Laurie Beth Jones Blog

This year I decided that I could not get the fitness results I wanted on my own. So I hired a personal trainer. It has been one of the best investments I have ever made. One of the many helpful things Heidi has done for me is gently challenge me—never pushing me to the point of injury—but revealed my own capacity for ‘more’ to myself.
A few weeks ago she challenged me to give up eating wheat/rice/grains of any kind just for two days. I have been seeing great results from our time together, so I decided to give it a try. It was easy. I could eat all the protein, vegetables, and salad I wanted. Just no grains. By the second day I felt almost a sense of elation rising up within me. It is hard to describe—almost an overwhelming sense of well-being. And with that came sudden energy. It felt like the sap was rising within me.
I then challenged a skeptical friend to do the same. She went along with the program, and by the second day of no wheat/rice/corn/grain products she said she felt “elevated” energy wise.
Heidi subscribes to Mark Sisson’s Primal Diet. He is an iconoclastic scientist/former endurance runner who, like many, now believes that we were never intended to eat and process grain products. He had constant colds, flu, arthritis at the age of 30, and irritable bowel syndrome—all of which cleared up when he gave up his former “carbo loading” for the 150 mile races.
His point is that carbohydrates turn into insulin, which spikes and creates those “need to eat every three hours” scenarios. He also points to the alarming rise in our society of obesity, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes 1 and II, etc. His theory is that while studies are now showing that some 33% of us are prone to be allergic to gluten through Celiac’s disease, Chrone’s disease, etc, the more likely truth is that ALL of us are allergic to gluten….some of us just manifest it more obviously.

The food plan is simple for me, a carnivore. It might not work for everybody. And I am sure that some will argue that I may be missing something vital. (I do take supplements.)
The most amazing thing to me is how my “hypoglycemic” have- to- eat- every- three –hours mantra has disappeared, along with the cravings. Sometimes I can even skip a meal and not even miss it. I am only following the plan 80% of the time—not being fanatical about it…just conscious and selective.

So why not give it a try? Give up grains for just three days, and see how you feel.
Pass on the pasta, and just eat the meatballs with vegetables.
Not a bad way to live, considering….

What do you think? Can you do it?

This shot was taken of a flower pot outside an art gallery in Sedona, Arizona.
Drawn by the chorus of complementary colors, I stopped and took a closer look.
When I did, I noticed that each individual flower had its own face, even though they were “all the same.”

I learned when studying fiction writing that if you portray a character as a stereotype, you end up with nothing.
Yet if you begin with an individual, you end up with an entire, recognizable group which would be familiar to the reader.

Leaders understand that each flower has its own face, even if it is one of many just like it.

Do you see the face in each flower you serve, and in who serves you?

If so, you have the soul of a leader that pleases the Lord of all.

Blessings,
Laurie Beth

Archery 101:  Marketing

By Laurie Beth Jones

Today I have decided to link my thoughts on marketing to archery, a course I once taught at summer camp.

First:  a materials list

You will need:  a bow, a quiver full of arrows, a target, and a wrist band.  (Life insurance for those accompanying you is a definite option, especially if they get distracted and start wandering off in the area, talking on their cell phones.)

Place your target far enough away to be challenging, but not so far away that it is beyond your reach.

Be sure to wear a wrist band, as that bow string can skin you when it snaps back.  Legend is that Amazonian female archers actually had their left breasts removed to facilitate hunting.  However, I recommend wrist bands instead, especially for beginners.)

Remove one arrow from your quiver.   Shooting multiple arrows at the same time has not been proven to be effective.  (Believe me, as a Wind/Fire, this was my first thought.)

Carefully install the bow string in the groove on the arrow between the feathers.   Make sure there is a snug fit.  Make sure your arrow is pointed at the target.  Make sure your arrow is pointing forward.

Using the strength in your arms, pull the bow string as far back as you physically can, lining up your eye line along the arrow towards the target.

Pull back, holding the bow steady, and release.

Practice.  Practice.  Practice.

How simple was that?

Application notes to marketing follow:

Do you know what your target is?  Where it is?

Have you found one within your reach?  Do you have it clearly in sight, or is it constantly moving?

