Using my journey as an outline, I’ve now refined that process and am adding it to my service offering. I can guide individuals through a journey of self-discovery and alignment.

For more information see Evolution Guide on the Evolve Connect Inspire page (second service listed) or contact me directly. Let me share my evolution with you and guide your own heart-centered evolution.

• Dr. Steve Hamming, a clinical psychologist focused on strength, success, resilience and clarity through
practical, comprehensive and bold coaching.

• HNI Corporation, the second-largest office furniture manufacturer in the world, and the nation’s leading
manufacturer and marketer of gas- and wood-burning fireplaces.

We are making a difference.

Noun
1. The center of the total personality, especially with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion: In your heart you know I’m an honest man.
2. The center of emotion, especially as contrasted to the head as the center of the intellect: His head told him not to fall in love, but his heart had the final say.
3. Capacity for sympathy; feeling; affection: His heart moved him to help those less fortunate.
4. Spirit, courage, or enthusiasm: His heart sank when he walked into the room and saw their faces.
5. The innermost or central part of anything: Notre Dame stands in the very heart of Paris.
6. The vital or essential part; core: the heart of the matter.

Think about that. The key words:
• Center of the total personality… emotion
• Capacity for feeling
• Spirit, courage, enthusiasm
• Innermost, central, essential part
• Vital, core

Why would any organization not want this front and center, leading the charge? It’s a huge differentiator from your competition. It’s unique to you. It’s the DNA that makes up your organization. Use it!

In working with clients on branding activities, the typical approach is to identify the brand assets. Things like sophistication, customer-centric, complex integrator, etc. This is all definitely part of it, but what is missing most of the time is the heart of the organization. Not the nuts and bolts, but true passion and fire behind those nuts and bolts. The heart. That is where the true power lies.

Like so many aspects of organization, it comes from the top. The leadership must possess heart as opposed to an old-school command and control management style.

Many years ago I had the privilege of working with Fred Keller, Founder and CEO of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Cascade Engineering. An amazing entrepreneur who has built his business based on purpose and heart, Keller lives by a simple checklist that supports his values:

• Do all the good you can
• By all the means you can
• In all the ways you can
• In all the places you can
• At all the times you can
• To all the people you can
• As long as ever you can

That is what a heart-centered approach is all about. This has stuck with me over the years and is coming through my work, loud and clear. This beautiful heart-centered approach that is beneficial on so many levels.

One organization that I am honored to be a part of, as one of ten certified consultants globally, is WorldBlu, which leads this organizational evolution. WorldBlu’s purpose is to elevate the human spirit through organizational democracy and freedom-centered leadership.

WorldBlu’s 10 Principles of Organizational Democracy:

1. Purpose & Vision
2. Transparency
3. Dialogue & Listening
4. Accountability
5. Choice
6. Individual & Collective
7. Fairness & Dignity
8. Integrity
9. Decentralization
10. Reflection & Evaluation

The essence of heart. It shines through in so many ways – loyalty, productivity, talent attraction and retention, creativity and innovation, customer preference, community and the bottom line. It’s the right thing to do and organizations are moving towards this direction. It’s a necessity for long-term growth and sustainability.

Another example of heart is the increasing number of organizations instituting a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach to their business. If you’re not familiar with TBL, it’s an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational (and societal) success. Economic, ecological, and social. Each of those items weighted equally, this framework applies responsibility to the organization’s stakeholders (anyone who is influenced, either directly or indirectly, by the actions of the organization).

The economic (or profit) portion of the TBL
• This is the economic value created or real economic impact the organization has on its economic environment.

The ecological (or planet) portion
• This refers to the sustainable environmental practices. This endeavor reduces its ecological footprint, by among other things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables and reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing of it in a safe manner.

The social (or people) portion
• This pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labor and the community and region in which an organization conducts business. This also seeks to “give back” by contributing to the strength and growth of its community with such things as health care, education and additional employment opportunities. So by instituting the TBL practice, firms often, on an annual basis, publish their TBL Report, which includes the metrics and impact they are making in the economic, ecological and social sectors of their organizational footprint. Not only does this hold them accountable, but it also gives them year-over-year metrics for continuous improvement.

The Triple Bottom Line approach. Yet another example of heart in business.

Heart is here and is becoming more and more significant each day.

Where to start?

So the first part to this equation, really the most challenging part, is to determine what is your organizations heart?

