tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-166624262012-01-29T15:02:04.744-05:00Learning. Community. Integrity.Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.comBlogger6161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-5812102791021417402012-01-29T15:02:00.000-05:002012-01-29T15:02:04.751-05:00

LOL Well, yes. Sometimes something on facebook or youtube has actually made me laugh (really, laugh means out loud - it's not a laugh if you keep it in your head). But . . . There are times when I have been with friends or my family and I have really laughed OUT LOUD. I've laughed so hard it was hard to catch my breath and my stomach actually started to hurt. I've laughed so hard that I was

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-49946872333625414202012-01-17T22:52:00.002-05:002012-01-17T22:56:14.179-05:00

From time to time we all end up in situations where someone else wants us rattled.  Whether we are competing, conflicting or negotiating, sooner or later someone will want to shake us up. The first question to ask yourself is: How strong is my outcome here? Sometimes people get rattled because they have been taking a strong stand for a goal that they hold much less strongly. If you're not sure

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-81047804490653139302012-01-05T22:17:00.001-05:002012-01-05T22:17:36.879-05:00

It's true that the holidays are often difficult. We have memories of other years, years when the whole family was happy and present. It's hard to match those memories. We miss people who are gone and sometimes, people who have changed. The truth is, that missing doesn't end when we go back to work in January. There is something about a Canadian winter that makes us consciously and unconsciously

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-77272094043268841692011-12-30T21:29:00.002-05:002011-12-30T21:29:17.140-05:00

What do you think of when you think of integrity? Chances are, you think of someone who walks the talk, someone who keeps their promises, someone who follows through. When you think of integrity, you think of behaving in a way that is consistent with what your best self wants. Now think of resolutions, of the promises you could make to others or yourself about how 2012 will be different from

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-66120883410404795322011-12-28T16:08:00.001-05:002011-12-28T16:14:13.698-05:00

This post is about two things: looking back at three people who had a powerful, positive impact on me this year and looking out at two different ways to think about excellence.  We will pretend that this blog is about yoga (but you will know it is really about much more). After being intrigued by yoga for many, many years, 2011 was the year I began to practice.  I began to practice at a time

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-68729517972503354802011-12-08T09:31:00.001-05:002011-12-08T09:46:26.302-05:00

One of the trickiest issues in coaching must be the problem of "making" people want what they should want.  It comes up in two ways.  One is that the person who hires the coach has a goal for the person being coached.  The other is that the person being coached has a goal that they don't entirely like or want. In both cases, the question asked is: "can you help someone become congruent about

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-44682383318834234952011-12-02T10:29:00.001-05:002011-12-02T11:02:21.374-05:00

As someone who works in supporting and managing change, I work with several wonderful people to support my own development and performance.  Some are advisors (they help me think through business decisions), and one is a business coach (he helps me think through how my own state impacts my business).  The other is harder to define. Kathleen Milligan works with EFT, hypnosis, NLP and some

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-10874694966706549942011-11-26T19:02:00.001-05:002011-11-26T19:16:05.819-05:00

I am fascinated by words, and fascinated most of all by familiar words that are unexpectedly difficult to bring into focus.  We know what they mean right up to that moment when someone asks us to explain. They are clear and then less clear. Integrity is a word like this.  What do you think it means? Most people will say there is a relationship between integrity and honesty, but if you ask them

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-35934469897624884592011-11-21T09:58:00.001-05:002011-11-21T10:25:09.038-05:00

My friends in Solution Focused coaching often use the miracle question to uncover resourcefulness in their clients. They ask: "If a miracle happened overnight, while you were asleep, and the problem was solved. . ." This fall, there are babies in my life for the first time in a long time.  When I think of a miracle, I think of a tiny fist wrapped around just one of my fingers, of the perfection

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-29852071375252636972011-11-20T22:16:00.001-05:002011-11-20T22:21:57.475-05:00

It's very late, and you are tired.  You find yourself in a large bookstore, and as you move down an aisle, you hear a door shut.  You know, suddenly, that the store has just closed for the evening and you will be locked inside until morning. Now you have a choice.  There are rows and rows of books, and you have enough time to read one, cover to cover.  You know that one of these books holds a

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-64259963393351711142011-11-10T13:21:00.001-05:002011-11-24T16:03:41.729-05:00

What's in a name? If the name in question is neuro-linguistic programming, the name has held equal amounts of mystification and misunderstanding.  Brains cannot be programmed in the way that computers can, and neurology and linguistics are two very different models.  Whatever the original intent, the terminology often becomes an obstacle between an interested mind and a model of thinking that

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-87039680469624442222011-11-03T09:56:00.003-04:002011-11-03T09:56:42.608-04:00

I began this morning by reading these thoughts on the new biography of Steve Jobs: http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2011/10/thoughts-on-steve-jobs-the-book.html Two observations in that blog post are that Steve Jobs was half of a number of brilliant collaborations and that Steve Jobs took a lot of walks.  It started me thinking. When my partner left the business last spring, I lost the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-11320287882688938212011-10-17T18:57:00.001-04:002011-10-17T18:58:25.859-04:00

