Play On

Walked past some down and outs yesterday, they sit on a park bench in Chelsea Green, i say they are down and out without really knowing, it's just they tend to drink beer or such first thing in the morning and look slightly ruffled, bit like me minus the beer - anyway yesterday whilst walking past at 5 in the afternoon - during a beautiful spring like moment, they were there playing guitar, harmonica and dancing, it was magical, totally magical - i would have paid for a ticket, they were talented and zesty and full of fun, clearly the credit crunch has made no difference to their state of mind.

The waiting is over

So now we know. Looking around there are people who are not waiting they are passing their time. they are serving tea, talking about their latest computer or phone, talking, blogging. I am watching them to see, one man is puzzling with a tech card, what is it? I am reading tribes, they are talking about property and tax and money. Moments of inspiration come and go, I am addicted to it. What sort am I? Is it that Darwin missed the mark? Do I just need to find my kind? The lesser spotted version only found in parks, tends to lie in a deckchair reading or staring. Not to be confused with the greater spotted variety mostly found looking down on others - who am I is the wrong question, which species of the human race am I? - I will be able to tell you soon, to define, now the waiting is over.

Why wait?

Sometimes we are made to wait. Things are so fast now that to wait is alien and rather disorienting. Surely we should be doing something, making something happen. To wait is to appear impotent and unimportant. So what can be the purpose of waiting. What is there in the wait. There is obviously an abundance of time, stretching out into the distance, there is space and then there are the demons. The demons that prey on the waiting few. Perhaps it is these demons that make waiting so difficult. After all it can't be all that time and space. We want that so much when we are busy, so it can only be the demons. The demons are quietened when we are busy they live somewhere else in someone else's mind, on someone else's shoulder. When the demons are believable they speak of penury and friendlessness and pointlessness. When they are beyond this point they whisper in the shadows things you can't understand from far away lands. They whisper devoid of usual language. So is the waiting all about seeing? What and see? See what? See when? Wait for the birds to come from another distant shore and tell you it's time, the tide is turning it's time to swim again, to be on the move, the wait is over and now you see.

How To Ride The Waves? Grace or Graze

Been through some waves over the last few years. The thing with riding waves is it's quite tiring. There's the concentration of staying the right way up, keeping your balance, the adrenal response, making you feel a bit worn out, the lows of going down perhaps never to come back up, the uncertainty of the surroundings - going up and down can be quite disorienting. There are undoubtedly the amazing highs of winning against all the odds which serve to make you stay the course. However, it's quite unimaginable when you are surfing in these high tides that others could be sitting in harbour somewhere drinking in the sunshine. It's quite shocking to think perhaps we could turn into the quiet square of blue and rest and relax. The guilt monkey looking at us amazed at our cheek for stepping off the merry go round. Perhaps that is as good a way to spend a day or even a life as surfing just because you can. So thinking about this I am not sure if it's just a response to a fatiguing set of waves and a sense of disorientation or a wisening up from experience that means you live and learn. How to enjoy life, enjoy challenge, enjoy whichever path is marked for you and yours? How to avoid being addicted to pressure and to challenge and to learn to treat these two imposters of success and failure the same. It's only Monday. Obviously the waters are deep today.

Why Categorise?

One of the problems with organising things from books, to clothes to cupboards to businesses, to schools is the first thing you have to do is put like things together in a category that unites them, this immediately drops the points of difference the uniqueness of each one because, in the case of a book, it becomes a work of fiction or non fiction, a romance or a thriller. But many thrillers are romantic and many romances are thrilling, so already things have become greyer or changed by classification. The more these categories are organised into sub categories the more difficult it is to stay away from making a judgement - this one is better than that one, because everyone wants to read between the lines when you say this one is different to that one. Because many of us care about the way others think of us, it is important to know if I choose this one it will be seen as OK or right or what would be expected of us and the perception of us. I think this is a major flaw in our intelligence system. But how to undesign it and to what purpose? Charles Darwin has given us a legacy of classifications of our surrounding natural life forms, certainly David Attenborough has now put a catalogue of lifeforms on film so we can refer to things we are interested in. Perhaps we can take these natural classifications where it is entirely impossible to say a black widow spider is better or worse than a snow leopard and put those thoughts onto schools and all agree it is entirely impossible to say if one school is better than another at a category level and perhaps parents can really understand that all schools are really different and each school is very special, just like every child we love.

Power?

If you are head to head with someone else, they are right you are right, you have a stalemate, if someone else joins in and says well actually you have a point and they have a point but really i tend to agree with you, your power increases by 2 to 1 - if more people join the discussion and more people tend to agree with you then your power increases and the other person is proved to be wrong just by the weight of numbers. But if through that period things could be unravelled and the rightness of the arguments identified would things be different? let's say each of you is making 5points and 3 of your points are good and 2 of their points are good you win - but why not just dump the bad points and move forward together? The next person joining says well i'll keep those 5 points and drop those 5 points and here are 5 points of my own and after discussion we agree only 1 point is worth keeping... how would that help keep us together rather than drive us apart? Debate.

