Survive or thrive

In all aspects of life (spiritual, financial, work performance, creative etc.) there is a level at which we can settle. I call this the SURVIVE mode. It's not necessarily a bad place to be, but it does stop short of the optimum at any given point in time.

The optimum place is what I call the THRIVE zone. This is where improvements have been made and we feel energised and inspired. This is where we are most creative and alive.

To move from SURVIVE to THRIVE, we need to STRIVE. This is where we see the potential for improvement and through commitment, discipline and grind we take steps towards our vision of what THRIVE looks like.

of course, THRIVE can become SURVIVE after a while - especially if you're ENDLESSLY RESTLESS.

Continuous professional development?

Around this time of year I am required by my professional institute to confirm that I have completed the mandatory amount of continuous professional development over the past 12 months. This is something that I've been doing for many years now - having participated in the scheme when it was voluntary, and maintained that now that it's mandatory. The Institute specifies a number of hours that we must achieve, but the rest is largely up to us.

So this morning I flicked through my diary for last year, highlighting the events that I attended and the major projects that I was involved in... and as ever, I easily exceed the minimum requirements.

So what does this have to do with developing discipline?

Well, it occurs to me that 'ticking the box' is easy to do - you just need to turn up to a few events. The discipline issue revolves around the reflective aspect - have I actually grown in the last year, professionally and personally?

To answer this question, I'm planning to write a narrative review of my cpd year (which I'll probably use in my personal performance appraisal in a few weeks). I want to think about the good things that I was involved in last year, and also some of the not-so-good ones. What have I learned? Have I adapted accordingly? What do I need to work on this year?

In my opinion, cpd will only be developmental if we move beyond compliance to growth - but that requires a degree of discipline!

Continuous professional development?

Around this time of year I am required by my professional institute to confirm that I have completed the mandatory amount of continuous professional development over the past 12 months. This is something that I've been doing for many years now - having participated in the scheme when it was voluntary, and maintained that now that it's mandatory. The Institute specifies a number of hours that we must achieve, but the rest is largely up to us.

So this morning I flicked through my diary for last year, highlighting the events that I attended and the major projects that I was involved in... and as ever, I easily exceed the minimum requirements.

So what does this have to do with developing discipline?

Well, it occurs to me that 'ticking the box' is easy to do - you just need to turn up to a few events. The discipline issue revolves around the reflective aspect - have I actually grown in the last year, professionally and personally?

To answer this question, I'm planning to write a narrative review of my cpd year (which I'll probably use in my personal performance appraisal in a few weeks). I want to think about the good things that I was involved in last year, and also some of the not-so-good ones. What have I learned? Have I adapted accordingly? What do I need to work on this year?

In my opinion, cpd will only be developmental if we move beyond compliance to growth - but that requires a degree of discipline!

Comfort zones... the saga continues

I stumbled across a scribbled note today from a podcast that I heard about Abraham Joshua Heschel, in which Krista Tippett talked about his “prophetic inclination to mistrust whatever the comfort zone is”. Given my endlessly restless nature, I like this!

But it also reminded me that I had some unfinished business with comfort zones (previous entries here and here). When I wrote my last entries, I had been doodling on the whiteboard in my office at work. I’ve tidied the doodle up - a wee bit - and come up with this diagram (I don't know how to make it any bigger!).

Of course, our individual personalities and attitudes will determine how quickly we move from one zone to the next – and I guess that some people bypass discomfort and go straight to dysfunctional as soon as there is any change or stress. Additionally, if we are facing multiple stressors, the nature of our stress changes more rapidly, so that we can become distressed as soon as we are moved out of our comfort zone by the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back’.

By nature, I am suspicious of comfort zones – they’re not areas of growth or development – but I do realise that they play a vital role in establishing equilibrium after a change has occurred. This resonates with this quotation, which I came across recently:

“Any form of stress that prompts discomfort had the potential to expand our capacity – physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually – so long as it is followed by adequate recovery.”
Loehr and Schwartz from The Power of Full Engagement.

The problem, for me, is that many people and organisations like to stay in that ‘maintenance mode’ for the long-term, resisting change and shrinking defensively deeper into the comfort zone. Maybe I’m just too restless… but I’m delighted to be in some small way in the company of Heschel!!

Maybe the saga concludes here, but you never know...

Comfort zones

His Girl Friday reminded me about the talented (and gorgeous) Alison Krauss. I’m not at all familiar with her bluegrass music, but I remember being completely blown away by her collaboration with Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame).

Some genius came up with the idea of taking these two singers from completely different backgrounds and putting them together – and it worked. Both Alison and Robert have spoken about how they felt quite intimated by being removed from their comfort zones, which got me thinking…

If we always do the same things, in the same way, with the same people there is a real danger of complacency and the loss of innovation and creativity. Of course, it’s hard to move from your own comfort zone unless you’ve got the discipline to challenge yourself. It’s much more likely to happen when we’re forced into a situation, or when someone else challenges us.

This is quite topical for me as I’ve been challenged lately in a couple of areas where I think that I’m pretty good at what I do. The details don’t matter, but I’ve been doing these things for many, many years and – on reflection – I have become quite complacent. So I needed the constructive criticism to give me the impetus to look at how I’m performing and to raise my game.

It’s not exactly pleasant to be challenged in this way - then again, it’s not too easy to be the challenger either. So I’m grateful for the timely comments.

