Surviving childhood - no I didn't write this but its too good not to share!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and th e worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes..

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem=2 0solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were .

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this..
For the rest of us....pass this on.

Telepathy .. the way of the future?

Would be great if I could see thought, if it had a color, a texture that hung over our head like pig-pens cloud.

We use a combination of some 500 facial muscles to show what we are feeling and thinking. Sometimes these expressions last nano seconds, and say it all.

I've started to pay more attention, 'cuz telepathy is an option that will take a lot longer


The only behaviour that can't be faked is authenticity....that's a big relief!

BE one with mind and body

I just returned from a 24 hour retreat with a bunch of high flying corporate's.

My job was to get them to concentrate on a certain number of critical issues
in order to come away with a 12 month strategy that they all buy into and support.
After setting the ground rule: NO crackberries or other techo paraphanalia
the second task had to do with their presence.
Which meant they needed to BE with me - both mentally AND physically.
For them that meant having their eyes and ears open.
...Definitely not enough

90 minutes later we'd gone through 3 exercices that worked on their connection with their body,.
Their being in their body.
Feeling in their body.


Initally the silence was deafening, through discussion and feedback the learning witnessed was heartening.
Only once the awareness had been raised with regard to their body and the connection between their body and mind states were we able to achieve quantom mental presence.

The rest of the work was a piece of cake!

Pump up the volume?

Wow its been a year since I shared my thoughts on this blog.

I guess I've been spending too much time sharing them in the real world and now it's time to get virtual.

How did that Grease song go again?
Let's get virtual, let's get into to virtual, let me hear your body talk....no, no, that doesn't work. So if I'm going virtual will that mean we can hear our spirit talk? Now there's a thought I like.

I've spent ALOT of time coaching people of the past year.
Lots of people are interested in working through their stuff, all sorts of baggage that they carry around that weighs heavy on their hearts and minds.
Fascinating! wonders never cease to amaze the mental hoops, loops, pirouettes and pinholes that people put themselves through when they are totally wrapped up in the mind.

Unfortunate that all this thinking doesn't burn more calories - no maybe on second thought its better this way, some people would completely disappear.

So I listen about the past and the future and the anxiety and the fear and it goes on until I ask what it feels like to focus on the present and connect with it .

Yah, how it feels; warm, pink, comfortable, scary, , lime green, fluffy, big, blury, sharp...what kinds of words, colors or sensations describe it.
IT being the present.

Its easier to connect if you close your eyes and turn OFF the volume in your brain.
Let's concentrate on the present.

Being present in the present.......Now there's a plan.

Attempting communication clarity

We are social beasts, we interact with others at work, play, home, with our colleagues, family, extended family and friends. Sometimes we think we are on the same "wave length" with someone and it's really a great feeling. This feeling drives us to exchange about more topics of interest and in the heat of it all, sometimes in a flash of a nanosecond, it all falls apart. Suddenly that feeling of connectedness is replaced by a weird feeling inside and I wonder whether or not there has been a misunderstanding. A bit of information that got lost in translation, a statement that comes out of left field, a judgment call that seems out of place – there are a multitude of possibilities for a communication meltdown.

Once I realize the misunderstanding has come about and acknowledge it (already a quantum leap!), I have a number of strategies to choose from.
1. Rephrase and explain my point of view (pov) and/or ask for clarification from the other person concerning their pov;
2. Avoid the discussion and hope it will go away;
3. Blame the other person and scratch them off your dance card forever.

In the past month I overheard two conversations (at the hairdresser's and in the steam bath) of girlfriends discussing their own misunderstandings and opting for strategy 3. In one situation a women admitted having cut herself off from all communication with her brother, while her girlfriend related a story of having cut all contact off with her sister.

Upon hearing this exchange little voices screamed through my skull Oh my god! Oh my god! Here I sit over 6'000km from my one sister - I cherish every conversation we have, even when we don't agree, so it's difficult, no impossible to consider let alone imagine, cutting myself off from that rich exchange.

As for strategy number 2, my ex-husband and ex-business partner were adepts at practicing the art of avoiding - probably because their culture has drummed into their brains that misunderstandings can lead to disagreeing which can lead to arguing and arguing is a BAD thing and should be avoided at ALL cost.

My cultural references are rooted in my growing up in a matriarchal Quebeçoise society, with parents who raised me to believe that I could do anything I set my mind to. This is a quantum leap from the Swiss patriarchal culture that I sit in while bringing up my children. These lovely girls have been told by their school teachers over the years that they have too much character - which I now understand means, voicing an opinion! So, if my discussion partner is not willing/able to voice his/her opinion a seemingly small misunderstanding causes the entire jug to overflow. A flow of ALL their pent up stuff that has gone unsaid, for way too many years, comes belching out of them - ‘cuz the feelings that the initial misunderstanding caused have had time to grow into all sorts of strange things if they remain unsaid.
So I listen, and apologize if and when necessary.

The key here is that in order to move on once it's all out in the open is to forgive and forget....sometimes easier said than done. Some people have resentment issues that they need to work through ....hopefully before dying :-)!

Life, non violent communication and active listening training, a bunch of people that I really irritate on regular occasions and some excellent facilitation techniques have brought me to the conclusion that option 1 is the one that works for me.

That means when in doubt, when that funny feeling starts to grow in my gut - Rephrase the glitch and ask for confirmation and clarity.

It can be scary, especially when it gets personal, but I want to keep my ears open and listen so that I can have a better chance of understanding the people that I am blessed to have around me.

For love or money?

Why is it that women do most if not all of the cooking for their lovers, husbands, partners, friends, children and family yet 95% of restaurants have "chef's" that are men.
Women cook for love ...and men cook for money?

So ladies if your going out for dinner tonight, chances are a man will be making your meal and paying for your meal :-)
...Yowza! Think of all the energy you'll have for after dinner.

If he's doing the cooking' at home, it's to please you....... 'cuz it's always about love.

Happy St.Valentine's day