Crowning Glory

June 7, 2008

Last night I decided to have a snack at bedtime, a few almonde, raw, shelled, delicious.  I was savoring each bite when I bir down on something hard – too hard.  I worried at it for a few seconds, making sure all the almond were bone from it before I spit it out.  I felt a tweak of resentment at the health food store for selling this flawed almond.  But when I spit it out, it was a tooth!  Mine?  I felt nothing.  My tongue discovered nothing – at least not then.

Finall, I moved my tongue around to my top leftmost tooth.  It wasn’t there!  Only the ragged aftermath of a crown on top of a long ago root canal.  I really couldn’t feel it until I brushed air this morning.  Now it keeps getting in the way of everything, a crowning achievement.

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Traffic Sucks

May 21, 2008

Traffic sucks.  We just spent a week in Cape Cod.I could have saved a fortune on gas by walking; I would have gotten there the same time.  Well – I exaggerate, but it’s nice to have something to bitch about where I have plenty of company.

When we gave up and took a dinner break at a rest stop that we finally, finally got to (first a bathroom break — (there was no room for another man standing at the side of the road – definitely one of the ways I eny men – women must have  been in agony)  Anyhow, I’ve never found it so easy to have conversations with people.  All you had to do was say, “wow – that traffic” and you were friends.  We were smart, planning on stopping at New Haven and sitting by the waterside, eating chicken Caesar salad, so when we gave up at 8PM and made it to MacDs, we had good food with us.

Seriously, it took 10 hours to take a 5 hour drive.  And then, one week later, we came home and found out what bad traffic really was.  I found out later that New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had passed emergency legislation, declaring Rt 95, Rt 287 and the Garden State a temporary parking lot.  We left our place at 10AM and got home at 9PM.   Nine P M!!!

Fortunately, our wonderful and glorious daughter had sushi and chinese shrimp $ brocolli waiting for us.  We did not eat in a tense spot at all, merely peed.  So we survived on almonds and raisins. 

Next time I will arrange to travel starting at 8AM both directions.

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A Teleseminar for YOU

April 10, 2008

The Teleseminar is now booked
The subject is chosen
All we need is YOU.

If you picked Relationships on the survey of topics, you win and you will receive a copy of The Relationship Principles.  So will the first 75 attendees to the teleseminar.  Here’s a taste:

The Relationship Principles

Work relationships have special challenges.

There are different kinds of work relationships and they’re very fluid, from when you first start to when you’re a seasoned veteran.

• Peer to peer relationships
• Relationships with different levels of supervisors
• Relationship with recently promoted supervisors
• Relationships with people who leave
• Relationship with clients or customers
• Relationship with providers, with service personnel
• Relationships between supervisors and reporting personnel

The Coaching 2.0 teleseminar on Wednesday, April 30,(7:30 -830 EDT) will be about this, Relationships at Work.

Though this seminar will focus on work relationships, it is really about all relationships – friends, community, family, …  What makes work relationships unique is that  there’s no choice involved.

This is an ideal topic to discover what Coaching 2.0 provides.

The intended results of this particular seminar is to allow a measurable improvement in your work morale and a positive shift in alll relationships.  The cost for participating in this is $23.00.  And the net cost for the first 75 participants is then $10+  Write me michael@michaellipp.com to register.

 

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Coaching 2 Point Zero

April 3, 2008

Coaching 2 Point Ahh

The Coaching 2.0 teleseminar is coming!

Here’s what you will get out of this brand new form of coaching

• You’ll be inspired
• You will experience that insights are contagious
• You will make a difference in other’s lives
• You’ll have fun
• You will be eager for the coaching
• You will see things that matter in your whole life

I want to know what you want to hear.  What will make the biggest difference for you?  I’ll send you a survey so you can tell me. Write and ask – It’s already gone to my ezine list (www.michaellipp.com) I’ll suggest a few topics, but it’s really up to you. 

And I’m going to turn this survey into a contest.  If I choose your topic I’m going to send you a copy of my five-session e-Course:  Having Problems Disappear.  This is really a cool course.  I’ve given it to hundreds of people.  It works.  Just write me at michael@michaellipp.com

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The Same And Different

March 27, 2008

his article is the same asthe one in Contribution Coaching.  What makes it different is that it’s here!!!

Coaching Two 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.

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Big and Small

March 26, 2008

We are beginning to realize that we need to look at all of it, that everything is interconnected.  It’s not just the knee bone that’s connected to the thigh bone, but probably my right elbow and a taxi cab.  Everything is interconnected. But saying that, even seeing that highlights the essential problem we face.

Because at the same time that we see the complex relationships that exist, we also see that each piece of ‘all of it’ has smaller and smaller components.  And there’s research and development going on in each of these components.  So there are no side effects, there are only effects.

The implications are staggering.  How can we determine anything?  How can we live in this world of best guesses, particularly when some of the consequences can be calamitous?  We cannot even study the relevant documentation, because we first have to determine what is most relevant and then read and digest it.  This is more than formidable.

When butterflies flitting in Shanghai can cause typhoons in Missouri, it’s hard to deal with global warming.  When a sub-chemical of PVCs in toys can cause reduced male genitalia in children, it’s hard to deal with product safety.  And on and on and on.  Our knowledge has led us to the road that’s paved with good intentions and our question is how to drive.