Epistemology is the study of how we know what we know.  If we take a concept like integrity, epistemology would ask: how do we know integrity when we experience it in ourselves or encounter it in others? What do you think?  When in your life have you known that you had integrity, or that integrity was part of who you are?  When in your life have you known integrity in someone else?  These are

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-2757094127957407202011-10-10T12:39:00.002-04:002011-10-10T12:39:26.236-04:00

What do you do on Thanksgiving Day when you are overwhelmed by worry or stress or you're grieving for people who were part of your life last year and are gone now? Holidays arrive when they arrive; they don't always fit the circumstances of our lives at the moment when they arrive.  And that is precisely why they are useful.  The time we need to remember to say thank you is the time when we feel

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-2558787996308167462011-10-09T00:36:00.001-04:002011-10-09T00:36:51.671-04:00

Here's something you might not have thought about Thanksgiving: it's a great time for innovation. Harvest is often seen as an ending and thanks are something we give after something has happened. It is easy to stop with that recognition and miss the bigger one.  Innovation starts in the middle: it takes something that already exists and changes it to make it better.  The things and people for

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-25102732211364877272011-10-06T07:56:00.000-04:002011-10-06T07:56:27.272-04:00

I think this is the second most confrontational question one can ask. (The first is: who are you?). It is not less difficult for being said in warm, supportive tones.  It is a question I am asking myself these days, aware that the answer is probably simple and living with it will probably be complicated. What do you want? What happens in you when you look at the question.  Is there a rush of

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-87650880778381567512011-09-29T00:04:00.001-04:002011-09-29T09:02:40.507-04:00

There are lots of places to look for information on how to deal with the bad things that happen to you.  And there are many more to deal with the bad news you have to deal out to other people.  What I am wondering about is how you handle explaining to other people that something bad has happened to you. Bad news is often made worse by the feeling that we have done something to deserve it.  We

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-11597424404256932982011-09-25T21:42:00.000-04:002011-09-25T21:42:13.875-04:00

I have been spending hours holding a new born baby in the last week.  She is tiny and perfect and tired.  She stretches and makes a face and then, halfway to a cry, falls back into sleep.  Her mom says it's because it's a big, scary, disorienting thing to be born.  Everything is new, not just outside but inside. She's never had to breathe and suck and swallow all at once before.  She's never

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-45877241992813074032011-09-13T14:11:00.000-04:002011-09-13T14:11:02.421-04:00

For the first time in a long time, I have know quite a few people expecting babies this summer.  It's had me thinking lots about birth stories.  When a parent shares a story that starts "on the day you were born" magic happens. It is not because babies always arrive in a planned-down-to-the-last detail way.  Birth is one of the few places were we let a beginning take care of itself.  Babies

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-40205885573004063742011-09-09T09:49:00.002-04:002011-09-09T09:49:31.687-04:00

This summer, I have posted metaphors and stories in a effort to condition myself to be more intentional about trusting my stories to communicate what I need to say.  I will continue to create and tell stories in my blogs, but as fall begins (everyone knows that Labour Day is really the final day of summer), I am going to add some more direct discussion of both what works and what stops us. In

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-57055110701684627092011-09-04T22:05:00.000-04:002011-09-06T23:11:38.385-04:00

Do you hear it? That's coyote laughing. I have been reading about coyote in a book from the West Coast about storywork. I like that term "storywork" - a term that means using stories to make a difference. It's a stronger term than "teaching tale." Of course a book on the way stories do work requires coyote. Coyote taught me the power of stories to make change happen. He also taught me not

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-87663508388187844032011-08-29T17:08:00.000-04:002011-08-29T17:08:42.093-04:00

Many times - maybe more than that - in the past months, people have encouraged me to consider making a fresh start. They have meant two things by this: 1) sometimes it is more trouble than it is worth to continue something and 2) sometimes starting fresh seems like a way to escape painful memories. I have responded in different ways, sometimes by explaining why I was holding on, and sometimes

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-61612899934996816192011-08-16T10:49:00.000-04:002011-08-16T10:49:07.274-04:00

The native peoples of the west coast tell wonderful stories about bears. Some of them are love stories, and they are beautiful and also very sad. The bear is wise and noble and loving, and the people are limited and fearful. A princess is captured by a bear who loves her. She is rescued by her brothers - perhaps because she is loved, perhaps because it is the right thing to do. Her children

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-39064058817919594572011-08-14T22:55:00.000-04:002011-08-14T22:55:17.341-04:00

I had a friend once who became a brilliant hypnotist because he walked in his sleep as a child. Eventually the sleep-wallking led his mom to take him to a hypnotherapist. The hypnotherapist must have had a positive impact on the sleepwalking, although the story he mostly told was of how she let him watch whole episodes of Spiderman in his mind. It sounds a little like the beginning of a novel,

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-18781408382218194452011-08-05T22:04:00.001-04:002011-08-05T22:08:45.621-04:00

This is a retelling of a west coast Native legend about the origin of the Orca. A large black whale floated near the surface, singing and watching the clouds. The whale loved the way the clouds looked against the blue and the gray of the sky. Sometimes the whale jumped high into the sky, reaching towards those clouds. But the clouds stayed in the sky, and the whale fell back into the water.

