“If you seek peace, be still. If you seek wisdom, be silent. If you seek love, be yourself.” –Bruce Lee

Is it possible that we can simply say “Peace, be still” and the literal and figurative storms of life will calm?

Will the challenging office personalities then clean up their act? Will the divorce proceedings then take on a more conciliatory tone? Will the rubble of devastation not need to be picked up?

Maybe we haven’t developed ourselves to that point of powerful speaking yet.

However, even as me move forward with necessary steps to be taken, nurturing stillness within even as we move our feet can’t hurt…us or anyone else.

What tough stuff can you keep walking through in a private game of stillness?

I’m making The Back Forty Re-NEW-ALL Program below FREE for those who have been affected by any recent force majeure, or even any particular personal tragedy. It’s all about taking a pro-active stance, in the face of devastation, to point ourselves toward our next and best life to come. Please forward this to those it can support, and have them simply reply email me with their situation.

Got still, move feet?

“As the Quakers say, ‘When you pray, move your feet.’” –Eric Butterworth

The post September 20, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“A true community is not just about being geographically close to someone or part of the same social web network. It’s about feeling connected and responsible for what happens. Humanity is our ultimate community, and everyone plays a crucial role.” –Yehuda Berg

We hurt when we see others hurt.

Sometimes we can feel helpless to make a difference, albeit the money or time we can spare and share. But to soothe the suffering…that’s seemingly out of our hands.

But if we’re all connected, can the way I treat someone in the office today affect people rebuilding homes on the other side of the world?

Can the extra care I give to listen to a customer, friend, loved one, stranger or homeless person tonight have a person feel heard in the midst of their own problem miles, social classes, generations, races or philosophies distant?

Rarely is there all-conclusive scientific proof. But does anyone have a better game to play?

What interactions and unseen gestures can you put forth for the good of the whole today?

I’m making The Back Forty Re-NEW-ALL Program below FREE for those who have been affected by Harvey and Irma, or any particular personal tragedy. It’s all about taking a pro-active stance, in the face of devastation, to point ourselves toward our next and best life to come. Please forward this to those it can support, and have them simply reply email me with their situation.

Got long-distance relationships?

“Every act of love and kindness raises the vibration of the entire universe.” –Unknown

The post September 13, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“Every test in our life makes us bitter or better, every problem comes to break us or make us. The choice is ours whether we become VICTIM or VICTOR.” –Unknown

They just keep coming don’t they?

The storms — physical or metaphorical — to keep making us stronger.

And that’s all so much Pollyanna conjecture if you’re not down in the muck having to deal with havoc, right?

Yet, we’ve all known the feeling of being in the trenches in life, in one form or another. When you’re mired in it personally, it’s hard to take the long view of how “lucky” you are.

One very vital service we can all provide one another is to be the ones reminding those on the current-chaos side of town that there is and will always be another choice.

It’s not a predetermined net loss, no matter how strong the evidence may be.

Choosing to find the gold in the midst of the gunk is an actual decision one can make.

And it makes all the difference in the life that follows.

I’m making The Back Forty Re-NEW-ALL Program below FREE for those who have been affected by Harvey and oncoming Irma. It’s all about taking a pro-active stance, in the face of devastation, to point ourselves toward our next and best life to come. Please forward this to those it can support, and have them simply reply email me.

Got a multiple choice test?

“Excuse the mess, but we live here.” –Roseanne Barr

The post September 6, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.” –Song of Solomon

The physical devastation of flooding, like what is going on simultaneously in Texas/Louisiana and on the other side of the world in Mumbai, is heartbreaking.

There’s no quick fix, logical or spiritual bypass to alleviate the human tragedy. No pithy words of wisdom to soothe the pain.

The metaphorical gist of flooding is, of course, a cleaning out and starting over.

That metaphor doesn’t do much right now for the victims of torrential rains, and yet we can all relate to those unplanned, starting-over points that life brings…from which we somehow arise.

