Imagine you’re in charge of marketing for your organization.  And you come up with a brilliant idea: let’s get people to buy LESS of our product!

What a minute – what!?!  Seriously?  You’d be fired.  …Wouldn’t you?

Not necessarily.

A week ago a friend of mine forwarded an inspiring message that began like this:

Today is Cyber Monday. It will likely be the biggest online shopping day ever. Cyber Monday was created by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to focus media and public attention on online shopping. But Cyber Monday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet.

 

Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time – and leave a world inhabitable for our kids – we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else.

 

Environmental bankruptcy, as with corporate bankruptcy, can happen very slowly, then all of a sudden. This is what we face unless we slow down, then reverse the damage. We’re running short on fresh water, topsoil, fisheries, wetlands – all our planet’s natural systems and resources that support business, and life, including our own.

The email goes on to detail the environmental costs of one of Patagonia’s popular jackets: enough water for the daily needs of 45 people.  24 times the weight of the jacket in carbon emissions.  And that’s for a jacket made of 60% recycled material.

This kind of transparency coupled with a counter-intuitive “buy less” plea is risky from a business perspective.  How can it possibly make business sense to ask your customers not to buy, especially during the biggest retail season of the year?

Know What you Stand For

It makes sense because Patagonia stands for something beyond business success.  Obviously the company needs to make money to survive.  But that’s not why they’re in business.  Since its inception, Patagonia’s mission has been to foster the enjoyment, exploration, and protection of wild places.  An essential part of their reason for being is to “use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”

This is not a new commitment for Patagonia.  In fact, they have a history of taking risky actions with a similar flavor.  Back in the 1960‘s Patagonia was manufacturing rock climbing gear under the name Chouinard Equipment.  Unfortunately, as climbing grew in popularity, overuse of Chouinard’s popular pitons resulted in substantial damage to climbing routes.  Although pitons were the mainstay of the business and the flagship product upon which the company was founded, the owners decided to phase them out.  Within two years they had invented an alternative that solved the problem and revolutionized the climbing world.

In hindsight, this looks like the brilliant move that it was.  But back when they made the decision, it was a real risk.  With no way to predict the outcome, Chouinard Equipment put their primary source of revenue on the line.  That’s commitment.

Embody Your Values

When you know what you stand for, and when it’s something that you truly, genuinely, authentically care about, you’ll take risks on its behalf.  Sometimes big ones.  Stepping into that risk is the mark of true leadership.

There’s a difference between espoused values and embodied values.  Espoused values  can be inspiring.  They’re usually well-intended.  But too often, they wind up being just words on a page, a list of platitudes, or so much hot air.

Embodied values are values that you take action on.  Consistently.  Even when it’s hard.  Even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, counter-intuitive, or disruptive.  You don’t need to put your embodied values down on paper, because they’re the ones you’re already living.

What commitments do you embody?  What are you willing to risk on behalf of what you care about?  What’s one bold, values-aligned leadership move you can make to bring your life, your team, or your organization another step forward into the future you dream of?

Build a Better World

The folks at Patagonia know that if you’re inspired by their message – if you do buy less – then we all win.  And they hope that on those rare occasions when you need a new jacket, you’ll remember who inspired you, and choose Patagonia.

They can’t know for sure how this will impact their business.  But they know how it impacts their core values and the difference they want to make.  And at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.

PS  I encourage you to watch Patagonia’s 3 minute video and if you’re so moved, take – and most importantly, honor – Patagonia’s Common Threads Pledge.  I did.

A few weeks ago a client came to me with tears in her eyes.  “I need your help,” she said.  “I’m just so overwhelmed.  I know I need to say no to some things, but honestly I just feel like I can’t.  Help!”

I could feel the desperation behind her words.  This particular client has a job that keeps her constantly on the run.  Her role requires her to be super-responsive… as do her young kids, her aging parents, and her volunteer commitments.  She’s so busy she barely has space to breathe.

I mean that quite literally.  Her normal, everyday way of breathing is a short pant.  Her shoulders shrug up around her ears as if she’s shouldering a great burden.  This makes it hard for her to get a full breath.  (Try it yourself – lift up your shoulders and see how it affects your breathing.)  At times she has a look of panic in her eyes.  Inhabiting her body this way affected the way she was responding to the overwhelm.

