From my blue chair . . .

Lyedie Geer 6/18/26 Lyedie Geer 6/18/26

Something new has coalesced . . .

For months now, I’ve been asking, “What is mine to do, in this gorgeous ruckus?”

Spring 2026

For months now, I’ve been asking, “What is mine to do, in this gorgeous ruckus?” “What is needed now that I can offer?” and the idea for my next project finally dropped in — simple and all at once, the way ideas sometimes do — and I’m here to share it with you because your input and participation will give it life.

The Hearthfire Project, a series of online gatherings, hatched with the simple image of a central open fire, a hearth: People gathering around it. Taking inspiration and encouragement from the warmth of the fire and the generative companionship of the circle.

While it felt new, it coalesced from the Ancients.

Hestia — goddess of the hearth in ancient Greece and Rome — was for centuries one of the most revered figures in the pantheon. Not because she was the most politically powerful, or the most dramatic, but because she held the center of civic society. She tended the fire. Her round temples held an eternal flame at their center. She was the one around whom others could gather and be restored and inspired.

Over time, she was eclipsed. The more assertive goddesses — Athena with her strategy, Artemis with her fierce independence — rose to prominence. Hestia quietly receded.

What Hestia represented — the sovereign leader who holds space with warmth and inspiring continuity — is the kind of leadership we need to empower in civic society now. Not instead of strategic brilliance or the ability to be decisive under pressure, but alongside them. A presence and a place that holds true to vision and purpose.

I’ve been thinking about what was lost when Hestia receded into the mysteries. And what can be gained by bringing her narrative forward again.

There’s a quote from Nobel Prize-winning chemist Ilya Prigogine that I keep returning to: that in complex systems far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system toward a higher order. I believe that’s true. And I believe a small, deliberate gathering around a real question — a fire tended with care — is just that kind of island.

That is what I want to create with the Hearthfire Project. This brings Hestia’s much-needed narrative forward while creating islands of coherence.

This feels like mine to do . . .

I’m finding delight at the prospect of it.

Lyedie Geer 12/5/25 Lyedie Geer 12/5/25

Turning Toward Next

The year is turning again now.

December 2025

The year is turning again now. As promised, I’m posting an updated version of my annual reflection practice. This practice offers a way to fully embrace all that this darkening-before-the-light time of year has to offer. To engage this practice, carve out a protected chunk of time to be still and listen to the voice in you that arises when you put pen to the page. Be willing to peer into the uncertainty of these times as they are playing out in your life. I trust that this practice will illuminate or clarify what is next for you and give you purchase on your path to fulfillment. Please feel free to share it!

The idea here is to take some time to close up the year and begin to turn towards next year. Part 1, the practice of closing up your year, gives rise to good beginnings. The practice of turning towards what is next (Part 2) by listening for your emerging future, gives a very different flavor to our usual New Year's Resolutions. As my wing women have described, this practice is both gentle and powerful — there is both grace and grit here.

This practice will acquaint you with your inner Wisdom Council, which is a most wonderful and effective way to experience and get access to the fundamental capacities of grace and grit. The Wisdom Council is an archetypal ever-present inner "committee" that is always with you, and as you will discover, we all have one!

So, do you already have a practice or ritual way to close up the year and open to what is next? If not, I highly recommend it. If so, you already know how wonderful and beneficial it is and you might want to try this.

Part One - Closing Up the Year

Download the Wisdom Council inquiry questions and then carve out a little uninterrupted time (+/- 30 minutes) to cozy up with a cup of tea to really take stock with the first part of this practice. Give it your full attention to facilitate closure to the year in a very remarkable way. Have your journal handy, or just some paper and a pencil will do. Free write into these questions by putting your pencil to the page and just write whatever comes up for a few minutes without lifting the pencil. Remind yourself that your responses are for your eyes only, unless you want to share with a trusted friend, companion, or spouse.

