I will begin by asking, what internal radio station are you listening to right now? Is it the All Anxious Messaging All The Time Station (W-O-R-Y – where the worry never stops)? The Greatest Hits of All Times from the Bullies and Self-Critics? Or maybe it’s Endless To Do Lists FM, or, potentially, Mentorship at its Finest?
You will have your own particular radio stations and perhaps your own particular names for them. Whatever they are and whatever the particulars, the radio station that you are listening to matters.
A journey is a web, a collage, a choose your own adventure series you did and didn’t write.
You build pieces of the web, strand it out. Not bad. Oh. Someone just walked through your web as they went out the door (or arrived) – as they crossed a threshold, now wearing your web. Okay. No matter. Memory lives inside – the learning, the skill, the growth. Maybe you decide to build a bit differently, just a strand here or there, or, waaaaay over there. You realize certain configurations are no longer working or needed. (You may realize also that no longer working and no longer needed are not necessarily the same thing.)
We are always gardening whether we realize it or not.
This blog offers wisdom and practices for conscious gardening of your influence. Here you’ll find reflections on noticing goodness, working with your attention, cultivating self-compassion, and recognizing the beauty and interconnection that surrounds us. You’ll discover resources for developing the emotional intelligence and inner clarity that allows you to influence in ways that are helpful and wise.
Whether you’re drawn to mindfulness practices, nature’s teachings, or explorations of what it means to live with greater intention and care, these offerings support you in becoming more conscious about what you’re already cultivating.
This is wisdom for gardeners who are ready to tend their influence with awareness, compassion, and purpose.
Practicing noticing goodness does not mean the invalidation or denial of all that is in contrast (and stark contrast) to goodness (to kindness, beauty, generosity, hope, wonder, awe….). Practicing noticing goodness is simply practicing noticing goodness. It is the cultivation and allowing of noticing, breathing in, savouring, appreciating, even celebrating, of goodness in any given moment—without minimizing or dismissing it and without inserting any other add-ons, at least/even if just for a brief while.
Life includes (or can include) really hard things and awful things, in various places and at various times. Life also includes (or can include) things that are beautiful, often profoundly. One of the things I like about the photographs below is how they include a mix of both shadows, stormy tones, and also vibrancy and light—each apparently juxtaposed with the other.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in December, 2017, Pema Chödrön shared that during her life, she has had an instinctual inner sense of what is forward. That really stayed with me, the idea, question, and inner sense for each of us of what is forward.
I wrote a poem this week after a monthly meeting with a group a cherished colleagues. I described the poem as a kind of collage of things. Later today (with the help of some feedback), I thought that perhaps it could be a nice poem for this longest night—this year’s winter solstice—as well as being a fine poem for any other moment. I’m sharing it here in two photographs. Read more ›
In any given moment, we can ask ourselves questions about our attention: “What is my attention focused on right now? Where is my attention going? Is my attention focused broadly or narrowly? Is it moving around or is it stuck on one thing?” In any given moment, we can also bring curiosity to what emotional tone is going with our attention. Read more ›
