WorkingAwarenessNetwork : monday morning minute

It’s that time of year again…..more cars on the road, more people in the stores, more crowds enjoying the city, and definitely that grey-haired, red-suited  fat man will be singing “Ho Ho Ho” everywhere you go.

My childhood memories of Christmas weren’t especially great, …like the year my Jewish father had the “Christmas Table” with all the presents underneath it….or the time my sister forgot to send a thank you card to my very correct grandmother and was almost excommunicated from the family.  And then there was the 1982 Christmas Blizzard where I was pushing a car in 6 feet of snow!  I became a bit of a Grinch about ‘Celebrating the Season’ over the years.

My MindSet focused on the commercialism and the greed of the holidays.  I resented everything about this time of year.  The fact that the Salvation Army was in my face with that high-pitched bell…and their hands out… set my teeth on edge.  There were endless potlucks and parties and cheer – it was too much.  Not to mention that almost everyone I encountered had a Good Cause that they wanted me to support and help.  I was like a cynic at a comedy club; arms folded, brow furrowed, nothing was going to make ME laugh.

That was until several years ago when my wise and caring wife shared with me about my Grinch-like attitude.  She wasn’t placing blame or angry with her sharing.  She was kind as she explained that we get to create whatever blessings and rituals around the holidays that we want to celebrate as a  family.  We did not need to over-buy or over commit.  We could, in fact, create the Perfect Holiday.

As her green eyes sparkled and her excitement ignited, my heart opened up with love.  And that is when the Magic happened.  I saw how the holidays could be our own personal Holy Days- a reflection of our values and love and sharing in the world.  I started to smile at the idea of Christmas and to look forward to the Celebration of the Season.

And each year as my small daughter gets older, I cherish the moments we create- the sledding, visits to Santa, and ALL the eggnog Cheer!

Monday Mindfulness

If you are overwhelmed with the idea of the holidays, try remembering one thing that you are grateful for each time you see that fat red suited man.

Monday Offering 

If you are running yourself ragged and tired of being stressed out, it may be the Perfect time to start an individual coaching program.  It is possible to have the life you want.  I currently have two spaces open right now.  If you want one of them, go ahead and fill out the comment box below.

Wishing you a grateful week,

Jason

Last night my wife, Jeri, and I were driving in some pretty dense rain when the windshield began to fog.  I cranked up the heat and hit the defroster.  Nothing happened.  I rolled down the windows and threw on the air.  Nothing happened.

I’m barreling down the freeway, hunched over trying to find a glimmer of clarity in this fogged up winshield when Jeri leans over and works some magic.  Within seconds the windshield returns to normal.

“What’s your magic?”  I say to Jeri.  She shares that it’s quite simple.  The windshield is the divider, she says, between the outside cold and the inside heat.  If you give too much hot air no change can happen and if you crank up the cold well that just freezes everyone. 

What the windshield needs is a gradual change to find the perfect setting by slowly turning up the heat.  Too much too quickly just creates more condensation and difficulty with seeing clearly.  Therefore, forcing our will onto the windshield will only make it worse.

Sound familiar?  In the work world, we all want change and we want it now, sometimes without understanding the situation. 

Monday Mindfulness 

Where are you trying to force your will at work?  In the area of communication are you leaving people in the dark, expecting them to just understand or act differently?  By focusing on finding the Perfect MindSet at work you can enter into extreme weather conditions and still see clearly.  As opposed to rushing in with blasting heat or sending people into shock with the cold, pay attention to where you have a limited view at your work and in your relationships this week.

Perfect MindSet 2007

Just a quick reminder to let you know that we are now accepting applications for the next round of the Perfect MindSet course which beings in January and runs through April.

For More Information Click Here  

 
Less is MORE….

What would your workplace be like if you were able to unplug from the constant demands of You?  Have you ever said to yourself, “I just wish all of this would go away.”  “I’d like a nice vacation on a deserted island”.  A trip to some isolated location with no work, no kids, no TV, just a place to rest and quiet "the overwhelm" seems like the perfect place for me.

Well, this past Wednesday, I received a ticket to Isolation Island.  A friend of mine gifted me with a trip to a local spa for a 90-minute experience in the Sensory Deprivation Tank.

