Category: Uncategorized

it’s ok to want what you want

Posted on by jplatt27

Deep down you know what you want.

It’s OK to want that.

In fact, it’s more than ok. It’s amazing. It’s necessary. There will be less tension and stress in the world if you do.

Give yourself permission to want that.

When you want what you want and own it, you give the universe permission to bring it to you. And when you get it, everybody wins. Because you’ll add a little more joy to the world.

Can you imagine if we all did that? If we all gave ourselves permission to want what we want? That little bit of peace from each of us would change the world.

one of the best things i’ve done for my mental health

Posted on by jplatt27
One of the best things I’ve done for my mental health in the last year is unsubscribe from the business building newsletter mailing lists I was on.
I’d read these emails and think I’m not good enough, I’m not doing enough. I don’t want to do that. I can’t do that. It just made me feel really shitty.
I knew I wasn’t going to build a successful business from that place of lack and I’m not good enough so I unsubscribed. And it made me feel a million times better.
If you’ve subscribed to something meant to be helpful and motivational but instead makes you feel small and shut down, it’s not doing it’s job and could possibly even be slowing you down from your goals.
If the dating sites are reminding you of how single you are and make you think “I’m never going to find the love of my life” take a break, don’t login for a while.
If listening to podcasts and reading articles about money make you feel hopeless and sad about your financial state, take a step back and don’t listen to those things for a bit.
If fitness pages on social media make you feel fat and inadequate, change your settings so those things don’t pop up in your news feed.
If reading blogs about positive psychology and your mindset overwhelm you, set up your reader so they’re not the first thing you see.
Step away. Unsubscribe. Funnel it into a folder where you don’t have to see it unless you choose to.
You do not deserve to feel shitty about yourself. I personally believe that you’ve got to love yourself into change. Approach it with hope, optimism, and love for the possibilities ahead.
If there are things that are coming across your screen that don’t allow you to feel good, inspired, and expanded, please, please, please, take the action necessary so they don’t come across your screen.
If they’re going to make you feel less than, get them out of your inbox.
You’ll be amazed at what mental creative energy will be opened up to you when you do.
What do you need to remove from your screen?
P.S. I sent this to my email list this morning. If you want to get things like this right in your inbox, subscribe here.

truth is, i’m an introvert

Posted on by jplatt27

If you know me in real life, you’d probably bet that I’m an extrovert. I’m very outgoing and love talking to people around me, including strangers.

Truth is I’m an introvert. While I can get some great energy from other people, I really need to be alone to recharge and I require a lot of alone time. Time spent reading, watching TV by myself, laying in bed and looking out the window. I need to start every day just with myself.

I feel pressure to go-go-go-go-go and hang with the group but I don’t like it and I’m certainly not my best self when I do that.

I feel a lot of guilt about this–that I don’t see my friends more and don’t see my family more (especially when we’re in PA) because I love them and I want them to know I love them (my love language is quality time, after all) and “if-I-did-love-them-I’d spend-every-minute-with-them-and-I-wouldn’t-get-tired.”

But I do.

Now that I’m realizing this and acknowledging it, it feels better. Because it’s not personal, it’s just me. Just what I need to be the best version of myself.

that’s me

Posted on by jplatt27

I love when I read something and think “oh my God, that’s me.” That’s exactly how I felt when I read this passage:

“So I decided that’s what God wanted to me to do. He wanted me to walk around telling people the truth. No mask, no hiding, no pretending. That was going to be my thing. I was going to make people feel better about their insides by showing them mine. By being my real self.” ~Glennon Doyle Melton, Carrior On Warrior

I try to do this here on my blog, but also in true, honest conversations with the people I interact with on a daily basis. I want authenticity to be my thing.

Have you read anything lately that made you think that’s me? If so, share in the comments.

don’t cry. don’t say that.

Posted on by jplatt27

I’m a crier. I’ve always been a crier and will always be a crier. I cry in conversations with friends, I cry at commercials. I’ve cried at work, and in yoga class, and in church. This is all pretty normal for me.

So take it from me, when someone is crying, the last thing they want to hear someone say is “don’t cry.” Please don’t say that. It doesn’t do anything for the person crying. When you say that, it cuts off the connection.

When someone is crying, you don’t necessarily have to say anything. When someone is crying, you don’t necessarily have to do anything.

The best thing you can do for a person crying is hold space for their tears.

Tears are sacred. Don’t be scared of them. Let them come. And let yourself be present for the person shedding them, whether that’s you, a loved one, or a stranger.

 

P.S. A beautiful little short on the power of empathy. Please watch this.

 

a quote to help with uncertainty

Posted on by jplatt27

I’ve been feeling a little uncertain about my career and purpose lately (read: since college) so this quote, shared in my Desire Map Book Club Facebook group, really resonated with me. I read it and felt like it was written just for me. If you’ve been feeling uncertain or anxious, I hope you find comfort in it too.

