Angry or Afraid? When people act out, do we see someone to fear or someone to serve?
I still need help practicing consistently: quickly changing my response from one of “equal and opposite” reaction to one of service, grace and compassion
Troubled Waters? Don’t get washed away, see and be the bridge.
My wager is that you know, deep down that there is hope, even in the midst of sorrow and that there is always an “other side” to cross over to and always a bridge you can cross.
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Got Circle? Sometimes you NEED to go where everybody knows your name
Cheers Theme: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name..and they’re always glad you came…. You want to go where people know, people are all the same, you want to go where every-bod-y knows your nameeee.”
What if that want, was really more of a need? What if we don’t just want to be with people who are just as messed up as we are, but we really need to be with people, just like we need the very air that we breathe?
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Recipe for a Hallmark movie
1 part 80’s or 90’s TV star – preferably B or C list (sometimes they double this) 1 part lovely single woman who has experienced tragedy, loss and/or heartbreak (or is just profoundly misunderstood by her current boyfriend who is either completely milk toast (or just mean to waiters) 1 part dreamy or dashing single …
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The MACRO impact of micro (?)
Have you ever taken time to think that perhaps the cumulative effect of the small hurts may be just as impactful as the ones that make the news or that fill our personal stories of pain? If that is the case, what if there was an antidote for these micro-hurts, an ointment for these tiny little cuts? What if it did not involve merely raising awareness or becoming more politically correct, but instead proposed that the answer to our cumulative “micro-pain” is as simple as micro-healing though tiny acts of love? Suppose the solution to our cumulative “micro-hurts” is “micro-love”? More boldly, what if the answer to the more obvious and blatant hurt and pain we see in the news and in our personal lives, does not require some grand governmental intervention or super savvy technocratic plan, but that same “micro-love” solution applied in a macro way?
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Stuck? Lift the needle on the broken record in your head!
When our minds are new and scratch-free, they play the song they are meant to play. The songs that were printed on them by their creator. However, as we age and get hurt or scared, we have a tendency to let the scratches accumulate. We start forming thought patterns that are toxic to ourselves and others. We get caught in a quagmire. We repeat ourselves until, what was once a beautiful, soulful or just a flat-out kick-ass song is ruined.
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Surviving change without going ape
How many times have we left for work, fully intending to play the part of the ever-composed, quietly observant, always benevolent Jane Goodhall, only to find ourselves at the end of the day, flinging feces at our teammates in a primitive display of dominance and one-upmanship? “You cannot get through a single day without having an …
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Out of the loop and in the loop – a leader’s conundrum.
I have witnessed, up close, the heart of leaders who want nothing but the best for their organizations and share everything they can as soon as they can. I have seen the opposite as well. Leaders who hoard information. Leaders who leverage intelligence and news for their own benefit, high on the “sexy” drugs of status, secrecy and self-importance. I confess, I’ve been (am?) one of these leaders too.
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Do we become the bully after the bullies are all gone?
I remember the dread of waking up in the morning before school, knowing I was going to have to get myself ready and face my tormentors at the bus stop. I also remember not being so thrilled that, after I got to school, I’d probably face some additional bullies at the school itself. Then when …
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Be a Leader of Leaders
One of the most profound things I have learned in recent years is that the most effective leadership posture I can assume is to strive to be a relentless servant leader who spends his time building into other leaders. This may seem intuitive, but many of us drive so hard to achieve and make a …
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Embrace the Contrarians in Your Midst
Contrarian: Urban dictionary definition Someone who automatically tends to take the opposite point of view from the person to whom they’re speaking, or to disagree with society at large out of a sort of knee-jerk reflex. I love these examples the Urban Dictionary gives for one of their definitions of a contrarian. This definition, and these examples, fittingly, the first one …
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Thinking of adding things in 2018? Add depth to existing or new relationships.
Dunbar’s number is on my mind these days. Some of you may have heard about it, it is the maximum number of relationships our minds are said to be designed to manage: 150. Robin Dunbar proposed the following well-studied, tested and scientifically validated principle many years ago, that postulates that our social capital and mental …