This morning I had some great discussion with the young couple I referred to last night. We met them for brunch, and we had fun getting better acquainted.
A fair amount of discussion I had with them on a more individual level throughout the morning centered on human resources, hiring, jobs, and leadership. Alisson, who is in management in human resources for a huge global company, has a great take on hiring. Jonathon, too, who has been in leadership positions in business, reinforced the concepts as applied to leadership. I have thought frequently over the past few months about addressing human resources and hiring through the lens and philosophy of Heart-centered energy. Over the seventeen years I was in public education, I saw the consequences of extremely poor hiring practices, principles of good formats and formulas either unknown or foolishly ignored. I want to interject a thought here about one of those oft-quoted realities: it’s not what you know but who you know. The idea that people get hired because they know someone or because a favor is owed, maybe most especially in a school district, reeks of stupidity, insincerity, and wastefulness. It happened in the district where I worked way more times than I even know over the course of seventeen years. It might be a reality, but that needs to change. People who hire others like that should be fired themselves if they are untrainable. Hell, I couldn’t believe how I was hired. I was really good, and I was older when I was certified by the state. I went in for my “interview,” one which I had prepared for and had focused on educational philosophy, because how could anyone think of hiring me if my beliefs about kids and delivery of instruction didn’t match theirs? They really didn’t care. I had a cooperating teacher who was part of the accepted district society, and she took me into central office and introduced me to the assistant superintendent of secondary education. We talked about the same high school we both had attended. He literally yelled across the office to the superintendent after about an hour and a half and asked why I hadn’t been given a contract yet. The superintendent yelled back to send me over. He shook my hand, took down all the information he needed for the contract, and said I was hired. They had no idea how radical and progressive my ideas were about education. I was recognized for my teaching and leadership, even though what I did was many times antithetical to the district’s desires, but my point is that I should probably never have been hired the way I was. They were clueless. And that happened dozens of times; in fact, they ended up with legal difficulties because of such stupidity. That is not the way to hire. Back to my regularly scheduled post! My new friend spoke of how hiring the right people poses a real challenge in a large, global organization. Her company has done some great work, adapting and developing their own strategies; it’s not some casual thought about someone “seeming” like they would be good. There are formats and formulas they follow. However the process is done, I think the only acceptable candidates who I would hire would be those with intrinsic motivation to engage in a job. If they cannot see what personal value beyond salary they would gain from the job, I wouldn’t hire them. If they could not make me see and understand the value they have to offer, I wouldn’t hire them. Who would I hire? People with a Heart-centered life. Ego-driven folks would quickly discover the exit doors; they wouldn’t stay inside without Heart-related purpose. I would want a prospective employee who has awakened to Self and has a true sense of self-identity. Consequently, they would have developed a purpose. Could a hiring manager always know if a candidate was living in Heart or Ego energy? No. However, systems of questions, such as exist now with savvy HR people, could help, and at the very least people would be hired who see and desire intrinsic dynamics. Such people can be developed. I would want to know how they see, even in a minor way, how the job is related to their identity and purpose. This, then, is something that supervisors need to know, encourage, and develop to help new employees develop towards their purpose and towards becoming leaders themselves. This is solid. Why do I care about this, because I am not an HR person? Because I care about people and the state of society, I would desire to encounter happy, professional people at any level of job. I would love to see people know why they are doing what they are doing and what their aspirations are. I would love to be able to engage in the fellowship of the Heart with many more people on a daily basis. (By the way, coming out of this weekend I am thankful for being able to share time with Alisson, Jonathon, and Yael in just that way!). Blessings as you begin the work week!
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Okay, I am going to share here what I have not shared before. I definitely have some, not total but some, OCD tendencies. I understand the panic that arises from things not being done the way they are “supposed” to be done. For the first time in over a year, I did not publish a Morning Pages — or later version. Many feelings of fear of losing followers, being considered unreliable, or a fraud, or other fears flooded my soul earlier today.
