Walking on a gorgeous Chicago afternoon, I came across a man who was doing using his grocery bags as weights and doing bicep curls. I had to stop and compliment his good use of time and resources.
I like to single task. I like to be focused and present. I also like to use my time efficiently and sometimes that means doing more than one thing at once (walking and listening to a book, walking and running the neighborhood errands).
Using the resources wisely and with intention, helps us improve the energy and gives us more time and space to do the things we love to do.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Meditation and Group Energy
About 8 years ago I realized that I wanted and needed to get rid of some of the noise of my overactive brain. Life was overwhelming, every decision took on massive proportion and I was generally left with a sense of less than-ness. So I learned how to meditate. The goal was to quiet the thoughts at the outset and later become a process of not attaching to them.
But what I really was learning was to show compassion for myself in my process. To lessen the judgement and inner dialogue that was so filled with how I was not ________ enough - you can fill in the blanks if this resonates for you.
I've been practicing meditation now for over 8 years. Mostly alone, sometimes when I'm lucky, on a multi day retreat, and lately in a new setting for me.
There's a Meditation center in my neighborhood called Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago. I wandered in after being told by a friend that she had visited it and thought I'd like it. And was she right. There is something about sitting silently in a group that provides an entirely different experience to the meditation journey. You are doing it yourself, but you are not alone. When you stand you see others, and you realize that you are not alone in your desire to find that peacefulness and help repair the world, one mind at a time.
But what I really was learning was to show compassion for myself in my process. To lessen the judgement and inner dialogue that was so filled with how I was not ________ enough - you can fill in the blanks if this resonates for you.
I've been practicing meditation now for over 8 years. Mostly alone, sometimes when I'm lucky, on a multi day retreat, and lately in a new setting for me.
There's a Meditation center in my neighborhood called Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago. I wandered in after being told by a friend that she had visited it and thought I'd like it. And was she right. There is something about sitting silently in a group that provides an entirely different experience to the meditation journey. You are doing it yourself, but you are not alone. When you stand you see others, and you realize that you are not alone in your desire to find that peacefulness and help repair the world, one mind at a time.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Energetic Simplification
Lately I've been involved in a number of conversations about simplifying our lives. When I mention that I've been trying to lessen the stuff I buy, everyone looks with that same longing look of "oh, I wish I had less stuff."
Now this may be a function of my age and who I know but I think it has more to do with a desire to connect with what matters to each of us. And for so many, all the stuff just gets in the way of that.
We are overloaded with clothes, books, technology and in my case, yarn.
Sometimes all the things that surround me can make me feel safe. And often times all the things around me can make me feel stuck. It's a fine line. But what I know for sure is that none of the stuff actually does make me safe, the only thing that makes me safe is my thought of being safe.
Some of my home simplification steps are:
1. Keep a paper handled bag in my office to put books in when I look through my shelves. If I don't use the book, it's time for it to go.
2. There's a space in my closet, on the floor, where I pile up clothes that I no longer wear. At least once a quarter I bag them up and take them to the Howard Brown or Salvation Army Resale stores in my neighborhood.
3. I try to use up the food in my house.
4. I clean my closets once a quarter and my drawers twice a year.
I remind myself that
a. If I am holding on to something I don't use, I'm keeping someone else from it.
b. More choices do not always add anything to my energy or my life.
c. It's ok to like oatmeal for breakfast everyday.
With each new simplification step, I feel my energy grow. There's nothing like lightening up.
Now this may be a function of my age and who I know but I think it has more to do with a desire to connect with what matters to each of us. And for so many, all the stuff just gets in the way of that.
We are overloaded with clothes, books, technology and in my case, yarn.
Sometimes all the things that surround me can make me feel safe. And often times all the things around me can make me feel stuck. It's a fine line. But what I know for sure is that none of the stuff actually does make me safe, the only thing that makes me safe is my thought of being safe.
Some of my home simplification steps are:
1. Keep a paper handled bag in my office to put books in when I look through my shelves. If I don't use the book, it's time for it to go.
2. There's a space in my closet, on the floor, where I pile up clothes that I no longer wear. At least once a quarter I bag them up and take them to the Howard Brown or Salvation Army Resale stores in my neighborhood.
3. I try to use up the food in my house.
4. I clean my closets once a quarter and my drawers twice a year.
I remind myself that
a. If I am holding on to something I don't use, I'm keeping someone else from it.
b. More choices do not always add anything to my energy or my life.
c. It's ok to like oatmeal for breakfast everyday.
With each new simplification step, I feel my energy grow. There's nothing like lightening up.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Great Customer Service inspires Energy
I'm a big fan of great customer service. To me it can make or break any experience. I'm fortunate in that I tend to have more of it than less.
