Hi there Reader,
Welcome to this edition of Meaningful eMail with the most recent takeaway and updates linked here at the top, and then a full article for your consideration.
Grab what's helpful today, then save others for future reference. You never know when you or someone in your network could use a boost!
Recent Takeaways & Updates
|
|
Top Takeaways: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
The write-up on my website covers the full book. This video covers the first half and this one the second half. And yes, this book is worth allllll of it!
|
|
|
Recently Published: Care, Clarity, and Connection
Enjoyed meeting with several experts as I sourced information for this article on employee engagement on The Credit Union Connection website.
|
Let's Explore
When your ego is loud
I went on a little trip this weekend without ever leaving my house.
No flights. No suitcase. Just me, lying in bed at 4am, wide awake with a racing mind.
Maybe you’ve been there too?
That weird in-between state when you're not quite asleep, not quite awake. The inner monologue starts up quietly at first, then ramps up:
Who’s going to listen to me? Should I even be doing this? Why did I write that article?
You start to question everything, from your expertise to your identity.
At first glance, it might seem like self-doubt. But I’ve started calling it something else:
An ego trip.
Not the puffed-up kind we usually associate with the word.
But the flip side - the grasping, fearful, uncertain version. The one that shows up when something inside you is shifting, and your ego starts to panic. It clings to titles, roles, and past achievements like a life raft.
Have you felt that?
Maybe a recent layoff knocked the wind out of you.
Maybe your youngest is about to leave for college and you’re wondering what’s next.
Maybe a big project at work wrapped up and you’re left staring at the space it used to fill.
These moments poke holes in our outer identity—and the ego hates that.
It wants to keep us striving, performing, peacocking around in pursuit of security.
But sometimes, in that quiet in-between, something else emerges.
That’s not a mid-life crisis. That’s your essence trying to speak.
As Eckhart Tolle writes in A New Earth:
"You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you—and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness."
Essence doesn’t shout. It doesn’t compete.
It doesn’t need applause or a performance review.
It shows up in stillness.
In your values. In your strengths. In the things that make you feel most like you.
When clients come to me feeling stuck, wanting meaning or clarity but not sure where to start, this is the tension we often explore.
The ego wants them to pick a safe next step based on past success.
Essence wants them to pause and listen.
Not “What can I do to prove myself?”
But “Who am I when there’s nothing left to prove?”
That’s where real direction begins.
From truth, not titles.
If you’re sitting in that uncomfortable in-between, I’ve got two ways to help:
1:1 coaching sessions to explore where ego is keeping you stuck and how to move forward from a more grounded, values-aligned place.
A workshop on communicating your value (without the corporate fluff). It’s for folks ready to reconnect to their voice and show up with more impact - at work, in interviews, or in their next chapter.
Hit reply if you want coaching or workshop details, I’ll send them your way.
No ego, just essence.
