The rules I am speaking about are the intangible situations such as because we humans have figured out how to take care of ourselves better and in spite of our medical expenses and insurance crisis we are living longer. To top it off the fifty year old of today really is noticeably different from the 50 year old of even a generation ago. Being of better health and living longer is probably a good thing to since the social security benefit plan that was laid out for our parents is now being deleted pretty fast by the first wave of the baby boomers who have reached retirement. Even with that, because of the economy most of the baby boomers who could of retired are having to stay at work longer than ever before.

So then we run smack dab into several facets of the rules changing in mid-air. Simple things like a resume are having to be completely revamped especially if you’re an older worker. Gone are the times when length and stability with a company is respected. I’m not bitching here, I’m just stating what I’ve seen and experienced. The good news is that if ever there was a population of people who could shake their heads and get on track with all of this, it is the baby boomers. I was only 10 when Woodstock was going on, but I remember the electricity in the air with all the changes happening then too. I have often wondered if many people who were exploring life back then and decided at some point to “grow up” and get a job, have a family and be mature….didn’t just go into a long, long sleep. Many of those people then who are with us now still have that spark of creativity and life within them….they just have to remember.

If there is anyone from then who is reading this now and who needs to keep working and therefore revamp their resume I want to tell you to remember who you are and not focus so much on who you have been.

Ten things for Baby Boomers to remember in the rule-changing job hunt environment:

1 Do not go overboard on your cover letter. Write it with the person in mind who will be reading it even if it goes to a department—some one will read it. Within a couple of paragraphs you should be able to communicate why you are a good choice for the job and specifics on how your experience can help them so that they will want to read your resume;

2 In your resume, get rid of the jargon and jive talking. It is outdated, trust me. Find a concise and creative way to explain what you did and what your responsibilities were;

3 Yes, you and I know that you have many years of experience that has contributed to
your wisdom and that is valuable; however, this is the Google generation now so find
clear cut ways to say what you did and if you can add some natural pizazz to it–all the better (if you know someone in their 20′s or 30′s get their feedback);

4 Do the background research for a job when and where you can. If you can find a person you know or someone that knows someone who works where you are applying for a job, send them a copy of your resume and the job description and let them know that you are applying for a job with their company.

5 When submitting your resume on-line, always copy and paste it within your email unless they ask for it to be attached as a document.

6 Do not give up, do not give up, do not give up. Yes, you may have to accept a position for the time being that you would never have thought you would work at but remember “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”;

7 Constantly be thinking of how you can help a person or place with your expertise and skills. Whittle down the summary of what you do so that it just rolls off your tongue in an easy way whenever the opportunity arises. Don’t be a pain in the ass with this, but think of how you can be of service….you may be able to create a job for yourself.

8 I’m not so sure how I feel about the whole volunteering thing if you are poor and need to have your basic needs met but if your situation is dire, you could volunteer your services for those places that can feed, clothe and shelter you. If you are not poor, then think of those places that could use someone like yourself that you would enjoy working at….it will give you something to do while you’re looking for a job and it will be something that you can be proud to put on your resume.

9 What would you be doing now if money was not an issue? If money makes it not an issue than it isn’t about the money. Believe me, this is my big sticker point right here but my higher self does think this idea rings true. I’m working towards understanding it better.

10 In the meantime, if you are not working now every activity you do to better yourself counts. Start a daily blog if you have access to a PC, there are all kinds of free services out there that you could explore like blog talk radio, think of what you can do to keep your mind sharp and your body healthy and then go do it!

The rules are changing now but then they’ve always been changing the good news is that we are wide enough awake now to see them and make better choices about how we will respond. I’m wondering if perhaps what happened four decades ago is a whole lot of seeds got planted and what we are seeing today is just a huge garden that has gone wild. Sure, a whole lot of weeds need to be pulled and mounds of soil needs to be turned and a whole bunch of thirsty plants and flowers need to be watered but this is your garden that you planted many years ago so the hope of the future is still in there somewhere and only you have got the key.

