| Book Elle to speak about wisdom or renewal in your organization, business or at your next conference.
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Keynotes, seminars, workshops: Elle is a compelling and entertaining speaker on wisdom and renewal. Her presentations are filled with stories, film, and interactive participant engagement. Contact Elle at elle@wisdomout.com or call her at 505.235.0665.
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New Book from Dr. Douglas Reeves and Elle Allison
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The first of three books from Dr. Douglas Reeves and Dr. Elle Allison is available online at Amazon. Renewal in service of a greater good leads to sustainable change. Doug and Elle are accomplished keynote speakers and seminar leaders. Book Doug and Elle to speak in your organization or at your next conference or ask us how you can become a Renewal Coach. Visit us at www.renewalcoaching.com |
Next Renewal
Coaching Institute
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Announcing the next Renewal Coaching Institute with Doug Reeves and
Elle Allison, November 2-8, 2009 in Cambridge MA. Email Elle@wisdomout.com for details, visit us at www.RenewalCoaching.com. Renewal Coaching facilitates the simultaneous pursuit of business results and a greater good, to produce sustainable change for individuals and organizations. |
Do you know a
wise couple?
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| Do you know a wise couple who use the synergy from their relationship to do something great together? Tell me about a couple you know, married or not, gay or straight that you feel are living life with wisdom. The Wisdom Out Relationship project seeks to illuminate the nature of wisdom in couples - to shine a light on the way these couples navigate life together. |
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Greetings!
You are invited to forward this newsletter to anyone you think might like it. Please keep it completely intact, including the contact, logo, and copyright. Comments or Questions: elle@wisdomout.com
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What Wise People Do: They lose their baggage and other stuff
"Apparently, there is nothing that cannot happen today."
~Mark Twain
 Last April while I was in New Orleans to speak at a conference and do my first book signing, my house in Albuquerque was burgled. I got the call from my neighbor while I was walking around the French Quarter feeling on top of the world and slightly buzzed from the beer I gulped with my shrimp po'boy while listening to the best jazz music I have ever heard. I had just watched the Pirates Parade - a bawdy fund raiser for a fallen police officer, celebrated in quintessential New Orleans style - a startling mixture of tragic circumstance combined with dark humor, activism, and provocative costumes.
Sure, my house might have been robbed, but I was in the city where Katrina stole entire homes. In New Orleans, I could not feel sorry for myself for very long. I flew home early the next morning to assess the damage. My house was thoroughly tossed. Every drawer, cabinet, closet, nook and cranny was ransacked. Everything of value, along with many personal and sentimental items that only had value to me, had vanished. For weeks, I would reach for something only to find that the item I needed was gone. Five days in a row, I went for the blender to make my post-run banana protein shake, only to discover and rediscover that it was gone. Each time, I would stare in fresh disbelief at the space the blender once occupied and then reluctantly put away the ingredients for my shake and eat the banana whole. I missed the blender, but I was outraged to discover that the burglars used my own luggage to relieve me of my stuff. Somehow, this particular detail sticks in my craw more than anything else. As a frequent business traveler, I had quality luggage from Tumi - the kind that hold up for twenty years or more. I had already had mine for ten years, which made the replacement price far higher than what my insurance company would reimburse me. It will take me another ten years to build my baggage assets back up to "pre-robbery levels."
As a researcher, writer and speaker on the subject of wisdom, I really do try hard to learn from the gracious wise people around the country who allow me to interview them and share their stories. I also remind myself that wisdom is not a synonym for perfection. Even wise people get pissed off. But they don't usually stay upset for long. Instead of raging against the fates, they say things like "Well isn't that interesting?" They also have a way of seeing the gifts hidden in loss. Because they take action early after suffering a blow, windows and doors fly open in front of them and new opportunities march in. Wise people do not linger in nostalgia for what used to be. In fact, by most accounts, wise people truly believe they are better off after a loss than they were before.
As I took inventory of the items burgled from my home, there in the guest bathroom medicine cabinet I discovered another wisdom lesson. When I opened the mirrored door, I found the little duck shaped soaps I had placed inside a month before, were still there all in a row. So, the truth comes out and we learn it is not technically true that having your ducks in a row will stave off loss, disappointment, and sorrow. The only thing left to do is to dress up in colorful, skimpy outfits and have a parade.
For you to try:
I know you have heartbreaking losses, far greater than my stupid little home robbery. And I know you've had your ducks in a row and still lost that which you thought was secure and "a given". Nevertheless, allow me to ask you this: What price are you paying for spending your days caught in the pull of the past?
Realizing that nostalgia will keep you from living this moment right now (and right now, and right now, and right now), how will you step boldly into your new reality and render your loss into something better for yourself and others? What could you do to show that you are moving forward? What will you do? I am interested in you and your wisdom story. Drop me a note or give a call. elle@wisdomout.com or 505.235.0665.
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Wisdom Quote
"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Eileen Allison
Wisdom Out |
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