Saturday, March 06, 2004
We've Moved!
Come on over to http://love2learn.typepad.com/wholelifemastery/ Be sure to change your bookmarks and subscribe to my new and improved -- I've finally found a home in cyberspace for all those book reviews -- blog.
Friday, February 27, 2004
Paauwerfully Organized - Newsletter
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Reversing Vandalism
In one of the courses I teach, Working with Diversity, we talk alot about becoming an advocate, i.e. What can I contribute to create a workplace/school/home where everyone is allowed to contribute regardless of their socially significant differences. The Reversing Vandalism Project, sponsored by the San Francisco public library, is an example of creative advocacy using altered books. Use what you've got, what you enjoy, what you're good at, and make a positive contribution.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Journaling in the Movies
There's a fascinating discussion thread in the Yahoo Group artistjournals2. (You must join -- membership is free -- to access the messages and participate in the discussion.) The trailer for the movie, The Red Dragon, includes a brief shot of a beautiful journal. Unfortunately it's kept by a serial killer. Other movies that show journaling -- The English Patient, Crazy Beautiful, White Oleanders, and Seven.
Monday Eliza Badurina's Observational Journaling class begins. We've already started introducing ourselves in a private online discussion group. Truly a WholeLife Mastery moment. I registered for the class to improve my journaling and I'm experiencing an online class the way I believe they were meant to be! I'll be taking notes for the next time I teach online. I'm SO EXCITED. Snoopy Dance to the Pointer Sisters.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
You do WHAT to a book? and Why?
I was waiting for a meeting today, when I started talking with a woman in the waiting room. A couple of weeks ago, I had shown her one of my altered books. She "didn't get it", until today when she had time to ask and I had time to explain. This is what I came up with that finally got her to that point of "Oh, I see". Not agreement or approval, just clarity.
"Think of the book as a canvas, over and around which I do multi-media art. I usually have a theme, e.g. "My Favorite Things" or "Create" -- both from a round robin I just completed -- or "In Living Colour" or "My Book of Shadows" both personal books I'm working on. Why? For the sheer joy of creative expression. I love words and I love art. Once I have an idea, I usually flip through the book looking for passages that work with the theme, and I build the art on the page around that. And no, I'm not defacing a book. My goodness, I was almost sent to the principal's office in the second grade ('almost' only because my Mom's classroom was just a short walk past the principal's office and much more effective) for 'defacing' a book. As a professor, whose basic tools are words in books and journals, tearing that first page out of my first book to alter was so traumatic my instructor had to hold my hand. As many other altered book artists have pointed out, most often we're SAVING books that would otherwise end up on the trash heap. Most of my books come from the dollar shelf at the public library. "
I've seen this discussed on several altered book discussion groups. I just didn't understand the big deal until it happened to me. Empathy can be both instructive and enlightening.
Altered Books in the News
Monday, February 16, 2004
The power of the pen ~ benefits of journaling
My foray into the Wonderful World of Altering Books has greatly enhanced my powers of observation in so many ways. When I flip through magazines, I'm now on the lookout for interesting color schemes. I've always enjoyed southwestern sunsets and those colors are especially appealing to me now. I'm even working on an altered book entitled "Colours", while conducting an independent study of color theory. Another habit that has been greatly enhanced by my study of and "arting"/playing in (and with) altered books is journaling. While reading Badonsky, 2000, I was inspired to do more visual journaling and now that I'm reading McLaren (2001), I'm doing lots of working with emotions in my journal. Now that's really an observational eye-opener!! Also on my reading stack is Sheila Bender's A Year in the Life, which focused my journaling through observation for insight (instead of link-gathering navel-gazing) by offereing "ways to journal that will aid in mining the unconscious for ideas and insight rather than mere repetitive cathartic phrases and circular introspection. Today, we need to do more than find our voices in anger, sadness and joy. We also need to find ourselves mirrored in the natural world and in our families, work and cultural surrounds. We need to write of the outside to more thoroughly see the inside" (p. 4).
Friday, February 13, 2004
The Top 10 Strategies for Whole Life Success
The Top 10 Strategies for Whole Life Success
Monday, February 09, 2004
So just what is an altered book?
For my friends, clients, and colleagues, here is a very informative article, including photos from my home-state paper, the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Progress, not perfection.
Time to 'fess up. One of the reasons I haven't been blogging as regularly as I was last year is that I've been learning a new art. (Not to mention school's back in session!) It's not that the art takes that much time. It's that I've been feeling too unfocused to blog. I got so hung up on focusing that I let myself get overwhelmed (I've been hearing that word a lot from my clients recently. Thank you for holding up the mirror!) with choosing among the many topics I could blog about. The paralysis of analysis. UNTIL Today:)! Progress, not perfection.
As a teacher, each year, I take a course or some lessons to remind me what it's like to be a student. I've learned step aerobics, racquetball, yoga, ... and now I've taken the plunge into art. Specifically, it's the addictive art of altering books, and I've gone all out in learning this. I've joined the International Society of Altered Book Artisits. By pure luck of the draw my answer to five questions are included in their January Newsletter. I just registered for classes at Artwerx and I'll also be registering for Art Universe. It appeals to the professor in me, whose tools are words and ideas. Tearing the first page out of my first book to alter was so traumatic, my teacher had to egg me on, and the torn page made it into my personal journal. In the four months that I've been learning the art, I've come to understand altering books is about more than the books or even the art. I've met the most creative, supportive, fun and encouraging people -- all women. I'm looking at everything with new eyes. (Okay, drying tea bags and using the pretty raspberry paper may have been a bit much.) Most importantly, I've been practicing stepping out of my comfort zone and into my greatness. Now that's LIFE altering.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
The Top 10 Ways to Live Authentically
Thursday, January 15, 2004
[grid::ritual] Routine made sacred through mindfulness: A grid blog
Ritual defined: "a ceremony, particularly formalized, used to fulfill a certain intention" (The Art of Ritual).
