Friday, September 28, 2012

The battle for peace



Today's exercise is trying to be calm in the midst of my "everything is happening right now for some crazy reason" day.

A BAD way to commence is to start eating all the chocolate on my desk normally reserved for visitors (yeah right!!), washed down with a coke.

Now I'm completely hyperactive, and expecting a terrible sugar low.

Once I get home, I chose between a gym class (which is quickly dismissed) and google...Achieving Calm from Sources of Insight gives some tips so I put on my zen music and my yoga pants and try to reduce the sugar buzzing through my veins.

At the end of the day, I realise I'm human and this world is going to be crazy some days and I can either curl up in a ball and descend into denial or eat lots of ice cream, balanced with hugs from my amazing family and friends and put into practice all the find your zen things that work best for me.

It's much easier to be a cat I think.... ;)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Emo Intel


So...Emotional Intelligence (Mindtools) is the "IT" word for "Alien Character Building"...in my translation...

Those annoying people who are always diplomatic, in control, say the right things, do the right things, at the right time...they're Emo Intel NERDS....essentially:

1) They're self aware: realistic and practical about who they are and what they can achieve

2) They have self control...(at this point I'm starting to think they're not human)...

3) Motivated, productive which most likely leads to being successful...(see? They're not human)

4) Empathetic: they can pick up vibes, are sensitive to those they are relating to, enough to understand how to interact look after those people.  (Ewwww they're nice toooooo)

5) They're social, everybody loves them at a party because they just fit in no matter where you put them...at this point, I'm starting to think this concept is limited to those aliens that are so nice you wonder if they ever get angry...at which point I think all they would do is frown.

But there is hope, apparently...for the mere mortals like me:
1) Start paying attention to your own reactions, stop judging and start living in the moment completely

2) Put yourself in the other's shoes always...it puts everything in perspective and helps you communicate better

3) Be yourself...really...everyone's human, not sure why we're all trying to be perfect when it only sells tabloids.  Imagine if everyone were just themselves...plain as day...they openly trip over, stuff up, apologise and wear no makeup when they go to the gym...Perez Hilton would be out of a blog...

Anyway..that's my latest self-project...let's see how close I can get to turning into an alien ;)


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Flat Pancake Day



Today is flat pancake day.

When you get all the human problem issues at the same time,

on the same day,

in the one place,

and you just want to chase your stress ball that's rolled under the table from overuse and stay there with it...

nice...safe....

and the main thing I've learnt, that puts everything back into perspective is

never, ever, forget who you are.



I am me, I do what I do, the way I do it, because no one else is going to live my life....

so the grumpy people will come and go,

the ones you wish you could please but can't will go,

then you'll be the only one left to live with who you are.

so just...be you.

Monday, September 3, 2012

What the Successful have in Common


So, I've been watching the successful people around me and in our world and it seems, they have a few commonalities:

  • Constantly open and seeking new opportunities
  • Knows the value of giving back / generosity
  • Hard working / fun-loving (a fair few seem to have a liking for extreme sports, I'm not sure if this is their way of forgetting all the pressure/stress of their highly active/successful lives)
  • Rarely need to tell others how good they are because their success speaks for itself

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Staying Calm


Today, in the context of a debate between people who couldn't agree, I thought about whether it is somehow possible to calmly detached but show an active interest.

It's an art, some may call it effective negotiation, others may call it persuasion. 

I'm talking about those very rare individuals who manage to stay calm, get their perspective understood by all and agree to a consensus which may or may not be to their agreement.

From a little prodding of those individuals...I've found that they are simply better at controlling their emotions and they know from experience when the fight is worth the outcome.

Practically speaking...the Dumb Little Man's blog speaks some very cool words of wisdom on how to keep calm.