yogagin's blog

Sorry. I've been away at my second dream job -- fiction-writing. Be back soon (I'm pmsing right now. Yoga worked well to knock out my pms symptoms, and I went right back to indulging myself with junk food and snacks high in fats and sugars.)

Link as promised:

http://www.madisoncommons.org/?q=node/500

(well, the url, anyway)

This is my "trying on" period. I'm volunteering as a contributing writer to a local e-pub. In this first contribution, I've combined my love for writing with my enthusiasm for yoga  -- it's a short piece on a yoga studio in the Midwest. When I have the link, I'll post the link on this blog.

As in menstrual flow. Since my daily 10-minute plus yoga practice (or 1 and a half hour-practice if I make it to class), the cramps have subsided, and the headaches rarely last longer than a minute.Contrast that with my pre-yoga days, when I was downing 1,6000mg OTC ibuprofen per 16 hours, my stomach was a fiery knot (compliments of the ibuprofen), and the 3-day headache sent me to bed.

During the first two days of my period, however, my moon in Gemini shuts down, and my sun sign Aries temper rolls near boiling. For you non-stargazers, this translates as I'm far from interested in exchanging ideas, let alone LISTENING to someone's ideas. An unintended slight mushrooms into a barb, a blasphemous insult that deserves to be repaid as quickly as possible.

During these two days, the job hunt turns inward. I ask myself "How long would I last at this type of job before I'm ready to jump, naked and screaming, out the window?" "What kind of sacrifices am I willing to make in order to get and keep this job?" "At which point would this type of job turn from a dream into a nightmare?"  Add these questions to the "Where am I gonna find this type of job" question.

Ah, self-exploration. Yoga definitely teaches one to recognize his limitations.

On a B.K.S. Iyengaar website, I read "Yoga is the union of the body, mind, emotions, and intellect."

Like yoga, a dream job unites the emotions ("I love this job! I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this!"), the intellect ("How can I become more efficient at this job?"), the spirit ("I feel so free when I'm working like this!"), the mind ("This job brings out my creativity"), and the body ("Yah, I plan to save up enough scratch to attend the 2009 conference. Of course, The conference will be a 45-minute walk from my hotel, but what the heck?")

My pontificating aside, for the last few days, I've been writing down my favorite skills, which are writing (surprised, huh?), reading, interviewing, and researching. The trick is to figure out how many where(s) I can apply these skills.

Because I like to give any author his due, I'd like to state in my hunt for a dream job, I'm using the lessons in yoga while employing the strategies suggested in Richard Bolles "2008 What Color Is Your Parachute?"  I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm a brainy woman with super job-finding skills. If I were, I would be working in my dream job WITH PAY rather than writing about finding a desired job WITHOUT PAY.

I'm not suggesting anyone buy a job-hunting book. While you're on the job hunt, you may wish to be frugal with your pennies -- in which case, the library can become one of your greatest friends. If, however, you wish to purchase a job-hunting book, the library allows you to "try before you buy."