enrich your life...live your truth

Let the Music of Life Play On

Let the music of life play on…wise guidance that often goes by unnoticed, especially if life right at this moment looks like it could be just a titch better. When received that way, it is the kind of wisdom that sounds more like a sour note rather than the melodious message it was meant to be.

It seems that when life is good it is very good, but there are times when no matter what we do we seem to come a cropper. Plain and simply, sometimes it seems the music of our life comes to a standstill and it is then that it is hard to believe that the music of our life can play on. In truth, if you can find it in your heart to understand the bigger story of your life, maybe you can appreciate that a few false notes need to be played and practiced to get the final melody on key.

A woman recently shared this story with me: it holds some of the rudiments of what perhaps it takes to let the music of your life play on. This woman has tried so very hard for many years to realize what she believes to be her destiny. She has written good books, invested lots of money to market her wares, changed relationships that no longer worked, helped those near her through crisis and through it all she worked very hard to keep her sense of hope. She has had difficult physical challenges through this time in her life and still she motored on…believing that at the right moment things would come together. Her physical challenges caused her great anxiety because she wondered if she would be able to do what she needed to do if she was not up to par physically.

During all of this chaos, she was gifted with ‘a music of life moment’. A friend happened to ask her to audit a couple of university courses. For many reasons she saw them as where she should be at this time. She also, having been gifted with a good voice and good pitch, decided after all these years to sign up for singing lessons. It seems that somewhere in all these activities she found the inspiration to break the block that had been containing her creativity. She has begun to write her next book. She has once again found her voice. She found hope for her future.

Perhaps in pottery, writing, music or art classes there is an invitation for us all to break the routine of what we know…to move to other places that allow us to see and do other things.

Just a Dream

Today there was an article in my local paper that addressed the results of a poll that indicated that 82% of Canadians are not doing what they dreamed they would be doing when they were younger. Workopolis, an internet job finding website did a ‘When I Grow Up’ survey that found that most kids never follow their passion as a profession. The article went on to say how people choose their jobs to match their education, availability of a position and far down the list…salary. It said in this new world of work, we will differ from those who chose to work at their job for thirty plus years and we will change careers three, four as many nine times…whatever. A question worth considering asks: will all our jobs through our work years be training for what will be our work, our life purpose in our last great transition? If we believed this in the present, would that make our present positions more exciting, more desirable as we see they are the basis of a long hoped for goal?

In my second book, We Don’t Die Well In the Western World; A message of Hope this different way is addressed. It emphasizes that ‘Conscious leaders pursue their destiny dream and their lives with commitment and tenacity. This process takes years to unfold and is well worth the time and the effort. Your dedication will help you unearth the gold within your person. In pursuing your destiny dream, your life’s purpose, you will learn that what is unfolding in your life is part of a much greater story that is yet to be revealed… What I am learning is that life is not about things working out as I think they should…but that life will unfold if I can just let it be. The message is that Hope is not about expectation…Hope is about a promise of the future without expectation.’ Excerpt from We Don’t Die Well In the Western World; A message of Hope

Lastly in this article, the President of Workopolis answers questions about: What job do you want? His commentary speaks to the contents of my first book Meaningful Work…the Entrepreneurial Way. It is interesting to me that his work with Workopolis and mine with my various levels of job finding programs have lead each of us to such similar conclusions.

What Happened? - Meaningful Monday

Well my Wednesday has been a challenge and it is only 6 am. I woke up and realized I hadn't posted the item I wrote yesterday, Tuesday, because my Granddaaughter and I had a sleepover Monday and she slept in my office, the room with my computer so i couldn't post Monday. I went to post it first thiing today, it was already to publish so I hit publish. I learnt something - I should have saved it first. Somehow i don't know how or why this story, which was a good one is lost in the ether...so here I am.

Know that we had a good time. I have a guest coming for a week so have lots to do before she comes. I must be off.

Put In Perspective (Meaningful Mondays)

Recently an article in the Globe and Mail caught my attention. Martin’s New Mission talked about how in his time, Former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin was very successful in business, a wonderful Minister of Finance and to the voting majority a questionable Prime Minister. It said that Martin said he had never liked politics and that when he was a young lad he had had an opportunity to see first hand, the life circumstances of Canadian Aboriginals. That early experience and those memories not only appalled him, they never left him. In his next career he said there will be no business, no boards and no politics. He will focus his energy on the issues of Aboriginals. He will bring his considerable gifts, his life experience and his extensive network to the task.

Regardless of age, a story like this is good for all of us to hear. There is not one of us who has not or will not experience the lows of life and often when we are in the depths of our story we wonder why that experience had to happen to us. When from a distance we look at the story of another, we can see why things happen. Biography always showed how the good and bad of life come together… in an hour. Often we can hear through another’s story, what we couldn’t hear about ourselves. In Martin’s story, it all comes together. The public might have wondered at different times what he was about; this new course of action seems to be the answer for this time.

