SO.          .           .
ARE WE MORE THAN OUR WORDS.           .               .
WHAT ONE PERSON SAID:

“I have reached the pinnacle of success in business.” In other people’s eyes my life is a success.

However, aside from work, I’ve had little joy.

At the end of the day, wealth is just a fact I’ve gotten used to.

Right now, lying on my hospital bed, reminiscing all my life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth I took so much pride in, has faded and become meaningless in the face of imminent death.

You can hire someone to drive your car or make money for you, but you can’t hire someone to stand sick and die for you.

Material things lost can be found again. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost: Life.

Whatever stage of life we are currently at, in time we will face the day the curtain closes.

Love your family, spouse, children and friends… Treat them right .

Cherish them.

As we get older, and wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $300 or $30 watch both give the same time

Whether we have a $300 or $30 wallet or purse, the amount inside is the same.

Whether we drive a $150,000 car or a $30,000 car, the road and the distance are the same, and we reach the same destination.

Whether we drink a $1000 or $10 bottle of wine, the hangover is the same.

Whether the house in which we live is 100 or 1000 square meters, loneliness is the same.

You will realize that your true inner happiness does not come from material things of this world.

Whether you travel first class or economy class, if the plane crashes, you go down with it…

Therefore, I hope you realize, when you have friends, brothers and sisters, with whom you discuss, laugh, talk, sing, talk about north-south-east or heaven and earth,… this is the real happiness!!

An indisputable fact of life:
Don’t raise your children to be rich.

Educate them to be happy.

When they grow up, they will know the value of things and not the price. “

WHERE DO WE TURN??
WHO DO WE TRUST??
WHAT TO BELIEVE??

All good questions that have been pop corning around in our heads for nearly a month now as Covid seems to be subsiding or at least becoming manageable.

The very least I could do as an ongoing becoming a better Caring Catalyst is to share some fo the resources I’ve consulted over these past few weeks to make some sense of what’s happening a half of a world away from most of us.  Hence, I wanted to share:

The Greater Good Resources for Peace and Conflict

They gathered articles that explore the roots of peace, war, and reconciliation; offer resources for well-being and activism; and most of all, remind us of human goodness.

The folks at the Greater Good Science Center, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is provoking a range of emotions: sadness, anger, fear, and more. We’re reading the news every day and wishing that there were more we could do to help.

As an educational nonprofit, the folks at the Greater Good Science Center,  understand the best we can do, perhaps, is to remind ourselves and their readers that peace is always possible, the vast majority of people resist killing, even the most violent primates are capable of change, there are steps we can all take to bridge our differences, and activism can make the world a better place. They’ve gathered articles below to help you understand the roots of peace, war, and reconciliation; get involved in activism; and support your well-being and your children’s—including reminders of human goodness in times of conflict. This is just one humble beggar showing another hungry beggar where he got some much needed sustenance.

If you’d like to find a more direct way to support the people of Ukraine, the Greater Good Science Center editors shared their friends at KQED recommendations who created this excellent list of organizations addressing the human crises that war creates. We hope you’ll consider making a donation to one of them.

Click to jump to a section:

Promoting peace and reconciliation
Reminders of human goodness
How political apology and forgiveness works
Resources for well-being and activism
Resources for children’s well-being

Promoting peace and reconciliation

• What Can We Learn From the World’s Most Peaceful Societies?: A multidisciplinary team of researchers is discovering what makes some societies more peaceful than others.
• Why Is There Peace?: Violence is declining, argues psychologist Steven Pinker. What are we doing right?
• Truth and Reconciliation: Forgiveness is not just personally rewarding. It’s also a political necessity, says Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He explains how forgiveness allowed South Africans to imagine a new beginning—one based on honesty, peace, and compassion.
• To Resolve Conflicts, Get Up and Move: Researcher Peter T. Coleman has found an unlikely path to peace: Move your body to help your mind get unstuck.

Reminders of human goodness

• Hope on the Battlefield: Military leaders know a secret: The vast majority of people are overwhelmingly reluctant to take a human life.
• Courage Under Fire: When the Bosnian civil war broke out, Svetlana Broz searched for the humanity behind the horrific headlines. She found stories of people who risked their lives to help victims of the war—and who inspired others to follow their example.
• Worlds Without War: Ethnographic studies find that not all societies make war. In other words, war is not intrinsic to humankind.
• Beyond Sex and Violence: Contrary to the typical view, violence is something humans resort to out of fear—or try to avoid altogether.
• Peace Among Primates: Anyone who says peace is not part of human nature knows too little about primates, including ourselves.

How political apology and forgiveness works

• The Forgiveness Instinct: To understand the human potential for peace, we have to learn three simple truths about forgiveness and revenge.
• The Greatest Test: Forgiveness improves health and strengthens relationships. But can it help heal the scars of civil war?
• Making Peace Through Apology: Some apologies encourage forgiveness and reconciliation between groups and nations; others only make things worse. Here’s how to tell the difference.
• What Makes a Political Apology Seem Sincere?: When is a political apology likely to be well-received? A new study explores the contributing factors.
• How Should a Group Apologize to People They Harmed?: A new study investigates which components of an apology foster forgiveness and reconciliation between groups.

