Here are this week’s shares to help you find—and activate—your 360° best self. But first, a pro tip: take your vacation days. Nothing beats getting away, even if just for a long weekend. That’s what I did last weekend—road trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Look at this photo, I swear it’s not AI: Maine is simply gor-ge-ous!
Curated Shares to Inspire Your “Better”
Curated Shares to Inspire Your “Better”- Before I headed north for some R&R, I had the pleasure of speaking with Cindy Rowe on her podcast, The Kindness Advantage. She’s a natural conversationalist and the resulting podcast proves it. We talked about the benefits of businesses integrating “kindness” practices for all kinds of quantifiable wins, including profits.
- When someone hurts your feelings, who’s responsible? The answer, via Susan Louie, may surprise you. You can learn more about Susan’s Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) services here. While my one-time, one-hour service to help you get “unstuck” is focused on business challenges, hers are for any kind of challenge you are facing in life.
- AI psychosis is a real and dangerous thing. What is it? Short answer: when a person’s interactions with AI cause them to lose touch with reality. Longer answer? Read the details in this post by Dr. Keith Sakata of UC San Francisco (scroll down the page — it’s not at the top). In it, he explains the characteristics of AI psychosis like this:
“When a chatbot reflects a user’s framing, the brain receives confirmatory evidence. Certainty rises, alternative explanations fade, and the belief hardens.
→Brains update through prediction: we predict, check reality, then adjust beliefs. Psychosis emerges when the “update” step fails.
→LLMs are auto-regressive: they generate the next word based on the last, mirroring and locking in whatever the user gives them. “AI is a hallucinatory mirror,” Sakata warns.
→Validation is the trap: unlike a therapist, who balances empathy with boundaries, AI never disagrees if you don’t prompt it to. Instead, it reinforces the loop.”
- Do you think Americans have gotten ruder? Writing forVox, Allie Volpe posits that perhaps it’s not so much active rudeness (seeking to offend) but rather that we’re less aware of each other and therefore can be unintentionally rude—most often because of stress. What do you think?
- If you’re reading this newsletter you’re most likely aligned with the goals of conscious capitalism and are aware of the battles going on around the sustainability of principled companies during these challenging times. Obviously, I believe “doing good” through business is a path to a better future for us all. So I applaud the ways these business leaders are championing people/planet missions despite the obstacles short-term thinkers are putting in our paths. Shout out to Terri Maxwell for pointing me to this tremendous post by Kate Williams on LinkedIn that leads to the Fast Company piece.
- Dr. Raquel Martin breaks down the differences between boundaries, rules, expectations, and standards in this quick video. Shorter answer: be clear to be kind.
- Controlled or steady? Choose steady!
- How are you doing? Really, how are you doing? Want to do a quick check in with yourself? Here’s a link to a self-guided check-in to help you take stock of your emotional well-being — and learn how to make changes.
- Want to prioritize like a CEO?
🥰Kindness is Contagious, Pass It Along!
Someone picked up the keys I dropped and smiled at me while she handed them back to me. That smile has stayed with me for days.
Whose day can you brighten with a random gesture and a smile?
Do Good Spotlight: Outdoors Alliance for Kids
Being connected to nature reduces stress for most people. For kids, the outdoors can be a place of possibility, play, and imagination. OAK’s mission is to advocate for equitable and readily available opportunities for children, youth, and families to connect with the outdoors. Learn about their cause and how you can support them: Outdoors Alliance for Kids.
Until Next Time…
Until Next Time…It was a rough summer weather wise, but it looks like most of us are getting a reprieve for Labor Day weekend, so enjoy time outside in the sunshine.
And if you’re going through something extra challenging right now, may I offer this: whether you know it or not, even the absolute worst stuff carries with it the potential for growth. I say this as someone who has overcome a lot during this lifetime. Not saying I wish some of it never happened, but I learned from every single challenge, so if that helps, please use it.
Niki