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-74543290922011072312011-08-03T13:17:00.002-04:002011-08-03T13:20:03.570-04:00

She was good at hiding in plain light. When you radiate enough light, people see the shine and not the shape under it. They weren't distracted by her; they looked around and saw more clearly because she was there. Underneath, she was darker. Light casts shadows and she had to be good at navigating under the light, as though her path lay always behind a waterfall or through a thick forest. She

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-40800429948586696062011-07-25T18:13:00.001-04:002011-07-25T18:16:39.445-04:00

When my oldest son was in grade 2, I talked my way into his classroom. In kindergarten and grade 1, I had been welcome to help prepare crafts, but generally it was clear that a) I would need a babysitter for my younger son and b) parent volunteers were supposed to help with the practical stuff by cutting and pasting and supervising. Somehow, when Cary was in grade 2, I made contact with his

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-5977624309778228552011-07-20T15:50:00.001-04:002011-07-20T15:51:38.782-04:00

One of my early memories is of entering a cake decorating contest. I was probably nine years old and we were living in Richmond B.C. I have no actual recollection of how I decorated my entry: I just remember how betrayed I felt when I realized that many of the elaborate entries were probably not decorated by the children who entered them. Five years later, my little sister was born and I

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-64206887420692988502011-07-19T11:11:00.001-04:002011-07-19T12:24:51.799-04:00

Once there was and was not a bear who was quick and funny and somewhat afraid of standing still. Bear loved to run and climb and splash in cold mountain streams. He was strong and fast and when he found other bears, he was equally happy competing or playing. Bear loved everything that allowed him to keep moving. He didn't love standing still. Every fall, he put off hibernation until the last

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-9594440353457275782011-07-14T21:44:00.002-04:002011-07-14T21:55:10.314-04:00

I read blogs, and one of the blogs I enjoy is idealawg. Last week, I caught a tweet from the blogger that said the jumping mouse had been added to a list of protected species. One of my favourite stories is the legend of Jumping Mouse. So I tweeted back and asked if the writer knew the story. A few minutes later, I had sent the link and said that it was fun to be able to give something back

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-43171110737443409282011-06-30T21:03:00.000-04:002011-06-30T21:03:42.007-04:00

I have a friend who is likely to interrupt protests or hesitation with an accusation that one is simply defending one's limitations. Of course, he is often right. Often we do defend our limitations with passion and perseverance. We like to know who we are, even when it means we cannot win. On the other hand. . . Once upon a time, I faced a scholarship panel who asked "If you can do math, why do

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-6932759449044825742011-06-23T12:31:00.000-04:002011-06-23T12:31:27.365-04:00

We thought it would rain this morning so we decided that it was a good day for the Musee d'Orsay since both mom and I love it. There is no direct way to get there from the hotel by Metro, so we thought we would walk.it is mostly downhill. On the way, we admired shoe stores and patisseries with equal enthusiasm. I had started tube day by crossing the street and buying a small baguette studded

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-32837917945665147692011-06-19T10:04:00.000-04:002011-06-19T10:04:30.866-04:00

When I was about 13, old enough to feel quite grown up but not old enough for a summer job, I started playing golf. That's not quite true. When I was 13, golf became a serious activity I did with my dad. Before that, we had several summers of wonder at a tiny golf club where it was perfectly safe for kids under 12 to take off for 9 holes without parents. I don't remember much about the golf

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-59243506113776092282011-06-16T08:12:00.001-04:002011-06-16T08:19:12.155-04:00

Once upon a time, as it has happened many times, a young man set out to seek his fortune. He was lucky that he lived in a time when people set out to find their fortune by walking. Walking changes what you see and what you think. It gives you time to notice things you would miss from a car or an airplane. The young man set off in spring, when the sun was shining and the air was soft. Sometimes

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-7575283354850011312011-06-13T23:15:00.000-04:002011-06-13T23:15:30.938-04:00

When I was in high school, there was no girls soccer program. While women's soccer was growing rapidly in the club system, it had yet to find its way into the high schools. By the time I was in grade 12, I was playing and coaching soccer all summer. I wanted to play at school, too. I decided it was time to launch a school tournament. I was 17, and I was playing and coaching rep soccer. I was in

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-6457335460508768062011-06-11T12:36:00.000-04:002011-06-11T12:36:54.927-04:00

I have been blessed. I have been happy for long stretches in different parts of my life. When I think about happy days, lots come to mind. The happiest came when my boys were very small. I remember days and days when my first kid did happy all day long. I remember that it was a revelation that happy was not just something that happened to people (like good luck or chicken pox): it was

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-31749723000521240002011-06-10T15:43:00.000-04:002011-06-10T15:43:59.712-04:00

The first storyteller I remember hearing, often and vividly, is my mom. Her stories are so much a part of who I am that it's difficult to tell the difference between a memory and a memory of her stories about me and my brothers. The memories of my sister are a little easier, because I was old enough to hold her childhood almost as close and precious as my mom did. When we were little, we lived

