"Know your Ruling Star. One man is better received by one nation than another, or is one welcome by one city than another. He finds more luck in one office or position than in another, and all though his qualifications are equal or even identical. Let each man know his luck as well as his talents. Follow your guiding star and help it without mistaking any other for it. Know how to transplant yourself. There are nations with whom one must cross their borders to make one's value felt."
- Balthasar Gracian, (Spain, 1600's)
Have you ever felt, "Here I am, best job I ever had, good money, an excellent career move - but, what in the world am I doing here where I feel so alone and out-of-place with my surroundings? How did this happen to me?"
I've been there, because someone offered me a job and I accepted, knowing ahead-of-time, intuitively I wouldn't feel at home in the town and surroundings.
Or - maybe you love your location but, sadly, are unable to find any openings in your field. I've been there also. Looking back on my years in Austin, Texas, I can't believe the number of short-term, soul-emptying jobs I tried very hard and unsuccessfully do to. My job-duration ranged from only two hours (which was long enough when you hate what you are doing!) to several months (each day seeming like an eternity) before my opportunities in broadcasting finally came.
It's a rare person these days who is able to say, "I love this community, love my home, love the work I do, get along great with my business colleagues and supervisors. How do you beat perfection?"
There is a wonderful quote I repeated to myself many, many times during my ups and downs in Texas.
"Hence the first principle in changing one's character is to seek another environment, to let new forces play upon our unused chords, and draw from us a better music." - Will Durant
That's what I wanted! I wanted another location - another place - where new forces could play upon my unused chords and draw from me a better music.
"There are nations with whom one must cross their borders to make one's value felt." - Gracian
Yes! Yes! Yes! That's what I wanted. To cross borders and feel my native talents valued again.
"Know your Ruling Star," the Spanish priest Gracian wrote in The Art of Worldly Wisdom. "One man is better received by one nation than another, or is one welcome by one city than another. He finds more luck in one office or position than in another, and all though his qualifications are equal or even identical."
We are better received in certain locations or areas than in others, welcomed when we show up, and we most certainly do find more luck in one place than another.
"But where, where, where is THAT PLACE?" I wondered.
In Texas, for every 100% plus I gave in my career, the returns (feeling valued, appreciated, and being monetarily rewarded), always fell short.
I hosted a noon talk show for awhile at an Austin TV station. Our ratings were great. The guests I booked were top names in the literary, entertainment, self-improvement, and political arenas.
After our ratings came in one spring, I couldn't believe how well the show was doing.
Several days later, however, the General Manager wanted to see me.
After all the years of my show's success, he said, "James, I can't complain about your ratings. That's good for ad revenue, but I finally got a chance to see your show yesterday. As you know I only have a tenth grade education, never finished high school, started in sales, worked my way up to where I am today." He beamed proudly, "I didn't understand it."
I knew when he said, "I didn't understand it," my show was doomed.
The GM was the standard by which all business decisions at our stations were made.
I wanted to call him, "Idiot," but restrained myself.
My favorite line in Texas TV came from a female news director who told me, "You have a master's degree. We don't need people that smart to do the news." I never worked at that station.
"Let each man know his luck as well as his talents. Follow your guiding star and help it without mistaking any other for it. Know how to transplant yourself," Gracian reminds us.
Know how to transplant yourself!
Finally, I did transplant myself, once again. It was time to move from the newsroom and go into teaching; use, finally, that masters degree referred to earlier that wasn't needed to report the news.
"There is a simple answer to the question 'What is the purpose of our individual lives?" A.J. Ayer wrote. "They have whatever purpose we succeed in putting into them."
Yet, if you believe you are being guided by and toward a higher destiny, as I do, use what others know (their gifts and resources) to inform and enlighten yourself.
I've also successfully used relocation astrology as an essential tool to follow my guiding star. Through my sessions with Cait Benten, I'm finding, as we'd all like to do, a balance of the "right place" and the "right work" combined.
"This time, like all other times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." --Ralph Waldo Emerson
http://www.astro-earth-relocation.com
About The Author
Now, after a career as an award-winning media communicator and as a university professor, James has shared meaning-filled conversations with film stars, recording artists, US Presidents and first ladies, state governors, world-famous authors, scientists, and people from most every walk of life
Abraham Lincoln told a story about a blacksmith who stuck a long round iron bar in the coal until
it was red-hot. Then he put it on the anvil, where he hammered it flat to make a sword. When he
was finished, he was most unhappy with it. So, he put it back into the red-hot coal and decided
to broaden the flat part out a bit and make a garden tool. That didn't please his fancy either. He
put the bar back into the coal, rouded it a bit, and then shaped it into a horseshoe. This effort al
so failed miserably. As a last resort, he put the bar into the coals one more time. He removed it
from the hot fire, wondering if there was anything else he could make from it. Deciding that
there was nothing, he merely stuck it into a barrel of water. At the resulting hiss, he said, "well,
at least I made a fizzle out of it".
Your dream and vision of starting something good , something worthwhile, and being your own
boss don't have to fizzle.
Socces is not as easy as it looks. The fear ot starting a new thing is sure to grip us at the onset.
Yor life can sizzle, and your problem can be overcomed if you will stand up to the challenge an
get to' DOING IT'.
Stop looking for shortcuts, it will cut you dream short. Most acclaimed shortcuts are disaster in
disguise. Because someone writes a book about their succes doesn't mean you can achieve
overnight what it took years of experince to bring them into. It is not that God can't give it to
you quickly; it's that you need time, preparation and in some cases a major overhaul to handle it.
Remember, 'IF YOU GROW UP YOU WILL STAY UP , BUT IF YOU JUMP UP YOU WILL
COME DOWN!'
Great activities don't necessarily mean greater effectiveness. One day you're going to survive
only because you've got the real thing. One day its going to be truth or consequences. One day
you're going to have to walk with God when you cant understand or explain whereHe's taking
you. Because somebody hangs out with you, admiring and emulating you does'nt mean they're
with you. Such a time of despiration and rejection, would ou rather throw in the towel or hang in
there and WORK HINGS OUT.
To reach you goal you'll have to go through storms. There will be days when you'll wonder how
you're going to suvive. At such time everey thing you think yu know will seam not to be true. But
by Gods grace you will overcome. Just hang in there! Hinderances reveals the the strength of
you vision. Stop worrying, God will provie what you need to start in ways that will amaze you.
Your accomplisment may bring you some joy, but only in God will you find fullnes of joy.
Some day you'll have tears in your eyes and dirts under your fingernails. But in spite of the
scrapes and bruises you'll have a joy that causes you to sing at midnights and a sense of missoin
that makes you want to start something great again. Someday all you can do is stand. When you
cannot seem to put one foot in front of the other stand! Realise there's never been a day that
lasted forever. Don't give up and don't give in. Bite your lips, taste your tears and stand on what
God has for you. And remember. you're not operating in your own strngth. At that point when
you have looked around you and beholding your dream being sorrounded by obstacles. What
then shall you do?
In my next article we shall examine that.
Your Friend,
Edward Freedom
jobportng@gmail.com
www.jobportng.blogspot.com
Wed, Jun 10, 2009
You will know that just how healthy you are when you check your cholesterol on a regularly basis. You will also find that your doctor will break down that report so that you have several numbers and a real understanding of just how healthy you are. With all the medical advances, that you will come across you’ll be able to know exactly what part of your cholesterol is out of control and how your overall progress is doing.
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