The goal of this episode is to affirm our ability to “cultivate inspiration”, by looking at what inspires us and what inspire others.

This episode #69 and the lesson plan are dedicated to Jeppe de Lange.

The word “Inspiration” has its roots in the Latin word inspiratus – meaning to Breathe into – to inspire.

What can we do to help us breathe into a crisis?

•  Exhale, (which we teach in Response) helps us breathe into a crisis. The Exhale creates a pause in action and can redirect our thoughts from one of panic to clarity and reason.
• The Pause and Exhale is done while asking “Am I safe?” This action encourages the intervener to take in the scene at hand and to also role model a calm, compassionate, and professional demeanor.
• The use of an Exhale can help motivate, encourage, and influence others – it is a form of Intentional Role Modeling.

What is Intentional Role Modeling” Consciously acting in a manner that displays a specific behavior or action.

Intention can be both benevolent and malicious, today we are working on benevolent Intentional Role Modeling. Benevolent acts can inspire us and others, making Intentional Role Modeling also Inspirational Role Modeling.

Intentional Role Modeling with benevolence as the lead role modeled”.

Inspiration is feeling engaged, uplifted, and motivated by someone or something you witnessed.

 

Positive Emotions help us build upon our engagement in daily life. At a baseline level, they motivate us to get up each morning and participate in life. Inspiration at its highest level, can be transformational.

The “Broaden and Build Theory” was developed by Barbara Fredrickson’s in the late 1990’s and is commonly referred to in Positive Psychology.

Positive Psychology is “the scientific study of what makes life most worth living.

 

Learn more about the Response Curriculum at http://www.responsetrainings.com

Certainty and Uncertainty are the yin and yang of life’s journey.

For the most part we navigate though the unknown door of uncertainty without much fretting, because we humans are the masters of problem solving. Yes, we are! Go ahead give yourself a pat on the back! For goodness sakes, you found this podcast on leading chaos - and I know for certain that isn't easy. :)

Life though has an uncanny way of throwing us off course. Natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and accidents, be it household, car or slipping on icy steps and throwing out our back, can throw us in a tail spin and rain uncertainty down upon us like a hailstorm in July.

In this episode, we revisit the Response Protocol and how it helps us manage moments of uncertainty.

And, we learn a little bit about what is going on in our brain that makes us lean towards the irrational.

To top it off we look at the difference between asking

“What can I do?”

vs

“What if?”

The more we understand what happens when we are faced with uncertainty, the more likely we will be successful in “getting to certain”.

And for those who work in the therapeutic milieu consider brainstorm with your team on what your site offers in terms of “Certainty” for a client in need vs “Uncertainty”

- Role play conversations with a person in crisis that brings them from uncertainty to certainty.

Not sure how to do this? Contact [email protected] and set up a consult or training today and begin practicing “Getting to Certain” before Uncertainty creeps in the back door and begins the cycle of chaos.

Ria Windcaller is the Rounder and CEO of Response Training Programs LLC. She is the author of Leading Chaos; An Essential Guide to Conflict Management.

The Response Protocol is not only useful for "getting to certain" it provides an emotional first aid model for First Responders, educators, and anyone wishing to be prepared to lead chaos rather than have it lead you.

 

Be safe!

The secret to life, is it's all about transitions. So why not do them well! Take hold of 3 key transitional moments that impact everyday of your life.

My Uncle Frank's old saying about not getting to heaven in a Red Canoe, if that Red Canoe don't belong to you...has had me thinking for a long, long time. What the heck does that mean? Can't get I'm not sure if Uncle Frank meant to use this saying the way I am in this podcast. I suspect he was just kidding around and doing a little ditty with us kids at the time. But that just goes to show you how something can stick in your mind for so long and then - Poof- it all comes together. In this episode we chat on the "Use of Force Policy" and how the authorization to use "restraint" as a means of force is, well, kind of like taking somebody's else's Red Canoe. We delve into the words Escort vs Restraint and how these two words have very different effects on one's mental and physical state. Your homework for this episode is to ask yourself and your team ( if that applies to you as a First Responder or PERT Team Member) "Would you rather be escorted or restrained, during a crisis?" This sounds like a worthy chat that every crisis intervener should have. Please let me know what you find out or your thoughts on this topic. Send me an email to [email protected] What does PERT stand for? Psychiatric Emergency Response Team

