Seth Godin | Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom

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A couple of lyrics from a song “Pacing the Cage” (written and sung by Bruce Cockburn and also performed by Jimmy Buffett) makes me wonder about the world as I see it today. It’s not bad – it has just become different and maybe we can change with it:

“I never knew what you all wanted, so I gave you everything.” … AND

“Sometimes the best map will not guide you. You can’t see what’s round the bend.”

I’ve taken notice lately of a lot of dramatic changes not only in the ways we communicate, earn a wage, but how we relate to each other to name a few. What appears to have worked well in the past doesn’t quite work as well and I see more people frustrated and “pacing the cage”, so to speak.

It’s all linked together and I’ve wondered how we’ve given everything and traded our souls for a false security? Only we don’t realize the security is false until our jobs are outsourced or our partners move on to someone else. Sometimes we feel we’re doing all the right things and yet we feel anxious, pacing.

We invest in a college education only to find when we graduate the jobs are not there. Or you work your whole life and follow the rules only to come up short at the other end wondering what happened to it. Then you dig in and work some more only to realize your value in the workforce is not as great because of your age.

Could it be what we’ve bought into all along are not the real goods? Could it be what we’ve been programmed and conditioned to believe has not just been for our best interest but rather to make it easier for others. Maybe by following the rules we believed we would in turn always be taken care of. We no longer had to think for ourselves – it was someone else’s responsibility.

In school we’re signaled when to move from one class to another or you start work by clocking in and clocking out when you leave. Somewhere along the way we’ve sold out and learned to move along with the masses instead of engaging with our true nature and talents and being rewarded for that.

This new world will require us to deliver unique gifts and talents that have value and we have to learn how to move with it. No longer accepted will be the cookie cutter – template approach but unique services and products with our personal intellect and energy, individual connection and quality.

Just begin – start somewhere but start.
Ask yourself what you love to do and then research and investigate ways to create and bring it into the world. The internet offers a wealth of opportunities to do that.
Listen to your intuition and act on it when you have the slightest thoughts on how to create what you want and what direction to take.
Bring the best of who you are to whatever you do – give it value.
Recommend checking out information on Seth Godin’s new book “Linchpin” giving insight into what we can do now.

I would suggest that if you feel a little restless and “pacing the cage” it’s because of the shifts and changes in the world and it’s time to step back and take inventory of our lives and make some changes.

Take back our lives and depend on ourselves to move forward with the talents we’ve been given. The world is waiting and hungry for what you and I have to offer. There’s a genius in each of us. What do you think?

Pat – from the ol’ kitchen table

I’ve wanted to write this post since January when I first saw Seth Godin’s video on Curiosity, but I just wasn’t quite sure how to put it together. Seth expresses it well in exploring human nature.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always had a curious nature and I guess that’s why I started Wisdom For The Ages (a talking-stick discussion in the corporate world and later un-corporate). I wanted to know how people think and why they think the way they do or if they even think. We humans are a curious lot. Here are some questions for you:

~~ Why do some people want to run you off the road for the slightest thing while others drive like their heads are in the clouds?

~~ This is one I’ve always wondered about: If sea stars and lizards can grow their limbs and tails back, why can’t we grow arms and legs back when you lose them? Just thought I’d let you know that there was a piece televised last weekend on CBS News

Sunday Morning on that very thing. It’s called regenerative medicine and the research is becoming popular for soldiers who have lost arms and legs.

~~ What would it look like to have a traffic jam in the sky not with airplanes but with other vehicles of transportation we all will use?

~~ If we can land on the moon why can’t we realize world peace?

~~ This goes along the lines of regenerative medicine: Why do we only grow one set of teeth after our baby teeth? You would think if you could grow teeth the first time you would be able to all through your life whenever you lost a tooth.

~~ One of my favorites: Where do you go when you die? I’ve always been intrigued with this especially having a grandmother that was psychic introducing me to spirituality. I remember one time when one of our aging dogs was put to sleep. She had cancer and was ready to go but I remember distinctly when she left. Her body got quiet and then I heard a sound from her mouth like a whoosh and felt a breath of air as it brushed passed my face. I remember asking, “Sammy, where did you go?”

~~ Will we see, in our lifetime, the ability where we will be able to transport our bodies – deconstruct and reconstruct them again, to a different location – “Beam me up. Scotty” (Captain Kirk in Star Trek)?

Aren’t you curious? What are the possibilities? Nature is phenomenal from the micro to the macro and then there’s the psyche and the whole dimension of the mind and spirit and quantum physics. Whew!! If your curiosity juices haven’t been stirred up by now, I don’t know what to tell you.

There is such a vast amount of happenings, events, mysterious creations to take in and observe and wonder about. That’s why I always love hearing people’s take on attitudes, leadership, harmony, falling in love, falling out of love…..a different story for every person and to me it’s so interesting. Why??

Pat from the ol’ kitchen table

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