Author: K. Samways

Constant observer. Ad hoc responder.

Categories
Resource Wednesday

Resource: How to Thank Volunteers (or anyone really) | RW Issue 4

In this week’s resource, I have provided my top ten ways to thank volunteers. It can be applied or adapted to any organization. These are basic principles or suggestions that I have gathered from innumerous other resources and years of experience in the field. It is by no means extensive, but it’s concise and explains the result of each action.

Because I enjoy working within a framework of appreciation, it’s usually where I start when looking to improve workplace culture. If employees, staff, volunteers, humans feel appreciated and valued for the work they do, they do more of it and with better quality. They are generally happier and enjoy improving their place of work.

This approach works if you are looking to build, grow, and enhance your business or non profit sustainably. Sustainability means less turnover and more natural support from your stakeholders. It should be your goal to grow, even if slow and steady. It should not be your goal to remain status quo or stagnant as this results in burnout and die off.

If you want a simple guide to demonstrate to your volunteer supervisors how they can easily improve volunteer relations, download the PDF here and see below for a summary.

How to Thank Volunteers:

  1. Give specific and timely praise.
  2. Say “Thank You.”
  3. Give them the big picture.
  4. Take interest in your volunteers.
  5. Nominate your outstanding volunteers.
  6. Give gifts or tokens of appreciation.
  7. Share your volunteers’ success or use their work as an example.
  8. Ask for your volunteers’ expertise.
  9. Check in with your volunteers.
  10. Prove more opportunity.

Recently I had a conversation with a staff in a supervisory position. I asked who their favourite employee to work with in a particular situation was. She responded, “I don’t have favourites. I like the work that some people do better, but I don’t want to make others feel bad.”

I asked why she didn’t elevate that person, recognize them, and inspire the rest of the staff to work the same. She responded “That doesn’t happen here.” How sad! When this type of attitude is held by management, employees quickly recognize that doing better work offers little extra in return. You help your staff train in apathy.

If you need inspiration in your workplace, contact me. I work with managers and supervisors to help them better coach and manage their staff. It’s as simple (and challenging) as changing the way you provide feedback to your employees. It may require changing your delivery style or implementing new policies in the workplace. It may require shifting your attitude from pessimism to optimism.

Typically, the change you want to see in your staff is one that supervisors and management must make first. I can help you identify your core challenges and create simple yet effective solutions. Whether you need to learn how to foster a culture of appreciation or deliver harsh criticism in a motivating manner. You’re not alone in your challenges, and there is affordable help.

Be the positive change in your workplace. Foster a better a culture. See different results.

Categories
Tarot

The Sun shines for you | TT 4

A Message from the Tarot:

November 16, 2021 ~ Tarot of the Divine

The Sun

In this deck, Yoshitani illustrates the Sun with the Egyptian Deity, Sun God Ra. He stands in a boat holding a staff; the sun blooms in the sky behind him. A snake, the symbol for transformation, circles its centre. Gulls fly over the trees into the sky. There is an optimistic, hopeful and energetic radiance shining from this card.

Egyptian Sun God Ra proves everything is illuminated with optimism and enthusiasm for the path ahead.

Yoshi Yoshitani, Tarot of the Divine Guidebook

When upright, this card speaks of satisfaction, accomplishment, joy, luck, vitality. What wonderful feelings you must be harbouring at the time you come across this reading! You have let go of doubt and your fear of missing out. You have overcome depression, refusing to see your missed opportunities as failures.

You now have courage to face life as it appears before you, understanding that it is YOU who creates your life. It is your perspective, joy, compassion, the love that you share, that can coax your reality to shift from negative to endlessly positive. Simply by changing your perspective you can see even adverse conditions as the best thing that could possibly happen to you. How can you take advantage of this situation – a small step on the way to achieving your grandest dreams and desires. 

