Heart and mind work
There’s a way of being that is all head and little heart. Being this way can produce short-term results, but sustaining them can be a struggle. In fact, overlooking human need for connection harms relationships, hampers success and crushes life. It makes people spend time doing things they don’t care about with people they don’t like. But there’s another way. The alternative involves learning wisdom, compassion, love and curiosity.
What I know for sure is that learning to connect heart and mind stands to transforms how we act and live. On a personal level, living with more heart changes how you experience and approach life and your ability to influence the world around you.
What I do?
I’m a change maker committed to making our world a better place. I do this by teaching people how to operate with more ‘heart’. Connecting heart and mind is what I see as the biggest challenge and opportunity for a better world, effective leadership and good self-management. My work and research shows that developing the skill of connection is vital for personal wellbeing, for individual and workplace productivity, for fulfilling relationships, for ending conflict, and for effective education. The evidence for the power of caring is truly overwhelming and yet our mechanistic world seems rigged to make us act like machines instead of celebrating our humanity. I’m on a mission to change this.
Work Principles
- Human beings are not ‘replaceable’. Everyone is a unique artist and potential artisan whose core mission is to be of service and value to others.
- Heart and mind are two critical partners that guide individuals and the collective towards full realisation.
- The greatest suffering within a person comes when the heart and mind fail to align.
- To continuously evolve and lead deeply satisfying lives we need to nurture our hearts and minds and help others nurture theirs.
- Lasting transformation is only possible through conscious, regular practice of living the integrity of heart and mind alignment.
I draw on
Helping people discover the magic of heart and mind alignment is my life’s purpose. I’ve done that as a volunteer, mentor, teacher, manager, leader, educator, writer and coach. I have honed the power of thinking through my academic training, rigorous scientific method and business processes, working with top leaders and thinkers, and by developing structured approaches to teach others. I understand the mind in overdrive because my own often runs too fast for my body. I have diabetes.
My heart skills come from a longing to heal the world by healing people. They originate in my own direct experience of growing up under a repressive regime, of being a working class immigrant, feeling like an outsider, struggling to feel heard, and often having to be a non-conformist to follow what’s right. I understand human struggle and heartache because I’ve experienced it. I have a talent for hearing hearts and for teaching. I bring integrity to all I do.
It matters
“To find your mission in life is to discover the intersection between your heart’s deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger.” wrote Frederick Buechner. In 2015 London Underground ran a poster campaign along the following lines: ‘My Daddy won’t look at my homework today because his boss yelled at him at work’.
Brains on legs cause suffering and pain because it is all that they can feel inside. Their relationship with the world is rooted in self-interest of the Ego, whereas lasting satisfaction, safety and a sense of meaning come from community and connection. Heart and mind alignment creates inner peace which in turn reduces conflict. People who operate with heart and mind make better managers, leaders, parents, teachers and neighbors, allowing all to thrive.
Heart and Mind connection is my Talent, Skill and On-going Practice
Some people refer to me as the “Physician of the Soul”
a good number call me an “Angel”
All I can say is that I have simply learned to practice heart and mind connection and this is what I’m inviting others to experience and practice.
Teaching and Research
To share my work with the world I write practical, time-friendly books. What I share comes from my work with clients and groups. Get Productive! offers 36 short reflective exercises that will apply to anyone interested in working out their life purpose, figuring out their relationships, gaining more insight into how they tick and becoming more creative. It is a classic in personal development space.
The Get Productive Grid teaches my highly effective and simple framework for running a satisfying life by focusing on four areas: life, work, career and self-care. It teaches people how to attend to more of life and not tire.
My 30-day online goal-setting course with Psychologies Magazine is available now for anyone interested in taking concrete steps to improve their life from day one. In addition, I regularly teach executive level education and practitioner courses. All of my work is supported by research and my highly cherished weekly 1:1 coaching practice.
Tools and Product Design
To date, I have developed two frameworks for more effective living and working: the Get Productive Wheel and the Grid. I have written two books and produced a number of online learning programmes. But learning happens best when it’s reinforced with regular practices. For this reason I am developing workbooks and journals that invite people on a journey towards greater mastery of heart and mind connection.
All our products are imbued with energy of artists and craftsman and women that are already on a path of living this way. Their passion and skill is fuelled by curiosity and a desire to enrich others. If you want to partner with us on a specific product please get in touch.
Facilitation and Service
I collaborate with different institutions, social change makers and opinion leaders on projects concerning
- education
- talent and leadership development that can impact society
- creating workplace cultures that offer thriving conditions and equal opportunity for all.
To date I have given introductory training to my Get Productive Wheel model to over 1500 practitioners. I also serve as Vice-Chair for Association for Coaching and Therapy Professionals (AICTP) to contribute to the continuous development of our profession.
If you have an initiative that can benefit from my work in your part of the world please get in touch.