Pretend I’m Your Overwhelm

“OK”, I said.  “Let’s see how I can help.”  We stood up and I gave her some short instructions.  I would represent the many requests she hears each day, ranging from “you need to work out a new contract with this vendor” to “Mom, can you help with my homework?”.  As I walked toward her with a request, she had some choices for how to react.  She could join with me and walk in my direction, (meaning, “sure, I can do that”) let me go by, (“not now, maybe later”) or turn me back in the other direction (“no, I’m sorry I can’t help with that.”)

Standing a few feet apart, I walked towards her with the first request.  Then I turned around and approached her again wtih another request.  And another.  And another.  I sped up the pace.  I made more requests.  I put the pressure on.  I acted like her life.

Under pressure, she spun out.  Although she could have stepped aside and let some of my requests just go by, she felt compelled to interact with me every time.  As the pace increased, she started to back away as I approached.  After each request she would spin around to deal with the next thing – sometimes spinning several times before she moved on.

In this way, her body revealed exactly what she does in her life.  Her embodied response to overwhelm – what she does immediately and automatically, without even thinking about it – is to respond to every request.  She fails to discern what’s important to her, and she responds to everything in equal measure, though rarely with her best.  In trying to do the impossible and deal with everything that’s thrown at her, she gets panicked and spun out, using far more energy than is needed to deal with the onslaught effectively.

Move From Love

The next thing I did was to ask her why it was important to say no to some things.  “Because of my health,” she said.  “And my family.  I want to feel better, and I want to be able to spend more time with my kids.”  We explored this a bit, until she could really feel the longing for better health and more family time.  That longing was the fuel we needed for the next step.

Once she felt connected to what she truly cares about, I had her practice what it felt like to be relaxed in her body: shoulders dropped, breath dropped, eyes relaxed.  Then we went back to the requests.

I approached her again with requests for her time and attention.  This time, the entire interaction had a very different feel.  Even though I kept the pace up and the pressure on, this time she was relaxed and present.  She kept her top priorities about health and family in mind.  She addressed some requests, and let others go by, making deliberate choices about what to respond to.  At times the sense of panic would return; then she would take a deep breath, relax further, and face the next thing head on.  By relaxing more she stayed in command of the situation.

And get this – as the person making the requests, I felt better taken care of.  Rather than being subject to her panicked, spun out, frantic energy, I could feel that she was really with me.  She didn’t respond every time I asked her to do something, but when she did, she was really there.  And that made the whole experience much more pleasant on my end, too.

Relax, The Pressure’s On

There are quite a few lessons you can draw from this experience.  I’ll tease out just a few.

1. You are at your most powerful when you are relaxed.
An alert, attentive, relaxed stance is the most effective way to enter into nearly any situation. Too much tension robs you of your brilliance.  Think of an Olympic diver on a high dive, or a master violinist about to play to a large audience.  Yes, the pressure’s on, but these elite athletes and musicians know a paradoxical secret: the more relaxed you are, the more your performance improves.  Imagine the diver tensing up before he launches off the platform – how do you think that dive would go?

2. Center in what you care about.
If you find yourself feeling spun out and overwhelmed, relax, connect to what you care about, and be choiceful about what you take on.  Respond to those things that are aligned with your cares, and leave aside those that aren’t.  The free Stress to Serenity Guide can help with that.

3. Taking care of yourself takes care of others, too.
Relaxing and slowing down can change the entire tone of an interaction.  Although it may feel like you need to speed up to meet everyone’s demands, it’s likely that relationships will improve if you instead relax under pressure and say no when you need to.

And the Story Goes On

This client now knows what it feels like to relax under pressure and say no when she needs to.  She’s experienced how doing so can actually strengthen relationships.  Now she’s taking that experience into her daily life.  With practice, this can become more than just an insight or a memory – it can become a new way of being in the world that allows her more freedom, more choice, and more of what she loves.

I invite you to practice right now, too.  Before you move on to tackle your next task, consider this:  What’s most deeply important to you?  Not your idea of what’s important, but what feels important.  What makes your heart sing?  When do you feel love?  What’s the future you most want to live your way into?  Pause for a moment and get connected to that.  Take a deep breath and relax into it.  Release any tension you might be holding, as best you can.