Social Networks

There is no language. If we say social networks our mind goes to our social life, if we say business network our mind brings up work commitments. There is no language for what we are doing when we are connecting via the electronic world we have built. Like eagle-mail our ideas and thoughts soar to others that want to receive them. We are building a world of thoughtfulness, full of thoughts, we can choose our direction according to our thinking. People can join up according to their philosophy, thought leaders can get followers irrespective of their social life or their business life. I am not a socialite, a socialist, a business woman, an entrepreneur, i am just me, doing me things, saying me things, i am interested in other people who can help me think better, express better, explore better, i am interested in returning the favour and helping them achieve more, in leaving things better, in laughing and crying with people who seem to share common experiences, who are working towards an open, helpful, kind world. So we don't yet have the language to name this thing we are doing, because social networks and business networks don't begin to describe the activity.

Who wants to be a machine?

Am reading Daniel Goleman's book Social Intelligence at the moment, I am engrossed. It is a book I would like to have written. Although I am also frustrated that common sense has to be proven. why can't heart and love be proof enough. Why do we have to have a study to prove that kids who kill are frustrated and that a lack of physical and spiritual playgrounds are contributing to this. I can't wait for us to fast forward to the time when we see straight again when the voice of reason doesn't have to have a roi price tag or be proven in court. Can we not all agree that we want and are willing for a more just society and just get on with the job in hand?

Intelligent Stands

I have taken this from Andrew Weaver's blog, it is better on his, because he has excellent photos. I don't understand how this all works yet, or the etiquette, so hoping i am not contravening any unwritten laws of blogworld by copying and pasting.

Saturday, February 7, 2009
Why Not Take A Stand?

Tippy Toes
Originally uploaded by littlemisspatricia


I've got 10 minutes to write this...

You don't like taking a stand because it may rock the boat. It can create conflict. Everyone may not agree. It's possible that everyone may not like you after you take your stand. It requires you believe in something. Taking a stand means making a decision. It could mean you are wrong. It seems risky. Someone may challenge your stand and that would require you defending your stand, or worse, if they are right you may have to back down from your stand. It is comfortable to remain neutral, indifferent, and undecided.

These are some of the same reasons I don't enjoy taking a stand either. In fact it's the same reasons most people will choose to do nothing.

Four minutes...

Why not stand up? If refusing to stand means doing nothing, then why would you choose to remain neutral, indifferent, or undecided?

The media likes to make a big deal out of "the undecided" vote in the political realm. In my opinion, in life, voting, or anything else "the undecided" don't matter in the long run. The undecided are the ones who will be reluctant to take part. They'll be reluctant to stand up when needed. When it is critical to show up, the undecided will be missing. How can you rely on those who are going to vacillate and are unwilling to make a decision?

Perhaps the bigger question: Why would you choose not take a stand for something you believe in?

Time's up!

Lady Bountiful vs Impatient Revolutionary

Is it worth patching up a dilapidated house - or social system, world order, or whatever you like - when what is really needed is a new one. The L.B. sends a nice bowl of soup to the poor, and then sits back and thinks she's done the whole of her duty. The I.R., with a sneer of 'Palliatives!', rushes off to reorganise the world, and thinks he's doing the whole of his. Personally, I believe they're both wrong. It certainly isn't enough to send soup and then think no more about it: but it equally isn't enough to reform the world (which can't be done in a flash) and leave people in the meanwhile, soupless.

The truth is, some of us are more suited by nature to be Palliators, or Patchers, and others to be Rebuilders; very few have either the time or the temperament to do both jobs. There ought to be some arrangement by which all people who are trying to clear up the current
mess could label themselves either P or R, and guarantee not to interfere with each other's jobs while continuing to get on with their own. That would enable half of them to go on providing the necessary soup until the other half had finished creating the much better world in which charity soup won't be needed.
Jan Struther 1939

Time will Tell

'This dusty and tedious little patch of time - could she safely label it drab and have done with it, or would she find herself one day living through a period so relentlessly subfusc that this present lozenge would seem by contrast gay? Jan Struther

Besides, Mrs Miniver was beginning to feel more than a little weary of exchanging ideas (especially political ones) and of hearing other people exchange theirs. It's all very well, she reflected, when ideas have had time to flower, or at least to bud, so that we can pick them judiciously, present them with a bow, watch them unfold in the warmth of each other's understanding; but there is far too much nowadays of pulling up the wretched little things just to see how they are growing. Half the verbal sprigs we hand each other are nothing but up-ended rootlets, earthy and immature: left longer in the ground they might have come to something, but once they are exposed we seldom manage to replant them. It is largely the fault of the times we live in. Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his own running commentary on the preposterous and bewildering events of the hour: and this, nowadays, is what passes for conversation.

