rshna

Exercising the Eyes Exercises the Mind & Changes How and What We See

The drawing above got my attention because of its seemingly harmonious design. I remember thinking, “Finally, a balance of being and doing in our lives, nice.” And, then I looked again.   

Two equal and separate circles, one representing “being” and the other representing “doing”. A clever, artistic metaphor I tell myself while my eyes hone in on the fellow with arms, legs, and a head squeezed…

Does Animal Cruelty Reflect our Social Dysfunction?

        We live in chaotic, uncomfortable times, too often uncertain who to trust or how long we have before the next bomb drops, or before we’re robbed, or kidnapped, or gang raped, or shot to death… not because we did anything wrong, simply because we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In families, children are usually the ones who get hurt. Humiliated. Bullied. Beaten. Abandoned.

In…

YOUR RÉSUMÉ BETRAYS YOU

I stopped turning out a CV years ago but whenever I meet someone new the #2 question remains, “So,tell me, what do you do?”

It appears that once we know the answer to that question our brain can quickly profile that person to give us a handle on exactly who we’re dealing with.

If you don’t believe me, test the merit of my word. Next time someone asks you that question, or the next time you get…

Turbulence. Uncertainty. Voices coming at us from all sides with critical information on the who, what, when, where, and why of being a writer, writing and publishing…

I thought writers were artisans of eloquence with words and publishers championed – and protected – their commitment to the craft. I was wrong. The terms and conditions of writer, writing and publishing have changed.

So, are the…

I woke up a few days ago and automatically clicked on my LINKED IN profile to could catch up on group conversations and messages.

It’s become a habit, a natural part of my dawn, and I’ve always liked it.

This particular morning the link opened to a screen graph of my LI situation, profile viewings, post views, actions taken, and my rating in the LI community, or tribe.

The graph looked too…

ARE YOU REALLY READY TO SAY NO TO TERRORISM?

(more…)

DID THE PARIS ATTACKS MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO CHANGE?

Did the Paris attacks make you uncomfortable enough to change, or did you simply return to your daily routine, perhaps telling yourself that sticking to your habit defied the terrorist’s intent to rattle you?

Is there a ‘normal’ existential standard? Yes. But it is not, nor will it ever be, the social norm. The only true, existential normalis established by our brilliantly engineered physical…

THE SERENDIPITY OF INCIDENCE

In my book HUMAN INTERRUPTED: The Social Crime Against HumanityI tell the story of a strange experience during a memoir class. Asked to write a warm up exercise based on the phrase, “My name is________and this is what I call my life” I was shocked to see what I’d written and, given my visceral reaction to the piece I not only refused to share it with the class, I escaped out a side door and never…

MONEY TALKS… WE SHOULD LISTEN

So, the monologues were a beginning. Now let’s get some insight as we begin to follow them in conversation. As you know, most beginning conversations are about getting to know the other, and perhaps even testing the waters to discover strengths, weaknesses, and boundaries.

Let’s listen in.

US: That peacock chest won’t protect you. You’re your own worst nightmare.

EU: Bully.

US: Get a life.

EU:…

FOLLOWING THE MONEY… THE INNER MONOLOGUES

Before giving voice to my two caricatures, I checked in with the professionals…

Meet Scrooge

                               =  

Meet

Riding on the Backside of Old Man Time

                                         = 

Monologues:

“Not what I signed up for this. I was promised respite in a free world but look at me, a workaholic with knees that don’t bend anymore, even my hips hurt. Hardly…

Okay, I will, but not in the way you expect.

We’ve already traced money     to GREED

We’ve already seen it is an epidemic   SOCIAL DRUG

We already know mankind has become   its PRISONER

Who doesn’t have $$$ on the brain?

We’ve got bills to pay, and the upcoming vacation to save for!

But what about the psycho-social effect of money on our beings?

Art therapy allows the psyche to express…

GRAFFITTI – MESSAGE WRAPS

Standard Definition of GRAFFITTI: Drawings or inscriptions made on a wall or other surface, usually so as to be seen by the public.

My definition of GRAFFITTI: Our contemporary equivalent to ancient ‘cave drawings’, singular grass roots testimonies that depict the inner turmoil of subjegation to a social contract that violates our human integrity and suppresses our passion for living full – and…

EPISODE 4 DOWN AND DIRTY WITH FUTURES – MONEY MONEY MONEY

We love it. We hate it. We think we must have it.

We get it. We use it. We lose it. We earn it back.

The first time we get it we are very young and our parents are PROUD of us. PRAISE = WORTHINESS = RESPECT = ADMIRATION = LOVE.

Now,  MONEY= LOVE  and

when we are GOOD we get rewarded with MONEY.

The core psycho-social HOOK is established: yearning to be admired, respected, and loved, we learned…

GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY WITH FUTURES: EPISODE 3

If you trusting the flow of your Imaginarium then you’re ready for this:

Falling Back Into Me

my head

no longer rules my universe

my body

no longer a cultural pawn

Me

no longer lying to keep the peace

I removed

the Life-Cheater’s sleeve

and let my arms fall

wide and open

to defy

the catastrophic dying game

and started

falling back into me

I felt the Cosmos

snap that choke collar from my neck…

TAKING THE 80/20 RULE PERSONALLY

The 80/20 rule captures the inequity between output and return. It states that 80% of an outcome can be attributed to 20% of the causes for that outcome. In other words, 80% of all our achievements, effects, results, and output are derived from 20% of the efforts, causes, actions, or inputs.

“But, Daddy, that’s not good.”

“Right, kid, it’s not good. It’s depressing!”

Our acceptance of this…

ANOTHER BETRAYAL: THE HIDDEN PRICE OF FREE DOWNLOADS

Today, I received a LinkedIn Announcement in Leadership Think Tank that offered a Free Download: http://bit.ly/HighPerformingOrgs and finding out the results of  American Management Association research with more than 7,500 participants worldwide regarding the core skills that set high-performing organizations apart sounded interesting.

So, I clicked on the link  – in good faith – and at the top…

GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY WITH FUTURES: EPISODE 2

Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to let the possibilities of our remarkable new situation sink in. If you read the post yesterday, our worst nightmare came true: no money, no savings, no loans, and no borrowing from friends. Private, public, and global, fiscal irresponsibility have ended, and it has not been catastrophic. The world is still standing and we are still a part of it.

We might have no…