Inert No More

January 12th, 2011

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not on this earth for eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.” Marie Beynon Ray

There was big snow and ice here in the South this week, and so this quote seemed extra appropriate.  Don’t wait to get started on something, just get started. You’ll never be ready enough if you only focus on the preparation. Preparation is indeed important,  going on a big trek, yep you want all your gear to be collected and in working order. And no of course you don’t want to randomly do stuff, you might be busy, but probably not productive. All that said, preparation can be an easy place to hide. If there is something important, something that feels a tad bigger than comfortable, something new on your horizon that you are resisting getting started on, it is time to get moving. Rip off the metaphorical band-aid, peeling it back slowly hurts more in the long run.

So here’s my challenge to you, break open the calendar, think about your big thing, pick a day in the next 5 to set aside a good amount of time to focus on the big thing. Got it. Good, now actually make the notation in your calendar.

Need to start making good on your resolution to exercise regularly? Ok, hold 1.5 hours  in your calendar to get to the gym, work out and get home.
Need to do some writing started? Say set said 2-3 hours  and get yourself to place where you won’t be distracted. Make the time you set aside as important as your meeting with the boss, or the kids basketball game or worship services.
You get the idea. Need some extra help, tell someone (with your best interests at heart) about your intention and ask them to follow-up with you. Just knowing that someone is going to ask can be the extra boost you need to get moving.

I am off to get started on a writing project, that has been put off a tad too long.

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Posted in Action, Intentions, Personal Challenge, Quotes, Resolution | No Comments »

                 

Making Change: Letting Go and Moving Forward

November 1st, 2010

Why is it so tough for many people to take good information and apply it, period, now, without some sort of struggle? We know we should eat well, drink in moderation, exercise regularly, and live within our means yadda, yadda, yadda. But there’s a hang-up, change is challenging and using information or spread of knowledge into actual practice in our lives is a process. We operate in our own best interests, or what we see as our own best interests. So in order to change, create a new habit, doing something differently, thinking a new way, etc., we must see the benefit to us.

For more 20 years I have been helping people, systems and organizations learn, grow and change. I have gone through my own professional and personal changes and growth spurts. Along the way I have had some “A’HA!” moments and have some pretty clear ideas about why those no-fail-easy-peasy programs that will make you thin/smarter/rich don’t really work. Why research that demonstrates why some health interventions work takes so long to move from theory into practice. Let me share my four key insights about why this is hard with you…

  1. Lack of Knowledge or information. When you don’t know about something is pretty much impossible to do anything about it or some thing different. Duh. It is also true when you don’t know how to do something, it actually takes a good deal of time to learn and integrate it well enough to apply it in your situation without just copying it.  Learning something in one context and applying it in an other context is tough. Take this quote from a recent participant in my Coaching Skills For Facilitators training as an example: My big take away was how beautifully my counseling skills compliment and even facilitate coaching. Before, I tended to silo my skills – prevention belongs over here and counseling belongs over here. This training really helped me see the need to break down those barriers…
  2. Lack of belief in possibility for change. If you don’t believe change is possible or the information applies to you, you can’t and it does not. But if you can imagine something different then you can begin the process. Even is you are motivated for change this will not happen is the you do not believe you have the resources and capabilities to overcome barriers and successfully implement new ways of behaving, thinking or being. Feeling ambivalent about doing something new, even if you think it’s a good step for you- that’s normal.   So weight the pros and cons of both sides of the coin, when your pros for change are enough, you’ll move forward. Enlisting the help of a coach, trusted friend, some other partner can help facilitate this process and the longer process of changing, growing and learning.
  3. Past negative experiences. If you’ve had poor, unsetting or otherwise negative experiences with the area you are trying to learn, it’s going to slow you down. Your guard is likely up and you are the look out for your “safety. Instead of being open and receptive to what you’re learning, you’re going to examine at each piece of information and judge whether it’s safe or not.
  4. Being attached to your worldview. Its your perspective and has been honed by your experiences, the knowledge you bring to the table. You have earned it and are invested in it. We all are invested in our worldview after years, decades even of sorting out your ideas and setting up your filters. Learning something new often requires a change in worldview, which means you have to let your old worldview go. YIKES! That’s scary and destabilizing, no matter how great the new world view.

