SOCIAL NETWORKING WITH MYSELF = A TRUE 24 HR DAY

Wishing for the first time in a very long time that there were really more than 24 limited hours in a day. There are so many things that I want to accomplish. So many incredibly fascinating paths of discovery to take, that I am wishing that I could work through the night just to satisfy my thirst for knowledge. I am so grateful to be working in disciplines that I absolutely love and have passion for: Marketing (including Market Research), Business Development and Relationship Building/Social Media Strategy.

I am a big picture person, yet also anally organized and detailed. I am an extreme connector who loves human interaction and have been known to talk to myself when out shopping if there were no available patrons to interact with (well at least I don't talk to the jar of beets!) I absolutely love my life! Having a home office and the flexibility to call the shots with my schedule is empowering and rewarding. The thing I have to watch out for is balance. I can push myself faster and further than most people and have a brain whose synapses fire at an unusually high rate thus allowing me to process information very quickly. The watch out for me is to take time out for myself and to step away from collecting and processing so much data on New Media and Marketing Trends that seem to update every 2 seconds on all of my feeds. I need to step away from Twitter @michellebeckham and Facebook every once in a while and get back to some personal time with myself and hopefully my writing. My professional social media sites seem to be working fine without me, so the others need to follow suit and take a little hiatus.

My goal for the next 40 days is to spend a little time social networking with MYSELF. Hope I find you there!

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

Follow-up to "You Are My Destiny..."

I have to say that on first blush, I wasn't very pleased with my post yesterday, "You are my destiny...It is Written." I was so incredibly touched by the idea of destiny and fate in the movie Slumdog Millionaire that I just had to get all of the feelings that were swirling around in my brain down on paper. Those of you who know my writing style, know that I seem to channel the feelings and emotions that I experience and let my pen take off on it's own journey. It's almost like an out-of-body experience or a meditative trance. I become one with the emotion or the person that I am seeing in my mind and I just write as if I were the person or feeling that I am experiencing. Having said that, the repetitive lines within the piece felt jarring to me as I have never written this way before, but I felt strongly compelled to do so. Here is a comment that I received on Facebook regarding this piece from my writer friend Robin:

"This is powerful and beautiful...I love the repetitive pattern.
For some reason, I couldn't help but read the "they"'s as "we"s, the "them"s as "us" or "our"....
Really strong and touching - thanks for sharing, Michelle"

and my response:

"Thanks for commenting Robin! It's strange because the repetitive portion felt unnatural to me, but I felt compelled to write it that way. This was in response to the movie Slumdog Millionaire that I saw yesterday. I was intrigued by the fact that the main character, Jamal Malik, knew what his destiny was as a young boy and spent his life fulfilling it. There are people that come into our lives that are destined to be there- I wrote this for them, for Jamal and for myself."


So while I wasn't thrilled about the formatting of the piece, I'm truly glad that it resonated with someone else. Isn't the whole point of writing to touch someone's heart with your words?




Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

You Are My Destiny.....It is Written

Two souls come together by circumstance

A spark is ignited

A connection is made

Life events cause them to move in and out of place

In and out of place

No matter where they are

No matter what they are doing

Destiny weaves its web

And connects them for all eternity

Over time they come together and part

Come together and part

But the feeling of oneness remains

It permeates through them

So that no other living being can successfully

Cut through the wall they have built

Between themselves and Other

They are one

They are destiny

It is written.

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

My Love For You Is Real

Love is that incredible intense connection you have with another person that transcends all else. You make your way through the world with that hidden, inner feeling that warms your entire body, knowing that you are truly loved for who you are and what you represent. That body smile of perception that can transform into a tingling feeling that reverberates throughout your being at the sound of his voice. Knowing that somewhere out there is another human being that gives a damn about you and will lay down their life in exchange for yours. A connection that reaches across time and the universe to remain strong: a soul connection for all eternity.

Happy Valentine's Day to the greatest love of my life...............