Yes, you’ve got a lot to do.  Me too.  For the sake of our own lives and for the sake of the world, let’s practice doing the most important things, with love.

Last week I was on a very turbulent flight that nearly knocked us out of the sky.  It was the kind of flight where the pilots offered frequent updates that walked the fine line between honest and reassuring, the flight attendants cracked weak jokes meant to put us at ease, and nearly everybody felt queasy, nervous, and afraid.  As for me, I gripped the armrests til my hands hurt, moaned under my breath at each free-fall, and thought of the ones I love.

That is, until I remembered my feet.

At a certain point I realized that all of my attention was on the lurching and jerking, the moment-to-moment unpredictability, and my fear.  What I was paying attention to was only amplifying my discomfort.  But as soon as I realized where my attention was, I remembered that I had the option to pay attention to something else.  And the choice I made was to feel my feet.

This had a calming, grounding, settling effect on me.  As I felt the coolness in my toes and became aware of the fabric of my socks against my feet, my fear started to subside.  Not immediately and not completely, mind you, but enough to make the flight more bearable, if not actually pleasant.  And not because the flight stopped being scary, but because I shifted my attention from fear to curiosity.

Turbulent Conversations

As I reminded myself to feel my feet over and over, a conversation I had several years ago came to mind.  At the time, I was working in a General Manager role inside a consulting firm.  The firm had acquired the rights to a classic book that had gone out of print.  Part of my job was to work with the author to re-publish the book.

Unfortunately the author, who was nearing the end of an illustrious but somewhat obscure career, epitomized the classic caricature of a grumpy old man.  My suggestions, plans, and ideas were typically met with gruff and uncooperative responses.  Profanity at top-volume was not uncommon.  Needless to say, I had a really hard time working with this guy.

The conversation in question took place on a beautiful spring day.  I was outside on my deck, speaking to him on the phone.  Or rather, he was speaking to me, delivering a tirade of abuse and making a personal attack on my character for a minor glitch that I had actually played no part in.

Up until this point, I had always tried to soothe and appease him when he flew off the handle.  I simply didn’t know another way.  He scared me, and in my fear I shrank away from the conflict.  But by now I had started studying somatics, and I decided to put what I had learned to use.

Amidst his shouting, I felt my feet contacting the boards of the deck.  I noticed the warmth of the sun on my skin.  I felt all the churning in my stomach – anger about how off-base he was, and the fluttering in my chest – anxiety about what I was about to do.  I felt all of this intense sensation, and then without shutting it down, I centered myself for my next move.

“Jack,” I said gently but firmly, “the way you are speaking to me right now does not make me want to partner with you.  This book is your baby.  We want to work with you to get it out there, and you and I need each other to make that happen.  But if you can’t treat me with some basic respect then there’s no way we’re going to be successful doing that.  We’ll both fail.”

That sounds simple enough, but at the time standing up for myself like this was both unfamiliar and scary.  I don’t know what I thought would happen if I insisted on being treated with respect, but I certainly felt uncomfortable doing it!  So imagine my utter shock and surprise when he timidly replied, “you’re right, I was out of line.”

From that point forward, things were different.  He still was who he was, of course.  All of his communication habits continued, but now I was in a position to call him on it.  And when I did, he was responsive.  Eventually we got the book published to everyone’s satisfaction.

Adjusting the Flight Plan As You Go: The Power of Presence

It’s important to note that nothing about this moment was planned.  My words weren’t rehearsed.  When I opened my mouth to speak, I had no idea what I was going to say.

Turbulent conversations are like this.  There’s really no way to prepare for them.  Instead you need to be able to engage with the moment in a very attentive and effective way.  That means embodying certain skills – like centering yourself, or taking a stand for your own dignity, or making a clear request, or holding someone accountable – that are essential for building relationships and getting things done.  Embodying those skills means you can naturally take the appropriate action in the moment, without having to think it through first.

I was able to make a more effective move in the conversation because I was more present to everything going on in that moment – the sound of Jack’s voice, the warmth of the sun, the feel of my feet on the floor.  Sensations like these only happen in the present moment, so the more you pay attention to your sensations, the more present you’ll become.  And the more present you are, the greater your capacity to respond freshly and appropriately in the moment.

