Women in the LEAD

WOMEN: Welcoming the Blessings of Each Day

I ran across a poem that opened me up to see new meaning in all that life brings to each of us. It came to me at a time of growth...a time of sorrow...a time of renewal...a time of deep questioning.

Some years ago, I spent some months studying the work of Jalal al-Din Rumi. He has been a mentor and friend sweeping across over 2000 years. I pass his message on to you as a treasured "family heirloom" given one friend to another. It has a meaning that can be applied to our lives --- and also the trials of each day in our work.

The Guest House
This being human is a guest-house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.

Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for
some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

I welcome what you see in this poem through the eyes of your life.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Author and founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead

My New Book! Putting Our Differences to Work (June 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
Learn more: www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com 

Join me for monthly online dialogues starting in July, 2008

Choose Your Thoughts Carefully

“Once the Law of Attraction is understood and accepted (which usually does not take long since there is not a shred of evidence anywhere in your environment to refute it), many people become initially uncomfortable with their own thoughts.  Once they understand the power of the Law of Attraction, and they begin to examine the content of their own mind, they sometimes worry about the potential of what they may now be attracting through their uncontrolled thoughts.  But there is no reason to worry about your thoughts, for they are not like a loaded gun that may wreak powerful and instantaneous destruction.  For although the Law of Attraction is powerful, the basis of your experience is that of Well-Being.  And even though your thoughts are magnetic and expand with your attention, you have plenty of time – as soon as you become aware of any negative feelings – to begin to choose other less resistant thoughts and thereby choose a more desired outcome.”

“Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires”  -- Esther and Jerry Hicks

Choosing a more desired outcome does require the desire to live a life that is far better than the one that you are currently living.  It also requires that one pay attention to what is not working in one’s life and what thoughts one’s mind is full of.  There is a clear relationship between our thoughts and what we attract. 

Choose your thoughts carefully for it will lead directly with your quality of life.

Maureen Simon

WOMEN: What impressions do you leave with others?

If you could look through a keyhole to watch yourself as you did your work, what impressions to you think you leave with others?

A favorite book written by Sue Bender, Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home has a great story about her observation of a young man at her local coffee house, sharing how he put such care into his brand of service. One day she asked him, "Can you feel how much your customers like you?" His reply touched me, leaving a message for us to apply to our own "brand of service" in whatever we are called to do.

"The customers are very important to me. Work is very important for me," he continued. "I think people appreciate what I do. A little more trouble and extra work is good. When I'm in a bad mood, I hide it." He went on to mention the word "humble." Sue Bender asked what it meant to him.

"I don't want to take advantage. I don't want money. I want something..." and then he paused. "Something inside, more than money or material things."

I long for that something inside too, do you?

What is does it mean to you?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Author and founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead

Are You Clear on What You Truly Value The Most?

“Without values, there is confusion and chaos.  When values disintegrate everything disintegrates.  Health disintegrates, poverty attains dominance over affluence, societies and civilizations crumble. 

When we pay attention to these values that society has always held sacred, then order emerges out of chaos, and the field of pure potentiality inside us becomes all-powerful, creating anything it desires.”

“Creating Affluence” -- Deepak Chopra, M.D.

When we know what we value most we hold a template from which we can create the intricate details of our lives.  When we place our values as guides in our lives, our lives have a pathway on which they can unfold.  First, we must be aware of what we deeply value and then we can align our life’s actions with these values.  This alignment gives our lives clarity and meaning.

§         Are you clear on what you truly value the most?

§         What is it?

§         Are you living your life in a way that is true to your values?

Maureen Simon

WOMEN: The WONDER of YOU

With all our struggles, most of us search for wonder outside ourselves and outside where we are at this moment in time... St. Augustine left a little wisdom to remind us to take a look at what we are overlooking.

"People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long course of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass themselves without wondering."

---- St. Augustine

This week, join me in being a little more mindful about the WONDER that exists in your lfe. Perhaps, you'll only see a small sign --- like waking up, breathing, seeing a blue sky; sometimes we have to look consciously for our own greatness in the struggles of it all.

What are you growing to be?

What wonder did you take time to see in yourself today?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Author and founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead

My New Book! Putting Our Differences to Work (June 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
Learn more: www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com http://www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues.html

Also, I am hosting monthly online dialogues starting in July, 2008