• 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

stillness

Reconnecting With Your Big Why

July 12, 2015 By Michele Woodward 2 Comments

 

 

Sometimes things get a little too loud.IMG_1766

A little too fast.

A little too not-enough-time-to-think.

When you have a string of days (or months, or even years) like this, you end up burned out and disconnected from who you are and what you aim to accomplish.

These relentless times require – no, demand – a pause.

That’s what I’ve been doing for the last several weeks. I’ve been pausing. Screening out all the noise and focusing on some key, foundational things, like:

Who I am.

Why I do the work I do.

Whether I’m aligned with my values.

How I work and who my ideal clients are.

What I really and truly want.

Believe me, I’ve written thousands of words and thought a million more.

I’ve talked with friends about these words over meals, over the phone and over the internet.

I’ve walked miles, thinking.

And moment by moment, day by day, I’ve grown clearer. Happier. More focused.

By shutting out the noise and getting quiet, I reconnected with my Big Why.

And I’m here to tell you that I’m more committed than ever to the work that I do, how I do it and who I work with.

Today, this very day right here, feels absolutely energizing.

You might think you can’t spare the time away from the pressing relentlessness of the tasks at hand and, besides, who’s got the time? There’s so much to do, so many places to be, so many demands on your attention.

But I’m here to tell you – if you don’t make time, you’ll never find time.

If you’re feeling out of step with your own life, as if you’re marching to the taxing beat of someone else’s drum, then do yourself a huge favor and find some time.

Drop back.

Reflect.

Get clear.

And prepare to re-enter your day-to-day life with a bona fide spring in your step.

 

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Career Coaching, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living, Uncategorized Tagged With: finding your why, quiet, reflection, stillness, who am I?, Why

The Inner Voice of “Now”

September 2, 2012 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

 

 

It’s important to listen.

To others – yes, most certainly. It’s a sign of respect to listen well, and fully.

But it’s a sign of self-respect to listen most closely to yourself.

And trust that inner voice that says, “now”.

The voice that says:

Rest, and do it now.

Speak, and do it now.

Walk, and do it now.

Run, and do it now.

At this very moment, my inner guidance is saying, “Be still. Be still, and do it right now.”

There’s some urgency to this stillness.

Like, “be still, Michele, until the tiger passes.”

Be still.

And observe.

Watch.

Learn.

Learn whatever you can in the stillness.

Then – you’ll know when the time is right – move.

So, I am.

Being still.

And preparing for when the time is right.

When the time is right to move.

Like a tiger myself.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Managing Change, Uncategorized Tagged With: career strategy, inner voice, listening, stillness, waiting

3 a.m.

March 25, 2012 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

 

When my belly got big with my son, I started routinely waking up around 3 a.m. as the pressure on my pea-sized bladder got to be too much. Same thing happened with my daughter – up at 3 a.m. like clockwork.

Then, for several years in a row, I found myself awake at 3 a.m. nourishing hungry, growing babies.

Of course, for any child there are night time fevers, and bad dreams, and then my own grief which prompted quiet 3 a.m. checks to make sure they were still breathing. Sometimes I needed that silent nighttime check to reassure myself that everything was going to be OK. So I could sleep.

And after so many years of that routine, I guess I got used to it.

Today, I find myself awake at 3 a.m. more often than not – an echo of the past lodged deep in my bones. [Plus, there’s still that pea-sized bladder issue.]

And I have come to love 3 a.m.

It’s wonderful. Unless you live in a college town, there’s no one coming home at that time of the morning. There’s no one heading off to work, either. There is nothing in the sky except stars. No cars whooshing by on the streets.

Even the birds are asleep.

It’s so still. So quiet. So calm. Creating an open, inviting space to just… be.

3 a.m. is a drink of cold water to a thirsty woman in the desert of busyness and doing-doing-doing that seems to be the way of our modern world.

At 3 a.m., I find I can breathe. I can lean against the door jamb for a minute and just be in the stillness, full of remembrance. And gratitude for this life, this time.

Aware of the gift of it all.

Which never fails to usher me back into a restful sleep.

The other night at 3 a.m., I heard a fox call in the night. Perhaps – a mom, too – she was up nursing her kits, and was looking for a kindred spirit who loves the morning.

She certainly found me. And me, her.

And, you know, I would never have heard her call in the regular hubbub of the day.

Your time for stillness and gratitude may not be at 3 a.m., but you’ve got a special time. You sure do – we all do – maybe you’re just too busy to recognize it.

But you need it.You need your own still, calm time as the antidote to the stress of your day.

So find it. Ready?

Deep breath.

Discover stillness.

Locate gratitude.

Hear the call in the quiet.

And live happier.

 

Filed Under: Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: calm, relaxation, stillness, stress, stress management

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.