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Do you have Employability Insurance?

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 05:23:06 GMT

Realities of Lifetime Employment

There was a time when companies hired people for a lifetime: The Company Man! The shifting tides of the marketplace and technology are making lifetime employment with one company not only unlikely, but unattractive as well. Many people, uncomfortable with change, tend to fall into a sense of complacency and expect company support forever. This is just not realistic. Even animals in the wild have to change their grazing or hunting grounds! Changing careers is a part of our life path, it is important for expressing our potential.

Lifetime employment generally insures a paycheck, but it does not insure the opportunity to challenge yourself mentally, to do the job you enjoy, to exercise your leadership skills, or to be rewarded with a sense of achievement. For many people, collecting a paycheck each month is all that is asked. Many of these people have become slaves to the golden handcuffs. They have lost the will to achieve, to extend themselves, to put their potential into motion and to make a contribution

Six Areas of Employability-Insurance

So what is the alternative? If we were to design a self-insured program of employability insurance it would require a regular expenditure of energy. This energy would include some tough critical thinking, diligent planning, and some calculated risk taking. There are several areas that need to be addressed to insure employability: expertise, professional contribution, organization perception, leadership, networking, and strategic planning.

1. Expertise

Everybody has an expertise in something. Identifying what you do well takes a little digging. Generally those things that we do without effort are perceived as an expertise by others, but to ourselves, they are no big deal. Identifying accomplishments is a good place to begin. Make a list of those things that were done both on and off the job that made you really feel good about yourself. It doesn't matter that no one else was aware of the accomplishment.

It is important to remember that an expertise is not the topic of the work being done. A person may be an engineer, but her expertise could be design, or failure analysis, or even development of promotional ideas for marketing a product.

2. Professional Contribution

Professional contribution has two parts. First, there is the matter of contributing professionally to the company. It can be a great challenge to find out just how your skills might best be used in the environment as it exists, this will be related to the company’s strategic objectives. It might also be necessary to do some research to determine how those skills could be beneficial to the company in a time of economic crisis, or market shifts. In other words, think beyond yourself. How can you find a need and fill it within your current environment, or the industry as a whole.

3. Organization Perception

It is seldom that we take the time to really evaluate the company's needs, goals, problems, and potentials. In fact, most of us probably know more about our stock market investments than we do about the company in which we are investing our lives and futures.

We should spend a lot of time on that subject. After all, each person who works for a company is a major investor in that company. They may not be investing capital resources, but each worker from the receptionist to the CEO invests time, energy, emotions, and creativity. As a major investor, we owe it to ourselves to understand how that company operates and to understand how best to make our concerns heard and understood. This is the third area of employment insurance: organization perception.

Each company works by different rules. Some are healthy and productive; some are petty and dysfunctional. As part of the research, each person needs to clearly identify where the opportunities are to make a difference. It is also important to recognize when some problems are part of the culture and will never change. Organization perception requires a strong understanding and utilization of the internal political procedures for getting things done. Few people know enough about their company's culture, politics and processes for getting things done.

4. Leadership

A fourth area, leadership, is tied in with another aspect of professional contribution. Leadership is not confined to the task of management within a particular organization. It cuts across company boundaries and looks at what needs doing within the profession. Making a leadership contribution to the profession as a whole can include anything from designing a new invention to volunteering for the local and national professional organization. Or simply, taking initiative in your own team.

5. Networking

Professional organizations are an important means of identifying marketplace trends that could directly affect your future. Working through professional organizations can provide a great source of understanding, support and ideas for solving work related issues, getting a sense of the greater industry needs and for developing management and communication skills that would probably be ignored in the workplace. Also, professional organizations provide the contacts to let us know who needs help, what projects are going on, how the work is being done, what technology is being tested, and developed; , and most importantly, who is hiring. And the newest iterations of technology might introduce you to what technology could provide a fit for you.

The skill that is developed through associations in professional organizations is networking. Exercising this skill should not be limited to conferences, luncheons or committee work in the professional organization. Practice these skills with people in other departments, at other sites, with vendors, with customers and with people in other companies. Use your e-mail to make connections, solve problems, find resources, and most importantly, to build a support network for yourself.

6. Strategic Planning

Developing each of these areas requires diligent application of the sixth category of employability insurance: strategic planning . It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities and chores of the workplace. Just as we have insurance premiums taken out of our paychecks, we need to take time off the top of our work week to plan, organize, analyze, and develop strategies that will insure that continuous employment will be in the future.

This strategic planning includes a variety of thinking and goal setting tasks. In particular, it requires the design of personal and professional objectives and how they will be achieved. Any growth requires the expression of energy and the stretching of new skills. Strategic planning requires the analysis of who you are, why you are, where you are going, and a review of your capabilities and challenges.

An effective strategic plan requires that you look ahead, planning the choices you will make and evaluating the outcomes of possible opportunities before committing to them. It identifies areas where development is needed and it designs a strategy for accomplishing that growth. Strategic planning may require negotiation with management to incorporate new challenges. The key is that with effective strategic planning you become the designer of your career and the manager of your fate in the employment world.

Addressing each of these six areas of employability insurance requires discipline and effort. Some of it means a sacrifice of free time and a sacrifice of energy. However, doesn't any insurance policy have a cost? Doesn’t it require the sacrifice of immediate gratification for long range security?

Exploring The Old Motor Parkway

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 03:52:40 GMT

Families and Sunday Drives

So while all this modernizing was taking place, the second generation immigrant children in the ethnically oriented communities of Long Island explored the remnants of this road system. Sometimes the vestiges of the of roadway provided boundaries between the Italian and Irish communities and the Swedish, Polish, and Jewish communities. In the 1920s and 1930s that next generation of families left Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and other boroughs of New York City, and settled their extended families in quiet neighborhoods surrounded by skinny forests and come-along vines that were connected by the Old Motor Parkway. My mother’s seven brothers and sisters lived within a few miles of each other, with several families living on the same street. The same was true in my father’s family. The original family home was the center point for the brothers and sisters of that family. We never knew whose house we would be at for lunch and sometimes dinner! And, there were other families who lived in the neighborhood with their extended families. So as children we encountered the rich variety of cultures, religions, foods, and holidays that added adventure to our lives.

The Old Motor Parkway was hidden by the trees, grass and weeds, by the time I was 10. It was magical for me and my cousins to run two blocks out there and realize that we were standing on space that 30 years earlier was a busy road where ancient racing cars rumbling, clattering and vrooming down the road. We imagined families driving their fine Model Ts and then, their 1930s Roadsters with the jump seat in the back. We thought we heard the ahoogas of the old horns. And imagined the pretty ladies in their brightly colored scarves streaming in the wind. It was the Sunday afternoon adventure—from the stories our old relatives told.

Forts, Fancy and Fame

But when we were 10, it was different. My cousins and I built forts to make ourselves comfortable on the leafy ground where we could stay hidden and watch the big kids from the other neighborhoods (mostly Italian) come out for baseball games between the neighborhoods. The teams were ethnically organized: Irish against the Italians, Swedes against the Poles. We learned a lot about language from these adventures— all the wrong kinds of words— as we would find when we repeated them at the dinner table! It is funny to think about that now!

The other memorable thing that we learned was how important status was to some of the boys with cigarettes rolled up in their tee shirt sleeves. These boys were followed by their girlfriends in bright colored short shorts, with big shiny belts — they were so grown-up with their red lipstick and hoop earrings. These kids, for some reason looked more sophisticated than our brothers and sisters. They were from the community on the other side of the Parkway. They would brag about their older brothers who were sent to reform school, and they wanted to be like them—get their street cred , and then go to Riker’s Island (the prison). My cousin and I were appalled! Why would anyone want to give up their freedom, to go to jail! She and I dismissed them as strange. We would then retreat to her attic bedroom and dance to the rock and roll records, dream about meeting Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, or Elvis Presley, or singing like Patsy Cline and Patty Paige. My cousin eventually married one of the Italian boys who went to Catholic High School with her.

History and The Old Country Pastries

We also learned a lot from our Jewish neighbors who lived nearby. Old Mrs. Freidman, brought pies, pastries and bread to my Aunt’s house, poured herself a cup of coffee and chatted on about a variety of things from what life was like in the old days in Poland (interesting to me because my mother’s family was Polish), to what the tattoo on her forearm meant, to what we needed to know about various other people in the neighborhood, and that there was farmer’s market in the synagogue parking lot this Saturday. Her visits were a treat, especially when she asked each of us to play the piano for her.

Gratitude and Adventure

My cousin and I were horrified and fascinated by the stories. It was hard to believe that such awful things happened so recently. My cousin and I were thankful that we lived in a place where we wandered across the weed and grass covered roadway where only the ghosts of the old cars drove by and talked about how lucky we were that we were not losing our family members in death camps. And we resolved to be kind to Old Mrs. Friedman because she had had such a hard life. While we always looked forward to her visits (and the pastries), soon it would be mid-morning, and we would give both my Aunt and Mrs. Friedman a hug, as we dashed out of the kitchen door on our way to find out what the next adventure in the Old Motor Parkway might be.

Highland Connections

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 03:36:19 GMT

Farmers Markets

So he talked about the farmer’s market at the Grange (a community building where people from different parts of the county met for events and sharing). We decided to go to one of those farmer’s markets and met the most interesting people: a person who had spent the last 30 years roaming through the Rocky Mountain forest wilderness with his pack mule and living off the land, a lady who made sweaters, shawls and scarves out of llama and alpaca wool. There were also people who were painters, sculptors, and even a few authors. There were gemologists who show off their finds of turquoise, amethyst, and smoky quartz crystals. There were fruit drinks and interesting ethnic foods to buy at the food trucks. There were blue grass bands, and cowboy story tellers. I also met some of the stunt players who worked in the ghost town tourist attractions. We came away from these events feeling like there were no strangers in these mountain communities. We met many friendly, industrious people who had made a life for themselves in the mountains.

Famous People

On one of our visits to look for land, our real estate agent was all excited about a new project that he had: to sell a ranch that belonged to my favorite cowboy actor. I had watched this cowboy on TV, and on the DVDs, as well as in the movie theaters. I had always wondered what it would be like to meet him. Well, there he stood in all his tallness, cowboy hat, rodeo buckle, and cowboy boots right there in the real estate office! My, my! That was just two degrees of separation. He was very friendly and asked us about our expectations for finding a place in the mountains. I wished that I could have afforded his $6M ranch, but it didn’t matter. I had made a connection with one of my heroes! What a treat!

Making Friends -- Connecting

Eventually, we did find a place in the mountains, where we were a half mile away from our nearest neighbor. That didn’t stop us from making more connections. We got to know all of the people who live part time or full time, on our road. We all walked our dogs, took hikes, and some scooted from home to home in a golf cart. Each person had great stories to tell about why they built their home in the area. Overtime, many of these neighbors became great friends.

Sometimes we talked about why they left Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, and other big cities. They were tired of always driving on the freeway, working in a cubicle, only to drive home to a tiny apartment or housing development where people just darted in and out, never stopping to say hello. Many worked online, so they had a little more freedom in their days. Some people wanted to experiment with straw bale houses, log cabins, rammed earth houses, octagonal homes, family compounds, and manufactured homes. Some homes are city homes and there are a few that make me think of the late 1800s. But everyone seems to have interesting ideas, and many express themselves creatively.

The Fire Department and the little church are central points for the various housing areas and ranch developments. We have picnics, play volley ball, horse shoes, swap meets, and hold community meetings there. When it snows, people with big trucks, chains, and snowplows are ready to help dig each other out. And if there is a need for a plumber, a carpenter, and some fresh eggs; or, if someone loses a dog, finds a wandering cow, or notices that the mother bear is out and about with her cubs, the Neighborhood online chat room connects people to each other and needed resources. People volunteer to help with the upkeep for the roads, during which they take the opportunity to get to know neighbors they didn’t meet the last time! It is amazing that while we all live on 10-40 acre ranchettes, and we are 45 minutes from any grocery store, we are all interconnected!

Decisions

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:11:08 GMT

Decisions

Many times along our pathway in life we come to a point of decision making. Some of these decisions are ordinary, like whether to make a casserole or soup. Some are more serious, like when to take the family on a trip to visit Grandma. And some are really challenging, like changing jobs or dealing with relationship issues (at work or at home).

Making good decisions takes discipline and the willingness to engage your thinking by using a few cues. Some of these cues you can arrange before you have to make the decision.

Dreams, Goals, and Expectations

Effective decisions enhance your personal dreams, goals and expectations. These change at different stages of your life. What was important in one stage of life has either been met or left behind. Now you need to rethink what is it that you are trying to accomplish. Consider the casserole versus soup decision. At 20 you are very busy and running around needing lots of carbs, at 45 you are spending time at the gym trying to keep your body trim and healthy, and looking for ways to cut carbs. Then, at 80, you might be trying just to stay healthy, so you might make a soup with some of the casserole ingredients. Different goals require different decisions.

Decisions Impact Others

Consider the impact that your decision will have on: long term goals, relationships with family members, expression of the talents loaned by your Creator. For instance, if you want to consider a job in a different location, what will you get out of that? What sacrifices will it require for you and your individual family members (spouse, children)? Will you be leaving behind a support network? Would this change represent a running towards or a running from something?

Controlling Anxiety

“Do not be anxious in anything.” (Phil 4:6). This is a good reminder, and it comes with an admonition that we present our concerns to our Creator with a thankful heart and expect to see a resolution or a suggestion. Anxiety diminishes creativity. And creativity is just what is needed to solve a sticky wicket decision. For instance, maybe moving the family may not be essential. Consider that this job could be accomplished remotely, with Zoom and some travel. Keep your heart open, and resolve to use your gifts for the work of your Creator. God’s creativity is greater than ours will ever be. If what is presented to you is part of His need for your talents, then you will be amazed at what you will see! Think of your Creator as saying, “Look, I’ve got this. You just be ready to do the work!” There are stories both from family members and people we read about in books, who had a dream that included God as the Director of their Dream Team.

Here is an example from my world. An engineer with 8 children became frustrated because his bosses would keep his inventions as their own and without credit to him. He made the incredible decision build his own company; he implemented his dream. He also designated God as his primary Director, with whom he conferred daily. He enlisted all of his family members to help with this effort in some way; they became part of his Dream Team. Fifty years later, his company was nationally known, his inventions were prominent technology and his faith was still strong. All 8 of the children had fine educations, strong marriages and children of their own, and he helped to build a church in his community. When he passed away at 100, he was able to support many causes that represented his values and interests. He is one of my great heroes.

Values

My Hero assessed his values, which became the standards used for decision making. Here is a question he used. What is important to you emotionally, intellectually, physically, and spiritually? What is important to you represents the values that you hold dear. These may also be linked to your strengths, and your dreams. Write them down—or draw pictures that represent what is important to you. Then consider how your decision will impact the values that you have. Will the decision enhance or compromise your values?

Policies

Create a set of policies that align with your goals and support your values. These policies are statements that you make to remind you to protect your values and your goals. Here are some examples:

I organize my day to enhance my talents and skills.
I read about and watch videos about people who used their creativity solve problems.
I review my values and goals before I make decisions.
I include my Creator in order to address the anxieties of decision making.

Your policies can also acknowledge your own weaknesses and allow you to fend off demands on your time, energy, and income that do not support your dream.

I make choices based upon how they support my dream.
I put away a certain percentage of earnings to support my dream.
I donate a certain percentage of my earnings to benefit others.
I focus my energy only on the activities to support my dream and my values.

Decisions?

So, now that you have the cues, it is time to think about those decisions that you think you want to make, and the dreams you want to implement. It might take some time to put together your decision chart. You will need to identify goals, values, and commitments (to your Dream Team). This exercise will provide you with a set of standards you can use when you have to make “sticky-wicket” decisions, and make your dreams a reality.

Awakening

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 17:52:13 GMT

Awakening

Every step you take presents a change: a change in what you are experiencing, what you see in front of you; a change in your thought process. If you are on a journey to find yourself, a mountain hike, or a trek through the park, or even a walk around the block can be a great chance to experience differences and newness. This experience is likely to awaken images or thoughts that bring about an awareness of something prodding you to do something different. You may come to a point of decision, a light in the path, that jostles the thought pattern, a wake-up with new insights. This could be the still, small voice of God guiding you toward a purpose that is larger than yourself.

Who is in Charge?

Now, you may think that you are the one in charge of your life. But have you ever noticed that many of the plans that you thought you had were really half-baked and took you nowhere? Did you ever hear the challenge in your heart: “what are you doing here?” This could be right when you were about to do something you would regret forever. Or it could be while you were wandering around in the wilderness of your worries, or lost in a cave of distress, like Elijah (1Kings 9:9). Or, perhaps, you were startled by a dream or a vision where you heard your name called. Young Samuel, before he became a prophet, heard the Voice calling him in the middle of the night and he finally responded with “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1Samuel 3:9-10).

Purpose

Our Creator has a purpose for us. He engages us with subtle words or flashes of insight. The Creator provided Elijah with nourishment and a new set of tasks during the depths of his despair and fear. Elijah was receptive. Being receptive means that we are aware that we need help, and we are willing to listen. Many people who are now recovering from an addiction will say that when they hit bottom they experienced a vision or a message from their Creator. Samuel was just a young boy, but he was called by God to initiate a new direction for his people. He was willing. We must also be willing to listen. In the Karate Kid, Mr. Miagi made this point by pouring tea into his student’s cup until it ran over. He explained to the Kid, you will not be able to learn until you empty your cup. We must be willing to engage in a purpose that is beyond our selfish interests. It is in humility that we find that receptiveness to explore our purpose. We can engage with the Creator to fill us with light so that we can see, and, understand how to use our gifts to address the needs we find in our communities.