Let’s look at those heart keywords again
• Center of the total personality… emotion
• Capacity for feeling
• Spirit, courage, enthusiasm
• Innermost, central, essential part
• Vital, core

To determine the heart of an organization is a similar process to that of an individual, just much more complex. It should start with the leadership team but also needs to include every member of the organization, since they are the blood, which keeps the heart pumping. It’s really about assembling the core values of each of the employees. What do they stand for? What makes them tick? Then from there it’s an exercise of organizing those attributes into groupings to boil it down to the collective values. This is done through a variety of techniques that act as checks and balances to one another. Simple lists and text-based content assembly is the starting point. Once that is initially drafted, I suggest incorporating word clouds and mind mapping. By looking at the same information from varying perspectives, the heart will become apparent after revisions and continual massaging. It will go on like a light bulb. When you get there, you will know. When you do, communicate and incorporate your heart in every single employee and customer touchpoint. From the receptionist answering the phone or greeting visitors to customer service, to HR interviewing a potential employee, sales, marketing, production, finance – every place a customer or employee is touched, makes sure your heart is there shining through. It will not go unnoticed.

I challenge you to identify your organization’s heart and then to use it.

By making a conscious effort to make your organization’s heart front and center, you will see the difference personally and enterprise-wide. Your employees will benefit, your customers and suppliers will benefit, your community will benefit. You will make a difference on so many more levels.

No memory.

Woke up. Home, on my bed.
Splitting headache. House out of order.
Toilet seat up. Odd… I live alone, she says.
Purse in an odd spot.
In my shirt. In my underwear.
Why are my pants off? Why am I not in my pajamas?
How did I get home?

The nightmare has just begun.

—————————————————

Women… Girls…. A message of love to you…

Never leave your drink unattended. Even with someone you feel you trust. Evil is in this world. Pure evil. But… take hope, that karma will have its day. You see, karma is always there. Karma never forgets. Karma knows exactly what you deserve.

Please leave a comment. A message of love, one of hope for this woman living this nightmare.

Thank you.

• Dr. Steve Hamming, a clinical psychologist focused on strength, success, resilience and clarity through
practical, comprehensive and bold coaching.

• HNI Corporation, the second-largest office furniture manufacturer in the world, and the nation’s leading
manufacturer and marketer of gas- and wood-burning fireplaces.

We are making a difference.

Three recent, and brilliant posts, I just read, really hit home to me.

Love is not an emotion: it’s so much more. Emotional awareness+ by Premakarini, Reclaim Your Personal Power; Exercise Your Personal Choice from Evolving Beings and the latest Wednesday Wish from Presence of Magic.

They all are really get to a couple topics that I have been feeling deeply, specifically over the past few months. Just last week I made a pitch to a TEDx conference on “turning off your mind, turning on your heart,” which really falls right in line with these posts. Over the past year I know I am evolving at record speeds. Since reinventing my business, Babacita, which really turned out to be a soul searching journey and diving deeper into my Self, I uncovered things that have always been with me, but had just been tucked away. When the light went off, “Evolve.Connect.Inspire,” this weight that I hadn’t even noticed, had been lifted. Also a big thank you to Farnoosh Brock at Prolific Living, for helping me take my ideas and passions of mine and make the switch to a viable business model.

In making this shift, to a heart-centered perspective, I definitely feel like I’m a new person. Clarity has come and it’s if the planets have aligned and my purpose has been exposed. Opportunities have opened up which I am now a part of (PeaceWalker Project and WorldBlu), and they all relate back to, and support Evolve.Connect.Inspire. Pretty cool, huh?

In the Emotional Awareness post, “Feel what you feel. No apologies or worries necessary.” And “Emotion is raw power, energy, fuel: motivation.” True, yes? Let yourself feel. Feel deeply and embrace those feelings. What are they teaching you? What is the value they hold?

A favorite quote of the Reclaim post, “We always have a choice where it matters most- our every thought, word and action.” She mentions A Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, it’s an amazing story and I highly recommend it. We all have a choice in how we respond to something, be conscious of the choices you make.

Presence of Magic weaves her magical words and paints a brilliant picture inviting us all: “Close your eyes to let your heart give you sight. To see with other senses creates a whole new world, one that has more depth, more meaning and more soul.” This is exactly turning off your mind, and turning on your heart. Your heart will not steer you wrong.

Part of my journey in opening up my heart, my creativity and work, has also excelled. Take my recently self-published book, Train to the Moon. That story came from the depths of my heart, words that I never knew existed in me. Through this feeling, and this creativity that is now flowing effortlessly from me, I’m making a difference. By honoring who I really am, Evolve.Connect.Inspire, I’m making this world better. Personally and professionally. And you know what? I’m just getting started.

