A couple of months ago, I used Expedia to arrange a Friday evening departure flight from Toronto so I could deliver a 12 hour program in St. Louis, Missouri. I am a faithful Air Canada flyer but they had no evening flights available. Suddenly, I found myself using Expedia to find flights with an alternate airline carrier. With my ticket purchased, I had secured a connecting flight to St. Louis via Chicago with the first leg departing at 6:40pm. My Friday meeting in Toronto finished earlier than expected so I decided to go to the airport uber early to see if United Airlines could accommodate … [Read more...]
If Our Environment Is Sick, How Long Will It Take For Us To Be In The Same Predicament?
Like many of you, I am passionate about the quality of our environment. If it's sick, then sooner or later we will be, too. So that brings me to asking, “What are you doing to live in harmony AND to improve your environment?” While we often think that we are immune to our surroundings, we aren’t. If the air quality is poor, it is poor for all. If our water source is impure, so it is for everything in it and everyone using it. As a Canadian I endeavour to do my job here as I am sure you do, too. We separate garbage into trash, organics, paper and cans/glass/plastics for recycling. Batteries … [Read more...]
Getting Stuck
A few weeks ago it was really difficult to blog about anything. Nothing was coming to me and I post only after being inspired to write something. For one month, writing just wasn't working for me. While initially it bothered me due to self-imposed deadlines for my weekly posts, I did something different. I just "let it go". I figured I wouldn’t post a blog for however long it took. After all if nothing was coming to me, I should listen to that. Right? So after 3 weeks of nothing, I began a few different meditations and tried one by Dr. Joe Dispenza. The words came pouring out of me and I … [Read more...]
Authenticity and Keeping it Real
Authenticity is a popular term currently used in the self-help, personal development field and I am reminded time and time again about how few people are truly authentic. Case in point: I see social media posts from people who are militant about promoting a certain lifestyle or diet and are busy giving the impression of their “perfect life” as an example to behold. It is a difficult standard to keep. The difficulty is made worse when seeing first-hand that they and their kids are ill, eating junk, and out of control. In other words, the external world projected doesn't match the internal … [Read more...]
The Greatest Sunsets Happen When…
Speaking, nearly the past 8 weekends have taken me from Las Vegas NV, Daytona Beach FL, Toronto ON, Melbourne AU, Tasmania, Boston MA, St. Louis Mo, and to Dallas TX. Enjoying sunsets from both the northern and southern hemisphere has been one of many delights. One of the things I love the most about travelling is seeing new places and meeting different people. Not only am I inspired by it, I learn so much. I see sunsets from different locations and perspectives, but it is always the same sun. The glorious sunsets are seen with perfect timing and the greatest colours do not always occur when … [Read more...]
Does Asking Make you Vulnerable?
For many years, especially pre-internet, in retrospect my own progress was slowed somewhat by not asking for help. That's self-judgement to be sure and life unfolds no matter what. However, if I can shed some light to help others facilitate themselves more efficiently, then I figure that's a good thing to share. When I got stuck and didn’t ask for help it was because when I did, I felt others would see me as not being smart or needy. Whether real or imagined, it was important for me to be independent, look smart, not make mistakes-ever (which of course I have). Now I know I am very capable … [Read more...]
Supported or not – who is in your life?
Sometimes we have others in our lives who do not support our growth. List 3 or more people who’d like to keep you just as you are. Perhaps they’d not support your big ideas, dreams and aspirations. 1) 2) 3) How can you ask them to support you in an empowering way? What have they taught you so far about yourself, relationships or life? Something will be there, even if it is discerning what you might not want. If they truly do not support you, might it be time to let them go? If so, when? While it might be uncomfortable, deep down I believe the other party already knows they are not helping. Who … [Read more...]
Big Problems Stem from Small Errors of Judgement
I was noodling about the illness-salutogenesis spectrum and it struck me that so many things in my life, and I suspect yours too, stem from small errors of judgement that we repeat over and over. Illness, divorce, Enron, decisions in our own business... In each scenario I ran, rarely did something big or negative happen out of the blue. Usually there were decisions made that while small at the time took me down a different road. Those decisions when cumulative ended up with something that couldn’t be ignored; a “bigger problem”. Let’s take illness. We know the chronic health conditions of our … [Read more...]
Let Me Tell You What You Need from Coaching
Oh my! Really? I just read an email basically telling me what I should want from a coach. While it had a few things I agreed with, I was fascinated by the approach of telling the consumer (me) what they needed and how they were going to get it. Now if this was a consulting firm, perhaps I would have been happier, but it wasn’t. It was however a great example of defining true coaching, or at least the co-operative model of coaching (or as Whitworth et al coined “Co-Active” Coaching). Yes, one should expect certain things from a coach like integrity, privacy, confidentiality, preparedness, … [Read more...]
Mediocrity, the Bane of Personal Growth
From last week’s blog I’m excerpting a paragraph from Stewart Emery with emphasis on a few sentences. “It’s remarkable how much mediocrity we live with, surround ourselves with daily reminders that the average is acceptable. Our world suffers from terminal normality. Take a moment to assess all of the things around you that promote you being “average". These are the things that keep you powerless to go beyond a “limit” you arbitrarily set for yourself. The first step to mastery is the removal of everything in your environment that represents mediocrity, removing those things that are limiting. … [Read more...]