Integrate!

This post will surprise some of you. I often talk in metaphors because they are a very compact form of communication. A metaphor uses something known to explain something new or intangible. In a very few words, you can sketch in a web of relationships and meanings. Although many people don't know the word 'metaphor' very well, they use metaphors unconsciously. It may be that metaphors are hard wired into our brains. image credit: Criss Cross via free images (license) Sometimes the wires get crossed. One of the great achievements of human beings is that we figured out how to own more than we can carry. There was a time when a person could own only what they could move around on their own. That was a long time ago. Now we own houses, cars, furniture, and overstuffed backpacks. We own more than we can carry. This is fine until we use our stuff for a metaphor of our internal experience. We are afraid to face many elements of our experience because we are condition...

I met with two business people this week. Both were the kind of people you would want working on your team: professional, committed, interesting. And both of them were engaged in work that had only the fuzziest of purposes. It makes you wonder how much our economic reality would change if we gave everyone the benefit of a clear, compelling purpose for their work. It's hard to be productive when there is no clear criteria for knowing you have done a good job and no real (I mean something you can see!) result for doing the work. No matter how much you want to work, a 'why' makes a big difference. It's my pet peeve with people seeking training. "We are interested in some training in NLP," the voice on the phone says. And my instincts say "run!" Because people who won't commit to a purpose are unlikely to achieve a purpose and 'some training' is not a purpose. I ask them "what will change if this training goes as well as it can possi...

When you ask yourself: "What do I want more of?" the first answer that comes to mind is often something like "vacations!" It's easy to want more time away, more adventures to beautiful places, more freedom. Yes. All good. And yet, how does that change what you are doing in the next hour?  When you think "What do I want more of in this day?" the answers change. For me, the answers are: more wonderfully engaging connections and conversations more control over my state and my choices more focus and more energy so that I can accomplish more And all of these are achievable. I have the knowledge and the resources to seek out better connections, to choose better experiences for myself, to take care of mind and body so that I have the energy I need to do what I want to do. Every step is a simple step, and still it is hard. Still the road has curves and bumps that make it easy to say "I can't. I won't. It's not my fault." ...