I am definitely a morning person, so my morning ritual is most important for getting my day off to a good start. As Barbara Sher wrote in Wishcraft "ritual is a terrific antidote for procrastination". Most mornings -- about 6/7-- after meditating, exercising, before breakfast and dressing, I light a candle ( a tealight on campus days a BIG Yankee candle on homework days) while affirming "I release all concerns, I am filled with your presence. Oh, God of my being live your life through me". Then I read something inspiring to prime the pump for journaling. Right now I'm reading Jill Badonsky's absolutely delicious The Nine Modern Day Muses. I seldom get through the first page of the day's reading without being inspired to write, and as I've recently begun visual journaling, to draw. I usually close my journal entry by listing the three most important things for me to do/be/have that day.
When I cook, my hotel school training kicks in and mise en place becomes a ritual. "Stressed minds need the reassuring rhythm of self-nurturing rituals" (Simple Abundance). When starting a new research project, once I've gathered enough background info to say "yes, I'm interested in learning more about this topic", there's the ritual of pulling the papers together into a folder and labeling paper and computer files. I would like to develop a ritual for financial management. First I need a routine!
What routines could you raise to rituals through mindfulness and intention?
Monday, January 12, 2004
There's Caliche on My Altar
I hadn't heard of this stuff until I moved to Las Vegas 5 years ago. It's the reason there aren't a lot of basements here. It's also the reason it's on my altar. The story: last month I was invited to an event that sounded like a good idea to attend. Notice I didn't say I was excited about it or I wanted to go. It sounded like a good idea, something I SHOULD do. Because I forgot to refrain from SHOULDING on myself, The Universe sent me a very loud message I could not ignore. On the way home from the grocery store the night before the event, I heard an obnoxiously loud THUD! Then there was an awful scrapping noise as if some part of my car were dragging on the ground. Oh no, my warranty was just up and I don't have time to take the car to the shop ... yada! yada! I crept home (fortunately I was less than a mile away). I went into the house and fell into a fitful sleep wondering what bank accounts I'd juggle to pay for the repairs.
With the morning light, I called the person who invited me to "the event that sounded like a good idea" and said I wouldn't be coming. My car was making weird noises. I hung up the phone oddly relieved. At that point Something said "Get a flashlight and look under the car." I've learned to listen when a message comes that clearly and directly, so I crawled under the car. Nothing was hanging down. There was, however, a piece of caliche stuck in a wheelwell, between a couple of things that turn when the car moves. Okay, I'm not so mechanically inclined that I know the names of these things. However, I was mechanically inclined enough to grab a rubber mallet and a screwdriver. Tap. Tap. Kerplunk. Out fell the caliche onto the garage floor.
That flat stone-looking piece of caliche now holds a place of honor front and center on the altar in my office. It's a touchstone reminding me to choose to do only those things I really WANT to do. Joy is my compass!
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Top 20 Definitions of Blogging
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Enough Already!
Long time, no blog. I just scrolled through my blog to see 17 draft entries. I'm growing into "Good enough" and today I'm writing and posting. Thanks to Hal Macomber for reminding me what makes a great blog: "Share everything you learn: 'Great web sites share everything they learn and hear (that's relevant of course) with their users...start a newsletter, and you'll get more than you give.'" Andrew B. King, What Makes a Great Website?.
I've been learning so much lately, that I needed time and space to process it before sharing it. So, here are some of my recent learnings:
* Solomon was right: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). As farmers bring in the last crops, as trees shed their leaves and squirrels store up their acorns, Fall is time for me to harvest what I have planted, release all that no longer serves the evolving me, and store up ideas that will be the seeds of new beginnings in the spring.
* Exploratory experimentation is a useful activity for promoting successful spiritual and career evolution. I'm reading two books that brought me this learning. In Working Identity, Herminia Ibarra (2003), defines crafting experiments as "the practice of implementing the small probes and projects that allow us to try out new professional roles on a limited but tangible scale without committing to a particular direction" (p. 91). Such "probing, playful activity" is successful when it leads to the discovery of something there" (Schon, 1983, p. 145). Using that criterion of success, my exploratory experiments in coaching have been successful. I didn't feel that Until Today!
By sharing the story of her own journey of faith, Salzberg (2002) in Faith, (both the book and the spiritual quality) reminded me: "For our faith to mature, we need to weigh what others tell us against our own experience of the truth" (p. 47).
On this Thanksgiving day, I am truly grateful for these lessons and the teachers who taught them. I wish you a life full of soulful teachers and evolutionary lessons.
Friday, November 14, 2003
What's your philosophy of teaching and of life?
UNESCO has designated next Friday "World Philosophy Day". Yesterday in a workshop on teaching (and learning) enhancement, faculty members were encouraged to write a philosophy of teaching. How many times in my 10-year academic career have I sat down, inspired by some other workshop or book, to do just that only to get up an hour later with only a headache!! I'm working on it -- the philosophy, not the headache. Just as I urge my students and clients to write their personal mission statements, I believe it's important for professors to have a WRITTEN Philosophy of Teaching Statement, a sword to cut away all that is not valuable and essential and a shield to deflect what does not serve me and my students (That's how Laurie Beth Jones describes the uses of a mission statement.)
Next Friday, I'll be joining Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, in reflecting, questioning, pondering, thinking, and searching "beyond the confines of what we think we know." Won't you join us?
