Interplay

Please go to other blog: http://cultivatecourage.wordpress.com

Michelle Hess — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:17:34 +0000

Hey all!

I haven’t been using this blog. Please see the other blog currently in use….

Thanks,

Michelle

A New Book is out

Michelle Hess — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:23:41 +0000

If you are interested in Brain Gym or anything with children check out this book. I will be writing a review about it later. The author is one of my Brain gym teachers.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Everything has changed

Michelle Hess — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:44:22 +0000

An update:

I haven’t written in this blog since last summer for a few reasons.

My father died unexpectedly in July and that rocked my world
I started officially fostering a toddler 5 days after he died
we had some months of “if it can go wrong, it will” in the fall during the beginning of our grieving period.
I stopped working at the end of September and am on sabbatical for this year.
We had court practically every two weeks from Sept to Jan due to our foster child. Not fun.
My dad died and I am still not even close to being over that.

When I do start blogging again it will still concern body/mind/spirit, but with a theological twist due to my interests. I will still write articles and post in the future. I’ll probably get to that sometime this spring.

Until then, wishing you peace, joy and a heart seeking what really matters in this life!

Practical Aspects of an Integrated Life

Michelle Hess — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 05:44:07 +0000

I haven’t been posting. I know I am stating the obvious!

Instead, I have been working on integrating my life.

What does that mean?

Well, for starters, it means learning to live as a single mom to a toddler during the week while my hubby works out of town. We’re in the foster/adoption game, which is a whole integration nightmare in itself. I can’t speak to this situation yet due to privacy and legal issues, but more info will be forthcoming after the trial in July.

Integrating a new special being that walks and talks (more everyday) and keeps going when you say, “stop!” has been a big transition to say the least. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but it is quite a change for a thirty-something self-employed professional woman! My business has been put on hold while we worked on increasing attachment. Now, we are firmly attached and hubby is moving home in 8 days to parent with me! (He got a new job locally–yay!) My plan is to finish this summer the work I started before precious baby joined my life–my new emphasis in solely coaching children and the www.morethantutors.com directory due to launch at the end of August.

Also, I am going to write a bit more personally on this blog, interspersed with professional articles, while I wait for my colleagues to clear their schedules and join in the writing venture. Instead of having many separate blogs (this isn’t product promotion afterall…) which only makes life more complicated, MOST of it will happen here.

Other aspects of integration that are happening in my life involve the healing of my body and soul. More on all that later.

Useful News: ADD teleclasses

Michelle Hess — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:48:39 +0000

Knowledge is only a phone call away:

ANNOUNCING ADDA’S SPRING TELECLASS SERIES

Register today for ADDA’s Spring Teleclass Series to learn more about AD/HD!

Classes are now FREE for members.

Register online at: www.add.org

LAST CHANCE:

Everything You Wanted To Know About AD/HD But Forgot To Ask

Led by Terry Dickson, MD

Monday, April 16, 2007, 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. ET.

This is ADDA’s first teleclass where participants will have the opportunity to ask questions on any aspect of AD/HD. Facilitator, ADDA President Linda Anderson, will field all coaching-related questions.

LATER THIS MONTH:

ADD-Friendly Ways To Organize Your Life

Led by Judith Kolberg, nationally recognized professional organizer

Wednesday, April 18, 2007, 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. ET

Judith Kolberg, co-author of the book “ADD-Friendly Ways To Organize Your Life” will provide some do-able strategies to help you take charge of the chaos.

Too Much Muchness- Master Your Day, Desk and Deliverables

Led by Professional Organizer Leslie Robison

Monday, April 23, 2007, 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. ET

You will learn a few simple habits with big impacts, as well as the ways your thinking impacts what you get done—or what you never seem to have time for.

Paper Paper Everywhere And No Place To Sit

Led by Linda Anderson, MA, MCC

Wednesday, April 25, 2007, 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. ET

Do you need to let go of paper and organize what’s left? Bring your best tools and strategies for taming the paper tiger and Linda Anderson will share her secrets from years of experience.

AD/HD and Relationships: We Can Both Be Happy

Led by Ari Tuckman, PsyD, MBA

Monday, April 30, 2007, 9:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. ET

This teleclass will help attendees overcome challenges placed on relationships due to AD/HD. Ari Tuckman will help you define and accept a new balance in relationships so you can work together and break the tug of war.

ADDA Spring Teleclasses are made possible through generous support from Shire

Our Humanity can feel anxious, too.

Michelle Hess — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 06:14:27 +0000

One of my virtual mentors, David Wood, wrote the following in a recent newsletter:

The Personal Touch

In the last ‘Create’ issue I shared about my ‘bump’ in India. After having ‘turned the corner’ I had a resurgence of energy in the form of anxiety/fear. Boy – talk about an invitation from the universe to take a look at yourself and your way of being!

With this ‘super sensitivity’ over the past month, I’ve learned I can’t get away with many things that used to work before such as – multi-tasking, thinking about all the things to do later today, and rushing. I’m learning to listen to my body, and to take care of myself and be really nice to myself. Come up against a belief “I should be able to heal myself on my own”, resistance to using medication, an image I’ve been holding onto of a “strong, secure, fun, smart, independent, solid man”, and my judgments about people who use medication or experience depression or anxiety. OK – I’m experiencing more of humanity!

