Mindfulness
Breathing Space to Lead
I was honored to be a part of the VHAtv Nursing Leadership Series a couple of months ago to discuss how mindfulness can help us be better leaders. As it turns out, the traits that contribute to excellence in leadership are the same qualities cultivated with mindfulness. They include: – Presence – Focus and creating…
Keep Reading...The Courage to Feel
With the recent loss of our dog, my mom, and my partner Neil’s mom, I have had the opportunity to experience some pretty intense feelings which can be overwhelming, uncomfortable, and unpredictable. They consume you in an instant, without warning, like when I wait in line at the grocery store, walk through my front door…
Keep Reading...Remembering Mom
Remembering Mom My mom was a funny, brave, and beautiful woman, who was passionate about the beach, football and her family. Mom was the youngest of 7 children, with an identical twin sister, Nan. They had a strong bond all of their lives that only twins can know. Mom spent the majority of her adult…
Keep Reading...How Will You Begin?
January is my favorite month because there is something powerful and magical about being able to begin again. Not necessarily start over, but meet ourselves where we are, with an openness and curiosity, full of promise and potential. This is beginner’s mind in action, looking at things as the beginning and experiencing them as fresh…
Keep Reading...How to Let Go of the Pony
Many years ago a friend of mine told me the reason the holidays can be so difficult for many of us is because we are waiting for the pony. I struggled with the holidays for years, starting in September and through to January. I would agonize before, in anticipation of my angst, suffer during and…
Keep Reading...Boulder Community Health Decreases Employee Stress 20%!
In the midst of all the transition in healthcare today, with 2 out 3 healthcare providers reporting feelings of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion, Boulder Community Health (BCH) wanted to offer their staff relief and support them in preparation for moving their hospital to a new facility. Administration wanted to give staff practical tools and…
Keep Reading...The Compassion to Care
Last month I had one of the highlights of my speaking career by opening the Emergency Nurses Association Conference in Indianapolis for 2500 nurses. I felt I had really come home, not only because I worked as an emergency room nurse for 23 years, but because I also grew up in Indianapolis. In contrast, we…
Keep Reading...Getting to YES
The sign on the wall, “If you don’t puke, faint, or die, keep going” was a tad concerning as I walked into a cycling class called HELLth. The initial reason I said YES to this 6am class was because the new owner of my yoga studio in Park Hill, (who owns five fitness facilities in…
Keep Reading...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,…
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