Espresso Shot 23: S.O.U.L.ful Living

You are never going to forget this episode! Another powerful Espresso Shot gleaned from Nicoa's travels across the globe. This time a trip to INDIA sparks some deep reflection in Nicoa's life about what matters most. She creates a powerful TOOL to help not only herself, but her clients reset and live a legacy they want to leave behind in their Lives By Design. Now you can apply it to your life, TOO!

Stop: Take a deep breath. Wiggle your toes. Center and ground yourself in this moment.
Observe: Who are you in this moment. Pick one of the many hats you wear and simply wear that one hat that applies to this circumstance.
Understand: What matters most to YOU with this hat one? Reflect on the values, the standards, the behaviors that align with that.
Live: Live the legacy you want to leave behind now - ACT accordingly. Trust that you are now in alignment to your Life By Design.

S.O.U.L.ful Living is MINDful Living

Transcript

Nicoa Coach: 0:02

sometimes don't you just need a quick moment of inspiration. Or maybe you just need a moment of caffeinated contemplation to reflect on life. That's the idea behind my weekly coffee with Nicoa espresso shots. I'll be sharing short jolts of inspiration in each clip. In addition to my longer Coffee with Nicoa interview episodes, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an espresso shot, or a full length Coffee with Nicoa interview created just for you. Good morning, coming to you live from the banks of Whiskey Creek. Live to me, not to you. But that little jokes getting old. But I want to tell you a story. I'll never forget the time that I had been traveling in India, I had flown out of I believe we were living in probably Raleigh, North Carolina. I had flown out of Raleigh, headed to India for four day trip. Now, if anyone has ever traveled that far across the world, you know that a four day trip to India is not enough time. But we had a two day meeting. So that meant one day over two days there one day back. And I had to leave on a weekend. So I believe the kids and the stay at home dad behind while I went off to be this executive human resources person and meet the team in India. We had recently acquired this company, and we wanted to meet everybody. And it was a great meeting. It was intense, I was exhausted. A couple of things I'll never forget one. As I worried about my open toed shoes about to head to the office, I put my foot up on the edge of the window sill of the American styled hotel that we were staying in. I was probably on the 15th floor. As I put my toes up to make sure my toenail polish, didn't need repair. I looked over my foot down onto the rooftop of another building nearby in a smaller neighborhood. Remember, I'm in India, I looked down and I watch this teenager and another young boy come out onto their rooftop. And they proceeded to wash themselves out of the water tank that collected rainwater on their roof. And they wash their faces, they washed under their arms. And I remember thinking, Oh my God. And I'm worried about my toenail polish, being consistent before my meeting today?! You know, there's a lot of experiences I've had like that having traveled to over 30 countries in the world and seeing some pretty extreme things. I'll never forget riding in the back of the car. Again, I had a driver I was quite privileged in this experience as an executive. And we were jammed up in Mumbai, in India, this was a different trip. I remember that. During that trip, I was having a hard time reconciling the fact that I had a three year old at home. And as I looked out the window of the backseat of that car, I saw what appeared to be a three year old sitting on the sidewalk. And just a dirty t shirt. And maybe a diaper, maybe just some underwear filthy. I glanced around looking for a parent and adult someone in charge, no one to be seen. And the exhaust from the cars that were crammed in this traffic jam, which was the consistency of the day it traffic was always a traffic jam. I saw the exhausts flying out and she was breathing it in. And when I looked at that child, I saw my child, I saw that connection. I had to really compartmentalize in order to be in that experience, to stay focused, continue to recognize that there were different experiences for different people all over the world. It didn't make my experience any less or any better. It didn't make theirs any worse or any greater or profound. We were all just having different experiences. As I came back from that very long trip, meaning intensely energetically draining long trip of four days. It felt like a two week trip because of the amount of energy it took. I remember landing it was a Tuesday morning and landing back in the airport in the United States. And I pulled out my Blackberry, it was that long ago. And for those of you ever traveled and you know that your phone doesn't didn't used to work in the air. So by the time you landed and you got back into the service area, the emails and the voicemail started being you know, Ding ding ding ding ding ding. I mean, one right after the other, I mean, dozens of them. Again, it was Tuesday so people were working I had been on an airplane for 24 hours, we'd already had a Monday. So I was behind. And I felt that energy of being behind. I did receive a text from my husband who said, I'm on my way. We're driving around the airport we're waiting for you let us know when you get your, your bag. So I was trying to check emails and trying to catch up while I waited for my suitcase. And my suitcase finally came around and I grabbed the suitcase. And I remember hurrying out and and looking for the minivan, the family minivan looking for my husband, who also had our youngest child with him. As I got to the car, he finally pulled up and gave him a big hug. And he took the bag and put it in and I, I looked in the backseat and snuggled up with my daughter Campbell, and gave her a kiss. But then I immediately got in the front seat and proceeded to look for my Blackberry. Where was it? I start fumbling around and looking in my pockets and trying to find it. And you know, my husband is talking to me, my youngest is calling nine a Mama Mama. And I'm like, Hold on, I'm trying to find my, my Blackberry and because I'm, I'm already feeling behind at work, I need to check more emails. And there was an issue that I had noticed that I needed to respond to. But Mama Mama, and I'm looking and looking and feeling around in my pockets. And my daughter says Mama, I said I just need to find my Blackberry because you need to find your BlackBerry in case somebody important calls you. Yes, in case somebody important calls me. And I turned around and I said, What is it darlin? And she said, Mama, what did you bring me? In that moment, I applied what I call this acronym of soulful living. And I didn't do it very well on that day. But I will share with you a practice that kind of has evolved out of that experience. That one story is the first thing I did is I stopped right, I stopped when she said that which felt by the way, like a knife to the chest. Somebody important might need me, she was important. So I stopped to good breath. I made eye contact with her. I observed. Who am I in this moment? I'm a mom. I'm a mom, let me put that hat on just one hat. Who am I in this moment, I am a mom. And then I understood what matters most to me right now. Being present for my child that as a mom, for this little sweet, sweet girl. I want to be present that matters most to me. And then I want to live that legacy that I want to leave behind. So I fully engaged. I took that breath and I said yes darlin, what do you want. And of course, out of the mouths of babes. She just wanted to know what I brought her. But that was wonderful. And I stopped observed, understand and live that legacy that I wanted to leave behind. Now I quickly also shifted back into the hat of being an executive and put my face right back into that Blackberry. Once all was settled down, and was able to apply my stop, observe, understand and live consistently over the years since then. I got better at it. And I'm pretty good at it now. And sometimes I still forget the acronym spell soul. soulful living, is mindful living. And I hope that you'll take that acronym today and apply that to your stories and your experiences. I'll never forget that trip to India. And I'll never forget how it made me feel when my daughter shared that comment with me. And as a result, I thank her because I am a better mother from that day forward. Because I was reminded to stop and observe and understand what mattered most to me so that I could live the legacy I wanted to live behind. Have a great week you guys soulful living is mindful living. That's your espresso shot. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an espresso shot or a full length Coffee with Nicoa interview created just for you.