01.12.2021

Don’t Ignore The Red Lights | Deliberate Discomfort | Nourish

Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS. 

You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach: 

Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: something that’s creating an energy and positive impact
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge

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LEARN
Something Worth Sharing

Don’t Ignore the Red Lights!

My daughter needed me to collect her from school this week following a late rehearsal for a forthcoming production of Matilda. I was in a hurry having come from an event, but had sufficient time to get to her. I was driving along - one road away from her school - and hit a bit of a snag. The side of the road I was driving along was being dug up unexpectedly.

The weather in the UK was pretty atrocious this week with snow and high winds (Storm Arwen) and it was the time of day that was really quite dark. What was really quite clear, however, were the temporary traffic signals to control the traffic flow. As I approached, the car in front started to pull off - the traffic lights were green for our side. I followed along with several cars behind me, only to be met half way along the restricted road by a car attempting to drive at us, on the same side of the road. They clearly had driven through the red light at their end of the restrictions. The lady that was driving was irate, to say the least, and decided she wasn’t going to move. As a consequence, the car in front, myself and the following cars all attempted to move to keep the flow of traffic moving.

As I got to the school, just in time for Emmy, it really made me think. I have had times in my life where I have ignored the red lights, the need to stop and let things flow past me. I’ve also had clients who regularly share with me that they struggle to ‘stop’ at key moments in their lives and business. Stopping is only temporary - give it a few moments of patience and the lights turn green for us to get going again. The learning is to not ignore the red lights in life - and to be patient while we pause (PAUSE was last week’s Energy word!).

ENERGY
Focusing on an emotion or positive energy; a stand-out word / s

Nourish

I love this word - whether it’s a moisturising cream, meal or dear friends, the ability to nourish things is vitally important. The word comes from Latin nutrire meaning: "to feed, nurse, foster, support, preserve".

During the Deliberately Inquisitive Clubhouse session last week we discussed what we often forget - and apart from the practical things, we all agreed that we can all be guilty of forgetting to nourish our souls. By this, we mean things like:

• connection with others

• being authentic and honest

• joy and laughter

• challenge and curiosity

• space and time

We know we need to nourish our bodies - that’s the easy one! Most of us are aware of needing to nourish our minds in terms of mental health, but being able to nourish our souls is equally important: to feed, nurse, foster and support them.

ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference

Deliberate Discomfort

I had a thought the other day about deliberately choosing something different - my example was deliberately saying yes to something I’d usually say no to. It certainly wasn’t easy and it did make me feel discomfort, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! See if you can deliberately choose a discomfort this week and see what it highlights to you.

PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)

“What’s the best thing about getting older?”

This is a great question! What comes to mind when you think about who you are now as opposed to when you were 10 / 20 years younger? What’s better about being the age you are now? Too often we’re encouraged to see age as a negative thing - so flip it and see what’s positive about it.

Join Wendy and I at 11am (UK time) in our Deliberately Inquisitive Clubhouse session as below. Clubhouse at 11am (UK) on 3rd December

SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition, my gratitude or to be celebrated.

I.R.L

I keep hearing the acronym, IRL - this stands for In Real Life. Apparently the term was initially used in the 1990s and was linked to computer games - as people started to use online platforms more and more. The reason I’ve heard it more recently was because slowly but surely, in the UK, we’ve been able to venture out a little more and hold business meetings and events IRL - in real life as opposed to on Zoom or Teams.

While most of us adapted to using technology to maintain relationships - personally and professionally - over the past 20 months, the experience of being in a room with others is wonderful. The energy of ‘in person’ without the barrier of screens is something that I don’t think I’d fully appreciated until recently. Getting back to real life and in person is such a relief. I know we have a long way to go, but even a coffee at the same table as a friend or neighbour is magical.

BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
This week’s little extra for you - from me

I’m going back to a book I read a while ago and fits wonderfully with my Shout Out - this is Made To Stick by Dan and Chip Heath. It’s a lovely reminder of how ‘experience’ is everything to humans. Made To Stick focuses on how we connect people to our ideas - and embed the idea so that it inspires action.

Click the button below to access a free download for the visual synopsis.

Order Your Deliberate Year Calendar-Planner

LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis. 

I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:

• L: what have you learned?

• E: what’s your energy / feeling word

• A: what’s one thing you need to do?

• P: what are you thinking / processing?

• S: who or what can you shout out?