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
The Dreading is Almost Always Worse than the Doing
For way too long, I had been procrastinating over a pile, actually an e-file, of student papers to grade. I hate grading. It is my absolutely least favorite part of being a University professor.....UNTIL YESTERDAY! I woke up deciding I couldn't, in good conscience, face my students again without having at least started grading their papers. Reading the Top Ten article The Top 10 Ways to Procrastinate When You Don't Want to Do Something, which was serendipitously deposited in my email box, certainly edged me over the hump. Well surprise, surprise! The first paper was so beautiful I couldn't stop smiling: mission statement following Laurie Beth Jones' 3 criteria for an effective mission statement and vision statement based on the "Future Self" visualization from Co-active Coaching. By the time I got about halfway through the e-pile of papers, I had enough momentum going to carry me through a paper that was so poorly written I couldn't grade it. ARGHHH!! How much time and energy I wasted in dreading instead of doing. Not to mention being out of integrity with my students!! We are, after all, reading Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People!! Inquiry: What are wasting energy dreading instead of doing?
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
In one very challenging day I experienced ALL of the following changes:
* a new reporting system for student transcripts,
* a new copy machine in the building,
* a detour on the way home that wasn't there when I left this morning.
By the time I got home, I had the presence of mind to see there must be a message in this pattern. "What is it?" I asked. The reply came from a book I read years ago.
"All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth is Change.
God is Change"
Earthseed: The Books of Living in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Five questions that can change your life
...when asked with a spirit of allowing and awareness and answered honestly:
- What do I Really want?
- What am I afraid of?
- How can I...?
- How easy can this be?
- What can I do Right Now?
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Change your thinking. Change your life. Enjoy the dance.
I live in one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. Unfortunately the road-builders can't keep up with the population boom. No matter what route I take to work, to the gym, ... I encounter construction and the traffic snarl that too often accompanies it. I was letting it make me crazy. Then one day, as I was doing a weave merge -- that's when the cars getting off the freeway and the cars getting onto the freeway use the same lane, something I learned in traffic school -- I noticed that driving around here is a lot like dancing. Sometimes it's beautiful, graceful, elegant, poetic; other days it's all left feet. At the former I can be awed and at the latter I just laugh. Now, more often than not, -- okay, occasionally I find myself snarling at the snarl, but my snarling passes quickly and the traffic no longer drives me nuts -- I drive with a spirit of allowing the dance and enjoying whatever shows up. Inquiry: where in your life would changing your thinking change your life?
Friday, October 10, 2003
Oct. 11 is Get Organized Day
My favorite organization sites:
Get Organized Now -- the monthly checklist keeps me on top of important, but not urgent tasks I would otherwise forget
National Association of Professional Organizers -- find a professional to help you get started
Paauwerfully Organized -- newsletter is both practical and throught-provoking
Home and Life organizing with Oprah featuring Julie Morgenstern
Learning from life.
In the first issue of his "Pure heart, simple mind" newsletter, Charlie Badenhop of Seishindo.org, describes a lesson he learned from an anonymous speaker:
"Both my parents were alcoholics, and both of them were physically abusive to me.I grew up never knowing what bad thing would happen next. I learned from my parents that the worst possible way to deal with the pain and uncertainty of life was to escape into an altered state of alcohol induced euphoria. My parents taught me a difficult but very important lesson. I learned from them that staying present in the moment is the only real chance we have for living a fulfilling life."
In The Seat of the Soul, Gary Zukav reminds us that the choice of how we learn is up to us: "How do you choose to learn? .... through doubt and fear or through wisdom?" (p. 102).
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Top 20 definitions of blogging by Debbie Weil in WordBiz Report
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Life is Good, Pay Attention
I just finished revising the schedule for my Professional Career Development Course. It’s the first time I’m teaching the course, which I’m delighted to say I designed, and my timing is a bit off. After class Wednesday, I felt so disconnected from my students because of my lack of clarity about the schedule. Once I recognized that I was feeling icky because I had dishonored my core value of connection, revising the schedule took all of 20 minutes. That’s learning to pay attention to my feelings and allowing them to lead me to live the life that is my own, a truly fulfilling, “It’s-All-Good” kind of life.
Oh, I almost forgot. I was truly Coach as Professor -- my touchstone -- last week. In the career development class, I led my my students through the "Future Self" visualization from Co-Active Coaching. They used the results of the visualization to write their vision statements. During class I did a laser coaching with one student to work on the mission statement -- using an exercise from Laurie Beth Jone's The Path -- we started working on the class before. After class, another student came to my office and said "I want to do that thing you did in class. It was cool." In about 5 minutes we had identified his core value and he started crafting his mission statement. Speaking of values, that day was full of confirmation, i.e. being acknowledged and rewarded for doing well what is mine to do.
Friday, October 03, 2003
Velocitation
The word isn't even in the dictionary, BUT I did find it in the blog of a fellow traffic school student. Yep! I learned something in traffic school. Why was I there? 35 in a 50 on the way to play racquetball on Labor Day. I can't blame velocitation, but I was listening a bit too intently to and laughing way to heartily at an especially funny conversation on the Tom Joyner morning show. Something about being able to tell a lot about a person based on his/her favorite gospel song.
Another thing I learned in traffic school: too few people use their horns appropriately to alert other drivers to impending danger. Some people don't even know where their horn is (Don't ask, that's what the traffic school instructor claimed. I found it hard to believe too, but given that he would be grading the test that would remove the 4 points from my driving record, it didn't seem wise to ask for a citation;)! Earlier this week, I used my horn to warn the driver in the lane next to me that he was about to cut into my lane/my car/me. I used my metaphorical horn to discuss the importance of timely payment with a client. She was about to step on my value of confirmation, i.e. being acknowledged and rewarded for doing well what is mine to do. Inquiry: Where in your life do you need to appropriately use your horn?
Saturday, September 27, 2003
Who would have thought tearing a page out of a book could feel so liberating?
This morning I went to the first session of my altered books class. When I first heard about "ruined books" from a colleague at shool, I gasped with horror. Altering sounds less sacrilegious. Yes, given all that they've given me -- education, inspiration, connection, ... -- I consider books to be sacred. So tearing that first page out of a book was ... a stretch.
