Archive for June, 2008

The Art of Relating

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

Ever since attending the Time and Project Management course, I find myself looking at my life as though it is a river of opportunities to be a role model, a healing presence and available for everybody around me.

Today, walking down a busy sidewalk, I began to notice something that happened as I passed different ‘types’ of people; men and women of different ages, level of attractiveness, etc…
I discovered that I automatically put on an ‘act’ for each person as they approached. With an attractive woman, I pretended not to be interested. With an older woman, I became exceptionally polite and smiley. As I stood near an older couple, I acted like a little boy. When a good looking man passed, I acted tough and mean, as though I was stronger, smarter, or even better.
I realized that I had been “staging” acts like this for years as a way to protect myself from people seeing who I genuinely am.

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Poof! It’s Magic: Dropping your story of “This isn’t it.”

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Hello, Friends! Life is so amazing! Four years ago when I was still in the midst of searching for well being, I never could have imagined where I am currently at in this moment of my life. In 1995, I was hired as a receptionist at Société Générale (a French Investment Bank). Two years later, I was promoted to Administrative Assistant (Secretary), and I stayed in this position for the next 8 years of my life. So four years ago, while still a Secretary at the bank, I was a walking complaint. I am also a singer/songwriter, and I was constantly lost in the thought that “This isn’t it! I’m supposed to be a rock star performing at Madison Square Garden! What am I doing here?”

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A Magical Season of Dating

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

About two weeks ago I had the great opportunity to chat with Ariel and Shya about dating. It was an amazing and eye opening experience… I am not sure what happened but suddenly and miraculously I have so many dates!! I have been scheduling meetings in open air markets, cafes, during my lunch hours, at museums, going to play tennis, cooking… And all the guys have been fun to be with! I somehow discovered how to be with each of them, not thinking if they were “relationship material” while at the same time I stopped putting pressure on myself to find “THE ONE”. Ariel and Shya masterfully hit the nail on the head when they explained that I had been conditioned to be “a good catholic girl” through my culture and I’d been approaching dating as a “mini-marriage” in hopes that the date would turn into a husband. The thought of just enjoying myself while meeting many men was outside of my realm of possibilities…I mean ‘What kind of woman dates many men?.. I am sure you and I came up with the same word..it starts with a W and ends with an E.

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Transformation in Action

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

As a Literacy Coach, I’m invited to schools to work with teachers and often asked by the principal to focus on specific projects. In every school, there is something very different to do. In a school I visit weekly, the principal asked me to sort through materials & books that were in the basement and find ways to use them with the teachers. It would require bringing things into the teacher room, which is about 8 feet by 8 feet. It has 6 full size desks around the perimeter of the room. The room is shared by 6 specialty teachers (science, social studies…) It was so cluttered with papers and “stuff” piled so high on the desks, that the windows were covered. The room felt very “stuck” and uncomfortable to be in. As someone who loves to organize, I realized that before we brought anything new in, the room was begging to be cleaned and cleared. I approached the principal and shared this with her and she gladly agreed.

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