Download Wisdom Council Questions

Note: Wisdom Council inquiries are powerful stuff. Please let these questions, and your responses to them, penetrate your heart, mind, and will-to-act. Let them begin to do their work as the year turns and unfolds in the coming months.

I have found that the most resourceful decisions arise out of incubation in deep stillness. May you find some of that deep stillness as the year turns and may the year ahead astonish us with all its beauty, truth and goodness!

Warmly, Lyedie
December 2025
Putney, Vermont

Photo credit: Elizabeth Ungerleider

Lyedie Geer 5/31/22 Lyedie Geer 5/31/22

2022 Tiny-little-practices-that-make-a-difference — On rushing, and what did Da Vinci mean anyway?

Are you finding yourself rushing through things?

When I was a young mother, and my daughter Jaime was in kindergarten she observed me rush around most mornings; making breakfast, making lunch, trying to get the girls dressed, myself ready for work, and all of us out the door on time. I can assure you it wasn’t a pretty scene — lots of zigging and zagging, frustrations being expressed, and there were those outfit changes (theirs as well as mine).

One day, Jaime piped up. Clearly and quietly said, “You know mom, I’ve been noticing that when you rush around like that it actually makes things take longer.” She had been watching carefully and she hadn’t missed a thing! In her five year old wisdom, she had found the right time to make this observation such that I could hear it, and now 35 years later I still hold the impression of that moment of truth. Out of the mouths of babes . . .

So when I sat down to write this blog post, I noticed that I had a bit of a rush going. The thought was that it should be done already. The feeling tone was in the anxiety realm: with all the uncertainty in the world, what can I offer that is of real use? And underneath the desire to be of use, was even the call to offer something brilliant! It was Friday afternoon, the sensations in my body were a slightly speedy jumpiness that had me out ahead of myself that wasn’t allowing me to focus. My brow was furrowed with trying to figure out what to write about. I was rushing in that way that Jaime noticed makes things take longer.

So, I paused and made use of a practice for unresourceful rushing when approaching tasks that I’ve developed recently for clients. My definition of unresourceful is: Being rendered incapable of using what is at hand wisely or efficiently. As the rushing started to dissipate, I realized that I could offer it as the first of the tiny little practices for 2022. So here goes.

Leonardo Da Vinci was on to something when he said, “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” But how do we use it well when it feels as if it is slipping away too fast? How do we use it well when our insides feel like a rushing river in rapids? And what the hell did Leonardo mean any way?

Here is a tiny little practice to develop quietude in the midst of activity which can give rise to a deeper efficiency — perhaps even experience a glimpse of what Leonardo meant. :)

There are a number of elements that contribute to to unresourceful rushing. When we get future oriented and then stir in a little anxiety (like the pressure to be brilliant) we come up and out of our center and the pace at which our body operates picks up. Driven by this future orientation the Friday afternoon neuro-chemical cocktail of cortisol and adrenaline shifted me into rush mode. This rendered me less able to resourcefully respond to the task at hand — Any chance I had at brilliance was disintegrating like wet tissue paper.

In general, when you are rushing you are operating up and out of most of your body. Think back and notice where your attention and energy is at those times. Chances are that it is floating at shoulder level or above and distinctly forward. Are you even aware of your spine or the back of your head? Can you feel the region of your heart, your butt on the chair?

You can attend to this high up and forward orientation simply by shifting your weight back and settling down into your body. To assist with this, place the palm of your hand on your belly and take a few breaths where you are elongating the out-breath. Elongating the out-breath while inviting your attention down towards your belly decreases the levels of cortisol and adrenaline, naturally settling your nervous system. It is a subtle yet remarkable shift that gives you access to more of yourself, to quietude.