How did this happen? I am going to share this all in short order. I’m exhausted, it’s late, and other things happened today that I count as the magic of following my Heart. No other explanation. I just hope I have not let folks down. Here are the stories. First, I met a young man who came to our door selling smart home security systems. He came by on Wednesday, and he was a good salesman, but that means little to me in terms of buying shit. I know what they’re doing and how they do it. However, when I spent almost an hour speaking to him on the front porch, I knew we had a Heart connection based on our discussion. If that wasn’t enough, he knocked on the door this morning out of genuine courtesy based on my interest the other night. We decided to allow him to play his three minute video. Yeah, he sold us a system — great deal with Vivint! However, when he told me his Heart-vision of being an illustrator of animations, showed me some of his portfolio, told me of his and his significant other’s health challenges, and asked me for advice, it was beyond a sale. When he followed up an hour after he left asking for more information and ways to connect, requesting if he could see me next week, this confirmed that it was a Heart-connection — more than a sale. It may not seem much to many; to me, however, it thrills my soul. Because of this — and the installation of the most amazing system I’ve seen, done within an hour — I did not get my “Pages” post written and published. Ugh! I knew I valued the blessing of this fellowship and connection, but my Ego raged. So irrational, but I welcomed it. I got it. I wouldn’t have in the past. Ego really doesn’t want me to pursue the course of nonconformity I am on; however, if Ego could make me feel so horrible about not posting as usual, it knew I could be led to consider just quitting. No, I will not. Besides, this type of connection is the reality of the things I write about — the value of fellowship, connections, and a practical love. Yes, I understood that, but on a normal day, I would still have been able to produce my “Pages.” Not today, though, because we had tickets, very expensive tickets, to the St. Louis Cardinals ballgame. We had to leave. We did. Only a half hour behind schedule. While I enjoyed getting to the stadium, having some great food and drinks, lots of drinks, I knew in the back of my mind I did not publish a “Pages” post. (I actually wrote four lines, but I kept getting interrupted.) I posted two pics of our evening with captions, but I knew… Who I didn’t know was the younger couple we would meet at the ballgame. While we watched the game, our conversation — within the confines of a relatively exclusive section of the stadium with all-inclusive amenities — centered around not only baseball but also life and, specifically, my writing and philosophy. Several hours. Wonderful connections. Blessed connections, I would say. And here is my point this evening: I write about the value and experiences I have had concerning such times and ties as this. I would not knowingly shun living such opportunities in favor of simply writing about the philosophy of such times. Heart-connections are precious, sacred, and they should be honored as such, honored with yielding to live the realities instead of espousing the philosophy. Here are the pros and cons of today: I didn’t get a “Pages” published. I did stay connected with my tribe on social media. I am getting my article for Day 505 published here. And the best pro of today is I have an appointment to see the salesman of our smart home security system on Monday; that is a done deal, so his visit has little to do with that. Then, we already have tomorrow morning brunch scheduled with the younger couple from the ballpark. I’d say those are positive, blessed trade-offs for missing a post. Do you hear that, Ego? Lol! Very loud! My encouragement to any reading these words is to always live your truth, show your Heart, rather than just talking or telling about it. Much more sacred and healthy for Heart-energized souls and minds. Living truth instead of talking about it results in or is an issue of that magic of living in Heart-energy. Try it. You’ll like it! Blessings! I enjoyed the mild breezes, partly cloudy skies, and eighty degree temperatures today. Beautiful day, one that suited me well, an upbeat day in which I rejoiced in my personal truth.
