Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I wrote a paper called "It Started with a Yawn." I noticed that when people got together and one person yawned, others yawned within seconds afterwards. Some researchers have claimed that yawning could control brain temperature so that it does not reach extremes.

A team of researchers led by Andrew Gallup of Princeton University analyzed the pattern of yawning in people during winters and summers and found that a significantly higher number of participants yawned in the winter then they did during summers. This led the researchers to think that yawning must be serving the purpose of regulating brain temperature so that it stays within permissible limits.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, the study is said to have involved 160 people from Tucson and another 80 from Arizona in both the seasons.

I Observe and I Am Curious...

Since I was young, I have been watching, noticing and wondering why people yawn. I have noticed that people yawn together. When someone yawns, others around them often yawn as well. It is as though they are mimicking each other.

I've also noticed that people yawn when someone they are talking with 'talks for a long time' about a complex subject that they are not fully following. 'Metaphorically it's like communicating "enough, I can't hold that much information in my brain." or "I can't understand what you are saying - I can't grasp it all."

I am curious about the connection between "yawning to regulate temperature" and "people yawning together" - either as a mimicking response or as a possible overload response.

In the case of Overload ... Angelika Dimoka, a neuroscientist from Temple University Fox School of Business has been studying overload and decision-making. 

In her study, researchers gave people a bidding task with lots of information to work with in order to make their decisions. As the researchers gave the bidders more and more information, activity in the dorsolateral PFC suddenly fell off as if a circuit breaker had popped." The bidders reached cognitive and information overload," says Dimoka. They start making stupid mistakes and bad choices because the brain region responsible for smart decision-making has essentially left the premises. For the same reason, their frustration and anxiety soar: the brain's emotion regions -previously held in check by the dorsolateral PFC - run as wild as toddlers on a sugar high. The two effects build on one another. "With too much information, " says Dimoka, "people's decisions make less and less sense." (Newsweek, February 27, 2010, Sharon Beagley)

If we use this new information about cognitive overload, we can see that our whole brain state shifts when we are called upon to deal with and comprehend complex subjects. Overload causes us to shut down the parts of the brain needed to think.

Yawning may help restore a state of equilibrium. Breathing may slow our heart rate and enable us to get into a higher state of coherence. When we yawn, it's possible we are calling upon our ability to restore a state of clarity, openness and receptivity.

In the Case of Mimicking...Is Yawning Contagious?

While yawning is often associated with being tired and needing more oxygen in the bloodstream, people yawn for many reasons including stress, boredom, emotion and over-work.

Yawning together with others suggests another fascinating principle about human behavior. Yawning may be contagious. Is it possible that what triggers people to yawn together is a herding response - a subtle way to communicate group behavior - such as when one bird in a flock flies and the others follow the behavior of that one bird so they all rise together as a whole flock.

When one person yawns it appears to cause another person to yawn. Researchers have found that 40-60% of people who see a picture of someone yawning will yawn themselves. Even reading the word YAWN can make people yawn.

Maybe a yawn is a signal to the group that it's time to go to sleep. Or, if someone yawns when they're bored, it may be a sign to change the topic of conversation.

Yawning is not limited to humans. Animals of all types yawn. If you have a dog or cat, you've probably seen your pet yawn several times. Even some birds yawn, such as cockatiel parrots, Adelie penguins and Emperor penguins.

What we do know is that yawning helps replenish the levels of oxygen in the blood, and may help regulate our body temperature. The same chemicals in our brain that affect our moods and emotions also cause us to yawn.

Ancient Greeks started the ritual of covering your mouth when you yawn so that your soul does not escape!

Notice when people yawn ... what is going on in the conversation? What might trigger the need for more oxygen? Why might a deep breath be needed? Why is this conversation having such an impact at the deep visceral level?

Maybe there are times we need to breathe new life into a situation, a conversation or relationship. Think about it...notice it...reflect on it...and talk about it with others...it's a phenomenon of nature.