Engaging

So what does it mean to engage in the purpose? Engage means to step up and take action. Most people want meaning and mission in their lives. It is important that they feel engaged in something that makes a difference. The process of engagement requires awareness. Take the opportunity on your journey to be aware of your gifts and your blessings. It is too easy, even prideful to dwell upon your anger, disappointments, or losses. Think back to the times when you were feeling connected. Or, remember when you used the special talents and gifts that engage you. Consider what kind of problems you helped others to solve. These could be as simple as pulling weeds in Grandma’s garden; or, as challenging as writing a software program that allows people to monitor their blood pressure. Look for the Creator’s guidance. St Augustine said: Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you(1).

1https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/saint‐augustine‐quotes

The Loneliness of Change

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:38:52 GMT

The Loneliness of Change

Why does change strike fear into the hearts of even the strongest people? I am not talking about rearranging the living room furniture or moving the business office across town. Major sudden change, such as a takeover of your company by a big conglomerate, a layoff of large numbers of people, a sudden loss of financial support, untimely death of a spouse or a child, stroke, cancer, or a surprise divorce—these events create a fog in the thinking of even the smartest people. These events can create feelings of bewilderment, grief, disillusionment, anger, betrayal, desolation. But, most of all, it is the fear of what is to come that freezes a person in place. And it is a very lonely place, where the feeling is, that all around, there be dragons !

There is a tendency to be very angry with God for not preventing the tragedy. There is a frantic search for reasons, groping to make sense of it all. Yet, as we all find, there is no “sense to make.” There is no “why.” It is what it is, and the only way out, is through the feelings. The protest and the resistance, the anger and the grief and betrayal, need to be acknowledged and set aside for the moment. This is hard, and requires support and direction.

Taking New Steps

It is hard to take a step forward, there is no compass, no direction, no pathway. There is only the feeling of being in the “valley of the shadow of death.” In times like these, Faith is important, but Faith by itself doesn’t make the hurt go away. That takes some work, work on yourself, your expectations, perceptions, and the recognition that you are not alone, and that everyone eventually must go through this in some way. That is part of life; not a pleasant journey, but one they we must go through in order to live our life to its fullest. You can also ask for help from individuals or participate in a group of people experiencing similar challenges.

The Grace of Gratitude

The Creator, who made us, is there by our side, just like that Psalm says “thy rod and thy staff comfort me.” The presence of the Creator is subtle. We ask with humility and we are presented with a thought, a person, or something we hear or see around us, a suggestion to move this way or that. We are to respond to each suggestion with gratitude, and take the step, even if tears pour from our eyes.

Personally, this type of change forces re-evaluation of priorities, expectations, and the taken-for -granted values have been used to make decisions in the past. We have various aspects of ourselves, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual, that can be used as shovels to clear the path in our mind and help us to move forward. Finding a new pathway for life, takes new skills, new ways of thinking, and new priorities, to bring about a new sense of self. This will not happen immediately, but there are some little steps to take each day.

What is Important Now?

It can be a big challenge, but ask: What is important to me right now ? The answers might be something like:

Emotionally : I would like to feel a sense of calmness so I can think straight.
Mentally : I would like to make a list of tasks that can be done.
Physically : I would like to walk around the block, feel the sunshine, breathe in the fresh air, hear the birds, and feel that freedom.
Spiritually : I would like to make space in my heart so I can hear God speaking to me.

Once you have made your statement, monitor your breathing, deep breaths to fill your lungs, your heart, and your mind with new oxygen. Focus on each item, one at a time. How would you feel if you felt calm? Create it. What would your list of tasks look like? Make it. Get up and walk out the door and around the block. Feel the motion, hear the sounds, breathe in the fresh air, say hello to those you pass, be thankful for all that you see, feel, and hear.

Feel the rhythm of your body as you walk. Be thankful, and ask God to hear you and be there with you. Come home and ask the question again: What is important to me right now? Keep doing this one step at a time. You will begin to feel a sense of grounding and find yourself choosing to move forward. Pretty soon, you will have a sense of direction, and feel strong enough to clear away the fog, revealing your new pathway, and experience the Grace of Gratitude.

Pathways Can Feel Chaotic

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:24:58 GMT

Pathways Can Feel Chaotic

In times of chaos, pathways in the organization may also feel like a tangled, hot, forest with hidden traps, scary bugs and screeching beasts that we can hear in the distance, but cannot see.. The destination is somewhat vague and there are many dangers along the way. Here are some suggestions to try as you are leading others on during a time of chaos.

Approach Each Situation as an Adventure

In an adventure, our focus is on the immediate, we are put into the mode of discovery. There is a general understanding of the destination, but there are many hurdles, pitfalls, and other dangers to cross. Be attentive that each person in the group you are leading may have different tolerances for the unknown, or may not be as surefooted as they should be. There is always that one kid who steps in a wasp’s nest on the ground, or falls in to the only mud puddle for 10 miles! Discover what you know and where you want to go. Recognize that each person experiences his or her own adventure.

Map Out What You Know

Some of this can be addressed in regular meetings: “Here is our challenge today. What do you think is our best approach?” Getting people to help plan the approach to the challenge of the day, will provide them the opportunity for a sense of control. “We will be implementing the next phase of the automation of our recruitment process.” Even though it is easy to think that this project belongs in the pathway of the HR department, it impacts managers, direct supervisors, and team members. Engaging the different groups will allow them to make their needs and fears known about this new automation. This may give the IT department more information about tweaks that will be needed, and the various employee groups will also learn more about their own processes.

Set Short-Term Manageable Goals

As part of the discovery meeting, also make sure that each group goes back to their area with an assignment. It may be to explore and mind map how that recruitment process could impact the current projects in their area, or what opportunities there might be in identify criteria for new hires.

Encourage Curiosity

A leader in this time of chaos could also pose the question: “What should we know about your area before implementing this software program?” Not engaging the people who are affected by automating processes and who will have to use the new software, could result in not knowing how the pathway actually looks for those who walk on it. “How will the automation affect the way we do the process right now?” A question like this will engage curiosity—even from the critic!

Welcome Challenges to Assumptions

One way to mitigate the in-house critics is to make sure they voice their assumptions about the coming journey. If you have ever taken a group of scouts on their first overnight backpacking trip in the mountains, you will remember the strange assumptions that the kids expressed when given the opportunity. Employees can be big kids during times of change. This can be funny, or it can be serious. The 1991 comedy with Billy Cristal, City Slickers , illustrates how these assumptions work in a journey that is perceived as chaos! The assumptions can also reveal fears, needs, strengths, opportunities, and dangers that no one thought of. Changing processes in the organization can have unintended consequences that could be ferreted out through the assumptions of the critics!

Try a Different Way

There is a sense of urgency, held by leaders, that deadlines can’t be changed, that any interruption in the implementation process could lead to cost over runs that might be unacceptable. A publishing company that was trying to implement a software program for all of its people, finance, and inventory operations, wanted to purchase an expensive, well known software program and have it work right away. They had a deadline. Unfortunately, the way that things were done in the organization, and the way that the software package was designed created a major conflict. The company had to hire a crew of programmers to work with each of the departments to understand their processes, and their needs, and then translate those to meet the constraints of the software program. That ended up taking another 18 months. Fortunately, change worked. The vision of the leaders needed to expand as they understood more clearly what that program could and could not do.

Celebrate Milestones

In a hiking journey, the adventurers celebrate the milestones they have anticipated from the map. In the organization’s effort to manage chaotic times, milestones that show progress need to be celebrated, also. These milestones need to be mapped and posted in a prominent place.They need to be shared through the communication vehicles that are common within the organization. People need to know that their efforts in the journey are meaningful and that they are making progress.

Encourage Humor

Things will not always go as planned. People will make mistakes, activities may need to be redirected. All of this can be done in a light hearted way. If you are leading that group of scouts on a mountain hiking trip you would not scream at them, berate them, or shame them. You would not threaten to throw them over the cliff. Yet, in organizations, the presumed pressures are such that leaders might submerge their wisdom, and yield to the burden of deadlines; and end up abusing their people in order to get the project accomplished. Surely, you have seen this happen—and it adds to the chaos. It is better to change filters and see the pressures as though they were part of a Roadrunner cartoon! A little humor worked into the culture of the group will enable people to laugh at themselves and redirect their efforts.

Into the Unknown

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 20:05:12 GMT

Into the Unknown

Sometimes, our pathway leads to the unknown. In business, employees and leaders are being challenged by new ways of doing their jobs. Recently, the Screen Writers Guild and similar groups went on strike because of the perception (and reality) of Artificial Intelligence replacing their script writing roles. No amount of training or just-in-time manufacturing approaches can address the emotional reaction that people have when they are moving into the unknown.

Star Trek provided an exciting story each week showing how the crew of the starship engaged with the unknown. Star Trek was so high tech that it anticipated many of the inventions we now take for granted, like audio books on our phones! (I don’t yet have a station that creates a cup and saucer for my Earl Grey tea!). . Wouldn’t we all like to have an Energizer to send us for an afternoon visit with family across the country or across the world! These are the intriguing things.

Right now, into the unknown is much more challenging than thinking about future space travel! It is more like signing up for a wagon train journey across unknown terrain! All of our institutions and processes that we have taken for granted for a life time are providing feedback that makes each person wonder what is going on. I can remember when Chaos Theory first became a thing, the notion was that you didn’t realize you were in chaos until some type of order was restored. The role of the wagon master and the scout was to anticipate the chaos, hardship and disasters, and take steps to avoid or mitigate them.

A wagon train journey required planning for each family. They had to bring so much food, cooking utensils, tools, extra wagon wheels, mules or oxen to pull their Conestoga. Families wanted to take their favorite furniture with them (like the piano), or grandma’s hutch. They didn’t mind moving, but they really didn’t anticipate that they would have to change themselves. The journey was unforgiving. It didn’t matter what they wanted; it didn’t matter how frightened each individual might be. Once begun, the journey slogged on 10 or 15 miles per day. Of course, many people turned back. Many people made mistakes that cost lives and challenged their Faith. Whether people were headed to Colorado, California, or Washington, they followed vague trails.

Create a Clear Picture of the Destination

As we move through our own journey into the unknown future, we need to have a clear picture of who we, as individuals, want to be. You can’t depend on things being the same. But, you can define how you will engage with the unknown. Consider your strengths: Faith, Capabilities, Character, Creativity and Determination. These will help you adapt to meet the unknown future. Having a clear picture of the destination is challenging. The settlers didn’t envision the dry dusty plains as their destination. Rather, they were continually encouraged by the vision of the lush valleys of the Willamette and the Sacramento basin. Nightly tales of the travelers overcoming hardships to get this promised land gave people hope and inspired their own courage. They gathered together to help one another. They shared resources; and they shared courage. Many also nightly reviewed the story of how God took care of the people in the Exodus. They reminded to have Faith, and that they would be guided. The vision might be foggy at the beginning, but as they moved across the 3,000 miles of prairie and desert, they came to have a clearer vision of themselves and what they were capable of doing. Things they were used to in St Louis, or in Ohio, slowly slipped away as they adapted to new situations.

Gather up Your Resources

We have many of the same resources they had: courage, curiosity, connections, community. Instead of letting themselves be undermined by the hardships and the unknown, the survivors used those resources to keep moving. They had horrible disasters. Not everyone survived. Those who used their inventiveness, and who met the challenges with courage did survive. Just moving from Kentucky to Missouri was a major undertaking. In 1799, Daniel Boone moved his whole family and most of his neighbors to found a new community in upper Louisiana, which at the time was under Spanish rule. This is now St. Charles County, Missouri.

So what do we need to take from the endeavors of our ancestors in order to journey into the unknown? Remember the clear picture of the destination may not be a location on the map. It may be a way of being, a way of trusting that your Creator knows what He is doing with all the chaos around us.

Stretch Beyond Your Comfort zone

Be informed (even though what you read in the media is often sensational and contradicting). Broaden your news sources, read books by people you value. Participate in conversations with people who share your dreams and views. Get to know your neighbors who may not share your views—listen to theirs! Learn who they are and what their dreams are! Create a community of people who care about one another.

Make an Action Plan for Yourself and Your Family

Identify your concerns and create a strategy for resolving them. If you live in the mountains, make sure you have a good generator! And keep your freezer full. If you have to go to work and the roads are chaotic with traffic, maybe create opportunities to work from home. Are you concerned about what your children are learning? Supplement that with materials from sources you trust and have family night discussions over ice cream! Let the kids choose what they want to learn about (“Nothing” is not an option).

Enrich Your Faith and Act within It

There is a plan that is bigger than the chaos around us, or the worries in your mind. Trusting that your Creator actually knows how to solve these terrible problems will remove the anxiety. Much of the anxiety people experience is the lack of control they feel. Give up the need to control and put the burden where it belongs—on the One who created you! Ask for help. And be willing to participate in utilizing the help.

The story of a flood: A man was stuck on a rooftop, the dirty, rolling water rose higher and higher. A fireman below called on him to jump into the net. “No!” he declared, I am waiting for God rescue me. The water was up to the third floor and along came some neighbors in a canoe, “Jump in!” they cried out to him. “No, I am waiting for God to rescue me!” Finally, the water was on the roof and a helicopter came by with a harness. Put the harness on and we will pull you up!! “No! I am waiting for God rescue me.” Finally, at St Peter’s Gate, the man scolded St Peter: “Why didn’t God rescue me?” St Peter looked at him with amazement: “He had me send you a fireman, a canoe, and a helicopter—you rejected them all!” God works best through his people.

Fire of Conflict

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 19:52:57 GMT

Fire of Conflict

Conflict can be like a fire, it is dangerous, it is hot, it is disorienting and yet after it settles down, there is a new clarity of what could be.

Yes, many familiar trees were lost, and the ground is not the same as before.

We mourn the loss of the familiar, but as time goes on, there is a sense of newness.

Remember, that some pinecones will not turn into pine trees unless the fire releases the seeds for the new growth.

Change in the Organization Brings Conflict

Anytime change is introduced into the organization, whether a change in the way things are done, new policies, adding new technology or new personnel, conflict is created. While conflict can be uncomfortable for most people, a unique opportunity is presented whenever conflict appears.

Conflict brings the opportunity to begin clarifying what is most important. If a company changes its marketing approach to align with a politically correct position, a firestorm of opposition can result from customers, suppliers, co-workers, and investors. We have seen this happen recently. Conflict can be the signal that reminds us to examine our values, expectations, and assumptions. In short, conflict is a way of rocking the boat , taking ourselves out of autopilot mode !

Conflict can exist between two people, between groups, between workers and managers, between the company and its customers. Ignoring or covering up conflicts, trying to smooth them over, without addressing the underlying fears, issues and assumptions is a sure way to sabotage any hope for real cooperation and change! Some people like to create conflict as a way of creating energy. Some people create conflict to exercise their power and control needs. Healthy conflict, in which each person is allowed hearing, where the needs and fears of each are stated, and in which the common vision is shared, actually revitalizes an organization. It realigns people with the mission and the goals. Problems, frustrations and miscommunications can actually encourage a cooperative spirit.

Unfortunately, most organizations try to suppress conflict, to act as if nothing is wrong. The outcome of these misguided efforts means that the conflict goes underground. People pretend there is no conflict. This behavior (usually encouraged by the culture of the organization actually sabotages morale and productivity. Cooperation, an essential component for a healthy organization, comes only with the willingness to risk the conflict.

Principles for Managing Conflict

The conflict can be managed by redirecting the focus of a meeting on what we each want to see in relation to the change for the issue at hand. Here some principles for managing conflict:

Know the ground upon which you stand: What are the values or principles that seem to have been violated. (The goal cannot be for things to remain the same—they won’t). A wise person once said: “Even when the willow bends in the wind, she holds her ground.” This grounding may cause you to determine that you can no longer be where the values and principles are contrary to those that make you whole.

The stated conflict is rarely the real conflict! Look at your needs and your fears. Look at them from your opponent’s perspective. One of the teachings of the Native American Elders is: “Conflict creates clarity.” Complaining about the situation will not help it—you must address it.

Each person brings prior experiences, assumptions, expectations and fears to the conflict. That creates chaos—everyone wants the stoplight to be green when they get there. Be sure that you are looking at the real situation, and not the one you are seeing in your internal video tape! Recognize and pay attention to those prior experiences, assumptions, expectations and fears. What can you let go of and what do you need to keep? Some things can be shifted. The consequences are rarely as bad as your fears would make you believe.

Redirect the energy of the conflict to having participants identify what they want to see. Have the team or the individuals focus on building a vision of what they want. This can be done through a mind mapping process where people provide ideas for what could be.

Conflict is not about winning. It is about resolving. It takes a while to work through perceptions and to enable people to have enough trust in each other and in the process to begin to come to resolutions. In Labor Relations, this process is what takes so long to develop the new contract. The desire to win rather than to resolve can create breaking points—divorce, strikes, lawsuits!

Conflict awakens a person’s deepest needs and fears. Be willing to go through that doorway. People will find that they are much more resilient than they thought. Leaving a company or a relationship may feel painful, but it may be the only way that you can avoid deconstructing yourself.

Accepting that there is a conflict will help to diffuse it. Trust that there is a resolution—even if that resolution is separation. The clarity that comes from the struggle may reveal strengths that you never knew you had. There may still be those who want to use the situation to get even—you cannot change that. Stepping away may be best.

In the corporate environment, there can be a tone of authoritarianism that says you will do this our way or you can leave. That very attitude tells you that this may not be the place for you! And, you may just have to drop your projects, let go of your position, pack up your treasures and walk out the door. That door leads to freedom; even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment you step onto the sidewalk. You will need to have faith that you are being directed to another purpose, one that will be more meaningful and fulfilling.

When is there Time for me?

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 21:48:20 GMT

When is there Time for Me?

Keeping track of 2 toddlers and a tween-ager, along with working on a doctorate, cultivating

my marriage and running a business seems like 4 full time jobs. How many young women

and men feel the relentless pressure to produce, to be responsible, to be there for other people,

yet yearn for time be creative?

There was a time when I played the guitar, sang in the choir, played the piano, and wrote poetry and short stories.

