Tag Archives: change

Embrace the new year and take the time to be renewed and reborn

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Embrace the new year and take the time to be renewed and reborn.

—Calm app Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Lukas Szmigiel

It is very common this time of year for many of us to review and reflect on the past year. TV shows and all types of media provide us with the top stories, photographs, and events that impacted and shaped us. How have you changed? What have you learned? What wisdom have you gained?

Instead of looking within, we may wish to look outside at nature’s mirror for guidance on living.  What can you observe regarding how our natural world reveals clear examples of ongoing growth, renewal, and transformation?

EXERCISE:

Sometime this week, get out of your home and your vehicle and step more fully into the natural world.

Take a walk, visit a body of water, look up at the sky and even try a forest bath.

What lessons are being offered to help you more fully embrace the year ahead?

Friday Review: Adaptation

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Friday Review: Adaptation

How good are you at adapting to change? Here are a few adaption-related posts you may have missed.

 

“Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container.”

 

 

 

 

“You will not stop a steamroller by standing in front of it, but by letting it run out of steam.”

 

 

 

 

“Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction.”

 

 

 

“The glassblower knows: While in the heat of beginnings any shape is possible

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“The glassblower knows: While in the heat of beginnings any shape is possible. Once hardened, the only way to change is to break.”

—Mark Nepo, Author of The Book of Awakening

Image from Unsplash by Clémente Philippe

Consider yourself a glassblower, shaped in the heat of your early years by many environmental factors. To what degree do you keep the fires burning to continue shaping yourself and your life into a work of art?

Where have you stopped in your development and perhaps become hardened and resistant to change? Where have the changes in your world over the past two years caused some cracks or broken you?

EXERCISE:

Where in your personal or professional life can you fire up the kiln of a new beginning to continue shaping a more beautiful life?

If you, too, are fascinating by glassblowing, consider visiting Chihuly Garden and Glass near the Space Needle at Seattle center. A visit here was ranked 1st of the 499 things to do in Seattle on TripAdvisor. An online visit may be a good place to start.

“A life well-lived is firmly planted in the sweet soil of moments.”

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“A life well-lived is firmly planted in the sweet soil of moments.”

—Wayne Muller, Author of How Then Shall We Live

Image from Unsplash by CDC

This year has included many significant moments for myself and my family. Some landmark moments included the passing of my dear dad, the move from Michigan to Pennsylvania after 34 years, and the birth of our new granddaughter.

With the dramatic change in venue and our routines, Wendy and I have been paying even closer attention to all the sweet and sometimes sour moments that make up our days.

We see ourselves as gardeners carefully and lovingly planting many new seeds and tending to our plot of the world. We intend to sink deep roots into the sweet soil of our many blessings especially during this holiday season.

EXERCISE:

How mindful and grateful are you about your life?

How connected and deeply rooted are you within your various communities?

How might you better cultivate the sweet soil of each moment to live an even more richly rewarding life?

Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness.  Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.

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“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.”

—August Wilson, 20th Century American Playwright

Image from Unsplash by Benjamin Davies

Consider the following statement on a one-to-five scale in which one is absolutely not and five is definitely yes.

I have a clear view of where I am and where I am going in my life.

This statement is part of my discovery process to help determine a potential client’s readiness to move their lives forward with a supportive coaching relationship.

For optimal success, these relationships benefit significantly through the deep and thoughtful process of examining and wrestling with their limiting beliefs and habits. Through careful illumination and generous self-forgiveness, each individual will most likely realize far more of their fullest personal and professional potential.

EXERCISE:

What steps can and will you take to more fully examine your own demons to help your angels sing? Consider picking up a copy of the book Taming your Gremlins by Rick Carson as a way to open this door of deeper discovery.

To explore your own readiness for coaching, please consider filling out my free Coaching Readiness Assessment.

“Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.”

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“Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.”

—Marguerite De Angeli, 20th Century American writer/book illustrator

Image from Amazon

Being persistent and staying the course is a solid approach to discovery and achieving excellence, offered to us all. These days it seems fewer and fewer of us take this approach. It appears that the pursuit of/grasping for pleasure and comfort and the avoidance of discomfort and pain has softened many of us to far more frequently pursue the paths of least resistance.

Over the years I’ve been repeatedly introduced to the Japanese concept of IKIGAI, which is defined as a central purpose or reason for being. Two of the most common perspectives on this topic relate to either a societal or personal view of life that can drive our daily pursuits.

EXERCISE:

What is your personal or societal IKIGAI? How has or can it fuel you to follow more of the long and difficult walls of life until you discover and open the doors to your destiny?

Friday Review: Change

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FRIDAY REVIEW: CHANGE

One thing we know for sure: change is inevitable. Here are a few change-related posts you may have missed.

 

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

 

 

 

 

“Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction.”

 

 

 

 

“The future has already arrived. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.”

 

 

 

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

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“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

—Nelson Mandela, late S. African political leader and philanthropist

Image from Unsplash by Meg Boulden

Last month Wendy and I had dinner with a long-lost friend — Mitchell, and his wife Terry. Mitchell and I were schoolmates from first grade through high school.

Although many of the stories we held from so long ago have not changed, we found great pleasure exploring how we have both grown and altered in pursuing our individual paths.

Our discussion reminded me of visiting my grade school and former teachers when I was a college freshman. I was amazed at how small the desks, hallways, and students were.

EXERCISE:

Select and read one of your favorite books from your youth. Note your thoughts, feelings, and emotions regarding how you have growth and altered into the person you are today.

“Has the most important thing changed? Am I chasing an outdated target?

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“Has the most important thing changed? Am I chasing an outdated target?”

—James Clear, author, entrepreneur, and photographer

Image from Unsplash by Ross Findon

Today’s quote contains two closed-ended questions. Did you answer yes or no to either or both?

Let’s change them a bit to make them open-ended….

What important things in your life have changed in the past year?
Where are you chasing a goal or target that is no longer relevant or essential?

EXERCISE:

Explore both the open and closed-ended approaches with a friend, family member, mentor, or coach.

Please let me know what new insights and actions result from this inquiry.

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have of trying to change others.”

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“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have of trying to change others.”

—Jacob M. Braude, 20th Century Judge of the Illinois Circuit Court

Image from Unsplash by Edward Howell

How much time do you spend in your efforts to change others in your life? Consider your specific efforts with family members, friends, and professional colleagues. What is this process like, and how have these folks responded to your attempts to right their wrongs and see/do things your way?

Instead of putting all this effort into changing others, consider redirecting these energies into your own developmental pursuits to change yourself. Maybe your example of change and improvement will cause a positive ripple of change within others in your communities… or maybe not.

EXERCISE:

In what areas will you stop your efforts to change others in your life?

How and where can you then double down on your own efforts to change yourself for the better?