Wired to Connect

How many people in a day do you see treat other people as objects, as a
means to an end? From ignoring those we are in the room with while
tensely thumbing a Blackberry to yelling impatience at a store clerk,
many relate to others as if they are simply there to give them
something. Unfortunately, our moods are more infectious than we may
realize.

Recent advances in neuroscience have discovered that our brains are
wired to be social, and that our inner states affect those around us.
Daniel

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Energy as a Way of Life

By Charles E. Smith | Bio

This is my personal journey, how I came from seeing organizations as static objects, to seeing them as interacting energy fields. It began six years ago, when I was the owner of a 16-person organization development and training firm.  We helped companies with strategic visioning, culture change projects, coaching programs, and project effectiveness. I built the business from a $25.00-a-day practice in 1969 to over $2.5 million in annual revenues in 1993, with the

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Wisdom and Fear

I heard someone remark that the best thing about getting older is they don’t have to be afraid anymore. While I think that is one of life’s ‘truisms’, it falls into the same category as your mother telling you “not to worry”—it doesn’t help much to know that when you are worried! From what I can see, most people get more fearful and anxious as they age. This anxiety takes various forms: fear of not having enough money, fear of being homeless, fear of being alone, fear of becoming

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Virtual Fitness

Nowadays you don’t have to wait around for a trainer or instructor to get fit. And you don’t have to limit yourself to being stuck at home in front of the TV watching workout DVDs or videos.

Just reach for your iPod or MP3 player and download an audio-guided workout from the iTunes store. You can have coaches like Lance Armstrong and Serena Williams whispering in your ear while you run, or a selection of original music.

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Anxiety

One of the nice things about traveling about as I have been for the past couple of years is that you get an opportunity to listen to people in other countries speak about the state of the world. As a fair generalization, I would suggest that we in the USA and Canada are among the most vocal ‘worriers’ I encounter. I would say that a high percentage of North American conversations—at least among those I converse with and based on my take on ‘the news’ on TV—are worried about something.

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Emptying House

By Shae Hadden | Bio

Spring is in the air today. The first crocuses blaze their yellow glory at me from across the lawn. I’m staring into the sky blue expanse above the mountain ridge, and wondering why I’ve chosen to move from this place. The quiet location and the natural environment were perfect for me when I moved in a year and a half ago. And now these four walls and many of the things gathered around me loom like barriers to living full out. The friendships I had before I moved have all, save for a few, disintegrated. Some people have dropped out of my life entirely. Others, still present, relate to me in very different ways than before. Similarly, the activities we used to do together have disappeared from the picture as well. I am changed.  My inner transformation has created outer changes in my circumstances and relationships. I find myself attracted to the ‘New Me’ and distracted by, even uncomfortable with, the ‘Old Me’. Holding on to anything from my past would seem to be an exercise in futility. I sense an overwhelming urge to ‘clean house’, to empty my life of what no longer serves. It’s said that, as we journey through life, we find ourselves letting go of people, places and things that no longer align with who we are. While I’m grateful for everyone and everything in my life today, I’m also realizing that transformation has a price: we must let go of who we have been and what we once treasured to become who we are choosing to be. I’ve decided I’m going to do a bit of spring-cleaning this afternoon. I just wonder what my empty house will fill up with next…?   read more

Baby Boomers or Baby Busters

I have been having a lot of ‘state of the economy’ conversations lately. The consensus is that we are going in the wrong direction and the only question is how long, how deep and how prepared we are for the long haul. I made the observation that the economic consequences of a recession are only part of the problem. A recession is a trust issue. When credit dries up, it means that lenders don’t trust the borrowers to keep their commitments. It creates a kind of double-bind. Here is how it

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