There was time when I rode horses for fun and prepared for marathons and silly fundraisers like Outhouse races!

There was the time when I sat in coffee shops with my girlfriends and we pondered the possibilities of

relationships, of potential families, of traveling, of diving into non-profit work.

There was a time when thinking about what will be consumed my thoughts.

And there was the time when I was so immersed in competing priorities that I felt like I was always on the go.

When I got overwhelmed, I would feel sorry for myself, and complain: But where is the time for me?

Then, one day, it occurred to me that all of these commitments, connections, and time consuming activities were me.

They were my choices. My decisions were the cause of all these commitments and pressures.

I had to stop my mind from thinking that someone else put me on this fast track with so many responsibilities.

Acknowledging the Gifts

It was important to recognize the gift that each commitment was. And then, it was important to acknowledge that

each one of the commitments evolved over the years. With the help of a thoughtful husband,

the children grew up to be interesting and loving young adults.

Graduate school eventually yielded the doctorate, and the business specialized into opportunities I could

never have dreamed about. Sharing with others, taking the time to use that creativity to listen to people,

to explore solutions, and to help them turn their dreams into realities has been something I enjoy doing.

The creativity I had expressed in music and in writing, moved into fulfilling needs of people who needed healing.

These experiences helped me to provide better guidance to my students and clients.

I relied on that creativity to think outside the box and solve the problems as they arrived.

These all happened because I was me, had always been me, and that whole time had been about

expressing the me that the Creator shaped and guided. The time had always been for me to find

and fulfill the needs presented to me with the gifts that I had been given.

Finding Resilience

My friend reminds me that not everyone is able to find joy in their choices and joy in the life they are living.

Many people are still experiencing the hardships: the fear of not belonging; not having consistent income;

not having the blessing of a helpful spouse; not able to realize that they deserve to be happy

and to use the situation confronting them as springboards to new opportunities.

Having the resilience to address life’s adversities requires a strong understanding that we are here not just for ourselves,

but to be an extension of God’s love. With that knowledge and faith, we can find the strength and creativity

to overcome whatever comes our way. Some of this also comes from important mentors in our life.

Learning from Grandpa

The little girl in the picture enjoys spending time with her Grandpa. He has reached his elder years

and now has the leisure time to spend with her...to give his time to her, for a time.

The time he has left is short. She will, if she is smart, treasure the stories he tells, the stories that he grew up with:

Life’s lessons from Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio, the adventures of Tarzan, Louis L’Amour’s westerns, and Bible stories.

Grandpa introduces her to his world, through his eyes and his imagination. Her time was spent with Grandpa and his, to share with her.

It is this time that prepares her, passes on his Wisdom, gained through the excitement, love, and heartbreak of his own life.

This little girl will use these stories as the scaffold upon which to build her own life and to structure her beliefs, hopes and dreams.

And then she will be ready with the resilience to engage in the adventures of school, friendships, learning to be of service,

be an entrepreneur, a scientist, or a futurist.

She has the whole world in her imagination and a lifetime to have time for her.

Navigating the Unmarked Path

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 19:27:09 GMT

Navigating the Unmarked Path

Not all of the pathways in our life journey are clearly marked. Some can be more like a deer trail moving through the forest.

There is no way to know where the path is going or what to expect along the path!

This can be pretty unnerving. This is especially true when you have a picture in your mind about what should be here!

Unexpected change is like this path that moves towards the unknown.

A sudden loss, like a layoff, a divorce, the death of a spouse, a terrible illness in the family, or someone stealing your car while you shop at the mall can create a sense of dread, a feeling of anger, or a keen experience of being lost.

What is it about feeling lost that creates such apprehension? Let’s begin with you were expecting to see!

What was in your head when you started on this pathway?
Did you see paved roads, big green signs identifying the name of the next exit?
Did you think you would see homes nestled in the forest with people waiting for you with hot apple pie?

Our minds play tricks on us, especially when we are emotionally confused.

So here are some steps to take to re-orient yourself so that you can determine the direction you really need to go: awareness, preparation, purpose, and action.

Be Aware

The realization that you might be lost occurs when the picture in front of you does not match the picture in your mind! All along you were focused on what was in your mind and not paying attention to the surroundings that were changing! Your well defined path has turned into this vague trail that seems to be more like an overgrown, dried-up creek bed! Many people have been feeling like this since COVID hit! Stores and restaurants that used to be a routine for socializing and purchasing are gone. New ones are starting to pop up, but they are unknown and don’t have the social structures of the former ones. The rhythms, the patterns, and the people are different. It takes time to reestablish the rhythms of our life. Awareness doesn’t make it better, but it does help to identify the feelings, and the need to pay attention in order to prepare for what lies ahead.

Pictures are a Resource for Preparation

Maybe it’s time to reconsider what you think you want, where you are trying to find it, and what you are actually doing to get where you want to go. The picture in your mind could be causing the challenge. It might be necessary to deconstruct that picture and reorient it. For instance, if it is a job you are seeking on this road, quit focusing on the title of the job, or the prestige of the job.

Consider these questions:

What does this job mean to you?
What values does it fulfill?
What skills would it allow you to use?
What kind of metaphor would you use in describing it?
Who would benefit from your experiences?
How would you find those people?

Using resources like Linked In and the internet, you can learn a great deal about various companies. You can explore their websites to see what they tell you about themselves. You can read articles about the leaders of those companies, you can find organizations that allow you to be with people who share your interests and your values. You can find people who work at those companies and interview them to find out what they like about their jobs. You can explore the professional association that is linked to the professional arena you are seeking.

If you were really in a forest on a hard to see trail, how would you prepare? What do you have within you? What do you know about yourself? You may not have a compass in your pocket, but you have a compass in the sky and on the trees. Moss is always on the north side of the tree. The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. The clues are all around you. You might also prepare by thinking about what your original reason was for heading this way. Where did you think the path was taking you?

Clarify Your Purpose

What was your purpose? Can you accomplish that purpose in a different way by following this altered path? There are many movies and adventure stories about people who started going one place but ended up somewhere else to serve a greater purpose. Studying your purpose can provide additional areas of awareness and ways to prepare. Be open and pay attention!

Action: Take Advantage of Opportunities

Having a clear picture of your purpose can make you aware a variety of opportunities that you may have missed before. You may not know where this current path is headed but, if you use your tools and take advantage of what lies beyond the clutter of trees in front of you, you might actually walk out into an open field that shows you exactly where you are!

Awesome Views

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 16:00:03 GMT

How often do you actually stop on your path, and focus on the sunset or the sunrise? I have a group of friends who send pictures of our mountains in the morning or in the late afternoon. Some of the colors are so spectacular. Clouds can be that way also. Each cloud has its own shape — one that dissipates as you watch it.

Something Larger than Ourselves

Looking at these images in real time brings us closer to a Creator who paints the sky for us with magnificent designs and colors! Reflecting on the greatness of our Creator, also makes us realize that our dreams and activities are really small compared to the vision our Creator has for us. God inspires us with colors and shapes. We can also see that God has a sense of humor when the cloud patterns we see looks familiar— like an alligator, or a famous person. It only lasts a moment before the atmospheric winds blow it away. But our attention is captured by these amazing impressions in order to draw us away from our focus on the pathway. We need to look up once in a while; we need to reach up for inspiration as we plod along our journey of life.

So what are the expectations that we would have of something larger than ourselves? Most of our focus as we move along the pathway of life is self-interest. What can I do to get there, what kind of resources do I need, who do I need to meet, where do I need to position myself? How can I make this pathway easier? We think about our purpose—mostly in relation to how to make a living, or how to create a meaningful relationship.

So we focus on the type of classes to take in school, the type of people who might mentor us, and the type of businesses where we might receive a salary that will help us buy a house, a car, and so on. We attend singles groups or attend events and activities where people should be able to meet the one. But that journey becomes empty really fast. There is that feeling of being on a mindless treadmill. Where is the meaning? Where is the sense of mission in this pathway?

Another thing that happens when a person gets so focused on a path is that they begin to take things literally, rather than seeing that some of what they think they want is representative of qualities or values that are reflected in what they want. Two young women sit in a coffee shop complaining about their latest job and relationship misadventures. What they don’t realize is that they are focusing on the wrong things. They are trying to make literal plans, describe literal expectations. It might be better if they were looking for qualities. To find these, they need to be really digging into what their lives would look like if they were helping their Creator further His purpose rather than their own purposes. Proverbs 19:21 provides a glimpse of the trail to follow: Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

How to Live a Real Life

What we really need to focus on is how to live a real life. What does a real life look like? What does it feel like? And how do you know it when you have it? Fool’s Crow said, “You must be a hollow bone for God.” This saying has a clue as to where your pathway needs to be. How does one become a hollow bone? This means that all of the detritus of self-interest needs to be moved out of the bone. Resentment; anger, guilt, and fear also need to be moved aside and replaced with gratitude, forgiveness, and willingness to listen to what our Creator wants us to hear. You have talents given to you that need to be nurtured and developed to carry out the services and needs that the Creator has in mind. If your plans get derailed or detoured, consider that this might be by design, and that maybe focusing on a higher level of purpose could bring a better answer.

Where ever you are on your path, you will see people and organizations that have needs; people and organizations who have been asking the Creator for help. Consider those places to see how you might be of service. When you put your talents into service for a Higher Cause, whether it is to design inventions that solve problems or provide leadership to people who want to make a difference, you will find a pathway that is rich with meaning, and that is inspired and shaped by God. Your willingness to trust the inspiration of your Creator will enable you to prosper in service to your fellow earth dwellers. That willingness will also bring you the skills, information and connections you need to have to do this work designated by the Creator.

After the Fire

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:28:53 GMT

The smoke billowed up into the atmosphere, and the wind was blowing the burned magazine pages and pieces of newspapers right into our yard. Even pieces of shingles blew into our yards that night. We lived 8 miles from the hills that were burning. It was hard to breathe. Many of my friends were in the long lines of cars coming out of the housing developments that were on engulfed. They said that the smoke was so thick, all they could think about was how to breathe without inhaling the ashes. Only the tail lights of the cars in front of them, showed them how to get out of the area. Smoke swirled around the cars, like so many snakes.

The smell carried to our house as well. It wasn’t like the smell of a bon fire, it was sharp and stung our lungs. It wasn’t just trees and wood that was burning, it was shingles, paint, tar, plastic, furniture. People with lung diseases were sick for days after.

The sky was lit up behind the smoke as the fire consumed the pine trees all the way up the mountain pass. Even from our house we could see the tree crowning in sections of the mountains. It was a scary night and we could not go to sleep thinking about the hundreds of families who were evacuated from the mountain side estates. We were glued to the TV to hear what was happening. Several tourist attractions and ranches burned to the ground. Homes were lost, and two people were killed by the fire. The weird thing about the fire was that it hopped over some of the houses, leaving them standing as lone sentinels in a field of chimneys and cement sidewalks.

It took a good 36 hours for the firemen to contain the fire, and when it was all over, the burned pine trees looked like tufts of hair on an old man’s head. News videos of the once luscious pine green forest that blanketed the canyons and mountain sides showed blackened hills with burnt stakes that had once been trees. Driving up the pass, news cameras showed the line where the fire was contained by the firefighters to the north side of the pass. They followed the U.S. President has he gazed upon the devastation.

No More Normal

On an ordinary day when you drive around or hike in the hills, you think about the things you will do later, such cleaning up the house, baking some bread, visiting the neighbors, going out to work with the horses. But for these people whose lives were shattered by that fire, there were no more ordinary days. There was a sense of great confusion and disorientation. Normal routines were a thing of the past.

How could there be a normal routine, when you no longer had any clothes, all that remained of the kitchen and garage tools were burnt and melted pots, pans, tools, bicycles, weight machines, and tool boxes that were melted and charred. The neighborhood streets, and sidewalks bounded mostly burnt out lots, with a house here and there that remained untouched by the fire. It was a dystopian nightmare.

Building Connections

After the immediate danger was over, the clean-up began, and the people realized what had been lost. For several of the families the only thing left was the concrete driveway. Insurance companies put them on lists. For some, it took almost a year to get the funds to rebuild. For others, the homes weakened by scorching heat and water damage were denied funds by some of the insurance companies. Many families, did not rebuild. They found new places to start over. Events like this remind us that our pathways and life journeys can be redirected by traumatic events over which we have no control.

Yet, many good things happened in those neighborhoods. One thing that was heartwarming was the effort people took to save the many horses and family pets. There was a commitment to rebuild and the people shared what they had; the surrounding community members offered furniture, utensils, linens and clothing to help those who had been wiped out. They had gatherings to share ideas for how to work with the insurance companies, and helped each other with the clean-up. Local companies donated the use of heavy equipment. Neighbors helped one another. A few years after the fire, the community built a memorial in the park to remind future generations that communities are made by people helping people.

Some Pathways Require a New Type of Courage

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 16:00:00 GMT

We normally think of pathways as a road or a dirt path but that isn’t always the case. This is especially true when you begin to think of the pathway as part of a journey. A journey can be an emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual experience that takes you from one realm to another in in your life.

And, that journey can also benefit from a helper, a guide, or an instructor. Leaping off a cliff in a hang glider is a special type of journey that requires trust, courage, deliberation, and determination. The young woman in this picture has an image of herself flying over the obstacles on the ground and sailing over the hills, seeing the land from a bird’s eye view. But, she has never done this before, so she has an instructor who has explained the special equipment, provided tips for guiding the hang glider, and agreed jump with her! All of these events can translate into a physical allegory for a launching of yourself into a new career or a new relationship.

Emotional and Spiritual Preparation

Consider the emotional preparation that she has undergone. The idea of sailing off a cliff (or a big hill) like an eagle that soars around is foreign to most of us. We have to rev up our courage, we have to see ourselves soaring like that and feel the wind buffeting us. And, then, there is the instructor who will fly in tandem. What do we have to do to build our trust in this person? And what do we need to do to trust ourselves?

Trust is not only an emotional experience, but also a spiritual experience. Trust is about faith. Both of them are unseen and may not be recognized until they are absent. Here are some examples:

In our current world, learning to trust those who are supposed to help us might be very challenging given that too many companies let themselves get carried away by current cultural and political pressures and might end up laying off people who were just hired! We get bombarded by job opportunities through online services, many of whom may provide information that we see from our own needs and interests, but really may include characteristics that are alien to our expectations. We trust that the company will support us, but then find out that we are simply a disposable part!
This is the same thing that happens in making new working relationships . Building a team in a new non-profit or small business can seem simple, but we may not be emotionally in sync with the people who are members of the team. The dynamics of different personalities whose motives for joining might be all over the place can lead to a tug of war over values, principles, directions, strategies and leadership! This undermines trust and creates insecurity and distress, and compromises your spiritual confidence. Being aware of when the fit is wrong for you is essential; otherwise, you may blame yourself, or lose faith in the possibilities that could be in another setting.
In personal relationships, people sometimes see an idealized version of the person with whom they think they want a relationship. Expectations for certain behaviors or responses might actually be at odds with the reality of this person. Many military and law enforcement couples have difficulty because of the tug of war between the work needs of one partner and the companionship needs of the other. Young women are dazzled by the handsome, daring rodeo cowboy with all his buckles and ribbons. But, the demands of his touring and the needs of a growing family conflict. This also undermines trust. Jumping off this cliff in this hang glider could bring terrible emotional and spiritual disasters!

Preparing for the emotional and spiritual challenges in our personal, workplace, and recreational life take time and determination. Self-awareness, emotional maturity, and emotional intelligence, as well as spiritual confidence does not come automatically. It takes a focused effort and determination to know yourself, and understand what you needs, fears, values and purpose are in relation to what you think you want. And it helps to put your faith in a power that is greater than yourself; prayer works wonders.

Mental and Physical Preparation

There is also the physical and mental preparation that is needed to get ready to make the jump in the hang gliders of life! You have to be physically fit: wrestling the hang glider controls in the wind requires physical strength. Building yourself up athletically would be a significant preparation. Understanding the physical properties of the hand glider itself (or any other objective) will make it more accessible. This is also part of the mental work that needs to be done. Not only is there a great learning that must be undertaken, but you will have to recognize what your thought patterns are and where your own thinking could undermine you’re your success!

Do the research and investigate. Talk to people who have been there and done that. Take lessons when appropriate, read books, watch videos, practice with little steps. Learn how this particular hang glider works. Build confidence through learning. Learning and building confidence will help you to see nuances of the situation, these will prepare you and help you to avoid disasters. Recognizing a disaster before it happens is important. Recognizing the little voice that warns you that something is not right comes with knowledge and confidence. Jumping ahead of your preparation could lead you to think you are ready when you are not. Hang gliders (whether real or figurative) require respect. All of life’s decisions should be made with respect brought about through emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual preparation. Happy flight and happy landing as you move along your path.

Following a Path Generally Includes Others

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 01:32:11 GMT

Some examples might help.

I would not be where I am today without the impact that individual people had in my life. My father sat me down one evening after dinner and made a very sensible statement: In the future, you will not be able to be a housewife like your mom. You will have to be a financial help for your family. And for that you will need to get an education. This conversation was in response to the boyfriend who just dropped out of college to join the military as an Airman and he wanted us to get married. I was home on a visit from Radford College in Southern Virginia, where I was miserable. Getting married seemed to be a good choice. I went back to school and thought about what Dad had said, and my boyfriend and I exchanged letters and phone calls. He was in Biloxi by this time. And I said, no, I cannot do this. I still didn’t care for the situation at the school, but I could see that this wasn’t right for me. Plus, I had launched a small musical job— weekends were spent on the train to other colleges around the south, where I sang in coffee houses and made a decent income while I was a student. At Christmas, my boyfriend went home for a visit and didn't tell me; and by February he had married the girl down the street. At the end of the next year I changed schools and lived at home. I was much happier.