My home is the third floor of our condo building. That means that everytime there is an issue with the roof of our building, I'm the one who takes the brunt of it. I'm fortunate in that we have a wonderful condo association, made up of the 4 adults who live in the building, we seem to always agree and have made life very easy together.
In the fall of 2009, I started to hear gnawing noises above my head in my front sunroom (9 windows, like a treehouse for me) and started looking around and found a hole and 2 little squirrel faces peering out from that hole outside on the eves. It was distressing to say the least.
After asking for referrals, we landed on Accurate Pest and Animal Control, and a lovely vibrant smiling man named Gary. He held my hand figuratively (over the phone) as he explained why squirrels move in to your roof and walls and how they work to get them out. His two workers came to my home the next day, looked at the situation and came back the next day with a customized eviction system. Within 2 days the critters had evacuated. It was glorious.
Recently I noticed squirrels roaming around the outside of my sunroom, trying to get back in but unable to do so because of the eviction system Gary and his team devised. But lo and behold, on Saturday I started to hear that gnawing sound again, and knew they were back in somehow.
The guys came out and find another hole the squirrels had created above the gutter this time. The fix will entail the guys hanging by ropes off the roof to reach the opening. I just assumed that this would be another expense of the same level as the last.
Imagine my surprise when I spoke to Gary yesterday who told me that they would not be charging us for the work as they consider this part of ridding our building of the rodents. For him the job isn't done until the critters have moved out and on for good. He told me it just felt right to do it this way. He remembered what I did as a consultant with inspiring energy and leaders and we continued with a conversation on those topics and his interests for quite some time.
The acknowledgement of this experience provided me with an immediate boost to my energy. I felt it surging through my body as I took in the kindness of this gesture. Just as easily, Gary could have chosen to not do this, there was nothing about that that would have surprised me. What did surprise me was the commitment to his service and to his customer. It made a difference.
4 points for providing inspiring energy customer service:
Start with a smile on your face, even and especially over the phone!
- everyone feels it when you do and is impacted negatively when you don't.
Get to know your customer. Spend some time sharing your human-ness with them. This is an interaction between two people. It's never "just business."
- people are people, the more you get to know them, the more human they become to you. We are connected and this is an easy way to increase positive energy flow by knowing someone past their professional role.
Listen to your customer, hear what they need, understand where they are coming from.
- ask questions of your customer to know what is truly causing them discomfort, listen fully.
Go beyond what you think they'll expect. Do it to the best of your ability.
- bring some joy to someone, go past the ordinary, it will raise your energetic feeling and theirs.
Gary did this for us, and we'll be a customer for a very long time.
My home is the third floor of our condo building. That means that everytime there is an issue with the roof of our building, I'm the one who takes the brunt of it. I'm fortunate in that we have a wonderful condo association, made up of the 4 adults who live in the building, we seem to always agree and have made life very easy together.
In the fall of 2009, I started to hear gnawing noises above my head in my front sunroom (9 windows, like a treehouse for me) and started looking around and found a hole and 2 little squirrel faces peering out from that hole outside on the eves. It was distressing to say the least.
After asking for referrals, we landed on Accurate Pest and Animal Control, and a lovely vibrant smiling man named Gary. He held my hand figuratively (over the phone) as he explained why squirrels move in to your roof and walls and how they work to get them out. His two workers came to my home the next day, looked at the situation and came back the next day with a customized eviction system. Within 2 days the critters had evacuated. It was glorious.
Recently I noticed squirrels roaming around the outside of my sunroom, trying to get back in but unable to do so because of the eviction system Gary and his team devised. But lo and behold, on Saturday I started to hear that gnawing sound again, and knew they were back in somehow.
The guys came out and find another hole the squirrels had created above the gutter this time. The fix will entail the guys hanging by ropes off the roof to reach the opening. I just assumed that this would be another expense of the same level as the last.
Imagine my surprise when I spoke to Gary yesterday who told me that they would not be charging us for the work as they consider this part of ridding our building of the rodents. For him the job isn't done until the critters have moved out and on for good. He told me it just felt right to do it this way. He remembered what I did as a consultant with inspiring energy and leaders and we continued with a conversation on those topics and his interests for quite some time.
The acknowledgement of this experience provided me with an immediate boost to my energy. I felt it surging through my body as I took in the kindness of this gesture. Just as easily, Gary could have chosen to not do this, there was nothing about that that would have surprised me. What did surprise me was the commitment to his service and to his customer. It made a difference.
4 points for providing inspiring energy customer service:
Start with a smile on your face, even and especially over the phone!
- everyone feels it when you do and is impacted negatively when you don't.
Get to know your customer. Spend some time sharing your human-ness with them. This is an interaction between two people. It's never "just business."
- people are people, the more you get to know them, the more human they become to you. We are connected and this is an easy way to increase positive energy flow by knowing someone past their professional role.
Listen to your customer, hear what they need, understand where they are coming from.