Sending so much love,
Joanna

“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”  ~Rainer Maria Rilke

i desire…

Posted on by jplatt27

desire

I’m leading a book group as part of Danielle LaPorte’s World’s Biggest Book Club. At the end of our last meeting we went around and shared, off the cuff, what we desire. (inspired by p. 23)

I desire…

to giggle with my husband at least once a day, to make a ritual of taking our future kids to Barnes and Noble and/or the library regularly to pick out new books together, to write, to have my words inspire and comfort other people, to host a standing Sunday brunch, to have a job that lights me up, to move my body every day in a way that feels right that day, to let go and feel free, to have fresh painted nails more often than not, to get in bed at the end of the day feeling a good kind of tired and already relaxed, to get lost in a good book, to go to happy hour regularly…

That’s all for now.

Wanna play? Share in the comments! It’s fun!

 

choc. chip cookies and basketball tickets

Posted on by jplatt27

cookie box 2

Earlier this week, I made cookies for colleagues that took time to speak to the Lafayette students I hosted for an externship (essentially a job shadow). I packed them up in little boxes that I got at Target and delivered them with a handwritten thank you note.

I was surprised at how touched my colleagues were by this gesture. I got so many thank you’s for my thank you. But it was more than that. It seemed like it really touched their hearts.

Then, my heart was really touched when I was on the receiving end of a gesture like that…

On Tuesday afternoon, I got an email from a colleague in athletics:

Joanna, Good afternoon. Would you like two tickets to the Men’s Basketball game tomorrow night? Let me know if you’d like them and I’ll place them at will call for you.

My colleague didn’t explicitly say that this was a “thank-you” but regardless I was touched by this generosity. By his thinking of me and taking time out of his day to do this for me.

These experiences got me thinking about gratitude and connection. I think people just want to know they’re valued. And to have that expressed with a gesture like cookies was really nice. To be offered basketball tickets totally out of the blue (I’ve never been to a game!) was an acknowledgement of respect. These little things go a really long way.

Talk to me:

Have you been acknowledged or thanked recently in a way that really touched your heart?

Is there someone in your life that you’d like to thank?

 

book review: bread and wine

Posted on by jplatt27

bread and wine

Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist was one of the most-wanted items on my Christmas list this year.

This book fell in the cozy category on the list and it was exactly that. A book to cuddle up with to be reminded about the joys of life. The tenderness of relationships and family.

This book filled me with hope and connected with my soul in a way that I’ve rarely experienced before.

The truths in this book brought me to tears or made me want to scream “yes!” Passages like:

That’s what shame does though. It whispers to us that everyone is as obsessed with our failings as we are. p. 230

The heart of hospitality is about creating space for someone to feel seen and heard and loved. It’s about declaring your table a safe zone, a place of warmth and nourishment. p.114

Basically, I just really liked this book. Climbing into bed to read a chapter or two or getting cozy on the couch on a weekend day was such a treat. Yep, that’s what this book was to me, a treat.

 

two ah-ha’s i had during coaching

Posted on by jplatt27

two cups of tea.jpg

I’ve had great sessions with my coach the last two weeks and had some big ah-ha moments. While they stand alone, they also relate to each other. In both cases, I almost cancelled the sessions because I “didn’t have anything to talk about.” I’m so glad I didn’t.

Here they are.

It’s OK to be OK.

This came during my first coaching session of the new year. I had a lot of things to look forward to and not much to really discuss. In the beginning of the session, I found myself almost searching for something tough, frustrating, or bothersome to talk about but nothing really came up or felt authentic to talk about in that moment. As I talked it out, I realized “it’s OK to be OK.” It’s OK to not have a complaint for a week. To be happy where you’re at and excited about where things are going. It’s OK to relish the times when things are going your way. When you’re feeling at peace.

In the my next session, I felt the same way. While I had a little bit of resistance and anxiety come up about some things coming down the pike, I’m mostly excited about the opportunities in front of me. I mentioned my fear and we acknowledged that it’s totally normal.

We kept talking about these opportunities and how they are so perfect for me. How they align really well with who I am, what I love, my strengths. They are perfect for me now and perfect to get me where I want to go in the future. We talked about how they fit into a future I hadn’t really openly considered until then. One thing lead to the next and 45-mins went by. Things came out that I had been thinking about and all these dots just connected. It was awesome. So powerful. And that’s when I realized…

Coaching isn’t only for conflicts and problems. It can also be about taking good to great. 

Uh, duh. You’d think I’d know this. Of course, as a coach myself I do know this.

So often we start coaching to get someone out of a conflict or help them make a decision that’s imminent. That what I’ve worked on myself and what I’ve worked on with clients.

But there is also so much value in talking through future ideas, brainstorming, talking about what’s working, why it’s working, and where we may want to go from here, how we can build on the goodness. It’s so powerful to have a space to talk through those types of things. I loved it.

And now that I know this, now that I’ve learned this through experience, I certainly won’t forget this anytime soon.

(You may have to remind me about the first one though…)

Sending love,

Jo