Funny thing about learning a new skill is reflecting on how I learn best. Taking a class definitely helps. I like being shown the way by someone who's traveled the path I'm just starting and I enjoy bouncing ideas around with others. I need some structure in there too. After making a few stops at the Goodwill store for books to alter and a Scrabble set -- it's all about the lettered tiles -- for $1. (50% off today at all Las Vegas stores), I didn't find the clear plastic make-up bags for holding found objects. I'm definitely cleaning out my jewelry box this week to make use of the 20 year old charms, broken necklaces, single earrings, etc. that I just couldn't bear to throw away. I found some very clear directions, tips, and "prescriptions" for getting started.
Okay, so taking this class is definitely a home run. I get to bring together two of my favorite expressive arts (journaling and collage/treasure-mapping). I get to release some stuff -- altered book artists call it "ephemera," and put it to creative use. I get to remember what it's like to be a student. That always keeps me honest when I'm the one at the front of the room. And, icing on the creative cake, I met some really interesting, creative, evolving and proud of it ... people.
Thursday, September 25, 2003
"And miles to go before I sleep"
Hey coaches, It's Time to Get Visible & Make a Difference!, asserts personal branding coach Rosemary Davies-Janes. "My recent travels across the North America have verified the huge public need for coaches. I was shocked to learn that most 'civilians' STILL don't clearly understand the value of working with a coach. This problem is exacerbated by many coaches natural reluctance to sell - and the challenge of translating a largely 'intangible' - and very personal - service into clear, genuine, benefit-rich marketing tools."
It is my vision that within the next 10 years everyone who needs a coach will have one. To realize this vision -- BTW, vision is one of the topics for my professional development course next week. Yes, I know, I teach what I need to learn:)! and on the best days I practice what I profess -- I need to show up and serve in my still evolving, newly defined role of "Coach as Professor". This week's nightime reading, Herminia Ibarra's Working Identity has me reflecting on and being with my shifting professional identity. Not always fun, but definitely evolutionary. Growing on!
Saturday, September 20, 2003
The Joy of Being and Doing What is Mine To Be and To Do
HOORAY! I received my first blog comment today, and it wasn't even in this blog. It was in the Career Development blog I set up for one of the courses I'm teaching. The comment was from one of my blogging role models, C. J. Hayden. What I love about C. J.'s blog is that it's a clearly focused authentic promotional tool for her business and an insightful resource for her readers and clients. That's what I'm wanting my blog to be. (Thanks to my best friend for pointing out there's no clear contact info on my blog. Yep! that's at the top of the list for this week. Not the to-do list of add contact info and write "About Me" page, but the to-be list of making myself visible and available to attract my ideal coaching clients.)
I'm preparing to work with my students on values and mission statements next week, so the joy I felt in reading C.J.'s comment pointed to one of my values -- confirmation, which I define as being acknowledged and rewarded for doing well what is mine to do. Originally that value and clarifying statement didn't sit well with me. It felt too externally driven UNTIL I recognized that my most important and powerful rewards come from within! When I take inspired action and do what is mine to do while being my Authentic Big S Self, joy naturally follows. That joy is my Internal Guidance System acknowledging and rewarding me for being on purpose, on misssion, aka doing what is mine to do. Inquiry: What brings you joy? What is TRULY, joyously, and authentically yours to do?
I'm preparing to work with my students on values and mission statements next week, so the joy I felt in reading C.J.'s comment pointed to one of my values -- confirmation, which I define as being acknowledged and rewarded for doing well what is mine to do. Originally that value and clarifying statement didn't sit well with me. It felt too externally driven UNTIL I recognized that my most important and powerful rewards come from within! When I take inspired action and do what is mine to do while being my Authentic Big S Self, joy naturally follows. That joy is my Internal Guidance System acknowledging and rewarding me for being on purpose, on misssion, aka doing what is mine to do. Inquiry: What brings you joy? What is TRULY, joyously, and authentically yours to do?
Friday, September 19, 2003
Welcome to Body & Soul Magazine
I finally got around to browsing this month's Body & Soul Magazine. As I scarfed (sp) down my breakfast at noon I read about the editor's life-changing experience of a business meeting at a spa.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Today I remembered there's nothing to learn
In Conversations with God, Book 1 (CWGI), p. 21, we are reminded that there's nothing to learn. We are here "To remember, and re-create, Who You Are". About two weeks ago, I was excited about the show "Starting Over" and recommended it to my clients and coaching colleagues. After watching it for two weeks, I was a bit disappointed .... until I remembered: "This is television, not real life. 'Reality TV.' What an oxymoron. What I would consider the good stuff of coaching probably ended up on the cutting room floor, because there's not a lot of drama in it. After all, the true work of coaching is internal and the shifts are subtle, even imperceptible in the short term. That doesn't make for dramatic viewing." The other part of experience -- NOT the LESSON -- was that I had expectations about what the show should be. ACKKK!! I was shoulding on the show AND on myself -- "I shouldn't have recommended it!" "To live your life without expectation -- without the need for specific results -- that is freedom" (CWGI, p. 101).
Thursday, September 11, 2003
The Journey's the Thing
Yesterday, I had a "wherever you go, there you are" conversation with a colleague. This morning, I open my email to find an Abraham-Hicks reading entitled "Reasons for Life" that encourages approaching goals as one would approach a vacation. "Now what we want to do is startle you into the awareness that 'getting it done' is really not what you are looking for. And yet that's what you think. You think when you have a better job, then you'll be happy. A job with more time, then you'll be happy. A job with more money, then you'll be happy. Or work coming to you more easily, then you'll be happy. In other words, it feels like 'If I could just get there, then I'll feel better'. And what we want you to hear is that you can't get there from here." Inquiry: What are you trying to get done? How can you shift your focus from "getting it done" to enjoying the journey.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
If your work isn’t what you love, then something isn’t right.
