Merry Christmas dear clients & friends. Just a heads up: This post is mostly personal with very few tips and best practices related to Organizational Development or Chief People Officer stuff. If that's what you are looking for skip to the bottom and grab the reflection/intention worksheet from my website. Or revisit some past posts here. If you are still here, I want to share a few of my favorite things from 2023, mostly from my life outside of work. A client recently sent me a family picture from his Thanksgiving and I loved getting that peek into his life - it prompted this post. |
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FAVORITE THINGS ROUND-UP: 2023 |
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The Glorify app. The woman who does the talking (scripture reading and meditations) was so familiar to me when I first started using this app, and I eventually dug up that she is the Irish actress Lucianne McEvoy from one of my favorite crime drama's: Shetland. I love this app for days when the only “down” time I have is while I am driving or out on a walk and can't sit down and reflect and read. |
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The television show All Creatures Great & Small. Many of you know that we picked up and moved to the UK during Covid (I know, I know, I know…) and we are constantly pining and scheming about when we can go back and stay forever. This perfect little show let us escape to the British Countryside a little this year. p.s. The book by the same name is also great. |
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MY FAMILY! Of course I have to say that. But let's have a little real talk. I do not have easy girls. (This is made up for by having the easiest, loveliest husband around, and a son who is his twin) See those 2 girls up there at the top. They are in their SPICY teenager eras (they were also spicy younger kids, fyi). They challenge me in new and special ways daily 😏. But we belong to each other, and in a world that is increasingly filled with loneliness and isolation, that is a gift. Even if it is sometimes a messy, exhausting and non-returnable gift 😉 And let's be honest there are a lot of things that make the journey of parenting easier. This year that's been other parent-friends showing up, doing their best in a tricky world, making mistakes, asking for grace, and not giving up. Specific shout-out to my dear friend Gina, who was on the other end of many desperate phone calls and texts with calm support and kindness during turbulent times this year. Also, 3 cheers for all the funny parenting memes/videos. Have you seen the one where the parents payback their kids at their future home? It's gold. And, let's be honest, a good drink makes parenting a little easier: |
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Straightaway cocktails are ridiculously good. They are Oregon-based (for my local clients) and have all sorts of options (paloma, old-fashioned, negroni, etc.). |
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One more word about FAMILY. This is my 15 year old daughter Franki and my Mom. They are thick as thieves. If my kids turn out to be good humans it will be in large part a credit to my Mom and her kind, gentle, faithful and sacrificial love of my kids. She lives about a 1-minute walk from our house, and I hope when my kids are grown they will cherish the fact that Noni could come for a porch chat, or they could go for a game of spoons or authors at a moments notice. |
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Good music makes everything better. I am a huge music fan, and when I heard this play at the end of my favorite (non-business) podcast - The Mockingcast, I loved it immediately: |
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“It's too much to make the tidings glad, so let's just shoot for not that bad…You don't have have to buy your kids more crap, maybe you should take a Christmas nap” - I can really get on board with this messaging, and If you can lower your expectations this year, just maybe it will up the joy. Speaking of JOY, have you listened to Ben Rector's album, The Joy of Music. Like most of his albums, it's a perfect all-the-way-through listen. My favorite track is Thank You. |
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A few years ago my new year's resolution was to read more poetry. I love poetry (E.E. Cummings, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, William Wordsworth and my sister Kate Delgado, being some favorites) and I don't make enough time for it. Here is a beautiful Christmas poem by Madeline L'Engle that was a favorite I read this year (while she is known best for A Wrinkle in Time, my favorite book by her is Two-Part Invention - a book about her marriage): |
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First Coming By Madeleine L’Engle He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace
He came when the Heavens were unsteady
and prisoners cried out for release. He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait till hearts were pure. In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
He came, and his Light would not go out. He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born. We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice! |
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Finally, If you are looking for a way to start the new year with intention and gratitude (not over-inflated expectations & too-lofty resolutions) you can use this 2023 reflections & 2024 intentions worksheet. It's a great tool to give your family, friends or co-workers. You could even print them off for your New Years Eve party. Here is mine: |
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FROM YOUR {fractional} CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER & CULTURE BUILDER, |
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