August 14, 2009 at 5:52 pm
The following is by inspirational author Erica M. Nelson (AuthorEricaNelson@gmail.com or read more at www.EricaNelson.com):
What is synchronicity and how can I apply it to my life?
When embarking upon experiencing prosperity and expansion in today’s wild atmosphere of layoffs, cut backs and downsizing, it is vital to tap into as many resources that you can identify.
I want to bring up a concept that not everyone realizes can be captured and put into place intentionally. How can you “cause” synchronicity?
Before we get into how to tap synchronicity, I will pause and explain how some people have experienced synchronicity, first. One example a client sent me from Colorado. She contacted her alumni office from her college, years after graduation. Just that morning, an employer had contacted the alumni office and posted a job opportunity in California that was a perfect fit for her professional goals and she ended up landing the position.
A few years back, my husband was having trouble finding work in the tech industry. He was looking for a change. He ran into the owner of a commercial glass company who was moaning because his foreman had left unexpectedly. The owner ended up hiring my husband – and six years later he is still thriving as a commercial glazier.
So, synchronicity is “being in the right place at the right time.” It happens all the time, and it happens for everyone. Some people take notice, others do not. Your phone rings right when you walk in the door. You want a new kitty and someone sends you an e-mail with pictures of adorable kittens who are seeking a new home.
First of all, it is so much easier to be in synchronicity than not to experience it. You want to understand that when your critical mind gets out of the way, this stuff naturally happens. It is happening all the time.
Meditation can heighten one’s experiences of synchronicity. Being in gratitude and thinking kind thoughts can stimulate more experiences of synchronicity. When you let it happen, it will.
You can think about networking as advanced “causal” synchronicity. It works easier when you are not seeking to advance your own cause, as much as to experience good will and service towards others. When you are seeking to serve others, good fortune will unfold for you. This is one of those cool mysteries of the universe.
Today, expect synchronicity. Watch how much of it is going on around you, all the time.
August 12, 2009 at 5:50 pm
The following is by inspirational author Erica M. Nelson (AuthorEricaNelson@gmail.com or read more at www.EricaNelson.com):
Here are some practical steps to take:
1. Listen to the advice given by this individual. He or she is taking precious time out of his or her day to spend with you. Appreciate and acknowledge this. So often we will ask for advice and then we don’t want to hear what the person suggests. Even if you find the advice such that you may have heard it a dozen times, be of open mind and communicate receptivity to the advice he or she shares.
2. Find out if he or she is seeking something for which you may be of assistance. Even a plumber! Listen to his or her needs, if this comes out, and see if you cannot be of service in some small way to this individual.
3. Keep two to three key points in mind that you wish to communicate. Perhaps something like “I am seeking a position with a company that is working on exciting technological advances.” Or something like “I am seeking a position where I can be part of a project team. I have always excelled as an individual contributor.”
4. Define yourself well enough so that if in the next few months, an opening or connection occurs to the person, this person will remember you and make the match on your behalf.
5. Even if you are insecure and feel that you have not been successful in your job search to date, leave those insecurities at home. It doesn’t really matter to the person you are meeting whether your job search has been successful or fruitless. Who cares? No one except you and possibly your family. Define your job search to date from the framework of success. Be careful about your language around this. If you can’t say anything good, then don’t talk about your search at all. “I am open to the right position now,” or “I am looking for opportunities where my skills can make a difference” could be descriptions that frame your search in a positive light. You are a more desirable candidate when you are focused on landing the next position and not looking backwards at all of the places where you looked and did not find something.
6. Sing a few of your own praises in a way that is calm or connected. “I’ve been successful in the past when I …” “I seem to always land on my feet. Thank you for your time. Please let me know if you have other suggestions for people I might be able to meet with to further my search.” See if he or she can recommend another person to meet with on your networking journey.
Then, be sure to follow up with a thank you card, ideally a hand-written, mailed, actual card with an actual stamp, with no ulterior motives. Just a brief note that says thank you for your time, would be great. You would be surprised how nicely a real card will behave in comparison to a quick e-mail note. I have personally seen my cards sitting on the person’s desk or kept on their fridge months after I sent them. You don’t see e-mails printed out and tacked on someone’s wall. Be the difference, stand out. Why not?
August 11, 2009 at 5:47 pm
The following is by inspirational author Erica M. Nelson (AuthorEricaNelson@gmail.com or read more at www.EricaNelson.com):
When you are networking, you are activating the “reticular activating system” within the person you meet. This is the system that causes you to see pregnant women when you are pregnant (or your spouse is pregnant); causes you to see red BMWs when you just purchased a red BMW; and so forth. Millions of impressions are in your environment at any given time, and our human brains can only focus on a finite number of them – typically less than 10. So, what you are doing when you are networking is to awaken that part of the other person’s brain that recognizes opportunities for a person such as yourself.
