Ann McGee-Cooper and Melissa Garrison
Melissa Garrison, who has been a participant in our servant leadership development for the past year, sent an inspiring story about how she applied one of the skills to a recent parenting challenge. If you are not familiar with Positive Mental Imagery, it simply means to relax, clear your mind, take a few slow deep breaths (to open your mind to an Alpha state which brings forth a powerful readiness to become our best self), and then clearly visualize the best that could happen for all those involved. Peak performers such as Olympic athletes are coached in this practice and you can see the results as they nail their best ever performance or fall short when fear of failure takes center stage in their thinking. Melissa, the mother of a delightful 2 ½ year old tells her story below.
“My son, Caden has not been so excited about going to school the past couple of weeks. The story actually started a few weeks ago, when on the way to school I asked Caden if he was ready for school (which is a part of our normal routine). For some reason on this morning he responded “no, school’s not fun.” It actually made me really sad, I tried to reassure him by saying how much fun he was going to have playing with his friends, but he looked sad and didn’t really respond. His behavior over the next couple of weeks was similar; he was not eager or excited as he was before about going to school. I inquired with his teachers and they said that things were fine. My husband and I actually discussed looking into other schools if his responses and behavior continued. So this morning during my prayer time I imagined him excitedly running into his Montessori class (without me carrying him, stalling or having to talk him into it). Success!!!! It worked. He ran right into class and was happily greeted by his teachers and classmates. His teachers were as pleased as I was at his excitement.
Ann – thank you for raising my awareness and coaching me on improving my skills!”
While this might seem a coincidence, we can tell you that again and again, when we use this mental exercise of bringing a strong positive expectation to something that could easily go south, we are consistently amazed and pleased with the results. We are learning from the field of Quantum Physics that emotions and expectations create energy fields which impact those around us. What a great opportunity to get curious about how our expectations all day long may be limiting or rewarding us.
Thanks, Melissa and Caden, for inspiring us to dare to expect the best in all situations.
“Ann McGee-Cooper and Associates are a perfect 'fit' for our organization because they live and breathe the Servant-Leadership philosophy. The concept of Servant-Leadership is not new to Southwest Airlines. Our Leaders are passionate about taking care of our Company, and they understand that the best way to do this is to serve others. Ann McGee-Cooper and Associates have become a partner in learning for many of our Employees through the motivational and uplifting presentations they make to our Culture Committee members.”