“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” By Henry Van Dyke

Today those of us in the United States celebrate our Thanksgiving – started from a time when we were thankful to have a new land that supported freedom.

It  is my favorite holiday because it is only about sharing a meal with loved ones and not buying a ton of gifts. Enjoy and express gratitude to those who have blessed your life.

Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   www.sagelead.com

You may be wearing a mask this weekend for Halloween. It’s the one time of year where we are out there and honest with the mask we are wearing.

Yet we all wear a mask everyday. We wear a mask every time we don’t speak our truth. We are hiding behind some other person or way of being because….

we want to be loved

we want to be accepted

we want to please

we want to be successful

we want…

you name it. The list goes on.

Whenever we are not true to ourselves – stepped into the full integrity of our own shoes – we are out of alignment. Walking around wearing a mask expends so much more of our energy than we need to. Think how freeing it would be if we could let down our mask and could be more of ourselves. What’s behind the mask? Fear.

We hold ourselves back because we are afraid:

Of someone else’s reaction

Of not being loved

Of failing

Of….

It’s as hard and simple as loving and accepting yourself without restraint. Try this on for size: “What you think about me is none of my business.” If you truly loved yourself would you care what I or anyone else thinks about what you do or say?

Therein lies the challenge: To embrace who you fully are without restraint.

So, Happy Halloween. Wear your mask and practice allowing your true self to shine through. It can give you the courage to take down the other mask more often after Halloween.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

Our personal growth division is offering another Manifestation Workshop on October 15th, 6-9 pm, in Danbury, Connecticut.

In an evening, you will gain greater access to your creativity, intuition, and resilient nature to help you better achieve your dreams and goals. This workshop will be informative and experiential in nature. You will have the benefit of creating powerful alliances with like-minded seekers. Sign up by October 1 and receive an unbelievable 35% discount!

Past workshops have included people who have worked on a range of goals and dreams such as career transition, retirement goals, weight reduction and relationship issues.

This is ideal for you if you need a boost to dissolve the obstacles to achieving the success you desire and deserve! Click here for more information or to Register Now.

See what past participants say after 40 days:

“I am finding that I feel more confident in expressing myself…less torn between alternatives, less fearful of anticipated (imagined) responses from others.”

“I am grateful for these new beginnings, for the clarity and energy I feel.”

” The mudra for lessening attachment helped me maintain some calm within a rather frenetic atmosphere.”

Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC     www.sagelead.com

By this I mean recreation, not reinventing your career. I mean having real downtime so you can come back to your problems and challenges with renewed energy and different insight. AND ENJOY your life – AND the PROCESS of your life.

Yesterday was my birthday so I took the day off. I usually do on this day. If you can’t take it off on your birthday, then when can you? Afterall, if you can’t celebrate you, how can you expect anyone else to?

What did I do? In modern, American terms: NOTHING. NO-THING.

Nothing PRODUCTIVE.

I slept in, lounged around while my husband serenaded me on guitar. I picked up my bongo drum and joined in. I meditated, did yoga, wrote in my journal, and got my family (teenagers, sans electronics) to go for a hike in the woods with me. Sounds very hippish? It was a heavy dose of taking in and reflection. And then I topped it off with a high calorie, decadent dinner out – lava cake and all!

No, I am not recreating the movie Eat, Pray, Love. I’ve been doing this on my birthday all my life. The key is to periodically do this throughout the year. I work hard and am a driver by nature plunked down into a culture that reinforces these attirbutes. So, if I don’t manage myself – who will? The rewards are integration and renewal… and living from a full versus depleted cup.

Pick a day in the week where you are intentionally NOT productive and do all the things you love. Experiencing productivity withdrawal? Guilt? Then start small and pick at least an hour or 30 minutes. This nothing thing is actually productive. I dare ya. Try it.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

With a lot of fear and negativity circulating on the planet these days, I have been aware of strengthening my positivity muscle.

Recently, my daughter and I took a trip to Stowe, Vermont, for a girls vacation. On the drive back to Connecticut, we stopped at restroom in a gas station. We’ve all had occasion to visit some of these seedy locations. I was pleasantly surprised at how supplied and sparkling clean it was.

When I returned the key, I made a point of saying loudly how wonderfully clean and pleasant the restroom was – that, indeed, it was the best I’d ever experienced.

You should have seen the look on the cashier’s face, “Really? Wow. Thank you. I just cleaned it.”

“Well, it’s a joy.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

By acknowledging a largely thankless job I noticed a visceral shift in the body language of not only the cashier, but everyone else waiting in line.

It’s too easy to point out what doesn’t work. Try - just for today – to acknowledge what does work and where others add value. You might just sprout something new.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

Mark Twain once said: “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way.”

We all have been there – many days, months or years later, we say, “that was the best learning experience I ever had.”… but while we are going through it, we are cursing the day this person or situation came into our lives.

Here’s to appreciating the gift of the painful lessons. I suggest not shying away from whatever it is that seems distasteful to you, especially when you know there are high rewards – if you can “suffer through it.”

Suffering is so overrated. Let’s skip that part – just for today. Carry the cat anyway.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

~Oscar Wilde, Lady Windemere’s fan, 1896

We seem to only pay attention and really get the learnings when we make mistakes. Is it possible to garner great experience and start learning with grace and ease – without having to make mistakes?

And when you make mistakes do you take the time to reflect on what the learnings are?

This is the ultimate paradox of life. Sometimes you just have to throw yourself into the wind and know you’ll land on your feet.

To live is to risk.

To risk is to live.

Go for it.

Copyright 2010 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC   All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com

We live in incredible times. I can be sitting at the beach watching the fireworks and have you “there” with me. Snap, crackle pop – sideways!

Fireworks

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”   ~Erma Bombeck

Today, I attended a very close friend’s father’s funeral. He was 91 and had an illustrious career as a physician in a specialty area at a prominent New York City Hospital. As with many occasions like this, I was moved by what his family and colleagues said. They spoke about his manner in making the contributions he made to his patients and medicine. He was described as “an old school physician” who had a personal touch, even once driving a patient in an acute state to the hospital in his own car while the patient threw up! His children spoke eloquently and emotionally about the kind of man their father was. I knew him and will miss him.

My friend’s husband said, “It just makes all the politics and office stuff seem so trivial.”

We all have defining moments like this when we are moved, touched by how fleeting life is and called to respond to something larger than ourselves and our view of the world. And then we go “back to reality.” Or, go back to sleep.

All strategic planning processes start wtih the end in mind. What’s your life strategy? What do you want your obituary to say? Morbid. Maybe. But if you don’t envision the totality of your life and what you want it to be about, you may swim real hard upstream, and miss the boat. Or be on the wrong boat.

So set your sail and do some envisioning of what you really WANT and feel CALLED to accomplish – at home with loved ones – and in the world - with how you make money and give back.

What do you want your reality to be? Question your assumptions and perceptions about what is possible. Have you ever had an erroneous belief?

© Copyright Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC    All rights reserved.   www.sagelead.com