Coming from a long ago experience that influenced him greatly, he now sets in motion what feels to me like his purpose for being. Is life training each one of us to be ready to do something about some deeply rooted dream or purpose? If we thought about it, could stories like Martin’s Mission or Jimmy Carter’s wonderful Habitat for Humanity make us ask what is it all about? We have a job, it doesn’t work out, we’re fired, we leave, we get transferred to a great job and then get transferred to a lousy one. It could be that the lousy one might be our way through a hell that will take us to a bright future we never even considered. Are we being made ready for the great work of our life? Is it a possibility?

When you have good times, rejoice. But know as we all do, that there has never been a Biography where there weren’t some bad times. If we can accept that it is part of our long term training, perhaps the challenges of today will take on a much needed perspective.

September is a time of new beginning. Consider adding to this beginning a sense of your own story. What chapter are you on and what more will come? Remember, perspective helps make for a more enjoyable read.

The Promise of Destiny

Meaningful Mondays

To me Jimmy Carter has always been a special kind of guy . It seems when people become Prime Ministers or Presidents they really have reached the top and other than creating a monument to their greatness, there is nowhere else to go. You can’t go beyond up, once you’ve reached up. Carter, who was not the most popular President, seemed to break from that philosophy when he started Habitat For Humanity. He went to another place, a place that had room to create a meaningful movement. He has also has spoken out against Presidents whose policies he disagree with. He stepped out of the rules of those who have gone before...when he thought it was important.

Now when I look at Bill Clinton, whom I have liked more often than not, I don’t get the same feeling. It isn’t that I feel he is not a good man, I probably think his intentions have a lot more to do with Bill than with mankind. I could be wrong because as you know, intention is very personal. I probably could say the same of Tony Blair who I hold in reasonably high regard. What is it about the position he assumed once he stepped down from Prime Minister? That makes me wonder. I just defended him the other day from a real naysayer…but he is not a Carter. For that matter Nixon, whom no one had much good to say, seemed to devote the last part of his life to something much greater than himself. There is no question he had his library but the work he did with China could well have been why he was here in the first place…his destiny if you will.

In Canada, Former Prime Minister Paul Martin was recently interviewed. In his time he was a fantastic Minister of Finance but couldn’t seem to get it together as Prime Minister. In his words, his path for his future includes – no business, no boards and no politics. He actually admitted in this article that he didn’t like politics. It told of his past and the influence the conditions of the Canadian Aboriginal peoples had on him from very early on. As I read the article, for me, it seemed to bear out what I have concluded about our elders: like many of us, here is a man who was very good at some things, not so great at others but through it all he was in training for what for him was his destiny.

If we could have more people of destiny, who would tell their story to those who come behind, they would be heard by those souls who need to have the vision of a highway of hope.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Since the very tragic crash of the bridge in Minneapolis, there has been a great deal written, thoughts that suggest this was not merely an accident, but a ‘portent of things to come’. What makes it so hard in 2007, with all the attendant media coverage, is that we can see what happened to those poor souls from any angle, again and again and again. It certainly leaves little to the imagination and for me it certainly has made me think. Every time I see another article or news flash, more thoughts come to me. Immediately when it happened it brought up thoughts of what does this incident mean metaphorically? To me it seems to represent our societal system and the hidden secret flaws that abound. Articles have suggested how many bridges and tunnels are unsafe in North America and how many billions would be needed to fix them. These articles also talk about how un-sexy these repairs are relative to the ‘sell’ of war efforts or healthcare issues. Why would we put our money where it is needed when we have other needs that have much greater potential to win votes?

The reality is that failing bridges are not an accident, they are a reality of our future.

Like computers, we just kept building them…the newer the better. We never stopped and surveyed what we had created and questioned where this creation would take us. In our families, our corporations, our governments and our religious systems we do the same. Things go awry and instead of stopping and questioning where this behaviour will take us, we sweep it under the carpet. The absolute truth is it doesn’t disappear. It just rears its ugly head as the years go on.

Is this something to think about…or sweep under the carpet?

Ask Questions

In the last several days I have seen two articles that have said why we are not experiencing global warming. One was a treatise about the floods in England and why they are not really a sign of anything relative to experiences with weather in other years. The other was a report from Environment Canada that suggested that the high heat degree days we have experienced in our province were on average just a few degrees warmer than they were last year. 

                                                                           

Now I don’t doubt they’re right and yet I do doubt that they are as right as they think they are right. I used to be on the debating team when I was in school and I know how to write exceptional argumentation to make my point. It is a skill. I also know how to prove what is wrong is in fact right…and how to make that which is right, wrong. It is a disciplined exercise in argumentation and can be developed through practice. It means the listener/reader must be attentive to the skill.

As I read these articles the thought that came to me was how we miss transitions because we are so close to the situation. I always suggest to clients that they should stand back to get a better look at what might be happening to them…right under their nose. Distance helps us see what might be happening. Questions that ask us to think and do not require us to answer are so important.

There is lots of information to support global warming and there is lots of rebuttal like these articles to say it is not so. Probably we are both right and we are both wrong. What has history told us about climate change? What scenarios have massive world population growth suggested for the fate of mankind? What has continuous fear mongering meant for mankind’s sense of hope?

