Self-Improvement Blogs (525)

35 years ago I worked for a high-end custom cabinet shop and the owner had a sterling reputation to his clients. His relationship to the employees was very different. But... one thing I learned from him was not to use the word hate. He said it was the 'end all' and there is no way coming back from using it... especially if it pertains to a relationship, business or personal.

That said, I disliked working there. His expectations from everyone he employed was often unfair, even when they did a good job.
Our biggest disagreement was his method for calculating the amount of time allocated for a cabinetmaker to work on a project. He used a 'man days' formula that was strictly by the sales price and not by the difficulty of what was sold.

A lacquered wall unit could take a few days to build, then go to the finishing department to be stained and painted.
If it was a mica unit, the cabinet maker would need nearly the same time to cut and build but the laminating didn't go to another department. It was the job of the cabinetmaker to do all the laminating and assembly. More work (for the cabinetmaker) than a painted product.

Two totally different procedures but the boss used the same calculations in the time needed to build the furniture.

I was in charge of production scheduling using his formulas and suggested we use different formulas for wood cabinetry and mica cabinetry. It was as though he wanted the guys making mica furniture to fail as no one could achieve the time schedules imposed on them.

We would give a cabinetmaker drawings of what was needed and how much time allocated to do the work. Depending how desperate they were for a job, many would pack their tools and leave.

Putting an ad in the paper for a cabinetmaker was a joke as he probably employed everyone in the county at one time or another. He had quite a reputation for having a bad company to work for.

Hurricane Andrew struck and the area was without power for nearly 2 weeks. The owner demanded I work outside in the sun, so I took a portable drafting board and folding table and set up in the parking lot making shop drawings for the upcoming orders.

I stayed until a door of opportunity opened and I moved on.
Often when asked who some of my previous jobs were I mentioned that place and so many knew how bad it was there.

While I wanted to say I hated working there, I always said, I disliked it.

... In the US Federal and some individual US States, seat warming "employees" are now being required to spend time in seminars, so they can try to behave, and thereby magically become, less White.
Gone is the arrogance, respect for hard work in school and on the job, reliance on fact based critical argument, and all the sordid rest of it. Pupils can now stop ackin' White, ditch the proto gang banger threads, and get down to real academic achievement. And now this Third Reich mindset is moving into some corporate culture. Coca Cola, thankfully, is reportedly doing so. Many others are on the Apartheid band wagon. Public schools, universities. And more.
And Robin DiAngelo's ("White Fragility"-see it at your liberal public library, don't make her any more rich), 50 minute on line self-learning program on this important topic, no doubt will advance the demise of the human scourge of prejudging others, on the basis of skin color.
Well, all I can say is, it's about time. But why spend so much time in self critical self study? For a few bucks, we hopelessly melanin challenged Hupersons, can apply skin creams to darken the skin, just as Michael Jackson used the opposite potions to look less Negro. Not to mention the botched repeat rhinoplasty.
No more hair straitening. Gold teeth. What a release from bondage. Wealthy successful Black men can now look for non White spouses. Or at least abandon the search for a hottie near White Lady Octadroon.
See, all. I now am finding valid reasons to stop regretting the stolen, VERY stolen, erection. As should we all.

Let It Sink Into Your Consciousness - Those Worries Will Melt Away Like Fog In Noonday Sun ...

Enjoy, Y'all!!

...... my morning full toilet, chores, and other items of the life variously lived....
To digress, women seem to think that their morning life tasks and beauty rituals take much more time than those of their men folk. Au contraire, CS friends.
But Bravo is signaling to go for his walk, so later, alligators.

So, I spend about half an hour on these items, less the time I spend walking Bravo. Of course, showers, clearing snow, watering and weeding garden, all in season, etc, add considerable time, not to mention shopping, hobbies and vehicle/home maintenance.
But I'm happy to do so, as there have been rare times in life, in depressed and therefore slothful periods, when we let it all pile up. These thankfully all came after the 5th decade on God's good earth, and related to unresolved business over youthful traumata, likely from parents, as an infant, and much later from men in our Church. Years of denial and rationalization did wonders to stir up the mix. The bottle was a false ally, as many will know.
Even though I studied these things and worked to help others with their depressions, etc., I always doubted the validity of such syndromes, and especially how they could set the stage for lower life achievement, and even self harm. Silly me.
With help (various therapies, including hypnotic age regression, etc) and the tinctures of time and experience, I'm back in the saddle, and have discarded the false crutches. For good, Inshallah.
But the most striking lessons involve how much such experiences can detract from the full life. I have learned that most, thankfully, adapt, with or without help. But in terms of function and interpersonal interactions, it's often sub optimal, and less than fully adaptive. Even if lives are carried out and even somewhat enjoyed, at different levels.
Behavioral science still only scratches the surface in all of this, I'm here to report.
Medicine and religion, even more so.

sure emits depth of behaviors, as the vast ones (daily, hourly or round the clock are OCD based). OCD is sure a venue to avoid. Hey so it is written, an so it is still taught. Have at it OCD"rs an enjoy bIDEN off more than yu can chew.

When terrible things occur in your life, it can be all too easy to focus on the negative and allow yourself to spiral into depression.

Joshua Ferguson of Tennessee understands these dark moments better than most. As a veteran of the United States Army, Joshua suffered a devastating setback when he lost his leg in an explosion caused by an improvised explosive device. Now that he’s retired and back home with his family he focuses on gratitude to help him overcome his new disability.


“There’s silver linings to anything, you can find something, and even if you can’t, somebody’s had it worse! So stop complaining,” said Joshua, who recently adopted a dog with whom he has a lot in common.


