HOSTAGE II
As noted in “Hostage”/21, we may be being HELD HOSTAGE by all sorts of things hidden in the background thwarting our efforts and holding us back … … but it also helps to understand that…
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Category: Visioning for Beginners
A Higher Calling
With so much dissonance, discord, dishegience and mental health challenges permeating the early days of a still nascent 21st Century, we seem to have lost sight of any meaning, purpose or zest for living. Some…
HELD HOSTAGE
It’s already 78 degrees outside this morning at 7:45 am, with a forecast of 95. I’m feeling “trapped” in an air conditioned house … unable (or unwilling?) to anticipate engaging in a full list of…
PRESILIENCE
A critical attribute of successful venturing is the ability to survive disappointment and recover from disaster – a property called RESILIENCE. But trying to extract a rejuvenating infusion from an empty reservoir is a…
Anchorings
Life-coach gurus talk about “Life Balance” … a very helpful reflective concept for different people at different points in their personal lives … especially for when they feel “out of sorts”, “at loose ends” or…
COMMUNITATION
“Communitation” is the fine art of PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. It is the art of intentionally, actively and proactively participating in a thriving, collaborative COMMUNITY. Lee Shulman Bierer [ www.collegeadmissionsstrategies.com ], provides an excellent example of…
Wear The Hat
It’s more than a bit disarming/disconcerting when spurious things insert themselves into our personal agenda and impose themselves on our personal radar – things we didn’t “ask for”, that don’t really “fit” the persona we…
FIVE HANDED NAVIGATION
LIFE’S TOUGH! The CHALLENGES are FORMIDABLE The RESPONSIBILITIES are AWESOME The EXPECTATIONS are OUT OF SIGHT And TIME is always TOO SHORT for what we want and need to do Consequently, it’s increasingly clear that…
Life is Like a Cave
Plato had it about right and was well ahead of his time, trying to explain why we all fall so far short of our potential – and short of our ability to enjoy the full…
Who Knows You
The best “insider” advice for success that most people have traditionally given aspiring emerging generations generally isn’t “Work Hard” and “Become Irreplaceable/Indispensible”. It is: “It’s who you know!” However, I’ve found, personally, it’s been a…
Not Your Fault
You’re 25 years old (maybe 30, maybe 40?), sailing through life in a fast-paced Gig-Economy, paying the rent and utilities, mostly eating out on the run, doing a fair amount of social media, streaming Netflix,…
Conditioning
I have been haunted by this intractable, plaintive cry of employers: “We can’t retain employees – some leaving after only a day on the job!” Landscaper After spending 3 hours a day on several very…
Boxing Ourselves In
At this very moment, I am watching my water sprinkler soaking parts of my driveway, sidewalk and the front street, along with my parched lawn. However, I consider this wasteful practice a major STEP…
Light Versus Dark
There’s LIGHT and there’s DARK. In the beginning, there was only DARK. DARK is the default and DARK is passive but it is MASSIVE. LIGHT requires an active source and has to be constantly generated…
Capacity Will and Insight
I had just finished breakfast and my FIRST INCLINATION was to move to the screened-in porch to finish my coffee, the sports section of the newspaper and the comics. A person who’s retired has the…
Odd Fellows
Original artwork by Leah Palmer Preiss Odd Fellows Perhaps I was doomed to be an “Odd Fellow” from the start. My dad was a card-carrying member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. (Yes, it’s…
Dance With Life
In 1996, Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., released a book entitled “End the Struggle and Dance with Life” (St. Martin’s Press) This book had some great advice for people completely overrun by life’s circumstances. Jeffers, personally, had…
Nobility of Small Things
All of us would become much more broadly, deeply and enthusiastically engaged in life if only we had more NOBLE enterprises to pursue. Mundane things like “chores” and “homework” and everyday maintenance flotsam and jetsam…