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-50768261565481346292011-06-09T07:42:00.000-04:002011-06-09T07:42:51.737-04:00

If you had been standing near the finish line, you would have seen them cross, matching stride for stride, exactly equal. Their finish was so close that you might have imagined they were friends running together. But they were just two men who finished the race within sight of the winners but not winners themselves. For every race, there are many more finishers than there are leaders or

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-18299424984468584662011-06-07T12:28:00.000-04:002011-06-07T12:28:39.340-04:00

I am sitting here with the intention to write a story for my blog. I've just completed The Story Factor by Annette Simmons, and I am resolving to use more stories in my writing, as easily as I use them in a training room. It's funny, but I don't remember how we picked Charlottetown for our honeymoon. I know we picked Halifax because I wanted to go to Dalhousie but decided, for many reasons,

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-91348982855308880162011-06-06T15:11:00.000-04:002011-06-06T15:11:16.921-04:00

It's one of the first hot days of summer (even if the calendar won't catch up for a few weeks), a day that feels like it was made for just hanging out with a good friend. A long walk through a park or along the lakeshore, a patio, a backyard bbq: the perfect way to spend sunshine and heat and green grass. Just thinking about it, you can feel yourself unwind as your mind begins to wind its way

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-4867115977063254892011-06-01T22:09:00.000-04:002011-06-01T22:09:33.395-04:00

I have been talking to people who train and facilitate about how they know what they are doing is working and how they decide what to change to get better. A wise friend suggested that we all need a mirror. Maybe we all need lots of mirrors. In one of my favourite fairy tales there is a princess who is beautiful that a thousand mirrors could not show all of her loveliness at once. We are all a

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-38505443955176768112011-05-31T09:56:00.000-04:002011-05-31T09:56:24.572-04:00

Imagine a five-year-old on a beach, a child who picks up a stick and draws complicated designs in the sand, a child who gathers leaves and shells and rocks and carefully arranges and rearranges them. As you are watching this five year old child on the beach, you think: this child is destined to be an artist. And you feel that this is so true and so right that you want to help. But you have

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-54999144124073080772011-05-29T17:03:00.002-04:002011-05-29T19:31:40.748-04:00

Not many offices feature a front step, but mine does. In all the world, it is one of my favorite places just to sit. I have a lot of memories here. Today, I am sitting here with a large mug of tea, writing and waiting for my students to come back from their field trip. In a little while, they will start to arrive, full of ideas or full of conversation, but this is the time before. It is not

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-45809087548553579992011-05-26T22:32:00.000-04:002011-05-26T22:32:44.353-04:00

I am in love with children, with almost all children. Every child contains so much resilience, so much wonder, so much determination. Whether I am holding a baby who is working himself up into a really good crying jag or watching a four year old with finger paint, I am watching a model of self-affirmation in the face of a very big world. There is no time when it is not useful to remember that

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-52919035910139767132011-05-25T17:32:00.001-04:002011-05-25T17:36:48.897-04:00

The thing that drew me into NLP first was that I met someone who knew how to get me on the radar. For no particular reason, I got a response to an email that I had sent to dozens of people, and that response was the beginning of the path I have been walking for the past nine years. Since then, I have met many people, read many books, and explored many possible ways to get, shape and hold the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-18330987935653265682011-05-23T17:04:00.000-04:002011-05-23T17:04:29.318-04:00

It was often part of being one of the smart kids in a particular subject. Other kids would ask to copy your work - or might copy it without asking. Either way, it was generally seen as a form of cheating. Maybe we should rethink the way we teach our kids to learn. The most effective way of learning in the workplace is to do exactly what you were taught was cheating - to copy someone who has

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-46539277813907144502011-05-22T10:27:00.000-04:002011-05-22T10:27:46.543-04:00

I read my horoscope this morning, and it asked a question about the quality that made a teacher my favourite. The suggestion was that I take that quality into my interaction with a group of people. Paradoxically, perhaps, this is one of the few weekends this spring when I am relaxing with my family and not teaching. But I have been thinking about this question, and focusing on one of the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-6319941976303187592011-05-18T19:03:00.000-04:002011-05-18T19:03:08.727-04:00

While presenting at ProjectWorld yesterday, I was reminded again that energy in a room does not require extraordinary presentation skills or deep, wide information. Whenever people have a chance to make positive connections, to other people and to hope for the work they do, energy thrives. Think about that the next time you are looking at a room of people on another rainy day during typically

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-46023584992001546082011-05-13T15:16:00.000-04:002011-05-13T15:16:37.128-04:00

It's never easy to say goodbye. We find all kinds of way to avoid the word - to get off the phone or away from the meeting with any phrase that doesn't bring us smack into the reality of separation from someone whose welfare matters to us. Goodbye comes from "God be with you" or - if you are not a believer - 'good be with you.' Farewell or fare thee well - means "I hope things go well for you."

