Where would you like to find it?

An organization tip: If you had to find an item in an extreme hurry some random Thursday afternoon where would you like to find it? Put it there.

If you had to find an item

This could be anything. Your keys. Your school books. A pay check/stub. Your passport. Legal papers. Your clothes. 

In an extreme hurry

The phone rings, you needed to be at the hospital 10min ago.

A set of police cars are sitting out front of your house. 

A letter from the bank.

An airplane is deliberately off course.

ZOMBIES :)

On some random Thursday afternoon

Emergencies never announce themselves with enough time to prepare. 

They never get scheduled with forms filled out in triplicate.

Where would you like to find it

I won’t tell you where you should find it. I do have opinions on it though. Each of us has different patterns and things that drive us. But do spend a moment each time you handle an item as to where it should be. 

Put it there

Don’t wait to shift things around. Do it now. Minimize the scramble. Lessen the frantic rushing. When that item leaves your hand and you are finished using it, it should be in the place you want to find it next time. 

Even if that spot is across the house. Next time you will have to cross that space AGAIN but this time it will be in a panic because IT WASN’T THERE. Go put it back.

P.S.

I have opinions on certain items. 

Keys should be near the door closest to the car, but out of reach of little ones that shouldn’t have access to them. OR in the bag that is always grabbed on your way to anywhere. (We will talk about bags later)

School books should be in your bag. Yes, your books will come out to be used but when you are done with the book put back in the bag. Homework is the same way, until it is handed in. I remember both and I still have books I’m reading and papers that I’m working on/with.

Pay check/stub should be filled. Either at the bank so it goes in your account or in a file at home with others of its kind so it can be called on for taxes and school loan issues.

Passports are either in a file at home or in a safe spot with you. Other than your drivers license this is one of the most important identifying documents you have. More so if you are outside your home country.

Legal papers are filed by subject(other papers that are like it) and chronology (the order in time in which they happened)

Clothes should be clean and put away. Clean, why would you want to put on dirty clothes? Put away in dresser drawers or bins for each type of clothing. We are looking for speed of getting dressed in the morning.

Take it up a notch? Pick out what you will wear the next day and lay it out the night before. 

Take it up ?too far? I know of a professor that would by 7 new suits every year. With a tie to match. One suit for every day. And always the same color dress shirt. He always knew what he was going to wear the next day.

Today is a class. There is ALWAYS a test tomorrow.

Today is a class. There is ALWAYS a test tomorrow. How do you want your grades? Paychecks? Smiles? Respect?

I am always learning something. Sometimes I learn a thing that I set out to learn. Most times I learn things that I could never imagine. Often I learn the right and the wrong way to do a thing all at the same time. 

The things that I am learning each day often find a use in the days to come. And those lessons both sought and unlooked for play a part in passing tests that come my way.

Tests that are not always announced that they are tests. Tests that even when announced the content is unexpected. Tests that you don’t realize you took till the grade comes in. 

Each test I have taken has shown me some new things to learn. Things I already knew but could do better. And things that I THOUGHT I knew but didn’t really have a clue.

I have failed many tests, but since the class of life never ends, I have had a chance to retake those tests. 

Tests of honesty. Tests of loyalty. Tests of confidentiality. Tests of endurance (mental and physical). Tests of patience. 

Each of these tests has a grade. Most of the time its a pass/fail. Sometimes even a passing grade won’t get you much, some tests seen to be worth more, or weighted differently depending on the person or the context. Sometimes the only person who grades the test will be you. But I guarantee that when you least expect it, there will be somebody else watching that test.

The grades are not always straight forward. There are no letters or GPA. But a smile or a complement is a passing grade. But a tear or a slammed door is a fail. A job offer or a pay raise is a pass. A loss of trust and conflict is a fail.

What you will learn is up to you.

How you engage the tests is your choice.

But you are being graded, and the ultimate grade will determine your success, and happiness.

Inner Space: The NEXT frontier.

Outer space may be the FINAL frontier. But can we make inner space the NEXT frontier?

“Space: The final frontier.” These words open every episode of the original StartTrek series. As a person who loves dreaming about what could happen next the science fiction style has always apealed to me. Granted I tend more StarWars than StarTrek but each of them points us out to the stars. 