Feel Your Feet

There’s so much more to look at in this conversation: how to effectively take a stand for yourself; how to address someone with the level of power that matches their ability to hear and respond; how to find the words and speak them when in the past they’ve been stuck in your throat.  All of these are good explorations for the future, and I’ll take them up in future posts.

For now, just consider this – how much do you feel your feet on a day-to-day basis?  Check in with yourself a few times today.  How might it help you to pay more attention to your sensations and get more present for turbulent conversations… or even pleasant ones?  Experiment and let me know.

Trust isn’t a soft skill, it’s a hard skill.  With it, great things can be accomplished.  Without it, nothing gets done.

If you’re trying to create change of any kind – whether it’s changing the world or changing your accounting system – you’re going to need people to align with your vision.  How do you build the kind of trust that allows that to happen?

A Tale of Two Leaders

Years ago I was working at a large company when a new General Manager was hired in.  On his first day, Parker called the entire division – about 300 people – together for a mandatory meeting.  He started off by saying “Over the next several months, I’ll get to know each of you.  But as of today, your job is to follow my directives.  And you don’t know me from a hole in the wall.  That doesn’t seem fair.”

He went on to tell us about the personal and professional journey that brought him to this place and time.  Within weeks I forgot many of the details, but over a decade later one thing stands out in my mind: he didn’t stop at sharing his successes.

Earlier in his career, he had founded a business that turned out to be, in his words, a ”spectacular failure.”  He talked about how he leveraged the learning from that experience to help him become a better leader.  He spoke with honesty, humility, and humor.  Of the many impressive accomplishments he shared, this was the one that humanized him, that made him easy to relate to, and that made me confident the right person had been hired for the job.

Contrast this with another leader hired into the same company a few years later.  Sharon also held a mandatory meeting somewhere near the beginning of her stint.  When we arrived, a woman we didn’t recognize stood up and started talking about the financials from last quarter, the plans for the next quarter, and what was expected of us, even going so far as to attempt to pull a tepid cheer from the crowd.  I guess she assumed we knew who she was.  By the end of the meeting, many of us still didn’t.

Unfortunately, this leader’s many fine qualities were buried under the mistrust created by this initial gaffe.  She had a lot of catching up to do.

Why Trust Is So Essential

Trust is one of those things that you can’t see or touch or count or point to, and yet its absence creates all kinds of mischief.  And when its present, magic can happen.

This is because we humans are wired to scan for safety, connection, and dignity.  There are structures in the right hemisphere of your brain and in the limbic system that are devoted to making these assessments.  This protective mechanism is at work 24/7, automatically evaluating how any given situation impacts you.

When you feel safe, connected, and respected, that frees up energy to focus on the task at hand.  That’s why teams with a high degree of trust can successfully remain focused on the end goal when surprises, bumps in the road, and changes in plan occur.

When safety, connection, or respect are compromised, some amount of energy gets diverted to protection, fear, worry, resistance, and resentment.  That inevitably becomes a drain on what you’re trying to achieve together.

Creating Trust

Like so many of the essential intangibles of life, trust often lies outside of our awareness, and frequently suffers accordingly.  Putting some attention on it can pay big dividends.  So let’s take a look at what worked about Parker’s approach.

First, he began by acknowledging our concerns about having a new leader.  With this one action, he essentially said “I see you, I get where you’re coming from, and your point of view is legitimate.” It was a simple but powerful demonstration of respect.

He also connected with us, in part by using humor.  To do this well, you have to be “in tune” with others – what neuroscience author Dan Siegel calls attunement or “feeling felt.”  This ineffable quality is what creates the felt sense of being connected with another person.  We tend to cringe in the absence of attunement, like when Sharon tried unsuccessfully to manufacture excitement.  Without a real connection, this felt like a technique out of a handbook, and it just fell flat.

Parker also took the risk of sharing about his life in a genuine, authentic way.  It would be easy (but erroneous) to conclude from his example that the road to greater connection is to share your vulnerabilities publicly.  The truth is, it’s not so much about what you choose to share… it’s more about how you say it.  His delivery was genuine and authentic, and by being so, he invited the same from us.

