Who’s in charge of Facebook?  Is Facebook truly a social media site?  Who is owns it?

Bill Tieleman who created and administered the group has no idea why the group was removed from Facebook.  Does it mean any Facebook group can disappear without notice or explanation?  Anything, that is, which criticizes a government move?  Are we not a democratic country where freedom of expression is still a right?

It’s not the only group to have disappeared on Facebook.  Another group protesting another tax – 8,000 strong – also disappeared.

Dale Jacakaman, President, Amuleta Computer Security says there could only be 3 explanations:

a)  Facebook had a technical issue with Bill Tieleman’s account

b)  Facebook had a security issue with Bill’s account

c)  One of Bill’s computers was hacked

Two of Bill’s accounts dealt with issues most damaging to the British Columbia Liberal Party; it’s difficult to believe it was just coincidence.  Apparently, the answer won’t come from Facebook because it’s near impossible to reach Facebook security.

In the US and Canada, therefore, are we to expect that if we dare criticize what our governments do that our social media accounts will disappear?  Who’s in charge of Facebook?

Are our online communities now threatened?  Are they no longer a safe place?  Can they be stolen from us?

If you want to talk to Bill Tieleman yourself, you can reach him at www.thetyee.ca or at his blog, billtieleman.blogspot.com

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You know them – they are the people who think the rules are written for everyone else and not them.  They want things their way no matter who is inconvenienced or who gets hurt – the bully syndrome.  Yet, on the other hand, if someone else doesn’t follow the rules, these game players are incensed, especially when they lose!

The time they consume is extraordinary!  Just to get their own way . . . for the smallest, most idiotic win.

Here’s an example.   A landlord had a tenant.  This tenant decided to disregarded the terms of their lease.  The lease required that they get written approval from the landlord to assign or sublet the rental unit.

The tenants decided to just go ahead, sublease without written approval with still two months to go on their lease.  They sublet to a family.  And then wanted the landlord to check out references and financial ability to pay rent and utilities after the people who sublet were already in the unit!

The tenants just handed over the keys to the people to whom they sublet and that was it.

There are rules to follow.  Did they want to follow the rules as laid out in the Act?  Of course not and they’ve spent a lot of time and energy “trying to wiggle” their way out of the situation.  If they have followed the rules of common decency, none of this would have been necessary.  Instead, they tried to pull a fast one and it has wasted everyone’s time – theirs, the people who sublet, the agency responsible for resolving disputes, and, of course, the landlord. 

People who want to get their own way at all cost sap everything out of others – time, money, energy.  They do the same on the job.  The wisest thing any boss can do is to get rid of these kinds of people as soon as possible.  They have no sense of right and wrong as they are not concerned with anyone but themselves and want what they want at all costs – and the cost is high!  No company can afford to lose that much in either time or money or both!

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The disconnect between management and non-management people in companies is acute in today’s workplace.  These top executives – no one in their own companies even knew who they were!  That’s right – no one recognized them – likely the employees didn’t have a clue who runs the company at head office because there’s no connection.   The disconnect “blazes” across the screen.   And why should they bother – management is not interested in them.

Bravely, the executives, Larry O’Donnell, COO of Waste Management and Joe DePinto head of 7-Eleven stores go in front of cameras while they tackle and learn the jobs on the front lines.  What amazing executives to put themselves in the spotlight like this?  A lot of executives would never dare!  They talk about the contrast between their luxurious lifestyles and the ”awakening” that was  in store for them living in budget hotels around the country and doing the work that front line people do.  They found out that many people on the front lines are working very hard and how idiotic decisions they had negatively  impacted the people on the front lines- the people who face the customers day in and day out.

One woman in Waste Management driving truck didn’t even have stops available to her during her shift and relegated to urinating in a can!  How did her manager not know that?  How did the COO not know that?   The only question that came to mind at the moment was:  Who’s managing?  There seemed to be a lot of managers and executives but no one was managing!  Managers are suppose to be taking care of their people – that’s part of their job – but no one seems to understand that notion.