Headwinds and Tailwinds
“The Head Winds / Tail Winds Asymmetry” Tom Gilovich and Shai Davidai https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27869473 J Pers Soc Psychol. 2016 Dec;111(6):835-851. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-my-life-so-hard/ “The idea should be familiar to anyone who cycles or runs for exercise. Sometimes you’re running…
Wrong Side of History
In the throes of partisan politics, one often hears the comment made that this or that person or position is “on the wrong side of history.” Most frequently, such assertions come from “liberal” or “progressive”…
Surfeit Stupor
It occurred to me following the Thanksgiving engorgement last year that we spend a lot of our time and energy overindulging in things that make us “groggy”. In fact, it sometimes seems that numbing…
A Hill of Beans
It’s a dismissive / derogatory term of disparagement: “Not worth a hill of beans!” “You don’t know beans!” … as if – everybody knows – beans are not worth very much, even piled in a…
Success A Liability
We tend to migrate toward and embellish those behaviors that make us happy and bring us the most success … however we choose to define “success”. Success-driven behavior patterns start forming early, notwithstanding the fact…
Truth Be Told
Disclaimer This is NOT about Presidential politics! In a March 14, 2018 posting, John Rosemond – a provocative and not universally acclaimed “family psychologist” – highlighted a New York Times article by Alex Stone (Jan.…
Spring Cleaning
It’s that time of year again! … time to get rid of all the encrustations and encroachments … time take stock of all the things we’ve hoarded whose purpose may have lost luster, and whose…
Ships At Sea
The wistful lament of the under-invested and overly-wrought is often: “Just wait ‘til my ship comes in!” However, we need to face up to the fact, here and now, that BIG SHIPS do not sail…
Agreements
The book The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz contains the following advice: Be impeccable with your word. Don’t take anything personally. Don’t make assumptions. Always do your best. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to…
Beauty Personified
Except for a relatively small number of misanthropes, humans are social beings who seek affirmation, authentication and legitimization from others. We like being “Special” … we love being loved. We also seek out BEAUTY in…
Embrace Better
Life is an evolving progression. There is no stasis … no parking lot … no statutorial sanctum … To embrace life, we have to embrace CHANGE. We change or die! And the world around us…
Free Will Debate
For this one, you may want to look up “Free Will” on the internet and pick a couple of TED talks for background. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-will/480750/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH_VG_aqwoc INTRODUCTION: A small but hard core mix of neuroscientists, philosophers…
Asymptotically Speaking
“In analytic geometry, an asymptote (/ˈæsɪmptoʊt/) of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero [but never actually GETS there] as they tend to infinity.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymptote In practical terms, one can approach…
Life is Like Parachuting
The annually updated book “What Color Is Your Parachute” by the late Richard Bolles has been a helpful life and career guide for multiple generations. The basic thrust of the book is one of personally…
Epivolution
The story of human development – both individually and en masse – is one of both glorious and inglorious progression … driven by a combination of internal and external compelling forces, ideally toward bigger, stronger,…
Demon Busting
“I fight my demons every day, so I’ve got to continue to work at it.” Jared Lorenzen [en route to a goal of losing 100+ lbs.] “Demons” seem to permeate our lives. They show up…
Hand In A Vice
A fundamental conundrum in 21st Century life is finding something of intrinsic, compelling ultimate value into which we can unreservedly pour our time, energy and “unbridled spirit” for the duration. Life is changing so fast,…
Who ARE You?
