Movement, Mindfulness, Mastery and Meaningful Connection- You’ve Got This!

This week: Movement, Mindfulness, Mastery and Meaningful Connection
Laughter and Small Acts of Kindness can go a long way to keeping you well…

Reframing Challenging Times with Resiliency & Authentic Connection- Better Business Bureau Webinar Recording from Last Week:

As several of you requested it, here is the YouTube link to the recorded BBB webinar from last week. Hope you find it useful as you navigate current turbulent waters and help yourself (self-care) and others (leadership) to plot a course to new ports of call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AYp3VmYvR8

Upcoming Webinar: Leading Consciously with Purpose: May 7 at 1pm PST a Think Tank Mastermind of Business Leaders

Leading Consciously in the post COVID era is not just a nicety but a necessity, as for most of our stakeholders their worlds have been upended. Intentionality and purpose are more important than ever. This requires leading both ourselves (self-care) and others with:

Our Head which is about tapping into wisdom not just smarts
Our Heart where empathy & compassion are at the center of every business model
Our Gut which requires courage and fosters a bias toward right action

As leadership is a decision not a position, everyone- regardless of your role or even your enterprise- can be equipped to be a “right responder” to help forge a new future for your employees, customers, community, and the planet through the power and promise of ethical choices.

Please register here to lock in your spot: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4DwtUB4-Tm-PSYxx9OmZ4g

Note: You don’t have to be a BBB member to register for these webinars. These are made available by the BBB as a public service to all leaders and organizations in the community.

Self-Care-
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Today, where do you find yourself on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

I’ve been seeing so many friends seriously beating themselves up because they aren’t “maximizing” their time in quarantine by organizing their closets, repainting, developing a side hustle, becoming a piano virtuoso, exercising themselves into a lucrative career as a swimsuit model, etc.

Everybody! Seriously. Stop. And breathe.

If you’re feeling adrift, there’s a reason. I’m about to drop some first semester nursing school on y’all. It’s Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Humans have basic requirements (the bottom of the pyramid) like food, water, air, shelter, sleep, etc. The biological basics.

If those are met, then the next rung of the ladder is Safety and Security. If we feel safe and secure, then we can climb up and start on our Love and Belonging needs and on up the ladder we go until finally at the very tippy-top is SELF-ACTUALIZATION which would entail all of the cool aforementioned activities.

The catch is, you cannot level up until the needs at the current level are fulfilled. If the needs remain unfulfilled, we remain stuck on our current level until the situation changes.

Friends, in the midst of a pandemic, we are dwelling in the basement of Maslow’s pyramid. How in the heck do you think you’re going to kick ass at the highest levels when we can’t even find toilet paper for Pete’s sake.

You physiologically and psychologically aren’t built to live your “best life” right now. Your only job is to live “a life” right now. A luxury that is being denied many which increases the pressure to really make every day count.

But listen.

Every day you are here counts.
Every breath you take counts.
Are you eating, drinking water, and sleeping at all these days? If so, that is a triumph right now.

Cut yourself ALL THE SLACK. Focus on the bottom level. Are you showering? Eating a vegetable once in a while? Getting some sunshine and fresh air? Keeping some semblance of a sleep schedule?

Start there. And be extra gentle and abundantly gracious with yourself. We’ll get through this. And right now, getting through is absolutely enough.

I love you all. Hang in there. ❤️

To this end, here are some self-care resources to help us get through and make the best of the weekend:

Happiest Songs on Earth: With a Mathematical Formula
Self-Care Bingo print copies and get your family/roommates involved)
Work from Home Survival Guide -Self-Care Matters! No one is going to give you a badge of honor for sacrificing yourself and allowing yourself to run out of gas, in service of whatever or whomever has taken over your operating system.

Stay well…

Most Uplifting Songs List:

https://loudwire.com/queen-dont-stop-me-now-worlds-most-uplifting-song/

Self-Care Bingo:
Try this with your family or roommates.

Self Care Bingo

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In the same way that getting showered and dressed is a message to your brain, so is having a home-to-work commute, says the Asheville, North Carolina–based productivity expert Tonya Dalton, author of The Joy of Missing Out: Live More by Doing Less.

The best part is that now your commute gets to be whatever you want it to be.

“Sit outside with your morning coffee, listen to the birds,” she suggests. “Maybe take a walk, or read a chapter of a book, or do some yoga. Whatever it is, think of it as your transition time into working, the same as a commute would be.

