Author: Linda Anger

When ‘Ordinary’ is Enough

Posted on by Linda Anger

Everywhere we turn we are immersed in a world that tells us we must be bold, stretch beyond our limits, do whatever it takes to be an extraordinary person living an extraordinary life. If we don’t, we’re doing ourselves a disfavor, selling ourselves short.

The zen teachers say the way to enlightenment is to “chop wood and carry water.” I’ve given this considerable thought over the last months, and I’ve come to understand something:

If you can’t find peace in the ordinariness of your everyday life, you won’t find it by moving to Tahiti, buying a new sports car, or trading in your current spouse for a new one.

This understanding has three parts:

Part 1: Ordinary is Enough.

I’m happy to “be” an ordinary woman, going about my “ordinary” day – tending to my body, mind,  spirit, and family in ordinary ways, practicing ordinary tasks and processes in my business. I’m content with who I am and what I do, and am, these days, striving to simplify in any way I can. It is amazing how little we really need.

Part 2:  Ordinary is Not Boring.

Giving ourselves over to the ordinary – to washing dishes, changing sheets, mowing the lawn – brings moments of release and realization. Years ago I wrote a blog post titled “My Now and Zen Kitchen” that speaks to this phenomenon. Slowing down, stripping away the noise of advertising and the pressure of keeping up with the latest whatever, brings a level of peace and calm that is anything but boring – this is the space where creativity brews and thrives!

Part 3:  Ordinary People can and do live Extraordinary Lives.

There is no contradiction in this statement. When we are content with what we have and do, when we are no longer striving for more or bigger or better, our energy patterns change, opening the door to our dreams – and beyond that door is where extraordinary things happen.

How do you get to a place inside where Ordinary is enough?  Can you spare five minutes? Oh, yes, you can.

Sometime today, take yourself to a place where you can be undisturbed – even if you have to leave the office to sit in your car. Sit still and quiet for 5 minutes, focusing on your breathing. As thoughts bubble up – the distractions of “this is stupid, you should be doing…” let them go. Stay focused on your breath. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. When your mind wanders, and it will, just be aware of it and go back to breathing in, breathing out.

If the car thing isn’t your thing, forgo the dishwasher and wash your plates and pans by hand. Focus on the motion – that “soap on, soap off” motion. Feel the slipperiness of the suds on your hands, see yourself washing away the leftovers and scraps of your day.

As you continue to find ways to slow down and let the ordinary things of life be enough – even if it is just for five minutes at a time, your life will change.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this  topic, and your experiences!

 

Holiday Scam Emails

Posted on by Linda Anger

It’s a happy holiday season… until you get an email saying there’s a package waiting for you when you know you didn’t order anything. But it’s the holidays! Maybe someone sent you a surprise?  Here’s a quick look at how you can tell a message is bogus:

The first clue that this is Phishing (say “fishing”) is in the “From” line.  Why would Costco be sending out an email from some other company’s email account? It pays to look closely here.  Sometimes the hackers fake an email that is similar to the real one (like “orders@costcoo.com” – see the extra “o”?)

Clue #2 and #3 are grammatical.  The first one should be “…recipient coincides with yours.” The second one – well, no one in America would use that phrasing.
Clue #4 is that the message is vague. There is no purchase ID#, no indicator of the content of the order, not a single identifier of anything.

If you were to click on any of the links in this message, you would be taken to a fake Costco site, asked to fill in personal info, and within minutes of clicking “enter” or “next” or whatever button they have created, your bank account would be emptied or your credit card used for who knows what.

Have Happy Holidays – pay attention to every detail of the emails you receive, and never, ever click through without checking into it completely. In the example above, if I had indeed ordered something from Costco (and this message wasn’t so blatantly a scam) I would have phoned Costco to check it out, not click through on a message that was so vague.

Most large retailers have a Fraud Department, where you can report Phishing attempts like this. Click Here to see Costco’s Fraud page.

