Barbara Ehrenreich is a brave and passionate author/ reporter who has written important books like "Bait and Switch" and "Nickel and Dimed." She writes about all the stuff that makes our skin crawl like corporate greed and champions underdogs. Years ago, she launched United Professionals to rally workers and lobby Washington. They found my site before the book was complete and I joined the group. Instead of giving all your blood, sweat, and tears to the job, give it to a cause. If you are a passionate woman who wants to become an activist than this is the organization for you.
I don't dwell on the chaos and misery of corporate life because it gets me so outraged. You won't see anything here about the horrors of BP because I don't know what else I could add to the conversation when the Huffington Post and others are doing such a great job reporting on it. You won't hear me dwell on pretending to be positive when everything in your day job world isn't upbeat. What you will read again and again is to control what you can and leave the rest alone.
This video is 10 minutes long--but worth it. My friend Michele is a corporate refugee/ recoveree who was an engineer and currently is a trainer with a unique angle––she works with people who want to lose the last 20 stubborn pounds. She always sends me good stuff.
Check it out and pass it on.
Smile or Die
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Stress makes you Stupid: Conscious Distraction through music is the RX
Who has time for play? I used to say that. While I didn’t think I needed it, I’d sneer at woman who made time to play tennis, dance or paint. Why were they wasting their time? Until I moved to California and was obviously a little jealous that people could actually work AND have fun. I never thought I’d be saying stress makes you stupid. I thought stress made me serious and gave me an edge. But knee-jerk reactions to situations aren’t your best response. Dare to bend your assumptions about what’s good for you and what’s bad. Working harder is bad. Unwinding is good. Working harder without knowing why is a way to avoid reality is denial. Letting go and airing out is renewal and you need it when you are really under stress.
Having greater clarity and awareness is what you want to have. To achieve it, you need to do things that will reboot and reset your brain. It’s a brain break. It will help you end ruminating thoughts even if it’s for an hour. You will shift from "OMG, OMG the sky is falling!" to "OMG, there is a God and life isn’t as bad as I thought." You’ll have clarity and be able to focus on the key 2 things you need to do today instead of the 2 zillion things.
If this inner calm and discernment sounds like Nirvana, it is. It’s why people practice yoga or become hooked on drumming, dancing or painting or praying. They get a glimpse of something. They get out of their way and the veil of deception and busyness is lifted for a moment. It’s a delicious tease, and you want more
Try listening to great music. It doesn’t matter if it’s Classical or Reggae. The music you resonate with and like will have a positive effect on you. The Greeks recognized the healing effects of music. Avram Goldstein, a neuroscientist at Stanford University concluded back in the 80’s that music releases endorphins, the body’s natural mood booster and painkiller. The Cleveland Clinic studied 40 people with chronic pain. Half of them listened to music of their choice for a week and experienced 21% less pain and 25% less depression than those who didn’t. So create your own happy, upbeat song tracks and walk at lunch and listen to them. You will be tuning out the noise from the office and receive a hormone high.
My zombie track: If you are in LA, 1260 AM is called retro music and I love the double shot of Frank at the lunchtime hour. All Sinatra all the time makes me sing out loud and off key, and I have more confidence to “Do it My Way.”
Having greater clarity and awareness is what you want to have. To achieve it, you need to do things that will reboot and reset your brain. It’s a brain break. It will help you end ruminating thoughts even if it’s for an hour. You will shift from "OMG, OMG the sky is falling!" to "OMG, there is a God and life isn’t as bad as I thought." You’ll have clarity and be able to focus on the key 2 things you need to do today instead of the 2 zillion things.
If this inner calm and discernment sounds like Nirvana, it is. It’s why people practice yoga or become hooked on drumming, dancing or painting or praying. They get a glimpse of something. They get out of their way and the veil of deception and busyness is lifted for a moment. It’s a delicious tease, and you want more
Try listening to great music. It doesn’t matter if it’s Classical or Reggae. The music you resonate with and like will have a positive effect on you. The Greeks recognized the healing effects of music. Avram Goldstein, a neuroscientist at Stanford University concluded back in the 80’s that music releases endorphins, the body’s natural mood booster and painkiller. The Cleveland Clinic studied 40 people with chronic pain. Half of them listened to music of their choice for a week and experienced 21% less pain and 25% less depression than those who didn’t. So create your own happy, upbeat song tracks and walk at lunch and listen to them. You will be tuning out the noise from the office and receive a hormone high.
