Slow Down - What Do You See?

For years I have been hearing people talk about how important it is to slow down and be more observant . . . what a gift it can be to be present and take in and enjoy our surroundings. It is said that by doing so, we may be able to see and appreciate things we have never noticed before. 

As an avid meditator and someone who loves to walk on the beach or in the forest and just breathe it all in, I thought I was pretty good at this. Just recently I discovered there was something right under my nose that I have been missing for years!!

Several times a year, there is a flowering "weed" that grows prolifically all over the area where I live. The first year I lived here, I left them alone because they had such a pretty yellow flower. Yet by the second year, I realized how this pretty yellow flower was keeping all the surrounding flowers from getting any sunshine and it was choking off their air supply. (Technically I don't know if that is a correct statement. I just know that is how I FEEL when I am working in the garden - like the other plants/flowers just can't breathe until I can clear out the pretty yellow "weed/flower.")

I have spent hours / days / weeks over the last several years, pulling these out . . . as quickly as I can because there is that whole issue of getting the timing just right. For instance, they come out much easier and with the root still in tact if you can do it right after a heavy rain but sometimes I have other commitments after a heavy rain which keeps me from going out there during that "sweet spot" where the soil is still wet enough to extract them easily. Also, I don't enjoy working in the garden if it's freezing cold  . . . and often times, when it stops raining, it is still cold enough outside that you can see your breath, which means it's not going to be a fun gardening day for me. LOL  

And heck this year, it's been a case of there being NO break between the heavy rains to get outside and do any yardwork.  LOL  Needless to say, when I finally do get out there, it is typically with haste and a "get-er-done" mindset.

Something made me slow down this year though . . . I felt the need to take my time and enjoy the sunshine we were finally getting - to be fully present and be mindful of my breath while I was outside. As I gingerly removed these weed / flowers, being careful not to accidentally pulling up the freesia that were blooming early, I observed something I had never seen before. It actually stunned me a bit because what I hadn't noticed was so utterly sweet. 

It put a huge smile on my face and in my heart when I realized that I had been missing the "message" from these precious weed / flowers. And it also served as confirmation that when we slow down, we really CAN notice things that we didn't see before. So I invite you all to give it a try . . . go and do something you do frequently - it can be anything at all - and then let yourself do it more slowly. Let your mind slow down . . . take a few deep breaths and allow yourself to just be present. Take in what you see, with no thought . . . just imagine that you are looking with a fresh set of eyes. What do you notice? Are you observing anything new? If not, you may want to try again another day. Have fun with it! You just may stumble across something as sweet as I did! 

Let Love Lead The Way

Feeling the calling to write about love today - because there is so much power in love!!! 

Love can heal! Love can support! Love can change the structure of our water! Love can change our body chemistry and mood! Love can positively impact the choices we make! Love can have a wonderful impact on how we treat those around us!  There is no end to what love can do.

If you'd be willing, will you stop for a moment right now and ask yourself, "What do I love?" and write down everything that comes to mind?  It doesn't matter if you already know what you'd write - write it down anyway.  :-)  

At the top of my list are: Animals, music, sunsets, water (beaches and lakes), flowers and trees. When I want to tap into the power of love, all I have to do is think about this list or I can look at pictures of these things or listen to song lyrics that "take me there" . . . Often times this can be my saving grace, the thing that will give me the strength I need to keep moving forward on a tough day.

And it is such an easy thing to do.

Below I am sharing some of my favorite song lyrics about LOVE as well as some pictures to go along with my list, in the hopes that maybe they will inspire you to create your own list and tap into your own vibration of love. 

Never before have I felt the need so strongly for all of us to do this . . .  

As my very first favorite rock star (and crush) sang in the song Jealousys:  Life on earth, take it for what it's worth, save the Universe, Love One Another! (Eddie Monday)

And as Todd Rundgren wrote:

And when you feel afraid, love one another

When you've lost your way, love one another

When you're all alone, love one another

When you're far from home, love one another

When you're down and out, love one another

All your hope's run out, love one another

When you need a friend, love one another

When you're near the end, love

We got to love, we got to love one another

Light of the world, you got to shine on me

Love is the answer

Shine on us all (know that love can save the day)

Set us free

Love is the answer

(Just give it, just one more chance)

And as the Bellamy Brothers sang: 

Just let your love flow like a mountain stream

And let your love grow with the smallest of dreams

And let your love show

And you'll know what I mean, it's the season

Let your love fly like a bird on the wing

And let your love bind you to all living things

And let your love shine

And you'll know what I mean, that's the reason

And as The Youngbloods sang:

If you hear the song I sing

You will understand, listen

You hold the key to love and fear

All in your trembling hand

Just one key unlocks them both

It's there at your command

Come on, people now

Smile on your brother

Everybody get together

Try to love one another right now

And as The O'Jays sang:

People all over the world, join hands.