Even though it is late, now, I just came in from outside. Even though I’m content with the day, I’m not satisfied to stay put in my current situation. By that I mean I am amped up to get my short nonfiction book published, available for sale. I want to market it, speak about the concepts contained in it, coach individuals who care about themselves and what they have to offer to this Universe and their fellow creatures, and maybe even develop it all into a workshop. I feel this spirit of adventure, and today suited that spirit. I have immensely enjoyed these many months of producing a nightly article, and for a slightly shorter time the “Pages” production and the extra post at night. I have learned much, and I wish to learn more. I’m doing that as I prepare to publish. I want to do this because it’s me, it’s my offering to myself and the Universe, the same thing I think I help others to do. I need to be the keeper of who I am, of what my personal truth is. I am all about Discovery. I wrote earlier today about the connection I felt with the physical aspects of the day, the physical imbued with the essence of Spirit in all. I like the way I said it: “I have been filled with this joy in knowing this wonderful unity exists, yet I do not lose my self-identity in the grandeur of it all. In fact, I’m given, I’ve taken, this identity to explore and then discover this personal reality bound to the rest of the Universe. I, Michael Foster DePung, Discovery, find delight in this all, and it serves as my personal proof of my personal truth. To you, yours!” Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s well-known poem “Ulysses” fits that mood for me today. (Even though at this moment I just returned from walking my dogs and I’m pissed at my girl for not taking a piss — because she saw another dog!) It’s a poem of living one’s truth, disregarding any other expectations. Through my metaphysical lens, that is exactly the way I interpret the sentiments in the poem. When Ulysses, after three years of treading water in others’ truths, others’ expectations, he says, “I cannot rest from travel.” It was his Heart. It was the only way he could experience fulfillment and significance: “…I will drink / Life to the lees.” Yes, he could have had respect, reputation, power, wealth, and ease if he had stayed, but he would have not been true to himself. Are those things that sound so good really the primary measures people use to gauge success? If they do not arise from knowing Self and following Heart, then they are bitter disappointments in the end game. However, following Heart produces ever-expanding horizons, because this is an infinite Universe set in motion and energized by infinite Spirit. That Spirit is in me as Heart, and Spirit has imbued itself in some way in all of creation, which is why Ulysses could say, “I am part of all that I have met.” Yet, while there is an intimate connection with all, there is our unique self-identity to live and make known so that the rest of creation can interact solidly with us. I am ready to forge ahead and know the reality of living my truth and joys: “Yet all experience is an arch wherthro’ / Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades / For ever and forever when I move.” It takes our motion in our Purpose to know the fullness of life, to feel the significance and joy of living that we came here to experience. We have to do something, and when we do it, the possibilities for more are limitless! Even though I have been on my journey and loved the way I have chosen and created, there is more, more I have set in motion and will sail towards. Ulysses made sure his basic responsibilities were met by helping others to realize their gifts, to discover Self and develop purpose, which happened with his son Telemachus who would now rule over the kingdom: “He works his work, I mine.” We each have our created purpose, if we bother to create it. Then, Ulysses called for those who knew their purpose was related to, connected with, his: “My mariners, / Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me — / That ever with a frolic welcome took / The thunder and the sunshine… .” This is the fellowship of the Heart, those who can join in some way and to some extent with one another and stay in concert with their own Heart. And it’s a joy, “a frolic welcome.” Tonight, then, I invite you, if you have read this far, to live the emotional part of Ulysses’ sentiment with me. I need you to respond in order to help me focus on a name for my little nonfiction book. I have three possible titles for it, but before I give them to you, here is one possible description of the book: Remember that sweet, warm, velvet summer night sky, littered with the stars of the constellations, each one flashing its essence at you: “What’s life all about?” Turn your wondering into wandering through the pages of [title of this book]. If you’re a dreamer, then this book will help you turn dreams into purpose, vision, mission, and goals. Then, go answer the stars and tell the whole Universe what your life is all about! Three possible titles: 1. We All Wanna Know: Discovering Self and Creating Purpose 2. Discovering Self and Creating Purpose: Who Am I? Why Am I Here? 3. We All Wanna Know: Who Am I? Why Am I Here? If you wish to be part of this journey, let me know. Maybe response on my Facebook or Instagram accounts would be easiest for me to keep tabs on responses. Blessings! I have a question, something I’ve been thinking of since yesterday. If we acknowledge that we as human beings have a spiritual component, can that part of us have no greater energy, essence, than just as it exists within us? In other words, is there nothing beyond what is contained within the realm of this physical body? Is my concept of Heart being an expression of Spirit in a physical form a fallacy? Is there no Spirit, no source energy from which laws of the Universe flow, emanate, are organized, one to which we are linked? Okay, I suppose I have more than one question.
