Category Archives: Get on your feet

* Hope and vision

Get on your feet, Homelessness, Jacob's Ladder, Job search/Job prospects, Motivations, OUR BEST POSTS, Squalor, , , ,

As of March 7, I will have been homeless five years.

This morning I took first concrete steps to get myself into transitional housing.

This is essential if I’m to get job.  For some time, I’ve been living off life insurance policy proceeds, but in the near future, that money will run out.  It’s urgent that I get an income.

The shelter where I’ve been staying is extremely comfortable, perhaps too comfortable, but it has very rigid hours that make it nearly impossible to hold a job while one stays there.  Currently, having to carry my two heavy bags and backpack with me wherever I go, severely limits my ability to commute.  Transitional housing will spell having a place where I can stash my stuff, and freedom to come and go as I please.  I will, for example, be able to take a night job.

Related:  Obstacles to my prosperity

Continue reading * Hope and vision →

* It pays to be grateful.

Get on your feet, Homelessness, Poverty, , , , ,

I meant to discuss how privileged you are if you can choose your food.

An event Thursday night changed that. Sometimes you’re privileged even when you can’t.

That same guy happened to be right behind me in the dinner line. As we approached the serving window, he got all put out because they’d run out of the chicken and French fries. What we had to accept instead:

Four thick slices of hot, tender, juicy, turkey breast with gravy, and this fantastic stuffing.

And mixed vegetables.

Related: I stay at the best shelter on the East Coast
Related: Learning curve
Continue reading * It pays to be grateful. →

* “World’s happiest man” shares his secret

Get on your feet, Science, The Way of Peace, , , , ,

A 69-year-old monk who scientists call the ‘world’s happiest man’ says the secret to being happy takes just 15 minutes per day

Another must-read.

This is actually a different approach to meditation than any I have ever used.  I may try it.

Enigmatically, happiness is no laughing matter.  Last week’s article suggested that your happiness is a key to success in life.  It is central to one’s functionality,  the ability to get things done, overcome obstacles, set wise goals and diligently pursue them.  Whether you believe in heaven or hell, wish to serve merely yourself, or instead wish to “serve” God, serve Jesus, or serve humanity — it’s essential to optimize your functionality, your effectiveness in life.

Fortunately, apparently, that can be fun!

* “A Stanford scientist says a simple psychological shift can make you more successful”

Clippings, Get on your feet, Science, The Way of Peace, , , ,

A Stanford scientist says a simple psychological shift can make you more successful

The headline left me skeptical. A scientist tells about success?

The article proves to be all about self-love, and backs up everything I’ve said about that subject. It also speaks to the issues I face at this moment in dealing with my feelings and the way I treat myself.

I urge you to read it.

Related:
Chaos overwhelms the poor
A short route to agony
Life in the outer darkness
Self-comfort
Why racism no longer matters to me

* This program turned me away.

Bible, Career goals, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Job search/Job prospects, Justice, National news, OUR BEST POSTS, , , , , ,

Adapted from a 12/03/15 e-mail to my brothers and some others.

Given instability at the shelter where I’ve been for almost five years, I decided to apply to a certain program affiliated with a major national charity and major local soup kitchen.  This program is residential, has a nice facility, and (as I understood it) was geared toward taking men with histories of addiction or homelessness and rendering them self-supporting.

Since it is a residential program, I would no longer have to carry my bags everywhere I go, vastly increasing the radius within which I can look for work; and, I supposed, I would be able to work any shift.  After all, unlike the shelter where I’ve been, they’ve got a big shove towards self-sufficiency.

They rejected me.

I wrote:

Baptismal grace means: when you get knocked down, you get back up.

Blog post (from October ’14, about getting back up): Life in the outer darkness

In the immediate future, I will be checking out options in transitional housing, and case management services at the clinic where I’m currently in treatment for everything I’m in treatment for.

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What happened?

Continue reading * This program turned me away. →

* Self-management in the face of depression

Get on your feet, The Way of Peace, , , , , ,

I am extremely depressed this morning.  This may be a “monthly.”  I find myself hyper-self-critical; ready to take anything someone may say the wrong way; ready to snap.

I’m dealing with various issues in various places that may help explain it, but as opposed to engaging in excuses or blame, I need to deal with what is.

I was in Dunkin’ Donuts at 9:00 and chose to check the library schedule for this week; to chart out what days I would go to the library and what other days I would go to church.

Continue reading * Self-management in the face of depression →

* Bootstraps

Bible, Get on your feet, Homelessness, Justice, OUR BEST POSTS, , , , ,

Psalm 150:6:  “Let all things that have breath praise the Lord.”

At the homeless shelter where I stay, we’re required to attend chapel every night.  Monday, for the first time in months, Jervis Ray preached.  His text was Psalm 23.  However, he was soon enough back to his same old same old, haranguing us that we’re not grateful enough for our “blessings.”  “God woke you up in your right mind,” with the use of two arms and two legs.

He calls us to praise God that our bootstraps aren’t like others’.  “There are lots of people in hospitals who don’t know where they are.”

That stung me, as my oldest brother will be soon enough in just that state.

Continue reading * Bootstraps →