by Lesley Lyle | June, 2016 | Life and death
On June 10 2016, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a celebration of life service, for a colleague and friend who had recently moved on in her spiritual journey. It truly was a celebration of Jacqui’s life and I felt privileged and honoured to be there as part of her transcendence. The Transformation of Funerals Increasingly, the traditional British funeral is changing from that of solemnity and mourning to one of tribute and fond remembrance of the deceased’s lifetime achievements; an opportunity to remember the person when they were full of life, to laugh about the good times and keep happy memories alive as their soul moves on. The religious elements may or may not form part of the celebration – it depends on whom the person was and what they would have wanted. Sometimes, the burial or cremation is carried out during a separate service, allowing for a more private and intimate occasion for immediate family and friends; for others the celebration brings it all together. Colour is welcomed and black discouraged! After all, the afterlife is supposed to be full of light and brightness, not dark and sinister. Being Involved In Your Goodbye People have participated in planning their own funeral for time immemorial. It can’t be an easy task even with the strongest faith in your deity of choice. The thought of people saying farewell, pouring out their grief through tears and heartache can’t be the best way to spend your final days on this planet. Quite frankly, I should imagine it to be quite depressing. The bereaved family and friends will still...
by Lesley Lyle | June, 2016 | Education
As a teacher for the past 15 years I have always been interested in the question ‘why do some very able students fail to achieve their full potential yet other less able students fulfil their full potential and very often excel in school?’. Is it the teachers they have? Is it their parents? Is it that they have a growth mindset? Or, do they have more grit? If we could answer this question my life would become much easier, but maybe we are just going about things in the wrong way. Is making our students more ‘gritty’ the answer? Fundamentally, the way I see it is unless we can ignite a passion and drive for success and achievement in our children we will continue to have students who sit in our classroom disengaged. Angela Duckworth describes ‘grit’ as, perseverance and passion for long term goals’, and explains the 4 key components of grit being; 1. A tremendously deep interest in what you do 2. Capacity to practice 3. Sense of purpose- important to other people and not just you 4. Hope – you can’t be gritty without getting up after being knocked down However, consider a 14 year old student who has just opted to pick 9 GCSE subjects, some of which they have never heard of before or don’t know very much about, not to mention the subjects they have to choose like English, Maths and Science. Yes, we give them time to practice and learn the subject, yes there is a sense of purpose in what they are doing as they understand this will give them a...
by Brent O’Bannon | June, 2016 | Strengths
My coaching client discovered how Context helped him look back to live forward. He was struggling in his current career role. He lost his health, happiness and confidence. His #1 StrengthsFinder talent theme was Context and he loved looking back, reminiscing on his wonderful childhood. Collecting historical artifacts of the roaring 20’s – 30’s and memorabilia of Bonnie and Clyde also brought him immense joy. To help him live forward, grow his confidence and decrease stress in his life he created a man cave in his home. This private room where he would retreat represented his childhood and everything from history that he loved. Surrounded with childhood photos, model cars, and Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia from the past energized his current life. Understanding the Context Strength Context is ranked 30th in the frequency rating of all 34 StrengthsFinder talent themes and is in my bottom five. But I’ve had the privilege of coaching many people with context and these folks are especially talented in thinking about the past, understanding the history and using history to better make decisions going forward in today’s world. They love recalling memories and reading information about bygone days. Context is a strategic thinking strength and is most likely paired with the talent theme of Input at .24 percent. It is least likely paired with Command, Focus and Significance at .01 percent. Words that describe people with context are historians, recorders, archeologists, and genealogists. They love understanding and collecting the history of the past. The Balcony of Context Context helps us to not repeat the failures of history. It helps us leverage the knowledge of the...
by Lesley Lyle | May, 2016 | self-development
For years I have considered myself a procrastinator. I am always full of ideas; plans and goals but seem to lack the initiative to actually get them off the ground. I first learnt the word at the ripe old age of 19, when I was living and working in Toronto. I was working at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club as part of my 6-month work placement during my higher education. In the informal dining area we served a dish called `The Procrastinators Breakfast’. I had to look it up to understand what it meant and very quickly self-diagnosed myself as suffering from this condition. As if to prove my point, I didn’t make it up the CN Tower or to the Skydome, until my very last week in the city! Nemesis In my last blog, `Beating the Post Holiday Blues’, I mentioned my nemesis being the dreaded P word. In fact, when I researched our website for other references using the P word, I got 2 results, both from my own blogs. I definitely have a thing about it! Nemesis is actually a strong word when you think about it. It is described as being the downfall, undoing, ruin, ruination and destruction. Does this really apply to me? Of course not! We are our own worst critic. When I actually stop and think about my lifetime achievements, I actually feel proud of what I have done. As I grow older, I find it easier to learn and move on from my mistakes. Sometimes, I am simply too hard on myself. Self-proclaiming myself as a procrastinator is giving me an...
by Lesley Lyle | May, 2016 | Education
Should character development become an addition to the UK education system? As an educator for the past 14 years working in the UK I have thought long and hard over this time about how our education system could benefit from teaching our children the importance of developing key skills needed for a flourishing life. Skills such as perseverance, determination, passion, self-control and delayed gratification, teaching students to sacrifice what they want now in order to get what they really want in the future. Through my own experience some teachers teach these skills in their classrooms every day but you’d be hard pushed to find a school that has this at its core as their fundamental principles. KIPP Charter Schools Network While studying my MAPP I developed a greater interest in ‘grit’ and the work of Angela Duckworth from the University of Pennsylvania. Angela Duckworth teamed up with David Levin of the KIPP charter school network and Dominic Randolf of Riverdale Country school, who both taught students from New York city at opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum. Both David and Randolf however, believed in the importance of character development in schools and set about to find the impact this has on student’s achievement and success. They created character development report cards and for the first time their schools reported children’s character growth to parents. These reports scored children on the seven performance character strengths of self-control, zest, grit, optimism, gratitude, social intelligence and curiosity. Yet, I have to question how teachers effectively assess these strengths in their students. For example, one measure of self-control is to ask staff how...