Beginning to get why I think those easy-no-fail-no-struggle programs for health and success fail so often, even when the information is more-or-less correct?

What helps people  to learn, change and grow without getting stuck in struggle mode? Well, I think there are four key elements.

  1. Practice, practice, then practice some more. I still cringe when thinking about the endless pages of spelling words and math problems to review over and over, from school. But you know what the repetition helps the mind take in something new and absorbing it from many angles. It takes time to master something new. Newly learned behavior is incomplete and requires ongoing practice and shaping to become optimally functional in a given context. That’s why professional athletes and dancers drill their physical craft over and over. As Marc Silver writes “This kind of practice will help you become more fluid with the approach you’re learning. That fluidity will translate into results that come with much greater ease and presence.”
  2. Have realistic expectations. There is a spaciousness to practice when you are realistic with your expectation about how much change you’ll make in a given time frame. Lasting change is better thought of as a longer journey, than a catastrophic POW!!! event, when you are trying to minimize the trauma of struggle.
  3. Find someone you trust. Even if someone is a super star in area you are learning, if you don’t have complete trust in their integrity, you aren’t going to be completely receptive to them. Trust increases your receptivity. If you have to question, prod and poke at it what someone tells to be sure there is nothing dangerous inside, you will end up exhausted, and your ability t learn will decrease dramatically.  So find some whose integrity is solid, perhaps someone you’ve seen handle their own mistakes with grace and responsibility.
  4. Grief, time and compassion. Learning, growing changing, means moving away from something that was held dear.  Taking time to grieve the lose of the familiar while embracing the new is important.  And frankly change can at times feel like an arduous and painfully slow experience. BUT slowing down taking the time to grieve the loss of your known world can speed up the pace.  There’s not right or wring way to do this, but if you feel stuck, or very resistant you just might have some grief or ambivalence floating around that needs to be unbound and set free.

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Posted in Change, Emotions, Growing Pains, Knowledge translation, Perserverance, Personal Agency, Personal Challenge, Self Efficacy, Tips | No Comments »

                 

Making Meaning, Casting Anchors and Planting Roses

April 6th, 2010

To incorporate new information into our lives,  people must make meaning of the new information. This is a very personal and idiosyncratic process in which each individual selects information that aligns with their values and makes sense in their particular context, at work, at home, wherever. If after the initial glow of “hum…?” you can’t make sense of something you are more likely to leave it be.

So what to do when confronted with information that you simply cannot make good sense of, or find rhyme of reason in? Like learning that a beloved friend has been diagnoses with Multiple Sclerosis. This vital, vibrant, determined, funny passionate woman with a wonderful husband, a 3 year old child and an excellent position at a large State University. My heart is adamant, “This does not make sense and it is NOT fair !” My mind tells me, “Life is not fair, get over it.” And all in all I think it stinks- which are not exactly the words I used when she told me. I’ll leave that to your imagination.

She said the next year of living with MS would be as much about understanding what it means to her, to her husband and family for her to live with MS. What meaning will they attach to this new information? I have no idea, but I was struck by the anchoring this sentiment gave my friend. Incorporating this new thing, this new information would be a process for her and her loved ones. It would unfold overtime as she continues to act as a mother, a wife, a lover, a colleague , friend, patient, daughter and all the roles she plays.

One part of the meaning she has made, is to “stop and smell the roses, more.” For her this information is not only about her physical health, but also about how she chooses to act, do and be in the world.  She’s not one to run from adversity, frankly she’s been known stir it up when maybe she should not, but she’s using her values of standing-my-ground and focusing-on-what-I-want,  to frame things in a positive light. And when the days are not positive, she’ll be able to find that anchor.

What a good reminder to seek out anchors and have them at the ready to help stabilize things when the inevitable lousy days and times roll around. I am going to send her a rose bush to plant in her garden and plant one of the same in mine. I think they will be the prettiest anchors on the block.

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Posted in Friendship, Hope, Meaning, Personal Challenge, Values, Wellness | 2 Comments »

                 

A Proclamation: Women's History Month

March 5th, 2010

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release March 2, 2010
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, 2010
- – - – - – -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Countless women have steered the course of our history, and their stories are ones of steadfast determination. From reaching for the ballot box to breaking barriers on athletic fields and battlefields, American women have stood resolute in the face of adversity and overcome obstacles to realize their full measure of success. Women’s History Month is an opportunity for us to recognize the contributions women have made to our Nation, and to honor those who blazed trails for women’s empowerment and equality.