Practical Steps for Action

It would be ridiculous to attempt to boil the art of building trust down into “3 Easy Steps.”  But I do want to offer some possibilities for practice.  So at the risk of vastly oversimplifying, here are a few useful things to pay attention to.

Respect.
Get good at listening.  Ask more questions.  Make sure you understand the other party’s point of view.  Know what’s important to them, take it seriously, and acknowledge it.

Connect.
Attunement is a body-and-emotion thing, not a thinking thing.  Check in with yourself about how the exchange feels to you: is it more tense or more relaxed?  Jittery or flowing?  Speedy or sluggish?  And how are these qualities affecting the level of connection you feel?  To increase the level of connection, talk about what you’ve noticed.  “This conversation feels bumpy to me… do you feel the same?  How can we shift it?”

Be real.
Authenticity comes from an embodied sense of ease and a strong congruence between what you’re saying and your way of being.  Because our brains are built to read non-verbal cues, people pick up on it when what you say doesn’t match what you feel.  This is a subtle process that happens without our having to pay any conscious attention to it.  You know when you leave a conversation saying “I don’t know what’s up, but something about that just didn’t feel right.”  When you’re not being real, you can inadvertently have that kind of impact on others.  You can avoid that unfortunate outcome by being more authentic.

And when all else fails, keep this time-tested wisdom in mind:

People won’t remember what you said, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel.

And you?

Where would your projects benefit from a higher level of trust?  What have you done to try and build that?  I invite you to share what’s worked for you (and what hasn’t) so we can all learn.

Coming Soon…

I find that whenever I write one article, I come up with ideas for many more.  So here’s a preview of coming attractions.  I’d love to hear what would help you most, so please share your preferences and suggestions below.   To get these articles in your inbox, subscribe here.

Repair Broken Trust: how to rebuild trust when something has compromised it
Become a Mind Reader: read people better and understand the impact you’re having
The Power of Posture: how you sit, stand, and walk influences your actions and your results
Pressure’s On – Prepare Wisely: non-verbal communication accounts for more than 90% of your message.  What percentage of time do you devote to preparing yourself for the non-verbal part of your high-stakes presentations and conversations?

You know how someone else’s bad mood can sometimes ruin your whole day?  The other day I boarded a crowded shuttle from a hotel to the airport.  There was chaos in and outside the van as the driver rushed to get everyone taken care of.  As I got on board, it was hard to miss how agitated and annoyed the woman sitting next to me was.

“Uh oh,” I thought. “I’m gonna be sitting next to her for the next 45 minutes.  This ain’t gonna be fun.”  I anticipated an unpleasant ride.  I was annoyed that she was annoyed (how do you like that!) and I wanted to move away from her.

Bad Moods Are Like Butter

Recently I’ve had a number of conversations about how to deal with someone else’s bad mood when it’s negatively impacting another person, a project, or a team.  One leader I know has a team member who exploded at work the other day, and now he’s wondering how to hold this employee accountable for more appropriate standards of behavior.  Someone else is anticipating dealing with neighbors who are resistant to change as she works to calm traffic patterns and make her city more bike and pedestrian friendly.

The trouble is, bad moods are infectious.  Like a melting stick of butter, they easily spread and cling.  One upset person can drag a whole shuttle van, team, or household right into the depths along with them, until everybody’s storming off into their separate corners and the problem has escalated into high drama.  I’m sure you know what that’s like.

Good Moods Are Like Butter, Too

Fortunately, this phenomena isn’t just limited to bad moods.  Good moods are also infectious.  When you have the ability to manage your own mood, you can positively impact others’ moods.  Apart from being more pleasant and satisfying (as if that weren’t enough on its own) this can have far-reaching effects that you often can’t anticipate.

Take the example of the woman in the van.  I could have done many things: lose myself in checking my phone; strike up a conversation with another passenger; tell her to just relax and chill out.  Or my personal favorite: avoid the situation altogether while seething inwardly and blaming her for ruining my day.

Instead, I chose to reach out to her.  Before I said anything, I reflected for a moment on what it’s like for me when the world is not cooperating with my plans and I’m feeling impatient, frustrated, and annoyed.  In that moment I could relate to what she might be feeling, and it was in that spirit that I spoke up.