Start a love train, love train

People all over the world, join hands

Start a love train, love train

The next stop that we make will be England

Tell all the folks in Russia and China too

Don't you know that it's time to get on board

And let this train keep on riding, riding on through

People all over the world (you don't need no money) join hands

Start a love train, love train (don't need no ticket, come on)

People all over the world (join in, ride this train)

Start a love train, love train

All of your brothers over in Africa

Tell all the folks in Egypt and Israel too

Please don't miss this train at the station

'Cause if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you

People all over the world, join hands

Start a love train, a love train

Ride, let it ride

People, ain't no war

People all over the world (on this train) 

Join hands (ride the train)
Start a love train

Is It Time to Change How We Work?

When I saw this meme today, I literally laughed out loud! Oh the memories it brought back of my senior year of college, when over 50% of our grade was dependent on the big “group project.” Back then, every single class I had was using this method, so basically ALL of my grades were dependent on how well the project team worked together in every one of my classes. They ranged from “Super fun” to “I think I am going to cry in my beer”–with the latter being a great source of frustration and exhaustion.

Given how much it bothered me, I bent the ear of more than one college professor that year (and in the years that followed) about my strongly held belief that if you were going to make so much of a person’s grade dependent on how well their team worked together, then there should also be classes offered that were specific to how to work productively as a team. Most of the time they would shake their heads and give me a response that was equivalent to “Changing a college curriculum is about as easy as getting a gigantic ocean liner to do a 180 when it’s a few miles away from shore.”

 

When I got my first job out of college and was involved in the Process Improvement initiative (Total Quality Management), this topic came up once again. Process Improvement teams were formed based on departments, management teams or representatives from cross-functional groups but no one was there to help them work together as a team. Improving a process then became a fun and easy activity or a goat rodeo, depending on the personalities of the team members and their ability to communicate effectively. (This was where my passion for the human side of Process Improvement originated). 

 

When our internal training organization was preparing to roll out Quality Management training, I kept pushing for things that were quickly ruled out by the more senior people involved. For instance, I wanted to let actual teams sign up for a training class together so they could work on their specific process during the class and get support from the trainer / facilitator to implement the concepts real-time. I was told we couldn’t do that. No matter how much I pushed, I was told over and over “We just don’t do things that way” and “Sign ups would be a nightmare . . . it’s quicker and easier to just put everyone through the training and they can bring the tools back to their individual departments.”  My repeated attempts to question the “norm” did nothing, as they just kept shaking their heads as if to say “Alas, she’s so green . . . someday she’ll understand that isn’t how things work in the corporate world.”  LOL

 

I share all of this now, not in an attempt to shame colleges or internal training departments (and given that I began working as a outside consultant almost 30 years ago and have been out of college longer than that, for all I know, things HAVE changed in that regard). I just have this growing sense that the time is NOW to come at this with even more passion and more conviction. The time is NOW to call out the things that aren’t effective and create new ways to get things done. Not to tweak existing ways but to come up with entirely new ways of working.

 

I know I am not the only one thinking this. Based on the articles that show up in my newsfeed, clearly there are others sensing this need for change. Conversations I have had with my Linked-in contacts are proof that many of them are already attempting to implement new ways of working in their current positions and they are finding great success with these new approaches. 

My hope is that by shining the spotlight on this, even more people will begin questioning if there are better ways for us to run our businesses. Quieting the voices that say, “This is how we’ve always done it” – could we think more broadly and more deeply about how we’d like to work? Could we reimagine how we partner with our co-workers? Our customers? Our suppliers? Could we find ways to work where everyone feels valued and appreciated? Where everyone enjoys what they are doing so much that it no longer feels like "work?"

 

If we gave ourselves permission to look at things with both humanity and effectiveness in mind (in the absence of all limits) could we tap into brand new ideas that could completely reshape the way we do business? My belief is that we absolutely can—the question really comes down to “Will we?”

Lucky For Me - Interview #2

Steve Whiteford and I had so much fun doing our first video podcast / interview last month that we decided to do another one. When we did our first one, out here in California we were in the midst of rather overwhelming weather challenges but even with the flooding, mudslides, power / internet / cell phone outages, we managed to pull it off.  

We set out to do our second one and wouldn't you know it, Steve (who lives in Texas) was the one who was in the midst of rather overwhelming weather challenges. Once again, regardless of the number of downed trees and power outages, etc. that were going on around him, we were able to connect to create our second interview.

