Hope For Tomorrow

The Entombment of Christ by Carravagio.

For Christians around the world, today is Good Friday. The day that remembers the crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary. This is a holy day observed by most Christian religions.
Mainstream Christian churches view Christ's crucifixion as a voluntary and vicarious act, and one by which, along with resurrection on the third day, death itself was conquered.

Others religions have their holy days as well, each of us with some central faith in purpose and meaning of our lives. Even non-religious people have their beliefs in some type of reasoning. We must have and hold onto the realities of life but we also have to create faith within ourselves. One that will allow us to look into the unknown, the future or to even set a goal for our life.

I normally do not bring my religious beliefs into full view within my writings. My wish is to have something to say to everyone of every dimension. To offer words of encouragement and hope to anyone that happens upon my site. Today though, I proudly display my religion and faith. For me, this weekend is about hope and faith in a greater tomorrow.

"It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away... and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple... Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together. Simon went right into the tomb. Then the other disciple also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture that he must rise from the dead." (John 20)

Brand You

Recently I read an article regarding job loss and how you can 'bounce back'. I have had friends lose their jobs and seen the various results of it. Myself, I have been blessed to work at the same company for over 20 years. This is no small feat given the job arena these days.

In fact, today's generation can expect to change career jobs 3 or more times in their working life. Much of this is due to new opportunity or the inevitable 'downsizing' that many companies regularly go through. Call a layoff whatever you want, it is still a layoff and people lose jobs and lives are thrown into turmoil.

So what can you do if it happens? The first thing you can do is to 'anticipate your dismissal' by staying tuned to what is going on around you. This does not mean being paranoid about your job performance and rumors. It does mean watching the direction of the company, understanding what is happening at a much higher level. Is the company doing well in sales, in the market place. Is your job vital to the longterm growth of the company. Can you position yourself to be an asset as opposed to an expendable if a layoff occurs? Are you working on improving the market brand called 'you' - more later.

But the inevitable happens and you find yourself on the outside looking in. Just know that you are not alone. Many people go through this so don't be embarrassed to talk about it. Go ahead and 'embrace the situation' because the loss of the job is out of your control now. Its okay to get angry as it is a part of your own healing process. Just get over it and move on, you have a life ahead of you to live.

So now what do you start doing? Well, start by 'choosing your referrals carefully' before jumping into the resume and job application process. If your former employer (direct supervisor) and you are on good terms, ask them what they would say if a potential employer called. If its bad, then you should find someone else to act as a referral.

Remember, you are currently in a sales job and the only brand you have to sell is 'you'. Tom Peters calls it Brand You and its your life and career we are talking about. A good way to think about it is to look at some of the top performers that are known by a single name. Madonna, Sting, Bono, Cher and the list goes on. The name is said and you know what and who that person is. You need to define yourself and sell yourself as you would the world's greatest product.

Now the resume, 'list all jobs on your resume' - even the ones you may have been fired from. But just list the start /end dates and not why you left the job. Use your interview to explain why you left a particular job.

And finally, 'spend your time between jobs wisely' and not in self pity or wild abandon. If you were laid off due to lack of skills, then take the time to learn some new skills. It will certainly help during a new job interview to state, "I have taken the following classes during this time to help improve my skill sets." And know what your skill sets are, you're going to be asked. Knowing your own pros and cons goes back to BRAND YOU and what you can offer to a potential new company.

Expanding Your World

The following pictures are from a recent trip to Brussels. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to travel in my job function. I have seen so much of the world yet so little of it.

In every location that I go, there is a bit of it that I try to experience and bring back with me to share. It is my hope that my children will be able to personally see the places I have been. To experience the wonder of what this world has to offer.

If you can not travel, you can travel on the internet to far off places and see what different cultures and environments are like. You can expand your world by looking. Our time and technology have given us the ability to see things that older generations could only see in more limited formats.

The ability to move about and around the world are easier. There is a great landscape of discovery for each of us to grab hold of. It is said that the only great undiscovered area are the oceans. But not for you or me...we have a whole world that we have not seen.

Find new ways to search out this world, the landscape, the architecture and the people. You'll find so much to see, so much to enjoy when you expand your world of vision.

Voices Of The Fallen

You consider your life and the troubles you may have. You wonder why things are always happening to you, why your life is so tough. There are so many things that can trouble us in our daily life.

But each of us see the news each day concerning the war in Iraq. It can seem like a distant event occurring so far away from our daily lives. But each of those American service men and women are just like you and me. They are fighting many different radical groups among Iraqi people that simply want to have a life at all.

Due to this distance, we don't see the connections beyond the politics of war and the thirty second sound bites or even commentary from the experts. Yet a recent issue of Newsweek Magazine called Voices Of The Fallen gives you another view on what is happening half a world away. The emails and letters from soldiers that eventually died reveal pieces of the war that a news story simply can not.

You find all levels of opinion and commentary just as you would walking down the street talking to people. I am proud of what these individuals, the soldiers along aside their Iraqi Military counterparts - trying to provide a more stable and brighter future for the Iraqi people. And when I think about how tough my day was, I can stop and remember what a tougher day these others have had.

Stop yourself and consider what you have in life. Think about others that do have it so much worse. Think about where you are on that scale to place it into perspective. Be thankful for what you do have and then work towards a better future, a better life.