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Be Kind to Your Future Self – It’s the Secret Sauce for Life!

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Self-Leadership Skills.

“When you don’t know what to do in a situation, ask yourself, ‘What would the person I want to be do in this situation?’ Then do that.” ~ Drew Dudley

Do you give much thought to your future self? If not, you’re far from alone. According to researchers, many people feel no connection with the person they’ll be in the future. After all, you can’t change that you’ll get older, so why worry about it, right?

Of course, some think about this for fun. According to Google about 2,400 people search for “What will I look like when I’m older?” every month. There are online sites and apps that allow you to upload a picture of yourself and see how you’ll look later in life.

Going beyond what you’ll look like, I think it’s a healthy practice to keep in mind your older self when making daily decisions. It introduces a deeper layer of mindfulness into your life, as you acknowledge each action will have an impact on your future.

Practice Self-Appreciation to Own the Value You Bring to the World

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Self-Leadership Skills.

“If you really want to change society, encourage self-appreciation.” ~ Réné Gaudette

I’d like to start out today by trying a simple experiment — since we’re entering the season for thankfulness, quickly write out a list of 7-10 things you’re grateful for. Take a moment and do that right now. I’ll wait…

As you read through your list, how many of your items are about possessions? How many are about people in your life? And here’s the big question: did you express gratitude for yourself?

Deepen Your Emotional Maturity & Trust Your Feelings When Under Stress

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Embodied Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Leadership Skills.

“Who we are is how we lead. We can either lead from heart or we can lead from hurt.” ~ Brené Brown

Often people come to me to bounce off life experiences — to either feel validated or get a reality check. They’ll say something like, “Maria, does this seem right to you? Is it okay to feel what I’m feeling?” I really appreciate being in their life this way. And I love seeing how their mindfulness deepens and adds richness to their emotional maturity over time.

Being mindfully aware of how we feel in our emotions and in our body and then making intentional choices in response is how we manifest emotional maturity. We own our feelings and the path we choose, without complaining, blaming, or making excuses.

This process of emotional growth never ends, because you experience new situations and new feelings. And your current well-being plays a huge part — what you can handle one day may seem overwhelming when you’re overly tired, undernourished or dehydrated.

Develop Somatic Intelligence to Reconnect with Your Body and Unlock Your Potential

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Mindfulness, Self-Leadership Skills, Somatic Coaching, The Feldenkrais Method®.

“There’s a difference between intellect and intelligence. Noise propagates the former, silence the later. Intellect is inherited, intelligence is inherent.” ~ Drew Gerald

When I asked my friend how she was feeling, she replied, “Just fine!” Her words sounded so upbeat. But her body was saying something different. Dark, clouded eyes were downcast; mouth tense; shoulders rolled forward, almost as if they were curving over to protect her heart; hands clenching. Because of years of developing sensory acuity, I could tell she really thought everything was okay, but the dissonance with her body told another story.

As I gently inquired further, her story emerged. As she spoke, a softening of her body occurred. By the end of our lunch together, she exclaimed, “I feel so much better. I didn’t know that was bothering me so much!”

You can probably relate. Your body often knows things long before your mind catches up. It remembers today’s experiences AND all of your past experiences.

However, we’ve learned to doubt our body wisdom, to second guess ourselves, to ignore the messages that the body is sending. We spend so much time treating the body as a separate entity apart from thoughts and feelings that we create conflict and disharmony within ourselves.

Finding Inner Peace to Weather the Storms of Change Raging Around Us

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Self-Leadership Skills.

“Happiness is the new rich.

Inner peace is the new success

Health is the new wealth

Kindness is the new cool.”

Anonymous

Do you ever read or hear something that speaks to you deeply? It happened again to me recently and I wish to share it with you in the hopes that it brings you as much inner peace, softness and joy as it did for me. I’m sure you’ll agree that now, more than ever, finding inner peace is something we can all use.

Because we live in such strange and harsh times, we do well to seek solace from within. When the world around us is not a soft and nourishing place, we must be able to rely on our own inner resources of gentleness, kindness, equanimity and peace.

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Continually grow as a person and find your work/life balance

Be Kind to Your Future Self – It’s the Secret Sauce for Life!

Practice Self-Appreciation to Own the Value You Bring to the World

Deepen Your Emotional Maturity & Trust Your Feelings When Under Stress

Develop Somatic Intelligence to Reconnect with Your Body and Unlock Your Potential

Finding Inner Peace to Weather the Storms of Change Raging Around Us

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