Author page for Laura Lewis-Barr

llewisbarr's Profile:

With a passion for learning, Laura brings a wide range of talents into her seminars. Laura specializes in classes for corporations and teachers. Her previous roles (as an actress, theatre director, and award-winning playwright), bring vitality and play into her seminars. How are emotions driving your performance? Use EI to add joy and vision to your team!

More about llewisbarr:

http://training4breakthroughs.com

Posts by llewisbarr:

A quote that explains the daily work of EI, 02 Sep 2010

This quote really rings true to me.  How about you?  (It also metaphorically describes the biology of habits and neural pathways.) “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and [...]




Metaphor for Managing thoughts–Passengers on the Bus, 16 Aug 2010

Your thoughts are like commuters on a bus. You are the driver of the bus. The passengers may make critical, abusive, intrusive, distracting, and shouting directions as you drive. You can ignore these comments.  You can allow these passengers to shout noisily while keeping your attention focused on the road ahead.  You can focus on keeping [...]




Are you a worrier?, 06 Aug 2010

Emotional Intelligence explores how thoughts create feelings.  Here’s a deceptively simple tool.  When I’m caught in a worry cycle, I can use this flowchart as a good reminder.  I can examine my situation and take action.  One action is changing my thoughts –which will change my feelings.




Discerning our path—Emotions as an internal GPS, 09 Jul 2010

Despite all our technological advances, isn’t life still full of mystery?  One enigma is our emotional inconsistency.  Some days we are the essence of centeredness and calm.  Then, out of seemingly nowhere, we are quick to explode.  We may be expert at hiding our emotional eruptions.  But even if they aren’t apparent to others, we [...]




The Mystery of the Left Turn—A true story (because I can’t make this stuff up!), 21 Jun 2010

I consider myself a fairly intelligent person.  Still, in some situations, my brain doesn’t work well.  I struggle with simple math calculations.  And I get lost.  A lot.  Yesterday I walked a mile in the wrong direction until I slowly understood my error.  At first, I denied the possibility.  I’ve always turned left at that [...]




The Cab Ride Disaster: Seeing through another’s Eyes: A True Story, 16 Jun 2010

It had been a long grueling day at a conference.  I was happy to see taxis waiting just outside and rushed to grab one.  But I was also a Chicago gal, and I feared getting stung on an unknown rate.  I always ask cabbies what they charge before I get into their car.  I marched [...]




Brain structure favors even bad habits. Ugh., 19 Mar 2010

An April issue of Wired offers some bad news.  When we make poor decisions, these behaviors can become part of the “blueprint” for future actions.  Scientists are proving that our brains seek easy answers and may look only to a precedent of what we have done before and repeat that action—even if the decision was regrettable.  [...]




An EI Poem, 20 Dec 2009

I love this poem.  It succinctly explains the work of Emotional Intelligence. AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS by Portia Nelson I I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in. I am lost … I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes me forever to find a [...]




Who is to Blame? (Trust in Relationships.), 12 Dec 2009

I”m not close with one of my sisters. This is a painful truth. I could give you theories to explain why we’ve grown distant but that could take days. When family (or workplace) relationships disintegrate, it takes time. Trust is lost and then more trust is lost until a canyon of suspicion separates us and [...]




Every Emotion has a Purpose, 02 Nov 2009

Every Emotion has a Purpose is a basic tenet of Emotional Intelligence.  I thought of this today when I heard about  a study quoted on national news: “Bad moods can actually be good for you, with an Australian study finding that being sad makes people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also [...]




You Have a Healing Power, 16 Oct 2009

You have a tremendous power to heal others. Listen to them. Without interrupting. Watch what happens!




Emotional Triggers of Daily Life, 14 Oct 2009

One of my triggers is a desire to “fight for my rights” if I sense that I’m not supported in my work.  My fight response may manifest subtly as a tenacious search for an “unavailable” library book or the dogged pursuit of information from a tight-lipped colleague.  But underneath my smiling mask, I’m angry and [...]




Style Differences: Are You a Fighter or Flight-er?, 10 Oct 2009

Does your company use assessments such as the Myers Briggs tool?  Many of my clients use these measurements to build empathy.  Through them, employees learn that their different styles of communication are all acceptable and “normal.” Lately, I’ve realized that differences in our emotional reactions can also be seen as a “style” issue.  Some of [...]




Developing Endurance in Self-Disclosure, 21 Sep 2009

We honor writers and musicians who bare their souls. We gravitate toward speakers or colleagues who share their deepest selves, warts and all. So why, after decades of self-disclosure, is it so hard for me to trust that I won’t be judged for what I reveal? It isn’t that I don’t disclose. I do. I [...]




Empathy Upgrades for Digital Natives, 16 Sep 2009

Dr. Gary Small’s iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind suggests that current brain research reveals that “digital natives” may be developing different brains than Baby Boomers.  A  Newsweek article explains: Small says these differences are likely to be even more profound across generations, because younger people are exposed to more technology from [...]