Then return to the activity at hand. Start by giving the activity a specific amount of focused time and attention, say 15-30 minutes to start. Set a timer for that amount of time. Then place your hand on your belly and take a few breaths calling your attention in on the in-breath and settle down into your belly on the out-breath. Then imagine putting a set of blinders on and give the task your full attention until it is done or the timer has chimed, whichever comes first. If the task isn’t complete yet then evaluate and set the timer again. Continue until you have reached completion or the sense of rushing has dissipated and you are feeling resourcefully engaged in the process.

When we are rushing we are not able to find or forge a sense of engagement. Research in physics and philosophy is unveiling the truth that mystics like Leonardo have known for centuries, that time is a construct that is rather elastic. This practice can open up your sense of time, presence the gift that the mystery is offering up in the very moment, and allow for focus. Your relationship with time will shift when you engage in an activity from an inner quietude.

Here is a poem by Chelan Harkin to support this practice. I hope you enjoy both as you meet the gorgeous ruckus that is life on this beautiful planet.

The Flower

The flower
never had a to-do list,
not one day of her life.
She just pointed her whole self
toward light.
The rest
took care of itself.

Lyedie Geer

Putney Vermont

Spring 2022

Lyedie Geer 12/10/21 Lyedie Geer 12/10/21

Turning Toward Next in the Midst of All This Uncertainty . . .

The year is turning again now.

December 2021

Turning Towards Next in the Midst of All This Uncertainty

The year is turning again now. As promised, I’m posting my annual reflection practice. This practice offers a way to fully embrace all that this darkening-before-the-light time of year has to offer. To engage this practice, carve out a protected chunk of time to be still and listen to the voice in you that arises when you put pen to the page. Be willing to peer into the uncertainty of these times as they are playing out in your life. I trust that this practice will illuminate or clarify what is next for you and give you purchase on your path to fulfillment. Please feel free to share it!

The idea here is to take some time to close up the year and begin to turn towards next year. Part 1, the practice of closing up — your day, week, month, year — gives rise to good beginnings. The practice of turning towards what is next (Part 2) by listening for your emerging future, gives a very different flavor to our usual New Year's Resolutions. As my wing women have described, this practice is both gentle and powerful — there is both grace and grit here.

Part Two - Turning Towards the Next

Give yourself as much as a week, or as little as an hour, before picking up Part Two, wherein the Wisdom Council questions will have you look ahead with the clarity and compassion of the closure afforded you by of Part One.

Click here to download the questions in pdf format

Please feel free to be guided through the practice with the audio recordings below if you’d like.

(Be sure to Bookmark this page so that you can refer back to it easily later . . . )

Warmly, Lyedie
December 2021
Putney, Vermont

May you grow still enough to hear the small noises earth makes in preparing for the long sleep of winter, so that you yourself may grow calm and grounded deep within.

May you grow still enough to hear the trickling of water seeping into the ground, so that your soul may be softened and healed, and guided in its flow.

May you grow still enough to hear the splintering of starlight in the winter sky and the roar at earth’s fiery core.

May you grow still enough to hear the stir of a single snowflake in the air, so that your inner silence may turn into hushed expectation.

— Brother David Steindl-Rast

Photo credit: Elizabeth Ungerleider

Lyedie Geer 8/13/19 Lyedie Geer 8/13/19

So . . . How do we do this? How do we keep up the good work?

So . . . How do we do this? How do we keep up the good work?

Out in the middle of South Pond last week, I was paddling with my dear friend, Helaine, and I found myself saying, I know I’m not alone in this — I just find I need to say it out loud; I’m feeling the uncertainty of these times and the warming of the planet in my very being so deeply . . . It is taking effort to keep my heart open and my energy up and resourceful. Helaine listened and concurred. Helaine is a good listener.

The pair of Loons that I’ve been communing with in the last few months were swimming nearby, and just then the one chick they have been fiercely protecting all summer dove below the surface of the water. I’ve been observing this little one — first riding on her parents’ back with her two siblings, then swimming alongside them solo, and now we saw that she had just learned to dive into the deep!

