In the year 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue…Whether or not we approve of the outcome of that fateful voyage of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, we can all learn from Columbus’s extreme act of faith and belief in himself when he left to explore a New World despite all odds.
Albert Einstein believed in intuition and inspiration, saying “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. The greatest discoveries in the world are often based on hunches by people with a vision and certain knowingness, who then move forward with courage, determination and perseverance and set out to prove it.
People may think you’re crazy, want to dissuade you, say your theories are wrong; even those closest to you who have the very best of intentions can only project their version of the truth and what they think is right. But they simply may not understand, and at the end of the day, you must be the captain of your own ship.
Once you embark on that journey, you will always encounter stormy skies, dis-ease, and potential mutiny, whether from external sources and naysayers, or internal voices of doubt and despair trying to capsize what your heart and gut knows to be true. Your proof and evidence may not yet be in existence, but you must remain steady as she blows!
We each have an internal compass, our own North Star, which may very well lead us on a different path from everyone around us or society as a whole. We are all unique beings, so only you know what’s right for you and ultimately the direction you want to be going. And if you’re wrong or it doesn’t work out the way you planned, at least you will have tried and will learn and grow along the way. You may even find something better than what you originally envisioned…
So if you need a little adjustment of your inner GPS, require an experienced cartographer, or just want some help handling what Mother Nature throws your way, give me a buzz and I’ll be the wind that gives lift to your sails, assists in navigating those uncharted waters and supports you in staying the course!
Today’s PGG was originally posted on October 12, 2010
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Check out this very-roughly-edited-not-the-best-quality video of uninterrupted remarks wrapping up the workshop “Lead Yourself to Success (in Work & Life!)” In this excerpt covering the final seven minutes, I summarize my thoughts about confidence, being a leader in your own life, maintaining your individuality and humanity in the times we live in, and why the world is relying on you to be successful.
Do you have the discipline to be a free spirit?~ Gabrielle Roth
In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, main characters Pat and Tiffany are in training for a big dance competition that turns out to be much more than a fancy booty-shaking contest. A unique romantic dramedy, it’s a film that shows there is a fine line between sanity and insanity, acceptable versus unacceptable behavior, and shows the beauty of living life to the beat of your own drum.
In the movie The Sessions, Mark O’Brien is confined to an iron lung 20 hours a day, existing on a gurney, unable to move from the neck down, and yet he writes poetry, is a professional journalist and decides to hire a sex surrogate so he can experience the most human of experiences. We go along on his journey (based on a true story!) and find him to be one of the most alive, loving and liberated individuals to have ever lived, despite such extreme physical limitations.
And as seen in the movie Lincoln, our 16th president is clearly not your Average Joe. He was always thinking out of the box, using his quirky sense of humor to defuse or illuminate situations, and taking numerous risks throughout the most heart-wrenching circumstances our country has endured. He stretched the Constitution to its limit, working within an established framework while implementing his own interpretationand/or bending the rules based on his hard-earned wisdom, keen observations and superior judgment as unprecedented needs arose and critical decisions had to be made in order for progress to occur.
In the conscious movement class I take, we are told to “dance it your way” and have breaks of “free dance” where we boogie as we see fit; it’s not chaotic because there is an organized structure and unity contained within the flow as we come back together intermittently as a group throughout the hour. It’s a super-small class because for many people, when given the opportunity to move and think for themselves, even for just a few moments, it is a daunting and uncomfortable feeling; it’s an empowering exercise that requires more effort and less inhibition, and many simply don’t know what to do if they are not following the instructor. And that, my friends, is indicative of a larger problem, with implications reaching far beyond a gym studio.
Spielberg’s Lincoln asks: “Can we choose to be born? Or are we fitted to the times we’re born into?” As citizens of the 21st century, we are certainly living in extraordinary times that will require us to become the fullest and most unique beings we are meant to be. We each have something that needs to be expressed, something that no other person on this planet — no one who has come before or will come after — can express. Right now we need new ways of looking at old problems and change old ways in order to deal with new problems, so it’s more important than ever for you to do your own thang, because there is no other way to generate inspiration and birth to innovation.
In any era it’s easy to get stuck in past habits and sucked into the zeitgeist of the day. Resist the urge to follow the herd, fight to honor yourself, think and speak your own thoughts, and begin to know yourself and create yourself anew every moment of every day — instead of getting swept up by social media, news, commercials, and even your peer groups, work and ethnic cultures or family and friends who are all, consciously or not, forces that can easily grab hold of your mind, body, spirit and/or bank account. Don’t let your physical characteristics, family roots or societal dictates squash all the rhythms inside you that might be quite different from what those outside influences might have you believe, say or do.