An 18-year veteran of 7-Eleven stores sold the most coffee.  When Joe dePinto went on the job, he understood how hard workers in 7-Eleven work for very little money and certainly are not rewarded with a luxurious lifestyle.

It is time that all executives and managers work the front lines every single year to understand how their policies impact people’s work.  Perhaps then we might see some rational corporate policies and better treatment of all employees!  Maybe, then, they would understand how to build and maintain a community instead of a lot of disconnection “departments”.

Without employees to serve customers and do the work, there is no company - no executives – nothing.  Perhaps shows like this will finally wake people up to creating a better world – a community of equals on the job wherein there is respect for everyone’s role in the company – what a novel idea that would be!  Yes, it does exist in some companies as Tom Peters points out but so many other companies are still working in the authoritarian dark ages!

I hope you watch this series – I know I will – finally, executives “out of the closet”!  What a novel idea – executives actually understanding what people do on the job whom they are supposed to be supervising!

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How many times does Tom Peters have to say it? 

Are managers hard of hearing?

Click here to view the embedded video.

I was amazed to see a video on YouTube with Tom Peters still preaching the same message, ‘Don’t talk about it – do it’.  And here we are decades later after Tom Peters first started delivering that message still on the same track of the same record!  What is it about managers who have learned that meetings are the be all and end all?  How is that efficient?  How is it cost effective?  Where are the economics?

In the health industry, it was meetings from morning til night.  I was drained.  I had never ever been in an environment with so many meetings to accomplish so little.  And yet people continued to meet day after day, week after week.  What a waste of valuable time and what a waste of the taxpayers’ money!   Yes, of course it is necessary to have some meetings but meetings on purpose for information, to address a problem, to find a solution or whatever but . . . there is no necessity to be in meetings day in and day out.  When does the managing part of the management job get done?  Yes, I know, that’s the hard part!

Imagine how much it costs to have a boardroom full of managers sitting around meeting and accomplishing nothing except scheduling more meetings – the cost is astronomical!  It was a habit in the health industry as it was in government and big corporations  - nothing more.  They truly believed that’s “how business is conducted”!  Of course, there’s a status symbol attached to it too – if you’re in meetings all day, you must be important!  Not.   

Let’s simplify this notion: 

Imagine if a farmer said to his/her family, “It’s time to plant the seeds but let’s talk about it first”.  Because of the numerous meetings, the seeds are planted late or not at all.  Where do you think we would get our food from?  Absurd to think about it, isn’t it because we expect the farmer to know his/her business, get the crop planted on time for maturity during the growing season.  Yet, we accept the notion of late planting or not planting at all in boardrooms – odd, isn’t it?

You don’t have to believe me – there’s a guru who knows the subject much better than I could ever.  I believed in what Tom Peters had to say when I first read his books.   I believe that, today, more than ever, his message must sink in especially in North America where we have seen a lot of shenanigans at the top but little in the way of productivity – a few getting extremely wealthy while thousands are losing their jobs!   Could you expect anything else when people are meeting just to meet – eventually, like little kids in an unsupervised classroom, they’ll eventually get into trouble out of sheer boredom – much more exciting to plot than to actually do work! 

Go, Tom Peters, go!  One day the message will get through . . . . we hope!

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At the moment, my life is extraordinarily stressful as it has been many times before.  You know what I mean – those times when you feel you are on the “washboard” of life.  You feel sometimes that you are hanging on by a thread!  That’s what life is all about – cycles – sometimes you have more stress than other times. 

It’s at times like these that reminding ourselves what’s important is the most difficult – life seems dark.  Most of us tend to go into the frenzied workhaholic syndrome – we think if we do more, put in longer hours, the more we will get done and we’ll be free.  You and I know it never works that way!

