Monday, April 6, 2009

That’s the short and long of it - Judge Jim Gray

There is an old saying that being in a rut is like being in a grave without end. Of course, in some ways it is, simply and purely, beneficial to have a set routine. Why? Because it helps to conserve effort and also helps to get some things done efficiently.

But sometimes it is also productive to look around and be able, willing, and ready to change your routine.

Upon reflection, there really is no fast and hard way we should live our lives. Of course, there will always be a difference between wrong and right, and some guidelines will be written down inexorably in white and black (although that still leaves lots of things in our “gray area”).

But surprisingly enough, a change in our perspective will sometimes enable us to roll and rock around the clock with unimagined vigor.

So are you caught in a rut that tends to make you tired and sick of your daily life? Could you decrease your strain and stress, and at the same time increase your take and give?

Think about this, because I’ll bet you can quickly come up with some insights that will allow you to deal and wheel in your rejuvenated life like you have never dealt and whelt before.

One change that could re-invigorate your life would be to do something you have never even thought about doing before. For example, how about regularly going on hikes with your family? I use a guide titled “Best Easy Day Hikes” by Randy Vogel to make my selections here in Orange County, and my favorite is the 2.7-mile round-trip hike to Holy Jim Falls, which begins just off Live Oak Canyon Road. But there are lots of guide books to easy and fun hikes everywhere.

Or take a trip to somewhere really different that you have never even thought about going to. Why always be on the narrow and straight?

For example, expose yourself to a different world by going to a Bluegrass Festival. Google tells me that there will be festivals this year in Harlan, Ky., on June 25 to 27; Gettysburg, Penn., on May 14 to 17 and Aug. 20 to 23; and Luray, Va., on July 30 to Aug. 1. Or go to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., on Oct. 2 through 4.

Go to one of these festivals, by crook or hook. They are just the balanced and fair things to help you take off the chain and ball of boredom, and reduce the tuck and nip of your mundane world.

The same approach to considering different options can also be used effectively in your business. It only makes sense and dollars. Because businesses can also have a tendency unthinkingly to use the same old forth and back, instead of using a balanced and fair consideration of different and new ideas. In fact this new open-minded approach could give your business a new easy and free path to more productivity. Some people may fight you nail and tooth along the way, but try to persist.

For example, how about considering the use of an alternative work schedule for your employees? For some companies, having employees work 10 hours per day for four days per week, instead of the traditional eight hours for five days per week, would increase productivity. And that change can often make your employees happier, while at the same time reducing overtime costs. So this could be a truly final and smart approach for your company, and just because “we have never done that before,” does not mean that it will not work.

Or what about employing a system of bonuses based upon increased net sales per month? As we see throughout the world, incentives matter, and often the way to find justice and truth in the workplace for employees and employers alike is to institute such a system of incentives. Most times it will work, and you will probably receive lots of appreciative ahs and oohs from your employees along the way. Spread the word clear and loud for everyone to be imaginative, because the list of possibilities is endless.

So that is the short and long of it. Rosencrantz does not always have to be mentioned before Guildenstern, or Mutt before Jeff, or sweet before sour. Instead, look right and left to see if you have fallen into a dried and cut rut in your personal or professional life. It’s not a question of evil and good.

In fact, you will find that many people have willingly come from far and near to adopt this true and tried approach to help them get past the halls of mirrors and smoke to find a more balanced and fair way to live in the now and here.

And you can too.



JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court. He can be contacted at JimPGray@sbcglobal.net or at www.JudgeJimGray.com.

2 comments:

Agent Orange said...

Judge JG,
I believe that this would qualify as: "Being in a rut is like being in a grave without end."

Open email to Santa Ana government.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: My opinion on murdering the woman in front of her child today by SAPD - from Stanley Fiala
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:29:14 -0700
From:     Standa standa@merlin4x.com

To:     Harrelson, Anthony THARRELSON@santa-ana.org

CC:     mpulido@ci.santa-ana.ca.us,
cbustamante@ci.santa-ana.ca.us, calvarez@ci.santa-ana.ca.us, dbenavides@ci.santa-ana.ca.us, stinajero@ci.santa-ana.ca.us, vsarmiento@ci.santa-ana.ca.us,
"Walters, Paul" PWalters@santa-ana.org

Hi Tony,

"The SAPD murders a woman - because the woman behind the wheel had committed a traffic code violation, Buena Park police Sgt. Bill Kohanek said."

Nice going Tony, SAPD justice [be murdered by the COP for a traffic code violation]... how do you differ from the MS-13 or the Mara Salvatrucha?... Huh?

I am sorry but there is no difference between you and them! .... as I stated in my last appearance in EPIC meeting the SAPD is a copycat of GANG and GANG a copycat of SAPD. So as long as SAPD is criminal the GANG will be criminal. It is up to you not them to decriminalize Santa Ana.

As I have stated in my prior email, re AK47 Mr. Lovelle Mixon, the socialists forgot how to make [the men out of the boys.].

To kill a mother in front of her child is the most cowardly crime a man wouldn't commit... (a crime which not even Al Qaeda member wouldn't commit.)

I lived in communist Czechoslovakia and was Air Force Officer and my brother a COP. I was fully informed via the Police proprietary publication about any nationwide Police incident. There was none such incident during 22 years of my citizenship there!

It is my opinion that USA Police, including SAPD, is most brutal murdering machine which supersedes Komitjet Gosudarstvjennoj Bjezopasnosti ["KGB"] and Geheime Staatspolizei ["GESTAPO"].

That bags a question, notwithstanding his background: Was a use of AK47 by Mr. Lovelle Mixon against this killing machine a justifiable use of force since he too was to be killed for a traffic code violation?.... citizen's right to self defense.

If any one of you including the council an Mayor can sleep tonight as usually, than you just may be Psychopaths without any consciousness and being aware of it. But then again you are a product of CIA, secret prisons, torture, pillage and rape of other nations.



Respectfully submitted,

-Stanley Fiala

Marcos El Malo said...

This is really one of your most charming articles. I really got a kick out of it. Incidentally, you first came up on my radar in the LAT Lopez piece.

I will continue reading your blog with great interest. I myself am a Republican who is greatly dissatisfied with the GOP and the state of the "Conservative" cause in our nation. Although I am not yet ready to change my party registration, it is something to which I have given a lot of thought. I did vote for Bob Barr in the last Presidential election, and I am proud to say that I did not vote for George W. Bush once.

One last thing. My father is on a committee of the Friends of the Glendale Public Library that engages authors to come speak and promote their books. I am going to send him links to your site, as I feel that your message needs to be heard in Glendale.