Read through to the gift below to share this Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Are you irritable and bug eyed with the notion there will probably be no vegan dishes at the Thanksgiving dinner table for you? Pissy after driving through the rain and snow for hours to get to Auntie Emme’s house? Worried that cousin Dottie is there this year – loud, obnoxious, in everyone’s business, telling everyone how to live their life? Of course, Joe’s sister will whine about her latest love affair gone wrong and drink too much. Are you registering an “8” on the Crank-O-Meter scale because the Christmas lights are already up on your neighbor’s house – brilliantly? And you haven’t even started your Amazon Christmas list…

Get over it. Most likely if you are reading this, you have a place to go with plenty of food on the table. Vegan be damned! Let’s eat! That’s a good reason to be grateful right there.

Have a happy Thanksgiving and beyond. Choose to be grateful. A few good reasons why it’s better to be grateful than cranky:

  ·  7 Overall positive emotions can add up to 7 years to your life

  ·  Grateful people have 10% fewer stress related illnesses, be more physically fit and have blood pressure that is lower by 12%

  ·  Our youth will have 13% fewer fights and 20% more likely to get “A” grades

May you have a beautiful, loving and wholehearted Thanksgiving! Please enjoy this gift: “The Thanksgiving Reader.” (Thank you Seth Godin.)

This Thanksgiving week and beyond, take a few minutes to breathe, connect eyeball to eyeball, heart to heart and realize the true magic of gratefulness.

Thank you for being in my life.

Darla

“The Thanksgiving Reader” – Make copies, pass on to others and share the big magic of gratitude.

I am excited to announce that as of today, I am now officially in the paperwork que to receive my designation of Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator (CDWF). (more…)

Play is becoming serious business. A few years ago the New York Times had a cover story about play in their Sunday magazine titled “Taking Play Seriously?”. The pictures only show children. Where were the adults?

Somewhere along the way we have lost something in our culture.

Play.

It’s time to consciously and deliberately bring play back into our lives and our culture.
(more…)

Life Is Messy!

Yep! Life can be a real bummer sometimes. Sometimes, we make mistakes, we screw up and then things really get messy. We are doing the best we can, we think “I got this” and then we drop the ball. I know it is hard to believe but this has happened to me. I have made mistakes. There. I said it.

What about you? Have you ever messed up? Surely you have a cousin that has, right? Okay. You know what I’m talking about? Now we are on the same page.

The problem with messing up is that many of us (more…)

  Where Are You On the Trust-O-Meter?

Over the last couple of years I have had the incredible opportunity to work with many women leaders.

There is something that comes up often. And it’s bugging me. It goes something like this:

(more…)

How are those resolutions coming along? I AM ON A ROLL!

I was prepping for the Vision Mapping Playshop this weekend by updating MY vision board and here is where I am at…

In just three weeks things are already paying off. I have my 1 ½ hour of yoga/spinning/Nia going on bright and early every morning (5:30 AM I might add), my new and improved diet is working wonders (Vegan). In fact, it is working so well that I am bubbling up with energy 24/7, getting tons of work done

AND…

The French class is going great! I will be on top of it connecting and communicating all through Provence and Cotes de Rhone in September which is when my fully planned trip is planned. Yep – you heard me right—totally planned.

In your (my) dreams baby!

I guess it’s the Pinot Grigio last night or the southern fried steak I had for lunch today has gotten to me. (more…)

Zippity-Do-Da!

A while back, I had an opportunity to step up and step out.  Literally.

I climbed a 30 foot ladder, stepped off a platform and zipped through the air to the ground with applause and yells of encouragement echoing in my ears.

You should have been there.  It was a real hoot.

At least I can say that NOW.

I must say, the experience provided me with several challenges and obstacles before the hoot factor kicked in.

Uncertainty –  Was the choice to take this adventure a good idea? What was I thinking?

Doubt – What about my physical prowess?  I’m overweight!  I’m out of shape!

Comparison – The other participants are younger than me.

Forecasting – How far UP is that platform anyway?  Is my will current?  Did I leave my emergency number with someone?  I’m gonna die here.

Being paranoid – This rickety thing isn’t safe.  I know I look like a fool.  Do I have my lipstick on?

Doubt, worry and FEAR that I would fail hung like a thin stretched thread in my mind and I had the evidence to prove it.

How will I hold on to those little, bitty bars on that telephone pole?  This is real scary and I can’t do this.  I won’t do this.  What if I can’t?  What if I slip and fall?  The  platform…it must be jutting out 7- no – 8 feet past the pole!  They were idiots to build such a rickety, ridiculous thing.  What a rip off this is.   Remind me why I did this?  Because you’re a idiot you idiot.  I didn’t sign up for this.

Oh.  Wait a minute.  Yeah I did.  (Remember, THAT’S where you left the emergency number you fool.)

Yes, I was frozen with worry, doubt and fear.  You’ve been there.  And you didn’t have to climb a rickety, rotten pole to be there.  So what’s next?

Be willing.

The 30 foot plus climb was really a bitch once my asthma kicked in. The climbing rungs were too small for my size 11+ feet (I wear a size 7).  But I was willing.

Ah Ha!  I will do a short cut – after all, rules are meant to be broken.

Then (I think it was God speaking), “Ms. Phillips, I am sorry but you have to go back and do it the way we told you.  Your way isn’t safe.  We need you to follow the instructions, come the way we showed you so you will be safe.  Do you understand?”

You’re kidding me, right?  Thanks a lot “coach”, God whoever.

Nevertheless, I was willing.

Well, I did climb up that pole with my big assed shoes and little bitty rungs…wheezing all the way.  I lumbered up and over the platform the SAFE way after my miserable attempt to do a short cut had my ‘adventure specialist’ (who knew?) God speak to me.

