About Me

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I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.
Showing posts with label Career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Career. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Service and getting motivated to go to ANY LENGTHS to study for a BETTER JOB. NO excuses!

Service is everything. it goes beyond outward action to the quality of ones heart, presence, and inner stillness.
These 'silent' qualities enrich others very powerfully.

Everything I do, say, think and feel can be service.
Meaning, In any moment, I am either taking, or I am giving.
But yes. sometimes practical help is needed. If I have free time.

Outward actions that help (for me) are prioritized by the potential benefit that can occur by doing them.
The more my acts have the potential to benefit others, the higher the importance of that task.
So attempting to prevent death is first.
Attempting to prevent premature death second.
Attempting to prevent unhappiness that has no impact on the longevity.
If longevity not an issue. then QUALITY of life is important.
So old and dying first. as very little time! 5 yrs?
Terminal illness, that I cannot alter. of any age.
Misery generally.

All these things I address in that order, by offering (in some form or other) how to practice (what I see as) spiritual principles. Although you might not know that I was doing that if you saw me doing it! But that's what I see myself as doing. I sort of 'sneak it in' while Im doing mundane stuff. Like at work. Which is mundane stuff. Sometimes I just 'hang around' (while I am at work) and be an example of an un neurotic person. Just that can really !! freak people out sometimes. Its quite funny really. Stressed people get freaked out by people ho have no drama. Heehee.

Don't get me wrong. Im not saying Im like this all the time. Im not. I get stressed and tense about things. But by and large that is how my priorities are in my head. That's what I mean. There is a structure to what comes first when choosing how to make use of my time at work, and if I have any free time to sponsor when I'm not studying, and doing my own life obligations.

Mostly it is aiming to prevent death due to (what I see) as untreated alcoholism, (which can look on the surface like madness, or pain, or depression) by trying to teach others what was shown freely to me.
Followed by attempting to show other women how to be good sponsors. So they can do the same.
Then the sick, old and dying in my immediate family.
Then the general misery I encounter on a day to day level at work, shopping etc..

Lastly I look to my study for a new job as a way to help others. I see jobs as ego feeding so this can be difficult.
Getting a high paying, 'swishy' job seems a bit bizarre and pointless. but I am trying to make into another way I can help others.
But this is harder for me because it involves money. seeing beyond the money, ego and position this might provide me with if I do it well is difficult. I lack !!! Motivation!
But I am working on it!
Its probably just laziness, and fear experiencing incompetence and failure outside my area of expertise, and looking c*ap while I do it.
The best workers are egoless, but the potential for money and status confuse me and really put me off actually.
My immediate family are outwardly successful but seem desperately unhappy, so that's kind of what puts me off. I sense a deep abiding pain in them when I am ever around them. That's why I don't want to spend much time with them. Perhaps I am just better at sensing their pain than I am in sensing others pain.
Who knows.
Or else they just have a greater debt of energetic baggage to process than others.
But Winston Churchill was a troubled man and I like him. So baggage need not put one off people. Well all that is my judgment of that situation. But I can find unhappy people very !! draining, so I avoid them, unless there is an ! important piece of service work that needs doing.

So service in the form of this new job I am studying for is my new 'project' in expanding my step 12 remit. Even though I LACK motivation to improve upon my position in a largely repetitive and brain dead unchallenging 'comfortable rut' job that I have been doing for FAR TOO LONG. Oh well.
I hope I manage it, because the 'carrot' (on the stick) of money, position, and social status have absolutely no appeal to me. But this could just be BS. My ego just hiding under the duvet.
One never knows. Most of my thinking and perception is utter BS.
Thank GOD, I know that I don't know. And just don't trust what my head tells me.

Basically I need to go to ANY LENGTHS to complete this seemingly limitless pile of coursework for the next nine weeks.
Scary!

