10Sep 2014 by CJ

Planning is great, but can you adjust when things don’t go your way?

Life & Living
Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Many times we start out with a realistic, achievable plan in life – one we’ve taken great time to nurture and revise based on circumstances we forgot to include when we started. But what I’ve come to understand in my almost 40 years of living is that plans rarely go the way we “plan” them in our heads. This derailment of expectations can oftentimes lead us to an unfamiliar environment with no road map or contingency plan to help us navigate through the uncharted waters of life. For some it’s cause for anxiety and even sadness – feeling utterly defeated at the failure of what…
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09Sep 2014 by CJ

It seems society has forgotten what true communication really is

Life & Living
Forgive me, but I feel the need to repeat myself on the subject of communication. This was posted a year ago on The View from Here, and sadly not much has changed. In fact I think the problem’s gotten worse. Emails, voicemails and text messages are all acceptable means of communication in our technologically advanced society. I believe that no matter which method you choose to deliver your message, a response would be an appropriate expectation, right? Sometimes I really wonder if I’m completely invisible or dead and don’t know it. It seems no matter how I choose to communicate (personally or professionally) people don’t always feel that compelled to get back to me with a proper response. But maybe it really isn’t me. George Bernard Shaw once wrote that…
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07Sep 2014 by CJ

Don’t let yourself be a “joy-stealer” in life

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
“Watch out for the joy-stealers: gossip, criticism, complaining, faultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude.” - Joyce Meyer Here’s a question you’ve probably never asked yourself before – are you a joy-stealer? Are you that person that people eventually stop confiding in because of your uncanny ability to deflate every ounce of happiness from a situation (many times undeservingly)? Regardless of one’s situation or circumstance, we all possess opinions about the way in which others conduct their lives. It’s human nature I suppose to be critical of others based heavily on their contradictions of our own lives. While the majority of us have enough self-control (and etiquette for that matter) to simply contain our opinions, others have somehow managed to convince themselves that they are the authorities on what is and…
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05Sep 2014 by CJ

A little boy’s death helps put life into perspective

Information & Education, Life & Living, Youth
Every now then you get passed all the sensational headlines today’s news outlets cram down your throat, and discover a story overflowing with sentiment. So much so that you can’t quite shake the profound impact it’s left upon your heart and in your mind. I recently came across such a story about a young boy name Cole. After reading his tale, told bravely by his father Tony, it left me with so many unanswered questions about life, religion, the universe and all the material possessions we believe are vital for our survival. Sadly, Cole died two and a half years ago from neuroblastoma - a common childhood cancer. He was just five years old at the time. When I came across the following paragraph, I was actually overwhelmed with tears…
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02Sep 2014 by CJ

An envelope and a stamp used to be enough to apply for a job

Life & Living
As I continue to search for a meaningful job in the state of Colorado, I was recently asked by a would-be employer to create something using three objects: a pencil, a lemon and a 1957 Chevy. Remember the days when all you needed to do was submit your resume through the mail? Times certainly have changed. Anyway, here’s what I came up with. For decades, life has been compared to that cheerfully yellow citrus fruit people gather in clear jars as centerpieces or dangle on the side of a tall-glass of iced tea. Unfortunately for the lemon, that comparison is void of flatteries for as the saying goes, “when life gives you lemons…make lemonade!” Automobiles have also used that cheerfully yellow citrus fruit to describe a car that’s a “pile…
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