Brené Brown’s Ted Talk, The Power of Vulnerability is relevant and poignant. Fostering connection, compassion, belonging and vulnerability in the business world would be a game-changer. Corporate cultures would become welcoming, nurturing and supportive, and long-term profits would rise.
Brené's research findings are fundamental to fostering the kind of change and long-term success that would be most beneficial to all concerned.
Here's what she shares:
There is another way:
When we come from a place of knowing,“I am enough”, we stop screaming and start listening. We’re kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we’re kinder and gentler to ourselves.
I am balanced and centered in the midst of 'life happening'
Much has been written and shared about meditation and mindfulness. They are the 'catch words' of our generation. Speaking about quieting the mind and being centered is not the same as living it.
Why is meditation important? Mediation is important to calmly focus on what needs to be done and enjoy the process. Meditation is vital to creativity, inspiration and innovation.
Meditation is many things. It's not necessarily sitting with our legs crossed on the floor and repeating a mantra (positive words or phrases). We can meditate while running, walking, washing dishes, eating lunch, listening to music, dancing and so on.
Meditation can be a way of life, a way of being fully present in everything we do. It's not about worrying about what's 'on our plate', what's going on in the lives of friends and family or what's happening in the world. It's not about being anxious about the future or romanticizing or being remorseful about the past.
Meditation is about breathing deeply so that our flight-or-fight response drops away. It's about learning to respond with calm assurance to whatever crises or deadline presents. Meditation is not about allowing someone else's fears to become our own. Meditation is about learning how to be that still, calm space known as 'the eye of the storm' and to live a life of gratitude, wonder and joy.
Meditation and mindfulness are close friends. Mindfulness is about being fully present here now in each moment. Meditation helps us to be mindful.
We may think we are being present but often we are not. Being fully present is about listening without thinking about what we are going to say next. Being fully present is about enjoying the moment we are experiencing, and not getting caught up in emotional dramas or mental commentary.
MIndfulness is about appreciating life, not living for our next holiday or wanting to be anyone else. It is about accepting who we are and where we are at.
Meditation and mindfulness helps us to be grateful and appreciate what we already have. Gratitude and appreciation are the foundation for positive transition and change. Meditation and mindfulness provide us with the tools for being calm and clear in the face of adversity, conflict and stress. Meditation and mindfulness help us to create the change we wish to see in business, life and the world.
My cat is old. Hobbes came into our lives when my son was a sophomore in high school. Now my son is a father with his own cat and Hobbes is seventy-two in human years.
I love Hobbes. He’s affectionate and let’s you know exactly how he feels. The first time I traveled to Australia and back, he peed in my open suitcase, which I had left open by the washing machine upon returning home. He was pissed off that I had left him.
Hobbes is a lover. He sleeps on my husband’s chest when I’m out of town, just because my husband misses me and he meets me at the door every time I come home.
Hobbes used to be an excellent jumper. He was de-clawed by his prior owner, who in the twilight years of her life moved across the country to be with her family. But, Hobbes doesn’t see himself as ‘handicapped’ or different. He managed to get to places in the house where I marveled at his flexibility, strength and agility.
Hobbes can’t do that anymore. He’s lucky to get on the kitchen countertop with the help of a nearby chair. It breaks my heart when I see him jump and miss. Just like Hobbes, I can’t jump as far or run as fast as I used to.
Hobbes is on special food for his digestion and teeth, and pukes every time I let him eat too much grass. Just like me, he has to watch what he puts in his mouth.
For Hobbes, it is just how it is. He is completely in the moment of being a cat and enjoying his cat life. It’s amazing what wonderful reflections, mirrors and companions our pets can be. They add such richness and joy to our lives.
Here is to you Hobbes. Thanks for gracing us with your presence. I’m glad to be one of the humans in your life.
Why do we beat ourselves up? We are never going to be perfect. We will continue to make mistakes; they are really just opportunities to learn and grow.
And regarding mistakes, I have found something on my own personal journey that’s amazing. There are bits of me as a mom, daughter and wife (for example) that I never loved. I locked them away as bad and froze them in time. I avoided and denied that they existed because I was a 'good person'.
What I have found is that those trashed bits don’t go away. They fester and pop up if not dealt with.
And the cool thing is that the cure is simple. It’s all about acknowledgment, dropping the judgment and love. When we acknowledge these bits and stop judging them (really stop judging them, not just say we are) and when we sit with them in acceptance and love, magic happens.
It’s like pulling up a chair and sitting next to a crying child or upset teenager. They may not want you to touch them or even speak, but your very presence helps.
Maybe it’s the first time this bit of us has been loved. How cruel and arrogant of us to banish bits of ourselves from love. When we do so, we teach our children that bits of them are unlovable and unredeemable as well. Children pick up on these things, even if the words are never spoken. They feel them in us, and may be confused by our words that don’t match up.
Healing in this way is simple and profound. The easiest way forward is about love and loving ourselves (all of our selves) unconditionally.
I love tiny homes and have even joined several 'Tiny Homes' Facebook groups. Touring room by room through tiny homes inspires me and touches my heart.
Designing, building or living in a tiny home takes creative problem solving: How to scale everything down to the bare essentials for economical and flexible living. Actually, it’s a lot more.
Tiny homes can be mobile, energy efficient and located in the most beautiful places. It feels like the creators and designers of tiny homes tap into their inner knowing and create a small living area that suits a more pared down and idealic way of life.
The tiny homes mirror their owners like our dogs, cats and horses mirror us. Creators and designers of tiny homes seem to be genuinely curious with a love of exploring, finding interesting solutions and discovering new ways of being.
When you live in a tiny home you strip living down to the bare essentials, to the core of what your really need, and that appeals to me.
And there's the same appeal with van life. I love to watch how people have renovated vans, buses, emergency vehicles to be their home on wheels. What they have to do to survive in the cold and heat, where they shower and wash up, how they cook and car for themselves, how they find places to park to the next or a week or several months, sometimes for free, the places they see, the adventure they have, how they make money on the road to take care of themselves and the ones that they love.
There's a common thread,and it's one to ponder. How would it be to get to the core of what we need to lead a content, fulfilled life. What are we willing to give up? What would or could we gain? It's a facinating line of inquiry to really know ourselves better and make changes to our lives, other ones besides these ones of course, that could change our experience of what life and living means.
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