On The Subject of Procrastination:

I’m reminded of the animals who are settling down in their nest for that long winter’s nap; they sniff and circle, and circle, then sniff the area again, and circle some more until they find just the right spot to park their butt.  It's not so much wasting time, as it is making sure your nest is ready for that long journey into Never-Never Land, during the long sleep.

I imagine every writer is different, in their approach to parking their butt.  It can exclude you from the outside world.  So, what is it?  What makes order turn to chaos?  What pushes that button, to shut out the environment around you?  It all reverts back to that word, creativity. 

It’s not so much an illusive word, as much as it is a word that involves that “other” self; the self that floats and drifts, to conjure scenes, elements, and people with extraordinary means.  It’s a tug-of-war: To do or not to do; to say or not to say.  An actor staying in character, a writer becoming that character, when the outside world begs to differ, and challenge that person you've become, while delving into that character’s mind. 

It’s not a world that will always be pleasant to the writer; it’s not a world that is always secure, at times questioning, challenging the psyche to a breaking point.  It can be a vortex, a black hole, or on better days, a place of recognition of loved ones, a breathing space; a pleasurable escape from whatever beckons from the world outside of your nesting place.

Being creative can exhilarate, fulfill, damn and frustrate.

So what makes it all happen?  What’s it all about? What’s the draw? 

The key word is NEED.  Just as the animal needs to prepare for that long dream, we need to prepare for OUR long dream, and the long journey it takes before we fully wake to the world of reality.  We are two in one...selves.  Understanding this makes that drive, run, journey, into a need that is more acceptable. 

Procrastination is a prerequisite for some writers; a must; calm before the storm of creative adventure. 

The Downfall of an Honest Living...

When Companies Grow Bigger Than Their Britches

When did companies start to lose interest in their employees?  The family man, the woman at the job sight with kids at home to feed and clothe; when did the personal relations between the owners and the workers start to fall apart?

 

Family owned businesses brought families together, working together to make a living for themselves, and for the future of their employees to come.  Growing businesses mean growing income; growing income means more product or services to provide, and this leads to people hired to complete those services.  The expansion balloons; more stress, more needs, more worries to shuttle around - to avoid.

With responsibilities compounding, more responsibility is delegated to workers in management.  Here lies the dissolution of familial relationships.

 

The employer, now at the top, can only see their immediate surroundings, that snow caped mountain in which to take their immediate family for winter vacations; they can no longer see the valley beneath them; their extended family, their employees, where common man and woman live, eking out a life that is driven by a standardized cost of living wage, a wage that no longer can support their families.  

The equality, between employer and employee, is driven apart by the need for money.  The standards are no longer equal.

The employer now raises his own cost of living, by demanding more money to seek their own pleasurable needs, forgetting that they had employees who were once part and parcel to being their family in creative equality.

There will never be equality, that’s a given, but there should be recognition, understanding, and a giving heart.

Were it not for the hard work; of the employee, there would not be that mountain top of security for the employer.