Enthusiasm

My new Best Friend is Tom Peters. Buy any of his books you will know what I mean.

In his latest book he writes about Dog Days

You might think given my language ... that I am always "up". A walking WOW

But no: I do have totally crappy days when I can barely get out of bed. On those days I force myself up and go on long rambles with my dogs. For me, dog experience beats even the best psychopharmaceuticals.

Then ... I get on with it. I force my all-down self back into the fray - not to 'finish a project' or 'prepare a speech', but to transform a project or a speech into a (potentially) transforming experience for someone else.

My greatest fear is that I will not have done the stuff that mattered. That I won't have made the world ... a little better place.

So between my dogs and the possibility of producing 'experiences that matter' (that scintillate), I muddle through. And a funny thing happens: When I re-ignite my enthusiasm, other folks invariably respond in kind.

Message: Enthusiasm begets Enthusiasm

'Uncle Dick' Died Today

‘Yes; after a long life of service to God and man, Envoy Richard Collett OF, of the Preston Corps was ‘Promoted to Glory’.

There will be many people who will write the official eulogy for this great man, but there are very few who will know everything about ‘Uncle Dick’. For me that does not matter it’s what I know and remember, that will sustain me in the times of discouragement and encourage me in the times of excitement and when all is well. ‘Uncle Dick’ had the unique ability to put people at ease and just by his manner show them what they could become. Since he went to the retirement village I called in when I could and he used to say that I came in like a whirlwind with enthusiasm and energy, but I just so appreciated his ability to foster in me the overwhelming emotion that I want to be like him. He truly was the consumate ‘Christian Gentleman’ and despite all the people that I have met and had contact with he is possibly one, among a small handful, who I want to be like.

When I go to the funeral next week, I will be full of emotion and will represent my family who knew him and loved him also. I am sure that there will be tears, but my overwhelming emotion will be one of joy for this man who did more for me than all the sermons that I have ever heard. By his very presence, he made me feel far more important than I ever could be, and opened my eyes to the possibility of being more than I could even hope to be.

In my ‘middle age’ I used to say to my kids I have two ambitions and they are to be ‘Old and Wise’, and almost unconsciously, I now think that my ambition was based on what I knew of the life of Uncle Dick. And the Scripture that talks about Job’s death as being ‘old and full of years’, or ‘aged and satisfied with days’.

Farwell Uncle Dick! The sadness of your passing is going to translate into a burning desire to be like you. There will of course be only one Uncle Dick but you have built positivity into so many lives that your influence will never die. The Faith that you exuded in your diminutive frame was legendry and belonged to the giants of our faith.

Of all the accolades that any of us can have poured over us is that we simply ‘knew Uncle Dick’.

If you haven’t got an ‘Uncle Dick’; go and find one; better still you need to be one.

You can read minds easily

Have you ever wondered what people are thinking when you first meet them? What are they thinking about you? What are they expecting and how can you be ready to deal with their expectations. Its possible that every time you meet someone for the first time you can literally read their mind. There is no doubt that there are three questions that they want answered in the affirmative before they do business with you.

They need to know the answer to three questions:

1. Can you be Trusted?

2. Are you committed to excellence?

3. Do you care about me as a person, or is it just my money (or business) you want?

It comes from the story of Lou Holtz. He was a National Football League Coach in the States a few years ago. He took three (?) bottom teams from the bottom to the Super bowl with basically the same team personnel.

He credited his success on his emphasis to the team members to;

1. Do the right thing.

2. Be the best that you can be.

3. Follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated

So there you are! Now when you meet people for the first time you will be able to read their minds, even if they are not aware of their own thoughts; but you are aware and you can react appropriately.

It really is possible to read peoples minds.

Two Cups of Coffee

Those people that know me will know that I am a big fan of 'Coffee Shop Culture'. In those times when I have talked about it, many people will express that they like a brand or variety of coffee but for me it is not about the coffee. I read this a long time ago and I feel that it was time to get it out for another read.

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Learn the lesson and never forget that a cup of coffee with a friend, or a colleague, is never just a cup of coffee, its a means to connect, deepen relationships, grow your own life and make a difference in someone else's life. If someone asks you if you would like a coffee be aware that it is not about the coffee, but about a need that they feel you can meet in their life.  'Fletch'

Always say YES!

Motivated People

Sharon Pearson sends out an email every week and this was this weeks and I just felt it was important to share this around

1. Have a dream
2. Never, ever give up
3. Work with a practical and flexible plan
4. Know their values and live by them
5. Feel and get lucky
6. Show passion and enthusiasm

Warmest Regards,

Sharon Pearson

Who's Got a Tattoo then?

I was so impressed with the Picture of a Salvation Army tattoo I saw a few weeks ago that it reminded me of a time when I might have done the same thing; Salvo of the Salvo’s and all that sort of stuff. Not only was I impressed with the content of the Tattoo but it is a seriously good piece of art, and although I have only glanced at some of the Tattoo magazines occasionally, it would rank as equal to any of them as just ‘good stuff’.

The story is told of the Salvation Officer in North Korea who was banned from wearing his uniform when the Army was proscribed in the early 50’s. He was so disappointed that he had his insignia tattooed on his body so that they could not actually take away his expression of faith. (Someone might be able to confirm this piece of history for me) Now that is commitment and we will all have different views of that but just the same a tattoo is something that you cannot go back on very easily, is it?

