Synthesis Coaching

Shhh! Mini-adventure special just for you ends 11/30

 
A quick reminder that tomorrow is the last day to save on your very own “Gratitude Mini-Adventure”!

That’s right, just for the fantastic women on my list I’m offering this mini-adventure at 50% off if you sign-up by November 30^th. That means you pay only $147.50 instead of my regular mini-adventure rate of $295. (You can schedule the mini-adventure for later, you just need to sign-up by 11/30.)

What’s a “Gratitude Mini-Adventure”?

It’s a one-hour coaching session with me where we explore big ideas and provocative thinking that moves you forward on your own adventure to transformation. If you find yourself focusing like a laser on all the bad stuff and what’s not working, you’ll turn this on its head by seeing and being grateful for all the multitude of blessings each & every day.

This is my way of saying thank you for being a part of my journey! To sign-up or ask questions email me at khodges@synthesiscoaching.com.

An Attitude of Gratitude (and what to do when it’s missing!)

First off I want to say how grateful I am for YOU. Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and for being part of my community of amazing women.

Once a year we’re reminded to be thankful. Just imagine what our lives would be if we spent our energy focused on what was working in our lives instead of focused on all the fears, almost rights, almost there, just about, a little, etc. You get it the picture.

Need a little inspiration?

This year I have much to be grateful for - the opportunity to move across the country and dive into new adventures, my wonderful husband, my growing teenage daughter, my friends, my heath, the beauty of autumn, my dog Zack, the tantalizing smell of a turkey roasting in the oven. Truthfully that is just a few highlights that come to mind.– maybe that will help you come up with your own gratitude list.

Need even more help switching into an attitude of gratitude?

Then I have a special opportunity for you – a “Gratitude Mini-Adventure”!  This is the adventure for you if you find yourself focusing like a laser on all the bad stuff and what’s not working. You’ll turn this on its head by seeing and being grateful for all the multitude of blessings each & every day.

Just for the fantastic women on my list I’m offering this mini-adventure at 50% off if you sign-up by November 30^th.  That means you pay only $147.50 instead of my regular mini-adventure rate of $295. (And yes, you can schedule the mini-adventure for later, you just need to sign-up by 11/30.)

This is my way of saying thank you for being a part of my journey! To sign-up or ask questions email me at khodges@synthesiscoaching.com.

The Power of Gratitude

Gratitude will get you through. Perhaps an odd statement but one that I've been coming back to all day.

T'is the season to be jolly again, yet today I have the holiday blues.

It's easy to be full of gratitude when life is great and I'm riding high, harder when life's circumstances are a bit more challenging.

Just for today I will lean into gratitude, rediscover the many places it lives in my life, and have gratitude  be the shining light that guides me forward.

Glimpse of Spring & then a Nor'easter

Two days ago we were seeing some glimpses of Spring with sunny days and warmer temperatures.  This morning, however, I woke up to the wind howling, snow blowing, and around a foot of snow. Rhode Island had been hit by a Nor'easter. Oh, my! Spring seems quite far away today. 

March has already beguiled me prancing around as Spring and then turning back to Winter in spades.  March to me is an in-between time when we are not quite finished with the old (Winter) and yet not quite fully in the new (Spring).

In-between times can be challenging -- it's almost as if we need to keep one foot in the old and the other in the new. My natural inclination is to want to go barreling at 100 mph into the new. Especially  when I start to feel that I'm so "done," "over," "finished up" with the old. 

I can think of many in-between times in my life -  when I had gotten a new job and being at the old job felt flat and lifeless; when I was healed from a relationship that ended but the new relationship hadn't quite shown up yet. Or the other familiar happening is two steps forward into the new and one step back.

Even though we all like to think of change as a straight line, via the expressway, to the new --- in reality it is never, ever that way. 

Nature is once again reminding me of the truth about maneuvering through any type of transition or change.

The Trees are now my Teachers

I've certainly gotten myself in deep with the trees. They seem to have something to teach me --- maybe about the mystery of life --- that which is beyond words, beyond mind.

I found this poem by C.B. Follett and decided to post it because it's perfect.

