Columns – Page 69 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

A soft voice carries a powerful message

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on September 9, 2010. She’s quiet, low-key, and soft-spoken. That didn’t surprise me. Quite often, the ones who speak the most eloquently and powerfully are also the ones with the softest voices. Her name is Tabitha, and she was a guest at our Toastmasters club about a month ago. I was giving a speech that day, and she told me after the meeting how inspired she was by what I had said. As she told me a little more about herself and about the dreams she had, I was the one who was becoming more and more inspired by her...

By bettyliedtke|September 10th, 2010|Columns, Toastmasters, Values|Comments Off

Geometric shapes get to the heart of the matter

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on September 2, 2010. At two unrelated conferences I attended recently, I was in breakout sessions in which we were asked to choose which of several geometric shapes we were drawn to. Then we were given a description of the characteristics of people in each group. My initial choice was a triangle, although I couldn’t really tell you why. But when the characteristics were described, it was clear that I was in the wrong group. I’m a circle, no doubt about it...

By bettyliedtke|September 4th, 2010|Coaching, Columns, Professional Speaking, Writing|Comments Off

Birthday coins add up to a milestone

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on August 26, 2010. When I was in my mid-20s, I always had fun sending birthday cards to my friends on their 25th birthday. Inside the card, I would glue a quarter and a penny, and then write around and between the coins so the message came out, “Happy quarter of a cent-ury.” I was in my 30s when my husband and I belonged to a church group that included several couples who were a bit older than we were. I remember when one of the women was getting set to celebrate her 50th birthday. We gave her a card, and I thought about using a half-dollar to wish her a happy half-century, but that didn’t seem to express the same type of sentiments as it did at the 25-year mark. That was just fun and a bit clever. This felt more like I was reminding her of how old she was getting. So I just wrote a note wishing her a happy 50th birthday. And I saved myself 51 cents...

By bettyliedtke|August 27th, 2010|Columns, Family|Comments Off

Piecing together a world of understanding

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on August 19, 2010. I was dozing on the plane as I returned home from California last week. When I woke up, I glanced out the window. I’m not sure where we were, exactly, but the land far below looked like a patchwork quilt, with squares and rectangles of different colors and shades, separated by lines that could have been roads or rivers. All the pieces fit together perfectly in the tapestry that makes up this planet earth. Or as much of it as I could see. “That sounds about right,” I thought as I dozed off again, reflecting on where I had just been...

By bettyliedtke|August 20th, 2010|Columns, Toastmasters, Values|Comments Off

Accountability comes up in survey responses

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on August 12, 2010. I filled out an online survey recently, and something about it has been troubling me ever since. I get these surveys every so often, and always ignore the ones in which it’s obvious that their main – or only – objective is to get information about me for marketing purposes. This one, however, was a follow-up to an annual conference I recently attended, and its purpose was to get feedback about the event so the organization could evaluate this conference and decide on changes to make for the next one...

By bettyliedtke|August 13th, 2010|Accountability, Columns|Comments Off

Family reunion provides hope and inspiration

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on August 5, 2010. Her name is Esperanza, which means “hope” in Spanish. And if I knew the Spanish words for grace, compassion, humor, wisdom, and thoughtfulness, they would be good names for her, too. She’s my husband’s aunt, and we usually see her only about once a year, at the family reunion picnic that takes place every summer. Most of the relatives on this side of the family still live in the Chicago area, and we’re not able to see them as often as we’d like, or as often as we used to. So it’s a joy to reconnect with everyone at the picnic, and I especially enjoy catching up with Esperanza...

By bettyliedtke|August 6th, 2010|Columns, Family|Comments Off

Really good advice helps solve a real problem

The column “Find Your Buried Treasure” appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on July 29, 2010. “It’s like hearing a priest swear.” That’s the way a friend described the sound of an expression I say regularly that I wasn’t even aware I was using. It does not involve swear words, and it was nothing rude or offensive. It was something grammatical, and her description of it in relation to priests swearing was to emphasize how unexpected and uncharacteristic it was to hear me say this – which, apparently, I do a lot. I appreciated her calling my attention to it, first of all because she did it in such a kind and gentle way that it was totally helpful and supportive, and not the least bit critical. And second of all because I’m acutely aware that the words we use speak volumes about us in addition to whatever message we’re using them to convey...

By bettyliedtke|July 30th, 2010|Columns, Toastmasters|Comments Off

Fearless women share fearless wisdom

The column "Find Your Buried Treasure" appears weekly in the Chanhassen (MN) Villager. This column was published on July 22, 2010. If I had to choose the three words that best describe me, “fearless” would not be one of them. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be in the top ten, or even 25. So I find it both amusing and amazing that I ended up in a book entitled, Fearless Women, Fearless Wisdom. The book features the portraits, stories, and words of heartfelt and hard-learned wisdom from forty women entrepreneurs across the United States and in Canada. All of the women were photographed by Mary Ann Halpin, a Hollywood photographer who uses a magnificent silver sword in her photos to symbolize the power of the person holding it. There’s something almost magical about the sword, and about Mary Ann. She gets to know the people she photographs, and truly captures their essence. Even if they don’t yet know what it is...

By bettyliedtke|July 23rd, 2010|Columns, Making a Difference, Values|2 Comments

Welcome!

Welcome to the launch of my new blog, “Find Your Buried Treasure.” Consider this a voyage and a treasure hunt we’re embarking on together. I’ve discovered that the more I help other people find their buried treasure, the more I find of my own. I hope that will be true for you as well. The buried treasure I’m talking about is made up of the gifts, talents, skills, and strengths we don’t even realize we have – because they come so naturally to us and feel so common and ordinary that we don’t even consider them special. We may neglect or ignore them, or simply be unaware of their worth and value. But there’s buried treasure in everyone, and I want to help you find it...

By bettyliedtke|July 11th, 2010|Buried Treasure, Coaching, Columns, Values|4 Comments

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