Pathways of prayer: The charismatic path

This week Pathways of Prayer moves on to the charismatic path.

Actually, that's not quite true. I seem to have got out of sync with the course. But that's OK, as I'm planning to keep going with the cycle of pathways beyond Lent.

So this week, I'm moving on to the charismatic path. But the word 'charismatic' seems to carry so many connotations/values, that I'm calling it the pathway of worship. (I've never been too great at following all of the rules all of the time!).

This pathway is summarised by St Augustine's prayer:

Lord you are great and greatly to be praised!

awaken us to delight in your praises,

for you made us for yourself,

and our hearts are restless

'till they find their rest in you.

The doodle had now reached its final state.

The contemplative path

This week Pathways of Prayer moves on to the contemplative path.

"The contemplative tradition in Christian spirituality describes the steady gaze of the soul upon God."

So that's the objective for this week. It'll be intriguing to see how this develops during what passes for 'normal life'. Will I be able to focus sufficiently during the working week?

I'm comforted (again) by the bit of Heschel that I was reading today:

"God is not hiding in a temple."

So maybe I will be able to contemplate while at work.

Doodle's moved on a bit more.

The sacramental path

The Pathways of prayer course has moved on to the sacramental path this week - the idea being that we should consciously meet with God, but also recognise his presence all around us.

Coincidentally, I was reading 1 Cornithians 13 today and it struck me that through regular, instinctive, habitual meeting with God we should be slowly transformed. This will involve growing, learning and un-learning, because as we get to know God better, we will (in a limited way) begin to see ourselves from his perspective. Of course we need to be willing to change, to bend and to be re-shaped.

Heschel puts it better than me:

"Stirred by a yearning after the unattainable, a pious man is not content with being confined to what he is."

And my pathways of prayer doodle has moved on a bit!

Through all the Advents of our life

Through all the Advents of our life, we shall wait and look forward with longing for that day of the Lord, when God says, "I am making everything new!"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Yesterday I had an unexpected wonderful experience, which seemed to chime with the Bonhoeffer quotation.

At work I normally avoid what I call the ‘figurehead’ role – you know those events that you get invited to where you have to flash the smile, press the flesh and make small talk to strangers. Not exactly a comfortable environment for me.

Anyway, we are involved in a health and social care academy. I was involved in the original idea and planning, but true to form ducked out when real people got involved. The academy is really a short course to provide people who are out of the mainstream employment market with some basic skills that will help them apply for jobs in health and social care. Often the participants will be people who have had health problems (including mental health), women returning to the labour market after child care responsibilities but with no relevant skills.

Because someone else was on holiday, I was asked to represent the department at the graduation for the current group. Then I was asked if I would say a few words, and oh, would I present the certificates as well. I agreed, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. I don’t have any problem with the public speaking side (although ‘a few words’ turned out to be a 10 minute slot!); but small talk …

Before the ceremony I was chatting (mainly listening) to some of the college staff who commented on the increase in confidence in the participants over the six weeks of the course. After the ceremony – as I started to relax a bit- talking to the candidates it was clear that this was a really big deal for them. They were enthusiastic, but clearly with underlying concerns and apprehensions. They wanted to know about job opportunities, and could they volunteer, and who should they contact etc etc.

After the photo session, one of the women said “This has been a great day!” As she said this I realised that I had been looking at this event from the wrong perspective – to my shame. It was a bit of an inconvenience to me; for the course participants it was ‘making everything new’.

Well, as I drove home I realised that it was a new start for me to – time to press the flesh a bit more and appreciate that what can seem like a wee thing to me can be a major event for someone else. What was David Adam saying about Mirror Images?

This was a great day!

A reliable source of quiet power

As part of my summer 'catch up' reading, I stumbled across "One minute for yourself" by Spencer Johnson. I thought that I'd grown out of this kind of self-help book, but as the theme seemed to chime in with my lingering interest in the concept of Sabbath, and it was a short read, I gave it a go.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy the format - it was a bit too contrived for my taste. But I did find myself applying the simple message of taking one minute for myself at various times during the day to ask myself 'Is there a better way right now for me to take good care of Me?'. It seems to have helped this week, but the proof will be found over the long-term.

"So you are really saying that the better you manage your inner self, the more you enjoy all that life has to offer."

This seems so obvious, yet how many of us actually put it into practice each day?

Am I recommending this book - not really. There are other similar books on this topic that I'd like to explore first, bit if you've got a copy lying around it would be worth having a quick read through.

Incurable learners

"The best leaders I know are incurable learners."

-Bill Hybels

I came across this thought recently, as I entered the world of podcasts (more of that in another posting). It reminded me of some stuff that I read shortly after I started my quill and papyrus journal. I had just started a postgraduate diploma looking at public service leadership,and was looking at a variety of material around reflection and growth, and found this:

“… leaders must be learners. Not occasional, part time learners but determined and relentless learners.”

- Andrew Price

But learning in a complex world with masses of information available is not straightforward. we need to be able to sift to get rid of the inconsequential garbage and reflect on the more significant stuff that remains. Reflection involves a variety of activities - again scope for future postings - including making connections and seeing things BIG. I think that these issues apply in many (all?) settings that we find ourselves in. There's lots more to flow from this.

In the meantime any thoughts would be appreciated - if there's anyone out there in cyberspace.