CLEARING FEELINGS

When I distributed my  Transformation Cards, I was asked by my grandson if I was not honoring negative emotions since the cards were all about getting happy?  This writing is to help with that question.  The dialogue is open and I invite your feedback. Read more...

WAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Last weekend, Paul and I had a delightful trip back to our home territory in Corpus Christi, TX.  All Saints Episcopal Church sponsored a “Marj Barlow Academy” and I was privileged to work with a large friendly audience on Friday night and Saturday morning, delivering my version of Strengths psychology.  We were totally loved and our buckets were filled to the brim by these wonderful friends, most of them from the long road of life, and some new ones who are also very much treasured.  I brought home a literal bucket and dipper gift.  The bucket was filled with nuggets of hand written drops of appreciation and love.  Wow!  It can’t get better than that.  I am in awe of the power of love.  Gayle Gottlich said it well, “We are just gonna love on you and Paul.”  AND THEY DID!  From the first encounter with Father Jonathan Wickham, a true servant leader, to the last lunch with the leadership team, we were warmly loved and blessed. Read more...

POCKET GRANDMOTHER

My children are my real legacy.  They are the most unique, individual, incredible group of human beings that you could ever imagine.  They are creative, inventive, resourceful, reliable, responsible, loving, fun and thousands of other positive adjectives.  I have not blogged much about them  but I decided to leave them my best ideas as a legacy that they may or may not accept.   I must also add that we have four amazing great grandchildren, who call me GiGi, for Great-grandmother.  I love being grandmother to two grandsons and one granddaughter and great grandmother to four children of tomorrow. Read more...

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DARING GREATLY by Brene Brown

One of the best researchers on the scene today is a woman named Brene Brown, Ph.D.,LMSW.  You can see and hear her on You-Tube or TED talks.  She is a Social Worker who has done extensive research on the negative emotion called shame.  I think she is incredibly brilliant.  She is transparent, authentic, compassionate, and very connected.  I recommend all her books, especially the latest one, published this year and entitled, “Daring Greatly.”  Shame is one of our most pervasive, dangerous negative emotions.  She has wisely suggested that the answer to shame is resilience.  We study resilience in Bio-Mimicry and I learned that resilience is nature’s answer to cycles of decay and death.  It is our natural tendency to try again following failure.  We spring back from our defeat with new courage, unless we are caught in the spiral of shame, which is a basic self belief that we are not enough. Read more...

A Deep Dive into Self

Thoughts on waking this morning:

 

We are meeting with a wonderful facilitator as we plan for the next Tribal Gathering at Interface.  Doc Klein is a mountain climber and systems thinker.  He is helping us design the program.  I have enjoyed getting to know him and really am learning from his writings, his leadership, and his guidance.  I am grateful for his inspiration, which brought about these thoughts this morning.  He introduced the idea of creating an amazing year.  I am caught up in what that might mean to me, to my family, to my world.  Doc also took us through a whole day of team creativity.  We arrived at the concept of three circles.  One was for the SELF; another for our ORGANIZATION; and the third for COMMUNITY/SOCIETY.  Then Lindsay James, our biomimicist, suggested that a fourth circle could be drawn around the whole picture.  The fourth, all encompassing circle is NATURE.  All of this ingenuity has stimulated my mind-brain highly.  So when I awoke this morning, these ideas were swarming and I want to share them with you. Read more...