Often these days my heart feels as if it is dropping out of my chest (Do you know what I mean?) and then something I love, something pin feathered and brave, brings support back up under my breast bone once again. The practices in the Daily Activists’ Log are some of what helps me to keep showing up enough to be out there communing with the loons, while staying engaged with what the world seems to need from me now.

I’m also hearing words from people like Toni Morrison, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and Martin Shaw that call me into my staying power.

If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then you need to empower somebody else. Toni Morrison

* * *

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times . . . Clarissa Pinkola Estes

* * *

The nightworld is where we are. I say it. I say it till we may hear it.
And in that darkness, we remember what we love the most.
That itself is the candle. Martin Shaw

So on behalf finding the candle by remembering what we love the most, the Daily Activist’s Log, which I first published in 2016, is my mid-summer offering. May it support you to make your contribution and to keeping up your resolve in these tumultuous times. Love, after all, is a verb.

Click here to access the original post and to download the Daily Activists’ Log.

Warmly, Lyedie

Final note: Remember to keep making breakfast, making love, and making some trouble on behalf of beauty truth and goodness . . .

Lyedie Geer 1/23/18 Lyedie Geer 1/23/18

Your Greatest Resource is . . .Your Attention

Your attention itself is essentially your greatest resource.

Your attention itself is essentially your greatest resource. As I see it, managing your attention well is a key to fulfillment and to developing the resilience we all need in these times. Lyedie

It is mid-January. The frenzy of resolution-making is settling down, and I find this to be a good time to hunker down into the basics so as to set a solid trajectory for the year. So please bear with me, and consider your attention itself as a resource — I'm defining attention here as being the flow of the most essential energy particles that you direct (consciously and/or unconsciously) as you move through life. Within this definition, thoughts and feelings are forms of attention.

Here are a few questions to help you explore and assess how resourcefully you are working with the essential currency of your own attention.

1. Locating your attention: Where has your attention been in the last hour? Has it been out the window, on your best friend in high school or, deep in the project you've been working on? Has it been in the past (remembering), the present (now), or in the future (planning)? Have you been directing it, or has it been commandeered somehow?

Here is a surprisingly beneficial little practice: Stop yourself a few times a day and just notice where your attention is located. Setting a timer on your smartphone to prompt yourself to take note of this will gently help you awaken to your attention. After all, where your attention is is where you are. Choosing to notice, in and of itself, is an act of taking control and directing your attention.

2. Then there is the quality of your attention: What is the quality of attention you are giving to this moment? Is it focused and penetrating, or is it diffuse and receptive? As you consider these words is your brow slightly furrowed as you engage your focused attention in an effort to understand, or is your brow soft indicating that your quality of attention may be more receptive? What kind of attention you give to what, and when, can make a big difference in the quality of your experience and the quality of what you produce.

3. And how do you decide? How aware are you of your default priorities? Do you tend to put attention on making progress or tending to things? Do you approach challenges by springing in to action, seeking perspective, fostering others, or nourishing yourself? Which of these areas do you privilege in your approach to life?

Getting back to the basics of working with our attention and energy provides foundational support to working effectively with the balance of work - rest - play - collapse that is critical to developing resilience. This can allow for making good contact with the ache of our longings, and then to getting around to fulfilling them. As the prima ballerina, Maria Tallchief, so aptly revealed to to me many years ago, “My favorite class is still Ballet I.”

I hope you have found this helpful in some way. If you are looking to make a shift in your approach to life — to developing your resilience and to getting on to fulfilling those longings, click here to learn more about working with me. Or go ahead and just schedule a discovery session with me.

Warmly, Lyedie

Lyedie Geer 2/9/17 Lyedie Geer 2/9/17

Daily Activism - How do you start your day?

How do you start your day?

