The Present-Moment Paradox: In Praise of Preparation
Live in the Moment The present moment is where we experience life. It’s a blessing and a joy to be mindful and take it in. We often hear that this is the only time there is, and we miss it if our attention is on the past or the future. I want to add nuance to...
Time to Listen
I was invited to attend an online workshop on listening. I am a big fan of listening, so I said yes. In the workshop, good points were made about the difference between hearing and listening, what happens when you are listening for something in particular,...
Getting a Handle on Online Education, Part 1
As recent events have accelerated society’s movement into the internet age, we have gone beyond news feeds and search engines, through the wild ride into pervasive social media, and are now in a world of on-demand transmissions from many to many. As both providers...
Seven Survival Skills for Managing Overload
Do you have a love/hate relationship with Zoom? Is someone making another irresistible offer of free learning online? Are you wondering what happened to your schedule? Dare I mention the weight gain or stiff joints after hours in front of one screen or another? I am...
Uncertainty
Keeping Our Balance Now When analysts are explaining stock market drops, even in regular times, they blame it on “uncertainty” as a bad influence. I applaud people in finance for trying to believe there is certainty some of the time! The truth is that no one can...
How Direct Are You?
You think you’re being direct in your communication. This is a highly valued quality in business culture in the US and other western countries. Being direct is useful because it saves time, keeps the air clear, and moves the action forward. Even with this espoused...
The Work You Do
Your Job as Part of the Bigger Picture In light of Labor Day just past, let’s take a look at what we do and what it means.Each day, we pick up our work and go forward. Sometimes we can tell we’re moving ahead, sometimes we are in maintenance mode or a creative...
When is it Time to Upgrade Your Communication and Influence Skills?
We manage our everyday work and personal lives, communicating perfectly well, thank you, and generally do fine with it. People are flexible, we make requests that are clear enough, things get done. Why would we want to mess with something that’s working?Here are some...
When Was the Last Time You Sharpened Your Syntax?
No matter what we are doing, our results rest on how we do it. Zen teacher Cheri Huber says, "How you do anything is how you do everything." If we could fathom our own patterns, and the ways they serve and don't serve us, much of what annoys and derails us might be...
Pay Attention to the Step You Are On
Who in today’s world is NOT dealing with overload of stimuli, things to do, information to keep track of, and personal pressures? It’s a challenge for one person, in one body, to keep up. Our mental strategies for coping are not necessarily the most useful. As Cheri...
How to Probe Like a Pro
Smart, helpful types (like you and me), are truly interested in what others have to say. We want to understand more than just the surface level, sometimes because we want to empathize, sometimes because we need or want to know more for its own sake. Questioning can...
Are You A Universal Communicator?
A central goal of Syntax for Change is that we practice to be "universal communicators." What does this mean, and why is it the key to expanding your influence and simplifying your life? You have long since realized intellectually that each of us thinks and...
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