I’m still navigating what it means to be a widow.
I’m still coming to grips with that word and what it entails for me, at 47 and as a mother of two teen-aged daughters. I don’t feel old, but that word makes me want to be old. It wants to pigeonhole me into something I’m decidedly not – a homebody and a spinster.
As a gardener, I look to the plants and animals around me to help me connect to the wider world. I was weeding one of my raised beds and found a box turtle amongst my potato plants. I was surprised to see a turtle in my garden. I did not think that turtles would eat the potato plants, but I was confident they would eat what I considered pests. In addition to the practical aspect of having a pest eating turtle in my garden, this was also a good reminder that this was, in fact, not just my garden. It is not separate from the rest of the world and is shared by more beings than just me.
Can we have intensely different viewpoints and make any progress when it comes to loving and appreciating one another? Whatever we have been trying, it does not seem to be moving the needle.
I discovered a new way of understanding when it comes to engaging in conversation between older and younger generations.
If you do any creative work, you’ve no doubt hit boundaries or parameters that seem to get in the way of the creative process. It may be a looming deadline, lack of resources, or a client’s unrealistic demands. These parameters are perceived to be restrictions to your work, but they don’t have to be. Instead, they can be viewed as guardrails to keep you on the right track to your best work.
Despite an overwhelming number of books, videos, courses, and conferences on leadership, it can sometimes feel like incredible leaders are as difficult to spot as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster! What is important to realize is that leadership is not just about one thing. It’s not a single, specific trait or quality that makes great leaders stand out, it’s a combination of factors.
I’m still navigating what it means to be a widow.
I’m still coming to grips with that word and what it entails for me, at 47 and as a mother of two teen-aged daughters. I don’t feel old, but that word makes me want to be old. It wants to pigeonhole me into something I’m decidedly not – a homebody and a spinster.
As a gardener, I look to the plants and animals around me to help me connect to the wider world. I was weeding one of my raised beds and found a box turtle amongst my potato plants. I was surprised to see a turtle in my garden. I did not think that turtles would eat the potato plants, but I was confident they would eat what I considered pests. In addition to the practical aspect of having a pest eating turtle in my garden, this was also a good reminder that this was, in fact, not just my garden. It is not separate from the rest of the world and is shared by more beings than just me.
Can we have intensely different viewpoints and make any progress when it comes to loving and appreciating one another? Whatever we have been trying, it does not seem to be moving the needle.
I discovered a new way of understanding when it comes to engaging in conversation between older and younger generations.
If you do any creative work, you’ve no doubt hit boundaries or parameters that seem to get in the way of the creative process. It may be a looming deadline, lack of resources, or a client’s unrealistic demands. These parameters are perceived to be restrictions to your work, but they don’t have to be. Instead, they can be viewed as guardrails to keep you on the right track to your best work.
Despite an overwhelming number of books, videos, courses, and conferences on leadership, it can sometimes feel like incredible leaders are as difficult to spot as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster! What is important to realize is that leadership is not just about one thing. It’s not a single, specific trait or quality that makes great leaders stand out, it’s a combination of factors.
For centuries, the Western world and all of its systems and structures have encouraged us to “do” rather than to “be.” In a fast-food world of lightning speed technology, we have been conditioned to believe that if we are not “doing” something twenty-four hours a day, we are not worthy. We rush to fix, save, or solve our problems and hurry to manifest our plans and dreams, rather than letting them gestate for a bit so the highest solution for all has a chance to emerge.