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-3736603517207431482011-05-10T10:57:00.001-04:002011-05-10T11:00:38.016-04:00

Sometimes I am asked this question directly, sometimes it is just implied by the context. If you check the twitter feed, you will find dozens of NLP "experts" writing cheery motivational sayings. They imply that you can out-think your life: that you can set goals and focus on them and build rapport and be happy all day, everyday. I write what I write because I believe NLP and enriched

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-29606665815222932232011-05-07T11:54:00.000-04:002011-05-07T11:54:19.395-04:00

I have just returned from five days on the beach at Varadero. I have never been in the ocean that far south, so this was my first experience with relatively warm ocean water (our Cuban tour guide told us that it is still much too cold for Cubans to be in the water). I am also used to the cooler colours of the ocean farther north. The waves in Varadero are the most brilliant turquoise. Well,

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-6666431411934180812011-04-30T15:58:00.000-04:002011-04-30T15:58:23.660-04:00

I spent my morning saying goodbyes. It was hard to drop the dog off. Her trip to the city was so exciting until she realized it was all a trick and she wasn't going to get to go back home. We all know what that is like, and knowing should make it harder to drop the dog off, even for a relatively short time. Vacations are fun when you are planning them and fun when you are on them. In between

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-70213119672847284162011-04-28T23:15:00.001-04:002011-04-28T23:15:32.248-04:00

Tonight I watched the first year musical theatre students at Sheridan perform Glee Live! They were awesome. It took me back to the days when I watched Fame, a million years ago, and to before that, when I was as young as the students on the stage, and as fiercely passionate and ambitious. I remember being that vulnerable and that brave. I remember the feeling when I opened the envelope, the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-10102873615250118382011-04-27T22:14:00.000-04:002011-04-27T22:14:38.991-04:00

Dear world above ground, It is beautiful and strange here below the waves of consciousness. I go from hot to cold in a moment, from balanced to floating to struggling for air. The only consistency is knowing that whatever I am in this minute will be different soon. I know that somewhere in this floor, there is a chasm that would allow me to slip farther down, to sink into the deep soft grass

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-67557948862638038912011-04-26T23:48:00.000-04:002011-04-26T23:48:03.605-04:00

Have you ever had a major relationship shift or disappear in what feels like an instant? Afterwards, you will think of all the different ways it was predictable, but there is something in our brain that resists this kind of change so strongly that we never do predict it. It always seems that tomorrow will come, the bad patch will pass, and we will get back to normal. Look around your life and

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-20320019934733234892011-04-25T09:11:00.000-04:002011-04-25T09:11:32.940-04:00

This year I will celebrate or hide from my 50th birthday by running away to Paris with my mom. There is something intimidating about 50: a paradoxical sense of hope and dread as you imagine all that you will never do and wonder whether to push harder or simply let what you already know pull you along like a current. You might feel - I often feel - stronger and smarter and more resilient than ever

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-41097036691455517452011-04-23T13:19:00.000-04:002011-04-23T13:19:10.862-04:00

For many years, I have taught a simple sales process as part of a course in business writing. Today, I found the same model in a slideshare show through Linked In. The formula is Attention Interest Desire Action Over the years, I have used variations but they all suggest that you need to connect with someone, engage their interest, help them imagine themselves using your product or service,

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-57320293845801054452011-04-18T00:43:00.000-04:002011-04-18T00:43:52.890-04:00

Most people hold two mutually exclusive ideas about change. The first idea is that change is hard and takes initiative and effort and possibly discipline to bring about. Often, this is the idea that springs to mind when we think about organizational change or political change. It holds within it the seed of the idea that change, at least some change, makes logical sense and is brought about

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-18158419148040803412011-03-31T11:43:00.000-04:002011-03-31T11:43:13.039-04:00

We all procrastinate sometimes. Often, it doesn't mean anything except that we have something more fun to do than the chore we are putting off. But if there's an area where the only thing consistent about your performance is procrastination, then procrastination can hurt. It can hurt you, and it can hurt the people who are counting on you to get the job done. When procrastination hurts, it is

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-82314650377579447732011-03-02T13:10:00.000-05:002011-03-02T13:10:37.507-05:00

One of the trickiest areas in soft skills training is the problem of evaluating how well it worked. It's true that not all training is effective and it's equally true that the training that feels the best isn't always the most effective training. Here are three guiding principles to use when evaluating whether or not training has made a positive impact on you or your team. 1. Results trump

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-73249246057991690042011-02-21T18:32:00.000-05:002011-02-21T18:32:53.310-05:00

We have all been told - and told others - to take a deep breath as a way of collecting our thoughts or changing our states. Taking a deep breath is as appropriate in the quiet of private reflection as it is before a performance. It's interesting language: take a breath. We don't take it from anyone else: breathing adds as much to the air as it takes. What if you changed your language. Instead

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-14929971530102626462011-02-03T18:08:00.000-05:002011-02-03T18:08:27.370-05:00

Let's go back to first principles. Let's begin with what came into your mind when you saw this phrase. It's one of those deceptively simple phrases: none of the words are unfamiliar, but the meaning of the whole is curiously hard to express. The meaning of the words would be one example of first principles: any attempt to understand communication through language finally runs back into the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-76713718887954813612011-01-17T08:19:00.001-05:002011-01-17T08:20:43.142-05:00

