Women in the LEAD

WOMEN: Loosen up! Treat work as FUN!

So many people are stressed out at the moment --- some for reasons that we can easily understand. However, the other day a read a passage from Emmet Fox written over fifty years ago and it reminded me that some of my most stressful times, most difficult struggles, and biggest mistakes came when I was tense. How about you?

Emmet Fox wrote:

Loosen up. To be tense is the surest way to fail in any undertaking great or small. 

To desire success is a splendid thing but to pursue success too tensely is to make certain of missing it. The carefree approach in any endeavor is a shortcut to success. In music, in sport, in study, in business life, many people fail, or advance very slowly, because they make hard work of it. Treat your work as FUN. Regard the difficulties as part of the game, laugh off the annoyances. This of course, is the real difference between work and play. Take it easy. Loosen up!

Carry this thought with you this week. When you look at the big pile of stuff or even just feel yourself tighten under pressure, take a minute...brush the tension off you sleeve. Repeat that great mantra... I CAN, I MUST, I WILL.

It can create miracles!

WORKING TO REINVENT YOURSELF?
MAY 19 - ONLINE DIALOGUE - You're Invited!
CONNECTING for Success in Hard Times
How can Business and Social Networking help you deliver a renewed PERSONAL BRAND, REINVENT how you present your work to others, and open up opportunities for COLLABORATION and INNOVATION? Join us to learn how. REGISTER at http://tinyurl.com/MAY19Dialogue  (NOTE: Allow a few seconds for the URL to open). No fees, but registration is required, so we can send the login information.

Warm regards,
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

What is really necessary?

Abigail Adams:  Necessity is the mother of invention. 

When we look at the world today, we see new systems being forms, new ideas being born and new possibilities being made available to us.  It is so important to take this opportunity to look at what is really necessary and what is really important in our lives.  If we can believe that great necessities call out great virtues, we can be responsible and evaluate what we really need and live our lives from a place of strength and trust.  If we look at necessity as the mother of invention, we can begin to call into our lives new ideas and creative possibilities.  What is really necessary for you now to live a life that you feel really good about?  Reinvention is a great gift.

                                                                            Maureen Simon

WOMEN: LEARNING from Others in Hard Times

Just when we need it most, have you noticed how people show up shake the status quo and shatter any DOUBTS you might have about the timeless truth that all things are possible? At this time of CRISIS, CHANGE, and GREAT OPPORTUNITY, these special individuals bring inspiration for all of us and hope for bringing the best of who we are to our lives and work.

THREE SURPRISES
Sometimes inspirng people arrive by surprise, breaking through all the norms in our thinking about what is possible. Three of my favorite SURPRISES come to mind...

I wrote about two of them in a recent post on my book blog, LESSONS from the TALENTED: Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle, pointing out some not-so-talked-about lessons we could learn from American Idol's Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle of Britain's Got Talent. Whether you are fans or not, they have taken the Internet by storm and shattered the status quo each in their own ways. Most of all, they serve as catalysts for learning about ourselves. My writing points out a few valuable lessons about being a leader and innovator. Interestingly, I discovered that others are seeing them as teachers too. Check out Scott Eblin's Executive Coach Blog features this post: Feedback Do's and Don'ts from American Idol at Government Executive.

Another favorite SURPRISE that forever changed my thinking came from my friend, Bill Tipton, a contributing author at the Global Dialogue Centerand Project Manager for Hewlett Packard. Bill writes a popular blog called Dialogue with Bill: Life and Work with a Disability. Bill became blind through illness just a few years back. Imagine going to the hospital with stomach pains after work one day and coming home months later blind and unable to walk. This is where Bill's story of life and work reinvention began. There is much to learn from his journey about what we need most today at this time of CRISIS, CHANGE, and GREAT OPPORTUNITY. What he's done since proves all things are possible! He was awarded Employee of the Year for Hewlett Packard and was recently  profiled in a national magazine. Bill tells us in an inspiring blog post that Adaptability and Attitude is Crucial for Success.

What I hope most is that you will take away how important it is to have a positive vision for your future and the your investment in hard work will pay off. This is a time for REINVENTING, RETHINKING, REACHING for more. YES, we can!

What SURPRISES are influencing you?

What have you learned from others that you can share with others?

Warm regards,
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

RELATED ONLINE DIALOGUE EVENT
MAY 19 - ONLINE DIALOGUE - You're Invited!
CONNECTING for Success in Hard Times
How can Business and Social Networking help you deliver a renewed PERSONAL BRAND, REINVENT how you present your work to others, and open up opportunities for COLLABORATION and INNOVATION? Join us to learn how. REGISTER at http://tinyurl.com/MAY19dialogue  (NOTE: Allow a few seconds for the URL to open). No fees, but registration is required, so we can send the login information.

Notice the New Possibilities in Your Day

The world offers us so many possibilities each day. Today begin to notice the new possibilities in your world. There are many!

“The Only Way to deal with the future is to function efficiently in the Now”

Gita Bellin

Every day you have many new possibilities available to you especially in times that are challenging or present us with transition or change.  These are life’s moments that can be used to move into areas of our lives that we would never enter had a new door not opened.  Look closely at what is available to you today.  Transition a challenge into an opportunity.  Look for the light, notice one new possibility in your day today.