 

Three Websites that Make you Think

Posted on by Linda Anger

There were over 200 million registered websites strewn across the internet in January 2014. To save you time wading through the chaff, here are three worthwhile sites that make you think…

howstuffworks.com

From 10 reasons space exploration matters to you to the most terrifying spiders in the world, How Stuff Works offers simple explanations of everything, including elevator etiquette. The articles cover so much stuff you can wander and learn there all day. Great site for research on most topics!

big think.com

Big Think is an evolving roadmap to the best thinking on the planet — the ideas that can help you think flexibly and act decisively in a multivariate world. Read articles such as How your Body Language Alters your State of Mind  and The Internet of Things will Make you Poor, Surveilled, and Alone.

And of course, the Big Daddy of make-you-think websites:

ted.com

“Ideas worth spreading” TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). Short, powerful talks on science, technology, human nature, and just about any other topic you can imagine. You can also search for TED Talks on YouTube.

 

Learning “Conscious “ Listening

Posted on by Linda Anger

Five-time ted.com speaker and leading sound expert Julian Treasure says our “we don’t want poetry, we want sound bites” attitude is a big part of humanity losing its ability to consciously listen. It is hard to listen carefully in a noisy world, and we grow less able to pay attention to the quiet, the subtle, the understated.

Image from Flickr by Ky Olsen

In a talk he gave in 2011, Treasure says our “we don’t want poetry, we want sound bites” attitude is a big part of humanity losing its ability to consciously listen. It is hard to listen carefully in a noisy world, and we grow less able to pay attention to “the quiet, the subtle, the understated.”

Consider the humble beginnings of the art of listening, when families or tribes would gather around the hearth or campfire, telling stories about everything – creation myths, tribal or social rules, and the latest goings on in the community.  Everyone paid close attention to the storyteller, because in some instances, what you failed to hear could mean your last meal was as the main course for a saber-toothed tiger.

Flash-forward thirty million years or more and we’ve invented recordings, which downgrade the need for accurate listening, and replaced conversation (“dangerously,” as Treasure says) with personal broadcasting. Is it any wonder no one is really listening?

It’s worth taking the seven minutes to listen to the Ted Talk, and consider the five exercises Treasure proposes.

One is “The Mixer,” in which you attempt to identify as many different sound channels as you can hear. In the grocery store line today, I heard – simultaneously, but still separately –  conversations at two other check-out lines, the hum of the refrigeration units, the sliding entry doors opening and closing, and squeaky wheels on at least one cart. According to Treasure, the ability to isolate specific sounds within the larger cacophony of sounds improves the quality of your listening and the amount of important information you retain. He also suggests we spend a minimum of three minutes each day in total silence – or as close to it as we can get.

Treasure’s final message is that we must listen consciously in order to live fully in space and time.

How much space, and how much time, are you willing to give to conscious listening?

 

How to choose a blog type

Posted on by Linda Anger

A well-planned blog can make a huge difference for an individual or a business. But how do you know what type of blog will work best for you or your company?  Here are four blog types to consider before you get started:

A How-To Blog

Become a Hero by helping people understand how to do stuff . . .
Here, actual writing is limited – it’s more a matter of collecting and sharing material others have created. Show people how to solve their problems and where to go after they’ve visited your site.  Always give credit to the folks whose work you are sharing – gain written permission whenever possible, and make sure it is clear that the “how-to” is theirs, not yours.

A Storytelling Blog

Generate interest in your business and services with real-life stories . . .
You’re often told to ask your clients and customers for “testimonials” – short blurbs about what a great job you’ve done. Sadly, few people know how to write a testimonial that “works,” and even fewer people actually read the testimonials strewn across a website. But you can create a story about your customers/clients and the success that came from your interaction. Then it becomes a human interest story to which people can relate – and that is the type of “testimonial” that attracts attention.

A What’s Happening Now Blog

Perfect for creating a well-linked (and well-liked) news resource site  . . .
If your world is all about what’s happening around the world, a “what’s happening now” blog makes sense. You don’t have to write much, just gather info from other sources, report on them, perhaps add a bit of commentary and links galore. Just make sure your sources – and their sources – are credible.

A Personal Blog

Build a following as a thought leader. . .
Pondering a famous quote or concept in a weekly blog goes a long way in establishing your credibility as a thought leader – one of the golden few people want to follow. A personal blog differs from the other three in that its style is conversational, where the others are more professional. Consider carefully the persona you wish to project and the audience you wish to attract.  Be even more careful in the topics you choose to cover.