Heart | Balanced Action

Comic: What is a Leader?

November 12, 2015 by philipp68

These last couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time discussing what it needs to create a work environment where people can thrive. Here a short comic style summary, what I learned about leadership. I strongly believe that a great work environment is a place where everyone is encouraged to lead. It’s a place where you’re asked to dream about where you would like to go and find time and space to share what you believe in […]

Categories: Comic • Tags: Emotion, Fear, Heart, Leaders, Mind, Modern Workplace, Teaching

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Sketch: The dance of mind, hand and heart

October 21, 2015 by philipp68

Creating is a dance between mind, hand and heart. It does not matter what we do nor how good we’re at it. The dance is always the same. I strongly believe that the key to happier work is to learn how to let this internal dance happen in a way so that mind, hand and heart all get their turn. Let’s dance Let’s have a look at today’s sketch. It shows hand, mind and heart dancing together, creating a drawing. […]

Categories: Sketch • Tags: Action, Heart, Mind, Modern Workplace, Wisdom

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Steve McCurry, Golden Rock, Kyaiktiyo, Myanmar

Sketch: A great guide

September 14, 2015 by philipp68

I believe that having a great guide on your side makes it so much easier to appreciate an art exhibition. It’s the same in our lives: Having someone pointing out what we would have otherwise missed, makes it easier to see the magic in life. Visiting an exhibition Last Sunday we took a guided tour to see Steve McCurry’s famous photographs. I had strolled through the exhibition before. But his time, with an excellent storyteller on our side, the whole experience […]

Categories: Sketch • Tags: Emotion, Heart, Mind

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Sketch: The immune system rocks

July 30, 2015 by philipp68

These last couple of days I have been at home, drinking a lot of tea, sleeping long hours and slowly getting better from a bad cold. Browsing through my notebook I decided to post the following sketch, showing the deeper layers of our body. Thank you immune system, for helping me and kindly telling that virus to find shelter somewhere else. In the meantime, let’s discuss similarities between the inner and the outer world to continue the series I started two weeks […]

Categories: Sketch • Tags: Body, Heart, Mind

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Sketchnote: Brené Brown on the power of vulnerability

January 29, 2014 by philipp68

Connections can happen if we have to courage to take our emotional armor off In an emotional, funny talk, Brené Brown shares a deep insight from her research: We need to live wholeheartedly, lean into the messy side of life. Only if we let ourselves be seen, can connections happen. We all know how difficult it is to lean into fear, shame and disappointment. How much easier it is to try to numb bad feelings by having a “couple of beers […]

Categories: Sketchnotes • Tags: Emotion, Heart, Sketchnote, Vulnerability, Wisdom

Inviting a monster for tea (or beer)

November 16, 2012 by philipp68

With tears in my eyes I finished the powerful children’s book A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay. It tells the story of 13-year-old Conor O’Malley. His mother has cancer; he is terrified to lose her. The failure of anyone to address the reality of the situation exacerbates Conor’s bewilderment, anger, frustration, guilt and internal loneliness. Then one night, after one of his nightmares, he is visited by a terrifying monster – a yew tree in his garden […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Compassion, Emotion, Fear, Heart, Monster

Laugh more – Laugh wisely

October 1, 2012 by philipp68

I just came back from a 3 hour a day laughing holiday. The laughing part was completely unexpected and very welcome. A big hug to all In Sabina Yogis for this wonderful week! It made me realize how laughter creates a strong bond between complete strangers, bridges cultural differences and helps us connect to our inner kid, our true self. Let’s find out how we can bring back more laughter from our childhood to adult work and life. Your inner […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Heart, Laughter, Modern Workplace

Monkey Business: Did you ever get soaked, while trying to grab a Banana?

July 22, 2012 by philipp68

In 1967 G. R. Stephenson conducted an experiment with a group of rhesus monkeys. The experiment shows how we acquire behavior. I think studying the way the experiment was conduced shows something else: It shows that monkeys would never have acted the way they did, if they had been left alone to live their life in peace. I believe the natural state of monkeys and humans is to be good. It’s the experiments, which drive us crazy. The experiment went […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Buddhism, Compassion, Heart, Illusion

Merit or Duty Part 2: Breaking out of the imaginary caste system at work

July 13, 2012 by philipp68

In the last post I briefly outlined how believing in “merit” shapes the way we look at the world. How the moment we start comparing ourselves with the people around us can create a deep sense of anxiety. What if we would believe in our dharma, our duty? Would this help to look at work and life with more compassion? Be more forgiving towards us, if things don’t turn out as expected? Let’s find out. Dharma can be understood as […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Bhagavad Gita, Dharma, Heart, Meritocracy

The Bhagavad Gita Part 3: The Art of Action

July 4, 2012 by philipp68

The last post ended with the mental image of the “battlefield of life”. On one side the strong army of negativity, on the other the fighters for positivity. We in the middle, afraid that we might loose the battle, that things could turn out even worse than they feel at the moment. The drawing above represents the moment the battle starts. A moment on the journey of life, hesitating to take the next step. Looking back, remembering past experiences, constructing […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Body, Compassion, Decision, Heart, Wisdom

The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?

June 12, 2012 by philipp68

This is the first of a series of posts, where I would like to explore how an ancient text like the Bhagavad Gita can help us taking overdue decisions and engaging in action. I use the example of decision making, because in life and at work we often hesitate to take decisions, especially if a decisions leads to actions we would like to avoid. We act a little bit like Arjuna, the hero of the Gita, in the opening of […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Body, Decision, Dharma, Heart, Intuition, Mind, Wisdom

A Lack of Appreciation

May 18, 2012 by philipp68

Ever felt frustrated because you don’t get enough appreciation at work for what you do? You are not alone. Did it ever happen to you that you invest all your energy into your work, create something beautiful, something you are proud of and then receive no or only negative feedback? It seems to be a common illness of this world, especially the corporate world. As kids we doodle something and our parents say: “Wonderful, nice colors, incredible, you will be […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Appreciation, Compassion, Heart, Wisdom

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Balanced Action

Thoughts on Life & Work

Tag: Heart

Comic: What is a Leader?

Sketch: The dance of mind, hand and heart

Sketch: A great guide

Sketch: The immune system rocks

Sketchnote: Brené Brown on the power of vulnerability

Inviting a monster for tea (or beer)

Laugh more – Laugh wisely

Monkey Business: Did you ever get soaked, while trying to grab a Banana?

Merit or Duty Part 2: Breaking out of the imaginary caste system at work

The Bhagavad Gita Part 3: The Art of Action

The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?

A Lack of Appreciation