Finding Forward Change Catalyst

12/09/2022

Happy Friday! I've spun up a YouTube channel for some longer form videos and look forward to share some topic specific series as well! Here's one focused on the Intùiti Creative Cards deck and an example of a check-in to help with my creative process and practice.

If you're interested in exploring or expanding your creative practice this is an amazing tool! Stay tuned for more videos with this deck and go ahead and hit that subscribe button to keep up with new content!

-Ad Astra Per Aspera-

in this video I share an example of how I've used the Intùiti Deck to address a creative block. Also included is a brief overview and context on how this dec...

11/09/2022

𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕔𝕜 𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕣𝕦𝕥: to not have changed what you do or how you do it for a very long time so that it is not interesting or effective any longer

All I can think of when I hear this is a real life Oregon Trail-esque covered wagon debacle. You're making steady forward progress, but then start sinking into the muddy ruts of those that followed this path before you. Personal and professional growth or progress is not much different, if we allow leaders to keep the path regardless of needs, effectiveness or engagement in methods that empower their teams it also becomes a sloppy mess (hopefully without the Malaria).

One of the patterns I've started to notice lately is organizations hiring in people who have progressive perspectives and a variety of valuable experience to support them...but their leadership or colleagues are still stuck spinning in the ruts of "how we've always done things". Now this is not directly connected to the traditional sense or definition of leadership, but it's tightly tied to archaic top down management which is a stark contrast to effective leadership. Leadership is represented in practice by those willing to dig in, initiate conversations regardless of perceived consensus or comfort, challenge the box or even thinking outside said box if it is a rut proven not to catalyze progress or growth. People in leadership positions often like to challenge this with the politics or the dynamics of needed collaboration while also bypassing any path to resolution.

Communication that is honest, direct and objective with an emotional awareness drives healthy change. It empowers the strength of a team and its members to be autonomous when necessary as well as collaborate and support each other more transparently. This is how we shift the narrative from the old ruts, smashing the idea of a "new normal" and start to build Radically Aware Actionable Change we can all benefit from and collaborate through!

10/31/2022

Monday Mood:

We're all being fed a narrative of self-care, personal growth and peeling back the layers to learn more about our true selves. Inherently this is a very healthy, albeit often challenging experience. Growing your awareness without a doubt will stir up or bring into focus things that will cause you discomfort either internally or with the world around you, that's not inherently bad! How do you hold yourself first and foremost to your learning and growing awareness? (Like Uncle Ben said, " With great power comes great responsibility".)

Action is the catalyst for this accountability and engaging in more healthy and fruitful ways with the world around you. I once read an anonymous quote that also resonates with this spirit "people continue in the comfort of research often to avoid the discomfort of taking action of change"...this is the moving through discomfort that sits at the crux of change and personal or professional growth. Often we fear what others might think or we shy away from the action that our intuition and learning are urging us to take because we may offend or hurt someone's feelings. Now I'm definitely not advocating for inconsiderate or hurtful communications or actions against others! What I am advocating for though is to stop bypassing for the sake of comfort, trust me this more often than not breeds frustration and feels passive aggressive we keep it bottled up and to ourselves.

What is a difficult conversation or situation you've been shying away from, but feel like it could be a crux for your growth and might even positively impact others in the long-term although cause of discomfort in the short-term?

How can you start to share your awareness with actions that align with your healthy true self?

10/28/2022

10/27/2022

UPDATE: Putting rubber to the road!

06/09/2022

Awareness is a beautiful gift that you can continue to grow and nurture. Part of the controversy with awareness or "being woke" lies in what you do with it. We're all imperfect humans and make mistakes, but spiritual and other types of bypassing are all too common in interactions. This is also true when it comes to the Enneagram, Strengths, Human Design or any other methodology. Identifying is the first step in developing or growing new awareness ("the first step is admitting there's a problem" if you're an AA participant), but without action and accountability at best you're lending yourself to stagnation and even worse spiritual bypassing.

So how can you avoid this pitfall on the road of personal or professional growth? Make your actions align with your words! A note of reality, those in leadership positions are not automatically exempt from this. In fact quite the contrary is true in my experience, because without accountability for that action it's easy to delegate or implement "do as I say" while they hold themselves above and embrace "not as I do".

This is also a good self-care check-in as the world is heavy right now and can feel like everyone is creating their own convenient narrative. It takes great responsibility to hold and wield the power of awareness, how can you implement this in your growth journey? What toll is the spiritual bypassing of others taking on your personal and professional relationships? Is there an opportunity to address this and find greater alignment between reality, word and action?

05/23/2022

The first step to becoming your own Catalyst: start with self discovery! What questions can you ask yourself to discover what's blocking your growth and the progress you want to see in your life?

I started this week off with "why am I scared to record myself talking?" Which seems ironic when my goal is to share these things that have catalyzed my own personal and professional growth. The answer is I haven't done It consistently since I was a kid and being graded in school ha! Sometimes that deep seeded anxiety is rooted in something from our past, these days is absolutely trivial. That's not to say that it's not valid, something that's no longer serving me. What's your Monday question to discover and take that first step towards greater self awareness?

05/11/2022

"What is in your analysis toolkit?"

This was a question on a job application that has stuck with me and keeps popping up lately. How often do you take inventory of your strengths, shadows and how they impact dynamics in your life? What tools or things do you use to reflect, identify and take action?

There are many methods out there to type and define your personality, how you interact with others and how you best communicate. What is not always inherent with these is that they should be leveraged to create and grow a better understanding and awareness that you can put into practice! The Enneagram is a one method of types that often people gravitate to, but get stuck at the identify or typing step. The beauty of the Enneagram is you likely have a bit of every type in you, but it depends on your surroundings and awareness of them in how you exhibit these characteristics!

I am excited to offer Enneagram coaching as a part of my toolkit with an initial session for free! After that you can choose how to pursue this awareness and I'd be thrilled to join you on that journey as a coach and advocate! Feel free to shoot me a DM and we can connect. -Ad Astra Per Aspera-

10/14/2021

NEW BLOG POST IS UP!

How do you know when to break the cycle of chaos, advocate for yourself, your time and skills? Here's a hot take on building this awareness and approach to living more focused on the essentials.

How many of you have sat in a meeting that was taxing and at times tense, but seemed to have some clear takeaways based on a consensus? Then the following day all hell breaks lose and the chaos com…

10/06/2021

A lot people talk about intuition as being simply the gut feeling or something rooted solely in our subconscious and some of that may ring true. I believe that intuition is an inner awareness that is stimulated by our external world. This inner awareness is a culmination of our life experience up to that point and a level of opened and trust towards our true nature. Our intuition when honed and healthy can be our greatest gift and response to guide us through life, especially in a world rooted in being anxiously reactive or overthinking. To hone it starts with reflection and growth of your self-awareness, like most practices it can take time and pushing our perceived limitations of ourselves. Drawing from the wells of our inherent energy and embracing our natural dispositions helps set a foundation to build this inner awareness. How aware is your intuition and how can you start to evolve it with the world around us?

08/16/2021

Intuition and instincts can be strong guides if we find the deep awareness needed to key into them. It takes courage to dig into these gifts, especially in a culture of skepticism. Sometimes you have to start at root of understanding what your intuition feels like. Do you know when it is trying to guide you or pair with you analytical mind to layout the path in front of you?