The Colour Of My Mind

'I've dreamt in my life dreams
that have stayed with me ever after,
and changed my ideas;
they've gone through and through me,
like wine through water,
and altered the colour of my mind'
Emily Bronte

Sometimes I see the colour of another person's mind and my mind floats in its own sea, lays back and enjoys the sheer beauty and wonder of the experience, sometimes i see a colour that i cannot understand or will not blend with mine.

Meeting New People

I met 4 new people yesterday. I saw myself in different ways - i saw myself as helpful, as an interruptive headstrong nuisance, i saw similarity and difference, a couple wanted to see themselves through our eyes, i didn't - why? Will it help me? I feel not - will it help them? No - I met someone very interesting, and someone who i don't like - but i liked enough to listen to and to learn from - i meet quite a few people i don't like, but they are good for me - because i am not so nice either, i don't think i want to be nice necessarily - i used to be nice to everyone - but no - i hope i am helpful to most people, but i am not nice - i am coming further out - onto the ledge of life - just like everyone else, the world is not about being nice, the world is about being kind, honest, straight and most of all fluid - we met, we crossed, we moved on, no grudges, grudges only slow you down, free spirits can't hold grudges. I learnt how to connect and how to move on through.

Imaginal cells

To meet a new race, to find a voice, how full of wonder is the language?
To work within new instructions, how freeing. If we must experience a teserac
In our life, how happy to be an imaginal cell.

The Bottleneck To Freedom

Every year around about this time thousands of girls take a race. A race they have been running all their lives, and all their ancestors' lives, the invisible race that is the human race. The human race, for all its brilliance, is also still very childish and in its infancy. Utopia is a long way away as is freedom, a long way off. We are going through a period of transformation, where everything is upside down, back to front and confusing, we are the caterpillar turning into soup. As he turns to soup all the structures break down, we can only hold our breath and listen for new instructions, listen to what our dna wants us to be, to reform into. some structures will not listen and they will be effluence, they will be washed from the organism on to another life away from the butterfly days. These thousands of girls go through the clumsy hurdling which is from another age and which is the best we have. I am no anarchist, i love the world and i love people, so how could i be, but i do know revolution when i see it. a revolving world where we may be dizzy for a while. These girls, ably pushed and shoved by their parents, who want them to get through the bottleneck into the possible freedom beyond. If they can be the best, can excel then they can take one generation into the next in a different way, in a better way, and yet we all know that bottlenecks are not about flow, they are violent, they stop more than they allow. So we also know that we may not have been able to get into the paradise beyond, the paradise of hard toil, that teases us with her charm and her grace. that paradise may be for others this time around, our genes may not be strong enough, and if one day the rules change and that bottleneck becomes obselete, as the great mechanic in the sky reorders the machine, and sees an error in his beast, then future material, future wonder and glory may not have to be pushed and shoved into the filter system and shredded or harvested in this curious way.

Fully Functioning

to be fully functioning would mean to have access and direction over every part of yourself, to be able to run, to dance, to be still, to be able to think critically as well as crazily, to be able to laugh and cry without fear, to be able to be kind and yet strong, determined and yet open-minded, these are alternative senses or emotions that are so difficult to hold in one place at one time. Imagine the true strength of the ballerina. It takes an enormous amount of strength to dance with grace and to rise and soar like birds. to be fully functioning is not the norm, many successful people today are not. They can do the numbers, they can talk the talk, they can set out the critical thinking that gets things done. But they do not show the grace of the ballerina, being able to show strength with compassion is something that only the most fully functioning can do. where we go now as a society is entirely and utterly a clean slate - even without money and jobs we can rewrite things quite dramatically, we probably won't but we can. obama is only a figment of our imagination, he is only a symbol of the possibility that we have to be fully functioning, he may yet turn out to be a machine, but he is our current hope, beyond political dogma that if there is a chance for wholeness and unity, he is it. he will have an enormous impact on us and on men - men will notice his grace and ease and his paradoxical nature and they will emulate - i love stuff, i love it all, i am frightened and excited, sad and inspired, worried and calm, these dual ideas and feelings are odd to experience but they are functioning, they are real.

Redeployment

There are thousands of jobs going to be lost, everyone will be affected. Friends, family. Short term unemployment is horrible, long term unemployment is a real stain on a culture. Having worked in the automotive industry during the last recession where there were thousands of losses, having interviewed hundreds of people at that time for a handful of jobs, I am particularly sensitive to the human and social costs of this. I know these are exciting times and actually there are some really brilliant things that will come out of it, we will be better for it in the long run, but right now people’s heads are spinning as they come to terms with the issues and even young people are coming out with very little opportunity. Apparently the big firms are only going to the top 5 universities this year. My question is what can the events and related industries do to keep people engaged? One of the biggest losses from redundancy is the loss of connection to people, the loss of goals and deadlines, the loss of social interaction that work gives us. Can we do anything to redeploy people, can we think differently and find things for people to do – even if they are unpaid – how can we utilise skills and talent in this downturn without taking advantage – but how can we get things done that never would get done in normal times? Clear thinking at this time, could make a huge difference to outcomes for us all.