David Keenan is a former senior executive with Citigroup and Jardine Matheson, he is also trustee of the Estate of James Campbell who is one of the largest landowners, and a visiting professor at Georgetown University.  In his latest book (his seventh!), “Bright Triumphs From Dark Hours: Turning Adversity into Success”, David examines the lives of ten extraordinary people who overcame adversity in their personal or professional lives by applying winning strategies that guided them out of the darkness or near-defeat and into the light of success.

Dang that man could write. I know why he left this world so soon, God wanted to have him close by to hear his interpretations of the world.

I wish that I could fold up those words of Mr. O’Donohue’s and fly them up to God on the wings of a paper airplane. I really believe them, and most especially that “when we perform an action, the invisible within us finds a form and comes to expression”.

He goes on to brilliantly talk about the modern workplace environment and “presence as soul texture”. He says, “Presence is the soul texture of the person. When we speak of this presence in relation to a group of people, we refer to it as atmosphere or ethos. The ethos of a workplace is a very subtle group presence. It is difficult to describe or analyze an ethos; yet you immediately sense its power and effect.”

I understand the belief that we can be who we are no matter what we are doing for work. I understand that the “Lynn” who I really am can be that “Lynn” no matter where she is receiving a paycheck. And in today’s economic times for many of us, this can be a helpful belief for us to remember no matter who we work for and no matter where we go that, by golly, there we are! What I wonder about, though, is what if enough of us began a quiet revolution to find ways to do the kind of work that we truly enjoy and to get paid well enough for it that we can live on our wages. What if we did the research we needed to do to find out what kind of work environment, people, product, service, expression of our souls we could do and then we set out to find ways to make that happen for us without giving up?

What if we created a support network system for each other to keep going, to pick ourselves up when we stumble and keep going, to give each other a pat on the back, to listen when someone needs to be heard and to cheer when someone needs to be celebrated?

So what if we began our silent revolution as soon as we start our next work day (or night)? What if one of the tenants of our mission was to be as true an expression of our souls as possible even when the present is not all that we know it can be?

And if you are in a job/career that expresses your true soul, how can you go deeper? How can you be more of the true you?

In every interaction we have with another person, we leave a little postcard reminder of who we are so in my little postcards I want to decorate them as much as I can with my heart’s truest song.

What about you? How do you express yourself in your work?

In my calm though I am curious about the concept of planting an idea into someone’s sub-or-unconsciousness. I’m sure billions of dollars are spent on this ability by companies wanting to sway consumers to use their products. The ability to plant an idea into someone else’ mind is full of all kinds of ethical questions with freedom being the top verb. Is is a good thing or a bad thing? Is it right or wrong? Even if the idea that you are planting into someone else’ consciousness is a really good thing, is it okay to do it without their conscious approval? Is it possible?

Perhaps these questions are an indication of why I have an excellent b.s. detector inside of me. I may not realize immediately that there is an attempt to plant an idea in me, but my radar goes off that something is going on. When I recruited for a living, one of the methods of recruiting that I would absolutely not employ was to try to seduce someone into a job that may not have been in their best interest. In the long run, it would end up screwing everyone from the employ who took the job and was miserable to the client who hired them to the recruiter who placed them into the job. Most of the time it would end up biting you in the butt if you tried to play a game of cups with someone’s livelihood. We figured out earlier on in the business that it works out much better for all (and certainly helped me sleep through the night) if you described the prospective job as best you could to the applicant so that they were able to make as an informed decision as they could.

Having been in the position to hire many people, I know how easy it can be to plant ideas, but I’d rather have influence on helping someone make the best decision for themselves than to hypnotize them into doing something that may very well have gone against their grain.

Helping people to figure out who they are, what they feel and what are the best choices they can make in their lives is what I love to do. And I know that good teachers can plant ideas into the students heads and leave it up to them whether to nurture and grow the idea or let it go. I realize the movie, “Inception” is just that, a movie, but you know the saying that if we can think it, it is possible. I just hope that people in the position of being able to persuade many, are paying attention to the kinds of seeds they are sowing and in what way. We are all connected and I want to be connected to others because of a willing hand reaching out to hold mine.

