Mindful workplace
Women: do they make good coaches?
When I started my career in IT, I was often the only woman on the team. What I observed was that men operated differently and I had to learn to adapt to a new set of team social rules. In my experience men are;
- much more direct
- may even shout at you when irritated
- not hold a grudge afterwards.
Having a mentor to help with this learning became an imperative for me and was enormously beneficial.
If like me you are in the second half of your career, you may have ruminated on how you operate in the workplace. Meeting up with a former manager from my youth, he reminded me how when I first worked for him I did not speak up in a group situation, even when he knew I had some good ideas. This is not an uncommon trait in a woman at work.
Soul Art
Your soul map: 2 ways to design your soul map
Some people like to take their template and jump straight in with colouring. Others like to consider the template and where the important people in their life should sit within it before they start to colour. The choice of approach is yours.
If you decide to take the time to consider the layout of your soul map, the questions you might want to ask yourself are;
- Who are the important people in my life?
- Where would I place an individual on my soul map?
- What are the relationships between individuals?
- Do they have an important relationship with me?
- Is a life lesson being learnt?
- Who is helping with the life lesson?
- Is there a natural grouping of individuals e.g. grandfather and grandson, cousins who always gather together at family functions? If so place them together in your soul map.
Often life lessons show themselves as repeated challenges. For me my life lesson was about defining and maintaining my personal boundaries. Before I realised this I had a series of very challenging managers, each getting progressively worse. I really wondered what I had done to deserve them. When I realised that they were helping me to learn a life lesson, I approached the situation differently and managed it much better. My next two managers were wonderful so I must have gone someway to learning my lesson.
Life Lessons
Street musician: makes us feel happy
Street musician
Music lightens our moods and makes the day feel better. A street musician outside Kensington High Street tube gets plenty of recognition for his efforts to make our day better.
Wisdom of a Mother
Fear: 2 steps to moving beyond fear
Fear of something is often worse than the doing of it
Throughout our lives we face challenges. This is how we learn and grow. However extreme challenges can bring fear which is a very paralyzing emotion. It prevents us from feeling and acting naturally. How do you step through fear and be yourself?
We have all felt fear at some time in our lives. Perhaps it was of our first day at school, a new job, loss of a partner or being made redundant at work. The anticipation leading up to the event is often the most fearful period. Yet when the event happens you do mange to move through it and come out the other side.
Your Soul Family
Spring Greetings
Mother Nature stirs
I love spring time. It is always a time of great promise. The days have grown longer, the sun shines brighter and the air begins to warm. Spring is a time of new life; baby animals are born and the plant life stirs from the winter sending out wonderful new greenery.
We humans also respond to the awakening energies of Mother Nature. It is a good time of year to contemplate where you are in life and what change you might like to bring into your life. Are there any new projects to start, changed life styles to embrace or a new friend to meet? It is a time of old chapters finishing in your story of life and fresh new chapters starting.
Soul Art
Our Soul Wall is growing
Thank you to all who have recently contributed their soul map to our soul wall.