Survival

In a drought even the smallest drop of water is welcomed. The plants that can adapt to droughts like cactii can hold on to a and live from these. But in a sustained drought only the hardiest do survive. Hardy work within the paradox of caring and sharing, huddling together, whilst being tough beyond average. So we have got to both reserve funds, increase low revenue drip funds to allow a trickle of revenues through as well as supporting the group but be prepared to outrun the fittest. That's quite a lot to expect from us, many will not be able to do these tricks and swivels. Many will be trampled under foot so those that think that's a possibility may have to get out of the way go back to college, move abroad and have a career reversal. Where are you in the herd? Dig deep and see what sort of animal you are, find your place in the herd irrepective of job title or pride. If you are better up front get there, be forceful, if you are better as a cheerleader do it, if you are better under the bonnet so do it, fix something. There is water, it may be deeper or it may be in a different place to usual. Look 3 years out and see what will the world need then and build for that time. Start finding emergency funds, get rid of all unnecessry spending, get your herd in shape and brace yourself for survival over the next 2 years and for growth in 2011.

Love & Connections

A big tree grows with a big root system. The roots go deep and wide and support a strong, thick trunk which supports a great big canopy which grows rich leaves and sometimes fruit. Animals, insects and creatures including people take shelter and food under the shadowy boughs. The wind blows and the tree bends and some of the fruit and leaves fall and replenish the ground and the needs of the animals and insects. Conversely a small tree fails to do these things. Root systems can be genetic or they can be about the determination of the plant to force its way through and to create a organism that will live for centuries. Great families are like great oaks, they reach far and wide and have a determination to live and to force their way into the ground in order to support a large canopy that creates shade for a wonderful variety of animals, creatures and people. Dynasties are extraordinary. We are new, we are not an old family yet now i have an urge to create a fund for our family and our family to come to feed from, to help them to navigate the world through education, through financial support. The few people i know that are from old families have a sense of eternal life. In my work i am also connected to some beautiful people, people i believe in, not for what they can offer me, but for their talents and spirit in the world. We all need friends, we all need helping hands, we all need time and space to become something extra ordinary. If i am lucky enough to work with, and for, amazing people then i may be lucky enough to do extraordinary work, not for the pay, although essential, but for my self. Emerson said 'if we meet we are related.' I am in love with life, and at the moment, given the pain that some are experiencing, i am grateful for that feeling, very grateful, thank you.

Brand Suicide

Take a historic, globally known, luxury brand, add a Starbucks placed next door to its staff entrance, and see what you get? Add in some Knightsbridge ladies who drop school children early in the morning (before the great store openeth) and nip in for a cafe fix and you have brand suicide. Many tribes or trades are not great when crowded next to you, retail is no better or worse than most, but if you want to know what horrific crimes Mohammed Al F and his fellows are guilty of then just drink latte at about 8.30am opposite Harrods Door 3. As they say, "Enjoy!"

Experience!

Dear Sir,

I want to buy Monocle in my local newsagent but I also want a
subscription as I want to access your archive. So what to do? Buying in the
shop is much more exciting than having it fall through box. If I must
cut down on my retail action I can at least enjoy small things like
that in the shops. Is there any way to overcome the dilemma that I
have? By the way I have a sub to Vogue and I hate it bulkily flopping
through the box, ruins the experience.

Solid State?

I am thinking about a blog that Seth Godin wrote about newspapers and what would we miss if they become extinct. He clearly itemised the content that newspapers deliver and then began to show what alternatives we have for each now, mostly on the web. But something doesn't sit right. People still do buy and read newspapers, albeit fewer than before. They read them in coffee shops, on the tube, when they get home, in the pub. There is an experience linked to the content. Newspaper's heritage used to be about something a person could identify with, a voice, be it their social class, their political viewpoint / often interwoven invisibly, their consumption levels, their interests, their intelligence etc. Now that politics is so muddy brown and we are so disappointed in our 'betters' who are no better it turns out, isn't it still more than a content issue? I gave up newspapers about 2 years ago, to get back some time into my life and to reduce my knowledge of the Beckhams and friends that had crept into my brain. Also because I found the mood unhelpful. Lots of bad news, lots of bad mouthing, lots of gossip. It left a bad taste in my mind. Now I have rid myself of that 'habit', i buy a variety of information from a variety of places to suit my mood. I realise I am mid-40's and so am not coming through in the technological age, but i am also conscious of my habits, so i see that i am buying more news today than i was. i am buying specific articles or headlines or even journalists and then discarding the paper or i am buying it as a quickie, for a 'relaxed' half hour. Also i am using the internet significantly and increasingly, i now have an iphone and can get lots of apps, i am blogging, so

i believe, i think, not in a solid state universe but rather, in an expanding one. I think my intelligence is expanding with the variety and availability of knowledge and entertainment, i believe in an 'and' universe rather than an 'either / or' one. So i am not sure where newspapers will go, but i think there is still a place for a half hour read and catch up on things in paper form. it's an exciting market for someone who can reinterpret the modern age and formulate a paper fix.

