jalléCafe

The original story

I recently updated the "About Me" page on this blog to reflect how it has evolved in three years.  Yet I want to always remember the original metaphor I wrote for it in 2006.  It proved to be an important starting point.  More influential than I could have imagined.

My story.

When I find an appealing little café along a street, I always want to spend more time inside it than I can in real life.

I dream that these warm, buzzing little corners smell of strong coffee, sweet hot pastries and hopefully a tinge of chocolate.

In my imagination -- and sometimes in reality -- people talk energetically at their tables as they sip their tea or coffee.  They discuss candidly their daily challenges.  I sense a vigor in their eyes & voices -- perhaps an underlying spirit of optimism, even in the face of darker emotions also present. 

These people speak from the perspectives of real women and men. Real people who try to build a meaningful life as they live, work and lead. 

The path forward proves not often crystal clear.  That's why we talk together.

After a few minutes inside such a place, I begin to feel a peacefulness that comes with sensing that I am not alone in my stresses.  I find I can explore more ways to bring both a smile and persistence to my own attempted solutions.

I believe it is exactly this encouragement that I and others sometimes need to try our new ideas with courage and intellect.

And then we find meaning.  Continuous renewal does not have to reach a screeching halt at a special age or on a specific previously-chosen path.  In my mind's cafe, we feel motivated to create, to learn, to love – to live – through all aspects of our lives.

OK, maybe I simply drink too much coffee and that stimulates my imagination, but…

Can I bring you a cappuccino, double espresso or a latte? Here in my little virtual corner we can spend a few moments in a place where real people who lead and live can be heard and understood.  Perhaps even a little inspired. 

We will tell our stories with our own voices to support each other in learning and trying, laughing a bit to stay healthy along the way.

Because of course it is important to always serve a little piece of chocolate on the side.

Three years and still blogging

Three years ago yesterday, I published my first blog post.

It didn't say much - just that I was out there trying something new.

My posting stats show that tried to say something 210 times since then.  That's at least one post a week for 156 weeks.  Since I started, more than 12,700 pages have been viewed by readers or simply people lost on the web.  It's too bad I cannot see what percentage of these are represented by my biggest fans - Mom, Aunt Trudy and Uncle John.  And of course, there's Mr. Ness, who encouraged me to get started and keep it up.

All-in-all, what does three years of blog-posting say really?

It says I followed through, I guess.  And I like the process of writing on a blog more than I expected.  I've tried different approaches to capturing my ideas.  Often, I write an idea by hand in my personal journal before it reaches the internet. It's helped me reflect and pull out the small details that make my life meaningful, to recognize and savor them more.

What has most surprised me are the wonderful notes I receive from people who I would never expect to care about my blog. Positive, warm and more thoughtful than would have been inspired via email alone.  For that I am highly grateful.

And for that, I will keep writing.  Thank you.

What's new

You may have noticed that my blog categories have changed. 

I did not delete any posts (now up to 167 in two years and three months). 

I simply took a look back at what I'd written about and forward to where I hope I'm going.  Then I revised the categories to fit what I've really been saying.

These categories fit the themes that come up over and over again.  They align more, but not too tightly, with my business. 

Sometimes now I - and you too perhaps - can read over a theme to see what's been pondered about it, tried, achieved and if not, adjusted. In other words, what can be learned from the collected view in hindsight.

Thank you for reading even one single post.  I hope it catalyzes your own ideas!

You can find my photos also on Flickr

I created and started blogging with a web-based digital photo site in early 2008. You can find it here:  My Flickr Account  .  I keep blog-worthy and general photos there. I use it to illustrate my writing points and to share my life with my friends and family wherever they are  Feel free to take a look.  I find it great fun to keep up.

Communications plan for my blog

For those of you non tech-types like me, I want to explain some new things I'm doing with my blog (thanks to finding a little summer holiday time to dream):

1. Appropriately dreamy sounding, I've added a "category cloud" to the menu bar.  The list of categories now looks like a connected list of topics. The larger the letters/name of the topic, the more I've posted in that category. My blog expert friend Nice-Cup-of-Tea Helen tells me that the technology to do this emerged about a year ago.  I find it a great way for me to see if I'm writing on all topics that I care about over time.  Fun to watch it grow and shrink.

2. I've reorganized the categories to fit what I care about in communications: 

• Finding your voice. Helping people find their own voices - be clear about what they want to communicate
• Using your voice. Helping leaders & any employee communicate with influence - in an organizational setting and specific job role
• Building corporate cultures. Helping where we work become better places for healthy conversations
  
  I will write in each category during the coming months.

3. Two specific categories complete my list and I hope will give readers more context and an occasional smile:

• About this blog. This category provides context to my blogging.  It describes the contributing voices (i.e. Lessons from Mom, Nice-Cup-of-Tea Helen, Sandra O. The Nonblogger, and Mr. Ness) and explains what I'm trying to accomplish with my blog
• Living resiliently. Here I will write observations, sometimes just fun and nonsense, about life in Zurich and in general. The point is to show that I am deeply committed to whole-life perspectives and to encouraging all of us to get ahead of "burn-out" by managing our energy proactively. It's not always easy. I'll share my own peaks and valleys.  You'll also find Sandra O. The NonBlogger here.

I'll be interested to hear what you think about my updated plans as I'm gaining experience as a bonafide blogger!    

Welcome 2007!

I'm officially back to work today, after a relaxing 10-day holiday break.  New for me...that I really take a break without checking e-mail or moving a project forward on the side.  I learned during my vacation last July to finally be present with friends and family through the entire holiday.  They appreciated seeing me without a phone attached to my ear and enthusiastically supported the "new Jill."  I hadn't realized how stressy the old Jill seemed to them -- she had to disappear before it was safe for them to tell me.  One of my great lessons of 2006!

Even during a break, I write a bit to relax.  Out of this scribbling will come my first posts for the year: a series of Lessons from Mom.  She visited me in Zurich for Christmas.  Great to have her here, especially as we continue to find new twists on family traditions since Dad died five years ago.

Between coffees and shopping, we talked about her 30-some years teaching 10-year olds in Ohio, USA.  I wrote a few of her ideas on napkins or whatever paper we could find in the moment.  She reminded me that the best approaches usually start with recognizing the human experience.

And that seems to me to be a good place to begin 2007.

A voice on the web

I have already perilously written a book in a first-person testimonial style to my great stress as a normally very private person.  Yet now I find myself in a new format again, again writing in first-person.  A blog!  Who would have thought this technology-laggard would do such a thing within 9 months of quitting her job (again), founding a business (first adventure), and deciding to stay long-term in place renowned more for its chocolate than for its entreprenuerialism.  Go figure.  One never knows where life will lead when one follows her inner voice.  I'm sure I'm about to learn something...valuable...I just sometimes wish it would be less of a surprise!