Work

Get Your Idealism On

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Forecast March 29–April 4, 2021

workNikki Harper – Got ideals? Do something about them.

This week begins with a Mercury-Neptune conjunction on Monday, blending inspiration, intuition and innovation into one idealistically inclined burst of wonder. This is energy which can carry you right through the week and which sets the tone for a collective drive to make things better.

For once, this isn’t just a fizzle of idealism which fades away when confronted with life’s stark realities. There are numerous helpful sextiles in play this week which keep prodding us and showing us what’s possible, even when circumstances say no. Continue reading →

Overburdened Intentions and Fear Leads the Way

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workJennifer Hoffman – When I purchased what I thought was a little stand for my phone, I thought I was getting something great. Except that it didn’t work as I imaged it would. The problem was I was trying to get it to do many things it could not do and was not made to do. Once I learned that and what it was actually designed to do I was much les disappointed in it and actually found it to be very useful.

This is one way we overburden our intentions – putting all of our expectations on them and then expecting them to multi-task in 8 different directions. Another way is allowing fear to dominate the conversation when we expect to fail and see every small speed bump as a massive (and sometimes very welcome and appreciated) road block. Continue reading →

The Decline of American Exceptionalism

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workJonathan R. Verlin – Two worldviews are fighting to claim the identity of America in the 21st century.  One is centered upon Judeo-Christian morality and encompasses discipline, virtue, courage, and the dignity of being an American.  The other promotes lawlessness, endless grievances, class-racial-gender conflicts, and plain name-calling.  The former encompasses American exceptionalism, individual freedom with responsibility, and classic ideas and ideals of the rights of man as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

At the same time, the left focuses on the negatives of U.S. history as well as upon vindictiveness and conflict to reach its goals.  We see these hostile themes reflected in the public utterances of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both of whom sucked the milk of radicalism from the famous community organizer Saul Alinsky.  Additionally, since President Donald Trump’s nomination, we have heard the nonstop screeds and vindictive words from the leadership of the Democratic Party. Continue reading →

Ann Albers ~ Messages From The Angels

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workThe Angels – You have heard us so many times saying, “Listen to your heart now. Live in the present. Find the love now.” We realize that this is confusing to some. How can you desire a future, while also living now? The answer is not so difficult. If you feel in your heart right now, that there is something you want to create, then by all means, you are living now. You are loving a dream now. You are loving a solution now. The dream or solution may not be here yet in linear time, but you are loving it now. You are willing to work for it now. You are present to your own heart now.

Say you want to go on a vacation. The thought arises in your heart now. In the present, you take great joy in working a little more, knowing that you are saving money for your vacation. You take joy in the preparations. Your anticipation of the future becomes part of your joy now. You choose to lovingly work “outwardly” now to have what you want later. The thought of your future vacation fills your “now” with love and joy.

However, suppose you find no joy whatsoever in working overtime, but you still want that vacation. Drop into your heart. Dear God I want the vacation but I don’t want to work more hours. I guess I will have to grow, surrender, and deepen my faith in your ability to bring this to me. I will have to trust in right timing. I choose to lovingly work “inwardly” now to have what I want. The thought of your vacation and the anticipation of the miracles that will create it bring you joy in the present.

If however you say, “I don’t want to work harder! I don’t want to wait for the miracle! I want it now! Why can’t I have it now?! I will not be happy until I have what I want! I guess I’ll give up!. I guess God doesn’t care!” we would lovingly tease you that you are simply throwing a tantrum. If you refuse to be happy until you have something external, then dear ones, you are simply in resistance to the point and purpose of your life on earth, and that is indeed a source of suffering. Continue reading →

The Old Models of Work Are Broken

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workCharles Hugh Smith – Though we are still in the early stages of web-enabled automation, it’s already evident that the old models of work are broken–though few are willing to admit it. The primary model of work is being an employee in a hierarchy–Corporate America or the state (government) or a government-funded industry (defense, higher education, R&D, Medicare, etc.)

The foundation of employee financial security is the paycheck, which is earned for 1) showing up and 2) following orders.

In the employee model, ownership is generally limited to those with stock options. Those working for start-ups that successfully go public can cash in their options for extraordinary profits; those working for start-ups that fizzle can use their expired options as bathroom wallpaper.

The conventional employee gets no ownership of their work, and this disconnect between the employee and the value created by the employee’s labor is the source of Marx’s definition of alienation: the worker is alienated from the output of his/her labor, which is owned by others.
In the new model of work, the worker has ownership of his/her work and human capital. Security in the new model flows not from dependence on an employer but on ownership of the entire process of value creation which includes the social and human capital of skills, collaboration, accountability and creativity.

I explain this process in my book Get a Job, Build a Real Career and Defy a Bewildering Economy.

As Gordon Long and I discuss in this program on the changing nature of work, in the new model Continue reading →