Posts by Diane Sieg
The Wisdom of Patience
Jon Kabat-Zin says patience is a form of wisdom. It is being completely open to each moment, accepting it in it’s fullness, and acknowledging things unfold in their own time. Patience is remembering you can’t push the river—which I sometimes try to do when in unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory. Like when I am forced to…
Keep Reading...Trust the Mud
Many years ago when I first got into the speaking business, my mentor and now dear friend, Mary LoVerde told me every time you want to get to another level, you have to go through the mud—that period when everything seems confusing, overwhelming, and downright impossible. I am feeling that way about my current project,…
Keep Reading...The Courage to Change
Courage is the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. We need courage, not because it shows our strength but because it shows our ability to act, in spite of our weaknesses. If we don’t stand up for what is important to us, follow our hearts, and persevere in our most…
Keep Reading...The One Thing You Need to Be Authentic
When I first started speaking professionally, almost 20 years ago, I wanted to be just like all the great speakers I experienced, such as Jeanne Robertson, with her side-splitting humor, Les Brown, with his engaging intensity, and my beloved coach, Lou Heckler, with his heartfelt ability to connect. Great speakers are polished and passionate delivering…
Keep Reading...Begin with Beginner's Mind
Beginner’s mind is one of my favorite qualities of mindfulness because it means to approach the familiar and unfamiliar things in life with a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder of a child—instead of the criticism of an adult. Whether it is riding a horse for the first time (like our granddaughter Ana in the…
Keep Reading...Surprise Yourself this Holiday
I decided not to put up a Christmas tree this year. Not because I was bitter or in protest, but because I just couldn’t face spending the 4 days it takes to get the decorations out of the crawlspace, go through them, make room for them, and then clean up and put them all away…
Keep Reading...Practice Compassion
Compassion is the desire to alleviate suffering by expressing fundamental loving kindness toward yourself and others. We need compassion because life is hard, unfair, and impermanent—for all of us. There are now studies confirming practicing compassion improves health, well-being, and relationships. Compassion makes us feel good by activating pleasure circuits in the brain. It can…
Keep Reading...Do You Mind What You Eat?
Do you mind what you eat? In other words, are you mindful, (awake and aware) of what, how much, when and why you are eating? In these busy and stressful times, many of us are not. We can find ourselves “grabbing something” between meetings, soccer games, or conference calls and what we “grab” is usually…
Keep Reading...Silence is Loud
I had the privilege of leading several Your Mindful Year trainings and retreats last month to a variety of groups, from high school and pre-school teachers, to therapists and healthcare providers. I am happy to say they were very well received and the most powerful part of each program was re-discovering silence is loud. Your…
Keep Reading...Its Not Too Late!
I was interviewed last month for the Healthy, Wealthy, and Enlightened Success Telesummit and one of the questions asked by Sylvia Coleman was, What would you tell your younger self about success and mindfulness that you know now that you didn’t know then? My immediate response was to enjoy the ride, the ups and downs,…
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