Skip to main content

Life and Death

Bonus time, big projects at work to complete, goals set for 2012 in motion, and awards season--media is buzzing.

And death--mid-winter, and it seems several artists are offing themselves, some after a torrid affair with addiction. Deep mid-winter.

Workaholism is an addiction as well: one that separates us from the light of our love, our spine, that which makes us most human. It drives us to join with our corporations, rather than our whole selves.

All addictions drain us of our life vitality.

The comments around Whitney's regal presence, talent, voice and the subtraction addiction was from all of that, remind me deeply that our gifts are irrevocably damaged by driving too hard towards pleasure. That pleasure can be a job well done, a project complete, a raise, promotion...

I guess I'm most reminded in this to listen to the support from those who love us. The search for pleasure (whether the high of Valentine's Day Chocolates or a job well done, a rival bested) can trigger for some of us: more, stronger, higher, better, richer, longer. And that drive can sometimes never be fulfilled.

We have to listen to our wise and trusted others, whose relationships we tend and nurture, to take the next right step in sustainable lives. To whom do you turn for wisdom? Is it time to schedule a lunch to talk through how you're navigating your projects, your work, the balance of your life first quarter?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Draft your Dream Job

Every once in a while, just for kicks, take a blank piece of paper and write out your ideal next job. Keep all the things you do now that you love, drop the things you're less good at or have mastered and want to let go, and fill the remaining space with stretch tasks and goals. Then write out the names of people who have your ideal job. Make a plan to reach out to them and have a 15 to 20 minute coffee break with them over the next month. Find out what it would take for you to get to the next job that's right for you. Do you need to ask for a stretch assignment? Would you be willing to make some time outside work hours to work on a related project with a mentor? Maybe do some volunteering in line with the new vision work? I suggest that you create a plan and list the milestones. It will amazing you in December how much closer you are to your vision, if you're just a little deliberate about it. Once you've created a plan for yourself, ask a friend to keep you acco...

It Gets Better

I spent some time watching the It Gets Better videos last night. Moving stuff. My favorite is the singing from the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus. It's wild how song works. The world needs all our talents. I'm good at storytelling. I'm good at helping humans align their being with their doing. To get really good at what I do, I constantly have to get better at aligning my own being with my doing. It's hard work. I think our careers help us focus on our deepest wounding as human beings, and as we get better, we develop power in that very area where we're broken. We get stronger than most other humans around that and we can GIVE that strength to others to help them along on the human journey. And that's our career. I think firemen saw some hopeless stuff growing up and are COMPELLED to run into burning buildings to do the impossible task of saving someone from fire. Nurses run TO broken bones and tend to them. I run to broken souls: I see someone struggling wi...

I make mistakes (and I bounce back)

I hate making mistakes.  I love my luxurious fantasy of perfection.  And today my humanity, my imperfection shone through fiery.  I hung in there and cleaned it up. I've learned, you just tell people you screwed up.  Say how you're going to fix it immediately, and how you're protecting it from happening going forward.  It matters little whether anybody else had anything to do with it.  Throw no one under the bus, however, you may want to bring them in on the effect the error had and get their buy in for the proactive solution for future transactions. Truth is, things move so fast that especially with transactional work, there are bound to be errors now and then.  The time it takes to be perfect would result in paralysis.  It's that magical balance between getting it done (and maybe having to beg forgiveness) and taking so long to deliver that by the time you do deliver, it's too late to be of any use (especially since you've now teed off ...