My zombie track: If you are in LA, 1260 AM is called retro music and I love the double shot of Frank at the lunchtime hour. All Sinatra all the time makes me sing out loud and off key, and I have more confidence to “Do it My Way.”
Monday, June 7, 2010
Evolution of Business: More Female and More Fluid
This weekend I attended a day of renewal event hosted by In The Know Resources created by Vicky Rathje, an ex-corporatista turned entrepreneur. Not only did I enjoy massage, music, painting, dance and networking with 100 other woman but it was for a great cause called The Breast Cancer Fund. Visiting their site will be an eye opener, and you won’t think about food or make-up the same again. You might want to scream about the crap in our beauty products. That’s a rant about greed and profit for another day. My focus now is about choice and what we can control –– so vote with your dollars and blab to your friends when you find cool stuff that’s under the radar. Find groups to affiliate with.
Vicky is gathering women, and there are scores of women in every city in America creating circles for all different kinds of reasons ranging from entrepreneurship and business to advancing causes or enjoying similar hobbies. It’s fun to watch how the circles begin to overlap. We are really weaving a web of caring and change as we hold hands and hold our breath hoping we will not only endure these wild times but create something new and better.
We women wish to work in a new ways and bring more YIN (female) energy to our work so we can rebalance and feel more harmonious and fluid. In my book Corporate Recovery, I write how we’ve lived under the Rambo, war-like military model and some of us have so over-adapted that we’re shut down. We feel nothing but pain and we crave a shared view of power. We crave authenticity. We are sick of working as chicks with man parts. We need a new picture and a new story of how things will be. This little excerpt shows where we are heading. As we accept our “womaness” and bring it forth, we will reshape the future of our own lives, our neighborhoods, or communities, our politics, and our work life. We will become the change we wish to see in the world.
Vicky is gathering women, and there are scores of women in every city in America creating circles for all different kinds of reasons ranging from entrepreneurship and business to advancing causes or enjoying similar hobbies. It’s fun to watch how the circles begin to overlap. We are really weaving a web of caring and change as we hold hands and hold our breath hoping we will not only endure these wild times but create something new and better.
We women wish to work in a new ways and bring more YIN (female) energy to our work so we can rebalance and feel more harmonious and fluid. In my book Corporate Recovery, I write how we’ve lived under the Rambo, war-like military model and some of us have so over-adapted that we’re shut down. We feel nothing but pain and we crave a shared view of power. We crave authenticity. We are sick of working as chicks with man parts. We need a new picture and a new story of how things will be. This little excerpt shows where we are heading. As we accept our “womaness” and bring it forth, we will reshape the future of our own lives, our neighborhoods, or communities, our politics, and our work life. We will become the change we wish to see in the world.
New Times Require New Ways
| Old World | New World |
| Corporate agenda | 21st century business |
| Paternalistic (based on military) | All-inclusive Cerebral imaginational revolution Relationships are the currency |
| Industrial Revolution | Fluid, adaptable, responsive Notice opportunities |
| Always do | Initiate when time is right, conserve |
| Always push | Observe the outcome, refine, edit |
| Grow continuously | Reflect periodically, sustain |
| Rigid, do it one way | Adjust and do right for the moment Look for cyclical/seasonal trends |
| Sacrifice yourself | Use your energy wisely |
| Structured | Looser, sensitive, intuitive |
| Pyramid structure (few on top) More macho | Web-shaped network circle Strong ethics Purpose Community More Female |
Friday, June 4, 2010
How's that for size?
So, you're thinking about a big career switch, but there's that little nagging voice that keeps saying how you don't know anything about where you're going and how could you know if you're going to be any good at it. Well, now you can "try on" an alternative career at Vocation Vacations.
This is brilliant! Check out the list of almost 180 career mentorships they offer. These are vacation packages where you get to work one-on-one with a professional in a specific field. Want to know if you've got what it takes to be a forensic pathologist? A chef? A publicist? An ice cream shop owner? Get some hands-on experience before you jump ship!
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