Morning Coffee: If Image Is Everything…

I wonder if image is everything than why are we always harping on how to have the best image? You would think that after a while people would get that they should dress nice, smell good and have excellent hygiene when they are performing tasks related to business and frankly everyday life.

 

I am taking an ethics course in school and it brings up this subject yet again. Is it a common theme that those involved in the massage therapy profession have issues with image?

I know that not everyone is able to apply the results once they are learned. I often see people come into job interviews wearing jeans with holes in them, skirts that are way too short and hair that could easily pass for a bird’s nest. Why would you come to an interview that way? If I can look at you and size up in the first thirty seconds that you are not taking this seriously, why should I even bother talking to you?

I think that is the same way I would feel if I was interviewing new massage therapists. This is your business and your life. If you are not always trying to sell then how do you expect to grow your business? What you project is what people will perceive you are selling, which means if you smell like death warmed over I will probably wonder what you were doing last night as opposed to what you are doing in the office today.

Your personal style should really reflect the place you work. If you have your own business then find a way to set the tone appropriately. Relaxed and comfortable does not mean wearing worn out beat up clothes into the office. It probably means finding something comfy and clean that still portrays that you are there to work. I often hear the phrase “look neat and professional” and that still feels murky to me. However, it does provide for a bit of your own style to be thrown in to the mix.

If you work for a corporation I would bet that they are going to have a dress code. That dress code is there for a reason. Probably to push the brand that they are marketing and the image they want people to see whenever you are on the clock for them. Odds are that said company would probably like it if you also looked “neat and professional” at all times so that they are portrayed properly even when you are not on the clock.  It just makes things easier and I know that if you follow the same rules off the clock then more clients will follow.

The bottom line, everything you say, and this includes online, and everything you do, are reflections of the kind of person that you will be in your business. If you can use your image to cultivate a stronger business then you have done things well. If you find that you are having trouble getting new clients in the door take a look around at your workspace, office or self and see if the image you are sending out is really what you want others to be thinking of you.

Morning Coffee: Did I touch you yet?

Alright, I will admit I have been quiet. Maybe a little too quiet in recent days. I have found that I have very little to say because I have been too busy thinking about what I should actually say or trying to make sense of what I am really going to do with this space. My blog has become this empty block that is daunting to fill. I can spew garbage at you as it rolls out of my mouth but that is not really all that fun to read.

Plus, to be honest, I ramble… a lot.

So where do I go with this page from here? I think what I really want to do is to touch all of you, my readers, in some way that makes you feel important. I can write about fitness but that does not seem to really fit the bill here. Plus, it is being ridiculously overdone these days.

So tell me my friends what do you really want to see here? What can I write about that will find a way to touch, speak and communicate with all of you?

At the end of the day that is what communicating is all about right? Finding a way to say something that touches a person in the head, heart or spirit. Without that we are all just ramblers aren’t we.

Afternoon Tea: Can Touch Inspire?

What is it about mentioning the word touch?

If you Google or Bing the word touch you get this:

 

Really this is what touch has become?

That is not the touch I want to talk about, I want to talk about human touch.

 

I had to search with the words “people touching” before I could find something even close to an image describing how touch has impacted me. The word makes me excited and it seems to make search engines choke. Clearly, the internet could use an education in touch, but a computer is just bits and pieces of code, 1′s and 0′s put in lines so that the computer can follow instructions properly.

I think of that word and it sends chills down my spine, little tiny goosebumps form all over my arms and I anticipate the excitement that is to come. The connection that soon will be flowing as I communicate in the simplest way possible. A computer does not think about those feelings or even understand the anticipation behind why touch is so important. So of course the search engine does not understand how to give me an image for this most basic form of communication.

Is touch really that simple though? As a child I remember a number of bad things that happened and fortunately none of them involved touch. I thank God for that because having a bad association with touch is not something I could handle. I remember the fights, while they were not all the time, they were always looming in the background. It is what happens to children when their parents get divorced, that tension is always there, waiting and watching until everything is ok. Then the fight pounces and all of a sudden nothing is ok.

