Selah, time to reflect - Day 38

Day 38 (7th January 2015)

38 - the number of plays credited to William Shakespeare

The Plays of William Shakespeare, oil painting c1849 by Sir John Gilbert

Depicting scenes and various characters

Picture on display in Dahesh Museum of Art.

Susan Popoola is a self-styled Human Value Optimisation Specialist, which is a good explanation of what she specialises in: leveraging the value of people in the world of work and in the wider world; she has a particular interest in supporting young people. In her post below Susan is modest about her achievements. As well as having established a successful business, she is an award winning writer (she was Women4Africa Author of the Year 2013). Susan and I became acquainted when we were regular bloggers for the Discuss HR site, the blog spot for the Human Resources UK group. As we live quite far apart (she is based in Milton Keynes), we tend to keep in touch via Twitter (Susan's handle is @SusanPopoola).

*****************************************************************

It's interesting that Megan Peppin started day one of the Advent calendar on the subject of 'being'.  You see not too long ago, a few years back to be more precise; a friend would contact me and asked what I'm doing. "Just Being" I'd respond. I particularly remember someone I'd recently met contacting me and asking what I was doing that weekend. Not thinking of how it might come across to a stranger, I responded, ‘Just Being’. “What's that?” he asked, “it sounds rather spiritual.” He expanded.  “No, not really" I responded. I went on to explain that, it's just about not making any special plans, just going with the flow and seeing how the day unfolds without feeling the pressure to do anything in particular. 

Just Being!

The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book

“Sounds interesting,” he said, “I must try it one day.” I doubt if he did though. As I've discovered over the years, that it would be alien to his nature. He's one of those people who is used to running up and down, juggling, trying to do several things all at once. The kind of person that I more or less became, until recently.

An adept juggler - The Cat in the Hat - from the book of the same name
 written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss
and first published in 1957

You see I realised that I had a long list of visions and dreams - things I would like to achieve and I realised that I wasn’t getting any younger, so I became a bit more focused on planning and strategizing, creating list of objectives and goals. Putting out there the various things that I wanted to achieve.

I’m thankful to say that over the years I’ve achieved a fair bit. I’ve worked on a number of great HR projects that have had a great impact. Amongst other things, I’ve written a couple of books; travelled to and volunteered in New Orleans and Haiti; done some public speaking in the UK and abroad; and started a few initiatives, specifically with a focus on young adults.  If the truth be told, I’ve not achieved half of what I would have liked to achieve and sometimes I would say that I’ve actually failed. I can comfortably speak of failing, because even though failure hurts, I also recognise that it’s not final. It’s one of the lessons that I’ve learnt over recent years as I try to use my knowledge, gifts and capabilities to have a positive impact on the world that we live in.

A few other things that I have learnt:

Outward appearances can be deceptive and success is not always what you see.

People’s perception of you will often be different from what you believe or see. People often seem to believe that my carrot has shoots like those of the carrot on the left. In my mind and based on my visions and dreams, my carrot, as a whole, is more like the carrot on the right.

If like me, you are yet to achieve the half of what you hope to do, it is very easy to look at the outward appearance of other people’s carrots and get frustrated and upset. Don’t; just continue along your path. You don’t know the full story of others.

Striving will only get you so far even with the greatest strategy and plan. You do need to have a plan and to work hard or rather smart, but you also need to be flexible with your plan. Some things just have their own time and season as well so you need patience. I don't know whether she's a virtue or not, we've never really been friends, but I'm learning to get on with her.

Patience stained glass window, 1860
Auchendennan castle house, Loch Lomond, Scotland

You need friends, however, you may be surprised to find out who your friends and allies are. There are people that you may have thought would be friends for life who are unable to go on the full journey with you, not necessarily because they don’t care, but because it’s a path they cannot comprehend or go down. There will also be people that will surprise you, appearing from nowhere with a willingness to take your hand and journey with you, even through the darkest of places.

You must own your own definition of success and walk the path towards it, with a degree of knowledge of who you are so that unto your own self you can be true. In recent times, I’ve started taking time out once more to “just be”. But “Just Being” is a bit different for me now. It’s typically a bit more reflective, a time when I take time to put things into perspective; seek some balance about things that I don’t understand and pause to reflect on achievements and how failures will eventually be turned around and become distant memories.

pausing to reflect
(female Mallard)

Sometimes, I also take the time to pray in line with “The Prayer of Jabez”

"Oh, that you would bless me indeedAnd enlarge my territory,That your hand would be with me,And that you would keep me from evil,That I may not cause pain!"~1 Chronicles 4:10, The Bible

P.S. Many a time when people talk about the prayer of Jabez, they focus on the blessing part. I would like my path to be filled with blessings that I may have a positive impact on the world. I’m also mindful of the people that I will meet in various capacities along life’s road.  Selah.