The New York State of Mind.."Start spreading the News...I want to be a part of it - New York, New York!" Yes, Start spreading the news, before there's chaos, get in step with your sense of purpose and professionalism. Be a part of it like ~ New York, New York Who doesn't feel a bounce in their step when you start hearing that song. Such songs do that to us and when the song isn't there we do it ourselves. This is all part of realizing our impact on others and how it also impacts ourself. Find out more via the show notes: leadingchaospodcast.com

Got goat? Those two words keep rolling back to me over and over again as I contemplate exactly what is my trigger point? Or.. what's my goat? In this episode we begin with an Aikido saying from O'Sensei "True Victory is Self Victory" and explore other musings, like exactly what it is that makes us lose ourself when triggered... or give away our Goat. Baaahaaaa We are back on track with the chapter Cause No Harm from my book, Leading Chaos; An Essential Guide to Conflict Management. I chat about the story of Bully Hill Vineyard in New York state and how Walter Taylor gave it to the Coca Cola company that bought his family wine label Taylor wines. And how Walter Taylor took the saying - "Can't get my goat" to push back at Coca Cola

Anniversaries suck. I'd take a "Happy Birthday" over a "Best Wishes for Your Anniversary" any day. At least with birthday's you get asked, "What are you looking forward to this year?" Unless you have those witty friends who love to tease you about another year older and deeper in debt jokes. Most importantly with birthdays you know what you are celebrating. It the day you were born. Clear, cut and clean. Anniversaries can mark both events that you relish and some events that you would rather forget, but because it was so significant the event gets immortalized with an anniversary every year. Yes, Anniversaries have that uncanny way of making your look back, often waaay back...reflecting over years gone by. I don't want to be a year-gone by gal, sitting and reflecting upon what could have been or what was. Any yogi worth their weight in gold would say, "Live in the moment". I'd be the first to agree that having a "past" is a good thing. Sheesh. If you have been around long enough to even muse upon birthdays and anniversaries, you are one lucky duck. Even if that past has seen it fair share of ebbs versus flows. The one thing in common with anniversaries and birthdays is you can't out run them. You might be a hare, but the anniversary is the tortoise and it will always win. So best to suck it up and face the anniversary straight on. So here goes, my version of sucking it up.

You might not be able to admit it publicly, but we all know Mary Poppins is the coolest umbrella holding, straw hat lady on the block. So what if at you first thought, "Who is that crazy broad with that umbrella in hand?" We all adore Mary - cuz "When Mary holds your hand you feel so grand!" This episode is taking time to do one of my favorite stress relaxation exercises and sharing it with you. So let's dedicate this episode to Mary for confirming that we are practically perfect in every way and take that though forward in to 2016! Follow this podcast on twitter @leadingchaos send Ria and email at [email protected]

