Posts Tagged ‘Inspiration’
Inspiration, Curiosity, & Positivity
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
After meeting some of the best and the brightest researchers and educators at a recent Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital Coaching in Medicine & Leadership Intensive, I wanted to share some amazing quotes of inspiration:
“All great leaders by their passion and sense of purpose, and their accomplishments, live a great story.” ~Sanjiv Chopra, MD
“The opponent within one’s head is more daunting that the one on the other side of the net.” ~Sir John Whitmore, PhD
“Positive emotions help us become the best versions of ourselves.” ~Barbara Fredrickson, PhD
“Changes in the internal system will effect changes in the external system and vice versa. This means that how you relate to your Inner Team members is similar to how you relate to the people in your world and vice versa.” ~Richard Schwartz, PhD
“We cannot inspire passion in others without engaging it ourselves.” ~Richard Boyatzis, PhD
“Coaching improves psychological resources that predict higher performance, capacity to change, and mental health, e.g. increasing positivity, resilience, and self-efficacy.” ~Margaret Moore, M.B.A.
You don’t have to be a life coach or a doctor to ask, to be open, to be curious, to connect in ways that allow us to reach our deepest vision of healing and wholeness. As Paul Farmer once said, “The only true nation is humanity.”
Mary Anne
How Will You Fall into Trust?
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
After returning from an incredible two week vacation where I had to trust that work would get done while I away and trust that I could leave work behind, I realized how much trust plays in my life. When I started thinking about trust, I remembered how I taught “Trust Falls” with junior high school students about twenty years ago. I was trained with New York City Outward Bound and I worked with youth in the South Bronx on team building. After some ice-breakers and strategic games, the final activity was a Trust Fall. A young person would have to stand on a table with their back to a group who had their arms criss-crossed waiting to catch them. The person doing the falling would shout, “Fall.” The group had to respond “Fall Away” and after hearing that, the participant would say “Falling” and lean back and land into the group who would catch them. The whole group would gently place the person back on their feet. Each one of these trust falls would inevitably end with applause.
The activities took great concentration, teamwork, and of course, trust. For many youth, this was the first time they allowed themselves to become vulnerable with a group or trust someone. If a young person became scared (many did), I would invite the group to share their thoughts and feelings. The teenagers were amazing as they expressed encouragement to their peers. They would share things like, “You can do it”, “We have your back”, or “We won’t drop you.”
Twenty years later, I still remember many youth from IS167 on Webster Avenue and see them close their eyes and drop into the hands of their peers. As we begin a new season, let us turn to one another and say, “Fall.” Fall away……
How will you Fall into Trust?
What Opens You to a Change of Heart?
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
After listening to a Holly Near song at a recent Celebration of Life Show in Provincetown, I was reminded how much we can make the changes we want in our lives just by changing our hearts.
As Holly Near sings:
“Something changes in me anytime there’s someone singing
All the songs I’ve never forgotten, let our voices sing them strong
Something changes in me anytime there’s someone standing
For the right to be completely all the good things that we are
There’s a change of heart
Anytime there’s someone counting
All the lives that won’t be thrown away
There’s a change of heart
Anytime you join the choir, be a voice up on the mountain
Or see a fire…in the rain
Something changes in me when my arms are held wide open
Fear and hate are set aside and only love remains
Something changes in me and I feel a deep emotion
While the ones who offer help replace the ones that just complain”
Where am I offering help rather than just complaining? It’s time to stand up more each day for the right to be completely all the good things that we are!
Mary Anne
National Yoga Month!
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
September is National Yoga Month! It’s a great way to celebrate mind, body, & spirit connections. I only started taking yoga classes this past January. It has been an amazing journey. Most of the poses still confuse me and it takes great effort to do a should stand, but I find that I can push myself just a little bit more each class. And what has really inspired me more than the poses is the ability to create a heart-centered practice that deepens my relationship with the Divine.
My yoga teachers start our class by asking us to dedicate our practice or our day to someone we love. ‘May each pose be an offering to a loved one or the Divine.’ What a beautiful way to start each day! When I look around the room at other folks doing yoga poses, I often think, “Will my body ever bend like that?” I am reminded to always come back to my breath. I breathe deeper and watch how my body is able to expand, and yet, I can clearly recognize the limits of how far my body will push itself — how much pain feels good and tolerable.