Nine weeks of ANY LENGTHS study.
I need to 'import' the same focus and energy that I HAVE when I am talking to a newcomer, and TRANSPOSE it onto my study obligations. Which are huge. Or seem huge anyway.
Whatever. Just another journey out of the comfort zone, so same ol same ol.
!! Why are there no days off? Ever? There is ALWAYS something new. Something that you do SO APPALLINGLY that only the GREATEST effort will pull it out of the bag.
Well compared to the proficiency I can experience with aa stuff, my level of student expertise is very !! underperforming by comparison.
I'm not cr*p, but I AM crap, at just sitting down and GETTING !!!ON WITH IT!!

Discipline. Where is it? I think I am just a bit unmanageable. Too much the hippy. Too much 'whatever'. It is there with some stuff, but it is not here IN FORCE with the study.
Ah well. Another learning curve on the spiritual curriculum of life!

Todays (and for the next 2-3 years) Spiritual curriculum is:

'How to find a sense of urgency when you have NONE'
'How to (very sensibly) improve ones position in the job market when I have NO belief that outward conditions are responsible for my wellbeing. Basically that it will make NO difference'
'How to find a desire to have a reasonably prestigious job (compared to the one I have now which I dare say will not last very long) when you have NONE'
'How to desire a first degree, (or a good second) when you don't feel that bothered about getting one or not'.
'How to want better pay when you have no hunger to earn more."
'How to have faith in the skills you are learning, when it all looks like pointless mental loops that always miss the mark no matter how skilled one becomes, as it is tied to thought, which is in itself very limited'.
'How to WANT to do something WELL, that can be sought out because it appeals to grandiose instincts in people' BLEH. (Unlike my current job which is not even remotely grandiose.)

This Is an exercise in patience and tolerance towards the limits of these activities, more than anything. And laziness.
Just because they are LIMITED, or SEEM limited compared to step 11 stuff, does NOT give me the excuse, to be HALF HEARTED and LACKLUSTRE about them.
I need to give a s**t, basically.
Apathy! Toward what I see as kind of pointless stuff. That isn't really pointless. People who can do this job well DO serve others in MEANINGFUL ways because they help them GET OUT OF THE S**T.
They sort out problems for people. Using intellectual bags of tricks.
So there IS a point.
So I need to learn how to do this WELL.
So that when someone REALLY NEEDS help with this, (which they WILL), that I am S**T HOT at solving it for them using this new skill!!

See? I might just be talking myself into it!
Perhaps if I become very good at it but choose to do lots of free work for disadvantaged types, instead of getting a well paid job, that might work.?
But I LIKE the well paid ones, because they tend to be REALLY NICE people. (well that's what I find) More satisfied, more mentally alert, more functioning humans overall. Difficult tasks are VERY character building, so people in more sought after jobs tend to have better life skills than those at the bottom. They function better in all sorts of ways. So that's why I like difficult things, and I LOVE!!!! Being around people who are BRILLIANT at what they do. Why? because they are going to ANY LENGTHS. And I find that BEAUTIFUL and MESMERISING to behold.
But yeah, when there is money and status involved, then it can also attract those that value those things highly. But it is my OPINION, that the REALLY good ones, go WAY beyond that. They do what they do out of LOVE of the activity, or as a meditative task of doing.

See? This is why I despair sometimes. Because I can so easily be disappointed. I find myself always drawn to the people who are REALLY ! GOOD at what they do. Which makes me think I will only be TRULY satisfied working in that environment if I am around those kinds of people.
But in order to qualify for that I will HAVE to get a FIRST and work REALLY HARD for the next nine weeks, next 3 years?
But if I'm honest, I respect ANYONE who does this stuff, because it is difficult, and therefore character building.

Aha!
Another way to trick my brain into not seeing the money, (and therefore getting put off by the grandiose, status thing) would be to IMAGINE I am a person WHO NEED NEVER WORK AGAIN, but who CHOOSES TO WORK, to BE OF SERVICE.