I’m keeping it short and sweet today, and encouraging all of us — regardless of the floods of life experience we’ve been through or are currently in — to send mindful energy the way of those who need it most: to know that there is something on the other side when the water recedes.

I’m making The Back Forty Re-NEW-ALL Program below FREE for those who have been affected by this physical devastation. It’s all about taking a pro-active stance, in the face of devastation, to point ourselves toward our next and best life to come. Please forward this to those it can support, and have them simply reply email me.

And do consider supporting the relief efforts and renewal cause through finding appropriate organizations to support. This NYT article can help point you in the right direction. (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/donate-harvey-charities-scams.html)

There’s nothing like a big, cold bucket of water in the face to wake us up.

What can you, personally and proactively, clean out and transform before your own wake-up call? And how can you actively renew yourself for your greater yet to come?

Got a flood of change?

“Under floods that are deepest, which Neptune obey, over rocks that are steepest, love will find out the way.” –Percy’s Reliques

The post August 30, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“Nostalgia is a dirty liar that insists things were better than they seemed.” –Michelle K.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, nostalgia was considered a pathological disorder.

The term was coined by Swiss physician Johannes Hofer in his 1688 medical dissertation. The disease was considered similar to paranoia, except the sufferer was manic with longing, not perceived persecution, and similar to melancholy, except specific to an object or place.

How many of us are grateful that it’s not still considered a disease, for which you could be discharged from the army or medically “treated” through public ridicule and bullying?

Yet, let’s look around our homes, offices and other surroundings.

How much of what we see reminds us of who we WERE vs who we ARE…or, better yet, who we are BECOMING.

With thoughts such as “I might need this one day” or “Who knows if I’ll want to look at this again”, many of us can own up to being a nostalgiaholic.

Yet, for the sake of who we want to become–as a person, as a business, as a community–is it worth all that clutter-space to remember our less-than-who-we-are-now selves?

What stuff can you release of your old self to make room for the new?

Got nostalgiaholism?

“But here is the truth of nostalgia: we don’t feel it for who we were, but who we weren’t. We feel it for all the possibilities that were open to us, but that we didn’t take.” –Cecil Baldwin

The post August 23, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“Stopping at third adds no more to the score than striking out. It doesn’t matter how well you start if you fail to finish.” –Billy Sunday

We can all talk a big game.

Many of us can even start a big game.

Yet, it’s the finishing of a big game which can prove eye-of-the-needle-ish.

Finishing touches can be tough to apply as every good reason and subconscious force comes to play on the defense’s team.

The fear of success. The fear of failure. The fear of being way outside one’s comfort zone that comes with anything of true impact or consequence for us or the world.

All of these suit up and show up to form a seemingly impenetrable line…

which we must cross.

Benjamin Franklin said “Well done is better than well said.” Perhaps in-any-condition done is more forgiving because perfectionism is just one more lineman. At least, if done, we’ve played. Now, we can reflect, learn, and get out and play again.

What ideas, initiatives, inspirations, projects or plans require your line-piercing completion?

Got finishing tough?

“A good inclination is but the first rude draught of virtue, but the finishing strokes are from the will.” –Robert South

The post August 16, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“Appearance is something absolute, but reality is not that way – everything is interdependent, not absolute. So that view is very helpful to maintain a peace of mind.” –Dalai Lama

In the 3 1/2 years of this weekly JOLT note, I’ve not had a Wednesday birthday. I actually like the term “appearance” day, as it’s when I showed up on the planet.

So, for my birthday, in appreciation for your receptivity to my weekly inspirations (and the notes of appreciation you often send back), I’m giving you an appearance opportunity.

“Appearance” is a word that can carry many meanings.

There’s our outward physicality. Also, there’s our showing up…as either who we “are”, or who we choose to be. And then there’s the deceptions of the way things look vs. the way they really are.

