wihtlft: as i get older ...

from aarp.org

well @jenimvt @billn6 ... as i continue recuperating, here is #2 of the series(?) after yesterday's post. and the dots i connected this afternoon - aging, early bird specials, generations, and ...

when i chatted with my mail man this afternoon, i realized i am going to continue getting mail (paper and electronic) - mail you all won't get for several years (unless you become a member). yup! with the half-decade mark in sight next year, i am eligible for ... wait for it ... membership with AARP. and i must say - COOL features and info on their website!

older workforce ... a little side bar - i learned that the fed's (as part of the age discrimination in employment act of 1967) define an older workforce member as one who is 40 years or older. (give THAT some thought)

AARP ... formerly the american association of retired persons, i have learned AARP, for people 50 years and older, has quite the potpourri of stuff - lots of stuff. feel free to peruse AARP; for now, here's my quick tour for you -

• membership is reasonable at $16/year (or less) - and by the way, ya don't have to be 50 years old to join!
• a big event of life@50+ in new orleans later this year in september
• deals, deals, deals! discounts galore at brick & mortar and on-line vendors
• health tools 'cuz i can't get enough of searching symptoms (spill-over from yesterday), and brain tools 'cuz can't get enough of keeping the brain active
• food stuff with recipes, health eats, and tips like the 10 superfoods
• vermont special deals even exist
• a cool photo gallery of what 50 looks like
• technology tips including protecting my digital life
• and even a free on-line expressive drawing course

my peeps and my generation ...  well, i can only imagine the discussions my friends and i will have as we - the mish-mash of late baby boomers, gen x, millennial interests - will be discussing. we already talk about our creaking joints, being asleep before 11 pm (heck, before 10 pm), new-found knowledge about a fiber-rich food, and reunions. though we are not quite spring chickens, we have our spirit - and soon, maybe we'll compare our drawings from the AARP expressive drawing course.

infographic me ... may as well have some sort of template for this "series", so here's an infographic - generation related. hmmm ... looks like some adult millennials may not be getting enough sleep. 

Created by: MBA Online

wihtlft: as i get older ...

thanks @jenimvt @billn6 for yesterday's (saturday's) messages. though i wish we were next door neighbors, the 3-hour time difference and text messaging was awesome! and as a result, i'll start my short series of posts about what i have to look forward to ... based on whatever random thoughts collide and connect as i spend time on the web, e.g., emails, facebook, twitter, blogs, tumblr, ... inspired by our text messages and/or chats!

(NOTE: if you choose to read on, this post has references 

to scatology and "the change" ... just sayin')

 

what i have to look forward to ... as i get older,  inspired by this morning's web troll -

• new facebook improv friend just had a prime number birthday (29)
• read blog post dear GOP: you do know how pregnancy works, right?
• contemplated pro-choice, pro-life, and just being a human being
• listened to my joints creak while i finished up stretches via my pep pads
• revisited my tiny habits for a refresher
• trolled through twitter and came across corporate rebels united (and their scoop.it)
• revisited my google reader for some minor differences at the oatmeal and came across being in love at ...
• and then started to clean out old email newsletters when i came across women to women (yup, really!)

result? ... choices and aging. i started thinking about what choices i have as i get older - i can choose ...

• to eat better, 
• to exercise regularly, 
• to decide how much social media to digest, 
• whom to date,
• when (and whether) i read my unread emails

... BUT i can NOT choose what perimenopausal / menopausal symptoms i have as i stroll into toward 50 years old next year. i fell down the interwebs menopausal rabbit-hole, curious about what choices i do NOT have. read on or don't read on, this is what i learned ...

• many(!) symptoms ... web site with 34 menopause symptoms including
  • beyond hot flashes, there are ember flashes
  • as part of digestive problems, i could get bloating and constipation
• what?! there is a website called poop doc, which includes a menopause blurb
• and when i think doctor, i think dr. oz (of course), and we ALL know dr. oz TOTALLY has poop info and episodes (just word search) and even a video clip on poop primer (shape, consistency, color)
• and to bring it back around, here's what dr. oz has to offer about a functional medicine approach to menopause and his menopause survival guide
• one more other doctor, christiane northrup of women's bodies, women's wisdom on the perimenopause transition 
• and yet another symptom - sleep disorders (ugh!)