So work of this kind would be a sort of a climb down, really.
I would be 'lowering' the quality of my life by taking part in it.

I actually know of people who are in this position. Not personally. But they have VERY FULL lives. Kids, you name it. They have NO NEED to work. Not like you and I do anyway. But they CHOOSE to do a REALLY IMPORTANT and REALLY RATHER DIFFICULT and DEMANDING job, involving LOTS of contact with rather ORDINARY, and sometimes YUKKY people, in an UNGRANDIOSE environment, despite having experienced (what I would see as) PRIVILGED LIVES. Long hours. Demanding situations. DIFFICULT to qualify academically for.
Basically, money is NOT what it is about, for them. Nor position. Or status. Just service. Even though they are paid very well for doing what they do.

So?
See?
What's my excuse? I DON'T HAVE ONE.
See I ADMIRE people like that. So why can't I do the same?
There are LOADS of STINKY charity things I could do with my expertise if I wanted to. But ultimately ALL work is service. Whether it is performed in a grandiose environment or not.
I am just attached to being employed in a very UN grandiose environment, where ego is considered to be DEEPLY UNFASHIONABLE. (which it is really)
But I do not really fit in there.
My mind is languishing in that environment.
My only way of amusing myself while I perform repetitive tasks is to look for opportunities to be of service to others and have a laugh while I go about my work.
And even though it is not grandiose, ego IS there. Just in a different form. It does not take the form of intellectual superiority, or grandiosity, but in the form of some competitive male posturing, and trying to appear 'interesting' or funny, as opposed to dull.
Plus it is a job that cannot sustain profit with increasing overseas competition. So it will die a death at some point in the next ? 5 years. Probably. Or else be replaced with a MUCH ! lower paid version. Well probably. Like HALF what I earn now or something. Or NO job at all because it is all being done overseas. Gawd knows. It does not look promising.

So I should be making hay while the sun shines!
Basically.

See?
I need to APPRECIATE the LONG TERM VALUE of what I am learning AND THE MEANINGFUL OPPORTUNITIES TO BE OF SERVICE THAT IT CAN! AND WILL! PROVIDE.

Despite SOMETIMES being performed in an atmosphere of grandiosity, or intellectual superiority.
IF !!!! I am motivated to study hard enough to qualify, that is!!!

No excuses!
(Like in the film The Pursuit of Happyness)
I NEED what Will Smith HAD in that film!!!

Exactly!
Improving oneself and ones life is IMPORTANT. Whether I like it or not.
Because I dare say I will always be employed in some form or other, so it is in my interests to have other skills under my belt.
So!!
Anyway just thought I would share that with you as that is the stuff I am resolving in my head these days, and thinking it out loud so to speak helps me organize my thoughts.

Right. Whatever. Better get on with it instead of doing this!!!
Jeez. I KNEW that would take FOREVER to explain!
Right. off now!
See you in ? nine weeks ? Hahahaa

Monday, December 24, 2007

A BAD workman blames his tools: Use WHATEVER you are doing as an opportunity to be egoless and present in a life of service

I was thinking about edge from u2 this morning and an interview I heard him do. I really like the way he is sort of EMBARRASED by being a lead guitarist because he sees it as being a bit naff (which very often it can be.) But that's just my opinion. ie. This interview says 'Bono added that Edge is always embarrassed about being a guitar player'
Anyway. I like this because right now my pull between study and aa 'spiritual stuff' is perceived as a 'conflict' because I see the study as a pointless intellectual exercise. Which in its truest sense it IS. But despite that, I think edge was (is) a GREAT guitarist BECAUSE he has so much ? loathing of the 'traditional' egoic role of lead guitarist.
I'm not saying he's got the answers as such, or that he is the perfect example of egoless-ness. I just find his example a useful model for me right now, as it allows me to see the 'good works' that can arise when an egoless state of presence is brought to ANY task. Even a task which is traditionally VERY ego massaging.
It shows the 'good' that can come from something that looks completely pointless and superficial. (You can tell at this point that I will never be volunteering for the next x factor, or for a life in entertainment!)
Whatever. That's just me.
Basically what I'm saying is that when you say, being a guitarist/highly paid professional /brilliant academic/top judge is a pile of sh*te that can NEVER lead to enlightenment. Well that's just BULS*IT.
ANY role can be used in the service of 'waking up'. Any one who blames their ROLE for their unconsciousness is talking out of their A*RSE. Its a COP OUT.

