The Blog
Here’s where I share thoughts on the work of moving toward our biggest lives and baddest selves.
Personal growth is like Spanx. Kinda.
A few days ago, a friend sent me an email in which she referenced last week's post about getting a fresh look at someone who bullied me during my childhood. She said, "I'm always amazed at how your brain works, able to go back and see your way clear of your underlying...
What started as a tooth extraction turned into a gremlin smack-down
See, there was this tooth. A molar, actually, and whole bunch of pain. It's a long story but the punch line was spending last Thursday with a dentist and then an endodontist and then an oral surgeon and finishing the day with one less molar. Hey presto - gone. Like so...
The Bus Stop Bully’s Guide to Responding
Driving to a networking meeting early one morning in January, I saw two kids standing at the side of the road, waiting for the school bus. The little girl was swinging her book bag in an arc as wide as her arm would allow while the boy stood stark still, a look of...
Getting Started with Gremlin Voices
Back in June, I shared about a success I had in gremlin voice management - that is, in discerning the voices of irrational fear that express themselves, generally, through messages laced with meanness or even downright cruelty. By managing the voices, I was able to...
The Soul of Evolution: A Talk with Bryan Hancock
You have to evolve with purpose. - Bryan Hancock aka Harvest Blaque I ran into Bryan Hancock over the weekend at the farmers market. A couple of his friends were playing an acoustic set while folks milled around picking up pints of adorable tiny tomatoes, snacking on...
Shifting Gears in Tough Conversations
Last week, I gave several workshops on communicating in difficult situations - talking to angry or demanding clients, dealing with coworkers or subordinates who speak in a steady stream of complaints, those kinds of things. In communication-focused workshops, I like...
The blunt object of limited information
Last week, I read the greater part of How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, a gift from a friend. It confirmed a couple of things I've suspected for a while: Intuition is simply a subconscious processing of information we've been gathering all the while, not some magic to...
Calling Fear’s Bluff: Ropes Course Style
I got it in my head that I had to do the ropes course at the Greensboro Science Center for my 40th birthday last month. You may recall that I'm afraid of heights. So, late that Saturday morning, Theresa and I, along with my oldest friend (in duration, not age) suited...
That surprising moment when you realize you’ve made an impact
A month or so ago, I gave a talk at a workshop put on by The Advancement Foundation. Circled up were 15 or so budding and growing entrepreneurs, freelancers, and business owners, mostly women. Just about smack in the center was a man who said almost nothing. In fact,...
Choose Your Own Adventure: Paddleboard versus Wind
Saturday, I met up with a close friend for a little paddleboarding on Smith Mountain Lake. We went once a couple of years before and had a blast so, when she and her family were returning to the lake on a weekend I was available, we jumped on a reprise. After a couple...