I am not a fan of gossip, and will stop it in its tracks if it heads my way.
But sometimes there are gifts in the grapevine. This morning, I woke to a message from another parent in my son's class, asking if I knew anything about the isolation and bullying of S. I didn't, but I figured that my 7-year-old did. It turns out that he and my 10-year old knew A LOT.
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I don't like being called an expert at anything.
But, after listening to Adam Alter's book The Anatomy of a Breakthrough this morning, I might be open to calling myself a "strategic recombiner." When my coaching work stalled out because I was getting overwhelmed with carrying the weight of all my client's "bad boss" experiences, I knew it was time for a change. I decided to RECOMBINE. First of all, who doesn't love listening to an audiobook with an Australian accent? Or is that just me? 🤣
I am not sure how this book hit my To Be Read shelf, but it did, and last week it popped up as being ready to check out at my not-so-local library. Although, I don't see myself as being STUCK in any part of my life right now, looking back through the ideas I have heard so far, I can see exactly why I did get stuck, and some ideas for what to next time I feel that way. Here are a few of the highlights so far (only a few chapters in): On Saturday, I dropped my son off at a birthday party, and then found a bench in the sun, where I read for 2 hours, finishing up Your Brain on Art while soaking up the rays.
I could have closed the book, given myself a pat on the back for finishing yet another book, and gone on my way. But I didn't. Last night, in community with others, I took my SOLO READING into a SOCIAL ENDEAVOR. We didn't talk about Your Brain On Art -- we EXPERIENCED it. Yesterday, I finished off a book circle with a group of leaders and invited them to give me honest feedback about the process.
"Change the title." "The book was interesting, but not the key." "Reading is not at the center." It's part of the reason that I don't call my work a book club - we don't really even talk about the book all that much 🤣 Instead, we EXPERIENCE the book in a myriad of ways. Have you ever walked down the street, listening to a book or podcast, and had tears streaming down your face?
If so, we're in the same club. If not, I invite you to listen to Reunion by Jerry Colonna. Inspired by Dani Saveker and her Visual Synopsis, I started it last week and am floored by how much I am taking in, and how much my heart is opening to those around me, including those it's very easy for me to judge. I wasn't sure what to expect when I used my Audible credit for this one.
It was recommended to me by Danielle Kayal , SPHR, ACC to read as part of our Emerge Leadership Book Circle, and although it wasn't chosen, I still was intrigued. It reminded me of Brené Brown's saying, "People are hard to hate close up. MOVE IN." (from her book Braving the Wilderness) In our polarized world, I wonder how much we spend judging people from afar, as opposed to getting closer to them, and truly knowing them. I've never considered myself very artistic in the traditional sense.
Creative, yes. Artistic, no. When I was at university, we had a mandatory art class requirement. I waited until the last semester of my last year to take the class. You know it's been a good session when you get off the call with more energy than when you went into it.
And when your face is sore. Yesterday, I hosted my first NeverDoneBefore session with my co-lead of the month, Tanja Murphy-Ilibasic and we had such a great time! The monthly theme at NDB is MOTIVATION, so Tanja and I planned around that theme combined with book reading. (It was a BYOB, after all.) Each of the participants brought a couple quotes with them to the session, and after a "Quote Quiz" to determine if we could identify the books, we put on our creative hats and wrote poetry. "Can you start your stopwatch?"
Every Sunday night, my son pulls out his reading fluency worksheet, and asks me to pull out my stop watch. His goal is to read as many words in one minute as he can. He has 5 tries. As you can guess, he gets progressively better as he re-reads the same text over and over again. Last night, I was "regular" reading with him and realized that he is so predisposed to read quickly, that he doesn't pause at the commas. |
Hi there!I am Theresa Destrebecq. |