It IS possible for the role of grade A academic to be used as a vehicle for waking up. ANY role can be used.
If I find (what seems to me to be) the pointless to-ing and fro-ing of purely intellectual argument lacking. That is MY problem.

A BAD WORKMAN BLAMES HIS TOOLS.
Edge managed to do it, and I have always liked the results of his labour. I have benefited from it in a significant way, as I find music deeply healing in some ways.
So who am I to pooh-pooh what appears to me POINTLESS academia, which (on a superficial level) CANNOT serve the soul (as such) but leans very much towards the MIND rather than AWARENESS. WHICH IS WHAT I WANT.

I just need a little more faith that although the role of academic SUCKS for me because I feel pulled back into the thinking mind time and time again, instead of a sense of BEING and PRESENCE that I encounter when I use AA as a vehicle to serve something bigger than myself, that there IS a THIRD WAY. And Edge is proof of that. It IS possible to find a egoless presence in an outwardly ego massaging activity.
Basically I miss my 'service fix' when I am pulled into academic thought. But thankfully I have enough presence of mind to know that this is BULLSH*T, and that I CAN do this task from a slightly odd (!) mental place, just like I do when I do my aa stuff.
Basically I am out of my comfort zone, and I am sick and tired of doing academic stuff the 'old' way. I want to do it the SCARY aa way. Where I FEEL my way instead of THINKING my way.
Whatever. I'm sure I will get the hang of this eventually!!!
Hey I have 2 submissions to make by the 8th, so my Christmas will be spent close to books and academic stuff. SCARY SCARY.
Ah well. It can all be used as a way of waking up. That's the main thing.
Plus its a high class problem. Yeah! But (as you can probably tell) I get VERY frustrated when I havent figured out how to do something yet. I want it NOW. Hehheh.

Right yous guys. Have yourselves a GRAND old time, and if you feel a bit 'sucky'. TURN YOUR THOUGHTS TO THOSE YOU CAN HELP.
Hey, works for me! ..Mind you I just put Mr Ekhart Tollle on my ipod when I'm having a scary study moment. Which is too often for my liking! But who wants a life hiding under the duvet? Not me! Scaring myself is the inevitable consequence of stepping out of my comfort zone, and I am FINE with that. (!!) Bring it on!
So have a good time you guys! Much love to you.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

"Do you think honesty comes in degrees? Or is it all or nothing?"


Door at UCL, originally uploaded by Irish friend of Bill.

I saw this posed on another blog and thought it was an interesting question. Anyway, here's what I make of it.

"Do you think honesty comes in degrees? Or is it all or nothing? "

Neither. Those two alternatives are too limiting.
Holding back keeps you in a retrogressive (and very repetitive) groove, regardless of how often you are honest with the less ego puncturing things.
Secondly, its the effort and the intention that betrays the caliber of ones honesty, not the result.
Going to ANY lengths? Well that's gold plated, lustrous and beautiful.
Half measures? Looks as unattractive as it feels.
There is no need to reconfigure the 'terms and conditions' of the AA programme to fulfill a personal definition. Every word in there tells you EXACTLY what you need to know. You need no further definitions.
I am certain, that you KNOW, without a ! moments hesitation, whether you are going to 'any lengths' to tell the ego puncturing truth. Or not.
See? There's your answer.

