I first noticed the respond vs. react juxtaposition in an Aikido class. Lynn Sensei kept saying, you must respond, not react.
When you flinch, recoil or push back you’ve reacted. Do this and you’ve lost control. Yet if you step off the line, keep your extension and blend with the energy you’ve responded and maintained control.
In an unstable economy companies make decision to either react or respond. Reacting by canceling a meeting might seem like control but it sends the exact opposite message. The organization’s shift to panic mode with sweeping budget cuts leaves a damaging effect. Companies canceling meetings is a huge mistake!
It’s better to respond. Economize the budget but maintain control. Bring your team together under more austere terms and motivate them to rally around the challenge. Lead by example. Prove that you are in control and responding to the situation.
We face choices of reacting or responding everyday.
Look at leaders, teachers, customer service representatives, parents, teenagers, spouses, newspaper editors - anyone with a pulse. Evidence of reacting versus responding is quickly evident.
One time I was speaking to a group and there was an interpreter for the handful of hearing impaired people in the hall. If you’re hearing impaired… FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED. (sorry, couldn’t help it…) She was lower and off to my right, yet still visible to all 1,000 people in the room.
For some speakers this might be distracting. A reaction would be to move further away on the platform or comment on how distracted you are.
As you know, my filterless dorkiness is always waiting for a chance to jump in and play. In mid sentence I turned to the interpreter and said, “Shmur, shmur, shmur.” The interpreter stared straight ahead and made a rubbing action with her hands.
I jumped in and said, “Cool, this means shmur.” Then I said, “Oogada boogada.”
All eyes shifted to the interpreter who continued to stare straight. She then proceeded to hold her index finger towards the right side of her head and rotate said finger in a clockwise fashion (a.k.a. the international sign for cuckoo). She glanced sideways with a knowing grin.
The place erupted in laughter. The playful interchange was a dance of responding as opposed to a reactionary tussle. She stepped off the line, blended with the energy and continued on with her job.
What stuff in your organization or personal life is pushing you to react? Take a moment to think of a response that keeps you in control of the situation.
Response keeps the pace up. Reaction grinds things down to an agonizing stop.
When you respond you win. When you react you lose.
This blog is posted for those of you who want to react or respond.
ween your ears. There’s a part of the brain called the amygdala and it is triggered into fight or flight with shallow breathing. Fight of flight is an instinctual stress response. If you hand over your reactions to instinct, get ready to flinch. Stay calm and flinchlessness is yours.
First, recognize that the gadgets and computers that you hold so dear are designed to work for you not control you. This may sound simple but rethink the purpose of your Blackberry. It is designed to save you time. Emails were invented to improve connectivity. If you feel a disintegration of your time or the value of connectivity you must take steps to get back to basics.
Years ago I had the chance to hear Tony Campolo speak in his home city, Philadelphia. As a Caucasian Pastor in a predominantly African American congregation he was a dude that was bound to have a unique perspective. As an aside, he ended up being the “expert” who counseled Bill Clinton in the aftermath of his Monica scandal. (Wouldn’t you have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation? Well Tony I really don’t know why I did what I did. -- Well Bill, I’d say President Johnson doesn’t need to be making any more executive decisions for starters.)
If you were a subscriber 18 months ago you will remember that I was particularly proud of my backyard creation; a 26-foot cascading stone creek and picturesque pond. The adjacent fire pit makes for a serene spot amongst the trees in our backyard.
The request came in on a Monday and a week later I joined some fellow Olympians and actress Mia Farrow in a protest march. The route started in front of the Holocaust Museum, passed the White House, the Sudanese Embassy and stationed in front of the Chinese Embassy.
The Maharishi adapted 5000 year old, advanced Yogic meditation techniques to the Western world. His intention was to simplify meditation in a way that could be integrated into the urban lifestyle. Beyond a technique for inner peace, TM proved to have a plethora of health benefits. Moreover, it even took consciousness to a universal plane with evidence reducing crime and violence in society.
Sound boring? Not if you look at what this speedy technology created. 

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