Got Mindfulness?

Got Mindfulness?
Join the Quiet Revolution.
Pay Attention.

Start here now. Do your part to save the world – starting with you.

You can’t lead your family or your business to something you don’t possess.

Here is a great talk by Congressman Tim Ryan talking about how mindfulness practice has impacted his life and his work.

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.               www.sagelead.com

The Present Moment Counts

Many spiritual teachers espouse: if you can’t live in the moment and are always searching, you will never be happy. This logically makes sense – and I know this experientially.

Tara Brach tells a great Indian myth that generates keen questions to ponder:

What is within you today that makes you happy – or just laugh outloud?

How many moments have you been present and said this is enough?

Is the present moment what you have been looking for?

When have you said this is the center, meaning, preciousness of my life…this is what counts?

Savor it all. Just for today…

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.               www.sagelead.com

Innovation: Back To The Future

In 1974 Arthur C. Clarke predicted we would be communicating with each other from a computer on our desk. He said it would revolutionize the way we relate to one another. He even predicted we could work from anywhere.

Now that the internet, cell phones, apps, texting, etc. have realized his vision, what do you think the world will look like 38 years from now?

Will we have chips in our heads or our entire life history on a ring on our finger? How will technology continue to change the way we work and live?

What are the implications for our relationships?

What’s your prediction?

Trees – A Source of Nourishment and Protection

Do you know that trees can fertilize plankton that allow the rest of the food chain in the ocean to thrive? Jim Robbins writes about the importance of trees – what we know, what we don’t know and what we take for granted.

I was surprised to learn that trees keep the concrete and asphalt of cities and suburbs 10 or more degrees cooler and protect us from the sun’s harsh UV rays.

Intuitively I know I feel better walking in the woods than anywhere else. Apparently, Japanese researchers call this, “forest bath” as a walk in the woods, “reduces the level of stress chemicals in the body and increases natural killer cells in the immune system.”

I love that term “forest bath.”

Think about how nurturing a luxurious bath can be. You melt away the stress of the day. And we know that trees give off CO2 creating more life around us.

What is something in your world – in your backyard or at work – that nourishes you and you don’t give it the appreciation or attention you could to help de-stress or inspire you?

For me, it IS my majestic trees. I have a dozen very tall and mature pine trees in my front yard. Every time I look outside or open the front door, I feel enveloped by those richly greens. They protect my home. They calm me. They inspire me. Trees matter concretely in my everyday life.

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.               www.sagelead.com

Can You Get Your Autobiography On A Page?

How would you condense the themes and patterns of your life into a short story? What have you consciously worked on to change about yourself? Where are you at with radical acceptance? I love Portia Nelson’s Autobiography:

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters  By Portia Nelson

Chapter I

I walked down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in I am lost… I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter II

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But, it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter III

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in… it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

Chapter IV

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Chapter V

I walk down another street.

How Do You Hire For Agelessness?

Hiring for agelessness is based upon someone’s consciousness, their perspective, their ability to shift from me to we. The individual is focused on how we can create something great together. These are ageless attributes.

You may know someone who, at twenty, is fearful, domineering and stuck in their ways. Or, perhaps you know of a sixty or seventy-something who is as vibrant, vital and eternally curious as your five year old? Passion, wonder, the ability to work collaboratively knows no age bounds.

These are all qualities that are core requisites for working in the 21st century: the age of speed and technology. It’s up to the user how they manage themselves to make the best use of this environment. They either lead themselves to more fragmentation or more wholeness – leveraging their own wisdom and that of the collective wisdom, their teams or families.

Solving our complex problems today requires an integration of different disciplines and a sense of how to creatively bring together seemingly disparate factors or factions. We can’t afford any less of our whole selves showing up to the party. You hire for agelessness first and foremost by paying attention to the individual in front of you, not just what the packaging looks like or what their resume says. It’s a brave new world.

Why is Change So Hard? Realistic Strategies and Compassion Required.

Dan Heath quotes a psychological study where two group of people are given different kinds of foods – one cookies, the other radishes. They are then asked to solve an insolvable puzzle. The high sugar group lasts 2 1/2 times longer than the vegetable group. I am a leadership/change consultant and a trained holistic health counselor/therapist so - I wonder if the radish group realized earlier on that the puzzle was unsolvable since they had healthy food in their systems!

I agree that change requires enormous energy and self control. We have so much energy to expend before we need to replenish, and so much self control before we have a meltdown. Individuals (and organizations) have a limited capacity of how much and what kind of change they can handle. You start with your desire, will and some advice/support on how to change. Then you try. If you don’t get the desired results, you either modify WHAT you are trying to change or HOW you are doing it. Change requires will, action and experimentation. To keep trying requires commitment.

Change is hard because energy and attention are finite resources. It can be easier when we realize that it is about creating different neural connections and/or rewiring well-grooved neural pathways in the brain (changing a habit).

Focusing your attention, repeatedly over time, literally changes the chemical circuitry in your brain. True, sustained change is hard because we often don’t “get it right” on the first, fifth or fiftieth time and we need encouragement, support and tools to stick with it until our brain gets with the program!  Staying focused on the positive, the outcome you want, versus what you are not getting, is the key. It’s as simple and hard as this.

© Copyright 2012 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC All rights Reserved.               www.sagelead.com