Pause E-zines

REFLECTION: How often do possibilities and opportunities collide on your calendar? I’ve been struggling with competing options for one particular week in October for some time now.

Up for consideration were my possible attendance as a participant at: a four day certification program, a three day professional association conference, and a five day workshop. Layered over top of those options were tentative client holds on two potential presentation days.

Today I jettisoned the first two options from my calendar and registered for the third. I decided that if the hold was confirmed on one of the two presentation days, I’d absent myself that day from the workshop. Situation resolved. (more…)

REFLECTION: Another Labor Day weekend has come and gone. We spent our trio of days socializing in a uncommonly active way: hosting an out of town colleague for dinner on Friday, visiting with dear friends around the riverbank fireworks on Saturday, taking in a dinner theatre with my parents on Sunday, and enjoying two visits with our grandson and his parents – one involving a last-day-of-the-season twirl on the merry go round. We experienced wonderful connections with all these people who are so important in our lives.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but remember two who are no longer with us. You see, in addition to marking that transition from summer to fall, for two decades of our family life, Labor Day weekend was the time for our annual visit to a treasured aunt and uncle in Edmonton. Both have passed away in recent years, but I still think fondly of them and the memories we created together during those ‘same time next year’ Labor Day visits. (more…)

REFLECTION: So often when we talk about balance and overload with respect to work and family life, work is portrayed as the villainous task-master. But that isn’t necessarily the case.

Recent research by Culbertson and Mills from Kansas State University reveals that invigorated and dedicated employees who are highly engaged in their work (but not workaholics or work addicts) tend to be better able to deal with issues at home, make better companions, and are more effective overall in the home environment. (more…)

REFLECTION: We’re just back from a four day weekend get away to Victoria. Amongst the many people we encountered were Susanne, Mauro, and a handful of Harbor Ferry pilots.

Susanne served us in the restaurant at the Laurel Point Inn. Though business was brisk for both Saturday breakfast and Sunday brunch, Susanne made the time for conversation. She remembered our names from one day to the next, asked about our plans each day, tossed in a few bits of info about herself, and we shared more than a few laughs in the process. I almost stopped to apologize for deserting her on morning three, as I headed off to breakfast elsewhere. (more…)

REFLECTION: Anyone who has ever parented a teenager is familiar with ‘the look’. A defiant lift of the chin, a roll of the eyes  accompanied by a vaguely audible sigh, wrapped in an attitude of long-suffering impatience.  Assumed subtext translation: How can you be so stupid! What planet are you from? I am the only person in the world who has to put up with stuff like this!

The exchange presents challenges in family communication because of its powerful unspoken subtext.

There are equivalents in the workplace. Case in point: You’ve just been asked to work a third night of overtime this week. Your family is expecting you home this evening. You’re brain dead from the extra exertion and exhausted by a lack of sleep. You decline. (more…)

REFLECTION: The bud on the Morden Sunrise rose popped open this morning. With its warm gold and apricot tones, it’s aptly named. I wondered at its beauty.

During yesterday morning’s riverside walk, a beaver surfaced, nosing its way downstream –  slicing smoothly through the water, ripples streaming to either side. I wondered at its ease.

Last week I accompanied my grandson to the Exhibition Parade. (more…)

REFLECTION: I’ve had a great vacation, and it’s good to be back in the harness again. I hope you, too, are making some time and space for renewal this summer. 

Two weeks of summer vacation have left me with a raft of ‘memorable moments’. One of the most delightful experiences involved spending a couple of early evening hours golfing with my son-in-law at the Elk Ridge course in northern Saskatchewan. 

Now, I am NOT a devoted golf enthusiast. Although I own a set of clubs, this year my golf bag has yet to find its way down from the hook on the wall of our garage. I rented clubs for our round at the lake.

Marc, on the other hand, is a novice golfer who IS very enthusiastic about the sport. He’s been taking lessons and golfing once or twice a week this year – and he’s definitely getting better and enjoying his time on the course.

Here’s how we approached our game. (more…)

REFLECTION: When in comes to overload at work and at home, the stuff of life can be a major source of irritation. Now, I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with things, but for me, despite knowing better and despite the best of intentions, I find it easy to ignore growing accumulations until they can no longer be contained or other things start competing for the space.

Case in point #1: A decade or more of computer back up disks and original software only recently got sorted out when available off-site back up storage space shrunk and something had to give. The sort and sift was long overdue, since I’d already shifted to automated backups using external drives that swap in and out with regularity. The space crunch forced the issue. (more…)

REFLECTION: What’s the seasonal cycle like in your workplace? What I’ve noted consistently over 23 years in my business, is that for my kind of speaking and training services, demand tends to be low through July and August. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, I have come to anticipate that a large part of the summer will be free of what I refer to as ‘up-front-delivery’ work.

The summer downturn used to cause me considerable concern. In the earliest years, every July I worried and agonized that my business was in its final death throes. I pictured myself on a downhill slide – bankrupt by Christmas. It’s amazing the stories I could create to torment myself! Not that you ever write those kind of stories yourselves!

What I have also noted year after year is that, as surely as the engagements ebb through the summer, they flow again through the fall, winter and spring. I refer to the phenomenon as a Seasonal Adjustment. And, more recently, I have come to see it as something to be welcomed with enjoyment – not simply tolerated with annoy-ment. (I know, I know – that’s not really a word – but I like the sound of it anyway!) (more…)

REFLECTION: It was exactly one hundred years ago, in 1909, that my grandmother’s cousin, Sever Berg, staked a claim to a quarter of land here in Saskatchewan.  Sever later sold NW 17 33  26 W2 to my Norwegian born grandparents, Ole and Ambjorg. They, in turn, sold the home quarter to my parents, Norman and Ruth, who have continued to farm it for well over 50 years.

And so, that is how this very week, my parents have come to be among some 600 Saskatchewan farm families to be honored with the Century Farm designation for stewardship of the same piece of land by members of the same family for one hundred years.

During their time on the farm, Mom and Dad have seen their share of bumper crops and record prices. They’ve also survived blizzards, floods, droughts, grasshoppers, midge, and hail storms that destroy a season’s promise in five minutes flat. But, through it all, they have persevered and prospered. They’ve raised a family, contributed to their community, and helped to feed the world. And even now, they continue to care about the land and its future. (more…)