The Power to Act

Archive for January, 2012

I was three days into a seven-day vacation in sunny Cozumel, Mexico with my sister Fran before I realized that I felt jittery and unsettled.  I felt like a coin that kept perpetually spinning on its side, refusing to come to a stop. I couldn’t relax. What was that all about? Heaven knows that relaxing on vacation is not something that has historically challenged me.

When employed, I’d leave my concerns about work, like my cats, back at home in the competent hands of others. To go on vacation meant that I worked harder prior to departing.  And when I returned, unresolved issues would be waiting for me. It was a price that I was delighted to pay for periods of carefree time.

When my husband joined me to build our coaching business, we shifted into an easy rhythm of work and vacation time together.  There is a unified exhalation of relief when our garage door closes and we are backing out of our driveway. By the time we are on the highway, three minutes from our home, we look at each other, laugh, and declare ourselves ‘on vacation.’  And, as we drive away, I feel the day-to-day stresses of life and work disappear behind me.

Each morning on this recent trip to Cozumel, after exercising and enjoying the first repast of the day, Fran and I would change into our bathing suits and saunter down to the crystalline, white beach in front of our hotel.  We looked like any of the many sun-birds seeking the perfect perch from which to Read the rest of this entry »

It’s early January with the festive glow of Christmas and New Year’s fading into the background of my daily life. The sun is warming our day, and with its bright presence, redefining winter. Today the temperature will break sixty degrees, yet there is crispness in the air. Is winter over? I sure hope not. Instead, I’ll think of today’s mildness as a wonderful fluke of nature. It is one of those rare days where all of the random meteorological conditions responsible for weather align into crystal-like perfection. It is a picture-perfect day to stop and soak in its beauty and muse about the advent of this New Year, and that is just what I am doing.

Sitting outside of a local café house teaming with activity, I’ve found a seat away from the umbrellas that will be needed soon enough to provide shade from summer’s blazing sun. Right now, my iced Chai latte in hand, I sit back with my face turned up to receive the sun’s filtered warmth. The weather today is a flawless reflection of my outlook for the coming year. All is perfection, in this moment, but it hasn’t always been that way.

Previously, I would let my outlook on life be determined by what I heard from the media—newspapers, television, radio.  Today I sum up my relationship with mass media with the phrase: Read the rest of this entry »