- ask questions of your customer to know what is truly causing them discomfort, listen fully.
Go beyond what you think they'll expect. Do it to the best of your ability.
- bring some joy to someone, go past the ordinary, it will raise your energetic feeling and theirs.
Gary did this for us, and we'll be a customer for a very long time.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Remember to be Human
I'm a big West Wing TV show fan. Big.
As time goes by, when I watch these reruns, I'm astounded by the many meaningful messages that can be taken from the program.
I recently watched an episode where the president's daughter is getting married and they are having a White House wedding. At the same time, 2 nations in the Asia Pacific are about to wage war over oil issues. After much frustration and time spent in trying to find a solution on the part of the US president, and with a room full of waiting guests, he asks the Russian president if his daughter has ever been married, and the answer is yes. At that point President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) tells him that he has to go walk his daughter down the aisle and he is 45 minutes late because he can't get off the phone until he knows that the Russians will not advance their troops.
While he stands with his daughter before the procession, he is brought to tears by a memory of her at 4 years old running out in between the border of East and West Berlin. She, at 4 years old was able to remind the soldiers and guards of their human connection and they all began waving at her and then at each other.
Our connection, our energetic relationship is one that has more power than we know. When we behave in a human manner, the best way that we can, we are promoting the good, the betterment of all. What are ways that we can do that on a daily basis?
As time goes by, when I watch these reruns, I'm astounded by the many meaningful messages that can be taken from the program.
I recently watched an episode where the president's daughter is getting married and they are having a White House wedding. At the same time, 2 nations in the Asia Pacific are about to wage war over oil issues. After much frustration and time spent in trying to find a solution on the part of the US president, and with a room full of waiting guests, he asks the Russian president if his daughter has ever been married, and the answer is yes. At that point President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) tells him that he has to go walk his daughter down the aisle and he is 45 minutes late because he can't get off the phone until he knows that the Russians will not advance their troops.
While he stands with his daughter before the procession, he is brought to tears by a memory of her at 4 years old running out in between the border of East and West Berlin. She, at 4 years old was able to remind the soldiers and guards of their human connection and they all began waving at her and then at each other.
Our connection, our energetic relationship is one that has more power than we know. When we behave in a human manner, the best way that we can, we are promoting the good, the betterment of all. What are ways that we can do that on a daily basis?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Today I was inspired by....
This blog is dedicated to the awareness of what I find inspiring and what allows our energy to flow for improving how we are living in this world.
For the last few days I have had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful event - The World Tapping Summit. This free audio program brings together 20 of the leaders in the energy therapy movement and explores how each of them uses tapping techniques to ease and remove the emotional triggers that keep people blocked and keep their energy stuck.
It is a remarkable process, easy and effective. And you can do it on your own.
Carol Look describes it as Acupuncture without the needles. It doesn't hurt, it doesn't gloss over the junk, and it honors the feelings and emotions we have about anything.
I've been focused on Energy for quite a while. And I have come to believe that energy is like life electricity, it's the stuff that powers us. We are the recipients of that energy/life electricity AND we are also contributing to it, so it is really important that we learn and employ techniques to keep our energy clean and efficient. EFT, SET, TAT and BSFF are all examples of how to roto-rooter out the gunk that stands in the way of our energy running clear and clean.
For the last few days I have had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful event - The World Tapping Summit. This free audio program brings together 20 of the leaders in the energy therapy movement and explores how each of them uses tapping techniques to ease and remove the emotional triggers that keep people blocked and keep their energy stuck.
It is a remarkable process, easy and effective. And you can do it on your own.
Carol Look describes it as Acupuncture without the needles. It doesn't hurt, it doesn't gloss over the junk, and it honors the feelings and emotions we have about anything.
I've been focused on Energy for quite a while. And I have come to believe that energy is like life electricity, it's the stuff that powers us. We are the recipients of that energy/life electricity AND we are also contributing to it, so it is really important that we learn and employ techniques to keep our energy clean and efficient. EFT, SET, TAT and BSFF are all examples of how to roto-rooter out the gunk that stands in the way of our energy running clear and clean.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wintry thought filled day
A February Sunday in Chicago, waiting for the snow to fall. A perfect time to consider how we are impacted by thoughts. Having woken too early, I indulged in episodes of Law and Order, followed by CBS Sunday Morning. The difference in the energy coming off of the two program was noticeable.
As I consider how I felt during and after each of these TV experiences, I realize that we spend so much time unaware of the subtle influences on our energetic states. The feeling we get from the various inputs on our experience can have profound effects on what we are able to do, what we are thinking and what we are putting out to the world.
As I consider how I felt during and after each of these TV experiences, I realize that we spend so much time unaware of the subtle influences on our energetic states. The feeling we get from the various inputs on our experience can have profound effects on what we are able to do, what we are thinking and what we are putting out to the world.
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