The more hours you work, the more hours you work.  It’s like an exponential curve of more and more and more until one day something happens – you begin to sleep through your alarm clock, you haven’t connected with friends and family on a meaningful level in months, and, no matter how many hours you work, nothing ever seems to get done.  We look around us and our life is in shambles and chaos – just look at the state of your desk.

And society as a whole is against our slowing down. Our North American culture loves to promote the idea that if we work and work and work, we’ll succeed.  We’re programmed into this notion.  In our hearts, though, we know that’s not entirely true – there are a lot of people in this world who work very hard and long hours and will never achieve massive success because they find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons or events have occurred in their lives which have altered their life’s course.

Because of the stressors in my life at the moment, I started to go down the workaholic lifestyle again – will I ever learn?  I’ve learned a lot and it’s so much easier now to pull myself back and get real – resume solid time management and pay attention to my mental state.   As we push ourselves to work more and more and more, we lose a lot – special times with the people we care about, enjoying the treasures life has to offer and ourselves!

I’ve learned there are three extremely important things to make sure we do during these stressful times – they are the foundation of everything else we do and critical to handling whatever situation we find ourselves in at any given time.  Our first tendency though as the stress builds is to put these on the back burner:

1. In the number one spot – sleep – yes, sleep.  It is the most important thing you can do for yourself is get sleep.  Why?  Because sleeps lets the body relax, repair and rejuvenate itself.  It’s true, we may need more sleep the higher the stress.  And yes, it may be the most difficult thing for us to do because our brains won’t shut off.  Whatever it takes – get sleep.  For a short period of time you may need a sleep aid like a glass of wine in the evening, melatonin or even a prescription from your doctor.  Mostly importantly, you must decide to sleep.  Because we’re stressed, we think we should be working or solving our problems or worrying instead of sleeping – big, big, big mistake.  Sleep. 

 

2.  Exercise.  30 minutes of walking is good and regular stretching at your desk – just a couple of minutes every hour – stretch.  Walking outdoors is really the best because you get daylight through your retina, oxygen into your system to support your body (notice that we have a tendency to hold our breath a lot when we are stressed) and be free of computers, desks, chairs, and other tools of our trade.  If you can’t fit in 30 minutes for a walk, who are you kidding?  Only yourself!

 

3. Organic Food - I used to pooh pooh “organic” until I tasted the difference.  And what a difference!  Then I learned about food, first through Oprah’s shows about good nutrition and then through experience.  My body definitely loves organic better – there’s no question!  It tastes like real food, it cooks like real food and it smells like real food.  I need less because the taste is there and I’m never hungry not to mention the positive changes in my body – better digestion, better skin and hair, and a host of  other things.

How are these time management tools? 

1. Without sleep, your brain is on overload.  Because of the stress, all your internal organs are in a constant state of
   “alertness” – the fight or flight syndrome.  Under stress, we do both all day long if the stress is intense enough.  So if your internal organs don’t have the opportunity to relax, repair and rejuvenate, there’ll be trouble – maybe small trouble, but trouble nonetheless.  Our mental state is not good either and despite the long hours, we’re actually accomplishing less!  That’s right less - pay attention and you’ll see that’s true.  We make more mistake in the work we do and the quality of our work can also be compromised.  Why?  Because our bodies, our brains cannot function at peak under the barrage of constant stressors internally and externally. 

 

2. Without exercise, our oxygen, which feeds our internal organs including our brain, is severely restricted.  Watch people who are in stress mode – you’ll see that they hardly breath.  Our bodies were built to move – get the blood flowing to keep the nutrients circulating.
   As a side benefit, you’ll find too that you have more energy and you sleep much much better!

 

3. Without good food, there is no good fuel for the body to work with during our daily activities and nightly repairs.  Put diesel into a car made for regular gas – what happens?  Or worse yet, put sugar into the gas tank.  It’s not good.  Neither is it good to put poor fuel into your own tank!  I encourage everyone to learn about good food – how is your food grown?  Michael Pollan has some small good books about food – you’ll be amazed at what you learn!  GOOD FOOD = LOTS OF ENERGY = ABILITY TO FUNCTION AT PEAK!

