Christmas shopping for Compassion

I am flat broke from overspending at Christmas time. But I need to go shopping again soon because I am completely out of self-respect. I've said things I wish I could take back and I am not feeling too good about myself. 

I also want to exchange a carton of self righteousness for an equal amount of humility. I hear that it is less expensive and wears well, and while I'm at it I'm going to check on tolerance and see if there is any available in my size.


I must remember to try to match my patience with the little I have left. My neighbor is loaded with it and it looks awfully good on her. I was told the same department has a repair shop for mending integrity. Mine has become frayed around the edges from too much compromising. If I don't get it refurbished soon, there won't be any left. 

I almost forgot the most important thing of all -- compassion. If I see some-no matter what the color, size or shape -- I'm going to stock up heavily regardless of the price. I have run out of it so many times and I always feel ashamed when it happens. 

I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to shopping for these items. They don't cost nearly as much as some of the frivolous things I bought at Christmas time. And I'll get a lot more satisfaction from them. 

Yes, I'm going shopping today and I can leave my checkbook and credit cards at home! The things I'm looking for have no price-tags. What a joy! 

 

Doing work that Matters - Key Rules

Show up every day!

It's easy to get sidetracked, especially if you are self-employed, self-motivated and can take a break whenever you feel like it. I joined the 'small business, working too my own rules Club 10 years ago and the first rule I implemented was to show up every day. I decided on the time I would start and finish and the amount of hours I would put in.  
Showing up without fail I found to be Key Rule Number 1 for succeeding in any work that you undertake.

Key Rules number 2 and 3 for me are to develop a clear idea of what it is you want to achieve and to think big while taking one step at the time. Many people I observe act for the sake of acting. They seem to feel that as long as they are busy doing that their doing is meaningful. I have found that this attitude usually leads to investing a lot of energy for generating little results.

And key rule number 4 is to be persistent - meaning 'Don't Give UP!'. Whatever happens learn, improve, adjust, re-invent yourself and keep on going. Yes, reflecting is a must. But if you feel that what you are passionate about, what you are doing is IMPORTANT then keep on going.

 

The Psychology of Stress a la Time Therapy

On the surface there are so many different reasons for stress:

Lack of structure, taking too much on board, conflict, confusion, lack of confidence, problems in communication, relationships, self criticism, feeling lack of control, grief, lack of money, lack of work....All these external factors however essentially trigger the same feeling in us and that feeling is - FEAR! .(False-Evidence-Appearing-Real). 

In Essence we stress out for these reasons:

• We perceive that we cannot handle something = Fear
• We perceive something as painful, difficult or dangerous = Fear

Stress in it's nature is the response to concepts of our mind. It is based on our Perception. This is why people's stress responds to the same event can vary greatly from person to person.

How can we become more Stress Free? The key to becoming more STRESS FREE is to find the true source.

And at a first glance we see that the source is FEAR.

And our reaction to fear for thousands of years has been: to Fight or to flight (Aggression or Withdraw).  If you look even further then you will see that the root of Psychological fear is always related to a feeling of disconnect, of not being able to relate to what is happening.

Look at the process of when you are stressed.

Lets say you are at work and you are stressed because you do not agree with the way your boss is handling a certain issue. You disagree. 

How do you feel towards your boss at that moment?

You cannot relate to what he is doing, how he is behaving.

You are against him, you feel separate from him. If you can look beyond the anger then you will see that, deep down, you are simply sad that you cannot relate to him and his actions, that you are unable to connect.

You will see the same pattern when you look at issues in other relationships, including the relationship you have to yourself or life.

Suppose things don’t work the way you want in life. You do not have enough work. You do not have a loving relationship. How do you feel?

You may feel angry or afraid, but deep down you feel SAD. 

You feel sad that life is treating you this way. You feel sad that things are not working out.

Now if this turns into self -pity then you have Depression.

