Sharpening the Saw

This is a wonderful analogy used by Stephen Covey in his fantastic book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, in which he describes the sorry state of a person working long and hard to cut down a tree, sweated and worn out from the effort. When it is suggested he take a break and sharpen the saw he replies ‘Goodness I don’t have time to sharpen the saw, I’m far too busy sawing!’ and carries on sawing away with the blunt blade.

India is my favourite place to go and sharpen my saw. Last time I was there several ideas for articles came to me in a matter of minutes and I have since written and published those pieces. There were also spontaneous ideas for workshops, which I have run in this last year. Plans which came to mind so effortlessly in India, have matured now and blossomed into wonderful projects. And of course it’s not just the creative saw which is sharpened but also the physical, emotional and spiritual, through rest, being close to nature and having time to reflect.

Happiness Formula

I appreciate simplicity and this little formula is very dear to me.

‘Eat well, sleep well, think positive thoughts and move your body’

I find it an easy check list to hold in the front of my mind as I go about life.

Eat well – eating what suits my particular body (a vegan diet) and saying no to ‘plastic’ food (junk food).

Sleep well – means good routine and a well rested body that’s raring for the world in the morning.

Think positive thoughts – remembering I always have choice, I can step back and ask: ‘is this train of thought going to take me to a positive destination or a negative one?’, before I jump on it.

Moving the body – energy spent is energy earned, exercise is a fantastic investment!

For me these are the roots of the wellbeing tree, the fruits are clarity of thought, informed decisions, energy, motivation and action.

People are Reliable

I recall the words of a colleague who once said ‘people are reliable, you only need to meet them twice – on the first meeting they’ll tell you everything about themselves, just look and listen without any wishful thinking. There won’t be much new information in the second meeting; this is just to confirm what you picked up on in the first. After that you’ll just get repetitions of the behaviour, manner, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses that came out in that first interaction. So you can decide whether or not to progress in business or friendship based on your first meeting and be pretty accurate.’

I’ve never forgotten his wisdom. However in the past few months I’ve had real insight into what he was saying, when two people whom I met many years ago popped up out of the blue. There had been no contact for a long time and with each separate person it was startling to see that whatever I had been wary of in the initial meeting was still there only this time more exaggerated, more entrenched. In both cases the outer circumstances of each person’s life were also exactly the same as they had been several years earlier, which informed me that the inner thoughts and beliefs must also still be the same, since our actions stem from our perceptions.

In therapy it’s often said that three things have to be present in order for change to take place. The first is awareness that change is required, then the willingness and effort to make that change, the third is the right kind of professional help to facilitate the change process. If any one of these is missing change won’t occur. On the other hand it’s rare that all three conditions come together in the same place at the same time, hence my dear colleague’s words, ‘people are reliable, because they keep doing the same thing again and again.’

Today, Tomorrow, No Now!!

At the weekend I sat down and went through the nice new diary I bought a while ago, planning the times when I would like to take leave next year. It’s a great thing to do as there is no boss to seek permission from and I can take as much or as little as I like. It took a while and after I finished I went and did some chores. As I moved around I had a profound realization when a voice in my head said – ‘I don’t even know if I’ll be alive at that time I’m planning for, I have no guarantee whatsoever I’ll even be here tomorrow, this evening even!’

Life is just moment to moment and the present is all we truly ever have. It was one of those rare gems of thought, which has made me slow down (a lot) and savour what I’m doing as I’m doing it and I certainly feel enriched as a result. So much of our western lifestyle is focused on the future - a destination somewhere out there, and that’s important, equally too though is the journey that is to get us there and enjoyment of what happens along the way.

Getting a Perspective

At the weekend I went to a social event. As I parked my car and walked to the front of the building, thoughts regarding difficulties with a supplier of services to my business occupied my mind. At the entrance a man walked quickly across my path, he was holding onto the arm of a younger guy slightly ahead of him, I realised the man was blind. At that moment the difficulties which had been troubling me dropped from my mind in an instant. It was as if the universe was putting my troubles in perspective by reminding me of the gifts I take for granted and forget about - vision being only one of them, there are numerous – food, water, shelter, good health, hearing, mobility, caring family and friends.

Professor Harry

This is a picture of me and my nephew Harry on our recent visit to a restaurant. On the way there I told him what we would be eating – dosa’s etc as it was south Indian cuisine. When our food arrived his Mum tried to entice him to eat the ‘pancake’ to which Harry promptly replied ‘it’s not a pancake it’s a dosa!’ Quite a big correction from someone who has only just turned three! It never ceases to amaze me how much information small children take in.

Interpreting Your Dreams Workshop

This is a course I ran on 7th November in Hounslow. It was offered as a free workshop to members of the local community. The response was fantastic with all fifteen places being booked up within four days of the advertising going out and people continued to call and check for places right up to thirty minutes before the training was due to start!

The participants were so eager to learn and it was wonderful how they each made a special contribution - I always think training is a group effort and I know I learnt lots from them. We discovered how some dream symbols such as a train could fall under the category of both a place and a type of object. One participant mentioned teeth as a dream symbol - teeth falling out. Here we thought teeth could be an object but also come under the category of ‘people’ - the person who has lost the teeth.

It was lots of hard work to organise but the appreciation and enthusiasm of the participants made it all worthwhile.