The Cafe is Back!

Welcome to the new location of the Life-Work Cafe.  I hope that you’ll stop in often to see what’s brewing.  My goal is to provide a space for readers to get fresh information on how to create and maintain a meaningful, balanced life.  Sometimes I’ll share ideas from my coaching practice; sometimes I’ll throw out an idea for your comments; sometimes I’ll share something terrific I’ve read or am reading.

Come on in, grab a beverage, find your favorite chair and dive into some deep conversations about life and work in all its wonderful shapes and forms! Here’s a re-run from the original site to get you thinking!

Life is made up of a series of building blocks. These blocks represent the relationship between our experiences and our belief system. We pile these blocks one on top of the other to create the pattern that is our lives. Sometimes, though, the pattern is not what we expected. This may be true because we so rarely look at the construction that is our lives.
When a bricklayer constructs a wall, he carefully examines his materials. He looks over each brick to be sure that it is true – no cracks, not warped in any way, of the same color and construction as the other bricks that will make up the wall. Then he carefully mixes the ingredients to make the mortar that will hold the bricks together. If the ingredients are not in balance, the mortar will be too thin and not hold or will dry and crack. The bricks will not stay in place. Carefully, very carefully, the bricklayer puts just the right amount of mortar on the trowel, then gently taps the brick in place, smoothing away the excess, making sure the brick is aligned with the others – not too far forward, not too far back. If only we could build the walls of our own lives with such care!
Unfortunately, we don’t always have this luxury. Our lives develop – often without much attention paid to the construction or the materials. Some of the bricks may be faulty. Some may be perfect; some may need to be replaced. Some may really be bars of gold.
Look at the bricks in your walls. Look at the life you are creating.