This is one crazy story
I hope last week was meaningful. Here are a few things I’ve reflected on this week.
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I love summer’s extended daylight, but there’s something brilliant about seeing the moon high in the morning sky this time of year.
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A lot is going on in that photo. Aloha-Cajun is a fascinating fusion, and why swap C for K? Who am I to judge?
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I read somewhere that Georgia’s runoff election symbolized the problem with America. It might, but it also illustrated our thirst to belong. We are so parched that we are willing to overlook anything for our team’s sake. It makes me wonder about the 55% who didn’t vote and their sense of belonging.
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After traveling to a few client meetings over the last several weeks, I realized how much I miss being in person. I’ve decided to open more of my calendar for speaking events/corporate meetings in 2023. I can’t wait!
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It’s healthy that people are pushing back on the 60 – 70 work week, rise and grind culture, and discussing the importance of empathy, but I wonder if we’ve overcorrected and softened. There’s a sweet spot that values empathy, courage, mindfulness, a focused work ethic, managing expectations, dressing the part, and a desire to sweat for success. Strong leaders know how to find this spot. #EmpathicallyFirm
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Today our new puppy comes home. It’s so adorable. And our furniture will be toast. 🙂
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This story is crazy good. Two years ago, I partnered with Blue Bottle Love in Maui to create custom Pause Breathe Reflect growlers with their special Italian blue glass.
Before my XC bike trip, I offered the extras to those in our P.B.R. community. Andrea wanted one, but others beat her to it. Last week was her birthday, and her cousin, Arthur, who knows nothing about social media, mindfulness, or P.B.R., was at the Salvation Army in Bridgewater, CT.
As he was thrifting, a gorgeous blue bottle caught his eye, and he said, “This has my cousin written all over it.” Crazy, right?!?
And it gets better. Another bottle went to Judith in Florida, which got lost. UPS returned it during my ride, and I boomeranged down to SoFLA when I got home, but they delivered it to the wrong address. All was lost until she got a call from a sweet man who said he had received it.
And his name…wait for it…is Arthur – I kid you not. Nuts!
Sometimes things don’t come when you want, but they arrive when they’re ready. And my next book will be titled: Arthur and The Big Bottles.
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I’ve shared this poem most this week.
The Little Duck by Donald Babcock
Now we’re ready to look at something pretty special.
It is a duck riding the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf.
No, it isn’t a gull.
A gull always has a raucous touch about him.
This is some sort of duck, and he cuddles in the swells.
He isn’t cold, and he is thinking things over.
There is a big heaving in the Atlantic, and he is a part of it.
He looks a bit like a mandarin or the Lord Buddha meditating under the Bo tree.
But he has hardly enough above the eyes to be a philosopher.
He has poise, however, which is what philosophers must have.
He can rest while the Atlantic heaves because he rests in the Atlantic.
Probably he doesn’t know how large the ocean is.
And neither do you.
But he realizes it.
And what does he do, I ask you?
He sits down in it!
He reposes in the immediate as if it were infinity – which it is.
He has made himself a part of the boundless by easing himself into just where it touches him.
I like the duck.
He doesn’t know much,Â
but he’s got religion.
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A mindfulness essential is generosity, and this holiday season, P.B.R., on your behalf, will gift our Pause Breathe Reflect Mindfulness app to the staff of your favorite non-profit. Click generosity to submit your non-profit via our Google Form and learn about what’s involved.
And here are some of the charities that members are contributing to this holiday season: Best Buddies, Down Syndrom Guild of KC, The Women’s Shelter, Human Society, place of worship, St Cecilia Food Pantry, SPCA, Compassion International, Shelter Box, Salvation Army, local FD, homeless shelters, batter women’s shelters, We Brave Together, Houston Food Bank, Alz Assn, Young Adult Survivors United, MoHives, Grey2KUSA, Pet Rescues, Half the Sky, Special Love, Maddison Holleran Foundation, Autism Speaks, Sandy Hook Promise, UTOPIA, Disabled American Veterans, St. Mary’s Foodbank, Breaking Barriers, The Cancer Research Society, Gospel Mission, Searching for Identity, United Methodist Committee, Camp Shout Out, Local food bank, Planned Parenthood, Bridges 613, Youth Empowerment Club, Freestyle Percussion Foundation, Meximutt Project, and Garrett County Mentors
Until next week, have fun storming the castle.
And don’t forget to download your app today.
