May 21, 2008 Getting There

I haven’t been up to getting moving – It’s 3PM and I’m starting.  email takes too effing long; even just deleting…

I am working at separation — separating the work I do for tomorrow and the work I do for today.  It’s difficult because in my mind tomorrow always has precedence.  But today is earning a living.  Today has the virtue of immediacy, the call of urgency.  Tomorrow has the virtue of pleasure, the call of importance.

It seems we are all caught by the pull of urgency and the call of importance.

And between Scylla and Charybidis is commitment… my commitment to a sustainable tomorrow – without it there ain’t me, us or it… the commitment to spiritual fulfillment that makes it all worthwhile, that gives it meaning beyond facts….the commitment to social justice becayuse it’s not just you and me and never has been… and we forget that.

April 24, 2008 Today is Different

I did today backwards because I brought my car in for service – So I hit the gym at 7:30, then to the car place, then home for breakfast and a client.  So here I am at 1PM, doing my morning.  I wonder about the rest of the day.

I have the luxury of creating every day – I suppose we all have, even if it’s totally scheduled.  Inside the constraints of scheduling, we still create every moment – I caught myself when I said this is a luxury, but like most of us most of the time, we don’t realize that we really do create every moment.  Our minds are always ours; our responses to inputs are our responses.  And the responses determine the day, not the inputs.

For me, this is n’t Earth Day, or week.  It’s Earth Always.  And there’s nobody except us who are going to get the job done.  I got rid of one of my cars; I use cloth bags to shop with, I belong to a local CSA; I use wind power for 20% of my PSE&G bill.  I use CFBs.  But that’s not nearly enought.  I don’t eat red meat, but that’s not nearly enough.  I stand for environmental sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfillment.

April 6, 2008 Why Change? michael@michaellipp.com

What we take for granted disappears.  One of the things I do is turn my goals into affirmations and then I speak those affirmations every day.  Many people use affirmations.   They frequently write them down and post them on walls, on bathroom mirrors, on refrigerators, etc.  And what happens is they fade into the background and become invisible.

In this case, changing them periodically assures their visibility, their presence.  Now entropy assures that things change, but they change in the wrong direction; they run down.  We have to actively change to constantly create freshness.

I’ve begun to identify myself on the title because some people use feedblitz to be informed of a new entry and feedblitz doesn’t include your name, which strikes me as silly.  Besidews, it’s a change.

But I won’t change telling you my commitments – to bring joy and satisfaction to people and to bring about a sustainable environment, social justice and spiritual fulfillment on the planet.

March 27, 2008 Coaching Two Point Oh Oh

Coaching 2 Point Oh Oh

You know, I’ve been writing about Coaching 2.0 for a while now.  As I’ve told you, the feedback from my clients has been unvaryingly great.  The problem is that talking about it isn’t it.

So I’ve been wondering how I can give you a taste of it, give you some way of discovering it so you can make use of it in your life, make use of it in your business or, if you’re a coach, make use of it in your practice.

Then I thought – Maybe I can do a teleseminar and really show people how exciting it can be.  Except that would have you hear me talking about it instead of reading about it.  Big deal.  But then I got this idea.

I’ve been on teleseminars where they sometimes let one person from the audience interact with the leader.  Or one person acts as moderator and others interact with the leader.  That’s better, but it’s still not what Coaching 2.0 is, because the flavor is still missing, the dynamism is not there.

Well, I’ve given myself a small research project and I’ll tell you about it on April 3rd, hoping I’m not a fool, because here’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to schedule a teleseminar in a few weeks.  And I am committing to be able to demonstrate Coaching 2.0 in a way that you will absolutely get it.  Call it a bold experiment.

March 26, 2008 Nancy’s Home

Wednesday’s the day that Nancy works at home.  I’m still adjusting.  I think my buggest ine is that I need to wear headphones to listen to music – it distracts her.  But her presence keeps me on track.

