5 Minutes Stay-cation

Do you ever find yourself needing that break in the day?  Or wanting to take that long weekend away and for a number of reasons don’t find a chance to do that.  Here’s a 5 minute getaway that will give you the peace of mind of being on vacation – even if it’s just for five minutes.

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The benefits of regular mediation are endless.  It can come in these short burst, too.  You don’t need to set aside 30-minutes everyday to practice – but, what if you could?  Here are three other ways to get that relaxation and benefit from meditation in your day:

  • Close your eyes for 30 seconds. This allows you brain to release the stimulus overload we take in visually.  Better yet, close your eyes and cup your hands over them. Then release after a short break.
  • Use a Mindfulness Bell.  It can be a Tibetan Singing bowl, meditation chimes, or a website.  The Washington Mindfulness Community has this page where you can activate a bell when you need the pull to presence.
  • Office Yoga.  Get a brief stretch with these simple Yoga techniques you can do at your desk. Opening up your chest and shoulders at work will take away some of the stress you carry at work.

Do what you can to bring a little vacation to each day.

Namaste.

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What are you LISTENING for?

listening-ear1Do you ever pay attention to how you are listening?  More importantly, what are you listening for?

I typically start my workshops off with some sort of goal setting by the participants.  I’ll ask individuals to set a goal they have for themselves as a result of attending the session.  My intention is to have them answer the dreaded what’s in it for me question.

I have the participants write this down on a 3×5 card or a giant post-it. Something they can keep in front of them during our time together.  After they have completed this, I then follow it up with these simple instructions:

“Now, listen for this as the content of the workshop starts to unfold.”

This simple instruction can create a filter, a perspective, a point of view in which to hear everything from.  It’s the easiest – and quickest – way for me to get learning to stick for individuals and tie back into the goal they have created for themselves.

When we start to LISTEN FOR something, we start to make connections.  We also start to be engaged as learners.  As learners we start creating meaning for the content that is being shared.  It’s when learners can create context and relationship where real change in performance can occur.

So, what are you listening for today?

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5 Ingredients to Spice up Life

I’ve been reading lately about positive psychology and coaching and came across something I thought was quite interesting in helping to determine how satisfied with life I am. Seems there’s a correlation between the five following ingredients and one’s overall satisfaction with the life you’re leading.  Whaddyathink?

  1. Capacity to love and be loved – the idea here is that relationships matter.  Most of all, who do you surround yourself with?   Read the rest of this entry »
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Law # 2: How a situation occurs arises in language

Working as an Organizational Development consultant, this Law of Performance really speaks to me.  Organizations are created through conversations.  When you think of your own organization, what kinds of conversations are happening?  They have the power to bring an organization to the top – or to it’s knees. 

We make meaning of the language we use. 

The words we use don’t have meaning, it’s how the situations occurs to us that creates this meaning.  This might be why there can be so much miscommunication when information is announced.  This of all the elements that shape the way in which we hear the actual words said.  

When an organization, or individuals, have a high level of trust things occur in a way that is very different when trust isn’t present. The same words can be said and we can leave with very different interpretations depending on our level of trust with the sender of the message.  

So, in essence, what’s not said is equally as important.  Trust is something that is not said, and provides a thick filter for us to hear this message.   

The key here, is are you present to this filter?  Do you have the awareness in place on how language occurs differently for each of us?  When you do, you can better communicate with others because you know how things occur might be different for different individuals.   

Addressing the unsaid is one of a number of steps we can do to increase our performance. It’s easier to talk about it once you bring it to the surface, isn’t it?  The other choice is to make your own meaning of the unsaid and be unclear.  Doesnt’s clear expectations = better performance?  

Zaffron and Logan state, “…articulating the unsaid creates the room to say something new.” It allows us to use language to create something new as well. Within here lies the increase to our performance. 

What are you creating?

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