Matthew’s Blog

Positive Options for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

by Fiona Marshall and Peter Cheevers

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089793413x/moviepalacelocat

Current information and theories. Easy to read. Explains a lot and doesn’t spout the same ol same old.

I picked this up at the new concept store for Best Buy called EQLife http://www.eq-life.com health - wellness - technology all in one store. It has a spa, pharmacy, caribou coffee, geek squad, vitamins, health equipment and monitors all in one store with a really unique layout. I have yet to chat with a non-knowledgeable staff person.

EQ Life is over by Patricks Bakery on 2900 West 66th Street in Richfield, MN

GO SEE THIS MOVIE - "The Corporation"

Incredible. Thought provoking. Engaging. See the Trailer

Bring some friends. Drink some coffee or plan dinner afterwards. It is important to discuss what you just saw!

This movie comes at a pivotal time in our world where people are waking up to something really wrong in the world.

It is not about blaming, it is about learning.

What is going on? How did this happen? How much do you really know about corporations? Are they really bad or is that what we have been led to believe? What are you doing in your company? What are we all to do about it?. What happens if we don’t? Is this the way we want to live?

My bigger game is now coming clear. It is about sustainable business.

It has always been about doing business right, but now I want to help those who are awake and are aware to guide them and partner with them to create sustainable business practices that led by their soul.
This is the reason I went into Industrial Psychology.
This is the reason I joined ALH (Advanced Liquid Handling).
This is why I have studied cross cultural communication.
This is the reason I was involved in Beyond War.
This is the reason I became a business coach.
This is the reason that became a coordinator for Fast Company Magazine.
This is why I create conversation circles and cafes.

It is all about sustainability

Sustainable Business - Leading from Soul

Anyone else ready to work on sustainable business - Contact me.

I’ve been feeling edgy and cooped up lately in large part that has to do with not connecting with nature, not going outside, not engaging my source.  So when the source came knocking on my noggin this afternoon I knew to Not Pass Go and get outside and go to the Labyrinth on Lake Minnetonka. 

Normally when I get the urge for walking the labyrinth I go to St. Kates but today it was Deephaven on Lake Minnetonka.

It was calm and peaceful with a background of home construction  today (if you let that bother you - I didn’t).
I walked in with the question "Who do I want to be?"   I asked that at every turn.  When I got to the center I was probably more tense than when I started.

I was about to jut out when I got this very strong pull back into the center of the labyrinth and a message - "Take off your shoes."  OK.   and a question "What do you intend?"  Hmm.  Good question. 

As I unwound from the labyrinth I stopped at every turn and stated an intention.   This seemed silly at first so I made it more powerful.  At each turn I repeated what I had intended before AND stated a new intention.  By the fifth turn, I just knew I had to give voice to these intentions as I went round.  WOAH and WOW!

I intend to be me
I intend to be happy
I intend to expand
I intend to be content with what is
I intend to engage what is green
I intend to BE a leader of my own life
I intend to feel good
I intend to listen to the world
I intend to MOVE (as in move my body - this one made me chuckle as the list got longer since I was standing still while stating this intention so instead I ended up swaying and moving my voice)
I intend to seek out Joy
I intend to lead other people
I intend to learn the names of the birds who greet me these days
I intend to follow the wind
I intend to create space
I intend to feel the pulse
I intend to travel
I intend to build a family
I intend to be clean (put only clean ideas, food, water, etc in my system)
I intend to see people as people just like myself with needs, desires, wants, and passions
I intend to TURN OFF THE TV
I intend to read more for fun
I intend to seek out people
I intend to center myself daily
I intend to use the labyrinth more frequently
I intend to share what I have learned

~ Wow what a new framework to be in!

Resources for Labyrinths
Labyrinth Society
Worldwide Labyrinth Locator
MN Outdoor Labyrinths
St. Paul’s Wisdom Ways Center aka Labyrinth at St. Kates
Inspirational Labyrinth Cards with a Pocket Labyrinth

The Sand Labyrinth : Meditation at Your Fingertips, this is a finger labyrinth which is covered with fine sand to prevent you from seeing the path and allow you to focus on the sensation in your finger and ground you in the moment.  I use one before coaching.  I also sell them. - $45 + shipping ($35 for clients/$40 MCA members) contact me.

How To Lose Friends and Infuriate People in the Regent Business Review.

examples:

#1 When an employee is in your office to talk with you, don’t hesitate to answer your phone.

#6 Pay people less than they’re worth. Give raises based on factors they cannot influence or, for more fun, based on their performance relative to one another.

#13 Hold lots of meetings and make sure they have an unfocused agenda. Allow the conversation to meander aimlessly, permitting one tangential comment to give license to the next. Never cut off a rambling participant and if anyone has a good idea, compel that person to assume responsibility for a new committee to pursue the idea. End each meeting with no action items.

The Radical Leap, was just that for me. Though I’ve called myself a leadership coach and have been in leadership positions since I was 10 years old. I didn’t really awaken to what it really means to be a leader until I read this book.

 “A pro does as well as he can within what he has set out to do, and a madman does exceptionally well at what he can’t help doing.“ Leaders can’t help being leaders.

This book is about EXTREME leadership. Extreme leaders see leadership as an extreme sport ala street luging, hang-gliding or surfing. They see wiping out as a victory. When a leader steps into the OSM (Oh Shit Moment) and succeeds people follow. Since extreme leaders don’t see wiping out as failure, they get up and go after it again in a different way. They live in the pursuit of the OSM.

“Let me put it bluntly – If you are using all the buzzwords, reading all the latest books, and holding forth at every meeting on the latest management fads, but you are NOT experiencing that visceral churning in your gut, NOT scaring yourself everyday, NOT feeling that Oh Shit Moment like clockwork, then you are NOT doing anything significant – let alone changing the world – and you are certainly NOT leading anyone else. But you sure look snappy in your big baggy pants.” ~ from the Radical Leap

 

I discovered while reading this book that liking something and/or even being excited about something wasn’t enough to be a real leader. You have to LOVE what you do. I mean LOVE IT!

I love the Coaching Industry.
I love creating places of expansion for people.
I love Business done right.
I love connecting Soul to Work.

This Love generates the Energy which overrides the fear and inspires Audacity which will lead to and provide the Proof. This is the Radical LEAP of leadership. My newfound zest, passion, audacity, love, and energy for the MCA and what we are up to are a direct result of reading Radical Leap: A personal lesson in extreme leadership by Steve Farber. 2004 Dearborn Trade Publishing. ISBN:0-7931-8568-8

This story has been going around quite a while but I am amazed how it strikes every time I read it and when it shows up in my life.

An old Cherokee Indian is telling his grandson about a fight that is going on inside himself. He said it is between two wolves.

One is evil: Anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is good: Joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
"Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one I feed."

The first time I came across the Rule Number 6 story was in the Atlanta ICF Conference in 2002 with Benjamin Zander giving the keynote on the Art of Possibility - Mr. Zander is the conductor for the Boston Philharmonic. The story is repeated and flushed out in Rosamund & Benjamin Zander’s book The Art of Possibility where they go into applying it to life, sex, peeling the personal onion to the central self, etc.