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The pursuit of mediocrity is always successful. Was a mantra to a guru HRM that I was head hunted by years ago. She pushed me to stretch out of my comfort zones and aim to be legendary. What a role model she was and is. OK service just isn't good enough. "I shopped at New World today and nothing bad happened to me." - said no one to anyone ever! Perhaps I'm just having a bad day but I'm really a tad angry and frustrated. I'm f'd off. At the ineptitude and lack of drive I've been experiencing lately. If my anger at others really is a mirror of what's going on for me personally then I guess its a loud call that I need to push myself harder. To scull a shot of life's wake up call each morning and realise none of us have the time not to get this. Reason 1 for the Rickshaw Run. Time to push the limits. D.A.R.E again to live out loud to see how far I can go doing amazing things to support others and to feel the colour it adds to my life. But first - get the work done, the proposal emailed, the invoice out, the GST in, the house sorted and the washing put away pronto. Check out CK Lewis on you tube - "Everything is awesome yet nobody is happy"; to get the drift of what I'm saying. We are experiencing the anthropocene. The time epoch where humanity holds the perceived balance of power on the planet and it's wasted on a generation of us with a huge sense of entitlement demonstrating activity that inspires very little exemplary at all. The generational inequity is daunting - benefits, expectations of social welfare, government and entitlement are everywhere. You don't have to move your feet far off your ottoman or even lean forward on your couch to hear the media bag yet another aspect of how hard life is in today's world. Get real! Count a few of your own first world problems... The charger on my i phone 5 means that now none of my techno wired house features work without adapters is an all too common cry. I remind myself that the women of Macetown managed to wear layers of white petticoats under well pressed dresses laundered by hand at minus 14 degrees c in the river in winter any time I want to B-itch about having to fold my washing warm and soft from the dryer. Those with the means manage to excuse ourselves from the most character building of activities. Because when we are executives we buy into the perks. A lust for luxury and desire to be elite. Convincing ourselves that success is a ticket out of service and selflessness. We deserve to sleep in, eat out, have nannies, fly first class while someone else scrubs the dunny, disciplines or hugs the kids and empties the cat litter. In training sessions when asked to describe customers most groups serve a nation of drama queens, haters, wasters and complainers. Put that together with most of the customers who are getting appalling service every where they go. What a bunch of no hopers we've all turned into. Are we really scrapping the bottom of the wine barrel then whinging at the sediment? When those still unemployed are there because they won't pass the drug tests or don't want to work the public holidays. Most weeks I come up with a couple of start up business ideas. I've encouraged my kids to sell horse poo, wash cars, pick herbs to DO more. Yet an hour a day after school and I've spoiled them. So right now all of you hands up. If you are the person out there giving the crap service and whinging when you get worse service elsewhere this is the time to line up next to me, stand up and be counted. What? it's not you? If it's not you and it's not me then who on earth could it be? Is it because we have all been caught up in the quest to be entrepreneurial , creative types who can multi task and create a great work life balance? Even those who can't read or write because it's not our first language or we have a different learning style to that which the system operates in. How is it that all of us manage to stuff around finishing little and creating mayhem for others to sort out in our wake. While we primp, preen and posture, throw tanturms, cheat or lie, blog, network and lunch? Maybe we justify our mediocrity as we work 14 hour days, go without breakfast or lunch and take care of three kids while volunteering to coach the touch rugby game. Respect for people, places and things seems to have fallen by the wayside. As we meet to discuss the values for private schooling it's unanimous - manners, old school traditions. Opening doors, calling people by their surnames, standing when the boss, teacher or customer enters, making eye contact, smiling, acknowledging each other, respecting your elders are traditions we long for to give a feeling of security and comfort. If kids can't wear a formal uniform at school how the hell will they show up to work on time and dressed for success. If they swear at their mothers, and graffiti their desks and bodies will they feature on police 10 seven instead of the high school year book or the rich list ? I witness senior mangers leaving for an hours drive to a meeting, 10 mins prior to its scheduled start time. Keeping 10 people waiting ...where is the cost benefit ratio in that? Getting passport photos supplied electronically when children's applications must be hard copy takes three trips to the camera shop to sort out. None of it on purpose, but maybe that is our problem. Together in love spirit and purpose is engraved on the inside of my wedding band. Ten years this month - maybe I should now tatoo it across the back of my hand. To remind me that the connection to life is bigger than I've seen and the obligation is to get on with it, now. There is the wwoofer who