I am very excited, getting ready to launch my teleseminar on Coaching 2.0.  This method of coaching makes results more accessible and immediate.  I’ve said before that one of the main things is that insights are contagious.  And the other, that I articulated yesterday is that Coaching 2.0 gives each participant an opportunity to contribute.  And it’s much easier to contribute to someone who contributes.  Normally, everyone wants to contribute, but nobody wants to be contributed to.

Stay tuned.  I’ll be talking about this as we lead up to it. 

I’m clear that giving this technique to you furthers my own mission, which is  to inspire and empower people to live fulfilled lives in harmony with Earth.

March 18, 2008 TRP

Last night was the third session of my free seminar, The Relationship Principles.  As often happens, the seminar went its own way and carried me along with it.  And what I saw was that I had never seen the inter-relatedness of commitment and vulnerability.  And, personally, with that and creativity.

Mostly I had never seen how guarded we are to keep our vulnerablity hidden, to protect ourselves - to seem invulnerable.  Probably because we all have somewhere in our past multiple instances of being hurt. 

I’m still puzzling over this.  My point is that this seminar is a constant surprise.  I don’t know if I said this before, but insights are contagious.  Once started, they cascade… and there’s a sense of safety that allows us to lower our guard.

The next cycle of the free 6-session seminar starts April 21 and runs through June 9, missing May 5 and 26.  You can find out more and register on my website, www.michaellipp.com

February 7, 2008 Happy New Year

Chinese new year.  Also my birthday — I think it’s very nice of the Chinese to have their new year on my birthday.

January 22, 2008 Rhythym

There’s an uncanny rhythym to each life, even though every day is different and does not resonate with continuity – particularly when you’re ‘in charge.’  Similar things happen – in different order, with little or no consequence – even ignoring stuff like brushing your teeth.

I know I’m the same as you, but in different ways — I take care of my grandson while my granddaughter goes to sachool.  Then I go to the gym and run one or two errands.  I catch up on my email (I only get about 100/day) and I write this.  That still leaves a good chunk of day for meditation, work and other play.

When I think of it all as rhythymic, the context changes – I can listen for the melodies, hear the poetry, wonder where it’s going.

I captureand deepen what’s in line with my commitment to spiritual fulfillment, social justice and environmental sustainability.

I am offering a new, free, 6-session teleseminar -Successful Relationships -
February 18, 25, March 5, 12, 19, 26 – Sign up by emailing me (michael@michaellipp.com) — Comments/Questions welcome.

December 28, 2007 An Early Start

One of my goals is to reach certain criteria for my physical fitness.  I’ve been reading what I write (always a dangerous practice) particularly looking honestly at what my starting conditions are. And I saw that I have been dealing with this – not reluctantly – but that my overriding self-measure has been how fast I could finish and how little I could sweat and still say I’ve been exercising.

But now I’m holding my commitment to my end result as how I will deal with this.  So today, instead of just 20-25 minutes on the treadmill, I did 25 minutes, an arm pull down, a leg pull up and 4 laps in the pool.  Laps were unthinkable – I’d have to prepare, bring clothes, shower – look at that time!

I enjoyed it.  Why should I wait until next year to crank up my goals.

December 19, 2007 Surprise

Last night we had a person-shortened 21 Awesome results session, so we had a very free-form session.  The surprise was that I was told I have a unique radio voice.  I’ve been unhappy with my voice, thinking that years of asthma have ruined it.  And now several people have given me the exact opposite feedback.

I pay attention to feedback.  And Jennie went even further.  She thinks I should call radio stations and speak to them about their scheduling a show that I would host on transformational education.  I have been so shaken up by this idea, that I couldn’t sleep last night.  This is so left field, that it’s the kind of suggestion I have to think about.  I just can’t ignore it.

After all, I’ve been emphasizing the need that we have to get and keep attention.  Radio?? Why not!  Drive time Lipp — Hah!