Remember Stress is based on your Perception of something to be dangerous, painful or difficult. This Perception generates Fear. Reacting to the Fear leads to Aggression or the urge to Withdraw. On the other hand STAYING with the Fear by observing it without reacting to it will help you to become aware of the underlying Sadness. The Sadness of not being able to relate/connect. And this is the first step to Compassion.

Aggression – Fear – Sadness - Compassion (=Love)
 In Time Therapy we call it the ‘Feeling Chain’

Once you understand the process of the Feeling Chain and that this process is the same in every person regardless of background, education, or culture, then you are able to address the issue of stress with a new mindset.

Understanding the process of the Feeling Chain can set you FREE!

It’s like learning a new language. You need to learn about the structure, the grammar to truly understand and use it effectively. Just learning the words won’t do it – you need both. The same with Stress; You need to understand the structure, the root. Aggression –Fear – Sadness - Love.

Sounds strange? Just observe it in yourself and you will see the Chain at work.

Deepak Chopra: The Mystery of Consciousness

7 Movies and what they taught me about life and leadership

Movies can be an amazing source of insight and inspiration. They fill our hearts and heads with heroes, stories, songs, and scenes we can draw from. What stories, scenes or heroes have inspired you? Whatever traits you recognize in others also live in You.

Here are 7 movies and what they have taught Me about life and leadership.

1. Star Wars – Keep your ego in check (and carry a big light saber!) Your intuition can serve you well if you master it.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark – Make every project an adventure.

3. The Lord of the Rings – The best heroes can come from the strangest places (who would have thought to check the Shire?)

4. Rear Window – Use your emotions and intuition as input, then check your facts.

5. The Wizard of Oz – You had it in you all along. You just needed somebody else to bring it out.

6. Slumdog Millionaire – Being Smart, Passionate and Persistant brings results and can change your lot in life.

7. It’s a Wonderful Life – Know your value and what you bring to the table.


Which movies have inspired YOU?

All Talk and No Action? – Turning decisions into commitments

All talk, no action? Good ideas, but no results? Not the results that you are wishing for? A common problem is a lack of clarity and action commitments.

I see a lot of decisions that never turn into results. I know people mean well, but making things happen takes more than just desire. It takes action. The challenge with turning decisions into action, is understanding the work required. If you don’t break your decisions down into effective actions don’t expect results.

How to best tackle these issues? Over the years I have identified a series of steps that have helped many of my coaching clients make the shift.

'Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.' — Tony Robbins

Turning decisions into effective actions requires thoughtful work assignments and action commitments. Whatever you want to change, influence or achieve you will need to clearly identify:

a. The choices available to you
b. Recognize what can be done and what cannot
c. And most importantly commit to Action!

Whatever the issue, the key process is the same. To create a constructive environment for successful decision making make sure you start with the following:

1. Starting the Process:

• Establish the objective - Define what you want to achieve.
• Agree on the process - Know how the final decision will be made, including whether it will be an individual or a team-based decision.
• Make sure you're asking the right question – Spend time asking yourself what is the true issue

2. Generating Good Alternatives = Choices

This step is critical to making an effective decision. The more good options you consider, the more comprehensive your final decision will be.

• When you generate alternatives, you force yourself to dig deeper, and look at the problem from different angles.
• If you use the mindset ‘there must be other solutions out there,' you're more likely to make the best decision possible.
• If you don't have reasonable alternatives, then there's really not much of a decision to make!

3. Generating Ideas = What can be done and what cannot

Brainstorming is probably the most popular method of generating ideas. Ask colleagues, friends or partners to participate and provide input. Keep an open mind and explore all the possible choices and consequences. It helps to write everything down and then take a break if you can to reflect.

4. Choosing the Best Alternative

After you have evaluated the alternatives, the next step is to choose between them. The choice may be obvious. However, if it isn't, then identifying the root of the problem will help you. This strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: 'What is the cause of this problem?' and 'Am I part of the cause or the solution?'

5. Turn decisions into action commitments.

Actions speak louder than words. Knowing what to do is not the same as doing what you know.

