Leveraging LinkedIn

Do you use LinkedIn effectively? If you are interested, I'm leading a workshop at Graylyn International Conference Center in Winston-Salem, NC on September 16th "Leveraging LinkedIn."

Details and Registration HERE.

A Poem about Renewal

Renewal

frozen limbs bound in fear

eyes too dry for anymore tears

my heart lies latent in my chest

hoping, longing for endless rest

where are the dreams of days gone by

was it all some cruel perverted lie

can i move from this coffin skin

will my iced soul ever live again?

pain within, pain without

too parched my voice to release a shout

all that moves in this locked cage

is the glimmer of fire known as rage

where are the dreams of days gone by

was it all some cruel perverted lie

can i move from this coffin skin

will my iced soul ever live again?

explosion within, shattering these bonds

screams of life, demanding a new dawn

i will live, this day again will be

found zeal for life for i've been freed

here are the dreams of today my friends

laughter and wonder as this drama ascends

playing a part, living again

freed for the journey, ever to begin

freed for the journey, freed for this quest

living again to discover the rest

Truth's guided quest, a path of delight

ever onward, strive for the light

here are the dreams of today my friends

laughter and wonder as this drama ascends

playing a part, living again

freed for the journey, ever to begin

Beneath Still Waters

placid ripples radiate

out from the stone's wake

it falls into silence

downward

from a nameless toss it came

flying in a moment

failing to break gravity's spell

downward

descending the abyss

parting waters of primeval ways

stirring the reservoir of rage

downward

what life lies beneath

what longings to be stirred

what hopes become reacquainted

down there

a small pebble settles on deepest sediment

nests into it's new dark home

and something, disturbed, moves

down there.

Clean Up #FF: Number 3 - Don't Forget the Day!

(see below for explanation)

Time got away from you and Saturday rolls around. As you check your mentions from the previous day, you notice a long list of #FF that came in during West Coast time. What to do? You think about RTs and Replies. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Resist. Don't do it! It isn't Friday. Stop.

Clean it Up! It is just confusing to see #FF tweets on Saturday and (heaven forbid but it is true) on Wednesday!  If you need to reply or mention those who mentioned you (not a bad thing as long as you follow #2 above), file it away until the next Friday. Perhaps go ahead and pre-schedule your #FF tweets for the future. Resist the urge to #FF tweet like there's no more Fridays.

So move along now my Clean Up #FF crew. The clock is ticking. Today is FRIDAY!  #FF

Thus ends the Clean Up #FF List of 3.

Note: Lately #FF has become a post fest... It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

Clean Up #FF: Number 1 - Don't be a #FF Pimp

Are you tweet pimping? How many people do you suggest for #FF? If the answer is in three digits, you're a PIMP! Yes, I'm name calling you. P-I-M-P! PIMP! And I don't mean that in any warm and affectionate hip-hop kind of way. Na sir.

Clean it up! Take a few moments and choose from among your follow list the newest, brightest or dearest. Then mention them one or two at a time. Then - here's the hard part - stop! Return to your regularly scheduled tweeting. That's right. toss off that fur coat and top hat and pimp no more.

NOTE: Lately #FF has become a post fest... It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

Clean Up #FF: Number 2 - Don't waste the Tweet

(see bottom of post for explanation)

Now you are selecting your #FF few and preparing to tweet. If you just in mention them by name and some generic line like - let's see - "Here's @WilliamsKim and you should #FF him" - although it rhymes beautifully (and come to think of it that might make it tweet worthy) it doesn't REALLY tell me why I should. You have all that extra space. We do get a whopping 140 characters to tweet, so don't waste the tweet.

Clean it up! This recommendation was actually given to me by @DHatfiled.  Tell me why I should follow someone. Give me a adjective or verb (you remember those. right?) to describe the tweetworthiness (ok. I made that one up) of your #FF mention. Go ahead. Be kind. You can do it.

Note: Lately #FF has become a post fest... It's insanity tweeple. Can that many people really know and like that many tweeple? All at once? It just feels wrong, phony and bad. Bad tweeple. Bad.

What to do? Options abound.  So we shall have a list. We shall. Let's call it the Clean Up #FF List! It will be a list of 3 (I love talking in rhymes). I'll be posting a daily list of 3 #FF Clean up ideas. Please join me in my quest to clean up #FF!

On Hiking the Grand Canyon

I spent a few days hiking at the Grand Canyon a few years back. I penned these words from the experience.

These Walls

These walls, these cascading rocks of harden earth, earthen toned history revealing centuries of the never ending dance between water and stone, hold me in awe. Is not this chasm grand in span and even grander yet in spirit, for it calls not only for all that the body can give it while every muscle screams for relief and each sinew claims finality. This brilliant abyss wants for the release of more, the conquest of ones very being, the devouring of all spirit. Give to it this, this measure of your existence, all body and spirit and therein, perhaps therein, weary traveler of this land, you might just discover more of who you are, or more complete still, you and I may just become more, more complete, more wonder-full. These walls can caress the very earthen vessel of humanity and breathe again into us, a vital wisp of that delicate mixture of earth and water and their waltz through eternity.

Reflection on Imagination - Talons, Fist and Fur

My breath dances in and then out while I wait in the darkness of veiled eyes. Then it comes...

My meadow beneath me, again, welcomes me home. I raise my fist to the sky and he descends. I feel the familiar tearing of my flesh as he settles, talons slicing into my fist. With the agony, I welcome my ancient friend. Blood trails down my arm for a moment and as talon and flesh merge, I heal.

Breath in the darkness...

She strolls to my side, padding heavily upon the turf. She leans against my thigh. Lowering my free hand I find her -fur, thick. Kneeling, I wrap my arm around her and lower my face into hers, breathing deep her scent, scents of death, decay and blood. I so love her primitive cause.

Now we are one, us three. And there, hidden in darkness we know - I miss them when I cannot imagine.


NOTE: Do you value your dreams, your visions beyond reality? Do tell...

Do You Feel Lucky Punk? A Thought on Luck.

Luck doesn't exist. I'm  not a believer in luck in the sense of it being some externally provided leg-up - any fool would succeed with it - contribution to life.  What I do believe in are two very real experiences: Opportunity and Preparation, and if you combine these two you will get something that looks remarkably like LUCK.

Preparation - hard and regular work to develop ability and wisdom. Time practicing, studying and experiencing life-on-life's terms can make us ready for success.  We become able - to mow a lawn in a speedy and immaculate manner (ok so not a real complicated skill, but work with me here).

Opportunity - the availability of a space (time and place) to use one's skills to be successful.  We have a chance - the neighbor  asks us to mow the lawn hours before they return from vacation and have a large party (again, a bit simplified, but you get the idea)

When opportunity meets preparation - as 'luck' would have it you are able to mow the lawn beautifully and subsequently, the head of rapidly growing gardening company attends the party and decides to hire you to train his 100+ member crews - for a nice salary (I know - but it could happen).  Some would say you got lucky - I say opportunity met preparation.

I'm not really saying I don't believe in LUCK - I'm saying we can view it differently. Do you feel lucky, Punk? Well, do you?

In Between

dusk and flickering 

candles. 

sensations of 

in between

gentle caresses

the last scent

yesterday's 

cookies, baked 

and eaten. 

in between

a leaf falling 

upward, riding on 

the breeze 

summer's heat

in between

silent breath

your voice 

pausing between 

words

measured with 

care

in between

the end

the beginning

the alpha

the omega

the dream

the reality

we can't live here 

for more than

a moment

in between