Want to learn more about contagious yawning? Check out this cool video from Discovery Channel's MythBusters.

Trust at the Moment of Contact
In my new book on trust, I talk about the most important social forces that are hardwired into our DNA and drive our 'humanity.' Whether we were around three thousand years ago, or we are living today, these forces guide our interactions with each other. We are still struggling to figure it out, to work it through, and to find ways to emerge more whole and more humanized as a global community. You can check out three sample chapters here.

Judith E. Glaser is the author of two best selling business books: Creating WE: Change I-Thinking to We-Thinking & Build a Healthy Thriving Organization - winner of the Bronze Award in the Leadership Category of the 2008 Axiom Business Book Awards, and The DNA of Leadership; the DVD and Workshop titled The Leadership Secret of Gregory Goose; and editor and contributor of 42 Rule for Creating WE, an Amazon bestseller. Learn more about her online at: www.benchmarkcommunicationsinc.com.

Your brain is like a muscle that needs exercise. You can make yourself smarter by increasing neural connections through novelty and stimulation.

1. Read a daily newspaper, literary classics and the Web.
You grow smarter by reflecting on issues, events and people and forming strong opinions.

2. Associate with smart people.
Engaging in conversation with a smart person is like playing tennis with a superior opponent.

3. Keep a journal.
Your insights and the connections you make about your past, present and future help to make neural connections.

4. Travel.
On the road, you're forced to solve ordinary problems (food, lodging, language), all of which have become automatic at home.

5. Memorize things.
Lawrence Katz, author of Keep Your Brain Alive, says memorizing people's names or other important bits of information is a great way to keep your brain fit.

6. Take up a musical instrument.
Learning to play the violin, for example, involves physical coordination (working the strings and bow), intellectual challenge (reading music), sensory experience (hearing pitch and harmony), and intuitive work (mastering tempo and rhythm).

7. Play games and pursue hobbies.
The philosopher Alan Watts used to praise the kind of learning that is effortless, such as the play we experienced as kids.

8. Create new routines constantly.
Katz notes that unchanging routines make us intellectually flabby.

9. Change jobs and positions periodically.
Remember when you were in school, learning something new every semester? Some jobs are like a 15-unit class that never ends.

Let Go of  the Blame to Move Forward by Karlin Sloan

Part of “Accepting what is,” the first step in practicing Unfear, is to let go of assigning blame. When we get caught up in the back-story, in assigning blame, we arrest forward movement. Assigning blame is a diversionary tactic. It is avoidance, a fear reaction which imprisons us in the past.

When we focus on assigning blame we create ego conflicts and a toxic environment. “Accepting what is” requires focusing on and attending to the circumstances of the present; rather than placing focus on back-story, the "what-might-have-been" of the past, or the "should be" of the future. Nothing ever happens in the past or in the future. Each action we take, in fact everything that happens in life occurs in the present moment. Read more >>

---

The Neuro Science Behind Success by Margie Warrell

As brain imaging technology has advanced, so too has our understanding of how the brain works. One of the most significant findings has been the discovery that our brain doesn't stop growing when our body does; that is, that it has the ability to adapt and change right up to the end of our life.  This means that just because we have well established ways of processing information and responding to our environment, we are still capable of developing new and more constructive ways in the future.  While a deeper understanding of neuro-plasticity is extremely relevant for people who have suffered from a stroke or other traumatic brain injury, what has piqued my interest most is its application for those of us whose brains already work perfectly well.  Most days, anyway.

Neuro-plasticity research now proves what many have long known:  that you are never too old to change, and more so, that you can rewire your brain to think in ways that lead to greater happiness & success. Read more>>

---

Howard Schultz's Broken Heart by Michael Lee Stallard

Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks North America and Starbucks International tells about the time 14 years ago this month when he received a call in the middle of the night at his home in Seattle alerting him that three Starbucks employees at the Georgetown store in Washington, D.C. had been shot and killed, including an 18-year who had just recently begun working at Starbucks, his first job.   Behar immediately called Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO, who was in New York City at the time.