How do you start your day? My day generally begins with a cup of coffee in my blue chair, and 10 minutes spent reflecting and planning with a morning page. In the last few weeks, my sense of being a citizen (a citizen of our nation and the world) has deepened and expanded. So much so that it caused me to update my morning page. I've started calling it my Daily Activist's Log, and for the next few weeks, I'm making it widely available here.

Perhaps you share in this expanding sense of citizenship? If so, you might want to give 10 minutes of your morning to trying this out, especially if these sorts of things are coming up for you:
- the need to keep up your good work in the uncertainty of our times
- the desire to expand your sphere of influence — and make it felt
- a longing to put power in the hands of skillful love
- an awareness that this is not just a sprint, it is a marathon
Click here if you'd like to download the morning page.

As Jean Houston recently pointed out to me, uncertainty seems to have reached truly mythic proportions. We are cracking away from the expected, into times that require an upgrade of the pioneering spirit. "To succeed we can no longer go it alone, but must partner with one another to share innovative and creative ways in which to rethink and restructure our individual existence within the context of our expanding global communities." We are not going to succeed with just the usual activist tactics. I see a need to call in the feminine and upgrade our activism. Some are calling it the Politics of Love. What ever words you are using, there is a need to marshal all the love, wisdom and energy that we can. Pacing and elegant use of energy is called for in this marathon

Keeping fit for the long haul starts with each one of us, every morning, when we set the trajectory for our day. One of the secrets to creatively living through tumultuous times is to develop the art of the potent pause. There are a number of ways to pause mindfully; meditation, martial arts, even walking being among them. One way to develop the art of pausing potently is to maintain the practice of starting the day with well orchestrated time to reflect, and to align your attention and energy. 10 minutes can wield a truly alchemical shift in your day, when it is well orchestrated.

If you are in for the duration, spend 10 morning minutes with My Daily Activist's Log for a few days or a week. Then please let me know how well this potent pause rocks you into your day. It is a work in progress, so I welcome your response. My hope is that your success with it contributes to our collective rise to the great task before us. Feel free to tinker with it and make it yours. If you find you want help with implementing it, click here to learn more about my work or just contact me directly.

I know, I do get lofty when I'm in my blue chair. Then I put away the dishes and I rock into my day. I feel very lucky to be able to carve out 10 minutes of quiet in the morning, and one thing that really motivates me is my longing for all beings on the planet to someday to be able to enjoy this same privilege.

Please go ahead and share this post.

Onward we go!

Lyedie Geer 6/17/15 Lyedie Geer 6/17/15

Those dilemmas that keep us up at night

I'm wondering if something other than thermal fluctuations is keeping you up at night?

I'm wondering if something other than thermal fluctuations is keeping you up at night? Perhaps you, like many others I've encountered recently, have a burning question or a dilemma that is churning? While I’m a big believer in giving things time to coalesce, sometimes we just get stuck in an indecisive loop that commandeers our attention during the day, and robs us of sleep at night. If you, or someone you know is up nights with a dilemma, perhaps I can be of help.

Dilemmas are actually very cool things. When you dive into one, with proper guidance, you discover that they have an anatomy. They tell you what you hold dear and what you fear. Within their structure they hold a lot of truth, along with some false or outmoded assumptions. Without fail they hold the key to how to get unstuck along with wisdom about how to pace yourself as they lose their hold on you.

Often we can solve dilemmas very simply with perspective and new action steps
Sometimes we find we can to learn to hold them differently
At times we can change our relationship to them
On occasion, once we have fully explored them, they just loosen their grip and resolve themselves

Please don’t let the summer, and your precious life currency, get consumed unnecessarily by staying stuck in a dilemma. There are times when action is required — transformational action, that doesn’t just try to push the river, but dives deeply into it and converts the energy that is trapped below the surface. I offer Afternoon Clarity Sessions that support while you dive youin to the churn and unlock the gifts of a dilemma.

Results: What are some sure signs that you have succeeded at unsticking a dilemma?

