Category: Article
What We’re Finding Out About the Virtual Learning Space
As we have been doing more and more programs online, we’ve been learning that there is value in both online and in-person programs. The virtual space is bringing some unexpected gifts to our teaching that is actually deepening the experience of our students in ways that have been surprising and enlivening. There is a particular…
To See Together
The morning asked today If I will still remember her After the virus is gone. The sparrows’ chirps Whose audience I’ve served Expressed the same concern. Eyes that meet six feet Apart on late day walks Seem to ask that too. So I check the Latin roots for Covid: Co means together Vid – to…
The Interruption Opportunity
As the coronavirus is wreaking havoc with our lives, I have been reflecting on what opportunities can be found in this tumultuous time. One powerful idea from my Integral Coach training is the value of an interruption. When we are living our normal lives, we are adapted to our current routines. We don’t see a…
Sitting
A wrap around desk takes up at least three quarters of the room. We each sit some distance away from it on stacked meditation cushions, one of us on one side, one on the other, and two against an adjacent wall. There are enough of us that it is the desk, and not the meditation…
The Somatics of Home
When I was in college, a friend and I walked into an art gallery one night, looked at each other, and walked out. It could have been the fifth or sixth we’d been in that night. For some reason, we felt like something was off in that one. We both sensed danger in that building,…
Accidents and Mastery
It’s going well! Something must be wrong! One day not long ago a newer student in our Aikido class was doing a rather advanced technique rather beautifully: throwing me every time, gently and with ease. We were dancing; we were in flow. And yet, as time when on, things started getting a tiny bit choppy.…
The Ask and the Answer: Distinctions and Dualisms
We can learn a lot by making distinctions between things. When we’re able to name differences – for example, between enlivening and deadening, generous and fickle, ethical and manipulative, truthful and untruthful – we make it possible to observe what would otherwise have been invisible to us, and take action on the basis of our observations. Being…
Saying “No” Using the Three Centers of Intelligence
In “The Wisdom of Saying No,” a presentation I give for women in leadership, I talk about the importance of knowing your very own values, and how saying “no” is often a way of honoring those values. But saying “no” is not that easy. It can trigger us to have our core values challenged, and…
Marketing from a Place of Presence
Marketing can be a challenging activity for many coaches building their own practices. They often find it tough to stay authentic, while maneuvering in the day-to-day business world. As a brand coach and consultant, I’ve seen many of my clients attempt to do marketing in a way they were taught or shown, using models that…
Revolutionary System Changes with the Enneagram
At this year’s Enneagram Global Summit, James Flaherty spoke with host Jessica Dibb about the inextricability of humans and systems. They delve into how each Enneatype can develop their engagement with systems to revolutionize them at every level, from personal to organizational to global. This is James’s third appearance at this annual event and, as…
Coaching Circles: from One Coach to Many Coaches
There is something both awesome and disturbing about the idea that a bunch of people could be coaching you, all at the same time. It’s hard to imagine how coaching conversations, typically one-on-one affairs, can happen any other way. Yet, working together to support a colleague or peer in breaking through a difficult issue or…
A Sense of Belonging
The need for belonging I am just back from a trip to Europe to visit my family, my country of origin and my soul’s home. Coming back to California I once again felt torn between all the places I could call home and all the people I know, love and miss. It brought up two…
The Writer and the Written: Adult Development in Leadership
Dr. Robert Kegan postulates that there are five stages of adult development. The first two, Impulsive Mind and Imperial Mind, are mostly seen in children (or those who act like children!). Stage 3 is the Socialized form of Mind, where we look for external validation and allow the opinions, beliefs, norms and behavior of others…
Waiting to Know
Waiting until you know for sure what’s going to happen – where people are involved – means waiting for ever. With machines, it’s easy. With sufficient understanding of mechanics you can often predict exactly what’s going to happen. Cause and effect, straightforward to establish. But human situations are nothing like that, even though we pretend to ourselves…
We Are Not Snakes, We Are Mountains
In a few of his books, Jack Kornfield talks about the myth of a snake and a beautiful young princess. The princess is to be wed to the snake prince, unwillingly, so she goes to see an old witch who advises her to wear 13 wedding gowns and every time the snake prince asks her…
Facing Fear, Every Day
I was out driving today and I saw a man crossing the street. No big deal, right? Except this man was blind. Watching the traffic all stopped obediently at the lights, watching him calmly cross the street and then meet his bus… the scene really gave me pause. Just think about all the systems he…
Opening the Heart Relaxes the Mind
During times of significant change, whether it’s in our career, a relationship, or even a shift in our identity, the chatter in our minds can intensify. Like a ping pong ball that won’t stop pinging and ponging. A common challenge I hear in my work with clients is either, “I’m caught between multiple ideas of…
We Are All Required to Be Uncomfortable
“Things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered. we must hold each other tight & continue to pull back the veil.” — Adrienne Maree Brown Uncovered, yes. All of it at once, it seems, and undeniably. Racism. Sexism. Abuse. Privilege. Unjust war. Injustice, period. Environmental destruction. The myriad wrongs baked into our human existence,…
More than Anything Else, You Must Remember This
Something like 56 million sensory impressions come into our body at any given moment. We walk around or drive around listening to music, talking to people, reading billboards, thinking/planning/evaluating and, in midst of all that, someone or something interrupts us and takes our attention in a different direction. Our life could be seen easily as…
The Revelatory Convergence of Buddhism and the Enneagram
At the Shift Network’s 2018 Enneagram Global Summit, James Flaherty joined host Jessica Dibb to for a profound discussion about the many ways that Buddhism and the Enneagram overlap. They explore how integrating the Enneagram into a Buddhist practice allows us to come to it with greater openness and understanding. By giving us insight into…