The Loving of Trees

I am in love with trees                                                   
I know it sounds daft
but I can't help it.

I love the stability of them
Their to and sway.

I love their general health
The outward personal
That keeps council of inner griefs.

I like how they resist the crack
of winds, the bleach of sun.

Even blighted Ponderosa
and beetled lodgepole
where the sap comes out red and cruciform
instead of honey taffy, even then
as bells toll in browned needles
they retain an erect dignity.

I want to hold them
tell them my regret at drinking
their birthright, at fouling the air
we share, breaking their resistance.

They don't seem to ask this of me
stand noble as kings along the ridge
branches touching or not
birds coming or not.

I love them for their stance
and for never forgetting
to reach upward.

My Encounter with Coastal Redwoods

Last year after my second Leadership retreat  in Northern California, I found myself at home pining about the trees – the coastal redwoods to be precise. Frankly, the whole experience was a bit odd and caught me by surprise. I was thinking about the redwoods in much the same way one would be longing and daydreaming about a new love. And, I could actually feel the energy of the redwoods pulling me across the county – 3,000 miles! What was going on with these trees and me? And why? As I looked around at many of my tribemates in Leadership I saw the changes and shifts that were unfolding in their lives: ending jobs, starting new jobs, gaining new insights about their intimate relationships – all normal stuff. And me, well here I was thinking about trees. What was going on? Why were these coastal redwoods on the Pacific Coast calling to me?

I've come to realize that the coastal redwoods opened a gateway into a wisdom and deep truth that was locked away deep inside of me. This experience was an awakening and a remembering.

These tall and utterly magnificent trees held the key to the reason that I was born in this time in history. My adventure had truly begun!

My blog posts about Nature - and how Her wisdom can guide us through transformation and change – are the compost for a book that is starting to unfold within me.

Nature and Stillness

No snowflake falls in an inappropriate place...
    Zen Saying

It is snowing here in RI again. This is a big deal since we've had one snowfall after another since mid-December resulting in a continual blanket of snow on the ground. We are having a true winter once again --- like when I was a kid.

The snow makes everything look beautiful and I absolutely love the sound of the snow falling. Most of all I am drawn to the stillness. My home is completely silent at this hour of the day and as I gaze out my window at the falling snow, I am becoming more aware of my own inner silence and stillness.

I am noticing that this space is not defined simply as "no noise" or "no interruptions" – it is something else. I'm in a restful state of inner alertness. I am free from "mind chatter" and "stories" that often play in my head. I am present. I am at one with exactly what is happening here and now --- simply being with the snow falling, simply being with what it. My body feels more open and relaxed as I sink into myself.

What is happening outside in nature where you are today? Do you have too much "mind chatter" to tune into the silence? Is there a disturbing noise that is irritating or annoying you? Even this external disturbing noise or internal "mind chatter" can be an ally to stillness and silence. Simply notice, drop your resistance, and accept what is.

I would love to hear about your experiences with Nature that connect you to silence and stillness.

Gratitude

I have been thinking about gratitude over the last few weeks. Gratitude has a momentum – as we pay attention and focus on all the myriad gifts in our lives magically deepen and expand. 

Just imagine what our lives would be if we spent our energy focused on what was working in our lives instead of focused on all the fears, almost rights, almost there, just about, a little, etc. You get it the picture.

Ten years ago this Fall a major tragedy occurred in my life that shattered me. I held onto the belief that "Life is Good" and that "Life can be better than even before" as I walked through my years of darkness. And I am proud to tell you that I healed through the wounding, transformed myself, and created a whole new life.

In the season of anniversaries I am looking to see where I've come, where I'm going and what I'm grateful for. My own Autumnal cornucopia overflows:  my husband, my daughter, rich experiences in coach and leadership training, new friendships, travel to new lands, discovering coastal redwoods, a beautiful home, a healthy body, my loving and lovable dog Zack. And that is just a few on the top highlights that come to mind.

 My friend, Liz Flavin, has made an entire business around gratitude appropriately called "Gratitude, Etc." She is an ordinary woman who undertook her own unique journey through darkness and emerged truly extra - ordinary.

I invite you to take a moment to write down each day what you have to be thankful for.