Realize that success could be defined a year from now or six months from now. Do not approach the lunch as though this person has the key to your future – that is too much pressure for a stranger to take on!
August 10, 2009 at 5:47 pm
The following was written by inspirational author Erica M. Nelson (AuthorEricaNelson@gmail.com or read more at www.EricaNelson.com):
How do you break into something new? How do you land where you want to land?
See it done first. Vision it. Picture it. Play out it being done in your mind. This is called pre-paving. Picture things going well. Become that individual you have in your mind’s eye.
Use language that reinforces the person you wish to become. Use words, descriptions, and powerful comments to firm up who you want to become.
Consider that everyone around you wants you to stay the same. Or at the very least, finds it less work to identify you as someone they know in a certain way.
To break into a new level, start with yourself. Talk about yourself as someone who is at this level. Manage things as though, indeed, the new you is already here.
Know your gifts. Have you forgotten your gifts? When people get into a negative mindset, they normally are not filled to the brimming with joy about the gifts they came to the planet to share.
Each of us on this planet has a gift. Or many. Find your gifts, honor them, and have more fun while you are doing so. Life is a gift, pouring through you.
Break into a new field or a new endeavor with zest. Why not?
August 7, 2009 at 3:20 pm
A Nebraska friend wrote this:
The flickering was so faint I thought it was a figment of my runaway imagination, or maybe just a poor night’s sleep playing tricks on my tired, middle aged eyes, so I ‘compartmentalized’ the experience and left home, and its ‘now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t foolishness’,
‘Compartmentalize’ is a hum-dinger of a word, not only is it imposing in it’s own right, it gives the impression I know something about psychology…which I don’t, except for an almost-sensible explanation by a friend, “Pack things away you don’t want to deal with in an imaginary box, tie it shut with imaginary string, hide it away on an imaginary shelf in an imaginary closet; open at your leisure…or not at all.
During the day, while I juggled kids, tire shop customers, and phone calls the pretend box sat in the dusty semi-dark of my make-believe closet alongside other compartmentalized cartons labeled refinish kitchen floor-April,199, lose ten pounds-January,1984, wash windows-July, 2009. Every so often a pale, ghost-like flicker peeped from under the lid, but for the most part all was quiet.
Ultimately the day’s work gave way to evening chores, then to supper and various household tasks. As twilight deepened into dusk something strange began to happen…the air conditioner groaned like an overworked beast of burden, lights dimmed and brightened and dimmed again, and computer surge protectors beeped out so many warning chirps they began to sound like a couple of lovesick crickets on a hot summer’s night.
It was time to look inside the box.
After a fruitless hour of checking breaker boxes and various wiring diagrams Dale admitted defeat and called Roosevelt Public Power’s emergency number. By the time their truck arrived the entire farmyard, including my parent’s house, was experiencing a partial blackout.
When the after-hours lineman descended the electrical pole which stands behind my ‘across-the-road-scarecrow’ he gave us the bad news: “The transformer is shot” , he said. “We’ll bring a new one in the morning……..a statement which turned out to be overly optimistic. We spent most of yesterday living like pioneers.
Tonight the power is back on, steady, strong, and uninterrupted; we have water, lights, air conditioning and all the modern day comforts again.
We take a lot for granted in this great country of ours. It’s easy to forget what pampered lives we live, how soft we’ve become, how spoiled; we’ve lost the survival skills which came as second nature to our grandparents and great-grandparents……even a few hours of unexpected darkness causes us to bumble around our homes like strangers.
I once read the results of survey taken by a popular fashion magazine which had asked ‘Which invention/discovery of the last hundred years do you think has impacted women’s lives the most?” Women offered up frivolous self-centered answers such as ‘the electric hair dryer’ and ‘electric dishwasher’ without giving a second thought to the power plants and U.S. electrical grid which makes our lives so comfortable. (One especially dizzy-headed woman said she simply couldn’t live without an eyelash curler…..but we won’t talk about her.)
I really can’t fault those women……I’m not much better…..when I flip a switch I expect the lights to go on, when I open a freezer door I expect the ice cream to be frozen, and I expect…no, demand….that our home be cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Americans have grown complacent about the life they lead; they’ve boxed up all their blessings and forgotten about them.
It’s time to clean the closet.
Karen