We have held FRONTIER as a goal for many generations. Always seeking out the new and the different. Sometimes to meet it, sometimes to study it, often destroying it. Always misunderstanding it in some way first.

We are slowly running out of physical frontiers on this planet. The seas, some caves, beckon to be explored. But the satellites are mapping every inch of the planet in ever more detail. For physical frontiers we are having to look off this planet and out into the black of space. 

What though makes us think that the vastness of space will calm our tendency of violence and misunderstanding the realms we explore. 

We need a plan for exploring not just the physical frontiers but also to explore the inner spaces of our lives. In that exploration we will find the connections between each other on this planet.

In that exploration of inner space we will find the ways to care for each other and quit sabotaging and disregarding the excellent work around us because in exploring the full inner-space with each other we discover people to meet, to study, to misunderstand, perhaps to destroy. 

We must make peace with the grand variety to be found not just in the frontiers of this planets’ physical form. Not just with the dedication needed to take us out to explore that final frontier of space. But also the infinite variety of the people here and each individual’s inner-space. 

I am up to LOTS of good

I solemnly swear I am up to lots of good.

This is a variation on a quote from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The original quote read “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” This being the activation code for a magical map known as the Marauders Map. The titular Marauders being Harry Potter’s father and his father’s three best friends. The map would show every passageway and person on the school grounds in real time.

I created the variation because I do not intend to be up to “no good.” It might be interesting to have my quote as a passcode to some guide book that contains wisdom and advice for certain situations in a characters life. 

A swearing means that you will keep your word. But if you are a person up to no good why should you be believed? If you are up to good things then swearing to do so is mostly irrelevant.

I am, as a United Methodist, a fan of John Wesley. His injunction on doing good is, I think, quite appropriate for this variation. Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.

I look forward to many more years of doing good, and unlocking the good in the lives of other people.

haunted by the empty

The blank page haunts me.
Its very emptiness longs to be filled.
How then should I fill it?
When so often it would only be filled with my own emptiness.

But in the exchange of empty for empty I find myself fulfilled, and seeking to fill another page.

emptiness on emptiness
           ACTION
fullness on fullness

my emptiness makes me dread its emptiness
its fullness makes me realize my fullness

Success by the Bag

ORGANIZE: The Bag
    I will first cover the general topics and then give you MY preferences.

I need a CALENDER
    Life can be complicated. There are always things that need to be done. People that you need to be in contact with. People that are counting on you to remember that important date (birthday, anniversary, wedding, funeral, ball game, etc) It is best if those things gets done when they are supposed to.
    There are a multitude of possibilities for filling this requirement. Both from the digital and the hard-copy. Smart Phones and their apps. Palm Pilots and their PDA friends. Wall calenders, pocket calenders, Day Timers, Franklin-Covey ad infinitude.
    The issue here is NOT which one is the best. The issue is to find one that you will use and use consistently. An empty calender, or a calender that you don’t have with you is pointless.

I need a NOTE PAD/BOOK
    There are always thoughts flying through the air. Some of them come directly to us. Some come to us through other people. Some ideas land for long periods others are fleeting and swift. Some ideas are amusing and trivial, others are powerful and high priority. Be prepared to write them all down,
    The rise of the digital assistant, the laptop and the smart phone, have given us new ways of recording those thoughts. Post-its, and index cards are often in easy reach. Notebooks of every shape size and binding are easily acquired for a minimum of work.
    Again the issue here is NOT which one is the best. The issue is to find one that you will use and use consistently. If you don’t have the space the idea could be lost, save your ideas they are precious.

I need a PEN AND PENCIL
    Wood pencils, mechanical pencils, colored pencils. Dip pens, fountain pens, felt tip pens, ballpoint pens, gel pens. Beyond the necessity of a writing utensil if you are using a hardcopy note system. You will also find that there will be items to sign for on a regular basis. There will be times when other will want to jot a note and need to borrow a pen to catch that idea. PICK ONE. USE IT.

I need a TIME PIECE
    Clocks are critical. They help us to consistently meet with each other at precise points during the day. They can be found in cars, on walls, on computers, on phones, in pockets, attached to belts and purses, and strapped to wrists. As much as is possible get the most accurate one you can find. Keep it with you.