We all recall a pivotal moment in life that shines so bright we can not look away. Well that moment happened to me one snowy night while watching the 1966 animated cartoon by based upon Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Sure, perhaps like you, I had watched that half hour show before, throughout my childhood, but that just goes to show you that sometimes the most obvious doesn’t reveal itself until we are ready. So it was for the Grinch, as it was for me in this episode of the Leading Chaos Podcast I wrote the first draft of the Response Crisis Intervention Curriculum in 1986. Undoubtedly my practice of Aikido had informed me on how to step off the line of attack and seek a win/win outcome in even the most extreme situations. But describing a goal of nonviolence as taught in Response has always been a hard sell. I can only guess that it must be the human condition to make things more complex than needed, like using control over kindness. Then one snowy winter night, as I sat watching the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, narrated by Boris Karloff I had what I would consider an epiphany at the exact same time as the Grinch. There in a whimsical story was everything I was trying to teach: possibilities aka the belief that a person can change even a person as deep and dark as the Grinch. Do you remember that moment? Well allow me to give you a brief overview of the story. High up on a snowy Mount Crumpit within a cave, lived a green Grinch and his loyal dog Max. Poor Max would do anything for the Grinch, but was unloved by the Grinch. I always felt quite bad for that beagle looking dog with deep eyes that you would think would make even a Grinch smile. But no. Below Mount Crumpit, was Whoville, where the Seusical Whos of Whoville lived. They were getting ready for Christmas and the grumpy Grinch could not bear the merrymaking and noise. So he made plans to stop and ruin Whoville’s Christmas by stealing their presents, their Christmas trees, even their food for the Christmas day feast. He did all this by donning a Santa suit and tying a single antler to his dog Max’s head. Because it is a cartoon of course he had a sleigh and he and Max rode it into Whoville on Christmas Eve He immediately set to task to steal everything in town and was interrupted once during the bugurlary by Cindy Lou. Of course, she was the cutest Who you could imagine. He made up a lie about taking her family’s tree to get repaired and set her off to bed. As he and Max make their escape back to the top of Mount Crumpit, and prepares to dump all of the presents over the mountain, just as dawn is breaking and while he is expecting to hear wails and cries of anguish, instead he hears the Whos of Whoville singing the magical song Fahoo Fores Dahoo Dores Welcome Christmas Come this way Fah who for-aze! Fah who for-aze! Dah who dor-aze! Dah who dor-aze! Welcome Christmas, Welcome Christmas, Come this way! Come this way! And that is the moment that changed it all. And it changed it for me too as I watched. The Grinch realized that "maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more" than just presents and feasting. While I realized that is exactly what I strive to do in my work as a Crisis Intervener: to both believe in the higher self in even the meanest of grinches. Interestingly, no one knows why the Grinch was so angry at Christmas as the story reads, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. And I don’t expect that Dr. Seuss was attributing Grinch symptoms with those of the mentally ill, but the line: “it could be that his head wasn’t screwed on just right” speaks volumes to me as a crisis intervener. Yes, we all have a bit of Grinch within our hearts every now and then, but indeed there is more to each and everyone of us than madness and hate.

When a medical emergency is taking place the protocol is clear. Grab your jump kit and go. The same tools do not always apply when there is an emotional emergency. So what do we use? I have relied consistently on the power of suggestion or what I call the Yoda Effect. :) Walk with me, Please Walk with me, Please Thank you George Lucas for helping me define a skill that is so helpful when chaos is looming. How do we use the Yoda Effect it? Provide an action: Walk with me, Please Turn away Look this way Step back •Be direct •Offer a task that the person can be successful at completing •Make sure to not abuse your authority. Would you like to read more about my work in crisis intervention? Read Leading Chaos; An Essential Guide to Conflict Management

I find strength in flowers. Where madmen carried guns, the people of Paris carry flowers. I find strength in candles. Where bullets pierced innocents, the people of Paris light candles. The news story shows a young boy of perhaps 4 years of age, with his father kneeling beside him. They were being interviewed by a reporter for French television show Le Petit Journal . I could tell they were next to a tribute to the 129 people killed at various venues around the city of Paris on Friday 13 November 2015. The reporter held the microphone to the pair and asked if the boy understood what had happened. He said yes, there are bad guys who are not very nice. And continued with “We have to move and change houses.” The father spoke up, “Oh don’t worry , We are not moving. France is our home.” "But there are bad guys Daddy." The father says, "Yes, but there are bad guys everywhere." “But they are mean men and they have guns and will hurt us” It’s okay, They might have guns but we have flowers,” the father replies The boy replies, “But flowers don’t do anything, they’re for they’re for..,” “Of course they do,” the father replies. “Look, everyone is putting flowers. It’s to fight against the guns” “It’s to protect?” “Exactly.” “And there are candles too?” “It is to remember the people who are gone yesterday.” The boy looks back at the memorial of flowers and candles and says, “The flowers and candles are here to protect us.” There is an obvious exchange of smiles between the father and son. The reporter then asks, “Do you feel better now?” “Yes, I feel better.” Replies the boy. Watch: YouTube Video of father and son via Le Petit Journal