What Schultz didn’t do, says a lot about his character.  He didn’t immediately call Starbucks’ public relations people or lawyers. This is what he did do and provides a lesson of personal leadership that we can all adapt in our lives. >>

---

A Story of Courage and Honesty by Sandra Ford Walston

I love this story because in a few words, it conveys the meaning of courage and honesty. The author of the story is unknown.  Here's to hoping courageous acts receive their just rewards.

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the executives in his company together.He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you." The executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO." You’ll never guess what happened. >>

Coincidences are Divine Intervention by Faith M. Davis

Sometimes things happen in our lives that seem like coincidence, but in reality, it is the Universe intervening to make our lives easier, or even to save our lives.

A man - I’ll call him Bob – recently had his life saved by what most would describe as “coincidence.” As he was on his way to go golfing, a friend, who happened to be a doctor, called him. Excited to hear from him, Bob invited his friend to go golfing as well, and he did. Bob was “lucky” he did when he ended up having a heart attack at the golf course. He was told he would have died had his doctor friend not been there to perform CPR. Coincidence? I think not! It seems clear to me it wasn’t Bob’s day to die and that the Universe made sure of it! Read more >>

===

• Motivational DVDs
• We want to hear from you. Ask our Experts Questions (Click on a story and add comments or ask questions. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.) or visit us on Facebook/TheSuccessNetwork. Make sure to LIKE Us to gain access to exclusive stories and videos.

So you think you are too old or too set in your ways to change? Not so! Neuro-plasticity research now proves what many have long known:  that you are never too old to change, and more so, that you can rewire your brain to think and act in ways that lead to greater success in work, love and life.
 
The first time I read that my brain was plastic; I thought it was a joke.  That was until I realized the author wasn't talking about plastic as in a plate, but as in pliable.

As brain imaging technology has advanced, so too has our understanding of how the brain works. One of the most significant findings has been the discovery that our brain doesn't stop growing when our body does; that is, that it has the ability to adapt and change right up to the end of our life.  This means that just because we have well established ways of processing information and responding to our environment, we are still capable of developing new and more constructive ways in the future.  While a deeper understanding of neuro-plasticity is extremely relevant for people who have suffered from a stroke or other traumatic brain injury, what has piqued my interest most is its application for those of us whose brains already work perfectly well.  Most days, anyway.

Neuro-plasticity research now proves what many have long known:  that you are never too old to change, and more so, that you can rewire your brain to think in ways that lead to greater happiness & success.  I must admit though, my enlightened understanding about my brain’s "plasticity" has been both a help and a bother.  No longer can I justify my inability to figure out how to back-up my computer with excuses like "I'm just not a technology person."  And though at times I've cursed my new found knowledge about my brain's ability to master skills that have long eluded me, develop healthier habits, and learn new ways of responding to environmental triggers, ultimately this knowledge has been extremely valuable.  I now know that the old adage "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is really just a false and convenient belief that spares us from the effort involved in learning new tricks – like backing up my computer!

Last week I attended a coaching conference where Dr. Jeffry Schwartz, UCLA Professor of Psychiatry and author of You Are Not Your Brain, spoke about his research findings on neuro-plasticity.  What he shared reinforced my understanding and confirmed what I intuitively knew and wrote about in  Find Your Courage.  Which is, that by intentionally choosing to view your environment in new ways, rewrite your personal narrative, and step into action in the presence of your fears, you become more competent in whatever those actions may be, but also build your "courage muscles" so you can respond more effectively in other areas of your life.  Whether in the conversations you have with your work colleagues, your confidence in asserting boundaries in your personal life, or your willingness to take on goals that you've previously shied away from, by practicing new ways of interacting in your environment, you are able to build new pathways in your brain and produce new (and better) results in your life.

