The Meltdown of Friendships

The Meltdown of Friendships

Over the last year, I have had a number of disturbing conversations that have effectively ended a number of friendships. It has been a painful experience because I care about these people. I am finding that I am not the only one who has experienced the emotional melt-downs that lead to broken relationships. The problem is that I am not the one having the psychotic break. These meltdowns are an emotional break from reality. 

If you were to talk to these friends of mine, I suspect they would tell you that I am responsible. I have been told that I am insane, that I believe in conspiracy theories, which I don’t, and that I am a danger to society, which I am not. I have had phone calls abruptly end in mid-sentence and people tell me that they don’t want to see me. In almost every case, a reasonable explanation of my views is not permitted. If you read this blog or read the books that I have written, you’ll understand my perspective. I want to make sense of the world. In doing so, it means we know how to act in it. 

My point here is not to argue my perspective. Instead, I am more concerned with helping people discover their own minds. You don’t have to see things as I do. Hardly anyone does. It is important that you have clear reasons why you make the decisions that you do and take the actions that follow those decisions. You do need this for your own peace of mind. If in the process you find out that you made some decision based on faulty reasoning or inadequate information, you can say to yourself, “Okay. Glad to know that. Let’s fix this.” 

Thriving in the Midst of Uncertainty

Thriving in the Midst of Uncertainty

Is uncertainty something new?

Is uncertainty just something that arrived with COVID-19, with the Black Lives Matter protests, and with a disputed presidential election?

Or is uncertainty a given in life? If so, then how do we thrive in its midst?

This is the conversation that I had with my friend and colleague Bill Watkins, founder of The Lion’s Pride business coaching program. 

New Global Change / Local Impact Series of Short, Timely Books

New Global Change / Local Impact Series of Short, Timely Books

On Monday, May 11, I will launch the first of a collection of books in a series entitled, Global Change / Local Impact. The series looks at this time of transition that we are in to foster understanding of what is happening, and insight into how to counter fear and passivity by taking initiative to care for your local communities.

https://youtu.be/s46dQRyr9Jk

To receive the first book, All Crises Are Local: Understanding the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, for free, sign up for my Circle of Initiators newsletter by Monday, May 11.

All other books in the series will be available as Kindle downloads for a nominal charge.

Knowing What You Have To Offer

Knowing What You Have To Offer

We need to understand, “What do I have to offer to the world?”

Say that to yourself.

What do I have to offer the world?

Say it out loud if you want, emphasizing the “doing” of the offer.

What do I have to offer the world?

Write the sentence down. Look at it again.

Open up your hands palms up. Extend them out in front of you as if you are giving something to someone. In your hands is what you have to offer. It is the gift that you give to people, organizations, and places that makes a difference that matters.

Now imagine that every day you climb out of bed to offer the world all the unrealized potential that rests in your hands right now.

We are now beginning to see that our unrealized potential is not some abstract value, but something real that we have to offer. Something tangible that can make a real difference in the world. We are recognizing that we have within ourselves is a capacity for making a difference that maybe we’ve never thought about before.

In your hands is the power to bring change that creates goodness wherever you are, even at work, even in the midst of a global pandemic.

To learn what we have to offer is a process of self-discovery. We realize all we have been storing away, out of sight, out of mind, down deep in inside all these years. It is all we’ve learned, gained, and developed in the way of knowledge and experience throughout our lifetime.