Coping With The Downsizing Experience

When I first moved to California-- after nearly seven years of wandering around Afghanistan, Nepal, India and then working in a meditation center in Amsterdam, my first job was working for a woman named Carol Orsborn, who has just written another book, The Year I Saved My (downsized) Soul.

For any DWT readers who have may had the downsizing experience-- or who know someone who is going through it now-- I want to share a timely excerpt to share from Carol book:

Seven Keys to Saving Your (downsized) Soul

1. All you can hope to control, however long you have and in whatever the circumstances, is whether you will bring your best or worst to bear.
 
2.  There are times when all you can do is remember to breathe.
 
3.  Embrace the possibility that many things are bound to get in your way. Success comes not in spite of the things that happen to you but because you have grown large enough to embrace it all.
 
4.  It is in the void that the status quo has the lightest hold on us.  Released from the constructs of our everyday life, we have the least to lose.  In the void, we are freest to make changes.
 
5.  You don’t need an upbeat or even a brave attitude to make progress. You just need discipline, putting resumes out, making phone calls, following up leads and the like. This you can do happy or sad, anxious or full of faith.
 
6.  It’s the economy that’s broken, not you.
 
7.  When you give up the illusion of control, it’s true that you can’t always stop bad things from happening.  But you can’t stop good things from happening, either. 

This wouldn't be DWT if I didn't remind you to register to vote so you can make sure to elect leaders-- in the rare cases when one runs-- who will stand with ordinary working families, rather than with the special interests and the lobbyists who have that very special access.