Listen Well to Build Relationships

Relationships are created with one person listening, and the other speaking. Create stronger relationships - focus on listening.

The first century AD philosopher Epictetus said, “We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak.” In the need to be heard, be acknowledged or be correct, people forget that listening is one of the easiest paths to honest, authentic communication with another human being.

Have you ever been upset with someone and, in anticipation to meet them, created a defensive argument in your mind ready to start the second you see them? Perhaps you simply wanted them to see your point of view.

What would happen if you enter the conversation with a conscious resolve to hear only their perspective for the first five minutes?

Book Cover Winner

We received lots of feedback to help choose the book cover for Metaphysical Mom: Five Minutes to Calm. Thank you to all who participated online and from April 15th's post. You gave us great insight.

The winning photo is:

Visualizing Success: The Movie

I'm a big fan of visualizing success. When that picture is clear in my mind, I know exactly what I have to do to go after it. I'm still working on the timeline part (for example, I know my current vision requires alot of focused work, but sometimes I just want to visit with friends, play hide 'n' seek with our children, or catch up on Facebook). However, I know what I want.


To help to visualize the end goal clearly, I use a vision board or mind map, until last week.

Metaphysical Mom Book Cover Choices

Mom and Child

As I edit the final chapters of Metaphysical Mom: 5 Minutes to Calm, I have received an extraordinary opportunity to create the perfect book cover.


Elan Sun Star, inspirational photographer, has provided beautiful images for me to choose, and I need help!

The Self-Aware Parent, live chat with author Cathy Cassani Adams

Transcript of CHAT with Cassani Adams ~ Tuesday April 12th.

Author of, The Self-Aware Parent 19 Lessons For Growing With Your Children, Cathy Cassani Adams, LCSW, PCI Certified Parent Coach was live online, April 12th.


The Self Aware Parent  By Cathy Cassani Adams, provided a compelling view of becoming a new mother. She gave us a glimpse of her parenting occurrences through her personal looking glass.

Cluttered House: A Sign of a Cluttered Mind?

Get Rid of Clutter and Change Your State of Mind by Leigh Harris

Clutter affects the environment and energy of your house. What appears as simple overabundance of physical objects triggers energetic and emotional responses.

Think about your own home environment. How do you feel in different areas of your home?

Often you walk in from the garage, and an automatic to-do list hits your mind. Jackets need to be hung up, dinner made, and laundry sorted. Just once you would like to grab a cold drink and head out to relax on the patio, but distractions beckon. With increasing irritation, you notice the hall filled with shoes thrown off haphazardly, or the bathroom floor covered with scattered towels. You would like to sit down and enjoy a moment of peace on the patio, if the mess would just go away.

Each moment has its share of joy and frustrations, but there are moments in a parent’s life when the aggravation of clutter is overwhelming.

5 Minutes is an Opportunity

The last six months have been incredibly busy, as my book nears completion. With a month as an aggressive goal to complete editing, I considered going completely offline for a few weeks.

Instead, I'm going to share with you short excerpts of my book. I hope you enjoy them. Take care - Leigh.

Five minutes is powerful. It changes the course of your day, brings a sense of peace among chaos, or even creates a new future. Five minutes is an opportunity.

Yet, the gift of five minutes is often forgotten.

Thanks to overwhelming responsibilities of being a mother, a wife, and an income earner, in the evening you’d give anything for five minutes of peace - and a burst of energy from your exhausted body. Your spouse, if you have one, would love to see you energized too, but you can only imagine lying comatose in front of the television.

Is it Help or Hindrance?

I like to help others. I have such a deep desire to do this that I itch to make it the top comment on my resume or profile.

Help Others

I’ve always been in a helping profession, even while teaching or directing.

However, with friends and family, I have less objectivity than at work. With family, I want to jump in to rescue, to change, to provide tools. I want to help. But recently I received strong indications that my help was a bit of a hindrance. In one case I sent an email to a few people, full of options of how we all could help some others. Many people do this, but most often they focus on a world crisis. This was personal, between a few people. Though I got a discussion going, some of it was, “what are you thinking, Leigh?” Apparently some levels of help are overkill.

Yesterday I spoke to my sister for a long time. She is incredibly talented, and speaks about brilliant ideas to work with more people in her area of specialty: nutrition. Yesterday I became a coach, instead of a sister. I listened to her wants, then urged her to take action and challenged her doubts.

I could tell she was feeling a bit of stress. When I got off the phone I realized, maybe there is a reason for her hesitations. Maybe she doesn’t need me coaching her about her future. Maybe she can simply enjoy the present and see how the future unfolds. Maybe I can simply listen.

This is a Contest I Want to Win!

A couple months ago, I added another item to my Christmas list: A Kindle. I've decided that is what I want more than anything. I know Christmas is 8 months away, but I thought I'd put my dibs in early.

And then I discovered something online: CountryLife4Me is giving away 2 prizes. A kindle 3 and $50 cash via paypal. If this looks like an opportunity for you too, Enter Here . However, I'm doing what I can to win, and that includes telling you about it.

So, please send positive thoughts, winning thoughts, thoughts of abundance (but specifically targeted to this new Kindle 3).


Have a great week!