Desiree has worked in Higher Education Administration at Princeton University School of Architecture, non-profits in the Seattle-area, and in People and Business Strategy at Brooks Sports and uniquelyHR, in addition to owning her own personal chef business, Able Table. With experience in the start-up world, in non-profits and higher education, and in large corporations and government, Desiree is passionate about leadership and development and building successful companies through simultaneous creation of people and business strategy based on the vision and mission of a company.
Desiree finds great satisfaction in helping others to become their best, while simultaneously pursuing her own path of self-improvement. Desiree holds a B.A. in Art and American Studies from Yale University and an MBA from Seattle University where she continues to assist with and facilitate graduate leadership courses, MGMT 5100, Leadership Skills and Team Development, and MGMT 5335, Leading with Emotional Intelligence.
Desiree is also a member of the Los Angeles chapter of SHRM, PIHRA, and attends the local LA chapter meetings of the International Coaching Federation.
Process, patience and purpose -How do these themes connect for you? Do you sometimes question your progress and thus the process, or lose sight of the purpose and then struggle with both patience and process? What have you learned about process, purpose, and patience in your life? How does your view of process connect to patience and purpose for you?
I am often inspired by nature, the seasons, and the cadence of life around us, as well as the view through the eyes of my children. Spring comes every year and offers another opportunity to try again, to do something new, to grow and change, a do-over if you will. This past month, we took our first spring break trip, our first big trip on an airplane, since February of 2020. I feel so fortunate to have been able to take our first family vacation, a real vacation, since COVID. We’ve taken road trips and spent some time in an Airbnb or two along the way, but this was the first time in 26 months that we boarded an airplane. This was Sally’s first flight, and given the passage of so much time, seemed like a first for the boys, too. A silver lining of COVID, my kids don’t take such trips and flights for granted anymore. It was pure joy to travel for the first time again! So much seemed new!
We went to Southern California where we soaked up the sun and time with friends and family we hadn’t seen in over two years. The boys shared some of their favorite places with their sister (we called Los Angeles home from 2017 to mid-2019), while simultaneously experiencing them all anew – Legoland, the San Diego Zoo, the Space Shuttle Endeavor, the Natural History Museum in LA, Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Center, sunset on the beach – so much goodness and joy, a taste of newness even in revisiting old favorites.
This travel experience makes me think about the opportunity spring presents each year – an opportunity to plant and grow something new and different, an opportunity to grow something old and familiar in a new way, an opportunity to reinvent, try again, to grow after a season or more of remaining the same, a chance to see new opportunity, and a time of rebirth. Every spring, there is another occasion to start fresh, to try again, to try anew, to show up differently, to see differently, a “do-over” and a chance to appreciate things/people/experiences more deeply.
This spring, what are you seeing as if for the first time? What are you noticing with new eyes? What is being illuminated for you or providing you clarity? What might you do or what might you change to see things from a new vantage point or through a new lens? Where are you feeling stuck and in need of a new way of seeing in order to move forward? As we begin to reemerge, what are you more deeply appreciating and savoring, as if familiar and new all at once?
Ducks we saw while having lunch outdoors in San Diego
Quote I am Pondering:
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” — Attributed to Rabindranath Tagore
This podcast came across my path via email from a colleague at Seattle University where I teach as an Adjunct Faculty in the Albers School of Business, Department of Management. The content both encouraged me and challenged me as I considered my own journey to stay present and aware, conscious, and in the moment, as well as my desire to share ideas and content in this email that resonates and people will like. The theme of being liked hit home as I have been pondering ways to grow my audience and have worried about people losing interest. At the same time, the joy of our spring break and the reminders to embrace each moment and take all that life has to offer, with acceptance and gratitude also sat with me. So, I challenged myself to listen openly and to share openly.
Even when you’ve devoted yourself to spiritual work, it can be difficult to maintain mindful awareness. In this episode, Michael speaks on the difficulty of maintaining consciousness and equanimity when we seem hardwired to be hooked by outside stimuli.
This quick read is packed full of insight and human wisdom. One of my favorite moments was this exchange between the Mole and the Boy:
Mole, “I am so small!” Boy, “Yes, but you make a huge difference!”
What Amazon has to say: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER · USA TODAY BESTSELLER
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is not only a thought-provoking, discussion-worthy story, but the book itself is also an object of art.”- Elizabeth Egan, The New York Times
From British illustrator, artist, and author Charlie Mackesy comes a journey for all ages that explores life’s universal lessons, featuring 100 color and black-and-white drawings.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the mole. “Kind,” said the boy.
Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book, following the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox, and a wise horse who find themselves together in sometimes difficult terrain, sharing their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship, and love. The shared adventures and important conversations between the four friends are full of life lessons that have connected with readers of all ages.
You can sign up to receive my Three Thoughts for Thursday post as an email on the third Thursday of every month by clicking here.
Beginning in April 2021, I have had the privilege of Co-Hosting with Kathy Hadizadeh, the Emotional Intelligence Special Interest Group for ICFLA. Please join us next week for April’s session on Tuesday, the 26th of the month as we explore our coaching lenses and how they can impact our clients!
For more information on the next “EQ and WooWoo” workshop (Thursday, June 23rd) with my colleague and Spiritual Coach, Katie Kay, please RSVP or email me for more information. This workshop series is designed to help you manifest action towards the year you want to live, the person you want to be, and the goals you want to achieve. We will be hosting quarterly sessions that intertwine the use of Tarot (and other Woowoo tools) and Emotional Intelligence to help you and your clients step outside the box in order to take your coaching and personal work deeper. June will focus on Social Awareness, tending to the seeds you’ve planted, and caring for the things you are growing.
If you are interested in joining and co-creating these learning communities, please use the links above to find out more about ICFLA’s Emotional Intelligence Special Interest Group and the EQ & WooWoo Workshops. I hope you will come along for the journey!
I’m always looking for new inspiration, new books to read, and new podcasts to listen to, so please send your suggestions my way or comment on this post to offer some new recommendations!
As always, thank you for your continued support and readership! Stay strong, stay brave, stay true to you!
Wishing you a season of “firsts”, of seeing anew, of do-overs, excitement, and joy!
As much as I love the season of autumn, I also love when the days start to get longer. March marks the start of Spring with the Equinox! Having grown up in Colorado, spring generally makes me think of the mud, but this year, I am thinking of the light. Equal days and equal nights. For me, as spring emerges, there is a sense of restoration and readiness to stretch and plant and grow, to bask in the light of the longer days. I can feel the light charging me up.
My ancestors were farmers so perhaps there’s something genetic that gives me the itch for spring, to dig in the dirt and plant things, to stay outdoors longer as the light allows me to stretch the day. I also am feeling this year, this urge to reconnect, to reinvigorate relationships, friendships, connections. Perhaps that is the purpose of winter, just as with plants and with animals who hibernate, to rest and restore in preparation for another season of planting and growing, stretching and connecting.
As I write this, the sun is shining through the green leaves of the tree outside my window. From this light of the sun streaming through the branches, I feel a warmth of anticipation, peace, hope, joy, a weight being lifted off of me as if I am becoming physically lighter in the light of the sun. I feel a reminder that I have everything inside of me to grow into all that I am meant to be as the sun shines upon me and provides its light and warmth to aid my growth.
As the seasons change, the days grow longer, plants begin to bloom, how are you feeling, both physically and emotionally? Do you connect with the seasons physically, mentally, emotionally? Do you feel a shift in your mood, in your patterns of being? Are you feeling energized? More connected? Longing for something different and new to spring forth? Or are you still in hibernation mode? How does spring make you feel and what does this season inspire? Metaphorically, what seeds do you want to plant and what will these seeds grow this year?
“Careers come in Phases. Find your Passion. Discover your Purpose. Soar into the Future.“
This podcast is for the millions of women who have taken a career break and are ready to find their wings and soar like a butterfly. We provide weekly insights and interviews with women who have successfully returned to work, as well as experts working to make it easier to hit pause and un-pause on your career.
In Episode 123, Bringing Your Emotional Intelligence to Work, we take a deeper dive into EQ and its power to transform and connect us as human beings. You can also find resources that relate to the discussion and have informed my own research and work. If you are interested in my first interview with Erica, you can listen to Episode 116, Riding Your Own Unique Wave, to hear more about my personal journey.
Please check out all the other episodes, as well, as they all share common themes around resilience, humanity, struggle, reinvention, growth, and provide inspiration to continue to adapt, evolve, and grow – great themes connected to spring!
David Whyte is a poet, author, speaker, philosopher.
From his website:
THE POWER OF THE POETIC IMAGINATION David Whyte’s writing explores the timeless relationship of human beings to their world, to creation, to others, and to the end of life itself.
He makes his home in the Pacific Northwest, where rain and changeable skies remind him of the other, more distant homes from which he comes: Yorkshire, Wales, and Ireland. He has traveled extensively, including working as a guide in the Galapagos and leading trips into the Himalayas; much of his work chronicles a close relationship to landscapes and histories. He speaks to the suffering and joy that accompany revelation, and the necessity of belonging to families, people, and places.