I need a BAG
    After listing all these things that I need. I need somewhere to keep them. Especially since I not only need these things with me but want to have some other items along as well. A folder that will keep other papers flat. A multi-tool for random quick fixes. A book to keep me company during long waits and meals. Project items that need hauling to and from places. A light meal for on the go. The list could be endless. But you have all that stuff in ONE place and ready to grab when you need it.


PERSONALLY:
    All the items listed here are for hardcopy. I like digital stuff, I tend to grab the second generation of any tech. I place no faith in batteries, and loath the power outage, and sigh at the loss of communication with the internet. No thanks.

    My phone does have a clock and calender that I can set day to day with alarms. My permanent calender is a large weekly/monthly beast that gives me plenty of writing space and looks impressive lying open on my desk. NEVER USE PEN ON YOUR CALENDER, stuff happens and will need to be adjusted.

    I carry several writing spaces. A small Moleskine Cahier notebook in my pocket. A 6x12 quilters rule with a binder clip holding half sheets of scrap paper. A legal pad for more permanent notes. Post-it notes for making notes on a document that I don’t want to mark on directly, or tearing smaller to make more permanent book marks.

    I carry a pen directly on me at all times. I don’t have a favorite pen. I do prefer a very fine tip black ballpoint. A mechanical pencil for my calender in the bag. A separate eraser because of the pencil. A red ink pen because of how I take notes in the books I study. I also carry an assortment of Sharpie markers for making odd text art projects and just making things more colorful.

    Currently my timepiece is my cell phone. I do however see particular jobs where having your phone on the work floor is not appropriate. I will need to get batteries back into some of my watches, or a new watch.

    My preferred bag is a brown canvas backpack. Backpack because the mass that I am currently carrying plus a laptop or other device I hope to be getting down the road will make too much weight to put on a single shoulder for long. Brown canvas because I tend to wear brown plus it is a bit more formal than the neon nylon packs and the school age targeted packs.
    I know exactly the bag I want. Just go to SaddleBack Leather Co. and you will find out both why I want it and why I don’t have it YET.


PS
    Take the time once a week or every other week to do an audit of the contents of your bag. Take out the trash that might have accumulated. Take out the stuff you haven't used regularly. Replace the supplies that got used/borrowed/lost. Include items that you have found yourself wishing for repeatedly.
    GET IT. USE IT. ENJOY IT.

Totemic Beasts and Teddy Bears

    Archetypes: the people, places, things, events, that consistently arise from the collective unconscious to take new forms and importance.
    Even the concept of archetypes is a recurring theme in my life, first with Joseph Campbell and now with Carl Jung.
    In a now recurring job working with stuffed animals, bears in particular, I wondered if the “stuffed animal” or Teddy Bear had a base in our unconscious archetypes. I FOUND ONE!
    The modern stuffed animal traces its history back to the Teddy Bear built in association with the historical event of Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a captive bear. “During a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collier,cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a white handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter. Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read "Teddy's bear," after sending a bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to use his name. The toys were an immediate success.” (quote from Wikipedea)

    Creating images of animals goes back further than that. There is a shamanic practice of totemic or power animals. Images of an animal used as a guardian or guide for you spiritual life. This was the beast who became your connection to the spirit realm. The one who watched over you while you slept or when you were sick. The one you told your dreams, worries, fears to that you wouldn’t tell anybody else. The creature you might aspire to be like as you matured. I know the sound of my child’s voice. The sound that comes through the monitor as the nap has ended but not yet ready to be lifted out. A cadence of conversation with no one really responding. A conversation with the bear telling of what took place during the nap, a conversation with one who really understands even when mom, dad, and the beloved Grandparents don’t and can’t understand.

    Today the stuffed animal is often a child’s first friend. One who comforts a child in the midst of their nightmares, fears, and chaos of growing up. Of old it would be the quest of a young member of the tribe to seek their totem animal as a coming of age rite known as a vision quest. Now the search for the crib companion falls to the family of the newborn.


Next. Track the spread of the Totemic Bear: Native American, European, and Northern Japanese

Next. Track usage of BEAR in pop culture beyond the teddy bear.
Yogi Bear, Redwall, His Dark Materials, Greatful Dead, Pooh Bear, Paddington Bear