Over the weekend I had an intriguing weekend with a group of friends working on a problem which may or may not prove insurmountable but certainly looks very large. Everyone there was smart and skilled and everyone wanted the best for everyone else. We were in an wonderfully warm, safe, and very beautiful setting. Here's what I noticed. Most of the people in the room were used to solving

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-11255007542276099902011-01-07T08:56:00.002-05:002011-01-07T09:12:51.105-05:00

My mom and I are going to Paris in June. We have our flights booked and now we are exploring places to stay. I look at one of my computer screens at a tiny picture of a room or a spot marked on a map. And as I look the room I am in disappears and I am walking down and up big streets and small streets and garden paths. And it is that glorious time of year when light lasts longest and I can walk

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-4555614634834991732010-12-23T14:54:00.003-05:002010-12-23T15:12:46.910-05:00

It's the time of year when almost everyone wishes for just a little magic. If you're celebrating Christmas, then magic goes with the territory. And if you're not, then there's still moonlight on snow, and parties, and a fresh start in a new year. So here's just a little magic for the season, marked with stars to remind you that these are not instructions but magic tricks!* You can make the most

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-35747282979691982172010-11-29T18:57:00.002-05:002010-11-29T19:09:16.879-05:00

What if trance is so relaxing precisely because it is a state in which you have no concerns for anybody else? Then you could be in trance whenever you were completely self-absorbed.It doesn't sound particularly nice. It doesn't sound particularly ecological. It doesn't sound like a mysterious gift from your unconscious mind. It sounds - self-absorbed.I think about this paradox whenever we are

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-5506093400533152722010-11-22T22:37:00.002-05:002010-11-22T22:47:49.465-05:00

One of the dangers of spending a weekend working closely with the ways people perceive and influence is the need to be intentional about one's own framing. As we slide in and out of connections that interest us and warm us, we also slide into frames. If that term is new to you, think about a window frame and the way it draws your eye to certain parts of a landscape, moves other parts to the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-26170615894853884572010-11-16T09:22:00.002-05:002010-11-16T09:25:54.249-05:00

This morning, my legs were already tense when I woke up. I wondered: why am I so stressed? My mind obediently began to marshal evidence that I did, indeed, have lots to be stressed about (and over and in and around).Then I moved. And remembered - the gym yesterday. Oh yeah. It's not emotional stress. I just need to visit my friend the elliptical more often.How often do you reach for the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-60919185694863355432010-11-11T07:39:00.002-05:002010-11-11T07:59:26.815-05:00

I wonder what comes to your mind when I ask you about the days that you remember best. Are they the big benchmark moments: births and deaths and weddings and graduations? Are they the days of personal achievement, the days when you completed the big project (or started it) or won a promotion or started your own company? Or are they the days of absolute engagement, days when you went to the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-57828942214343930012010-11-03T22:04:00.002-04:002010-11-03T22:18:18.855-04:00

Have you ever really wished you could shut up and listen to someone who was trying to open up a new possibility to you? When we think of that phrase "shut up and listen," we usually imagine it being said by a frustrated speaker struggling to hold someone's attention. But taken a different way, it might be a plea to ourselves.How insistent is that critical voice in your head that finds problems

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-4927979491135304862010-10-29T22:47:00.003-04:002010-10-29T15:51:51.354-04:00

If you're a leader then lead. If you're a leader and aren't ready: Watch out. If you're a leader and try to hide: Forget about it. You've been found. You can run, kid, but you can't hide. Leaders don't know how.When I was in my early twenties my brother and I dreamed about a life style management centre that we would run one day. We were so excited. I don't know about him but I seemed to take it

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-52711127669770944312010-10-27T22:59:00.002-04:002010-10-27T23:09:38.074-04:00

Have you ever handled a situation brilliantly, only to find yourself shaking afterwards? Maybe there's a scene that plays over and over in your head while you search for the words you wished you had said. It's not that you handle conflict badly. You handle conflict well. It's the aftermath that's a killer.I had this discussion recently with another facilitator. Like me, she was able to handle

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-32773830608439769022010-10-26T12:35:00.006-04:002010-10-26T23:27:01.304-04:00

The other day my business partner said that I am a healer. She said that I love to support learning by tending to the well being of other people. The funny thing about that, is, that my belief about that can be shifty. There are days when I look at people and I see what needs to be done and have very little patience for people that can't perform to their potential because they are "unwell". I

Chrisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-51428816444789473272010-10-20T09:27:00.003-04:002010-10-20T09:44:43.381-04:00

I just finished reading Mojo by Marshall Goldsmith. One of the exercises that caught my eye was the personal mission statement, mostly because Goldsmith recognizes how often this is a bad exercise and insists, nonetheless, that there is value in doing it well. I work with a partner, so I am reflecting here on my mission, his mission and our mission.I am an artist and what I create are situations

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-46506648896912033012010-10-10T15:55:00.002-04:002010-10-10T16:07:56.707-04:00

Two experiences this week have me thinking about family. The first was the funeral for a close friend's father, attended by many people from our work community. The second was a party at my house, where young adults gathered to laugh and reminisce about being teenagers. My conclusion from these two very different events is this: our families are the people who show up.We cannot always count on

