Tag: Life

Is your job killing you?

Live & Learn14 Comments

Nice way to start off our Monday Morning, huh? A few nuggets pulled from the info graphic below:

  • Middle-aged workers who have poor relationships with their colleagues were 2.4x more likely to die sooner.
  • Women who reported having control/power in the workplace were 70% more likely to die than those who did not feel in control.  (Really?)
  • Surprisingly, relationships with Bosses had no ties to increased death, even though it was the top cause of leaving a job. (Really?  Now I’m wondering about sample size)
  • Top 10 Most stressful jobs.  (Oh oh)
  • 44% say that their job is excessively stressful.
  • In the UK, stress is now the #1 cause for leave of absences.
  • Stress has been called the 21st century’s equivalent of Black Death.
  • Prolonged stress is equivalent to carrying an additional 40 pounds.

Continue reading “Is your job killing you?” →

Monday Morning Wake-up Call

Live & Learn11 Comments

Thank you a-n-i-m-a-l-p-l-a-n-e-t for the eastern meadowlark

I miss “Birdie”…

Live & Learn52 Comments

Erin (aka Birdie) is a Sun Conure.

It’s Erin’s 10th birthday.  (And Sunday mornings are for reflection and I’m reminiscing.)

LC, a former colleague, asked our family to watch her while her home was being renovated.

90 days came and went and somehow Birdie was adopted.

What a magnificent creature she was.

We were soul mates. (Laughing.  I could hear my kids now.  Dad, that’s WAY over the top.)  She would camp out on my shoulder and watch me do my work on the PC while she gnawed away at old sweat shirts.  (Must have been soothing for her as she worked through at least 10-15 shirts.)

Continue reading “I miss “Birdie”…” →

There is nothing rigid in life. You are always moving forward; when you’re not, you’re not standing still – you’re going backward.

Live & Learn7 Comments

Stedman Graham is the CEO of his own management, marketing and consulting firm.  He is the author of ten books, including two New York Times bestsellers including You Can Make It Happen – A Nine-Step Plan For Success.  “The nine-step plan is a life management system that teaches you how to organize your personal and professional life around your identity.”  Yet, with all of his accomplishments, Graham may be best known for being Oprah Winfrey’s life partner.

The core premise of this book is “Your happiness and success in life flow from becoming clear about who you are and establishing your authentic identity – first inside yourself and then externally with the world…building your identity is about knowing what your calling is, learning how to do it well and creating value in the world.” Graham states that he feels “extraordinary people are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things that matter to them. They relentless align all the elements of their life to support their pursuit of what has deep meaning to them.”

You can find my full book review titled “Chicken Soup for Your Identity” at this link on Amazon.

Here are two of my favorite excerpts from the book:

Continue reading “There is nothing rigid in life. You are always moving forward; when you’re not, you’re not standing still – you’re going backward.” →

Miracles…

Live & Learn28 Comments
Years ago, I had a former mentor school me on what he perceived was my “glass-half full” view of life.  He shared the Albert Einstein quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  The quote and his lesson stuck with me.  I came across Walt Whitman’s beautiful poem “Miracles” which was written 157 years ago.  My immediate thought was that while so much has changed – so much more has not changed at all.  Here’s “Miracles“:
Miracles
“Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves
—the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?”

————————————————————–
Thank you Marina Kanavaki, the artist of “The Wood I Pink” (© marina kanavaki) for permitting me to share her work.  Marina was born in Athens, Greece.  She studied art and music in Athens and London including Classical piano, jazz improvisation and classical singing.  She is now a creative art director.  She has had her work shown in Smith΄s Gallery (London) and painting exhibitions in Epohes gallery, in Athens.