Archive for November, 2007
If Thoreau’s words were actually heard, attaining material riches would not carry the weight it does in society or our consciousness. Even when his statement is held close and embraced, our desires in today’s post-modern society beg for the attainment of financial wealth, power, and an interest to further oneself on the scale of society’s economic and social benchmarks. But who says you can’t have both – financial success and a more conscious way of living. That was an underlying message at the Manifesting a Rich Life Prophets Conference which took place earlier this month in Los Angeles.
Barbara Biziou has spent decades exploring spirituality from a practical perspective. She’s dedicated her work to “buliding a bridge between the material world and the inner need for sacredness.”
In her book, The Joy of Ritual: Spiritual Recipes to Celebrate Milestones, Ease Transitions, and Make Every Day Sacred, Biziou dreamily ties our inner and outer lives together toward meaning and purpose. A well known speaker on women and success, her material is thoughtful yet easily put to use in our 24/7 business marketplace.
Just a few days ago I posted on 100 Ways to Personally Conquer Chaos at Work. Part of the formula is to cultivate a sense of peace or happiness within. It’s something that for some comes easily, for others, it might require some effort according to bestselling author Marci Shimoff.
With a heightened awareness of workplace culture and a desire to make it a better environment, I sometimes have to be reminded that worklife balance also means attention to our atmosphere at home. We can work all we want on personal transformation in the workplace, but author/intimacy expert Karinna Kittles-Karsten stresses that attention to our familial and personal relationships are just as crucial to a balanced existence.
A fractured view of our own character or baggage often appears when we suddenly find ourselves in a state of crisis or chaos, especially in a workplace environment. Taken with our own perspective, the blame game is an easy road to take.
Since 9/11 many of us, (including myself) came face to face in a new and deeper way with our own mortality, our fate, and our purpose. WorkLife Balance suddenly made an appearance and we learned that the human capital so taken for granted, are really disguised human beings – with a desire to have a more purposeful and meaningful worklife in a 24/7 world.
The greatest revelation is that while most chaos appears to be outside of ourselves, it’s really in the personal response to such events – which can bring about the most peace. Using chaos as fuel for personal transformation, we create a well of stillness to call upon when in crisis. So here is my list of 100 Ways to Personally Conquer Chaos:
A quick examination of my upbringing doesn’t exactly put me in the business category of entrepreneurship. My childhood was sans business acumen. My mom was an opera singer turned psychotherapist and my dad – a former high school administrator – had a Ph.D. from Columbia in Education.
Raising Judy and my sis, Mary of AnimalPerson.net, was a mishmash of opera, 60 Minutes, and cartoons. Not necessarily in that order. My sister and I learned of the arts, music and the power of the written word as our home was lined with hundreds of books.
As for my adult life, I am a step-mom without the benefit of the typical parenting process, but a quick read of Julie Lenzer Kirk’s, The ParentPreneur Edge, never the less offers a fun and unusually humorous alternative to the typical business book.
Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow career or worklife bloggers. I’m actually working in the newsroom tonight but had some thoughts about what I have learned recently from a few of you who pound the keys to inspire on the topic of worklife balance.
Here are links to a few pearls of wisdom to get [...]
Chesnuts, chai, and chocolate chip cookies. Together they made for the perfect reception upon walking into a colleagues kitchen. My friend is actually my editor and happens to be a fabulous gourmet chef which put me in the position of “guest,” as opposed to host, when we decided to get together for lunch and do a bit of business. We opted for her home instead of the workplace.
It’s the holidays, so there’s bound to be lots of goodies floating around the office, or newsroom in my case. But how often do we take the time to sit down for a meal with those we work with. And not necessarily to do business, instead to learn a bit more about the people you daily interact with.
"It’s the dose that makes the poison," said Timothy Ferriss in Sunday’s New York Times article Too Much Information? Ignore it, about the pros and cons of e-mail and black berry use.
The image of bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, donned a half-page on the front cover of the SundayStyles section (not an easy task) [...]