So what does all this have to do with me and my work at Babacita? Emotional awareness, personal choice, letting my heart give me sight? Right now, as you can tell, there are so many moving parts and pieces. But, as in this evolution, when we truly grow, this chaos transforms into clarity, every time. This chaos, and all these moving parts… it’s actually quite comforting to me. It means I am continuing to change, evolve and grow. I have no idea where next week, month or year is going, but you know something? That’s ok with me. I’m going somewhere.

Just announced by WorldBlu is the initial class of their Blu100 consultants (hey, I know one of those guys). This also falls right in line with my above ramblings. Freedom. At the organizational level, engaging employees and empowering creativity, innovation and inspiration. This is absolutely critical for organizational sustainability and growth. And guess what? It supports me. Babacita’s core values of Evolve.Connect.Inspire. You see? It’s no fluke that everything I’m doing relates to these values. In relating back, I’m honoring my Self and feeding my purpose. But from the marketing and branding sense, it’s being completely consistent in growing the John Kowalski/Babacita brand. Who I am and what I stand for.

I warned you that this might be a rambling one.

To wrap up, I guess what I want you to take away from all of the above, is to take a look at yourself. At the heart level. Feel, not think. What’s inside? What makes you tick? What turns you on? How can you be of service to others? How are you making a difference? Turn off your mind, and turn on your heart. We can all make a difference.

Getting my book, Train to the Moon, out was a big thing for me… something very personal, but felt it was right to share it with the world. But also, this evolution stuff isn’t all fun and games, it’s very painful at times. But by enduring the pain… you will come out the other side of the fire stronger, clearer and another step down your path.

Lots of things in the hopper for me, as always. I just submitted a workshop proposal for the World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon which I’ll be attending this July. I titled it “Turn off your mind, turn on your heart.” We’ll see if it gets accepted. I’m also gearing up for a 2 minute pitch for a spot speaking at the TEDx Dirigo conference in Portland, Maine, this fall. Same topic. That’s coming up next week, so we’ll see. Also thinking again about writing a book with Justine of Premakarini on transparency. We chatted about this some time ago and have some rough outlines… It might be good to take a look at that again. Whatcha think Justine? Should we dust off our outlines and start writing? Also working on bringing Craig Gray from Ronin Empowerment Group out to Maine for some workshops (PeaceWalker Project, Her Survival Guide and Intro to Krav Maga). If you’re in the Portland, Maine area and are interested, here is a link to a quick survey that helps me gauge interest.

All that brings me to another thing that’s been weighing on my heart for some time. Being content. For me, content isn’t good enough. I always need to be growing and learning and experiencing. I can’t remember the last time I was actually content. I do tend to take a breath after a major accomplishment, but then always plow ahead. I’m always looking for more, I guess. Is this normal? Does anyone else feel like this or am I an odd one?

Not sure that this was a typical blog post of mine.. but then again, what is “typical,” especially with me.

Cheers!

After a series of dreams… parts and pieces really… over several months, the story finally came together in November. One morning, early before everyone was awake, the story just flowed from me. Effortlessly. It’s a love story of two soul connections who grow up together, lose each other, then find each other again through the clouds. The world is better because of their love glow which is fueled by their nightly train to the moon together. This came from the depths of my heart. A place that I did not know previously existed. I see this as a major part in my own evolution, through this new level of creativity.

At first I thought to just keep this story private, but something wasn’t right with that. This is a story that needed to be told to the world. I worked with a friend of mine, Mark Bird of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Bird Design to assist with the artwork. He was the only one that could’ve told this story so beautifully through his illustrations and art. The process was really quite simple. We had an initial concepting session over the phone, I gave him the specifics that needed to be included (the orange flower, green glass heart, etc). Through this he had free reign to “do his thing.” He came back with something differently than we initially talked about, but it was dead on. The visuals enhanced my words and raised the story to a whole new level. Thank you Mark, for your beautiful art!

Visit a preview of Train to the Moon and enjoy!

Working with a few new clients. A clinical psychologist with aspects of physical and performance coaching as well as collaborative divorce. And also an integrated arts facility which encompasses healing arts, internal/external arts, physical arts and childhood education arts.

I’m also in the planning stages of bring Craig Gray from Ronin Empowerment Group out to the Portland, Maine area for some workshops. If you’re in the Portland area, see the attached link for a workshop interest survey.

And another little thing. Surprise! I’m nearly complete with a book that I’m self-publishing. Not on evolve, connect and inspire from a business or organizational standpoint, but one based on my own personal evolution. Something that comes from the depths of my heart, and a story that needs to be shared with the world. It’s called “Train to the Moon.”

Stay tuned for more details within the next month or so. And because you’re all wanting to know more, here’s a link to see a preview of the cover.

More soon….