Friday, November 13, 2009

Surfing




In a previous chapter of my life when appointments with people populated my planner...I coined a phrase for myself: surfing the chaos.






There seemed to arise every so often--a day, a week, a month--times when the line between peace and panic would fade and catastrophic chaos loomed. During those times, I grabbed my board and caught the wave.






Those on the shore watching the activity were amazed; it looked so smooth and graceful and choreographed on the surface!


"How does she do it"? They would ask outloud to no one in particular.


The answer is: I had no idea. All I knew to do when faced with those circumstances was stay on the board and hang on through the curl of the wave, mist in my face, roar of the ocean, threat of imminent peril crashing overhead.



In the end it was almost always exhilirating. Sometimes it was dibilitating. Fairly often it was excruiating. But, what other choice was there?



I don't know if it's El Nino, the Mayan Calendar, or the Harvest Moon...but, it's been one of those weeks. Midterms, lectures, office hours. Budgets, evals, baby showers. The lines in my forehead and shadows under my eyes give me away: sleep has been sweet but all too short recently.


My life's current chapter has a different theme, but the predictably random nature of the chaos wave has not changed.

Surfs Up!



Grab your board...

Monday, November 2, 2009

Occupational Therapy for All (forthcoming)!

Hey, ZigZag fans near and far--

I got some good news on Thursday; AOTA (American Occupational Therapy Association) is publishing a collection of stories about therapy...and a submission I sent to them earlier this year will be included in their finished work!

This is exciting on multiplie levels: Wylie's story gets a wider audience, understanding and awareness regarding Asperger-related issues will increase, and the fabric of my writing career has one more thread of credibility stitched into it.

Once the particulars are finalized, I'll be sure to pass along the link and info.

Next writing project: final draft of my GIS/teaching research paper sent off to Journal of Economic Education (before Christmas)!

Thank you to all ZigZag readers for encouraging me to this point.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Later in September



Friday, September 4, 2009

American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins

American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Life Transformation


Want to fill your bucket? Watch this amazing work by Robbie Carlson capturing real life change here.


Thursday, August 20, 2009

Buckets, Brains, and Drains

My church, the church I also work for part-time, SGCF, sent me to The Leadership Summit for the second time. What a smart investment. It is--without a doubt--the most powerful conference I've attended in the last 10 years. The collaboration of brilliant leaders from within and outside the church domain is unprecedented.












Lots of big brains.


The list goes on and on. All of these hosted by Bill Hybels, one of my mentors in faith.


What a privilege to attend.


Hybels confessed the downturn in the economy has created another full-time job for most leaders: how to navigate through this new reality. And, in his humble way, he also confessed his natural response to all of this was to work harder. In his own words, he said the life he was living was not sustainable. He had to make adjustments.


He drew a bucket on a paper. It's so simple. All of us have a bucket that holds our sense of peace and well-being. When the level is full or nearly so, we can lead, work, love, give and perform at our potential. However, the very act of doing these things drains the bucket. Add to this the people that we all must deal with that also have a "draining" effect on our energy, and you very quickly can begin to see the levels of peace, fullness, satisfaction drain away.


We have to re-fuel. We have to renew. We have to proactively take responsibility for the filling of our own bucket. For those of us who follow after God, this necessarily involves time with Him, with scripture, prayer, and truth. And, of course, it could involve engaging in more of the activities that are energy boosters (exercise, hobbies, time with family, etc.) and adequately monitoring the energy drains.


This is just one simple, but profound "take-away". More to follow; my bucket is spilling over.


Thursday, July 9, 2009

All Over the Map


The next few weeks are "full".


  • Our WILDlife Family Camp kick-starts Friday up at The Oaks in Lake Hughes, CA

  • Upon returning home Sunday afternoon, Tim and I take off for San Diego so I can attend my first ever User Conference with ESRI the 12th through the 15th. My presentation slides are here

  • Got to go to Disneyland for my birthday next week to get my gift card

  • Campbell has a swim meet in Hemet the following weekend

  • SGCF has another event planned for 4th-6th graders on the 22nd...it will be "cosmic"

  • Prep work for a new course (to me) at CSUSB should begin later this month: Econ 335 "Tools of Economic Analysis". I'll be teaching one of my favs as well "Economics of Sport"

  • Anticipating some new contacts after my GIS presentation which will hopefully lead to some more productive research in this area and a finalized paper submission before school begins


That's just a snapshot. I know your summer is full of jam-packed-action, too. It's a good thing we're all on vacation???