Neuro-scienctific findings, like those also detailed in Dr. Norman Doidge's groundbreaking book The Brain that Changes Itself, have proven that right up to the end of our lives, we can build new neural pathways in our brain that ultimately rewire it.  It takes repetition.  Or in the case of developing a new habit that usurps an unhealthy old one, or even a new way of dealing with people and life -- whether it is timidity, laziness or pessimism -- it takes practice. Repeated practice.  After all, it took your entire lifetime to develop the default ways of thinking and acting that you have today.  Rewiring the way you think and act is going to take time.

Self-directed neuro-plasticity may sound all very high-brow and intellectual.  But at its core it's pretty simple:  building self-awareness – the building block for success in every arena of life.  That is, cultivating your ability to observe yourself so that you notice, as a detached observer, what you are thinking and feeling and how each are feeding off each other in any given moment.  This is crucial because you can only make new and more constructive choices when you are conscious of the ones you are making now.  Just like a one-time walk off the beaten path will not create a new pathway on the forest floor, neither will a one-time action create a new pathway in the brain.  Rewiring the way you think and act requires repetition and time.
 
In my own efforts to build self-awareness, just a few days ago I noticed myself complaining to a friend about the fact that just a few days from now, my four kids will be off from school for the summer.  "There goes my productivity for the next 3 months," I heard myself lamenting.  In the car on my way home, I thought about how powerless that statement was; as though my productivity is entirely at the mercy of my children's summer holidays.  By noticing myself verbalizing such a disempowering thought, it opened up the window for me to choose to think a more constructive one.  The truth is that the summer months provide me with a unique and valuable opportunity.  Sure, my home (where I generally work) will be noisier, and my days not as much my own, but that doesn't mean I can no longer be productive.  I can use these summer months to hone my focus during the hours I put aside to work, practice greater flexibility in how I structure my day, and prioritize my time more effectively so I can be fully engaged in whatever I'm doing and whomever I'm doing it with – kids or clients.

The S.O.A.R2  Approach to Outsmart Your Brain

As you've been reading this, you may have thought of some areas of your life where you aren't feeling as powerful or positive as you would like.  I invite you to practice self-directed neuro-plasticity and rewire your brain's default way of responding by working through each of the following 5 steps which comprise my S.O.A.R2 Model for behavior change and resilience building (the basic building blocks for "SOARing" to new heights of success in work, love & life!)

1.  STOP what you are doing and notice the thoughts you are thinking and how they are making you feel.  If you are feeling really uptight or anxious, take at least 5 deep breaths to short circuit your primal brain's "Alarm" reaction and avoid what is commonly called a "neural highjack."
2.  OBSERVE the way you are looking at your situation.  What is it about how you are looking at this "problem" that makes you feel the way you do? Imagine yourself up high in the air looking down on your situation and notice how by elevating your perspective, it can alter how you see the "problem" and with it, expanding the options for resolving it.
3.  ASK yourself how the wisest person you know views your circumstances?  What's the valuable lesson this situation has to teach you? (And believe me, every uncomfortable emotion and difficult situation has something of great value to teach us.)  Remember, we prove we are smart by our answers, but wise by our questions.  The more you can embrace curiosity, the wiser you will become.
4.  REFRAME your situation, keeping in mind that the thoughts you are thinking are not reality, just how your brain is processing it.  How, by viewing this from a larger perspective, could you see the "problem" in a whole new light? Focus on what you can do, not on what you can't.
5.  RESPOND intentionally to your situation (as distinct from just reacting in the way you may have habitually done in the past).  What is the most constructive way to respond to this situation?

Repeat process as often as necessary. (Note:  This process, or a variation thereof, will be necessary for at least the next 50 years).

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

In a recent live televised coaching session I did with a client, what emerged as her core challenge was her lack of clarity about the job she wants to do. As I said to my "on air" client Terri, once you are clear about what you really want to do, you can focus your time, energy and resources into accomplishing it.  But you need to put aside time daily (sometimes hourly) to get really clear about what you are going to focus your time on in the day ahead.  If you don't, you become a bit like a rudderless sailboat in the middle of the ocean, at the mercy of the prevailing winds, tides and currents and unlikely to end up anywhere you'd really want to be.

