Ah! Windows update!
Monday morning with crisp air
Crows laughing outside
Tag: life
A Few Thoughts On This Christmas Day
After a lovely day with my family where I got to feel joy and contentment, remembering happy moments at various times in my life, I received a reminder that not everyone reflects on their childhood with happiness. Surviving Childhood Trauma is a blog that, well, it’s title sums it nicely. And today’s post, Trauma & the Holidays serves as a reminder that not everyone’s memories are laden with love and joy. We need to honor our friends and neighbors who find the holidays to be times of horror, anguish, and pain. And, especially after the year that 2020 has been, many people are struggling with loss, sadness, despair, and loneliness. Those feelings should be honored, too. Such are the elements of grace.
May we all find peace, grace, and well-being this season. And here’s to a 2021 with less misery and more connection.
Featured Image by Olenka Sergienko from Pexels
Some reflections on “What CEOs Really Think About Remote Work” in the Wall Street Journal
Here are some reflections on “What CEOs Really Think About Remote Work” in the Wall Street Journal.
When I saw the headline, my first response was cynicism. It’s easy to label many “leaders” as simple tyrannical micromanagers, unable to release even a little control, no matter how helpful it would be for productivity. And that’s, as this is the Wall Street Journal, mostly what I expected to see. However, I was pleasantly surprised. What I actually read was a nice blend of viewpoints. This article is a collection of quotes. Just one or two sentences each looking at what these execs have observed, and where they think office culture will be shifting to. Quite a spectrum of thought, really. I came away pondering a couple of notions.
First, direct human interaction holds great value. We gain by working collaboratively. The “rugged individual” is a destructive myth. Yet, as I’ve seen myself the past few months, there’s value in working in isolation, in minimal distraction. We exist in continuums, each of us unique in our blend of traits.
When looking at the wide array of thoughts, it’s helpful to remember we’re all different. “Working From Home” is wonderful for me: I’m an introvert. The quiet of my home office is invigorating. Extroverts are living in hell.
A healthy working life and corporate culture accounts for the full spectrum of human experience. Finding ways to individualize working environments should be part of an effective future work life.
Hurray! Poor Air Quality Is Coming!
I never thought I’d see poor air quality as a positive change. But, here we are. It is quite an improvement from yesterday.
Be safe out there!
Living: grace’s gift –
To feel sunlight on your face
And the evening rain
Plans and Connections
I spent the morning going through my contacts, cleaning out and updating things. There were so many folks in there who I had for some random project, many from my time in Real Estate, who I haven’t contacted in years. I felt puzzled by the number of contacts with limited information and no memory of them. One nice thing in Google: looking at the email threads. For many of these folks, there was simply nothing. I spent many years as a chronic collector of contacts. Here’s the end result.
My intent: get my list down to those I know, and build a plan to maintain connection. There are so many great people I’ve met over the years who I really wish I was still in contact with. I intend to fix that.
I understand that many contacts I’ve kept are people who have moved on from me. And that they may have no interest in reconnecting. I’m good with that, though I’ll be a bit disappointed. However, I recognize that none of us can do everything. All of us need to focus.
Also in my plans are to use this site to communicate better, too. Post more regularly and with those life updates. Multiple channels for connection and all of that.
I hope all is well with you during this time of COVID. What are you up to? What are you most proud of? I’d love to hear.
Om Malik: How Do We Look At The Present?
I always appreciate the wit and wisdom of Om Malik. Today he tweeted this, which gives me great pause:
I don’t know how to look at the present – 56 percent of 2020 is over or that 44 percent of 2020 is still left. What do you think?
— OM (@om) July 24, 2020
2020, a year of havoc and confusion, of transition and destruction, forcing to face our histories against our deepest resistance. Such a dramatic and violent reaction? Will we survive?
Half done or half over? Perhaps a question of optimism: half-full vs half-empty? In this time of pandemic, optimism seems myopic. But, I believe the opposite. Humanity holds what it needs to overcome our destructive tendencies. So I hold on to hope.
My contribution to today’s Word of the Day Challenge: Theme
My contribution to today’s Word of the Day Challenge: Theme.
dawn crawls through trees
red skies setting the theme
hope within the new
June 2, 2020 Haiku
a springtime moment
some cat holding a sparrow
blood on its whiskers
These are troubling times, aren’t they? I wonder what it would take for humanity to seek connection instead of division. Perhaps I’m naive to think that such a thing is possible. Perhaps. Yet I’ll cling to my hope.
Seattle’s Grown, As Have I
Ok, this is not a haiku nor a poem. I hope you can forgive the deviation from my norm. Today I read a piece by Seattle writer Angela Garbes. It resonated deeply with me, so I wanted to share with you, my friends.
Published in the Seattle Met, “As Seattle Grew, I grew Up” mirrors my own experience. I, too, spent my ‘feral 20s’ wandering Capitol Hill, where I lived the better part of 10 years of my life. Seeking the urban as a cyclist seeking a car-free life, and the vibrancy I imagined coming with concrete. Years making mostly minimum wage, yet able to survive. Gentrification just starting to squeeze. I being able to rise up the wage rungs quickly enough to stay above the flood waters of economic calamity.
My revisits come filled with memories. Oh, “this was here”, and “that was there”. Then “what WAS here”? Memories combine with memory’s absence; strange feelings, ones that I’m not quite used to.
“Cities are meant to change”. Seattle’s changed, quite a bit. Driving home how time has passed, how much older I’ve become. Things I’m not quite ready to accept, so they keep rearing up. Such is the way of things I guess.
Well, I’ll finish with a haiku: it’s what my soul wants.
these old concrete walks
echoing my youth’s footsteps
urban memories