Life Lately

Hey, Wednesday, Jean here. Pop it in for a little life lately. Conversation. Just wanted to pop in a little early to say hello. Hang out while people consider. Joining in our conversation for today. If you are listening. On repeats replay. Feel free to type a comment in the chat. I always like to come back in and. See what people have to say. Maybe add some responses. Responses. I'm gonna give everybody just a little bit of time to come on in here. And while I'm doing that. I'm gonna share a little.

Poem. Speak wonder if you're here. This is a new author that was presented to me in. Recently so I'm trying to find a short one here. This one looks good. We're gonna go for it. Uh, the author is David White. It's called essentials. I like the cover of the book. I'm a very tactile paper focused person. So I like the paper in this book. It's smooth. And so when I think about being present, sometimes it's just about finding. A thing that can ground us. Books paper made from trees. Trees are grounding.

Sounds corny. I know, but. It feels real to me. So we're gonna go with it. This one is called faith. I want to write about faith. About the way the moon rises. Rises over cold snow. Night after night. Faithful, even as it fades from fullness. Solely becoming that last curving. An impossible sliver of light before the final darkness. But I have no faith myself. I refuse it. Even the smallest entry. Let this then my small poem. Like a new moon, slender and barely open. Be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

Fascinating. Welcome. Thank you for joining. I thought I would just read a quick little poem, so feel free to. Check it out on replay. If you miss the first part before coming in. Just offering up some groundedness. So if we haven't held space before, my name is Jean Mitchells. Mitchells. I am always honored and very grateful to be able to take moments of time to come in here and have conversations. So if we haven't held space before I'm a coach. I am a energy worker. I do cranial sacral. I do sound bath meditations.

Meditations dog mom, my dog major will pop in from time to time. And I do consulting work and teach a lot of spin classes. We do a lot of different things in our days. But today I wanted to talk about life lately. And really that's about finding ways to be present. So for me recently. Uh, and just in raw moments, I feel like I've been in a pause. I am transitioned out of some work. And the transition out was a little bit of an earthquake in my system. And uh, sometimes working with clients, it can go really well.

Sometimes I feel grief when I'm transitioning out. And sometimes it feels abrupt and you're like, what just happened. So this last one was a little more abrupt. Uh, from a, a, a kind of a. Toxic situation. And we've been through those. Uh, everybody has different perspectives. And so I took some time. Some time to really focus on being grounded and present and processing a lot of emotions that I was feeling with that work. Feel lucky to have been able to take some time. But what I discovered in that is.

Each day I didn't intentional practice. One was to help me feel. Some healing through that. Experience, uh, part was my body got sick. And so I had to take some time. And another part said it's a great way for me to create some new habits and really. Find moments to be more present and decide what's gonna work for me. And I say that specifically, because. We could come up with a list of things. And that could be R a poem every day. It could be take a, a 15 minute walk every day. And all of those things sound.

Great. But in practice. It could feel overwhelming. So my invitation during our conversation today is if you're. Here in person or on replay. If you're willing to type into the chat. What helps you to feel grounded and present? And is it the same thing? That you've done for years, or is it something new because what was. Before doesn't work as much right now for you. So in this moment of some space and transition. I did a thing that I don't always do. And I post it on LinkedIn. Said that I was looking for work or opportunities.

And it must have just been the right day. Because I had no less than 10 people reach out to me. And not like the, Hey, sorry to hear that. It literally was. A few people reposted my LinkedIn profile on their LinkedIn profile. And then sent me direct messages that said, how could I help? And one individual who I've never met in person before. Reached out. And asked if we could have a call, they wanted to see how they could help. So in that moment, it was really cool because we got on this conversation.

And the only connection that we had is we both worked at. At a, the same consulting company. But in different cities. So we'd never worked together. We'd actually never met. We were just connected on LinkedIn. And we got in this conversation and. We laughed. For like 20 minutes. Shared stories. Are experiences. Some commonalities that we've had. With, uh, an individual company that we had worked with. Talked about poetry. So this author. Is a recommendation from this conversation and I've been reading this book and I love it.

So I have a new connection, a new person that lives in a different city. That I have now paid forward to two people. So this individual lives in Portland. I have a girlfriend in Minneapolis that is moving to Portland. Just uprooting her life. Taking a leap of faith and moving to Portland. And so I connected them. Uh, via text. And said, Hey, uh, would you mind meeting up with my friend? They're trying to find the right neighborhood to move into. And thought you guys could be a cool connection and there.

They're uh, could become friends and then. The same person I introduced to a colleague of mine who. Is looking for a job and they live in the same city and they have some crossover. So it's really really well, I would say. Intentional and random. At the same time. That in these tiny moments where. We're looking for something new. Uh, a reset. A new connection. Maybe it's just a different perspective. On how to, to show up in your day. On this particular day, I did the thing that I don't really ever do.