If you personally have an “appearance” showing up that you don’t like, such as…

• you just got laid off
• you just lost a relationship
• you feel stuck in a rut of immobility
• your finances ain’t what they used to be
• you’re experiencing anything that has you feeling a victim to circumstances

Then I want you to know you have an opportunity to alter the appearances by the focus you take. The real “you” is bigger than any of it.

What if you could find, in the midst of all of it, 20 blessings?

What if, somehow, in some way, this unwanted “appearance” could be seen as the best thing that ever happened to you?

What if the way “it really is” is an opportunity for you to expand to the next level, personally, professionally, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?

Believe me, I’ve been there and, like all of us, enjoy the ongoing “growth opportunities” that life offers.

I’ve found a way, however, to answer those “What ifs” with a “Yes, I get it!”

And, for my birthday, I’d like to offer you a low-bar opportunity to get it too.

So, short and sweet, can I give you a $20 bill as an ethical bribe for your finding your own 20 blessings in the midst of whatever you’re personally facing?

See below to take advantage of my appearance day offer in the next 48 hours…and please, whatever you do, enjoy this appearance day as one of your best.

Got appearance day?

“Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.” –Charles R. Swindoll

The post August 9, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” ―George Bernard Shaw

In the soup of our daily lives, when the detail can fill up most of our waking consciousness and the challenges and next steps can rise like walls, it’s important to stop, look back, and realize how far we’ve come.

No, we may not be “there” yet, and we may have been through or currently be in the midst of seeming difficulty, and yet we can choose to see it all as progress.

Even if it’s the final time we’re hitting our head against a wall, that’s advancement… because it’s the final time and everything is earned and deserved growth from here!

The sister Schools of Life and Hard Knocks have easy admission standards but only minimal seasoned graduates. Those who view the schooling as progress rise to the top of the class.

In what ways and areas can you look back today to be empowered by how far you’ve come?

Seriously! Just look at where and how you were 3 years ago! Sheesh!!!!

Got progresso?

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.” –Benjamin Franklin

The post August 2, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden.” ―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Our life has a few grooves.

Some are new areas of fascination and exploration in which we’ve overcome fear and inertia so as to “get a new groove on”.

Some are the foundational structures that we’ve learned to count on and from which we express outwardly into the world. Home, family, career, friends, community, finances, spirituality, etc.

Some are simply ruts, carved deeply into the ground of what seems like the only path before us because it’s the only path we’ve known.

Thank God for regroovination! Available anytime and for anyone!

The only problems come when we don’t consciously choose it before it chooses us.

As we’ve learned from our own lives or watching others, the foundational structures can shift at any time.

As we’ve also learned from our own lives or watching others, the ruts just ain’t no fun.

Therefore, overcoming fear and inertia to regroovinate may be the smart, health-and-wellness, preventative measure to take.

What groovy areas of fascination and exploration are calling to you?

Got regroovination?

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” –C.S. Lewis

The post July 26, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.

“The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent’.” ― Alfred Brendel

We’ve all heard and used the expression “It’s so loud, I can’t hear myself think!”

Yet, when we do sometime find a way to quiet the mind and ease the spirit, what is the thinking that we hear?

Is it default thinking, which may be more accurately defined as “thoughting”…where every old pattern of judgment, analysis, worry, concern, and slicing & dicing of people, places and things takes place?

The thoughts come and then land on us, without a whole lot of effort on our part.

Or, is it invented and creational, which stretches us outside the patterned bubble of our own current best thinking?

Certain individuals have found within themselves that internal, innovative guidance. Yet, more often than not, to think outside one’s own circle of best thinking requires inquiry from and engagement with the outside.

Thus, we have teachers, counselors, coaches, communities and courses to expand ourselves so as to, as the Queen of Hearts guided Alice in Wonderland, “believe six impossible things before breakfast.”

What are the life-, career-, relationship-, future- or purpose-related impossible things you could believe before breakfast today?

Got creative hearthink?

“Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a celing on yourself.” –Oprah Winfrey

The post July 19, 2017 – TGIW JOLT Note appeared first on CareerGuy.com.