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There are at least a couple of ways of thinking about consistency. What keeps happening TO me or what do I bring with me because of who I'm being? I have noticed some similarities in conversations I've been having over the past couple of weeks. Why should I be surprised, since I'm what my experiences have in common? Let's talk about what keeps showing up.

Today's guest is Michaela Schell, owner of Immersion Sauna and Cold Plunge Studio in Fargo, where she calls herself a Saunapreneur. In this conversation, in addition to talking about the many benefits of her business, we also shared how we reconnected and about last week's Walk and Talk, which inspired this conversation. One of the themes in this episode is about how modern society has caused people to be less resilent by providing constant distractions. We also talked about how while we may come from different starting points with political and religious perspectives, we realized on our walk that we have very similar destinations in our vision. When people make the effort to come out from behind their screens and comments, they might find that in live conversations there is far less to argue about than they might think. Find out more about Michaela's business and about her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/michaelamschell/ or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/michaela.schell.3.

In today's episode I reconnect with longtime friend Meghan Fife, founder of B-Side Consulting and the Instagram persona "Mystic Meghan." Meghan and I met while we were both in the real estate industry (Meghan still has a specialty working with seniors in Dallas). We didn't talk much about real estate today. Instead we explored future-oriented initiatives, yoga, Meghan's values of joy, gratitude, peace, and love, and how that mindset and worldview fits with my recent study of the fourth turning, where we find ourselves today. Meghan shared her personal growth journey and how she has developed a more authentic worldview focused on respect, kindness, and finding common ground with others. She emphasized the importance of being present in the moment with whoever she is with, whether it's family, friends, or colleagues. We talked about several books, including Dr. David Hawkins' works "Power vs. Force" and "Letting Go," which we both have studied. You can find more about the Map of Consciousness by searching any browser. I shared a quote by Patanjali, the father of yoga. Here is that quote:  "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." If you are interested in Meghan's Facebook post that inspired my reaching out to her, it was her Facebook post from March 11.  Meghan can be reached at [email protected], or Mystic.Meghan on Instagram.

I'm thinking today about an autographed book that's been on my shelf for years: "The Soft Edge: Where Great Companies Find Lasting Success" by North Dakota's own Rich Karlgaard, Forbes publisher, entrepreneur, investor, and board director.   What is it that makes our skills "Soft" or "Hard"? What is most needed in our world today? How might we be able to BE the change we want to see in the rest of the world as we move toward the end of this Fourth Turning Crisis and into the next First Turning High?   Masculine and Feminine energy aren't necessarily demonstrated only by men or by women. It's not a gender issue, it's an energetic one, and over time, businesses have been forged by a lot of masculine energy: control, certainty, pressure, decisiveness, winning, etc. When this energy is dominant, there is no room for feminine energy like intuition, connection, awareness, collaboration, etc.    What if we could access those traits in a collaborative or integrative way instead of an either-or? What would happen for our organizations if we could move from proving to understanding? From fixing to listening first? From reacting to noticing?   I briefly mention Neil Howe's book "The Fourth Turning is Here," as well as Rich Karlgaard's book "The Soft Edge."

One of my favorite coaching questions is this one: "What is missing the presence of which would make a positive difference?" Today I ask myself this question. Given all I'm observing - about myself and others - might it be something like Personal Accountability? In this episode I share some observations from politics and sports, including this clip from the Maryland women's basketball game in the NCAA tournament: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SJhqv_2lFhg I also refer to a new (to me) term: Collective Narcissism, and this white paper by Agnieszka Golec de Zavala and Dorottya Lantos: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721420917703 Here is more information about the Enlightened Leadership Lab, Mondays at 4 central: https://www.emergentculturelabs.com/leadershiplab

It's Episode 300! Today I reflect on some of the great interviews I've had over the six seasons of this podcast.

