The choice is yours

Day 46 - (Sunday 15th January 2017)

46% of the UK's electricity was generated by clean energy sources,
according to a report released in July 2016 - this was the first year
when power generated by low-carbon sources outstripped coal.

Richard Westney has one of my favourite job titles (although it sounds onerous - Director of Humankind (OK, perhaps the 'of' should be 'at"). Richard lives and works in New Zealand - on the North Island - in the cultural and legislative capital Wellington and the rolling vineyards of Wairarapa. Quite a contrast to where he started his HR career - in the smog and grey of London.

I have met him in person at Tweet-ups in the UK, when he has been over visiting family and I can vouch for him being a delightful companion and a very decent fellow to spend an evening with. He is an experienced HR professional and tries hard to give back to the profession (mentoring and advising others) as well as continuing to learn and grow himself. He established the Wellington HR Meetup and is involved in the Association of People Professionals. He is active on social media - you can hollow him on Twitter (his handle is @HRManNZ) and he writes an excellent blog: Up The Down Escalator. 

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The choice is yours

The end of the year is always a time of great reflection as these series of personal posts prove.

We often get carried away looking back and thinking too much about the bad things, the learning, the regrets and the heartbreak that shaped our year and not enough about the good things. 

So as you look back, I would suggest there are three questions to ask yourself from both a personal and professional perspective. Effectively your heights, hearts and hollows.

1. What did I achieve these last 12 months? 

2. Who/what did I waste my energy on? 

3. What didn't I achieve that I should have done and why? 

Once you've answered these you can plan for the coming year.

I don't personally believe in new year's resolutions. They are just bland statements with no accountability. Think poor performer saying "yes, I'll be much better" who then goes off and does exactly the same thing. 

I am a fan of goal setting though. Not targets or numbers that can be ticked off a list, but big hairy audacious ones that can be broken down into smaller components. In order to achieve A, I need to do X,Y and Z to get there. 

• So what is it you want to do differently or change in your work or personal life?
• What is the BHAG you are working towards that may only be partly realised?
• What are the knowledge or skills you are lacking to get there?
• What obstacles could get in the way that you need to overcome? 

My advice is to think of your life as a project. It's always a work in progress (the scope constantly changes) and you need a project plan, some risk management and resilience to keep going.  But you have lots of choices in how you live your life.

You also need an element of bravery. How we treat other people says so much about us.  As I've grown older I have realised that it's not what you say to people that you end up regretting the most, it's what you don't say to people. Good and bad. For those of us who have lost close family and friends this year I am sure we will all have things we know we should have said that we never got around to saying. 

If you care about them, are proud of them or they have really pissed you off, then say so. Don't be left with that hollow feeling when suddenly they aren't there and too much was left unsaid. 

I came across a JK Rowling quote while writing this which I thought was the perfect way to finish and summed things up nicely. 

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, not our abilities."

On that note I hope you manage to have an amazing 2017 and not an average one. The choice really is yours to make. 

To you with love…

Day 45  (Saturday 14th January 2017)

45 minutes of moderate exercise can be as beneficial as just 60 seconds of strenuous
exertion - was the finding of a group of scientists at McAlister University, Ontarion,
who published their research in April 2016.

This series is entitled the Advent Blogs and you can tell that Jayne Harrison wrote her piece in the run-up to Christmas, however, I think the theme that sits behind the seasonal content holds it own, needs to be read now and is full of love - it is a reminder to each of us of what should be important in the year ahead. 

Jayne is the founder and Director of the management consultancy, Peak Potential. Both Jayne and her business are (appropriately, given the company's name) located at Chapel-en-le-Frith in the UK's beautiful Peak District. Jayne commenced her career in recruitment, before moving more into the talent and performance space. She exemplifies what Lynda Gratton states will be the typical careers of the future, with skills being gained from various employers, but that in addition individuals will take time out mid-career to do things that, in pervious generations, might have been saved for retirement - I am envious of the year-long sabbatical Jayne took to travel and notch up a number of wish-list activities (including sky-diving, learning Nepalese, under-water caving and white water rafting). Jayne is a popular coach with a human touch and the ability to help clients reconnect with their passions - she focuses on behavioural change. She is proud to proclaim that she is on a mission to normalise people's attitude towards the menopause and encourage kindness and humanity at work. She is a Faculty Member of the NHS East Midlands Leadership Academy

When not coaching or consulting, Jayne loves spending time with her husband and dogs, or enjoying knitting, reading and veganism. You can connect with her on Twitter, her handle is @JayneHarrison3.

The majority of the pictures illustrating the below post were provided by Jayne. Treasured keepsakes. Like her, I am a keen card giver - I used to write and send a card every day to my sons when they were away at school (the nearest I could get to giving a goodnight kiss) - they have kept many of them as mementos. So, Jayne's post resonated with me when she sent it, hence my saving it as a treat for near the end of the series. I hope it inspires you to tell someone you love how much they mean to you...do it today, before it is too late.