I have a TON of half finished posts ! Too do because I am in the midst of preparing for a VERY busy academic year. I am VERY!!!! Excited!
Hopefully I will find the time to post them while I go on an shopping spree, and what have you. (Any excuse!)
I WISH I could tell you how many COOL things have 'rearranged' themselves to make my life workable. I have a pretty busy schedule at the best of times, but I need to get quite ! creative when I put some MORE stuff on my plate.
Suffice to say. God is !!! good! Hahaa.
Anyway. That's another post really..
Right. Gotta go.
Bear with me on the comment moderation. There is a 'Restless irritable and discontent' commenter doing the rounds. Again! No change there then!
Right the gym beckons. As does the desperately alluring Apple store..
Have a great Tueday y'all!

(Yeah and three cheers for Johno on getting in to the new course)
Kudos! See? It works!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Inspirational speech by Steve Jobs: Don't let the NOISE of OTHER'S OPINIONS drown out your OWN inner voice

"Your time is LIMITED.
So DON'T WASTE IT living SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE.
Don't be trapped by DOGMA.
which is living with the results of OTHER PEOPLE'S THINKING.

Don't let the NOISE of OTHER'S OPINIONS DROWN OUT your OWN INNER VOICE.

And MOST important,
Have the courage to FOLLOW YOUR HEART AND YOUR INTUITION.

They somehow ALREADY KNOW what you TRULY WANT to BECOME.

EVERYTHING else is secondary."

~Steve Jobs: From the speech he gives to College Graduates on You Tube.

"What you don’t have. You don’t need it now
What you don’t know, you can feel it somehow"
~U2 Beautiful Day.

I love this speech. Its great for those of you that are struggling with career issues, but its also just great for a bunch of other reasons. I LOVE what he says about intuition, and trying to not be BULLIED into conforming to other peoples viewpoints. Or redundant social norms.
Having said that, this applies AFTER step 9 as opposed to before really. But to some extent, you NEED to be able to use your intuition a BIT beforehand. If something smells a bit 'suss', then it may very well be just that.

"Common sense would thus become uncommon sense."
Chapter 1. Bill's Story p13

"We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense."
Chapter 6. Into Action p85

"We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while."
Chapter 6. Into Action p86

"We will intuitively know how to handle situations
which used to baffle us."
Chapter 6. Into Action p83

"I was to test my thinking
by the new God-consciousness within."
Chapter 1. Bill's Story page p13

"We ask God to direct our thinking."
Chapter 6. Into Action p86

"Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane"
Chapter 6. Into Action p86

"We ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought."
Chapter 6. Into Action p86

"We have entered the world of the Spirit."
Chapter 6. Into Action p84

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Careers Counseling

The 2006 edition of What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers,

A careers counselor who works according to the What colour is your parachute book is:
Jo Ouston
07976 262 776
020 7821 8299

Career Analysts
Since our establishment in 1965, tens of thousands of individuals from all walks of life and backgrounds have achieved real career success and personal fulfilment as a direct result of our unique specialist consultancy services.
Over 80% of our business is referred by previous clients.

Monday, July 03, 2006

The pursuit of Success and a 'better life' is a VERY high teaching

Disclaimer: NO major changes till after step 9. Provided you have completed the steps competently! As you may know already I do not think that everyone who is sober in AA has 'recovered'. Even those who have been sober a while. To me, some are 'accidents waiting to happen'. But that is MY opinion. So when I say after step 9, I mean only if you've done it 'properly'.

Ok here we go...
This is more of a post step 9 thing. Usually only affects those who are making GENUINELY positive improvements to their life. And who also have developed a good capacity to 'feel'. Pursuing success while still numb will not have quite the same effect im afraid. Lots of people (in AA and out of AA) are dissociated and numb to some degree. Denial is the root of all dissociation and numbness. If you have successfully become a 'stronger vessel' (as a result of completing the first nine steps) you will have a MUCH greater capacity to experience 'the whole catastrophe', as they call it. Which is a GOOD thing! Great joy and great 'everything else' can be on the menu, if you have 'cleared a channel' with the help of the first nine steps.