That was when touch would always bring me back to life. No matter how upset I was or how frustrating things got someone could hug me and everything would be ok. My mother could stroke the inside of my arm and instantly I would be calm. My husband can do that now and it is like being rocked to sleep, transporting me back to when just that small touch could put me at ease.

I am the kind of person that needs hundreds of hugs a month to survive. I am the kind of woman who requires my hand hp;ding when I scared, hurt, sad or depressed. Especially, when feeling depressed.  That touch is a reassurance that everything could be better than what it is right now.

Touch is my communication. Touch is my anti-drug, sedative, pain-reliever and stress-reducer. In a world where half the things I hear, say and do are not making sense anymore, touch is what makes sense.

I can not imagine growing up or living in a world and not being able to feel things with my finger tips. I want to share this comfort with the world and make others understand the wonders that touch can provide.

How has touch impacted you?

Because at this point it is the concept of touch that I am using to inspire me to move forward with my life. Keyword searches do not make sense to me, corporate America does not make sense to me, but touch, that makes sense. It could be touching the keyboard while writing or touching someone to help heal them. Either way touch will be the driving force behind whatever will happen next.

 

 

 

Morning Coffee: Winter Wonderland

How does snow impact you?

 

 

 

Do you have a connection with it?

Snow often times does strange things to people. In some people it instills fear because they will have to commute in it with other people who may or may not know how to handle it. In others it instills a sense of excitement, showing that winter can be beautiful or that maybe it is time for snowboarding and skiing.

Snow cause school cancellations, flight delays and traffic becomes a torrid snarl. When it falls sometimes the world stops moving. Blanketed in a quiet coat. As if it knows that the world needs to slow down and breathe for just a moment.

We all need to find time to slow down and if the snow needs to fall for it to happen, then embrace that moment and enjoy it. Watch a kid sled down a hill or think about how each flake touches the ground for just a moment before it melts or blends in with the other snow that is already there.

Let snow remind you of being young, snowball fights and forts built entirely out of the fluffy white stuff. Let it take you back to sleigh rides or watching it from inside a house with a warm fire.

Take snow for what it is, a moment to breathe.

Morning Coffee: Can I have a keyword please?

Keywords, what do they really mean about you?

In the job search they mean that without the right ones an employer does not notice you. You scratch your head, update that resume for the umpteenth time and then you are missing that vital keyword. That key to escaping the unemployment cycle and moving on with the next part of your life.

In blogging the keyword is the thing that helps other readers find your articles. It is why there are hundreds of blogs that rattle on incessantly about SEO or the holy grail of getting readers. If you can master search engine optimization by using a handful of keywords, links and insightful images, then hundreds or even thousands of people will search, glimpse and maybe even read that blog you wrote.

However, as with any search if you over use the keyword you become obsolete often times looking like you can not actually write a post or obtain that job. You just are splashing the essential keywords and links everywhere to get people to look at you, but without content to back up those words are you ever really saying anything?

Often times in this busy “search” oriented culture I bet that people are getting missed. Excellent articles are never seen and talented potential employees do not have a shot because they have missed the point. The keyword is how you get found, and without that word, no one will look at you or ever find you.

At the end of the day having an understanding of what employers want can open doors and make getting that crucial interview possible, but if your resume lacks searchability and does not have those words you are just like the rest of us.

Sitting, hoping and waiting for someone to look at the whole picture and not just one puzzle piece.

 

 

 

Morning Coffee: Healthy Vending

Can you put an organic vending machine next to a regular vending machine and truly compare the results?

Imagine these in your vending machine. Fresh, local and ready to eat.

What if all your favorite fruits and vegetables were easily accessible from a simple vending machine? What if these foods were found at a cost that is comparable to your favorite chips or candy? Would you buy them?

