Miner Knowledge

Everything I needed to know I learned from Chilean miners:

#1 Never underestimate the strength, love and compassion of the people you work with!

I RELEASE & LET IT GO!

Driving to work this morning, I began my usual appreciation of the season changing, shifting us into a real autumn state of mind. Today it took on a whole new idea, as I thought about work. I thought about people I've seen shuffled into courtrooms in chains, in custody. I thought about when the judge orders them back to court on certain days, confirming they are to show up, even if they are released from custody. Then, sadly, I thought of Dependency Court where I've seen too many times parents who have for some reason released the desire to parent adequately, and children who are bounced back and forth in the system, a constant releasing and letting go. What is all of this about? I don't know. But what I do know is that it must be a natural cycle of life, to shuffle through sometimes, to not hold on to the way things are...forever, because they do change; and then when the season of life calls for it, to do like the leaves of the fall -- not try and hold tight, fearing the fall, but to just allow the release and trust that the wind will carry us and whatever we are feeling at the moment, whether a dead-feeling crumbly something or just a beautiful red and gold plane-like beauty gently descending.

Then I paused for one moment and remembered the evergreens, and began to be grateful, another feeling that this season ushers in. I'm grateful for that which never shifts and never changes, the real truth of who I am ,whether at work or play or contemplation -- just me being me.

A Toast!

An attorney walked in the other morning with a huge stack of documents, almost to her shoulders, and remarked, "I feel sorry for this tree that this came from. Immediately, I began thinking about the light that is flashing on my printer right now, indicating I have less than a thousand pages worth of toner left with which to print, which, to some folks, that wouldn't feel urgent, but in the reporting world, that is an a red alert, for sure.

All of this is a reminder of just how productive we are in our profession, and how needed we are, especially a few days after the governor in California remarked publicly, again, that we don't really need reporters and that court reporting is old fashioned.

Reporting has been around for a long time, I agree. It is "ancient." There are adages, referring to age, that say certain things are as "old as salt and pepper" or a humorous over-the-hill statement I've heard referred to somebody being as "old as sliced bread." That's old. And whereas we get the humor in this, we also can realize that when you have a product or an idea or a profession, mind you, that has lasted for decades and centuries, that technology has not been able to replace, it has proven its worth. With that age and stature and pricesslesness, it deserves high regard and respect, a "toast" with fine wine. There's nobody that can give that deserving respect to us better than ourselves.

Here's to Court reporters everywhere! What a vibrant, high-tech, and needed profession of the 21st Century, and ages to come! Cheers to Court Reporting!

TGI -- TODAY!

I’m convinced that the weekend is not only a set time carved out in society. It is also a state of mind associated with a great feeling. Why can’t I go “there” Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday? I notice that Friday afternoons put me in a state of freedom, bliss, a feeling that I finally can have a life. I even get a sort of pseudo feeling that I can get totally away from my job duties. I say “pseudo” because as professionals in our field, totally breaking away from job duties is hardly the case sometimes with expedites, appeals, the endless deadlines we are faced with, not to mention the eternal list of things that can go wrong smack dab in the middle of a 500 page transcript that throws indexes and page numbers way off. Argh!

Although family and friends race with enthusiasm into the weekend, our jobs continue ,sometimes to the point that there’s no differentiation between the work week and the so-called weekend . It becomes one big blurry line, unseen by the naked eye, like the Equator, and we just get to “imagine” it. So for me the question becomes how can my whole week become a more enjoyable experience? How can I capture that feeling of fulfillment on any given day, even beyond those designated weekend days? How can I move out of those feelings of fun deprivation, if you will?

We owe it to ourselves a real time out. whether that falls on Wednesday or Saturday, Tuesday or Friday, to infuse the feeling of freedom and expression all the time. We just get to track it a little differently. Maybe we throw in a movie or a nap or a phone call to a friend we haven’t connected with in a while. How about throwing in ten minutes a day to practice a hobby or a puzzle or a do-nothing, anything that will keep us in touch with ourselves just to know we are more than our careers.

Although I don’t have all the vacation time I need to go to Disneyland, and I’m not at the highest step yet to afford an Alaskan cruise, I can take in a movie, a date night with a friend or family member. I can say "yes" sometimes to the invitation instead of the standard, "I gotta work." The work will be there. We'll get it done. We always do. And just be a little more sleepy in the morning than I would have normally been. It's okay. We traded it out for a feeling of well-being in our life, and we deserve that. And for sure on that “last day,” at work or on the planet, I’m not left haunted by the thought “I should have spent more time…..” You fill in the blank. We all know we won’t fill it in with “ at the office” Enjoy that weekend feeling, no matter what day it falls on.