• What action has to be taken and who has to take it?
• What does the action have to be so that the people who have to do it can do it? That also includes YOU.
• Get the right people for the actions required. The key is to have the right people doing the right things to get the right results.
• Support the action people. Know what actions need to be taken to be successful and support them.

Keep in mind that Decisions will Not be Effective Without Action Commitments. What looks good on paper or sounds good, may not work when you actually test it. If you see that it doesn’t work then look again.

Those are some of the key steps. And if you feel that a few coaching sessions would be helpful to master the process then send me an email at christiane@christianepohl.com. I would be happy to support and guide you.

With my best wishes for your success!

Buy a Tree, Clean a Beach....get involved

I am very passionate about bringing people together on initiatives to increase awareness for environmental issues and to act. Small acts, big acts, whatever each person can do to contribute.

Here are some of the initiatives I am promoting in case that you are interested to share the ideas in your company or your friends. I talk to companies and bug my friends about what can be done. One of my favorite initiative is the idea to:

Buy a tree!

With the purchase of a small tree, you automatically become a member of Plant-a-Tree. We will plant the tree on your behalf and once this has taken place you will receive an e-mail with the details of the planting (this includes details of action, geographic coordinates, photographs, etc).

Small tree €20

For reasons of economy and efficiency, our members' trees will be planted in groups, in accordance with the design of Plant-a-Tree.

To buy a tree, you can choose one of the payment methods that they advertise on their website http://www.plant-a-tree.gr...and while you are there you may get inspired by some of their other ideas.

I am also a member of Clean Up Greece www.cleanupgreece.org.gr. They are a branch of Clean up the World and are always interested on new sponsors and volunteers.

For 2011 they have produced a beautiful desk top calender. For euro 1000 your company can become a sponsor and received a few hundred calenders to give to clients with the company logo inside.

If you are interested in contributing and would like to know more contact me on christiane@christianepohl.com or if you live outside of Greece then check what your local environmental organizations are doing.

with my best wishes,

Christiane

Thinking outside the Booth

With the growing use of cell phones, pay phone booths are practically
obsolete. So Telekom Austria is converting many of theirs into battery recharging stations for electric cars,scooters and motorbikes. This is brilliant thinking. How might you use your resources to serve the community? How might you turn idle assets into new opportunities?

I loved this one from Donald Copper's research. Donald is the CEO and of Human Marketing and speaks internationally on management, marketing and business innovations. He is an inspiring speaker and I just love the way he thinks. If you are ever looking for a top speaker for your busness or conference then he is the man. For more details www.donaldcooper.com.

Top 9 Traits of Successful People

Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Actually Neither. It is because they have developed certain traits. Traits that seems that have been proven again and again to lead to success.

The people who coach with me are usually looking to succeed in aspects of their life or work. Often they want to have more impact at work or change their career path, but don't know how.

That prompted me one day ago to closely look at What are the traits of Successful People. I decided to take an eclectic approach in my research and combine the findings of 4 experts in the field, well 3 and a half: Richard St John, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Stepehn Covey and myself.

Richard St John is the founder of the St John Marketing group and he spend a whole decade researching the question of success by interviewing 500 successful and famous people.

Sri Sri Ravishankar is one of today’s most prominent spiritual leaders and has spoken about the 12 traits of good leadership

Stephen Covey is a Harvard Graduate, Professor at Utah University and the author of the book of ‘The Seven Traits of Highly Effective People”

Myself, 20 years of experience as manager, coach and trainer.

And this is what they (we) came up with. Here are the top 9 Traits:

Passion – Do it for the love, or love what you do, the money will follow

Hard Work - successful people say it’s all hard work but they also claim to have a lot of fun.
Most successful people are Workafrolics

Get Good – Put your nose down and Get good at it, sets example for others, walk the talk and practice what you preach

Persistance – Be proactive, go beyond your comfort zone – you will need to persist through failure, criticism, rejection, fears, doubt, pressure and annoying people around you, but there is no other way

Focus – Focus on one thing at the time, don’t try to do too many things at once, be alert, begin with the end in mind

Ideas - seek to understand rather then be understood, listen, observe, be curious, then act

Serve – serve something of value to your customers, your employees, your colleagues, the community

Making Money – Invite it, plan for it, it but don’t obsess about it

Awareness – get to know yourself, your strength, your weaknesses, your motivations, fears and limiting thoughts, look at them AND then DON’T JUDGE – Accept them, acknowledge them and MOVE ON

That’s it. Those are the 9 traits most commonly cited by successful people and those who have observed them. That’s how they do it. And so can you. Good luck!