I just reached out and said, Hey, I'm open, I'm open to work. I'm looking for something new. And all these different connections came up and fast forward in all colleague. Someone I haven't worked with. In many years since before I started my consulting company. Happened to see my post that day reached out and. Next week, I'm gonna go do some consulting work. With them in their company. So why am I sharing all of this? Because there's always what feels like a random. Chance of when we're being really mindful.

And very intentional. With why we're doing something. Or we're taking a leap of faith and having courage to try something we've never done before to see what happens. How that might show up for you. How that might work. Now I look at this as a moment of how do we be more present each day? How do we set time aside each day. Or even just a few times in a week. To really come back home. It's been my phrase the last couple of weeks is I've been feeling like I've been coming back home. Coming back into my heart space, coming back into.

Myself, grounding myself again with. What is my purpose? Best. And when I really find myself in that. Space coming home. Remembering my, why I rediscover. Some creativity, our rediscover connections. And when I ground with that, I start with that. How I move forward. Next is one of collaboration. Connection communication, which are all things that I value. In my work and in my days, so for me, whether it's finding a new. Poem or a new set of poetry. And I haven't always loved poetry. I have. Several books I've acquired over the years because I've read.

One description of a poem and I thought it would be cool. And. Put it on my shelf and never looked at it again, but I've been pulling those out again as my way to just get grounded in the moment to see. How someone magically put some words together. Other things that I've found most recently that have helped me to be a little bit more present. Is reconnecting with some people. So in this space and time. Every quarter. I like to go through and see who haven't. I talked to recently. Haven't I talked to in the last few years or who's popped up on my LinkedIn.

Profile that maybe I haven't heard of or heard from for a really long time. And I reached out and I tried to set some coffee dates, whether it's virtual, cuz they're distant or in person. Which is even better. And then I schedule 'em a few weeks apart, so I'm not overwhelming myself. And we meet up at a coffee shop. I bought this thing in Minneapolis. It's called the coffee compass. It's in my bag. I should grab it. And it's a buy one, get one. Coffee. I don't drink coffee. I drink tea I'll coffee shops have some kind of tea.

But I've been using that as. My way to say, Hey, let's meet up. I'll buy you a cup of coffee. And I tell 'em about my coffee compass. And we find a coffee shop that I haven't been to before, and we meet up. And reconnect and I ask a few simple questions. Questions. What's bringing you joy right now. What's grounding you and your purpose. And how can I help you? And those are my three questions that I always make sure that I ask during those conversations. And what that allows us to do is just stay grounded in that moment and be truly, truly present in a conversation that's authentic.

Because there might be some good things that are coming up. There might be some challenges or struggles. Struggles, but whatever it is, it's a real, authentic connection. Here in the moment. So life lately. A few things that I've shared. Uh, job transitions. Aren't easy. For any of us, I'm a consultant. So. I'm used to them, but also not used to them. Because I'm a very much a whole human kind of person. And I very much value relationships. So when something ends harshly or abruptly, I really. Do some introspection on on what all of that was about and what can I take away and learn?

So, how do I approach transitions? Listening to my body. What's going on with my body right now. What's gonna help my body feel grounded and present and whole. I've been sleeping a lot. And even as I approach this new. Uh, this new work, I'm setting some boundaries so that I can make sure to continue to value my rest, but also. Continue to value the time that I lean into my passions. Passions. I've been writing again. It's felt great. I've been reading more books again. Which has felt delightful.

Because I miss reading. And the last thing is just inhuman. In-person human connections. How might we do that? Just a little bit more. It might trigger a new idea. It might help us to reconnect with an old colleague. And it might help us learn something. That maybe we hadn't seen before. So my invitation to you is. What have you been doing lately? That has helped you feel like you're coming back home. And if you haven't done any of those things lately, what might be one thing you can do. To be grounded and present.

And get out of some of that day to day. Day-to-day overwhelmed agendas and to-do lists. Lists and give yourself just a fresh breath. So my name is Jean. I'm here on Mondays and Wednesdays right now. Wednesdays are always going to be about life lately. And experiences that I'm going through. And also ways that you can stay grounded and connected and present. So my invitation this week. Find a book, maybe some poetry. Take a Lance at it. If you're not into poetry or poems, that's okay. I don't know a ton about them.

I'm learning as I go. But listening to other people's words and how they put them together. Helps me to just think differently about what I'm going through, but also. Maybe what they were going through as they wrote those words. So just a different way to connect. I hope you have a really nice day. Is I live in Minneapolis. It's beautiful outside. So I'm gonna head out and take a quick walk before I get back at it. Enjoy the rest of your day. And I hope to see you soon.