I’ve gone deeper into meditation and yoga, hired a nutritional counselor (no sugar, including fruit, sweetish vegetables, and most things you buy in a supermarket!), a homeopath, a therapist – all good stuff to explore what’s coming up, being present, watching the mind, and caring for this body.

Oh, and – I’m usually having an awesome time. I’m doing great. This week things are much more than ever coming into balance and feeling smooth. Much love, authenticty, and learning.

The journey continues…

Love David

David Wood is a personal and business coach, past chair of the ICF Publicity Committee, and founder of a global coach training school.

______________________________________________________

It’s interesting how many of us feel the need to be able to do it “all” ourselves—basically

it comes down to expectations of perfection. (Whatever that means to each of us)

I resonate with the idea that I should be able to “heal myself” by doing all the right things,

and too, have found that I am not the all in all!  I need help and support to have all

areas in life integrated.  That’s why I have a coach, a mastermind group, a physical

trainer, a holistic AK chiropractor, etc.

I’m wondering if any of you feel the need to be super-human?  Do you have great

compassion and lack of a judgmental attitude for everyone but yourself?

Useful News: Education Advocacy Project Training (San Diego)

Michelle Hess — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 00:47:19 +0000

Note: to all that are interested in working on behalf of kids that need help in San Diego in relation to special education/adhd, here is a free training to do so– mlh

San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program

Education Advocacy Project

In Partnership with the Health & Human Services Agency

Invite you to attend a FREE clinic on special education advocacy for foster youth:

Advocating for the Legal Rights of Foster Youth with Special Education, School Enrollment & School Discipline Needs

Speaker: Neale Gold, Staff Attorney

San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program

When: Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Where: Straight From The Heart

North Coastal/North Inland Regions

839 West San Marcos Boulevard

San Marcos, California 92078

This free legal advice and advocacy counseling clinic is specifically for Child Welfare Services staff, foster parents, relative caregivers and parents of children who are dependents of the San Diego County Juvenile Court. The clinic will provide information on education and special education law as it relates to foster youth for those who are seeking both a basic substantive law overview as well as practical training for education advocacy.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

TRAINING REGISTRATION: “Advocating for the Legal Rights of Foster Youth”

March 6, 2007, San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program & Health & Human Services Agency

Name: ___________________________________Agency: ______________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________________

Telephone: ________________________ Email Address: _______________________________________

Please RSVP to: Neale Gold, Esq.

625 Broadway, Suite 925

San Diego, California 92101

619-235-5656 ext. 123

619-235-5668 (Facsimile)

Is Your Tank Full?

Michelle Hess — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:47:21 +0000

Did you ever have a teacher in High School make the class do the exercise “if so and so were and animal, flower or car what would they be?” I remember my classmates and I doing this once in 10^th grade psychology class. My friend decided that I was a Mercedes convertible (I forgot which one exactly) classy, sporty and fun. It fit me. I loved convertibles especially in sunny southern
California. Of course my convertible was a sporty FIAT spider, which eventually broke down beyond repair. In part because it was a FIAT (fix it again Tony) and in part because I wasn’t the greatest with routine maintenance. Not horrible, mind you, my dad taught me the basics and I cajoled my male friends into changing my oil and other basic tasks. But I definitely pushed the limits, arriving to work on empty and such things. This is a common phenomenon among high school and college students. They call me to say they are running a “little late” for our appointment because they “just realized” they need to get gas. I smile every time remembering my own adventures running on fumes, putting the car in neutral down the winding hills, so I would make it to the station! Sometimes I think that angels must have pushed me along because I always “just” made it!

It’s not just teenagers that push the limits and run on fumes. Often we carry these adrenaline driven habits into adulthood just transferring the specific details. We might not ever run out of gas again in the car, but how many times do we run out of patience? Or energy? Kindness? Respect? When our reserves are low – our levels of back up emergency “funds” – it is very easy to lose out in living our ideal self, living out the person God made us to be. Maybe your basic physical needs are met. You have plenty of food, clothing and shelter, but your emotional account is empty from constant giving out and never refilling. I know that when I want to give someone “the bird” for cutting me off in traffic, that my emotional reserves are low! (Someone with “road rage” or anger management issues wouldn’t benefit from the above example.)

How do you keep your tanks full enough so that you can choose to respond to a situation, instead of simply reacting out of habit or desperation? What do we need in our lives so that we are free to choose?

One important element is making sure our needs are met and that our reserve tanks are full. One reason I hardly ever ran out of gas in the car I bought when I was 19 was because I knew I had a 2.2 gallon reserve tank. I drove and drove until the light flashed on. When that light flashed on I knew I had entered the “I better watch it” zone. Many times I used up me reserve tank within that .2 of the gallon, but I was intent on really pushing the limits counting on the accuracy of my readings of the mileage.

Not only do you need that reserve, you need an awareness of it, where you are within it, and the perspective to read it accurately. If you are used to reading the odometer in kilometers but are driving a car with mileage reading only, you will misjudge the distance. How many times have you said “I thought I had more “ (time, money, patience, whatever). We misjudge the reality of a situation when our perspective is out of whack.

