What Ideas Must Become

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. – Ancient Chinese Proverb As a coach this is something that I occasionally encounter: working with a client who says they want to change, but doesn’t take action (or takes incomplete action). It’s important to understand that change is hard. We are genetically programmed to avoid…

Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing. – Phil Jackson You can always win once: be engaged and present with what you’re doing and you’ve won the first victory. To win again, at the end, is nice, but wholly unnecessary….

If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship with the immature. – Buddha Couple things come to mind when I read that quote: 1) You’re more than you think. It’s okay to “walk alone” if that is what’s needed. 2) You’re the average of the…

The path to a better life is more of a mining operation than a manufacturing one. – George Pransky What I think Pransky is saying here is that having a better life (which comes from being (behaving as) a better person) comes not from getting something from outside yourself or making yourself into something else,…

If being hard on yourself was going to work, it would have worked by now. – Jamie Smart This reminds of something I’ve heard: if you talked to other people the way you (sometimes) talk to your self, you’d have no friends. Sometimes people think that if they’re easy on themselves they won’t accomplish anything. That…

One of my mentors (Steve Chandler) offers a powerful distinction useful in just about every area of life: expectations vs. agreements. Most of us have expectations. Expectations about how life should go and how people should behave. Invariably, many of these expectations are not met. As a result we are disappointed, frustrated and upset. We…