The 5 Needs of Employees ~ Creating a Socially Responsible Organization
Comments Off on The 5 Needs of Employees ~ Creating a Socially Responsible Organization“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson. The traditional workplace has not encouraged us to be our authentic Self. It has not been big enough to house the human soul. Its culture has been one of punching our time card and doing the daily tasks of building gadgets, meeting client needs, devising strategy and completing administration. We have been expected to do at work, but how much have we been encouraged to be? In my experience of working with teams, there is a hunger for people to have a voice in the organization. They want to bring more of themselves to work. Ultimately, it is their responsibility to do so; […]
The Disappearance of Play ~ 7 Reasons We Play Less Than Ever
Comments Off on The Disappearance of Play ~ 7 Reasons We Play Less Than Ever“Some of the secret joys of living are not found by rushing from point A to point B, but by inventing some imaginary letters along the way.” ~Douglas Pagels, These Are the Gifts I’d Like to Give to You. Play is slowly fading away from our lives. Once a natural part of our existence, play is becoming the shadow of a world increasingly governed by unyielding complexity, technology and expectations. Society is increasingly trying to compartmentalize play and push it to the side. Just look at how we structure our week. We have weekdays and weekends. Five days are dedicated to work and only two for family and playtime. We have academic learning and play based learning. We have separated play from learning despite the […]
5 Steps to Creating Healthy Workplace Relationships ~ Transforming the Workplace from the Inside Out
Comments Off on 5 Steps to Creating Healthy Workplace Relationships ~ Transforming the Workplace from the Inside Out“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” ~ William Shakespeare. We perceive our purpose at work as fulfilling duties such as administration, brainstorming new products, engaging clients, or problem solving. Work is where we achieve results, earn a living and hopefully gain a level of satisfaction. Inasmuch as these goals are important, our attention is often more drawn to, and distracted by, challenging relationships that cause us frustration, anger and powerlessness. Productivity and achievement are what I would call the small “p” or purpose of work life. Beneath this, however, there is a larger purpose or “P”: Realizing […]
Don’t Decide, Discover ~ 4 Steps for Spontaneous Living
Comments Off on Don’t Decide, Discover ~ 4 Steps for Spontaneous Living“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” ~ Agnes de Mille. “Don’t Decide, Discover” were the words repeatedly spoken by international dance teacher and choreographer, Margie Gillis, at her Dancing from the Inside Out workshop I just took at Hollyhock. Her point was that we must learn to allow the body to show the way instead of the mind; to allow its inner wisdom to move us versus making a mental decision that then drives the body forward. Like the universal body of Life, the physical body […]
From Work to Play
Comments Off on From Work to Play“As more humans awaken, the word work is going to disappear from our vocabulary, and perhaps a new word will be created to replace it.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, from The Power of Now When you identify yourself as a human doing, life becomes work. When you identify yourself as a human being, life becomes play. For us to feel truly fulfilled in our careers, and life as a whole, we need to express who we are at an authentic level into whatever it is we do. Society recognizes and rewards performance before well-being – ie, how well or how much one does versus how one feels in whatever it is they are doing. Performance appraisals and our school system are good examples of this. When […]
14 Play Values
Comments Off on 14 Play ValuesPlay Value #1 ~ Permission To truly enjoy the playground of life, the first place to start is giving yourself permission to be playful. Permission is an affirmation that it is safe for our inner child to come out and play. For many of us this was not the case growing up, and so the path of remembering to play may not be easy at first. Compounded with many years of being a serious adult with responsibilities, it’s no wonder play has lost its place in our heart. But it’s still there, and with our permission we can allow our inner child to have a voice once again. Play Value #2 ~ Presence Play is a practice of being present. Have you ever noticed how […]
The Spirit of Yes And
Comments Off on The Spirit of Yes AndYes But sees Limitations. Yes And sees Possibilities. But Separates. And Joins. We live in a society that is well trained to say Yes But. We are more conditioned to see limits than possibilities. Saying Yes is respecting your, or someone else’s, feeling, idea or circumstance and being open to what it may have to offer. It is about acknowledging, appreciating and including without judgement, without the need to fix, and without even the need to agree. Saying And is finding creative ways to build upon it and then playfully seeing where it goes. There is no aliveness or potential in Yes But. It keeps us in the proverbial box and living in the status quo. The adventure of life begins when we take the […]
Can You Be Here In The Emptiness?
Comments Off on Can You Be Here In The Emptiness?by Vince Gowmon From Wild Empty Spaces ~ Poems for the Opening Heart Can you be here in the emptiness? Where the heart is open And the mind is clear The body wants nothing And you’re open to hear A sound in the wind A brush of a tree The storm of the night The voice beyond the dream Can you be here in the emptiness? Where over the days And over the years It’s been calling to you Beyond your fears Come back to this moment Come back right now Come back from your dream It’s here life is found Can you be here in the emptiness? Where you stop searching And finally let go Of all your ambitions And all you think […]