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skills, work to be done

labelleizzy: (Default)
Wednesday, April 8th, 2020 01:22 pm
Most of the world is now starting work I began when I quit teaching: examination of the priorities and assumptions we have taken for granted.

How about that. Education. Grocery clerks. Taxes. Rent and mortgages. Eviction in times of financial or health crisis. 8 hour work days. None of these things work as we've assumed they "had to".

Doing work while performing femininity, (or masculinity). Almost like how we present has zero, fuck-all to do with how well we work.

Time to change the world.
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Full moon, now waning

labelleizzy: (moon)
Monday, August 3rd, 2015 02:18 pm
I had plans for doing a ritual for the full moon this month, especially as it coincided with Lammas/Lughnasaad, but the timing didnt work out to do so with a friend, and I did not feel like doing so alone this time.

Instead my friend and i were Makers.
We made a prototype for a costume piece that we both liked.

It was its own kind of celebration, really. And quite appropriate for both a Full Moon and Lammas... We Manifested a dream, took on a challenge, saw it through, together. She is a joy to work with, eager and interested and fine with me being the boss. She's impressed with my relatively basic sewing skills, which is both sweet and gratifying. (I cook like I sew, not fancy but gets the job done.)

Actually Getting Stuff DONE was so gratifying, felt like a harbinger of other good things for the future.
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What do you Value? Does your life show that?

labelleizzy: (thinky thoughts)
Friday, May 9th, 2014 07:08 pm
Last night I was telling Nick about a (possibly apocryphal) Buddhist teaching story:

The master has a large jar, a bucket of big rocks, a bucket of gravel, a bucket of sand on the table.
He instructs the student to fill the jar with the big rocks, as full as it can go.
Then he asks the student, "Is the jar full?"
The student replies, "Yes, teacher."
Now the master asks the student to add the gravel to the jar. Most of the gravel in the bucket fits into the spaces between the stones.
And he asks the student, "Is the jar full now?"
The student replies, "Yes, teacher."
The master indicates the bucket of sand, and the student knows what comes next, and pours the sand into the jar, and it settles in around the gravel and the stones.
"Surely it's full now, teacher?"

The master smiles, and pulls out a bucket of water from beneath the table.

I heard this story used by Steven Covey to talk about prioritizing your life according to the values that matter to you. In the video, the Big Rocks all have words painted on them. Words like "Family" "Romance" "Health" "Job Advancement" "Planning" "Self-Care" "Spiritual Development". All the kinds of things people talk about as their Highest Values.

Only Covey told the story backwards.
=)
He had the folks taking his seminar fill the jar with sand first, and then try to fit the big rocks in on top of the sand.
All of the taking care of yourself kinds of Rocks got left out, and it was a pretty powerful symbol.
Then he had his demonstration victims Subjects dump the sand out, and fit all the Big Rocks in FIRST. THEN add the gravel, THEN add the sand.

So, he points out, if you take care of the big Values first, you can fit the Projects and the Everyday Little Tasks in around them.
But you can just as easily let the Everyday Little Tasks take up All The Time You Have, and get to the end of your day not having taken care of any of the things you really find VALUABLE.

I'm finding myself dealing a lot in Sand, and not so much in the Big Rocks as I would like to.

So I'm making a drawing, and trying to set up a visual reminder of my priorities.

I've marked one "rock" as Dance, Music, Art, and Writing. I'm struggling for brief vivid descriptors. I could put Roles in, i.e. Wife, Friend, Sister, Aunty, Daughter, Lover. I could put it in as Nouns for the things I value: Self-care, Artistic Expression, Kindness, Philanthropy. I could use a personal pagan metaphor: Persephone, Demeter, Hermes, Artemis, Athena, Dionysos, Cerridwen, Brigid, Argante.

I'm leaning toward the Nouns at the moment. How about you? How would you describe the things you Value above all others?

How do you fit it all in?
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100 Things: Fitness and Health posts (1/100)

labelleizzy: (yoga)
Monday, April 16th, 2012 02:31 pm
Today I started the first of seven short-days of substitute teaching. Matter of fact, I am only teaching periods 3 and 4 for the choir teacher at The Nearby High school. The assignment is vague... I've actually got an email drafted for Mr. S (who is, at the moment, traveling abroad with two of his choirs) asking for clarification so I can help the students with their assignment. Third period has 19 students, Fourth has twelve young women. Cool. So we'll see what we can do with that.

The reason I can tag this under 100 Things and Health & Fitness is, because, for the first time in a couple of dozen times I've worked at this school? I WALKED to work today. =D It's almost exactly one mile from my house to the school. Very pleasant walk, although, oddly, the sidewalks vanish when you cross the border from My Town into the neighboring town. Weird. Large homes with beautiful landscaping all along the route. I stopped to literally smell the roses twice or three times (they were Double Delight roses, do you blame me?) and was nicely warm by the time I arrived at the school. Took just about exactly twenty minutes to walk.

My feet are a little tender and my hips are a little sore. I'm about ten days out from having spent the last two months of my life spending an hour every morning stretching and marching and running and moving and singing and dancing and getting down on the floor and back up off the floor with the first and second grade kids. Best. Workout. Ever. Yoga's more dignified, and more specifically challenging, but not as much fun!

That said, I'd best sign up for some yoga classes. I'll need that work to continue the progress that began while I was working for Njeri. (still a little sad)

Tomorrow I think I will bicycle to work and keep my bike in the choir room. Should not be a problem. Then I can go exploring and looking at pretty suburban houses after school is over, and maybe drop my library books at the library. I love the idea of using my bike more, it's a wonderful bike (and it's *aubergine*)!
  • Current Mood: hopeful
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