Detours and Quagmires

Another example: Another boyfriend scolded me one day during an argument about my desire to get a master’s degree. “You will never be anything but a secretary!” Being the contrarian that I am, I immediately enrolled in graduate classes in the history program. I was, at the time a secretary for the registrar at the college. My boss saw that I was misplaced. He helped me find a job in the library at Kaman Sciences, where I saw a whole different world. It was very exciting working there, learning about science, space craft, and so on. Then the economy collapsed 10 months later and I received a pink slip with my last paycheck. I was unemployed.

Determined not to settle for a secretary position, I started 2 businesses. One, I sold make up door to door. (That was not very successful.) Second, I thought I might continue my musical career that had begun to blossom at the college I had left. But there was no access in the new community. The music genre had changed, and folk singing was replaced by heavy metal. So I put away my guitar and got out my sewing machine. I sewed for the ladies in my neighborhood, and for the boys who liked western shirts. (A friend helped me to sell 87 of the shirts that I made—- it was exhausting, but it helped to make ends meet). Life was precarious though. I need a more secure income. I was also working as housecleaner for one of the rofessors at the University. He was retired from the State Department and had learned 5 languages (and had had 5 wives — each who spoke a different language). I introduced him to my former boss at the Kaman Sciences and they got married — until he died 25 years later.

Asking for Help

With the help of a couple of job service representatives who “kicked my butt” for not being focused in my job search, I applied for a job at the community college and got it. That was a stressful job at a stressful time in our country. I had miserable bosses and found it hard to adapt, until one day the Dean from another department said, “Why don’t you create a job for yourself.” He then showed me a grant that would allow me to move out of the department I was in and into a different area. I was awarded the grant and began to help veterans find jobs. It was exciting and fun. Then one day, 2 older ladies from a University up North, said that I should consider getting a doctorate. They were recruiters. I said that I couldn’t possibly do that, since I was married and had 2 children by this time. They kept at it and I learned that I could commute and that I could attend many classes in town at other graduate schools and transfer credits as well. So I applied and was accepted. It was not easy for me, and my husband was really helpful. By the time I graduated, we had another baby and then, the summer before I graduated, we lost a new baby and I was at Death’s door from complications of that birth.

Learning and Loss

This was a terrible time for our family. I was so sick, I could do nothing for 8 weeks. My friends and family provided help and encouragement. They also reminded me that I had unfinished business. For one thing, I needed help with the last part of my dissertation. Help arrived in the form of an angel from a local university. Mary showed me how to finish the statistical procedures and reassured me that my work was solid. I graduated that December. And that allowed me to start a consulting company, a women’s organization, become a professor, and write grants for a non-profit company. All the way through these snapshots (and many more that there isn't space to share), I was surrounded by people who were instrumental in getting me where I am now. They showed up in my life, sometimes as an annoyance, sometimes as a relief, and sometimes with an idea, or even an opportunity. I am thankful for my husband and family; and I also have lifelong friends who always encouraged and helped me keep focused. Some of them ran alongside me, some challenged me, some frustrated me, and some cheered me on, and were there to laugh and cry with me.

Creating Opportunities out of Challenges

The point is, that you need to keep your goal in mind (mine was the ability to be independent in my work). It was a value that I pursued, not a thing, not a place, not a job. Richard Bolles, who was one of my mentors, said you have to “find a need and fill it” to be happy in your work. I believe that he was right. My father, my uncle, and several friends made sure that I always kept God in my viewfinder and to have Faith: Problems create Opportunities. It is also important to acknowledge the opportunities and value of all the people who show up in your life as you move down your path. Also, take what you find and use it to plot a new course.

Unlikely Leaders Help on Your Journey

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 01:24:11 GMT

Qualities of Leadership

So who would think of Grammy being a leader? It is most likely that she hasn't earned an MBA, nor has she attended conferences about leadership and strategy! She probably did not run a million dollar company. However, let’s examine the actions she has taken that represent leadership—even if the focus of her attention is a toddler! (Don’t underestimate the toddler—- 2 year olds can have much in common with teenagers and employees!!)

She is present. Not only is she in the room, but she is present physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually for her great grandson.
She is observant as to the needs of her charge and she is observant regarding the surroundings and what might be needed or avoided as they proceed on their walk.
She considers the learning and developmental levels and needs that her toddler has. She is ready to explain, demonstrate, and let him try as well.
She listens actively and intensely to what he is trying to communicate. She is aware of what he might need and then translates that into activities or opportunities.
She is focused on the immediate and the long term. How far can we walk, what to have for snack and how much her great grandson can do for himself.
She sets things up so that he is empowered, encouraging his curiosity (the pebbles), his agency (finding a stick to walk with) and his need for independence, helping him set up his bowl of crackers, and having him choose a book to read or story to hear.
She is consistent; he can depend on her. She works on a schedule that her little guy can anticipate. Thus, naptimes are welcomed by both!
She engages him as a partner in the adventures, so that he willingly chooses to go along; even if it might be a 4 little scary. (Going for walks on new streets or up new hills can be scary for a 2 year old).
She is patient. (Now not all Grammys are patient; but this one is). Her patience allows this toddler to search for answers for himself or to stumble over the choices for the right word. She waits and encourages.
She makes interesting suggestions. She does not make demands, because she knows that the favorite word of 2 year olds is NO!

So, the bottom line is, you and I can learn some good leadership skills from this great grandma!! Of course she comes at this from a place of love, stewardship and service!

Winter: A Time for Reflecting

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 01:17:42 GMT

Being, Not Doing

The cabin is neat. Only essentials here, none of the clutter of hobbies that I have at the house in town. I am faced with myself. What do I want to do this year, where do I want to be next year, and what do I want to learn? I suppose that not everyone would care about such things on a cold snowy day, but I remember what a Grandpa told me: Winter is a time for reflecting on your purpose and your relationship with your Creator. He was speaking from the perspective that there are seasons that we all go through: Spring , summer, fall, and winter. E ach season is about 4 years long . You start something in spring and you struggle through making it work or watching it die. In the summer season you can enhance what you have with opportunities, and in the autumn , you use the influence that you have gained to advance your project even further. Then comes the winter time, when it is time to let go of what you have been doing and take an aspect of it to use to launch a new seed, to move it in a new direction. This process of 4 year seasons shifts in a bigger way every 16 years. Life moves you from child to adult with mature adult to senior and into the age of wisdom (hopefully). Projects also move that way: from new ideas to growing confidence, opportunities and influence, and to assessing who you are, what you stand for and where you want to go next, and what you will let go of.

Going with the Challenges

Stages of development refer to the refining of emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual understanding. It is the “through the glass darkly” issue. At 16, our goals and our efforts to be a grown-up can create a variety of challenges, some healthy and some not so healthy. Not knowing what is to come and the struggle to find one’s self is a big challenge! It is interesting that when you do find something you want to do — no matter at what age—- the same issue of struggling and trying to figure out how to bring forth your idea to the world forces you to take stock. You decide to build a business, offer your services to a broader audience, introduce your ideas to a larger world. The first 4 years are a struggle . Why does that have to be? Well, the little chick has to struggle to get out of the shell, the butterfly has to fight its way out of the cocoon. If that struggle doesn’t happen, the chick and the butterfly do not have the proper strength and skill to make their way. The same need for struggle in the development of your new path is there. Having done this several times, the struggle becomes easier — mainly because you recognize the pattern and take the time to focus your energy!

Accepting Winter

But let’s fast forward to the winter season. What have you learned from the struggles, the opportunities, the influence, that you can use to prepare for the next round of seasons? Here are some ideas for how to move along this path. Accept that it is winter and you can’t go outside and distract yourself with hiking and wood stacking.

You need to take into account what is important for you now: your values, your purpose, your relationship with your family members, and your relationship with your Creator. Maybe you can make mind maps of what is important, or paint a picture that represents where you want to be. Maybe you ask what you have not been doing that you should have been doing all along? And, maybe you look at what talents you have been hiding under a bushel!

Taking a Stand

At what point do you stop being someone’s child, someone’s employee, or someone’s parent and say: “Here is Me!” What do I want to leave for my grandchildren, for my students, for my friends? How do I use my influence? How do I capitalize on the opportunities that I have had? What is the thread that has connected the events and experiences of my life through all of these years? What will the blizzard of life blow away or freeze in place? The answers are not apparent, the need to stop doing and focus on being is important

It is actually easy to make that happen during the blizzard that is raging outside! There isn’t much to do in the cabin but talk to my Creator and ask what direction and plans are blowing my way. It is kind of exciting, like going on an adventure into the unknown, being ready to reach deep within myself to see where I am headed. I actually think this time of reflection and letting go has a cleansing quality . It will be like the land outside the cabin after the clouds, wind and snow stops and the sunshine comes out to show just how pretty the mountains are and how beautiful the sky is in contrast to the piles of sparkly snow on the hills and trees around me. And so, I welcome winter with its cold and wind, knowing that I will take with me a bit of what I am now and move into a new time of challenge and adventure!

You Must Create a Healing Forest

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 16:00:00 GMT

EACH FOREST HAS ITS OWN CHARACTERISTICS.

If we examine the nature of a forest it becomes clear that within that environment, different roles are played by the inhabitants and there are expectations that are made for each living thing within that forest. Some scientists have discovered that individual plants may give off emotional vibrations. Storytellers have long suggested that there are spiritual aspects that are not well known, that may add depth to our awareness of the character of that forest. In some cultures, there are Fairies, Little People, Trolls, and Sprites who live in and around the forest. So there is the seen and the unseen aspect of the forest that needs to be considered.

In ancient times, people lived in interconnected communities where everyone had a role to play in order for the community to be healthy. Some of these communities thrived, and others did not. Human beings tend to be selfishly flawed causing them to behave in careless and destructive ways. In a forest, the trees do not just look out for themselves. They exist in an interconnected, interlocked ecology where the Creator has given each one a specific function that contributes to the health of the forest.

CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURE’S FOREST ARE PREDETERMINED

Human beings, on the other hand have free will. They must reach out to the Creator to determine what their purpose and function is within a given community. In fact, human beings do not always realize that they are part of a community. They isolate, ignoring, that in order to thrive they must acknowledge the interconnections and their responsibilities to other members of the community.

During the days of the COVID lockdowns, many cities and towns insisted that people stay at home. They were not able to go to school, to the store, visit with friends, play sports, or participate in spiritual activities. Those who were selfish and angry often looted businesses, burned down or tore down structures in the town. It was not safe to be out. Many locations became unhealthy, drugs and alcohol were used for pleasure and for escaping the pain of loss and isolation. Many people felt no sense of community—they were in need of a healing forest.

MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS CREATE A HEALING FOREST

Reclaiming this this healthy forest requires a new set of values and a consciousness that is focused on making sure that people are not isolated. Every neighborhood can become a healing forest just by making sure that people get to know each other. In our neighborhood, people walk their dogs, children ride bikes, and practice hockey in the driveway. People stop by to check on new gardens or landscaping. We get to know the families on our block, share recipes, and songs, and sometimes prayers for those in need. Making those connections takes time and energy; but, provides important emotional and spiritual support. Over time, meaningful connections support an interconnected community that operates like a healing forest.

Bridges: Transition Points on Our Pathway

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:00:01 GMT

The bridge in this photo is taking this person from one section of that park to another. She is leaving specific scenery and activities and moving into another environment. The bridge provides connections and supports for this transition.

Connecting the Old to the New

Learning what we can in one place can lead to a bridge that can provide connections to a new opportunity. The key to utilizing the bridge is to be aware that it is there. Many bridges have wooden slats, some of which can have spaces so you can see what is happening below you. Consider what you could learn be examining all the directions: up, down, left, right. Take the time to consider what is below the bridge. Perhaps it is a stream, or a dry stream bed that deer and cougars use as a trail. Perhaps that stream overflows the banks in the swift summer storms. Some of the storms could actually wash out the bridge, breaking the connection between what was and what will be. Your imagination creates ways to use that bridge as a means for contemplating where you are going.

This is perhaps a meditation. Stand on the bridge and see the connections of the bridge to the land, of the rails to the bridge, of the wooden slat to the rails. How are these a metaphor for the connections and transitions in your life? Going from student to entrepreneur, from single to married, from couples to parents, from sadness to gratitude, from middle to old age. What can you learn from the bridge to connect you from one aspect of life to another?

SUPPORT STRUCTURES

The bridge also provides supporting structure to help you along the way. Without the bridge, you might have to climb down dangerous rocks, or struggle through a tangle of brush and vines that would certainly hinder your progress. The bridge can also be people you meet who provide the supporting structures to help you in your journey. Not every person you meet will have the right support, but every one you meet will create new supports in your mind about what you need and do not need.

Also, in thinking about the supporting structure, it is important to consider what kind of force or pressure it can hold. This is another metaphor. What kind of supporting structure do you have to withstand the force or pressure that you will be entering on the other side of the bridge? For instance, those who enter the military may not know how to parachute out of an airplane, or defuse a bomb, or spend days and nights in clammy, cold, and bug infested areas. The supporting structures for the military begin with “boot camp” where the entire game is focused on emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual fortitude. Following that time, there are specific training experiences that teach recruits to use weapons, communications tools, drones, drive tanks, or fly helicopters, or propel themselves under the ocean. These bridges that create a path for future warriors to be able to do what is necessary to meet a goal and save lives, including their own.

BRIDGES AS METAPHORS

Not all of us will be moving across such challenging bridges. However, each step we take on our path requires commitment, structure, connections, and support systems that a bridge can provide. Study the bridges that you see: the ones that carry trains, the ones that cross over highways, the ones that are made of rope and wood, as well as those made with steel and concrete. Look at the bridges that the animals create: squirrels use slender branches to launch themselves from one tree to the next; monkeys use vines in the forest to move from one place to another; ants create bridges out of leaves and twigs, or each other, to cross over areas; bears and cougars might use the rocks in a stream bed as their bridge.

For most of us humans, the important bridges we need are those in our minds. We need to harness the issues that will propel us to the next landing place, and overcome the fear and the lethargy that prevents us from making the important transitions. The bridges are there, you just need to step out (one step at a time) — kind of like that scene in Indiana Jones, where it looks like there is nothing but open space, but our hero uses his faith in the next step that allows him to cross over the depths below. And sometimes, we transition over the bridges without even realizing it.

Preparing the Path Requires Learning and Experience

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 16:00:00 GMT

Learning a new skill takes patience and determination. Small children think they can do something with ease. A 6 year old can watch people riding horses on TV and say “I can do that!” Then, when confronted with a real horse—huge and intimidating no matter how gentle, they quickly realize there is more to this than hopping on! Learning to be a barrel racer, roper, or just to be a good horseman takes years of practice, research, gaining confidence, enriching oneself emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Developing a skill takes effort and it is important to lay out a step-by-step path to make that happen!

Learning can take place in informal group activities, or in classrooms, or by reading or watching presentations by people who might have clues to help you. For instance, in working with my horses, I find the need to understand them better. A good way for me to do this is to observe professional trainers on You Tube videos. I can also watch experienced trainers work with the horses where I volunteer.

DEFINING THE PATH

Answering the question, “What do I want?” can help to start the process of learning. You have to have a destination in mind: a vision of yourself doing something. The something can be playing classical guitar, writing songs, being an inventor, flying jets, climbing mountains, healing people—the options are limitless! Young children and teens, while curious, are impatient and once they figure out “what makes it work,” they lose interest in digging down to really understand the ceremony of learning something. Mr. Miagi in the Karate Kid, was notable for assigning apparently meaningless routines: “wash-on; wash-off.” By the end of the movie we realize that these routines were essential patterns, or forms (katas) in the Karate tool kit.

LEARNING AS A CEREMONY

A YouTube video about the Southwestern potter Maria Martinez, illustrated how she understood that making her unique pots was not just a utilitarian effort, but a real ceremony. Beginning with finding just the right soil, she illustrated how to mastering the spiritual aspects of the potter’s ceremony for making a beautiful vessel! In the Karate Kid, it was the tea ceremony that provided a glimpse of the ceremony of Karate. Learning this, the Karate Kid, also learned a new respect for details, motion, and for the thought process that is required for doing something the right way. Learning to play the piano, the guitar, or the saxophone can also be a ceremony; so can framing a house, pouring cement, or installing a roof.

Another aspect of Ceremony is the spiritual side. One can simply follow instructions by rote, or actually understand the purpose of each step and for each tool, and how each of these has a spiritual component, thus learning the ceremony connected to that endeavor. Everything that takes place, first takes place in the unseen (spiritual) world. Then it is carried into the seen (physical) world. You will see many professional baseball players, swimmers, and other people in sports praying before a meet. This is also part of the Ceremony. To move from step to step in our path, we need to rely upon the Creator to reveal that path. The Creator’s way is to recognize that “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Here are some questions that can be directed to the Creator for answers.

Who are the people that I admire and what is their world view?
Who provides a role model?
Who provides an example of what not to do?
How did these people learn to do this?
What does their experience provide for me?
What can I read, or watch, or listen to?
What talents do I need to develop?

CRITICAL THINKING ABOUT YOUR CURRENT PATH CAN LEAD TO A NEW ONE

So, in evaluating your own path, especially when you find yourself in an uncomfortable spot in your career, what might be useful to learn? How about the path that your company is laying out? Does it align with your vision of your future self? Are your comfortable with the values that are driving the decisions? Be prepared, lay out the steps (one-by-one) to lead you to your next destination—even if you have to spend time learning to balance on each one.

What Did You Learn From Your Grandparents?

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 16:00:00 GMT

My friends are always telling me about their Uma, Nagyi, Bubbe, or their Abuela. My mother had a Babcha. She was Polish and was a midwife both in Poland and in Roslyn, NY. When my brothers and I visited relatives in Long Island, we would hear many stories about Babcha and her extended family.

She arrived in Pennsylvania along with her pregnant daughter, three grandchildren and her son-in-law, who was a coal miner in Willke’s Barr around 1913. There was a Polish community there, where all the men worked in the coal mines. It was hard and dirty work. The families lived in housing provided by the mining company. Then, there was a mine accident and her son-in-law lost his eye. The family moved to Roslyn, NY where the family worked for the wealthy estate owners as gardeners or maids. (This was an irony since that is what they did in Poland before they left—worked for the “aristocrats”).