So when you have no clear focus,  it's all too easy to become an unwitting victim of those distractions that, in the bigger scheme of things, aren't taking you in a direction you truly want to go.  Not that there's anything inherently wrong or sinister with all the activities you distract yourself with -- from chatting with friends by the water cooler or on the phone, rummaging through the department store sales racks, watching re-runs of "The Office," updating your Facebook status or browsing YouTube.  But beyond the initial restorative benefits gained by disengaging your brain for a little while, if those time-consuming activities aren't adding to your long-term sense of fulfillment or wellbeing, then they are doing yourself more of a disservice more than anything else.

While the world has changed dramatically in even just the last 20 years, the value of focused effort has not. To combat my ADD and  improve my focus,  I recently downloaded software that limits my access to Facebook (and in case you're wondering, yes, this IS humiliating for me to admit).   I switch my phone to silent when I'm writing.  Like right now.  Often I head to a cafe where I can't access  the Internet, removing all temptation.  And I have time scheduled in my calendar every weekday morning at 8am to prioritize what I will focus on in the day ahead. 

Does my new system work perfectly?  No.  But it certainly counters that ADD, making me far more productive than I would be otherwise.  As for when my kids get out of school for summer, well, I guess I will be heading to that cafe even more!  What I've learned over the years though, is that I can get more done in 2 hours of focused attention, than in 8 hours while suffering with Attention Distraction Disorder.

4 Steps to Harnessing the Productivity Power of Focus:

1.  Write down the specific goals you have for yourself in the next 3 months.  The more specific the better. ( e.g., for Terri, it is to get a job in the food industry that utilizes her skills and experience in product development and resourcing in cross-cultural settings.)
2.  Schedule time into your calendar for the week ahead (at least -- a month is better still!) that will be dedicated solely to moving you toward this goal.  Be realistic but be very specific about exactly when you are going to focus.  No multi-tasking: it simply doesn't work for anything more than the simplest of tasks. (And this multi-tasking wannabee would know.)
3.  Get whatever resources and materials you will need to make sure that you have everything you need to use that time well (e.g.,  If you need more information to get started, get it now so you don't find yourself distractedly surfing the Internet!)
4.  Think ahead about possible distractions and plan around them.  Turn your phone off.  Let others know you will not be available.  Unplug your modem.  It doesn't matter that it seems pathetic.  If you need that to help you focus, then just do it.  Speaking of which, I guess I can turn my phone back on. Article written. Mission accomplished. distraction awaits.
-----

Margie Warrell; thought leader in human potential, master life coach, international speaker, media contributor and best-selling author of Find Your Courage. Take the Courage Quiz, watch Margie’s TV interviews (TODAY show, Fox, CNBC) and sign up for her free LIVE BOLDLY! newsletter. Then order your personally autographed Amazon best-seller book Find Your Courage

How easy it is to fall into discussions that reinforce what we don't want in our present situation, or focuses on what we think is broken. Coming from lack or scarcity and focusing on fixing our problems rather than feeding our passions and what we want to achieve has become such a human habit that we don't even know we're doing it. It's as though that is the way it has always been.

But turning up connectivity in your workspace creates a powerful energy shift that you can master and author in your relationships. The tool that creates this level of connectivity is co-creating conversations. 

Connectivity Within Teams and Organizations

Creating connectivity within a team enables a forward moving power that not only works in the moment to produce syncopated action, but also serves the team members as a fundamental way of being as they interact with each other. 

When teams sync together through co-creating, they are more able to raise the level of their performance. Too often companies "force" alignment in the name of vision and values, rather than inspire it. True connectivity achieved through co-creating conversations enables alignment to come from within. This creates a level of performance that, if directed toward positive and outrageous goals, consistently brings home medals for the performing team - it can't be forced from without by compliance and coercion. 