DOES YOUR ELEVATOR GO TO THE TOP?

It's not enough to get past security around here. You've got the challenge of getting on an elevator. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get on the elevators in the courthouse, and I want to press "Chicago" or "New York," or "Home,” or just “Get me outta here!”

As I hopped on one day, I remembered an insulting phrase that is often used, asking "Does your elevator go to the top," meaning pretty much are you mentally “there” or not. While I certainly don’t use that phrase, I was able to give it my own meaning, something I can use in my day-to-day life at work or home or wherever I find myself in a situation where I am at the fork in the road, meaning I have a choice to make, to take the opportunity to get sidetracked and distracted because of my own life crap that seems to follow me around or somebody else’s crap that causes them to give me rift.

I decided that whenever I allow any of those situations to hop into my mental or emotional elevator, I’ll just press the button that gives those situations a quick ride to the top. I’ll try and remember that I can move past this moment by not allowing it to get the best of me. I can immediately replace the anger that’s building or the insulting feelings I am experiencing with a “higher” thought, something on the seventh floor or higher! Something like, “Well, I guess I won’t take that personally. It’s not about me” or “He” or “ She must have had a miserable drive to work” or “They are really stressed out. “

Again, I get choose to rise above the situation mentally and emotionally. That person doesn’t get to determine how far I rise in my own elevator. I’ll just breathe through it and know that if and when they finally get it that they don’t need to try and make my life miserable, just because they are miserable, I’ll see’em “at the top, where I choose to hang out. Then if worse gets to worst, I’ll just take the stairs.

SAFE AND SECURE

So I get to work this morning, feeling grrrreat until I get to Security, the place whereI am supposed to feel “secure.” Why don’t they trust me? I, obviously, work here. I dress professionally, at least I did before I had to remove my belt that beeped and my boots that beeped. Gosh, when they were done with me, I felt so “stripped down,” and I wasn’t feeling that great or secure.
So what did I do? I chose to smile. I decided to feel good about the fact that this little protocol is just another metaphor for my life. Where in my life or in my profession do I not feel secure or safe? Where in my life (my profession) do I not trust myself ? What situations or relationships in my life are trying to get my attention? I can always tell because in their own special ways, they are “beeping.” As a matter of fact, I notice that the beeps get louder the more I ignore them. In what way am I my own worst enemy or “terrorist” by seeing people and situations in my day through the lens of negativity? And, finally, what can I do as a team player to help those around me, including the sometimes angry or scared folks I meet in the elevator coming to court, feel more secure? After all, they have just come through “Security” also. Sometimes it just takes a smile.
Actually, I am grateful for those folks in uniform who are so willing to look out for a safe work environment for all of us. And I am also realizing that feelings of inner safety and security is really an inside job that depends on me and how I am approaching life, my work life, how I am willing to see people and situations, and simply how much I am willing to just smile.

KICKING AND SCREAMING

It's that time again! We get to play musical chairs! I'm just getting used to being in my courtroom. I've just developed a deep appreciation for the way things are set up in there. I know where everything is in my office. I've just figured out those jokes that the bailiff tells, and, wham, it's all going to change.

At this time of the year something wild happens at our courthouse. Judges are coming back from Timbuktu, satellite courts, or whatever, and others are assigned out. With them comes and goes their entire staff, or not. Some are left behind, thrown into the sea of unknown assignments. It just all feels so inconvenient, so hard, so scary.

Change. Why does everything have to change? Why can't things just stay the way they were? It's as if work wasn't already tough enough. Maybe there's another question to consider. How can I become more flexible and just go with the flow?

Isn't my work life a metaphor for life in general? Am I forgetting that I really have a choice in the matter. I can go kicking and screaming or I can just relax and see what's behind the spooky door of shift and change. I can hold my head up and just walk through, taking only one step at a time, and not just hope. I can actually be confident that there is something good for me that awaits, something that I would not have experienced had I not said yes to the whole transition.

In this whole transition, I can still remember what remains stable: My attitude still determines my day. The way I show up at work still contributes to and creates my work environment. And, of course, I still remain grateful that I am employed can enjoy the benefits of having a job when the unemployed line is growing longer every day. What remains true is that I'm still in control of my response to life, my response to change. Instead of harboring some inner resistance and holding my breath, this time I think I'll just relax and allow it to happen.