Karen Wilhelm Buckley
Wisdom, mindful presence, clarity and skill for our world
We are settling into a new reality, a time of change. I find myself going back and forth between embracing and resisting the reordering of our lives. By consciously engaging we can use this in-between transition zone to adapt to the changing circumstances, and help others do the same.
We can strengthen what’s positive, caring and fun — virtually hug over Zoom; smile at strangers and friends from six feet away. Or you can join our neighborhood in the Mill Valley Howl.
Change starts with an ending. Change doesn’t start like we wish it would, neatly packaged, presented on a silver platter, with a card letting us know, “Here is your new beginning prepared just for you.”
Since we are not yet sure what all is ending, we are also not sure what it will cost us, making it hard to craft our way through the uncertainty, let alone find a clear, steady center so we can stand strong.
In this time of uncertainty and social distancing, connecting with each other, from and in a space of love becomes vitally important. In this online Women’s Wisdom Retreat you will explore and experience the wonder of Being Love.
Join us virtually May 18–22, 2020 from 9:30am to 12:30pm for inspiration, exploration and movement, led by Karen Wilhelm Buckley, Dianne Morrison and Suki Munsell.
What if I told you that 64 percent of employees trust robots more than they do their managers? That half of employees have turned to a robot for advice rather than their manager.
Artificial intelligence is augmenting the workplace in many ways, but these findings indicate that managers have work to do in order to earn the trust of their people. Trust is a critical link to all good relationships, both professional and personal. Here are 7 good reasons to work on trust.
My friend Ramona has always been interested in protecting endangered species, so much so that she traveled to Tanzania to meet the elephants there. She was enthralled by these incredible beings. But her feelings changed when she learned that in Tanzania up to 100 elephants a day are massacred for their tusks that get turned into billiards balls, piano keys, and other items for human enjoyment. She transformed from elephant enthusiast to elephant protector as her lifelong interest shifted into a powerful personal commitment to defend the elephants with all her might.
Changing the design of your future starts with a commitment.
A flowering tree opens, expands and grows with simple encouragement – water, light, mulch. Keep it in the dark, or expect it to grow without attention and we get a weak spindly tree, bearing little fruit.
Like the tree, without mindful awareness, our wisdom languishes until it is nothing we can count on in tough times. What’s your on-ramp to cultivating wisdom?
For some reason, this particular day, this moment, this choice felt like a Turning Point—one of those forks in the road.
It’s hard to admit, but every now and then I slide into an outdated, yet familiar, groove of insufficiency: “Nothing is enough. I’m not enough.” I lose confidence, feel inept. It’s not much fun…but I don’t stay there long. Usually I slide back into a groove of confident enthusiasm and focused intention pretty quickly.
The days may be shorter and the nights longer, but from the chair where I sit in the early mornings to write and meditate, the sunrise fills my view. I pause and take in the regenerative vitality of the coast live oaks absorbing the rain outside my window.
Saturday, December 21st, is the Winter Solstice, a time to discover the gifts of a pause.
Prana. Qi. Élan vital. Throughout human history we have been on a quest to nourish the life force: the energy within that gives us vitality and strength and urges us to create, achieve, connect, and restore.
Life force is not just something to cultivate in the yoga studio or Chinese herbalist’s office, however. It underlies every good effort by conscious leaders.
My Wise Self seemed to be out to lunch. I walked my dog, seeking a new point of view. With no idea of my angst, he was bounded up the trail. As he frolicked. I stewed. Irritated with the way I handled a difficult client communication, I wanted to clean up the relationship mess I’d made, but I couldn’t stop thinking how I was right and she was wrong. I knew this was a trap.
This morning I reflected on how differently our days go when we start centered in our commitments. Living a full life and making contributions that we feel really good about, usually means we make dozens of agreements and promises at work and home that we strive to complete. Too often, competing priorities pull in different directions.
I’ve discovered the power of centering all those priorities around a few overarching core commitments that orient our days, months, and years.
While listening to colleagues at a recent business conference, I was actually holding a robust internal conversation of fault-finding and grumbling. I certainly wasn’t getting the results I wanted.
After this experience, I wanted to understand why complaining thoughts possess us, what they cost us, why they are useful and how to shift cycles of complaints into powerful and exciting commitments.
Is compassion a business success strategy? Last month I attended the LinkedIn Compassion in Leadership Summit in Silicon Valley, co-hosted with Wisdom 2.0. The conversations ranged from cultivating our personal practices to creating more compassion in companies, by changing metrics, questioning management practices, and instituting more compassionate systems.
Many years ago, I had the honor of helping a partnership through a tough time. Conversations were difficult, almost impossible.
They were ready to split and lose over a decade of hard work building a successful company. Why? They spent 99.99% of their time noticing when they and their partner were not wise, not OK, under par, inadequate. Language is powerful. Like these two partners, we can choose the conversation we are in to change our results.