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

EXISTENCE WITHIN THE DARKNESS OF MERE BEING

Existence Within the Darkness of Mere Being

“….the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”- Carl Gustav Jung

Pass on a little sunshine

Brighten someone’s day

We all know that the rampant headlines

Are slowly killing our hope

One industry at a time

One job at a time

It only takes a little effort to make a difference in someone’s life

Here are a couple of recent instances where someone has stepped up to the plate to make a difference:

• A local jeweler is giving away 100 silver heart pendants to anyone who can show need via a foreclosure notice or pink slip
• A local township community theater is putting on a Broadway Review of love songs for Valentine’s Day-for FREE
• A senior citizen triples her tip to the nail salon tech because by 2:00 p.m. she was her first and only customer of the day
• A local family-owned butcher shop sends out a plea to help keep their business alive, by including for the first time, dollar-off purchase coupons in a mass mailing to the community

What can you do to brighten another’s day; to give someone renewed hope in humanity or just to give someone the gift of a smile?

If we all would reach out and shed a little light on the darkness that surrounds us, America would be a brighter place indeed. Where there is light, there is hope. Let’s move beyond the darkness of mere being.

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

SOUL CONNECTION

Soul Connection

Something about a soul connection that just won’t let go
When you know the ins and outs of someone’s inner self
How they think
How they dream
How they breathe
Throw in a force, like the strongest tentacle of a spider’s web
That lassoes them closer together each time
They drift away
And subconsciously draws them back together
Like the opposite forces of an opposing magnet
Sparks fly in many ways
Bold, opinionated, they clash brightly, fiercely
Sometimes hurting the other with barbed words
Always coming back to that middle ground

The center of deep association in humanity: the soul connection

*************************

You told me once: “Humanity is the heartbeat of the soul. It is the capacity for feeling, the dispensation of love and all consequent emotions.”

I rest my case.

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

DESPERATION LEADS TO CONNECTION

Desperation Leads to Connection

A cry for help reaches my computer screen. In a desperate attempt to assuage the pain, a stranger reaches out from the depths of his despair. A name and a face have been placed on the myriad of headlines that scream out from the daily news feeds: Caterpillar, Home Depot, Sprint-Nextel, Google, and Pfizer….. the list goes on- all have bludgeoned thousands of jobs from their corporations. This daily occurrence tends to inoculate us from feeling the pain that the collapse of the American economy is causing on an individual basis. Unless of course the pain has a way of reaching you in a palpable way as it did for me.

In the midst of a Sunday night of media multi-tasking, a single email burst through the noise of my other endeavors. The plea contained within its short paragraphs, and the pain woven in between the lines of each word, affected me in such a way that I felt an immediate need to contact this stranger in my virtual midst. I responded back to him to let him know that there was help out there. He detailed in his missive, that after nearly 30 years of working for the same company, he had been let go- another victim of the failing economy. With two children in college and another two in private schools and a resume last written while still an undergrad in college, he was reaching out on a social media network in the only way he knew how to do: a straight out appeal for advice, help, free-lance work, a part-time job. As he stated: “No options (given) to take time off, a furlough, nothing…..this is what this economy has come to.”

The great news about this wonderful community that I live in, is that by 9:00 a.m. this morning, many others had stepped to the plate and offered this man advice on the many resources and networking opportunities that are available to him. He is just beginning the journey that many of us have been traveling on for a while now, but it’s nice to know that he is in great company. Reaching out and creating relationships with others- NETWORKING- is the best way to help you get back on the career path. The bonus is that you get to help others along the way at the same time.

So go ahead, reach out and contact a friend. They'll tell two friends, and so on and so on...........

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

VANISHED

Vanished

Vanished out of my life once again
But this time I know that all is well
Doors have been closed
Mysteries have been unveiled
I know that you are living peacefully
And moving on life’s path just as you were meant to

One day I will see you in the mist and the fog
And wonder……………

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin

DESTROYED

Raging storms
Like falling tides
Have a way of reappearing
Anger waxes and wanes
Like the moonlight in your eyes
And I am left with the distinct
Feeling that all was a dream

Will you wake me up from this discordant reality?
Where the line between my mind and your words blur
With each passing moment,
Where truth is spoken in whispers
And your name pressed into the hollows of the wind

The longer the shadow falls from the sun
The further from certainty we shall be
Until one day it hits us that what
We had begun was one of life’s most
Precious mysteries.
R.I.P.


Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin