Seeing the Good in Difficult Circumstances

For the last three months, my family has been struggling with my father's declining health. As my family rallied around my father, I let everything non-essential fall by the wayside: my blog, my web site, even my coaching. In times of crisis, there is nothing more important than family. The moments I've spent with my father over the last few months have been some of the best of my life, and I am thankful for them.

Many of you have lost your jobs in the recent months: a very scary thing. But in the midst of it, I hope you remembered that there are people in your lives who are there to help you. You don't have to go it alone.

I've jokingly said that I have 13 cousins and close friends who would take me in if need be. My jesting was not far from the truth. If need be, I could turn to them for help, or to the church, or to other caring individuals in my life.

How I deal with my troubles is all up to me, not to others. I've lost my job three times, and in each one, I've found blessings far beyond what I would have realized had I not been challenged. Difficulties may not be easy, but they're hardly the end of the world. I've chosen to see the good in my challenges, and I hope you will, too.

Are you creative?

My job is to think up creative ways to generate sales leads at trade shows. I don't think of myself as a creative professional, but I should. We're all creative in our own way, and just because our job titles are "coordinator" or "principal," doesn't mean our need to be creative doesn't exist.

It takes a lot of creativity to get by in the world, and I think it would help us all tremendously if we would get in touch with our creative side.

Recently, when my father wasn't getting the medical care I felt he needed, I found a way to get him into the right facility. When I needed job protection because I needed to be with my father during his appointments and hospitalization, I found a way to get the FMLA paperwork signed. (Unfortunately, there are seriously lazy doctors in the world who can't be bothered to help family members complete the brief paperwork required to get job protection during extended illnesses. I've included a link to the Family Medical Leave Act so you can check it out.)

A wonderful tool I've discovered to help me uncover my untapped creative potential in all areas of my life is Morning Pages. Morning Pages were created and named by Julia Cameron, a wonderful writer and creative professional. Every morning for decades, the first thing Julia does is sit down and write 3 pages of her thoughts in long hand. This clears her mind and helps her start the day. It is both a creative and spiritual process, and I highly recommend it. I've been doing them now for almost a month, and in addition to my Kundalini yoga and prayer time, Morning Pages have changed my thinking--broadened it and helped me be more productive and creative in all aspects of my life.

Even if you don't think you're creative, try out Morning Pages. See how freeing it is to get your thoughts down on paper before you face the world each morning. I guarantee it will change you.

The Truly Great -- Stephen Spender

Who are the truly great? I know how the world defines greatness--powerful, influential, of outstanding significance or importance--but few of us will ever feel this type of greatness.

The type of greatness I strive for is beautifully hinted at in The Truly Great by Stephen Spender.

I think continually of those who were truly great
who, from the womb, remembered the souls history
Through corridors of light, where the hours are suns,
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the spirit, clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

This type of greatness is available to all of us, whenever we are true to our natures, whenever we are "faithful to our own eccentric nature, and bring it out into the conversation with the world." --David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea.

Won't you dare to be great today?

"Much can be accomplished by not doing. -- Thomas Moore

I'm re-reading Thomas Moore's book, Care of the Soul. These days, in almost everything I read, I find application to joblessness and one's search for meaning, and this book is no exception.

Moore quotes the Tao Te Ching, "He helps the ten thousand things find their own nature, but refrains from action." This is the kind of advice I try to give my colleagues and clients who are desperately searching for a place in the work world, and, I think ultimately, in their own world.

I think our best course of action is to do nothing except observe ourselves for a while. How are we taking this job loss? What behaviors do we notice in ourselves? Do we seem "different" now that we don't head off somewhere in the day?

Much can be learned from observation--let's take a few minutes a day to observe and reflect on our "10,000 things" that we find in our own nature.

"Not known, because not looked for." T.S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

I hear people lamenting the fact that they haven’t found their calling yet. Perhaps it’s because they haven’t done the hard work of listening yet. Facing the silence, or more likely, the cacophony going on in our heads can be a little scary. Not many of us take time to be still and listen to what’s really going on in our heads and our hearts.

So, how do we start the search for our “calling”? I think the act of writing down one’s thoughts and feelings gives substance to our thoughts. When things are spelled out in black and white or blue ink, literally, something happens in that act of converting our thoughts to actually physical words on the paper or bits on a computer screen. Somehow they’re given legitimacy—even though they’re the same words we thought just a moment ago. The same can be said with words that are spoken aloud. It’s one thing to think thoughts, another to enunciate them.

My suggestion, one that has worked for me, is to start journaling daily, whether it’s in a notebook or a decorative journal or on your computer, it doesn’t really matter. Try it for a month and see where your thoughts take you.

Life's Rhythm

This afternoon I was cleaning out my hard copy mail and found a small publication published by Renovare called Explorations. The theme of this issue was Rhythms of Life. The author, Christopher S. Webb, talks about how we are creatures of habit. From the time we are small most of us find ourselves craving the familiar and the regular. How many times are we thrown off our game because we're not in our regular seat at a staff meeting or are in the "wrong" pew at church because a visitor took "our spot". How funny we humans are!

I think being creatures of habit makes losing our jobs so difficult. I've been laid off three times and each time I've had to find a new rhythm. Though unemployed and unencumbered by anyone else's schedule, I would establish a new routine pretty quickly. Get up at 7 am (no longer 7 pm for my graveyard shift job), shower (that was the same!), stop for my coffee (at a new place, but only new until it became part of my new "routine"), drive to the outsourcing office, "work", stop for lunch, then head home for a walk. With each new day, this new route became more and more my routine, until the next change came along and I had to readjust again.

What rhythms does your life follow? Is it an easy rhythm? If it were disrupted, could you establish a new way of living? How much time would it take you to adapt? I'm an easy adapter, but maybe for you you need more time to settle in and get comfortable. Something to think about with all that time you have on your hands ... don't let it go to waste.

Tonight I'm writing the inaugural edition of my newsletter, Maven Matters. I'm going to focus on the concept of FOCUS. People seem so distracted today, whether it's the economy or bad news all around, people forget to focus on the things that really make a positive difference in their lives--relationships, helping one another, being kind, and being grateful. Everything else is just stuff. Yes, we need to deal with the stuff, but let's put first things first.

So, for everyone who signs up for my newsletter, I'm going to send them a timer (while supplies last). I suggest you set it for 10 minutes and then focus on helping someone, writing down what you're thankful for, pray, meditate, pet the dog, talk to someone you love. And if you feel like it, let me know how it went.

How to use Social Media to land your next job - The Viral Garden

How to use Social Media to land your next job - The Viral Garden

Helping the Community

Every day I'm hearing about peers who are losing their jobs. The good news is I'm seeing postings for new jobs. For some reason, the two aren't connecting.

I think in times like these it's important to help where we can. For all the trade show specialists out there who have attended the EXHIBITOR Conference or regional Fastrak events, please go to the EXHIBITOR Conferences Group on LinkedIn. Starting this weekend I am starting to post trade show-related jobs that I see on the Internet. If you get hired, let me know.

Time to Be Positive

I am saddened by the anxiety I see in many of my colleagues and friends. For those of us who have a positive outlook on the world, it's hard to see our friends like this, but, take heart ... this is our time to shine. When everything looks dark, this is exactly when our positive nature needs to shine and lead others out of their darkness.

Nothing is ever as bad as it seems, ever.