Tag: happiness

Revitalizing

School’s out, and it’s the first day of summer at our house! We pick up our college freshman next week and are excited that she wants to come home. That got me thinking about how I can help our teenagers refresh and refuel. How do you revitalize? How often? Recently, my husband and I got to spend a weekend in Puerto Rico with my Vistage leadership group. That was a great way to revitalize! On Saturday morning in Puerto Rico, our speaker, Mitch Harrison from Refill Coaching encouraged us to find daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual ways to refuel. I also really liked the way that John Mackey and his co-authors talked about it in Conscious Leadership, “The ability to revitalize ourselves is one of the lowest-hanging, sweetest fruits that any of us can pick off the tree of life.”

This advice to revitalize has been included in every leadership development and coaching activity that I have been a part of in the last ten years. So, why don’t we do it? What’s so hard about it?

Not sure what works for you? I think that’s part of the roadblock. We have to experiment and get creative to find our personal formula. Want ideas? I’ve written previously about taking joy breaks, laughing, and feeling gratitude – those all work for me on a daily basis. Weekly, I find that regular exercise serves multiple purposes and helps me refuel and clear my mind. I also am lucky enough to get plenty of sleep. Once a month, my Vistage group and the Conscious Conversations that I’m leading for the Houston Chapter of Conscious Capitalism help me refuel. Annually, I make sure to take trips with family and friends to revitalize. A long walk, preferably near water, always brings me peace of mind, too. Meditation is one of the most highly recommended activities that I’ve tried and failed at, but I believe it works for many people, and I am staying open to the possibility that it may one day click for me.

Revitalizing ourselves and our teams will be our June topic for Conscious Conversations. It would be great to hear your ideas. How do you regularly revitalize? What do you recommend? What are you doing this summer? Let’s refuel more in 2024!

Gratitude

No one told me that writing the biggest checks of my life would make me feel so grateful. This week, I made the third quarter tuition payment for college for our first-born. With each payment, I feel grateful on many levels. Grateful that our daughter is getting the opportunity and has the desire to attend college and is doing well academically and socially. Grateful for the good fortune, hard work, and smart choices that led to our ability to afford to send her to the university of her choice. Grateful for more than I could have imagined.

It is especially poignant for me because I attended college fully supported by multiple academic, leadership, and need-based scholarships. Making college tuition payments for our daughter reminds me how grateful I am for the forward-thinking and generous donors that made it possible for me to pursue my education. Thank you Terry Foundation, National Merit Scholarship Corporation, Ethyl Corporation, and many others. Perhaps another blog on that topic would be interesting?

Another reason I am grateful? We got to visit our daughter this week and see one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

Speaking of gratitude, I am a huge podcast fan and one of the best podcasts I have listened to this year is Oprah and Arthur Brooks discussing happiness and their book, Build the Life You Want. What are your favorite podcasts and where do you listen? I like to listen to podcasts on the Open Source app PocketCasts and preferably while on a long walk.

About 50 minutes into this episode, they discuss gratitude as a key tool. What works for me is to pause whenever I remember and list what I am grateful for (e.g. just breathing, health, love of my parents). It is best to write this down, but I often do it in my head in the car, on a walk, or just about anytime I think about it. In my lowest moments, I use this trick to change my focus and it works. 

I hope to keep finding gratitude in surprising places. What makes you grateful that others might find surprising? Let’s find more in 2024!