Life After the Pandemic – What Comes Next?

COVID-19 is an all-encompassing global phenomenon, forcing us indoors and behind masks. It seems to have touched everything. It has drastically affected our economies and employment rates. It has disrupted schools, colleges, and universities. It has shuttered thousands of businesses and damaged the global food supply. As of June 2020, coronavirus has killed nearly 400,000 people with over 6.5 million confirmed cases. The road to recovery after the pandemic will be a long and complicated one. There is good news. In some countries, disease rates are finally dropping. And, here in the U.S., some states are bravely reopening in stages.

Leslie Saul

The Art of Self Expression: How to Master It

It’s not easy to express ourselves. It’s especially tough when we worry that speaking our truth is going to result in something bad. Discipline at work. A rift with our spouse. A break with our family. A misunderstanding with a colleague. Societal condemnation is ready to pounce for revealing TOO much, for feeling too strongly, for being too loud. I work with many people struggling with the art of self expression. And I hear some version of this often: “I don’t feel good. But I also don’t know how to change the way I’m feeling.” Change is possible! Let’s talk

Leslie Saul

Coffee Talk: 5 Tips to Rock a Personal Chat

I love to talk. Nothing fuels me more than a good sit-down with a friend or a client. Just call me Linda Richman, with a deep and abiding love for a quality personal chat. We gain so much from these conversations with the people we care about. It’s a sweet reminder that connection is something that grounds us and brings us together. Connecting In Personal Chat In deep conversation, we tend to A) process experience by talking through it, and B) do the same for the other person. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but there is a

Leslie Saul

How to Spin Rage into Useful Connection

You know the scenario. You’re in the middle of a conversation with a friend when, for one reason or another, things start to go south. You feel misunderstood or manipulated, maybe unheard or minimized. Tension builds in your gut and in a split second, it happens: you disconnect. This is where things get really dicey because the human brain is a great storyteller even when it doesn’t have all the facts. Left to its own devices, your mind starts weaving a web of frustrated and insecure thoughts. Active listening has pretty much gone out the window by now, the other

Leslie Saul

Managing Rage: The Emotional Go-Bag

In the Midwest, y’all have a plan in place for tornadoes. You likely have a basement, some non-perishable goods, and an evacuation procedure for large buildings. In California, families discuss where to go if a wildfire sparks nearby. Your communities have designated shelters. There are retirement funds and the paying off of student loans. We plan for the future! It can all make us feel quite secure. But in the meantime, even with planning, life happens. We get fired from a solid job. A marriage ends. Car accidents and deaths occur with less frequency, but these moments and experiences rock

Leslie Saul

Dealing with Rage: Where It Comes From and What It Means

You’ve heard these phrases before: “He went into a fit of rage.” “Her face was distorted with rage.” “He was a victim of road rage.” Rage is a truly unique emotion because when we talk about it, we describe being OVERTAKEN by it. It’s as if we lose all ability for rational thought or action. Someone talking about another person’s rage will pop in with “Oh, he’s just dealing with rage issues.” You will see the same language mirrored in everything from discussions of environmental disasters to a dessert chef who prompts bakers to channel their rage into delicious food

Leslie Saul

NLP Coaching for the Personal and the Professional

After doing this for a very long time, I’ve amassed quite the coaching “collection” to tackle the stuff my clients are dealing with. It’s a lot like that bag Mary Poppins carries around. In it, I’ve got coats to make you feel warm, umbrellas to cover you, and cups of hot cocoa to nourish and sustain. I have uppers and downers (so to speak) and I also have NLP. NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and it takes up a tidy little corner of that bag. There is a permanent indentation in there because it is with me wherever I go.

Leslie Saul

Tech Smart, Life Poor: Connecting Back to Our Humanity

We’re all communicating at every second of every day —with very little active participation. It is CONSTANT. And the younger we are, the more “tech smart” we are likely to be, growing up in the age of smartphones, social media, and the constant pushing of data in everything we do. Think I’m exaggerating? Pampers just put a sensor on their diapers! Barbie and Hot Wheels are going digital. It is truly ingrained in our lives, to a degree that worries me deeply. Kacy rolled over, bleary-eyed, grabbing her phone and wincing at the bright screen. Two Twitter alerts, 3 article

Leslie Saul

How Important Is Emotional Intelligence 101?

Is emotional intelligence important in the workplace? Emotional intelligence may not be required for every type of work; however, I know it can be critical to most people in leadership positions. To be effective leaders in the workplace, managers, supervisors, and other authority figures must be able to collaborate productively with the people they hire. A good leader can create a work environment in which every person feels relevant and motivated to succeed. Leaders with high emotional intelligence can use their social skills to foster relationships and trust with their employees. The higher your position in a company, the more

Leslie Saul

3 Serious Dangers of Stress

3 Ways to Purge Stress From Your Present Are you in need of some stress management? Consider this scenario: It’s a Monday morning and your car won’t start when you are ready to leave for work. You have to call your spouse, who is already 2/3 of the way to his/her place of employment, to pick you up and take you into work. This is pretty inconvenient because money is tight! You cannot afford the extra gas necessary for this morning’s unusual commute. Additionally, you might not be able to afford to pay your utility bill this month if your

Leslie Saul