Appreciation 

Here we are once again in the season of Giving & Receiving and of Thanksgiving.  Few of us slow down and stop long enough to pay attention to the meaning beneath these old rituals.  We are too busy with our agendas and goals and bills and shopping and should-dos and ought-tos - sometimes going through the motions of celebrating these holidays without actually taking the time to appreciate the enormous value inherent in them.

We cook and share meals paying careful attention to the gourmet recipes and the correct serving dish while avoiding paying real attention to each other.  All of these holidays are really based in the spirit of appreciation, and yet it seems so difficult sometimes to take the opportunities they provide. To fully celebrate these holidays we need to stop and pay close attention to the deeper gifts we can give each other such as truly listening, hanging out with someone without agenda, making ourselves available to help out a friend or stranger in need.

When we are making a presentation, we are sharing our gifts - of ideas, research, skills, behaviors, attitudes, decisions.  And sometimes we forget that our audiences, too, are sharing their gifts - their attentiveness, their willingness to participate, their creative ideas, their time, their sense of humor, their difficult questions.  They are huge contributors to our presentations. 

Take the time at the end of your presentation to speak from the heart, to reflect back to your audience the great value you have experienced as a result of their participation.  Reach down into your heart and tell them just how you feel.  Appreciate them!

And have a Happy Thanksgiving!   

If you would like to learn to speak from the heart, come to our Speaking from the Heart workshop in Seattle on Friday, December 4th, 1-6.  Small supportive group, lots of practice, video feedback, coaching. Other workshops and ongoing programs are also available.  See details HERE

TRANSPARENCY

That is what we crave when we are communicating with people, isn't it?

Not the propped up, slick, guarded, same old blah, blah, blah.

When we are meeting new people, don't we love it when they are transparent, able to make a real connection with us, truly listening and have the capacity to drop their agenda and hang with us, let us see them?

As presenters, when we are hit with the normal adrenalin rush that comes naturally in anticipation of being up in front of a group, or having intense attention paid to us when we speak in a meeting, it can be challenging to be transparent.  Our brain function shifts and without our full neo-cortex capacity, we are left with our survival response to fight or flee.  In that moment we see our audiences as predators and we begin to act as prey.  If not trained as warriors, we drift toward flight, obfuscating and rushing, flustered and covering our vulnerable selves with puffery.  We are not really present, just a blur, hurtling toward the end of our presentation, filled with dread, shame  and remorse.

We really do not have to suffer this way.  It is possible for us to keep our sense of ourselves and our core message, and our mission for our presentation.  We can be present to our audiences, develop relationships with them during our presentations, inspiring them to action, encouraging them to participate and contribute their good ideas and energies to the conversation.  In order to do this we must first learn to speak from the heart, to breathe, to converse with one person at a time, to allow ourselves to be transparent and openhearted.

Learning to do this is like learning a new move, a dance step or athletic exercise.  It requires guidance and practice.  Begin with the breath - since our brains run on oxygen, we must learn to use the breath to relax and fuel up so we can be smart in the moment.  Controlling our gaze is another key element, so we may "trick" our brains to return our clear-thinking and engaging capacities.  And of course, practice is the third element to master transparency.

If you would like to become transparent as a presenter, come to our Speaking from the Heart. workshop in Seattle on Friday, December 4th, 1-6.  Small supportive group, lots of practice, video feedback, coaching.  Find out about this workshop and others here