April 21, 2016

Emotional Baggage at Work

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.” Anthony Brandt We all bring it – we all have it. It is a matter of degree – and awareness. In every interaction we have at work, we bring the dynamics of our families, culture, generation and gender with us.  The first problem is that most of us […]
March 14, 2016

Why Do We Continue to Think Self-Compassion is Self-Indulgent?

Writing in The New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope wrote in (Go Easy on Yourself, a New Wave of Research Suggests) “Do you treat yourself as well as you treat your friends and family? That simple question is the basis for a burgeoning new area of psychological research called self-compassion – how kindly people view themselves.  The research suggests that giving […]
December 2, 2015

Every Word Has Power (Watching Your Language Can Change the Way You Feel at Work)

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~George Gordon Byron Words are powerful. What we say reflects what we think.  Our spoken word originates in our thought.  Typically, most people don’t think consciously.   Long established habits that have formed hard wired neural networks […]
October 20, 2015

8 Ways to Decrease Organizational Fear

 “The fantasy about organizational life is that people will behave in logical, unemotional and well-organized ways. It’s as though the boxes on the organizational charts are designed to keep the messiness of reality, people and emotions away from work.”    Dan Oestrich and Kathleen Ryan, co-authors, Driving Fear from The Workplace.  How is it that with so-called flattened hierarchies, employee engagement […]
October 18, 2015

A Deeper Look into our Mental Narratives

No one can harm you , not even your own worst enemy, as much as your own mind untrained. And no one can help you, not even your most loving mother and father, as much as your own mind well-trained. The Buddha Before we begin, let me ask you an important question – what makes your world? I know it’s a […]
August 25, 2015

The Voice In Your Head – What’s Your Workplace Narrative?

You have a mental dialogue going on in your head that never stops. It just keeps going and going. Have you ever wondered why it talks in there? How does it decide what to say and when to say it? How much of it turns out to be true?                          […]
August 18, 2015

Anxiety & the Quest for Certainty

 “The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition that impels us to unfold our powers.”    Erich Fromm Most of us would agree that whatever we do, we cannot predict the future. Yet, many of us spend an inordinate amount of time trying to control the uncontrollable.  This is a waste of our time and although […]
June 11, 2015

Self Talk – Are You Judging or Coaching?

I once heard someone say that if we overheard a conversation at the next table in a restaurant with people talking to each other the way we talk to ourselves – we’d get up and leave.  Know what I mean?  This statement has stayed with me for a long time, especially when I am judging myself harshly or listening to […]
June 11, 2015

How Emotions Shape Decision Making

Since this piece was first published, it’s been in the top 5 of viewed articles every day. Clearly – the head vs. heart conflict is very much alive.  There is little disagreement that effective decision-making is one of the most important tasks we have in every part of life. If we were to take a survey in the average workplace […]