Women from all walks of life have improved their communities and our Nation. Sylvia Mendez and her family stood up for her right to an education and catalyzed the desegregation of our schools. Starting as a caseworker in city government, Dr. Dorothy Height has dedicated her life to building a more just society. One of our young heroes, Caroline Moore, contributed to advances in astronomy by discovering a supernova at age 14.

When women like these reach their potential, our country as a whole prospers. That is the duty of our Government — not to guarantee success, but to ensure all Americans can achieve it. My Administration is working to fulfill this promise with initiatives like the White House Council on Women and Girls, which promotes the importance of taking women and girls into account in Federal policies and programs. This council is committed to ensuring our Government does all it can to give our daughters the chance to achieve their dreams.

As we move forward, we must correct persisting inequalities. Women comprise over 50 percent of our population but hold fewer than 17 percent of our congressional seats. More than half our college students are female, yet when they graduate, their male classmates still receive higher pay on average for the same work. Women also hold disproportionately fewer science and engineering jobs. That is why my Administration launched our Educate to Innovate campaign, which will inspire young people from all backgrounds to drive America to the forefront of science, technology, engineering, and math. By increasing women’s participation in these fields, we will foster a new generation of innovators to follow in the footsteps of the three American women selected as 2009 Nobel Laureates.

Our Nation’s commitment to women’s rights must not end at our own borders, and my Administration is making global women’s empowerment a core pillar of our foreign policy. My Administration created the first Office for Global Women’s Issues and appointed an Ambassador at Large to head it. We are working with the United Nations and other international institutions to support women’s equality and to curtail violence against women and girls, especially in situations of war and conflict. We are partnering internationally to improve women’s welfare through targeted investments in agriculture, nutrition, and health, as well as programs that empower women to contribute to economic and social progress in their communities. And we are following through on the commitments I made in Cairo to promote access to education, improve literacy, and expand employment opportunities for women and girls.

This month, let us carry forth the legacy of our mothers and grandmothers. As we honor the women who have shaped our Nation, we must remember that we are tasked with writing the next chapter of women’s history. Only if we teach our daughters that no obstacle is too great for them, that no ceiling can block their ascent, will we inspire them to reach for their highest aspirations and achieve true equality.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2010 as Women’s History Month. I call upon all our citizens to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor the history, accomplishments, and contributions of American women.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

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Posted in Adversity, Personal Challenge, Women's History | No Comments »

                 

Habit Forming

February 8th, 2010

“First we form habits, then they form us.” – Rob Gilbert

When we try to change a habit it seems new and unusual but after a while it becomes second nature. You just have to work at it! This is a common topic for myself, my family, friends and my clients.  Whether that new habit is eating better, learning a new way of working, getting back into a workout routine, learning a new dance step, balancing work with the rest of your life or any other number of things. Changing the way you speak from a place of frustration to from a place of empathy.

So many of these things seem like they ought to be  a proverbial “I shoudda had a V-8”- bonk hand on the head simple thing. Well of course I am going to start going to the gym at least 4 times a week… it’s what I ought to do. But what about all the other stuff I have to do, work, shopping, seeing my friends, taking care of my aging parent… how I am going to fit the gym into my schedule.

Easy, you work at it. By that I mean figuring out why doing something new or differently is really compelling to you- what is your intrinsic motivation? Also the concept of clarifying what you are saying no to because saying yes to something else is fundamentally more compelling is a powerful.

So you want to start going to the gym, its February now and time to get moving on that resolution.  Why? What’s so important about going to the gym? Maybe it’s to have enough energy to play vigorously with your nieces and nephews. What actions do you need to take to ensure you go- setting an alarm to remind you to leave the office on time? May be it saying no to sitting in traffic for an hour and saying yes to joining a gym on your route home. And then you have to take those actions, get the alarm, set it and pay attention, finding a gym and joining it, and oh yes, deciding what specifically you are going to do at the gym. Because just showing up and walking right back out the door is not going really help get ready to play vigorously with those kids.