Before leaving the house for campus this morning, I sat with one of my intentions for this year: "I am enjoying soul-satisfying, prosperous, fulfilling work professing, coaching, and writing." So when a colleague showed up at my desk in the advising office, blowing his usually cool head, I felt a coachable moment coming. We started talking and he gave me that song lyric. All I remember from the Talking Heads was the song, "Burning down the House", and looking at the lyrics it had a serious message too: "People on their way to work baby what did you except? Gonna burst into flame". Cathy Severson's Passport to Purpose blog drove this same point home with the story of a Harvard MBA and a Mexican fisherman. Do you love your work? If so, let's celebrate with a Snoopy Dance!! If not, what belief is keeping you there? Life is just too short ....
The Gremlin Taming Institute
Co-Active Coaching in Organizations
In addition reporting the results of a study on the impact of co-active coach training on emotional intelligence, this article also includes an excellent description of the similarities and differences among coaching, managing, consulting, and training.
Saturday, September 06, 2003
RESULTS Newsletter
Home and Garden Television: Mission Organization
FINELIVING: Simplify Your Life
Moving Right Along ....
Coaching World Newsletter: "Did you know the word 'coach' is one of the few English words borrowed from the Hungarian language? John Ayto's Dictionary of Word Origins states that the original form in Hungarian was kocsi szeker, 'cart from Kocs.' Kocs was a village between Budapest and Györ where carriages and carts were made. The word kocsi, an adjective meaning 'of Kocs,' came to mean a horse-drawn carriage. It entered French (coche) and German (kutsche), then showed up in English as 'coach' in the 16th century.
The modern sense of 'instructor' or 'trainer' comes from 19th-century British university slang. Students dubbed private tutors 'coaches,' playing on the image of a tutor 'conveying' a student through an exam as if he were riding in a carriage. "
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Starting Over at Last
Not since Cheryl Richardson's "Life Makeover Project" has a television show focused on the power of coaching to facilitate people making positive changes in their lives. At last, the wait is over. CNN has dubbed "Starting Over", a new reality show that debuts September 8th "a 'soaprah'. Okay, I don't particularly care for the characterization and reality shows often represent the lowest common demoninator, so let's hope the editors are kind and insightful and show the coaching process for what it is. Coaches Rana Walker and Rhonda Britten will be helping six women define their goals and outline the steps needed to achieve those goals. Get ready for the publicity that comes as more people are exposed to life coaching.
Saturday, August 30, 2003
"Contrast Helps You to Identify Desire"
Driving home from campus yesterday, I recognized the first week of school was all about contrast, i.e., experiencing what I didn't want -- a parking ticket, a student who only wanted to know if a course was easy before registering for it, being shot down in a committee meeting .... -- so I could make clear and conscious decisions about what I do want. I earnestly want a safe, legal parking space close to my building every day I go into campus. I deeply desire students who love to learn and who are ready and willing to stretch and grow. I passionately long for a learning community where feeling and believing are acknowledged as legitimate ways of knowing.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Clearing the Way for an Effortless Life
One of the reasons I started blogging was to create some accessible storage space. This blog is serving that purpose well. Now when I come across a bloggable (Did I just make up a word?) tidbit, I click on Blog This! or I start a new note in Outlook (if it's an incomplete thought I don't know when I'll get around to completing). As I clear my file cabinets -- my goal is to scale down from 3-four drawer vertical file cabinets to 1 four drawer lateral cabinet on or before June 10th 2004! Hey I've got to be realistic about this-- I scribble a note on the paper and file it in one of my blog folders for later (should I ever run out of stuff to blog - HA!!). Ohhhh! It feels so good to have a system that works. And speaking of systems, Bernice Ross of Teleclass4u.com wrote two very insightful newsletter articles on "Creating an Effortless Life": "Effortlessness requires structure. Creating structure requires action. Maintaining structure takes consistency and rhythm." Unfortunately, I can't find the articles archived online, but you can subscribe to The Teleclass4U.com Community Newsletterfor free.
Saturday, August 23, 2003
My First Kudos
I've been surfing around to change my blog's description in several services I added -- Blogarama subject directory; Haloscan, commenting service -- when lo and behold on Blogwise, another categorized directory, I saw the comment "Interesting subject matter. original" from Gooberbug Danielle. But, hey she didn't Blogroll Me! As it seems to be this week's theme: "I blogroll myself; therefore, I am." Tee! Hee!
Clarity is a Wonderful Thing
In journaling this morning, a new description for my blog came to me -- "Learning to live the life that is one's own", from the J. California Cooper short story, "The Life You Live (May Not Be Your Own)" in Breaking Ice. That feels much better than the previous description "Be(come)ing and Making the Best Use of a Coach from the Inside-out". The new description is a container spacious and flexible enough to hold all of who I Am being and who I Am becoming. Coach. Professor. Greatness experiencing and expressing. Writer. Yes, I claim it. Techie. Trekker. Suburban gardener. Journaler. Householder. Friend. Daughter. Racquetballer. Gourmand. Deliberate Creator. "I write myself; therefore, I am." And so it is!
Friday, August 22, 2003
Seven Habits of Highly Successful Bloggers
Given that The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is the text for my Professional Career Development course, I couldn't resist this blogger's take on them: 7 Habits of Highly Successful Bloggers
Coach as Professor
A woman whose company is named WholeLife Mastery -- it's official, there's even a Fictitious Firm Name file with the county clerk -- can't get her WholeLife into one blog. What's up with that? The professor has three blogs, one for each class I teach -- Diversity in Hospitality, Hospitality Human Resource Management, and Professional Career Development. There's one for theWeblogging101 course I'm taking this week, and there's this one. I've decided it's okay to have all those blogs; they're each for different audiences. This one is my "I write myself therefore I am" (Henry Louis Gates in the Introduction to Bearing Witness) blog, where I write myself into experiencing and expressing my Greatness. That's exactly what I support and challenge my clients in doing. What if/How can I bring that same example of reflection to my class blogs? How can I BE "Coach as Professor"?
