In this month's newsletter:
- Get a haircut and get a real job!
- Product of the month
- Rebekah's quote on quote
- A positive side to "Twitter".
I spent much of the last month travelling around my home state, having a bit of a holiday and doing some work along the way. Work is the theme of this months newsletter and I am curious to hear your take on the topic.
Having been travelling, relaxing and scoffing the usual Easter menu of Chocky eggs and hot cross buns for the last few weeks, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with myself for having kept my weight stable throughout, reasonably anyway. I hope you all had the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate Easter and hopefully connect with the authentic Easter celebration of new life in Christ.
Get A Haircut and Get A Real Job
The above heading from the lyrics of the song by George Thorogood, express a mode of thinking that many of us have drummed into us throughout our lives. The idea that the "right job" is the measure of and ticket to success is ingrained in us, many times by family and most definitely by many education systems.
My own experience is the assumption that I would work in a job until the usual age somewhere around the 60's. It has only been inside of the last 5 years that my thinking has shifted to accommodate the possibility of earning sufficient "non-job" income to shortcut the whole "lifetime in a job" scenario. In fact in the last 9 months I have had my first taste of being "purposefully unemployed" as I ceased my most recent job to undertake some projects of my own.
So what has it been like?
I'd be lying if I said there weren't some major benefits. Here are just a few:
being more active in home duties (surprisingly satisfying),
opportunity to respond to others in immediate crisis
ability to catch up with my wife throughout the day,
more time to continue education,
available time for considering and catering to personal responsibilities
ability to build/contribute to strategic relationships.
I understand also the attraction of sleeping in late, but for me it doesn't work. I wake up. I get up.So are there any drawbacks? Certainly for me there has been some challenges and I realise these may differ according to your individual makeup. I knew long before ceasing my J.O.B. that removing the external discipline of having a job would expose any weakness in my capacity to discipline myself. My motivation in ending paid employment in a job also caused me to examine my relationship to authority, not entirely favorably.
Basically, a job can provide helpful structures and relationships that can help an individual achieve and be accountable toward positive outcomes. I am currently looking at being re-employed, sacrificing some of the freedom I have enjoyed, for some of the positives that go with having a job.
All of this of course depends on a persons make-up and season in life. There isn't a hard and fast rule here, but it is helpful to examine and try and understand our own actions and motivations to ensure we continue to grow, and not just grow old.
Monthly Product Review
Having already confessed to assuming more of an active role with tasks around the home, my favorite of the domestic duties is and has always been, cooking. And so it has been with great interest I have scoured our available cook books.
We have a number of recipe books available, covering different styles of cooking and some specific interests like desserts and cookies.
I have included a link to the recipe for risotto
This can be found in our book, "Culinary Delights - 200 Masterpiece Recipes"
Follow the link to either the risotto recipe or an overview of the whole book by clicking on the highlighted words above.
Also from this particular book I have successfully pulled apart the recipe for spinach and ricotta agnolotti to make up my own spinach and ricotta puffs. Very Tasty!
Rebekah's quote on quote.
"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right"
Henry Ford
Now, read that aloud to yourself one more time. Interesting, isn't it.
Because it almost doesn't seem to make sense....Oh, but it does.
The amazing power of thought, of our minds...scary! If you think you can, then you can and you will. Whereas if you think you can't then you can't and you never will.
This in particular can be a hard one for me. I tend to be a glass half empty girl and sometimes I think I almost like dwelling in the negative. Possibly I feel I will avoid disappointment this way. But I am trying to retrain my way of thinking towards more positive and happy thoughts.
Whether it's looking at a situation or working on your goals, thinking positive and that it is all possible, will actually work, every time. Even if things, people, places ETC don't turn out exactly as we had hoped they would, you learn to find the silver lining and keep trying for what you want and more importantly what you deserve. And what do you deserve? What makes you happy?
Lastly, I would like to give a quick shout out to Henry Ford. Can you imagine what his friends and family said when he told them he wanted to put his skills and knowledge into a horseless carriage? A black box shaped object, later to be called a model "T" Ford, which people can sit in and attach a motor to it so they can zoom around town? It worked because first Henry wanted it to work then he THOUGHT it would.
Rebekah Bolt
To Tweet or Not To Tweet?
That is the question !
Like a gazillion other people, I have joined the growing Twitter social networking phenomenon in the quest to increase my online profile and hopefully, my scope of influence.
While doing so I sometimes have questions about its value and the extent of my involvement and exposure there, but in this last week I witnessed a very positive side to Twitter.
I had wanted to pray for someone in need but, as sometimes happens, it had slipped my mind. While checking Twitter, someone else made a request for prayer, which jogged my memory. I prayed and then took the opportunity to thank the person, who's message had prompted me. It didn't stop there. They then sent out another request to their followers on my behalf and others did likewise.
So from one absent minded person, an impromptu, global prayer network formed to add to my own individual prayer. Wow, now that is a positive.
So while I may still have some reservations about social networking of the likes of Twitter, I've decided to focus on the potential pluses and not the pitfalls. Probably an attitude that could translate well into other areas of life also.
Thanks so much for dropping in this month. I hope you have found even just one thing of value to take with you. Whatever the case, feel free to comment and remember, Be blessed!
Steve Bolt
Worldwide Eproducts Team