What's Her Excuse?

I was in a large department store in London. I overheard some training in the makeup department. The only scrap i really heard was the senior person saying to the junior about a woman who had not bought something, 'and so what was the excuse she gave you for not buying it...' let that sink in for a moment...think about what the customer relationship feels like to that senior assistant, the client is possibly a liar or somehow dishonest in her dealings - customers don't have to give excuses not to buy something - 'what reasons did she give?' 'what do you think she really thought about the products?' How funny this recession is going to be in the war against the customer, the customer having to make up more and more excuses for not turning up for shopping duties. My, my there's going to be a fall out.

Beware A Case of Brand Aid

I was in the dry cleaners today and noticed they had typed a polite notice to advise their clients with expensive gowns, of the sequined and bejeweled variety, that they have been experiencing an increase in damage of late. Therefore they could no longer take responsibility for this. So let's think that through a bit in regards to the fashion, or more particularly, the haute couture world. The ladies they are advising are not buying cheap you can be sure of that. These gowns are being bought from high class pushers of gowns for the discerning lady. The owner explained to me that in the old days beads and sequins were hand sewn individually and so if one lost its thread it fell, alone, now they are on strings and so if one falls they all fall. I think there's a bigger metaphor here which would take us to globalisation and its perils, but for another time. Back to the gowns, so perhaps and probably, this new way of finishing the garment will have manufacturing and economy at its heart, and that means there is less hand craft in each garment. Is there less cost to each garment? I suspect that the original values of haute couturiers which have made companies such as YSL, Hardy Amies so famous and revered, are lost to commercialisation. So the question is do companies think you just price higher for a brand and do the same as the unknowns to produce it, or do they realise you have standards that become synced with the brand and start the reputation - which comes first the chicken (brand) or the egg (service / style)? Real brands are not 'bandaids' that get stuck on top to cover up something, they are built to last and grow and become celebrated companies worthy of their stamp or 'brand' of approval. Whatchadoin' with yours?

Second Life or Next Life Thinking?

Cate Blanchett is promoting her new film with Brad Pitt, the film is about ageing and death. More misery you might think, but just think about the fact that European society is ageing fast - too few children coming through with all us girls out working, and fertility waning - the actual on-the-street experience we are going to be having is going to be much more about illness, ageing parents, and ultimately death. The baby boomers will expire in the same numbers as they lived. So in a secular society, with darwinism shouting at us that death is death and the church finding it difficult to combat the logical, rational idea that there is nothing else, finito, just like the Monty Python sketch, we will all be ex-Parrots one day, it is also quite reasonable to see why the need for making our mark, for giving back, for leaving a legacy is powerfully driving this world at the moment. Something we can bank in this world. Women operate differently to men. It is understood that women want to collaborate, they want to create a nurturing environment where people can shine. They don't want war, they don't want stupid arguments with the driver in the car next to them, they don't want to go faster just because they can. Women compete because them's was the rules, but women will break those rules. The world is and will continue to change its agenda to one of sustainability, men will realise and many have already that kindness is strength, that sharing is power. Annihilation will be so over one day as a way to settle things. Add to that our direct knowledge and experience of the world's ills via mass media, with our globe tripping bringing other countries closer to us, or people taking their culture with them, more so than at any other time in history, with our collective intelligence just getting going via internet connections, we will be seeking to leave this world a better place than we found it. Clearly it isn't at the moment, the system is screwed at the moment, but when the engineers have got the bonnet up, reworked things, taken account of the new terrain, the natural forces of systems will get things back on the road again. It ultimately has the potential to be a new period of enlightenment and of a purer light than we have ever experienced before. So just in case there is no heaven, what if we just have it now, here on Earth? Why put up with a world today for heaven in the next life and why not instead have our cake here on Earth and even believe we can eat it as well in the next life? A senior person I know was very disturbed by the idea of legacy a couple of years ago especially in the context of Tony Blair wanting to leave a legacy, there is the danger of ego corrupting things, however that same person is also possibly driven to do things properly and to have honour and commitment to business and society. Think about how making your mark could influence your clients, your customers, your company or friends. Could you help someone make their mark?

Optimistic

Sometimes I don't know what to think. Are we all going to hell in a handbasket? Or are we just on a new twisty bit in the road? This line was prompted by seeing the nivea ad for men. Apparently mens grooming goes upwards as the economy goes downwards. As people need to be sharper and also go for interviews they smarten up. New suits fly out the door too. Men are notoriously weak and yet awesomely brave too. It's all a balancing act, cos if some get new work and keep active and excited then this shake up will have been a good thing, if people fail and slump we're in for horrible social consequences. Who can possibly call it?

