Take the Time to Find Your Voice

Give yourself permission, give yourself an A. It's okay to cry, it's okay to fly.

Being an independent person forces you to be strong and determined and responsive to the demands of life. In the process, you become outside in, always thinking about your demands and pressures from the outside world - in order to survive and be independent. You forget to listen to yourself, you forget to feel sorry for yourself, you forget to be vulnerable, you forget about you. Oh yes, there is a "little" you under all the rush and clamor and bustle and stress of the world. Allow yourself to cry, allow yourself to pity yourself, allow yourself to be you. It's okay to cry.

 Being a modest person makes you hesitate to celebrate your successes. Your achieving nature, your perfectionist attention to detail, makes you feel incomplete and that you have not achieved your goals. Stop and smell the roses, you are a success, you are a winner. Think about all the many things that you have accomplished and savor them for a moment. Acknowledge the successes, celebrate the achievements. Give yourself an A, it's okay to fly.

It takes a build-up, not a breakthrough. Like the tortoise, "slow and steady wins the race". It's true! Ahoogah, chugachugchug....a personal note of reflection for myself from a story that I used to read to my son when he was two or three years old.

I find that this process of becoming vulnerable and acknowledging me in my authentic form, allows me to self-discover and slowly, shyly but surely, my voice starts to feel heard in my head. It slowly feels validated and loved. I feel good. Feel the love for yourself, strange as it sounds, feel the love for yourself. It starts here, your journey has begun. You are recharged and rejuvenated and ready to face up to the challenges of the world from the inside out.

If you do read this far, please do take a moment to comment. Thank you!  I am grateful for this beautiful world and I would love to share and collaborate and engage. I would like to live as though there is no tomorrow and that today is when I will do what is most meaningful to me. Thank you for reading this far.

Share the love, feel the joy. It's okay to cry, it's okay to fly.

Innovation

The past two weeks were wonderfully invigorating because of a “flying car”.  No, I don’t mean Fred MacMurray’s car in The Absent Minded Professor nor do I mean Dick Van Dyke’s car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Flying Car is the metaphor evoked by the Greater Milwaukee Committee’s Innovation in Milwaukee (MiKE) Initiative.  Flying Car is the metaphor for a technology or idea that revolutionizes the world.  Flying Car Milwaukee 2013 was held from June 1-10, 2013.  If you did not hear about it this year, you missed a wonderful blend of creative talent, industry, and community.  I applaud the Greater Milwaukee Committee and all the sponsors and organizers for this awesome series of events. 

Quoting from http://flyingcarmke.com

“Flying Car, presented by the Greater Milwaukee Committee's Innovation in Milwaukee (MiKE) Initiative, is an annual destination event to inspire minds with the year's brightest technological advances and empower them to launch their own world-changing ideas into the marketplace. Formerly known as Milwaukee Innovation Week, Flying Car 2013 takes off for ten days of workshops, networking, pitches, and our signature gala.

Inventors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and members of the future-loving public are invited to create—and celebrate—a better tomorrow in our positive, retro-50s environment.”

On Monday, June 3, 2013, the Creative Alliance Milwaukee hosted a presentation by Dr. Dennis Cheek which sparked the importance of collaboration in Greater Milwaukee though embracing all of its diversity.  We had a breakout session after the presentation that generated renewed enthusiasm and action plans for what will make us a unique metropolis driven by economic development.  For further information, contact Maggie Kuhn Jacobus, President and Executive Director, Creative Alliance Milwaukee, mjacobus@creativealliancemke.org

Also, check out Flying Car Milwaukee on Facebook! 

Happiness at work

About three months ago, I organized a cross-functional brainstorming session of colleagues at work to determine new course ideas for continuing education.  After listing all of the ideas, with the help of a smart student, we arrived at a mind map of the ideas.  The outcome was a course on Positive Psychology that will be offered during the summer as an evening class.

In the process of finding an instructor for that class, I came across a book called “Happiness at Work – Maximizing your Psychological Capital for Success” by Jessica Pryce-Jones.  The author’s research compared unhappiest and happiest people at work and found that the happy people are 180 percent more energized, 180 percent happier with life, 155 percent happier in their job, achieve their goals 30 percent more, and contribute 25 percent more. 

