When Crisis Hits, Are You A 1st Responder? - Future Works® Gazette, October

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Your Gazette arrived amidst the chaos of moving day. I carefully saved it until later that evening when I dropped down into the depths of your writing. What a gift! Like a favorite book, I needed to lay it aside for awhile and allow all the richness to fill me. Thank you for such deep inspiration-which couldn't have come at a better time.
-	Pamela Slocomb The Woodlands, TX

Greatness Awaits!
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Karen's Quintessential Principle of Greatness
for October - November, 2005

RESPOND, DON'T REACT

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.
-	Virginia Satir

Gridlock & Turning the Key: Responding

Caught in the grips of gridlock all along Park Avenue, as remnants of Katrina dump torrential rains on Manhattan, I give up worrying about getting to my meeting on time. Letting the cabbie do the driving, I drift from a soggy Park Ave to the state of the world, then onto what I will write for this next principle.

WILL YOU RESPOND OR REACT IN AN EMERGENCY?

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Jolting me out of reverie, a near-homeless man starts ranting and raving, pointing threateningly at my cabbie and the hood of the cab. The light changes. Folks hurriedly maneuver to get by the bumper to bumper cars with umbrellas turned inside out. But we're not going anywhere with this guy smack in the center of the intersection. In a flash of ancient body shifting, my cabbie instinctively readies to fight 'til the death. Not needing a knight in shinning armor, I hear myself say to his image in the rear view mirror, "It's not worth it. It doesn't matter. Let it be." Just as quickly, my cabbie pulls it together. We both smile as he looks over his shoulder at me. Turning back, he lets this crazy-making guy continue across the street. I laugh to myself, "Now he is my Hero." Unwittingly, my cabbie plays out this month's principle: Respond. Don't React.

Case Studies: Three Examples of Living & Leading Reactively Rather than Responsively

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We've all been there. Some triggering remark, even just body language alone, Voila!

Read complete feature: Gridlock & Turning the Key: Responding

When faced with crisis and/or high stress, do you respond or react?

Are you more effective/successful when you are responsive or reactive?

A Focusing Exercise to guide you in becoming more highly responsive and less reactive.

Find a comfortable place to sit with your feet on the ground and hands in your lap. Make sure to keep a pad and pen next to you for journaling and responding to questions that will follow this exercise.
If you're comfortable to do so, close your eyes and notice your breathing.
Shift your focus away from your mind to the area around your heart.
Imagine yourself breathing through your heart. It may help to put your hand on your heart.
Keep your focus there for 10 seconds or more.

Read complete Greatness Tools: A Focusing Exercise

GREAT CHANGES COMING:

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Wishing you a gentle winter!

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Please make sure to add KarenSands@FutureWorksGazette.com and KS@FutureWorksInstitute.com to your address book in your e-mail program, so we don't get sent into the ethers. Be sure to send us your preferred email address so you don't miss out on any of our complimentary issues.