Then it is as if the wrath of Khan has been unleashed upon my inner Klingon and if I don’t shed any blood then you can call the meeting well done.

I don’t know what it is about me in a “formal” meeting situation but you would think I had never had any therapy to work out my authority issues or that I hadn’t ever had a job, much less a career, that asked for me to be one of the primary people responsible for the welfare of many. I think what get’s triggered in me during these times is the terrible fear–and warning overload of my system–that people are not going to get along and agree. And so it feels like I transform into a human machine with the main goal being to get the meeting done and over with as quickly as possible with as little loss of life as can be managed. That, or I want to excuse myself and go running into the great oblivion.

This is not the hallmark of a good leader folks and I truly want to be a good leader but it can be scary as hell that is for sure. I got to thinking about this situation and wondered how other people handle themselves in business meetings where sometimes difficult subjects and motions have to be made, talked about and voted upon by a sometimes disparate group of people. This is especially tricky if the group is made up of volunteers whose sole purpose is to be a contributing members of the group to help other people find peace.

No wonder we humans are fighting with each other all over the place on this Earth if even in a simple small group business meeting where the very intention is love, we can get cross ways with each other. I know this is one of those times where I can stop and think to myself, “let it begin with me” but man, when I’m in the middle of a somewhat heightened emotional situation it’s hard to gain control over my brain shouting to either do battle or run. But doesn’t it make us better people, much less leaders, when we are able to rise above the din of our reptilian brain?

This is where we can start people, in our homes and in our offices and yes, even in our behavior with the clerk at the super market or the waitress at the cafe. We can start to connect the dots between our hearts and minds so that what comes out of our mouths is congruous with who we truly want to be. I won’t run away if you won’t run away and I’ll step up to the plate for positions and situations that take me out of my comfort zone as long as you bend a little during my growth spurts.

C’mon people now, smile on your sister everybody get together try to love one another right now.

Right now.

Right now!!

And it got me to thinking. How do you express your creativity? Sometimes we’re creative without thinking of what we do as being creative. For instance, my husband, the web developer is so left brained it isn’t even funny but does he come up with ingenious solutions for all kinds of ways to make our household hum? Yes! I think he is one of the few who is a “bridged thinker” meaning that he is able to access both the left and right side of his brain equally as well.

We can be creative in our business as well. Look at Sam Rosen of Thought Lead (http://thoughtlead.com/) who at 24 creates innovative ways for us to do business all the time with his partners. Also my friend, Mitch Ditkoff and his team at www.ideachampions.com.

I don’t knit (but so many of my friends do), I don’t paint (ditto) but I usually score off the charts in creativity. I think that is because of the way that I look at the world. Let me put it this way, I’d rather score high on creativity than flat out balls to the wall crazy! Because I don’t have children, I don’t have the opportunity to be around kids as much as I’d like to be but I got to say that the kids that I am around seem pretty darn creative to me. I have several friends on FaceBook with kids who are between 3-10 and some of the ideas and ways their kids communicate seem to be very creative. I also have friends with teenagers who are extremely creative so I am heartened to believe that the teens of today will be able to lead the teens of tomorrow in a creative direction towards solutions.

How do you express your creativity? Are you good at communicating difficult points of view with a myriad of people? Do you draw or paint? Are you a musician? Do you knit crazy funny wonderful “animals” like my friend Risa? I’ve loved every single one of them that she has shown me thus far…not too sure what planet this animals come from…but would definitely want a collection of them. Look around at the children in your life, how can you help them be creative? Who helped you to be creative?

Go search on YouTube for “Gravity Cats” and get a laugh. There are so many ways to be creative? What will you create today?

When we harmonize, I believe we are accessing something bigger than ourselves be it a higher power or our higher self, we are stepping out of our egos and into a bigger realm of thinking and being. We are not allowing ourselves to be at the mercy of our emotions and reactions. When we tolerate, there’s a whole lot of opportunity for the ifs and buts to enter into the equation. There is also a line drawn in the sand that we are not willing to move across.