The author is quick to note that happiness at work absolutely isn’t about always smiling, thinking positively, or about being in a permanently sunny mood.  In fact she says that is patently absurd and does not work.  “It involves a mix of high moments accompanied by some low ones, a journey in which you grow and flourish, and at the same time overcome your negative emotions.  And you can do that best when you use insight and reason to help you.  Sometimes the tasks, resources, outcomes, and time-frames are clear and comfortable, sometimes they’re not.  But the tough stuff results in learning.  Because that’s when you have to struggle to perform at your best, or make a breakthrough in what you’re doing.  So extend yourself and fulfill your potential.” 

Achieving your potential is the key.  The author notes that there are five clear factors which are called the 5Cs at the core structure of happiness at work.  They are (i) Contribution – your effort, (ii) Conviction – your motivation no matter what the circumstance, (iii) Culture – how you fit at work, (iv) Commitment – your extent of engagement, and (v) Confidence – belief in yourself and your job. 

The inner tier of the 5Cs consists of Pride, Trust, and Recognition.  If you are proud of your workplace, you will also trust your colleagues and leaders and vice versa.  Pride is about the value of your work and trust is your faith in the organization.  Recognition is about what you get back from your work. 

Finally, the happiest people work are 47 percent more productive that their least happy colleagues.  “In concrete yet conservative terms they are contributing a day and a quarter more than their least happy colleagues. Per week.”

Nelda's wisdom

I visit the Washington Park Senior Center every first Wednesday of the month during my lunch hour.  My hour is devoted to anything related to brain fitness.  We do not have a fixed agenda or any content that has to be covered.  It grows from our interaction and I lead by encouraging the interaction with an environment of friendliness and empathy.  I have grown to love my regular attendees and they love me back.

Nelda is my favorite attendee.  Tiny, twinkled eyed, and sharp - Nelda cautions me not to say that she is a bit older than me but than I am a bit younger than her.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I have become attached to her.

About five or six years ago, Nelda started to attend my mind aerobics sessions.  At the time, I would go there whenever convenient.  Nelda is the one who insisted that we should meet more often and since then I have been diligent about my first Wednesday visits to WPSC.  Seldom have I missed a visit and seldom has Nelda missed attending a session.

Last week, I told Nelda about my thoughts about what I wanted to recapture from my twenty five year old me and when I would like to carry forward to my eighty five year old me.  She encouraged me to journal my thoughts and advised me that these journal entries would help me in my journey forward.

Nelda, thank you for this wisdom.  I thank you; my twenty five year old me and my eighty five year old me thank you too!

Listen to Your Heart

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

Do you want to listen to what you want in your heart?  Are you afraid that your head will not agree with your heart and that your heart will get disappointed?

Is this what tears you apart in those difficult moments?  Is this why you are afraid to listen to your feelings?  Feelings are the pathway to your heart.  If you block the road to your heart, nothing can reach your heart, and your heart becomes separate from your head.  The head starts ruling you and makes you forget about your heart.

Your focus turns to the thoughts in your head rather than listen to the longings in your heart.  How will you start listening to the longings in your heart once again?

Remove the blocks to your feelings and open a pathway to your heart and wants.  Remove the roadblocks. 

Do you know what you want?  When did you stop knowing what you want?  What did you cast yourself adrift?  When did you stop doing what you want?  When did you become a drifter in life? 

Take control of your life by learning to listen to your wants and act on your wants.  By doing what you want, you feel satisfied and complete.  If you just do, without purpose of satisfying a need, there is no satisfaction or closure.

You deserve to listen to the goodness in your heart.  Your goodness is real and your beauty is real.  You are good and deserve the love that your heart craves.

Get pulled into your heart and listen.  Listen well.  It has been a long while for you.  There is a lot to hear.  It will warm the cockles of your heart.  You have been cold and distant for too long.  Awaken the spirit in your heart.  Discover your longings and you will find that they are pure.  Feed the longings and you will emerge as a champion.

Rekindle some warmth in the cold cockles of your jaded heart.  And why is your heart tired or exhausted?  It is tired of trying to get your attention.  Pay attention to your heart.  Find the song and dance in your heart.  Share it with the world.  You are special and you should share your joy with the world.

CONNECT WITH YOUR HEART

Find out what you want and go for it.  Connect with your heart to find out what you want.  Your heart is special and needs attention.  You are special and need attention.  And you are a winner and will activate your success mechanism and achieve spectacular success.