These are your foundational pieces to any time management whatsoever – good or bad  - take care of these 3 things consciously every single day and add a few good time management components to your schedule – you’ll see the great results you get.  You’ll love the quality of your life and you’ll get done what you need to get done sanely and rationally even if you still feel the “pressure”.  We all feel the “pressure” – it’s handling the pressure – that’s the key – yes, I know, easier said than done. And you need the good materials for your body to handle the pressure!

Think of it as a house – if a house is not maintained regularly with cleaning the eaves, painting, trimming plants, shoring up the fence and a host of other repairs, the house soon looks shabby and, soon, no one can live it in any more.   Why do you think rich people spend so much money keeping up their homes?  And look at a rich person’s lifestyle whether they be frugal or spendthrift - they have personal trainers, nutrionists, cooks, cleaners, golf, ski, own summer homes, go to spas and a host of other activities - each one results in what?  Maintenance! And maintenance results in  the ability to generate more money – if the house is in good repair, it fetches more money upon its sale and if the body is in good shape, a person is able to think and react better – interesting, huh?

Our bodies are our “houses” – good maintenance pays off!  Believe me – it’s totally and absolutely true!  There is no greater truth on earth!  It is the foundation to the quality of your life!

 Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

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It’s amazing how people keep saying they have no time and yet are consumed with talking on their cell phones or texting!   Of course, they have no time – it’s spent on their cell phone! 

A cell phone can be a terrific time saver in so many ways.  Like anything that’s good and taken to the extreme, it becomes bad.  It’s become an addiction for some people – they can’t be away from their phones for a second!  I think some people must sleep with their cell phones under their pillow! 

Watch people walking down the street.  For blocks, they are continuously on their cell phones oblivious to what’s around them and to what they are doing.  People talking on cell phone will walk off the curb without paying attention to the “Do not walk” sign, bump into people without apologizing, a host of other very dangerous or rude behaviors.

At meetings, people are using their cell phones for texting or their PDAs to respond emails or text messages – why bother going to a meeting if you’re not present?  How can anyone distracted be contributing effectively?

In restaurants, people don’t turn their cell phones off any more.  Sitting in a nice restaurant, having a great dinner and people’s cell phones keep going off.  They run out of the room creating a very disturbing atmosphere.  And, worse yet, they simply are not connecting with the people they came to dinner with.  It would be better for them and everyone else if they picked up a pizza and stayed home alone! 

How important is anyone in the scheme of things to have such an impact on others around them?  They’re not.  Most of us tolerate this rude and disruptive behavior because we don’t want confrontation.  What you’re telling people is that their behavior is just fine with you.

Dr. Phil says, “you teach people how to treat you”.  Next time, someone bumps into you on the street and doesn’t apologize or texts during a meeting or answers their cell phone in a restaurant, tap them on the shoulder and let them know you don’t appreciate the impact their actions have on you – politely.  If we don’t speak up, the behavior will get worse as it will become socially acceptable to be rude and inconsiderate of other people’s time and space. 

Notice your own behavior.  Shut off your phone – it’ll go to voice mail.  Be considerate of those around you – hear what they have to say – you might learn something.  Be present when you are among family, friends and colleagues – there is no greater show of respect.  And be polite – if you bump into someone, apologize.  If you in a meeting, pay attention.  If you’re in a restaurant, enjoy the ambiance, the company and the meal.  No call is that important that you cannot be away from the phone; if it is, then stay home.  Get back control of your life!

Think about it.

Lorraine Arams
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Sunday, I saw three women sitting together having lunch – if you would call it that.  Two had cell phone conversations and the third sat there waiting.  They could have been sitting at three different tables, and it would have been the same result.  So the third woman, seeing that the other two weren’t ending their cell phone conversations any time soon, got on her cell phone and started a conversation too – three people, together, in person, each talking to someone entirely different on cell phones – and they call this connecting! 