Resources for well-being and activism

• Six Tips to Avoid Being Overwhelmed by the News: Here’s how to cope when all the negative news is triggering you.
• How to Sustain Your Activism: These three principles can help activists avoid burnout and continue working toward a better world.
• How to Renew Your Compassion in the Face of Suffering: Mass suffering can make us feel helpless. Focusing on solutions, rather than emotions, may be the way out.

Resources for children’s well-being

• Nine Tips for Talking to Kids about Trauma: In the midst of tragedy, kids will have questions. How do we respond?
• Five Ways to Support Students Affected by Trauma: Teachers can help students recognize their strengths and build resilience.
• Can Parents Teach Peace?: A recent study suggests they can, at least some of the time.

LET US WORK TOGETHER
TO BE CARING CATALYSTS ENOUGH
TO NOT JUST WORK TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
BUT ACTUALLY 
BE THE DIFFERENCE NEEDED NOW

 Do What You Love?

Or, Love What You Do?

David Sturt and Todd Nordstrom , CONTRIBUTOR Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own, reported back on March 13, 2015 some pretty eye-opening stuff all of us who hold burning candles at both ends and in the middle 

NEED   TO   TAKE   NOTICE

Since some of the earliest writings from the world’s most prolific thought leaders the notion of doing what you love (seeking a career that fills you with passion) has been discussed at length. But with current research showing how many people are disengaged, dissatisfied, and frustrated at work, we wondered is it possible to flip the words—is it possible to simply love what you do—your current job?

Q        U        I        C        K:

ARE   YOU   LOVING   WHAT   YOU   ARE   DOING 

RIGHT  HERE

RIGHT  NOW

ON  APRIL 11, 2018.          .          .?

Finding a job you love is age-old advice. Confucius probably has the best longstanding quote about “do what you love.” His words, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” have been repeated throughout history. Or consider Warren Buffett’s words, “Take a job that you love.” And let’s not forget the prolific thoughts of Maya Angelou who said “…pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.”

Does anyone advocate the opposite approach—telling people to love what they do? We did not have to look far to find the advice of Steve Jobs who said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Image courtesy of shutterstock.com

 Curious about our own experiences in the workplace, we began reviewing previous job titles we have had over the years. Between the two of us, we’ve held titles like: fire inspector, market research manager, disk jockey, product development director, wind surfing instructor, creative director, and the list goes on. As we discussed our roles, we couldn’t help but talk about the positions we loved, and those we knew weren’t the perfect fit. And apart from one position (we won’t admit who it was) of company mascot, which consisted of wearing a fuzzy cow suit and dancing down parade routes in the middle of summer, we loved each of the jobs we had (the cow suit was extremely hot, it was ridiculous, but pardon the pun, ‘Holy cow it was fun’).

Are we typical of most workers? Science actually gives us some insight.

The “find a job you love” advice listed above is easy to buy into for those who love their jobs. But for those who still don’t love their work, should they quit their current job and chase the dream of the job they would love? Or can people learn to find meaning and success in their current job? The answer is ‘yes.’ And here’s why.

Research shows that great work (award-winning work) is produced when people focus on doing something others love. The Great Work Study showed that 88% of projects that earned awards began with an employee asking their own version of the question, “What difference could I make that other people would love?”

LOVE YOUR WORK:  IT’S ALL ABOUT THEM, NOT YOU

The same study, a combined effort between O.C.Tanner Institute and Forbes Insights, found that all caps of work being studied shared a single intention–the work was focused on making a difference that someone else would love, instead of the person performing the work.  They were focused on the recipient  of their work–their customer, their colleague who depends on them, their leader who trusts in them, the community who expects their support, or others who benefit from their work.      .       .

SO HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE:

Loving your job is one thing–the activities and responsibilities you have on a day to day basis.  But loving the impact of your job has on someone else is another .  If you don’t totally hate your job but find you’re not that happy with what you are doing, try this one little simple thing: GO AND SEE YOUR WORK BEING RECEIVED!  See how it impacts someone else, another co-worker, a client, another team, or whoever benefits from your work.          .          .follow the ripple; SEE WHAT SHORES THEY LAP UPON.          .          .

Kahlil Gibran wrote:

Work is love made visible.  And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the Temple and take alms of those who work with joy.          .          .”

Kind of makes

Burning the Candle at both ends and in the middle

take another a whole different perspective

ESPECIALLY  WHEN  YOU  KNOW

THE   SOURCE

THE  HOME

of the where the

WAX  AND  WICK

a b i d e.          .          .

Now.          .          .

That has you bringing

s       h       a       r       i       n       g

a   different   kind   of

w     a     r     m     e     r           g     l     o     w