I was thinking today of how many people I know and love who have very different religious and political view points from me (and from each other). I understand today more than I ever have why I have always felt like a very round peg trying to fit into a very square hole. Most of my life my view points have been very divergent from the groups I have been associated with whether it be family or school. For a long time I really thought that there must be something wrong with me because I just wanted everyone to get along. I just wanted there to be a way that we could live side-by-side with our different view points in peace. I felt very tolerated by most. But what I really wanted was to be in harmony.

If you’ve ever heard great harmony (thank you Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney) then you know that there can be two or more very different expressions that can sound beautiful when they harmonize together. Why, even my cats Bunny and K.C. harmonize when they greet me in the morning with their alto and soprano kitty voices. The same thing is possible when we interact with each other about topics that are very sacred and important to our beliefs such as religion or politics to name a few.

In that key, it is possible for us to harmonize our beliefs and make the world a better place. We need the different view points to keep the whole of us strong. However, harmony is not going to happen if we pit against each other because of our various view points and stay stuck in our beliefs. And there sure isn’t any welcoming of opinions when the words and language we use to describe opposing views are caustic and sarcastic. Trust me, I can go there but why? Is it worth hurting or pissing off someone I care about for a momentary satisfaction? (okay, well, sometimes I’ll give you that…).

I realize there is a sophistication to being able to have your own opinions about matters and to discern what to share with others and what to keep to your self. But why not stretch? Why not learn how to listen better so that you can be heard? If we don’t try then who will?

Take a stance to not go into the trance! Decide instead to learn how to harmonize your voice with millions of others—keeping your own special tones–but weaving them in with the many.

Me, me, me,meeeeeeee, mo, mo, mo, mooooooooo……..All together now……

I did make her laugh today during our phone call when I walked outside in my summer shift to pet our cat BunBun only to immediately have a hot flash as soon as I sat down on the sidewalk to pet her and so of course BunBun weaved back and forth between my legs leaving a thin layer of white hair stuck like magnets to my skin.

All in all though, today was a wonderful day. I’m not letting the fear of not having steady income flowing in right now freeze me in my tracks. I’m doing my one percent and leaving the other 99 to my higher power to handle. I went outside this morning to take 30 minutes of quiet time and between the singing leaves of the Cottonwood tree and the sun peaking through the floating clouds I was whisked away only to come to my senses an hour later. I’m storing up in case of stressful times down the road. Filling my tank up with the spiritual nectar of peace so that if and when things ever get harried in my life at some point, I’ve got reserves from which I can reach into.

So, yeah, sometimes the simple tasks of life are a pain in the behind such as trying to dry my hair after washing it in the morning without causing a complete sweat breakdown. Today I felt like I had just finished running a marathon. I could not get my hair dry…..granted it is longer than its ever been and Austin has felt like 80% humidity—-so that my bangs curled every which way no matter how many times I threatened them with the straightening iron. But in the real scheme of things, these kind of setbacks are chump change compared to some of the trials that I’ve had in the past.

I guess I’m thinking of this time in my life in this way, momma always told me there’d be days like this and it really is great fun when we can both laugh at these things together.

Today I thought I was going to get away with just taking the Paul-dog to walk to the mechanic to retrieve my car. I’d had a “talk” with Reality to let her know that I loved her but that I needed to get up there quicker than she could walk. She gave me one very tender kiss in reply and by the time I go through putting on my shoes and pulling my hair back into a pony tail I decided that I could take as long as I needed to and Reality could go for us (I suspected that she was putting those thoughts in my head because at about the same time that I had decided she could go, she popped up from the study where she had been laying and started getting all excited to go).

