What an incredible week in beautiful Jackson, Wyoming. It only took a day to completely disconnect from work and connect with my family and this wonderful area. The temperature did not exceed 85 degrees and there was hardly any humidity. We were awakened each morning to the sun rising on the Grand Tetons and fell asleep to the sun setting behind them.
On vacation, my hope and expectation is that I will reconnect with my heart. I typically do this through reading, journaling and just thinking. I read a great article on the critical elements of emotional intelligence in leadership. Daniel Goleman shared that two critical elements in leadership are empathy and self-awareness. Empathy is about feeling with another person. You have to be able to understand where a person is coming from in order to help him/her move forward. I believe there is objectivity to empathizing in the sense that you have to be able to stay detached enough from the emotion to stay present with the person.
Self-awareness is not only knowing yourself, your triggers and your emotions, but also knowing how these impact those around you. Sometimes the best thing I can do is simply acknowledge that I am struggling or feeling a certain emotion and it seems that I am able to work through it with those around me.
My heart is about living with a sense of passion, a desire for accomplishment, a strong sense of empathy for others and a life lived in the service of others. Perhaps, this picture from the end of one of our hikes with inspire you. A part of this hike is entitled “Inspiration Point”
