The Power to Act

Archive for February, 2010

“I want to be courageous.  That’s what I want out of my coaching!”  What a powerful declaration about who my client intends to be in the world. The conversation took me back to my time at the Strozzi Institute, Leadership in Action Program in Petaluma, CA when I made a similar declaration and it changed my life forever!

I used to live with the misconception that courage is a state of not fearing; that self-possession, resolution, bravery or valor happens only when fear is absent.  So I was always surprised when people used the word courageous when describing me.  I certainly didn’t experience myself as courageous. In these instances, there was an “if they really knew what I was feeling they wouldn’t call me courageous” inner dialogue. Today I believe that fear is Read the rest of this entry »

I was 26 when I went to see a dermatologist because there was crustiness on my checks that I couldn’t get rid of.  I’ll never forget his looking at me, pulling a medical book off his shelf and passing it over to me.  “You’re allergic to cold rain, snow and sleet” he said.  It was a typical cold, sleety February and I was feeling gray.  With that news something came alive in me.  I had to do something; the status quo just would not work anymore. If I’m allergic to winter, then I’d better figure out a way to get myself to a warmer climate.  In that moment of clarity I found something I can only describe as ambition.  I didn’t know how I would do it, but I did know that I would find a way to release myself from the doldrums and damage of winter for good.  With that decision energy flowed through my veins.   I had a goal worth achieving, and that was a better salve than the Vaseline the doctor told Read the rest of this entry »

Often the word winter paints an image in some minds of clean white snow, children excitedly building snowmen, and couples skating hand in hand on a perfectly frozen blanket of ice.  Growing up in the North East, however, caused me to have a different view point. When I think of winter, I only seem to remember the hardest part of it – the dog days of winter.  Even thinking about it brings me angst, with the endless months of unbearable cold and the gray color of snow after it had been mixed with dirt and stripped it of its beauty.  It dragged on, and on, and on.  As a child winter was simply a fact of life.  I moved through the dog days of winter neither loving it nor hating it, but simply tolerating its grayness while impatiently waiting for spring.  That is how I’m feeling right now and I Read the rest of this entry »

The clock next to me read 3:23 am when I awoke this morning with a strong urgency to write.  I had recently heard a speaker say that she was blogging about happiness because there are so many people who claim that they are unhappy.  What is happiness anyway? How do I cultivate it?  Am I happy?  These questions were percolating deep within me at that very moment, and I had to find an answer.

What is happiness?  Webster defines it as: characterized by luck or good fortune; prosperous or having or demonstrating pleasure or satisfaction; gratified.  No wonder there are so many people who are unhappy—the definition itself is dissatisfying.  What does luck or good fortune have to do with happiness?  Luck, good fortune, and/or prosperity have to do with things that happen to you; not who you are!  Read the rest of this entry »