Home is Where the Heart Is: Families Reinvented
Ah, the holiday season…a time to reconnect, catch up and celebrate holiday cheer. It’s also about getting together and sharing food, drink and good talk with family. But the definition of family has evolved and represents more than just the traditional nuclear family or blood relatives. Today, families come in all shapes and sizes. Family can mean shared love and kindness with folks that have common values, beliefs, and experiences, not just DNA. And hopefully unconditional non-judgmental support too!
"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,
but of respect and joy in each other's life."
- Richard Bach
Families – Reinvented
Ah, the holiday season…a time to reconnect, catch up and celebrate holiday cheer. It’s also about getting together and sharing food, drink and good talk with family. But the definition of family has evolved and represents more than just the traditional nuclear family or blood relatives. Today, families come in all shapes and sizes. Family can mean shared love and kindness with folks that have common values, beliefs, and experiences, not just DNA. And hopefully unconditional non-judgmental support too!
These “brothers and sisters” may range from colleagues at work, veterans who served together, buddies who find themselves away during the holidays, friends who share their stories at book clubs, to homeless people gathered at a certain point of time in a shelter. Family is about reaching out and touching the hearts of people close to you by connecting emotionally. Family is about caring and being there for one another. It’s showing vulnerability and taking risks knowing it is safe. And it’s about tears and laughter, debate and play. Family is about creating a space called home. And as stated in one of my favorite sayings…
“Home is wherever my bunch of crazies are.”
- Anonymous
Stay the Course and Persevere
If you are anything like me, I often worry about whether I am doing enough. Was I sensitive, respectful? Did I listen and check my biases, my privilege? Did I demonstrate kindness and humility? And often when I feel I am lacking, I promise myself I’ll do better, but I berate myself anyway -- feeling like Sisyphus pushing my ignorance up the mountain. Seeking knowledge and insight, only to fall back.
As long as you think you're green, you'll grow.
As soon as you think you're ripe, you'll rot.
- Scott Horton
If you are anything like me, I often worry about whether I am doing enough. Was I sensitive, respectful? Did I listen and check my biases, my privilege? Did I demonstrate kindness and humility? And often when I feel I am lacking, I promise myself I’ll do better, but I berate myself anyway -- feeling like Sisyphus pushing my ignorance up the mountain. Seeking knowledge and insight, only to fall back.
I will make mistakes, say the wrong things, perhaps alienating colleagues, friends and family…but I commit to listen and to LEARN. It’s important to persevere, committed to the journey and not the destination. In fact, if I think I am there, at the end of the trail, I am probably operating from Ego.
So, during this busy holiday season, I’m going to try to be a little kinder to self, without seeking perfection…admitting my mistakes, as showing vulnerability is honesty, acknowledging imperfections and flaws is humility. I think I’m still very green, but I’m growing.
How to Be Empathetic: Walk a Mile in My Shoes
"Try seeing life through my eyes...try walking a mile in my shoes... Unless you’ve done that, you have NO idea."
- Anonymous
Listening to Others with Empathy
I often find myself, all wound up in my own thoughts – MY feelings, MY opinions, MY beliefs. Although I try to be giving, to share, to love others with respect, as a talker, I hear myself speaking loudly, trying to influence others, pushing my perspective. And sometimes it works. And I pat myself on the back. But the question is - did I really connect?
I’m beginning to realize that it is through fewer words, listening with an open heart that we truly hear the other person and connect…on an emotional level. This is where understanding can begin…as we feel and experience what it is like to walk in another’s shoes. This is where empathy begins. Time to zip the lips and open our eyes and ears.
"To see the world with new eyes - open eyes - loving eyes.
To choose compassion and understanding …
for our community, for the whole world."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
How To Write Effectively: Lesson from a Caffe Latte
You sit with a good friend in your favorite coffee shop.
You sip your caffe latte served at a most perfect 185 degrees.
What's more, the rich full-bodied espresso and steamed milk in your Italian handcrafted ceramic coffee cup could not taste better.
You sit with a good friend in your favorite coffee shop.
You sip your caffe latte served at a most perfect 185 degrees.
What's more, the rich full-bodied espresso and steamed milk in your Italian handcrafted ceramic coffee cup could not taste better.
You exchange stories about your relationships, your jobs, your lives.