Yea!  I’m on the platform.  Ureka!  I’ve done it!  And the fruits of my labor we’re paid off in spades.  All my buddies were there!  Clapping me on the shoulder, congratulating me, acknowledging my success.  Wow!

The ‘adventure guide’ God, was very handsome and I was staring into the bluest eyes on the planet.

Yee Haw,!  The hoot factor was kicking in.

So what does this story have to do with coaching and you, my valued clients?

When your are transitioning to something new or different, doubt, worry and fear WILL kick in.  It is human nature.    It is what everyone goes through when they are up to something BIG.  When the challenges of leadership seem insurmountable or the journey gets rocky…well it gets rocky.  Big time.

And that’s the truth.

So when doubt, worry and fear strike, your frozen and stuck, ask yourself, “Nevertheless, am I willing?”

And when you REALLY are struggling, get a coach.

Preferably a blue-eyed one.

Oh – And I still had to step off the platform and ZIP.  Yee – Haw!

*Coaching Tool:  When in doubt, worry or fear ask the question “Nevertheless, am I willing?”  Write it on a 4 X 6 card and repeat 3 times a day.  Post its wherever you can.

“I’M TOO BUSY”

You know you are too busy when:

• Your dog has figured out how to walk itself
• You shout “hurry up” at the microwave
• You eliminate moisturizer from your nightly routine to shave 20 seconds off your day
• You offer more money to your trainer to skip your work out appointment
• Waiting for the green light seems like an undeserved vacation
• You decide to drink less water because the trips to the bathroom burns up precious minutes
• You announce to your lifestyle coach you’ve solved all your problems and are quitting coaching to save 1 1/2 hours a month
• You order the risotto because chewing chicken takes up too much time

Do I have your attention?

It does takes time to care about the things that matter to us. When we get “too busy” to focus on what really matters to us, we lose pieces of ourselves.

Busyness breeds indifference.

Go here, create your member account and take the “Busyhholism Inventory” assessment.

That is unless you’re too busy.

It is the ordinary woman who knows something about love; the gorgeous ones are too busy being gorgeous.

Katherine Hepburn

STUCKIFIED

Sniff.  Sniff.  The 2012 Summer Olympics have come and gone.  Like many people, I was glued to the TV like white on rice.

Whatever.  You get my drift.

Youth from all over the globe showed up and suited up.  The best of the best.

Everyone was there.  Catherine.  William.  Harry.  The Queen.

I couldn’t help but notice how the words and phrases used by “Prime Time Bob” and “Late Night Mary” may also describe the characteristics of a leader and the qualities of teamwork.

I was inspired.

Focus on something that can move you forward because the thunderbolt can hit anytime (attributed to Coach Pat Riley).

Put it together.

In the present.

In the qualifying he looked uncharacteristic and made mistakes.  But today [when it counted] he produced.

Destiny is out of his own hands and he will have to rely on his team.

Failure and disappointment.

Spirit.  Purpose.

Teamwork personified.

Catapults.

Go USA.  Go girls.  Girl power.

Unlikely pair won gold.

Trust your training.

Mental.

Redemption.

You don’t have to be anywhere near the podium to make an impact.  (Oscar Pesorus, double amputee)

When I am stuckified and everything is on the line.

When in a nanosecond a decision determines winning or losing.

When making that decision that can slingshot your company into forward, positive motion.

Call on the memory of the Olympians.  What would they do?

*Coaching Tool:  Put leadership and teamwork words and qualities on your vision map.

One of the gifts I receive every day is the opportunity to work with my clients and lift them up to better see, understand, and know who they really are so that they show up in the world comfortable in their own skin.

Brilliance Breakthrough and Branding
with Archetypes Workshop
October 8, 2011
(From left to right: Jennifer Flowers, Darla Powell Phillips,
Cecilia Engquist, Mary Kate Flanagan, Stacy Ryan, Vicki Manning)
 

You know.  Showing up and standing out.  Being in their brilliance.

So what happens next?  They begin to have more FUN.  They start kicking the dust up a bit.  They go into a let’s get this party started mode.

Oh yeah.  Things are happening baby.

They are landing the career of a lifetime.
They are starting that business they have always wanted.
They have found “the one” and are having babies.
They are improving business practices, making more money having a lot more time.
They are traveling the world now that the (thank God) kids are grown.
They are jumping out of the box, into the fire of a whole new gig that really turns them on.  Whatever.
They are having a LOT more FUN.

And then, the people around them are starting to have more fun, too.  It’s contagious.

And you know what that means…more people in the world having more fun!

They will be if I have anything to do with it!

It all starts with knowing your unique brilliance.

3 Steps to Fun + Special = ATTRACTIVE!

Here is a 3-step exercise you can do on your own to get your groove and brilliance on.

1. What part of your personality do you try to cover up, hide or disown?  Whatever personality trait (at least one or two) you possess that got you into trouble as a kid is the blind spot waiting to be discovered.  This is the one (or more) key component that needs to show up in your marketing and in your life!
2. Brainstorm a list of words and phrases that represent that personality trait.  Consider words like elegant, fun, or youthful.  Now, think Jack Sparrow here…get out of the box and swing from the masts or bird’s nest or whatever Jack would swing from.  Brainstorm on!  Get some friends and collegues involved.
3. Cut loose, act up, get sassy and let your personality shine on in your next conversation, email, newsletter, web copy or flyer.  Take a big breath (or gulp) and go for it.

– Give yourself permission to come from that place within.

And, if you struggle with this just give me a ring and I will give you permission.

Why do I care so much?  Because we need more fun in the world for God’s sake.  We need more happen-makers in the world.   We need to show up, stand in our brilliance and    be our power.

So dig deep.

Check out the blind spot.

Kick up some dust with those boots and those stilettos.

Let’s get the party started!