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To you with love…

We’ve always been enthusiastic greeting card buyers in our family.  It’s a tradition that’s been handed down to me by my mum and dad. They used to buy each other such elaborate cards, those that folded into four or were practically a book.  I was in my early teens before I realised that they chose those cards because they used to write secret love messages to each other, hidden away under the flap or back page where others might not find them. 

For me, Christmas has always been about family, friends and above all, a chance to show love to those that mean the world to me.  I choose to do this by writing what I feel in a card. It’s just something we’ve always done and it’s a habit I’m happy not to change.  Equally when I receive a card with a well-thought out message, it touches me deeply.  Thank you to all of you out there that have done so this year when I needed support and encouragement, and to celebrate a great milestone birthday.

This year it struck me that my Christmas card list is so much shorter than it used to be. Family members gone, a diminishing list of friends (although I like to think these are the ones who will be on the list until I die) and a gaping hole where my parents used to be.

Dad’s birthday was on Christmas Eve – gran used to say he was the best early Christmas present she’d ever had!  He died through Christmas too – I pronounced him dead at home on New Year’s eve after a short battle with cancer.  And boy, did he battle.  It was almost as if he was hanging on so that we could have that last Christmas together; so that Christmases future would not be tarnished with his loss.  He was wrong.

It will be eight years this year.  I’d like to say it gets easier – and maybe it does for the rest of the year. But his loss, the gap he leaves in our family at Christmas time is unfathomable.  Mum never recovered from his early death and she is almost gone now too, being taken by another type of illness entirely. 

It’s still incredibly painful, as if it was just yesterday.  But to feel this, there had to be heart to start with and for that I am eternally thankful.  I know that life may offer further hollows; that there will be black, heart-breaking, gut wrenching and unbearable experiences yet to come. But I also know that from it will come greater appreciation of the heights and hearts in my life.  To feel such agonising loss, means you have to have something to lose in the first place.

I had the job of clearing and selling mum and dad’s house earlier this year, because her illness means she can no longer live on her own safely.  In boxes, tucked away among the Christmas decorations, lights and other knickknacks one amasses over a lifetime, were all the cards we’d ever sent to her 

and those she and my dad had sent to one another. 

It was such a lovely thing to find and treasure – memories of Christmases, birthdays and other events gone by marked by a picture and loving words.

I’m definitely their daughter.  Christmas is a time when I will spend hours poring over artistic pictures, funny captions, or trying to find the right verse that captures the love and essence of how I feel about someone close to me.  Sometimes I can’t find the right one – so I will have to have a go myself (with varying degrees of success  as you can see J).  Luckily my English improved as I got older.

So this weekend I will be selecting cards once again for my husband, our family and friends. I will do this happily and be grateful that the sands of time gradually fill in the hollows, and remember with enduring love those no longer on my list.

Raw Silk

Day 43 (Thursday 12th January 2017)

43 species have now been declared Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN

Each of these creatures can now only be found in zoos. Amongst the 43 are:

• Alagoas curassow (extinct in the wild since 1988)
• Black soft-shell turtle (extinct in the wild since 2002)
• Escarpment cycad (extinct in the wild since 2006)
• Guam rail (extinct in the wild since the 1980s)
• Hawaiian crow or ʻalalā (extinct in the wild since 2002)
• Scimitar oryx (extinct in the wild since 1998 - pictured above in Cincinnati Zoo)
• Socorro dove (extinct in the wild since 1972)
• Wyoming toad (extinct in the wild since 1991)

Today's author, Janine Baillie-Stewart, lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. She wrote this post on New Year's Eve - it uses the symbolism of one of the gifts she received at Christmas to focus her thoughts and to provide a message for us, her readers. Janine is a highly capable senior HR professional, with over 24 years of Human Resources and OD experience gained in the Public Sector, Retail, FMCG, Pharmaceuticals and Manufacturing industries. She is one of the few I know who can rival me for experience in start ups, SMEs, established, global or local, public and privately owned organisations. She believes in authenticity and living a balanced life and she leads by example. 

Janine has worked at GSK for the past four years and is currently the Learning Business Partner for the Consumer Healthcare Supply Chain division for across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. She is a sporadic blogger, commenting on life and things that matter to her, on JanineBSBlog. As you will deduce from her writing, Janine has an eye for detail and is full of heart. Her academic roots are in Psychology and she is loving and caring, a devoted mother, with a genuine concern for the environment and our future. You can find her on Twitter, her handle is @JanineBS.

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Raw Silk

I received a truly beautiful Tree of Life wall hanging for my small garden this Christmas. Of all things symbolic, it is the one which truly resonates with me.

Now, with a small lull in the hive of holiday activity, I have some time to reflect.

The Tree of Life is symbolic in many cultures and religions. Universal symbolism.

Baobab Tree at Sunset, oil painting by Errol Norbury
In Africa the Baobab is known as the Tree of Life

The symbolic meanings come from all the aspects of the tree and how these interact with the earth's elements. The deep strong ground roots embracing the fertile soil of Mother Earth, the green open-faced leaves reaching to the glorious sun for much-needed sustenance, bringing healing. The solid towering trunk supporting, standing firm and at times bracing against the relentless wind. The fruits give back of themselves to Nature which has provided for their growth and abundance.

