TESTING THE POWER OF BREATHING

I’m asking for a favor today.

 

Take two deeps breaths.

 

Seriously.

 

Over the next 24 hours,

set an alarm for two separate times.

 

When the alarm goes off,

notice how you are feeling

physically and emotionally,

 

then

 

sit up comfortably,

close your eyes (if you like),

draw a nice deep breath in

through your nose

all the way into your belly,

then let it out through your nose.

 

Do that twice.  

 

Notice how you are feeling

physically and emotionally.

 

After you have completed this test,

send me an email/message me/comment

and

let me know what happened.  

 

I’m so curious about

the power of breathing

just two breaths.  

 

I cannot wait to hear what you discover.

 

Thank you

 

(I’ll let you know what we discover.)

ONE WHO LISTENS

People don’t listen.

People don’t hear.

Most people have so much

noise in their heads

it overwhelms their ears.

 

They will forget your name.

They will forget your face.

They will forget your elevator speech,

the time and the place.  

 

So when you become one

who quiets her mind,

who resists preparing his rebuttal

while someone else is given their time,

you become one who

hears and listens,

and this becomes your gift to the world

which makes all the difference.

MILKING COWS

For 40 years,

my mom and dad

woke themselves at 2:30 a.m.

had a cup of coffee

and

a microwaved bologna and cheese.

(oh the smell!).

 

After putting on coveralls

and

overshoes,

one went to to set up the milk barn,

the other to gather the cows

as their milk was due.

 

For the next few hours,

they milked

eight cows at a time

four on each side of the parlor.

 

After cleaning up

the spilled milk,

the manure,

after sanitizing the equipment

and

double-checking to be sure,

it was breakfast time.

 

The day had only begun.

 

Until 2:30 p.m., there was

feed to grind and mix,

crops to be tended,

machinery to be fixed.

 

Then the cows were ready for milking again.

 

40 years. Two times a day.  365 days a year.

Rain or shine.  

Snow or heat.  

Well-rested or beat.

 

Through their example, I learned

that showing up

Every. Single. Day.

is how the work gets done

whether you’re milking cows

or writing for pay.

 

So whenever I hear some

entrepreneur talking about

the “grind”

or

the “hustle”

as if they invented the term,

I remember mom and dad

and it makes me chuckle.

VULNERABLE MESS

generosity = vulnerability

 

This is why most of us are happy

to write a check to support a cause.

 

It’s safer than putting our

words,

bodies,

actions

in the mess of it all.

 

But it’s through the acts of vulnerability

the magic of generosity

brings about the gift of authenticity.

 

To get to the good stuff,

we have to be willing to

wade into the

vulnerable mess.