TAKE THE LEAP ! PURPOSE LAB

Sonia Di Maulo called this course Take the Leap. Why? It came from a book she wrote, The Apple in the Orchard. It was endorsed by Ken Blanchard, who wrote:

"Opportunities for growth and learning are all around you - so take the leap, and grow!"

1. Cultivate your decision-making/guiding principles. 

GOAL: Ground ourselves in purpose and prosperity.

A tree with strong roots laughs at storms. Malay Proverb

2. Discover and embrace your superpowers.

We have all Via character strengths. 

They are from 6 virtues:

WISDOM - creativity, curiosity, judgement, love of learning, perspective

COURAGE - bravery, perserverance, honesty, zest

HUMANITY - love, kindness, social intelligence

JUSTICE - teamwork, fairness, leadership

TEMPERANCE - forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation

TRANSENDANCE - appreciation of beauty/excellence, hope, gratitude, humour, spirituality

My top 5 are:

Fairness

Appreciation of Beauty/Excellence

Honesty

Kindness

Love of Learning

3. Explore your Ikigai (Passions and Purpose)

It's a guide, like a North Star, and incredible things start to fall into place. You naturally reframe your focus and energy; doors begin to open you didn't even know existed.  

It supports our one undeniable calling...to be ourselves. 

Your ikigai/purpose, once clear, become core to your essence, your being and your doing.

Understanding the ikigai helps us say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things.

David E. Marlow The Ikigai Guy (LinkedIn)

The visual of ikigai is a beautiful example of a Venn diagram. 

What do you love? What are you good at? What can you get paid for? What the world needs?

What is your passion (energy)? What is your mission (aim)? What is your profession (career)? What is your vocation (calling)?

Your ikigai is in the middle, connecting all these things.

"But there is no reliable shortcut to action. In fact, we may come to recognize that the conversation is the action. Growing in wisdom and compassion is the work. Every thing else is just testing stuff out."

Michelle Holliday

Leap from the comfortable to the uncomfortable.

4. Celebrate your Past and Present, and Ground your Future (Growth Model)

"It doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you don't stop." Confucius

"Each person leaves a legacy -- a single, small piece of themselves, which makes richer each individual life and the collective life of humanity as a whole. " - John Nichols

Tell and share! Living fully every day! Take time to experience ourselves. What makes us happy? What brings us joy?

We are a constant ripple effect.

5. Breathe life in to your living legacy.

You don't become a legend by living in your comfort zone. Start writing your story.

Three parts:

- How you experience yourself, every minute, every hour, every day. 

- How people experience you every minute, every hour, every day. (Does it align with your guiding principles? Are you using your strengths in presenting your authentic self?)

- The benefits you are leaving for yourself and others when you are not there.

Don't worry if your first thought s not your best thought. Write them down anyways!

Yearly living legacy is a compass. It give you a heading. Write something, not necessarily that you think you can achieve, but inspires you, scares you, engages you.

Look for a focus point, not necessarily an end point. 

e.g.  Sonia's yearly legacy

2019 To help 100 people discover, create, embrace, and breathe life into their living legacies.

2020 To help 1000 people discover, create, embrace, and breathe life into their living legacies.

2021 Active 100,000 emerging leaders to discover, create, embrace and breath life into their living legacies by 2025.

Workbook: 

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

SMART 1 year living legacy

WRITE THE LIVING LEGACY YOU HAVE IN MIND (5 minutes)

I would like to eliminate the physical clutter around me, and make room and time to evaluate my guiding principles, powers, passions and purpose. I would like to have a house that has a place for everything, and space for another. I would like to have the readiness to spend available time with my daughter and friends, because I have an orderly life with some advance preparations. I would like to continue to have guarded precious time alone with myself, to ski, and hike, and read, and write, and dream. I would like to invest my money wisely in preparation of leaving my job in 5 years, and prepare my resume and 5 year plan to my next phase of life. I want to have my affairs in order so that my death would be planned to minimized the impact on my family when the time comes. I would like to continue to find a common ground with my daughter so that when I am gone, she has a living legacy to admire and follow, as she chooses.

Where do I want to end up on January 31, 2023? 

I will organize each room to have its own items with room to spare in the storage areas I already have (so no room to expand, only to contract) and only have 2 boxes of "craft project items" stored, with the rest recycled or given away or garbaged if need be. I would like to start reorganizing my garden with priority to prepare for next year's growing season, repair the shed and deck, and install a railing for my neighbour. I am enrolled and will participate in a mentorship year. I will update my CV and be ready to submit it to a I will finish my daughter's baby book and the year she was 15, and prepare for the year she was 16). 

Draw your map (vision board?)

Use your own language! "Certified Reinvention Practitioner" "Soul Doctor"

What is my dream? 