These were not highly educated people, nor were they “high” society. They struggled to make ends meet, saved their money to build a house, and everyone pitched in, putting their various skills to work, to make a living. They also had a strong faith. And, they kept their extended family together. The main family and their cousins and in-laws all lived within three blocks of each other in the beginning.

LESSONS LEARNED

Here are some of the things that I learned from my various grandparents on both sides of my family:

The importance of service: Use your skills and your time to make sure others are cared for and have what they need.
Use your talents wisely: My grandparents all were mechanics, carpenters, gardeners, midwives, homemakers, cooks, and seamstresses. They used the talents that they had to accomplish what needed doing.
Keep God close : Times were very hard, and the Church at that time tended to have strict rules and a variety of expectations. These people were thankful for the blessings that they had and asked for guidance when they experienced challenges and losses; and they went to Mass on a regular basis.
Family is most important: When young parents died unexpectedly, leaving a houseful of children behind. The eldest daughter arranged to take on the youngest children and raise them as her own, even if that meant postponing her own wedding for 7 years.
Do not let fear stop you: Both sides of my family sailed to America in a boat from various parts of Europe. Some came by themselves, still as teenagers; others came with their families, pregnant and with toddlers. One grandfather, went back and forth between American and Poland to make sure that his family there were safe and had enough money to take care of them. He did this three times over five years before he was actually able to bring his immediate family and mother-in-law back to America with him. Imagine the worry that these people must have had about sailing across the Atlantic with little children and with their own elders. And, imagine how scary it would be coming to a culture different from your own, where people spoke a different language! Life was not easy for my grandparents, but they charted their own paths; paths that set the stage for me to chart mine.

The Path of the Critical Thinker

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 16:00:01 GMT

In the work place, as in life, there are many times that it pays to be a critical thinker. As teenagers we were often dragged along with the crowd, especially in what to wear, trendy places to eat, or certain types of music, or social gathering our friends recommended. Unfortunately now, teens are being encouraged to take irreversible decisions about their bodies. They are being encouraged to shout hateful things at people who are different from them. They proclaim what they hear, without considering the implications of what they are saying, or the implications of what they are doing.

The news media bombards us every day with information about current events, in our own country and around the world. Social influencers on media sites provide a siren call for those who are sympathetic to plight of others, or those who want to participate in something bigger than themselves. Social media personalities demand that they take sides whether in politics, social concerns, or international conflicts. The drumbeat of continuous messages cause young people and caring adults to make decisions based upon the words that they hear through their various sources of information, regardless of whether this information is true or not. Too often, well-meaning people (younger and older) just go along to get along.

AVOID THE CLIFF!

In the workplace there is also a tendency to go along with the popular cultural trend, even if it feels uncomfortable. Some of the current trends strike closely at long held values about human life, relationships, and freedoms. The world can be a scary place. It is hard to find another job. It is stressful to think about leaving a work setting that is also stressful! Sometimes there is the impulse to rebel against a trend in the organization that feels wrong, or misguided, and dangerous. But that impulse to challenge your current path needs restraint. Planning and preparation are required, otherwise you will be clinging to the cliff.

Here is where it becomes important to do some critical thinking. Critical thinking means to evaluate and consider something against a set of standards (values). Critical thinking implies that assumptions are challenged, that perspectives and, even worldviews, are assessed. What is pushing the organization leaders to implement values, behavioral expectations and goals that seem to undermine expectations of excellence, empowerment, and freedom?

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR OWN WORLDVIEW

As part of your critical thinking process you need to begin with yourself. Your own world view includes your understanding of what the purpose of life is, what is healthy and what is not, where truth comes from, what is moral and immoral, and where that sense of morality comes from. Changes in our environments and in the information we consume influence how we think and feel, and provide impetus to consider changing things about ourselves. Some of the big issues that influence our world view include:

The need to be appreciated
Accommodating hurts (or suffering) in our lives.
Understanding our purpose and how that provides meaning
Knowing who and when to trust
Knowing what grounds us; provides a sense of security about the path we are on
Acknowledging the nature of the human condition

OWN YOUR VALUES

So, if your company begins to change, and your comfort level and anxiety levels alert you that you are approaching a cliff, begin to ask new questions and sort out how you will make the stretch and prepare yourself for the leap to a new path. Keep a clear view of what is important for you and your career. Here are some of the warning signs that where the company is headed might not be the best for you:

Decisions and expectations impact the way that you do your job.
Managers and Directors appear and disappear without warning
Managers or company directors change how they relate and interact with people in the workplace.
Your sense of empowerment and autonomy is eclipsed by policies or technology
Your sense of control over the day to day tasks diminishes
You feel a pull away from the values and principles that are important to you
Instead of feeling appreciated on the job, you seem to be walking on eggshells

The bottom line is that using your innate powers of critical thinking and desire for learning can help you to be adaptable and move from a “drop off” to a brand new path of hope and adventure!

Finding a Pathway to Wisdom

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 16:00:00 GMT

It is said that everyone has motivation. Motivation refers to the intent to move toward something or away from something. To motivate means to cause to move. In my work with horses, I have become very much aware of the response that horses have to pressure. This characteristic allows people to train horses to do incredible things from catching calves to barrel racing, or dressage, and more intricate specialties. Motivating the horse depends on the pressure that is applies when and where. A person is motivated toward a positive or, to avoid a negative. The pressure is the same.

Getting control of our motivation requires wisdom. So where does wisdom come from? For most of us, wisdom comes with our experience in making choices. Choices are reflections of our decisions. And, often these decisions come from our intent. Intent is another way of saying will. Most of us are aware that we have free will. That means we must make decisions and those decisions are made based upon the values that we hold dear. Some of these values are so strong that they direct our will, which in turn shapes the decisions we make. So what are values?

Values are standards that we use to make our decisions. “I will do what I want to do and no one can stop me!” This represents the rebellion of a teenager who is tired of having everyone tell him what to do. His will is to be independent. His values are freedom and autonomy. These choices seem to be positive, but can be self-destructive, if the person does not possess the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual qualities needed to exercise the values that he professes. If the choices are driven by feelings—a will to feel independent—then the person may lack the skills and capabilities to enable him to be successful by himself. A person’s will can also be reflected in the willingness to undertake a challenge, or to accept another way of thinking.

Motivation can also be shaped by lessons learned in childhood, or by what was learned from people whom we admire or people we fear. Motivation can be shaped by injustice, physical, emotional, mental or spiritual trauma. A person who has continuously thwarted in what they try to do by people who think they have control over them, might plan a strategy to break away with the statement: “I’ll show you!” This person may have been deliberately planning, collecting resources, developing skills, and making the connections so that she could be successful in an endeavor. This person’s decision might reflect the standard (value) of self-respect.

Getting to where we want to go requires having the wisdom to understand how to use our values, knowledge, experience, and judgement to make decisions. We need to learn how to direct our motivation towards doing what is wise (as opposed to foolish). Every action we take is based upon a choice. And every choice has a particular consequence—positive or negative and sometimes both! Some choices are made with careful deliberation; like which career are we going to choose. Other choices might be made based on feelings: how a particular outfit makes us feel, how we feel in the presence of a particular person.

Emotional maturity enables a person to identify the difference between choices made by feelings and those made by reason. Reason helps us to prepare. Feelings are a reaction to what we are experiencing. Making choices is influenced by both feelings and reason. And, we must first be aware of the standards (values) that we are using to make those decisions.

This is where wisdom enters. Anyone can make a decision. Some people get angry (feelings) and run out the door without a coat and with out any food (choices). Others get angry (feelings) and make a plan to have a destination and some resources (choices). Wisdom comes as we learn about human behavior in general, about what capabilities are needed to follow a particular path, especially if that path could be dangerous. Books can provide us with insights about wisdom: Two Years Before the Mast by William Henry Dana; or Genesis and Exodus (the way of the human being); Proverbs (simple saying with timeless application); Shakespeare’s plays provide examples of choices in need of wisdom. Solzhenitsyn’s In the First Circle (clinging to choices). Ask people you respect and admire what books have provided wisdom for them.

Making a Difference

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 16:00:00 GMT

There will always be something. There will always be wars, struggles and imperfections in our environment. This is the way of the earth and the way of mankind. Just take a look at Genesis and Exodus to see the frailty of the human spirit over 3000 years ago! Consider the history of the world since then. There is never a perfect time. Finding a need and filling it might seem to be a daunting task, but you can start small and use your talents to enhance what you have. It also helps to enlist your Creator as a co-founder and board member in this endeavor!

DREAMS AND INVENTIONS

Many of our great inventions and great humanitarian organizations began with someone’s dream of making a difference: Here are some people who used their challenging circumstances to make a difference for others:

Frederick Douglass used his experiences as a slave to raise awareness of the anti-slavery movement. By 1845 he was a prominent spokesperson for the abolitionist movement.
Ben Franklin was an inventor. Every time something bugged him, he invented something to solve the problem. He invented the lending library, the post office, the lightening rod, the Franklin stove, and bifocal glasses — to name a few!
Shigetaku Kurita created emojis for Japanese cell phones in the 1990s.
In China around 100AD, paper was made out of silk, but this made it impractical to use for everyday purposes, until Cai Lun perfected a way to make paper out of rags and tree bark. The process spread across China and throughout the world via the Silk Road.
Dr. Ben Carson addressed the problem of separating conjoined twin using his skills as a neurosurgeon.
Sticky notes were invented in response to the need to mark pages in a hymnal! In the 1970s Art Fry and his co-worker Dr. Spencer S tried some of the adhesive that was being developed at 3M to a strip of paper and solved that problem for the church and for thousands of people through the ubiquitous sticky notes!

YOU HAVE TO BEGIN SOMWHERE

Look beyond your own expectations, and see how you can put your skills, knowledge and values to work to help others with their needs. You are never too old to do this. Making a difference does not mean you have to have a 9-5 job. You can decide how much time, what skills, and what values your actions will reflect. If you are unsure how to get started, here are some suggestions:

Conduct some investigative interviews. This means that you take the time to interview people you admire to find out how they learned to do what they do and what helped to launch them into their pathway. (Have coffee with a person you admire; and don’t forget the thank you note!)
Volunteer at a non-profit to learn how people turn a passion into a response to human needs. You can also learn how a non-profit works, and how grants can help. Non-profits can help problems with people, animals, and the environment. They can address education, safety, faith, homelessness, food insecurity—- if there is human problem, there is a non-profit that is trying to address it. Non-profits also allow you to volunteer a few hours per week to get started.
Review interviews and books by people who share your interests: Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams know a lot about how to apply economics to human situations. Jordan Peterson addresses numerous issues of psychology for people of all ages. Meg Wheatley considers issues around how to make a community. Robert Greenleaf promoted the movement for Servant Leadership in organizations. Voddie Baucham explores contemporary religious issues. These people all have interviews or documentaries on You Tube, and have published books.

Wisdom and opportunity begin with the willingness to learn from others who went before you and use that knowledge to make a difference.

Remove Yourself From Distractions!

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:00:00 GMT

One of the best reasons for going on a hike is to be away from all of the distractions of daily life. Whether the path is laid out clearly with boundaries, or faintly with suggestions, the opportunity to think along different lines is immense. The air is filled with the smells of the earth, the pine trees, the sounds of the birds and the water splashing over the rocks. The eagle’s cry brings our eyes up to the clouds with their many patterns. What do I see up there today? Last week I saw a parrot in the clouds, another time, an alligator! Once a cloud looked like Moses. That was neat!

The feeling that I have on my little hikes into the hills is one of gratitude and great appreciation for the beauty that surrounds me. That extends to a great thankfulness to the Creator for the life that I have been given, for the people who share my life, for family, friends, and neighbors who I meet as I move along the path. We don’t’ all have the same views all the time, and this is good because you can learn how others see the world as well. Sometimes the things that the people I meet on my journeys are people who have had great hurts or trauma in their lives. It is important to listen to them and to listen to how they see the world. It isn’t necessary to change how they see the world, but it might be helpful to share your own experiences, your strengths, and your hopes.

LESSONS FROM TEACHERS

Fool’s Crow once said that we need to be a Hollow Bone for God. This means that we need to take care of our own confusions and hesitations before we begin trying to fix others! A hollow bone is like a whistle. It is hollow and it has a several holes in it that can allow you to play sweet music that attracts people to you. God relies upon us to reach out to people in need, to comfort them and give them hope

Gandhi once said, You must be the world you wish to see. We cannot do this if we are angry and frustrated! Being thankful for what we have — even if we want something we don’t have. It is important to clear out that hollow bone so that the presence we have and the actions we take encourage others, share our strengths, hope and forgiveness for others.

Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute, emphasized that the key to finding the work that you really like is to find a need and fill it. Of course for this, you will need to define the environment suitable for your work, the kind of skills you like to use, the values that are 8 important for you, the problems that you like to solve and the interests you want to be immersed in. We find meaning and mission in our lives by asking the Creator for guidance. Then as we hear others talk about the challenges that people we encounter face, we can begin to identify and explore that need, prepare ourselves to be ready to fill the need when the time comes. Patience and the willingness to work on ourselves and to have an appreciation for the basic skills, interests and values we have will go a long way to uncovering the right need!

CREATE SAFE SPACES—A HEALING FOREST

Because there is so much confusion and turmoil in our world right now, it is important to create spaces where people can feel safe, welcome and find new ideas for solving the problems that they are facing. These do not need to be formal places. They can be friends getting together for some activities, like picnics, or going to the movies, or helping each when there are challenges: providing encouragement, locating resources, sharing what works, sharing books, sharing recipes, sharing “how to“ tips or afternoons playing baseball or throwing horse shoes. Going fishing with friends or getting the young kids together to learn how to use certain tools or to build something. Going for walks in the neighborhood and getting to know the neighbors can also be a way to create a sense of safety and connection. Behind all of these reaching out activities is the importance of retaining our faith and feeling a sense of gratitude for what we have been given by our Creator! Making connections, sharing yourself, and helping others meet their needs can create a Healing Forest among the people in your circle. And you have the opportunity to expand that circle to include others and enrich the connections in the Healing Forest.

When the Path Gets Rocky

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 16:00:01 GMT

Where are you going? Not all pathways are marked clearly, but you can find vantage points that give you the big picture and help you plan a strategy for tackling the next path for the journey. The key for success is to know where you want to go and what you need to get there. Otherwise you will just get stuck on this pile of rocks and not get anywhere. Early explorers did not have street maps and freeways with bridges to connect them to the far beyond. They had to rely upon their ability to find and follow tracks left by animals or other explorers. They had to recognized landmarks and what the contours of the earth indicated. They also had to develop a significant amount of self-confidence and willingness to take on the unimagined with grit and determination. But what they really needed to do was to overcome their fears and utilize the ultimate power of their Creator.

HARNASS YOUR FREE WILL

Many of life’s adventures are fraught with scary times, feelings of being rudderless, disoriented and discouraged. This is especially true for relationship, health, and occupational/career issues. This is the time that it is important to recognize that you were given specific skills to overcome the various challenges. There is a saying that “Every salmon knows what it means to be a salmon.” What this saying means is that while salmon might be found swimming lazily in the rivers and bays, but there comes a time, when instinct calls them to return to location of their birth to spawn new salmon. Humans do not have homing instincts. We have free will. We must make choices. Meeting life challenges requires unique skills and equipment, and confidence.

USING QUESTIONS TO GET FOCUSED

Identify the skills that you naturally have. These do not have to be job skills, they might be life skills. Here are some questions to get you started on your next adventure:
What tasks do you enjoy doing?
What activities do you do with ease?
What chores and activities do you avoid?
What emotional courage do you have?
Identify the kind of people that you like to be with?
Those who work with their hands
Those who work with their mental abilities
Those who enjoy engaging with people
Those who are creative
Those who inspire you
Those who want to start new enterprises
How do you like to learn new things?
 Watching videos/films
Reading books
Attending classes
Wrestling with information
Experimenting and trying out
Testing yourself in the unknown
What type of risks are you willing to take?
Physical risks
Emotional risks
Social risks
Mental risks
Spiritual risks
Who do you know that can help you prepare?

FINDING COURAGE AND CONVICTION

The person in the picture is scaling a cliff. He has the right equipment, the right mindset and the right timing to master this incline. He is testing his skill with great courage and conviction. Think of the processes he engaged in to prepare himself to be ready to do this.

Need for Sure Footed Leaders

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 16:00:01 GMT

In particularly challenging times, a good leader is essential. In the frontier days, the Scout was used to look ahead to find a path wide enough for the wagon train, to find water enough to take care of the horses, cows, and oxen. The scout also mapped out the path that would avoid dangerous areas. The scout creates confidence for the Wagon Train Master and the rest of the travelling community. Even in the animal community, there are scouts and leaders.

Pathways are not always clear, and they are not always easy. Some require training and special techniques. Rocky, steep, and uncertain trails require thoughtful observation and careful analysis, sometimes some engineering skills to cross the more dangerous places. Rocky Mountain sheep have specific skills that make them good leaders in these treacherous conditions!

This is one of the reasons that prospectors and cargo wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail used mules. Mules are resilient, they are surefooted and they are determined! They don’t have the same fears that horses have. Mules can make good leaders over rough terrain. In the early 20th century, the train had become the go to carrier for people and for cargo. So in a way it also becomes a leader. However, creative minds and problem solvers were needed to design the strategies, do the planning and the engineering needed to navigate through the mountains and the cliffs.

IMAGES FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERS

Currently, career and life pathways are fraught with financial and marketplace and political challenges that put roadblocks, treacherous cliffs, and shale slides in our path. It is up to us to navigate and to be insistent on plotting a path. An effective leader needs a variety of qualities. Here are some take -aways from the scenarios above:

Scout : The modern day scout is a networker. This means that you tap into sources where you can see and be seen by people who can help you identify where you might find opportunities. Much of this is done through networking organizations like Linked In or through professional societies at the local and even national level. Here you would also need to be willing to invest in those organizations by participating in leadership roles. Or, you could share your skills through Linked In workshops, videos on You Tube, or even by creating a website that features your 4 primary skills. The objective is to get noticed.

