Our emotions and behaviors are connected to the thoughts we have. It may not feel like this is true because our emotions show up so fast we may not feel we can identify the thought we had before the emotions we experience. Because of ADHD, we experience our emotions intensely, whether towards others or ourselves.…

The first week of the new year is such a great week. It holds such possibility.  Us high-performers love our lists. We have a list of actions, experiences, ways of being we want to embrace this year. Great! What we may not have realized is that this very week we will have a great opportunity…

Courage is acting in the face of fear. However sometimes it’s a little more nuanced than just that. Sometimes the action we need to take in the face of fear is to stand still, to witness. Courage can simply be described as choosing not to disappear. Maya Angelou once said, “Courage is the most important…

Maybe you didn’t know about some of the health benefits of participating in an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. Here are a few: Maybe as a leader you didn’t realize just how many organizations are providing MBSR to their teams. Here are a few: There is an 8-week course starting this January 2023.…

We start our last class together with a body scan; returning back to the mindfulness practice that started our 8 week journey together. We spend time reviewing all we have accomplished and focusing on a variety of ways to support our daily mindfulness practice. We take time writing down things that are now, in this…

In week 7 of MBSR, we begin with a mindfulness practice. This time without guidance from the teacher. We talk about how the experience of not being guided differs or the same.  We then spend time talking about the all-day retreat.  Opening it up to participants for them to talk about what came up for…

Scheduling a meeting and showing up for it doesn’t seem to be high on the list of items one would consider to be difficult. However, what if the meeting is scheduled with yourself? Time management is something to revisit at least every time one changes jobs or is promoted. One of the times I revisited…

In week 6 of the MBSR course, we continue our focus on awareness, specifically around identifying our attitudes accurately and noticing our behaviors. Participants share what came up for them in the previous week as we continued our mindfulness practices. We talk about the difficult conversation assignment. The discussion is around key questions we were…

Last night I was reminded of this quote by Bob Sharples: “Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deep warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt…

Week 5 marks the halfway point in the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course. We begin the class with a mindfulness sitting practice. We move then to mindfulness movement with our standing yoga sequence, again being reminded we are always in choice and honoring our bodies is part of the mindfulness practice. We talk about the…

How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m great at multi-tasking! I do it all the time!”? Let me be clear: Research shows there is no such thing as multi-tasking. Multi-tasking does not exist. It is a myth. Now, you may go through a stage of grieving. I understand this. We all have to…

Asking 5 whys may not be getting you the results you hope for. But perhaps saying, “Tell me more….”, just might.   The question “why?” automatically puts someone on the defense. They have to explain their position. You will know this as the next sentence they say will start with “Because…..”.   In an organization…

During the 4th week of MBSR, we start the class with a sitting mindfulness meditation. Grounding ourselves after most of us have rushed into the zoom room just in time not to be late. Bringing attention to our breath, recognizing how often we rush into a variety of different situations in our lives. Rushing into…

The third class begins with us doing an opening meditation. We find a position that makes sense for our own bodies (sitting, standing, lying down). We are always in choice, so while the meditation may begin with asking us to find a comfortable position to sit in, if we need to lie down because that…

At the second week of the MBSR course, we have been using the recorded meditations sent out by the teacher to guide us through the Body Scan Mindfulness Meditation. The Body Scan is done lying down, and can be done sitting, even standing if that is what is needed. The recording walks you through getting…

Week 1 of MBSR there is no doubt excitement, nervousness, and even a little skepticism. All are welcome.  As participants arrive they are greeted with a hello.  The teacher checking everyone in as they enter the zoom room. Participants begin to enter in their first names only, pronouns, and the city and country they are…

Earlier today, I read a blog about the differences between saying “I’m sorry” and saying, “thank you”.  Saying “I’m sorry” when it doesn’t advance the conversation isn’t really all that helpful. Like, “I’m sorry I’m late for this zoom meeting” or “I’m sorry my computer is taking longer than usual to load”.  Instead, the invitation was…

Standing in front of the mirror, it couldn’t be denied. It was definitely bigger than a month ago. My appointment was this week.  I had canceled it twice already. It was the height of covid.  I was a healthcare leader. Taking any time off  didn’t seem like an option. Arriving at my appointment early, I…