Detached

I usually find the garden very uplifting and inspirational at this time of year - all the energy and promise of spring. But this year... it's different. I haven't been able to do any gardening for about six months because of a wee problem with my elbow.

Yesterday I found myself looking out of the window and almost not recognising the garden (the garden that we've been working on for 16 years). I had a sense of detachment. I wasn't excited by it; couldn't think what we were planning to do this year; had no sense of vision for it.

I was thinking about this in church today - and I realised that (in this case) the opposite of detached isn't attached, but engaged. I haven't fallen out of love with the garden - I just need to get acquainted with it (when my elbow has fully recovered). It's been too long since I got my hands dirty or even just pottered about a bit.

So - as is my wont - I started a wee doodlegram (see below). It seems to me that if we start to drift away from something it's fairly easy to re-engage with a wee bit of nurturing. But if we get to the stage of being detached, a more difficult and lengthy recovery process is needed. I'm not sure if there is a way back when we get beyond detachment to alienation.

There may also be other staging posts along the route from engaged to detached, but I was happy enough with the analogy as it stands (working on the 'less is more' basis OR I need to keep things simple enough for my brain to cope with).

Some lessons from the Ryder Cup

I watched a chunk of the Ryder Cup last week. While I love watching sport, I didn’t really enjoy it. Firstly, I had a stinking cold (so was feeling very sorry for myself); secondly I don’t have a high regard for either of the captains; and thirdly we (Europe) lost. Actually we were thoroughly thrashed by a much better team. But there’s always next time!

Anyway, after the disappointment of losing I started to look more closely at the differences that there seemed to be between the teams, and while I have no inside information, the following things occurred to me.

Europe seemed to be over-confident, probably based on their status as favourites going into the competition. This was based on our run of success over the last decade or so. But the problem with this way of thinking is that this particular group of individuals had never played in the Ryder Cup before, and only 4 of them had any significant Ryder Cup experience (Garcia, Westwood, Harrington and Jimenez). Over-confidence and complacency are not good attitudes in any environment.

Another difference seemed to be that we were looking for things to whinge about. Whether it was Azinger’s (ill-advised) ‘pep talk’ to the fans, or the way that putts were or were not conceded. In golf and in life you need to be able to deal with these minor irritations and focus on the objective. Maybe there was a sense of wanting to win the competition while maintaining some sort of moral high ground.

But for me the biggest difference between the teams was teamwork, and I’ll deal with that in another post.

Just like Tiger ... kinda

According to the BBC Sport website "Tiger Woods said the hours he dedicates to fitness training had paid off as he won his 13th major at the USPGA at Oklahoma's sweltering Southern Hills."

Well, I was sweating it out in the gym after work today - the air conditioning is broken!

But while I'm not (quite) a finely honed athlete like Tiger, I do realise the value of regular exercise. Of course, the hard part is committing to it AND following it through.

I have been struggling to get to the gym recently. I've packed my bag and put it in the car in the morning; I've left work early to go to the gym; I've completed my commute and I'm nearly there, but somehow the next thing I know, I'm reversing my car into the garage.

During a minute of quiet reflection today I realised why. At this point you have to promise not to laugh before you read on - OK?

There are 2 routes that I can take to get to the gym on my way home from work. One takes me past my house before I get to the gym; the other takes me past the gym before I get home. If I choose option 2, then I always end up at the gym. Option 1 is the road to hell - paved with good intentions but with no output!

Sometimes the most obvious things are obscured from our vision!

Finally, Accenture have got a fantastic series of adverts featuring Tiger Woods (I like clever adverts).

Live life inspired

The title of this post is the motto of Zondervan publishing. I was pottering about in their website, and thought that the motto reflected my mood. (Anyone who knows me - suspend your disbelief!)

I've just started back at work after my holidays, feel good, looking forward and trying to stay positive in outlook. We'll see how it goes.

By the way, there are a few interesting bits 'n' pieces on the Zondervan website - worth a wee look.

Anyway, other tasks await - and since my laptop is being repaired at the moment, I'm on borrowed time on this computer.