Maureen Simon

WOMEN: What Door is Opening for YOU?

This time it seems is asking more of all of us and it is also a time that will no doubt open many doors for those of us that can BELIEVE in our dreams. This morning i read this from Emmet Fox...

"Without change, the world would soon become stale and stagnant. Without change there would be no progress, for change is the essence of betterment. It is obvious that that to do anything in a new and better way, there must be a change."

I'm ready are you?
What is it that needs to change in your life?
What doors are opening?

Emmet Fox went on to explain... "Many people look upon change with dread and foreboding... For those on a spiritual path, change is a fuller expression of life. When a problem or condition arises in your life that indicates a change, realize that it isn't so much that a door has closed on a chapter of your life, but rather that a door has opened on new and more interesting things."

Tonight, a friend sent this wonderful VIDEO example of a door opening for a women named Susan Boyle... Let her inspire you to see and move toward the door opening in your life.

"Whatever you can do, or believe you can, BEGIN IT! Boldness has genius, power and MAGIC in it! [Goethe]...

WATCH IT HAPPEN...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Dry your eyes...

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

Beginning A New World

We have it in our power to begin the world all over again. A situation similar to the present hath not appeared since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand.

Thomas Paine 1775

I have been putting a lot of thought recently into what a unique and special time that we are all living in. Technology has never been faster and more efficient, medicine and healing both hold endless possibilities. Today we have available to us the knowledge and wisdom of the earth and what she needs to continue her unconditional and unending support of our lives. We also have immediate knowledge and access to history and to the wisdom of ancient seers and teachers. Never before have we been able to go to a library or a computer to have direct access to as much powerful and insightful information as we now do. I also believe that we have been given this access and wisdom so that we may build on what has come before us and so that we may evolve beyond the evolutionary levels that we have reached in the past.

I believe that we sit at a new set of crossroads; at a new place in time on this planet. I guess that's why Thomas Paine's quote really struck home for me.  Mr. Paine wrote the quote one year before the signing of the declaration of independence- the document that outlined the founding values and principles of this nation. At that time he believed that people had the power to start over again-to start anew. I feel that we are in a similar place.

What could be better?

What could be different?

 How can we treat each other with dignity and respect?

What would a mutually caring world of equity, abundance and care for all look like?

What one step are you willing to now make in your own life to contribute to ...beginning the world all over again..."?

Maureen Simon

WOMEN's VISION: Shaping your LIFE

Today more than ever before we need to create and hold a positive vision of our futures. In my lifetime, I've learned this is a catalyst for good.

I read Viktor Frankl's classic Man's Search for Meaning at a very lonely, dark time in my life. At the time, I sat in an abusive marriage, feeling a sense of shame and helplessness. I was an accomplished woman with a terrific career; yet, my personal life had become a concentration camp of fear, isolation and unhappiness. I wasn't setting a good example for my daughter. A strong woman weakened by the control of another person. Sound familiar to anyone?

Unexpectedly, I saw a wonderful film called THE POWER OF VISION by futurist and filmmaker, Joel Barker. One segment of it was about Viktor Frankl's book and experience. He told about how Dr. Frankl concluded that the people who survived the holocaust were those who knew that they had sometimg significant to contribute; those with a positive vision of the future. In the end, Joel Barker quotes Frankl, "There is a peculiarity about man; he can only live by looking to the future and that is what gives meaning to life." The film's message served as a powerful influence that lifted me up and transformed my life. It's message brought out COURAGE inside me that I didn't even realize I had. It helped me realize I had that knowing inside --- I was sure I had something significant left to contribute. With this breakthrough in my own thinking, soon it was as if I was plucked out of that my personal hell on earth place and given a chance for a new life. Looking back now, on my forever-changed life and all that followed, I am deeply grateful for the boldness I was somehow blessed to receive that extracted me from my personal prison. I remain deeply grateful. I know it was nothing less than a Divine intervention.

You can learn more about Viktor Frankl and his powerful work at a wonderful self-learning visual exhibit at the Global Dialogue Center. We did it in honor of Dr. Frankl's 100th Birthday Anniversary a few years ago. It is called Viktor Frankl: The Man, His Message and His Principles (click on the link to take a tour).

SEE POWER OF VISION VIDEO EXCERPT:
By a twist of fate, Joel Barker and I later became professional colleagues some years back. When we did this exhibit, Joel Barker gave me the excerpt that served as a catalyst to transform my life from his POWER OF VISION video for the Viktor Frankl exhibit. Go here; there is a link to watch the video below the exhibit.

Do you have any circumstances that are blocking the power of your vision?
Anything standing in your way? Do you feel like a prisoner in your own life?
How can you ignite your great FREEDOM to choice your attitude...to choose your way?

One of Joel Barker's meaningful messages about the importance clearing the way is summed up in this quote: 

"You can and should shape your own future, because if you don't someone else surely will."

Hope you'll let me know what you think.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

RELATED EXHIBIT at the Women's Gallery:
Light in the Dark: A Tribute to Viktor Frankl
...with a poem from Sara Robinson