Thursday, August 21, 2003
The Factfinding Challenge
This is the third time in about two weeks that I've spent way too much time hunting down the citation for a quotation. The first one was -- okay, this is getting to be quite funny. A hunt inside a hunt. I went to look for the other two citationless quotations -- both are in this blog, and realized my blog has gotten large enough to need a search tool. Blogger's got a list of possibilities (for me that means free and easy), including a recommendation for AtomZ.
- "Abraham Lincoln’s response to the following inquiry: 'what would you do if you have only two hours to chop a cord of wood?' Lincoln’s response was that he would spend the first hour sharpening his ax".
- "treat and move your feet"
- hmmm! the third one didn't make it into my blog. I was too frustrated after searching for the citation to do an entry that day.
The master in the art of living
makes little distinction between
his work and his play,
his labor and his leisure,
his mind and his body,
his education and his recreation,
his love and his religion.
He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him he is always doing both.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Resolving to Stretch and Flow
The Well Within Coach posted the Fast Company article "Cultural Revolution", which describes creating "new social structures that harness the power of technological innovation". While blogging is not included on the list, psychological "Flow" and personal renaissance are. For these two structures, the author resolves, respectively: "I will set a 'stretch' goal and invest in learning the skills that are necessary to reach it." and "I will change a personal routine. I will try something new."
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
What William Gibson and I Have in Common
On tonight's Weblogging 101 course, teleclass leader Andy mentioned William Gibson's blog and the impact it had on Gibson's writing routine. I can empathize with Gibson. When I first started my blogs -- I now have four started!, I stopped journaling for a while. OUCH!! Okay, I admit it. I am often a creature of routine and ritual (R and R), and blogging was a new task that has taken me some time to incorporate into my daily R and R. R and R's are excellent examples of structure, i.e. "a means by which we create focus and discipline, .... any device that reminds [one] to be in action" (Co-Active Coaching, p. 91). "Take time to compose a routine to keep things in place so you don't waste time with the daily question 'When will I get to that?'" (Chic Simple Storage, p. 15). Inquiry: What routine would make your life easier? What ritual would make your life sweeter? Design and establish them now.
Friday, August 15, 2003
The Power of Journaling
Last night I surfed across several websites on journaling: a truly inspiring article in Personal Journaling Magazine "Life's Sticking Points" by Kay Marie Porterfield. I was so inspired by her powerful questions -- e.g. "Are big issues impeding your progress, or are you being held up by a collection of more minor procrastinations and irritations?" and "What hidden benefit do I derive from this relationship or situation?" -- and journaling exercises, that I finished the Book Review List for my Professional Development course. Then I treated myself to this month's issue of Personal Journaling to celebrate. BTW: how often do you become or do something ordinary or extraordinary without stopping to enjoy the accomplishment and celebrate? I'm working on that one. I realized that for me journaling serves several purposes: 1. means to connect with my Greatness; 2. tool for "Keeping my heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23); 3. key spiritual practice/discipline that opens me to experience grace; 4. record that reminds me of how far I've come; and 5. a sacred space for creating where I want to go. Inquiry: How could you use a journal to experience and express your Greatness?
Thursday, August 14, 2003
The Power of WholeLife Mastery
"My fullest concentration of energy is available to me only when I integrate all the parts of who I am, openly, allowing power from particular sources of my living to flow back and forth freely through all my different selves, without the restrictions of externally imposed definition." – Audre Lorde “Age Race Class and Sex” in (1984) Sister Outsider, p.121
Inquiry: What part of yourself do you need to call forth to concentrate your energy?
Saturday, August 09, 2003
Reading and Writing and Asking
I read a lot. Always have. I write a lot. Ditto. Two years ago I put those two favorite activities of mine together and started writing a monthly book review column for my church newsletter. What's that got to do with coaching? Lots! The inspiration to write the column came to me after days of working (in this case the work was all in consciousness -- meditating and journaling -- my two favorite spiritual practices) with the inquiry "How can I use my passions for reading and writing to be of service?". In Co-Active Coaching, the authors define an inquiry as "a thought-provoking question for the purpose of introspection and reflection" (p. 73). In Living Your Best Life, Laura Berman Fortgang calls them "wisdom access questions (WAQs)" that can can "create positive, forward motions" (p. 6). One of my favorite inquiries/WAQs is "How can I ...?", (thank you, Jennifer Louden in the Comfort Queen's Guide to Life, p. 108) an insightful question that opens me to possibilities instead of probabilities. More recently, a client was talking about a habit she wanted to release and I asked "Have you read The Four Agreements?" It was just what she needed. Showing up with clarity, honesty and willingness for the calls are necessary, but not sufficient conditions for allowing coaching to work. As both a coach and a client, I can testify that the most challenging work and the greatest results of coaching happen between the sessions.
