“The Foundation for Growth…”

-


 Shared by Kristina Smedley

Yesterday I shared that my one-word mantra for 2019 is Growth.
Today, I want to introduce you to my little buddy Darryl.

Darryl appears to be a spotted angel wing begonia, with a dark purplish-red underside and metallic speckles. He’s a pretty handsome guy!

He is also one of a growing community of stem cuttings that my friend Mikayla has been sharing.
Sorta like a friendship necklace… remember those!

And, you know what it means if you lose your ½ of a friendship necklace!
So, my buddy Darryl needs to live and thrive!

I’m trying to follow all the instructions:

  1. Keep cut stem in water until roots are ½ an inch long – mine were like 4 inches.
  2. OK, so now plant in a well-draining soil – didn’t have that, so just planted where the last plant died. It’s a cute pot though! And I can replant it if necessary.
  3. Place in indirect sunlight – well, I moved him today because his coloring was fading. So, I’m assuming that he wasn’t getting enough light. Hopefully, this will be better!

I’m trying to build a great foundation for Darryl’s growth, based on what I have available to me and what I know about Darryl.

Taking care of this little plant is not so different from taking care of ourselves and enabling our own growth.

In fact, as I reflect on last year, much of the year was based on my own personal self-care and developing a foundational understanding of who I am, my strengths, my passions, and who I want to be in this life.

The first part of the greatest lesson I learned over the last year is that there really is no end to this personal care and discovery process. Taking care of myself, knowing myself, learning, and building empowering mindsets and routines creates the foundation for future success.

As I get older, more mature, and have more life experiences, I also have more curiosity, a larger understanding and awareness of how little I know, and the desire to dig deeper.

Last year, I completed some very personal and empowering courses – Sacred Self Care at Sacred Roots in Long Beach, CA, my Masters in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga, the Search Inside Yourself Leadership course, and the Life Success Course through PSI Seminars in Sacramento, CA.

I read a lot of books.
I meditated regularly.

We are always evolving, so there is always something new to discover and work on.

The second part of this lesson is that I can’t spend all my time and energy directed inward. Inward can be scary because it’s real and raw, but to me outward is more intimidating because it includes others, their judgments, and my insecurities.

I have big ideas about what 2019 looks like, the potential, the possibilities.

Like Darryl, I believe I have a strong personal foundation in place. We’ll both always require care and more discovery, but it's time to start reaching up and out towards the larger vision of life.

Here’s to 2019 and the growth that lies ahead!

(And now that I’m relating Mr. Darryl to my own growth, I better really focus on his thriving! Haha)

 

#MindfullyEvolving

Check out what we're up to now!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Choosing Happiness…”

-
  Shared by Kristina Smedley “Choosing Happiness…” Early in my career, I had dreams of one day working in a prestigious high rise building, in the middle of a bustling city. Of wearing fancy clothes to work every day. Of having an authority position, making good money, and being seen as a success. I would go out to small local restaurants for lunch and attend networking events and professional happy hours after work. This was my idea of a fulfilling career… of one where I would be happy every day. Now, 14 years after graduating from college, I’m not leaving this career. Not at all! And I have to admit… I’m so thankful. So far, I’ve done some pretty cool things in my career… traveled to many different countries to meet with customers, mentored, and coached others, setup organizational operating models, and (the best part) had the opportunity to build cultures and environments where our teammates thrive!  I’ve learned over time that the fame and glory, the fancy office buildings...
Read more

"Just GET STARTED..."

-
Image
  Shared by Kristina Smedley When  Breanne Smedley  and I first stepped out on this Mindfluent® Leadership journey (2 years ago!), I was envisioning that we would create a philosophy, become certified coaches, and go out and find 1:1 coaching clients.   We would (hopefully) positively impact their lives and that impact would create positive ripples through their families, teams, and communities.   I wasn’t really sure how to do any of that, but it’s the model we had been exposed to. So, it’s the model we started building from.   Leadership Philosophy ✅ Professional Coaching Training ✅ Practice 1:1 Coaching ✅ Then came the part of getting 1:1 clients.   And we quickly realized that we didn’t want to spend hours upon hours going to networking events, reaching out to our network for coffee dates, asking for referrals, and more to secure one single client. Then, spending hours with just one client.   I’m not looking down on this model, ...
Read more

“Does your face light up…?”

-
Image
  Shared by Breanne Smedley One of my greatest fears as a parent is that I will somehow ruin my future relationship with my daughter. That what I intentionally or unintentionally do now will cause long-term resentment or a broken relationship. That if I only knew now, that I could change something. It causes me to second guess myself. “Am I doing it right?” “Should I have responded to her that way when she threw her broccoli on the floor?” “Put your phone away, she shouldn’t see you on your phone.” “Or maybe she should, so she can see how to have a healthy relationship with a phone.” “Am I telling her ‘no’ too often? I should start saying ‘yes’ every once in a while.” It can feel exhausting. Charlee is only one, yet I’m already looking towards the teenage years with fear. I want to raise her to know she is strong, capable, brave, and loved. I want to develop curiosity and empathy in her. I want her to feel empowered to use her voice and influence to do what brings her joy and creat...
Read more