Source: Reflecting on the Labyrinth
Reflecting on the Labyrinth
I started my vacation journey with the expressed goal of relaxing, resting and reflecting. Little did I know that outside events and internal viruses would so dramatically change my point of view.
It all started at the airport in Denver, when shortly before our departure, I perused Facebook and was shocked to learn to that a fellow Toastmaster had died the night before, within an hour of giving a speech. Wow… I had no words.
Retrospectives have been a big focus for me these past weeks as I’ve been writing and speaking on the topic since the beginning of the year. Now, as I am cooped up in a desert hotel with the humbling head cold, I am further forced to slow down and reflect on life’s crazy path, journey or maze, depending on your perspective.
I am intentionally trying to avoid reading the news updates from the outside world but it is difficult to shield myself from the bizarre and unsettling stories about crazy killing Uber drivers and an egomaniac billionaire who may win a nomination for president of the United States. The calls to fasten my seat belt on this nauseating narrative have caused me to want to curl into the fetal position and never check Facebook or CNN again.
A positive ray of hope entered my sheltered yet wounded psyche yesterday when I came across a poem while sitting in a waiting room. It was written by Caroline Adams and started with ” Your Life is a sacred journey”. It’s powerful message spoke to me about change, growth, discovery and transformation. It encouraged me to expand my vision on what is possible and to see clearly and deeply.
Caroline’s words kindly comforted me as she reminded me that I am on a Path- exactly where I am meant to be right now. And from here, I can only go forward. Shaping my life story into a magnificent tale……
And now I sit, I write and I reflect. I am eager to get out of my room and go explore the labyrinth that’s down the sandy path in this beautiful desert. I am ready to experience the joy of life more fully now that I am again reminded that nothing lasts forever and every moment is a gift.
I am reminded that Life is a sacred journey and should never be taken for granted, no matter how badly we feel. Nothing lasts forever. Not the high, not the low, not the happy, not the sad. The Labyrinth of Life just keeps going until it doesn’t. I’m going enjoy and appreciate it now while I can.
True Connections
Do sounds have color?
Do words have flavor?
Do photos have feelings?
The words I speak, the stories I write, the images I capture are the threads I am weaving into the fabric of my next article.
Join me as I explore the many ways we reach others and connect on a deeper level.
Resolutions, Reviews and Retrospectives
As a matter of course, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions until at least February and this year, I have not made any.
Since I am a Scrum Master striving to lead an Agile Life, I’ve started planning and living my life in 2 week iteration (sprints) and am doing my first Sprint Review and Retrospective today. It is so much easier to set and achieve goals in a short 2-3 week period rather than the whole year. Plus it makes me very happy and excited to move my yellow sticky note user stories from the “In Progress” to the “Done” column (I know I am a total geek. See my article on Confessions of a Dashboard Junkie for further proof).
It is satisfying to have rapid feedback and visualization on the completion of your small, bite-sized chunk goals (user stories) and it is important to do a thorough review of the Sprint Board at the end of each iteration to determine what is still In Progress and/or what is not started in the To Do column.
In the Retrospective, you can reflect on what you were able to complete and why, as well as what prevented you from starting or finishing a user story. Were there obstacles or unforeseen circumstances that interfered with you completing all your goals or did you simply procrastinate? Be brutally honest with yourself and strive to improve your process in the next sprint which starts tomorrow.
The outcome of your Retrospective is a mini New Sprint Resolution and provides input to your next Sprint Plan. This is why I don’t need New Year’s Resolutions anymore!
The Sprint Plan is done on the 1st day of the sprint and includes all of the user stories (goals) you want to complete in the next time period. It is meant to be a realistic picture of what you commit to getting done based on your understanding of the size and scope of the various items.
Living an Agile Life is rewarding, effective and less stressful than making huge blanket resolutions on some arbitrary date at the beginning of the year. Besides, your goals for the time period of Jan. 1-15 will probably be very different than your goals for Sep. 15-30. Conducting your Reviews and Retrospectives every 2 weeks will help you quickly analyze and adjust your life plans and goals as needed plus you will get so much more accomplished than if you didn’t track and plan with your Sprint board.
So here’s a toast to happy and healthy Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives!
May the Agile force be with you.
Hedgehogs, Play-Doh and Crayons: A Return to Adult Creativity
There’s been a plethora of articles on the rising popularity of adult coloring books lately and this particular one caught my attention and inspired me to expand on the idea and share with you my recent adventures in the world of coloring, art and sculpting with a hedgehog named Ernie.
