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(Crossposted from
href="http://www.boundlessenthusiasm.com">Boundless Enthusiasm - The Enthusiastic Musings of Marshall Ian Sontag)

The past Friday was the last day of my day job at Great Insurance Jobs where I spent around 7,000 hours during the last 3½ years, and naturally I have mixed feelings. I worked with a lot of great people, learned a wide variety of new things and had a vast range of experiences, both good and bad. While the deeper significance of this event has yet to sink in, overall I am glad that I worked there. I feel grateful for the innumerable opportunities my job provided for me to grow, and so it is largely with a heavy heart that I leave now to go out on my own.

However, I am thrilled with my newfound freedom and I am extremely excited about the possibilities that the future holds. I am going to be working from home, developing a potentially high-risk business during which I'll need to be looking for other ways to generate income to pay all my bills. Right now I have several web development contracts lined up, plus a few more potentials, but who knows when that's going to run out. I'm receiving a few sales of fish oil everyday and my Fish Oil Blog is now on the first page of Google for "fish oil" (in addition hundreds of other fish oil related phrases), but I've yet to fully capitalize on the traffic. I'm also selling weed. (Just Kidding ;-))

As you can see, nothing about my outcome is certain (is it ever?) and I have no highly stable sources of income. It feels like I'm aboard an incomplete airplane that has just taken off and I have no choice but to construct the plane while it's already in the air. It brings me a renewed sense of aliveness and vigor to reach for my dreams. While I'm at it, I have to be careful not to let doubts make me to lose touch with my excitement, causing it to be unconsciously projected and transmuted into anxiety. I say that because right now I'm playing with the idea that anytime you feel anxiety, it is always the result of repressed excitement. I highly recommend reading this series about shadow projection by Ken Wilber.

As I have begun my transition, I have decided to give my workspace an extreme makeover to ensure for the greatest success. I am a strong believer that your environment plays a huge part in determining your levels of relaxation and productivity, both of which I want to maximize. This means painting the walls a new, more productive color. It means buying a new desk, some plants, a full-spectrum light-therapy lamp and a fountain. I've even sold myself on needing a Mac Book Pro to foster creativity! (Haven't you used their sweet MacOS?)

But, you see, this presents me with a problem! As I mentioned before, I can just barely afford to keep the bills paid, so I currently lack the necessary resources to achieve this dream of ultimate productivity. As a result, I am reaching out to those around me to aid me in realizing this vision. I welcome you, the reader and ever-loyal friend of mine, to support me in anyway that you feel. I am not looking for charity per se, but rather investments into our relationship. In exchange for their investment, all investors have the option of receiving consulting in any area of my expertise, including search engine optimization, internet marketing, website usability, positive psychology, goal achievement, nutrition, stress management, emotional intelligence, interpersonal efficacy and romantic relationships! What a deal!

Scott and Roger, my employers at Great Insurance Jobs, generously gave me a $250 gift certificate to Amazon.com because they wanted to help get me going and Amazon offers everything from reference materials to home furnishings to office supplies. Thanks, guys! If anyone else would like to join the ranks of those that support me and my efforts and my writing, you are welcome to send an Amazon Gift Certificate to me*at*marshallsontag.com (replace *at* with @). Or you can buy me a Mac Book Pro, I'll take the one in the middle with a 7200 RPM hard drive. :-D

Thank you everyone for your support -- I look forward to offering my friends and readers the best within me.

(Crossposted from
<a href="http://www.boundlessenthusiasm.com/?p=21">Boundless Enthusiasm - The Enthusiastic Musings of Marshall Ian Sontag</a>)

Today I came across something so incredibly touching and deeply inspiring that I was compelled to show the world by posting it on my blog. (By "world," I mean all five of my readers!) It was Sarah McLachlan's new song, "World on Fire," and, well, just watch the video, damn it!

It's a call to rise, and it has certainly has had that effect on me, inspiring me to spread the word and give more to those suffering around the world. Furthermore, Joshua pointed out to me that there is not actual suffering depicted, but rather moments of joy and celebration. This makes the video especially effective because it focuses on positives. As I witness the humanity of these impoverished peoples, it makes me realize that, in an extremely fundamental way, we are all the same. When you recognize and fully realize this universal truth of human existence, you can't help but heed Jesus' advice to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." While achieving such a realization, however, may seem like a monumental feat, this is merely a reference to the emotion of empathy. An emotion that, if given a voice, would say "I feel your pain and suffer with you. I joyously revel in your triumphs."

Now, allow me to wax integrally! (If you have no idea what that means, perhaps you'd better brush up on Spiral Dynamics or tune out right about now. ;-))

To me, this video exemplifies the true beauty of the green meme, otherwise known as the sensitive self. Green shines its light of universal compassion on suffering wherever it may go, leaving no stone unturned and respecting no boundaries. However, a green voice that speaks of no resentment for orange or blue values is a rare creature indeed, and I feel it should be honored wherever it may be found. Perhaps one could criticize its lack of an appreciation for good orange values such as free markets that actually create surpluses which allow us to give to charity (ironically, the world displayed around the video is Orange!) However, we can easily attribute this to the characteristic nearsightedness of all first-tier memes. We can still love it for what it is and forgive it for everything it is not, just as we would our own parents, siblings, friends or coworkers. (Perhaps what I'm saying to do is, find a liberal somewhere and hug them, but only after giving them an economics lesson. ;-))

To paraphrase Jay-Z: If ya can't respect that, ya whole perspective is wack -- Maybe you'll love them when you fade to black yellow...

What are you waiting for? Check out Sarah's donations, or check out this integral organization that seeks to save the world by promoting entrepreneurship and capitalism (!), founded by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey.