When I was about six years old, at Christmas time a very large, rectangular-shaped object covered with a blanket appeared in our living room near where the gifts were kept. My brother and I were intrigued, wondering who could be getting such a large gift. I...
meditation
The Gifts of a Grumpy Teenager
I had a revelation the other day: My ministry is a grumpy teenager. For people new to my blog, I should mention I am an ordained clergy person in the United Church of Christ. I also teach yoga and meditation and do leadership and organizational development and am a...
Choosing Health Today over Health Insurance
I hung up the apron for the last time. If you’re tracking, I quit working at Starbucks just six weeks after starting. I’ve had many jobs, but I don’t think any of them lasted for such a short time. The primary reason Iapplied to and went to work for Starbucks was...
Four Simple Steps for Managing Time
I really never intended to be a time management guru. What I really wanted was to help people identify their dreams, then coach, train and support people and organizations while they implemented those dreams. Over the years, I’ve coached lots of people through change....
Feeling in Color
I am not a crafty person. I’ve often envied people who can bring knitting or crochet into a meeting and absentmindedly work on a project while occasionally and appropriately interjecting into the conversation. I am in awe of the attention to detail people pay to bead...
Liberation in Discomfort
In recent social media posts, you may have noticed that I recently started a part-time job at Starbucks coffee. The position offers me benefits and a little steady income while starting this coaching, training and organizational development business. (Being a single...
From Envy to Gratitude
In my 20s and early 30s, envy would rise up like bile in my throat whenever I opened another calligraphy-covered, heavyweight envelope inviting me to yet another wedding. In my 30s and early 40s, envy weighed on my shoulders when I saw others’ careers progress and...
3 Mindfulness Tips to Ease Back-to-School Anxiety
Even though I liked to learn and did pretty well in school, I felt pretty nervous every year before starting class again. The anxiety amped up in middle and high school. I dreaded seeing students who picked on me. I was insecure about my body in gym class. I was...
Abundance Means Asking for Help
Late in July, I absentmindedly turned the wheel of my car, hit a curb and tore a hole in the tire. My car limped along while I struggled to find a parking place on the narrow streets in an older part of Columbus, Ohio. Now sweltering in my car, I used the AAA app to...
Reclaiming Rest: 2 Tips for Falling and Staying Asleep
Even though my mother claimed I could sleep through lawn mower noise outside my window as an infant, that blissful sleeper ceased to exist sometime in early childhood. Once I had my own room, every foundation-settling creak, wild thunderstorm or nightmare would launch...
The Most Beautiful Om
I have chanted the sound Om before and after yoga classes thousands of times. When I felt and heard the sound of Om reverberating off the walls in the actual room of my home yoga studio in Columbus, Ohio, for the first time in more than a year, I was awestruck. The...
Making Meaning: Telling and Sharing Story
I don’t remember much from sixth grade, but I have vivid memories of my teacher’s after-lunch reading ritual. The ritual was simple: We’d read our way through a book, a chapter at a time each day after lunch and recess. I’m terrible at remembering details, but somehow...
Self-Care & Creativity: Completing the Stress Cycle
Nicole is excited to have filmmaker and educator Lindy Boustedt takeover her blog this week! It was early February 2020 and I was waiting to see a neurologist for the very first time. Migraines were happening at an ever-increasing rate – sometimes three a week – and...
Leading with Radical Self Love
What do self-care and self-love have to do with leadership? Everything. I bet you’ve worked for someone who was a nonstop worker. Someone who jettisoned vacation plans when even minor emergencies arose. Someone who worked long after everyone else left the building....
2020 Learnings: Distanced Connection
Warning: This blog post is going to get a little woo-woo. I’m not inclined toward long flights of ethereal new age speak or reflection on religious mysticism. But this past year has been a very different time. So strap in for a little woo-woo. When social distancing...