• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Michele Woodward

Powerful Coaching. Powerful Results.

  • Home
  • Coaching
    • Individuals
    • Executive Services
    • Groups
  • Resources
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About
    • Media Mentions
    • Speaking
    • Testimonials
  • Contact

hope

Hope.

August 14, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

There are people who will tell you that hope is not a strategy.  And I completely understand that perspective, especially when I hear my mother’s voice in my ear saying, “Wishin’ don’t make it so” (and she would throw on her twangiest twang as she said it, too).

But hope can be a powerful, powerful thing – especially when it’s tied to a really clear vision of the future.

Have you got hopes?  Could you make a list of them? A list of your dreams?  Your vision of the future?

I know I can.

I hope I’m healthy into my old age.

But wishin’ don’t make it so, does it?

What do I have to do to make my hope a reality?

Feed myself nourishing foods, get moderate exercise, see the doctor from time to time, have friends, enjoy myself.

Looking at it that way, doesn’t getting older seem like a ton of fun?

I hope I’m financially secure throughout my life.

Again, wishin’ ain’t gonna fill up my bank account.  So what do I need to do?

Work smart, invest well, save responsibly, spend reasonably.

[I like that – especially the work smart part.]

I hope I’m always connected to engaged, happy, fun, caring people.

Well, to be connected with engaged, happy, fun, caring people, I need to make sure that I’m engaged, happy, fun and caring myself.

You never get what you aren’t willing to give, do you?

The exciting prospect is that to achieve this I get to keep learning new things, doing new things, meeting new people.  I also get to be open, and vulnerable, and nurturing.

Now, that sounds like a wonderful way to live.

I hope my children are happy adults.

You know what?  I’m going to take that back. Let me be more specific.

I hope my children are good partners.  Good parents.  Good neighbors.  Good friends.  I hope they find meaningful work.  I hope they remain in touch with their own resilience.

I hope they find joy.

I hope they have hope.

Because hope is a vision of how the future might be.

How our lives could possibly be if we just line up square behind that hope and make it a reality.

Just like rock breaks scissors, darlings, hope squashes fear.

We hope we can, so we do.

Like magic.

Hope, when it’s backed up by steps toward a vision of your own creation – yes, in that case, hoping sure does make it so.

 

[photo credit:  Michele Woodward]

Filed Under: Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: deciding, fear, future, happiness, hope, strategy, vision

What I Want For You

January 9, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

Life is all about the cupcakes.

I want you to maximize your potential.

You’re always at your best when you center in your strengths and focus on your true priorities.

When you know your values and serve them daily.

When you accept who you are and get to the place of self-respect and self-love.

When you live the life you were meant to live.

I want you to be able to make your career work for you, rather than the other way around.

You can be yourself and succeed.

There are no “shoulds”, only choices.

You are the best expert on you – not your boss, not your co-workers, not anyone else. You.

Stress can be a motivator, but too much of it saps your energy and makes you sick.  Workplace drama masquerading as “stress” is pointless.

You have the capacity to design a life that’s right for you.  On all counts.

I want you to be supremely clear.

So you can make the best possible decisions for yourself.

Without getting stuck.

Or hung up.

Because good decisions beget more good decisions. And I want more good in your life.

But most of all, I want you to be happy.  I want you to wake up ready to engage with the day.  To have that energetic kind of enthusiasm that makes work feel effortless.  To enjoy what you’re doing so much that you lose track of time. To go to bed feeling fulfilled, connected and satisfied.  To have fun.

I want all of this for you.

And that’s why I do what I do.

Thanks for letting me.

Filed Under: Authenticity, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: being stuck, change, deciding, doing what you love, happiness, hope, stress

Letter To My Children

January 18, 2009 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment


Dear Munroe and Grace, I saw that President-elect Obama has written a letter to his daughters, expressing his hopes for their lives, and for the lives of all American children.

So, I thought I’d take a minute to write you and tell you what I hope for your lives, too.

First, I wish you a long and healthy life. Fortunately, you’ve got great genes going for you — but there are things you need to do to help yourself along. Pay attention to your nutrition, because what you put into your body fuels what you’re able to do in your life. Consciously taking in things that are good for you is a huge step toward taking loving care of yourself. When you take in good food, you set the tone for other good things in your life. And always move your body. Feel your muscles move under your skin. Dance, walk, hike, run, swim. It feels good, sure, but it also intimately reminds you of your own inherent strength and power.

Which brings me to my second wish for you — I wish you happy and healthy partnerships and friendships. I once read this piece of advice: “If you wouldn’t say it to your daughter, don’t say it to your son.” So, let me tell both of you the same thing: becoming intimately involved with anyone — allowing them access to your mind and your body — is the greatest gift you can give. Make sure the people you choose deserve your gift. And pay attention, too, to the friends you bring closest to you — find people whose honor and integrity match yours. Finally, remember that neediness often masquerades as love, but it’s not love — it’s just a false mask of love. Serving someone else’s chronic neediness is not what’s best for your life. Plus, it’s downright exhausting.

What’s best for you is love. As you know, I like Henri Nouwen’s definition of love. “Making a safe place for another person to be fully themselves.” And my third wish for you is that you have a life full of love. To get that, though, you first have to make a safe place for you to be yourself. That means not beating yourself up every minute of every day. It means loving yourself when you make a mistake, or say something incredibly stupid, or act really thoughtlessly. It means making space for an apology, and making up for your shortcomings.

When you love yourself first, you are able to fully love others.

And let me clarify — I’m not suggesting overweening, narcissistic self love. Narcissists see people as objects, not individuals, and lack the ability to empathize with others. That’s the opposite of my wish for you! To love yourself, it’s vital to see people clearly for who they are, with all their human frailties and strengths, and to appreciate their human struggles — and share their burdens and joys where you can.

You’ve already faced challenges in your young lives and I hope you look back on those experiences with a sense of pride and accomplishment in your own resilience. You will face hard times in your life — it’s a fact of life. But you can make the hard times easier by looking back at past challenges and realizing you made it through before… and you will again. Every single time.

When you’re forty years old, I hope you’re a good partner, and a good parent. I hope you’re a good friend, and a good neighbor. I hope you have a job you like and that helps you pay your bills, and that you put some money away for a rainy day. I hope you vote in every election, and that you work to make your community a better place. When you’re forty, I hope you make time to read books that excite you and to have conversations that inspire you.

But most of all, I hope you’re happy. And my best advice on how to be happy is this: Live fully in the knowledge that, in each moment, you are going to make the best possible decisions you can possibly make — so you can live with few regrets.

Your lives are infinitely precious to me, but your futures are yours to craft. Create them with care, and with love.

Just as you were created. Just as you were raised. Just as you are loved. Now, and always.

— Love, Mom

Filed Under: Happier Living Tagged With: advice, barack obama, hope, kids, letter to my children, life coach

Footer

Subscribe

Recent Posts

  • It’s a Time Warp
  • Making a Plan – When Making a Plan Feels Really Hard
  • A Pandemic Is Not A Snowstorm
  • Nothing Slips Through The Cracks
  • Becoming UnBusy

Looking For Something?

Contact

Phone: 703/598-3100
Email: michele@michelewoodward.com
FB: /michele.woodward
LI: /in/michelewoodward
 

  • Download the 2020 Personal Planning Tool

Copyright © 2021 Michele Woodward Consulting · All Rights Reserved.