CNN Heroes of 2008

My husband and I recently watched CNN's Heroes of 2008 on television. While all of the stories and the top 10 heroes were inspiring, one story in particular resonated with me. It is the story of a runner by the name of Anne Mahlum. The question she asked of herself; "Why am I running past these guys?", made me realize that we all run past things on a daily basis that we could choose to get involved with or make a difference. Here is Anne's story:

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- At 5 a.m. on any given day, Anne Mahlum could be found running the dark streets of Philadelphia -- with homeless men cheering her on as she passed their shelter. But one morning last spring, she stopped in her tracks.

"Running really is a metaphor for life," Anne Mahlum says. "You just have to take it one step at a time."

"Why am I running past these guys?" recalls Mahlum, 27. "I'm moving my life forward every day -- and these guys are standing in the same spot." Instead of continuing to pass them by, the veteran marathoner sprang into action so they could join her.

She contacted the shelter, got donations of running gear, and in July 2007 the "Back On My Feet" running club hit the streets. The first day, Mahlum led nine shelter residents in a mile-long run. Today, Back on My Feet has teams in three Philadelphia shelters, including 54 homeless members and more than 250 volunteers. The group has logged more than 5,000 miles.

Requirements for shelter residents to join are simple -- they must live in an affiliated facility and be clean and sober for 30 days. Members receive new shoes and running clothes, and teams run together three times a week between 5:30 and 6 a.m. The runners are diverse -- doctors, janitors, students and shelter residents -- but such distinctions aren't apparent.

"All you can tell is who's the fastest," says Mahlum. "You can't tell who's homeless and who's not." For Mahlum and others, Back On My Feet is more than a running club.

I could just file this away in my memory as a nice, compelling story. If Anne's story is indeed compelling, what am I compelled to do? How might I go about taking that one step at a time that Anne refers to in her story? That one step would begin with noticing what I do "run past" on a daily basis. How might I make a difference? What will that action step look like?

There are certainly many people in our society who are constantly passed by. What if we all decided to do things differently? What if we actually answered the question; "Who me?" or "When, now?" with a resounding "Yes!".

http://backonmyfeet.org/main/index.html

Reflective or Radiant

A couple of days ago I read the following description of two types of people:

Reflective - people who take things in
Radiant - people who beam light out

Since the Christmas season is filled with shiny things, this thought captured my attention. Wouldn't it be wonderful to do both?

1) Your outward behavior is a direct reflection of the state your inner being
2) The people you tend to surround yourself with are a reflection of you
3) People may forget what you said or did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Christmas time seems to be a perfect time to reflect on what's most important and then let that shine to those around us.

Now on to a more serious topic. Do you like tinsel? I, for one, do not care for tinsel on the tree. Being a person who prefers things to be orderly, tinsel simply does not cooperate. Tinsel is not orderly! It manages to follow you everywhere, stuck to your clothing with static electricity. Naturally you find stray pieces of tinsel long after Christmas is over.

Maybe tinsel is trying to remind us of something important. Something to do with being both reflective and radiant in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

For those wondering about how tinsel came to be added to a Christmas tree....

The addition of tinsel as decoration comes from a legend about a poor old woman who was unable to provide decorations for her children's Christmas tree. During the night, spiders lodged in the tree and covered it with their webs. The Christ Child, seeing this, realized that the woman would be sad to see her surprise spoiled. He turned the spider webs into silver, and the next morning the poor family was dazzled by the brilliant "tinsel" that shone on the tree.

Tinsel was invented in Germany around 1610. At that time real silver was used, and machines were invented which pulled the silver out into the wafer thin strips. Though it was durable, it tarnished easily, so some attempt was made to make tinsel with lead and tin. This proved too heavy and breakable, so silver was actually used until the mid 20th century. Today, the tinsel we use is made generally of plastic.

Are You a Spotted Zebra or a Striped Zebra?

In my continued reading of the presentations at the ICF (International Coach Federation) conference in Montreal, I came across the following description of a zebra:

"A spotted zebra is an individual who has discovered there is more to who they are than the stripes they were born with or have acquired, such as limiting beliefs or comfort zones."

State of the Union

This is the time of year that I usually have my coaching clients reflect on the current year and consider what they want the new year to look like. Imagine if you were standing at a podium about to deliver a "State of the Union" address about the "state of your life". The audience members? Everyone and everything that makes up your life - your family, friends, finances, health, level of energy/fitness, amount of sleep you get each night, personal/spiritual growth, contribution and making a difference in the world...

Then imagine that a representative from each of these areas of your life is standing in the audience, notepad in hand, hastily jotting down your current view along with your promises for the new year.

I happened to be reading a review of the International Coach Federation conference which was held in Montreal. One of the speakers was Peter Senge from MIT. He was looking at the reasons behind the high mortality rate of corporations and identified the following four components of lasting companies:

1) Identity - who we are transcends what we do
2) Tolerance - described as being open to not knowing
3) Fiscal conservatism
4) Sensitivity to environment

As I read this, it occurred to me those four components are not just found in long lasting companies. When you consider the qualities of people you most respect and enjoy being around, you will probably discover they are mindful of these four things.

There is a quote that says; "People may forget what you did or said, but they will always remember how you made them feel". WHO are you as you move through your world? What feeling do you leave behind that speaks louder than anything you say or do?

How tolerant are you? Are you open to not knowing? Or are you holding so tightly to the right answer, your opinion, or your view of how things are, that you can't see things another way?

I would take fiscal conservatism a step farther. Where do you spend not just your money, but also your time? Do you spend wisely? Are you overdrawn? Do you continually allow others to make a withdrawal from your bank account until you are depleted? (Saying "yes" to others all the time, rather than choosing to say "no".) Are you guilty of the same behavior yourself? How often do you make a deposit in your own savings account? (Getting extra sleep, taking care of yourself, creating some quiet time for yourself, eating healthy, getting some exercise, walking outside, deep breathing, etc.) Or, perhaps you are making continual withdrawals from someone else's account?

How sensitive are you to the environment around you? This not only includes being mindful of living green literally, but living green figuratively. Have you cleaned up after your own messes? Do you leave your family, your relationships, a gathering of friends, or a conversation in a better place than it was when you arrived? If you were truly an environmentalist in your work and personal life, what things would you be doing? Not doing? What would people notice?

Are you sensitive to (and aware of) the impact you have on the people in your life? Is it the impact you want to have? If your sensitivity allows you to answer "no" to this question, what behavior or action will allow you to self-correct and get back on track?