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Long time, no write, but today I was inspired by a book I'm currently reading and by reading all the energetic messages from new students in Hal's Weblog in a Week course. Their messages reminded me why I started blogging and how important it is to keep up the discipline. Yes, for me, blogging is a spiritual discipline, much like journaling or going to my Abraham-Hicks Study group. My life is so much more open to inspiration and grace when I'm being true to my practices and keeping up the disciplines. The only one that didn't fall by the wayside for the last two weeks was meditating. It's like water in the desert. What are your spiritual practices? How's your discipline? Oh, the book I'm reading now: There Must Be More than This by Judith Wright. More about it when I finish it this weekend.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Funerals that Teach Us How to Live
Sunday a friend and I drove to Sedona for the memorial service of another friend's partner. As I sat in the -- audience isn't quite the right word because we participated more than watched and congregation definitely isn't the word, even though the view of those majestic, magical Sedona mountains behind the lecturn were spiritually awsomely inspiring .... In his lifetime this man lived what felt and sounded like 7 lifetimes full of healing and traveling, loving and writing (The Shaman's Bulldog, Plum Wine and Dark Chocolate). I've heard that funerals are for the living; this one definitely reminded me how to live -- passionately, purposefully, and whole-heartedly -- and how important it is to "Live every day as if it were your last, because one of these days, it will be." - Jeremy Schwartz
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
A Change in Perspective is a Wonderful Thing
I admit it: I'm having a coaching identity crisis. And while it didn't start with taking the Weblog in a Week course, that certainly catalyzed the process. The first night's assignment was "Why are you blogging?" I gave three reasons (See 6/10/03 Blog entry): to store, to learn, to share what I'm learning. After reviewing my first few blog entries, Hal, the instructor asked "Who's your audience?" I started reading all kinds of info and taking teleclasses on identifying my "who?" and my "what?", i.e. target market and niche. I even came up with one that I started a very targeted blog for (Diversity in Hospitality) -- managers of color in hospitality and their employing organizations. Then tonight, while preparing for a new course, Professional Career Development, I'll be teaching this fall at UNLV, I read an article by Herminia Ibarra, "How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career". What I originally framed as a crisis -- "I've got to have a clear target market and niche or I'll never get my coaching practice going." Funny, I bet my five clients would beg to differ! -- I now see as a normal part of "working identity", which Ibarra defines as the "process of applying effort to reshape that identity". Talk about WholeLife Mastery!! Reshaping on!
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Another Coach Training Program
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Blogging Right Along
Looked back over the last two week's entries. Revelation: sometimes WholeLife Mastery means putting it all out there and looking for the thread that holds it together. Or maybe it's more like quilting. I imagine Grandma storing up bits and pieces of fabric until she had enough for a quilt, then pulling them out and using whatever was there to make something warm and beautiful. I'm still "storing up". Finding, reading, and subscribing to others' blogs is at the top of this week's blog to-do list, thanks to the article "Blog's Breaking Logjam of Journalism, which Hal, the instructor of Weblog in a Week posted to the class listserv: "The best bloggers, who are generous in linking to one another -- alien behavior to journalists accustomed to careerist, shark-tank newsrooms -- are like smart, hip gunslingers come to make trouble for the local good ol' boys. The heat they pack includes an arsenal of intellectual artillery, crisp prose, sharp insights and a gimlet eye for mainstream media's flaws."
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Coaching in the News
Life Coaches Telling Us How to Live reports the results of research conducted by the University of Sydney's coaching psychology unit. Additional reports of coaching-related research are also available.
"Things Fall Apart the Center Cannot Hold"
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
-- William Butler Yates "The Second Coming"
Inquiry: What's your center? How's it holding?
Inquiry: What's your center? How's it holding?
Monday, July 14, 2003
Discover Yourself
Friday, July 11, 2003
The Power of Vision
Yesterday I was looking back through my journal at the vision statement I wrote on 10 April, 2003, for my coaching practice. The visioning exercise was part of the Coach and Grow Rich 90 Challenge. It took me twice to get through the program and it was well worth the re-take. Everything under the heading of “what I need to easily, effectively and effortlessly do my work” is here now. Time to celebrate with a Snoopy Dance!
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Six Degrees of Separation
I'm taking Hal Macomber's five day teleclass "Weblog in a Week: Become an e-Celebrity!" In her class blog, Bea Fields, one of my classmates describes a tip she got from Laura Hess, who is a member in the Nevada Professional Coaches Association, to which I also belong.
Awareness = nonjudgmental observation (W. Timothy Galwey, 2000, The Inner Game of Work)
Right before I went to bed last night, I asked myself what's up with all this water spilling today? I did it at least twice, three times if you count blowing coffee all over the kitchen with the coffee grinder. I let water overflow while filling the coffee carafe, because I was watching Martin Luther at the same time. Before that, I watered a dining room plant to the point of overflow, something I haven't done in quite a while. My first thought, which is usually the most insightful one, was "Ideas come to me like water. I'm birthing an abundance of ideas right now, but what am I doing with them? What action am I taking? Am I keeping the counsel I so often give to 'treat and move your feet'?" OUCH! That's it. Lots of water (in a drought no less) and I'm wasting it. Lots of ideas and opportunities (in what so many claim is an economic downturn) and I'm not taking advantage of them.
BTW: I'd really appreciate someone sending me the ORIGINAL source for that saying, "treat and move your feet". On a Google search, it shows up on a lot of Religious Science websites, but I thought I once read it's Quaker in origin.
BTW: I'd really appreciate someone sending me the ORIGINAL source for that saying, "treat and move your feet". On a Google search, it shows up on a lot of Religious Science websites, but I thought I once read it's Quaker in origin.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
It's working!! Last month I placed a small ad in my church's newsletter. Following Molly Gordon's "Rule of Threes":
- name the outcome you want to manifest;
- consider how you need to be perceived to create that outcome;
- create three true messages about what, if widely known would bring about this result;
- choose three venues or media in which to 'place' these messages;
- distribute the messages at least three times in each venue/medium withing three months. (© Copyright 2003 Shaboom Inc. Reprinted by permission from The New Leaf a free e-zine that reduces the hassle and increases the rewards of initiating and promoting work that matters. Learn how managing and marketing your business can be a source of joy and transformation. Subscribe at www.mollygordon.com).