This card does not mean you’re going to make millions on the backs of billions of slaves. This card does not speak of taking advantage of living beings or harming others in order to sustain your vitality. This card speaks to harnessing an optimistic internal compass that guides you ever in the direction of your happiness even when enduring hardships. 

You can try something new without worrying about looking silly. People’s opinion is no loss or gain to your being. Perhaps you can ask someone out without fear of rejection. Perhaps you can apply for a job without thinking “I need to get this or else.” 

The Sun does not change – only the sky does. You cannot control your sky, its clouds, storms, the external appearances you’re facing. But you can control your mindset, attitudes and beliefs so that you can patiently enjoy the journey while you travel to times of ease. Always thinking, I am gaining, never losing. 

The Sun card can even represent a feeling of pure ecstasy, creative energy, fulfilled love and happiness. It shines when a person has found their inner light, has discovered a divine wisdom, truth. You no longer rely on someone else to light your fire. You have found the passion within and, you share it with others. 

Suggestion:

Visualize the light and warmth of the Sun in your chest and heart. For the next few days, remind yourself several times daily that the sun is shining in and through you. 

Gerd Ziegler, Tarot: Mirror of the Soul

Tarot: Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yoshitani

Categories
Monday Motivation Philosophy

Why I Quit Social Media | MM 4

This is a personal story and encouragement, not an argument. If you’re not interested in learning why, then don’t read this post. If you don’t want to quit social media, then don’t. I’m not asking you to.

Why I quit social media

  1. It steals your time.
  2. It steals your money.
  3. It steals your life.

Social media technology is designed for profit. That profit comes from you. You are feeding a machine that syphons money out of your community, sells your personal information so it can better advertise to you, and uses your volunteered preferences to keep you hooked and engaged, even angry. Over 90% of users do not critically choose how much time they spend online, what they consume, what is advertised to them, and most are absolutely unaware of the pervasive impact it has in every aspect of their life. You have no freedom online. It does not exist. As of December 16, 2020, I escaped the cult of social media and ended my slavery. Since, more information has come to light about the corruption rampantly perpetuated by the providers of these social services, how it erodes our democracy, and we are imbibed with consumer beliefs. Yet, little can be done to impede its growth. If a revolution is to occur, it must happen offline and within your own mind.

Good luck.

How I quit

  1. Find Fulfillment Offline
    Who are you when you’re not working and you’re not scrolling? Who are you beyond your online profile? How do you spend your time? Do you post fancy recipes or do you actually make them? Do you make others laugh or just mindlessly consume low-grade, repetitive humour? Do you live a life you’re proud of or just shame others for not meeting your unrealistic expectations? Do you understand cause & effect?

