Category: Life.

Article: “How to Tell Where You Are on the Burnout Continuum”

There’s a difference between a diligent pursuit of your goals and sacrificing your well-being for “success.” But that difference can be hard to see sometimes.

In the beginning, burnout often feels like moving in the right direction. You’re chasing your goals. You’re working towards success. Your flame is burning strong and you’re full of energy. The future seems bright.

Read more at Big Self School.

What Really Matters …

At the moment, correct grammar, punctuation, and verb usage might seem ridiculous. But for those of us who are fortunate enough to still be working, I can tell you it helps takes our minds off everything that’s going on—a brief, enormously welcome break from the chaos that is currently our world.

Please stay safe out there. Be kind to those you meet. Look out for others. And remember that nothing lasts forever.

Poem: "Lockdown" by Richard Hendrick

“Lockdown” by Richard Hendrick 

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness.

Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other

across the empty squares,

keeping their windows open

so that those who are alone

may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know

is busy spreading fliers with her number

through the neighbourhood

So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

are preparing to welcome

and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

The birds are singing again

The sky is clearing,

Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able

to touch across the empty square,

Sing.