100 Days and More To Come
July 1, 2020
Sheltering in place in California. It’s been over 100 days in which I have slept nightly in my OWN bed. Not a common act for someone who travels for work – or should I put that verb into the past tense? I have blessedly been in good health and, like so many others, transitioned my work online. This moment in time has asked all of us to adjust in so many ways. For me, this ‘opportunity’ to stay at home for the last 100 plus days (with many more to go) has been an opportunity to go ‘within’ – both literally and emotionally. While I haven’t left my apartment but mainly for walks in the neighborhood or to the grocery store, I have been ‘traveling’ in many ways. I found my kitchen. I found my cushion (my meditation cushion). And I found a deeper intention in how I want to live going forward. I am….
- Learning how to cook and make proper cocktails
- Taking time for a consistent meditation practice
- Continuing to workout using online supports
- Building my bandwidth to be more emotionally and spiritually present by working with my Warriors for the Human Spirit cohort. (If you are interested, future trainings start in September.)
- Participating in a Conversations at the Growing Edge course with Jennifer Garvey Berger so I can support colleagues as they move forward in their work.
- Transitioning all my workshops to online webinars and courses
- Writing (slowly but surely) my next book on being a better and more developed self at work
What is ‘learnin’ me’ as I go into July, this new normal and whatever comes next, is that I am more trustworthy as a human being, coach, facilitator, colleague, and friend if I have centered myself, meditated, walked, worked out, eaten and slept.
While these practices might be thought of as only self-care (and some might say we have no time to do this work as there is SO much we really need to do, so many problems to solve, and so many more urgent needs to deal with), the act of meditation or stretching can be seen as so much bigger than self-focused work if one does them with the intention of doing them to be kinder, healthier and more emotionally present to the world. I know this is how I want to show up in this ‘deep end’ moment. Join me.
If you have any questions, comments or topic suggestions, please feel free to email me at Jennifer@jenniferabrams.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
Cool Resources
My first ever online Swimming in the Deep End Course starts this month! 5 weeks, July 14-August 11. Join me as we explore and apply of the ideas from my book, Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives to your own ‘deep end’ initiative. If this isn’t a deep end moment, I don’t know when is! 2 live sessions of one hour on the front and back end if you can make it (if not, they are recorded), along with the 3 asynchronous modules in the middle as we go through the book with videos, readings, self-assessments, time to work on your own case study, and plenty of chat and connection time with me too. A copy of the book is included in the registration fee and if interested, SUNY credit is available. Scroll to the bottom of the page to register here.
Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life by Radha Agrawal. Agrawal’s book is upbeat, inspiring and creatively formatted. Agrawal is also the Founder of Daybreaker, a grassroots early-morning dance phenomenon. Daybreaker has expanded and created many events beyond dancing in the early hours, including a well attended virtual book study (850 folks?) on How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi. To read this book in community has been really important to me and my development.
