Middle of the Night Thoughts on Parenting #664 You’re only as happy as your saddest child. Never have truer words been spoken. It’s hard to detach from your kid’s successes and challenges. When a lot is going on, it can result in lost sleep, tough conversations and overarchingly nagging thoughts. Talking with people you know well, who know you, your kids and…
The Buddha said, “In the end, only three things matter: How much you loved How gently you lived How gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.” If I learned nothing else, this would lead to a more meaningful life contributing more fully to others over time. I’m working on it. Will you?
Recently, I’ve been more intentionally spending time in silence. Silence is a great way to listen to your internal dialog as it interrupts the space like a petulant child. It’s also a great alternative when you don’t have a kind or thoughtful response for your audience at the moment. I clearly need more practice with silence, though I’ve meditated for…
Unplug. It’s vacation for me this week. Though I intend to unplug, I don’t always succeed. As a small business owner, it’s rough to let go, unplug and truly let go. There are few of us and the demands are many. What I realize is the more I let go, the more my team steps up. It’s counter intuitive for…
“What if no one has ever broken your heart, but they broke your expectations. What if when they broke your expectations, they helped you get closer to your heart.” Kyle Cease I ran across this quote, and it made me pause. Really, this is all that ever happens with regard to our expectations. It could be the weather, our own…
Handling conflict. It’s not a pleasant thought. When things happen, and they go poorly, what we do and don’t do determines the lasting reality. Yesterday, we had a delivery to our house go poorly. We have a sign at the top of our long driveway saying “please no large trucks.” Neglecting to see the sign, the delivery people drove down our long…
In yesterday’s blog, I talked about being surprised by grief and how I thought my experience with my son’s teacher was unique. I found out at her celebration of life that it wasn’t. Her commitment (and masterful ability) to impact people that many disregard and judge was so significant it was overwhelming. She took her own traumatized learning experience and catalyzed it to change the world. She confidently told people…
You just don’t know. I was caught by surprise recently at the celebration of life for a significant teacher in my son’s life. She died in March having lost her dance with cancer. I hadn’t seen her in years, my son’s work with her ended 10 years ago, but we’d stayed loosely in touch, and I was shocked learning she’d died. I’d…
Sometimes you just know. In fact, when you’re attuned in life, it’s most often the case. Therein lies the problem. A majority of the time, most of us are not dialed in enough to access the messages from our intuition, let alone to trust our gut. This is why we rely on our heads and the clutter between our ears, when we could…
Adding people to your team brings complexity. It’s exponential. If you hire one person, you’ve made a 50% increase in headcount. Yet it results in a 200% increase in complexity. Add just one more person, it’s a 100% increase in headcount and a 500% increase in complexity. If it seems more complex, you’ve got it right. Your job as a…