Looking in the mirror and having it talk back to you is an unnerving experience: “What have you got to say for yourself?” “ Are you of any salvageable earthly account or not?” “ And…
A Rising Tide
PREFACE: This is one of an increasing number of entries related to the challenge of living without a GOAL, MISSION, PURPOSE or PASSION in life – a privation with which I’m finding so many are…
Onion Skinning
In our barbershop chorus, The Kentuckians, our Director keeps challenging us to keep our pitch up and stay on key by imagining the addition of “onion skin” layers of higher frequency sound, particularly when holding…
Tool Box Musings
“Every new DIY project justifies the acquisition of a new tool!” Herbie Halfmaster [After all, the savings on labor and on avoiding subsidization of someone ELSE’S tools more than makes up for the cost of…
Legitimacy
Our navigability in the world is heavily dependent on our real or perceived “legitimacy” … le·git·i·ma·cy conformity to the law or to rules. ability to be defended with logic or justification; validity. https://www.google.com/search?q=legitimacy&oq=legitimacy&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2407j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8 Legitimacy is…
Psychic Energy
First of all, this is not about crystal ball gazing and clairvoyant phrenology! It’s about the “electrifying” energy that comes from the “Psyche” … variably referred to as the “pneuma, the anima, the inner being,…
Visioning for Beginners
Motivational speakers, personal coaches and self-help proponents all underscore the importance of having a VISION, a DREAM, a LIFE PURPOSE, a PASSION … an overarching GRAND GOAL as an essential driving force for a successful…
Pixelate Your Life
I’ve come to believe that piling up as many DOTS as possible is the essence of a productive, prosperous and fulfilling life. By “DOTS”, I mean any or all of the following: Knowledge, skills, experience,…
Nature Versus Nurture
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/first-children-are-smarter-but-why/280725/ In the study noted in the article above, investigators confirmed the postulation that first-children generally excel beyond the levels achieved by their younger siblings, and they asked “Why?” A genetic basis for the difference…
Bringing It
We occasionally need to take inventory of what we “bring to the table” to advance our personal stake and holdings in the world … to advance the enterprise(s) in which we are engaged … to…
Burn Baby Burn
We adopted a kitty about 12 years ago that is now in marked decline … with issues of hyperthyroidism, high blood pressure, a detached retina, arthritis, hypokalemia and kidney problems. She is on six different…
Cache On Hand
“Cache or caching [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache ] refers to: … a food storing behavior of animals … a collection of artifacts [… a nest of duck’s eggs!] Computing Cache (computing), a collection of data duplicating original values stored…
Punch List
Every construction project remains unfinished until the completion of a final sign-off “Punch List”: a list of final “finishing” details, as well as a list of mistakes and imperfections (things which fail to conform to…
Let’s Get Personal
We need to talk. Seriously. In case you were looking for / hoping for / counting on your “ship” to come in or your Prince or Princess to ride by on a white horse or…
WILL Power
“ … (have you ever been running, and decided you need to run a little faster … and then you WILLED it and it happened; have you ever tried to open a jar of pickles and decided…
Rule of Consequences
Why do we have persisting “Achievement Gaps” both in public schools and on the job … why do so many business owners complain that they can’t get “decent help” … and why do so many…
Hindsight Mindsight
I’ve struggled to articulate – in “digestible” terms – what I mean by “VISIONING” … i.e., being able to “picture” how the future might unfold – including discernment of hurdles and barriers to be overcome…
Brain Sum I
At this dawning of the 21st century, we don’t know everything we’d like to know or need to know about the Brain. But we know enough to set a more profitable course in life than…
Reality Gap
Here’s a near-absolute Truth to consider: Everything you deserve is going to take everything you’ve got! This sobering observation compels one to ask four indelicate questions: If you are not giving life “everything you’ve got,…
Cost of Living
At some point – and earlier is better – we have to “Get Real” about the unalterable “Cost of Living” … about all the stuff “below the water line” that “floats our boat”. Life’s Tough!…
Winning II
FLASH NEWS! Your success is guaranteed! In fact, you may already have WON! Wherever you spend the most time and energy is where you will realize the most success. You may become an EXPERT: Eating…
Resignation
“Our society has resigned itself to suffering.” Jamie Studts, Behavioral Scientist [Describing the fatalistic acceptance of a cancer diagnosis as a death sentence] ************** I’ve had a growing suspicion that, as with a cancer diagnosis,…
Undeterrable Invincibility
“I can’t function without my second cup of coffee; but, once I’ve had that second cup, look out world – I can do ANYTHING!” Herbie Halfmaster What gets you going and keeps you going through…
Potpourri 1710B
Over the course of days, weeks, months and years, snipets of inspiration have slipped through the fog that seemed to warrant representation at least as footnotes. Here are a few footnote snipets from 2010 ……
Fundamentals
“Making it” in America – or almost anywhere in the universe – is both deceptively easy and deceptively hard. As I’ve sought to break the code on why some people “make it” but many don’t,…
Winning Characteristics
[Reference: TIME Magazine, May 2/May 9, 2016 “100 Most Influential People of 2016”] This issue made me wonder: What makes winners “Winners”? It was a compelling challenge to compile a list of characteristics that best…
Future Schmoocher!
