Friday Four No.16
On a Friday, (admittedly not every Friday, but on as many as possible) I share “Four Things For Friday”. They are a collection of things I’ve seen, heard, or experienced during the week. Thoughtfully chosen, and intended to spark your curiosity, imagination, or inspiration. HAPPY EXPLORING!
What caught my eye this week?
A giant advertisement. New York is filled with incredibly huge adverts everywhere, but the ones I really appreciate are the old school ones - the ones painted with a paintbrush. I always marvel at them, not really paying attention to what they’re advertising but rather the skill that is involved to create them. This week though, the Wall Street Journal advert did catch my attention for what it showed and what it was advertising.
“Read yourself to your own opinion.” Over the past few years I’ve become more and more aware of how, in very generic terms, us humans allow other people to form our opinions for us, or we try and cajole others into believing ours. It’s easy to jump on the band wagon about something, it’s easy to just follow what other people do and say. Through my own ventures of getting clear on what I want in my life it’s had a secondary effect of exploring what my own beliefs, values, and opinions of things truly are - without being influenced by reviews, media, or crowd intellect.
If you start from the place of imagining you know absolutely nothing, zero. How do you go about forming your views and opinions? How do you learn? How do you trust reviews and opinions? What research do you conduct? How do you arrive at a conclusion?
In this lighting speed life we now live, is there room for you to slow down a bit? To become more curious about life and consider perspectives from other angles, to explore a view on something that you might ordinarily (out of social habit) just read a review about and then react to straight away.
Now with your renewed sense of thoughtfulness, can you give yourself space to explore a subject or a topic in your own time and in your own way to discover what you really do believe.
That’s my challenge to myself this week, to increase the thoughtfulness within which I arrive at a conclusion.
What was I reminded about?
Emotions and Stories. I’m a long time fan of the work from Amber Rae. She has a beautiful way of getting to the heart of the matter with lightness and clarity. One of her recent posts on instagram reminded me that as we all experience emotions every minute of every day, they typically will move through our being and complete their journey, having come up to give us some direction about what we’re experiencing and why. Learning how to recognize, listen, and respond to these emotions is anther topic for conversation - this is something we do with our clients to help businesses understand how emotions impact business performance, strategy and success.
Emotions can get stuck, or hang out a little too long in our bodies. That happens for a variety of reasons, but the reminder that emotions stick because of the stories we create around what we are experiencing is true.
We know that emotions affect thoughts, which affect behaviors
- and the stories we tell ourselves can be the glue to turn those emotions into thoughts.
The next time you’re feeling an emotion, and notice it, give yourself a minute to ask “what am I really thinking about in this situation?” “What story am I telling myself?” “Is it really true?” “Am I relying on the facts, or am I creating and writing a fictional or factual story?”.
Time Warner, NYC
The holidays are here.
Holiday lights of 2019! New York is the most fabulous place during the holiday season. Its holiday decorations are sparkly, and typically not over the top. There is a magic that comes into the city once the holiday season arrives. Forget for a moment the commercial side of the holidays, the frantic nature of multiple parties, the must-dos, the year-end activity, and give yourself chance to get out and about.
Every year we do our own “lights and tree walk”. It’s an evening where we walk a good 10-miles around the city to see as many of the lights as we can. This week I spotted the Time Warner stars are up and it reminded me of our tradition and the excitement of doing the walk in the coming weeks. Pom pom hats, scarves, coats, gloves, jumpers (or sweaters!), hot cocoa, or saffron golden milk (thanks to ABCV, this is my new favorite hot drink of choice) it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…
If you’re up for doing your own lights walk here in the city, here are some must see lights and scenes:
Upper West Side and Upper East Side - for a variety of home decorations and holiday trees on door steps and in windows.
Time Warner building at Columbus Circle - for 3D stars suspended in the air that change color in time to the musical show.
Central Park Wollman Ice Rink - Walk to the back so you have the back drop of the city skyline.
Bryant Park Winter Village - For ice skating and holiday village shopping.
Bloomberg Tower - Enter into the courtyard from 58th street between 3rd Avenue and Lexington. Nestled in the courtyard of the building is a giant tree surrounded by smaller ones.
