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Turns out, the magic ingredients are available to all of us! And not only available, but free of charge! Journaling, focus, meditation, happiness, empathy\u2026 these are all things that anyone\u00a0can\u00a0<\/strong>do, but most do not. The secret seems not to be in their elite access, but in their consistency.
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Read on for a few of the resources that inspired and motivated me this month!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HAPPINESS…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Happiness – and its cousin, Contentment – are so underrated. Success, winning, competition, “keeping up with the Joneses” are all too often the goal we are striving for. But happiness – true happiness and contentment – is something that we achieve for ourselves, with ourselves, and by ourselves. And is surprisingly rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love when there is podcast overlap. When one of my favourite podcast hosts interviews one of my other favourite podcast hosts, you get real podcast magic. Which is what this episode of\u00a0How to Fail<\/a>\u00a0is: pure listening magic.\u00a0 JOURNALING…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a staunch believer in Diversity and If you\u2019ve been around for a while, you\u2019ll know that I am a huge fan of writing things down. Hand-written lists (colour-coded of course!) really help me get \u2013 and stay \u2013 organized, and get things done.\u00a0\ud83d\ude42 And listening to this\u00a0podcast on the benefits of journaling<\/a>\u00a0reminded me of why and how I grew to love journaling a few years ago, and how cathartic and helpful it is. One of my core values is growth, and this quote really caught my attention: “Journaling to record your lessons is like making an investment in your wisdom account<\/em>.” FOCUS & ATTENTION…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another practice I was sceptical of was meditating. Honestly, it seemed just like a semi-conscious nap?? Then I read Stress Less, Accomplish More<\/a> and figured out not only how to meditate, but why it actually has huge benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is actually an incredible amount of hard scientific evidence<\/a> and neuroscience behind meditation. “This isn’t woo woo, this is real.” EMPATHY…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I read a lot. I love reading. I have been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. One of my happiest childhood memories is my grandmother taking me to the bookstore near her home and letting me choose two books to take with me to summer camp. I still have those books!!\u00a0
The entire concept of\u00a0How to Fail<\/a>\u00a0is brilliant. The host interviews various experts and celebrities, always asking them what their top 3 failures have been, based on the hypothesis \u201cthat learning from our mistakes and understanding that why we fail ultimately makes us stronger, because learning how to fail in life actually means learning how to succeed better<\/em>\u201d. It\u2019s always a deep, insightful, eloquent interview.\u00a0
So when Dr. Rangan Chattergee was a guest on How to Fail, I knew that was an episode I wouldn\u2019t want to miss! I\u2019m a huge fan of Dr. Chattergee and his podcast\u00a0Feel Better Live More<\/a>\u00a0(not least because Dr. Chattergee has the most mellifluous voice!) and his interview centred around how we often don\u2019t strive for happiness, yet how important happiness is. He lays out 10 different ways we can tweak our life to improve our happiness and I found it really insightful.\u00a0
Added bonus: if anyone is more of a visual person, there is an\u00a0online transcript<\/a>\u00a0of this podcast!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/2-PICS-for-Mailchimp-39-1024x576.jpg\")
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However, I was never a huge fan of journaling. It always felt so \u201cdear diary\u201d teenager to me. Until I kept coming up against mountains of\u00a0evidence<\/a>\u00a0that journaling is actually one of the best habits you can develop to stretch your IQ, improve your emotional intelligence, boost your memory & creativity, and more!\u00a0
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“I write and therefore I know…we learn by trying to articulate what we’ve consumed and put it into our own voice and our own words<\/em>.”
In this excerpt from Mastering Leadership [a book which will figure prominently in the next newsletter “Top 10 Reads for Leaders”!], I was impressed by how powerful journaling is for effective leadership:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2022-03-31-at-17.18.03-1024x668.png\")
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Don\u2019t you love the sound of a \u201cwisdom account\u201d? I am all in for that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/FOCUS-ON-THIS-1024x784.jpg\")
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One of the greatest benefits of meditation is that it is one of the very few ways we can improve our concentration and focus. Something too many of us are sorely lacking in these days. It turns out that meditating for a minimum of 12 minutes, and paying attention to where you pay attention, is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways of improving your ability to focus.
This podcast interview<\/a> with Dr. Amishi Jha, author of \u201cHow to Master a Peak Mindset, Find Your Focus & Own Your Attention\u201d was so interesting. I love how Dr. Jha, a neuroscientist, was also sceptical of meditation until her research showed unequivocally how effective it is. She has gone on to teach meditation and focus practices to the US military, elite sports teams and more. Sounds like it might be a very useful tool for us too!!
I also loved her suggestion of starting a \u201cConnection Practice\u201d, by saying to yourself, and also to your loved ones:
1. May you be safe
2. May you be healthy
3. May you be happy
4. May you live with ease
These Loving Kindnesses – ever so slightly modified – are now my cellphone screen saver! [Art courtesy of Morgan Harper Nichols<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/QUOTE-576x1024.jpg\")
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So when I read\u00a0Stolen Focus<\/a>\u00a0[a brilliant book btw and absolutely worth reading!!], I was fascinated by the chapter on \u201csustained reading\u201d. The author interviewed Raymond Mar, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto [my hometown, how apt!] who \u201cis one of the social scientists who has done most in the world to study the effects that reading books has on our consciousness<\/em>\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0
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And as Professor Mar reported, \u201cWhen you read a novel, you are immersing yourself in what it\u2019s like to be inside another person\u2019s head. You are simulating a social situation. You are imagining other people and their experiences in a deep and complex way. [\u2026] Perhaps fiction is a kind of empathy gym, boosting your ability to empathise with other people \u2013 which is one of the most rich and precious forms of focus we have<\/em>.\u201d
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I\u2019d honestly never thought of reading as a form of \u201cempathy gym\u201d. But it\u2019s true! You do put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist, and see things from their perspective. I might not have ever thought of it as an exercise in increasing my empathy, but it did! One of the skills I draw on most as a coach is empathy. It helps me to be (to quote Ted Lasso) \u201ccurious, not judgemental\u201d. And interestingly, when my sister read Stolen Focus and came across the above passage, she immediately texted me and said \u201cyour career choice makes so much sense!\u201d\u00a0\ud83d\ude42
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The data shows: \u201cthe more novels you read, the better you are at reading other people\u2019s emotions\u201d.<\/em>
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So if empathy is one of the skills you\u2019re looking to work on, dive into a book!\u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2022-03-30-at-17.25.29.png\")
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