David Whyte’s poetry can be heard in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, the hallowed halls of educational institutions, and from the stages of literary festivals and theological conferences. In each of these disparate settings, his work and compelling speaking style are moving and relevant, transcending the confines of any individual context.
For more information and to register for the March “EQ and WooWoo” workshop with my colleague and Spiritual Coach, Katie Kay, click here. This workshop series is designed to help you manifest action towards the year you want to live, the person you want to be, the goals you want to achieve. We will be hosting quarterly sessions that intertwine the use of Tarot (and other Woowoo tools) and Emotional Intelligence to help you and your clients step outside the box in order to take your coaching and personal work deeper. March will focus on Self-Management and planting what you want to grow.
If you are interested in joining and co-creating these learning communities, please use the links above to find out more about ICFLA’s Emotional Intelligence Special Interest Group and the EQ & WooWoo Workshops. I hope you will come along for the journey!
I’m always looking for new inspiration, new books to read, new podcasts to listen to, so please send your suggestions my way or comment on this post to offer some new recommendations!
As always, thank you for your continued support and readership! Stay strong, stay brave, stay true to you!
Wishing you a season of light and abundant planting!
With Valentine’s Day right in the middle of February, this month always makes me think of love and matters of the heart. I’ve been inspired to tend to the relationships around me and to consider how well I love and care for myself, reminding myself of the example I am setting for my children on a daily basis. I challenged myself to write on a red, cutout heart each day, for each of my kids, something I love and appreciate about them. I noticed how this shifted my moods on days I felt rushed and grumpy, and how even on days I felt positive, loving, and patient, how this brought me added joy, this pausing to consider all the ways and traits and things I love about each of my children.
As I write this, I am wondering what I would write and how I would feel if I challenged myself to think of something each day that I love and appreciate about myself. So often, and I know I am not alone, I am quick to criticize myself and rarely think of the things I’ve done well or like about myself. Perhaps that is the challenge for me and for you as we finish out the month of February – consider each day what you love and appreciate about yourself and write it down! Notice how you feel when you acknowledge good, positive, wonderful things about yourself and write that down, too. What comes up for you? Is this task easy or difficult and why? What if you make this a habit? How do you start to feel? How does your view of yourself begin to shift? How does the tone of your inner voice change?
One of my favorite times of day is when I get to read with one of my kids before bed. This is a task my husband and I divide and conquer. One of the books I recently read with my younger son was The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. This quote stood out and made me ponder, along with the second quote I came across elsewhere that also seemed to fit. These quotes made me think of the various ways we can approach brokenness and pieces, with carelessness or intention. Our attitudes can determine the outcome of how we bring the pieces together and what we make of them.
“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman.”
~ Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux ~
“Sometimes when things are falling apart, they may actually be falling into place.”
In this podcast series, Elizabeth Gilbert sets out to provide “roadmaps for creativity.” She takes the subject of creativity out into the world to have real conversations with real people, giving us the extra nudge we need when we’re feeling stuck in our creative lives. This podcast was intended to “help another batch of aspiring artists overcome their fears and create more joyfully.”
Unfortunately, there are only two seasons of this podcast, but it is still worth the listen! What are your creative gifts and what are you doing to nourish and use them?
In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances—a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.
Over the past two decades, Brown’s extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown’s singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn’t give the experience more power—it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice.
Brown shares, “I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves.”
In January, I kicked off the workshop series “EQ and WooWoo” with my colleague and Spiritual Coach, Katie Kay, designed to begin the new year with manifestation in mind. We will be hosting quarterly sessions that intertwine the use of Tarot and Emotional Intelligence to help you and your clients step outside the box in order to take your coaching work deeper and create intentional action. Upcoming sessions will take place on March 22nd, June 23, and September 21 – email or watch for future announcements for details on how to register.
If you are interested in joining and co-creating these learning communities, please use the link above to find out more about ICFLA’s workshops and watch for more information on registering for March’s Curate Your Garden: Workshop 2 in the year-long series on “EQ and WooWoo”. I hope you will come along for the journey!
I’m always looking for new inspiration, new books to read, new podcasts to listen to, so please send your suggestions my way or comment on this post to offer some new recommendations!
As always, thank you for your continued support and readership! Stay strong, stay brave, stay true to you!
Wishing you a season of light and love – both for yourself and those around you!
Desiree Briel Rodi Consulting & Coaching 