A lot of people I talk with lately feel that things are picking up. Not just faster—it’s as if a certain quality of intention is being demanded.

I talked with a friend today who is having extraordinarily “bad luck” these days. Is it luck? Or is the universe trying to whack some sense into his stubborn skull that resists change? Between ending up in the hospital for something (they still don’t know what) last month, a broken rib and gashed leg from a bike crash yesterday, and his loyal side-kick pup of 16 years giving signs that she’s ready for greener pastures, one could say that this just ain’t his year.

But others I talk with are comparing this with all the other craziness going on: losing houses, jobs, spouses. Is it one big coincidence? Might be, if you believe in that coinky-kink concept. Perhaps, on the other hand, there really is some kind of major purging going on. Materialism on the way out, connecting with what’s really important on the way in. And if you choose to ignore the flow–look out!

That’s where the “certain quality” comes in. I’d be interested to know if the “bad” stuff is happening to people who are in the groove with their life. Are they doing what they love? Are they serving more than taking? Are they experiencing gratitude on a regular basis?

I was talking with another friend this evening about the bad-luck guy. She said with certainty, “That happened to me three years ago.” Her dog was killed by a car, she was in an accident that prevented her from working, plus she was experiencing a toxic chemical reaction to paint supplies she’d been using over a period of time. She said her friends were literally watching over her to make sure she didn’t so some major self-inflicted damage–she was that messed up.

Her interpretation of that time was that she was getting knocked down lower and lower until she could do nothing but look at her life and make some hard-hitting decisions about what she was doing, her motivation, and where she was heading. And, wow, did she make changes.

She’s now one of the most active peak-oil activists in the community and running for public office. Mind you, she wasn’t a sit-on-her-butt-and-do-nothing kind of woman before, but there is now a focus to her efforts that is extraordinary.

Hopefully, your life is going well. To which I say, “Yay! Celebrate!” There is truly so much beauty around us all the time, a beauty made even more exquisite with gratitude for its presence.

If, however, life isn’t going so well for you these days, remember to breathe–deeply, intentionally. We certainly are expected to accept considerable flexibility these days. Buddhism teaches that the only permanent thing is that nothing is permanent. Seems to be a rather in-your-face lesson these days, eh?

Ask for the courage to change what isn’t working in your life. What can you let go of? Can you let your spirit shine a little more brightly? Remember that the universe ultimately has your best interests in mind. Yours, mine, ours, theirs, hers, his….

Here’s some reader Q&A:

> Shawn,
>
> I’m feeling inspired to do another round of spring cleaning. And I
> find myself wondering if there is a way to mentally reframe ‘throwing
> things away’. Especially things that have meant something in the past,
> but things which I doubt anyone would enjoy if I tried to give it away
> - like past drawings, ceramic creations, …. Any suggestions? I’d
> like to honor the process, and what the objects have meant to me in
> the past, and let them go with love to a final resting place. Somehow
> thinking of them as garbage doesn’t feel good.

> Thanks, T.

Hi T.,

I hear you! It can be a real challenge to decide about things that have held meaning for you and that are ready to move on out of your life. They aren’t “garbage”, they are relics of your past. It sounds as though you’ve already begun a respectful letting go process by acknowledging that you want to honor what they’ve meant for you.

Once you’ve gathered all of your items that you are ready to let go of, one suggestion would be to do a little ceremony. Take some time to reflect how these items have served you and helped you along your path. Feel gratitude for the healing experience of creating them, or for their entering your life when they did. Then feel gratitude for your current place in your life journey, as you look to the present and the future with hope and love.

To complete your ceremony, there are a number of ideas people have shared with me:
–If the items are decomposable, you could bury them.
–If they are burnable, you could burn them.
–If they are interesting (and little!) relics, they could be quietly left in the wild for the natural elements.
–These might trigger some other ideas appropriate for your situation.

I hope this helps. Blessings on your journey!
Shawn

A potential client relies on your reputation, your professionalism, and your ability to articulate when deciding whether to hire you.

That’s what “they” say, anyways. Let’s see what a Google search turns up, shall we?
Search: clean desk symptom sick mind

Lanfranco Muzi of Italy (and now of Oregon) uses the phrase, “A clean desk is the symptom of a sick mind…” as something of a tagline on his website. Mind you, this isn’t a blog but the C.V. of a person who appears to be quite intelligent. Considering the title of one of his publications, “Experimental and computational validation of BDTPS using a heterogeneous boron phantom”, one has to wonder if a sick mind is really the result of a clean desk, or the result of reading too many papers with 5+ syllable words. (Scusame, Lanfranco, sto scherzando. Va bene?)

I love this woman’s approach to consulting! Pamela Slim writes the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog (introduced here.)

This is what caught my eye in her post yesterday:
Your goal as a consultant is to work your way out of a job.

Her questions following this statement are excellent examples of real service. They focus on causes, not symptoms. Now that’s where we’ll find sustainability!

This morning at Toastmasters, two things stood out to me:
1. A reminder of important planning and preparation are.
2. How much I’ve taken these things for granted with our Toastmasters group.

In the Inc magazine article I read yesterday, the concept that resourcefulness is more important than resources was attributed to Tony Robbins.

Was that blatant this morning! Several people made a bunch of excuses explaining why they didn’t know what to do about this, or that they weren’t prepared for that, and so on. There are tons of resources available before the meeting, from people with decades of experience, to assigned mentors, to manuals provided by Toastmasters International to help us with our jobs. (Resources don’t do much good when they aren’t used.) There really wasn’t any reason for someone to not be ready. I thought it was interesting, considering how seldom this happens in our meetings, that it came up for three different people this morning.

That said, it is a totally volunteer program meant to be a training ground for developing public speaking a leadership skills. That we are, normally, very prepared group–OR can ad lib practically seamlessly when not prepared–made this morning’s glitch’s stand out uncharacteristically.

Being one who runs meetings, workshops, and I’ll throw working with clients in this same bag, it was such a great reminder of the importance of preparation!! Being “on the ball” does wonders for people’s impression of whether I’m competent or not.

Obviously, life happens, we’re human, and we make mistakes. This is where the resourcefulness comes in. How can I fulfill my duty with as little interruption to the group as possible? With focus on the purpose of the activity (and not on my own personal issues), I’ll likely be able to come up with some solution that will enable the momentum of the activity to keep going.

Dessert at the Chinese restaurant is usually my favorite part of the meal. Just as many kids in the inner city have no idea where spinach comes from, as a kid, I had no idea where fortune cookies came from. They were so wise, getting the right fortunes to the right people, they must have come from some magical cookie factory where humans feared to tread.

My faith wavered when winning lottery numbers began showing up on the back of the little message papers. (Little did I know that the lottery traces all the way back to the Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 B.C.)

Nowadays, I still crack open the cookie with a little thrill of anticipation, wondering what words will guide my destiny–for the next 5 minutes until we leave the restaurant, in any case.

Not long after dedicating my life to Project Simplify, I received this one (Since when do they put smiley faces on them?) :

I brought this one home and stored it in some incredibly secure place, a place where one would naturally think to store fortune cookie fortunes from long forgotten Chinese restaurant dinners. So secure that I forgot all about it until I happened to run across it this morning. So here it is for the duration. At least I know where to look for it =)