Back in June, a hiker stumbled upon a little dog in a wooded area at Johnson Creek near Burns, Tennessee. The pup was in bad shape, and one of his legs was mangled beyond repair. The hiker brought the dog to the Humane Society of Dickson County where they did their best to save his life. Veterinarians believe that the dog, who they called Scooter, had gotten his leg stuck and was forced to gnaw it off in order to find food.

After Scooter’s leg was surgically amputated the shelter began hunting for the perfect family for the special needs pup. As soon as Joshua spotted him on the local rescue’s website, he knew they were kindred spirits. Joshua volunteered to foster Scooter and the pair soon bonded.

“He makes it easier for me to remember, ‘hey it’s still a beautiful day,’” Joshua explained. “You realize really just how tremendous a journey life is.”

Rest of story:

...God, that wavering southern female drawl must drive men wild during pillow talk. But I digress.
Sure, these high flying lawyers do sometimes stick necks out, in support of a losing cause. Especially if somewhere down the road they see professional advantage, and Mr. Green. Lots of Mr. G.
But her allegations were so devastating, specific and internally mutually supportive, that to falsely chirp away in these regards, would be professional suicide. These folks don't play that game.

Now let's allow the rest of their work to proceed, for which plenty of time exists, and the final adjudication of the SCOTUS. Remedies may then follow, but which ones?

You can take me away now. I've cleared my desk and I'm ready to go.

Natural Heat is created by the sun, aka radiant Heat. But it is currently at war with unnatural heat, and before I reveal the heart of the matter. I would like to ask you, when was the last time you saw the form of mist in the mornings?

So what would be the sun's enemy? night? rain? carbon emissions?
Convective heat is the cause. What makes convective heat? The heat of a engine vehicle. A single car on it's own while running has little effect on heat flows both natural and unnatural. But 200k cars travelling through SH1 and SH16 in Auckland, spaghetti junction, might do it.

Radiant heat creates airflow and forces air towards the planet, but when 200k cars/vehicles travel from point A to B each, forces the air back up from the convective heat of the engine in which we get a change in weather flow. So my point is the HEAT emissions of an engine vehicle is the heart of global warming. Any engine that creates massive amounts of heat constantly is at fault. NOT carbon emissions.
But it is financially impossible to rectify this epic issue, you are looking at trillions at least.

Thanks for reading.

This story is about you dear reader, a story that should have been taught to all from the day you, as a child, understood your native tongue.
It is a story of the two spirits within You. Grey Wolf and White Tiger.
There is a third spirit, the third spirit you have heard about often in fact I am confident majority of the world knows of this Third Spirit. The Soul...

But very few understand the purpose or role of one's own soul. So I will make it basic, but know this, The Soul is a vast and complex spirit, and yet, it is governed by the two spirit animals, the Wolf and Tiger.

Now like any beginning the Wolf was once a pup and the Tiger once a cub. Both spirits were happy and at peace, loving even. Because you as a baby, most at least, acknowledged both. During the early stages of your life story you fed the Tiger, which in turn fed the Wolf. But here is the sad piece to this story, the world around you fed the wolf also. So there was a growing unbalance between the two spirits. Now the Tiger was the leader which is why we naturally fed the Tiger, because she is or was loving, wise, gentle and beyond intelligent. So she fed her enemy willingly the Wolf, now the wolf feared the Tiger to the very core of his being, but the love that emanated from The Spirit Tiger, was intoxicating that he embraced her as the leader, he could not fear with the life force of her love.


But...
What the tiger could not do is change the choices of the reader, You...
Over many years the Wolf grew stronger with vigour because he no longer needed the White Tiger to feed him. Because he had other wolves to fed him now, he also realised he was strong enough to fight for the right to be The Alpha of the pack. But still he could not fight her yet because she was still stronger than he, even without food she was an unstoppable force, so he waited...
and he waited...
and he waited...
12 Years go by the reader(you) has all but forgotten The Beautiful White Tiger because the ways of the Grey Wolf have been deeply embedded into you all. That the tiger within you is weakened beyond imagination, simply by choosing to ignore her. Now how the soul works it is but a bridge between both spirits and over 12 years you have chosen to travel from one side to the other, but choosing the tiger less and less. Simply the best way to describe the soul within yourself is on that same bridge there is you and the story and bridge are both the soul in one. You, as the reader of this story chooses between the Wolf and thee Tiger as the story unfolds but the bridge provides the choice of either spirit done by telling your lifestory. Now the wolf is 12 years strong, and as a right of passage challenges the tiger the right to be Alpha. Now the Tiger knows as well as the Wolf does that she is going to lose, but she will fight never the less. Because she loves both the wolf and you she fights to bring peace. She must because it is her nature, as leader, but she was never going to win . As weak as she was she fought fiercely and valiantly with strength that the wolf did not expect, her nature to save you dear reader was all that drove her. But the wolf was cunning and had you to fight her also. His true plan was hatched, because he knew she would not raise a single paw against you, and he ripped her body to the very edge of her existence. He knew IF he killed her he killed himself so kept her under heel by keeping the wounds constant and fresh never healing.

Her heart as not only the White Tiger but the leader and lover of both the wolf and reader was devastating beyond imagination.
And if you stare into a mirror long enough you will see the sadness in your eyes. Her sadness. I know for I also saw her sadness

But there is still a chance, how do I know? because you have read this far. It means She fights for you even now her gentle and loving nature still remains in tact and needs my help. As a lover of the White Tiger I will do what I can.