I am having to work double-time at hope this year. Fall was busy for my business, so I hopefully embarked on building an online store (with the help of at least two other people). I promoted holiday gift ideas for weeks, and...
I’m conflicted about the holidays, but not for the reasons you’d expect. I’m not stressed out about holiday cooking and shopping; I gave most of that up years ago. I’m not anxious about holiday travel; I’m not doing that anymore either, thanks to COVID. I’m not...
When I was about six years old, at Christmas time a very large, rectangular-shaped object covered with a blanket appeared in our living room near where the gifts were kept. My brother and I were intrigued, wondering who could be getting such a large gift. I...
When I was a senior in college, I became the co-editor of the college newspaper — The Knox Student — along with my friend Rob. When introducing us, Rob would say, “Hi, I’m Rob. I’m in charge of happiness. This is Nicole. She’s in charge of everything else.” His...
I had a revelation the other day: My ministry is a grumpy teenager. For people new to my blog, I should mention I am an ordained clergy person in the United Church of Christ. I also teach yoga and meditation and do leadership and organizational development and am a...
Spoiler Alert: I wasn’t one of the popular kids. I went to a small Catholic school growing up, and there were only five girls (including me) in my class. The upper elementary girlfriend dynamics played out rather harshly with so few girls. There weren’t enough of us...
I hung up the apron for the last time. If you’re tracking, I quit working at Starbucks just six weeks after starting. I’ve had many jobs, but I don’t think any of them lasted for such a short time. The primary reason Iapplied to and went to work for Starbucks was...
I really never intended to be a time management guru. What I really wanted was to help people identify their dreams, then coach, train and support people and organizations while they implemented those dreams. Over the years, I’ve coached lots of people through change....
I don’t know about you, but my mind rushes to judgment at the tiniest provocation. My worst judgment erupts while I’m driving. It gets triggered by everyone who is jumping across lanes to get where they want, blocking me from changing lanes, driving too fast/too slow,...
In my 20s and early 30s, envy would rise up like bile in my throat whenever I opened another calligraphy-covered, heavyweight envelope inviting me to yet another wedding. In my 30s and early 40s, envy weighed on my shoulders when I saw others’ careers progress and...
Even though I liked to learn and did pretty well in school, I felt pretty nervous every year before starting class again. The anxiety amped up in middle and high school. I dreaded seeing students who picked on me. I was insecure about my body in gym class. I was...
Complicated feelings have been part of Memorial Day since its inception. Being a church nerd who loves ritual, I searched for the origin story of Memorial Day recently. Within seconds, (Thank you, interwebs!) I found a fascinating article about how David Blight, a...
They started talking about Julian of Norwich. As people do. In a casual conversation one day over Zoom, Rev. Nicole Pickens reminded Rev. Nicole Havelka about Julian of Norwich – a 12th - 13th century monastic and mystic who lived in times shockingly similar to our...
What do self-care and self-love have to do with leadership? Everything. I bet you’ve worked for someone who was a nonstop worker. Someone who jettisoned vacation plans when even minor emergencies arose. Someone who worked long after everyone else left the building....
https://youtu.be/KBqT8nYryxM The light, unexpected rain began to lift as we found our hiking group near the lower shelter at John Bryan State Park in central Ohio. It was mid-October and this was one of the first group hikes planned for the duration of the 2020-2021...