What can I do when a presentation is approaching, my heart’s racing, my hands and voice are shaking, and I need to calm down? There are numerous strategies out there. But one has caught my attention. Technique called the “physiological sigh.” Apparently, it’s the fastest physiological way to hit the brakes on stress “in real time.”

We get together every Friday. 8:00 am. My #mastermind. Four pairs of ears that listen with care, and genuine interest. Four people who follow their stories, remember what I said five years ago, and can kindly remind me. They’re smart and thoughtful. We laugh a lot. It’s often a deep dive. We rarely see each other in person, and it’s ok.

I was in Bali this year. Again. This was my fourth time. I love that place, it teaches me something new every time. One moment I’m sitting on this beautiful beach full of awful plastic trash. I feel strongly that I don’t want it there. It fills me with frustration. So I practice. I try to let it both be in my attention. The beauty and the ugliness. I create space in my mind for both.

Collecting stories has been my thing for years. Especially the ones about caterpillars. Ever heard the one about the caterpillar and the butterfly? So, imagine this: On a bright sunny day, two caterpillars are crawling in a meadow. They look up and see a butterfly flying high above them. It’s up so high that it makes their heads spin.
At that moment..