If you 'stay where you are' and not venture out of your comfort zone, you will not see this 'stuff' nearly so clearly.
Some people come to AA with GREAT jobs or great houses or partners already, so they have no reason to make improvements in those areas.
But we ALL have own own pathetic, weak places. And if we TRY to make improvements in THOSE areas, then yes, we will enter a very high level of spiritual growth.

Dealing with success and the pursuit of success will show you your 'stuff' like NOTHING else. Its a VERY powerful, respectable spiritual path.
A better job
A more satisfying job
A more satisfying career
A more fulfilling relationship
An improved style of relationship
Trying to be happier
Having a makeover. New hair new make up new wardrobe.
Betting a better body by going to the gym

ALL these things will VERY QUICKLY show you ALL the cracks in your armor.
Also, you MAY (if your life finally starts turning around for the better) start believing that now that you are FINALLY getting the life you always wanted, that you might die.

Fear of Death.
Hard to explain. But if you discover how wonderful life CAN be, you begin to understand the reality of how death can snatch it all away in an instant.
Basically you start to value life. And you see the fragility of life and the possibility of loss much more clearly.
The possibility of loss and death was always there, but you never cared much for life, or cared whether you lived or died, so you never really got to learn this lesson till now.
So don't be alarmed by suddenly fearing death. It doesn't mean something is terribly wrong. It means you are finally realizing that you want to be alive, now that you are learning how to live well.
Even for non alcoholics, when they stumble across a wonderful, life changing partner, they fear death for the first time in a new and powerful way. I see this as a HEALTHY appreciation of life.

Getting in touch with your inferiority.
If you seek improvements, (and are not numb), you will feel strong inferiority, despair, hopelessness, pessimism, bleakness, lack of confidence.
Again this does not mean that something is 'wrong'. Feelings aren't facts. It just means you are no longer numb and you are getting to see your 'stuff' around the area of success. A reflection of your old programming about what you can and can't do, and what you do and don't deserve. Its your 'stuff'. If you behave better than you feel, and do the next right thing anyway, you will come out the other end of the 'tunnel' eventually.
Remember this programme is all about ACTION. Not thinking.
If you get fed up with these waves of negative feelings and thought forms, you can 'treat' them by the usual stuff of going to meetings, communicating your internal environment to your (informed) peers, and helping others. Mainly newcomer women. All these actions will soften the impact of these 'psychic terrorists' on you, and make for a more comfortable ride.
Personally I can turn around the most devastating emotion is less than 2 minutes by talking to a newcomer. Why do you think I love newcomers so much!!
I hope you get an idea of how much 'stuff' I've HAD to process, by how many newcomers I talk to. Hahaaa I have LOADS of 'stuff'. But ultimately I think we ALL have our mountains to climb.

Anyway. Just so you know. Trying to improve your life (if you are not numb and have cleared a channel using the steps) brings you in touch with difficult and uncomfortable internal beliefs and habits. And when you DO finally see how wonderful life CAN be, death becomes a new 'fear' for want of a better word.

All these things are do-able if you are in 'fit spiritual condition', so don't worry about it. Don't be alarmed, or think you must be doing it 'wrong'. Yes they are 'uncomfortable'. But that's all. Its like having a bruise on your leg and you just have to be patient while it gets better and stops hurting. Its nothing to be alarmed about. You just keep on keeping on and it gets better!! Trust me, I'm a doctor!! Hahahaa
Can you see now why its so important to be 'comfortable being uncomfortable?' This is why Patient Endurance is SUCH a valuable skill post step 9. These things REALLY can be NO BIG DEAL. That's my experience! It might feel like being stuck in a whirlwind sometimes, but thank God for newcomers. They save us from ourselves.