More sleep at night
A path forward is apparent and you have more courage to get on it and go
Your attention is freer to dream, create, enjoy people, and get things done
Buoyant energy is available once again
A sense of ease returns to your body, mind, and spirit
Your sense of humor returns

If you are churning on a dilemma and you'd like some help, Click here or give me a call (802-881-3124) to schedule your session.

Warmly,

Lyedie

Lyedie Geer 5/5/15 Lyedie Geer 5/5/15

Your waning energy can be a marvelous invitation . . .

Are you heading into mid-life and noticing that your energy levels seem to be waning?

Are you heading into mid-life and noticing that your energy levels seem to be waning? Noticing that you can’t just reach into that deep reserve of physical energy that used to be so readily available? This is a reality that most of us fight against. I certainly did!

But what I've found is that this ebb in energy is actually an invitation to step into a radically different efficiency. Once the reality becomes inescapable and we finally begin to turn our efforts away from recapturing lost youth and towards the future, a new vitality comes online. Many of us injure ourselves repeatedly, or get sick, before we recognize and accept this invitation. We humans have a tendency to move into grace kicking and screaming.

What does accepting this invitation mean in practical terms? First, it means admitting that there has been a dip in your energy levels. Once you get real with yourself, you can start caring for your physical body differently: adjusting diet and exercise, focusing on the body's brilliant design, its virtuosity. Start relying less on brawn. Then it means softening those youthful ambitions enough to listen for what is important to you now. It involves actively downshifting and finding engagement in a deeper, wider sense of meaning that then provides you with an unassailable updraft.It’s not easy, especially at first. It is essential to your well being. It is after all an invitation into one of life's gnarly, necessary and marvelous transformations.

Making the most of the updraft involves developing the ability to attune to your body, reckoning with a natural sense of loss, and recalibrating to the needs of your spirit. It may lead you to courageously planning and implementing graceful exits and well-considered entrances. This is the work of transformation. It is not magic, though the results can seem magical. It requires being realistic, developing new strategies and garnering significant support. Contact me, I'm not offering you any quick fixes here (No 3 Keys or 10 Secrets) but I can help you accept the invitation of this natural ebb in energy and, using some of the latest intel, move into grace.

Your waning energy is an invitation to soften into a new productivity, to activate a radiant eldership. Turn towards your future and join the party. You will be in good company.

You see, I want a lot.

Perhaps I want everything:

the darkness that comes with every infinite fall

and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing

and are raised to the rank of prince

by the slippery ease of their light judgments

But what you love to see are faces

that do work and feel thirst . . .

You have not grown old, and it is not too late

to dive into your increasing depths

where life calmly gives out its own secret.

Rainer Maria Rilke, From The Book of Hours

Lyedie Geer 7/11/14 Lyedie Geer 7/11/14

Getting More Productive: Tip #1 and Four Simple Truths

Do you find yourself longing to be more productive?

Well, you are not alone. This longing is shared by many of us as we navigate the complexity of modern life. There is no one secret to becoming more productive -- I have no formula for success to offer. What I've found is that for each of us the path to being truly productive is an evolving set of practices, an ongoing personal adventure. Alongside developing clarity on the big picture, I help people put their shoulders to the wheel and develop truly productive life habits and structures. Today I'm offering you a high leverage tip that magnetizes productivity, and reminding you of a few habits that you already know are the very foundation of a highly productive life.

The Four Simple Truths: (The ones that you already know)

Get enough sleep
Eat well
Exercise often
Contemplate daily

Tip #1 –Determine One Thing That Will Make a Difference

Take a look at your long list of to-dos and ask yourself:

What is the one thing that will make the difference if I get it done today?

Choose one thing that will have an impact, that is feasible to accomplish today.Write that down in bold letters across the top of your list, then orchestrate your day to accomplish that one task and let the rest of your to-dos follow suit -- believe me they will! Drive your day with the one thing that will make a difference, keep putting your time, attention and energy on it. When you get it done shout out, “Yes!”

