Monthly Archives: January 2010

Closing the blog

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After a few years of maintaining this blog and trying to recoup a mistake Typepad had made, I never fully regain the readership I had years ago.

I will bring down this blog this week.  I might start another one soon again, based entirely on coaching and spirituality, since these are the two topics I could write non-stop :)

I will also slow down on the electric car blogs and the Examiner.  As much as it is, electric cars are on their way and people need more coaching than EVs.

Thank you for reading this and it is my sincere hope this has touched you in some way, kindling the desire to better yourself.  Together, we can do almost anything we set our heart and minds on.

Glimpse Of The True Person

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Have you ever wonder as you look at people how so many of us hide behind our characters?

I was talking to this expert doctor and was wondering about his composure.  His exterior self was well crafted, presented his expertise, not bonding with the patient and keeping a "healthy" distance.  That one quest I always to take on.  How long does it take for you and I to bond?  How many things must I say to reach you, to make you see the real person in me and see the real person in you?

It usually happens after a while, once you have dragged them out of their professional persona.  It is usually a wonderful moment where the inside human being comes out and there is a bond for a little while.  It is a safe a nurturing moment where someone feels it is OK to come out with their deeper person.  You are offering them a relaxing moment in their busy professional life.

Why is this important?  In this hectic life we live, it is easy to get lost in our professional life, slipping away the moments to intimately getting to know ourselves and being true to our inner person.  I know I always enjoy a person who is out there, themselves in their professional lives.  It shows a certain level of thinking and working on their selves.

While We Talk, Things Happen

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I just read something that should make us all think, or more to the point take action.

Now before I go on, taking action does not necessarily mean to go out on the streets and demonstrate but often time more a state of mind or shift in attitude.  I read somewhere that: "each year 5,000,000 people will lose their medical insurance, over
900,000 will go bankrupt for medically-related reasons, and 45,000
people will die because of lack of health insurance."

Those are incredibly high numbers for a country like ours that boasts terms such as: "leader of the free world", the best, etc.  What is even sadder is the endless debates around what is happening and what to do.  While one camp wants to do one thing, the other disagrees and stops the process.  If talking and thinking is very important, we also need to act.  As I have said above, acting does not necessarily mean something physical and can be as powerful as a mind shift, something you can carry into your being.

The bottom line is that knowing people live in deplorable condition in our society while we live in fair comfort should be dis-comfort enough for us.  In light of this, it is hard to look at politicians and what they say, or even worse believe one man can change an entire system.  In a society as ours where we live well, knowing we have people who live below the international poverty level (according to the UN), have a very poor literary on an international level and the above mentioned numbers, should be enough to make us stop talking and giving away our power, and to once again demand more from those elected officials.  And if they cannot do it, they should take a pay cut or move away to let a new generation have a shot at it.  Anything is better than stagnation.

In the end, we need to start doing now.  The time for talking has long past, and it starts with taking a stance.

Getting in touch with the past and healing

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Here is a fun exercise that takes as little or as much time as you are willing to give and has great rewards.

A while back, about 15 years ago, I started getting in touch with old friends.  The reason was because I felt I had done wrong and needed to make amends.

Turned out that most had forgotten and forgiven.  What it did for me was two things.  It was a relief to see they had forgotten/forgiven me.  But the other was that I had made a bigger deal then they.  In the end, my perception of things wasn't the same as these people I used to know.  It was a relief.

Conclusion?  Sometimes we make a bigger deal than what really happens.  In the end, it is only you and your conscience.

Non-Stop Working And Little Time To Take Care Of The Important Stuff

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Does this sound familiar to you?

One quick and easy question to ask yourself is: "If number one (you) is not taken care of, how can I take care of others?"

Taking care of yourself in a good selfish way means giving yourself the space and time to create your balance to bring out the best in you so that in turn you can be there for others.  If not, most of us cater to resentment and are only giving a fraction of what we can.

In this day and age, when so much needs to happen, why would you give anything but the best of yourself?

So take your time to be with yourself.  Take five minutes every day to be with yourself.  Sure it might be uncomfortable at first but you will soon enough be reacquainted with that one friend that will never let you down… yourself.  Give it space, love and thought/life food.

Acknowledging The Past And Moving On, Misconception With Coaching

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One of the biggest misconception with coaching is that people seem to think of it as counseling or therapy.  Coaching is anything but and those other profession have their place in our society.

A while back, a new client came to me.  She was interested in coaching.  When I asked her why, she said she felt stuck and lethargic.  I usually work with highly dynamic people who want a little more from their lives but decided to take her on a hunch.  And that hunch was to teach me many things.

She started to talk about her problems and focused on them.  No matter how much I asked her: "What would you like to do about it?" or "Going forward, where do you want to be?", she came back to her comfort zone of her problems, talking about it and feeling bad.

