10 Aug 2018 – Nancy’s Notes & Anecdotes

Quote I’m pondering:

“Want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect.”
— Brene Brown

On my reading list:

The Growth Mindset: A Guide to Professional and Personal Growth, by Joshua Moore and Helen Glasgow. This is a short and powerful book. I’m not sure how I found out about it, but boy am I glad to have read it. Fourteen short chapters packed with info and ideas and work. Each chapter has a summary called the Big Takeaway with practical advice.

I especially appreciated the chapter called Happiness Retrospective: 3 questions that each have 3 questions about past, current and future happiness. This was a really simple but powerful exercise!

(1) When in the past were you at your happiest? Why was this? Who was involved? Why did it end?

(2) What currently makes you happy? Why is this? Who is involved? What could make it end?

(3) When you plan for the future, what do you think would make you happy? Why would this make you happy? Who would be involved? What would you do to ensure it wouldn’t end?

One of the things I learned is the same people are involved past, present and future. Try this exercise and let me know what you learn.

How I spent my time:

This week, for the Her Dreamers Membership Program, I had the pleasure to interview Terri Hall who is a friend, colleague and client. I’ve known Terri for 10+ years and her story still inspires me. She has grit, she has courage, she has charisma and she is one of the most creative people I know. If you’d like to watch the interview, here is the link.

Ideas I’m Noodling…

From the 52 Lists for Happiness book by Moorea Seal: “List the people you want to spend more time with before the end of the year… Plan one way you will spend time with a friend this week. Try to keep planning a friend hang-out time once a week for the rest of the year and think of it as your weekly happiness investment!” I absolutely love this idea! PS– you can plan virtual friend meetings too!

I’m following…

Have you heard of the artist Phil Hansen? I learned about him when I heard his TED Talk called Embrace the Shake. He did a project last year where he made portraits of poets using words from their poems and his medium was a Smith Corona Electra 110 typewriter(!). Remember those? I actually had one… Take a look at the portraits AND do yourself a favor and listen to his very inspiring TED Talk.

I’m Celebrating…

Sometimes I have to really dig deep to find something I deem worthy of celebrating. The good news is that the soul searching always pays off — being conscious of the fact that I’m looking for something to celebrate makes me more aware of my surroundings and reminds me that celebrations don’t have to be grandiose or mind blowing. A case in point: This morning I was interrupted as I was preparing this note and I saw this– I’ve had this bromeliad for many many years. You might not know that bromeliads are self perpetuating… the mother plant grows pups that eventually replace it and the cycle continues on and on. The bloom on this plant has probably been growing for weeks and today is the day I noticed it and now I’ll be on the lookout over the next few weeks as it continues to fill out and fill me with wonder and pride. What is right under nose that you can celebrate??

In case you missed them, you can catch up here. I hope you’ll find ideas that spur your imagination and creativity to help propel you forward on your adventure.
Nancy Allen