We all know the saying: Hurt people HURT people.
But do you know that Healed people HEAL people?
I was told this second phrase last week in a training evening, and I believe it to be true- healed people heal people.
Read More
What are you reading?
What are you learning?
I have a friend who regularly greets her friends with the question, “What are you reading?”
This is one of my favorite questions because it assumes that the person is a learner and a reader.
I think we should be both. So, the second question that goes with the first is “What are you learning?”
That really leads to pre-questions:
· Why are you reading these books?
· What books are next in line?
· What are your goals?
· What books and articles are you reading that lead you to your goals?
Read More
It’s a season where we think we should be grateful but what can we be grateful for?
There’s bad news all around starting with a continuing pandemic (now we have delta and omicron) and ending with wars and rumors of wars, famine, diseases (other than covid) and floods.
STOP, THINK, FEEL, REFLECT – and BE GRATEFUL.
Read More
Most people think of stress as the enemy, but it isn’t.
You can even be stressed and have along life, as long as you see stress in certain ways.
Stress can be a friend and stress in itself it is never the real problem.
It’s what we think about the stress and how we deal with the stressors that is the issue. We all have stress every day.
Stress is ubiquitous and every day we need to complete the stress cycle (you have to do something – because “wellness is not a state of being, but a state of action”) to thrive.
Read More
Use your strengths to work on your weaknesses
When you know your strengths, go in the opposite direction for growth. That means gently pushing towards your weaknesses, using your strengths as your basis, as your foundation.
For example, if you are big on doing things right all the time, allow yourself some slack but also keep doing (most things) right. OR- if you want to grow in your relationships and you are good at listening, try sharing and being more vulnerable for growth, at the same time, still asking good questions and practicing active listening.
Read More
PAST: Remember the past and be grateful, PRESENT: savor what we have in the present and FUTURE: anticipate the good things the future holds with hope.
Read More
A slash is someone who has more than one career and usually at the same time, and who perhaps has made a second career out of a hobby or passion.
A slash can transition you from one stage in life to another or it can accompany your other career through most of your life.
Read More
We have had a ton of change
Some is easier than other kinds of change
When you are leaving home – for good
This blog repeats posting, especially in light of the Afghanistan (and possibly other upcoming) refugee situation.
I was in the USA and had had the opportunity of flying on a very special flight to Chicago.
Lessons learned
I can learn from this man; we all can.
He had already been able to overcome what seems insurmountable barriers, make important, if still very hard, decisions, and continue on his way to a new solution, a new place.
He had few illusions to the difficulties he would face ahead, but he believed that there was opportunity ahead and only death and destruction behind. He knew that his future was and still is in his hands and he had taken the responsibility seriously.
Read More
I have just had a holiday. It’s been great, but at least for me, returning to the job can sometimes be difficult. Returning to work can be emotionally - and even physically difficult, especially if you have really had a mental break from your every-day schedule, as I have had. It can feel like you are a deep-sea diver coming to the surface again, facing a foreign world from where you have recently been. Resurfacing and getting back in the saddle, to mix some metaphors, are tough.
Start on a Wednesday, or even Thursday- or do a “fun” thing first
I restarted last Thursday.
Make your first work-week lighter by only working a few days, or perhaps schedule something “fun” first, such as a training day, or a team building day where you have no choice but to ignore your email list. This time I only focused on the deadlines
Read More
Networking can get you referrals.
Your best referrals will mostly come from people you know and I basically work from referrals. (former clients and present onew, remember to refer me, please)
To find more people who will refer you, will have to grow your network.
A web presence is nice, but, that’s where your referrals go to “check you out” after your name has come up. A website is not usually used by clients and customers to” find” you. They get referred, instead.
Thus, you need these ten tips for good networking practice.
Read More
Healed people Heal people
So, what are you going to do? Join the grumpies and the people who yell, troll, and/or write nasty emails and even publicly “expose” people?
Are you going to be people who say, “I am going to hide in my hole till the mess is over”? It’s never over.
Or
Are we going to help people by looking for the best in others and to accept our personal responsibility for our hurtful ways, asking forgiveness and then moving on to better ways?
We can only change ourselves and our attitudes.
Read More
How is happiness attained?
1. In a job well-done (and if at all possible, within the time and financial constraints)
2. In (finally) reaching a goal
But also in:
· Healthy activity for mind, body and soul (and all the underlying goals to be reached)
· Good (safe, fun, reliable) relationships where I can be myself and share myself
· Doing good to others, especially “strangers” (no kidding!)
· Being grateful for the past, savoring the present and looking to the future with hope
· Being happy about your job and what that job contributes to “the greater good”
Read More
Ury’s 6-Step Model:
1. Put yourself in your own shoes
2. Develop your inner BATNA
3. Reframe your picture of the situation
4. Stay in the Zone
5. Respect them, even if…
6. Give and Receive
Read More
How are you getting ready for the fall?
Are your emails paired down and ready for responses? Do you code/color-code them for “triage” and potential clients?
What about your to-do list(s)? Do you keep your old lists to make sure you haven’t out something under the pile of papers for too long?
What is your calendar like?
Read More
this gives us all a chance to think of how to make our working environment more positive, in general. Maybe I can be a friend so someone (unfortunately my work “best friend” recently retired, and now I would like to find someone, which isn’t always easy, as it is chemistry, etc.)- so, I wish you a god time reflecting and moving forward at work.
Finally, maybe you are still under lockdown or afraid that it will happen again at any time, if this is the case, what on the list can best help you deal with that uncertainty. Learning to deal with the uncertainty in life is the best we can do at this time.
Read More
How can we go into the fall with a calm and resolute heart to move forward positively?
First, decide not to decide (too much).
For sure, we need to keep moving.
Also, keep on planning.
Read More
Downsizing at the beginning of the fall/school year is a god thing (I will be doing this later, but for us here in the Argovian countryside, school began this morning).
Sometimes it’s time to downsize and also to look in new directions in our life. Maybe it’s time to make a list or two to remember what’s really important.
Read More
Have you got time for some holidays? Have you made some time for R&R?
or
Are you skipping vacation? (again!?!)
Although we are taking less vacation than our normal time away, we will still have some holidays. How about you?
The temptation is to keep on working, or even work while on holiday
Many of us are tempted to skip our vacation, or at least check out work emails daily (hourly?) while away. After all, nobody wants 1,000+ emails to go back to work to.
But psychologists have found it vital for our health and well-being to completely “shut down” for a while, even if it’s a 48-hour break from emails, and a change of pace and scenery.
Read More
CV Check
Job Search
Change
Transition
How are you doing? What are you doing?
Here are some tips for your job search.
Read More
Transition(s) and Change(s)
Make for Loss
Which has to be grieved
There’s been a lot going on for most of us since March 2020. We’ve experienced extreme loss and change; we have hopefully grieved each of these losses well so that we can move on.
Change equals loss
Read More