Just this past week, I’ve been booked to speak about disruption and resiliency at an international women’s conference in Dublin, at a leadership forum for Colorado School of Mines, and at a large healthcare network involved in a merger. Disruption is on everyone’s mind.  

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My previous post began with the destruction of La Casa de Maria and the Center for Spiritual Renewal. For twenty years, I have made a self-pilgrimage to the top of El Cielo. It's a 4.3 mile hike from the Center to the ridge line (8.6 mile round trip) above Montecito. Now, it’ a fine of $5,000 for anyone who even enters the trail after the destruction.  

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Given the vitriol that has swarmed around the hearing to confirm Judge Kavanaugh, at face value, it does appear that words matter. Name calling, slurs, accusations are all examples of words that have been slung like daggers at the opposition. 

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This past January would have marked the 21st year to go La Casa de Maria and The Center for Spiritual Renewal, a blessed retreat house that for decades has offered silence and reflection—plus meals from their garden. Each year I go away to be quiet and in the quiet. I think, pray, write, and hike. The center crouches at the base of a mountain range towering over Montecito, CA and offers views of the distant Channel Islands.  

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My sister recently sent me what she considers to be the best issue of a corporate/consumer magazine. Very little in it is about cars. Rather, it highlights projects and activities funded by the Subaru Foundation.

Here are some of the stories:

• Samost Jewish Family and Children’s Service helps everyone from teems to seniors with job placement.
• The Traveling Trainers teaches anyone who ventures outdoors to enjoy and “leave no trace”.
• A wildlife educator and companion screech owl spread the word about saving animals in the Sierra Nevada.
• Children’s museums around the country are teaching kids how to eat healthy.
• Lastly, the cover story is about adopting “Winston”, an abandoned puppy and the value of rescuing and finding pets through shelters.

My sister concluded with this statement: “Makes me feel good about driving my car.”

Question: how many corporate magazines evoke these emotions in consumers?I have a feel the answer would be “few”.

A recent study published in the journal, Science shows that it does. Authors Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral studied 126,000 twitter chains involving three million people. What they found was that falsehoods were 70% more likely to be retweeted than factual information. 

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Great conversations result when there's an easy give and take, a go-with-the-flow sensation, along with an acute sense that you are being heard at a deeper level than the normal chitchat. In this instance, good conversations resemble improvisational theater.  

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I recently found this article which I wrote eight years ago. It struck me that the insights are timeless. Enjoy!  

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Our guest post today was written by Kathey Batey of Divorce Support Anonymous. Kathey is the author of the Suddenly Single book series and today she shares the steps you must take to build resiliency after your divorce. You can learn more about Kathey at the bottom of her post!  

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Resiliency is not a one-time skill to be pulled out in times of crisis. Many of you know I coined the word presilience ™ for preemptive resilience. In short, resilience is a life skill that can and must be developed and nurtured beginning with our children. I asked colleagues Karin Hurt and David Dye, owners of Let’s Grow Leaders, to write how lessons with children can be applied to adults. They have also created a wonderful resiliency book for children. Consider getting it if you have youngsters in your life. 

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