Is there really a definitive answer or are we in the land of transition asking intelligent questions that make us think?

What Price?

Meaningful Mondays

I read in the paper this morning that most Canadians think Conrad Black is getting what he deserves. Well that doesn’t surprise me because in my experience most people choose to attend to their battle stations on the ‘against’ side when they are sure the enemy is done. Now I am not a huge Black fan, mostly because he doesn’t stand for things that I think are worth standing for and that that which is meaningful to him does not mean a lot to me.

On the other hand he is a human being who seems to be so convinced of his own rightness; he in fact seems incapable of understanding where he might have gone wrong. In fact from what I can gather, what I've read and what I hear, he doesn’t think it possible that he could be wrong.

Now I don’t have answers to this predicament but I do have questions. What makes a person think that they are without fault? Why does one person think they are able to live outside the rules? Why is one person so sure that they will be vindicated? How does it feel to have the world turn against you?

And then I have to wonder what that says about the ‘friends’ he had who have now left his side. Would he have done the same to them if the situation had been reversed? What is friendship about at such lofty levels and what is it built on? Would you thank me if I did that to you?

One thought that has come to me: is Conrad Black the Shakespearian Hero who has gone array? Is his dark side now in control? Does he see himself as being so far above mere mortals? What does that say about Conrad Black’s grasp of reality or is he so far above us, mere men or women have no meaning?

It seems to me that this man is well beyond our desires to see him punished or exonerated. In a situation like this, do we come to a point where we realize that someone has gotten themselves in so much do-do, that the most we can hope for is that they get themselves out of the horrific maze they created.

Is this really a matter of someone having gone far beyond the limits of their humanity and yet we who watch insist that they be judged as human. Remember intelligence does not necessarily mean wisdom. If you are incapable of wondering whether right is right and wrong is wrong…maybe you have left the land of the wise and have entered the world of the convinced.

A Valued Friend

Meaningful Mondays

I cannot believe that I did what I did. I was going away last Monday morning and so  it was my plan to write a post before I left town... because that was of course what I said I would do. Halfway to where I was going, I realized I hadn't done what I had planned to do. These days I am so impressed if I get from 'a' to 'b' and apparently I have not arrived at my old self yet. But it is coming.

I had a wonderful experience last night. I went to dinner with a friend. Now this woman is a most interesting person and we enjoy each others company thoroughly. We will talk about all the standard topics - what should we eat and drink etc as well as family and what has been happening on the home front. And then we veer off and get into the most interesting conversations. We challenge each other, console each other, caution each other, advise each other and in turn take advice. We vocally question ourselves and get such interesting wisdom back - questions that make us think long after the meal is done.

It seems to me that friends are so important and as my Father always used to say a man is rich if he dies with five. I am wondering whether there is anyone else i should be connecting with. Do you ever feel the same?

Meaningful Mondays

For months now I have been coming back from a very difficult health issue. Yesterday someone said something that inspired me. It made me feel it was time to come back to my blog. It isn’t that I didn’t want to write, there was no energy to make it happen. I feel today I might be able to begin again and so I will. Know that ‘Meaningful Mondays’ is for me another phase of my road back to health. This difficult journey has let me know that coming to health is not a straight line, but a one step forward two back process. To have the energy to begin my blog again is huge. I am more than grateful.

It has always seemed that Mondays by their very nature, often lack something of the meaningful. The weekend is done, the week looms ahead and for many, the prospect of a new week can be overwhelming and as far from meaningful as possible. It made me think that it might make sense to initiate ‘Meaningful Mondays’.

There is a wonderful story that has come to me about a woman who had what looked like a very good career position here in Canada, but who in fact was very unhappy and who was looking for a way to make a difference. She had been searching for just the right opportunity when at the eleventh hour she received a call saying that a one year work opportunity had arisen in Israel. She was gone in a minute. Given that she was in her early fifties, it was quite a move. She sent her emails to all who had asked to be on her list and once there she was able to learn about her job, the country and the culture. But as you know things have not been settled for a long time in Israel and recently it has turned from bad to very bad.

The job she had contracted to do was being put on hold and they suggested patience, patience, patience. After four months she did what I thought was such a courageous thing to do. She felt this was not what she thought it would be. For her it did not have the stamp of meaningful. Coupled with this, she missed her husband and she decided to come back to Canada.

It made me think how many of us, myself included, have stayed in one spot because we said we would. We do this in jobs and relationships and commitments. Somehow we get it into our heads that staying put rather than exploring the possibility of change is a good sign, a sign that will make us look more acceptable to the world.

Make no mistake; there is nothing easy about this woman’s decision. The pursuit of meaningful is not easy and it can take us to many places we never considered going. But to be willing to go those places to find what has meaning to you is very meaningful.

To pursue the possibilities of meaningful, learn about Meaningful Work…the Entrepreneurial Way

www.worldofwork.com/meaningfulwork.shtml .