Realize that a “quiver” is essential for marketing, meaning if you aren’t afraid at some level, it is not real marketing.

Use one arrow at a time.  Meaning, fully execute on one thing each time, rather than trying to do too many things at once.

Wear a wrist band.  This means that a good marketing effort can sting in places, either financially, or emotionally, causing you to stretch beyond your comfort zone.

Keep the arrow pointed forward.  Forgetting the past which is behind us, let us…..go toward the future.

Remember that the strength in the pull back, or retreat, can determine the strength and speed of the arrow.    Sometimes what looks like backwards planning or time spent going the opposite direction can really be what propels you forward.

Strengthen your arms.  Keep the target in sight, within reach.

Happy hunting.

Laurie Beth

He Laughed

By Laurie Beth Jones

My sister Kathy has many roles—artist, mother, wife, community leader, interior designer, new grandmother, and linguist.

This being the case, my brother Joe and I were trained early by her in the highly elastic qualities of words, and parts of words, and partial sounds in words, to convey nicknames and meaning.

According to our mother, Kathy could not only say, but also spell chrysanthemum when she was two.  (I can barely say and spell it now.)  Thus, this linguistic genius grew among us.

Being raised in El Paso, Texas gave us the additional benefit of having not only one language to play with, but two.   Inevitably we developed our own language as children, speaking a “patois” of Spanish, English, and Kathy combinations on a regular basis.

My brother Joe, for example, became Jotz Jotz de la Motz, which when pronounced phonetically would be Hotz Hotz de la Moatz, which is what we call him today.  When I asked her once how this nickname came about she explained that she tried to get a “Holt” of him once, which sounded like Hotz, and that we had a canal by our house which was like a moat, and he liked to sit there and fish with the workers, and so he became thusly named.

She also created a song for us to sing on long car rides, which went “Porque la manya te se, ori-a-le-e  conteen-a-fle-e (long pause) ookie pookie tookie wookie.’   We could sing this for hours, bursting into laughter hysterically when it ended.  (I dare you to try to sing it and maintain a somber face.)

I recently had a bi-lingual friend from the Mexican consulate translate this for me.  I sang it to her very slowly, trying not to laugh,  and after the third listening she said with great seriousness “it means:   “Because you are hands on, clown, listen up, and ookie pookie tookie wookie.”

We also grew up delighting in names of cities and towns, especially one our grandparents used to reference from their childhood in Ohio.  The town name is Chillicothe.   Handing my sister this word was like giving her a great gift to be toyed with and turned over and rolled around on for years.    Over time it devolved into Chill-ta-cothe, with a hard clicking sound in the middle, which she claimed was how it was pronounced in the dialect form.  On a recent trip to Ohio, a family friend decided to look up the town and was flummoxed by the dialect-ual spelling until a local inhabitant gave the actual correct name.

So, yesterday, my sister was telling me that she was driving her 2 year old grandson Jackson to the store.  He was in the backseat properly set up in his car seat.  She had given him an apple slice before they left and as they were driving she heard him coughing loudly.  She pulled over and turned to look at him and saw that he was, in fact, ok, having swallowed the apple successfully.  She turned around to begin driving successfully and said to him over her shoulder “No te choke-es, Jackson.”’

And he laughed.

At her wording.  At the joke.  In other words, he got it.

As Kathy told me this story over the phone we both sighed at the end of it and said happily “He is one of us.”

A two year old linguistic marvel is among us, learning perhaps to spell chrysanthemum in two languages, as all the world should. No Te choke-es.  Chilta-cothee. Tookie Wookie.” Amen.

Dear Friends,

Did you know that bougainvillea plants, such as this one growing over my deck, are actually listed in the
“Global Compendium of Weeds?” The technical name, “bougainvillea spectabilis” seems more fitting, as it is indeed a “spectabilis” thing to behold.

A weed is simply a plant that is growing in an unwanted area. In other words, it is all about perspective.

History is full of leaders who grew up being treated like weeds, only to bloom into something spectacular.

Never let a technical definition keep you from expressing the full measure and beauty of who you are.

What are your leadership insights this week?  Do you have a similar weed story?

Laurie Beth

Weeds ... on Leadership