I received a massage today and it is always wonderfully relaxing – but it was even more so today. I go to Body of Health (www.bodyofhealthandlife.com) where Jenny Renter has worked with me/on me for years. She is extremely gifted as a massage therapist, she knows the human body, she is skilled at different types of massage and she receives regular training to improve her skill. While all of this knowledge is important, it is just being in Jenny’s presence that makes a distinctive difference! Jenny has a calming demeanor, she remembers my preferences and has the lighting in the room just like I like it. Jenny treats me like I am the most important person to her the entire time I am with her. She always asks how I’m doing, often has recommendations for foods, various health professionals and what I can do to better care for myself. She even asks about family or various things or events in my life. Read more »
The Gift of Massage
May 18th, 2011Your Body Talks – Do You Know What It’s Saying?
May 12th, 2011Recently my husband and I saw the Blue Man Group in Las Vegas. The show was absolutely fascinating and totally entertaining from beginning to end! It was hard for me to watch the show while wondering what all that blue ‘stuff’ was on their heads, how they thought up the different activities they do, wondering if we were going to get splattered with paint, and trying to figure out how they come off stage and walk on the chairs of the audience. I was totally enamored with the entire performance.
What was most fascinating to me was how they communicated so clearly without ever saying a word. There were sounds from the different instruments and their drums but not a single word was spoken for two hours! They did, however, speak clearly with their expressions and movements. Not only did they communicate with each other but when they invited a woman from the audience to come up and participate she knew what to do without ANY verbal words being spoken.
”What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
This was tangible evidence of how our bodies, eyes, facial expressions and movements speak volumes about us. A study at UCLA revealed 93% Read more »
Three Ways to Turn “Blah” into Brilliance
April 29th, 2011
Have you had one of those days that you should have just stayed in bed or took a play day? I recently had one of those days. Phone calls were not being answered, voice mail was not being checked, and typos and misspelled words were everywhere! I was just feeling ‘blah’. So rather than continuing to fight it – I took a nap.
I definitely felt better once I woke up, but things still weren’t flowing for me. So I decided to write about No Flow days. What do you do when the flow is clogged, you feel dull and listless instead of full of life and brilliance?
Some people will try and ‘power’ through it. However, my recommendation is to ”be easy” and let it pass. Pushing through it will many times make it worse. So back off, relax, and start over tomorrow.
Here are some suggestions you can apply when life seems to stand still or (heaven forbid) moves in reverse! Read more »
Three Leadership Lessons we Can Learn from a Fairy Tale Wedding
April 26th, 2011The Royal Wedding is only days away and is all the buzz. There are Specials about it almost every day on all the networks. What will Kate wear? Why isn’t William going to wear a ring? Who is designing and making the wedding gown? Oh, the fun and thrill of the dream of living happily ever after!
So what’s the rationale behind all the buzz of the Prince finding his Princess – and more importantly the future King and Queen? And what does all this have to do with Inspirational Leadership. The following are three ponderings to consider ….
Fantasies Can Stretch Us
We long for the happily ever after. We dream of finding the perfect mate to share our life with. We are thrilled by the temporary distraction of an event that takes us out of the ‘daily grind’ and may even help us to dream a bigger dream for our own lives. Doesn’t a part of us want to believe that dreams really do come true, that there just may be a fairy in the bush, or we can hold a moonbeam in our hands? Read more »
The Sheen or Shine Factor
April 18th, 2011What can Tiger Woods and Charlie Sheen teach us about leadership and life?
They are both highly skilled and competent at their craft. Until November 2009 Tiger Woods epitomized impeccable discipline, honor and integrity, and unquestionable dedication to excellence. Thanksgiving night his life and reputation came crashing down literally and figuratively. He admitted his transgressions, promised to do and be better. Eighteen months later he is still trying to find his game in golf and life and redeem his name and openly admits it’s an ongoing process.
Charlie Sheen, in contrast wears his dysfunction with pride, loudly proclaims his narcissistic superiority and continues his self destructive path. Sheen and Woods are two people with very similar downfalls that resulted in massive negative publicity and exposure of human frailties. Yet, their responses are very different. Read more »
Butterfly Brilliance – Three Questions that can Transform Your Life
April 15th, 2011
I love Spring! Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, a brisk walk calls all of us to come out and play. I love new beginnings – and we have them year round. Fall is about luscious golds, reds and cooler temperatures. The first of every year is about a brand new unblemished calendar that awaits our design.
But the Spring, to me, is especially invigorating. Spring is so hopeful – what was dead, blank and barren is now budding with new life in the form of buds, birds and butterflies. I married in the Spring, we had our son in the Spring, I have often started new jobs or projects in the Spring. Maybe it’s hormonal – but whatever the reason I love Spring and feel especially alive and like it’s time to step up and out in new and bolder ways! Read more »
Why We Need More Baby Talk Today
April 12th, 2011
Have you seen the darling video of the twins standing in front of the refrigerator talking 2-year old gibberish? Nobody understands a word they’re saying (we’re sure they do), but we sit there and listen to the entire conversation and laugh hysterically ourselves. Or, the video of the baby who cackles uncontrollably as his father tears up the rejection letter?
Why do videos like these get millions of views? What does this say about us today? It feels good to watch babies laughing. It makes us laugh. It touches our heart. It speaks to something that is missing in many of our lives today.
We live in our heads WAY too much and have become isolated from others. We are on our computers, iPhones, and other digital devices 24/7. We’ve replaced talking to each other with texting. What we really long for is a human connection, not an electronic substitute. We want to be lighter and easier in our lives, but many of us have forgotten how. Read more »
Four Leadership Lessons I Learned from a Colonoscopy
April 8th, 2011
You may find it hard to make the connection between any medical procedure and leadership, let alone a colonoscopy! I know I would have never put the two together until my recent experience.
I heard most of my life how awful a colonoscopy could be. The prep is difficult, the drink you have to take is horrendous, and…it’s a colonoscopy! Guess what? I found it wasn’t so bad after all. Was it the most fun experience I’ve ever had? No. Was the drink I had to drink delicious? Of course not…but it wasn’t that bad either.
The day before you can only have fluids to ‘clear your system’. I actually enjoyed drinking the fluids and enjoyed the broth I ate. I felt energized rather than depleted by the process.
When I arrived for the procedure – the process was seamless. I was seen within 15 minutes of arrival and greeted by the staff who were organized, pleasant and competent. The drugs were as wonderful as I had heard and I awakened in a totally alert state with no grogginess at all.
My husband played taxi cab driver for me and stayed with me all day to ‘be sure I was ok’, A friend called in the afternoon to check on me to see how it went.
As I went through this experience I found some parallel’s to effective leadership today. Call me weird, but here are the four leadership lessons I learned from a colonoscopy: Read more »