    My recommendation is to find a hobby – as old fashioned as that sounds – and get good at it. Choose something that you have to practice, something that requires time and effort to get good at. Photography, painting, writing, drawing, math, science, plant identification, bird watching, yoga. Choose something that encourages engagement from other learners or mentors. Feel how amazing it is to get better at something other than videogames or getting online likes. Keep it to yourself and your community. Don’t share every bit of your practice. Guard what’s yours like a treasure. Stop offering it for free to everyone who comes along just to get a thrill from the attention. See how YOU feel about yourself when you do something good, when you get better. How do you like yourself when you’re the only one in the room?
    When your mind and body improves (instead of disintegrating), you’ll wonder why you were wasting so much time. You may even realize it wasn’t a choice. You can free yourself from addiction, but you need purpose and meaning in your life.
    I train my mind. I practice Buddhism (training in mindfulness), paint, write, draw and exercise. The moment I let go of social media was the moment I realized how much time I actually had for myself, to volunteer, to improve myself and my community, and even just love myself as I am.
    Next, try volunteering. Locally and with your own two hands. Find shelter that needs someone to cook and clean. Find a community garden. Find a hospice. Pick up garbage on your favourite hiking trail. Use your imagination. Don’t try to solve a situation overseas. Start by cleaning up your room, then your neighbourhood.
  2. Text & Meet Ups
    Part of the danger of today’s dystopian reality is that, despite all of the current “medical” rhetoric, isolation is still the greatest danger, even making you more susceptible to catching colds/viruses. We know that 90% of communication is non verbal, and we know touch is important to happy human social functioning. The internet is not the place to find these things, and it should not be promoted as the safest way to build connection.
    Does anyone know the psychological impact of not seeing a smile for a year? Why are we making decisions that jeopardize the health and connection of people permanently? Especially seniors in the last years of their lives. Especially people deemed “non compliant,” because they don’t instantaneously accept being told what to do by a compromised governmental authority figure or they need more than 6 months to change their mind about something that’s honestly a pretty big deal. Asking for government ID to get into a theatre or food court? That’s a big deal. That’s not something that should be popped into command overnight with no set time to overturn and no stopping where it ends.
    “This is my business, I get to choose who shops here.” Plug this into various contexts and you’ll get varying levels of support or dissent. Don’t want to serve gay people? You’re a bigot. Don’t want to serve the unvaccinated? You’re a role model.
    In the end, none of these policies reflect freedom, equanimity, or safety. And perhaps that’s not what you want in your society. But I can say, of my own opinion, this is not the society I envisioned or dreamed about when I was a little girl, so I’ll be doing my damnedest to remain true to myself and what’s right, what doesn’t feel like my gut tearing in half because of a politician’s desperate and fearful attempt at solving an ECONOMIC crisis (not a health crisis). Fuck that noise.
    In person meet-ups, even with just a few close people, on a regular basis is a must if you’re going to leave your digital community behind. Try and find this before you disconnect completely. I learned the hard way that there is no “old fashioned method” during a modern pandemic that encourages fastidious and unquestioning use of tracking technology.
    Make sure you have phone numbers. Texting and calling is just as accessible as social media and video messaging, and it’s more personal. It shows that you’re thinking of someone without an internet reminder that it’s their birthday or they just “liked” the same thing you did.
  3. Just hit delete
    In an age where we have rapidly come to define ourself digitally, it can feel overwhelmingly difficult to hit the deactivate or delete buttons on your account. When people Google my name, what’s even gonna come up? What if my friends post an ugly picture of me and I don’t see it? What if no one wishes me happy birthday?
    I hit delete with a sense of curiosity (instead of fear). What does an unadvertised future hold? What potentials are in my own mind? Who the fuck am I, actually? Do you know how many minutes you can contemplate these questions while scrolling Instagram or devouring TikTok? None.
    And do you know what? It’s worth it. It’s worth taking the time to get to know yourself and your friends and your community and volunteer and touch and hold hands and laugh and see one another smile in person – where a laugh is a thousand times more contagious and life offers more three dimensional possibilities (you might say).

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. My only wish for you is that you live a life that makes you happy, that you discover what real happiness is.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

JRR Tolkien
Categories
Poetry

Come Together

Infinite

Endless

Space

You create your future today

Do not become overwhelmed by the opportunities
If What if is What is then Why not What if
Something fucking fantastic.

Let us come together like fire and ice
to create the perfect fog
to slowly uncover the puzzle
put together by sightless senses
somehow complete and smooth around the edges
Won’t you create intentionally with me?

Let us build a masterpiece of a life
reciprocity
boundless giving, love instead of fears
we have such fun to make
a home of sex and joy
transforming life 
for hearts we touch
and we strive to touch them all
with a swinger’s gift
unique lust lends
to love
after
all.