The last option was to ruffle up her feathers.  Which I did.  It was edgy and got down to the core of her being.  She was stunned at first but thankful later when she realized, she was after all doing all the right things but was not facing forward.

Coaching acknowledges the past, its pains and trials but it doesn't dwell on it.  Yes, we all have "problems" and the idea is not to focus on them.  It is to recognize them, be thankful that they are a source of motivation to push us forward and to squarely ask ourselves: "Now that I know that, what do I want to do about it going forward?"

Fed Up With Big Corporations, Moving Our Businesses Elsewhere

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As an independent, small business and entrepreneur, I am fond of small businesses for two reasons.  I am one and I understand.

When it comes to spending our money, we choose wisely.  Of course, there are certain things you cannot get from small companies, gasoline, TV, Internet and you are forced to choose from little.  But the rest, we speak loudly with our credit cards.  We buy local, right down to our food as much as possible.  We get vegetable and fruits from a local organic group of farms.  We shop for presents in locally owned small shops, our cell phone provider is the smallest of the big three, and our cars are from smaller manufacturers.  We use Apple computers because, they simply work well and are relatively hassle free.  We don't live any differently and have the same amount of maintenance and repairs.  We have a small local credit union and if we have to go back to a bank, it will be the local one.

The difference in dealing with a small business, as long as it is legit and has a good reputation is that they work for you, not the other way around.  In a society where big banks reward themselves for mistakes they have made that eventually cost us, we feel our duty is to favor the companies that are responsible and an active part of the community. 

If no one does anything and blame it on the way it is, then "the way it is" will continue to degrade itself as it has done the last few decades.  We ultimately have the power to change things and regain a certain amount of control over our lives by choosing intelligently.

How My Apple Saved My Data With Easy To Use Features

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In a past, past life, I was an IT consultant.  As an IT consultant the one thing I witnessed over and over again is that not too many people backup and only realize how important it is until they lost everything.  Sounds familiar?  If it doesn't, make sure it doesn't happen to you.

Whether you are on a Apple or PC, there is no excuse not to back up these days.  Apple offers some very easy and elegant solutions and they actually also work with PCs.  Apple's Time Capsule works in both environment but under Apple's, it is seamless.  My laptop hard drive failed and my daily back ups saved me.  All I had to do was to open Time Machine and go to the last day, I pulled the files I needed.  I can also chose to restore automatically.

The best part about how easy it is to use is that when I will upgrade to Snow Leopard, I have to fear of wiping the hard drive clean and restore my files with Time Machine.  It's that simple.

In a world where we rush, we trust too much and rarely take time to set up backups, it is now very simple to buy an external drive and back up, or if you are using an Apple, use Time Machine or if you can spend a little bit of money, buy Time Capsule that acts as a wireless base stations, backup solution and print server.

And the best part of it is this helps me with my coaching profession.

Taking Time In A Busy Day

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The hardest thing to do is to take time for yourself in the midst of a busy day, career or project.

If this is one of the hardest thing for people to do, the answer is simple.  Just do it!  It's that simple and that difficult to do.  Why is it simple?  Simply enough because you need to take time for yourself to rejuvenate and renew your energy.  It is difficult because how do you do it when pressing issues weigh your schedule down?

In the end it boils down to having enough awareness around the this and having the famous coaching "Ah ha" moment that usually leads to an: "I will do it!"  When you realize how important you are and that everything rests squarely on you having enough energy to do things, you will make sure you have enough time to yourself to "recharge".  If you don't take care of yourself, you will not work to your fullest potential and won't completely participate because you are not running on full energy and giving it your all, effortlessly.  And the key word is here effortlessly, which should happen if you take enough time.

How do I know this?  I make sure to take time for myself, so that I give my best.  When I don't have enough time, I don't give my best and everything suffers.  In the end, work becomes effortless.  If you are still having a hard tine with this, it might be time to look for a coach.

Give Bank A Work Out, Go With Credit Unions

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I just want to say before I write anymore on the topic of banks versus credit unions that I have no vested interest in credit unions besides the account I have with my local one.

Yes, the last few posts I have shown how fed up I am with banks running our economy into the state it is, then taking our hard earned tax money government from both parties have given to save them only to see these banks not lending.  To add insult to injury, Bank Of America and Chase have redecorated there facades in a lavish way here which really rubs me the wrong way. 

I've also noticed I'm not the only one who feels this way.  Even Arianna Huffington suggests doing the same thing we have done. move your money away from these banks that sit on your deposit, take hand outs from governments and make you pay for fees.  It's not only double dipping, it's triple dipping.

Something has to change and it won't happen until consumer say no.  It's time to re-shift the power balance back on the consumer side.  This has gone on too long, too far.

Check this site (moveyourmoney.info) out for more information.

I think I am about done with this topic :)