We are taking it as a sign that if we are still able to do these with all that chaos going on around us, then what we are attempting to do must be supported by the Universe.  LOL 

Here is the description that we included with our second video podcast so you can get a feel for what we cover.  It is about 35 minutes long.  

In this second installment of Lucky for Me, Maureen and Steve discuss the new career path that emerged as an outcome of her journey with Lucky - that of an Animal Communicator and Energy Practitioner. During this segment, we delve into how she works, how her intuitive abilities play a big role in her practice and what someone might expect if they have a session with her. Steve also shares his own experiences of having a session with Maureen and his beloved Corgi, Jenny so folks can get a first-hand account of what it is like to have a session with Maureen.

Lucky For Me - Interview #2

I hope you enjoy hearing some more about the journey I went on with Lucky. Not only how it led me to create a new business but also more about what the animals have taught me regarding their purpose in our lives and the myriad of ways they are here to support and assist us if we are open to what they have to offer.

Lucky For Me - Interview

I had the absolute pleasure of getting interviewed by Steve Whiteford this past week to talk about my book, Lucky For Me - a Journey of Healing and Self-Discovery.  

Steve and I worked together a decade or two ago when I was working full time in the corporate world as a consultant (training, coaching, facilitating). Steve and I both contracted with the same consulting group and the first time we met, we hit it off immediately. 

We lost touch for a while but reconnected when I published my book. He read it and loved it and after having some wonderful email exchanges and chats about the book and about our lives, he thought it would be fun to interview me about the book. We set out to create a video-podcast and managed to do that this past weekend.

We had a great time making the video and we both felt it gave a more in-depth look at Lucky For me. I am sharing a link to our chat / interview about the book in the hopes that it will give you some more information about the book and the type of work I do. (the video is about 35 min. long)

You can access the link to our interview here: Maureen's interview with Steve

Given that Steve has a wide breadth and depth of knowledge about Emotional Intelligence (and has written lots of articles on the topic) we were excited to see how much overlap there was between what I learned on my journey with Lucky and what he knows about E.I.  We discussed the possibility of doing further video-podcasts like this where we dive into these topics in more detail. Given that we have both learned so much over the years . . . about the emotional intelligence of humans AND animals - we think people might be really interested in hearing more. So stayed tuned - if we put some together, I will be sure to post about them here. 

If you are interested in learning more about Emotional Intelligence, a great resource for you are Steve's articles, here is a link where you can find them: Steve's articles on E.I

And if you haven't bought a copy of Lucky for Me yet, here is a link to purchase my book: Lucky For Me

Lucky For Me - More Reviews!

I'm excited to report that my book, Lucky For Me - A Journey of Healing and Self-discovery, has had the great fortune of receiving some more wonderful reviews!!  

I personally like to read reviews before I make any kind of purchase - whether it's a product or a service. Hearing what other people's experience has been (not just what the author, service provider or product manufacturer says), gives me much more insight into whether or not something is a fit for ME. In case any of you are like me, I decided it might be helpful to share the recent reviews here.  :-)  

***

Maureen Burkley has written a book that any dog lover will find engaging, instructive, and transformational. Her experiences gained from adopting an abused and traumatized puppy greatly illuminate the canine/human relationship. And in doing so, illustrates the profound connection and exchange of learning what is possible between a person and any living creature. 

Maureen’s journey with her German Shepherd, Lucky shows how approaching a challenging task with self-awareness and openness leads to profound discovery and healing growth. The story presents a lesson in compassion while revealing insights and training methods that made me a more loving and responsible dog parent and gave me clues about my own mental-emotional patterns. As a specialist in Emotional Intelligence, I found the book to be a consistent primer threaded with behavioral practices and keys to personal awareness that span the spectrum of relationships. Curiosity, openness, and compassion open us to deeper connections and reveal new paths. And it’s just a great dog story!

 

Steve Whiteford – Applied Emotional Intelligence Consultant 

and

It has been a long time since I resonated with and was moved by a book. “Lucky For Me” resonated with me and I was definitely moved by it. As a longtime dog lover and parent, I truly believe that dogs have souls. It is truly a gift to have a special emotional connection with an animal. They save us and we save them. Thank you for saving Lucky and I am glad she was able to help save you as well.

K.C.

***

And for those of you who may have missed previous reviews, here are a couple more: 

Like the boy on an expedition who seeks wisdom by attending to omens in The Alchemist, author Maureen Burkley listens intently to signs she receives from Lucky, her adopted German Shepherd. What she learns couldn’t help but propel her on a quest for personal healing and self-discovery. 