Thanks to that wonderful coffee drink, your conversation flows effortlessly.
And that's how it is with effective marketing communications.
Effective communication is always conversational.
It resembles nothing remotely close to what is found in a textbook or academic paper or Harvard Business Review.
You must begin with a simple conversation to engage your key stakeholders.
Forget about "marketing-speak" or industry "buzz terms."
Just be conversational.
Need a simple hint on how you do that? Write with your ears. In other words, write as people speak.
And keep in mind these proven basics of effective communicators:
· Your sentences should be short and simple.
· Your language needs to be jargon-free (see above).
· And keep paragraphs to just 3 to 4 sentences for easier scanning and reading.
Also, write in active voice. It grabs hold of your audience. (Kind of a like coffee does with your brain.)
Keep these simple tips in mind the next time you need to write an important memo.
Or a put up a blog post.
Or craft a newsletter.
Your ability to be conversational is crucial if you want to engage your audience and get your message to resonate.
Nothing like a handcrafted caffe latte to get you stimulated to do just that.
~HCollaborative.com~
Banking the Good Times for a Downpour
One of my sons is steeped in the interview process for his second job out of college. He loves the industry he works in but feels his opportunity to learn and grow with his current employer plateaued.
Earlier this week, he called to talk about his second interview and how it went with the recruiter.
"Killed it!" he said. The fumes of euphoria still coursed through his veins.
One of my sons is steeped in the interview process for his second job out of college. He loves the industry he works in but feels his opportunity to learn and grow with his current employer plateaued.
Earlier this week, he called to talk about his second interview and how it went with the recruiter.
"Killed it!" he said. The fumes of euphoria still coursed through his veins.
Needless to say, I was elated for him. After congratulating my son, I hung up and headed back to my keyboard.
Then, as a nice summer breeze pushed in through my office window, I got to thinking. Is there a lesson here that the father figure could offer his son?
About 60 minutes later, I sent him this email:
Great job on smokin' that interview...
Keep that feeling of how you did in that interview in your life memory bank...remember how impressed you left the recruiter, how your confidence flowed and how you really handled a high pressure situation...
Later on in your career (happens to everyone), you'll feel dejected and not worth a piece of poop...it's at that time where you go back into your memory bank and pull today's interview out to remind yourself that even in your worst moods and worst times, you know you're not only okay but you're damn talented!
Anyone who has spent time in the marketing communications world knows that feeling of sky-high enthusiasm and rock-bottom depression. It comes with the industry, not to mention the business world. And like life, there will be good days, and there will be not-so-good days.
Many of you already have learned this lesson.
But for those who haven't, I suggest you think about it the next time you write a highly engaging post, create an award-winning website or earn a coveted grant for your mission-driven organization.
Take that euphoric feeling. File it away in your memory bank. And break it open the next time you feel those dark clouds starting to gather.
The way I see it, banking the good times is not just an umbrella.
It's a confidence booster.
And who couldn't use a little bit more of that in their life?
~HCollaborative.com~
The Power of Simplicity: In Communication, In Life
It's been said that life really is simple. But it's we humans who make it complicated.
Think for a minute about that 2,500 year-old thought above from Confucius.
It's really the truth isn't it?
The human condition is such that we are always wanting more.
It's been said that life really is simple. But it's we humans who make it complicated.
Think for a minute about that 2,500 year-old thought above from Confucius.
It's really the truth isn't it?
The human condition is such that we are always wanting more.
Something bigger. Faster. Shinier. Sexier. Newer.
And that's where the complicating begins. We are never content with what we have. And as a result, never grateful for what we have.
Simplicity is something I've come to admire. It is a touchstone in my life.
But I'll be the first to admit that it took some time to get there. I no longer crave the massive view home. Or the foreign luxury car. Or the material possessions.
My simple 2-bedroom apartment, 12-year-old Acura and good health work wonderfully well for me.
It's the same idea for communication.
Strive for simplicity in your ideas.
In your content.
Find a subject.
Add a verb.
Resist all other embellishment.
For example:
Eat less. Move more. Buy less. Make more. Stress less. Laugh more. Feel blessed. Love more.
See the power in all that simplicity.
Now think about that the next time you need to create a compelling message.
Not to mention a compelling life.
~HCollaborative.com~