It is still customary to participate in these events in person, even if that means by Zoom or Facetime. Conduct short investigative interviews with people you met, to learn what they did, why they liked their job, how they prepared for the hiring process, and what brought them to a particular company. This allows you to really get to know various people, learn from them and also to keep track of the landscape they are presenting you. Think about what you can do for the people you meet.

Mule : Being stubborn and surefooted means that you will need to know what your values and goals are. The mule will not do things it doesn’t want to do, so you as the rider have to figure out ways to convince the mule to go your way. You have to create a vision of yourself doing something and being somewhere. Having a vision that include the why in the picture allow you to not only set milestones for achieving your goal, but also to raise your awareness so that you don’t miss out on an important opportunity. Understanding your situation (i.e. the mule) will help you to avoid unwelcome pitfalls! Knowing yourself, your emotional, mental, physical, social and spiritual priorities (values and goals) can help you be surefooted in your journey on this path.

Rocky Mountain Sheep : Nimbleness is key for navigating the danger zones and for managing the risks. It is unlikely that these sheep spend time worrying about at the bottom of the canyon that drops off 3 feet away! They do not get distracted along the way. They keep moving toward their goal. They move their feet one step at a time, and they plant each foot before lifting the next one. This type of deliberateness is important in creating your own path. It is great to dream with your heart, but you will not succeed if you don’t engage your strategic thinking and your ability to be creative in solving problems.

Tr ain : A train always has a destination! The tracks lay out the pathway to get to the destination. And the train itself, with its heavy iron wheels and cow catcher on the front makes short work of most obstacles. These added capabilities allow the train to travel unimpeded through many areas. There are, of course still obstacles like fallen trees and fallen boulders, gravel and rocks. The brakes provide stopping power when danger nears. So what are your heavy iron wheels and cow catcher? What are your brakes? And, where are these tracks taking you! The people in the train have faith that the train will follow the tracks to its destination. We also need to have faith in the tracks the Creator lays out for us to follow—if we are paying attention!

What is Your Strategy?

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 16:00:00 GMT

What is your strategy? Not everyone knows that a strategy is how you accomplish things. There are intentional strategies and passive strategies. My puppy follows her nose when we go outside. Her goal is to get all the p-mail. And her vision is to find out what is happening around the neighborhood, who the dogs are and how they all feel. Dogs have incredible smell systems, much more effective that those of the human. This is a pretty passive strategy; she would literally wander around following her nose for hours.

My horse has his own strategy— that of avoiding all things that could eat him. So I have to learn what he thinks is scary and make sure that he ia brave enough to get near it. Right now, he does not like pink strollers on the pathway. That is a very scary obstacle! It creates a conflict. From my perspective he refusing to go forward. He sees it all differently. He is a prey animal. He thinks that everything new is out to get him! So his suspicion and potential flight response is very keen.

People have go along to get along strategies, and defiant, you can’t make me strategies! Of course these tend to be unconscious strategies rather than intentional. The object of strategic thinking is to make our strategies intentional and to deliberately identify where we want to be and then devise a strategy for how to get there.

THE CREEK METAPHOR

The creek could be a metaphor for how this strategy works in nature. The creek starts off as a trickle high in the mountains. It starts by following the path of least resistance as it pushes its way down the hill, around little barrios, and over the rocks. There are occasions where the ground and the path of the creek create resistance to the goal. In the top picture the creek is headed down stream unencumbered by the little variations in the terrain. However, in the picture to the right, the creek has encountered a fairly flat area with many rocks and boulders. It has stalled.

Until the creek is joined by more and more water, it may not be able to get past this flat area and it will either wait until it is strong enough to overcome the inertia of the flat depression, or it 2 might veer off to another direction where it can cut a new path. Then of course, when the creek builds up enough water pressure and it can respond to gravity, it will roar down over the rocks and boulders and create incredible waterfalls, and angry rapids! It is still on its way to the ocean!

Until the creek is joined by more and more water, it may not be able to get past this flat area and it will either wait until it is strong enough to overcome the inertia of the flat depression, or it might veer off to another direction where it can cut a new path. Then of course, when the creek builds up enough water pressure and it can respond to gravity, it will roar down over the rocks and boulders and create incredible waterfalls, and angry rapids! It is still on its way to the ocean!

What does the strategy of the creek suggest about your own approach to creating and implementing your strategy? How you respond to obstacles and opportunities along the way to your goal? Actually, this creek is a particular description of a strategic path that includes a great deal of conflict. It is interesting that we don’t think of strategic planning in the organization as a method of dealing with conflict! Nor do we think about having a strategy for our lives and careers as an opportunity to address conflict and use it as momentum or friction to keep us on the path to the goal!

PRINCIPLES ABOUT CONFLICT

Here are some principles about conflict that could be helpful for this strategic pathway:

Conflict creates clarity
Conflict is an attitude (leaning towards or away from some force)
Conflict creates opportunities
Changing your thinking can change the way you experience conflict
Conflict happens when goals, values, or interests are threatened
Conflict can be created by others who want to obstruct your progress.
Conflict can come from internalizing words from authority figures or family members
Conflict can be mitigated by defining and anticipating milestones
Conflict will happen when you least expect it

Each one of these principles could be used to identify specific aspects of your own strategy that need to be developed. They can encourage you to explore areas where you need to strengthen your emotional, mental, spiritual and physical capacity to deal with the trickles, ponds, and rapids along the way to your own goal!

You Are Not Alone on Your Pathway

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 05:15:00 GMT

Having a friend on the pathway makes the journey much more fun. Choosing the right friend makes all the difference! There are many different pathways that fill our lives. There is the pathway for education, for career, for marriage and family, for faith, for volunteer work, for political action and many more.

While it is common to start on a pathway to a particular destination through a personal decision, it helps to have other people to be with you to actually make the journey. There is a catalyst when you speak your vision to the right companion. This person can affirm your idea and even help you flesh out what you want.

CREATE YOUR OWN BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Big ideas need big minds. One thing that is really important in all adventures is to include your Creator in this process. The Creator has more intellect and more creativity than any human or computer. Getting the Creator on your side and trusting His guidance is essential. Having your own Board of Directors begins with the Creator. The Creator is the Prime Director of your personal, and virtual, Board of Directors

INC. YOURSELF!

Think of yourself as an enterprise. You have assets, valuable skills, you have a vision, you have strategic objectives, and you have specific values that shape your focus, and you have liabilities. You need a network of people who can mentor and advise you. Find people you know and admire who have skills and attitudes that can support and encourage you. These people may have their own goals but they might also have time to provide needed advice. They can be of any age or any background; they could even be in the Great Beyond. They can have similar or different education and experience. The key is that they encourage your effort. Stay away from those who are nay-sayers, those who want you to stay where they are! They say—who are you to think that you could make a difference? You are just a kid, just a girl, just a mom, just a .... Those people are not worthy of being your advisors. They may even be family or clan members. Find someone else!

Investigate your pathway and anticipate what pitfalls and challenges might be ahead given your person set of skills, values and attitudes. Where might you be overreaching, and where might you not have the knowledge to make you successful? Sometimes you might even need to include a marketing person in your team — and sometimes you might have to pay for that expertise. This means you have to be willing to invest in yourself.

ACKNOWLEDGE THE MENTORS IN THE JOURNEY

Not all of these “Board of Directors” have to be physically present to help you! One of the things that I did early in my career was to find the person who I thought had the best approach to finding work and planning careers. It was Richard Bolles, who wrote What Color is Your Parachute. I found that he was teaching a seminar on his book at a small college in Nebraska. I invested in myself, and paid for the seminar and then invited my dad to fly me up there, which he did, in his commercial plane. From him I learned the meaning of this principle: Find a Need and Fill It.

CONSIDER THE PEOPLE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

Here are some examples of virtual board members in my life:

Several of my professors who made a huge difference in my life.
A variety of spiritual leaders from different traditions,
The leader of a movement that helps people live healthy and balanced lives,
A person who has incredible faith and energy and has implemented change in her community,
A landlady who helps her tenants with her social worker skills.
Someone who has un-stoppable energy that has led her to make a political difference in her community.
An engineer who created gadgets that enabled robots to explore the surface of Mars
An explorer who travels on uncharted roads, and creates his own path through the mountains on land and in life.
Two young women who bravely stepped out to create their own businesses far away from home

Several of these people have overcome incredible odds to get where they are. People in my own family have been mentors and members of my Board of Directors (and they may not even know it!) Sometimes, helping other people with their projects (i.e volunteering for non-profits) can build skills and help you give back at the same time. I have lifelong relationships with many of the people in these non-profit endeavors.

KNOW WHEN TO LISTEN

Your Board of Directors does not have to come to meetings, or be paid. They don’t have to have a presence on your website or your tax return. The big thing is that they need to be listened to, and appreciated—by you! People who share ideas with you do so to help you. They are busy, they do not have time to hold your hand, but you can watch what they do and how they do it. Those are the people you take with you as you follow your path. What they have taught you will stay with you: you learn how bravery works, how faith works, what it means to be strong, creative, financially secure, and how to overcome obstacles. They can also teach you how to accept recognition and how to extend your reach into new areas where there might be a need. Recognize the people who are already in your life who provide the mentoring and the inspiration to help you along your pathway! And best of all, since they care about you, they may also warn you when you are overreaching, or coming close to a cliff.

These people are the “we” and the “us” in your achieving milestones. You cannot get where you are going without help. So when you Inc. yourself, remember those who are there and have always been there to help you!

Commit to the Preparation

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 16:00:01 GMT

Some pathways require considerable stamina and deliberate preparation. Running on this track in the desert must be really intense. Imagine the heat! Here is a man who has set a goal and who has taken the time to do the work. He has created a vision of what he wants to achieve and he has taken the time and energy to define what skills, performance objectives, mental and physical stamina he needs. He may also have extended his preparation into the spiritual (unseen) realm as well. Perhaps he is preparing for a marathon to honor his grandfather, or to bring recognition to his family and community. Or perhaps he is making this part of his commitment to reclaim his own life and demonstrate to himself that he has the capability to do anything he wants to do!

IS YOUR CUP TOO FULL?

Think about Great Learning that you might need to help in going down a pathway that is challenging and will take considerable commitment on your part. Remember Mr. Miagi in the Karate Kid, pouring tea into the Kid’s cup. As it overflows, he said that the young boy’s mind was like the cup—too full of himself to let in more useful knowledge! List your ideas for each of the suggested areas. Some topics will have a lot of ideas and actions; others maybe only a few. You can also brainstorm your mind map with a friend.

MANY QUESTIONS START THE PLAN

You could ask questions like:

What are the outcomes I expect from completing this big project?
What are the milestones that will let me know I am making progress?
A what point can I begin to see progress?
What type of things do I need to say to myself for encouragement. What thoughts do I need to avoid?
What do I need to learn? (consider the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual skills you might need).
Who could be a mentor to me? (Mentors can be anyone, not just people in your circle. Observing behavior and wisdom can occur in any situation.)
What organizations could provide me with information, tools, and people who could give me a heads up about the topic (mentors, resources).
What skills do I need to learn? Any skill has broad general skills that you can see, but to master that skill, you need to know the little skills that make up the big skills.

Mind mapping is a planning resource that you can use for planning for your great accomplishment, or for writing a paper, or planning a camping trip. After you create the mind map, you can transfer the tasks into an Excel sheet to give you an outline of a schedule of tasks that you can use to create your milestones and performance objectives. This map shows only the major topic areas. You can extend each branch by including ideas that define and illustrate each of the branch topics.

Distractions or Lessons?

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 16:00:00 GMT

Is your pathway filled with distractions pulling your attention away from your goal and into something of immediate interest? It is easy to let distractions realign the path we are on. It this picture, the pathway is distinct. It doesn’t even look particularly difficult. But, like so many assignments whether at work, home, or school, there is sometimes a huge resistance to simply following the path!

The bush of white flowers is very interesting. How did it get there, what kind of bush is it? There is a wall in front of the path that you have to climb over to get to the steps. And there seems to be a deeper forest beyond the visible steps. Am I prepared for this, will it lead me somewhere, or will I just get thirsty and bitten by mosquitos? And, of course, my sign on the bookcase says “Stop and Smell the Flowers.” So now I have a good excuse to just sit here on the wall, take pictures of the flowers and the grasses and investigate how the steps were made. The whole day passes and I have made no progress toward my stated tasks.

PROCRASTINATION AS A TEACHER

What is driving this procrastination? Maybe it is time for a little bit of re-fitting (like you do when the chain falls off your chainsaw). When your pathway disappears into the distractions, you can justify your procrastination, by noting that all of these diversions are good for you ultimate goal, and maybe taking a break from the grind up the stairs might be appropriate. Okay, I can go for that! It is something we do all the time. It might help to put some structure to this procrastination (i.e. become aware of what we are doing and why, and then each diversion might be incorporated into the steps to the goal).

THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS

Here are some thought experiments that might be helpful.

What are you feeling emotionally as you let yourself get distracted? Are you tired of the grind, are you excited by the end of the quarter and you would really rather “be done” with the many steps that are left? Are you a little jaded by the memories of the last time you worked really hard on a project, and your boss said “Well, that’s nice... We really need to get the minutes of the Quality committee finished? “ She didn’t notice your hard work, and complained you were behind on something else. GRRR!! Discouragement, exhaustion, annoyance, and other emotions can cloud your desire to keep on stepping!
What mental preparation do you need to do accomplish the climb you are trying to make? Do you need to learn new things (like memorizing the many different systems that make the eyeball work?) Does the climb require that you learn new academic skills— like taking a statistics class for the performance improvement study at work?
What physical preparation do you need? Obviously physical stamina is important for this climb. But what about those mosquitos, and the snakes, and the creek that pops up on the other side of this hill? How do you prepare for those? What do you already have in your backpack that can help you?
Spiritually, are you doing what you should be doing? Is this path taking you where your meaning and mission lies? Is your goal really what you should do to honor your Creator, or are you making this climb to please someone else?

ENGAGE YOUR CURIOSITY

Having worked throughout the thought experiments, you can then return to your path. Here are some questions about the diversions that were distracting you:

What can you learn from the bush and its flowers about your actual goal?
What does the wall teach you about goals?
What do the steps teach you about your goals?
What guidance do the grasses and the trees provide?

So now. Here are some of the more routine and challenging goals that could cause someone to procrastinate. You can substitute your topic for the ones in the examples.

Defining the processes that need to be refined in the Financial Aid department.
Scheduling local artists for my radio show on Careers and Lifestyles.
Host a Garden Party to raise capital funds for a historical green house.
Writing essays for the next few issues of the newspaper.
Creating a handbook for taking charge of your career in a corporate environment.
Preparing for the certification that will help me move up the career ladder.
Convincing 10 companies to sponsor a therapy horse for a year.

As in great adventure, there are, lurking in the darkness, people who might try to manipulate you to “paddle their canoe” rather than giving you directions for your own journey. Or, your family members could be calling you back, asking you to do what they would do, or participate in their fears. They are well meaning, but you follow your own path, while still respecting their concerns. You have different skills and have had different opportunities to prepare you that your parents and siblings may not have had. Be ready to welcome the great serendipity that you find on the other side of the brush covers the current path.

The pathway to your greatest potential is straight through your greatest fears! ~ Craig Groeschel

You Have to Start Somewhere

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 16:00:00 GMT

A starting place for my pathway. I am looking out the kitchen window. My world is framed by the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, punctuated by the snowcapped Pike’s Peak. We are nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. The trees in the foreground, Russian Olive, Locust, Silver Maple, Aspen, Pine and Spruce create a rich forest of smells. Their leaves and needles are scattered across the lawns and piled up against the fences, and crushed on the sidewalks and driveways. The smell is heady, reminding me of playing football in the yard, and raking piles of leaves high, then stuffing them into the large bags, where I stomp on them to release their smell!

These trees are homes to brown and black squirrels, crows, chickadees, robins and magpies in other seasons. In the summer, the trees shade my house from the harshness of the summer sun. The robins stop at our house in late spring to raise their babies and eat the raisins my husband set on the planter for them each day. By August they are gone, replaced by the tiny humming bird warriors who dart in and out of the purple and pink morning glories that climb the trellis on the porch and sip from the feeder that my husband carefully prepares for them. And, the yellow daisies are everywhere in abundance. They look lovely and make my eyes water and bring about sneezing jags, but love looking at them sway in the breezes.

RECOGNIZE THE RICHNESS AROUND YOU

It is a rich valley where I live, surrounded by a 150 year old city park made up of 800 feet bluffs that hover above the neighborhood. Many neighbors have been here for more than 50 years, while old people move on to their reward, making way for new families with little children. I remember when we moved here and how we decided we would stay planted so that our girls would have a neighborhood and friends in their schools. It would be different for them. We were military kids; changes and moving, while sometimes stressful, were filled with new sights, sounds, short term friends, and adventures. For them we chose different adventures.

Looking at the ridges, I imagine the ghosts of Ute. Cheyenne and Arapaho braves watching us from their paint ponies, armed with rifles and bows, their long hair blowing in the wind. To the northwest is a horse stable once owned by a friend of Roy Rogers, who retired here to take care of his horses in the early 1950s. It is now a therapeutic riding center, serving veterans with PTSD, disabled children and adults who need to focus on something other than their problems. The golf course to the west, protects us from the sounds of the busy boulevard and the hungry developers who have gobbled up the once wide expanse of hilly watershed on the slopes of the bluffs to the north.

