WorkingAwarenessNetwork : monday morning minute

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.

Is it just me or is there actually less time in each day than there was in the past?  I’m guessing probably not, however time sure does have that illusion.  As the information age continues to blossom we can now do so much more within our workday that it can easily lead to a distortion as to what we should be doing.  This unrealistic expectation of what we can actually accomplish in each day ultimately leaves us saying, “I just wish I had more time."

This one simple phrase can serve as such a blessing and when given our full attention is the perfect opportunity to review priorities and begin re-establishing our personal boundaries.  What if the check-in was more around who we are “being” as opposed to how much we are “doing"?

The being opens us up to the freedom of choice while the doing smells of judgment and unrealistic unobtainable expectation. And once you have choice you can make decisions.  Imagine for a moment that by focusing on who you are being you’d be able to actually achieve more in one day. I know when I get caught up with just trying to complete tasks that I loose focus and ultimately feel like some crushing doom is looming around the next corner. 

By relaxing for just a few moments I can check in with who I am being and unplug from the judgment and self doubt.  This is the place that my greatest and most productive work gets done no matter how many things are on my to do list,  because I am able to reconnect to what is most important and let go of my fear.  This is not always easy, yet magical every time I put forth the attention to who am I being!

Monday Mindfulness
This week pay attention when you here yourself or others say phrases like, “There is not enough time” “I’m too busy” or “I need to catch up”  Take a moment and ask yourself who are you being and choose to focus on what is most important in that moment.

It’s amazing how easily I can say “No” to requests.  Perhaps out of fear of being drained by energy vampires or as an automatic strategy to keep me in my safe zone, for whatever the reason, my ability to say “No” and not consider things has began to put limits on my experiences.  That is, until Sierra and I had a little talk.

My Biggest Teacher
Although Sierra is only three years old, she is one of my biggest Teachers. The other day she looked me in the eye and asked if I was playing “Being a Yes Today?”   Not knowing quite how to answer, I listened as my wife explained how easy it is to automatically be a “No” and that she and my daughter had invented a game where there was a “Yes” to every request.  

Within an hour I had my first chance to “play”.  My daughter asked me if I wanted to color with her.  Now I had about 15 things to get done and my automatic response was to say “No”.  But, I remembered the game. 

Being a Yes
“YES”, I said, “I have 2 whole minutes to color with you”.  Five minutes later I had colored an entire page and had fresh energy to complete my other tasks.  I continued to play with this concept, thinking I may be able to be a yes to all requests in some way. I explained the rules with a coaching client and said, “Ask me anything”. 

She proceeded by asking if I would come to her work and give a free training.  Now that was a big request; however I love to give and I thought what if I was able to meet my needs and hers at the same time.  “Yes, I’d love to; I’m open to presenting to your group for free if we can schedule two other paid engagements”.   

What if you could start saying “Yes” to life, to people, and to yourself?

Monday Mindfulness

Where in your life do you automatically say “No”?  See if you can be a “Yes” to life this week.

 
Monday Morning Minute Update

Welcome to the new MMM format.  The Working Awareness Network has been a project for the last two years.  We know have 3 live groups in Portland Oregon, 1 online group in Denver Colorado,a nd a new online group starting in Michigan.  Please have a look around.

Wishing you all a Happy Monday.