Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. Hmm, must get round to sorting out that divorce...
Today is also my brother's 60th birthday. Happy birthday Phil.
A fundraiser, writer and folk musician in the UK playing guitar, bass, singing, writing and marketing. All posts in this blog are personal and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, cat, neighbour or government.
Monday, June 06, 2016
Sunday, June 05, 2016
Positive intention
Scary shoes... |
Well, sometimes the messages you get are a bit more direct,
and more important. I’ve recently been on a couple of self-development
events. Now scoff you may, but self-development is simply the will to change
something in your life, or in yourself, and actually doing something about it.
The interesting thing is that the two different courses had
similar but different angles on the same message (not surprising perhaps). What
is more interesting is that my fundraising training also had the same message,
and the person closest to me is also saying the same thing.
It’s about time I listened and took some steps towards
making the changes that I want. Yes, I have
actively pursued these learnings, so there is no coincidence perhaps, but what
is coming through is a simple message. If I want to change, all I have to do is
believe in what I want.
Forget the past, the hurts and the difficulties, I have to
look forward and start moving towards what I want. Doesn’t matter if I never
get there, I need to start moving in the right direction instead of standing
still and looking about in a ‘woe is me’ kind of way. OK, maybe I’m not that
defeatist, but taking an active step forward can be very difficult. Bugger it. I need to move forwards.
If only life were this simple... |
And the other interesting thing is that this resonates so
much with what I learned about leadership years back when I worked in learning
and development. How can I have ignored all the messages that were so clear
then, and yet not acted on them? Simple, I let the past cloud my progress. I let negative me win the arguments.
Well, stuff the past, and my negative voices - I have to learn to be present. That’s not easy though, not the least because I’m not really sure what it
means. But more than that, I have to learn to dream. Just because one set of
expectations or dreams were postponed, shattered or rewritten, doesn’t mean I
can’t plan ahead for something different. "No use crying over spilt milk", comes to mind.
There’s no ‘magic bullet’, no moment of enlightenment for me,
but a steady progress. If I want change in my life (and I do), then I have to
envision what that is, and make it my intent. By that I mean if I want to lose
weight, I don’t want to ‘go on a diet’, I ‘intend to be fitter and healthier’.
Bullshit? It doesn’t matter whether it is bull poo or not, it’s the
way of thinking that matters. And event though I don't agree with some of the theories or ideas that I've been presented with recently, that's OK too. I will take and use what I need.
I don’t know for sure exactly what I want, but I know more
about where I want to be. So instead of wandering aimlessly, I at last have a
bit more of a sense of direction. I’m on
a journey that will ultimately end in my death. That’s OK, that’s cool. But I’m
going to try and make it a better ride, with comfier seats.
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Some other interesting links:
Richard Wilkins says 'F*ck it'
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