When it comes to mental health, many people have inaccurate narratives. Dating back to previous generations, people often considered mental health similar to criminal behavior — pathology focused, with a lens of pity and shame. I have seen our current generation work hard on changing stigma by exploring counseling to improve mental health. By having open conversations about emotion and curiosity about the view of others, our emotional intelligence skills improve.

If you’re like me, you might get excited when spring hits and we gain more sunlight. Although we lose an hour of sleep, looking forward to more daylight, time outdoors and the meltdown that brings new life is so exciting each year. For midwesterners, winter is a season that comes with challenges. Many look forward to the seasonal affective gloom fading, being outside in the warmer weather.

Happy March friends! Carrying our emotional backpacks is not easy for any of us. As we move into this next month, don't forget to take time to work on being the best version of you. If you connect to this article, please share it. Despite what is going on around us, we have a choice to be a part of the problem or the solution. Let's keep our focus on serving others and carrying what belongs to us with love and grace.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone in your life and walked away feeling completely misunderstood? If you are like me, I bet you have! Similarly, it is likely that you’ve had conflicts that resulted in not understanding the perspective of another.

Curiosity is a biological function and necessary part of our cognition that leads to learning and innovation. It’s a motivator that influences social and emotional development, helpful in problem-solving and creativity. It involves using probing questions, getting to the whys of understanding different ways to approach problems.

Christmas is a time for connecting with family members, sharing joy and giving back generously. I think many consider generosity to be donations to charity and gift-giving. Holiday generosity can be observed in more ways than financial giving. In Brene Brown’s “BRAVING” acronym for daring leadership, she talks about one definition that really caused me to pause: generosity as extending others the benefit of best intention in response to their words and actions.

Many admit to having “stress” because this seems safer than saying that they are not OK. But we all struggle. Actually, the sooner you learn the skills for managing emotion and conflict, the better. Aim not to protect yourself and your loved ones from pain but instead learn to understand it better, celebrating the gifts that pain gives you. By learning through the struggle, you can see what that difficulty was for in your life.

Most companies today are working hard at improving culture. Culture is made up of the policies and procedures that impact how a company is managed, including the energy and style of leadership. It is how employees are treated and understood, regardless of the problems they face at home or work.