You showed me gypsy magic
under light of waxing moon
simple, soulful tunes,
banged out with wooden spoons
passed down from father to son
carved with mystic ruins
creating music for ear
hair raises on skin
I feel it on my neck
like hot breath
and scruff scratch
I feel it on my lower back
where kidneys rub tissue to soundtracks
my arching spine senses the divine
from this music made
so much more than sound tonight
as only magic that persuades
the body move separate from mind
out of control, dancing in time
to art brought forth from empty space
a fire burns within this place
a story comes forth from your lips
I’m dancing with it on my hips
it is hypnotic as I twirl
no longer human, no more a girl
a spirit, light and transformed, airy
you moved me with the music sound
so that my feet no longer meet ground
yet I dance, so moved by you
and you by my words
as you play your tune.

We came together this cold night
to create intentionally by candle light
both romantics, painfully, to core
wishing freedom from attachment
wishing for much more.
yet still finding the body
anything but a bore
because these human sensations
can be felt in each pore
Have you counted them recently? 
there are billions
yet we call it one piece
don’t see it fragmented
and wish for release – 
from what?

It’s the thoughts and desires
like three deadly poisons
like witches who snare
with unsolicited visions
inciting toxic ambition
that clings to an “I”
not found in team
not found in love
which only gives, lest I dream
and yearn to receive as much as I live
to selflessly, unabashedly strive
to get rid of the ego and get rid of my pride.

Until I have made much more progress here,
I just yearn for the music
to help me release fear
the magic is working
as the gypsies knew
the music is magic
and the music
is you.

Categories
Philosophy Saturday Expressions Visual Artwork

Take Back Your Time | Session 3

A rebellion against social media, the true corporate time thief:

Are you tired of being robbed of your choices, implanted and imbibed with capitalist messages dictating your every thought and move? Buy this drink and earn stars! Buy this and earn points! Try this thing and get a medal! Give your money and your freedom of choice away! Give your safety over to those with a track record of incompetence – a slate wiped clean by expensive lawyers and void of future liability (read the fine print).

Why continue to ignore credible sources who say the same thing: discover your mind. Go within. This isn’t a time wasting ploy like the invention swathed in your sweaty palms, tightly, vigilantly held, never disconnected yet always believing we’re disconnected. The paradox is not emptiness – the paradox is the life we’re living now: senseless, meaningless, when you add up minutes spent giving nothing to the world. Nothing! Giving nothing of ourselves to any being – just consuming and being consumed by a sickly intoxicant, cancerous and eating away at our minds, our senses until senseless we never drink our fill and wish for more minutes to pour into the void of despair and disaster. 

No more!

Take back your time!

Categories
Firescape Fridays Poetry

My comment on the latest Feminist Line from your fashion retailer | FF 3

I like how the painted pleats butterfly out from the groin
on stained denim jeggings, skin tight jeans
as if to say “Look here! I am transformed! Unzip me!”

I enjoy the jerry-built cursive writing
evidence of its removal from the curriculum
now staining the empowered clothes we wear

my breasts: the billboard of the uneducated but equal

exceptions made to lower the standards
so that we can sustain 
an earth past its carrying capacity
and evacuate those who hasten its end

Categories
Love Letters Thirsty Thursday

Dear Ssaahhaah | Letter 3

Ssaahhaah,

This language is not one we knew. But the words come easy, and I can now describe you.

You, who opened as a sunrise over soft meadowed hills and brooked valleys. 

Ssaahhaah, who carried the wind on her back as she flew, lightfoot, anywhere she pleased. 

Our people gave us two names. How I love to whisper your secret name in the dark. Ssaahhaah. 

I stroke your hair and kiss your neck and a sensation arises in me I have no words for. So I say Ssaahhaah. 

You are the bringer of my joy. You persuade me to differ from the composure that I keep in public company.

The winds over the lands speak your name in my ear when I travel. Ssaahhaah. 

Oh to be away now, in order to sustain our lives. I’m emboldened by the vision of re-uniting once more. Ssaahhaah. 

I miss you. 

Graahhah

Categories
Resource Wednesday

Resource: Training Checklist for Non Profits, Volunteer Supervisors and Managers | RW Issue 3

Quiz:
How do you set your volunteers and your staff up for success?