One of the toughest elements in dealing with life is coming to terms with the very real and ever present “Cost of Living” … more particularly, with the investment required to prepare adequately… never mind…
Competitive Advantage
In a capitalistic system of civilization, competition is the currency of passage. You’ve gotta be BETTER than the competitors in your chosen field of endeavor! Unfortunately, some can’t compete, and many do not have a…
Potpourri 1710A
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF What does it take for you to believe in yourself? Something as simple as looking in the mirror? Or something more? How about accomplishments? There’s nothing like “proving yourself” to make believing…
Hopelessness and Helplessness
Lamenting the “State of the Workforce in 2016”, I shared with our Business Owners’ Advisory Board (BOAB) my feedback from the state Workforce Development (WFD) Office, which indicated that the main problem in WFD is…
Paper Clip Parable
[Thanks to Bill Moore for planting this seed in his weekly sermon!] In 1958, Lloyd’s Bank of London undertook a study to find out what happens to a typical batch of paper clips as they…
Mind Minding
“ … findings … published in the International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion [by Anthony Fabio, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh] indicate that among people predisposed to hostility, watching more TV…
Force the Issue
In describing the ERTIA UNLIMITED “Lifecourse Diagram”, one of the major points to be made is how important it is to make ourselves “helpable” … i.e., by showing some degree of initiative … by being…
Buck Stops Here
The wife was cleaning out the refrigerator shelves but couldn’t figure out how to remove a retaining rack, so she called Super-Hurango for help! [OK, it was probably a ploy to make retired SH feel…
Prosperity
It only recently became clear to me that the riddle I’ve been chasing for 40+ years is this: Why … … in a country with as much wealth as the United States of America —…
Life’s TOUGH
There’s no getting around it: LIFE’S TOUGH … perhaps excepting for a lucky few who have had the good fortune to benefit from the grit and grind of others – but, even then, it’s often…
Slingshot Accelerators
We first encountered “Slingshot Accelerators” in the blog, Virtual Reality YOU. [https://ertiaunlimited.com/virtual-reality-you/] A “slingshot accelerator” is a paradoxical contrivance. In order for a slingshot to work, it has to be forcibly pulled back into a…
Virtual Reality YOU
Motivational speakers frequently promote the idea of imagining one’s Dream Job or ideal circumstance as a means toward actually achieving it. A football coach, for example, may exhort his quarterback to envision himself throwing…
Making America Great
… again! It’s the perpetual siren call of politicians … or would-be politicians … especially during election years! But I caught myself wondering: Back to WHEN, exactly? … to when all the roads were…
Benchmarking
This week’s question is: How are you doing … and compared to who(m) or what? Everything is relative, right? No less than Einstein, his own self, said so! However, what’s dangerous about benchmarking…
Breaking Better
I reflexively wince when seeing or hearing reference to the Kentucky motto: “Unbridled Spirit”. Of course, there’s the superficial first inclination – at least in Kentucky – to conjure images of “unbridled” horses galloping idyllically…
Driving Forces
“Anything not underway tends never to get there unless or until imposed upon by a force of sufficient magnitude to get it moving.” Law of Inertia “The human being is one of the most inertially…
Be A Player
Ed Romond loved mathematics. After high school, he got a BA in math, and started his career teaching high school math in Boston. While his wife was matriculating through a Psychiatric Nursing program, she planted…
Deceptions II
Deceptions II From Classical Mythology: The Greeks, deceptively abandoning their siege of Troy, left a gigantic hollow wooden horse on the field of battle, along with Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans that the horse was…
Deceptions I
[Is this a photo of a young debutante or an old woman?] Fifth graders were playing a game of “Flag”. During the course of the game, one of the ring leaders on one of the…