Yet, I would be remiss to leave out the sandy soil, a reminder of the oceans that once covered this ground, the giant boulders, left behind by glaciers long melted, and the blackened cave ceilings that bespeak of the ancient sojourners who found shelter above the creek that runs through the valley. The lakes and mountains have played roles in the activities that filled the weekends and holidays for my brothers and parents, as we honed our skills skiing, both in the water and on the snowy mountain sides.

The blue sky is endless, decorated with puffs of clouds, eagles and hawks search for their dinner. Their hunter killer focus reminds me that like these raptors, my father and husband, both warriors, searched out the enemies that would threaten our freedom.

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR GRATITUDE

Each of these disparate elements has influenced my path, added to the shaping of my understanding of myself, my relation to the land, my family, and lifelong friends. I have lived my life like a story, with adventures, excitement, changes, hopes, fears, great joy, and great sadness, regrets, and lessons learned. I am thrilled to be a mentor and a teacher to those who are looking forward to their lives, children, work, and opportunities. While I am not a warrior in the physical sense, like my husband and father, I am a warrior spiritually, doing my best to be what Fools Crow called, “a hollow bone” for God. My experience is one of being there for others, to be a catalyst in helping them move their dreams to fruition. I find great satisfaction in that role.

Not All Pathways Are Easy!

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:00:00 GMT

What happens when the path is blocked by rocks, weeds, and other barriers? So you are moving along a good path in your life or in the work place. All of a sudden you are confronted with confusing policies or things that seem to go wrong. Or you take a risk and buy a house only to find yourself the victim of a layoff! Now you have a series of crises that all need attention at the same time and it seems overwhelming. You can’t figure out what needs to be done first to get a handle on the challenges in the pathway

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES IS YOUR JOB!

When this happens, it is important to remember an important saying that is common among many counselors and life coaches: You have been created to overcome obstacles. By our very nature we are designed to figure things out and to find a way around the obstacles.

Usually when this happens, we come to a full stop. I had a client who once worked for a local company that had a dynamic leader. The management team knew where they were headed. They had a strategic plan and company values that had been developed over many years. These were based upon empowering employees, and looking for ways to continuously improve the production, performance, training and relationships with employees and customers. Then, after being employed there about five or six years of really meaningful work, my client’s company was sold to a corporation in another state.

YOU NEED TO MAKE CHOICES FOR YOU!

then, little by little the culture did change, good people were overlooked and pushed aside. Expectations changed, communications changed, no longer were the ideas from the management team listened to by the corporate headquarters. And then, the layoffs began. Pretty soon, there was almost nothing left in the company. It had been deconstructed and everyone, including my client was among the unemployed.

Yes, they did have a severance package, and outplacement resume services. However, that was not the help that this person needed right away. Not only was his source of income jeopardized, but his position in the company was ended, and along with that his sense of self and purpose was upended. Like many of us, he made his work his primary focus of his self-image, and without that job, he felt lost and he felt like a failure. It is true that losing a job is a serious issue and it will take some serious effort to resolve. And, while feelings are bound to be running rampant, 2 feelings do not make good decisions. Feelings are warning signals. They tell you that the harmony and balance are insecure. Just like on the rocks in the pathway, you must maintain your balance and not succumb to the feelings of fear or insecurity.

STEP BACK AND CREATE A PLAN

It is important to pay close attention, to look at the detail of the moment. This takes investigation and requires observations and a series of questions. For my client, it was important for him to remember that he is the same talented and focused person that he was last week! The company failed, he didn’t. The company shifted, he didn’t. He still retained the values that made him successful. But, like an earthquake, the dissolution of the company left a lot of rubble strewn in his pathway. The biggest thing for this person was that he was no longer on automatic pilot! He had to make decisions and he was really close to the rocks and could not really see the goal anymore. Considering the role that values are standards we use for making decisions. Here are some values related questions that can be explored, and mined for how they can create pathways for the next job.

What was it about the job that you had that you really enjoyed?
What need did you fill in relation to the people you worked with?
What challenged and enriched your life?
What was the change in the company that you found most irritating?
Where did your family fit in relation to your work?
What is the most pressing issue that this abrupt change brings?

Think of these as the rocks that you have to climb over in order to see where you want to be. Each of the rocks requires a specific type of strength to climb over. In the gym, the weight machines and other exercise gear helps you develop physical strength. In this metaphorical challenge, rocks that you have to climb over and around end up building character strength and helping you develop the creativity and confidence that will make you ready for the next job!

Some Pathways Are Very Broad and Have a Variety of Twists and Turns

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 16:00:00 GMT

Some pathways are very broad and have a variety of twists and turns, making it easy to get distracted, or even lost! Using a map to mark your destination can make all the difference!

CHECK OUT YOUR MAP

A map in Google shows the paths to get from here to there. But what about the map for our minds and hearts? How do we find that one? How can we be sure that we are choosing the right path for our next job, for our relationships, for our life decisions? This can also be extended for finding the right path for our business.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND NEW REALITIES

Changes in the marketplace, in the cultural realm and in the social and political nature of our country can create challenges on the pathway that we have chosen! Consider the impact of the Artificial Intelligence on the screen writers and actors who make movies! The newest trend is that scripts and actors can be designed through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)! While it may not happen overnight, it is certainly a nerve wrack for the Screen Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild. How will these people re-chart their careers? How will the movie industry re-tool to accommodate this technology?

Within the AI technology, there are plans to have babies made through technologically designed eggs and sperm, completely bypassing the need for biological men and women. This is a scene right out of the Matrix! Artificial Intelligence will impact the way that almost every job we have is implemented. New skills will be required, and new understandings (and attitudes) will be needed in order to accommodate the stresses and sometimes jarring implications of how our individual lives will be affected. While AI can be very helpful in some ways, it can also be extremely intrusive and constraining. It creates centralization in the human services and in education that transforms actual connections with people into monitoring and recording information onto computer forms.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN LEAD US ASTRAY

So, we will need new maps to navigate this environment that is driven by HAL (from 2001 A 9 Space Odyssey)! Already we have personal monitors that tell us how much sleep we have and when to eat a snack and when to get our next tetanus shot! Our lives are controlled more and more through electronic devices, and many people welcome this new technology just like we welcomed the washing machine and the automobile. These new inventions opened the pathway so that we could do more of the things that we wanted to do and travel about more efficiently.

Is it our path now to be “plugged in?” How do we think about this path? In the Matrix, if you wanted a new language you just swapped out a language program; or if you wanted to have access to a collection of literature or scientific material, you just changed the program that was plugged into your head. One of the interesting things, in this movie was that people didn’t realize that they were “plugged in” and that all that was happening in their lives was happening in another plane — a dream-world of existence while their real physical being was attached via an umbilical cord to the central computer. There was no free will. There was no individual person, life experience was determined by the package that was plugged into the brain! And then there was HAL and the Skynet (in the Terminator series) that decided that there was no more use for human beings. Is this the pathway we are choosing?

KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR CREATOR

This pathway seems to be predicated on the notion that there is no spiritual Creator, that there is no higher power than ourselves. God is not part of this new world. That the higher power is the Artificial Intelligence. The problem with this is that the artificial intelligence does not know its own strength! Nikola Kesarovski noted the Fifth Law of Robotics: “A robot must know it is a robot!” Otherwise: a man decides to purchase a robot to take care of him and his apartment. This robot looks very much like a lovely female. He is quite happy as “she” begins to understand what needs to be done to make him happy. One day, the robot decides that this human likes to be hugged. So one night when he comes home, the robot welcomes him with a huge hug! Only then, not realizing the real nature of a hug, or of “her” own strength, the robot squeezes the life out of the man!

PATHWAYS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

The point is, the pathways we choose have consequences. This is true whether we are looking for the grocery store or for the kind of work we will do, or the person we marry (or the people and activities in our lives). Each choice we make will have consequences that make a huge difference in our emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.

Prepare your heart, your spirit and your body for making the choices that you will make in your life. This will create your map. Do not make these choices lightly; do not go along to get along. Your choices, as well as those of the people around you will create the world in which you must live— for better or for worse. You just might need to be the one standing in the breach leading the others to a better way.

What is Employability Insurance?

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 16:00:00 GMT

Are you experiencing some cliff hangers or uncertain ground in your employment pathway? With all the changes in workplace expectations, the introduction of Artificial Intelligence in specific job groups, it might be worth creating some Employability Insurance for yourself. This might help you to bridge the gaps in your pathway and feel confident that you can continue forward ven if the path is rugged!

What would employability insurance look like if it could be found? It would be a means of insuring that no matter what happened in the workplace there would be another opportunity for a job equal to or better than the one currently held.

Realities of Lifetime Employment: There was a time when companies hired people for life. Their path was laid out for them, and they were expected to follow it for life. In Japan, some companies still hire people for life. Lifetime employment generally insures a paycheck, but it does not insure the opportunity to challenge yourself mentally, to do the job you enjoy, to exercise your leadership skills, or to be rewarded with a sense of achievement.

However, the shifting tides of the marketplace are making lifetime employment with one company not only unlikely, but unattractive as well. Many of us, still uncomfortable with change, tend to fall into a complacency about our careers and expect the company to "support" us forever. This is just not realistic. Essentially, people who are satisfied just collecting a paycheck are mindlessly trudging down a path, just wishing to get to the end of it!

ENSURE YOUR EMPLOYABILITY

Six Areas of Self-Insurance to make your path successful

1. Expertise: Everybody has an expertise in something. Identifying what you do well takes a little digging. Generally those things that we do without effort are perceived as an expertise by others, but to ourselves, they seem like no big deal. Identifying accomplishments is a good place to begin. Make a list of those things that were done both on and off the job that made you really feel good about yourself. It doesn't matter that no one else was aware of the accomplishment. It is important to remember that an expertise is not the topic of the work being done; it is how well the work is done!

2. Professional Contribution: Professional contribution has two parts. First, there is the matter of shaping your skills and interests so that they enhance your value to the company. You might also consider how you could parley your professional knowledge and skills into self–employment!

3. Organization Perception: It is seldom that we take the time to really evaluate the company's needs, goals, problems, and potentials. In fact, most of us probably know more about our stock market investments than we do about the company in which we are investing our lives and futures. Each company works by different rules. Some are healthy and productive; some are petty and dysfunctional. As part of the research, each person needs to clearly identify where the opportunities are to make a difference and when some problems are part of the culture and will never change. These decisions are important for clarifying our pathway.

4. Leadership: Are you able to provide leadership for those who work with you? In the days of the wagon train, the scout would ride out ahead of the people to identify the pathways to water, shelter, and safety. If you are trying to insure your own employability, your contributions as a leader, especially as a servant leader, will help to prepare you for what lies ahead. A leader is aware of limitations in self and others. Thus it will be important to anticipate what could happen and to help prepare the way for others. This will make you more valuable and increase the value of your contributions.

5. Networking: Sharing your experiences on your pathway might be very helpful to others. And, while you are exploring the paths that other people have taken, you can also share tips you have learned along your own path. Joining up with a group of people headed the same direction on the path can also be helpful. Professional associations provide the contacts to let us know who needs help, what projects are going on, how the work is being done, what technology is being tested, what lies ahead on the path, and most importantly, who needs help. You can use internet technology to help you with your pathfinding and your path clearing.

6. Strategic Planning: Developing each of these areas requires diligent application of the sixth category of employability insurance: strategic planning. It is easy to get caught up in the day to day activities and chores of the workplace. However, just as we have insurance premiums taken out of our paychecks, we need to take time off the top of our work week to plan, organize, analyze, and develop strategies that will insure that continuous employment will be in the future. If you were hiking across the Appalachian Trail, you would have considerable planning to do. You would study your map. You would identify where water could be found, where the likely sleeping places would be, and where to replenish supplies. You 8 would also have to plan how much money you need to have with you and how many pairs of socks you need to take for this long walk. Planning ahead like this increases your success on the path. While each of these suggestions can help to insure your employability in the market place, they are also helpful in other pathways

Insights Come From Strange Places

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 02:15:36 GMT

You never know who you might meet on your path . You might be surprised as we were when this bear came to visit on our street! In our minds, the pathway to our goal, generally does not anticipate big, scary creatures who may or may not want to 5 eat us! Fortunately, this particular bear was a little more like Yogi Bear in that he was headed for the honey combs that our neighbor had been cultivating all summer long!

We live in an area where there is a huge migration trail for the coyotes, bobcats, cougars, bears, and even sometimes an elk travelling from the mountains to the west into our little valley nestled under the bluffs. So, it should not be too surprising that we have large visitors ambling down the street!

CONSIDER THE OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE YOUR OWN PATH

Here is an opportunity to consider what we might learn from the bear and how he approaches his journey. This might provide some suggestions for preparation and for overcoming obstacles. First consider his Presence. At first look, he is strong, large and confident as he follows his path. He also has an end in mind, for he does end up in the neighbor’s back yard where the bees live.

Physically, are you prepared to pursue your pathway? Are you strong (in mind, body and spirit)? Have you developed a presence so that people actually see you when you show up, or are you crouching and trying to hide as you confront new people and new situations on your pathway?

Confidence comes with the knowledge that you are prepared. You know what you want. You know where to find it. And, you are ready to tackle the obstacles that might be challenging your progress. This bear actually climbed over a six foot basket weave fence to get to his honey! He was determined and not deterred by obstacles. The bear created his own path where none seemed to be.

SELF TALK CAN SUPPORT OR UNDERMINE YOUR GOAL

What do you think his self-talk might be? Do bears talk to themselves? Well, if they did, do you think that this confident bear would say “Oh, the people here may not like me!” He is much more likely to say to himself: “I know the honey is over there and I need to get it!” He is focused on his goal. He is not distracted by his self-image or his worries about being accepted! That never occurs to him.

If you approach a job interview, people at a conference, or a person you might like to get to know better, thinking only that “oh dear, suppose they don’t like me,” then the chances are that you will give off vibes to these other people that make them uncomfortable! So it is better if you think about what you have to share with them and how you can get them to share what is interesting to them with you! After all, you want to know where the honey is also! That should be your focus.

ASK QUESTIONS TO LEARN WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

Knowledge is also important for moving along the path. This bear has a good sense of smell and his knowledge and prior experience with honey enables him to really chart a fairly direct path to the honeycomb! The bear must be a good tracker.

What kind of knowledge do you need to have to be a successful tracker on your path? Do you need to talk to people along the way? Do you need to learn to read the signs and recognize specific characteristics of your environment? Do you need to explore around the pathway more, compare and contrast where you are now with where you were yesterday? Too many people just point their eyes at their feet and trudge on down the path. They miss all the cues that are in the fields, the trees, changes in animal behavior and subtle changes in the landscape. A bear would pay attention to all of these external cues about his environment so that he could be efficient in gathering food, and finding shelter.

So thank you Mr. Bear, for providing some suggestions on how we might better follow our path!

Be Aware of Unforseen Events

dr_lynda@comcast.net (Lynda Rogerson) — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 18:00:00 GMT

Pathways on a journey can become inundated by unforeseen events. This is when integrity becomes important. Why integrity? First, integrity comes from the word integral which refers to the core element that keeps something together. So if a person has integrity, that means they operate from a core value system that keeps them on a continuous path. The problem is that in today’s economic, political and cultural climate integrity is often sacrificed for quick rewards. We call this out as going where the wind blows. Having integrity means knowing what is important to you in your actions, relationships, and in your belief systems. This creates the solid ground upon which you continue your journey, despite what happens around you.

OUR VISION CAN GET MUDDIED

In the picture, the pathway has been muddied. How much of what we hear in the news on the internet or see in our communities reflects a set of values and actions that are feel foreign or even undermine our trust in ourselves? This can be very frustrating. When these new values wash over the culture, they impact our schools, workplaces, and our conversations with neighbors and family. The question becomes, do I hold onto my values and go with the flow? Or do I take a stand for what has kept me on a solid path so far? What are the practical choices?

You could stand back from this muddy mess and consider an alternative direction in your path. How can you can you get around the mess. Or how could you build a bypass over the mud; or divert the water from this section and drain it off. When do you know what strategy to try?

PROBLEMS CREATE OPPORTUNITIES

This is the point in your journey where you might need to recognize that Problems Create Opportunities . This is your opportunity to evaluate what each of the concerns you are confronting, and make a determination about which one may need to be a launching point.

One day, I was having lunch with my friend, an HR Director for a very large company. We were eating in the very large and subsidized cafeteria. (Subsidized means that the company paid something for the lunches, so our costs were very minimal). A hamburger and fries or a big salad was 1/3 the cost it would be at the nearby restaurants.

The entire campus of this company was designed to keep employees on site. My friend was very unhappy. She had stumbled into the swamp of office politics and envious people. After listening to her description of the mud and weeds, rocks and stumps that prevented her from enjoying her work, I said simply: “Well, why don’t you just quit!” She opened her mouth in great surprise and said “Oh No! I am not ready to do that!” I replied that it sounded like this muddy place was really getting under her skin and she would not be very happy unless she took some action on her part (i.e. seize control of the situation). This would enable her to act with integrity and maintain the integrity of her life long journey.

Over the next few months she focused on her work, ignored the gossip and began to improve herself. She finished not only her bachelor’s degree, but her master’s degree as well. She was building a ramp over the muddy swamp so she could launch herself into new adventures on her path, which she did. She went on to found a women’s spiritual group that bought companionship, inspiration, and stories of women who overcame incredible hardships in their lives. And that was just one of the things that her journey included after she decided to get out of the mud!

FIND A SOLID FOOTHOLD

To wade through this environment, you will need to go slowly, planting your foot on the solid area under the water and even sliding your feet through the water to get to the other side of the swampy mess. Or, like my friend, it may be important to build yourself so that you are better equipped to get out of the mud! The pathway, like yourself, must have integrity and where it is weak, you must build it up and use your strength of character to get past this section of the journey.

Pay Close Attention to Your Goal

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 18:00:01 GMT

When driving, or even walking down a path , it is likely that our thoughts are on the far-yonder , and the flowers along the way are easily overlooked, or a reminder that it is allergy time! Of course, you have to stop your journey in order to pay close attention to the flowers. And, that is just the point of the distraction! In life, we are often too busy, or in too much of a hurry to actually take the time and the effort to examine the details. It is in paying attention to the details that our goals are achieved.