Answer:
By providing quality training appropriate to their role.

Why?

Training is essential. It should reflect one’s job description, be organization-specific, provide opportunity for questions and clarification, and ultimately set up your volunteer to succeed.

Organizations and business that fail to train their volunteers and employees often have lower retention or they get stuck with “problem people.”

Ultimately, volunteers want to help your organization – not become an additional burden.

Once you have determined who your volunteer supervisor is, provide them with a checklist that covers all the essentials when it comes to training. Make sure your materials are reviewed regularly so that you’re not sharing outdated information.

What should your training include?

  1. Explain the job description and your expectations. Be specific and comprehensive.
    Ex. If you expect someone to arrive fifteen minutes before their shift starts, state that now. Don’t wait until after they arrive “on time” thinking they’re off to a good start.
  2. Explain any daily procedures or where volunteers are to find their assigned duties.
    Ex. A notebook or log book, a computer with a volunteer login, etc.
  3. Emphasize any important details or policies.
    Ex. “It’s extremely important to keep client confidentiality. This means that certain information does not leave this building. If you have any concerns, please debrief with me at the end of your shift.”
  4. Health & Safety training.
    Ex. Explain any job risks and what to do if injury occurs. Where is the first aid kit located? Will volunteers be using any specific cleaning products? Do they need WHMIS training? Where are the fire extinguishers and emergency exits?
  5. Introduce volunteer to staff they may need to interact with or explain how they can reach key staff.
    Ex. Show them where the phone is and give them a list of important numbers. Clarify everything – does your volunteer understand how to use the phone? Never assume. Face to face introductions are nice so your volunteer doesn’t have to wander around looking for staff.

Your training checklist is especially important if you are a Volunteer Coordinator or Manager delegating this responsibility to another Supervisor.

Reality Check:

It’s wonderful to believe that all people come with amazing skills and initiative, fearlessly ready to jump in wherever needed…but that’s not always the case. A lot of time new volunteers (or staff) need extra encouragement, and every time they need to ask for assistance, it’s another obstacle in their way. Everyone has insecurities, and they may feel silly asking questions like “Where are the fire exits?”

It’s part of your responsibility to train your entire team to make your objectives achievable in the easiest and most efficient way. Good training is essential to:

  1. Volunteer Retention
  2. Volunteer Safety
  3. Volunteer Appreciation
  4. Volunteer Happiness
  5. Volunteer Success
  6. Risk Management

Risk Management is often overlooked or mismanaged. To be a good leader in non profit, be sure that you have appropriately assessed risks at each level of your organization so you can address issues proactively.

Set up your volunteers and volunteer supervisors for success! Create and share your training checklist today or start with mine.

Categories
Tarot

The End is the Beginning | TT 3

A Message from the Tarot:

The Tarot of the Divine – November 9, 2021

Eight of Wands

As things get colder outside, you are prepared to warm yourself with the fire of your passion and creativity. Even though recent energies have been chaotic, challenging and even lonely for some, life has given you an opportunity to organize yourself – especially around the things that are important. Right now you are either in a place to put things in order or you are finally experiencing a flow to your work.

The Eight of Wands reflects not just your determination and drive, but your ability to master it through action. When you get organized and put effort into accomplishing the details of your goals, you will see how far you can go. It is important at this time not to get too bogged down with the details but to keep the larger picture in mind. When it comes to your work, jobs and ambition, the eight is a great card to see. Though this card deals with our creativity energies, it remains unemotional as it’s more about our efforts towards external accomplishment and not our inner world.

In this deck, we see the North American Lenape Legend illustrated representing quick decisive actions. The crow on the card makes some self-sacrifice as his wings are singed while he flies to deliver warmth to the cold earth below. It is important to remember that your temporary sacrifice in the name of your passions that inspire others will pay off immensely – both for yourself and for the people you touch with your kindness and creations. 

Take advantage of this energy and your momentum to experience the excitement and results this journey will bring. 

