This just in...

Getting Keelered

2011-05-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Monday nights in May are reserved for "Getting Keelered", NLP training with Chris Keeler.

Chris is a masterful instructor with a classic "under-sell, over-deliver" style. You just never know what the outcome will be and the very word takes on epic proportions when he's at the helm.

Through his class, I can explore how some things happen when you don't expect them to happen, and come in ways you don't expect either. Like a universal course correction...an internal GPS that recalculates your route knowing just where you need to go even if you get lost or confused along the way.

I think of my GPS with Ozzy Osbourne's voice. The irony is irresistable.

And when I do think of that, it reminds me of how I felt when my new-ish burgandy Buick was stolen out of my driveway a few, long months ago. It hadn't been the car I really wanted. Deep down, in that resource reserved for my inner auto mechanic, I knew it and so did the car, poor thing. But I grew to love the things I loved about it, looks aside.

The car wasn't what I had really wanted but I figured it was good enough, even if I knew good enough never was or is.

Not-so-suddenly, the temperature dropped below-average freezing for January, followed by an unnecessary amount of snow and wind. The perfect storm really... snow, figid temperatures and opportunity. The car was gone and the elements conspired to make the most of the drama. Shakespeare would be impressed. Me, less so.

When the snow and police's investigation into my missing car stopped, a navy blue convertible appeared in my driveway, a car much closer to what I had wanted all along. I just wasn't smart (or confident or insert applicable word here) enough to figure it out on my own. Funny how that happens. Funny how sometimes when I drive the navy blue convertible on my way home from getting Keelered, I get that "funny feeling" when my resources are revving.

And I wonder how many times, in less obvious or commercial ways, my universal Ozzie gives me a slap upside the head and reminds to keep my freekin' eyes on my freekin' road. Then I slide behind the wheel, pop the navy blue car in to drive and kick it up to 60 ... or more.

2011-01-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

One of my New Year's resolutions is to take this blog seriously. It's time to commit. Time to put my thoughts to pen and share morsels of intelligence with whoever cares to hear them.

Since I have no followers, this is optimistic.
But, daring I am.

And now that my commitment has, well, been committed to paper, it's official. I'm hear to stay and play.

As a student of NLP I understand the value of writing things down, especially goals. If you map out the goal in your mind and on paper, odds improve that you'll attain it. I've found it works best if you begin with the end in mind. That puts you in a position of strength since your thoughts focus on how it looks and feels once you've already achieved your goal. Why focus on the need to lose 10 pounds when your attention can be simply redirected to highlight how great you look and feel 10 pounds lighter? That's where you want to be... in the winners' circle.

Take the time to visualize what it will look like, what you will see and hear, and importantly, how you will absolutely know you've achieved your goal. What will you gain by achieving it? What will you need to give up in order to get there?

Once you have written it down using as much sensory-based language as you can, walk away. Know your subconscious has received the "tweet" and is on it, creating opportunities for you.

So there you have it. The first blog of 2011. This just in...but more to come. That's the goal.

2010-06-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

World No Tobacco Day takes me back a few years...and reminds me of the struggle millions of people face everyday trying to quit.

My mother smoked right up until about two hours before she died of lung cancer at age 56. By that point she couldn't hold the cigarette by herself. Too many painkillers and being a skeletal 70 pounds, the only strength left in my mom was her addiction to nicotine.

My sister and I, both young at the time, couldn't bring ourselves to indulge her in what would be her last request. My dad had the insight on nicotine addiction and understood its power. Both being from Scotland, cigarettes were a part of life for my parents; making a new life in Canada made smoking a slice of Hollywood, not unlike driving big cars and dancing at the Pallais Royale on Saturday nights.

For years we tried to get Mom to quit. And for years she told us her cough had nothing to do with her smoking. She never believed her lung cancer had anything to do with it either.The minute my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer five years earlier, my father quit cold turkey. He honestly believed my mom would too. There was a lot at stake.

As a mom, she was loving and fiercely protected my sister and me. She would have taken on any home intruder, heck even a Grizzly wouldn't have stood a chance against her if we were in harm's way. But she couldn't take on Big Tobacco.Mom quit smoking at 5:45 p.m., August 28, 1987.

2009-06-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

The Toronto skyline is stunning at night...a million dollar view from the Shag the Smog fundraising cruise that cost considerably less for supporters of The Lung Association.

Awesome Powers and The Shagadelics performed a great set - even the most reluctant dancers headed to the dance floor to cut a rug.

Mariposa Cruiselines pulled out all the stops and helped make it a most memorable evening. Our crackerjack photographer, Aaron Adams, did a great job capturing the thrill of the moment and the allure of the skyline. He's one to watch.

Only negative comment about the event was because a few guests were smoking on the upper deck. It's hard to explain the obvious to some folks - um... it's a fundraiser for The Lung Association??? Get it? We've said it's a no smoking cruise. What do others think? Am I going "overboard" with the concern?

Social media conference in Chicago

2009-06-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

As any square peg will tell you, conferences are the best stimulant for creative thinking. Bringing together a room full of visionaries and eager students is more than inspirational... it's a necssary break from the mundane thinking that can assume a strangle-hold with every purchase order or time sheet that needs completing.

Being a social media conference, it's only fitting the tragic news of Michael Jackson's death broke via Twitter. It seemed all at once everyone in the room was receiving the tweet and shocked looks and whispers began. Only a couple of years ago we would have had to wait until the afternoon coffee break to catch a glimpse of the breaking news on CNN. But now there is no room for pause. For media - and everyone else it seems - it's post and boast time.

Managing a message seems neanderthal now.

I walked to my hotel from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Tower, taking the riverwalk route. The river was a rich blue colour, lively but unhurried. I wondered how it would appear if it moved along at rapid speed, shooting immediately and aimlessly... would I enjoy the experience as much? It's hard to say...there wouldn't be any time to stop and think about it.

Chicago in the summertime is magnificent, well beyond Michigan Ave.