You’ve probably heard the phrase “emotional intelligence” thrown around in meetings, on LinkedIn posts, and in self-help emails. It’s become one of those buzzwords that can feel both promising and slippery — promising because it suggests we can get better at being human with each other, slippery because it can stay as a concept in […]
I have started todays blog with a paraphrased story to illustrate this important study for coaching and spiritual direction. When my friend Lila brought her twenty-four–year–old nephew, Jonah, to the small group at our church last spring, I expected the usual restless energy of someone caught between college and a first job. Jonah sat quietly […]
Some of you may have of heard about contemplation and written it off as a bunch of woo woo. But contemplation is less a set of techniques and more a shared journey inward—one we take together, step by quiet step. It slowly rewires our brains so we can meet reality as it is: without judgment, […]
The ache of loneliness is deep and profound for some of us. It shows up in our posture, our energy and the way we relate to the world. I remember when I went through a painful divorce and the loneliness I felt. I did not have any self-esteem, or knowledge of what was next in […]
Blending Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence: Adding connection to Yourself (awareness), Your Familiar others (belonging),, and the World (insight). A story that shaped everything My wife Lynette and I were at a conference in Italy for 6 Seconds when all our stuff was stolen while we stopped for lunch. We came back to the car, looked […]
Lynette shared that I needed to read some of John Rodels stuff the other day as he wrote a poem about the brain divorcing its heart. I could not help myself and this reflection flowed from that moment. She was right I needed to read it and so do you! His Facebook link is below. […]
I was doing an interview about “love” with my friend Joanna B., (check out herinstagram here @_lvmvmnt) who is starting an outreach mission about love in our world, and it got me thinking about love and what it means. Love is not a single feeling; it is a landscape with bright plains and shadowed valleys, […]
I have been thinking a lot about our human existence and the quiet ways many of us feel cut off from life. These aren’t dramatic breaks — not the kind a single event can explain — but slow separations: a tightening around the chest when someone smiles at us and we don’t know how to […]
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter—four words that map to the weather outside, but also to the arc of a human life. About twenty years ago I developed a simple process to explain the changing seasons of our lives, and since then I’ve used it with people at many mile markers: teenagers, young professionals, midlife leaders, retirees. […]
When you hear “soft skills do you automatically think “soft results”? Too many leaders still file emotional intelligence (EQ) and spiritual emotional intelligence (SEQ) under the “nice-to-have” column—pleasant, but peripheral. That mindset is a costly mistake. In a world driven by speed, complexity, and automation, EQ and SEQ are not optional extras; they are strategic […]