The entire article can be found here: https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/your-work-from-home-survival-guide-for-self-care/

Now Here Is a Conscious Leader-

New Zealand’s Prime Minister May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet:
Jacinda Ardern’s leadership style, focused on empathy, isn’t just resonating with her people; it’s putting the country on track for success against the coronavirus.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-leadership-coronavirus/610237/

Finding Your Inner Strength with Erwin Pearl:

My Dear Friends,

For many years you have thought of me as a stylish gentleman who has brought you beautiful fashion jewelry.

It has been my great pleasure to have this role in your life.

But for this short time we must go through some tough times together and just for a few minutes I’d like to share some hope with you as your friend who has been fortunate enough to live a very long time.

By now you know exactly what to do to protect yourself physically from this new virus. Avoid crowds. Keep at least 10 feet apart. Stay inside your home as much as you can.

We know these things work.

They protect you and your friends and family.

But there is also an emotional toll we are all paying. Fear of danger and uncertainty. Fear for your livelihood. Upset at being kept cooped up away from friends and loved ones. Dread that this may never end. That’s what I’d like to talk about.

First of all I want you to know you are brave. It’s true. I don’t mean you aren’t afraid, concerned, confused. But even though you may not realize it yet, you have the inner strength to get up each morning and keep going. Human life has almost never been a nice smooth road. There have always been wars and famines and catastrophes. And it’s been that way for so long, that bravery and hope have become built in to each person.

Otherwise the human race would never have made it this far. Just would have given up.

One way to find that inner strength is to find things to hope for, things that mean something to you. Here’s something I know has meaning for you. You appreciate beauty. (I know that because you subscribe to my jewelry newsletter. Must be true.)

This is not the time to push your sense of beauty away. Instead, call on it to calm you and refresh you. Try that now. Whether beauty to you is paintings in a museum, vast trees in a park, wonderful music you love or beautiful things in the aisles of a fine store, close your eyes and go there just for a quiet moment. Leave the news and worry behind and, for
just for this whisper, travel somewhere beautiful. This is all going to be over.

Soon you’ll be going to the places you love just like before. No reason you should have to wait. Go there in your mind right now.
And in the calm you find there, you will find your inner strength, your survival.

You may think it’s easy for some old guy to talk about hope. But I think I’ve earned it.

When I was 14, I fled to America when the Nazi army marched into Austria, my homeland.

My parents put me on the train to Holland, from there to America to stay with my uncle.

My parents stayed behind because their visa was not called. They said they’d meet me in New York. When they didn’t come, didn’t answer, I grew afraid. Then when I was 15 ½ my Uncle passed away. I was alone. I feared for my future.

Didn’t know where my next meal would come from.

It was then I first found inner strength that I didn’t know I had.

I learned I shouldn’t keep focusing on big distant problems I couldn’t solve. That wears you down for no result. Just get up and place one foot in front of the other. Take care of what’s in front of you. Just keep going, just keep going, just move. Eventually, a kind man took me in as an apprentice diamond cutter, and I was on my way.

Even after that, life has given me challenges. I found my parents’ names on a list of victims of the Nazi gas chambers. I built businesses and lost them. Lost more loved ones. Stood on the roof of my office building and watched the World Trade Center fall.

Life is rarely perfect. But do I think it’s worth the trouble?

Yes! Absolutely yes!

I want to take a minute to talk about a simple but important worry some of you may have. What will happen to your job? I have to share something I know about my clients. About you. I know most of you are care about your work. Most especially, you care about doing a good job. This is what I want to tell you. When this quarantine ends, you’re going back.

How easy do you think it is to find people who really care about doing a good job?

Not easy. You’ll be back.

And to my friends who are a little older you’ll be back out with your friends and family, hugging your children and grandchildren.

Back travelling. Back at museums, theaters and concerts.

But for now, movies on Netflix and visits on Zoom will have to do.

History is filled with plagues and pandemics. This is just one more. And this time we are blessed to live in an era of modern medicine. Right now things seem confused because it’s just the beginning of the work.

But each day that goes by brings science closer to a cure.

Each day we survive the % are in our favor.

Please take care of yourself. I believe things are already starting to look better. But don’t go rushing out into crowded malls or clubs before your feel it’s safe. There are still joys and satisfactions big and small ahead of you in the years to come.

Stay well.

With my deep affection and love,
Erwin Pearl

Isolation Putting Some Stress on Your Relationships?
6 Easy Ways to Reset Your Relationship with Lisa Lapides Sawiki:
http://www.life-coach-san-diego-ca.com/relationship-stress/

Don’t hoard!
Our food calculator tells you how much you really need:
https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/FOOD/ygdpzjrwpwa/index.html

The Tenacity of Trees:
Every day is Earth Day

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