Granted, it was cafeteria style but still I simply don’t want to hear other people’s telephone conversation.  Did you ever notice how much louder people speak when they’re talking on their cell phone – isn’t that odd???  They do – you can hear everything they’re saying a block away!

Then, we have the cool “dudes” with their Blackberries – they can’t sit still one minute before checking their texting or email!  Totally bizarre behavior – if you watch a drug addict’s behavior and that of cell and PDA users, it’s the same – they simply cannot live one second without checking to see if anyone has sent them anything or left a message while they were talking on the phone!

Everywhere you go nowadays, the obsessive, compulsive behavior associated with the use of electronics is unbelievable! 

There is a total disregard for the impact they have on other people around them whether they be family, friends or total strangers.  It’s as though they are sleepwalking in a daze of electronic possession – the “invasion of wireless” – we don’t need a movie, we’re living it every single day.

Are you addicted to your email?  Is it possible to go for any length of time without checking your inbox?

Like any other addiction, it takes a willingness and discipline to accept the fact that we are not that important in the scheme of things and, if we miss an email, the world will come to an end!   We need to become human again.

Here are some computer settings which will help to “abolish”  email addiction:

• turn off the sound which indicates there is a new message and the popping up of new emails as they arrive.  The sound acts like a trainer similar the way Pavlov’s dogs were trained to salivate at the sound of the bell – this way the computer cannot call to so sweetly . . .
• Turn off the auto receive in Tools, Options, Mail SetUp, Send/Receive – untick the “schedule an automatic send receive”, ok.   
• on the bottom toolbar of your computer, you see a square with a circle and what looks like clock hands.  Right click on that icon and de-select “Show New Mail Desktop Alert” by clearing the ticked box
• decide on particular times to look at your email, say, 9 am, 11:30 am and 3 pm and put it in the computer calendar as a reminder to look at new emails - as with the first item on this list, it will be auto response training but in a controlled way and fit into good time management principles; you’ll also have to train others to understand the new work methodology . . . they won’t know you’ve given up your addiction!

Live again . . .

for lunch hour, leave the cell phone and PDA at work or turn it off - go for a walk, a workout, lunch with a friend – learn to enjoy the time with other humans face to face or enjoy reading a book or the scenery or people watch

• decide on fun things to do after work and week-ends.  Leave the cell phone or PDA at home (at the the very least, turn them off) and just enjoy!  Novel idea, huh?
• listen to other people – it’s an adventure . . .
• go for a walk or hike in nature – no phones – no PDAs – just walking, birds singing, wind blowing through the trees – what a concept!

It’s time to become human again and control our electronics rather than they controlling us.  Any time management requires that humans control their own time, not machines.  Do you own your time?

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Just when you thought your time management problems were over . . . BAM!

And everyone knows what I mean when I talk about these types of situations because they’ve happened to everyone in one way or another . . .

• one of your children or parents gets sick.  The diagnosis is complicated and it will take a lot of visits to specialists, testing facilities, treatment facilities, etc.
• your company has just received word of a huge project coming down the pike, and you need to start preparing the bid now – months and months of work to prepare the documents over and above the projects with which you are currently involved
• your tenant has just broken their tenancy agreement every which way and won’t communicate with you.  You know what’s coming . . . big time consumption in filing the necessary papers, costs of serving documents, garnishing wages, re-renting the premises, and and dealing with all the agencies concerned
• your spouse has just told you they want a divorce.  You didn’t have a clue there was anything wrong!  Now, divorce lawyers, moving out, child care, impact on your budget and the emotional rollercoaster you are about to ride
• you went skiing,  a snowboarder crashed into you and you have a broken leg, a broken arm and a sore back.  Getting around now takes a whole lot longer because you take the bus to work.  Taxis are too expensive.  And you don’t have a car.  Even if you had a car, you couldn’t afford the expense of parking and commuting all that way.
• you get into a car accident and it’s not good.  Your car is totalled.  Now you are dealing with medical people, insurance people, claims adjusters, lawyers and healing your body – what a nightmare!  And, of course, you’ll have to buy a new car somehow at the worst possible time when you are already financially stretched!