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-9696198371835727972010-10-05T18:08:00.003-04:002010-10-05T18:15:52.358-04:00

Is there a group you would like to lead through change? Here's a good place to start: if you want to facilitate change consider a change in the way you facilitate.I often hear "creative" facilitators talk about their "energizers" for a group. This is the kind of technique that seems so completely harmless that it is extremely resilient (think about that: it's easier to change something

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-13318153797281718032010-10-01T15:08:00.003-04:002010-10-01T15:29:35.040-04:00

I was just reading the latest issue of TIME magazine. There's an article on research on how the 9 months we spend in the womb affect our health and well-being as children and even as adults. Apparently, infants in the womb take on many of their mother's issues.The article identified the potential to change this, to make babies less like their parents and more strong, healthy and stable. That

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-10361128145664963632010-09-26T10:06:00.002-04:002010-09-26T10:14:15.908-04:00

We all know that technology is always on the move, always changing. And that's hard on us. People who love books love them because the stories change but the technology has been almost the same for hundreds of years. E readers work, when they work, by acting like nothing has changed. If you don't think of words on a page as technology, revisit the difference between hand-writing and the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-84393786393845962422010-09-20T11:17:00.003-04:002010-09-20T11:24:58.571-04:00

Fall is always too short. Blink and it's gone: one day the sun is blistering hot and the next there are Christmas carols in the mall. Whatever the weather, our autumn frame of mind is less about harvest and rest and more about making everything work before the end of the year.With the goal in sight, we run with all our might. This has two hazards. The first is that the faster we go, the less

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-64436130970216746162010-09-16T21:50:00.002-04:002010-09-16T21:59:11.219-04:00

On the one hand, I am just slightly smug: the University of Toronto was ranked in the top 20 universities in the world by a British study. My doctorate is from U of T; my husband, sister and mother all graduated from U of T and my son just started law school there. It feels good to have it recognized as world class (I graduated in English, for which it is especially renowned).And yet, my

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-700483992180133972010-09-13T11:42:00.002-04:002010-09-13T16:36:53.801-04:00

There are herds of cows and flocks of sheep and murders of crows. I wonder if maybe a group of friends could be a gathering. I like the way "gather" suggests that we come together, gradually, from many different places, as part of a harvest. On the weekend, I was part of a gathering of friends. It was a group where enough people were friends of enough other people that the entire group, some

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-10735854682818946642010-09-06T09:44:00.003-04:002010-09-06T09:48:29.466-04:00

This is Labour Day, the real end to summer and the beginning of the rush to the New Year. It's a bit of a mystery, this seasonal burst of energy and tension. Nothing will be different tomorrow: everything will be different tomorrow. We will sit on patios and wonder each time if it is the last time for 2010. We will make phone calls expecting that everyone, everywhere is at work.Think for a

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-43884962294108389782010-08-02T17:58:00.000-04:002010-08-02T17:59:16.896-04:00

You probably imagine that it is easy to take a break: just stop working for awhile and the break will happen. That's only partly true. When you think about it, there have been times you have taken a few minutes off and it has been the beginning of a long period of bouncing unhappily between the task and other things. There have been times when you thought that just one coffee or just one

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-58271757475503350232010-07-31T23:20:00.003-04:002010-07-31T23:27:37.405-04:00

It's one of those funny times. According to the calendar, summer begins in late June and lasts until late September. We are just about halfway through. But that's not how it feels. It feels like summer begins when we watch for the first crocus in February, and it ends when we begin to notice the back-to-school shopping. This long weekend is not Labour Day, not the end of summer. But it is the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-31061087800869684632010-07-27T14:24:00.003-04:002010-07-27T14:30:21.756-04:00

My head hurts this afternoon. It hurts because I did two dumb things. Probably not what springs to mind.The first dumb thing I did was to walk too far yesterday with too much weight in my backpack. It was only slightly uncomfortable while I was walking, but if I had been listening to my shoulders, I would have known they were tensing in a way that would make them (and my head) sore today.The

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-39755394061153081782010-07-22T09:57:00.002-04:002010-07-22T10:03:52.065-04:00

If I told you I had a sure fire way for you to be more successful, a way that couldn't fail to improve your relationships, develop your skills and provide you with more money and less frustration, you would want to know more. You would be wondering, 'where do I sign up?'If I went on to say that you already have the information you would need to evaluate my claim in your own experience, you

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-89511825708964145222010-07-05T16:33:00.002-04:002010-07-05T16:40:35.820-04:00

It's a great puzzle that there is no opposite to a snow day. If you are reading this from somewhere that doesn't ever get snow, you don't know the wonder of an unexpected opportunity to stay home and disconnect. When there is a sudden dump of a large amount of snow, the world gets hushed and lovely and everyone stays where they are or goes for a walk to admire a world turned playful.Why doesn't

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-71854993596909287842010-06-24T07:39:00.002-04:002010-06-24T10:04:36.005-04:00

Today is my birthday. I'm never quite sure how I feel about that. This year I am 49, and thinking about 50 next year. Aside from the decades thing, 49 seems like it should be more significant: 7 sevens seem to carry some vaguely magical significance.I have had lots of birthdays and so I have celebrated them in many ways. This year, I am announcing some key projects to a special group of

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-31964422189405140472010-06-20T10:17:00.002-04:002010-06-20T10:19:25.016-04:00

1) If you are going to really learn to golf, you require permission to say "shit" once in a while2) Believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, but only expect to see fluff from the Easter bunny's tail caught on your window3) When you get the wind knocked out of you, lie down and breathe till the tears stop.

