Cynthia Clay's Blog

Start the New Year Wholeheartedly

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

To kick off the New Year with a positive tone, last year I attended a four-day meditation retreat at a beautiful lodge in the Cascade Mountains. The first two days were spent in complete silence. We meditated, journaled, read inspiring literature, hiked through the woods, ate meals in silence, and allowed ourselves to focus on what was most important to us.

I had assumed that during the retreat, I would be contemplating my company goals and projects for the year. I was surprised to find that I spent very little time thinking about what we want to accomplish. Instead I was almost entirely focused on how I want the year to unfold.

As I slowed down, I felt a call to love my work and my life - to live wholeheartedly. A phrase that ran through my head was "the four-chambered heart." What could that phrase tell me about living in a more wholehearted way? Not being an expert on anatomy, I searched online and discovered that one chamber receives oxygen-poor blood, another pumps it to the lungs, another receives oxygen-rich blood, and the last pumps it back to the body. My new understanding of the partnership between my lungs and my heart triggered an "aha" moment. I realized that my four-chambered heart allows me to:

• • Give Love (support and contribute my talents)
  • Receive Love (ask for and accept support when I need it)
  • Be Inspired by Love (read inspiring literature that uplifts my thinking)
  • Rest in Love (take care of myself by resting)

As we embark on 2021, I invite you to ask yourself these wholehearted questions (or ones that resonate with you) as you prepare for a fabulous year.

Give Love: Am I contributing my talents with passion and love? Am I showing up wholeheartedly for my clients and my family? Is there any area of my life where I'm procrastinating or holding myself back? Do I put aside distractions and focus on people speaking to me? What if I keep a Love List instead of a Task List? Do I apologize when I've unintentionally harmed someone?

Receive Love: Do I ask for help when I need it? Am I asking for help early enough that people can really collaborate with me? Am I willing to delegate and develop people I work with? Do I accept people's support even though they may do it differently than I would? Do I express my gratitude to those who help me?

Be Inspired by Love: Do I take time every day to recharge myself? Do I give myself time to meditate? Am I reading inspiring literature for ten minutes every day? Do I seek out good news stories and share them with others? Do I allow creativity to flourish through music, art, and poetry?

Rest in Love: Do I take time for myself in nature? Do I allow myself down time though it may appear I'm doing nothing productive? Am I getting enough sleep (7-9 hours each night)? Do I take a good nap when I need it?

I will be applying these principles to our first webinar of the year on January 13th, which I will be facilitating wholeheartedly. Please join me to learn how to describe the underlying needs of virtual team members, improve outcomes in the areas of relationship, reliability, results, and recognition; leverage key leader behaviors to gain commitment and high impact; implement a program to build the new breed of digital-ready leaders. The webinar, titled Rocking the Digital Workplace: Leading High-Impact Virtual Teams, will be presented live on Wednesday, January 13th, 1:00 pm ET / 10:00 am PT.

Ebook Download

Download our ebook, Rocking the Digital Workplace - Communicating and Leading Virtually.  This ebook addresses how to approach the dramatic changes involved in moving to a digital workplace, using cloud-based applications and document management. As Millennials flow into the workplace with their technological savvy, we’re going to continue to experience the drive toward more virtual workplaces. This ebook covers issues around virtual leadership, digital communication practices, and how to resolve conflict often emerge in these disconnected settings.

Posted by Cynthia Clay at 9:38 am