So what do you do?  You know your schedule needs readjustment but you don’t know how much and how often.  There are so many unknowns.

There are things you can do and that’s what’s important for you right now – concentrate only  on what you can actually do moment by moment rather than the things which are out of your control.  You can plan your daily activities but you understand that the planning could be disrupted at any time.  Accept it instead of raging.

Here are four tips that might help:

• call someone you know who has a calming effect on you and because of they care for you, they’ll listen to your ranting and ravings, let you cry or whatever else you need to do to get the emotions released.  That’s a good thing.  There’s support there and, right now, be vulnerable and get the support.
• accept your life has changed.  Denying that it has happened will only make things worse or getting into a frenzy won’t do you any good either.  Yes, it’s challenging but your resilience will pull you through.
• rework your schedule with an eye to:
  •  giving up certain things temporarily
  • delegating
  • getting help for yourself whether it be a house cleaner, a medical professional or advisor
  •  meeting with family members in the household to get everyone to take on more or different tasks in order to keep some semblance of normality in the household and communicate with each other more than ever before; if the situation affects people outside your immediate household, communicate more often with them too – it’s important to keep clear and open lines of communication
  • finding the right professional help to deal with the situation at hand by asking for referrals from friends, family, work colleagues, acquaintances – keep asking – you’ll be amazed how helpful some people are.
  • getting advice from people you know have gone through similar experiences and finding out what they did.
• breathe, relax and schedule time for yourself each day to regroup, reassess and re-plan for the next day as needed

You’re not alone.  One day at a time.   You’ll get through this.  Take it one day at a time – that’s all you can handle right now.

And things will get better!

Lorraine Arams
http://www.wizetime.com

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There are a million articles written on time management and hundreds of books on time management techniques . . . . and this has been going on for decades. 

So . . . . millions of pages written about how to manage your time and yet people still have trouble with time management.  Aren’t you curious why?  I am.  I’ve researched and read a lot – much of the time management techniques are regurgitated by hundreds of people in every industry you can think of  from self-help to business books and magazines.   Some are just lists and some are large books and programs.  Some are associated with live training and workshops and some, well, I wonder why it was called time managment in the first place.

With all these resources available over such a span of time, why then are people still in a conundrum about how to manage their time?  It can only mean one thing – people don’t want to change or the how to does not inspire forward momentum.  

Here’s one of the lists I found – and that’s what it was a list – nothing more.  No explanations – just do this and you’ll have time management – it’s typical of so many books and papers written about the topic.   Either the information is so sparse, it’s difficult to understand how it will help me or so content rich that it overwhelms me – either way I’m no further ahead.

—— be organized, plan ahead, prioritize, avoid overload, practice effective techniques, be flexible, have a vision —–

maybe it’s  great advice but would you really know how to do any of these things for yourself?   Of course not because you wouldn’t be looking for time management techniques in the first place if you already had a system which worked for you!  How is it going to work in your situation?  You don’t know.  Maybe you don’t need all these things – only one or maybe none .  So what does the mind do – shuts down – “doesn’t compute”.

When the mind doesn’t understand something, it searches for more information and, in the meantime, it protects us so it won’t drive us crazy – just like a computer – if a computer doesn’t have enough data, it rejects the input – “does not compute”.   