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-18132091040602606732010-06-15T21:55:00.002-04:002010-06-15T22:11:16.585-04:00

I promised myself I would blog a response to this question, although it was offered rhetorically when it came up in a recent class. Someone was saying that it was easier to make time to read non-fiction because there was clearly a purpose to reading it: but what good is there in reading fiction? Fiction, I would have liked to say, feeds your soul.That's not a very good response since it assumes

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-63680764986093994182010-06-09T19:12:00.002-04:002010-06-09T19:17:06.256-04:00

I was speaking to someone who just returned from a three week cruise that including visits to a number of really amazing cities. She was mostly bored - not entirely by the cities but by the rhythm of travel. Her real life was on hold and three weeks was too long. I confess to some sympathy with the idea that real life happens where we have real relationships.On the other hand, my son set off

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-92194747618864187812010-06-07T17:03:00.002-04:002010-06-07T17:18:41.886-04:00

It can be hard to say goodbye at an airport. I did it Saturday (bravely) when my son left for eight weeks exploring Europe. It's hard because the sense of possibility is almost tangible at an airport. You can step from the ticket window and move towards almost anywhere in the world. It's a little strange to give someone a hug, knowing they'll wake up in an entirely different place and you'll

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-5563817841993693732010-06-02T23:02:00.002-04:002010-06-02T23:20:16.170-04:00

On Monday evening this week, I attended the Spirit of Hope benefit where Salman Rushdie and Elie Wiesel discussed a variety of questions related to freedom, hope and peace. Rushdie made points that I believe to be true. He said, "We all live in and through and by telling stories." Because of this, he also said that the first victim of a dictatorship is language. Dictators know that power

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-60543013362326241562010-05-28T07:55:00.002-04:002010-05-28T08:25:21.187-04:00

In my business, I see a lot of hype about specific patterns: learn this pattern and you have the key to success. Most of it is nonsense based on a fundamental (often buried deep) truth. Patterns are powerful. Not this pattern or that pattern. Any pattern has some power.Here's what wikipedia says about patterns:A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-68326510987255335812010-05-19T21:18:00.002-04:002010-05-19T21:26:05.137-04:00

I've spent the last two days training managers to write better emails. I'm always impressed by how deeply people want to express themselves effectively and how frustrated they get by the difficulty of writing. Writing means squeezing complicated, changing experience into one word at a time. It's like turning sand into diamonds. It takes time and it takes pressure.When I was quite young, I was

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-17829092791708633732010-05-12T11:15:00.003-04:002010-05-12T11:27:56.813-04:00

It seems a little tame as a follow up to my last post, but that's the best part of what I have been doing this week. On the really warm days, I walk up to my waist and practice going with the flow. On the not-quite-so-warm days, I walk along the water's edge, sometimes in and sometimes out.I am learning.It doesn't look like learning from the outside. It looks like wandering or zoning out or

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-76556947382653186952010-05-08T01:45:00.004-04:002010-05-08T02:18:41.364-04:00

Tonight, my husband and I arrived at our vacation destination. It was hot and humid and we headed straight for the beach. We bought groceries and went out for music and nachos and margaritas. It was a perfect start to a relaxing week.Until we went to bed. We teased each other about the extra pillow. I turned out the light. There was a loud exploding sound. My husband told me - quite urgently

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-91865584258362647782010-05-04T08:27:00.002-04:002010-05-04T08:53:33.357-04:00

It's been a month since my last post, and it has been one of those months that feels like at least a season. A month ago, winter lingered in our minds. Now, it is exuberantly spring.I told a friend who was struggling with writing to write to find out what he had to say. Increasingly, this seems like wise advice to me. The very young me always had a plan and a statement. At the time, that

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-23221269826595438192010-04-08T13:29:00.003-04:002010-04-08T13:39:20.524-04:00

The problem with making something better is that you have to begin by sorting through exactly what you have now. And that's so much work. It seems much easier to have someone package it all up and move it all to new storage than to sort through, piece by piece, to discover what you love, what is broken, what is no longer useful (but might be useful to somebody else).Of course, I'm talking about

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16662426.post-63913222986309647152010-03-25T14:08:00.004-04:002010-03-25T14:47:48.886-04:00

I am have been an English teacher, a writer, and a storyteller. There has never been a time when I was not enchanted by stories. When I tell people that they need to tell stories because stories have power, they often think I say that from my own, peculiar, not-particularly-to-be-trusted perspective.It's true that stories have shaped much of my life and that I am unusually sensitive to the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03795519087236585296noreply@blogger.com0