I again recommend the movie Mindwalk – a movie, released in the US in 1991-1992 and still totally current.  It stars Liv Ullman (the holistic physicist), Sam Waterson (the Senator) and John Heard (the Poet) – with extraordinary settings and interesting score.  It’s a movie worth thinking inside of, almost scene by scene
————————————————————————
I will be launching a teleseminar sometime next month – It’s one of my dreams.  I’ve been writing recently about the new kind of coaching I do, that I call Coaching 2.0.  But I realized that writing about it is that and experiencing it is something else – like the difference between watching a game and playing it.  I’ve been researching this and as soon as I figure a few things out, I’ll let you know about it.  Stay tuned.

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What’s Important?

March 9, 2008

Global Mindshift, through its website, www.conversationweek.org asked people to submit what we consider the ten most important questions of our time.  One of the facilitators in Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream symposiums had some of her questions selected (I’m also a facilitator:  www.awakeningthedreamer.org)
 I don’t think there’s much to say other than, ‘Here they are”
•         How can we best prepare our children for the future?
•         What does sustainability look like to you? How do we get there? 
•         How do humans need to adapt to survive the changes predicted for this century?
•         How do we shift from “Me” to “We” on both the local and global levels?
•         How can you, as Gandhi said, be the change that you want to see in the world?
•         What kind of economic structures can best support a shift to sustainable living?
•         How should we re-invent the political process so that people feel that they have a voice?
•         What kind of leadership does the world need now?
•          How can we balance our personal needs with the most pressing needs of our community and the larger world?
•          What can we do to reduce or eliminate violence in the world?
Responses came in from 39 countries – from Uganda to Mexico to Singapore to Serbia to India to the US – making Global Conversation Week 2008 truly global.
No.  There is something else to say:  What are your answers?  How can you get your friends to read and answer for themselves?

Posted in Annie Loyd, coaching, contribution, creativity, education, environment, hunger, poverty, sustainability | Leave a Comment »

Crossing the Line

January 23, 2008

In many ways my training has jaded me – well, all of us, though each in our own way.  By jaded, I mean we can’t understand how some things are not in the consciousness of someone else.

Can you imagine someone not knowing the times table?  Lots of people can’t imagine someone not knowing how to change a tire or boil an egg; we’re all guilty of being jaded, somewhere in our lives.

In my case coaching has made so many notions second nature to me that they are like the times table.  Though, come to think of it,even now I have to think twice about 7×9.  And I realize that being jaded is not inherent, that I’ve been trained and continue to be trained.  So from time to time I will cross the line here and write about coaching. 

The other night was the last session of my current free coaching teleseminar.  This is an extraordinary introduction to coaching.  All coaches (do or should) give you a free introductory session.  I give a free 6-session teleseminar, called Successful Relationships.  Next one starts February 18th [7:30 – 8:30 Eastern]; you can sign up or find out more by emailing Michael Lipp [michael@michaellipp.com]

So – the other night we were speaking about asking for what you want or need.  We went ‘over the lines,’ speaking about both negotiating and dealing with getting complete with people in your life.

These are really deep topics and I’ll come back to them in future blogs.  The main issues are why do we stop ourselves?  Do we ever look at the possible costs versus the possible benefits?  And most of us do not know that there’s a huge difference between being complete and being over.  ‘nuff said for now.

I tell you that these questions of completeness and negotiation are really consistent with my commitments for having us all have spiritual fulfillment, social justice and environmental sustainability.

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Articles on Contribution

January 16, 2008

I’ve written a number of articles on ending hunger, that I’ve sent out to my mailing list – a minute subset of people who could and ought to read them.  So I decided to submit them to a directory of articles, which should get them submitted in e-zines all over the web.

But they all ask you to submit your articles in a category.  There aren’t any categories for contribution.  I couldn’t find one category that might be applicable.  I googled and searched – and finally gave up.  I’ve decided to publish these articles in my blog – in http://MichaelsArticles.wordpress.com

It occurs to me that I can’t be the only one this has happened to… and further occurs that people are being deprived of the opportunity to read about important, pertinent stuff.   My entreprenurial spirit is aroused, as is a burst of indignation.  Send me your thoughts on this —

Posted in contribution, education, hunger | 1 Comment »

Masterminding – A Short Session – More on Context

January 3, 2008

Three of us met yesterday – as the holiday travel winnowed our group.  I’ve written elsewhere on its impact and I see I’m not complete with the topic.

The coaching given to me was essentially this:  Please be clear on what you’re up to; I hear your requests for coaching, but I’m not sure how to listen to you.  What are you up to?

Very provocative – “I don’t know how to listen to you”  I don’t think we think of that very often – that how we speak conditions how we’re heard.  So how can I speak in a way that creates the way I want to be heard?  This is particularly pertinent because I think my main issue is mastering the three kinds of attention:  getting attention, keeping it, having people act on it.  And I see that what comes first is communicating so that you’ll hear the way I want you to hear.

So before I say that, I need to create the context for my words.  Okay, I’ve told you my context, the ‘why’ I speak, the ‘background conversation.’  Is that enough?  Yes, it is – but will you remember it tomorrow?  How about tomorrow’s new listeners?  Do I have to continue to create context?  Yes!!

So – one of my initial projects for 2008 is to reinvent my signature line.  Here’s how I want to be listened to:  What I’m about is having a world of spiritual fulfillment, social justice in a sustainable environment.  And what I do is support people to achieve these things in their own lives and the lives of their communities.  So I ask you – how would you invent a signature that speaks that?

Posted in coaching, creativity, environment, hunger, mastermind, poverty, sustainability, transpartisanship | Leave a Comment »

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