Transforming Paleo YOU to a 21st Century STAR
Natural Inclinations “Natural Inclinations” may have provided a survival advantage in paleolithic times (at least they didn’t appear to interfere with survival of the species [or, come to think of it, maybe they DID!]), but…
Insulation
Life is hard. Most of us don’t realize either how insulated we are from life’s hardness or how fragile that insulation is. Consider the plight of a young, single black mother of three children…
Goals Revisited
“Our emphasis is not on goals but on culture. Who we are; What we do; How we do it; How it reflects our core values; How it surprises – exceeds expectations.” David Kennedy CEO, University…
Trustworthiness
An earlier blog (http://lifemasterymusings.blogspot.com/2014/12/character.html) examined the fundamental elements that comprise character. These included, by various accounts, all of the following: Optimism Wisdom Courage/Bravery Humanity Persistence Justice …
It’s About Choice
“It’s all about choice.” Chip Gallent [A reference to the breadth of options now available through the internet.] But that’s pretty much life in a nutshell, isn’t it? Our goal – particularly in America…
Personal Growth
What is it? And how do you DO it? Personal Growth is the nuts and bolts business of life. And it’s required! It’s the process of “Becoming” … fully human … fully US…
Disruptive Motorvation
Disruptive Motorvation is the process of purposely and proactively “breaking bonds” and “breaking rank” with convention and prevailing winds to create new realities of possibility and to achieve out-of- box results. This term borrows conceptually…
Poking Around
The stump of our former flowering crabapple tree needed to be removed, but I was … well, … a bit “stumped”! My DIY inclination was undeterred, but I was obviously in unfamiliar territory. How do…
One Minute Challenge
Peter Thompson passes along this advice from Alex Garcez, who teaches speed-reading, on learning a new skill: “He says, ‘Make a promise to yourself that you’ll practise for at least one minute per day.’ This…
Affirmation
It’s what “Makes Our Day” … the acquired, adopted or bestowed assertion that we’re OK … that we have value and are headed in a reasonably ”right” direction. It’s what we live for – a…
Manageability II
OK, let’s face it: Most of the things that make life more “manageable” range from boring to downright unpleasant: · Picking up after ourselves · Doing the laundry · Making the bed · Loading and…
Manageability
First Principle of Manageability You can’t have it all and/or do it all – at least not all at once. We CAN – and DO, however, all hope for better and wish for more. And…
Running Away
Who has not thought – at some point – about running away? · … from oppression … · … from boredom … · … from constraint … · … from inextricable calamity · … from…
Incentives
“Pay me more and I’ll do more work!” [Overheard from a staff assistant] Point to Ponder [Soon following this remark, this SA was “passed over” for a key promotion.] “Financial incentives, or ‘pay-for-performance,’ have been…
What We Know 4 Sure
Some things are certain. A lot is not. Much is only conjecture. And some things are true or practical only in certain circumstances. But, if what we suppose is useful, the supposition serves a sure-enough…
Mental Health
Dateline: May 29, 2014 In the wake of yet another mass shooting by an obviously deranged college student at UC, Santa Barbara, America struggles with how to deal with the identification, diagnosis and treatment of…
Operating Under The Influence
DUI, as in “Driving Under the Influence” of mind-altering substances, is illegal. But OUI – “Operating Under the Influence” – of myriad factors in our ever-expanding universe – is standard practice, some of it legal…
Fighting Chance
In the book Top Dog, Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman summarize a plethora of studies demonstrating the importance of having a reasonable, “fighting chance” of winning in order to function at peak performance levels. Being…
Life’s Toughest Lesson
“None of you is special. You are not special. You are not exceptional.” David McCullough, teacher, addressing Wellesley High School graduates June 2012 This admonition comes as a sobering comeuppance for all of us raised…