The answer to the question posed in the article referenced above was simple for me since it is what prompted me to add color to Mandalas back in 2006. Why are jaded adults buying stacks of coloring books? For me and many of my friends, it is for Insight, Healing and Self-Expression. Coloring is calming and peaceful and when small, furry friends like Ernie are included, it is just plain fun!
How else can we explain that last month, 8 of the 20 top selling books on Amazon were coloring books designed for adults? Here’s an interesting WSJ article that further explores these trends.
This new phenomena is also helping to connect us in a real, live and tangible way. Public libraries are offering spaces to host adult coloring with sessions titled “Stress Relief through Doodling” and a wellness coach in San Diego hosts “Color Yourself Calm” sessions in her home (active cell phones not allowed).
Wow, little did I know that 10 years ago when I invited some girlfriends over for a bottle of wine, a box of Crayolas and a Mandala coloring book, we would be the vanguard of the modern healing-through-art (and wine) movement.
As our collective blood pressure and cortisol levels have climbed and impacted our health and well being, escape from the stress of our frantic, always-on world of social media is alluring. These activities give us permission to concentrate and focus on something for more than a minute- without constant digital interruptions. Art and creative expressions allows a different part of our brain to be stimulated and exercised and for me, it calms like a cool cloth on itchy eyes. Coloring fosters creativity, new ideas and insights that posting on Facebook or reading Tweets just doesn’t do.
On a more pure and simple level, these activities tap into childhood joy and give us pleasure. For many, just the smell of Play-Doh brings forth vivid memories of happy and youthful creations. I smile when I swish it through my fingers!
Another positive outcome of painting, coloring and sculpting is the ability to produce some more tangible and lasting- something more than 1s and 0s of the digital world. Something you can touch with your skin and see without the need for an electronic glass screen or display. A lasting object you can send in the mail (via the Postal service) as a gift to a friend or family member. Our art is something we can proudly post on the refrigerator at home or in your cubical at work. It gives us a sense of accomplishment, finishing something that will last and is comforting in our age of fleeting Snapchat images and endless streams of 140 character Twitter posts.
So, why is Ernie the hedgehog so popular? For many of the same reasons as the popularity of the adult coloring, he makes people smiles and encourages child-like creativity, happiness and joy. Plus he is a great model in my photos!
So foster your creativity with a child-like zeal and enjoy the happy and calming effects. Added bonus: you just might make yourself and others break out in a hug smile- just like Ernie does.
Cheers!
Rebooting My Agile Life
In October 2013, I wrote the following in Part 1 of my blog’s “An Agile Life” series:
“What if we lived our lives in 2 week increments?
Imagine what it would be like to create a Backlog of all the things you wanted or needed to do in your life including all of your wishes and desires. Kind of like a Bucket list on steroids.
What if you reviewed, prioritized and ordered this list every 2 weeks?
What if you planned out which items on your list (User Stories) you wanted or needed to accomplish in the next 2 week time period (Sprint)?
What if you (and your team/partner/family) committed to completing these items by the end of the Sprint? “
Well, 2+ years later and after a serious New Years Day Retrospective, it is time for a major reboot in my life sprints. Time to create my Backlog again, prioritize my User Stories and work on them in shorter iterations.
Time to post my sprint board on the refrigerator!
Here we go, Day 1 of Sprint 16.01, I’ll let you know how my Retrospective went in early February!
Here’s how you can get started on your Agile Life:
Step 1: Grab some sticky notes and markers and start writing out the items you wish to work on/ accomplish (one per note).
Step 2: Create your sprint board with a sheet of page. Make 3 columns: To Do, In Progress and Done.
Step 3: Determine your sprint duration ( 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks)
Step 4: Place your items ( user stories on sticky notes) on your sprint board.
Step 5: Review your user story status and track progress each day until the end of the sprint.
Step 6: Conduct a Retrospective on the last day of the sprint.
Step 7: Update your sprint board during for the next sprint’s planning session.
Step 8: Repeat steps 4- 6.
Good luck and may the force be with you!
Walking with Service Legs
I have always been fascinated with leg tattoos. When I saw the word “Selfless” on the calf of a fellow veteran, I had to inquire. What did it mean? Ronie, a contract employee at Project Sanctuary, then proudly showed me his other leg which read “Service”. Wow, this takes “walking the walk” to a whole new level!
Selfless Service– that’s what volunteering is all about and my brief exchange with Ronie hit this home for me when he explained that his service to veterans and their families at retreats with Project Sanctuary is just a natural extension of his duty when he served in the US Army. 
