Is your left leg heavy? Heart & Head Life Lensesâ„¢ at odds

March 17th, 2011

My left leg is heavy.  My left leg is heavy.  My left leg is heavy.

How does the above saying resonate with you?  Yes?  Or, not a chance!

The sayings were part of a recent presentation that a student of mine, who I’ll call Michelle, was doing.  She was in a ‘Workshops that Work’ class and it was time for each of the students to get up and practice teaching for 5 minutes.   Michelle practiced by teaching a progressive relaxation technique.

As she demonstrated, the rest of the students had their eyes closed.  They looked like putty.  Slack jawed, they were tuning in to Michelle’s voice in order to tune out and relax.

All that is except for one person, who I’ll call Kristie.

Kristie kept catching my eye and grinning.  She looked like a mischievious little elf.  Her eyebrows arched as if to say what the …?!?!?! She was clearly not engaged in the way Michelle had intended.

During the debrief I pointed this out to Michelle and the class had a great discussion about it.  Kristie charged right in saying how can I possibly talk to my leg? To her logical, factual Head Life Lens™™ perspective such a notion was nothing less than preposterous.  Give her tangibles.  Give her something objective to chew on and she’d be happy.

From Michelle’s intuitive, subjective Heart Life Lensâ„¢ perspective she had a tough time understanding how someone couldn’t talk to their leg and other body parts for that matter.

It was a great example of one perspective illuminating another.  Shining some light into an unlit corner.

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Why God never received tenure

March 15th, 2011

Here’s a cheeky look at God from an interesting perspective – that of an academic.

Why didn’t God receive tenure?  Because ….

  1. He had only one major publication.
  2. It was in Hebrew.
  3. It had no references.
  4. It wasn’t published in a refereed journal.
  5. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
  6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
  7. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
  8. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
  9. He never applied to the Ethics Board for permission to use human subjects.
  10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up by drowning the subjects.
  11. When subjects didn’t behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample .
  12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read the Book.
  13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
  14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
  15. Although there were only ten requirements, most students failed his tests.
  16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountaintop.

(via 365 days to my thesis)

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What’s your picture of success?

March 10th, 2011

A client sent me the following cartoon recently, it being particularly apropos as their name is none other than S.U.C.C.E.S.S.  It made me chuckle and want to contact the artist Randy, who graciously allowed me to use it.

What’s your idea of success?

Everything, including success, contains shades of gray.  Get out of black and white thinking and explore the continuum.  Expand your perspective.

Perspective, it’s a view enhancer.

*****

Cartoon © Randy Glasbergen, used with permission from www.glasbergen.com Please visit Randy’s Cartoon Gift Shop where you’ll find his cartoons on posters, mugs, t-shirts and other fun gift items. Your support is most appreciated!

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Overheard one dark & rainy night- argument between a Carrot & Mountain Life Lensâ„¢

March 8th, 2011

I’d just stepped off the skytrain, Vancouver’s public transit, on a dark & rainy night.  Eager to get home I couldn’t help but notice a big truck parked facing the wrong way on the street, nose to nose with another car.

The man was barely out of his truck when the woman in the car started an anxious one way monologue.

‘Why did you park that way? Wouldn’t it have been better to be facing the other way?’ I don’t get it! Why?’

The man didn’t answer.  He simply lifted the hood of his truck and went about jump starting her car.  As I moved away from the curb, looking for my partner who was picking me up, I chuckled to myself.

Nothing like being a Carrot Life Lensâ„¢ under pressure or stress.

The thing about Carrots and stress is they (we!) focus on details that aren’t important or strategic.  The woman with the dead battery was hung up about how he’d parked the truck when the real issue was getting her car going again.

Thanks be to Mountain Life Lensâ„¢ who, though they have their own peccadilloes, can help us Carrots keep our heads up and focused on what’s important.

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