Ed Bacon made some valuable remarks in my interview with him this week about his book 8 Habits of Love. A few of my favorites:
The habit of candor: “Candor has to do with whether I want a particular relationship to become more durable.”
When you are giving feedback to someone: “Make sure you are going to bring up something about the doing side, not the being side, that you have clearly sorted that out.”
The habit of community: “Community cannot happen without the balance between separateness and togetherness.”
He suggested that leaders in a do a self-inventory: “Make sure that in a particular meeting we were staying connected and we were differentiating our own thinking.”
“Getting someone to tell you their story is the shortcut to relationship.”
The habit of stillness: Bacon takes an hour at the beginning of each day to be still. “I have such an advantage coming into the day if I have done that. It is part of my hygiene, like taking a shower or brushing my teeth.”
He added that during the day if he sees he has lost perspective he will take a “time out” to recover it.
Regarding all the habits: the habits that are easier or more difficult come from our family of origin experience. Some families find candor or play easy, for example, others find them more difficult.
The recording of the teleconference is available. E-mail me at Margaret@margaretmarcuson.com, and I’ll send you the link.