call them horizontal life pauses.”

—Author Unknown

Image from Unsplash by Vitaly Gariev

What do Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher, and Eleanor Roosevelt have in common?

Beyond being highly regarded public figures, they all claimed openly to value a good nap to renew and restore their energy, refresh their minds, and boost their creativity.

In the world of sports, Christiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, and Lebron James also proclaim the benefits of these blocks of shut-eye to bolster their performances.

EXERCISE:

At what points in your day would taking a horizontal life pause make the biggest difference?

Feel free to reply to this post with what works best for you.

What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know

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“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know, it’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”

—Mark Twain, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Image from Unsplash by Roman Kraft

Where do you get your news about national and world events?

I asked my new AI App Perplexity for its response to the most objective and trusted news sources, and here are the results:

  • Associated Press: known for neutral language and fact-based reporting.
  • Reuters: Focuses on comprehensive unbiased coverage of global news.
  • BBC: offers balanced reporting with a broad range of topics
  • PBS Newshour: recognized for its factual reporting and public trust
  • The Weather Channel: Consistently ranked as the most trusted news source in the U.S.

EXERCISE:

In addition to the other go-to sources of news we often visit, how might adding a few of these outlets increase the journalistic integrity and minimize the bias we often receive?

Without reflection, we go blindly on our way

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“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”

—Margaret Wheatley, American writer, speaker, and management consultant

Image from Unsplash by Medienstürmer

When it comes to learning and personal growth, many of us often miss the important step of self-reflection.

Although many of us consider ourselves good listeners and open minded, we all tend to react instead of responding to the input we receive over the course of the day.

We’re just too busy springing into action based on our previous conditioning to consider the value of pausing to re-evaluate our default approaches to getting things done.

EXERCISE:

Where in your personal or professional communities would greater reflection open your eyes and guide your efforts to achieving even more useful results in your life?

Notice and embrace the complexity of your humanness

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Notice and embrace the complexity of your humanness. Let everything be as it is. It makes you interesting.

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Joseph Malone

How often do you find yourself puzzled by the people in your life? Look over the spectrum of folks from young to old in your communities.

What makes each of them tick? Isn’t it interesting — once we think we know — when they surprise us by going in another direction?

Instead of trying to put these people puzzles together and have things fit into our own world view, perhaps we can simply be happy to have others in our life to keep us on our toes.

EXERCISE:

To what degree do you accept and embrace the complexities of the people around you?

How would doing so with curiosity and openness make the world a far more interesting place for everyone?

Friday Review: Habits

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Friday Review: HABITS

How are the habits you’ve developed supporting your growth? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.

“Before you try to increase your willpower, try decreasing the friction in your environment.”

 

 

 

“The pleasure of doing a thing in the same way at the same time every day and savoring it should be noted.”

 

 

 

 

“If you can go to bed late, you can also get up early.”

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s not differences that divide us. It’s our judgements about each other that do. “

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“It’s not differences that divide us. It’s our judgements about each other that do.”

—Margaret Wheatley, American writer, speaker, and management consultant

Image from Unsplash by Andre Ouellet

This past summer 10,500 athletes from 184 counties participated in the Paris Olympic games.

Following these games, the Paralympic games were held there, featuring 22 sports including blind football, sitting volleyball, and wheelchair basketball, fencing, rugby, and tennis.

The athletes that participated in these games are not only from different countries they also experience a diverse range of physical, visual, and cognitive disabilities that impact their performance.

EXERCISE:

What lessons can we all learn about accepting and celebrating our differences from the Olympic and Paralympic athletes?

How can an attitude of our oneness help eradicate the judgements that often divide us?

A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and unbending his mind

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“A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and unbending his mind.”

—Sophocles, ancient Greek tragedian

Image from Unsplash by Jay Mullings

Today’s quote has a message for all of us.

Although most people would consider themselves fairly wise and worldly, each of us blunders from time to time due to our unbending minds.

Far too many of us have shut the windows and doors of our minds to prevent fresh and new ideas to enter and clear the way for more informed and better choices.

EXERCISE:

Where have you and others in your communities closed the doors to learning more about the issues we all face?

How would greater flexibility and a more open-minded approach to living guide us all to a better future?

Relationship are all there is

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“Relationship are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else.”

—Margaret Wheatley, American writer, teacher, speaker, and management consultant

Image from Unsplash by Greg Rakozy

Margaret Wheatley’s work focuses on creating organizations and communities “worthy of human habitation” by drawing from various disciplines including organizational behavior, chaos theory, living systems science, and ancient spiritual traditions.

In recent years, she has been discussing civilization collapse and encouraging people to become “spiritual warriors” in response to current challenges.

EXERCISE:

How can and will you become a spiritual warrior along with Margaret Wheatley, to foster healthier and happier relationships in your various communities?