In this picture of the road, you can see the vision of you want: the mountain top that is far away! You can also see part of the pathway for getting there. You may have been dreaming about and envisioning your goal for a long time.

WHAT IS THE PICTURE IN YOUR MIND?

You may have a picture in your mind about the way the top of that mountain looks! It has some very cold snow on it, from the top you can see for miles all around you! You can see also that there trees are different and you hear the sound of the wind. You might be anticipating the feeling of excitement about getting to the top of that mountain, where you can even taste the crisp cold air and see for miles. This envisioning with all your senses is very important as you set out your goals. You must have a vision of where you want to be, or you cannot get there! It’s like being at the edge of your driveway and forgetting where you were headed: to the office or to the grocery store. Without the image in your head you cannot turn left or right!

You may have even laid out some milestones on a map to help you see how far you have come. Since this could be a life goal, work goal, or education goal, the mountain is actually a metaphor, so the map in this case would not be a regular map, but it might be a list of things that you have to do. This is where the flowers along the way play an important role. I have a wooden paperweight on my bookcase that provides a suggestion for those of us who are in a hurry and so excited we forget to take the time to experience where we are and what we might learn from out current situation. The saying is: “Don’t hurry! Don’t worry! Stop, and smell the flowers.” So what does this really mean? For me, smelling the flowers, especially these pretty yellow ones brings about sneezing and eye watering! There must be another message! So let’s take a look at the flowers, close up!

FLOWERS KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL

Notice where the flowers have put themselves! They are right along the pathway where everyone can find them! Look at the intricacy of what actually makes up this flower! It has a very long stem that brings water to the plant, and especially to the flower and helps also with photosynthesis. The petals are many and they are evenly distributed with each petal looking slightly different from another. The black center is where the action takes place. Bees and butterflies are attracted to the flowers, sit upon the petals and gather nectar from the plan while at the same time picking up the pollen and flying off to another flower to share the pollen. What an amazing design. What can we learn from this beautiful little sunflower (probably a weed in someone’s book)?

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE FLOWERS

Here are some suggestions:

∙ How is your goal contributing to the growth and development of your family, your community, your company, or your team?

∙ How are you attracting others to help you with your goal?

∙ How are you making yourself attractive so that others will want to help you along?

∙ What do you have to offer that others might need?

∙ How are you gathering nourishment along your way? (i.e. What are you learning? How are you growing spiritually?)

YOU ALSO HAVE AN INNATE PURPOSE

Another thing to marvel at with these pretty little flowers, is that they are very hearty and have evolved to overcome a variety of problems that the annuals we buy at the store experience! They grow even though the soil is not perfect and the water may be limited. They don’t have any humans tending to them; rather they depend upon their Creator to take care of them. They fulfill their purpose and achieve their goal by living the way they were supposed to live. A sunflower knows what it means to be a sunflower. If we allow ourselves to focus on the details of who we are, what our purpose is, and what our path could be, then we will be able to identify the need that is out there and we can fill it.

Some Pathways Provide New Opportunities!

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 18:00:00 GMT

Some pathways promise new opportunities ! However, when you get to the end, the opportunities are deceptive! In this scene, the pathway is almost a half mile long in a very hot valley . The house beckons the wayfarer with suggestions of shade, water, food comfort and potential friendship! But alas! It is all empty. The doors and windows are locked. No one lives there and, of course, there are no horses, no cows. At the end of a long hot day, the empty opportunity of this path brings discouragement, and a big thirst for change!

A RESOURCE TO USE FOR MAKING QUALITY CHOICES

Where did the choices go wrong? Maybe a little resource devised by Walter A. Shewart can be helpful. Shewart’s PDCA Cycle was developed as a tool for solving industrial problems early in the 2Oth Century. However, it might be just the thing to get out of dead end or prevent yourself from getting boxed in! PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) was included as a tool for the Quality movement and promoted by Edward Deming as a means for continuous improvement.

ANTICIPATING THE PATHWAY

I have two friends who raised boys and who, themselves, were good teachers. Their families had many adventures to national parks, tourist attractions, zoos, and so on. One of the things that both of the moms did was to insist that the boys, who were 11 and 13, use the internet to find out all about the upcoming adventure and to make a plan about what they wanted to see and do. This allowed the boys to preview where they were going and to build some anticipation about what they might see and do. This helped to keep the boys engaged in the adventure and take ownership for what they were going to get out of the adventure! It generally worked very well. And, the boys still had lots to discover once they got to the actual location. The boys did the work, then they compared what they found to what they saw at the adventure site, and then they acted in relation to what they saw.

APPLYING THE RESOURCE

Planning begins with an idea. This idea needs to be fleshed out. The Do is part of the planning. Every project requires that great learning. And it is important to do the research, not just dabble in it. There are many details that need to be considered, and each one of those details are essential. Check means to look closely and compare your results against a standard. If something is missing, you take Action and to go back through the Plan, the Do, and Check and study what might have gone wrong. Refinement makes a difference. Planning, overall, takes many steps.

We all know people who seem to go from project to project, course to course, management program of the month! Each of them suffers from the failure to develop the details, do the work of engaging what needed to such as teachers, trainers, videos, books. They don’t take the time to make the milestones that will allow them to check their work against a standard. They don’t take action in the moment, nor do they stop and go back to the beginning to see what might have been missing. In short, they give up. They see the empty building and say “well that’s a bust” and do not even think to go up the hill beyond the log house to where the museum is that has all of the learning resources! A short visit to the website for the location would have provided background information and more learning opportunities!

ADVENTURES AT THE ZOO

I tried the anticipatory Plan-Do-Check-Act with my 5 year old daughter. She wanted to go to the Zoo. So I asked her what she thought she would see at the zoo. She said Tigers and Bears! That let me know that she was interested in specific areas of the zoo. So we looked at pictures of different types of tigers and different types of bears. We watched videos about bears and tigers. We talked about tigers and bears and what they do. We made growls like tigers and bears! We pretended to be tigers and bears!

We also talked about how we would be walking at the zoo and what might make our walk more comfortable (i.e. a hat, a bottle of water). I suggested the stroller that I used to take her with me when I would go jogging. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Mom! I am not a baby, you know! I can walk.” So we settled for sneakers. The day that we went, instead of traipsing up every alley and through every display, we followed the path to the tigers and then over to the bears.

We checked out what we saw with what we had learned from the pictures and videos we had watched about tigers and bears. She saw new things. The tiger was much bigger than a kitty cat and he had huge teeth! The bear looked nothing like Winne the Pooh in real life, and he was very stinky. On the way out of the zoo, she was eagerly looking around at the other exhibits we passed by and said, “Can we come back and see the parrots and the snakes next time?” And then we went to have some ice cream. It was a very nice day at the zoo.

Tangled Pathways

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 18:00:00 GMT

Some pathways might present a way, but then as you explore them, what you find is dark and tangled. There is something in your way, or the pathway itself may lead to no where! That is frustrating! All that time and effort spent, and for what?

WHAT?! I CANNOT HAVE IT NOW?

We live in a microwave society! We want instant gratification . We want it now! We have thoughts that suggest we deserve to have what we want right now! You can buy all you want with credit cards! You can buy a house with a very small down payment; and even refinance after a while to get money to pay for more goods . You can buy a car on the installment plan. This pathway seems great —- until your credit is exhausted, the creditors are calling your phone night and day, your car is being repossessed and your house is under foreclosure!

HITTING BOTTOM

Coming face to face with the dark end of the pathway is called hitting the bottom. You hear this term applied to other people: those who drink too much, who use illegal drugs, or who gamble their lives away. Now, you are seeing that you too, have entered the black hole of “Now, I don’t know what to do!!! Help me!”

But the financial institutions, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa have their own responsibilities to address. You want them to come and clear your pathway? Why would they do that? This is your path, not their path. You are the one who has the great learning ahead of you.

MAKE AN INVENTORY OF YOUR CHOICES

This becomes a time of reflection and self-inventory. Here are some tools to help clear away the thicket that is hiding your pathway :

Honesty: Quit lying to yourself, and look at your choices (and excuses) clearly. Honesty is the pathway to integrity. A person with integrity can carve right thought the tangle on the path. They make different choices.

Courage: Have the courage to identify where your accountability lies and where you have responsibilities. Tackle each, one by one. There will be scary nights and even hungry days while you sit on your pathway. You may not think you should have to be courageous. You may think that someone else should do it for you. Well, they won’t.

Willingness: In the past your willingness has been to satisfy your immediate need. You have been unwilling to accommodate the needs of others. You have put yourself in the center of the world, and even have thought yourself to be godlike! Newsbreak! The Creator gave you everything you need to be happy and to be successful. It is up to you to learn what that path looks like. It is up to you to learn to see where the boundaries are. Your willingness to drop the façade you have been portraying to impress others, and look at your role in the Creator’s world—not in your world, will be an important decision to make.

Forgiveness: So you made a mistake. Begin with forgiveness. Be aware of your role in getting yourself to this point along the path. Recognize what needs to be done differently, and begin to do different things, relate to people differently (they are not here to serve you). Maybe it is time for a change! Now is the best time to begin a new life and work your way through the tangle in the path. Get up, brush yourself off and start pulling out the weeds in your path!

When Only Part of the Path is Visible!

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 17:56:41 GMT

Pathways are nice when you have a well-defined road, but what happens when you can only see part of the path and it seems a long way off? Depending on what the challenge is, there may be some questions that could at least help to clear up how the path should look!

SOME BIG QUESTIONS:

For an individual, the questions are:

∙ Who am I?

∙ Why am I ?

∙ Where am I going?

For an organization, the questions are similar:

∙ Who are we?

∙ Why are we?

∙ Where are we going?

SOME FOCUSING QUESTIONS FOR THE INDIVIDUAL:

These seem to be simple enough, but getting clarity might take some effort. It might be helpful to start with a different question: What is important to me (or to our organization)? It is sometimes easier to get to the critical questions by sneaking up on them!

As an individual , if you are thinking about making a significant change in your life consider exploring this question first:

What is important to you?

∙ Emotionally : What makes you content, annoyed, frustrated, excited (and so forth)?

∙ Mentally : What do you like to learn? How do you like learning? What kind of problems do you like to solve? What grabs your attention?

∙ Physically: What kind of energy do you like in your activities/workspace? (Loud and noisy; calm and quiet; active or sedentary; cluttered or pristine space)

∙ Socially: What kind of social activities are important to you both in relationships and in workspace; What kind of people are you drawn towards? What cultural issues are important to you? What interests do you like to share?

∙ S piritually : What role do your spiritual principles and values play in your workplace or in your relationships?

You could mind map the answers to these questions, or you could just make lists or share your thoughts with a friend.

SOME FOCUSING QUESTIONS FOR THE ORGANIZATION

As a manager or leader in the organization, there are many individuals and various levels in the hierarchy that would have input to these 3 questions. Therefore, you might consider an additional set of topics for gaining an idea of what to answer for these questions. You make already be familiar with SWOT:

∙ Strengths: What strengths do your team members have? What is the strength of your department in how does it contribute to the overall strength of the organization? What is your organization’s best unique contribution to the marketplace or service environment?

∙ Weaknesses: What does your team need to do more effectively? What performance issues are challenging? What staffing issues interrupt the flow of productivity? What financial or policy issues need to be improved?

∙ Opportunities: What are the opportunities that you think your organization might be missing? What opportunities do you wish you had?

∙ Threats: What are the threats you perceive if you do not have more relevant strategic direction? What pressures is the organization experiencing from external organizations, regulatory agencies, or quasi-political or cultural organizations? What risks do these present?

REVISIT YOUR PRINCIPLES

Once you evaluate each of these areas, then you can reconsider the 3 questions. You may find that you have uncovered what is important to your organization regarding who you are, why you are and where you are going. For the organization as well as the individual, the pathway will become much more defined.

Earlier, there is a suggestion of a road that is far off, but no path for getting there. In this picture, there pathway might be long, but it is much more defined since you know the answers to:

∙ Who am I?

∙ Why am I?

∙ Where am I going?

How to Make Change Successful

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 17:45:00 GMT

HOW TO MAKE CHANGE SUCCESSFUL

Law #1: All meaningful and lasting change must come from within. This truth reveals why it is so hard to lose weight, stop smoking, and other addictive behaviors! If someone else tells us that we must change, we tend to act like a 2 year old and say “No! You can’t make me!” Some people go to great lengths to demonstrate just how they are helpless to make the changes necessary. Or, people go on diets, lose weight and then when they hit their goal, they begin to pack the pounds on once more! This is a reminder that the goal may have been made to satisfy someone else: a doctor, a spouse, a friend, the trainer at the fitness center. Any change that you want to make needs to be on your own initiative. It cannot be imposed from the outside.

The organizational version of this situation is experienced when the manager comes back from a conference and announces that “we will be implementing a new set of processes from now on. And you are expected to get with the program.” This immediately sets up the ripple effects of resistance among the employees at all levels. Many people pretend to adopt the changes, others dawdle about getting to them, still others pretend like they don’t understand the changes. So the manager assigns everyone to trainings that should make them understand what is expected. While the people may have the information, they still do not have the right attitude or the motivation. The changes need to begin from within the people! It is up to the managers to understand this, and then to figure out how to get the people to want to adopt the changes.

DEVELOP A VISION TO GUIDE THE CHANGE

Law #2 : Without a vision, there is no development. So now, to continue with the problem. Suppose the manager comes back from the conference and asks the team: “What do you think we could do to make the processes you use more efficient?” The manager schedules some time during the staff meetings and make an offsite work shop where the team can brainstorm, problem solve and develop a picture of how they would envision their unit working. And then the manager might suggest: See if this set of processes and resources will help you accomplish your vision. The manager has done two things. First he has empowered the team to design the way that they accomplish their objectives, and then provided them with additional resources that could be helpful. The team will have come up with changes themselves that will improve productivity and performance. And, they will have a vision of where they want to go.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Law #3: A great learning must take place. Now the team considers what needs to be done and may need some help to organized and facilitate the change efforts. They may also realize that while they have the desire to make the change, there are a number of skills, areas of knowledge, and important procedures that need to be adopted. This will require training, self-directed learning, maybe some people will want to go back to school for formal education. The manager may also need to become more familiar with how to manage this newly energized team. So learning on the part of management could also become important.

For each person, there is a need to engage in learning about the new situation from four different perspectives: emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual. Each of the aspects of the person needs to be engaged when the decision is made to change. You will see this in people who change their diets, begin a new exercise plan, and find a new hobby, and so on. They will find books, articles, online “how to” examples. They may even join a club of like-minded people to help them keep on their path.

SUPPORT SYSTEMS FACILITATE CHANGE

Law #4: You must create a healing forest. This is a metaphor that describes an environment that supports and sustains the change. For the individuals who are working on a change effort, having like-minded people around them to share their successes and struggles is very important. For the teams in the organization, it is important to have organization systems that provide support. This could be training for how to work in teams. It could be redefined job descriptions, with appropriate salary changes. It might also be new organization strategic objectives and organization structures that maintain the new processes and systems.

(For more on the 4 Laws, see White Bison, Inc. www.whitebison.org)

Pathways Can Lead Us Many Places

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 17:27:38 GMT

The road brings back nostalgic memories of a simpler time.

Memories (like old roads) provide direction and a structure. Whether the topic is organization or individual change, direction and structure are essential for getting us where we want to go. This pathway illustrates tradition.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

So how does that help us consider today’s issues of change?

Tradition brings back values that are proven and solid. Values like quality, willingness, integrity, generosity, and courage and provide standards we can use for making decisions. Here are some key themes that might be helpful as you think about your role and purpose in the organization and in your relationships.

VALUES CREATE STANDARDS

Quality: Quality is like beauty. It means attention to detail, and being present in what you are doing. Quality in the work place means to be sure that all work is done with precision and care. It means that standards are used for guides to determine what quality will look like. In our relationships with others, quality means that we are present when we are listening to others. It means we extend ourselves to understand what the other person is saying or struggling with.

Willingness: To be willing is to remove the barriers of resistance that immediately go up when change appears. It is willingness to hear the new adventure or process. It is willingness to accept suggestions for improvement. It is willingness to participate joyfully in a new team. It is the extension of self into experimenting with something new. If you honestly work with a new process and see how it fits or how it improves the outcome, you might come to appreciate it. If, on the other hand, you cross your arms and clamp your jaw, you not only demonstrate unwillingness, but you create a disturbance within the team.

Integrity: This word reflects honesty and forthrightness. Stating what you mean and what is important to you helps you set the standard for what makes you comfortable. Integrity is compromised when you feel dragged along, without being able to address your own concerns. Integrity is also compromised when you do not state your position; or you lie about your position. Integrity is violated when you do not stand up for your own values.

Generosity: Giving people (especially team mates and bosses) the benefit of the doubt and sharing your knowledge, skill and helpfulness can go a long way when changes are coming from all directions. It is important to remember that other people might be just as distressed as you are with the impact of the changes that are coming.

Courage: Courage is facing the fear and doing the job that needs to be done. Courage is also called upon when you have to express your standards or your concerns about those values that you see being compromised. Courage is needed when making changes in habitual behavior, when in your personal life or in your work patterns. It takes courage to stand up for yourself—-who else would do that now that you are an adult?

LISTEN TO YOUR ANCESTORS

If the changes are getting you down, look into the pathway in the picture and imagine what your ancestors had to deal with. How did they manage the changes that they made in their lives; or that were imposed upon them by outside forces? How did they deal with people and situations that were painful? What can you learn from what they did; or what they should have done?

USE YOUR VALUES TO MAKE CHANGES

Consider some of the changes that are impacting you right now. How might you uses some of these values as standards for making decisions about these changes? You might also consider other values that could be important, like humility, or forgiveness, perseverance, hope, or faith.