Sometimes I think the secret to enjoying life is not to take myself too seriously.    This is not something that comes naturally to most of us–I don’t know at what stage of our life we lose our ability to be playful and to see how whimsical life can be.   Surely, transitions from childhood to adulthood make it easier to be serious.  We leave college and all of a sudden we have to be “grown-ups.”  We must be responsible. 
Along the way, we lose our ability to play. When do we become so self-important that we cannot take a moment to laugh at ourselves or enjoy the moment without an agenda?  I tell people that I am the definition of “high maintenance.”  This is part of not taking myself too seriously…I do realize that I still need to have control,  but I also realize that I cannot control much more than how I respond to what life sends my way.

In The Art of Possibility, author Benjamin Zander talks about “Rule Number 6″…this is the rule that says “Do not take yourself so seriously”….what a great gift to remind ourselves, even when we are in the midst of difficult transitions, that if we enforce Rule Number 6,  life will be full of wonder.

Life is Amazing! Live Well.

Anna Grassini

Life and transitions coach

See more about your transitions coach at www.lifeinbalancecoach.com

A former neighbor this morning wrote to reassure me that I can handle the upcoming transition to Houston–and she said that there are always bumps in a move, but they won’t be felt so much if we take them in low gear! I love that thought. It strikes me that there are things we know well in our head that have yet to filter to our hearts…
creating space for the filtering is important–as is giving ourselves time. Even so, I realize I leave a piece of my heart in Austin after 20 years…

If you are going through a transition or are stuck in a place, seek out a life coach who can shine a light on your path!

Life is Amazing! Live Well.

Anna Grassini
www.lifeinbalancecoach.com

Thanks to a friend who is also a coach, I realized yesterday that the sadness about preparing the house for sale was not about detaching from the walls (after all, I have done that before!). What the sadness was telling me is that I was in transition–and declaring the end of an era. My friend used the analogy of reading a chapter book–one chapter has ended, and now I sit staring at the blank page before the next chapter starts. Despite the excitement that surrounds the next part of the story, there is sadness that an important chapter has ended. Being able to name what the sadness was about suddenly made it lift–oh yes, I said to myself. There is much to be celebrated about the last chapter, but also some grief about letting go. It is ok to sit with it…suddently, just as it had come, the wall of emotions that had enveloped me over the last few days is dissipating…and leaving space for the the joy that lies ahead.
Life is Amazing! Live Well.
Anna Grassini
lifeinbalancecoach.com

Whether in your business or in your daily life (think in relation to others!), what is the difference between being in control and choosing? Aside from the obvious negative connotation usually associated with control, dig deeper. What distinguishes the two?

Take the example of the housework that needs to get done around most homes. The wife wants the kitchen counter cleaned a certain way, the husband cleans it another way. The wife then accuses the husband of not doing it right…and he says she is control freak. True or false? What are the choices people could make here? Does the counter have to look a certain way? Can there be flexibility and possible outcomes that are all desirable? Maybe a less perfection? What is the dream beneath the idea that the counter has to be just so?
If you have to have the chore done your way or the highway and nobody can come close to doing it that way, you might explore whether you have some issues of control. If however, you can be flexible–maybe you do the task yourself without holding a grudge because you decide that it pleases you to have the kitchen counter looking a certain way and it is worth the effort. Maybe you decide that it is better to have the other person help, even if the counter does not look exactly like what you think. What are the choices that you can make that enrich your life and that of the people who work or live with you? What is the control about? “Inquire within” and look for the answers that will make your business and your relationships richer!

Life is Amazing! Live Well.
Anna Grassini
www.lifeinbalancecoach.com

My graduating class only had 35 kids…very few indeed. One of my best pals back then was a dynamic young woman named Johna. For 20 years, she and I lost touch. Then recently, through the use of linkedin and facebook, we reconnected. As luck would have it, we found ourselves in the same city at the same time and we both had time for a dinner. I went with some trepidation–what would it be like to see someone whom I had not talked to in 20 years? We really used to be best friends when we started college, and then our lives drifted.

Well, suffice it to say, that our experience of meeting again was a magical experience of reconnecting. We both concluded that this was the right time to meet each other…and how curious to see how in 20 years our paths had at times been parallel and at times not, but we are in similar good places in our lives now.

So, to those of you out there reading, what are you doing to use social media to reconnect person to person? How is the experience for you? I’d love to hear!