Friday, July 04, 2003
Wisdom is where you find it. This morning I was working with a coaching client who described her ideal body type as "Jennifer Aniston-esque". Out of my mouth popped "Did you know it costs her thousands of dollars to maintain that look?". I just spent the last hour looking for the source of that info-bit. According to Dunn & Friedman's "Get a Hollywood Body for Free", (Glamour, June 2003, pp. 232-235), Aniston probably spends $100 an hour for a personal trainer, while Gwyneth Paltrow "reportedly has two personal chefs who prepare her veggie- and grain-rich macrobiotic meals. Glamour guesstimate $200,000 a year". I got the details mixed up, but the principle is still the same: "Celebrities pay a fortune to look the way they do." Then in July's Glamour, the article "Soft-spoken, iron-willed woman warrior" (p. 44) describes Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's decade-long imprisonment in Burma by "the brutal dictatorship that runs the country (and that changed its name)" from Burma to Myanmar. Thanks for the info Glamour: Burma it is.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
I love Las Vegas!! This morning, I returned 3 videos on philosophy/religion/spirituality to the public library, and got on the waiting list to check out About Schmidt when it comes in. How's that for my tax dollars at work? But in Nevada, with the Legislature in unconsitutional session, that's another story. After the library, I went to Book People, a wonderful independent used bookstore with stellar service!! Mind you, both of these establishments are on Las Vegas Boulevard -- for those of you who don't live here, that's the street that includes "The [in/famous] Strip". BTW: did you know that Mandalay Bay's theme is based on Burma/Myanmar?
Monday, June 30, 2003
This morning's edition of Workplace Expert Ezine included the article "Not Afraid of the Dark: Executive Coaching In Troubled Times" by Executive Coach Carollyne Conlinn. I followed the article links throught to HR.com, where I found the text of an interview with Marshall Goldsmith "On When Coaching Fails" by David Creelman. Excellent reminder that coaching is not the be-all and end-all to resolving performance issues.
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
At last Friday's Nevada Professional Coaches' Association meeting, the president, Judy Irving, challenged me to get something on my website. Yesterday I asked what she would suggest I start with. She recommended: " I would begin with some info on what coaching is and who uses it. Then I would do a bio on myself and a photo - not only your education, but your likes, dislikes, hobbies, aspirations, etc. What is a ideal client for you? What interests that person holds, etc. Give some free offers (inforamational sessions, for example) also post some articles you have written. That sort of thing."
This morning, I attended Verena Aibel's "Ten Keys to Successful Top Ten Article Writing" Teleclass. Lots of very practical ideas for getting started with writing Top Ten Lists. She inspired me to start my website with top ten lists (and the book reviews I've written for my church's newsletter). I highly recommend her FREE teleclass (Go to Verena's website and click on "Events and Happenings" for a schedule of upcoming teleclasses).
Friday, June 20, 2003
Found a blog by the editor of one of my favorite web sites: The Comfort Queen (CQ).
"Lain, CQ's fearless editor, has decided that writing polished essays
about her life as a work in progress is defeating the point. So she
has bravely decided to write a twice a week on-going blog (an
on-line journal) of the process of being a woman, a wife, a mother,
and a writer. I for one, can't wait to read it. I hope you'll tune
in" (from The Self Care Minder 16 June 2003. Visit The Comfort Queen to quickly subscribe or unsubscribe. OR to subscribe, send an email to subscribe@comfortqueen.com.)
The Comfort Queen is author Jennifer Louden. I love her books and refer to them often. I know a book is really influential when it inspires my observation and writing. That's exactly what the retreat exercise "Stuck in the Airport of Life" (from the book The Woman's Retreat Book) did when I was stuck in the Tampa airport during the Denver blizzard at the end of Spring Break 2003.
Monday, June 16, 2003
Just got back from Compressed Video Classroom training on campus. Hooray! Something else to learn. I also finally have inspiration for using WebCT as more than a grade-posting system. It's also helpful that I'll be using all this technology for a new class. I find it so much easier to learn something totally new than to try to put new wine in old wine skins. That's the title of an article I read in some Teaching and Learning Center workshop. I'll find the reference!
Friday, June 13, 2003
Yesterday I serendipitously surfed upon the Washington Post article "A Coach for 'Team You'", which included the sidebar "How to Get Coached". The article was written by Cecilia Capuzzi Simon, who "regularly writes about psychology for Health". That may explain the article's primary focus on the distinction between coaching and therapy. The article also includes a brief history of the coaching profession and a few demographics on both coaches and clients. Several coaching schools were mentioned, including traditional universities offering coaching courses. Georgetown (Their Center for Professional Development offers a certificate in Leadership Coaching ) and George Mason University's School of Public Policy, which seems to be preparing to offer coaching courses.
Tuesday, 24 June, 2003
I found another university-based coaching course, ORG 7670: Coaching and Self-development, at Alliant University.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Today I attended two webcasts sponsored by Technology Source magazine: "Using WebCT Quizzes in a High-Demand Environment" and "Overcoming Educators' Digital Immigrant Accents". From the former, I'm working with the concept of Mastery Learning in developing my web-based Professional Career Development course. By the latter webcast I was challenged to consider "How can I use games to help students learn and enjoy it"?
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
I've been thinking about starting a blog for weeks now. Time to stop thinking and start acting. As usual, I've done a lot of reading before taking the plunge. In my "Learning to Blog" folder -- if there's a folder, it's a REAL project -- under "Getting Started" I've read Dvorak's "Deconstructing the Blog", which lists Eight Rules for the Perfect Blog, Chapter 3 of "Navigating the Blog Universe" from the book "We Blog", and Dennis A. Mahoney's "How to Write a Better Blog". I've started this blog because (1) my file cabinets are overflowing and I'm through with not being able to find stuff. A blog seems like an easily accessible storage space. (2) It's time to learn a new technology as I re-design a Human Resource Management Course I teach at UNLV and design a Professional Career Development course I'll be teaching for the first time this Fall. I find Techno-frittering highly inspiring. The last time I did it was in the middle of writing my dissertation, when I switched from WordPerfect to MS Word. (3) I want to share what I'm learning about all kinds of things -- growing tomatoes in the Mojave Desert (Leslie Doyle, THE Tomato Lady, has been an excellent teacher), be(come)ing a co-active life coach, being a professor, be(come)ing an entrepreneur -- with folks who are interested in the same.
