Kristen Wheeler's Blog

When I make dinner, my husband Paul usually cleans up afterwards. One time I asked him, “Hey, I notice when you do the dishes, you don’t wipe the counters.” He said, “Yeah, I lose interest in the counters.”

My eyes almost popped out of my head! I thought, “You lose interest!? As if that’s a reason NOT to do something!” 😲

One of the reasons I am both a student and teacher of Native Genius is because I’m still trying to rid myself of the bad habit of giving MY-ALL to almost everything. Paul know...

A few years ago I was coaching someone (let’s call her Sydney) who wanted to transition from her role as a burnt-out CEO to a thriving executive coach. But Sydney didn’t know if she “had what it took.” 

Meanwhile, when I asked about her “My Eyes Light Up” Moments, eighty percent of the activities she listed involved some type of coaching. But Sydney couldn’t see that she was already coaching (all the time) because the surface level tasks didn’t look like coaching to her. 

As she talked about h...

Years ago, I volunteered at the library to read books to kids — itty-bitty three to five year olds. Every week, when I would walk in with my arms full of children's books — before I could even get settled — the kids would swarm around me, curious about the books for the day. 

One day in the swarm, something happened that had never happened before. 

An older girl tugged at my arm, and said, “Hey! Look at my new shoes!” sticking her shoe out for me to see. I smiled and said, “Yes! I see your new...

I don’t know who said it, but it’s kind of a nice phrase, “Bloom where you’re planted.” Or is it?

When left to their own devices, Hosta plants find shade and flourish unless someone tries to plant them in the sun. Fish innately breathe beautifully in water but perish if someone places them on a dock. 

The same thing is true for us humans…when someone or something (any vast array of accumulated conditions) puts us where our wiring doesn’t work, we struggle to “bloom where we’re planted.” 

This...

Has anyone ever tried to convince you that you should do something they love? And you hesitate because you’re not remotely interested and therefore doing it sounds hard — like foreign territory. 

But as enthusiastic “convincers,” they keep trying to convince you by saying, “It’s not that hard!” because it comes so easily for them. For example, convincers like this…

My master DIY brother who says, “Just pick up a showerhead at Home Depot and follow the directions. IT’S NOT THAT HARD.”

My numbe...

One day my client, Raj, gets a call from the number two person at his company. She asks him to come to a brainstorming meeting on new names for a product. He gets a sinking feeling in his stomach.

He’s been to these brainstorming meetings before and sits there glazed-over thinking, “I’ve got nothing.” He knows his Native Genius doesn’t turn on in these situations, because his mind doesn’t work this way.

The “Before-Native-Genius-Raj” would have slogged through the meeting wearing the mask of t...

This weekend my mom, niece, and I were in New York City. My niece is nineteen. Being from Texas, my mom and I were very concerned about her warmth as we roamed the streets of Manhattan. Every time we ventured out, we’d insist that she bundle up. Meanwhile, there she was in her platform boots, sleeveless jumpsuit, and open coat. We couldn’t stop asking, “You warm enough?” “You warm enough?”

Then on Saturday night her voice came out loud and proud in the most wonderful way. “I love fashion…I’m wo...

At one of our in-person team workshops, we were on a break and I ran into a woman coming out of the bathroom. She had tears in her eyes. I paused and said, “Hey, how’s it going for you?” The group had just uncovered their Native Geniuses. Sometimes people are flying high, sometimes they’re befuddled, and most times it’s a bit of both. 

She said, “I’m realizing some things. A few of my Native Geniuses are about being slow and methodical, going step-by-step in our planning and customer processes,...

When I was in tenth grade, something kinda funny happened when I went to the mall with my friend for the New Years sales.

After rummaging through racks for a few hours, we were standing in the check-out line and I bent over with my hands on my knees and started flexing and arching my lower back. My friend gave me the sideways look and whispery shouted, “What are you DOING!?” I whispery shouted back, “I’m stretching my lower back!” She rolled her eyes. We both laughed and then she did the shouti...

One of my dance teachers, Patrick, who was also my boyfriend, showed me something really important.

We used to go to open dance events that had no set starting time or agenda. People would improvise by themselves or with a partner.

The first thing Patrick did when he arrived was lie on the beautiful wooden floor for as long as he wanted. I started doing this too, because I wanted to learn everything about dancing so I copied him a lot. While most people were moving around in the center, we wer...