Successful Blog

Head, Heart, and Sailboats

by

I’ve been thinking about head, heart, and sailboats.

Head and heart. Some days I like one more than the other. Some days it’s smarter to think. Some days I find it’s better to follow where my feelings lead me.

On days I am my head, I make my life about the work. I can perfectly clear my desk. I can venture forth with the most elegant strategic plan. Be ready to think quickly, if you take me on. I’m not as one-dimensional as some folks might have you think. After all, not everyone gets complimented quite this way by a friend.

I’ll analyze a problem to reach a brilliant, logical solution . . . in seconds flat. When I do, no person will be within the range of my 20/40 vision. I’ll see the people, sure, but they’ll be human data in the thinking chain.

No wonder I get headaches.

On days I am my heart, I can make my life about the people and beauty of the world. I see the wonder of a smile that fills a voice when a person discovers a new thought. I see the sun rise in glorious colors that make a sky no artist could possibly paint. The options and ideas assault me joyously like water falling as I stand laughing at the the marvel of being alive and drenched.

I imagine away bad weather and fill a hall-full glass half-again over the top. I can hear a symphony in my head and when I want I can make it go away. I can stop time, stress, and bad things me too. Generosity is without thinking. Life is magical.

Of course, the without thinking part is a bit of problem now and then.

On the days I am both, I lean from head to heart and back. I let my life tell me when to list which way.

Sailboats that list in concert with the wind have grace and flexibility, even in a rough storm. Sailboats that lean too far take on water. That’s wrong there. The water is supposed to stay beneath the boat . . . in the sea.

Head and heart together is balance, part holding on and part letting go. Lean too far toward one and the connection won’t work. It’s like sailing — the wind has some control. When I lose my trying and self-consciousness to make room for life, a day becomes adjusting my sails with the wind.

This weekend I’m going to be a sailboat.

Head and heart has to be lived to be learned.

Liz

Change the World: Turn the You into We

by

The Reverend’s Speech

changetheworld8

The difference I’m about to explain is so subtle I don’t know whether I can explain it well in a short bit of text. I’ve been working on this as a writing post, as a relationship post, and now finally, I’ve put it with the Change the World series. The story is about sensitivity to the way use words and how those words affect how we see the world, each other, and our place in it. That the reverend was speaking of changing the world is a coincidence that I hope won’t distract. . . .

At to my son’s college graduation in May, I listened deeply to the commencement speech. It took a lifetime to get to the moment — my son’s lifetime. I listened as he might. I listened as a parent who knew what his education cost. I listened as a writer who watched the audience from a wonderful vantage point. I listened as a blogger for words I might share in a Change the World post.

The well-known Reverend who gave the commencement address had two things going for him. He’s the editor of a national magazine, and he’s well practiced at inspirational speaking.

The message the reverend brought was well-written and deeply felt. It was meant, I think, to be about hope as an action. I heard him say these sentences.

Hope is not a word. Hope is choice.

I was engaged in where this would go. Yes, I thought.

Then he spoke of sad things in the world and how we accept and tolerate those situations because we believe that we cannot change them. He used the pronoun we.

Unfortunately, when he spoke of the future and changing what is framed it inside the wrong pronoun. He changed the pronoun to you. Forgive me as I paraphrase what he said. Please know that I’m being true to the message that came across.

You can choose not to tolerate . . .

You can choose not to accept . . .

I wondered what happened to we.

I couldn’t help but think of the graduates on this day they had looked forward for so many years. Maybe I’m overly sensitive. I could be too protective. But I think he could have had a more powerful inspirational impact had he considered the people he was trying to inspire.

You see, the reverend spoke from a podium high upon a stage. He was talking to graduates who sat in chairs listening as they had for most their school careers.

You can stop tolerating situations in which children don’t have enough to eat . . .

In that context, it was almost as if he had given them one more assignment dressed up in inspirational words. This time there would be no grade, no classroom or email support. The test would be the shape of the world.

If only, he had chosen the pronoun “we.”

We can stop tolerating situations in which children don’t have enough to eat. . .

The assignment would have become a shared cause.

The reverend could have changed the world, could have changed how those graduates saw their role, with just one word.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Change the World: Start a New Job

by

Change My Job with a Thought

changetheworld8

Ever hear someone talk about a brand new job? Whenever I do, it takes be back to those nice first day of school feelings.

Life seems light. The world is fresh. Even the kids that that we knew from last year start to look and act better. Everything is new beginnings — new desk, new paper, new pens, new problems to solve, new ways to solve them, a chance to see what I can do. New jobs are like that.

I bring myself back from the new job fantasy by recalling how long it takes to get familiar in a new place. Every new job takes time to learn the culture, the people, and how to get things done when I need to. That’s a lot to give up once you’ve gotten there.

New beginnings are wonderful and fresh, but being around a while offers the relationships, credibility, and support of a familiar place. I want the values of both without lose the downside of each.

I wanted that enough that I figured out how to make it happen. The trick is to blend the old and the new together.

All it took was a change in the way that I see.

Today, I start a new job, doing the job that I did last week. I let go. I wipe the slate clean. I imagine that I inherited this busy desk from the busy person before me. It’s a good feeling to put that distance between now and Friday.

All of the tasks on this desk held no romance for the person who sat here on Friday. But the new me walks into this job looking at them as filled with promise and so exciting.

Thoughts of someone who isn’t delivering turn from an ongoing headache into the challenge and opportunity that a fresh mind sees. That situation has just become information the person previously in this job shared before leaving. It’s simply a fact on my radar that has no past feelings attached to it. The problem solver in me knows that I’m more than ready to smile into a new approach.

