Category Archives: unemployed

SOAPBOX of the week: carpe diem, folks!

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 “There is a difference between the waiting of the prophet and the standing still of the fool.”     – Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher

 

SO, you say you’re waiting for the perfect time to do …something.  No doubt you sound like a broken record…even to yourself… because fear has paralyzed and reduced you to excuse-filled victim of circumstance.  What are you waiting for?  The cows to come home?  Hell to freeze over?  The stars to align?  Well, for all you don’t know, existing outside your self-protective bubble of naive expectations, there’s a herd of cud-chewers standing, on frozen ground, under a sparkling constellation…waiting on you!  No alarm will sound.  No telegram will proclaim: “The perfect time has arrived.  Go for it!”  Tell yourself it’s here!  Right now!  Passionately dive into creating the experience you’ve been keeping from yourself and embrace the freedom that comes from ignoring the ticking clock.

Copyright 2000-2009 by Kimberlie Dykeman
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.
A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

SOAPBOX of the week: the learning curves of life

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 “All things are difficult before they are easy.”     – Dr. Thomas Fuller, physician & preacher

Very few things in life come with an instruction manual, estimation of time to completion, or list of things you’ll have to weather to succeed.  Reminisce closing your first deal, raising a kiddo, heck, even learning how to tie your shoes.  But even if directions were available to us for the things we choose to undertake, a peculiar variable called “the learning curve” shows up.  It’s a mystery how our genetic makeup sets our level of intellect and how quickly we simply “get it”.  But the ultimate deciding factors of how swiftly you triumph over a challenge are your determination and your discipline.   Nothing is impossible, folks.  And when you don’t stand in your own way, everything can become a beautiful walk in the park.

Copyright 2000-2009 by Kimberlie Dykeman
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.
A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

SOAPBOX of the week: the dessert of life

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“Having a dream that you don’t pursue, is like buying an ice cream cone
and watching it melt all over your hand!”     – Anon

So, what’ll be, folks?  Chocolate or vanilla?  Or a stack of napkins?

Copyright 2000-2009 by Kimberlie Dykeman
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.
A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

SOAPBOX of the week: new year, old wisdom

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“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”     – John Quincy Adams, US President

Gooooooood morning, race fans! How’s the ride so far? Let me guess. As soon as the second hand strikes and Dick Clark alarmclocks the world onto a clean slate, you set to full throttle and take off like a mid-life-crisis man in a new Corvette.

With heart pounding and champagne in your eyes, you decide that you will take the wheel and make things go your way this year, come hell or high water. Righting the wrongs. Shaking the systems. Cutting the fat. Testing the waters. Revolutionizing the resolutions. Painting a free-wheeling, forward thinking phantasmagoric mural of all that is, was, and ever will be the real future perfect you deserve. All in the name of an unyielding loyalty to the natural selection of self, at least until about mid-February.

I must confess, I too burn a rouge of rubber just as eagerly each year. Even ponder the thought that the heavens will magically open up and confetti my little field of dreams with all the blessing and adornments that I’ve kept cooped up for the past twelve months. Sound familiar? Well, I have both good and bad news for you.

Bad news first: A supercharged vehicle won’t get you through the roadblocks any faster. No matter how much shifting and strategizing you perform, the course will dictate your life’s journey. Not the other way around. And if you’re thinking you can brainstorm your agenda-ed TripTik into an immediate reality, think again. Enough with the red line, race fans, you’re libel to blow the whole engine again.

Now for the good news: You’ve already done the work. You’ve got the ride, the route, and reason for success in all pillars of your future. So, recline with the resonating truth that patience remains the worthwhile virtue that will never fail to fuel your expedition. Coast over your holographic horizon to discover another bountifully balanced year ahead, in body, mind, and spirit. And embrace the magical open road.

Copyright 2000-2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman. 
This vignette is an excerpt from Pure Soapbox… a cleansing jolt of perspective, motivation, and humor  (July 2008)
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.
A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

SOAPBOX of the week: the demise of excess and avarice

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“Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising.”   – John Lahr, drama critic

Supply and demand used to be so simple.  A work-in-progress of balancing out the have’s and have-not’s, meeting needs while doing “good business.”  What you see is what you get.  And it made calm sense.  Now, the offerings are fantastical in design, superfluous in number and sizzled as solutions for immediate happiness.  We’ve grown to not only expect more of such uncategorized stuff, we feel entitled to bigger, better, faster as well!  Greed overshadows need, and guilt counters with acceptable addictions.  It’s another chicken or egg parable, because amidst the overpromising big print, it’s still your choice to suffer the small print which taketh away.  Choose to sedate the urges for more, more, more, for too much will always be too much, folks.

Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman
Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.
A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

SOAPBOX of the week: honoring the bountiful big picture

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“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned,     so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”     – Joseph Campbell, educator and writer
   
The Big Picture. What does yours include:  Early retirement?  World travel?  Think you’re destined to wear the title of CEO, proud parent, famous author, or couple of the year?  Is everything going as planned?  Fifty bucks says…no.  Be honest: you’ve had a few changes of plans.  A few screw-ups.  Folks, WE ALL HAVE!  But, some of you label these twists as ultimate justification for not becoming the man or woman you were supposed to.  And without knowing it you set a path for “hell or high water”, blind to the countless other glorious options right at your feet!  Finding opportunity in adversity isn’t an opportunity –it’s a necessity.  Plan A or BUST is certain to be the latter…especially when life has so much more to offer that any of your plans ever could.

Copyright 2000-2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

Pure Soapbox available nationwide online and where books are sold.

A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.