Did God create the Universe?

God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawkins argues in a new book.

In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking writes.

An attention catching headline and article, a great way to promote a new book. Controversy is one of the most powerful selling tools - remember the Da Vinci Code -.

The part that always puzzles me is that no one seems to first ask 'What is God'? Who's definition of God are we talking about? I bet if you gather 10 people in one room the answers would vary greatly. And yet, in my opinion it is vital to first ponder on that question, before making sweeping statements. What is God for you? A man with a beard sitting in the sky? It's a image that often comes to mind.

My version of what God is that NOTHING Hawkins talks about. That nothing created something, that for me is divine, it's mind blowing. And then that something created more somethings, became conscious of itself and eventually created beings that tapped into that consciousness and this is an ongoing process. I feel in aw of all of this and find the process godly.

I can easily accept Hawkins insights, but they do not lead me to the same conclusion. I guess that his thoughts are more complex too on the matter. After all 'God did not create the universe' is a great headline and a great way to get people to contemplate their own views on the subject. Well done Mr Hawkins!

What is your philosophy or view on the matter? Does your idea of God include being the creater?

Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce | Video on TED.com

An insightful, fun talk about choice and what makes us happy. Most of us do not know what we really want. And the only way to find out is by asking the right questions and presenting choices that we may not have thought of.

That's the lesson I have learned and that I apply in coaching people ....Malcolm says it his way. Take look

Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce | Video on TED.com

Commitment is the key to Success

Today is the tipping point, August 16^th in Greece is the beginning of moving towards the autumn, even if it is 37 degrees hot. Everyone knows…soon we’ll be back at work.

However, lets not go there yet we say, let our minds return to the Beach, the sun and easy living. And we will…but deep down we know. With that knowledge in mind I started to make a detailed plan of what I want to complete and by when.

Planning and putting deadlines, a key time management coaching tool; you won’t be able to effectively manage your time without it, believe me. It’s somewhat easy to write the plan, make the list – the challenge lies in really committing to the out comes.

Take an oath of commitment for the things you want to achieve. This is vital. Commitment will keep you on track when the going becomes tough!

Where do you want to see a difference? What are you willing to commit?

My commitment: I will invest time in communicating ‘No Butts on Beaches’ every day. I will speak to strangers and ask them to stop littering. I will speak to organizations. I will speak to cigarette producing companies to produce the pocket ashtray and join the campaign. I will motivate thousands of people to participate and start a nationwide awareness campaign. I will succeed in reducing butts on beaches and other littering.

With my best wishes,

Christiane

364 days to go in my "No Butts on Beaches" Initiative

I did it, I created a 'Clean Greece - No butts on Beaches' Initiative -

The countdown is running and I am committed to succeed. To find out more and stay tuned check out the blog I created cleangreece-nobuttsonbeaches.blogspot.com

I invite you to join me. Stop throwing cigarette butts into the streets, the forests, the beaches. Everyone can do it, it costs nothing, nor time or money.

with my best wishes .....

Having Fun to get it Done

It is that time of year when we open the windows and open the doors on those sunny days...and here on the Island they are plenty. Makes it challenging to get some work done. I have 5 projects in the oven and cook each of them a little every day.

I am a bit behind on creating my "No butts on beaches" blog - however it will be done.

I have kept a few coaching clients throughout August and the common theme seems to be about:

• How to focus
• How to manage time and
• How to keep things light and have fun doing so

One of the ways we came up with is to create a Training Camp for Yourself. You set it up: what time you start in the morning, how many hours you spend on each task, what time you finish, how much time you spend exercising or having fun with friends. Set it up for yourself and then ENROLL!