So what’s important enough to you to want to make it a habit?

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Posted in Change, Coaching, Habits, Motivation, Perseverance, Personal Challenge | No Comments »

                 

Five Simple Steps to Change- they really do work!

October 14th, 2009

When we last left our dancing heroine she was undertaking part 5 of her Gremlin Taming Plan on the dance floor at the 46th Annual Harvest Moon Championship Ball; in front of God, Jose Dechamps and Joanna Zacharewciz (current undefeated US Rhythm Champions) and everyone else in attendance. To recap: she choose option B) Not. Not to do the same mental steps over and over, letting the jitters best her, but to instead create new choreography to better suit the rhythms of her life and stretch her capacities as a dancer and as a person.

So how did our heroine do? Beautifully. None of her worst fears and Gremlin’s favorite tall tales came true. She did not miss a spiral turn and do a face plant. She did not run from the dance floor, on the verge of tears because she blew the routine. No one said, “What the heck do you think you are doing? Do your REALLY think you belong out there on the floor?”

Did the steps always flow beautifully? No, but that is okay, because they moved across the metaphorical floor of life with a positive energy.  Better yet when she did miss a grapevine or spiral turn, she just kept moving into the next pattern of steps. Each pass on the floor, each heat became easier. Practice makes perfect, right?

Change, lasting change, is about cultivating new habits. Conditioning yourself, to think, act and ultimately live differently than in the past. Change takes time, and practice and sometimes not reaching your mark.  When you don’t reach your mark easily that is an opportunity to try a new tact.  When you do reach you mark that is an opportunity to do it again, again and again until it’s just the way to do “It”- whatever “It” is for you. These new habits become the familiar steps in your life’s choreography. You can always choose to rearrange them or incorporate new ones into your dance.

Was the experience interesting and beneficial? Yes. So, the jitters remained for our heroine but were transformed into positive stress propelling her and her partner across the dance floor. Reinforcing self-efficacy. Igniting the deep sense of gratification of accomplishing a personal goal. When our dancer was awarded high honors for an Argentine Tango routine and told she would be performing the routine as part of Saturday night’s events – events that included rounds of professional competition and performances by Jose Dechamps and Joanna Zacharewciz, she did not pass out cold. She got her game face on eventually, took some very deep breaths, straightened out her big girl panties, headed for the door and danced her heart out in front of a crowd. She was humbled and thrilled to hear people clapping and grateful for the opportunity to take a risk.

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Posted in Ballroom Dance, Change, Coaching, Courage, Goals, Gremlin, Personal Challenge, Tango | No Comments »

                 

Crossing the Finish Line: Job Well done Team

October 12th, 2009

Some months ago I posted an entry about the Tour de France as a metaphor for how support networks help us to reach our personal finish lines, our goals, especially those goals that are a stretch. Each member of the team offering their unique strengths and gifts to help propel you towards your end goal, celebrating each individual’s efforts and  achievements along the journey as well as the exultant relief of crossing the finish line- job well done. And what’s more so discovering that you can do something hard and long, that you can discover new resources of ability and drive and radiate in gratification from the experience. Gosh talk about a good win. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a.k.a The Yarn Harlot had a post about completing a 5 K race to raise funds for breast cancer research that illustrates this with humor and grace. Below is a snippet …

“The delightful creature on the left in this shot is my sister-in-law Katie’s friend Lexa, who is an actual distance runner and some Canadian Version of Sporty Spice.  (After the run she went to yoga and then to play vollyball. It didn’t even touch her energy level)  and Lexa did Kate and I the favour of pacing us for the race.   When she said that we were all going to stick together for the race, I was mortified – and not at all sure it was a favour.  All I could think of was that I was not only going to hold them  all back with my pathetic wheezing and molasses like speed, but that I also wasn’t going to be able to let my failure be a secret. Like most people,  I prefer my humiliations pretty private, so it was all I could do not to insist that they leave me to my fate.  She insisted, and it turned out to be wonderful. She’s the best kind of encouragement.  Cheerful, kind, and firm as bloody concrete.”

