On work and leisure

Work & Leisure (continued) Should I stay or should I go?

“You don't know what you're going to get into when you follow your bliss.” - James Hillman

Ageism is Real I’ve been hesitant to write about job-related “ageism,” defined by Merriam-Webster as simply “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly.” As a 64-year-old seeking some kind of part-time or full-time work in the content development job market (writing, editing, researching, designing, publishing), I felt it would not be a wise decision to complain about all the job opportunities I applied for but was not even getting interviewed for, despite that I have more than 30 years of solid experience and a host of knowledge and skills that have been fine-tuned over the years. Firing off ageism complaints surely would not serve any good purpose. READ MORE

Your Place, Memory, Daimon & Work What’s Your Place? Such a simple question. . . If you look deep enough into it, discoveries about yourself erupt, surprisingly. What’s Your Place is much more than a question about one’s physical, geographic location. It can also transport you to mushing around in deep philosophical questions concerning your authentic self, along with questions about the what, why, how and when of your lifelong pursuits. READ MORE

The Lucky Years of Old Age Here’s the common refrain for staying healthy in old age: • Exercise for at least 30 minutes and preferably 60 minutes, both cardio, and strength, on a daily basis. • Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. • Lose weight. • Move around more; less sitting and more standing. • Maintain good posture. • Stay positive and do not let stress get the best of you. • Monitor you blood pressure and glucose every day (and anything else you can track). • Talk it all out with your doctor at the next visit and be proactive about health and well-being. • Stay mentally challenged. • Find that place where you want to spend the rest of your days in peace and harmony. Did I forget anything? READ MORE

The Secret to a Productive Life Could it be said that the secret to a productive life, at any age, is one devoted to being as authentic to who you honestly believe you are inside for the longest span of your days alive? Is the key to living a productive life discovered by finding the right balance between what’s acceptable to survive from the perspective of your soul and what you find minimally acceptable to survive from the perspective of guaranteeing you have adequate (and preferably exceedingly comfortable) food, clothing, and shelter? READ MORE

What’s Your Passion and Are You Pursuing It? Mastering your universe, having the freedom to push yourself forward onto new plateaus, following your bliss – all self-perpetuating actions leading to life’s positive breakthroughs and achievements – this is the stuff of great joy. Yet, sometimes reaching a new plateau in life arrives unexpectedly, out of nowhere, mysteriously – no advanced planning whatsoever – and this new plateau may be located on a temporary stopover at an unanticipated lower level of the proverbial mountain top instead of a higher one. READ MORE

Contemplating the “Presence of Eternity” A prevailing school of thought posits that spending too much time in hedonistic-oriented leisurely pursuits during our retirement years is unhealthy. We frequently hear stories about folks who passed away six months or so after full retirement because they had nothing to do and felt their lives were suddenly meaningless. Instead, it is commonly advised that we should continue to work well into our seventies and eighties. We should keep swinging the bat, as they say, and stay in the game. READ MORE

Meaningful Work & Bad Bosses Let’s face it, searching for meaningful and sustainable work is a long and arduous endeavor that requires patience and stick-to-itiveness. In the end, finding your place in the world of work is very much dependent on serendipity. This comes from a wide range of experiences I have had hunting for that often elusive perfect job that both pays well and gets you enthusiastically out of bed each morning. READ MORE

Work & Leisure (CONTINUED) Should I stay or should I go?

“You don't know what you're going to get into when you follow your bliss.” - James Hillman

On Neo-Luddites and Optimists in the 21st Century Internet Age Today’s Digital Revolution is a Story of Yin and Yang Opposites Consider many of the technological innovations that have developed over a relatively short period of time and dramatically changed the way humans live and work today. It has only been 28 years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. The early 1990s heralded in the first smartphones, and it wasn’t until 2007 that iPhones hit the mobile marketplace. The iPad was launched in 2010. Facebook launched in 2004. Google was founded in 1998, and Twitter came along in 2006. GPS did not even begin to gain wide acceptance with the public until the mid-1990s. IBM’s Watson demonstrated its powerful artificial intelligence on Jeopardy a little over seven years ago in February 2011. READ MORE

Meaningful Work & Bad Bosses Let’s face it, searching for meaningful and sustainable work is a long and arduous endeavor that requires patience and stick-to- itiveness. In the end, finding your place in the world of work is very much dependent on serendipity. This comes from a wide range of experiences I have had hunting for that often elusive perfect job that both pays well and gets you enthusiastically out of bed each morning. READ MORE