Communication

Retreating is Succeeding

Self Care

Sheri here,

This weekend I’m off to a spiritual retreat with several close friends. It’s being held at the Serra Retreat in Malibu – one of my favorite serene places in the city.  The views of the ocean and the Malibu Hills are wonderful and restorative.

Walking the Labyrinth for Mediation

In addition, to the retreat sessions, I plan to spend a little bit of time in the labyrinth, a circular maze structure, outlined with flat small rocks or bricks.  The experience of walking through it is like a moving meditation.

Whenever I’ve brought a problem or an issue to my walk, before I leave, I have an intuitive insight as to either a solution or a next step.  I’ll then followed my walk through the labyrinth with some journaling, which has many of the same benefits as the labyrinth, except it is in writing.

Retreats Replenish Our Spirit

If you know me, you know that I love retreats and the time spent replenishing my spirit – see my Blog post “Retreat and Refresh.”  If you don’t know me well, yet, you’ll discover I attend at least a couple retreats every year.  This weekend will be my third so far in this year.

During the pandemic I attended retreats virtually.  They are different but depending upon how clever the team is putting on the event. It can generate many of the same benefits as an in person event.

My intention for the weekend is to restore my spirit and strengthen my relationship with my Higher Power.  This supports me coming back refreshed and focused on the important priorities of my business and my life.

Digital Free Time

I’m also striving to have a digital free time while I’m there.  This is the first time in several years that I’ve tried to do that.  As for many of you, my smartphone is not only my phone, but it is my entertainment – reading, communication with friends and games, my camera, and my email reader. I google everything – definitions, abstract facts, baseball scores, you name it.

Disconnecting will also support my intentions of the weekend.

This will be an interesting experiment; can I manage 48 hours without using my smartphone. Can you?

The Book Status

And the book?  Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation was sent off to the copy and line editor this week for review.  A good portion of this review is to assure spelling, grammar, punctuation are correct and consistent throughout and wordiness is kept to a minimum.  In a couple weeks, my manuscript will be returned, and I’ll get to make some more changes.

There is so much more to writing a book than the writing part.  This has been an educational process.  If you’d like to be on the wait list, you may sign-up here!

May you have a blessed week.

Ciao,

Sheri

Empathetic Listening

Listening

Sheri here,

Why empathetic listening?

Effective listening is listening with good eye contact, an environment free of distractions, attentive body language, and without turning the conversation to your needs or agenda.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathetic listening allows you to develop and enhance relationships with a stronger understanding of what is being conveyed, both intellectually and emotionally.

Empathetic Listening Experience

Recently, I had two individual and unrelated conversations with friends who were in the midst of distressing situation.

I had no solutions for them; but I listened with an open heart and an empathetic ear.

My friends honored me, trusted me, and felt I had the sensitivity just to listen and to allow them to unburden themselves.

I can honor their confidence and give them a friendly face to hear them without interruption.  My heart broke for each one, given their circumstances.

I could not fix the issues; but I could listen as they poured their heart out.

I felt honored, privileged, and grateful that I have learned how to listen. Just to listen with an open heart, eyes and ears.

Now Your Turn

Have you ever been in that situation, where you are helpless to make the circumstances different, and the best you could do was to let someone use you?  Use you as a sounding board – not asking you to fix; but to listen thoughtfully?

It is not an easy thing to do, is it?  To be there for someone, to allow them the dignity of a listening ear and not jump in with possibly remedies.  While we may not listen perfectly without jumping in with possible solutions, we can continue the effort of effective listening with an empathetic ear.

Listening effectively is a gift you can give another, whether in your personal or business life.

May you find yourself blessed with the skill when the situation arises.  Practice makes better!

Good open communication involves talking, listening, and appropriate body language.  It is not waiting for our turn to talk while we formulate our response and not pay deep attention to what they are saying.

Around Town Here

Thank you to all of you who support me regularly by reading my newsletter – I appreciate you.

Welcome to our new readers from the wait list for my book, Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation, The Explosive Profit Summit and the Entrepreneurs Toolkit Gift Giveaway.  Thank you for being here.

My book is slowly moving forward.  Who knew it was going to take longer in the review and edit cycle than the writing? I saw a proposed book cover –it took my breath away to see my name on the cover! Holy cow, that’s me!!  As I said, slowly moving forward!

If you’d like to share in the progress for Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation, including when pre-sales are open, you can sign-up for the wait list here.

May you have a blessed week and ‘til the next time.

Ciao,

Sheri

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