I encourage you to look at her 10/6/06 post to read the entire story. If you are not a knitter scroll past the knitting  photos until you see the one of 4 women ready to run and read on.  Be inspired. Set yourself a stretch goal, gather your strengths, guts and team and get into action. Keep going, when you are winded take a moment to collect your breath and then keep moving forward, you might just be surprised by how close the finish line is on the horizon.

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Posted in Goals, Knitting, Perseverance, Personal Challenge, Team | No Comments »

                 

Flying Along the Edge of Chaos

October 6th, 2009

This is a time of great creative vitality in the air.  Some folks are tapping into their creative vitality because necessity is the mother of invention.  Others because they have had of enough of going through the motions, or doing what they think they are “supposed to do” and ready to take risks to craft a better life. The people who really impress me are the ones like my sister R, and two friends M and T all of whom making big career changes, but are dreaming responsibly. Each of these women has made calculated decisions to actively pursue their careers in a new way. All are educators who felt the need to grow professionally in ways that support a positive environment, stretch them, align with their values and adds to the richness of their whole lives, including their families. Two are actively pursuing Graduate studies while working full time in new roles; as an assistance principle and as librarian. The other has elected not to pursue tenure at the college where she’s been employed for the past 5 years, because the environment feels poisonous to her. Each woman is taking risks, working hard, facing the unknown courageously and focused on gratification. Long term, lasting gratification born from exploring, exploiting and building on their innate strengths, exercising their personal agency to craft their lives to suit their most important needs, make the most of their abilities and position each for long term authentic happiness.

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 was my first day of fully committing my working time to my Coaching and Consulting practice. This is an exciting adventure; this new chapter in my professional life is one I have been working towards for many years. The overwhelmingly positive responsive I have received regarding this new chapter in my professional life has been and will continue to be a great boost. Thank you. While I have the plot line and characters outlined in great detail and in some cases fully realized, there are additional possibilities for me cultivate and others unknown to be open to as well. I am fortunate to have many sources of information and wisdom from which to draw:  my mentors, my family, friends, colleagues and clients to name a few.  It is time for me to be on the “Edge to Chaos” and fully attend to creating a better future for my husband, my family, my friends and my community, and consequently myself as are R, M and T.

As I talked about in my Crafting a Future on the Edge of Chaos post “Edge of Chaos” is a concept explored in complex adaptive systems and is a place for growth.  Defining features of complex adaptive systems is they form entities that are greater than the sum of their parts and the parts that make them are whole systems in their own right (Dimitrov, 2003).  My family, my clients, my colleagues, you my readers and all the elements in the varied networks that intersecting in my professional and personal realms make up the larger complex adaptive system of my life.  Each adds a unique dimension and opportunity or challenge, for growth and change along the Edge of Chaos.

There are four broad areas of activity associated with Edge of Chaos:

  1. Setting vision
  2. Creating boundaries
  3. Ensuring adequate communication flow
  4. Empowerment

Couple these areas of activity with reality-based hope, openness to possibility and you can create a vision for your future that becomes real. In the coming weeks and months I plan to share with examples of how I and other people I know who are also making big changes are living these areas of activity out. I also invite you to share with me and the readers of this blog examples of how you are/have done the same.

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Posted in Career, Change, Future, Personal Challenge, Personal investment | 1 Comment »

                 

Saturday Night Fever: A Tale of Dreams Coming True

September 29th, 2009

Last Saturday night a group of ordinary people did something exceptional. They put on their dancing shoes, wiped nervous sweat from brows, fluffed out feathers, straighten ties, step on stage and danced as part of the local YMCA’s Dancing for Dreams event, helping to raise more than $19,000. A whopping $4,000 more raised than the previous year’s event and darn close to this year’s goal of $20,000. We may make it yet, as money is still rolling in day by day. Dancing for Dreams is the primary fundraiser for our YMCA and the funds raised helps to provide scholarships for kids and families who otherwise would be unable to take advantage of the health and wellness services provided by our local YMCA.

Seven local stars and 6 people fulfilling the role of “professional partners” carried on a tradition that began three years ago when a couple of local women thought that an event based on the Dancing with the Stars phenomenon might make a good fundraiser. Being formidable, resourceful and persuasive they sold the idea to the YMCA Director. With virtually no budget, but with much dedication they pulled in a number of people, including me, to pull to get the first event, which raised a $5,000, a sum that seemed impossible at the time. So the next year the event grew merging with an auction (live and silent) event already in place for the YMCA. Year two the dancers alone again raise a sizable sum, and now we happily repeated this achievement again. Part of what makes this so amazing is this event occurs in a small Midwestern town (population 9,900), where farming remains a strong way of life and there is limited industry.

