Category Archives: make a difference
Are You Breathing?
Greatest of All Influences
Believe Your Dream to Real
Have you ever had a dream of doing something significant?
Have you ever made a plan for doing that significant something, but it just lays on the pages of your notebook or in the files on your computer?
Me too! I’ve had a lot of ideas that have never come to fruition. I’ve had notebooks filled with plans and dreams that are still great ideas, but I haven’t yet followed through on them.
But not this time!
WOMAN: the difference you make
Hi! This is Kathy Burrus from Green Hope Coaching!
I, like many of you, have been pondering the images of the past weekend of the inauguration and the women’s marches. Now I’m not here to use my platform to make a statement one way or the other. There may be a time I do that, but this is not that time.
I’m here today because I was struck by one thing: WOMAN. Not one particular woman, but woman like you and me.
Click here for a complete transcript of this video.
EmPOWERful Series:
Five week phone sessions over lunch designed to help you accomplish the ONE THING that will make the greatest difference this month. Click here to register.
Group sessions hosted virtually designed to help women look at their own story and glean from it the significant, defining moments that influence how they live and behave.
Embrace the wonderful story of you and live MAD-ly! (Make-A-Difference)
More details will be coming out soon. Click this link to sign up to receive upcoming emails regarding these groups. Whether you live nearby or far away, you can be part of this interactive session.
GREEN GRIEF GATHERING:
Green Grief is designed to help us find the slivers of green – the Lovely Traces of Hope in our losses. As we begin to see the hope in our story, many times we are able to take our next step toward the difference we want to make through it.
Again, click this link to get updates on this event- which for the time being will be local. If you are interested in a virtual group- send me an email and we will find a way to make that happen.
Here’s to you making the difference you were meant to make.
Kathy
Green Hope Coaching
A Conversation about YOU: Woman!
What started with simple greetings and an order of coffee, became a conversation about YOU. Not you personally, but you WOMAN, family member, friend, professional.
WOMAN who wants to make a difference in the world but feels enveloped by so many important things; spouse, kids, parents, job and friends. These are surely the people we want to serve and influence for good. But sometimes there are so many ‘good’ things going on that we forget we ARE making a difference.
WOMAN who wonders if we truly know what we want to be true of our lives. We find ourselves in a new place; an empty nest, a season of life, a change in job or relationships, and we puzzle over what we have accomplished in the past or whether we are on track to do all we want to have done at the end of our life.
Are we doing what is most important? Or are we just reacting to the urgent that comes up in any given day. Continue reading A Conversation about YOU: Woman!
How Do You Measure a Year?
I love pondering mornings. I love to ponder. So I don’t demand anything of myself on these mornings;
- I turn off the alarm,
- lay in bed till I feel like getting up and if I don’t feel like it, then I just stay put,
- put on my ‘comfy’ clothes,
- make sure I eat a healthy breakfast (I want to be able to think clearly.),
- choose my favorite ‘wordless’ music station on Pandora, otherwise I spend all my pondering time singing along.
- grab a blanket tablet of paper and a good writing pen,
- and I ponder.
It’s mornings like these that allow my body to catch up with my mind and heart and spirit. They are usually running ahead and if I don’t intentionally give myself some time to reflect, I end up getting all tangled up a few days down the line.
This morning when I flipped on Pandora, before I could click on my ‘wordless’ stations, the song Seasons of Love, began to play. The lyrics start like this:
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure – measure a year in a life?
I’ve been fascinated with this song for a lot of years, but I thought it was especially poignant since my ‘ponderings’ for the morning had been largely focused on what I want to be true of this new year.
Wow! There are only 525,600 minutes in a year? Considering that one day holds 1440 minutes, that means we have already spent nearly 20,000 minutes of this new year! I’m not usually into numbers, but this morning it caught my attention.
How do we measure a year?
The song lyrics have some suggestions: Continue reading How Do You Measure a Year?
New WORD for a New Year
My Word for the year is EnJoy!
I am quite excited about this word. Over the last 10 years my words have been Hope- Hope & More HOPE! I had that word for several years. It’s a great word, but it was a desperate time for me.
One year the word was TRUST, another year it was BE STILL. (I know technically two words, right?) Last year my word was FINISH which was appropriate since my goal was to complete the Lovely Traces of Hope book.
These were all great words and they were significant to me at the time, but they all had a urgency to them, desperation is still the better word. Even being still was a challenge word at the time.
But this year, the word that keeps coming to me Continue reading New WORD for a New Year
Meet ONE of my Superheroes!
Yesterday I shared a post about heroes and side kicks.
