I haven't written in a while. Between raising a 1 year old, taking care of the house, and managing my own free time and sanity, I somehow found a mental space to ask myself: "If I were, in this one year away from work, to do something else, something that truly defines me, what would it be?" After ...
Motherhood, changes and the new tools for a good life
So a few months ago, I became a mom. I'm still undecided if posting pictures of babies online is an ok thing to do. So, here's a pic of me with a huge belly just before giving birth. Pregnancy was quite surprisingly easy to bear. I had no nausea, didn't gain much weight, got over my insomnia... But ...
Planning for flexibility
One thing I don't like about myself is the fact that I overplan- a lot. I mostly live in the future - 80% of my brain activity's about "what should I do next", "how to squeeze this appointment next to the other one", "oh god, I'm late with that, when should I do it" and so ...
Daily life, creativity and art
I'm so inspired by this book, lately. I'm re-learning to integrate art in my daily life. This means, reading, looking at art, appreciating the sparks of ideas that sometimes come, and honoring them by turning them into reality. For example, this Dr Seuss quote. Do you know Dr Seuss? He wrote children's books, like The Cat in the ...
You are your search
A collection of things I love. In the past weeks - no, even months! - frequently I start discussions about trivial or business-related topics with people, then surreptitiously slide into personal, even spiritual topics. There's something in me, that, when asked "So, how are you doing?" keeps wanting to answer 100% honest, brutally even: "Well, you ...
A bumpy ride and blog revival
As I'm writing this, I'm in a sun lit room, in a wonderful cafe (I know, the dream of writing your own blog posts on a quiet morning in a cafe :) ) and the song playing in the background is "Morcheeba - Enjoy the ride". Might as well. This year has been full of bumps and ...
How Whiplash helped me get over myself
I saw "Whiplash" a week ago, and something stuck with me. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you should. Despite JK Simmons being the beacon of acting (he won an Oscar for it), it's a movie about an eternal fight for recognition and coming of age. Also, it's a story about how NOT to coach. But that's ...
The multiple aspects of being
When I was little, I was fascinated by kaleidoscopes. I especially loved those with little pieces of coloured glass, which you would rotate and then you would see countless designs, shifting and changing as you tilted the angle. Perhaps we are the same as these little pieces of glass - they remain the same, but as ...
Self-actualization and lessons on becoming a Person
Many people tell me I'm calm, a good listener and quite well balanced (yeah, that helps with coaching). Sometimes I laugh and say "You have no idea." I've been doing therapy for one and a half year now. No, I'm not mentally disturbed and I don't have major issues (well, not more than most people out there). Personally, ...
Are we all asleep?
This is a post responding to Alis' thought-provoking post from last week, in which she challenged people who are "asleep" in their own lives, living mechanically, like Neo from the Matrix before taking the red pill. She said people who live consciously, breaking away from the nice warm beds of mundane lives, those are awake. That ...
My view on happiness
I haven't posted in many months. Partly because 2013 was a difficult year for me, full of emotional rollercoasters and long trips into the darker areas of my mind. Partly because I couldn't think of anything useful to post to my (few) readers. I went into a dark corner sometime around spring, and decided around that ...
Career Planning for Young Graduates
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/04/unemployment-not-kids-problem I recently took up two mentees from a student organization, and part of the Get To Know Each Other phase, we talked a lot about what they know and what they would like to know, about the "outside world", the corporate environment. We're talking about a reputed, large, well structured and well organized student ...
How To Get Quality Feedback After Your Job Interview
I'm excited to host another guest post! This is a post from Richard Munn of www.how2become.com, a UK website specializing in tips for individuals targeting public sector careers. Thank you Richard for writing this article for LifeToolkit.net! As a former recruiter and of course also as a candidate, I can relate to the experience of going to ...
The Paradoxes of Gen Y
I helped someone a few days ago prepare for a big meeting with a bunch of Gen Yers, and made a Mind Map about what Gen Yers want from a leader. I remembered the time I recruited almost all of the Procurement Center for EMEA at P&G, about 200 young, charismatic, exceptional, but loud and ...
Focus: Learn something new
Life without meaning can be very depressing. Having no purpose behind what you do everyday can make your days grey and foggy like a November morning. But once you discover something you love (or someone , sometimes :) ), all rays of light seem to gather to shine on that new purpose. It puts an engine ...