Financial freedom

Time to reflect

Healthy balanced life

Advocacy for others for the same

Who do I want to be?

Enough for myself

In community with others

Connected mother

Ready friend

 What do I need to do for myself?

Less stuff

More efficiency

Better habits

 What are my tools? 

Knowledge

Supportive friends

Some financial security

How can I monetize my skills?

Not sure

What is my attitude? 

Hopeful

Tends to the dark ( I blame melancholy but acknowledge it)

Tends to resist (I blame introversion but accept it)

What is my perspective? What are my convictions?

Who are my top five people? Who knows me, and supports me? Who are my "mastermind" group?

Adle, Cindy, Nathan, Holly, Aviva

First Published January 31st 2022

Finally finished August 31st 2022!

US STATE ABBREVIATIONS

Gary Gulman is comedian that does a great bit with the very real problem of shortening the states to a two letter abbreviation. It's a postal norm that I still find terribly challenging. 

Here he is on How the States Got Their Abbreviations.

Here is the list to make it clear:

State/District             Postal Code

Alabama                     AL

Alaska                     AK

Arizona                     AZ

Arkansas                     AR

California                    CA

Colorado                     CO

Connecticut                CT

Delaware                    DE

District of Columbia  DC

Florida                    FL

Georgia                    GA

Hawaii                    HI

Idaho                    ID

Illinois                       IL

Indiana                      IN

Iowa             IA

Kansas              KS

Kentucky           KY

Louisiana           LA

Maine                  ME

Maryland          MD

Massachusetts MA

Michigan         MI

Minnesota MN

Mississippi MS

Missouri         MO

Montana         MT

Nebraska         NE

Nevada                 NV

New Hampshire NH

New Jersey NJ

New Mexico NM

New York NY

North Carolina        NC

North Dakota ND

Ohio         OH

Oklahoma OK

Oregon         OR

Pennsylvania PA

Rhode Island RI

South Carolina.       SC

South Dakota SD

Tennessee TN

Texas         TX

Utah         UT

Vermont        VT

Virginia        VA

Washington        WA

West Virginia        WV

Wisconsin        WI

Wyoming        WY

Territory/Associate Abbreviation Postal Code

American Samoa                 AS

Guam                                 GU

Marshall Islands                 MH

Micronesia                         FM

Northern Mariana Islands MP

Palau                                 PW

Puerto Rico                                 PR

Virgin Islands                         VI

It is notable that in 1967 the abbreviation for Nebraska changed from NB to NE to avoid confusion with New Brunswick!

HOW NOT TO DIE (OR DIET)

I found a colleague from med school and residency on facebook, and he posted a lot about a healthy lifestyle that he was clearly living. He had posted a video by Dr. Michael Greger, and I watched it. This was the video of his Daily Dozen Checklist.  I was impressed by the story of his grandma, as well as the careful explanations of science based food science.

 I saw a list of his (whole food plant based) Daily Dozen recently, and was pleased to find that he had an app developed to help track his recommendations.

Here is the list, as I noted, of a the daily dozen:

1. Cruciferous veggies - contain suphoraphane- broccoli, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, cabbage, kohlrabi, radishes

                                     -  one serving=1/2 cup chopped raw, 1/4 cooked

2. Flax seed - contains lignans

                    -1 tablespoon ground

 

3. Beans - lentils, chick peas, edamame, miso, tempeh, tofu, kidney beans, green peas

               -1/4 c hummus or bean dip, 1/2 c cooked, 1 c fresh peas

4. Berries - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, raisins, grapes, kumquat, cranberries

                - one serving 1/2 cup raw, 1/4 dried

5. Other fruit - apple, watermelon, 

                      - three servings of 1 medium, 1 cup raw, 1/4 cup dried

6. Greens - spinach, mesclun

                - three servings of 1 cup leafy 

7. Other veggies - tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, beets, peppers, carrots, corn, squash, sweet potatoes, zucchini

                           - two servings of 1 cup raw leafy, 1/2 cup juice, 1/2 cup raw nonleafy vegetables, 1/4 cup dried mushrooms

8. Nuts and seeds - one serving 1/4 cup, 2 T nutbutter, 1

9. Herbs and spices - one serving=1/4 tsp tumeric

10. Whole grains -three servings=1/2 cup cooked, 1/2 bagel, 1 slice bread, 1 tortilla

11. Beverages - five servings=1 cup H2O, tea, coffee

12. Exercise - 40 minutes intense, 90 minutes moderate

When I went to the library, I was confused to find two almost identical cookbooks, with only one author name different, and a difference of publishing year of 3. Then I saw it: How Not To Die, and How Not to Diet! He had written two very similar books, and the one about weight loss predated the one about mortality. 

