Welcome!

Gestalting YOUR Day

Betwixt and Between:

This is the time of year when warm Thanksgiving memories are still lingering yet become rather forcefully pushed aside by the excitement of planning and shopping for the forthcoming Christmas/Holidays Season only a couple of weeks away. It began in the early morning hours the day after Thanksgiving and is gaining momentum daily touching every aspect of our lives. We are beseeched  by requests for charitable contributions (in itself a good thing); dozens of colorful catalogs attempting to seduce us with sales - new gadgets, bigger and better things for less money – oh, let’s not forget no postage! Radio and TV advertising is at a fever pitch as is unsolicited advice via emails.  Although well intended, it’s more than annoying to consider during this potentially lovely betwixt and between time to be asked to reflect on 3 things that went well this past year, 5 experiences that failed; how to improve business/income in spite of the recession, and, let’s not forget - list some New Years resolution rather prematurely. Rather than still feeling warm and fuzzy and looking forward to the Holiday season, I feel like I am attacked by a swarm of gnats that I am unsuccessfully trying to get rid off.  Scrooge? Not quite yet but getting there unless I find a way of turning away and inward.

Betwixt and between – Personal Reflections:

I enjoy December and the Advent season, making an advent wreath and in anticipation of Christmas, light one of four candles each week. I like listening to classical music, opera, and Christmas music and love participating in, hearing and reading about different religious and ethnic traditions; as such I feel soulful and part of all humanity.

My favorite activity, however, is baking. I love to bake German Stollen, Linzertorte, and cookies and have the most fun giving them away to friends, people I love and appreciate, mailman, paperboy, garbage men – you name it!

Here is a sweet story (no pun intended). For Thanksgiving, I mailed a Stollen to Alastair Greenstreet, my incredible web designer, and his wife, Karyn, my indispensable business coach. Here is Aly’s response: “I felt prose rise up forth from my beating breast and into poetry.

Ode to a Stollen:
Standing here tonight
Anticipating a sensory delight
A stollen! A stollen!
You are mine tonight.”

If you could hear his voice, your heart would melt – mine certainly did. Aly even made a voice recording for me, but that’s mine and mine alone!  - no, sorry, not for sale.

Amazing, as I am writing these last few sentences, I am very aware that I no longer feel disgruntled but rather happy. I am smiling realizing how blessed I am and in awe that if I listen to my soul rather than the outside noise, I am happy and can touch peoples lives authentically, creating a spark of happiness in them as well. That is what betwixt and between for me is all about.

So, how about you?

Above, I wrote of my displeasure for giving unsolicited advice. Yet, here I go. It is something that I do myself on a daily basis. It’s easy to do, takes only 2 minutes and four seconds, literally, and makes a significant difference in your personal and professional well being. You can do this if you stand, sit, walk, ride in the car, while shopping. Try it, you’ll like it. Do each part four times.

• Inhale slowly to the count of four with mouth closed
• Exhale slowly to the count of four with mouth open
• Inhale slowly to the count of four with mouth closed
• Exhale slowly to the count of four with a sigh
• Inhale slowly to the count of four with mouth closed
• Exhale slowly to the count of four, open mouth and smile
• Inhale slowly to the count of four with mouth closed
• Exhale slowly to the count of four with mouth open and say ha, ha, ha, ha.

Breathing is generally considered beneficial. However, a voice coach taught me similar breathing exercises and ways to use these in a highly focused way so that they can have an accumulative effect. This is particularly important for those of you who work with the public, give classes, or work with clients individually or in groups.

Please let me know if you find these little exercises helpful.

I can find no better inspiration to grasp the concept of betwixt and between than one of my favorite poet ee. cummings expresses in poem 52:

who are you, little i

( five or six years old )
peering from some high

window; at the gold

of november sunset

( and feeling: that if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way )

Alastair Greenstreet is a very impressive, creative web site designer, who is experienced, patient, and highly sophisticated in every aspect of web design, writing, color, SEO and more. His ability to elicit relevant information for me, then present various designs for feedback was particularly important for me when he agreed to redesign my site www.GestaltRI.com combining three different sites into one given that I had no clue about web site planning etc. I highly recommend Aly who can be reached at www.PassionforBusinessWebsites.com 

Katherine Scott of Voice of Destiny™ is a singer, songwriter, author and professional voice coach. For over fifteen years in her private voice practice, Katherine has inspired singers and speakers to discover or uncover the strong engaging voice they were always meant to have. In her unique approach, the voice is an intersection point for connecting the sound, how they express who they are, and their personal vision of their successful career and life.

Visit http://www.vocalmapping.com for free audio voice tips and voice exercises to use on a daily basis so your voice will sound fully present in any situation. Additional resources are available at her blog http://www.youruniqueexpression.com.

e.e.cummings (1962) 73 poems. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. New York, NY