Recover

Another leadership principle is the art of recovery.

I've been in freefall lately. Not knowing if the job I'm doing is right for me, not clear on when I'm making choices, feeling like I'm reactive.

While I still have my moments of skepticism, I admit that some of this freefall has to do with what's going on in the stars: http://www.mysticmamma.com/grand-cross-april-2014-astral-insights/

Mostly, I am focusing on letting go of what's in my mind and trusting that this is all part of something bigger. The frustration - rage, really - I'm feeling is in service of a larger shift for me.

I know I care about eating in a way that really feeds and and working my body and muscles because my body is a gift and I owe it to myself and the world to keep that gift in tip top shape. And I have work to do. I have pounds to lose. I'd like to take this journey for myself and in service of my work in the work - be it related to health or not.

It feels like a "gulp" to admit that I want my life to be about fitness and health. And I know it's what will keep me on track. And I know it's needed. It's beginning to feel like something I can't not do.

So, I am recovering from the freefall - taking notes, and sharing. In the hopes that this can be a discussion. I was watching Parks and Recreation and had a moment of love for Rob Lowe's character - Chris. He is active and mindful and working on himself. Sometimes it's just cartoonish, but I believe in it.

Feel free to write in with choices that you've made that you're proud of. Let's call those recovery moments.

BEing and DOing

I’ve taken some amazing courses on how to be a coach. Not the sports kind, although many of the skills feel transferable, the life kind. As we talked to each other in the courses, we learned to delineate between the DOing of things and the BEing of things.

As I understood it, the BEing is how I show up. It often involves a mixture of simple emotions, like “happy” and “sad” and complex emotions, like “open” and “curious.”

The DOing is the action I took (or didn’t take): “yelled,” “listened,” “said nothing.”

At any given time, I am (we all are) BEing and DOing multiple things at once. I could easily notice when I was DOing something. Getting used to noticing how I was BEing, however, felt like I had been given a new sense (like touch, sound, sight-level sense).

So, I spent time being intentional about how I am BEing. Common ways to do this are through exercise, meditation and, hell, sometimes just deciding to BE even if you’re not feeling it. I went so far as to make it wrong to DO without thinking about how I BE.

So I over-indexed. I became so much about BEing that I slowed down on DOing. Inaction, in this case, does not serve me. I mapped out a plan of DOing to support how I want to BE and I will let you know how it goes.

Where are you on the teeter-totter of BEing/DOing?

How do you want to BE?

What do you need to DO to BE that way? 

Life on Purpose

I am starting a new blog, again, because I feel lost... again.

It's not a hopeless lost, or a fruitless lost. It's quite the opposite. I've been busy exploring. In some ways, it feels like one of those computer games where you collect tokens and weapons and things you can't make sense of just yet. I've got everything I need. My focus now is on what's next. 

I don't know what it looks like or what I'm doing. I can only start to articulate what it feels like. Here are a few of the elements:

• It's connected. To me, to others, to the world. The word "global" carries so much baggage. What I'm feeling is something that connects cultures. It's not about checking the boxes on continents, it's about seeking that place of alignment that is so true, we - as humans - connect with it and bring our experiences to it. 
• It's physical. My default work place is my mind. This is valuable and not the whole story. I have woken up my whole body. There is knowledge and truth stored in every body part, every cell. I want to - and need to - tap that power.
• It's in service. I am no martyr. I am, at times, incredibly selfish. And, I know I work the hardest when it's about other people. Playing sports, I got more fulfillment out of setting up others for a goal than taking one for myself. The 110% shows up when I am "in it" for someone else.
• It's about purpose. I am moved when I see others step into their purpose. Jimmy Fallon taking over the tonight show, Meryl Davis and Charlie White ice dancing in Sochi, people stepping into parenthood. These moments are a beautiful explosion of past/present/future. Time stops. People reflect. It's incredibly moving.
• It involves a big stage. I've never felt too far from the people I see on the news, in movies, on tv. I don't think of it as me here and them there. We are all people. They have a larger audience. I know my journey will involve a larger audience. 
• It's heart and head (and soul). What I am driven by and sustained by must merge all three. I know it's not enough to only be working from one of those places. I must feel my brain working, my heart pumping and my soul stirring. 

That's it for now. More to come.