As a coach for Girls on the Run, one of the lessons I try to instill in the girls who participate in the program is the importance of positive self-image. For girls at this formative age (8-14), it’s absolutely critical that their inner dialogue be constructive. As a very wise woman said to me once in a yoga class: “You only get one body in this lifetime and it’s a good idea to make friends with it, or you’re in for a very rough ride.”

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The Energy Project offers individuals a science-based approach to fueling sustainable personal energy. Last week I listened in on one of their free webinars hosted by Tony Schwartz, co-author of The Power of Full-Engagement. During the call, Tony shared some key principles by which we can cultivate absorbed focus in the face of incessant distractions.

My daily routine is likely quite similar to yours. I schedule back-to-back meetings and find myself checking email and returning phone calls in between. But what I try and make time for every day, is one hour of physical movement outside. Lately, I’ve been averaging 70 mile-100 miles/week on my bike and the practice has given me some of my best ideas. If I don’t do this, I am often not in the “performance zone” and operating at my best.

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As a coach, I am often struck by the critical role of language and our use/abuse of words in everyday exchanges. While we may not consider the way we talk to be “violent,” words often lead to hurt and pain, whether for others or ourselves. I also think that the clearer we are about what we want, the more likely it is that we’ll get it. 

After reading Marshall Rosenberg’s book, Nonviolent Communication- A Language of Life, I was inspired to take a course in Compassionate Communication, (NVC) offered by the Open Center.

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Yesterday I invited a friend of mine to dinner- a writer I adore and respect. But after speaking to her for twenty minutes what I saw was a bitter woman who was very disenchanted. “I have no skills and I feel like my life has been a waste. I haven’t accomplished anything worthwhile!” she confessed.

Yet she is talented and prolific. She has been a rising star in her literary circle, with several credits to her name. But she never achieved the “big break” she had hoped for. To top it off, the financial reward for her devotion to creative writing has been meager, in spite of her hard work and numerous accomplishments.

I have known many successful individuals like this who have also expressed similar sentiments into their middle years. They have completed some of their ambitions, but happiness continues to elude them. They feel that they have thrown away their time chasing after dreams when their peers seem to be otherwise “right on track” with higher ranks and salaries.

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This past week while working on my newsletter, I debated many times over the value of sharing something quite personal. I sometimes question the current culture of social media in which nothing is real until it is blogged about, tweeted or facebooked. But the events of my own life have been so thoroughly hijacked in recent weeks that to even attempt to write about anything else seems disingenuous, and well...faintly ridiculous.

On September 22nd, my mom, Sally Ann Mehl, died of cancer. She was 75. She died, irony of ironies, at home in our “living room”, propped up in a rented hospital bed. Since we all have parents, and this is something that sooner or later we all will face, I thought there might be some merit in reflecting briefly upon her passing.

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