Have fun with it...and if anyone tries to throw you off balance just tell them that you are in training. What training they will ask. In training myself to focus, manage my time better and have fun doing it.

Try it out and if you need any more tips then let me know.

Clean Greece - No Butts on Beaches!

It's Monday and that means action is required. Sunday is the "I don't have to do a thing" day for me but Monday calls for focus, decision making, scripting the day, the week, the future. Writing down a few lines of what I want to do helps me to stay on track. I keep my script on my computer and update it each day - leaves me with a sense of achievement.

Back to my 'Clean Greece' project. I decided to create a separate block for this one (tomorrow) and to start with one challenge at the time. 365 days to get all Greek citizens to participate in

'No Cigarette Butts on our Beaches'!!

First step: checking which Cigarette Companies have offices here in Greece and approaching them with my idea. As I already have the prototype of the Butt holder I should generate some interest in my project. Lets see. I'll keep you updated.

my best wishes for a great week!

Julie & Julia ...an inspiration

Last night I watched the movie Julie & Julia and an idea started to buzz around my head during my morning "I am getting even fitter" walk. "What about committing to a goal and then sharing my progress daily on my blog?" Once announced to the world (the world that reads my blog) I would really be fired up to keep on track and get creative with achieving my task.

A great coaching tool. Announce what you intend to do to a group of people, the more public the better and then get going. Yes, You can! Commit to just one thing for the following 6 months.

My goal: To Clean Up Greece. Starting with getting the Cigarette producing companies to also produce a pocket ashtray that will prevent people throwing the cigarette butts all over the place, especially from leaving them on the beaches.

That's it. Big goal. - the journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step - this is mine, step No 1

Reducing stress with "I don't know"

...a paragraph from 'my book' in the making

Who or What are you? was the question I was trying to answer during the the 2nd ‘Art of Living’ seminar a few years ago. The page in front of me was blank, and so was my mind. I started to write down my name, my nationality, my job title, then I looked further – What else was I? a friend, a partner, a female, a human being, a spiritual being…… I stopped again. What am I?

I lifted my head and looked around the room. Twenty or so course participants were sitting spread around the wooden floor, on colorful, soft cushions, contemplating the same question. All on the journey to connecting to their inner self, to better understand their purpose, to finding a new meaning in daily life. I gave up, I had no clue what or who I was beyond the obvious based on social conditioning. The teacher asked us to share and to my relief my fellow searchers seemed to have no idea of who they were either, and the best answer each of us could come up with at the end was “I don’t know”.

The teacher was thrilled. That was it; we were spot on.

It had only been 5 years since I chucked it all in and since I had started my journey to better understand myself, other people and the world on the whole. It had been quite a struggle to finally reach that point where I was ready to leave my profession of 23 years and my relationship of 10 years and start again from scratch. But once the decision was made there was suddenly a feeling of excitement; just like at the age of 20, when I had decided to move to London for my first job placement.

The whole world was my oyster and I was able to do or be anything. I belonged to the pre MBA aera and had started my training in Hotel Management at the age of 18 in Switzerland. I had been working ever since and never looked back. Life had been fun; Luxury hotels, traveling, living in different countries and speaking different languages. I had never been ambitious in the traditional sense, but enjoyed being good at what I did. Hence promotions had kind of just happened and by the age of 26 I was in a senior management position in a 5 star central London hotel, living and working close to Hyde Park. Live was good; or so it seemed.

Now 20 years later I was sitting on the wooden floor of a Yoga center contemplating who I was and realizing for the first time that saying ‘I don’t know’ was actually ok. What a relief. I repeated it again and again “I don’t know, I don’t know” and with each repetition the weight of a life time fell off my shoulders. My whole body relaxed and I wanted to shout it out loud:

“I DON’T KNOW!!”.

And now years later saying 'I don't know' still works it's magic. It makes me smile, it makes me laugh and wonder what I will come up with next.