Once teams and individuals discover true connectivity, they create a broader ripple effect of co-creating behavior with others. Team members begin to listen to connect, and distrust seems to give way to higher levels of bonding and mutual support.

Listening without judgment, sharing ideas without fear of criticism, and with support from associates is co-creating conversations in action. The "been there, done that" or "that idea won't work" type of comments will turn into "let's try that" and "good idea, let's expand on that." 

Co-creating conversations is a shift in mindset from protecting what you have to partnering with others to create something bigger than we could have imagined alone. We move from "being right" to seeking new insights for shared success. 

Research has shown that making the mindset shift also signals the brain to be open to share and discover with others rather than 'persuade' them of our ideas. This also triggers neurochemicals in the brain - which are called the 'feel good hormones' such as dopamine and oxytocin, which reinforces the open state of mind. In addition, when we start to innovate, our brain also releases serotonin and endorphins, which are part of the brain's reward systems reinforcing the sharing process. 

This brain symphony is what moves us from distrust, which releases cortisol - the fear hormone - to trust, which is what releases the beautiful suite of neurochemicals that produce engagement, collaboration and innovation.

Co-creativity, first built on trust, then multiplies into a higher and faster amount of innovation that show up in many surprising ways. It's as though you rise up to a new level in the role you and others play in weaving the tapestry and threads of the topics you are discussing. New insights and new levels of wisdom unfold - surprising insights show up that had been hitherto invisible to you, but now are just in you and your team's consciousness. Using the practices of co-creating conversations enables higher levels of connectivity.

Many people explain moments of connectivity as "a feeling that life is flowing through them. It's a feeling of being on a boat propelled by the force of a river - a current moving you to your next stop on your journey; a blending of control with a higher force propelled by curiosity and discovery." 

Unlock your connectivity with co-creating conversations - just listen with support, appreciate each other - unlock the power of connectivity. 

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

Judith E. Glaser is the Author of two best selling business books: Creating WE: Change I-Thinking to We-Thinking & Build a Healthy Thriving Organization - winner of the Bronze Award in the Leadership Category of the 2008 Axiom Business Book Awards, and The DNA of Leadership; the DVD and Workshop titled The Leadership Secret of Gregory Goose; and editor and contributor of 42 Rule for Creating WE, an Amazon bestseller.

Two weeks ago I said yes to a morning at trapeze school. Naively as it turned out. It was absolutely terrifying! But I jumped anyway. Five times in all. And while I wouldn't race back to do it again, I'm glad I did it. Because hanging upside down 23 feet above the net (though if felt like 1,000 feet!), I knew I was well and truly alive. To me that is what life is ultimately all about - being willing to step (in this case jump) outside our comfort zone, push the envelope of possibility and live in such a way that we know we are "well and truly alive". 

Many people I meet don't feel "well and truly alive" in at least one area of their life. We human beings are really much more 'human becomings' than anything else... always in the process of becoming all that we really want to be - whether in our relationships, our career or business, to stay fit and eat well, to gain mastery of a skill, or to be as productive, generous or influential as we would like.

Earlier this week I asked my Facebook Courage Community what they believ is the number one factor holding people back in work, love or life.  Most replies reflected what we generally know to be true, but are often loathe to admit:  that the biggest obstacle to our success and happiness is ourselves. And while it may present itself in different ways - laziness, procrastination, cynicism, arrogance, recklessness, apathy, despair - at its core is the primal emotion of fear. Fear of failure or looking foolish; fear of rejection and disapproval; fear of not measuring up, of being inadequate, alone or unloved.

While our fears can serve a positive role, they can also trap us in jobs, relationships, habits, and lives of quiet desperation that leave us thirsty for purpose, hungry for depth and disconnected from the unique potential that lies within us. A billion dollar industry of anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs speaks for itself. Indeed, countless people live their entire lives trapped in false beliefs, shrouded under a cloud of fear so pervasive that they are not even aware they are trapped... in their own life. Fear has become the new normal.