What can history tell us about the seasons of our live?  A lot, according to Neil Howe, author of The Fourth Turning is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End. This is my current morning reading, and, while it's certainly not easy (nor is it short at 578 pages), it's become essential for my understanding of how Americans have gotten where we are, and gives some hope for where we are going. In this episode I share some of what I'm learning about the concept of "turnings," "saecula," "generations" and much more. If history can teach us anything, so far it's that "this too shall pass," whether we are talking about yearly seasonal cycles or times and places in history. Neil Howe has other interesting takes on investments and other historical information. You can find more about this book and his insights at www.fourthturning.com.  

The way you perceive the world has everything to do with your perspective. Today I'm exploring sports—something I've lived and loved most of my life—and how microcosms can become macrocosms when we stop and really look at them. I'm exploring the locker room moment with the men's Olympic hockey team. The celebration. The speakerphone call. The off-hand comment about the women's team. What happens when humor and hierarchy collide, not just in locker rooms, but also in board rooms?

I've been noticing something for the past few years. As a speaker and author, I used to work really hard to make sure the message was "right."   But lately I've been experimenting with what happens when I let the message find me. I might say or write something and think "oh, that's good." Not in an ego-based way, but in an aligned way. Like I'm learning from myself in real time.   If you've listened to any of these Facebook Lives over the 5+ years I've been doing them, you may have noticed.   Something really cool happens when I stop editing myself. Maybe there's real intelligence that only shows up when it's invited, not forced.

I've been watching the conversation about the Super Bowl halftime show unfold online and what struck me isn't the show(s) themselves but how quickly narratives and opinions formed. Some people are saying Bad Bunny's show included vulgar lyrics. There was an alternative halftime show. There are rumors about where it was filmed - if it was lip synced. And I found myself thinking: wait ... what do we actually KNOW? And how do we DECIDE? Today's episode isn't necessarily about the halftime show options. It's about what and how we decide. Is it possible to watch something or listen to someone else without judging? The commenters on today's live recording added so much to the dialogue. One person added actual lyrics to a Bad Bunny song (which were too vulgar for me to repeat). But are those the lyrics he sang at the halftime show? The jury's still out on that. How do we discern? Who do we listen to?  Welcome to today's episode.

We humans have a lot to process these days. The two topics we are never supposed to talk about in public are religion and politics, and both seem to be taking up a lot of space in heads and hearts without any way to process, if we are following that advice. What is a human to do with only our own thoughts if we don't have a safe space to process?  I took on an experiment over the weekend, which I wouldn't recommend anyone else doing unless you're very prepared. Hint: If you want to connect, there are ways other than social media. In this episode I mention Michael Singer, the author of "The Untethered Soul" and "The Surrender Experiment," among others. I also refer to the CNN story Anderson Cooper did about the Resistance Singers. You can see that here: https://youtu.be/tp3ABvXXEsE?si=VUR9HOzZb5I93_2l Check out the Enlightened Leadership Labs Mondays at 4 central if you're looking for a safe space to practice all aspects of leadership, listening, and real communication. (www.emergentculturelabs.com/leadershiplab).

I've been sitting with something this week and I want to name it out loud, and see if there is dialogue to be created around it. When people go all-in on any single viewpoint - political or otherwise - it seems to me that nuance disappears. And when we lose nuance, we lose curiosity. So I wonder where curiosity lives in the world of this or that. Does it? What happens when curiosity dies? Is there space for Both/And instead of only Either/Or?

What happens to us humans when we feel like we are the only ones thinking or feeling something? If we don't have a place to process what we are seeing, it's easy to second guess our own perception. I've been thinking about this in a leadership context, and I'm reminded of two books I've studied, both by The Arbinger Institute: Leadership and Self Deception and The Anatomy of Peace. The premise is that when we are under stress, humans tend to see others not as humans but as objects. This can easily happen when we fall below the line into unconsciousness: being closed, defensive, and committed to being right. Is there another way to see things? I'd like to believe so.  

In this episode of Circle Up & Get REAL, I'm exploring some thoughts about leadership (no surprise) and what pressure might do to the humans who are in those leadership roles. What role might AI have, not just in our corporate efficiencies, but in creating a culture of awareness and acceptance instead of fear? In other words, if we stay in curiosity instead of falling into certainty, what could the rise of AI mean to our corporate cultures?