October 2013

SO OFTEN, AS COMPANIES, WE FOCUS ON WHAT WE DO (WE RUN SPAS OR WHATEVER)
AND HOW WE DO IT (BY HIRING THE TOP PEOPLE IN OUR REGION AND USING THE BEST, MOST EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS)

BUT SIMON SINEK AUTHOR OF “START WITH WHY”
SUGGEST JUST THAT, START WITH WHY !!!!

WHY DO YOU DO WHAT WE DO? WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
HIS WORDS COULD BE MY VERY OWN.
SPENDING 20 YEARS IN A COOPERATIVE COMMUNITY,
I SAW THE POWER OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ALL BELIEVED IN THE SAME VALUES.
MIRACULOUS THINGS HAPPENED.
IN THE EARLY DAYS HOUSES WERE BUILT IN A DAY,
BECAUSE THE WHOLE COMMUNITY WOULD SHOW UP TO HELP.

WHEN WE KNOW WHAT WE BELIEVE
AND WHY WE BELIEVE IT, WE ATTRACT OTHERS WHO BELIEVE SIMILAR IDEALS.
GREAT CHANGES HAPPEN WHEN PEOPLE OF LIKE MIND COME TOGETHER

IN ALL OF CREATION,
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN AND WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU.
I BELIEVE THAT MAKES YOU PRETTY DARN SPECIAL.
HOW ABOUT YOU? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT?
ITS IT TIME TO FIND YOUR TRIBE?
TO BUILD YOUR CORPORATE CULTURE

What do you think happened here?
Tell me the story that runs through your head when you see this picture.
Make it unbelievable, as ironic as you can
And I bet the real story will still make you laugh.
My friend, the person that was driving this car
Got so absorbed listening to her self help, motivational CD
That she didn’t even notice she was driving over the bank in the road.

Do you know people like this? Are you like this sometimes too?
Do you know in your head all the right things to do
But your actions are sometimes completely different?
I sure do this.

Maybe it is time to stop listening to motivational, self help CD’s
And start living them.
So we don’t drive over the bank
We just go there to deposit all that life is giving us.
Just saying . . . . . .

While shopping in the local natural foods market,
I saw Elliot, a guy I was in the monastery with for about 10 years.
I was delighted to see him and went up to him to say hello.
He left the monastery we were in and joined the official organization that represented the teacher we both had followed.
There was some bad blood between the two groups
and I noticed as we were speaking, I was starting to feel put down and judged.
He was talking down to me
And when I asked him why he was doing it,
He said because I know you, Danny.
And he went on to describe (not even accurately) the person that I was 20 years ago.
I said to him, Elliot over the course of 20 years, we all change.
You have no idea who I am now, because you have not even asked.

The conversation got more and more uncomfortable.
He was telling me that I left and was no longer meditating and that I was living a life that was of no value because the only value in this world is finding God.
And finally, I said to him, how do you know what I am doing now?
We have not seen each other in many, many years.
He continued to tell me who I was and why I was wrong to live the way I was living.
It felt like the conversation was not going anywhere,
so I said goodbye and went away.

As I drove home, I thought about it.
This brother had spent 40 years meditating, 40 years!
The result of those 40 years of meditation in the moment I saw him was:
judgement, arrogance, condescension, and pride of pedigree.
Where was the love that his guru had come here to teach?
Where was the kindness of heart?
I left feeling so sad for him.

40 years of meditation had left him like this, at least in the moment I was with him.
It made me realize . . . .
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU DO OR WHAT YOU SAY,
IT MATTERS WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU BECOME!

Let’s love each other more, judge each other less and be kind to all sentient beings.

A story I was asked to write to brand a hotel,
The Andaz Maui @ Wailea Resort and Spa
created what I believe will become a new emerging trend,
a revolution in the hospitality and spa industry.
OHANA (Family), NOT STAFF.

Quietly, it happened
and then BAM, it happened again at the trainings.
The heart and soul of every person was touched.
A little book,
changed not only the lives of people,
but perhaps an industry, as well.
Big changes often happen without anyone even realizing.

I watched it happen.
A little change in thought
and hotel staff
who entered the room
left as family.

And yet,
as big as this impact of this story is,
it is the story they are writing now that will change history.

As the ancient Hawaiian proverb says:
“We are the descendants of our ancestors and the ancestors of our descendants.”

The actions our Ohana take today,
will write the story their descendants read tomorrow.
Time will tell their story as it will yours.

What story are you writing your descendants to tell of you?

This is something I have battled with all my life.
As kind and gentle as I am with others, I find that I am very hard on myself. When I look into the same mirror I use to show others how beautiful they are, I see all my stuff. And then it struck me . . . . .
Our mirrors are covered up with the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and that is all we can see, and yet when I turn my mirror around, no one else sees my stories. All they look for are their own. My mirror does not know their stories, so it reflects back to them who they are, without the stories.
I think this is one of the reasons why my coaching is so effective. New eyes. New Strategies. New Interventions. Try today to see your life through another mirror. It might surprise you.
You might really like what you see!

Just as it is so hard for us to see ourselves clearly, without the distortion our stories place on what we see,
The same is true in branding your company.
It is often hard for us to see and tell the story of our business. I can tell you first hand, this is true. In launching my website, the one you are on right now, I went through what I can only call, “A Dark Night of the Soul”. I asked for feedback and listened to all the responses I received. Some loved it. Some didn’t. Everyone gave feedback. As I tried to integrate everything they said into my copy and design. I started to get depressed and felt like I was not good enough.
They told me I was trying to do too much, “A Jack of All Trades is a Master of None”.
How many times growing up did I hear this? How deep was that belief already within me. When they watered it, all the weeds (lack of self confidence) associated with it grew.
I sat for days in a rut.
Until my friend, poured concrete into my rut and made a road.
She told me,
“You are already doing all the things that people said you couldn’t do.”
In that moment, THE MYTH EXPLODED.
Sure it might be true that most people are better at doing one thing than many. But it is not true for me.
I love the diversity and the excitement of always doing something new.
It made me think,
how many other myths do I just believe because they have been told to me my whole life?
How about you?????

 is an amazing metaphor for life.

The monks spin the wheel all day and night.
The wheel never stops turning, and the monks believe that with each turn the prayers written on the wheel are sent out into the world. How beautiful to know that in distant parts of the world people we don’t even know spend all day and all night praying for us. Prayer is so POWERFUL!
What do you do for people that no one knows about?
Will you write me and let me know.
Can you imagine what an amazing world this would be, if we were to pay forward every act of kindness that we receive?
Let me know if you start doing this and how it makes you feel?
Post your comments here on the website in response to this article or email me.
I would love to know.
In gratitude and appreciation!