Brand

With so many companies facing extinction there will be a lot of discussion in the value of a brand as a way to avoid annihilation. The thing with brand practice is it makes people adapt to the world without the worrying blindness of a business that has not got a brand in place. Wedgewood, Whittards, Woolworths? What happened, did the grim reaper simply get stuck in the W's working through the directory? Did the brand repair sales teams stop when they got to Virgin as there was so much fun to be had? Could the three W's have survived? I think they could. Wedgewood could have been really edgy, with exciting tea parties linked to the Mad Hatter with Philip Treacy doing the honours. They could have had positioning like Burberry and been really challenging, pulled apart the class system that spawned them, had tea in tower blocks, underground secret tea parties with unusual cakes - Alice in Wonderland fairy cakes - the new Kate Moss an obvious - or even the estate lass made good Cheryl Cole with Ashley - serving tea and drop scones - the magic and mystery could have been dazzling. They messed up with their ordinary and expected positioning. Whittards - the same - they could have had a lot more fun with their heritage and made tea an object of desire like wine and like they have now done for chocolate. Woolworths the same - more difficult with such a scale of property - but if the recession is going to be about thrift they could have done much more in that space. They let it fall to a disgraceful place - they linked cheap mercilessly with nasty - their ads, whilst frequent offered nothing to excite. I know business is hard and will get harder and somebody probably is writing the book of what actually happened right now. Whilst i love change i hate to lose heritage unnecessarily - let's hope Waterstone's has got good backing x

No Fear & Hobbies

Years ago I went to a philosophy class and we did a very useful exercise to reduce anxiety. It was a practical lesson in staying attentive to what's going on in the moment. You have to concentrate on minute detail of what you are doing. You have to notice that right where you are there is no fear which is why it is called no fear here. You say repeatedly 'no fear here' and recognize you are safe in the moment. Then you also do an exercise that proves that when you are under fire you actually cope really well. There are many times in your past when you faced real danger and acted effortlessly. The exercise aims to make you realise that you are very well engineered to handle things if real problems arise. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, there were some very bad things in my life, most of which never happened. Try the exercise when worries surround you. Hobbies work too.

Time Travel

High concept – high risk of bollox – imagine a tunnel, shut your eyes imagine a tunnel, perhaps imagine you are on a train going through a dark tunnel, now imagine it’s a time tunnel, imagine you are going through time and you are travelling at 10 years an hour, so over each hour you fly through a decade. As you travel you have in front of you a piece of gauze which filters things flying through the air but allows you to pass through time at this speed. Now imagine on tiny pieces of glass or paper or card, fashions, moods, facts, ideas, people, songs, anything that you care to think of that was happening at this time fly past your ears, now imagine that your gauze filter can catch the best bits whilst flying through to the future place. It would be the equivalent of keeping the baby while throwing out the bathwater. So imagine if we can have all the technology and yet still have gentlemen tip their hats and offer us girls seats, or we can have all the freedom of being treated as equal with all the privilege of being treated as the fairer sex, if we can have the level of social flexibility and lack of class divide with all the wisdom that generations of landowning and money and heritage can afford, in fact what if we can just cherry pick the best from the culture whenever it happened, bag it and take it with us into the time tunnel, if we can show our children what we love and why we love it, show that every generation throws the baby out with the bathwater – but with our collective understanding of what makes society great and what makes it hopeless and our fabulous open global village we don’t need to do that anymore. We can only travel one way in the time tunnel as we currently experience it, but is our need for nostalgia really only a desire to pull through the best bits and share them with the people we are going to be handing the baton onto?

I'll Help

Three little words that can puncture the silence and bring people back to life. At the moment a lot of people are a bit dazed. A lot of clever people in high positions are very dazed. With all the ways to divert our attention nowadays while we’re out and about, playstations, telephones, books, papers, internet, ipods often we are not very connected even when we are standing right next to each other. At this moment of global crisis, some people are likely to be even more away with the fairies than usual, with thoughts of redundancy and bailiffs running through their minds. This collective absent mindedness sort of doesn’t matter most of the time, trouble is over time or cumulatively this lack of common attention can be dangerous, eg pickpockets’ lives are getting a lot easier in these distracted days, and also in an emergency most people will take a good few seconds to work out what’s going on specially if they’re plugged into beyoncé…

the other day on the tube a lady was standing there in the carriage with about 3 big suitcases, everyone around in the carriage was plugged in or tuned out and her stop was next, how do I know that – my training means I specialise in being there – in being observant – so I could see she was preparing to exit – tickets, checking pockets etc, now 3 big, heavy suitcases, small woman and me and two others between her and the door. Three little words broke the haze as we pulled into the station – I heard me say, "I’ll help", she looked at me delighted and better than that everyone around came to life and started pulling her cases for her and holding doors open and generally being really great, afterwards for a few seconds we all basked silently in a shared idea that we’d been useful and ‘good people’ and shared a real life connection, only a fragment of life, but then what else is there? and then we went back to the atomised existence we’d shared before, but the lesson I felt was so great was ‘I’ll help’ – the effect amazed me, not ‘would you like me to help?’, which is a question with a built in time delay, but a statement that galvanised people into action. Take charge, find 3 ways to say "I’ll help" each day and find out what a difference it’ll make to your life experience. x

The Emotional Ladder

I was reading the Evening Standard yesterday and Boris was talking up the opportunities for London 2009. I've heard lots of these conversations now - people out upbeating each other - 'think 2009 is going to be a better year than expected to this is going to be the best year yet'. Unsurprisingly mostly these people talking have tended to be at the top of the tree rather than the lower branches; many of which will inevitably need to be pruned slightly by the tree surgeons.