. birthday . pro-choice . healthy habits . gathering information .  

. fiber . being a woman . menopause . symptoms . 

. hot flashes . poop . menopause . insomnia .

infographic me ... i looked for any infographics on my connecting the dots*. menopause? none. poop? yes, the facts about poop. sleep? yes, the secret to better sleep.


More Health and Fitness
News & Tips at Greatist. * CONTEXT: because thoughts are like dots ... i like to connect them. sometimes the dots/thoughts relate (in the conventional sense), sometimes they don't (simply because others may not see the relationship), and always they make sense, at least to me, at the time i connect the thoughts.

sharing bigger tidbit ...

brownian motion? equilibrium

yesterday's share ... after yesterday's meditation, post-pondering and creating, exercising, locking myself out of my home, and other morning comedy, i also submitted a proposal to present something (at a september 2012 conference by applied improvisation network) - AND that something that i'd love to share would be related to my blog post content of still pondering: share what?!...   

lather, rinse, repeat ... granted, i have been in a bit of a lather, rinse, repeat mode of contemplating, compiling, and creating - and now with a "trigger" of a yesterday deadline to share a proposal, here are a few tidbits from my submittal (within the prescribed word count limits) -

• 

  still ruminating

  my bio ... 25+ workforce years in government, consulting, utility, and self-employment, my philosophy involves servant leadership, improv, behaviors, and possibility. educated engineer, also life’s workplace explorer and storyteller, catalyst, connector of randomness.
• session description ... A TED Talk style session, my presentation would be around “HOW to BEHAVE in ONE-on-ONE interactions to be the CATALYSTS of

  

  from BJ Fogg's Beavior Model site

  POSSIBILITY through SERVANT LEADERSHIP and IMPROV.”  (Title would be shorter) I have never given this presentation and would love to do so. I would incorporate the teachings and learnings of Dov Seidman, BJ Fogg, T2 Performance Solutions, Robert Greenleaf, and the principles of mentoring and improv. I would present my background of how I have come to believe that this approach to “share____” (term still to be coined to represent the “shared equilibrium” of communications) can be readily part of one’s creating a more positive workplace experience. And I would give examples of the do’s and don’ts. 



from T2 Performance Solutions

• communications related ... It is a one-on-one type of interaction that has a basic framework while using the characteristics of servant leadership and the "rules" of improv play.
• transformation related ... The one-on-one approach I have is rooted in existing workplace basics, yet involves engaging in a shared and vested interest in another workplace person’s personal and professional development and values.
• a few more thoughts ... Frankly, because I am still in gathering all my thoughts, I am not sure if what I have (will have) would be a 5-minute or 15-minute session. I do believe I can share my session in 5-minutes (with practice, maybe kind of like an "Ignite" format).  However, I also believe that I can create a 15-minute session (or up to 15-minutes).

be the change ... with the theme of the conference, we were asked "does your program related to be the change? if so, how?" here is my response via wordle.

 

CATALYSTS of POSSIBILITY

still pondering: share what?! ...

just share yourself

through servant leadership and improv
 

my morning thoughts after meditation ... while i am still in creating mode, i ponder the similarities of servant leadership and improv, i am very much interested in the ONE-on-ONE interactions that spurs those small cultural shifts - which frankly are the CATALYSTS for more palpable shifts. while i am sure others have explored servant leadership and improv, i am glad to be part of the exploration, and i intend to bring my little nifty tools to share with others. as i shared in my final paper with the greenleaf academy -

"By observing and reflecting on my workplace, I intend to explore the use of language – written, verbal, artistic expression – to affect workplace satisfaction. Three topic areas that I am pursuing include: systems ... storytelling ... philosophy."

For Now, I Choose the Petri Dish:

Unwritten Rules and Alphabet Soup

key practices paper, p. 1

key practices paper, p. 2

honest discovery, observation, and reaction [are] better than contrived  invention ... listen ... connections cannot be avoided ... respect choices made by others ... accept and build ... avoid preconceived notions ... welcome the silences ... there is action in thought ... reflect each other's ideas .