Not sure exactly what your groove thing is?Give me a buzz and I’ll get you started with some basic choreography and point you in the right direction, because ultimately You Should Be Dancing your own steps throughout life, hopefully with a fun disco floor beneath your feet along the way!
*Today’s PGG was originally posted on November 28, 2012
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter for up to date posts, helpful articles and inspirational thoughts. Slowly building my YouTube channel so you check that out and subscribe too!
Text CLEARLYKRISTINA to 22828 to be added to my mailing list and be in the loop with my coaching and workshops as well as have these essays delivered to your inbox!
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Check out this very-roughly-edited-not-the-best-quality video of uninterrupted remarks wrapping up the workshop “Lead Yourself to Success (in Work & Life!)” In this excerpt covering the final seven minutes, I summarize my thoughts about confidence, being a leader in your own life, maintaining your individuality and humanity in the times we live in, and why the world is relying on you to be successful.
There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen
I recently had my apartment painted, which is basically like moving without actually moving. The main reason I did it was to force myself to go through all of my belongings and see what should stay and what should go, clean all the nooks and crannies that never get looked at and rearrange things in a better way. Well, it’s working, but for various reasons has been happening s-l-o-w-l-y….and I just need to be okay with that.
In my post The Present of Presence, I mentioned that out of chaos comes clarity. And I’m always talking about process, how patience is a virtue and the consistent effort needed to make lasting change, One Day at a Time. I’m certainly getting some good practice right now!
It’s been a great exercise to dismantle my external life since most days I live and work on the internal side of things. Just like with physical surgery, sometimes you gotta literally open up, get in there, dig around and rid yourself of and/or fix whatever is not working in order to begin healing and functioning more optimally. Like my client’s ostrich with its head held high on her Vision Board, we have to deal with what is and take action, instead of keeping our heads buried in the sand expecting things to change.
With all the graduations and series, season and competition finales, as well as the loss of some famous folks, it’s a reminder to say goodbye to life as a student, to an era, to characters and storylines, and perhaps jobs, people, places and things, and especially to old personas that we’ve outgrown. There are just times in our lives when we need to let it all go to make way for the new.
What needs to be opened up, dismantled, re-examined in your life? What is old and tattered and/or has served its purpose and should be released? What can be put back together in a new and improved way so you can more easily integrate ALL parts of yourself and more effortlessly move forward in the most positive way on this journey called life?
Whatever area you feel stuck in, be sure to Ch-Check it Out — because only when you look at things from a different perspective can you make different decisions.
Having a hard time letting go of anything that’s not Hot Stuff? Give me a buzz and I’ll help you face the music and get you Stayin’ Alivein the best version of yourself now and beyond!
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter for up to date posts, helpful articles and inspirational thoughts. Slowly building my YouTube channel so you check that out and subscribe too!
Text CLEARLYKRISTINA to 22828 to be added to my mailing list and be in the loop with my coaching and workshops as well as have these essays delivered to your inbox!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Check out this very-roughly-edited-not-the-best-quality video of uninterrupted remarks wrapping up the workshop “Lead Yourself to Success (in Work & Life!)” In this excerpt covering the final seven minutes, I summarize my thoughts about confidence, being a leader in your own life, maintaining your individuality and humanity in the times we live in, and why the world is relying on you to be successful.
For me, and in my observation of so many, the day after the election was a National Day of Mourning. Because although the GOP candidate technically won*, our country as a whole lost, not just because of how close it was, but how split apart and divided we are as a result. Amplified by technology and media, we feel this more viscerally than ever.
Unlike many of my friends and others who opposed and then were shell-shocked by the announcement of our new President-elect, I had seen this coming since the summer, slowly and steadily building with a ferocity and stalwartness that you would have never guessed if you only went by the mainstream media. I paid close attention to the backstory and aftermath of Brexit, recognizing a mirror image of ourselves across the pond, and had a terrible sinking feeling in my stomach when it happened. I paid attention to the worldwide trend towards nationalism. I opened my ears and eyes as wide as possible, kept coming across non-stereotypical supporters and noticed traditionally assumed liberal outings and locales were populated by more “Make America Great Again” t-shirts and hats than I would have imagined.