came to help in the garden, learning on a study abroad scheme at the expense of the UK government and courtesy of Otago university. A sweet kid it was a major to drag herself out to meet the day before 11am, or fill more than a bag of horse poop an hour. The garden she meticulously weeded does demonstrate that she may be well suited for the career in archeology that she is following. Indeed history may be made while she digs. It took four days to clear 50 square metres, correction 10 of them are still undone. As a trainer I know that I have a tendancy to give the level of instruction that I would need to do a job. So I felt a dash of pride when I'd explained grid by grid what I wanted to have happen. Over the week my own speed increased as did my productivity. In an attempt to lead from the front I got a hell of a lot done. She was a great hit playing with the kids and read 7 books in the week that she was here. So I'm sure that contributed something to the collective good. But was it worth it? Consider my lovely neighbours scenario who had random house sitters offer to take care of their place over the summer. Great, though now they are gone and have left ALL their stuff in the garage, no rent, no fee, no care. When asked when it's going to move... their new place isn't very big... And? the point is?? Is it time to embrace a paradigm shift back to excellence? With unitasking and the rise of the intraprenurial. Some B.F.O's for this weeks journey... Focus on one thing at a time do it exceptionally well and finish it. Work in the business not on it. Look for ways to do things better and faster. Use less resources to be more productive. Respect for people places and property. Not wrecking the planet cause it's where we keep all our stuff. Time to lift the game and demonstrate good sportsmanship. If your not first you are last and second is the first loser. Celebrate winners - Drink a cup of metaphysical concrete and harden up. I'll give it a day or two and let you know how I go.
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Synchronicity DO you notice the signs? Put your music on to "shuffle" and immerse in the joy of the synchronicity DJ. Ever notice how the songs that are played for your metaphysical listening pleasure seem to have all the right messages as you walk along life river path? Even the tempo change seems appropriate. I'm not getting all religious on you here but I do enjoy it when the signs and symbols on the track seem to indicate that we are headed in the right direction. From Wikipedia... Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.[1] The concept does not question, or compete with, the notion of causality. Instead, it maintains that just as events may be grouped by cause, they may also be grouped by meaning. A grouping of events by meaning need not have an explanation in terms of cause and effect. It's those moments of magic when you think of something you would love to have or see and the next moment its right in your path. A what do you know?! Look at that! .... isn't that ORsome B.F.O moment... I often wonder about the DJ in my head. Random lyrics, humming a melody and then when I stop to listen they are strangely on target to my task. Thinking of a longtime-no-see friend and you meet someone that knows them or they ring or appear in person on tv or your dreams. Entering the Rickshaw Run and Radio NZ features excerpts from "Bitten by the Bullet" of riding a motorbike through Rajasthan. Is it the RAS in action from my earlier adrenalearn blogs? Or is it the pixies doing their job? When we group moments by meaning rather than by cause and effect it can support or hinder our decisions and choices. It can affect our beliefs, our sense of wonder. An understanding that something bigger than us just may exist after all. Seemingly the angels are on side when it all goes swimmingly. Or perhaps they are not when you slip on the wet bathroom floor smashing the shower door and popping your MCL only to drop your computer bag on top of your $400 sunnies as you head out to work. You may begin to question if it's a good day to stay in. I have a thing that happens with photos that I've begun to take as cues from friends and spirit on the other side. The pictures invert. I can show examples of bff's and fallen soldiers. I've clicked an image on my iphone to capture a photo of a photo and it's flipped. Or a page in a memorial book in Suda Bay cemetary to help me locate a grave site that when I open the image again as a reference is upside down. To me the sychronicty or meaning is that this is a voice from spirit saying hey we are here with you - Believe. I don't get why it does it or even need to know the answer I enjoy it, soak it up and revel in it. Just going wow that's cool. I wonder how come I get to see these things and wonder what the message is here? It keeps my on track, keeps me forging ahead, wakes me up and makes me take notice. There are random signs like "11.11" on the clock - why do I seem to always glance at that time? I see turtles and Keraru - the NZ native wood pigeon so often they are my animal totem pals. Each has meaning and significance to me, I take strength every time I come across one, even in countries where there are none. My turtle stories could bore you into your shell. Suffice to say that while strolling through the Chinese gardens in Darling Harbour telling Ewar Woowar how bizarre it is that turtles often cross my path... a turtle decided to exit a pond headed straight for us hyper extended his neck and bit me on the toe of my boot. I've seen them in a wave break in front of me in the surf in Hawaii, pop a head out of the ocean beside a yacht on our honeymoon, I've been given random gifts of carvings, jewellery and drawn the turtle animal card from a pack more times than I can count, - to dates best tally... 