Bloomingdales - is around the corner and offers the chance to admire the pearls of string lights hanging from the building, alongside a peek at the window displays.
Park Avenue - From 60th street roughly to 42nd street the avenue is filled with sparkly lights on trees, and a variety of decorations in office lobbies that are worth discovering.
Barney’s - On Madison Avenue between 60th and 61st street for the window displays that seem to pop right out.
6th Avenue - from 55th street south to Bryant Park, a variety of office lobby and outside displays.
Radio City Hall - on 6th avenue at 50th street for the giant red tree that adorns the outside of the building.
Rockefeller Center - looking onward from 5th avenue between 48th and 49th street and then walk down concourse admiring the angels and NYC’s biggest and most decorated tree, to finish up watching the skaters go round and round underneath the tree.
Saks 5th Avenue - a spectacular light and music show on the outside of the building. Go late at night (as late as you can) to experience less crowds, it gets extremely busy here. The windows are also worth a view too. However, if you’re not a crowd person, skip this one out (the same applies to No.11).
5th Avenue - from 59th street to 42nd street. Marvel at the high end stores with extraordinary displays both on their buildings and in the windows. Begin by enjoying the giant sparkling star hanging above the intersection of 57th street and 5th Avenue.
Bergdorfs - on 5th avenue at 58th street for sparkling and opulent window displays.
Macys - on 34th street between 6th and 7th avenue have window displays worthy of walking by.
Winter Garden Atrium - in Battery Park, a beautiful collection of lights suspended across the ceiling, and then pop into Le District for a French treat.
Wall Street - the giant Christmas tree outside NYSE, not as big as Rockefeller but still worth marveling at.
As you walk about the city, you’ll frequently pass the Christmas Tree stands, the guys and gals who stay at their stand 24/7 for the whole holiday period selling Christmas trees. They come from near and far and are so committed to their trees. It’s a real NY experience to buy your tree from one and to walk by. As you brush past the trees you can hardly resist taking your glove off, reaching for the branches to dust your fingers over them as the gentle scent of pine fills the air. It’s a magical moment. Stop and have a chat with the people selling the trees too, they have great stories, and I’m sure they’d appreciate the delivery of a hot chocolate as you go by too - your holiday act of kindness will spend goodwill and cheer.
These are just a few of the locations to visit, every year there are new ones that pop up and each year they change a little. After a good walk you’ll feel healthier and feel that child-like wonder of the holidays again.
What book am I reading?
Ageless Beauty the French Way. Written by Clémence von Mueffling who guides you through insights into skincare with her own perspectives, and those of her mother and grandmother; both of whom were Vogue beauty editors in France. Clémence brings in a wealth of research from experts in the field to the book and organizes it into an easy and knowledgeable read.
I have always been interested in taking care of my body, and have long believed the beauty of a person is a reflection of what is going on inside - physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Of course, there are practical steps we can each take to look after the external parts of our body too. Our skin needs attention and over time it changes too. What we eat, the environment we’re in, the way we treat it, exercise it, clean it, and nurture it, all have an impact. As we age the needs of our skin changes as well, and it can be hard to understand the best route for taking care of it.
I had the pleasure of talking with Clémence and subsequently have thoroughly enjoyed reading her book this week. My first impression of Clémence is she has kind-hearted and warm approach to life, she has a grounded style and brings authenticity of who she is to her conversations and to her book as well.
Throughout the book I’ve learned about the secrets the French employ to keep their skin looking fresh and healthy, and what’s more I’ve learned new ways to enhance my own skincare routine that is customized to me. The book covers a variety of skincare topics, with thoughts and perspectives on routines, products, and lifestyle. It’s also very helpfully laid out to address three age ranges - Jeunesse (15-35), Plénitude (35-55), and Maturité (55+). The book is so thoughtfully prepared that I already know will be part of my bookshelf for years to come. Clémence, thank you for the dedication and research you put in to creating this valuable beauty guide.
As part of our Birch Cove offering we work with clients to create thoughtful and unique employee and client experiences, if your business is interested in an experience that involves Clémence speaking with autographed copies of her book, please contact us.