However thrilling it is to spread exciting positive thinking, it isn't always catching. Moods aren't instant - they build and change - unless you have a major change eg win business, catch a trout, find that perfect pair of shoes / handbag / tie you can't just go from sad to happy in one straight move.

The following is a suggested emotional ladder by a couple of kinesiologists (don't ask). It works like this pick the level of emotion that you are at eg say worry - you need to train your thinking (thoughts lead emotions which lead thoughts etc) up the ladder to happier thinking so to take the example go from I am worried that I will lose my job to I doubt that I will keep my job to, I doubt that they will be able to complete this project without me, to I will be disappointed if I lose my job to I can't imagine how I will cope without this job to it's bloody irritating if i lose this job after all the hard work to i am really unlikely to get another job to it'll be really boring looking for a new job to some of the work i do at the moment is mind numbing, it could be good to get new opportunities, 3 months cash right now would last me 6 months at least, i could do the consultancy that has been offered before which would be good, even if they do show me the door there are lots of friends that seem to be able to make a living on their own, a couple of years pursuing other ideas and things could work. I can live off some of the savings and i wouldn't want to spend the amount i do now anyway, in fact right now i'd start up that idea i had three years ago, so each month i get now is a bonus and if i start saving better now i can afford to leave of my own accord at some point, if i just think about all the experience i have and make sure i network more and keep in touch with people then if it happens i can get going quite quickly in fact i'll start working on my ideas this evening and make a few calls to arrange to catch up with people, so even if the worst comes to the worst which actually it hasn't i will be in good shape...or similar.

the more you train your brain to understand moods as changing and in many ways disconnected to the reality of life, the more you can stay at the higher level of life experience, have a go, see if it works, what's to lose? Just before the cynic jumps in and tells you it's bloody rubbish - remember reality is what you make it and mostly that is what you tell yourself - here's a real example of the effect of positive / negative emotions on reality

Children were divided into two groups and asked to work alone on a project - with some mini chocolate biscuits for company - children from one group were told individually that they had to work on their own because no-one else wanted to work with them and children from the other group were told individually that they had to work on their own because everyone wanted to work with them, and that that would be impossible. Guess what? The children that thought they were popular ate 4.5 biscuits during the work period and the children that thought they were unpopular ate 9 biscuits in the same period! See how perception can change reality. Here's the emotional ladder for you to have a look at.

Fear/ grief/ depression / despair / powerlessness
Insecurity / guilt / unworthiness
Jealousy
Hatred / rage
Revenge
Anger
Discouragement
Blame
Worry
Doubt
Disappointment
Overwhelment
Frustration / irritation / impatience
Pessimism
Boredom
Contentment
Hopefulness
Optimism
Positive expectation / belief
Enthusiasm / eagerness / happiness
Passion
Joy / knowledge / empowerment / freedom / love / appreciation

Re:Solutions

In the New Year after a little time away from the day to day, most people turn to trying to improve their lot in the coming year. The mental gymnastics go something like this - i just want things to be the same only better - eg not put on weight if i eat what i like, get fitter by doing the same amount of exercise - be more attractive to the other sex, whilst being exactly the same as i am now, in fact a lot of resolutions are really wishful thinking - which whilst amusing, doesn't deliver much. So if we think of the word differently and think it is about re solving or solving in a different way issues that make our lives less pleasant - then we have to do what a great thinker suggested long ago and change the thinking. However as changing thinking is the least pleasant thing in the world, as the following quote so cleverly confirms, "Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof". John Kenneth Galbraith, that's no easy task. Which is why resolutions are mostly doomed to fail.

So how about working on your thinking as a new way of experiencing the world for 2009, just picking one thought and changing it - for example it can be an easy one like 'All women drivers are dangerous' changed to 'some women drivers are dangerous' or 'women drivers can be dangerous' or 'All men prefer polygamy' to 'some men are better suited to polygamy' or a social one such as 'poor people are all scroungers' to 'some people, rich and poor, find lots of ways to get money which are irritating' or perhaps 'starbucks coffee is the best / worst' to 'starbucks coffee is not the one i like best'. It may sound as if i am just being pedantic but thinking starts everything and so if you want different outcomes, it has to start with different thinking. The brain is like a muscle and it needs training. Some of the most powerful people in the world have to work hardest at keeping their mind agile. If you have become successful in one way it is hard to be open to other ways. If you can successfully change one thought then you can change another and then if you can successfully change lots of thoughts you can change your ideas and perspectives and ultimately you can change lots of other outcomes that are blocking you - so make changing a thought your first resolution and take it from there.