Sometimes used as a musical notation,
Selah means to pause and reflect on what you have just read

Perspective - Day 8

Day 8

Octopus - an ancient creature with 8 limbs, the
oldest fossil found belongs to an animal living 296 million years ago.
They have 3 hearts but 2 stop when they swim (hence their habit of crawling).
2/3 of an octopus' neurons reside in its arms (hence it can do at least 2 things at once).
To survive in deep, chilly waters, octopuses have copper rather than iron based blood,
in the cold, copper is better than hemoglobin at transporting oxygen, so their blood is blue.
illustration by Ulisse Aldrovandi, 16th century 

Welcome to a new week and a delightful post by Ailsa Suttie, who clearly enjoys her new life in the country. Ailsa is an experienced HR Director with passion for the people around her and the business she supports - she started her current role in January of this year. She is also a popular, caring voice on Twitter, via @AilsaSuttie, with a breadth of knowledge and insights to share. A wonderful cook and highly creative, Ailsa is a lady of many talents and a good friend. I am sure you will enjoy her post...

*********************************************

One of my favourite places to walk is in the lanes across the road from the cottage. It’s a historical area and I know when I’m wandering along, stopping often for my small canine companion to sniff, that Saxons and Romans walked this area before me. On a winter afternoon when the light drops early and the wind moves the trees it gets quite atmospheric. About a mile up there is a marker for the Meridian Line, East literally meeting West and this is a place where I often stop to look over the fields and do some thinking, one foot on either side.

Meridian Marker, Hamsey Lane, Sussex, England

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about connections, collaboration and coincidences and the ways in which those things come together, often at the right time even though we may not initially recognise it. Three things stand out for me this year and all have brought changes in their way.

When I moved to the country last year I was amazed at how quickly I got to know people and the generosity of spirit that a lot of my neighbours and the villagers have. I got to know a group of like minded ladies quite well over last winter, ok, those who know me know that this is the not so well kept Secret Ladies Wine Society! Taking aside the evenings we’ve spent over a few glasses, what is great about them is that they really are involved in the local community and do a lot of good for the area we live in. They run the village fair, several community groups and one serves on the Parish Council. They campaign for improvements to services, stopping trains, bus cuts, young people’s issues and many others. When they asked me if I’d consider taking on the editorship of the Parish Magazine I was really flattered and jumped straight in. I’ve been given the chance to see how rural areas really work, be involved in a lot of different events and have met lots of interesting people. When there is little funding its the effort that the locals put in that makes the real difference.

Through the magazine I met a great lady in the village who has 3 rescue dogs of her own and acts as a ‘finder’ for re-homed dogs locally. When boarding a plane to Italy I had a text from her asking if i’d consider a 2 year old Jack Russell. the rest is history. and Pamela is now a huge part of my life and  whilst Jack Russell’s may be small they have a wolf sized presence. She’s on my knee licking the keyboard as I write this!

Pamela

Work has been happening too. Starting the year in a new role and losing your entire team in one month is not ideal, especially when you have immediate deliverables and are in the spotlight. i thought I was being punished for some never before mentioned crime for the first four months! Then I got ill. I had almost three weeks of enforced time off and for once did not check emails but I did do a lot of thinking. It was clear, I could either give up or I could take control. Two things swung it for me, I had recruited a great team and the company was amazing when I needed them.  When I got back we had a new CEO and a new direction. He keenly saw the need for change and has embraced every off the wall idea I’ve thrown at him. Lots has happened in between, but this saw me taking our newly formed Exec Team with me to Meaning Conf in Brighton and it was just brilliant to see them all participating, so much so that the CEO has formed his Christmas presentation based on what he gained that day.  11 months into the job I love my team and have a passion for what we will do next year, it will create a real change in culture and many of the initiatives will have an immense, my impact on our success.

How does this tie in with me wandering rural lanes, a village wine club and a dog?

It’s all about people isn’t it? The people who spend time contributing to local issues, the lady who gives of herself to help dogs and the people I work with whose workplace will change next year and become something to aspire to.

And the lanes? They all lead somewhere.  As I said it's where I do my thinking and with one food on either hemisphere it gives me perspective and a (literal) view of more than one side.

Greenwich Meridian marker, East Sussex, England

Wishing you all warmth for the festive season and hope you have the year you want in 2015.

A stunning view near Ailsa's home