Kindness

I have been thinking a lot about tension, conflict and kindness. I am in a new-ish, Jewish job and am working with an executive coach, after realizing that with a bigger job, I must call upon different skills to be successful. I am scaling up my game, so to speak, and so talk to my coach for an hour once a week.

This week we talked a lot about kindness in the face of conflict. In my job, I get yelled at a lot by external parties. They come to me to vent, to be heard, to feel like their grievances have been registered.  When I was younger, less experienced, I might have yelled back, been defensive or shook with rage after one of these experiences. Now I listen, and offer fresh starts, kindness, admit guilt where there may be none. Being right is less important than being kind.

What it leaves me feeling, however, is tired. I need to replenish the stores of kindness from time to time and my boys help. As does the knowledge that just around the corner is someone who will be kind to me; I surround myself with evidence that laughter is curative and a smile takes less energy than a frown.

And I am lucky in so many ways, as I have love in my life, unconditionally, and that is a self-replenishing resource.

So go ahead, yell at me. It will make you feel better.

Trust Yourself (#Trust30)

Imitation is Suicide. Insist on yourself; never imitate. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write down in which areas of your life you have to overcome these suicidal tendencies of imitation, and how you can transform them into a newborn you – one that doesn’t hide its uniqueness, but thrives on it. There is a “divine idea which each of us represents” – which is yours?

Hmmm... is it bad that I cannot really even understand this question?  I have always tried since I was a teenager, which was all imitation, some (blue black dyed hair) rebellion, and general havoc, to be myself. Sometimes I try a "fashion" on as imitation and fail terribly. I guess that's it. I'm tired. I hope I like tomorrow's prompt better.

#trust30 Today's Prompt

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson 

What is burning deep inside of you? If you could spread your personal message RIGHT NOW to 1 million people, what would you say?

After a long day at work, putting the kids to bed and settling in over a glass of wine to consider this prompt I would shout in a silent scream, as not to wake the kids, I CANNOT DO IT ALL! And then I would qualify it by saying, or shouting, BUT THAT'S OK! Because it is. And the pressure to be the best working mom in the world, ok, on the block, is crushing me. I am class rep at the nursery school, a half marathoner, a partner in a small firm, a fun-loving but rule-enforcing mom, a bestfriendslashwife, a sisterfriendpartnerincrime and I am ok at all of them at any given time and great at each for fleeting but magical moments.

I live for the moments. I live for the magic. I am well on my way to 40 and am just beginning to understand what someone once said to me: we are all juggling balls but luckily they are not glass, we will drop them but they will bounce, not shatter.

That time and once again I'm bouncing around the room.

Trust Yourself (#Trust30)

A really groovy and smart colleague of mine turned me on to Seth Godin's latest mind-shaking initiative, The Domino Project, which has a 30 day writing challenge that I hope will revitalize my blogging efforts.

As usual, I am a little late to the party but here it goes:

The Pledge Details
The #Trust30 challenge starts at 6am ET on May 31st and runs for 30 days. AS I SAID I AM LATE
Each day we'll post a prompt from an original thinker and doer on RalphWaldoEmerson.me. You can also sign-up for daily emails. DONE
Fill out the short form below to commit to participating in the #trust30 online initiative. DONE
Blog, journal, or create something on each of the 30 days. WAITING FOR THE PROMPT
Tweet using the hashtag #trust30 to show your support and involvement. WILL DO

Here we go!

Time

Time has been flying lately. Work has taken on a life of its own. It feels great, but hectic.

The kids are so big.

Gone are the hours of introspection and blogging, now I am just lucky to string 140 characters together.

I am so behind on this blog, my other blog, the running associated with said blog.

I have another half marathon in September, so I will start officially training for it in June.

The not so lazy days of summer await.