The Practice of Your Life

The Exercise and Pursuit of a Consciously Created Life

Say something nice to a stranger

Sep 22
2008

A while back, I was standing in the elevator of my building and this woman came in with her kids, and somehow we started talking.  Nothing unusual, and then she said, “I’ve seen you around the building, and you seem like such a nice man.”  She seemed to be a native Spanish speaker and this made her words even more special for me.

“Wowww!”  I said, truly blown away by the sincerity, warmth, and generosity of her words.

She went on.  “I mean it.  There is something special about the way you smile and look at people.”

There was no agenda in her speaking to me except to acknowledge me for what she saw, and the effect on me was immense.  I thanked her for sharing what… Continue reading

Humility Producers

Sep 10
2008

I can’t believe I did that.  I mean really; what could have I been thinking?  I’m too embarrassed to describe the event, but I will say that it was inappropriate.   And to top it off, it was with a very put together professional who could be of immense value in my professional growth and a great friend in my future.

It reminds me of a similar humility producing event that occurred very early in my professional career where I was at lunch with three of my business colleagues.  I had just started the job, and a colleague – also new – asked me if I wanted to join her and two of our more senior colleagues for lunch; one being very senior to us.  Anyway the topic of oral… Continue reading

The Garden of your life

Sep 03
2008

Came across this post by Cheryl Wright and would like to share it with you.  Gardening as Cheryl describes is the perfect analogy to what it means to live your life as a practice: the exercise and pursuit of a consciously created life.

Here’s some of Cheryl’s post:

Cultivate Your Life

Gardening is a lot of work but reaps great rewards. Use these four gardening tasks to cultivate your life. 1. Identify and remove the weeds that are flourishing, clogging your life pores, complicating your relationships and smothering your dreams.
2. Water your life with quiet time to pray, meditate, read, plan, dream and enjoy your favourite leisure activities.
3. Wait patiently for your