For instance, in many documents, they say, “Assess how much time it will take”.  How can anyone assess how much time it will take if they’ve never done it before?  It’s tantamount to saying to everyone reading, “cook a roast”.  You know what a roast looks like or maybe not - what does cook a roast mean?  What type of roast – pork, chicken, beef?  In what type of pot or container?  At what temperature?  For how long?  Where – in the oven, on the barbecue, on an open fire pit?  Fortunately, there are cookbooks or people around us who can tell us how.  We’ll find the information and easily go ahead with the task.

But what if you are faced with creating a report at work on a topic which requires research, how will you know the amount of  time your research will take?  You can’t.  Maybe you’ll find the information you need in a flash or . . . . not.  How can you, therefore, assess how much time your research will take?  Has anyone been on a computer researching only to find that four hours have whisked by in a flash?  One thing leads to another to another and that’s the nature of research or sometimes, the first search produces the right results. 

A time management instruction like this one would stop me cold – now I have to assess the amount of time it’s going to take me.  How?   It’s not stated just exactly how that’s done.  And perhaps this is the heart of time management issues – getting to the “how” within a reasonable amount of content  so it inspires me to move forward – taking the blocks mind blocks away and inspiring me to move forward even though there is no road map or a book of instructions.

And I think the problem even gets worse because every single person has a different style, different skill levels, different resources, and different situations.  Assessing how long it will take is like peering into a mirror and saying, “Mirror, mirror on the wall.  Tell me how long this will take.”  Would it be better to forget about assessing, write down a list of what you think you need to do to get the project done and then block one or two hours of time every day to accomplish what’s on your list?  Of course, it would and it would get your mind into a creative flow instead of stumped by the idea of assessing something you know nothing about.

I’ve seen it so many times on the job as a manager.  People avoiding tasks and risking dire consequences just because of a block in their mind – thoughts which stopped them from completing the project.  When I asked them why they hadn’t started on the project or why they didn’t produce the document or task on time, I found out that it was usually just one little thing that set up an insurmountable block in their minds.  They were paralyzed by their own thoughts – a short circuit in their brains and they couldn’t move forward.  When I would make suggestions, their minds opened to possibilities and off they went – the task was done and done well because there was an understanding which thawed the mind. 

And, that, I believe, is why many time management techniques or suggestions fall short – there is too little or too much how to remove thoughts which are blocking progress and inspire people to move forward.

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Though she died on Tuesday, she is still very much alive in my mind.  The energy of her life remains on earth.  Her emails to me are still on my computer and I still think she’s there though I know better.

A geology professor of mine who was in his seventies at the time made a remarkable opening statement to our class.  He said he was not afraid of dying because he knew he would would live forever.  We were stunned by his remark – we didn’t understand at all what he meant.  He went on to tell us that no one ever really dies.  All matter is energy, atoms in a particular form.  He had us looking around at the room and explained that everything we saw and touched all came from the raw materials on our earth even if we didn’t connect with it that way at the moment.  He pointed to the materials in the ceiling, floors, desks, plants, shoes, clothes, etc.  Everything in our surroundings came from some other form – ore, petroleum, soil (plant fibers), water, wood from trees and so on.  Our energy continues at infinitum in the world.   He pointed to the formation of fossils from living creatures, the ash of burning materials returning to the earth from where they came  and the materials from our earth which was once a liquid in the center of our earth.  We are all just energy – molecules shaped in a particular form which will continue to change as our body deterioriates and people’s memories fade once we die.  But in one form or another we will always be here – we will never truly die.

Our memories, a form of energy,  fade but we still remember, don’t we?  Every once in a while I remember people who were part of my life in one way or another and died a long time ago and yet I give them energy by remembering theirs.

The reality is she and I will never again sit together with a glass of wine in our hands, laughing, talking, dancing, being silly and connecting over the little dramas of our lives.

I’m glad to have known her on the physical level of our existence on earth.  Our relationship has changed.  Her spirit, her energy on all levels and her being as I knew them are now gone.  I will always cherish the little time we shared and certainly as long as I live I will remember her – she will never be gone without a trace.

Lorraine Arams
www.wizetime.com

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