I have been looking for jobs that make a difference, something that when I wake up in the morning makes me proud to get out of bed. I can not help but think that I need to do something to help work on the issues of obesity, health and nutrition. Each day when I wake up I try to think of ways to make my husband excited about silly things like fruits and vegetables or even harder the dreaded brown rice. None of these things excite him but each day I want to come up with a new way to get him to eat things that are good for him.

This got me into researching companies that make a difference and that is what Fresh Healthy Vending looks like they are trying to do. Taking the concept of the vending machine and making it healthy. It appears that they are putting in products that are low in sugar, sodium and overall want to help contribute to good health.

This is the kind of place I could see waking up and working for, as long as what they say is true. If you look on their website it shows that they are trying to put healthy vending options in schools and gyms across the United States and that makes me wonder how come I have not seen them here in Seattle. I know that this state is one of the more fitness oriented states in the country so I would suspect that this company would be working to have a presence here in a place where it would hopefully be easy to see their work in action.

If Fresh Healthy Vending can accomplish their goals and teach people to go for the apple or the yogurt instead of that bag of chips, then I would be behind them 100% and ready to help them sell what they need to sell. This concept of getting healthy products to our children, friends and family is the first in a long line of steps to helping our country get back on top of the food issue.

This company could change our eating habits.

So, I challenge you, Fresh Healthy Vending, to show me how your machines are making a difference in the locations commonly reserved for beef jerky and chips. Show me what kinds of healthy foods draw are causing people to switch what they are eating out of vending machines. In return, I would be more than willing to look at your path as a direction to point myself in, and I would take the time and effort to help others look at your alternatives to the standard vending fair as good choices to make for their body, lives and self.

 

* Disclaimer: Fresh Healthy Vending does not pay or endorse me to write this or any article about them on this site. Though I would not complain if they did.*

Morning Coffee: Vegetables, routines and chores

Larger children, television shows talking about losing weight and the USDA releasing new dietary guidelines should all be a clear vision of an issue that we as a country are trying to solve and then ignoring all over again.

Obesity is an epidemic but the worst part of this “epidemic” is that we are all responsible enough to prevent it. When did our lives get so busy that we no longer want to go play? Children and adults are so busy they do not have time to play. I often hear my husband say that we can do it later, it being playing. We bought ski passes this year so that we would ski more and what occurs? We are skiing less, walking less and in general finding less time to go out and explore our world.

I think that our culture wants to do better, but often is unsure how to get started. If we do get started how to we make it a routine? In making it a routine sometimes it is not fun anymore and I think that is the reason our culture looses momentum on so many wonderful activities. I know because I have hit the “wall” so many times that it has become like riding a bike. I start to exercise, get in better shape, and then I get distracted enabling all that weight loss to return as weight gain.

The new dietary guidelines have told us that we need to fill at least half of our plate with fruits and vegetables. I have at least 6 bags of frozen vegetables in my fridge and for some reason just cooking those feels like a chore. I have baby spinach and salad fixings and often times we forget about them until they have gone bad. If cooking feels like a chore to me, I wonder how many other people do not want to do this chore? Besides that fact that for some odd reason vegetables just do not taste as good as we think they should. If we could change how we felt about them then we could follow this rule and take the chore out of vegetables.

I think in previous generations cooking was not a chore, it was how the family ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So if we take the “chore” out of cooking and take the “routine” out of working out and playing we could solve this problem. At the end of the day we have to learn to re-associate the good back into these activities. I know a lot of people who love to cook and a fair amount who love to workout and maybe these are the people who should be re-shaping our concepts on life and how it truly should be lived.

Do you love cooking? What makes you love it?

Do you have an athletic hobby that you love? What has made it so enjoyable for you?

 

Morning Coffee: The Woo

How important is the woo?

Would this be a good wooing venue?

I have always looked at woo as the thing that a guy or a girl does to make the other one happy. In order for one to woo there are often flowers, chocolates or some other silly gifts involved.

Girls love the woo and in all reality expect it quite often because it isn’t easy to do all of the things you guys want on a regular basis. I am often privy to cleaning, doing loads of laundry, cooking dinner and then watching the husband play a video game I have little to no interest in playing.

