Please check this blog regarding the child abuse death of a young girl after parents follow the recommendations of the Pearls who run a church and wrote the book: To Train Up a Child
http://musemama.blogspot.com/2010/02/bring-back-boycott.html
I signed a petition asking Amazon not to sell this book. I know that is in itself controversial, but lots of people are buying this book of insanity. In my job I read weekly Child Protective Service report. It constantly amazes and saddens me what adults are willing to do to children.
Showing posts with label chaos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chaos. Show all posts
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Our Will vs Chaos
I used to write a blog called Be One With the Chaos. We've all experienced it and I was fascinated by how some could hold their center while others fell apart. I know incredibly resilient people who repeatedly inspire with their ability to be creative and solve problems in the face of challenges. I've also witnessed complete melt downs - how and what we try to control matters.
I recently read in Brendon Burchard's book The Charge that "we can control the quality of our character, actions and contributions to the world." Without resolve to maintain our values in thought and actions, we are almost defenseless in the face of chaotic events. Only when we rely on our character and hold our center can we rise above the turmoil of disasters, tragedies and random events.
When we least expect it, we may be blindsided. Will we react or respond? Burchard says, "meet the uncontrollable with a measure of choice and will." Respond from our character. Avoid reacting from pure emotion. Getting emotional usually adds fuel to the fire, while a response that reflects our values and maintains the dignity of all involved has an excellent chance to lower the negative impact or even eliminate the damage that chaos can cause.
A shout out tonight to one of my colleagues who held her center in the face of an emotionally charged and cheap-shot accusation. I won't go into the details but this could have blown up into a nasty, racial issue in our community. What I loved is while my friend acknowledged her fears to speak up in the past, she spoke with dignity and conviction today, standing up for not only herself but countless others. I'm so proud of her.
We cannot predict where chaos will come from or why, we cannot and should not hide ourselves away in an attempt to avoid it - we can live each day to create the good we are capable of and respond to random chaos not from our defensive ego, but from our best self with honesty and dignity.
I recently read in Brendon Burchard's book The Charge that "we can control the quality of our character, actions and contributions to the world." Without resolve to maintain our values in thought and actions, we are almost defenseless in the face of chaotic events. Only when we rely on our character and hold our center can we rise above the turmoil of disasters, tragedies and random events.
When we least expect it, we may be blindsided. Will we react or respond? Burchard says, "meet the uncontrollable with a measure of choice and will." Respond from our character. Avoid reacting from pure emotion. Getting emotional usually adds fuel to the fire, while a response that reflects our values and maintains the dignity of all involved has an excellent chance to lower the negative impact or even eliminate the damage that chaos can cause.
A shout out tonight to one of my colleagues who held her center in the face of an emotionally charged and cheap-shot accusation. I won't go into the details but this could have blown up into a nasty, racial issue in our community. What I loved is while my friend acknowledged her fears to speak up in the past, she spoke with dignity and conviction today, standing up for not only herself but countless others. I'm so proud of her.
We cannot predict where chaos will come from or why, we cannot and should not hide ourselves away in an attempt to avoid it - we can live each day to create the good we are capable of and respond to random chaos not from our defensive ego, but from our best self with honesty and dignity.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
You've Got to Play the Wind
I wrote a blog for a while called Be One with the Chaos. I don't advocate asking for it, but to deny that it exists or wish that it doesn't cross your path is a sure path to failure.
When I was a young softball coach, I can remember hitting ball after ball to my outfielders on the windiest of days. I'd aim for left field and it would drift to right; fly after fly. It was frustrating and tiring, sometimes funny and cartoonish, but I kept hitting them anyway. We could have packed it in and I've seen plenty of teams do just that, but if there are 20-mile an hour gusts at our Monday practice, couldn't it do the same on our Friday game? Our outfield was ready for that.
I heard the coach for unarguably the best swimmer ever, Michael Phelps, say he made Michael late to meets on purpose. If some random chaos slowed his arrival to a competition, Michael could still get in the pool and swim his best. He also made him swim hundreds of laps with his goggles fogged up. That's the edge that great coaching can provide - preparing for chaos and swimming on to victory despite its' arrival.
"Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged." Steven Pressfield from the WAR of ART
What is your "campaign"? Are you prepared to play the wind, go on stage, take the field, the court, go into court, or to the most important meeting of your life regardless of what gets thrown at you?
Identify your gusts of wind.
Name them.
Write down the terrible referees.
Embrace them! Prepare for identified chaos (and expect some you didn't know existed.)
"Oh thank you for being assigned to this crucial, stressful day!
. . . because I'm prepared to play in the wind, with the blind ref, with my shoes untied."
Coaching matters. http://www.facebook.com/CoachWSolutions
When I was a young softball coach, I can remember hitting ball after ball to my outfielders on the windiest of days. I'd aim for left field and it would drift to right; fly after fly. It was frustrating and tiring, sometimes funny and cartoonish, but I kept hitting them anyway. We could have packed it in and I've seen plenty of teams do just that, but if there are 20-mile an hour gusts at our Monday practice, couldn't it do the same on our Friday game? Our outfield was ready for that.
I heard the coach for unarguably the best swimmer ever, Michael Phelps, say he made Michael late to meets on purpose. If some random chaos slowed his arrival to a competition, Michael could still get in the pool and swim his best. He also made him swim hundreds of laps with his goggles fogged up. That's the edge that great coaching can provide - preparing for chaos and swimming on to victory despite its' arrival.
"Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged." Steven Pressfield from the WAR of ART
What is your "campaign"? Are you prepared to play the wind, go on stage, take the field, the court, go into court, or to the most important meeting of your life regardless of what gets thrown at you?
Identify your gusts of wind.
Name them.
Write down the terrible referees.
Embrace them! Prepare for identified chaos (and expect some you didn't know existed.)
"Oh thank you for being assigned to this crucial, stressful day!
. . . because I'm prepared to play in the wind, with the blind ref, with my shoes untied."
Coaching matters. http://www.facebook.com/CoachWSolutions
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)