This past weekend I was happy to serve others as a volunteer at a powerful retreat which helps military families reconnect. Project Sanctuary is a special organization with a spirited and dedicated staff and hundreds of volunteers.
I put on my Platoon Leader/Project Manager hat for this event and coordinated the attendance of nine coworkers who assisted over the six day retreat at the YMCA Snow Mountain in Granby, CO. Most of us are part of a Denver Military Veterans Network group at work and are focusing our efforts on increasing awareness of veteran issues and being of service to others. Selfless service without the leg tattoos.
My coworkers who volunteered at the retreat
The volunteer experience was positive and uplifting and provided us with greater insight and appreciate for the “invisible” wounds that many returning veterans suffer with PTS ( Post Traumatic Stress) and TBI ( Traumatic Brain Injury).
Witnessing the power of peer mentoring, counseling and plain old fun and games in the healing of strained relationships and broken family connections was most impressive. A large majority of the staff and volunteers at Project Sanctuary are prior service/military members which reinforces Ronie’s idea of continued Selfless Service. He and many others like him are Walking the Walk with Service Legs.
The need is great for the programs and benefits that Project Sanctuary provides and there are more than 1,800 families on the waiting list to attend a Retreat. In 2014, 19 retreats were held and 164 new families were served. This year 21 retreats are scheduled at no cost to the veterans and their families.
So let’s step up and help support more military members and their families heal and reconnect with this innovative and powerful program.
To make a donation to Project Sanctuary click here. 
Robo Koko: Confessions of a Dashboard Junkie
I must confess, I’ve become a dashboard junkie!
In the last six months, multiple aspects of my life have been tracked and monitored by an automated, “robo” tool. From fitness workouts and calories burned to sleep and step activity to financial investing, I have gadgets aplenty tracking a plethora of performance and personal progress statistics.
Last month I joined Koko FitClub, a digital gym and have been religiously wearing my Fitbit to capture my steps, stairs climbed, and sleep activity. The Koko experience has been positive and it seems I’m becoming addicted to the online dashboards. I enjoy the SmartTraining aspect of having my workout plans preloaded in a thumb drive and the visual display of each exercise and rep count on the floating screen in front of me. After each workout, I run home to check out the website to review my numbers and progress. I’m like a little kid who wants to see the grades on her report card at school.
One meaning for the word koko in Japanese is “individually” and that is what this type of fitness program gives you- help and guidance from an intelligent machine with minimal human interaction.
I’ve watched this trend toward more personalized and internally focused electronics, apps and interfaces over the past fifteen years starting with iTunes, the iPod and the iPhone and moving on to Google Glass, the iPad, the Fitbit and now the Apple Watch. It seems that more and more we humans want our experiences with the world to be custom tailored to our exact needs and desires.
Here are some of the reasons why I like robo and koko-like tracking and interfaces:
- Awareness and Accountability- both are increased.
- Motivation. I respond well to the visual achievement of goals.
- Charts and graphs excite me.
- Encouragement and recognition on meeting objectives. Fitbit is very good at this.
The Economist magazine recently published an interesting article entitled “Ask the Algorithm” which highlighted the recent trends in automated wealth management tools and the rise of the “robo-advisers”. There a donut charts aplenty on the dashboards of these new applications.
Asset Allocation Dashboard
So welcome to the machine ( one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs) and kick back and enjoy the lovely and colorful dashboards!
The Poppy Grows
by Brenda Smull on 3 May 2015
Five score since the red blood flowed in the fields of Flanders
Where the fragile Poppy still blows.
The crimson torch passes from failing hands to firm
Reaching out to keep faith alive.
Remember the price paid, the valor displayed
In France as across the globe, the Poppy grows.
The Power of the Poppy
I’ve known for a long time that the power of the poppy was strong and now, based on the events of the past 3 months, I feel that the significance and impact of the fragile, red flower is immense.
One hundred years ago today, 3 May 1915, the “In Flanders Fields” poem was inspired and is an enduring and powerful symbol of the sacrifices made on the battlefield.
In the coming days, I will share with you the story of a former Poppy Queen who paid tribute to her veteran Father and now wishes to honor and remember another Veteran and Father who recently passed away, but not before he proudly watched his daughter be crowned the Poppy Queen of VFW Post 1.
Now I take up the torch and hold it high for all to see so that those who fought so valiantly are not forgotten.
In Flanders Fields
by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Strong Words & Simple Truths 