 

patience, perseverance, POSSIBILITY, and dogged belief ... i believe very much that one person can and should make a difference. and i further believe that sharing is part of making a difference. moreover i believe that HOW i have experienced making a difference (and continue to do so) - through lessons learned, from mentors, from observations, from family - can also be experienced by others. 

i believe a person can make a difference
in what may seem like an indifferent 

(or to some, uncaring) workspace.

choose BEHAVIORS ... in particular, because of the cubeopolis world that many people are part and participate, i recognize the healthy and unhealthy behaviors among various interactions. i have contributed both to the healthy and unhealthy - and i am continuing to strive to choose healthy. (every once in a while, i eat the figurative cubeopolis bag of chili fries, but at least i realize i have made the choice to do so and will experience whatever outcome from doing so.) although arguably rooted in my own value system, it is fair to say that within the context of cubeopolis's written and unwritten rules, the intent is to have a fair and happy cuebopolis culture. and likewise, such a culture would be rooted in its own value system.

LISTENING ... empathy . healing . awareness . persuasion . conceptualization . foresight . stewardship . building community . commitment to the growth of people . self-awareness . changing the pyramid . developing your colleagues . coaching, not controlling . unleashing the energy and intelligence of others .

 

as i re-read my morning's post-meditation yip-yap, 

i believe i'm moving toward...

HOW to BEHAVE in ONE-on-ONE interactions 

to be the CATALYSTS of POSSIBILITY 

through SERVANT LEADERSHIP and IMPROV

f|break: franco ramble

image from: TMZ.com

yes, james franco (on imdb, whosay, facebook). i shared back in april 2011 a fiber break blog post with a few videos of franco on the colbert report and SNL. (chuckles)

crushing franco? ... hmmm, i don't think so because it's not like my mike rowe crush, though there is something about franco. je ne sais quoi. maybe it was his sleeping in a class. (it reminds me of when i fell asleep in a college lecture in the first row (front and center) during one of my classes; i knocked over a full cup of orange juice. i respect sleepers!) anyway, while i'm figuring that out, here's a franco funny or die clip about his ucla commencement speech - not.

enjoy a fiber break of james franco (over here)

for ~ 5:57 minutes on funny or die

James Franco's Rejected UCLA Commencement Speech from James Franco     

college ... it takes minds into space like a rocket 

(this is where i get my jetpack, fire it up, fly over the audience)

who doesn't fucking fall asleep in class?

go out and make babies

totally pondering ...

circles and arrows 
any which way or this way?!

i have been slowly chipping away at my greenleaf three topic areas that i shared, and since then, i also have been ruminating about how to articulate my ideas about my mash-up of share + esteem or sharesteem (or even improv + esteem = improvesteem) ... an approach about how two people connect and support each other in a kind of equilibrium, influenced by several basics of improv ...

honest discovery, observation, and reaction [are] better than contrived  invention ... listen ... connections cannot be avoided ... respect choices made by others ... accept and build ... avoid preconceived notions ... welcome the silences ... there is action in thought ... reflect each other's ideas .

... and against the backdrop of servant leadership traits ...

LISTENING ... empathy . healing . awareness . persuasion . conceptualization . foresight . stewardship . building community . commitment to the growth of people . self-awareness . changing the pyramid . developing your colleagues . coaching, not controlling . unleashing the energy and intelligence of others .

while i ponder, journal, doodle, spew, and jibber-jabber, i find myself pleasantly surprised at each day's gifts/offerings of inspiration and reminders.

hmmm... 

maybe it's something like

no arrows

and just circles?

 

i will keep ruminating

f|break: inception ...

... simpsons style - thanks the simpsons (on facebook, twitter, web) for the technicolor fun inception-esque episode. bedwetting? shameful eddie's - the embarrassing problem superstore's uralaram? loved the very(!) early-on simpsons. (no saito?) (image from fox broadcasting youtube) and as for the episode it self, just a few nifty quotes (best to watch for context) to whet one's appetite.

enjoy a fiber break with the simpsons (over here)

for ~1:40 minute trailer of their 500th episode

"typical dream nonsense"

"... you'll get your change in bacon"

"oh death, you're a life saver"

"come on everybody, feel daddy's underpants"