A clean slate is like the first day of school filled with new beginnings– new desk, new paper, new pen, new problems to solve, new ways to solve them, a chance to see what I can do. I take a new look and my old job becomes new like that too.

The people I work with notice that I’ve got a new outlook and soon they have one too.

I’m taking a new job to work with me today. I can feel it already.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Series: The Enneagram – a Brief Introduction

by

Enneagram Series by Mark McGuinness

I’m pleased to announce that over the next two weeks, we’ll be featuring a series — a sneak peek at an upcoming eBook!! — on the Enneagram. The series is written by Mark McGuinness of Wishful Thinking, a specialist coaching and training service for creative businesses such as design studios, ad agencies, film and TV production companies, computer games developers, architect’s practices and fashion designers. Mark studied the Enneagram as part of his training as a psychotherapist. He has used it for his own personal development and in his work with individuals, families, and organizations.

The series appear over the next two weeks. The six articles will be posted in the evenings between 5-6pm CDT on the following schedule.

Monday, June 25: What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?

Wednesday, June 27: The Heart Types

Thursday, June 28: The Head Types

Monday, July 2: The Body Types

Wednesday, July 4: Using the Enneagram – Working on Yourself

Thursday, July 5: Using the Enneagram – Working with Others

The Enneagram Names

basic-enneagram-names

This illustration and the others in the series produced by Sandy Renshaw.

Besure to drop by this week and next to check it out. It’s been weeks in the making and worth every minute. Thank you, Mark!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Be Alive and 10 Ways to Celebrate Living!

by

Give It a Try

silhouette of girl splashing water at sunset

Oh yeah, science has defined and described life — no disputing that. It’s that time that occurs between birth and death that we fill up with breathing, eating, sometimes sleeping, preserving the species, and whatever thoughtful and mindless else we might devise.

To get beyond the state of being to having meaning is an art and a craft. The trick is finding the space between the literal and the figurative.

If you want to give it a try . . .

How to Be Alive

In some ways, being alive is a mystical balancing act. It takes thinking and feeling about ideas, things, and people. Actually being alive is deliberate and spontaneous. It’s getting all systems go while being totally still. It can be done. I’ve actually met people who are alive!

Here’s a way to give it a go.

  • Check your life signs. Even though working lungs and a beating heart are clear necessities of living, most of us hold our breath and lose our hearts when we’re overwhelmed. We crawl up into our heads and forget who we are.
  • Know that you can’t get a life — you’ve already got one. If you don’t have one, you’re not reading this.
  • Bring things to life. Be there and show up with all that you are. We get back what we invest.
  • Hold onto your wonderful memories, but let go of the rest. Keeping too much makes us less, holding onto less makes us more.
  • Work hard to reach for your potential, but be easy on yourself. We all need love — our own most of all.
  • Be true to life. Listen to what you knew when you were born. We start out wise, authentic, and letting the world know we’re here. That’s the part we call spirit. We know. We did then. We always will. It’s who we are.
  • Be who you want to become.

One reward of putting all you are into living is how other people find a living soul fascinating and attractive. We’re drawn to a person so vibrantly centered. Our life expands with each person who responds that attraction.

10 Ways to Celebrate Living

When we walk back into our own life again, it’s a wonder — we wonder at what took us so long, wonder at things we hadn’t been seeing, doing, being, sharing with folks we care about. The realization can be quite stunning and profound.

It’s breathtaking to be living.

Definitely worth celebrating. Here are 10 Ways to celebrate living.

  1. Whenever you stretch your mind, stretch your body too. The difference is exponential and incredibly cool.
  2. Do something that’s not electronic. Better yet make it something you’ve never done that you do with someone who sees you as you are.
  3. Go somewhere you can’t see anything made by people. Then before you look, close your eyes to listen for the longest while.
  4. Eat something delicious. Go for that “last cookie” feeling with every bite.
  5. Run your hand along a fence or a wall. Sit on a floor. Walk the curb like a tightrope walker would. You know how. I bet you’ve done them all before.
  6. Listen to music filled with images of your history. Seek out and savor the smells and tastes of comfort times in the past. Send a thought to the people who experienced them with you wherever they are. They’re not gone, if you remember.
  7. Test drive your body like a two year old who just got brand-new shoes.
  8. Run in the grass and fall down on purpose. I bet you did that once too.
  9. Touch wet paint to see how wet it is. Wipe your hand on your pants without a thought. Then send a wish to a guy who did that same thing once, while his mom was watching. Know that his mom didn’t get mad.
  10. Say “I love you” and mean it to someone who least expects it. Then do it again and again. Every time that you do, tell yourself the same thing.

I’m guessing you have the hang of it by now. Being alive really comes down to one sentence.

Live your experiences and experience your life.

We have a whole life of time to do nothing but that. It makes sense, simple and elegant. It’s not hard to be alive . . . once we remember how.

Liz's Signature

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

I Can’t Wait Until . . . Now!

by

Can we talk about . . .

how we think about our lives?

I watch people. I watch myself. I hear what we say. We say, “I can’t wait until . . .

until I grow up.

until I move away.

until I get a job.

until we get married.

the baby is born.

until he walks.

until she talks.

until he can . . .

until she can . . .

until I can . . .

until we can . . .

until morning, until 5 o’clock, until my birthday, until you come home, until we leave, until, until, until . . .

In a few thousand thoughts, we can wish our lives away.

Liz's Signature