In an effort to understand how this was happening, I observed and sometime interacted with people outside my circle, read articles and watched un-sarcastic straightforward reporting of why they were for this individual; I read the often pain-filled, hateful comments and tweets on articles with biases on every side of the spectrum, and as heartbreaking and difficult as it was, and now even more so continues to be, chose not to un-follow, block or delete any of my FB friends and family who posted about the then Republican nominee, (many of who are now coming out of the shadows and gloating in their win without any empathy for the fear that so many are experiencing as a result). I made an effort, and will continue to make an effort, to engage thoughtfully with them when possible — because if we can’t reach out and be civil to the people in our own sphere of influence, the rest of the nation is doomed.
After gathering all of this “data”, and seeing that the debates and late-breaking scandals did not change their positions an inch, to me, the writing was on the wall, and if it was not going to be an outright win for them, this would be very, very close. Like with my mother’s illness, I was not surprised at the outcome, but held out hope and stayed in a little denial in order to keep myself from really going there until I absolutely had to. And here we are.
Obviously, if you voted for the person who won, you are likely not experiencing this, and I’m sure are more than content with your candidate’s victory. As I wrote on my Facebook page on Wednesday though, regardless of why you might have voted that way, this change indeed came at a very big cost, because the man elected also carries with him the promotion, glorification and inflaming of bigotry, racism, misogyny, sexual assault, xenophobia, Islamophobia, bullying etc., and if you were one of his supporters I implore you to please do your part to mitigate the horrendous side effects and collateral consequences your vote has set in motion by speaking out often and with conviction against these things, and demonstrate the opposite of what he exemplified and modeled in his campaign.
I learned a lot in my “research”, and was reminded that no voting block is a monolith, especially since we are such a diverse nation; with traditionally only two parties, this in itself was understandably the cause of much discontent and frustration. There are legitimate reasons for everyone to have wanted change. If I was a career coach working exclusively in many of the rural areas or depressed industrial towns, it would indeed be more difficult for me to do my job. Other folks succumbed to fear-mongering and scapegoating. Others were just disgusted with the whole process. The media did not offer equal, broad or totally impartial coverage, nor did they make it easy for anyone to get the straight story about anything. People on the left, right, and in everywhere in between expressed themselves through anger, sarcasm, name-calling, and even violence, and are continuing to do so.
Most people found it more comfortable and comforting to stay in their own bubble and feel good about themselves in their own echo chamber. What I did took time, intention, and much restraint. It did not feel good being exposed to so much I find distasteful or flat out wrong, but as a citizen living in (what will still hopefully be) a democracy, I felt it was my duty, and will continue to stretch beyond my choir, and at the very least listen, not respond by yelling or attacking, and either politely agree to disagree, and at best find a way to some mutual understanding and acceptance.
Those on every side need to understand not everyone is like them, nor thinks the same way or wants the same way of life, but that does not have to come at each others’ expense. We must call out our own when they are being intolerant or feeding into stereotypes. And we must make sure our rights are not violated or suppressed. This will take vigilance and courage. But then again, we are the home of the brave, right?
The reality is that we cannot go backwards, we must move forwards and come to some compromise as to what that forward should be. How are we going to do that? What can you to make yourself stronger and more perceptive? Your community better? Yourself more accepting of anyone who is different or “other”? How can you become a master listener? How can you use your career to serve others simply by doing what you are meant to do and brings you a sense of peace and fulfillment? How can you step out of your bubble, especially on social media, and when you can, in person?
Last month I wrote about the end of an era and a sense of displacement in my PGG Stranger in a Strange Land. Things now feel as strange as ever, and it’s about to get even stranger. I’m hoping that this is the breakdown our country needs in order to have a breakthrough; how poetic it is that Leonard Cohen, who I quoted in Let the Sun Shine In, died yesterday: “There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” It’s up to us to create a new reality that deems everyone equally valuable and allows each other to thrive.
My apologies to any of you I may have offended by offering my viewpoints on such a personal matter, but more than ever we need to share our experiences and perspectives with one another in a safe, grounded and open-minded manner, because that is the only way we will find out that we actually have more in common than we think. This is a revolutionary act that is not partisan, it’s patriotic.
*Today’s PGG was originally posted on November 11, 2016
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter for up to date posts, helpful articles and inspirational thoughts. Slowly building my YouTube channel so you check that out and subscribe too!
Text CLEARLYKRISTINA to 22828 to be added to my mailing list and be in the loop with my coaching and workshops as well as have these essays delivered to your inbox!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Check out this very-roughly-edited-not-the-best-quality video of uninterrupted remarks wrapping up the workshop “Lead Yourself to Success (in Work & Life!)” In this excerpt covering the final seven minutes, I summarize my thoughts about confidence, being a leader in your own life, maintaining your individuality and humanity in the times we live in, and why the world is relying on you to be successful.
KRISTINA LEONARDI 