I also have my thoughts, opinions, beliefs, philosophy about these, obviously. In fact, they are so strong I do not feel a need to answer any of those questions in some sort of treatise tonight, maybe ever. I believe my personal truth, and that makes it valid. Because I have Heart and that dynamic within me, being an expression of Universal Spirit within me, has connection, a spiritual, energetic connection, with Spirit and, therefore, with others, I sense many fellow humans seek the things I have lived, discovered, and shared. Those things — ideas, experiences, and philosophy — are mine, and I share them. My hope is they help others discover their own truths for themselves, that which leads to their own purpose and mission so they will live those and share them with others, maybe with me. Full, significant lives means we live our truth in happiness and have the opportunity to interact, share, connect, and bless one another. It doesn’t mean we all have to believe the same — at all. Carl Jung, who understood much about human psychology, said, “The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases” (https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/38285.C_G_Jung?page=1). And this is why I believe we can each have and live our own personal truth and still live in harmony. Oh, there can be honest disagreement and conflict about some very practical matters, and those may be sharp. However, this is where Heart and Ego truth come into play for me. Ego takes people to places of defensive stances that will either produce conformity and kill thought or it will escalate conflict to the point of abrogating the rights of others. If, then, we act in Heart and come to some place of resolution, we act on a principle stronger than our self-contained universe, in my opinion. That stands as proof of an interrelatedness that is greater than just me. But I don’t need anyone else to believe that. I think the overriding principle here is love, and love resolves differences in honest light because when true love exists, even when there is disagreement, the fear and threat of condemnation or violence does not exist. Jung spoke to this, also: “Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other” (https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/38285.C_G_Jung?page=1). We can work through the shadows, the darkness, the contraries within ourselves and between one another without insisting on others believe as we do — if love rules. Just some random thoughts tonight, but love is never random uselessness. Blessings in pursuing your personal truth! Tonight’s post is definitely going to be short. I’m tired, it’s late, and I have a few quick points to make.
I met with my editor today after conferring with my graphic designer yesterday, so tomorrow in my other social media platforms, I will be requesting input for titles to my book. I have written and posted on IG and FB, offering what I hope has been valuable. After 502 days, I get an ask, to be followed by more when my book is published. Do you know why I seek to offer value? Despite the previous paragraph, it is not to be able to ask you for things. At some point, though, we need to be involved in a mutual relationship, which is a reality with a few of you. Beyond that, I seek to offer value because you are valuable to me. Yes, you, whoever is reading this. Do you know why you’re valuable to me? Because we’re all in this together — that’s why. In this dynamic called life, we are social creatures. If everyone realized the value of a human being, we would not have all the misery and degradations that some heap on others. However, I’m not examining these issues tonight. Today was the first time in all of these hundreds of thousands of words I’ve written that I was actually challenged about my practical philosophy — at least I feel it’s practical. My editor told me flat out that he neither understands nor agrees with what I propose about life and the psychological and emotional composition of a human being. This was extremely beneficial because it made me think through the fact that I, perhaps, have not emphasized very much. What I share is my personal truth. I have written about many topics, applying my personal truth about the Ego-Heart operating systems and how I see them applied to life in many facets and expressions. In fact, in my book, I explain how I personally see all of history and human behavior in the light of these forces within us. It is a metaphysical view, which I don’t mention much, but I think my writing makes my explorations and personal discoveries relatively simple. What I have not done is insist that people have to “believe” the way I believe. I have shared that if people are searching or unhappy or some state in between that my view of life provides a framework they may be able to use, one which can provoke thought and their personal discoveries. I have not sought to establish some systematized philosophy. Please understand that. I offer my personal truth in the context of my purpose and mission. I want to stimulate exploration and discovery not only in intra- and interpersonal relationships, but also I wish to excite people about physical wonders of the Earth and Universe, about examining innumerable expressions in all the arts, about the works and artifices of humanity, our history and the possibilities for our future. My personal truth, my understanding of how we arrive here with Ego and Heart allows me to make my own discoveries in all of these areas. It thrills me to think about life through this lens. However, I don’t need you to buy into my terminology or conclusions at all. I only want you to enjoy life. I think I make a case for that; however, as Walt Whitman said, the reader has as much work as the writer in making meaning. Therefore, I do not explain systematized religion or other ethical theories. Commonalities between what I write about and what others have produced is synchronicity. I do not need others to justify me nor will I justify them. William Blake, who I may be writing more of tomorrow, said in the late 18th century, “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.” I create. Readers evaluate. And my burning desire is we both continue to discover. Blessings in the joy of discovery in your life! |
Questions to consider:How many times have you asked yourself or simply thought about the following questions?
Who am I, really? What is my truth? How do my actions reveal what I really feel and believe? What would I do with my life if I could do anything? What is my passion? Why am I here? How can I discover answers to any of these questions? If you have considered any of these questions, I hope that my experiences and writing will give you some guidance. Please read my blog and comment and share your thoughts. I would love to hear from you! Archives
December 2019
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