Recession Proof

Here are a few predictions - and as one that predicted the possibility of the next Great Depression 3 years ago in an empassioned email sent to Andrew Morris - i feel i can.

Consumer exhibitions will do well and will stand their ground, based as they are on a stable special interest, they will have to be creative to keep people in as exhibitors and really should be lobbying Berr for support or at least government focus - in fact there are significant opportunities to increase share by pushing hobbies and pastimes as a great way to relax on a budget. Trade exhibitions will gain audience as people seek to keep in touch and to network for new jobs and for the inside track on competitors. Exhibitors may be difficult to woo and new arguments and packages will be necessary to keep them in, again government needs to be lobbied - however with higher visitor numbers it will be easier to justify the expenditure if new cheaper modes of build can be found.

Depression will rise and this will be something that the events industry will have to counter as depression means people lack motivation and the will to go out. Events are linked to having fun and there will be a lot of fun police around in 2009.

Monopoly

We all played Monopoly. A good old fashioned, fun for all the family style game. So why did it end in tears? Monopoly is one of those games that is a metaphor for life, it brings out the worst in people, and divides up the classes of people. It makes the winning person feel above the others, as if somehow they are so much better at life. It is a horrible game to lose because there is nowhere to go - you can't get a big lottery windfall that will help you regain momentum, the end is so obvious, beginning with the mortgages and the pleas of assistance, and mercy, so humiliating. I have found that people get harder when they are winning rather than more humble or sharing. There is a horrible gap and the winner feels compelled to ensure that the losers are out of the game, are left with nowhere to go. In 2009 a real life game of Monopoly is about to start, some will go from strength to strength and others will have to mortgage and re-mortgage, that's if anyone is authorised to underwrite them anyway. Losing in Monopoly is irritating enough, humiliating and caused tears and recriminations, old hurts came back to the surface. So imagine how real life Monopoly is going to feel for some, when their real homes and businesses are on the line, are we all going to pull together to help each other through or are we going to walk past the losers on the street, turning away. The future of our society depends on it.

Thoughts, ideas, concepts, breakthroughs

We have millions of thoughts, in fact one study suggests we have 64 billion bits of conscious capacity in a lifetime. We sort out information into patterns and chunks so that we have more space. We develop heuristics or habitual lines or patterns of thought again to make sure we have enough capacity. But frankly we don't really need that much, if our life is filled with soap operas, gossip magazines and lightweight newspapers. Our brain doesn't have to think in any real way using these - they are described as chewing gum for the mind. A way to use the brain, but one that has no sustenance at all. If all you do is read information and then regurgitate it to an undemanding audience. Sadly for us it's not very fashionable to be industrious in our society. It has been made 'cool' to be lazy and to be disconnected to work or effort. We have built a culture that is obsessed with being young, but the trouble with handing over the reigns to the younger generation is that there is little wisdom, lots of talk, lots of anxiety, lots of fun eg drinking and sex, again according to the media. So what does X Factor do for things? Is it more chewing gum or is it a high protein steak with a few oh so good chips on the side? I'd say it's more steak than juicy fruit - what a disgrace of a name that is when you think about it! X Factor shows to a mass audience that some people are just better than others at singing and performing, and it not only shows it, we get to prove it by telephoning in. It then shows the fear and determination that is needed if you are going to win or even get through to later rounds. It shows how needed friends and family are, it shows how people bond through shared experiences, it shows that good tv and entertainment can be cruel if people are deluded, it shows that age can defy talent, but that pop stars do need to be beautiful as well as attractive personalities as well as good at what they do and young at least to begin with. It really is quite a tough mirror. It also shows that most people would rather watch others going through these trials than do them themselves. X Factor is good in some ways but bad in others. It's good if it sets an example to us to try to achieve things we may not without a bit of a push, and it's bad if it just satisfies us and allows us to sit and do nothing. A life experience is just that, an experience. Studying human nature led to an epiphany once, i kept asking people why are you here? they kept saying to see new things, to have a look at the latest ideas, to see other people, to keep up to date. So I thought, perhaps that's why we are here? To see new things, to have a look at the latest ideas, if that's the definition of a life experience? What will 2009 add to yours? It's not difficult to see why we're in a mess, when you look at what we've been up to for the past decade. It'll be a long hard clean up, and one of the first ways is to get off the sofa and make things happen.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day. Bit excited, bit not, got a lot to do and yet right now sitting here typing to you. So what will be different in 2009? Anything? Does anything need to be different? One of the good ideas i read once was that a different outcome over a year is made up of very small changes along the way - imagine a ship's daily direction just slightly changed - would mean that over a long period the destination would be quite different. That's probably why resolutions are popular. With a resolution perhaps you set out the destination and then make small changes - so if the destination is more Cheryl Cole than Barbara Royal I need to make a few minor adjustments. So don't offer me Barbara Royal chocolates or sweets when i should be eating Cheryl Cole celery sticks, why do the changes need to be so annoying? What small changes can we make to change direction in 2009 - more save, less spend, keep watching my blog for different ways to spend time instead of money. HNY!