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Created: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 17:36
"Bee" has an incredibly generous spirit. It's a beautiful quality - which she needs to reign in, lest she over-give. Currently, she's coming to terms with how much over-giving she has done lately. She is mad and frustrated with herself that after all her efforts to find balance, she has set herself up to be on the short end, yet again.
This again? I relate. I haven't been over-giving lately, but yet again, I do find myself in old behaviors that don't serve me. I also catch myself getting frustrated with, critical of, and mad at my myself for still practicing an old pattern that I had hoped to have outgrown by now.
The SpeakStrong Method uses the "This Again?" recognition as an opportunity. When I coach, I watch for situations where some part of my Community Member (CM) is at odds with themselves. We personify the aspects of self and get them talking. So, Bee's over-giver and her critic get a conversation going.
It's amazing what a difference that can make in external conversations. If you ever get mixed messages from someone, you can be pretty sure they're sending mixed messages to themselves. There are parts of themselves that aren't communicating. When we personify and express our inner dynamics, the outer dynamics get clear. It's a powerful technique that helps us speak in a unified voice, which is a strong voice. I use it with myself regularly.
Bee is frustrated with herself. That tells me she's ready to get conscious and transform a life-long pattern. It takes time, but it's so worth it. Her generous spirit is one of her finest qualities. As her inner critic gets the right tools to balance her excesses, amazing things happen.
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Created: Tuesday, 13 January 2015 16:30
All bubbles must burst. All things must pass. If I didn't understand what was happening, I would find Bob's conversation about it tedious.
Yes, Peyton Manning lost his game and football season is over for the Broncos.
Bob is emotionally involved. However, he would be the first to admit that his football team is an outlet for him to experience, deal with and make peace with Mars - his warrior nature. He used to be a martial artist. Now his relationship to aggression is lived and evolves through the Broncos. And that's perfect.
I have my own areas where something external seems to have too much credence unless you recognize the symbolic nature of the focus. I express my relationship to Venus - or to beauty - through my appreciation of beautiful clothes. I don't need to pick the right outfit to hike the trails, but I enjoy doing that.
Is there an area in your life that seems bigger than seemingly warranted? Does someone in your life seem overly focused on something that seems minor to you?
What might the deeper meaning be? Answer that question, and the conversation has meaning. The tedium disappears.
Well, it lessens, anyway.
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Created: Monday, 12 January 2015 14:57
When my amazing sister Kris and I reviewed the draft of Mom's obituary, we noted that it sounded boilerplate. Beloved wife, devoted mother, loving grandmother: it sounded like the funeral director who drafted it just filled in the blanks with our info. Which is probably exactly what she did. We didn't mind. All these things were true, and it served the purpose of letting people know Mom was gone. We made a minor change and approved it.
The memorial was another story. That had to be personal. And it was.
I stayed away from Facebook. The experience felt too tender to share and yet, too precious not to. I've been waiting for the right words to come to me. They finally have.
It's an honor to be a part of someone's life and an even greater honor to be a part of their passing.
It's a blessing when the person who is transitioning is ready, and faces their demise with courage and even humor.
It's inspiring when each stage of decline is lived consciously in a way that leaves no regrets.
It's a gift when the loss of one family member brings the family together in new ways, deepening their love.
It's heartening when the surviving spouse settles into his new life so authentically that it leaves you in respectful awe.
My Step Mom, Harriet Jonsson, passed away December 19th 2014. I was honored, blessed, inspired, gifted and heartened. It was a grace-filled and transformational experience for all of us.
We know Mom is resting in peace because that is how she passed.
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Created: Friday, 09 January 2015 17:21
I met Mary Ann in Renaissance Assisted Living a little over a year ago. She was new to the facility. She struck me as having a great attitude. She wasn't there by choice. She was grieving her home. Yet, she wasn't resisting her current fate. She told me, "I'll get used to it and this will feel like home soon enough."
I paid careful attention in part because at that time, my parents were also grieving their house and former independence. They were still resisting their new reality.
They did settle in eventually. I was touched by the sincere expressions of sadness people expressed over my Step Mom's passing. I was moved and heartened by the genuine caring I felt toward my father, both from staff and other residents. I also experienced an unexpected show of support toward me, from Mary Ann.
Mary Ann came in to the dining room, and shuffled over with her walker to my side of the table where I sat with Dad and Dave. She asked me, "How are you doing?" "I'm okay," I told her. "Well, if you need someone to talk with, call me," she told me. "Thanks! I appreciate that," I replied.
