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    June 29

    Individual Achievements

    I learned that the highest individual achievements are never solo events, that you only reach your best with the help of other people, and their belief in you. (Nick Sagar. Upward Bound: Nine Original Accounts of How Business Leaders Reached Their Summits.)

    Wishing you peace and well being as you discover your summits, with the help of others.

    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    June 22

    Change and Growth

    Change and growth takes place when a person has risked themselves and dares to become involved with experimenting with their own life. (Herbert A. Otto. Exploration in Human Potential)

    Wishing you peace and well being as you risk, dare and experiment with your life.

    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    June 15

    Letting Go

    Developing the capacity to let go allows us to be open and to allow something truly new to emerge.

    Wishing you peace and well being as you surrender your perceived need to control.

    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    June 08

    Love and Compassion

    The more loving-kindness we have toward ourselves, the more we have to give to others. The more compassion we have for ourselves, the more we have to give away.

    Wishing you peace and well being as you cultivate love and compassion in yourself.

    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    June 01

    Today is a Gift

    Remind yourself that this day is a gift, that it is wonderful to be alive, even if the day before you is busy and includes people and tasks you would rather not deal with. (Thomas Bien, Ph.D. Mindful Therapy).

    Wishing you peace and well being as you practice patience with yourself and others.

    PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    May 18

    Trust

    A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

    “Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field.

    The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, “Yep, old Warwick can do the job.” The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted, “Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!” And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.

    The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?”

    The farmer grinned and said, “Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.”

    Fostering a spirit of teamwork is critical in times of change. The key element is trust. Trust for the leader and trust for each other.

    Wishing you peace and well being as you trust each other.

    PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    May 11

    Complete Generosity

    The Tibetan work for vulnerable openness is jinpa, which means “complete generosity.” When we express jinpa – when we are intelligently open and vulnerable – we create the opportunity to genuinely lead and inspire others.

    Wishing you peace and well being as you drop your protective armor and become more genuine.

    PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    May 04

    From Blindness to Sight

    When we don’t see systems (families, organizations, workplaces,
    neighborhoods, ethnic groups, faith groups)
    we fall out of the possibility of partnership with one another;
    we misunderstand one another;
    we make up stories about one another;
    we have our myths and prejudices about one another;
    we hurt and destroy one another;
    we become antagonists when we could be collaborators;
    we separate when we could remain together happily;
    we become strangers when we could be friends;
    we oppress one another when we could live in peace.
    (Barry Oshry. Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life)

    Wishing you peace and well being as you open your eyes and ears to others.

    PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week_/l\_
    April 27

    Center Ring or Side Show?

    In the circus of life we have two choices: We can head for the Side Show or stay in the Center Ring. In the Side Show we take the actions of others personally which brings us: lots of drama, plenty of excuses why we don’t have to do anything and plenty of righteous indignation. In the Center Ring where we take other’s worlds into account we are more understanding of others’ worlds, we may be less quick to judge others, we don’t get hooked by “the stuff”, we stay focused on what it is we are trying to make happen, we are strategic, we ease the condition of others to make it possible for them to do what we need them to do, and we work to create or remain in productive partnerships with other. (Barry Oshry. Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life.)

    Wishing you peace and well being as you find your way to the Center Ring.

    PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    April 20

    How We Live Our Lives

    We all make choices about how we live our lives. You can take a paint-by-numbers approach, or you can start with a blank canvas. When you paint my numbers, the end result is guaranteed. You know what it’s going to be, and it might be good, but it will never be a masterpiece. Starting with a blank canvas is the only way to get a masterpiece. (Jim Collins. Good to Great)

    Wishing you peace and well being as you contemplate picking the paint-by-numbers kit or the blank canvas.

    PS: Remember to hold the one’s you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    April 06

    Neglecting Life

    When we lead a career that is sharply focused on being more successful, more admired, or just more comfortable, we can deceive ourselves into neglecting the world around us. We end up managing our lives like projects rather than actually living life. (Michael Carroll. The Mindful Leader)

    Wishing you peace and well being as you learn to be at work and respecting the world around you.
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    March 30

    Fearlessness

    Fearlessness is a simple gesture of accepting whatever there is.  This is what's happening in this moment.  It can't be other than this.  This is what it is, and that truth is always soothing.  (Sylvia Boorstein)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you face your fears.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    March 23

    Inner Work

    Until you do the inner work of learning how to see with "your eyes and your hearts open," deep problems will persist.  (Jon Kabat-Zinn. Wherever You Go, There You Are.)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you work look into your inner self.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    March 16

    Maitri

    Maitri, is a kind of warmth and kindness that we develop toward ourselves, a natural sense of health and well-being.  It is our ability to touch our hearts and keep our feet on the earth as real, authentic people rather than trying to float above the ground as ideal people.  (Michael Carroll.  The Mindful Leader.)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you touch your hearts.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    March 09

    Open Eyes and Heart

    Until you do the inner work of learning how to see with "your eyes and heart open" deep problems will exist.  (Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, Flowers.  Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future.)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you open your eyes and heart._/l\_
    March 02

    Dropping Fix Views

    By dropping fixed views of ourselves - our status, credentials, and authority - we permit ourselves to open to conflicts, to be inquisitive rather than resistant, flexible rather than rigid, insightful rather than "correct."  (Michael Carroll.  Awake at Work.)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you drop your fixed views.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week _/l\_
    February 23

    Fire Within Your Heart

    Fire is a wonderful metaphor.  There's the fire of vocational calling, the fire of passion, and fire as the burning fuel that drives us out into the world with courage.  (Ken Saxon.  Fire and The Courage to Lead.  Words of EnCOURAGEment.)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you tend and reignite the fire within your heart.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_
    February 16

    Relationships

    The whole point of any relationship is to share some degree of honesty and to explore how far we can go with it.  In that way, relationships can become extremely powerful and intense, and beautiful.  (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.  The Heart of the Buddha.)
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you explore how far you can go with your honesty.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week_/l\_
    February 09

    Gossip

    Generally, we waste time in pointless gossip that often becomes the cause for emotional afflictions to arise in both ourselves and others.  Our time would be put to better use discussing means of benefiting others and leading them beyond suffering.  (Brian Beresford.  Advice from a Spiritual Friend.)

     

    Wishing you peace and well being as you discard gossip as a mean to express your personal suffering.

     

    PS:  Remember to hold the ones you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_

    February 02

    Love Your Work or Don't Work at All

    "And if you cannot work with love but only with distate, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."  (Kahlil Gibran.  The Prophet.)
     
    If you cannot work in a state of joy, don't work at all.  Otherwise you're doing more harm than good, both to yourself and others, even if you have the talent to sing like an angel.  No amount of money can compensate for that kind of damage.  (Steve Paylina.  Love Your Work or Don't Work at All).
     
    Wishing you peace and well being as you dialogue with your inner truth.
     
    PS: Remember to hold the one's you love just a little closer and tighter this week._/l\_