As someone who is intimately acquainted with the life-sucking force that fear can wield, I am convinced that creating success, however you choose to define it, requires confronting our fears straight on. Fears that keep us from taking chances and making changes; from challenging the status quo; speaking up about that which weighs us down and daring to stand out from the crowd. To quote Amelia Earhart: "Courage is the price that life extracts for granting peace."

Neuro-scientific research into "brain plasticity" has now proven that when you choose to think new thoughts, repeatedly, and take new actions, repeatedly, those thoughts and actions gradually build new neural pathways in your brain that over time become your default.  And so, with persistence, you can gradually build up your "courage muscles" and with it, your self-confidence to do things you would previously have cowered from: your ability to lead, to influence, and to produce amazing results in your life.  Over time the action that you would once have cowered from no longer terrifies you and the path of courage becomes easier to take -- even if not "easy". That said, I am not going to jump off the trapeze again. Never ever ever!

With the exception of trapeze school, the best things I've ever done in my life have also been the scariest. Time and time again I’ve learned that often the thing we must do more than anything else is that thing that scares us more than anything else. (Oh, one other exception: marrying my husband Andrew – it was one of the best things I’ve done but not scary at all!

Of course the fears you face are yours alone, as is what inspires you and how you define success. This isn't about comparisons. It's simply about being willing to challenge the stories, excuses and beliefs that may be getting in the way of your 'success' in whatever area of your life you feel is lacking. And it's about having the courage to step right through the middle of your fears and into whatever actions are calling you forward. 

Only by daring to dive deeply into life can we soar to the heights of success we aspire to. As Helen Keller said, "Life is a daring adventure or nothing." Where could you embrace a spirit of adventure that calls you to step out of your comfort zone and step into your life more fully?

Fortune favors the bold! Where is your life waiting on you to bolden up?

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks! 

Margie Warrell is an accredited executive life coach, speaker, syndicated columnist and best selling author of Find Your Courage. She is recognized internationally as an expert on living and leading with courage.

Since becoming chronically ill over 30 years ago, I've held  the idea that wishing for better health wasn't a good place to go.  It seemed like a slippery slope that could land me face down in the self-pity mud.  Instead, I've put my energy toward using distraction to keep me out of the pit and acceptance to create balance.  Lovely when it works.

According to family lore, my first words were "more".  I was always in a state of wanting.  If and when I'd get "it", I'd be onto the next thing.  If I didn't get it, I mourned big time, drama queen that I was. In 3rd grade, it was a blue, straw purse with a plastic yellow flower. It was class secretary in junior high school and the cheer leading squad in high school.   I remember each event clearly, which is more than I can say for the things I wished for and got!

This wouldn't seem to indicate that I'd manage well when faced with real loss, my health. But at age 29,  blind in one eye and unable to get out of bed (diagnosis: multiple sclerosis),  I experienced a different me.  I accepted disease without a struggle.  I didn't find myself wishing it weren't so.

For several years, I'd been doing Vipassana meditation several hours daily, working hard to "let go".  According to new research, meditating can change your brain.   Hard to say if that was what did it for me.  But clearly a major shift  in my approach to life was occurring.

Of course, I'm human and I've had my times of envy, anger, guilt, fear and loneliness over the years.  Yet, I've always been able to talk myself back from that space.  Maybe it took my body's dis-integration to allow me to integrate all the parts of who I was more fully.  I could put my mind on what I had rather than what I didn't.  Over the years, I became very ill and then, fortunately, much better.

But a bad fall last August set off new chronic pain.  A few weeks later, I happened to develop a new chronic condition in my eye.  It became harder to maintain my balance and resilience.  Distraction and acceptance, my go-to places, weren't working as they had.  I  sensed my deep frustration that I was healing so slowly, anger that new health issues were cropping up and deep disappointment that I couldn't get back to the health baseline I'd finally achieved.