Check in with your list at the end of the day and take note of all your accomplishments. Celebrate your wins and let them give you energy. Then determine what the "one thing" is for tomorrow and put that at the top of the list, big and bold, before you close up the day. Set it up so the “one thing” greets you in the morning when you start your day.Do the "one thing" on a daily basis and keep repeating.The "one thing" will serve as a magnet, attracting your accomplishments with each daily, “Yes!” that you shout out. You will be amazed at the momentum that putting this simple tip into practice will produce.

This simple tip addresses focusing your attention in the midst of distraction and complexity. Your own productivity challenge may call for a different approach. Contact me for a free initial coaching consultation.To learn more about productivity read on.

So, what do I mean when I use the term productivity? Well, I don’t mean just getting things done. Productivity is the result of using your time, energy and attention in concert such that you are sustainably making progress on the things that support your well-being and bring meaning to your life. Productivity is the driver of fulfilling our promise. Being truly productive creates momentum. It gives us juice!

In the weeks to come I’ll offer more tips on working with time, energy and attention more effectively. But now I want to explore the four simple truths.They are the foundation of a sustainably productive life. They are “no brainers” but many of us have trouble maintaining at least one of them and when we get stressed they tend to fall away leaving us depleted, unfocused and moody. A productive life is built on a solid albeit simple foundation. Nothing will get you more productive than getting these four in place. Nothing will challenge their dynamic equilibrium more than success. So, let go of doing it perfectly, be kind to yourself, and enjoy the ride!

Invite yourself to continually work the four simple truths into your life habits:

Get Enough Sleep – Work with your bio-rhythms and make it a priority

Refrain from caffeine in the second half of your day
Sleep clean -- in a room free of the distractions of TV, tablet, and phone
Invest in an old-fashioned alarm clock and charge your phone in another room
Take naps if at all possible (10-30 minutes is optimal. Too long and you will wake up groggy)

Eat well – Keep it simple and delicious

Eat early and well over the course of the day
Include lots of leafy green vegetables in your diet
Get enough protein
Limit your sugar intake
Drink plenty of water

Exercise Regularly- Moderation is key to keeping it daily

Greet the day with a quick walk or run (10- 20 minutes)
Take a short walk during your lunch break
Ride your bike or walk, if possible
Build upper body strength somehow – lift weights, stack wood, carry children
Take an exercise class or go to the gym regularly

Develop a Contemplative Practice – Build your Jedi brain capacity and reduce the allostatic load of modern life

If you already have one: Commit to it and deepen it.
If you haven’t established one yet: Investigate a way to “meditate” that is right for you.There are many methods available for busy people with busy minds from many traditions.

My next posts will introduce the productivity triad of Time, Energy, and Attention. I’ll be offering you ways to boost and harmonize these three critical elements to achieve true productivity.In the meantime, try focusing your attention by using Tip #1 to hone in on the one thing that will make the difference, and shore up the very foundation of your productivity by inviting yourself to implement the four simple truths.

If you feel called to action and you want to work closely with me in a program that I design just for you, click here to schedule a free initial consultation.

I hope that you are enjoying these glorious summer days as much as I am!

Warmly, Lyedie Geer

Lyedie Geer 5/2/14 Lyedie Geer 5/2/14

Harnessing the Energy of Spring

It is a glorious May morning and I'm just in from a walk.

May 2nd, Walpole, New Hampshire

It is a glorious May morning and I'm just in from a walk. While I was out there I got inspired to offer up a few simple practices for harnessing the energy that spring offers. My hope is that you enjoy them, and they are helpful to you in some way.

