I’m taking voice lessons from the incredible Teal Collins from The Mother Truckers. And, the last few days I’ve experienced great frustration because I have to learn how to pace my breath. I can sing those notes well, but without the pace of my breath, I peter out at the end. For those of you that know me, pace is something I strive for. I’ve typically been a run-stop-run-stop kinda girl, and while I appreciate the productivity that energy can bring short term, I value what pace can do long-term.
I’m curious, how do you manage pace?
Filed under: Growth + Development, Health, How-To's | Tags: Change Anything, Crucial Conversations
We are two weeks into the New Year. I would imagine if you are like most of the planet, you have at least one area that you wanted to modify or completely overhaul in 2012. Perhaps it’s your profession? Your relationships? Your health? Or maybe you want to finish a personal project that’s been on the backburner for months or even years!
Change isn’t easy. We are creatures of habit, and we have to use the most executive part of our brains to help create change. Change requires focus, presence, and commitment.
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Filed under: Advertising + Marketing, Business Related, Growth + Development, Health, Thought-Provoking | Tags: 2011 Social Business Summit, BRITE Conference, Charlene Li, Dachis Group, Empowered, I am Fedex, Josh Bernoff, JP Rangaswami, Open Leadership, Social business, SXSWi, Ted Schadler
What does integration mean to you?
To me, personal integration means that my life is working well. The parts that make up Jen Spencer are firing on all cylinders. They are connected and operate in a system. And the fruits of this integration yield efficiencies and possibilities for alignment that hadn’t existed before. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
And what I have noticed is that when something is off in my work and life or I feel overextended, fragmented or disconnected, integration is usually the only way to realign and get me back on track moving towards my overall goal(s).
It’s been really interesting noticing the same patterns in business lately. In the past 3 months, I’ve been steeped in conferences, surrounded by experts in social business, brands + innovation and interactivity. What’s excited me is that these innovators in enterprise and social profit businesses are clear that – similar to working human beings – they have to integrate to achieve the next level of success. Integration is key to evolution.
Filed under: Creativity, Growth + Development, Health, Resources, Thought-Provoking | Tags: Dad, Jen, Life According to Jen, Sugar my Dad Says, Top Ten
When I read this article about a dying father’s wishes for his daughter, I wondered what my dad would say in regards to his lessons and legacy of learning. I decided not to wait until he was dying to find out. To spark conversation, I sent him my top 10 list:
#1 We create our meaning. Isn’t it more empowering to create meaning that inspires?
#2 We typically are our own biggest barriers. The upside of this is once we recognize this, we can seek counsel, environments, head space that supports our dreams and goals, wants and desires.
#3 Team is essential to life.
Filed under: Creativity, Growth + Development, Health, Thought-Provoking | Tags: frustration, getting unstuck, perspective, stuck, team, tool, whole self
Being stuck usually doesn’t feel very good. In fact, it can feel pretty crappy and debilitating. For me, stuck = messy, unfamiliar, out of control, stagnant, confused, and aimless.
So, how do we turn the dissonance of stuck into the fluidity and energy of insight and resolution?
Here are some tips for getting ‘unstuck’ —
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As is life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowing
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
From D.W., River Flow: New and Selected Poems 1984-2007
