The Positive Energy Workplace

It's an active state...the act of becoming. Stepping further and further into yourself, becoming more and more of the person/spirit/sage/parent/leader/writer/friend/salsa dancer you want to be. It is an active act. And if done intentionally, a really powerful one.

"Adding value". A commonly used term used by people in business. You hear about it from vendors, organizations, products and services, and in employee performance conversations and sales pitch meetings. Adding value: the value added benefit this person/thing brings to the table. If you look up the definition, you'll get a bunch of finessed words, which to me all point to one simple thing - how do you make the "thing" that your contributing to...better? How do you make it shine? How do you make an extra special difference?

I believe that people generally come from a place of positive intention. If there is a disconnect, it often happens in their impact and the stories that get made up about their intentions. The impact of this? Resistance, mistrust, broken relationships, unintended influence, and at a minimum, lost opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and doing their best work.

Assuming "bad" creates a negative and constrictive energy - no good. Assuming good creates expansive, safe and creative energy - very good. An easy and obvious choice, yet intention and choice are easier said than action and consistency. Why?

Three common reasons: 1) lack of awareness - they don't even realize they're doing it, 2) habit - defaults can be tricky to shake, 3) busy-ness - for whatever reason, it seems easier and quicker to go to the dark side. (This of course is a lie - assuming good takes a lot less energy and has greater returns.)

Of course if there was a #4 reason, it might be that there are some who get a lot of mileage out of assuming bad (yes, they do exist), but in my experience, that's not the majority. (And I'm assuming that the people reading this want to assume good and lead well.)

It's easy to default to "defense mode" and to assume "bad" or to just not be aware of intention at all. Assuming good, or even being aware of someone's true intention, takes awareness and curiosity to do this - and this is where we'll often fail to "get it right." When you move fast, when you have 4,368 things to do (by 6 tonight), and when you have so many competing priorities; awareness, curiosity, and "assuming good" are easily put on the back burner. The solution to this? Awareness, intention, commitment, and active engagement with assuming good: 70% of it is awareness, the other 30% is what you do with it.

So how do you do it?

Life is simple. Our brains and egos don't want us to think it is, but it actually is pretty simple. When you unpack all the stories about relationships, events, failures, wins, people, places, and things...and just get to the bottom of it, it's pretty simple.

Today has been a mix of emotions. Driving in for the early a.m. practice, I listened to some of the tributes of 9/11. Although that day is 10 years past, I can still remember the feeling, the horror, and complete sadness of it. One particular visceral image that will stay in my heart, I imagine forever, is the sight of my son, on his 1st birthday, "navigating" through all the balloons for his birthday party - getting tangled up in them, tripping and giggling with delight, and in the background, the TV broadcasting the burning towers while my mother and I watched the events unfold wondering where my husband was (he was boarding a plane at the time.)

A complete mix of emotions for me; pure joy and delight and gratitude on one hand, mixed with heartbreak, fear, and horror...and...confusion on the other. How was this happening even possible? I know this is nothing compared to what others went through on this day, nothing. But it is that mix of emotions I can tap into instantaneously that brings me back to the surreal-ness of 9/11. It is that mix of emotions that brings up tears of gratitude, sadness, and heartache all over again. It's also this mix of emotions which had me pretty raw for class today and gifted me 3 predominant awarenesses...