Many people have been through mid life crisis and it has expressed it in many different ways. I was recently talking with someone about men in mid life crisis and she expressed a great deal of scorn about mature men who feel they need to compete in a younger world and have hair transplants and even face lifts and many of the other aspects that is perceived of fighting against the years, that need not be mentioned to this delicate audience; and she added the “imbecilic need some mature men have for red sports cars”. It was, I perceived a much practiced speech about the vagaries of men’s fight against maturity, and when she had finished I sort of agreed with her and dropped into the conversation that I used to have a 1980 red Triumph sports car that for a time was the love of my life. My perception is that she was more embarrassed than I was. At about that time of mid life crisis I did go and get an ear stud. When people asked me why I was able to say very confidently “I have two very good reasons for doing this; it’s my ear, and I could afford it” Now I know that you might say that is not a really good idea but at the time it seemed as good as any and it is still there and a few brave people ask me why.

Many years ago I heard a radio interview with a young DJ and a mature woman who was an expert in etiquette, people were ringing in and there was the usual I have got a tattoo here or there... and it was a very interesting discussion. At the end of the interview the mature woman said that she was going to get a tattoo, in an ‘intimate place’. The DJ was aghast and asked her why; “one day I will possibly have to be in care and people will have to do all sorts of intimate things for me that I can no longer do for myself. When they do these things they will see the tattoo and realise that this elderly woman who needs everything done for her, once had a life”. Whether you agree with her rationale or not is immaterial, it was important for her.

Around the same time as this much maligned mid life crisis attacked me, I was in the States and at the San Hose airport when the world changed forever. Yes 9/11 changed many people’s lives and the next week that I was in San Hose I went to sit in a Starbucks Coffee shop every day and for possibly the first time in my life had a major re-evaluation of what I was involved in and how I could make a more significant difference in the world. I am a serial joiner and I had quite a large list of the things that I was involved, what got on to that list to keep doing and what didn’t is a whole story but what did fall under the line was playing in brass bands, that at the time I was up to 48 years almost continually, but it went. On my eventual return to Australia I was wondering how I could recognise this decision to make a more significant event. Well you have realised, I am sure from the start of this article that I went and got a tattoo. I do not make a big thing of this but in most people’s minds the unspoken question is ‘where has he got it?’ and I can tell you that I saw in the tattoo studio things that made my eyes water, but I have it in a place where it is easy to see every morning in the bathroom mirror, and where it will remind me of that decision to make a greater difference in the world. Now the only thing left is what I should use.

I have always been fascinated with Jewish and Hebrew culture and one of my prized possessions is a small piece of rock from Masada that a friend brought home for me. So I decided that I would have תיקון עולם as the graphic. Now for all of you who are not fluent in Hebrew it is 'Tikkun Olan'. These are the characters that represent the concept of ‘to heal, mend and repair the world’. I am sure that it is not original as a tattoo but this one is mine and it is there forever so until the time I am in the twilight home for the bewildered and I can’t stand up to look in the mirror I will have that constant reminder of what I have to do today.

I would like to think that it s a magic answer to the motivation that we all seek, but it is just a reminder of a time when I reinvigorated my long standing decision to continue to try and make a positive difference in my world.

So there it sits looking at me and when I tell people, I am aware that they often put me into the segment between aging hippy and radical lefty which neither fits very well. Even with a tattoo I am still just me.

Now if you want advice on what tattoo is best for you...... give me a call and I will tell you how painful it was.

'My Tree'

Today I found my tree

I first drove to Adelaide to see my girl friend at Easter in 1965. We had met on a band trip a few years earlier, so I passed my driver’s licence, bought a beat up old 1948 series Holden and knew independence and freedom like never before. The world was mine and a 12 hour trip, overnight to see the love of my life; was not a problem. I can count the years since I first did the trip but have lost count of the number of times that I have actually ‘done the drive’.

Somewhere on one of those earlier trips I saw a tree that I just had to take a picture of. A tree had fallen over in a storm and only a small portion of its root system stayed in the ground; but it was still growing. Many years ago I used it as an illustration of the power that we all have to overcome adversity. A lot of vegetation comes and goes over the years and in more recent years I lost track of the real tree. I did have a photograph; you know one of those old fashioned ones that you had to take to a developing place and they developed these long flat bits of plastic and magically a picture appeared, and I occasionally found it when packing up, deciding what to throw out and what to keep, I always kept the photograph but every time I passed where I thought the real tree was I could not find it.

I cannot express my excitement 43 years after that first trip, on a beautiful day for driving as I was thinking about it and wondering if it had found its way to a fireplace, there it was just west of the Conconjella Bridge on the Adelaide side of Ararat. Would you think less of me if I told you that I got really excited and when it was safe to do so did a U turn to go back and have a look and yes this is the picture I took just a few weeks ago. After all these years it is still growing, new shoots and leaves and looking very healthy, even though it is lying down rather than standing up straight and tall not like most of all the others.

The more I have to do with people the more I feel the great pain that so many people experience, and in a sense reached a hiatus with the recent article I read on a blog on ‘Get Over it’. Then all the responses that referred to Jungian theory, and his possibly severe way of dealing with people who were stuck in their pain. Yes in our situation we need to identify with those in pain and sometimes just sit with them, but there does come a time when despite all that has happened the realisation comes that ‘Life does indeed, go on’. In his landmark book on the psychology of love M. Scott Peck starts with just three words: “Life is Difficult”, he then goes on to say that when we fully understand that, and accept it, we can then begin to put the whole of our life into context.

This picture of ‘My tree’, is eventually going to be a poster above my desk and when I see it I will always know that no matter how small my grip within my heritage is, I can still grow and flourish, and be a place where the birds of the air can come and nest. Knowing my hairstyle, that’s metaphorical rather than literal. I might look a little bit different to all the other trees but I am just as healthy and playing my part in the landscape of life.