Awaken

I wanted to write a quick note with an apology for the emails that have gone out in the last week with old blog posts.

I have been transferring the Awaken site to a new server and as a result, these emails have been sent out in error. Hopefully this won't be happening any more now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

I had a conversation today with a friend following a question he asked on Twitter and Facebook about change. This is something I've thought and written about before but I found myself discovering an even greater sense of clarity.

Here's the question my friend asked:

"Why do people struggle so much with change?"

And here was my response:

"Because we don't do it enough. We struggle with the unfamiliar more than change itself I think. What if change was familiar?"

This idea of unfamiliarity rather than change itself being the issue was what really stood out to me. And this inevitably led to a follow up question from my friend:

"How do we make change familiar?"

And I said:

"One of the things we do as an organisation is make small changes a lot. Seriously, we are constantly tweaking and changing how we go about doing life as an organisation. My reasoning behind this is simply to try and make change familiar so that when bigger, more important change is necessary, it is easier to accomplish. I actually believe in changing things for the sake of changing things just so as to cultivate a change ready culture within our organisation."

So there you have it, my latest thoughts on change.

Wherever I seem to look nowadays, there is always someone capturing a moment with their camera, smart phone, or other digital device. Family celebrations, sporting events, night out with friends, etc, etc. The list is endless. And it's great. All these treasured moments that we're now able to readily remember, look back up, and share with others.

But then, as I looked and thought about this more closely, I couldn't help but notice that, all too often, in the process of trying to capture the moment, people were missing the actual moment. I'm as guilty as the anyone when it comes to this. I get caught up in making sure I have a picture to post to Facebook or Google Buzz and fail to truly enter in and embrace that moment as it's happening.

Now, I'm not suggesting there isn't a place for this. There is. And I for one plan to continue capturing moments digitally so that I can share the experience with others. But I'm also going to make sure that doesn't come at the expense of failing to truly experience moments, to enjoy and to embrace them fully.

Let's not get so caught up capturing the great moments that come our way in life that we fail to truly savour them.

I'm still making my way through Seth Godin's new book 'Linchpin'. I read something the other day that really jumped out at me and totally resonated. Here's what he said:

"Transferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion".

It resonated because I've felt the very same thing about strengths. It would be easy to look at what we think our strengths are and then decide that we need to find a different job that will match our strengths. There is a slim possibility that that may be the case. But it is definitely not where to start.

We start by discovering what our passion and strengths are and then we look for ways to bring that passion and those strengths to the job that we have. There is no perfect job. We won't find something that is a total match for our passion and strengths. We have to bring our passion and strengths to what we do.

So maybe, just maybe, instead of dreaming about the perfect job that doesn't exist, we could think about how to integrate our current job with the passion and strengths we do have.

Rest. We all know we need it. Most of us don't get enough of it. And let's be honest, life is busy, there's always stuff going on. Who wants to potentially miss out on something exciting because we're doing something as boring as rest?!

But what if our understanding of rest is all wrong? Rest isn't about doing nothing when we could be doing something. Rest is about refreshment and replenishment. It's about recharging the batteries before they run out. What is restful for me more than likely isn't restful for you. But if we are going to be people who maximise our lives then we've going to need to figure out our means of rest.

If we are going to be creative, innovative, and imaginative people, then we need to optimise the conditions of our life around unleashing our potential.

Rest is about ensuring our life doesn't get stuck in a rut (a creativity killer if ever there was one). Let's make sure we take time this weekend to get out of the rut and see things from a fresh perspective, get replenished, and discover and unleash our creative genius. Who knows what next week might look like if we do.

What are the things that leave you feeling inspired? Is it a particular type of film? Certain books? A good talk? An interactive conversation? We're all inspired in different ways. Sadly though, we all far too often not inspired at all. We get sucked into the daily repetitive rhythms of life and forget to dream, imagine, and explore.

So what are the things that inspire you to dream, imagine, and explore? Take some time this week to do something that you know will leave you inspired. Read that book you've been meaning to read for ages. Take a night off and go and see that movie.

Make the time and space to do something that you KNOW we revitalise you. And then make sure you do this at least once a week.

I've been thinking a lot about gifts lately. I've been struck by the reality that pretty much all of the gift giving I do is obligatory. Family and friends birthdays, Christmas, and, most recently, Eloise's baby friends birthdays. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way begrudging this giving of gifts. Not at all. It's just that I wonder if we've lost some of the joy of giving because it is almost always tied to people and circumstances where it is an expectation.

Isn't giving most exciting and meaningful when it is surprising and with no expectation of anything in return? Giving is a totally different entity when there's no expectation that the other will give back when it's your birthday, or whatever.

We have a budget item for gifts in our spreadsheet. Our giving of gifts is planned to every detail. Without necessarily suggesting that we just scrap this, what if we could find a way to add pure, spontaneous, non-obligatory giving to our lives?

You tell me, what would excite you more, someone buying you a birthday gift which is totally in line with expectations, or that friend giving you a gift with no other reason than the fact that they saw something that they thought you'd love and bought it for you?

Actually, let me take this one step further. What if we scrapped buying each other reciprocal birthday presents (except maybe for special birthdays) and just took on the practice of giving spontaneously? What do you think?

Everyone, every single person, has been a genius at least once. Everyone as winged it, invented, and created their way out of a jam at least once. If you can do it once, you can do it again. Art, at least art as I define it, is the intentional act of using your humanity to create a change in another person. How and where you that are is a cultural choice in the moment. No one wrote novels a thousand years ago. No one made videos thirty years ago. No one Twittered poetry three years ago. There's no doubt that certain sorts of are are easier to create. A warm smile to a stranger on an airplane at the right moment is an artistic endeavour that's fairly easy for most of us to muster. Directing an Academy Award-winning film, on the other hand, is reserved for a select few. I'll accept the fact that great novelists are born and made. But I don't believe that you need to be an outlier to be an artist. I'm not so interested in pushing you to become a brilliant filmmaker. I'm very passionate about exploring why you are so afraid about creating art that is actually within your grasp.

It's been a while. Due to everything that's been going on - from redundancy to starting a new job - there have been no updates since the end of September. I'm not going to be back posting on a daily basis for now, but I am going to be back posting frequently. And definitely more frequently than once every six weeks!

The last month has been a really great time of acclimatising with my new job, settling in with the team I'm working with, and just generally finding my feet. It really feels like a good fit though and moves me into an area of work that is much more in tune with my passions.

Sometimes it takes something bad (redundancy) to open up doors that might never have been pursued otherwise. All in all, I feel like I'm in a much better position than I was previously. And that inevitably brings me back to the theme of gratitude.

I feel so fortunate on so many levels with the way things have worked out and I have not ceased with my thankfulness. That said, gratitude is something that has to be there regardless of whether everything has worked out yet or not. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was equally as thankful before as got the job as when I got it.

There is ALWAYS something to be grateful about. And thankfulness is something that needs to permeate every aspect of our lives. I can't prove it, but I suspect that thankful people are more successful people.

Thankful people have more opportunities open up for them. Our attitude will always come through; people can sense it. And thankfulness is a sign of humility which is one of the highest qualities we can ever attain.