It was hard for me to explain that we were experiencing more joy and love than grief and loss. It was hard for me - and us - to convey to anyone who hadn't been through the whole journey together how much sweet tenderness and grace there was in this loss. It hadn't occurred to me that I might need support. It hadn't occurred to me that I might reach out to an assisted living resident to get support. I was surprised - and touched - by Mary Ann's offer. If I had felt the need to talk, or even just had more time free from my focus on Dad, I would have taken her up on it. I wanted Mary Ann to know how deeply her offer affected me.
When Dad and I got up to leave, I asked him to excuse me for just a moment. I went over to Mary Ann's table and touched my heart. I said, "Thank you. Your offer means the world to me."
One of Mary Ann's table mates said, "Mary Ann has a beautiful heart."
"I figured that out about her right away," I replied. And I had. I just hadn't realized how confidently and generously she would share it.
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Created: Thursday, 08 January 2015 12:31
I wanted to go to breakfast in the assisted living dining room with Dad the morning after Mom passed so I could answer the question, "How's Harriet." I didn't want Dad to have to tell people. I had broken the news at dinner the night before, and it was clear they hadn't been updated about Mom's decline. "When she went to skilled nursing, we all thought she'd get better and come back to us," one of the residents said.
There would be people at breakfast who hadn't been at dinner, and I thought it would be easier for Dad if I was there. It didn't work out that way. I slept in, and woke when Dad came back from breakfast.
"How was it?" I asked. "It was great," he said, with a pleased look on his face. "The two Daves were there."
Dad and Mom had eaten breakfast with two fellows named Dave for a while. Clearly, Dad was happy to eat with his buddies.
I joined Dad and The Two Daves for breakfast for the rest of my stay. One Dave speaks in a low fast voice that is tough for Dad to understand. He has trouble understanding Dad's Icelandic accent. The other speaks clearly, but has some cognitive impairment. Conversation is limited. And yet they enjoy their mornings, breaking bread together in quiet communion.
Over the remainder of my stay, I got the two Daves talking more. I rephrased what they said so Dad could understand. It was sweet and fun to get to know them, and Dad was pleased to learn things about them that he didn't know.
It was nice while it lasted. I expect that when I left, the breakfast table got quieter. That's okay, There might be less conversation than there was while I was there, but there is every bit as much communion.
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Created: Wednesday, 07 January 2015 01:53
There's always an emotional component to helping people declutter and organize, especially after loss. I was excited, but also nervous about how Dad would respond to my rearranging his living area. I did my best to be sensitive to him. After all, not only was I messing with his stuff, I was moving and removing many of the traces of Mom.
I was excited for him to try out his reading chair now that I had put stable tables on both sides. Instead, he sat in another chair and just looked around. Then he stared off in space as if deep in thought. We spend a lot of time in silence together since Mom passed, so I thumbed through a magazine while I waited for him to comment. I started to wonder if my moving so much of Mom's stuff stirred emotion in him. I didn't think he needed a rock from each country they had visited on the coffee table (there were a lot of them), but they each hold memories. Had I moved some of Mom's memories before he was ready? I gave him several more minutes, and then asked, "What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking that our guests this morning wouldn't recognize the place if they came back. It's nice."
I was glad I asked. Instead of guessing, I learned that he welcomed the change.
Dad knew how much change he was ready for. He noted that there were medicines, clothes and other items of Mom's in the rest of the apartment that would have to be disposed of bit by bit. "Would you like me to help you with that while I'm here?" I asked. "No," he told me. "Let's save that for another visit."
This is the first man I ever loved and the first man I ever feared. This is the man I strove to prove myself to and the man whose opinion of me I sought to free myself from. This is the man I yearned to share my soul with and would find myself speechless with.
Eventually I did prove myself to him: this man read my books and savored them and learned from them and practiced my methods. Now, this man and I sit comfortably together in silence and speak freely about sensitive issues like moving memories.
We did it. We made it through one of life's most stressful events with our hearts wide open.
Dad got up and walked over to his reading chair. He tried out his new setup. Yes. The changes suited him.
Communication skills are great in theory, but how are they in practice? This 
Lean Manufacturing arranges things according to the point of use and flow. I continually "lean out" my own home so our various processes/activities flow. I wanted to streamline my Dad's living area now that he lives there alone. With his limited mobility and vision, placement matters a lot. 
In Lean Manufacturing, managers are required to do a lot of observation. Often, they are asked to stand in a single spot and watch a single assembly process for entire days. 
I went to see my chiropractor yesterday. His Grandfather passed the day after my Step Mom did. He said, "His last gift to us was getting the whole family together for Christmas." Very well put (if not taken too literally.)