Butter Makes Some Delicious Things

I don’t even recall what exactly I said to her.  What I do remember is that I extended my goodwill and care in her direction, and we wound up deeply engrossed in a wonderful conversation.  By the time we reached her stop we were both disappointed that it had to end so soon.  We wound up exchanging business cards and promising to continue the conversation.  Talk about your unanticipated outcomes!

As much as I enjoyed that experience, there’s a legitimate question to be asked: what happens when the stakes are higher?  What about when you’re working on a really important project?  Or when you’ve already been infected by the other person’s bad mood?

Leadership Alchemy (or, Baking With Butter Instead of Making a Mess)

There are countless things you can do to cultivate a positive mood of openness and possibility.  These are a few of the things that have worked for me and my clients.

1. Feel yourself first.

Before you try to change anything at all about you, the other person, or the situation, notice everything you can about what’s going on with you.  Feel your sensations.  Is your heart racing?  How about your shoulders, your legs, your jaw… are they tense or relaxed?  Do you feel numb or spaced out?  Angry, upset, afraid?  Check in with every part of your body and emotions.  See if you can notice and name 5 or more things about what you’re feeling.

This is such a simple thing that you may be tempted to skip this step.  I urge you not to.  Paying attention to what you’re feeling will bring you more fully present.  And ultimately it’s your presence that will make the difference.

2. Shift your own mood.

This is easier said than done – especially when you’re triggered – but with practice, it becomes more and more accessible.  Take a deep breath and relax your whole body.  Look for one place in your body that’s particularly contracted or tense, and see if you can soften it by just 10%.  If you can’t seem to soften it, tighten it more.  Hold that contraction for a few moments, and then let it go.

If you have a particularly strongly held perspective on the situation, see if you can relax that a bit, too.  Try imagining two or three other points of view that might be just as valid as the one you hold.

Now check in with yourself: how has your mood shifted?  What mood are you in now?

3. Approach with a spirit of goodwill and a centered presence.

In a future article I’ll talk about how to take a stand for your point of view.  But for now, momentarily drop your own agenda in favor of connecting and listening.  Bear in mind that trying to change someone else rarely works, and often backfires.  Rather than trying to manipulate the situation towards any particular outcome, see if you can just make a genuine connection with a fellow human being.  Bring to mind a time when you might have felt a similar way about a different situation; see if you can put yourself in their shoes.  Extend your goodwill and care from a place of genuine empathy.

If the other person isn’t receptive to your overtures, don’t take it personally.  That probably has more to do with them than with you.  Don’t let them stop you from being your best self.  Just go back to noticing what you’re feeling and shifting your mood.

More Help

Of course, all of this is easy enough to say in an article.  Actually doing it – especially when you’re under pressure – can be a lot more difficult to put into action.  If you’d like some help with this I invite you to download my free 7-Day Centering Challenge.  (Still under construction… but coming soon!)  In it I share a simple practice that will help you build a more centered presence.  If you use it for two weeks in a row and send me your results, you’ll be eligible for a discount on a course or a coaching program.  (Good through Dec 31, 2011.)

Why am I offering this?  Because what I’ve learned works.  It’s helped me, it’s helped hundreds of others, and I want it to be available to as many people as possible.  Really.

And you?

Can you remember a time when you “infected” someone else with your positive mood?  How did you do it?  I’d love to hear.

Because if I only work only 1 on 1 and in small groups, a lot fewer people will benefit.

Because I want to connect more with YOU – the good folks who can take what I have to share and put it to good use in the world.

My aim with this blog is to expose the world-changing leaders inside progressive companies to Embodied Leadership – a powerful, holistic approach to personal and social transformation.

I want to help more people than I could ever help in person.

I want to make somatics more available and more accessible to people who are doing good things in the world, so that they (you!) can accelerate your impact.  So that the transformations we so badly need – to greater ecological health, to more equity and greater social justice, and to a true prosperity that values a rich quality of life over an empty standard of living – happen faster.

So really, revolution is what I’m after, and nothing less.  But I can’t do it alone.  None of us can.  I need all of you.  We need each other.

So welcome.  I’m glad you came.  Poke around a bit and see what’s useful to you.  I’m looking forward to sharing what I can to help you increase your influence and effectiveness.  And your sense of satisfaction.  And your joy.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Whaddaya think… is that too ambitious for a simple little blog?  I guess we’ll find out.