Many of us are looking to further our intentionality, resourcefulness and the ability to enjoy life. Working with the cycles of nature can help us to understand how to sustain these capacities over time. The practices below are intended to build your capacity:

- To initiate more intentional communications with others

- To work actively with the cycles of the creative process that are inherent in nature

- To be more resourceful

Harnessing the Energy of Spring (A few practices)

Recent breakthroughs in the field of neurobiology are telling us just how connected we are to the natural world and to each other. The palpable uptick of spring is a gorgeous example of this truth. Our bodies and minds are attuned to the waking up energy at play in the natural world. This provides great support for initiating communication, moving up and out in purposeful ways.

Take a Daily Infusion: Carve out time on a daily basis for an infusion of spring. This could be just 7-10 minutes of your lunch break or a longer stretch if your schedule allows. The idea is to go outside and commune with spring as it bursts forth. Leave your mobile phone behind and refrain from engaging in conversation. Dedicate this time to being fully receptive and aware of what is occurring in the natural world — the rain falling, sun warming, buds swelling, ferns unfurling, sap rising. Let it all bring a smile to your face. Invite it infuse your energy level and mood as you go on with your day. Doing this on a daily basis will support the initiating practices outlined below

Reflection: Take note of how being receptive to the uptick of Spring actually shifts your well-being, how it changes your energy level and emotional state.

Look for Opportunities to Break out of Winter’s Grip: As you go through your day, look for ways to break out of the stasis of winter and to push forward into new possibility. The stasis of winter is something we often experience internally as a kind of inertia. When you are on the verge of breaking out of it you might feel euphoric (and a even a little reckless) from the uptick that spring is giving your limbic system. But it is just as likely that you will experience at least a twinge of anxiety and feel your courage quicken. At those times consciously attune yourself to the energy of spring, the “yes” energy of inspiration and yearning; go with that.

Two Ways to Break out of Winter’s Grip:

1. Start Something: Start a project (small or large) that is dear to your heart, one that you have been considering but that has been in the grip of winter's inertia. Initiate that new project at work. Make that recipe that appears daunting. Throw that dinner party. Send that letter of intent. Teach your child how to knit. Hurl yourself into preparing that garden bed.

Reflection: How much energy do you gain by applying your attention and energy to something that is meaningful to you?

2. Break Through and Melt Ice: Communicate intentionally by saying what you see and what you’d like to see. Tell someone what you notice is happening in the space between you. Begin with the data; describe what you observe in as objective and straight forward a way as you can. Then express your warmth and what you hope for, what you would really like to experience and perhaps why. (It could be that there is something you'd like to see more of, or something you’d like to have less of, or perhaps there is something you wish was different than it is.) Be as real as you can, be your authentic self, listen to their response, stand in your intention. This may feel risky at first and I encourage you to start with the small stuff. Sentence stems are a great help:

I notice that . . .

I see that . . .

Followed by

What I’d really like to . . .

What is important to me is . . .

Here are some examples:

I notice that we don't have dinner as a family the way we used to . . . I really miss it and it is important to me that we get back on track by having dinner together at least three times a week.

I notice that when you ask me to make changes in the work I submit for approval, even though I value your input, I get defensive. . . . I'd really like to be able to accept criticism more gracefully and be open to feedback so that we can collaborate more effectively .

I notice that when you greet me at the end of the day with that quick little kiss on my cheek . . . that I really want you to linger there with me a little longer.

Reflections:

What does it take for you to say what you see and to offer your tender hopes to another?

What happens when you do?

How could you become more adept at these conversations?

Go ahead. The idea here is to work with the inherent full-bodied invitation of spring. Experience how spring works with you to support your intentions. Notice how spring invites us, by its very nature, to be restless in our frozen old habits, to envision new patterns and potential, and to move up and out into the fullness of life. I urge you to harness the energy it offers to do what really matters to you.

Feel free to let me know how it goes.

As a life and leadership coach I help my clients develop capacities they need to meet their objectives, and to fulfill their promise. Developing a new capacity is building a new muscle; it takes repeated effort and awareness through practice.

May spring bring be all that you hope for!

Warmly, Lyedie