Take Back Your Life!

Hey inspirational ones,

I got this “musestorm” in the wee hours of the night several months ago to have an “encouragement booth” at my town’s annual celebrate the town day. Vendors, non-profits and community groups set up stalls/booths along these grassy aisles. People drifted in, out and around the booths as well as attended lots of other familyish events. This is the first year I did this. Of course, I had to do something really DIFFERENT or I would have felt off rebel kilter. So, the encouragement booth was born.

I’ve got a pic of me at the “booth,” but can’t seem to load it into WP media at the moment. Will work on it later and add so you can see it. The front of the table had the same poster as the back fence. I never realized until I looked at my newly installed sign that day that the word enCOURAGEment had the word courage embedded in it. Honestly, it took courage for folks to come to the booth and get encouragement. Did I find myself shouting, “Want some FREE enCOURAGEment?” Hell, yes! It felt right. (more…)

Hey complex thinkers!

I intended to write about the Late, Great Penn Station. Then I picked up a greeting card with the quote, “Life is messy, wear a smock.” Can’t find attribution for it, so I’ll thank the company that designed the card for their genius: Seltzer Goods.

My childhood friend A. and I spent many summer days exploring the large stream in our neighborhood. I’ve mentioned it several times in essays. Although I was not familiar with the term “rebirth” as a small child, something about the clean, flowing water kept me coming back day after summer day. It fed my spirit, that’s all I can tell you. The other thing I can tell you is that I never left that river without falling in and getting my clothes “dirty.” Something about leaving dripping wet, covered in sand and dirt completed this rebirth process. If I didn’t fall in, I didn’t feel reinvigorated. (more…)

Hey wild things,

I’m curious how it came to be seen as normal for adult humans to be held captive in itty bitty work cubicles for eight+ hours a day. Do such bizarre conditions really promote workscapes conducive to thoughtful or innovative work?

Hardly. (more…)

Hi folks!

I wonder if there’s a boredom epidemic out “there.”

Why? I see such little life enthusiasm. Yes, folks are busy, busy, busy running around, but do the activities shrouded in this busyness truly make them feel alive? And it’s not just the parents who are bored, the children seem to be bored as well. It all seems to be fueling a rise in depression among people of all ages. A January 2010 article in Psychology Today said that the mental health and happiness of children has been declining since the 1950’s. Even more interesting, people were less depressed during the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War. The state of the world seems to have little to do with depression rates. (more…)