I like that it's open sourced, up to date, and motivating for everyone.

The checklist for How Not To Diet includes:

21 Tweaks:

(For 12 weeks?)

1. Weigh twice a day x2 (on waking and before bed)

2. Optimize Exercise timing x1 (at least six hours after your last meal, so before breakfast, or midday before late lunch) For diabetics, start exercising 30 minutes after the start of a meal and continue for 60 minutes.

3. Front-load calories x1 (make breakfast or lunch largest meal of the day - king/prince/pauper)

4. Preload water x3 (before each meal, 2 cups of cool water)

5. Preload with negative calorie food x3 (first course fruit, salad, or soup less than 100 calories)

6. Incorporate vinegar x3 (2 tsp, dressing or flavor)

7. Enjoy undistracted meals x3 (no phone, tv)

8. 20 minute rule x 3 (eat slower, chew better)

9.  Black cumin x1 (1/4 tsp)

10. Garlic powder x1 (1/4 tsp)

11. Ginger x1 (1 tsp) or cayenne pepper (1/2 tsp)

12. Nutritional yeast x1 (2 tsp)

13. Cumin x2 (1/2 tsp lunch and dinner)

14. Drink green tea x3 ( 1 cup 1 hour after each meal to avoid interfering with iron absorption)

15. Stay hydrated x1 (if your urine is never darker than pale yellow)

16. Deflour diet x1

17. Time-restricted diet x1 (under 12 hours, 7 days a week)

18. Fast after 19:00 x1

19. Sufficient sleep x1 (7 hours sleep, at regular bedtime)

20. Trendelenburg x1 (not for me with heart burn, foot of bed elevated by 8-9 inches)

21. Complete intentions  x3 (every 2 months write three new implementation intentions - if x, then y plans, then check them off when you complete them everyday)

MEMORY PROBLEMS AND DYSGRAPHIA INTERVENTIONS (BRAIN FRAME, EMPOWER)

I curse the person who invented the term: See 1 Do 1 Teach 1. It is a goal post set too high too often.

My daughter struggles with a type of processing that falls under the heading of expressive speech (a type of Dysgraphia). It was described today by the Speech Therapist as a cognitive problem of memory, and struggles with sequencing, in stories, paragraphs, and even phrases of a sentence.

Thankfully, although she was apparently emotional about it, she has been clear at school that she wants the help they want to give her! And she has been good at advocating for herself.

One of the recommendations is that she needs to have things repeated in order to learn them. As a teacher friend would say, "Duh!" So that's simple! Repeat that, please!

Another is extra time.

A quiet place.

Proofreading should be out loud. In this day and age, Siri can do that for you! There are adaptation on every device these days that should make it easier than ever. When I was in high school, I had to use a tape recorder and record my own voice to memory texts!

As a parent, I need to confirm she understand the instructions by asking for a paraphrase of the task, and cue her to proofread out loud.

Two devices are being taught to her by the Speech Therapist (good name change from Speech Pathologist):

1. BRAIN FRAMES

GET READY - what do I need? Gather it together in one place.
DO
DONE

Look forward to look back, meaning read the WHOLE recipe before you start cooking.

This resource (slideshow on Executive Function Skills) shows the PDF as well as whole lot of other ideas to help the essential processing memory. It includes how working memory works, how struggles occur, interventions suggested. Some include: give written/visual directions in addition to verbal, break down large tasks into smaller ones, highlight, Cornell Notetaking, reduce processing demands by using a graphic organizer or writing rubric (OREOS, Essay Writing Outline) for student to refer to, create a work system, must do (vegetables) and can do (dessert) folders. There are resources and apps to look at. 

Cornell Note Taking Method is found in various template forms. Here is a link to a google doc. Here is a link to download a word doc.

This is a slide show for dyslexia, but I think anyone can benefit from the tips (including wannabe novelists!) It talks about executive function and oral language, breaks down vocabulary with shapes as diagramming symbols, and shows the Brain Frames six part infographic. 

It includes (thanks to images from Miss Francine):

Showing relationships

Sequencing

Telling

Categorizing

Showing cause/effect

Comparison/contrast

Seeing someone else's completed task can help.

2. EMPOWER (trademarked so couldn't find) CHECKLIST

I did find an elaborated paragraph for EmPOWER that breaks down like this:

Start with a TOPIC SENTENCE (fact or opinion that you will discuss and prove0

Then FRED (Facts Reasons Examples Details) SAY MORE, then FRED SAY MORE, then FRED SAY MORE, then FRED SAY MORE

Finally SO WHAT. 

3. Test Prep Sheet 

THREE KEYS TO FITNESS

STRENGTH
CARDIORESPIRATORY
FLEXIBILITY