Searching to understand the root causes of Lucky’s illnesses, Maureen gingerly and lovingly assists her companion in overcoming deep-seated traumas. Through the unraveling of Lucky’s knotted wounds, Maureen shows us how we can be alchemists of our own pain and transform whatever shackles us from being our best selves. 

Lucky For Me is an intimate portrait of two friends who discover when one of us evolves, everything around us evolves. The hard-earned lessons Maureen imparts throughout her story are poignant and timely, told with extraordinary honesty and regard for the reader. This is not only a must-read for animal lovers, but for anyone who could use a reminder of the preciousness of every life.

Paula Francis – author of 18 Pair Of Shoes

***

Maureen's book is so inspiring and very interesting to read. She showed so much strength and perseverance during her special journey with Lucky. There is so much of her heart and determination to help Lucky with her challenges. You truly see the power of unconditional love.  The connections Maureen made to guide her were almost unbelievable or magical since many came in strange ways and at just the right time.  

So many stories in the book that I could relate to or felt the same way at times. While reading her book it triggered many of my own memories. My favorite stories were her many fun times with Lucky. Although Lucky had some struggles she never gave up either and actually help to guide Maureen on her path. Lucky brought so much joy to so many people of all ages.  They were such gifts to each other and also to so many people, myself included.

Maureen's book taught me several things that could help me in my life as well. 

L.B.

Why Not Do It Now?

When my mother passed away, I did the eulogy and of course had to share some of the many funny memories about her. One of the big standouts was how she save things for "special occasions" instead of using them and enjoying them in the present. 

This topic had come up many years earlier when she was very ill and in the hospital for weeks, while the doctors tried to figure out what was going on with her body. It was a scary time for all of us because we knew there was a chance that she wouldn't pull through. My brother flew into town - it was really serious. 

Fortunately, my mom eventually DID pull through so on the day she was finally being released from the hospital, I put together a "coming home bag" with comfortable but clean clothing for her to wear home. I assumed she would be happy that I took the time to do that for her. Instead I got chastised for bringing her "good underwear" as apparently, she was saving it.  LOL  

We teased her endlessly about it because her definition of "good underwear" was a little surprising to all of us. It was a pair of Jockey cotton briefs, just like all the other ones. The exception was that this particular pair had pretty fall colored leaves on them (my mom loved fall leaves) instead of being a solid color like the rest of them. Regardless of the pretty leaves, we couldn't stop teasing her about what could qualify as a "special occasion" if recovering and being able to leave the hospital wasn't special enough. 

That weekend, we had a celebratory feast to honor her and her return home. Us kids did all the cooking so that my mom could just rest (which proved to be quite difficult for her  - we had to keep shooing her out of the kitchen) haha  My brother set a beautiful table with colorful linens, china plates and crystal glasses to make it match the celebratory feeling we all had that she had made it out of the hospital. Much to our surprise, when we brought mom into the dining room, the first thing she did was chastise my brother for using the "good linens" which you can probably guess by now . . . linens she was saving for a special occasion. :-) The teasing resumed as we couldn't believe she still didn't deem surviving what she had just been through as special enough to warrant the use of her best linens. 

It was something that stuck with all of us and we all vowed to enjoy things NOW and not save them for another day or a special occasion. I thought I had embraced this pretty well but last night I caught myself in a similar situation. 

While putting things into the linen closet, my hand brushed against the softest towel in the pile. I stopped for a moment, questioning how I could have a towel in there that was THAT soft and luxurious feeling. And then I started to giggle. It was the "guest towel" . . .  something else that I inadvertently learned from my mother. She had a special set of bath towels, hand towels and wash rags that we only pulled out when guests were coming. Until that moment, I didn't realize I had done the same thing. What made it even funnier to me is that I rarely have guests stay over night and when I do, it's usually a friend who stays the night but heads home after breakfast - without wanting or needing to take a shower.

At that moment, I decided that *I* was worthy of enjoying the guest towel and vowed to use it as long as I wanted to (or until it was like all the other towels in the linen closet - less fluffy and less soft). What a treat it was to get out of the shower last night and dry off with such a lovely feeling towel! 

Pondering this last night, I wondered how many other ways I had slipped into that mindset of saving something for a special occasion or a special guest. I truly believe that it is important for us to treat ourselves as well as we treat others, to not put off to tomorrow what we could be enjoying today. Making a recommitment to myself - I thanked my mom for helping me remember and I
am watching myself closely to make sure that I am savoring each day and enjoying all that I have.

Have any of you slipped into this mindset? If so, would you consider giving yourself permission to break free from it?  We are only here for so long . . . I think we all deserve to enjoy each and every moment of it.