Be careful of your thoughts; they may become words at any moment. –Ira Gassen

“There’s nothing worse than weak coffee,” I observed gloomily, watching the stream of tea-colored liquid splashing to fill my mug in the office kitchen.
And then I caught myself. There’s nothing worse than weak coffee: Really?

Nothing?

How about war, drought and starvation, murder, rape, or the exploitation of children?

Okay, I think I can think of a few things worse than weak coffee. And then I wonder: why do we do this? Why the drama, why the exaggeration?

For the rest of the day, I am more careful with my language.

What about you, my reader: What are the areas of exaggeration or drama that you fall back on? What lessons do you have to share?

Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs. –Pearl Strachan

In the current economy, charities encounter a double-bind: increased need coupled with lower donations. You may want to support a favorite cause but have fewer financial resources. Good news: contributions of time and professional expertise are also valued. My top suggestions:

Program Services: Staff the hot line, counsel youth, build houses.

Administration: Wearing multiple hats, nonprofit staff are stretched thin but many donors shy away from financial support of overhead and administration. It still needs to get done, of course. Do you know how to get a mailing out? Manage an event? Archive, organize or file? Answer the phone? Edit a newsletter? Solicit donations? Come on in!

Technology: Regrettably nonprofit hardware, software, social media strategies, and technology budgets may lag years behind the corporate world. This slows organizational and mission effectiveness. If you are technologically adept, nonprofits will gratefully welcome your help with every aspect of managing and furthering technology.

Training and development: A charity’s professional development budgets may be a fraction of that in the for-profit sector. If you love to teach, share your expertise in team-building, wellness, leadership, reading financial statements, employment law, emerging technologies, etc. HR professionals, help a charity update their employee handbook or improve their performance management system.

Supporting charities doesn’t solely mean writing checks or ladling lunch at a soup kitchen–as appreciated as both of those actions are. Your professional skills go a long way toward supporting the necessary infrastructure to do good in the world. And if you are between jobs, why not lend a hand to a good cause while also preparing for that later interview question, “So, how have you been spending your time?”

To find volunteer opportunities, try Idealist or Volunteer Match. Good luck and have fun!

Image credit: vpickering

Lucky Dube was a South African musician whose name some might say failed him; he was murdered in 2008. But while he was alive, he was fully engaged in his art. Incidentally, it was said he eschewed coffee, alcohol, and drugs; the energy and passion you see is all from inside.

He was passionate, alive, full of joy and energy! He was in his element on stage.

And notice from these videos that his back-up singers and musicians are smiling and dancing and loving every minute.

And his audience is in heaven: thrilled to be there, fully in the moment.

We could all ask: Do I have half the energy, passion, playfulness, self-expression, love of life that Lucky Dube had? Can I find joy in each performance, each day, each task? Can I share the stage, inspire harmony, coordinate to make beautiful music with others? Do I give people their money’s worth–and then some? Do I leave my customers thrilled and happy and always wanting more? Do I inspire others and leave a lasting legacy?

Lucky Dube was an artist, a performer; I am not suggesting that we dance and sing around the office, though that has some appeal. But wouldn’t home and work might be happier places if we could find ways to translate such passion and energy into HR, teaching, parenting, social work, management, or nursing?

One final video. The quality is not great, but I chose to include it under the theory that engagement does not require perfect circumstances.

Thanks for indulging my tribute to a favorite artist and role model. Now, go engage with life!

(Lucky Dube, RIP–if you wish to rest, which I doubt. You’re probably dancing and singing in your afterlife.)

We used to paint, dance, journal, draw, play music, photograph, write.

Now we just look for creative ways to balance the demands of our busy lives, to prevent a toddler’s meltdown, or magically pull dinner out of a hat after a hectic day. We create moments of artistry on the fly by wordsmithing the Winsmith proposal ’til it’s a thing of beauty. Or we rearrange plantings to perfect the perennial bed.

Such ran the conversation with a group of parent friends.

And there’s nothing wrong with any of it. Your priorities and resources shift with the seasons. When you’re sleep-deprived with an infant or coping with the long term disability of your child, you don’t get much ‘me time,’ much less consciously think about creative expression.

But for the rest of us whose situations are busy but not quite so intense, it’s a bit of a shame when creativity falls by the wayside. Perhaps creating [whatever we are called to create] should be as much part of our daily routines as exercising, eating, or brushing teeth.

Creating something new or beautiful feels good.

It lifts your mood.

It generates energy, opens you to possibilities, makes you feel vibrant, vital, and alive, spawns additional ideas and project possibilities. Just like physical exercise, you build your creativity muscles and the effort fuels the rest of your life, so that you more effective in other areas of your life. For example, interspersing creative moments during your workday may make other more mundane tasks feel less of a chore. If nothing else, it gives you something to look forward to, e.g. ‘after I correct these infernal invoices, I’ll spend 15 minutes on my blog.’

So get out those oil paints, tune up the piano, sign up for dance class, and write that poem. Do what you used to do. Or try something new. Either way, the rewards can spill over to enrich the rest of your life with renewed passion and energy.

image credit: Marshall Astor