Then a few weeks ago, while  "Focusing" (a practice I'm trained in and do weekly with a partner), I noticed something.  I sensed a wishing and it felt good.   "I wish I could do ..."    felt very different from wishing that things were different. It felt expansive and freeing.

So I thought I'd share my list of " some of the things I wish I could do" with you.  I wish I could:

• dance at parties without worry that I'll fall,
• take a jazz dance class and have my feet move as they should,
• exercise  hard enough I could sweat,
• ski, golf and snow shoe,
• cook for more than an hour at a time without needing a rest,
• garden on a hot summer day,
• walk more than two miles,
• carry babies without pain.

Do you have a "wish I could" list?  Try it out.

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

Building on her experience living with chronic illnesses, including multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis, Rosalind Joffe founded the executive career coaching practice, cicoach.com. Dedicated to helping others with chronic illness develop the skills they need to succeed in their careers, Rosalind firmly believes that living with chronic illness does not preclude living a full and successful life.

The implications are wide-ranging.  It reminds me of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Robert Sternberg’s identification of different thinking styles. The more we incorporate different approaches to learning that speak to diverse individuals who are wired to learn differently, the greater the probability they will in fact learn.

Are you using more than analytic, rational methods of learning?   Do you use stories to move people emotionally?  Do you employ exercises that require people to behave in ways that will help them learn?

For those who want to go deeper, here is a fascinating hour-long interview of Dr. Adele Diamond by Krista Tippett of American Public Radio's "Speaking of Faith" program that you can hear at this link.

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the  + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

For more on Knowledge Flow and Human Value see articles we published entitled "Encouraging Knowledge Flow" and "Strengthening Human Value in Organizational Cultures."

I often write about living "positively" (e.g., 3 Things You Need to Move from - to + ,     Finding Opportunity in the Quicksand) .  Although the topic  sparks interesting discussion and comments,  I worry I might be creating the wrong impression. (Oh, scroll to the end to find out about the Mother's Day special.)

Following my last post, more readers unsubscribed citing content as a reason. Now, I don't mind if people don't agree with me.  I write to create conversation and stimulate thought and I hope for new ideas and challenge.   But one "unsubscriber" emailed saying that my words seem to "blame the victim".  She wrote, "I didn't create my disease."

Ouch.  That's far from my intention.

In fact, nothing makes me angrier than when someone implies that we cause our illness.  I'll never forget the "friend" who told me I should be less stressed since that must be what's creating the ulcerative colitis.  Or, the colleague who said, "Multiple sclerosis is a nervous system disease but you don't seem anxious or nervous - so how'd you get it?"

Does that seems like a scrambled chicken/ egg thing or what?

OK - we all have stories like that.  You might read this cool article (You Make Me Sick, The Science Creative Quarterly).  It debunks the notion that our thoughts/feelings create disease.

That said, I do believe that there's power in being able to harness the way you think and retrain your brain. You can retrain your thinking if it's getting in the way of  living your life as best you can- illness or not.  One reader's comment led me to read about neuroplasticity, the science behind this.  (It's good to know that science backs up with I've seen work for myself and others).

If you believe someone would enjoy and benefit from this post, please share it. Just click on the + Share button and you will see lots of options for sharing it with friends including email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

If you're wondering how you can do this, what questions to ask yourself or where to start, check this out:

MOTHER'S DAY OFFER:  Do you want to work with a coach who gets what it's like to live with chronic illness and can help you achieve greater job satisfaction?

For the month of May 2010, I am offering a special deal to all blog readers  (you don't have to be a mother!)

When you make an investment in your career and sign up for 3 months of career coaching with me, you receive 50% off the standard fee for 3 months.   (That's a $450.00 savings!)

Note:  You must have a chronic illness or chronic condition and you must be currently employed or actively looking for a new job or career.

Want to know more?  Email me, Rosalind@cicoach.com, and put Mother's Day Special in the subject line.