Category: participate in your own life!

future-proofing, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, Retirement, Watching The WorldLeave a comment

What’s in your GO-BAG?

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What’s in your Go-Bag? I’m not talking about that small travel bag that you take on an overnight visit or the one that you cram into the overhead bin on an airplane. And I really don’t mean the bag you keep in the back of the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet at work in case you don’t make it home after having drinks with friends the night before. I’m talking about your emergency evacuation ‘get-the-hell-out-of-Dodge’ GO-BAG! Things have gotten tough enough and unpredictable enough that we really need to consider having a Go-Bag ready ‘just in case’. We’re facing … Continue reading What’s in your GO-BAG?

Creativity, I'm Not Done Yet, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, Retirement, self-talk, Stroke Recovery and BackgroundLeave a comment

A Journey to Fulfillment? Distractions! Caught in a Loop!

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A journey to fulfillment? Uh, no. Guess what? Distracted again! Caught in a loop! A Journey to Fulfillment stymied. Do you remember my commitment to setting priorities for all those goals and self-imposed deadlines that I intended to put in place or had been putting in place when last I posted? Caught in a loop!  Distracted again! Speed bumps on a journey to fulfillment! Well, guess what,? I’ve missed most of them because there’s still just too much to do and I have allowed the outside world to get a toe hold in my focus and my imagination. For instance, … Continue reading A Journey to Fulfillment? Distractions! Caught in a Loop!

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Your hand in my pocket

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Why do I find someone’s hand in my pocket ? It seems like everyone wants a bit of something; a handout, a contribution, a donation, sponsorship or validation that can only come through monetization, and they’re looking in my pocket. As I browse the web, surfing for information and guidance I find that nothing is free anymore. Everyone wants a contribution either in the form of straight up ‘gimme money’ or in the form of donation and subscription fees. There is no free exchange of information. People are trying to monetize their experience and insights using the vehicle of online … Continue reading Your hand in my pocket

Covid-19, Grandparenting, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, RetirementLeave a comment

What to do now; Plan, Prepare, Participate

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What to do now; We’re caught trying to maintain balance in the crashing waves of pandemic, supply chain disruption, new isolation rules, attempts to restart schools, less than carefully considered imperatives to ‘get back to work’ and natural disasters.  What’s a person to do?  What to do now!? Most of us are straddling two different worlds right now.  There’s our personal life and  stuff, and then there’s the business world which we haven’t completely abandoned or been separated from.  Just because we’re at home, playing at being retired or furloughed doesn’t absolve us from responsibilities to provide advice to our … Continue reading What to do now; Plan, Prepare, Participate

caregivers, Covid-19, Grandparenting, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, Watching The WorldLeave a comment

The Bubble Bursts!

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The bubble bursts! Are you prepared for your Covid-19 bubble to burst?  I know you’re ready! We’re all ready for a significant change in the way we’re responding to the pandemic, but are you actually prepared? September has always been a threshold for seasonal change in my part of the world. We’re hovering on the edge of harvest, the end of family vacation time arrives, the kids go back to school and the urbanized adults find themselves back at work with new imperatives for business success. This year September’s transformative role is being presented as far more than the normal … Continue reading The Bubble Bursts!

Covid-19, Finding Joy, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, Watching The WorldLeave a comment

What have you done during Lock-Down?

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What have you done during Lock-Down? A colleague positioning himself to re-enter the job force navigated the ATS gating to the point of first interview where he was asked; What have you done during lock-down? Surprised by the question he gave a playful answer. Sadly, the tone and brevity didn’t carry him through to a second interview. What would your answer be? What should it be? Total disclosure: I have done the following; · Taught courses on-line for a contract training firm Began re-writing curriculum, and looked at developing new stuff that I could present to serve my own self … Continue reading What have you done during Lock-Down?

Covid-19, Dodging Bullets, future-proofing, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, Silver Bullet, Watching The WorldLeave a comment

Waiting for the Silver Bullet–dreaming about the future

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Waiting for the Silver Bullet–dreaming about the future This situation isn’t going to last forever.  Some bright spark is going to sort through all the data we humans and our new AI servants are collecting to find the silver bullet that will bring this virus to its knees. The challenge is that whatever the silver bullet is it won’t be the magic bullet we need to push the reset button on the economy and society in general. Take a deep breath. This is going to take a while. Waiting for the silver bullet The concept of social and physical distancing … Continue reading Waiting for the Silver Bullet–dreaming about the future

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The Adventure continues, and we really start to get some traction

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We had a fitful sleep going into the Wednesday of our journey, the day we moved out of London and headed north to the Lake District.  Our host’s live-in girlfriend had worked late the night before, arriving back at the mews at 1 AM, and the two of them churned for a time trying to debrief on the day, organize for the next day, quietly padding around the flat like two dogs circling and circling before settling in for the night. We had spent a lovely day the previous day doing our own bit of a churn, setting off mid-morning … Continue reading The Adventure continues, and we really start to get some traction

Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, Retirement, short list, Travel, Watching The World2 Comments

Day One departures

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Leaving home can be a stressful affair, fraught with the oh-mi-gawds, and did-I-remembers.  This leaving was no different, especially the part where I stressed out over the weight of our suitcases, thinking forward to the number of times we’d be hauling them through strange airports.  But as a ‘day one‘ goes our journey and adventure was somewhat uneventful and quite comfortable. When we got off the tiny commuter plane from Edmonton to Calgary, we were quite relieved.  Things were going well, just a bit cramped. I, in my usual way, was worried that our big bags wouldn’t make it onto … Continue reading Day One departures

Effects of stroke, Moving through the world, participate in your own life!, reaction time, Stroke Recovery and Background, Stroke Timeline, Watching The WorldLeave a comment

Just a speed-bump, not a full stop

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I took a break from my ‘day’ job, and the re-deployment effort for this blog for a while there.  Why?  Because for a while there, it wasn’t coming as easily and the white noise was overwhelming. What wasn’t coming easily? ; My ability to get things done from a cognitive point of view.  Huh?  What does that mean? Here’s a somewhat snooty answer to the question “What wasn’t coming easily?”: Responding to complicated instructions with a sense of comfort, and in a demonstrably confident, repeatable, concise, clean manner was becoming clumsy; Holding up my end of a detailed conversation, assimilating … Continue reading Just a speed-bump, not a full stop