Are You Willing?

Uncategorized Jul 31, 2020

Are you willing to give what you are asking for?

If you want to be heard, are you also listening?

If you want grace, are you willing to give it?

If you are going to hold others responsible, will you also take responsibility?

I'll be honest, I'm moving through defensiveness, understanding, compassion, love, concern, appreciation and anger.

Each day when I'm faced with difficult decisions, I try to ask myself:

What would I love to do?

What would vision say?

What would courage look like?

Am I in integrity with my values?

Sometimes - when I have conflicting values as a decision maker... it's hard to feel entirely in integrity.

What grounds me is knowing that there are others in the arena with me... and we are doing our best to face our challenges head on and create the change we want to see.

All decisions have consequences (both positive and negative).

I'm feeling that today.

I trust the wisdom of a process unfolding.

One that can't be controlled.

That each day is a new opportunity to...

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Inner Peas

Uncategorized Jul 24, 2020

For the past 6 weeks, I've been employing 8th graders for a few hours on Fridays.

It gives me a crew to help with weeding, harvesting, and other special farm projects.

It's also helping me refine my leadership style for this particular audience of 13 year olds. 

I see it as an opportunity to plant seeds.

Seeds of what it means to have a job, to be a hard worker, to advocate for yourself, and to hone in on what makes you feel intrinsically motivated (beyond hanging with your friends).

I usually allow for one perfectly sarcastic complaint at the end of our shifts for everyone to have a good laugh, but today we ended with a gratitude circle.

Gratitude for nature, our friends, the ability to work on a far, the ability to see our progress throughout the morning.

One of my highlights today was watching two boys harvesting peas.

One of them said...

"you have to look within to find inner peas."

Exactly.

Happy Friday,

Jen

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Life in Focus

Uncategorized Jul 17, 2020

I have always been one to have a lot of projects happening simultaneously.

 

Its how I roll.

 

Sometimes its overwhelming and then sometimes it feels like pure pleasure to have so many things I care about to work on.

 

my business

the farm

family

clients

cleaning the house

mucking the horse stalls

writing

stretching

hiking

preserving food

harvesting

volunteering on our local school board

personal growth 

rest

 

At any given time....each one of these things can take over all priorities. 

 

That's ok...because sometimes that's necessary.

 

And somedays....I putter around between these loves of my life - giving each project a quick high five.

 

projects incomplete...but life in focus.

 

How about you?  

Where are you focused these days?

 

Cheers,

Jen 

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Connection

Uncategorized Jun 26, 2020

In rural Colorado, we often can't count on the internet or cell service for our communication needs. This is frustrating and annoying at times, but really points out how reliant we are on modern communication for human connection. This has been especially true during these past few months.

In the equine world - horses mostly utilize subtle cues and energy to connect with each other in their herds. If these subtle cues aren't read quick enough.... then the cues get louder and bigger, like a bite or a kick or taking flight.

As an Equus Coach and horse owner, I have been trying to learn the art of reading their subtle cues and building connection with subtle energy.

What I've learned is that the more disconnected I am to myself or my own body in the moment, the more hinderance there will be in clearly communicating with them.

I've noticed that with my human herd too.

How lack of connection with self can lead to miscommunication and disconnection with others.

And how that often leads to...

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Feeling It

Uncategorized Jun 19, 2020

Emotions have been a big subject in our family lately. There is so much going on both in our household and externally.

Can you relate?

We all process our emotions very differently and can be challenged to feel connected to each other when we have different sensitivities, desires and needs.

This can add additional overwhelm to an already challenging time.

I recently listened to this interview with Dr. Marc Brackett about his bppk, Permission to Feel, on Brené Brown's Unlocking Us Podcast.

Have you heard it?

https://brenebrown.com/podcast/dr-marc-brackett-and-brene-on-permission-to-feel/

It's a powerful message, grounded in research, and offering some strategy for allowing and processing emotions to help you and your family thrive.

It helped me shift to some new perspective... I hope it helps you too.