Life is amazing! Live Well.

Anna Grassini
www.lifeinbalancecoach.com

Thanks to Jill (see her cool blog at mysolis.com )or pointing out in a comment to my previous thoughts that the stuff of web 2.0 can be great for business. I completely agree with her! There are new opportunities for people to use Facebook, Twitter and the like to provide useful information–and, no, what you had for lunch does not really qualify…but maybe a cool new lunch place would! Yet, I still see people, especially older ones, that resist the technology change.
I wonder, moreover, if the arrival of “wiser” folks on Facebook will make the younger ones migrate to other “hiding places”! The recent story of the person who twittered about her new job offer at Cisco (as published recently in a NYT story) and presumably lost it before she even started is currently making the rounds on the internet….and is a reminder that the young users could teach the old folks how to use twitter, and the older folks could use the young ones what are appropriate limits !!!! As usual, everyone has something to offer–if we just remember that we all have our strengths!

Life is Amazing! LIve Well.
Anna
lifeinbalancecoach.com

At the urging of my young Italian cousin, Luisa, I have recently joined FaceBook.   I have been on LinkedIn for a while, thinking of it as a professional network.   The function of LinkedIn has been to reassure me that as I face a huge transition in my life, there are people to whom I am connected–and that those bonds will follow me wherever I go.  But what does FaceBook do?   My husband John asked me “do you like it?”  The answer is…I don’t know yet.   Clearly, it makes me notice the difference between being old and young.  There is a whole new lingo to learn (really, what does it mean on FaceBook to tag someone? To poke them?) and then there is a level of discourse that does not really conduce to deep conversations.   I still have to find my way around it.  

Would love to hear what other people are getting out of these social networks and how they use them….

In the meantime, I remain confident that 

Life is Amazing! Live Well.

Anna 

http://www.lifeinbalancecoach.com

I just came across a John Lennon phrase “Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted.” A couple of days ago I was listening to a friend who was lamenting how people at a meeting were wasting time and how she had no patience for that kind of waste. The words from John Lennon seem to provide an explanation for how subjective one’s perspective really is–at that meeting where my friend found she was wasting precious time, other people were probably enjoying the time wasted immensely.

Sometimes those of us who are task oriented become so focussed on the task at hand that we don’t appreciate that our world is made richer by those people around us who are more oriented towards community and fellowship than task. Mercifully, the world is a wonderful place and there is room for both types of people: those who are task oriented will get things done, and those who are seeking connection, will also get things done, albeit at a slower pace. There is no doubt in my mind that at the end of my days I will not be looking back to ask how many tasks I have accomplished–did it really matter that a 1000 envelopes were addressed and sealed in a hour? Or will I long for the joy of the people who came together to give of their time, even if they seemed to be wasting mine?
So next time you think someone is wasting your time, think how much the other person may be enjoying herself! What would it take to see it from her point of view?

Life is Amazing! Live Well.
Anna Grassini

Sometimes I wonder what is the value of experience. On a personal level, I think we find our own experiences mean something. What we have lived through in the past may guide in the present and prevent us from taking a similar path to the one we have taken before. After all, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing every time expecting different results. So, if we cannot plead insanity, we use experience to change our response or our course of action when we see a pattern that is familiar.

Still, I wonder–is there any value in sharing our experience? Can it be so powerfully communicated to another person that it will change the way that person walks in her life? I do not know the answer–maybe it will become more obvious as I age a little longer. What do you think? Would love to get the conversation going!

Life is amazing! Live well.
Anna Grassini

Do you know someone in your life who has been touched by cancer? What if we put the power of all of us to work for the cure?  We have the chance.  Join me in supporting the campaign for  ”The Infinite Power of One” –and let’s prove that together, we are more powerful than cancer.
Twelve leading cancer centers are asking all Americans that can, to go online and donate $1.  I am asking you to consider doing so.  Simply log onto their sponsor, www.celebrations.com/cure to make your donation.  Then add your picture to their Healing Mosaic, which is a visual representation of the infinite power that one person and $1 can have on our health. After you make your donation, come back and share with us how it feels to have the infinite power of one and to work together to make our world a better place to live.  Thanks for joining me!

Life is Amazing.  Live Well.

Anna Grassini

Want a coach? Visit me at www.lifeinbalancecoach.com