21 times in a month of daily random card choices. Too many times to be a coincidence? Or at least one with no meaning? What signs have you noticed - had any sychronicity pixies in your world lately? I'd love to hear... If a black cat crosses your path it indicates that the animal is going somewhere - Grocho Marx The path of least resistance are you on it? Know where you are going in life? Or even where you want to be by tonight? Are you faced with choices and decisions that are confusing confounding and hard to distinguish between? I've just had a great discussion with a lovely lady who is at a crossroads of sort. I love it when someone reaches out for connection and allows me to let inspiration flow. It's all the more fulfilling when we are yet to meet in person because I can trust that the information I'm sharing is from source rather than tainted by my human perceptions of them or the way I have judged how they are living their lives. Life offers so much choice everyday at every junction sometimes it's hard to determine which outcome will be the most promising. To trust that tossing a coin could take us on a wonderful journey. Perhaps we have broken through a paradigm and are newly aware that our belief system has changed. We are brave enough to explore new horizons but we are just not certain which opportunity is the most fruitful to pick. In these instances it is important to trust your gut reactions and to learn to distinguish when you are in the flow or not. There is a temptation to race off down the first path we stumble upon. 100 yards into our dash we realise we are up to our necks in shit. The trick is to take it one little step at a time and check in with your gut often. Ask is this an Ooo or an Ahhh. And step by step feel your way along; following the path of least resistance. The path that feels good, light and fun. There are wants, needs, desires, cues, judgements and observations that get us where we deserve to go. Make lists or mind maps to feel out your journey. Start with what you really really want, what you need is as simple as base survival and what you desire is that quiet little voice that you hardly even D.A.R.E to listen to. Desire can wear disguises. It may be the nagging feeling or crowd in the grandstand telling you that you can't do that or should do this. It's time to be really quiet and ask yourself why that voice is so certain that it knows what is good for you. Maybe you really are allowed a pony or actually could be prime minister - we were each created equal with a god given right to divine inspiration. Just some D.A.R.E to follow it. Out of this voice of desire rise the seeds of fruitfulness. The passion to live by the sea, the drive to wipe out bullying, the inspiration for creativity. If everything has happened to you for a reason lifes lessons just may be in the signs. Perhaps its where things are the most in contrast. Observe what it is that you find the most challenging or confronting. Use these nuggets of wisdom to sketch out your road map but allow the universe to fill in the landscapes, the terrain and the colour for you. Reach out and connect with others - this is where the ideas flow and the synchronicity happens. Where 2 degrees of separation can pop out and become cairns by the road side - shrinking your world and putting the people and the tools in your path to take you to shores you have not even dreamt about. The cues are where you come in. The lines that someone utters that you have a gut response to. The offer of a job or a chance to connect with someone or something. Judgements and observations are the road signs. I D.A.R.E'd to comment on an April fools Facebook post by someone asking should she go to live in the South of France for 6 months or Stewart Island for a year. The last joke may have been on the poster. Designed to lure us into thinking she was seriously considering leaving the shaky isles. The judgements from others and her own observations that either choice was suddenly sounding very enticing may have created opportunity to exciting to ignore. The engineer and I asked GOG to define whether Grumpy Old Man Syndrome really exists and why. I love our philosophical explorations of life and its stages through the web of online learning and knowledge. References to Eriksonian psychosocial stages gave me flash backs to those first year psych lectures. That as we age there is a natural need to detach from society as we face death and leaving this world for another unknown. There is the inevitable comparisson of what we desired to achieve and whether or not we ticked the boxes and got there. Or whether we become cynical , bitter, twisted and sad that this time around we blew it and now we are out of time. Didn't D.A.R.E or care enough to at least say that we tried. For those that look back and sum up the path they have travelled positively there is the opportunity to become the wise sage. The kamatua, a healer, a helper, a light worker. To be one who gave something a go and risked the rejection and the humiliation of failure. That listened to what we thought we could never DO and did at least some of it and felt good for it. Or realised that although the temptation to live abroad in a new location sounded enticing and different, that life here ...exactly as it is now; was just to good to ignore and a new level of satisfaction in staying put was the greatest gift of all. I allow my intuition to lead my path - Manuel Puig |
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