When I arrived I was given a walk-through.  I began to question my adventure when I actually saw the tank.  Imagine an MRI filled with the Dead Sea.  This tank has over 500 pounds of salt added to the water, so your body easily floats -completely submerged except your face.

This ten-by-five foot tank was my personal coffin for the next hour.  As I opened the door and crawled inside, I remembered the specific instructions to not rub my eyes under any conditions.  This would be like rubbing your eyeballs with salt and would cause excruciating pain.

As I closed the door and lay back in the tank, my heart began to race.  I do meditate daily, but being there in the pitch dark with my body immersed in water was a whole new experience.  Kind of like a sinking Titanic scene….only warm. My mind began to flood with thoughts….the email I forgot to write….. the stack of bills waiting to get paid….. and I felt the walls begin to close in.  My mind started having its way with me and I began having the very thoughts of overwhelm and stress that I came here to leave behind.

“Just Breathe” I said.  Like most professionals in the world I want a simpler life with less overload, however taking away all senses of feeling, taste, sight, and sound (oh, did I forget to mention the earplugs?) can be quite a shock to an over stimulated….and over-stressed mind.

“Just focus on your breath” I said again.  My mind began to ease its vice grip efforts to control this experience and I rested into my breath knowing there was nowhere to be and nothing to do except to be in this space of nothingness.

75 minutes later in a relaxed state, I opened the door to my chamber.  With a hot shower and some warm clothes, I walked outside and noticed the blazing colors of fall. Their brightness amazed and delighted me. I walked to a grocery store and placed a BBQ chip in my mouth and washed it down with sparkling soda.  The tastes were incredible, almost as if I was tasting for the first time.

By depriving myself of stimuli for an hour, I was able to heighten my senses of touch, taste, smell, and sense of sight and look at my world with new, and wider eyes.

Monday Mindfulness

You might not be able to get to a Sensory Deprivation Tank this week, however I recommend that you take some time to unplug from your sensory overload.  This could happen by simply putting in some earplugs, closing your eyes, and connecting with your breath.  

Perfect MindSet 2007

If you're tired of the demands of your work holding you hostage and you're ready to grow abundance in your life, then I recommend enrolling in the upcoming Perfect MindSet Course.    

Click Here for Details

It takes only a ten second Google search to access the information to answer almost any factual question.  This has changed the way we think and make decisions……and the way we do business.  Sounds good, huh?

But there is a downside…a catch to this easy access to boatloads of information.  I noticed it the other day when my wife asked me how I was feeling. “Use one word”, she urged.  I answered “tired”, my family’s staple response for decades.  I was surprised to notice how easily I had adopted the phrase “I’m tired”, but even more shocked to realize how I had allowed it to become my ‘default’ way of Being. YUCK! Just like when my computer systems have crashed, my overloaded mind had reset to an old family pattern of ”I’m tired."

Somehow we have thought that the more information and knowledge that we possess then the more equipped we are to overcome challenges and generate creative solutions. True to a point…. But if we are continually stressed and overwhelmed and overloaded with information, we, too, ‘crash’ and default back to our ‘factory settings’- the old habitual and familial patterns of our past. Our ability to create and think productively is challenged and ultimately our ability to ‘think outside to box’ is stifled.  We find ourselves out of balance losing sight of our true purpose.  

I notice that if I’m constantly feeling rushed and declaring an overload phrase like “I’m tired” then, inevitably, I am left at the end of the day feeling defeated and as though I had not accomplished enough.  My default phrase starts a pattern of thinking that looks for ways to verify the “I’m tired” statement and a vicious cycle is in place.

Breaking the cycle can only begin by illuminating what is out of balance and choosing new default thinking.  I’m taking steps to eliminate the word “tired” from my everyday vocabulary. Instead, I ask myself “Self, I notice that you are having tired thoughts. What is it that you need right now?”  By asking this question I almost instantly connect with an answer in the realm of relaxation, rest, or reconnection.  This is wisdom that I have learned to trust to bring me back to ‘peak operating function’.

Monday Mindfulness

So, I’m curious.  When you are rushed or overloaded or overwhelmed. What are the ‘default’ phrases that you turn to so automatically?  Is it confused, or distracted, or tired….or something else?  See if you can identify your automatic phrase and eliminate it from your vocabulary this week….and really look at what you need at that moment.