What can throw our perspective out?

Fatigue
Hunger (low blood sugar)
Unrealistic expectations
Illness
What we are ingesting mentally (movies, TV, books, radio and newspapers)
Relationships
Stress

The list continues. The important fact is to know what your triggers are, so that you prepare a “perspective intervention” for yourself! This isn’t as radical as it sounds. Actually a shift in perspective can happen in a moment.

Some things to experiment with:

· Call your “pick me up” person. This could be anyone that can talk you out of your craziness; your friend, mentor, coach.· Ask your friends how they shift their perspective and borrow or brainstorm techniques.· Go outside and walk around in nature; take time to notice the colors and sounds around you; get out of your head!· Off to the gym with you. Stop whining and get moving!

· Do some Brain Gym (www.braingym.org)

What do you do? LMK

MLH

Useful News: Stop Drowning in Mortgage Interest Debt!

Michelle Hess — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 05:40:18 +0000

If you haven’t inherited wealth—80% of US millionaires are first generation—and haven’t been taught how to manage money, your business and personal will surely suffer. How many of you can cringe, like I can, at 10, 20 or even 30 years of decent income production with nothing to show for it?

As a service professional—many readers are self-employed or solopreneurs—you may have succeeded in overcoming your inner barriers to getting paid for you value versus your time and have a fantastic fee structure, but you are in the red, still. How can that be? Ignorance—often. Bad money management—generally. Overspending on good worthwhile products, training and materials—always!

The scissors must come out for us spenders so that we cut it out! That is a whole other topic that you can deal with when you talk to your coach or therapist (you do have one of those don’t you? You should!). Rather, I’m even more interested in the self-perpetuating ignorance that leads to poor money management skills.

For example, if you “own” a home and have a home office you should be especially interested in not only deducting your home office expenses, but in getting out of the crappy principal and interest loans 49.6% of us are in ! When I signed my loan docs I about had a heart attack reading the truth in lending statement that told me I would be paying almost 400K in interest on my home! But we were so thrilled with getting in the
San Diego market we forged ahead, signed the papers and quickly put it out of our minds.

Four years later, I’m fed up with myself. Debt is so depressing! And paralyzing. With my husband still in school at the time, my own astronomical student and personal loans I felt despondent and crushed by the amount of debt I had, compared to my income. As I should have. Eventually, I put it out of my mind (I have very strong skills in the rationalization and denial departments) and went on my merry way.

Lucky for me I just found out about a way to radically reduce my home mortgage interest, duration and overall cost. It’s not a silver bullet or get rich quick scheme. It’s knowledge and math. I’m thrilled. The super hard part for me will be staying out of denial as I implement this strategy. I’ll have to deal with the cold, hard, depressing numbers in detail. As I do this I can be VERY encouraged by the power I feel as my principal balance goes down and the banks get less of my very hard earned money. I’ll be using a software program that can show me projections as well as actual elimination of debt. If you are a homeowner, want to be a homeowner, a real estate agent, mortgage broker or anyone else in the field you want to learn this information. This guy, Harj Gill, is a consumer advocate—watch out for “loan programs” that purport to save you money, but only line other people’s pockets.

The bottom line is that we are getting ripped off by greedy lenders, who don’t care if we eventually lose our homes due to what will happen when they jack up our payments after 29 months and we can’t keep up. Don’t be fooled any longer. You can sign a petition so that the laws are changed to protect us. No more heads in the sand. Tell your friends and family. Buy the book to learn what I’m talking about. This isn’t EASY. This is painful and it is a million times better than your current situation of drowning in debt (paying for 3-4 homes, while receiving only 1!).

Good side I wrote about “waking up” recently. I’m awake people and I’m not happy!

Disclaimer: This is not financial advice, but solely my opinion and attempts at sharing information in an educational way. Consult your own professionals. Do your own due diligence.

Winning the Inner Game teleseminar

Michelle Hess — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:30:21 +0000

Today we had our “Winning the Inner Game” teleseminar, presented by the Mediation Marketing Institute. I neglected to tell you all about this event and I apologize. Good news is that you can still sign up and receive the mp3 of the calls. And yes, it will be calls–plural–because we had some technical difficulties and will have two recordings. Also, we will be having the second part of our interactive teleseminar in January. More on that later. So click the above link to get signed up for this FREE resource and we will keep you posted.

One thing I really like about partnering with Kristina Haymes is that good mediators are very holistic and self aware. What she values as a mediator fits in with our quest here at Interplay to explore the mind/bocy/spirit connections. There is a lot of congruence with values and purpose. It has been delightful for me to interact with these fabulous people going out to mediate the world’s problems. Quite important work, imo. Thanks to all you mediators!

I haven’t posted much lately due to traveling and not wanting to be on the computer. I was jogging on the beach quite a bit though and this past week went hiking in the beautiful mountains while our dog, Rocco, romped around in the snow. So the computer just wasn’t calling me!

How is everyone else doing? Are the holidays a good time for your spirit or a difficult time?

Peace to you,

Michelle