It is a privilege to for me to be part of such an effort, three years running now. All of dancers are amateurs with the exception of one young ballroom instructor. This wonderfully motley crew, spends hours learning to dance, learning their choreography, selling tickets to the event, as well as figuring out costumes and having some real fun. It’s gutsy for our local stars in particular, to get out on stage to dance, as the evenings entertainment.  Our stars have included, a high school librarian, attorneys, a retired judge, the county clerk, a physician’s assistant, a program director, a bank president, several business owners, an optometrist, the art center director, a school superintendent and the YMCA’s Executive Director (who by the way has got some good rhythm).  My hat is off to all of our local stars and “pros” who have tackled the Waltz, East Coast Swing, Bolero, Tango, Foxtrot, Jitterbug, West Coast Swing, Rumba, Hustle, Cha-Cha and Samba over the past three years. Most of these folks don’t dance regularly, some may never dance again, and some you could not imagine dancing in the first place, but each of them has said how much they enjoyed the experience. For some it has been a dream to learn how to dance. For some it was just an interesting way to support a good cause. All of them put their best foot forward, took a risk and made magic happen.

It astounds me what can happen when people put steady, solid actions together with dreams and hope.

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Posted in Ballroom Dance, Bolero, Cha Cha, Courage, Fitness, Foxtrot, Health, Hope, Intentions, Personal Challenge, Rumba, Swing, Tango, Waltz, Well being, West Coast | No Comments »

                 

Disappointing Gremlins and Others, But Not Myself

September 11th, 2009

The past week I have been disappointing people left and right.  Excited for me and curious about the Windy City Open dance competition, family, friends and acquaintances ask, “ How was the competition? Was it fun?” “ No, but I did expect it would be. It was however what I expected and I did what I set out do”, I reply.  Their hopeful faces crumble a bit as the word “No” rides sonic waves from my mouth to their ears. What is most often missed when they first hear my response is that for me, the competition was what I needed and successful, because I achieved my goals, which had nothing to do with having a fun with all the classic trappings of smiles and laughter.

One goal was get out on the dance floor, looking as if I belonged there in my division by age and dance level. More importantly my other goal was to contend with a full-scale assault launched by my Gremlins. Both were accomplished, but not without deliberate, focused action. Was it easy? No. Was it worth it?  Absolutely. Would I do it again? Yes, look out 46th Harvest Moon Ball Championship here I come. And you know what? The next competition will be easier and much more fun.

Performing, being the center of attention has never been enjoyable for me. My nature is to be introverted, despite finding people and their company immensely fascinating and enjoyable.  Some people thrive on getting up in front of a crowd and speaking, dancing, acting, playing football… I don’t. However, personal excellence is a value of mine and it drives me to get the most from and put forward the best foot I can in the moment. To push past the whisperings of anxieties fed by Gremlins, because the short-term pain of growth is a price worth paying for the long-term gains of personal agency and the profound contentment of knowing you honestly put your whole effort in to something.

Practice makes perfect so goes the adage and there is truth in it. Last weekend was one long practice session. Each difficult moment was countered with twice as many easier moments. There were multiple rewards of being in action:

  • The messages of support from my husband sent each day.
  • The fellowship of many dancers, some more skilled, some less skilled, but all dancing for the joy of doing something loved.
  • The joy of cheering for someone dancing his heart out.
  • The pleasure of spending time with beloved companions.
  • The kindness of a fellow competitor helping me to rub out the cramps seizing both sets of calf muscles of my first round of heats.
  • I am proud to say there were some heats where I placed.

The most meaningful reward was feeling an uncontrollable smile as I danced my final 6 heats, growing from just doing something loved and shared. On Oct. 9 and 10, it is that memory and generative power in it that will make the next competition fun.

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Posted in Ballroom Dance, Coaching, Goals, Gremlin, Personal Challenge, Values | 2 Comments »

                 
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