So we took our walk down the green-green streets of south Austin. Both dogs were so happy to be out and sniffing and finding out what was going on in their “hood”. It’s just so easy to forget that kind of happiness. Don’t you remember having “special” happy times when you were a kid? Like the littlest thing would make me happy such as when we would drive down this one highway in San Antonio and pass my favorite billboard that had Wonder Bread slices continuously falling from the bag onto a plate (course, don’t you know it would have been food that got my attention!). That’s the kind of happy I suspect my dogs feel. To top it off, by the time we’d walked the mile and a half up the street and were about to turn the corner, Reality all of a sudden perked up and got excited because she’d been to the mechanics before. You would have thought we were going to visit Santa himself. Both dogs scampered into the little waiting area with me. Then we all piled into the car and went on a short trip to my favorite coffee shop. My windows are covered with the evidence of my companions this morning. Definitely need to go to the car wash tomorrow. Such simple happiness.

The happiness of our morning excursion stayed with me all day. Had a wonderful interview with Career Intuitive Sue Frederick (www.blogtalkradio.com/Hope42day) and guests, Katherine Shelly and Terri. What fun!?

I’m glad to be reminded about the simple things that can make us happy. And I’m especially grateful for happy black dogs….

Allow me to elaborate.

For all you who have gone before me, I bow down to you in reverence. Thank you for clearing the pathway for all of us who are now coming around. I think what’s different for my generation is that there is just so dang many of us and we’re all having the same collective experience at roughly the same time. Oh joy! Oh Joy! Course, I’m sure if we looked back to the time period when we were all entering puberty the Earth probably experienced something like a gigantic burp then as well. I never expected to feel the most awake that I have ever felt about so many things at this time in my life. What the hey?!?!? The reality of who I am now is not jibing at all with the mental picture of who I thought I would be. In many ways, that’s a good thing. I really think there was a part of me that thought I would never make it this far in life (and you know several friends and family members probably thought the same thing!).

But, here I am. Reaching out for every rose, ray of sunshine, grain of sand between my toes and helping to fluff out brilliant ideas. I’m having the mood swings of a 13 year old with the understanding and resilience of someone many decades older. Today I had several episodes of hot flashes and it was just so bizarre. Feeling cold and hot at the same time. And me, being me, felt the need to prepare the two people I had meetings with today that at some point in our time together they may look over at me and wonder if I was melting and I assured them that they should know that I would be quite alright. Upon my telling one of these friends she popped up and brought back a whole tray of over-sized dinner napkins for patting the glisten from my face. I was kind of shocked that she thought I might need so many and then the thought raced through my mind that I wasn’t quite sure how these particular napkins would respond to my level of sweat…would they break apart into little white napkin eggs on my face or come off like little miniature pancakes. Either scenario was not my preference, but I’m a trouble shooter so my brain was helping me think through for a solution to the worst case scenario. I did end up hopping up at one point and making a passing comment to disarm her with laughter as I made a beeline to the bathroom. Then I had a new choice to decide if I wanted to use one of her “guest” towels and totally wet it with water to apply to my face or to use the toilet paper. You know the former would have been a better choice than the latter. I did remove all tell tale signs of tp from my face and neck before returning to our meeting.

But such is the life of middle age woman in menopause. Really though, do I have to be so conscious throughout this process? How did it end up that I would be so sober and abstinent from everything that could have taken my mind off of this process now? What macabre joke did my higher self conspire with my higher power to create for me now? Not that I’m complaining, it’s just pretty darn funny.

I’m grateful that there are so many of us (both male and female) going through this time in our lives right now. Most of my life and definitely in my younger years I was marked for being an “air head”. Later on I decided that what was really going on was that I was so intelligent and had so many thoughts occurring simultaneously that I could not decide which thread to pick up first. Now, I have a whole posse of people who are having trouble recalling basic words in moments of sharing for others and we are all rushing to help each other finish our paragraphs of genius as if we have all signed on for some gigantic game of charades. Somehow I’ve landed amongst my people. I can seem brilliant and at the same time help people feel good about themselves for helping me to finish a thought.

I’m sure there is some beauty during this time that I have just not wrapped my mind around yet. It’s a passage. It’s a major life passage. In some cultures, this is the time when great ceremonies would take place for the woman to step into her wisdom. I’ll take the wisdom but you can have the hot flashes if you’d like.

There was something really important that I was going to end this share with tonight but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was? I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks. Just please let me know what gorgeous thoughts you think I would have had….