That being said I do not think it is wrong to expect that he would take me out to dinner and occasionally sweep me off my feet. I am not expecting a Clark Gable or a Fred Astaire here, just some surprises. Something to woo me back into my loving coma and make me feel like all of the silly little things I do are appreciated.

Valentines day is a classic day to woo, mostly because it is really hard to forget if you are involved in any kind of relationship. If the woman isn’t living with you then you need to woo her to get some kind of affection, and really if she is living with you that is probably the case as well.

The woo is the add-on, it is the thing that reminds us ladies that we are special and it is the kind of 1950′s throw back that I feel never goes out of style. Plus, there are so many ways to woo someone you shouldn’t ever really run out of ideas to change things up. I mean seriously, how many white table-cloth restaurants are out there? How simple is it to buy a bouquet of flowers at the grocery store or even a single red rose just because you want her to feel special?

Oh and ladies do not think that you shouldn’t woo either. Our woo is different, sometimes sexy lingerie is a good woo and when it is too early or we are too young for that stuff, take him out to a football game, buy him a video game or challenge him to a game of darts. In my case the husband loves chocolate, so whenever I want to do something special for him I just bring a special surprise home.

No matter where you are at in your marriage or relationship everyone can use a little “woo” and if you aren’t in one than give yourself something special. After all, sometimes what you pick can be even better because you know you like it.

What ways have you wooed or been wooed?

Morning Coffee: What are you afraid of?

It is so easy to be afraid. Afraid to jump out of a plane, fearful of trying a new food or fear of moving somewhere new. How you choose to confront your fears says quite a bit about you as a person.

I have always been a bit of a risk taking kind of girl. Well, at least as long as I remember because I am sure that the world frightened me when I was really small. Then again I do not know because I do not remember that time in my life really well.

How do you conquer a fear? Do you let it overwhelm you, or change the kind of person you are? I know that often times a fear of change will keep someone at a job they hate for years longer than they wanted to be there, in this economy it is almost understandable to stay somewhere that doesn’t make sense. It is just the safer route to go, you don’t have to worry about money, food or security at that point. If you left that job you may go months before finding a new one and that fear often is paralyzing

As I write this I face a fear. I fear that someone will read this and say that I am a terrible writer, or that I lack the true drive of someone who wants to write for a living. So I write anyways because it forces me to face that fear.

What is your biggest fear? How do you face it and overcome it?

Morning Coffee: Routines

I am not sure how to explain the desire to want to have a more permanent routine. I keep thinking that if I have something repeatable in place that it will get my mind to open up more.

 

The comic XKCD has some insight on routine.

 

I suppose saying that I want to be on auto-pilot is a bit wrong. I want my creative juices to flow a bit more easily. I have had a few silly changes recently that seem to be pushing my ability to write out the window. Not only does this push that away but it also pushes away my thoughts about working out.

In the days when I was working full-time it was easier to build things into a new routine. I was able to add fitness in easily on a regular basis. These days it is almost easier to say I don’t have enough time. There is always some silly, mundane activity that keeps me from doing things that are more athletic. I do not cut my self slack as much on doing chores as I used to, so if something is not done I feel the need to finish that before I give myself the me time that is going to the gym.

I know that routines make things easier. Having a set time, place and space to write often can trigger better topics and more information to be passed between the mind and the page. Sometimes just having that space of your own, a room where there are no distractions or thoughts getting in the way can be the lifesaver.

I like to write with the tv on because noises seem to trigger a comforting response in my brain. Now, sometimes this distracts my mind from the task at hand, but ultimately it makes me feel more comfortable. I do not like absolute silence, then my mind wins and the information overload is uncontrollable. So having the routine of coffee, a tv show and breakfast with my morning writing is what makes it work.

So with the writing down, now I need to come up with an easy and comforting routine to make exercising work. Any ideas? How has routine made your life easier?

*Image by XKCD.com click on the image to be taken to their site.*