Matthew’s Blog

I was working with a new client today who we’ll call Sam.   I’ve known Sam for quite a while and he regulary asks me – so, what is a coach?, just to test me and to see if I’ve honed my answer.

Well, today I turned the tables on him.
After an exceptionally powerful session, I asked him, "So, Sam, what is a coach?"

He pauses realizing what I’ve done – almost a deer in the headlights look.
Then, with a flash his face relaxes and a big grin comes over his face.  
Sam says, "What I see before me is emotional chiropractics"  

I am dumbfounded.   "Wow, thats really cool!"

Sam "Well, its like when your chiropractor gives you adjustments so that your body and lifeforce can heal itself better, re-alignment so that it flows smoothly."

Me: "I am not so sure about the emotional part.  Was I working with your emotions or were you just aware of the emotions coming forth?

Sam: "More the emotions coming forth, the adjustments came a a much deeper level"

Me: "A soul level"

Sam: "Yeah, an alignment with my soul so it can flow smoothly . . ."

Me: "And see and listen cleanly to what is going on."

Sam: "Yeah"

Me: "Can I tweak your idea a bit?"

Sam: "Sure"

Me: "How about spiritual chiropractics, a  spiritual chiropractor?"

Sam:  "Yeah, thats it.   Aligning the soul so my lifeforce can be free to do what it needs to do/to be"

Me: "MMMmmmm Yummy, what a luscious thought."икони

A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see,
That the man beside her, as bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between,
Which she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene.

She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock,
As the gutsy "cookie thief" diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn’t so nice, I’d blacken his eye!"

With each cookie she took, he took one too.
When only one was left, she wondered what he’d do.
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other.
She snatched it from him and thought, "Oh brother,
This guy has some nerve, and he’s also rude,
Why, he didn’t even show any gratitude!"

She had never known when she has been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,
Refusing to look back at the "thieving ingrate."

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat,
Then sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise:
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!

"If mine are here," she moaned with despair,
"Then the others were his and he tried to share!"
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!

By Valerie Cox
from A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

A version of this was sent to me today by one of my Arbinger colleagues Thomas Krapu, Together along with two other coaches we work on staying Out of the Box.   If you want to learn more  – read Leadership & Self Deception then call me.  It will change your life and your relationship with it and everyone else for the better.

This is such a great example of in the box thinking!

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While searching for the original author For a longer version not in verse check out this rendition

OK – Maybe even better – A MOVIE – see it online, its only 7 minutes. http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/atom_453

While looking up the source of the cookie story I found this -    What a wild story.   check it out http://www.harley.com/writing/her-last-cookie/

Last year, when I needed to go away to think I had gone up the Gunflint Trail to Gunflint Lodge where I would spend a delightful and often pensive weekend by myself in a cabin.  The 10 hours of driving however was a downside.  Then this spring I heard about this company who had built a small "portable" studio or hermitage on the plains in Minnesota.  Wee Houses by Alchemy 

This began the stirrings in my soul.  It brought forth a memory.

I remember some 10 or so years ago when my mother and I went to Chicago’s Science & Industry exhibit about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes.   They had constructed on on the grounds.   These were homes based on simple materials that anyone could purchase and assemble, with the primary building material being concrete blocks.  The idea was to produce  a full home, well-designed, with full interior furniture for a family of 5 for $5,000. A cost that  anaverage American in 1936 could afford.  60 Usonian houses were built.  

I remember looking at that house in amazement: its simplicity; its elegance, its cost effectiveness and wondering why weren’t more of these made?   Well, for one it had no closets and was typical Wright design forcing philosophy, architecture and lifestyle all at once.  I left thinking there has got to be a way to bring these into play in our modern era.  I hadn’t reached the idea of simplicity yet, but admired its effect on me.  

Then last week, I spent two days on retreat at Clare’s Well, a spiritual retreat farm in Annondale MN.  At Clare’s Well there are three hermitages where visitors stays.  All three are designed for simplicity and 1 or 2 people (bed, hotplate, walls, windows, furnace, porch (on two)).   We ate our meals in the farmhouse, but returning to the solitude of a little, simple place of my own was very rewarding.  My view looked out onto the pond.  

This week  Thursday I was perusing the old Home Store at the LindenHills Coop and found this kewl new magazine Ready Made Magazine In it was this full page ad talking about designs for one room retreats.  Neeless to say I bought the magazine. Modular Dwellings MD100 was in www.readymademag.com/store

This has spawned a plethora of surfing the net today as I explored this realm of modular/prefab/modernist dwellings.   

Although no longer $5k to build a simple house, these house kits usually fall under $100k and the small sheds in the $15k range.  

fabprefab – modernist prefab dwellings ~ This is a fabulous resource site that led me to most of my discoveries.

Unit One Cabins and House from Shelter-Kit - basic shelter, no style

MetroShed ~ an innovative shed like structure to create a music room, a study, whatever

Christopher C. Deam Has designed Breckenridge Perfect Cottages™ and can be seen at www.Breckenridgeparkmodels.com

Here is a truly different approach to the World Trade Center Plaza.9-11 Museum I found it while prowling around looking at prefab dwellings.

The ConversationCircle.com website is now stand alone.
The SeasonedCoachesCircles.com website is updated
Links to this blog have been updated.
MatthewsBlog.com (this blog) is now the primary blog for Matthew Rochte

I’ve added two new links to the blog.  One for my friend Claudette Lajam MD who live in NYC and ponders deeply on issues in life, society and the world. The other is George Johnson, a fellow coach, past president of MCA and a world leader and thinker.   Check out the links on the right.икони