The tree provides life.

All the elements are in harmony with the tree. Everything is at one. As I watch the sun set on the last evening of 2016, I wonder how we would, as mankind, compare to the synchronicity of the Tree of Life?

Cartoon by Chris Madden

An old university friend of mine recently suggested I read "The Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu as translated by Stan Rosenthal in 1984. Reflecting on the year which has been, and looking to a new year, no.39 struck a chord with me.

"19. RETURNING TO NATURALNESS

It is better merely to live one's life,

realizing one's potential,

rather than wishing

for sanctification.

He who lives in filial piety and love

has no need of ethical teaching.

When cunning and profit are renounced,

stealing and fraud will disappear.

But ethics and kindness, and even wisdom

are insufficient in themselves.

Better by far to see the simplicity

of raw silk's beauty

and the uncarved block;

to be one with oneself,

and with one's brother.

It is better by far

to be one with the Tao,

developing selflessness,

tempering desire,

removing the wish,

but being compassionate"

In 2016 we have seen cunning and profit succeed, we have seen selfishness create a reign of fear where many are afraid of their brothers. We have seen hostility between men and nations. We have seen mothers and children dying with no other place to go.

So what to do differently in 2017?

We have so many examples of people performing selfless acts of kindness and courage. People working two to three jobs to support an extended family. People working within their communities to uplift the poverty-stricken. Stories are abound where families and individuals have made the decision to simplify their lives, to live more naturally and embrace the beauty of the raw silk and the un-carved block.

As more and more of us make these conscious choices with the small things in our lives, the choice to live with less, act with less malevolence, and to embrace the natural ebb and low of life, let go of our ego's, we can germinate seeds of change. We can return to a state of harmony like the Tree of Life.

Mulberry Tree seedling

The change starts within. 

Raw mulberry silk yarn

Heights, Hearts and Hollows

Day 41 (Tuesday 10th January 2017)



41% spike in hate crimes motivated by race or religion, occurred in the UK
following the EU referendum. Home Office dat shows a marked increase of more
than 2/5ths in July 2016 compared to July 2015. This appears to be linked to a
rise in anti-immigration sentiment, although it is also possible that the increase is
due in part to victims being more inclined to contact the police to report
crimes than perhaps they would have in 2015.

On this day in 1920 the League of Nations was founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended World War One. In many ways, this seems apt given that today's writer is, in my and many people's minds, a true global citizen who wants a better world for all. Trevor Black, the author of today's post, is an inspirational man. He is academically gifted, having qualified as an actuary before becoming valued as a talented portfolio manager and financial analyst, working both in South Africa and Europe. He then made a conscious decision to leave the financially rewarding environment of corporate life to pursue his passions. He is artistic and creative - I have enjoyed attending art exhibitions and admiring his highly textured oils; his writing speaks for itself. Trevor writes a daily blog on happiness and learning Swartdonkey which has occasional guest posts. He is gathering stories from people he knows and meets about how to overcome obstacles to creativity and composing his own.

Trevor was born and raised in South Africa, but now he lives in the beautiful Cotswolds in the UK. As well as being active and mindful (diet, yoga, and attitude are important to him), he is curious and a thinker. The main themes he is interested in and writes about are: 

• Universal Basic Income
• Global Citizen
• Guest Posts
• Exercise
• Diet
• Breathing
• Relaxation
• Positive Thinking
• Flow
• Relationships

You can follow him on Twitter (his handle is @trevorblack) 

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“Heights, Hearts and Hollows”

We are forgetful. I often need, and find, reminding just how fragile life is. Reminding how much care we need to put into the things that matter to us. Being forgetful helps focus our attention. We can’t worry about everything, and still do anything worthwhile. Understanding how we function can give the perspective needed to make sure we don’t wander off, and forget the things that matter. Daniel Kahneman talks about our Experiencing and Remembering selves. We experience each moment, if we are paying attention, but we tend to remember according to the Peak-End rule. The heights the experience reached and the way it concluded. We don’t add, or average, each and every moment. The story we live, and the story we lived hold each other with a light touch.

Like a delicate path of breadcrumbs as we wander into the unknown, our hearts provide the connections back to what matters. 

Edward Colarik Hearts Sculpture Blue

We remember things that have meaning to us. We create that meaning by caring. We are trigger happy. If we have an emotional response to something – anger, humour, disgust, and love – it forges a link to other memories. 

The more connections of the heart we make, the less likely we are to get lost as strange beasts of the night nibble away at the tasty morsels we have left behind.

The real flavour of life can lie in the hollows. Hidden from the easy path. The cavities, craters, caves and crannies caused by the drama and pain we encounter. If we share our struggles with others, they add depth to those connections.  Then each struggle adds a layer of strength that increases our capacity to engage the unknown. Each struggle overcome builds our confidence.

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt, 'Sisyphus', Tate

Our Experiencing and Remembering selves weave through the heights, hearts and hollows of our story. The more that story is shared, the more flavour lingers on the air connecting each bite we take.

Hand loomed, Persian Tree of Life tapestry