What I've Learned so Far by Lucinda Atwood – Stories, reflections and insights on a curious life

What I've Learned

by Lucinda Atwood

What I've Learned

by Lucinda Atwood

These are the stories, reflections and insights of a lifelong learner—lessons learned and discoveries made. Being a teacher by profession and nature, I’m moved to share what I’ve learned. My aim is to entertain, educate and maybe even inspire you.

All the images on this site are mine. If you don’t feel like reading or listening, please just enjoy the pretty pictures. (You can see more photos like these on my instagram.)

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Peace Garden

What I've Learned so Far

Peace Garden

What I've Learned so Far

Gardeners say if you plant enough flowers they’ll crowd out the weeds. I believe that happiness crowds out negativity and hate. Happiness stems from a sense of agency and abundance in our life—when we feel abundant and empowered, we’re likely to be happy. When we’re happy, we’re more likely to be generous with others. And […]

Abundance is like beach glass

What I've Learned so Far

Abundance is like beach glass

What I've Learned so Far

Imagine you’re at the beach, enjoying a beautiful day. Something sparkles in the sand. You stoop to pick it up; it’s beach glass. Turning it over in your palm, admiring its soft, rough edges, you tell yourself stories about its journey. Then tuck it away as a good luck charm. You keep walking. Another glint, […]

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Shame Waves: Surfing to Success

What I've Learned so Far

Shame Waves: Surfing to Success

What I've Learned so Far

You just gave the best performance ever. You were calm, confident and engaging. The audience loved you! But then you sit down. Flooded with adrenaline, your brain works quickly, evaluating your performance—your dreadful, awful performance. In high resolution, your brain replays the errors, the omissions, the failures. Moments ago you were proud, now you’re embarrassed. […]

What’s more important than goals? Enjoying the pursuit.

What I've Learned so Far

What’s more important than goals? Enjoying the pursuit.

What I've Learned so Far

In my work I meet a lot of people in transit—people on their way to becoming the best version of themselves. Whether it’s a new career or advancing within one, my clients have goals. Now, you know and I know all the stuff about goals. They’ve gotta be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed-upon, Realistic and Timebound). […]

Saying No: A beginner’s guide

What I've Learned so Far

Saying No: A beginner’s guide

What I've Learned so Far

No, non, nada, nyet—how we say no in different languages. Nein is the German word for no. Nein sounds the same as the English word nine, which means one less than 10. According to researchers, nine is also the number of times kids expect to ask their parents for something before getting it. Nine. Can […]

Casual Negativity or Mindful Positivity

What I've Learned so Far

Casual Negativity or Mindful Positivity

What I've Learned so Far

A young friend introduced me to this simple group game last Saturday. We passed slips of paper around in a circle; one was marked with an L, and the rest with Ws. In this game, players don’t know what’s on their card. After the cards have gone once around the circle, everyone flips over their […]

Self-Control: The secret to successful speaking & listening

What I've Learned so Far

Self-Control: The secret to successful speaking & listening

What I've Learned so Far

Technology allows us to communicate faster, more frequently, and to a wider audience. But who’s listening? The more we communicate, the harder it is to listen well—to focus on one person and their words. This is where self-control comes in. Being able to pause yourself and focus on the speaker and improves your understanding but […]

Teenagers: 15 Tips for Peaceful Communication

What I've Learned so Far

Teenagers: 15 Tips for Peaceful Communication

What I've Learned so Far

Sometimes it seems that all teens do is communicate—text, social media, facetime. But when adults try to talk to teens, both sides often end up frustrated, annoyed or bewildered. How can we bridge this gap? First, Understand your Audience Consider what it is to be teenaged. Teens are in transition between childhood and adulthood. They […]

Kids and Swearing: How to get the little ones to stop talking sh*t

What I've Learned so Far

Kids and Swearing: How to get the little ones to stop talking sh*t

What I've Learned so Far

Ahh the power of words: to inspire, teach and offend. Nothing beats the precision of a well-placed profanity, but swearing is like hot sauce—a little goes a long way. I hate hearing kids curse. Although it’s a natural part of their development, swearing is a harsh reminder of lost innocence, especially when it’s your own kid. I […]

Empathy Self Test

What I've Learned so Far

Empathy Self Test

What I've Learned so Far

Empathy is a cornerstone of relationships. When we speak and listen with empathy others feel heard and respected, relationships improve, and we positively influence others. Self-test: Do you speak and listen with empathy? When talking: Do your words add to your listener’s life—are you giving them a gift, or dumping emotional waste? Are your words constructive […]

Conversation Skills: Are you sharing or monopolizing?

What I've Learned so Far

Conversation Skills: Are you sharing or monopolizing?

What I've Learned so Far

Sitting in a coffee shop listening to two women talk over each other, I am reminded of that apt analogy of two TVs, both turned on and facing each other. Lots of words but little communication. We’re all guilty sometimes of talking at rather than to our listener; of delivering monologues instead of mutually exploring […]

Complaining: Committed vs Uncommitted

What I've Learned so Far

Complaining: Committed vs Uncommitted

What I've Learned so Far

Committed complaining: have you heard of it? The idea is that we complain in two ways: committed or uncommitted to fixing the problem. Sometimes we’re just grousing: I’m cold, my office is cold, I hate working here, my boss is a nightmare… Uncommitted complaining begins and ends with the complaint. You don’t like something but […]

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Beyond No! Communicating with Toddlers

What I've Learned so Far

Beyond No! Communicating with Toddlers

What I've Learned so Far

Communicating with two-year-olds can be frustrating. They’re passionate, stubborn and likely to bite. But it doesn’t have to be this way—spending time with toddlers can be fun! Yes, really. Toddlers are amazing—they’re still connected to their magic, and look at the world in a way we’ve forgotten. They have lots to say and can be […]

Are You an Interrupting Cow? How to be a better listener, and more popular too

What I've Learned so Far

Are You an Interrupting Cow? How to be a better listener, and more popular too

What I've Learned so Far

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Interrupting Cow. Interrupting Cow wh– Moo! Are you an interrupting cow? How often do you allow a pause after someone’s finished speaking? Be honest, how often do you let people finish speaking? Interrupting is such a deeply ingrained habit for some that we don’t even notice when we do it. Kicking that habit […]

WAIT What? 4 Wrong Reasons to Speak (& 4 good ones)

What I've Learned so Far

WAIT What? 4 Wrong Reasons to Speak (& 4 good ones)

What I've Learned so Far

There’s a great acronym that makes me look smart and wise. It’s WAIT, and stands for Why Am I Talking? What a brilliant question to ask yourself. You might decide not to speak if your answer is any of the following: Gossip Is the “news” you’re sharing about someone else just veiled gossip? Even if it […]

About

Hi. I’m Lucinda, a teacher whose learning will never end. I hope to inspire you to have a great life and make the world a wonderful place.

On the personal side, I’m sporty, outdoorsy and hilarious.

If you want to contact me, please connect through Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.

All contents of this site copyright Lucinda Atwood