Happy Friday,

Jen

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Re-Vision 2020

visioning Jun 12, 2020

 

 

If we were going to plan a road trip or a vacation together, we would probably start with one of two guiding questions:

 

1. Where do we want to go?

2. What do we want to do?

 

I'm not saying those are easy answers- but they are crucial questions to ask if we are going to get on the same page about our experience together.

 

Once we've nailed those questions down, then we can begin planning our route.  

 

If we encounter roadblocks, then we can re-calculate.

 

Without our shared vision...both of those next steps would be pretty challenging and probably lead us to either give up or have some serious conflict along the way.

 

Any shared vision has to begin with shared ownership and buy-in individually.  Which means that each person needs to clarify for themselves:

 

1. What matters most to me?

2. What am I willing to let go of?

3.  How do I want to show up in partnership and communication?

 

This year, 2020,...

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Change is an inside job...and we all need to do better, together.

Uncategorized Jun 05, 2020

 

This week's shift change is a somber one.  Not my typical...but it wouldn't feel right for me not to share this with you.  These are times when our willingness to show up and be vulnerable and imperfect is going to be crucial to making the systemic changes we need in our households, our country and our world.

 

As a white elected official in a mostly white community, I want to be clear with you about my values, beliefs and thoughts this week and ask you to reflect on yours…especially for the next generation of citizens and leaders in our country.

 

When I hear a black man asking for help and grasping for air at the hands of law enforcement, we have failed.

 

When I see the cold stare of a white man that believes suffocating the life out of this black man is justified, we have failed.

 

When people resort to violence in order to be heard, we have failed.

 

When we don’t listen to those who have engaged in peaceful...

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Seeds or Weeds

prioritization May 29, 2020

I actually wrote this piece about a year ago...but I thought is was just as relevant this week.

---

The past several weeks we have been prepping the soil in our garden to plant seeds.

This means digging up the weeds that have taken root already, and clearing out the clutter of the debris that accumulated last summer, fall and over the winter.

It means creating intentional space for the things we WANT to grow. 

If we don't create this intentional space and fill it with things we want... then it will be overrun by things we don't want.

I can't help but think this is the perfect metaphor for time and priorities in general.

If we don’t create intentional space and time for the things we want to grow in our lives... then our days will be filled “managing the weeds” rather than harvesting the bounty.

Do you ever find yourself reacting to demands of the day as it unfolds, rather than creating the intentional space for what feels most important?

Try this:

Instead of...

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Find Your Anchor

Uncategorized May 22, 2020

 

I keep hearing different phrases, metaphors, and analogies about our current situation- that we are, in fact, sharing with our global community.

"We are all in the same boat"

"Nope, not the same boat, but the same storm"

I'm not sure if its a boat or a storm...but what feels true is that there are many people in positions of leadership around the world and in our neighborhoods who are trying to find the pathway to lead through chaos.

Some are creating more chaos as their strategies emerge and some are creating more of a shared vision of stability.

For some businesses and organizations, their strategy to stabilize may include having to lay people off....which creates a different kind of chaos in our communities.

For some people, stabilizing now means going deeper into debt or asking for help in order to keep people employed or their family fed.

For others, it means tapping into savings and reserves.

There is not a right or wrong way to handle these situations....and there...

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Go Ahead and Burn Out!

Uncategorized May 15, 2020
 

There is a time to keep going,

And a time to call it quits.

 

Maybe just for the day?

 

Perhaps your body knows when its time to burn out.

If you listen….you might just be able to keep going, the next day.

 

If you don’t listen, or you argue, or you think you can get it done if you just push harder, you may experience other consequences.

 

Maybe projects that once filled you, won’t any more.

Maybe the tolerance you have for the people around you, just isn’t there.

Maybe life feels more like an obligation than an adventure.

 

So, go ahead and burn out.

You might be surprised in how allowing the burn out, actually lights you up.

 

The beauty is in leaning into the burn out today… just as it is meant to be,

So that you can start tomorrow, anew.

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