For me, yoga has been more than a trendy exercise. It’s been an experience of self-awareness and self-acceptance. I am perfect exactly as I am in this very moment.
I invite you to stretch yourself this month (in mind, body, spirit). Offer your practices or day to someone you love.
Namaste,
Mary Anne
To find out more information about National Yoga Month click the link: http://www.yogamonth.org/
What Is It to Work with Love?
Monday, September 13th, 2010
As I fully return to my daily routine, I wanted to share a passage from one of my favorite writings of all times, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Perhaps it is time to see my “routine” as a way to work with love!
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
Yes, work is love made visible~
Mary Anne
What Is Your New Story Behind the Rainbow?
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Recently, a friend posted a video of the song The Never Ending Story by Limahl. I had not heard that song in years, but have a vivid memory of singing to my 45-inch record.
“Dream a dream and what you will see will be
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds
And there upon the rainbow is the answer
To a never ending story”
How many times have I told a never ending story? Could there be a new way of telling a story – behind the clouds and upon the rainbow?
Just last week I was telling “the story” of how I started my company, Toning the OM™. I went right into the “never ending story” of how my mom passed away and I needed to find an outlet for my grief. For the past four years, I have told the story of my mom’s death as the reason I started Toning the OM™. In reality, it was my mom’s life that inspired me. It was her dedication to her faith, her friends, and her never-ending belief in me to do anything I put my mind to.
My new story is about how I created Toning the OM™ not because my mom died, but because she lived.
Mary Anne
How Are You Growing the Garden of You?
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
This past weekend I noticed amazing flower gardens all over New York City. As I walked through the Central Park Conservatory, I stared at flowers. Looking deep into the colors, I wondered when the seeds were planted. I became curious about the depth of the roots. I noticed so many beautiful flowers fully grown and came to realize that this is the ultimate trust in nature that exists.
How am I like that flower? Where do I plant seeds in the hope and trust that they will fully blossom? How far down are my roots and which ones will I allow to become unearthed in new and amazing ways?
In every way, I trust that I will grow.
Mary Anne
Learning from Dolly Parton
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Dolly Parton has always been an inspiration to me. She sings and I smile. The other day I was playing the album Backwards Barbie as I was doing house chores. I could hear myself singing the lyrics:
“I said you’d better get to living, give in
Be willing and forgivin’
cause all healin’ has to start with you.
You Better stop wining, pining,
Get your dreams in line and just
Shine, Design, Refine until They Come True.
And you’d better get to living”
Yep, getter bet to living’! How about you?
Mary Anne
Time to Eat the Frog
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
When I first heard the phrase, Eat the Frog during a workshop with Janice Hoffmann, I was both hesitant and interested. Curious to hear more, I leaned forward to find out what Janice was talking about. Essentially, Eat the Frog means starting your day by tackling the most challenging thing on your list. Develop the habit of doing the hardest thing first – the thing you put off to the end of the day – the one that never gets done. It’s about creating space in our day to do what we love. If we put off eating the frog, it’s always there, waiting for us.
We spend so much time on smaller tasks, we run out of time to do what might need the most inspiration or energy. We multi-task in the hopes more can get done and then wonder why we feel so exhausted. There was a time being able to do ten things at once made us feel successful. But all we need to do is one task a time with full attention. Eating the frog is about performing a task that is crucial for our growth, our business, or our life, even if it is not fun. In the end, eating the frog gets us farther.
How do you prepare for your day? What do you really want to pay attention to and complete? Successful people know how to eat the frog. Entrepreneurs eat the frog every day – they take risks. Listen for the most important task, write it down, and do it. Think about the last time you wanted five more minutes of sleep or will go for that walk tomorrow – how did you end up feeling?
We tell ourselves we don’t have enough time. We may not have time for everything we want to do, but we always have enough time to do everything we choose to do.
Go ahead – Eat the Frog!
Mary Anne
How Will You Celebrate Spring?
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
~Margaret Atwood
The seeds planted in the dark days and nights of the Winter season are now bursting through the earth. Do you see them?
The hope and trust we placed in the cold earth is showing us the miracle of life in fruits and flowers. What does the season of Spring mean to you?
As we celebrate a new season of longer daylight, blooming buds, birds singing, and warmer days, may we honor the seeds within that are pushing through. What seeds are you watering?
How will you celebrate Spring?
Let’s all put our hands in the dirt!
Mary Anne