Journal Questions:

What have you been working on that is finally coming together? Where are you seeing the fruits of your labours? What sacrifices have you made to pursue your dreams? How has this freed you from previous limiting beliefs? What’s next? 

A Message from the Oracle:

The Wild Unknown Archetypes – November 9, 2021

The Dead End

Wow! This card feels like such a contrast to the Eight of Wands energy of movement. Is it a warning or a prophecy? Or is it actually the doorway through which your efforts are carrying you?

I believe this card will speak to different readers in different ways. For some, the appearance of a dead end will make us question the path we are on. If we have put much work into something and we come up against the same obstacles we always have, those that make us feel like turning back and giving up, perhaps we should question what it is that we actually want from this journey. What are we doing in the same way that is no longer working for us? How are we letting the darkness of our path overshadow its important meaning? 

For others, the dead end is an illusion. The knot of black branches and thorns is but a shadow. There is light behind, and we can reach it if we do not let the negativity or naysaying of others hold us back. There is but one hand blocking our way. It speaks not with words, but with actions. If we use our creativity, we may easily move around this block to a new place.

For all, we should remember that each end is actually a beginning. Life remains cyclical, and there is no point to fighting cycles of birth, death and rebirth. Instead, we can strive to understand them and take advantage of the opportunity to make meaning with what we are given. Should you continue to strive to accomplish your goals through your creativity, determination and drive, you must be prepared to say goodbye to the things no longer serving you and be prepared to welcome “Life’s Beginning.” Pay strong attention to what happens at the moment you accept the ending. Feel the relief. 

Today’s Reminder:

Note that in most stories and movies the moment the protagonist reaches The Dead End, something riveting happens. You are the protagonist.

Kim Krans, The Wild Archetypes Guide Book

Go deeper:

Tarot: Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yoshitani
Oracle: The Wild Unknown Archetypes by Kim Krans

Categories
Buddhism Meditation Monday Motivation

Meditation & Mindfulness | MM 3

Listen to Gen-la Kelsang Khyenrab teach about developing a happy mind.

“We need to improve the quality of our mind if we want to be truly happy.”

Gen-la Kelsang Khyenrab

Motivation Challenge 1:

Identify three problems in your day. See if you can respond to each problem with a positive mind. How can you control your desire for things going a certain way and accept the situation as it is?

At the end of the day, reflect (i.e. journal) on what you learned from each problem. If you were able to help someone else, rejoice!

In doing mindful activities like this, we can accomplish two things:

  1. Accumulate positive karma through helping others, patiently accepting what is, and transforming adverse conditions
  2. Train our mind to become strong, peaceful and happy

Meditation: Challenge 1:

Spend one to two minutes meditating on how you helped others in your day. If no examples come to you, you can always imagine doing things to help others. Try to generate a warm feeling of love or compassion or gratitude toward the people you’ve helped. (Keep pets or animals in mind too – just as important as people!)

Spend two to three minutes meditating on this warm feeling at your heart. This is your object of meditation. Try and hold it for as long as possible. If your mind wanders, just bring it back to your object as soon as you notice. Do so without any judgment.

If this is your first time meditating, try repeating the following to yourself a few times before you start:

“I can meditate. I have the ability to hold my concentration. I will learn to develop concentration, because it is important. I can and I will focus on my object of meditation.”

This is more helpful than negative self talk like “I’m no good at meditating. Meditation isn’t for me. I’ll never be able to concentrate. I can’t control my mind.” These thoughts cause nothing but harm, so there is no purpose in encouraging them.

If you’re worried about getting “stuck” in meditation, simply set a timer for five to ten minutes, or whatever you can spare.

For a real challenge, try this for one whole week. Keep a journal and pay attention to how your mind is throughout the day. Do you feel as stressed? How is your patience? How are you sleeping?

I’m sending lots of love and positive energy your way. Good luck!