Well, one of the highlights for me at the Tribewriter conference was to meet one of my super heroes. This is Carrie Wilkerson, recently called a SASSY entreprenuer. I have also heard it said that she is the little Texan with the big voice. She was introduced as the ‘small town girl who was able to think beyond city limits” or the ‘big sister in business and life”.
She is also Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive. I know the picture to the right is not very good, but I wanted you to see that she lives up to her name. She came on stage with this beautiful pair of heels, but within 7 minutes of her presentation, she was barefoot. She does this regularly.
Below is a little better picture but you couldn’t see her feet.
I met Carrie about 11 years ago when I first started direct selling with Mary Kay. Carrie did that too for a while, but she was always doing more than makeup.
One of the things I most admired about Carrie is that she has always been about doing what she does ‘Carrie style’.
She’s not afraid of the hard stuff- or I should say she is faithful about doing the hard thing afraid.
She is honest about what the challenges are, but will not let you get away with excuses. She’s done it! We can too!
STOP IT! She will say and did say from the stage on Sunday. “Don’t say you want something different if you are not willing to change your perspective.” Quit making excuses. Start looking at it from a different perspective.
“Don’t be paralyzed by the invisible audience.” THEY can paralyze your effort to pay your bills or invest in those around you.
STOP IT!
What you have to offer is of VALUE. If you have something of value that will transform others and you don’t share it, you are a ‘transformation horder.”
STOP IT!
If it is of value, you have a responsibility to share it. It is not your responsibility if they aren’t ready to accept your gift. Do it like you need to do but do it!
SHARE IT! PURSUE IT! YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION!
I’ve been listening and coaching with Carrie in different ways for 10 years. She has been consistent in her message, faithful to her own calling and an example in the journey. That makes her a side kick, as well as a super hero!
Yep, she may be 12 or 15 years years younger than me, but this little gal continues to be a ‘big sister’ to speak hope into my life. I am grateful that she is mentor, coach and friend. She even wrote an endorsement for Lovely Traces of Hope. Check it out in my book.
Who is your hero?
How are they also a side kick for you in your super hero journey?
I got to give mine a hug this weekend. How can you say thank you to yours?
DO IT! PURSUE IT! YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION!
Want more information about Carrie Wilkerson, you can find her on Facebook at Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive, or go to carriewilkerson.com.
Want to know more about
Kathy’s new book,
Lovely Traces of Hope,
check it out at Amazon.com today.
Heroes…and sidekicks!
This weekend, I attended the TRIBEWRITER conference in Franklin, TN which is a “marketing conference for people who don’t think of themselves as marketers. It’s a gathering for writers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs to grow their craft, share their work, and get the attention their work deserves.”
In my previous post, I shared some of the effects of last years conference; the primary one was the completion of the “LOVELY TRACES OF HOPE” book which I had been working on for several years before committing to finish it.
This year, I am still sifting through the ‘one thing’ i will do because of what I learned. But…Jeff Goins, founder and host of the Tribewriter event kicked us off with a great reminder.
Jeff introduced us to his superhero son, Aiden who is 4. Aiden is Batman. He wanted Jeff to be – not Superman, like Jeff was last year, not Spiderman or The Hulk. You guessed it, Robin, Batman’s faithful sidekick.
Jeff reminded us that often, as business owners, authors and creatives of all kinds, we think our purpose is about being the super hero to our clients and readers.
In reality we are there to be a sidekick to the stories in our tribe. My story is only truly effective as I influence the reader engage with their own story.
I do that by:
- Being Present- show up, yes, but more than that- engaged!
- Being Helpful- Give first, often you will benefit, but help anyway.
- Being Brave- learning to do that next hard thing afraid.
Think like a sidekick and make it about ‘them’. The act of being allows activity to follow identity.
As I sat and listened to Jeff’s comical, but motivating challenge, I read the words on the card at my table. The picture below may be easier to read.
Ok! This is exactly why we need to be present, helpful and brave. If we dare to look into the depth of the world’s darkness, then people will be willing to listen to us as we dare to shine light into theirs.
I’ve never been very good at the super hero role. How about you? Are you a super hero? Sometimes we become one in our story out of necessity. But often it is not because we are super great – it is because we were present for someone, or helpful to them at a time when they needed us to be brave.
But who are you a side kick too right now? Is it your family or a close friend? Maybe it is a client who is counting on you to help them do what they need to do.
Well, I am Kathy, and I’m your sidekick!
So…how can I help you? What’s going on in your story? Leave a comment below or email me at kathy@greenhopecoaching.com.
Wondering if Kathy knows what it means to struggle to find hope in a dark place? Get Kathy’s new book called Lovely Traces of Hope?